Learning From the Horse

I have been honored to spend a lot more time with horses this weekend than I usually do!  Friday, I went for a ride with a friend of mine.  It was Lady's first time (since I bought her) to ride with another horse as well as the first time to ride all day for both of us.  I went from 11 am to 5 pm and my beautiful girl did absolutely amazing!  We did a full 12 miles and she still had energy left over...  I was very impressed by her cooperation and willingness to go on.  We'll be working some more on this by ourselves as well as hopefully going on another ride with our friends in the future.  :D

Yesterday (Saturday) I got to play with 3 horses.  I have very rarely played with both of my horses in the same day, but I actually played with 3 horses, one after the other.

Tempestous Storm - Liberty - 15 minutes
She did very well!  I sat on the barrel for a few minutes and played with the stick and string so that she could get used to seeing me with them.  I was able to touch and stroke her on the first try!  Put the string around her neck and rubbed her with the stick.  She did a few hindquarter yields for me, which went super well - she didn't run off!  On a whim, I sent her on a circle and she actually did one!  Even got a bit of draw at the end, which is what I'm looking for!
Her Horsenality chart is almost completely in the moderate areas.  She definitely is an Extrovert and leans more towards the Left Brain side of it.  There are a few dots in both of the Introvert quadrants, but nothing extreme.  Her Positive Attributes chart is very very similar.  Very proud of this little pony!

Sioux Jay - OnLine - 40 minutes
Sue is my friend's horse, who was staying here for a day, so this was my very first time playing with her!  :)  She is a very sweet and good-natured horse - lots and lots of good things about her.  Had a few "explosions" while I was first trying to figure her out, but nothing very bad and easily resolved.  Her basic games are pretty good.  Friendly barely fazed her, so that could be stepped up a notch.  Maybe a flag or something else to make her more confident.  Porcupine was good - very bracey in the forehand though.  Driving hindquarters was quite good, but again, bracing in the forehand.  Her Yo-Yo game was excellent!  she has a nice balance of drive and draw, exactly what I love to see!  :)  Her Circling Game wasn't so good though.  She doesn't seem to have a whole lot of bend in her body, so we broke it down into smaller chunks.  1) Yielding the nose when I point.  2) Driving the shoulder over.  3) Walking on.  She was definitely more relaxed and confident and using her body more efficiently and smoother afterwards.  Also walked over some raised poles to stretch her back - nice!
I rubbed her back out some and her neck and cheeks.  She is very sweet and gentle, loves to be around people.  I think she might get worried out on the rope, which would explain some of her Circling trouble (pulling on the rope, wanting to come in, running).  I think she could do very well with lots of smaller circles and breaks in between, letting her stand until she breathes and thinks and slowly make the circles bigger as she gets more confident.  She tries VERY hard.  Good horse!
Her Horsenality chart is a bit more scattered.  Although a lot of her dots currently fall in the Right Brain Extrovert and Left Brain Introvert category, I think she is probably innately a Right Brain Introvert because of the way she shuts down and doesn't think.  Her Positive Attributes chart points to this too, with no dots in the Left Brain Extrovert quadrant at all and one in each of the Right Brain Introvert categories.

Lady Hwin - OnLine - 20 minutes
Ahhh...my main squeeze!  It was actually very interesting to play with Lady after playing with the other two, since Lady is the most advanced.  It made me realize just how balanced and responsive my horse is.  She was quite stiff from Friday's ride, so we did a lot of circles at the walk, trot, and canter so that she could loosen up and feel better as well as some sideways from different zones.  She did very very good.
Interestingly, filling out her Horsenality chart taught me a few things too.  Even though she still leans towards the Left Brain Introvert/Extrovert side of the chart, she has no extremities and is very much in the middle.  Her Positive Attributes chart is also very balanced, very very nice.  I am so proud of my beautiful horse.  :) :)

I have learned a lot this weekend with my horses, they are amazing!  :) :) :) :) :)

My Sweetheart