Marta and Juliano - Living Their Dream

Liberty flying lead changes

2011-07-19T01:31:00.003+02:00

We are playing on-line and at liberty every day with Cash. Usually I go out with a plan, we play around a certain idea. Every time the plan is modified either by conditions or Cash. To be flexible - hmmm how interesting. So today we set out to do driving from zone 5. We ended up at a round corral.

We have tried stick to me at canter and finally got it :) Before, I would go up to canter, she would follow but after I went down to walk she would zoom past me in canter. Today I thought to myself, canter to walk can be quite hard to synchronize between human and horse so why not make a transition from canter to trot instead. It worked! We could go up to canter together and go back to trot also together. After that we were both in quite playful moods and Cash offered quite a few flying lead changes. It was a great morning.

Hello from Pagosa Springs

2011-07-12T06:00:00.011+02:00

So here I'm in Colorado, Pagosa Springs doing a Fast Track. I got here over a week ago but with all the things going on I didn't have much time to write.

I'm riding and playing with a very nice AQH mare - Cash. She belongs to Petra Christensen - 2 Star Parelli instructor. She is very, very sensitive and trying her best to understand me and what I'm asking of her.

Me and Cash at Parelli Games on Saturday

We are starting to build a strong relationship and I think we are going to have a lot of fun together. By the way, we got a green ribbon for on-line and black ribbon for liberty on Saturday at the games :)

Parelli ranch at Pagosa is amazing - it is surrounded by mountains, amazing nature, animals like deer, chipmunks and beers passing by. I'm learning a new thing every minute that I'm here - thanks to our superb instructors and Cash. It is a place where a horse is never wrong and people are trying to understand horses every step of the way.

Juliano is back home and he is doing great. Magda is looking after him and playing with him. It seems he is having a great time with his best buddy Dum and all his mares. I miss him like crazy but there is a reason why I'm here - to become a better horseman especially for him.

Canter sideways!

2011-05-26T21:51:00.003+02:00

We have done our first sideways in canter! I got on Juliano bareback and we have practised sideways in trot then circled a bit in canter. After Juliano's canter got slow and rhythmic I thought "Why don't we try sideways in canter" and guess what Juliano did - few steps to the side. We are taking baby steps, J only does 2-3 stides sideways and then I ask him to continue cantering straight on and we stop. After 3 successful tries I got off Juliano and allowed him to go back to eating grass. He came back in few minutes for some scratching and yawning :) One thing that hit me today is how sideways slows the horse down. Once we started doing sideways in trot Juliano's canter got slower. Today after sideways in canter Juliano didn't rush of he did the opposite - went back to a walk when asked.

Couldn't be more proud...

2011-05-21T17:59:00.005+02:00

Today's freestyle ride was one of the calmest we've ever had. We started off really slow, doing full zone 1 turns with hindquarters not moving. Then, sideways in walk and trot. Once Juliano delivered a precise sideways in trot we could move on to canter. As we were both very calm and focused on one another we could do graceful walk to canter transitions and after that come back to a walk. After few circles of walk-canter-walk I asked Juliano to come back to a walk after 4 strides of canter and we made it! I was super excited and proud. For some horses it is easy to come back to a walk but for us it was always THE most difficult thing - to stop. We never made it in 10 strides let alone 4. It was always: canter, please come back to a walk, 30 strides later and we are still cantering or doing a choppy trot. It was an amazing feeling when Juliano just calmly glided back to a walk.

Liberty

2011-05-16T10:26:00.005+02:00

We are finally starting to progress at liberty. For Juliano round corral served only one purpose "Get in and run. Run like crazy". Every time we tried anything at liberty J would get on a circle and panic. Before I got him he used to be exercised in a round corral and a lot of pressure was put on him. This is why it took us ages to start doing correct changes of direction. Before, as Juliano was chased in the corral, he used to turn away from human to make a change. In order to correct that we wend back on-line in the round pen and took baby steps. Every time J would panic and turn away I waited and asked for hind-quarter disengagement. Today I took the halted of and everything came together. We did transitions from trot to walk, walk to halt, walk to canter. After that Juliano was hooked and we started playing with changes of direction. To my surprise Juliano did great. He didn't turn away, he was focused on me and didn't panic. It was amazing :)

Trailer lodaing

2011-05-08T08:17:00.000+02:00

Juliano is an expert on trailer loading now! It took us 4 sessions and now he loads and unloads at liberty. Once he is inside it is quite hard to get him out, I guess he feels quite comfy there. This time he even wanted to get into the passenger seat :) At the end Tom tried a new loading technique with J called "Follow the hay". We all had great fun!

Trying to match up with Juliano

2011-04-20T11:12:00.006+02:00

As Juliano is very ambitious lately I found myself a little bit behind him. He is very keen on learning new things and he is showing off things he already knows. We've come to a point where Juliano is acting like a perfect partner most of the times and I can ask him for things like jumping, sideways in trot and extended trot. We could do it before but with maneuvers like this J would easily get excited and break into fast and choppy canter. My main focus over the years with him was not to go to this place and we have worked very hard to maintain gait and keep the relaxation. Now as things have changed we can move on to more advanced riding. Juliano is ready for it, now I have to work on my seat and fluidity to match Juliano's big and exuberant moves.

Here are few photos from our last freestyle sessions:

Jumping J

Extended trot

Sideways in trot

Ohhh and one last thing - I have to let go of the string! I think I will write it on my arm next time we ride "Trust Juliano, don't hold on to the string so much" :)

Jumping Juliano

2011-04-13T10:03:00.002+02:00

Juliano was never keen on jumping. He would refuse to jump and it was all a great fight when I tried to jump him few years back.

Yesterday we've had a great storm and a lot of trees fell, including one huge tree which landed in the pasture. Today our horses went to the same paddock where the tree was. I wanted to play catching game with J but he was in a very playful mood and wanted to show off. He ended up cantering in circles and jumping the tree every time he went round. It was hilarious to watch. After each lap with the jump Juliano would return to me for a treat. After he was done jumping at liberty I got on him. I wanted to see if he would be just as happy jumping with me. The jump was tiny but the attitude he gave me was amazing, I would set him up on a jump and he went for it with no hesitation. Here is a short clip:

Progressing towards L4 - Freestyle

2011-04-08T18:55:00.005+02:00

An update on our progress in freestyle riding. Juliano is doing great, he is finding more balance and rhythm in canter and started doing steady walk to canter transitions. In next couple of days (weeks :) ) I will try focus on refining elements of freestyle so that we can submit our L4 audition.

Here is a short clip from our last ride:

Sometimes, just everything falls into place

2011-02-24T18:31:00.005+01:00

Today, our ride with Juliano was prefect. The sun was shining, J was very willing and positive, I was calm and didn't expect much. Maybe that's why our sideways in trot started working out today. No pressure, everything on "Valium" and suddenly it all came together as a rhythmic side pass. We also managed to work on our canter departures. They used to be very sudden. Canter was hard to control and I wouldn't trust Juliano, I would hold on to the string just in case. Today even this changed :) Juliano was simply brilliant.

Breath of spring

2011-02-23T10:14:00.003+01:00

Spring is almost here and although it is still quite cold I think the winter will not last too long now.

