Thoughts :)

Once again, I did not go out to see the horses today. I really don’t have a good excuse... but we won’t go into that again.

Instead, I decided just to write today. There were a few thoughts that I wanted to touch on since they’ve been on my mind today... such as my first horse, my dream horse, waterfalls... and the like, wherever the rabbits lead me, there I will go! :)

Speaking of rabbits.... “Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just it time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.”

Teehee... I like “Alice in Wonderland” and one of my favorite parts of it is Jabberwocky.

“One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead and with its head

He went galumphing back.”

The other thing that “Alice in Wonderland” reminds me of is the Knight and his horse, which brings me back to horses, which is the reason why I have this blog...

I was thinking quite a bit this morning and Firefly kept coming to mind. Firefly was my very first horse, we bought her in the fall of 2005... goodness, that was just over six years ago! She was an elderly sorrel mare that taught me ever so much! Of course, I think having any sort of animal when you’re only eleven years old teaches you a lot. I didn’t know anything about natural horsemanship at that point, but Firefly was a good easy-going horse... I remember racing Major across the pasture, bouncing along bareback and laughing while the horse and the dog did all the work, again and again. Right now, at this moment, I can actually talk about her without feeling sad. I have regrets, yes, but I feel more content about the time I spent with the dear mare. :)

What about waterfalls... how in the world could a cave form behind a waterfall?? I’ve thought about that for a long time... and I just cannot figure it out! :P

Back to horses... I really should NOT do this, but I just spent some time searching the Warmbloods for Sale website... and I found one of my dreams. His name is Zenith... bay 8 yr old stallion... 16.3 hh... and he’s for sale... for 200k. He’s a registered Dutch Warmblood, currently jumping at Level 9, exactly what I dream of!! :D  Isn't he just gorgeous??

http://www.warmbloods-for-sale.com/HorseDetail.asp?HorseID=30162&UserID=8985

I should probably close off this post soon... before I start really rambling and become boring, but I started an equestrian challenge a while back, so I’ll go on with it, just so I can stay writing, maybe it will encourage me to keep this thing going...

{The last time you rode a horse and what you did}

The last time I rode a horse was yesterday. I rode bareback in my halter and finesse reins. We did a lot of things: circles, straight lines, lateral, hindquarter and forequarter yields, back up. We did a tiny bit of jumping, which was absolutely awesome! :D



I just picked up my Bible and come across my verse from last year’s revival services: Hosea 6:1-3.

“Come, and let us return to the LORD;

For He has torn, but He will heal us;

He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

After two days He will revive us;

On the third day He will raise us up,

That we may live in His sight.

Let us know,

Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD,

His going forth is established as the morning;

He will come to use like the rain,

Like the latter and former rain to the earth.”



I’ll close with that...



Blessings...

Naturally,

~Kit Marie 2012~

Connection at Last :)

After going through all my excuses, fears and arguments, I finally laid aside my already-neglected schoolwork, piano practice, naptime, chores and a story that was just begging for me to write it, and I went to go play with the horses.

Heavens.... I’m so glad I did! :)

Lady trotted up to the gate to meet me... bless her, she seemed so eager! We had to work on a threshold or two before we got up to the arena, but she was trying her heart out for me and paying so much attention, I couldn’t believe it! :D

I had set up a cross-rail jump for her and she absolutely loved knocking it over and then pretending to jump over it... haha... silly horse :P She leaped over the feedtrough with a good foot and a half to spare though!

After looking at the self-assessment sheet for online, I had chosen Circling as our focus, since the only task I don’t have marked off for Level 2 is “4-6 laps, trot and canter.” My goal for today was 4 laps each way at the trot on the 22 foot Line. When Lady finally settled into the idea of circling, she offered a beautiful little jog to the left, so lovely and slow and long... it was gorgeous to watch... I have the most beautiful horse ever! :)

I’m almost ashamed to say that I didn’t get my 4 trotting circles each direction... that should be the barest minimum we can do for the level we’re working with... Lady was dragging her feet and kept walking instead of trotting... especially behind my back... teehee... I guess we have something to work on... oops :P

When I got on, I think I was fairly smart... :P I made sure to test my neutral lateral flexion, HQ disengagements, FQ yields, backup and sideways. Most of it was fairly good... the last three were a bit sticky, so I’ll spend a few minutes a day getting those down pat again.

Walk-trot-walk transitions are what I’m trying to focus on right now... Lady likes to bolt at the trot, so I’m just walking and then asking for a few steps of the trot and then walking again. I’m trying to ask for this type of thing during patterns... today I did some transitions on the rail and also on the circles... maybe tomorrow I’ll ask for it during a Figure-8 pattern!

The biggest highlight I had today was when Lady offered to jump for me. We jumped 18”!!! I had forgotten how much I love jumping!!!! :D

My other highlight was after I dismounted. Lady chose to follow me around the arena while I picked up my ropes and stick, at a trot! :) She was totally connected and trotted after me and never asked for food once... amazing! :P



Tempest did well... though I spent half my time with her picking my way through the mud. Because of that, my timing wasn’t so good and she definitely could tell! :P



Shedding time is getting here again... oh the joy.... I’m already finding horsehair everywhere in my clothes and in my room... pretty soon I’ll be sleeping with it and eating it and.... *SIGH* I own a horse... what can I expect? :P



~CONTENTED Kit Marie 2012~

Lame Excuses....

I have a confession to make...


I did not go see/play with my horses today...



Why?

