More tricks, and other things

Well I sucessfully taught Diamond "hug me" and I am now working on teaching him how to act "embaressed" where he hides his head under my arm. We're having a bit of difficulty with that one, as I am slightly confused in teaching it and he is not sure what I am asking, but we are getting better! I've been working on the Spanish Walk, focusing on one leg at a time and right now I can get him to take three Spanish steps with his left leg. I'm waiting till he can do it easily with his left leg before I move to his right. I am also working on what I call "Precision rearing" where I have him put his front feet on the pedastel, rear, and land with both front feet back on the pedestal. He can do this really well, although sometimes he lands slightly to the side. Also, playing at liberty, if he gets a really good canter up, he can jump FOUR feet!! FOUR feet!! Its a little difficult for him, but with some more work on it, I think he'll learn to clear it easily! On Line we haven't been doing much...Liberty is so much more fun :P We've been practicing a little Freestyle, but...we both love learning new "tricks" so much we've mostly been doing everything on the ground. I don't have time to play with him today, much, as I am going to a masquerade party tonight and I have to prepare and make my mask for that...but tomorrow is going to be dedicated to teaching him another trick, and HOPEFULLY finally learning "Embaressed"!

Trick time

Well, I spent half last night reading my book Trickonometry, by Carol Fletcher, and went out this morning intending to begin to teach Diamond the trick "Kiss Me!" In which he touched my face with his muzzle. He was reluctant to bring his muzzle to my face, but with persistance he did, and in about half an hour, Diamond knew Kiss Me!! I was rather enthused so I then proceeded to teach him the "Evil, dangerous" trick of rearing on command. This took only about fifteen minutes to teach him! Although his "rear" was bringing his front hooves about one foot off the ground. My lovely little LBI :)I cannot wait till tomorrow, I want to try and train him to "hug" me with his neck.

The difficulties of using variety in repetitive training...

Diamond is doing so wonderfully in our jumping training. Right now the loads of treats I provide him with seem to be making up for the lack of adventures and variety. Plus he naturally loves jumping. But I am determined to think up more interesting ways of challenging him in our jumping training. I play on line, at liberty, I do different patterns before we approach the jump, I use lots of different jumps...what else can I do, I wonder?

Well, this morning I played with Dimey, popped him over a couple low fences On Line, then we went out and grazed together(although I actually just sat their, Diamond did the actual grazing). Then this evening I went out for a serious jump-training session. Boy, it was fun!! I got some pictures of sending Diamond over the jumps at Liberty. I can't wait to post them! Just have to wait for my gosh durned computer to get fixed(somehow all the programs have dissapeared from the screen!)

GREAT morning!

Well I got up today with the intent to brush out Diamond's mane. I am ashamed to say, it looked like I hadn't untangled it in decades. Matts here, matts there, matts everywhere! I've been avoiding it because, well, who likes to spend an hour just combing a mane when you could be PLAYING!? Plus, its not something Dimey really enjoys-the constant jerk, jerk, pull. But I did it!! I untangled his mane! Its rather short and you can see where a few pieces of hair were broken, but it certainly looks better than it did. Now next, for his tail *o* I am most certain I shall die during that. His tail is probably worse than his mane. On the other hand, the new feed I'm trying has made his coat VERY silky(Although its not putting weight on him like I wish). But anyway, after detangling his mane, I played a little liberty stick to me, and he "stuck to me" over a jump! Upright barrels PLUS pole creating a sort of spread jump. He stuns me with his magnificence, my Diamond. He is truly better than any gem. After the stick to me I popped up on him bridleless, and I don't know when it clicked, but today he FINALLY understood my leg, body and mane-tugging commands(lol)!!!!! I didn't have to use the savvy string or my carrot stick to turn him!! *falls over* It felt ABSOLUTELY wonderful. I could have ridden him absolutely naked(erm, I mean the horse only. Not me. I'll keep my clothes on, thank you. I'm not quite THAT natural.) And we jumped! Not upright barrels, but we did jump the barrels lying sideways with a pole in front in a small spread.

I'm so happy today!!!!!

Motivation...

I ought to be more motivated to post on this blog. I need to think of a "treat" for myself for each blog post I write. Otherewise I'll end up doing my monthly cram-in sessions. I'm writing this blog so I'll be able to share my journey with others and so I can look back myself and see how I've come along.

Well, Diamond has been doing great as usual! Today I was circling him online over a couple jumps-he cleared full-size upright barrels by at least a foot! And he acted as if it were nothing. I couldn't help but send him over them seven times in a row even though he often doesn't like doing the same thing so many times in a row-usually we do it three or four times then go on to something else or he gets bored. But I've noticed, a lot of times jumping is excluded from this. Even though he is mainly LBI, jumping seems to be something Diamond truly enjoys. It astonishs me how perfect he seems when he is feeling positive and motivated over jumps. His preformance is flawless and his impulsion and energy is perfect. He is just under 16 hands, and he is mostly legs, with a light body. Every time I jump him I get so excited thinking about how it will be when we finally get to preform in shows. I have to wait until I am eighteen seeing as he is a stallion and under eighteen "juniors" cannot show stallions. So that gives up two great years to Parelli Prepare!