Juliano is very positive lately. I think he is a bit bored after winter and wants to play and learn. Yesterday I walked into the paddock with my bareback pad, carrot stick and string. Juliano knows exactly what that means - time to ride. I was sure he would start playing the catching game with me but to my surprise he walked straight to me. He stood besides me while I dusted him off and placed the pad on his back.

Our ride was very playful and I could feel Juliano was having fun. One thing I have noticed lately is that our downward transitions are much better than upward. Hmmm, how interesting. Juliano was a horse very hard to stop and now canter-walk no problem. Walk-canter however is now officially broken. Who would have thought that one day I will have to motivate Juliano to go. The good news is we are very close to having go and whoa equal. This was my dream, for Juliano to have impulsion but not to be impulsive and we are almost there. Another thing we are working on is sideways in trot which is coming together quite nicely.

Juliano is acting like a partner and I couldn't be more happy with him. I think this spring will bring us great things, a lot of fun and yet another breakthrough. I also know I will have to ask more of him in order to be provocative and interesting.

Slow winter

2011-01-21T11:14:00.003+01:00

I must admit, we are having a very slow winter. We've had tons of snow during December, which was great. After Christmas thaw came. The snow melted during the day and froze at night leaving us with our yard, fields and paddocks covered in ice. This continued for 2 weeks and it was not even safe to turn our horses out. Snow finally melted and the weather started to resemble early spring. This drove our horses wild. They went out running and bucking - playing like crazy. Finally they could blow off some energy that was building up for the past few weeks.

We didn't ride much, in January we only went for two trail rides in walk mainly. Yesterday I rode Juliano bareback with a string. Our ride was amazing - calm and in harmony. One could say 'normal' but Juliano was full of energy after two weeks of doing nothing. I could feel that energy but he didn't use it against me. He had every right to buck me off but instead he was obedient and calm. We've done some patterns in all 3 gaits, transitions, sideways, circles and after 20 minutes of riding I took Juliano out to the paddock. He rolled, run and bucked. I than played with him at Liberty a bit and he ended up with his head under my arm yawning. Great way to end our day.

Later my friend told me he didn't go out in the morning. I'm sure he wanted to run and buck but he managed to control himself when I was riding him. He is truly a great partner.

Northern Dancer

2010-12-31T09:37:00.002+01:00

I have found an interesting documentary about Northern Dancer - Juliano's great-great-grandfather. It's very interesting how his owners and handlers keep saying that he was a celebrity, he demanded attention and was very naughty. Well, Juliano is the same way, simply has to be in the center of attention. Hmm, how interesting...

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2FrZY4mjL4&feature=related

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NsgkXi-xXQ&feature=related

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLtpKHpRPTY&feature=related

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyIPD161unw&feature=related

Skijoring - test run

2010-12-20T19:32:00.016+01:00

Wow, what a weekend it has been! We finally had time and good weather to try skijoring. It was amazing fun. As it was our first attempt at skijoring we've decided to go: horse, rider and skier behind. In the future we want to teach Dum and Juliano driving from zone 5 and loose the rider part - just ski or snowboard behind the horse. But this weekend we wanted to see if our horses can handle pulling someone both mentally and physically.

On Saturday I went snowboarding behind Dum and Adam went skiing behind Zawieja. Dum was on fire, he cantered very fast and was happy with his new job. Zawieja did also well but got tired. After we have finished I saddled up Juliano for Pawel. Juliano struggled as Pawel is quite heavy and I guess his weight and mine combined was a bit too much for poor Juliano. The good thing is J always expresses his disapproval for certain things and started tossing his head and bucking in canter. This was a sign for me to stop. I didn't push him and decided not to use him for skijoring until I have the right equipment and he can pull me alone.

Next day we took Dum, Eparol and a trotter called Lulek. You could tell Lulek was bread for the job, he trotted with ease through the snow with Justyna skiing behind him. I went for few spins behind Eparol and Dum. All the time we were skiing and snowboarding Juliano and Lama were watching us from the next paddock. Later I rode Juliano bareback in snowboarding boots which was also fun but a bit extreme, the good thing was Juliano didn't mind.

Justyna behind Lulek
Me behind Eparol
Juliano relaxes after a day of snow fun

I'm very happy with the way all the horses handled skijoring and although for Juliano it was a bit hard now I know he doesn't mind pulling something he just minds the weight. This weekend gave us a green light to try driving in the next couple of weeks. Just need to buy a breast collar from a driving harness and of we go skijoring again :)

Magical winter scenery

Trail ride in the snow - night version

2010-12-15T22:54:00.008+01:00

Today I woke up at 6AM to discover that last night's snow fall was quite intense. I went outside and there was fresh powder up to my knees. After a while I dug myself out and could drive to the stables. When I got there Juliano was waiting to go out and was very happy about the snow. As I was leading Juliano and Dum J got so excited that he started biting Dum's tail to harry him to the paddock. And in the paddock... boys had so much fun. Dum covered his whole head while rolling, Juliano run and bucked. Pure snow fun!

This is Juliano running to me when he got scared - one of the highlights of the day, my horse runs to me for safety :)

I went back to the stables after dark to go with Magda for a hack. We love out winter, evening rides in the woods. The snow and the moon made the forest bright and magical. I've decided to ride bareback with a savvy string and it was an excellent choice. Juliano was amazing, calm, focused and so happy. To tell you the truth I can't think of anything better than cantering through snow covered woods, the only noise is the snorting of horses and the moon reflecting on snow is truly magical. I have never felt so much in harmony with Juliano - we went together and stopped together.

Trail ride in the snow

2010-12-05T09:50:00.004+01:00

Here is a short film from our last walk in the woods :)

First snow

2010-12-02T09:36:00.002+01:00

Thing are very slow with Juliano, we have nothing to do due to very cold weather. With temperatures falling below -10C the ground both outside and in the indoor arena is frozen solid. Maybe today's snow will bring us some relief and we will at least have a chance to turn our horses into the paddock safely. I really hope so because the energy in Juliano is building up. Over past few days as he couldn't move his feet much he found another way to exercise - he is more mouthy than ever. He picks things up from the ground like lead-ropes, rugs etc and plays with them. The excess energy now comes out in a form of extreme mouthiness.

Autumn blues

2010-11-23T10:15:00.005+01:00

As the weather gets worse and worse I have less creative ways to play with Juliano. Yesterday, for example, it was raining cats and dogs all day. We couldn't ride outside and the indoor arena is leaking and there are paddles there as well so there is not much room to do anything. To avoid, boredom which is destructive both for me and J, I've decided to focus on bareback freestyle. I tried not to use both the stick and the string and the result was pretty good. I've asked Juliano to maneuver around the paddles with just my feel and my seat and it worked. Then we advanced our trot sideways. Overall I think this session went very well even though we were both under the weather.

Juliano in his autumn outfit

By the way Juliano has a new friend, 3 year-old Hanoverian gelding. Juliano is teching him the basics of porcupine game and has a very positive attitude towards him. It is very pleasing for me because few years ago Juliano would beat up every new horse that showed up.

Juliano and his new friend

Expect the unexpected

2010-11-18T13:10:00.006+01:00

Our recent learning experiences with Juliano convinced me that „never say never” is spot on right also with horses. Every day with Juliano brings us something new and even though sometimes I can't name the direction in which we took a step it is always a piece of a puzzle which will fall into place later in our journey. We learn a lot with our horses and even more from them but what goes on in our human mind when we come across an obstacle? Can we teach all horses the same things? Can my horse do that? These are the questions we face at some point of our journey, sooner or later, it doesn't matter. The important thing is how we handle new situations. Do we give up or go on?