I’m not totally sure. On one hand, it might have been a LBI issue... I didn’t have the motivation or reason to go. After all, it was chilly and windy...

Or it might have been a RBI problem, I was too fearful, too uncertain about what I might do wrong if I tried playing with them.

Whichever problem it was, it kept me inside and even if I didn’t mess up, I sure did not make any progress either...

If it was the LBI me showing up, then I need to work on my motivation. What were my excuses? The wind? The cold? The mud? Inside chores? School? Looking at those excuses now makes me ashamed, makes me want to crawl into my RBI shell again. I wonder... if I tried, could I come up with better arguments to try and refute my sad excuse for excuses...?

The wind -> really.... in the afternoon, it wasn’t that strong, I could easily have played in that! :P

The cold -> where is my jacket?

The mud -> surely it can’t be worse than yesterday’s muck and I played in that! :P

Inside chores -> yeah, which could have been done this evening instead of writing this miserable excuse for a blog post...

School -> it was done by one-o-clock... what kind of excuse is that??

Goodness, that makes me look bad! Maybe I should go on to the RBI what-ifs...

If my problem as RBIedness (lol... what a word :P) then I highly doubt it was too bad, for I was LB most of the day. Usually my fear of messing up isn't too great, unless the last session I had ended pretty badly (which... it wasn’t all that great, but not terrible either)...



Since I often deal with both the LBI excuses AND the RBI fear, I should see if I can find some ways of overcoming them for next time... (tomorrow).

Let’s start with the RB side...
1) Make a list of all the things that could possibly go wrong... now make a list of all the things that could go right instead!

2) Play approach and retreat in my head.... over and over until I’m just begging myself to actually go outside...

3) Put on my horsey jacket and just breathe in horses... eat horse cookies, hug ropes, etc... until I’m just longing to touch the real thing.

4) Go feed the horses and go from there.

5) Sit in the pasture and read a book... Lady will eventually push me to get up and feed or play with her, if the cold doesn’t get to me first. >:P



And for the LB side...


1) Walk out to the pasture slowly... reward the slightest try with chocolate and rest...


2) Get Lady and DON’T play.


3) Read this sad and miserable post again.


4) Make a list of horsemanship goals... motivate myself.


5) Choose a very simple task and focus on that alone...



Hmm... maybe right now I should take the motivation I have and go work on my book... those are my thoughts for one evening. :)




~Kit Marie 2012~


P.S.  Here are a few OLD pictures... :)  The first one is from about a month or so after I got Lady.  The other two are from almost 4 years ago, jumping :)

Being Taught Focus.... :P

Finally got out today, despite the mud, to play with the horses. Lady came in nicely and let me catch her. She could definitely smell traces of the other horses from Friday and that brought her adrenaline up quite a bit. I had her do a few travelling circles on the way up to the arena and she backed through the gate fairly well.


Because of the soggy ground we basically did circles OnLine at the trot. She did about 20 laps each direction (though she did come back in-between) and maintained gait nicely.

While riding, I started off with circles, which now I would probably change if I could go back since we had just worked with those on the ground. She remembered the pattern from Friday, but she wasn’t completely relaxed, so we had a lot of blobs again. I wasn’t using the stick, only reins, and I’m still working on my savvy with both, so she got away with a lot :P

After about 10 circles each way I did a little bit of Follow the Rail with some 180s and a few 360s. She did alright, but her focus was more on other things... I never managed to regain it at all during the rest of the ride.

After I got off, she followed me at Liberty while I picked up all my stuff. Sweet girl :)

Focus... that was my problem today... and as always.. YOUR HORSE IS YOUR MIRROR.....



:P





-Kit

Learning...

I made it through the day :)
Since this was not only my first time having a lesson in 4 years, but also my very first time hosting anything of the sort, I had no clue what to expect at all.  Everything turned out well, no incidents or problems.  Poor Lady had to be in all three lessons, two of them riding.  :P
My personal lesson turned out amazingly well.  Consistency is the key!  We did a  lot of circles, in one of the arena corners with Gabriel as the center.  Many many many of our circles looked like blobs, since Lady tried every trick in the world to go off in another direction, or go in to Gabriel or such things :)  I learned quite well the importance of directing Lady's energy rather than constantly shutting it down.  I also found better waya s to boost my confidence level in regards to trotting.
I very much enjoyed it all... to me, the day was a success. :)

Excited!!!

Playing with my horse today was nothing short of an experience.  I went out with the purpose of finding some holes that I could focus on tomorrow in my lesson.  Lady was at the gate when I came out and she was fiarly happy to be haltered and scratched for a few minutes.
I'm finding out that Lady loves gates becuase of the puzzle they give her.  She enjoyed going out to the end of the 22-foot Line and finding a way through the muddy gateway.
OnLine I did a few trot circles and even had the confidence to ask for a canter, which she gave me for one lap on the correct lead!!!  Finally!! :D
In the arena , she was a bit too RBE for me to want to ride, so I chose to play some at Liberty.  She enjoyed running and being sassy, but she always came back to me, which shows something, I guess:)
White riding, she showed up as being very strong and was high-headed for much of the time.  There were some crazy moments, when she decided to wheel around, or bolt.  Thus far I'ive been using one of the barrels as the "center" and she has definitely learned that because she heads back to it very quickly now...
All in all, I think we had a good session today.  I nearly brought the bridle out today, but probably made the right decision in not doing so, even if it might have helped her not be so strong...
I'm satisfied and excited to see how tomorrow lessons turn out... hopefully Lady acts exactly like Lady so that I can get some of the solutions I need. :)