Add two, minus one and bowing to forces beyond your control.

I'm playing with two new horses now, and no longer playing with Indy. Why? The awful Florida Summer has finally shown is eternally-boiling face. Its too hot to play with the poor drafts. All that muscle and strength that makes them magnificent has to take its toll somewhere. That somewhere is their endurance during hot weather. Fortunately Susan has another horse, a TWH named Kip who I can play with, and one of Susan's friends is letting me play with her cross-bred 3 year old gelding. Although I am dissapointed I no longer have a chance to play with one of my favorite breeds, I am thankful I had the short experience I did, and I am VERY happy that Susan didn't toss me out to the cold(er- heat as it were) because I could no longer work with Indy. I am really loveing Kip, the TWH mare. She is ten years old, an estimated 16.2 and a LBI that switches to RBE even quicker than Indy. I think she is exactly fifty fifty-half LBI, half RBE. Whereas Indy was more three quarters LBI, one quarter RBE. She was very insensitive and dominant our first session, but on the second session she was so angelic...it was like she had thought over our last session in her mind and really understood. The little gelding is named Blue. He is a LBE, high spirited, frisky, and immature as befits his age. He is one of the CUTEST horses I have ever come across. I believe he is a blue dun, and he is around 13-14 hands. Its such a joy working with these horses. It gives me a sense of fufillment that I am helping somebody-no matter if that somebody is human or horse. I like to think that Susan is happy I am "training" her horses, but in reality she is doing me a favor as currently most of her horses are pets and pasture ornaments.

Now with Diamond...well, our last couple play sessions have left something to be desired. Lets just say there were a lot of Right Brain moments, a lot of argument on tasks and other less-than-pleasant things. I'm hoping tomorrows play session will be better. Everyone has their bad days, and as discourage as it is, I have to face the fact that EVERYONE wakes up on the wrong side of the bed(pasture) every once in a while. Including myself and my horse.

WHOOOOOO!!!

Today Diamond and I did circling at LIBERTY. They were small, about 6-10 feet between Diamond and I, and at a slow walk, but WE DID THEM. I did turn around in the middle of the circle so I could really keep the connection between Diamond and myself-I think if he'd gone around my back he either would have come to me or walked off to nibble grass :P At first I only had him do one lap then brought him in, but at the end of our session he circled three laps and came right to me when I asked! I am just so excited. I didn't really expect it-we were just playing a little stick-to-me at a walk/trot and I randomly pointed to a pole on the ground and trotted right over it, turned around and came back. So I thought "if he'll do that, maybe he'll circle" so I just held my arm out and wiggled my stick like I do when asking for a circle on line, and 'round he went! He got LOTS of treats, and I am so proud of him! I could tell he was really focusing on me which is hard for him-normally he gets so easily distracted by little bits of hay that have fallen, or nibblets of grass. Its funny, I find that he normally shows me the greatest things he has learned/is ready for when I'm not really expecting it/asking it. A lot of times I really think he looks at what I ask him to do and says, "You want me to do THAT boring old thing again? I'll do it for a treat of course, but look at THIS, isn't THIS so much better than the thing we have done a million times before?"

Whew...and yeah!

Well I've worked with Indy more and I am fairly certain he is innately LBI, but very easily slips into RBE when he feels unconfident or trapped. I learned that the hard way. Well, they don't call it the "learn burn" for nothing! I've certainly learned something! Our last session I wasn't feeling well, and couldn't sum up enough energy in my body for myself, let alone a horse! So we spent a lot of undemanding time, just with me sitting on a barrel and Indy standing by me. I really started to feel that relationship budding, though. Indy yawned a LOT during our session, and got this safe, contented look on his face. At least he is feeling comfortable enough to release the tension that builds up. He is going to be a challenge for me-but I knew that, and I wanted that. I just have to keep reminding myself of all the savvy information I need to follow!

With Diamond, yesterdays play session on line sucked( he wasn't motivated at all for some reason, which I couldn't figure out...so I got frustrated and decided to skip most of the on line we ususally do), but freestyle...wow, he was AMAZING. So much energy and forward movement! Positive expression, willing, up for anything... And then today I did a lot at liberty with him, and that went wonderfully. We had our best Stick To Me ever, and I actually got him to go in a sort of half circle/loopy shape around me before he stopped with an "Okay I tried, don't ask me for more" look on his face. I let him come back to me for treat, treat, treat TREAT! Sending him out has always been really difficult, as once he gets out there, with no ropes connecting, he loses interest and decides to go nibble on grass, or wander over to the gate. Our liberty session took up most of our time, so online we just practiced the Figure Eight pattern some. He is getting better at it, slowly but surely. I still don't understand how at one time we were trotting/cantering through it, and now we have trouble walking through it...but I'm learning more every day, so hopefully it won't happen again!