I bet most of us have a savvy, game or a task which we stray from. In the beginning we say „Oh, I'm never going to ride with just a savvy string”, „My horse will never do lead-changes on-line” etc. but time goes by and we find ourselves riding our horse bareback and bridle-less. It is like a dream come true and we remember the times when we thought it's never going to happen for us. In our heads we know we have accomplished something amazing but we still limit our selves when next challenge comes. For us this limitation was sideways towards me. Juliano is master of sideways away from me, he can do walk, trot and canter sideways. This is now easy for him and I take that for granted.

Juliano going sideways away from me in canter

However, I couldn't picture him doing sideways towards me. I thought this is not going to happen and I even started giving myself absurd explanations for that. The truth is, every healthy horse can go sideways left, right, away and towards a human, but I still believed it is to difficult for us. I didn't even think of trying. Few days ago I finally gave it a shot. I was forced to do it really. It is raining a lot here and we only have a few dry, not slippery spots to play on, one is against a fence. So I found myself on that tiny spot of dry land with Juliano. I was thinking what to do there, jojo, tiny change of direction in walk... Juliano was bored to death, he knows it all. For Juliano boredom is worst enemy and his respect for me goes way down when I ask him for things he knows over and over. Then I thought „Oh, OK! I will try the sideways towards me. I will fail but I will try”. I asked Juliano once, twice and there it was, a step of sideways towards me! 5 minutes later Juliano was going sideways towards me in both directions with no support of carrot stick just my hand in the air. It was so easy and all this time I had it in my head marked as „impossible”. We have learned something new and Juliano was as proud as a peacock. How silly of me not to give it a shot before.

It is amazing how many things we are afraid of. We limit both ourselves and our horses with our own fear of failure. For example some horses are afraid when something touches their feet, a rope, branch etc. For a human this can mean a stop sign for sideways over a pole or a barrel. Then we say things like „My horse can't go sideways over a pole because he will get scared if he steps on the pole”. Well, why not work on the feet first, show the horse there is nothing to be afraid of. Get him comfortable with things touching his feet and then do sideways over the pole. The first step might take a while, some horses are very panicky about their feet but the next step, the actual sideways may be as easy as it was for Juliano. The point is - help your horse don't limit him. So next time you think „This is not for us” pause for a minute because your horse will most likely do it and it is only your judgment which is blocking the progress. Give it a shot, take it slow and be patient – it's all it takes.

Savvy Times article

2010-11-16T11:28:00.004+01:00

I'm super excited! November Savvy Times is just out with my article about Juliano in it. It starts of with my favorite photo of me and J. I do hope you enjoy it.

More about Savvy Club and Savvy Times

Autumn hacking

2010-11-12T01:19:00.003+01:00

Two quite interesting things happened today. First of we went for a hack with Magda. It has been a while since we both had time to go for a trail ride with the boys during the day. Now with the time change we will have to hack out in the darkness more often. Today however, we could finally take things slow and the weather was perfect. Both Juliano and Dum were very energetic. We could feel they would just love to gallop and buck but they were very obedient and respected our choices of pace. Juliano was leading and at first Dum was not happy with slow trot but soon he learned that J would not give up the lead and just went with the flow. After a long walk we went down our small cross country road where we allowed the boys to canter and blow off steam. Than trotted deeper into the forest to arrive at a field for a bit of grazing. Juliano spooked a few times but it looked more like he wanted to do something crazy then actual spooking out of fear. He would jump, buck, canter few strides and than stop and turn his head toward me with a face saying "Look how cool that was now give me a treat woman". We both agreed with Magda that with this amount of energy in our horses we would probably have ended in a dead gallop if we had less respect from our horses. So, well done to them for putting their relationship with us before their need to run.

After the hack I took Juliano to the paddock where Marta was playing with Drezyna. I turned J loose and helped Marta with the idea of sideways game. Drezyna was doing great. She was trying so hard and understood the game very quickly. At first we thought she will have problems with her blind side but even though she could not see us she felt our "go sideways" energy very well and when she got confused she would turn her other eye to us. In the meantime Juliano got bored with no one paying attention to him and started showing off. He started putting his feet on the palettes which were scattered around the paddock. He than stood on one and was looking at me if I was watching or not. He is a true rock star and constantly needs to shine. By the way, yesterday Juliano learned sideways towards me which I thought we would never do. So for Drezyna it was the first day of sideways and for Juliano sideways towards a person. One interesting note: even though you thing something is impossible to do, especially with a horse, if you give yourself time and take it slow at first it all falls into place pretty quickly. Just go out there and try it, you will be amazed.

On-line Sunday

2010-11-07T18:03:00.004+01:00

A short clip from our on-line fun on Sunday. Quite a few "Oh-boys" on the way and tons of things to work on. Soon we are going to have our brand new round corral so now is it time to polish our on-line and be ready for liberty.

Freestyle - consistently amazing Juliano

2010-11-03T11:59:00.006+01:00

We've been doing a lot of freestyle and had a good finesse session. In freestyle he is amazing. He is relaxed, balanced, doesn't speed up when confused and even when he does speed up he relaxes few seconds later. In fact he is so relaxed most of the time he looks like this:

It is great and when I ride him bareback I can feel he is using his back correctly and floats in the trot. The only problem is I can get his head up :) and 80% of our rides are in this "trailing hound" position. This worries me, maybe he is sad, maybe under the weather. To have a crazy ex-race horse change into a perfect partner is still surreal for me and that is why I'm obsessing a bit.

Yesterday, again Juliano was very obedient and again he was doing a slow, almost western pleasure like trot, balanced and collected canter. He did everything I asked him for and I started missing Juliano's own inventions and ideas. But than along came Marta (Drezyna's owner) and said "Be more provocative" and sat there throwing ideas at me. Do a serpentine, stop, canter, trot, change direction... she was spot on right. Juliano woke up and started having fun again. It is funny how sometimes you need someone else to remind you things you know so well.

Sunday hack

2010-10-31T00:03:00.002+02:00

Like every Sunday, we went on a hack and allowed our horses to choose which way they wanted to go. We ended up in the big field. Juliano and Dum love to go there. I think they like the open space, tons of grass and visiting 3 gray Arabians who live there. Seeing other horses used to be very nerve recking for Juliano before, he would get very excited, shake and sweet. Now he likes to visit other stables and observes other horses.

Video of Juliano playing with a ball

2010-10-22T13:38:00.004+02:00

Finally a video of Juliano playing with a jumping ball during our play day a month ago.

Video from our last warm days

2010-10-22T10:31:00.003+02:00

I've managed to upload a short clip from our last hack to the lake. It was so much fun!

First rides in the indoor arena

2010-10-21T11:19:00.005+02:00

We are having a beautiful autumn this year in Poland. Clear skies mostly with an occasional shower. But this soon will be over, it is going to get colder and what's more important after the time change it will be dark just after 4PM. The season of indoor riding is about to start. I've never been a fan of riding in our indoor arena. Juliano used to spook there and with other people riding it was hard to ride bridle-less. One mistake and it is all on you, after all it may seem you have less control over your horse if you go bit-less. This is how we left things last year - indoor arena last place we wanted to ride in.

This year after first two rides there I'm pleasantly surprised. Juliano is calm, doesn't spook, is not bothered with other horses riding by. He is finally OK with riding inside even when the arena gets crowded. He follows the walls of the arena perfectly, last year it was impossible to keep him straight on the line and we would end up on a circle in the middle trying to regain control and a calm pace.

A thing that led to this breakthrough in Juliano's attitude towards the indoor school is the fact that our horses were allowed to go into the arena during the summer months. The arena was open at all times as we stored hay there. Our horses would graze in the filed just next to the arena and this gave them an opportunity to regularly jump out of the paddock and run into the arena. At first it was a mystery to us, why they wanted to go in there and eat hay instead of fresh grass. It was so hot underneath this big balloon, almost like in a sauna. Soon we realised there were no insects there and that's why our horses liked it so much. They chose heat over flies. I guess now they associate the indoor arena with a fun place. All these times they went into the school as a herd with no humans made them feel safe and comfortable.

During winter there will be no hay in the arena but I think our horses will still enjoy it. Soon, when the snow falls, it will be the only place where they can roll in sand.

Happy hackers

2010-10-19T10:42:00.000+02:00

For these past few days Juliano has been amazing! He is so obedient and focused. I'm still a bit puzzled by that. Now I have to be careful not be a direct line thinker and not to take too much advantage of his obedience. I also have to think of something new for Juliano to learn. In the meantime we have focused on the fun part of riding - trail riding!

Last week we went on 3 trail rides. One was with Pressing which was fun and quite exciting as we ended up on a big field where Juliano could show off his speed. Juliano came back home wet, all the excitement of running in the field and bucking got him tired a bit or that's what I thought. I got of him after our last trot to help him cool down faster. When we arrived back at the stables he still wanted to go out and play with Dum. Maybe he wasn't as tired as I thought after all.

Next two days we've spent hacking out with Magda and Dum. Both horses were perfect. We allowed them to choose their own speed in trot and canter. They've done a wonderful job keeping their paces rythmic and calm. One thing worth mentioning is Juliano's motivation to keep Dum under control. Dum is a LBI but when he starts cantering in the woods he easily goes into "I'm not stopping" mode. There is nothing a rider can do to stop him because his neck is so tense that you can't bend him. Juliano on the other hand is more likely to explode, go very fast but he soon slows down or looses interest in running all together and stops. So we've always had our back-up plan if things went wrong with Dum and Juliano was our secret weapon. When Dum was out of control I would overtake him on Juliano, stop Juliano and J would stop Dum with a kick. Now Juliano thinks it is his responsibility to keep Dum under control and I don't have to ask him or guide him. It even got to the point where Juliano learned to canter sideways in order to keep Dum second and prevent him from over-taking. It's one of these things I mentioned in my past posts. You don't even sometimes realise what you are teaching your horse. I used him before to stop Dum but I didn't think I could teach him that. Juliano understood his task very well, him dominating nature kicked in very fast and now he thinks it is his responsibility to control the situation.

4 years together – how things have changed

2010-10-13T13:53:00.012+02:00

I bought Juliano exactly 4 years ago on the day of my birthday. I've had him on loan for some time before but the day I bought him meant it was only me and him from that day on. No one else would ride him, no one else would train him, it was all up to us how we would interact with each other in the future. I knew I wanted to be the best human for Juliano on the face of the World but I wasn't sure how to do that. Then I got inspired, I saw a video of Pat riding a gray horse bareback and bride-less (even „string-less”) than I saw Mikey and Red Sun and I was hooked. I wanted to have a connection with my horse just like they did with their horses. „I want us to be just like that”, I thought, where do I sign in.

We've had a long and twisted journey. I was rediscovering horses again, as I thought I knew horses well before I've met Juliano. Juliano on the other hand was rediscovering humans as he wasn't the greatest fun of people before. We've had moments of horror, galloping in the woods, with no control, moments of my tears when I thought I would never be able to ride him and be safe. After some time we've started making progress. Small steps at first, then big breakthroughs, then few steps back. Juliano was always a 9 on a scale go=whoa. His impulsiveness was something I had most troubles with because how can you organize yourself in your body when every time you move your legs or your seat the horse jumps from underneath you. Let's just put it this way, we've had tons of uncontrollable canters in the first two years. In the next two years I knew I've had some control over Juliano's impulsiveness but it still looked uncontrollable to the outside world.

On the day of our 4th 'anniversary' I've realised something very important has happened. Juliano is no longer a 9 on the scale! Over this past week I've been riding him bareback with a string and day after day his go matched his whoa. He is a 5/6 and for an owner of an ex-race horse this is the best birthday present ever!

Happy canter

Yesterday our ride started to resemble the video I saw 4 years ago of Pat. I didn't have to use the string or the stick to do a trot-walk-backup jojo's. Juliano followed my focus, was very relaxed and went down from a canter to halt immediately after I took my energy down. He was so obedient that I started drilling my friend who was watching us ride „Is Juliano sad, does he look bored?”. I was so shocked and pleased with him that it didn't occur to me he was happy, relaxed and obedient. I was used to this crazy ball of energy underneath me. Now I still have an extroverted, energetic horse but we finally can start shaping this energy together into something great. It took us 4 years, for some this can seem a very long time, others might say „You could have done it in a week if you just slapped draw reins on that horse”. For me it is a dream come true, 4 years ago I couldn't even imagine riding Juliano in a halter.

It’s all part of a grander plan that is coming true.

Play Day - 4 years with Juliano

2010-10-09T21:51:00.005+02:00

We've had a brilliant play day, it was great fun mixed with learning. Few of our "classical" friends joined us with their horses and we ended up with 6 humans and 7 horses in our play field at one point.

Exactly 4 years ago from today I've bought Juliano. Buying him was the best decision I've ever made and I couldn't have wished for a better horse. Today he was going around the field, exploring all the balls, tarps and other scary things and it was amazing to observe how much he has changed over these years. He was very confident and in fact he was trying to show other horses what to do with the toys. I also brought a thick foam for horses to stand on. Juliano was very curious. He immediately wanted to stand on it but when he did the foam flattened underneath his hoof. He was surprised but few seconds later he was standing on the foam with both feet. It was so cool. He was at liberty most of our play day.

Here are some photos, you can see more on my Flickr photostream

Juliano with the Green Ball

Eparol with the Green Ball

Juliano exploring foam

Juliano destroying the tarp

Hula Dum

Drezyna with foam

Lama

Dum and Impet

Happy J

J bringing Justyna to her knees

Justyna riding Zawieja bitless

Plan vs reality

2010-10-05T10:14:00.004+02:00

Every time I go to see Juliano I seem to have a plan. A plan to ride, play on-line, do liberty, work on a pattern etc. If I have time before making my way down to the stables I watch a DVD of Pat or Linda or read an article and then I visualize how will I teach Juliano and myself that concept. I think of a blueprint of what small things we have to work on. I go to the stables with all these ideas and plans for our session. It's all easy and picture perfect in my mind but then the reality verifies my plans. There are so many factors that can influence what we do on that day: time span, the weather, Juliano's mood, my mood, farriers visit, friends and so on. So how to plan your and your horses progress and not make it a goal before principle? Tricky question and even trickier answer. I recently discovered that the greatest plan is not to have a plan at all.

Being Parelli students we have so many things to work on, so many ideas and fun things to do, that sometimes I have a feeling I should play with Juliano a few times a day to cover all areas. There is on-line, liberty, freestyle and finesse and a million exciting challenges in each savvy. You travel up the levels with your horse and after each you think "Now, now we know everything!". Soon after that, another door of another level opens and you know it's just the tip of an ice-berg. Again you have so many things to learn and it gets more and more exciting each step of the way. For most of us horsemanship is our passion, something we want to learn every day and we devote a big part of our life to it. We go to see our horses eager to learn, eager to ride and then...

… then there is the horse - our beloved animal, which has it's own needs, ideas and preferences. Now comes the tricky part, the part where our human plans meet the state of mind in which our horse is in. Do we continue with our plan for the day? If we are at home with our horse, not on a course does it go: Monday – freestyle, Tuesday – finesse, Wednesday -on-line, Thursday – Liberty, Friday – Hack, Saturday – Play Day, Sunday – off? From what I've observed in interacting with Juliano, 9 out of 10 times I have had to change my plan. Lets say I want to ride, do some finesse and I go to get Juliano from the field but I can clearly see he is in a super playful mood and I don't have time to do both, play and ride. Do I continue with my plan and say "OK, knock it off, we are going to do lead changes today" or do I take this playfulness, grab a 22" foot line and just go play? The answer is simple, I abandon my plan and follow Juliano's idea. This is easier said than done, at first I was a bit angry with myself, I thought "I didn't do anything special with Juliano, we didn't learn anything". After some time I started to realise I actually learned a lot more and so did my horse. By allowing him to choose his "plan" he actually offered more and learned faster. There were times when we didn't ride for a week or two but we've had breakthrough after breakthrough on the ground. These were the most amazing sessions. Just yesterday, I wanted to ride but we ended up doing Liberty. Liberty is not my strongest savvy yet but I was blown away by Juliano's focus on me. He would trot back to me when I asked him to disengage from the end of the arena, not round corral, arena! Our draw has never been so powerful. In the photo, you can see the exact moment in which I've asked Juliano to come to me. His feet were still moving away but I got his mind and few seconds later he was standing next to me.

This was a dream Liberty session and I wanted to ride instead!

I now have a golden formula for me and Juliano. I keep a blueprint in my mind of patterns and ideas to play around in all four savvies. I try to be one step ahead with my part of the learning and the information that I may need. I don't make plans for particular days, I allow Juliano to do that for me. I go to the stables, greet him and observe him for a bit. After short time I know what he wants to do, what mood he is in. It's his idea and his choice of a classroom in which he wants to be on that day: on-line, liberty, freestyle or finesse. It took me some time to figure out how to be flexible and as Pat says „put principles before goals”. How do you plan your sessions? I can't wait to read your ideas.

Juliano is a rock star

2010-10-04T12:12:00.012+02:00

I just got a book that I was dying to get my hands on - "Is Your Horse a Rock Star? Understanding Your Horse's Personality" by Dessa Hockley. It's a book that describes Horsenalities in a fun way for example: The Rock Star, The Goddess, The Macho Man or The Steady Eddy. The book is a fun addition to the Horsenality chart and all the information from Linda.

Based on the description in the book Juliano is a Rock Star! He loves the attention, has a strong ego, is very cocky but charming at the same time. "The Rock Star wants to live large and along the way enjoy freedom, fun and friendship". That's Juliano alright :)

Juliano - I do all my own stunts!

"If this horse has come into your life, it is time to widen your horizons and go play!" No doubt Parelli is the way forward!

The moment I've been waiting for

2010-10-03T13:04:00.002+02:00

Today, I've focused on out freestyle again. To be honest I'm not happy with my saddle lately, I'm not sure it fits J and it puts me in a strange riding position that's why I do most of my riding bareback now. That's one of the reasons I'm focusing on freestyle, besides it's just so much fun.

Juliano was simply brilliant. I think it was the first time he was so responsive and thinking in canter. We could speed up and slow down, speed up and slow down again and this was all based on my suggestions - phase 1 with the string. For some this can be a very simple exercise but for us there was fast canter or no canter at all. Today Juliano was very focused on me and he delivered a great slow and rhythmic canter. One screw up on my part though. We were doing figure eights with a simple lead change in the middle. After few simple changes Juliano offered a flying lead change but I shut him down. I made him go back to a trot after he changed leads and I should have allowed him to continue with the canter. I should have trusted him that he will make it, instead I thought he is not going to change leads and he will only speed up. My bad! The good news is he offered and he wasn't upset after I didn't take it.

Horses Never Forget Human Friends

2010-10-03T10:01:00.002+02:00

I came across a very interesting article on horse behavior:
Horses Never Forget Human Friends. I recommend you also read it.

"From our results, it appears that horses are no different than humans (in terms of positive reinforcement teachings)," according to the researchers. "They behave, learn and memorize better when learning is associated with a positive situation."

Play Day Saturday

2010-09-25T23:12:00.002+02:00

This Saturday worked out just great. I wanted to ride, but Juliano was in a playful mood and Magda wasn't in a mood to ride, so two words "Play Day" and we were running around gathering our big balls, tarps and other scary gizmos. Our little Play Day had an unexpected big turnout as Justyna joined us with her two mares, Kamila took Eparol and Impet and Marta brought Drezyna.

Juliano and Dum decided to test our Liberty. There were a lot of toys in the paddock so at one point of our finger Juliano and Dum would go to the tarp or one of the balls. At one point they started fighting over the tarp and than started ripping it to shred. The green ball was also very popular. Most of our horses feared the ball so much they would not approach it, they would keep at least 20-50 meter distance depending on the horse. Not today, today all our horses loved the green ball. Juliano is getting better and better at playing "hoofball" with it. He kicks it, then follows, then kicks it again.

At the end Juliano made all of us cry. We also have a jumping ball for kids with two horns on it. Juliano grabbed the ball by one of it's horns and started tossing it around while still holding it. Than he started putting it on Lama's back just like I put the green ball on his. In the end Juliano wanted to hit Dum Dum with the ball but he lost grip and let go. The ball flew up in the air couple of meters and landed on Juliano's rump. Julino was shocked, jumped and then blamed Dum for the whole thing. It was so funny I couldn't hold the camcorder still.

Sunny autumn day at the lake

2010-09-24T22:38:00.001+02:00

I really wanted to do finesse today, but... it was sunny and warm so I've quickly changed my mind and decided to go to the lake with other two horses. It was amazing fun. Juliano was more than happy to go into the lake, in fact he dragged me into it to eat reed. I think photos will give away the spirit of the day better than words.

Horsenality frenzy

2010-09-21T11:44:00.024+02:00

Today I was supposed to play with only 3 horses, Juliano mostly and two of Justyna's and Marta's mares as they are both on holidays. As the day went by I got asked to look after another two horses. At first I thought "Oh boy, what did I get into", but soon I realised this day could be a great learning opportunity. I started thinking of something all 5 horses would cope with and something they didn't do with their owners before. Figure 8! I've cleared my schedule for the rest of the day, made a thermos of coffee for me, a thermos of linseed for J and headed off to the stables. I've written "Don't make assumptions" on my hand as I caught myself thinking which horse will do best and which will have troubles with the task. I've decided not to assume anything, not to pressure any horse as they are all used to other types of handling. Figure 8 would be a concept to play around not a goal.

First up, Ben the stallion. I've played with Ben few times before and it seems to me he is mainly a left-brain introvert. When he gets excited he goes into extrovert mode of course. Ben came out of his stall with a very dominant attitude. He wouldn't respect my personal space and would ignore me. This went on for quite a while until I got my act together. We've revisited jo-jo game, hide your hiney and changes of direction on a circle. I soon found out Ben was pushing with his nose way into my personal space when he was asked to face me and change direction. It was quite a challenge to get his attention then change direction and not get run over by him in the process. I knew that timing was everything here, if I went to fast up my phases I would provoke him and have a massive stallion argument on my hands. So I would maneuver around faze 1,2,3 with a quick faze 4 if he totally ignored me. I used a quick flick of a string on his chest for faze 4. This didn't get him all excited and what's more important it didn't give him an excuse to rear up. After he got tagged he would stand and start to ask questions. When we got our ground rules figured I've introduced him to the figure 8 pattern. Ben couldn't do it at a walk, after each loop of an eight he would go into either trot or canter. I took it and didn't mind his impulsion. It was his zone 1 I was focusing on. After a while of defending my space he relaxed and did a figure 8 without putting pressure on me. He faced me with his ears forward asking a question "Which way now?". I took it and Ben finally got it. He licked his lips, stood with me for few minutes, didn't try to chew on me. So figure 8 with Ben was more about his attitude then anything else. One would expect that with a LBI/LBE it would be about fun and play but is wasn't. Don't make assumptions. I've quit when I saw Ben offered his attention and positive attitude.

Ben the LB stallion

Second in line was Drezyna - a right-brain extrovert mare which went through a lot in her live. Her owner did an amazing job in making her calm and confident. Few years ago Drezyna lost her right eye due to large sarcoid that grew into her eyelid. Keeping all of that in mind I started of with a lot of friendly with the stick, especially on the side that she couldn't see me. I was pleasantly surprised that she wouldn't mind me rubbing her on her "blind" side and would respond in a very calm way to the lightest porcupine. After making sure she was OK with me and my tools I showed her around our little play field and what figure 8 pattern is all about. I was taking things very slow and rewarded her slightest try. 5 minutes later she was doing a perfect figure 8. She was checking in with me very often and was positive and responsive even when I had to dive her away from her "blind" side. What a brave little mare. This experience was so much different to Ben. With Drezyna it was about making my signals as clear but at the same time as light as possible. She remained left brain from the beginning till the end of the session and I was very happy with that. Sometimes we get caught in a trap of categorizing horses. "You are a RBE, show me RBE behavior" and we push horses into the right-brain of thinking because than we know what we are dealing with. "Play with a horse that shows up that day" - that's so important. I must admit, I was thinking of asking Drezyna to do the figure 8 in trot, but I wasn't there to test which horse could learn the figure 8 the fastest. I wanted to see what each horse would offer. Drezyna offered her confidence and I was thrilled with that.

RB Drezyna

Zawieja - 20 year-old mare LBI mostly, sometimes very right-brain and spooky. Zawieja is a horse I've known for a very long time, when she was younger she was a threat to all riders, she would buck most people off. Now as Zawieja is older and wiser and you have to work for every step that she takes. Today, Zawieja was lacking character a bit with the figure 8. She would do it, but it wasn't very exciting for her. Every change of direction she would go on to do another loop of an eight with a face saying "Blah, blah, I'm moving my feat" but her mind was somewhere else. So I've quit doing the pattern with her and moved on to the ball. Zawieja used to be as afraid of the ball as Juliano was. I asked her to approach it, she did, I asked her to touch it, she did. I soon found out that ball on the ground wasn't a problem any more and she is ready for the next level - ball in the air. I played the friendly game by rubbing the ball on her feet, than shoulders as she wasn't allowing me to go for the withers yet. Soon that also changed. The ball was on Zawieja's back and she was confident. Zawieja offered me trust, trust that the ball in my hands will not hurt her. In the future I would love to see Zawieja get interested in the pattern, but who knows maybe she will and after obedience exuberance will come.

20 year-old Zawieja

Juliano was the horse I was waiting to play with all day. We had some unresolved issues from yesterday and I was anxious to see what state of mind he was in. Yesterday he was very playful with the catching game. Yes, he came to me when he first saw me in the paddock but soon started his usual routine "Not gonna catch me, not gonna catch me". He would come to me and than take off bucking and stop at the other end of the field. This went on for 30 minutes. After a while Juliano came to me again, but I knew he would take of just as soon as he reached me. I gave him a treat, didn't face him, instead I run across the paddock, over the fence and didn't stop until I knew Juliano couldn't see me. I hid behind some trees and looked back, he was standing there shocked. He stood there for at least 5 minutes, trying to figure out where I went, he even walked toward the fence. Of course I came back after a while and the roles finally changed, Juliano wouldn't leave my side. This was yesterday. Today I could see Juliano standing at the gate every time I came back from playing with first Ben, than Drezyna and Zawieja. He was ready, he wanted to do something with me and he was more and more anxious every time I walked by. I took it as a great compliment and finally after 3 hours with the other horses went to pick him up from the paddock. He pushed his head into the halter and was almost prancing with joy when we were walking to the play field. If I was to judge him by his performance on the figure 8 he would get a 2 maybe a 3 but he offered me something that I liked even better. His mind was with me straight away, he was asking me questions and wanted to put his feet on everything. It looked as if he was asking me questions about each foot, for the very first time I could direct him to put either right or left foot on something. He was amazing! He was exuberant and obedient and this doesn't happen very often. I was so pleased with him, he was showing me all the time "Look I can do this and this, look, look". I was pleasantly surprised by yet another horse. I didn't expect Juliano to be so connected. He has given me trust, confidence and exuberance plenty of times before but today he gave me his heart and mind.

At the end of the session we went crazy with Juliano :)

The last horse I've had a chance to play with was Eparol. A beautiful Arabian gelding who is a mystery to me. Just like Juliano he is an ex-race horse. He is a LBE around horses but with humans he tends to go RBI. A very hard horse to read and I must admit I always have doubt whether he is obedient or introverted and is hiding inside himself. It was very hard for me to disengage his hind-quarters and get a connection. He was obedient and he would do as asked but I could feel that he does not trust me. I would love to see more playfulness in him around people. After a while Eparol started looking at me with a bit more sparkle in his eye. He would even through in a question or two. It was very subtle and shy and hard to read but it was there. Eparol still remains unclear to me and I guess it would take a lot more time for him to open up to me. He offered a tiny window into his heart today and for me this was plenty enough for that session.

Arabian gelding - Eparol

It was a long and exciting day. A lot of horsenalities and a lot of changes in horsenalities as we went along. I didn't want to assume anything and expect or demand anything from any horse. I think I've done a good job at that. What I've learned today I will use with Juliano from now on.

1. Take what the horse is offering you, even if you didn't want it at the time. If he offers, take it and appreciate it because if you shut him down next time he might be to shy to offer.

2. In the boldest print of all - Play with a horse that shows up that day. Juliano is LBE most of the time, but he can go RBE and even sometimes LBI. Treating him always like you should treat a LBE would be a mistake. If he goes RBE I help him get his confidence back by retreating for example. If he goes LBI I help him get his mojo back by giving him a purpose.

3. If you have a chance, play with different horses, you don't have to teach them or set goals for them. Most of us have one horse and we become experts in one horsenality. Observe other horsenalities as one day your horse may need your support of a flexible horseman.

Great day!

2010-09-18T22:21:00.008+02:00

Today we've had a perfect ride. We started off on a 22" line with few games to get Juliano into a more collected and settled state of mind. From the first moment I saw Juliano at his stall today I knew he is very playful and a bit naughty. He finished his lunch and wanted to go out immediately he was very anxious. That's why I wanted to check him out on-line first.

We started off with a falling leaf pattern. We did 4-5 changes of direction and in the middle of the 5 change Juliano stopped and dropped to the ground and decided to roll. I found that very funny. The ground was freshly harrowed and I guess he just couldn't resist it.

Look at J's face on this photo, this is a very dominant J

After that we continued with the pattern and few seconds later I had Juliano's eyes and mind. I got on and was surprised how obedient and responsive he was. We played with sideways here, sideways there. Than Juliano did the most calm and collected walk-canter, canter-walk transitions. He was truly magnificent. I got off and Juliano followed me to the pasture at liberty.

And here you have sweet J

Mushroom picking with Juliano

2010-09-09T20:18:00.009+02:00

It was raining cats and dogs all day today and the first thought in a Polish mind when it's raining in autumn is - mushrooms! I arrived at the stables and Juliano was clearly ready to go out and do something. So we've decided to take our horses mushroom picking with us. I took Juliano and headed into the woods with Wojtek and Eparol. Both horses were following us through trees, bushes and some very uneven ground. There were a lot of situations where we all had to squeeze under very low branches. Both Juliano and Eparol soon learned to follow our footsteps and avoid going on the other side of trees. They also learned not to step on mushrooms. Juliano has contributed to mushroom picking by putting grass into the bucket. Every time I would put a mushroom into the bucket he would put his mouth full of grass in it to check on our progress.

Liberty Day 2

2010-09-08T10:11:00.012+02:00

Today I walked into the field, where Juliano was grazing with his friends, to fix our round corral after a windy night. As I was moving the posts and fixing the tape I saw Juliano walk toward the round corral. He walked in and stopped in the middle with a face saying "What are we going to do today?". I took it as a great compliment and stood there with him for a while enjoying his company.

After our long friendly game I checked the things we've learned yesterday:

Stick to me was even better
Following the feel was much better
Figure 8 was starting to take shape
Juliano even offered side-ways without a fence, jupii

I was focusing on J so hard I didn't even notice that few of his pasture friends we trying to get into the corral. As Justyna was also there and her horse (Lama) wanted to join Juliano in the corral we've let her in.

Juliano greeting Lama in the corral

Now I had 2 horses to play with. It was great fun. Lama is a young left brain horse, she is curious what makes her a fast learner. I sent both horses on a circle a couple of times. Juliano would make one lap and join me in the center, Lama would continue and than come in. Soon I realized Juliano would rather stand with me and watch Lama run around. It was amazing how glued he was to me. Great day!

Both horses on the circle

Now only Lama

Juliano with me, Lama on the circle

Justyna with Lama

Me and Juliano

Lama enjoying a scratch

Love, language and leadership - Liberty Day 1

2010-09-07T11:55:00.009+02:00

We are revisiting Liberty after a long break. Yesterday I took things real slow and it payed off, Juliano wanted to stay with me and was thinking a lot. In fact we were both licking and chewing, have a look at the photos :)

I'm happy to report our partnership and harmony is growing and we've even synchronized our face expressions. In my post describing RFOH I mentioned that a lot of instructors and their horses share the same face expression when they play together.

Polite and passive persistence - Green ball breakthrough

2010-09-01T12:00:00.013+02:00

It took us 2 years to tackle the scariness of the green ball. I must confess I never gave Juliano enough time to conquer his fears. I always reckoned he is too scared and I didn't want to push him. Yesterday we finally got over our fears: Juliano's fear of the ball, my fear of pushing him of a cliff.

Here's how it went over these 2(!) years:

First Juliano was scared to death. There was no way he would approach the ball and if I tried to encourage him he would back up and I couldn't stop him to back up. Joanna helped me one day and did a circling game and squeeze game with Juliano next to the ball. He got a bit more confident but he was still very right-brain.

No Way!

Then I just gave up, I didn't know any better. After some time I've got Juliano a rock'n'roll ball which you can put treats into and if the horse rolls it they pop out. He was scared of that too but when he saw Dum eating treats next to the ball he decided to give it a go. Now the ball is his and he will not share it with anyone not even Dum. So we've got Dum a second ball. First time Juliano was very frustrated and was running from one ball to another and attacking Dum. He soon figured out a way to roll the balls close together and keep both of them for himself.

This year I bought a big Parelli Green Ball and started working with that. I've decided to use the same tactics as with the rock'n'roll ball, make it about reward and use Juliano's food orientation. I covered it with molasses and soon both Juliano and Dum were drawn to it like bears to honey. Juliano was fine with rolling the ball but if the ball rolled on its own or was pushed by someone he would run away. So the ball in motion was still a big issue.

Yesterday I've planned to be persistent. Juliano was very right-brain at first so I took the time he needed. We approached and if I could feel him getting close to his threshold I would retreat. Than a friend came to talk to me. Over the time I was doing the talking, Juliano was doing the thinking and vuala, after my friend left Juliano was ready to sniff the ball. From there it went nose-neck-maybe the feat and soon Juliano was pushing the ball himself. I encouraged him to follow me with the ball between us. He would kick the ball and follow it. At the end Juliano kicked the ball into a big puddle. Now, this was a challenge! Before, he was not very happy about both balls and puddles. But this time he went into the water and pushed the ball onto dry land. I guess the Green Ball is not a threat to us any more.

It's funny, because when I've heard Pat say "polite and passive persistence" I thought "Ok, this makes sense". I thought I knew what I knew but I didn't. To really understand and know you have to go out there and make it happen. Juliano taught me that today. If I didn't go passive I'm sure I would have quit at some stage and we would be back at square 1!

Holidays

2010-08-30T09:53:00.002+02:00

I've been away for almost a week and both Juliano and I got much needed vacation. He spent whole days in the pasture, I went windsurfing, hiking and mushroom picking. I had daily reports from my stable friends on how Juliano is doing and I can see a certain pattern. When I'm away Juliano is very obedient, calm and quiet. Like he is not there. He goes out, comes in, gets his feed and days flow. When I come back he has this one day of joy and craziness in him. He is very exuberant, mischievous and "naughty".

This time, when I came back on Sunday he was like living fire. Shouting from his stall whenever I left him. Observing my every move. We went on a slow trail ride with Magda and Juliano didn't know what to do with his energy, he would do this beautiful suspended trot and toss his head. He was also quite jealous because when we were getting ready for our hack he attacked Dum for getting closer to me. Hmmmm, how interesting. I wonder what is going to happen after I leave him for a month next year to go to Pagosa.

Talk to your horse

2010-08-19T23:53:00.006+02:00

I have recently noticed that Juliano is getting quite fat. With the fatness came laziness and this caused an alarm to go off in my head. My horse not only looks like a sack of hay on 4 thin legs but he plays less with his pasture mates and bucks less when we ride (he does this funny dolphin like canter with tiny bucks when he is happy). Is this another level 4 „Oh boy” or is he just getting old? Or maybe he is so fit emotionally these days and it is his calmness? Well I have just figured out the answer and of course I blame myself.

Fat Juliano

When you start playing with your horse on Level 1 you not only start building rapport, gaining respect, working on your horses mental and emotional fitness but you also start to develop a language. Just like Pat says, first comes the alphabet (Level 1), then words (Level 2), thaen sentences (Refinement – Level 3) and the most exciting part the conversation (Level 4). You go through your levels and changes start to happen, then you land at level 4 and finally you can „talk” to your horse and you accomplish things with him you would never dream of. But what if you don't talk enough or you try to have a conversation about the weather and your horse is clearly ready to discuss more serious issues. Well, you get into trouble and your horse gets fat :)

Just like with human relationships, you need to look after the relationship you have with your horse. You have to nurture it in order to make it blossom. Let's say you meet someone and later this someone turns out to be your best friend for life. The scenario usually goes like this: introduction (Level 1), small-talk (Level 2), then comes the need to tell this person your life's story (Level 3), then you share everything together, talk about everything etc. (Level 4). I have noticed, with horses, it works the same way and you can't let go when you are on level 3/4. Just like with human friends you have to check in once in a while and with best friends you have to do way more. Unfortunately I have miss-understood my purpose and role in Juliano's life. This moment of being lost in translation lasted only a while but still managed to bring Juliano's energy down and made him less happy with his life. I started to observe him and he wasn't as mentally active, creative and naughty as before. I didn't see him play with other horses for few weeks, I didn't see him flirt with the mares, he didn't even buck and run in the pasture. I had no idea what was going on.

I always looked after Juliano's needs and I wanted him to be able to act like a horse, not a robot. I wanted him to spend as much time as possible with his herd. I wanted him to have a herd with mares and geldings. I didn't stop him from covering mares and fighting for his herd rights. I wanted him to be a horse but in the meantime I have also worked on our horse-man relationship. When I got to level 3/4 our play sessions and rides become much shorter. He was in a learning state of mind from the very moment I got on him. I asked him for something, lets say walk-canter, canter-walk transitions and he delivered so I got off, thanked him and left him for the day. I figured, why ask for more. I was certain he would rather be with his friends. This went on for few months, but I finally realised that this is not the way you should treat a friend. My horse was ready to have a complex conversation and I would hang up on him after his first sentence. I have worked on our language very hard for past few years and in that time I became, believe it or not, important to him. And yes, I should still let him be a horse and give him as much time as he needs with his herd, but he also needs his time with me now.

Recently, I have changed my tactics and I'm not afraid to ask him to spend time with me instead of his herd. I've started asking for more, flying lead changes, side-pass in canter on-line, Spanish walk and other complex issues. I don't talk to Juliano about the weather any more, I have long conversations with him. I ask him to figure out puzzles and to be mentally active. This has caused two amazing things to happen. First of all, the old Juliano is back, he plays with other horses, runs and bucks and is noticing the mares again. The second change is in our relationship. When I play with him he has this special look on his face, I can see he is with me with all his hart and he wants to continue talking to me. I'm also sure Juliano will loose his pot belly pretty soon.

A conclusion to all this can be scary for some, just like in our human relationships. You have to COMMIT to your horse once you've got his friendship. Sometimes you will both agree and you will have a great session and sometimes you will have a bad one. It is a relationship, it has it's ups and downs but it carries on day by day, week by week, year by year. You have to be there for your horse if you want him to be there for you. I would never imagine it to be true but it is – by becoming horseman we become an important part of our horses lives.

Juliano is a super horse!

2010-08-14T18:05:00.002+02:00

I'm still smiling after today's ride in the woods. I went on a hack with Juliano and an Arabian gelding called Eparol. Both horses used to race so you can only imagine what could happen on a long straight trail in the wood if both horses decided to have a little race.

Juliano was leading and he was quite energetic but instead of going fast he would go more up, he was very exuberant in his trot and in canter he would collect himself. I could feel his energy but it was more of a playful, fun energy. It was quite windy so there were times when I felt Juliano was loosing confidence, but a gentle stroke on his neck and me saying "It's OK"and he would march on as nothing was happening. He was very brave. He also went through paddles which is very rare for him.

You probably wonder why I call Juliano a super horse after just a simple hack. Well to ride an off-track TB on a windy day on a trail and have a calm ride is pretty amazing. Today I didn't use reins of the hackamore to control J, we did all our transitions just with my energy going up or down. Juliano also did a canter-stop transition which made my day. Canter-stop transition on a long, straight path, without using reins - I have a super horse :)

I know that game, I invented that game

2010-08-11T10:08:00.014+02:00

Welcome to the "new" me. Remember my last post was about me not being assertive enough with Juliano and overprotective. Well, I'm trying to change that and I can see the first results. The first big change is our catching game.

Juliano is very creative when it comes to playing games with humans. He took catching game into the next level for me. We both know well the "standard" scenario of the catching game so for some time now Juliano was telling me this is not enough for him. He has reversed my reversed psychology. I don't know if he is keeping the score but I think lately it was something close to 10:0 for him. Juliano knows what I want, I want him to come to me, and this is what he does, he walks to me. But at that point the game is not over yet. A horse can either come to you and stay or come to you and do something you don't want or you didn't plan. So how can a horse win the catching game with a human that knows the ground rules of the game? It's quite simple really. This is Juliano's formula of winning the catching game (at this point I'm glad Juliano doesn't have a blog and he won't share this with your horses):

1. Pretend you are doing what your human wants, walk towards.
2. Your human will turn around and wait for you.
3. Walk as silently as you can and when you reach your human's shoulder, run!
4. Run as fast as you can and than turn and face.

You can clearly see it on this short clip (0:30sec):

The first time Juliano did this I was surprised, the second time I started laughing but the third time got me thinking. Is this disrespect or maybe he knows I want to ride and he is trying to avoid that. I was on the verge of fixating about this, but that I remembered that I shouldn't worry because it's just a game. Next time I went to the paddock with a more playful attitude. I suggested to Juliano that I would like him to come to me. I got his attention and waited. I listened for his hoof steps. When he was close enough and I knew one more step and he will be gone I decided to do the opposite of what I would usually do. I didn't face him, I run! I run just as Juliano would and it blew his mind. He started running behind me and wouldn't leave my side. It must have looked insane to other people. I was running and J was chasing me.

I think we humans tend to think "one game at a time", we focus on a certain game when we play with our horses and we expect a certain outcome. Our horses, on the other hand, play multiple games with us. Whats more they can also play with other horses at the same time. With a horse like Juliano you have to think "game" all the time. I won the catching game this time because I "flirted" with Juliano a bit. It's a bit like being in high school again, games that boys play with girls and vice versa. I want your attention when you ignore me, when I have your attention I ignore you.

Where did our rapport go - the story of an overprotective mother

2010-08-03T23:17:00.017+02:00

We've had plenty of rain today, great relief after yet another week of scorching sun. Perfect time to play on-line. With no bugs I could focus and so could both of my horses for today.

First up - Ben. It was day two for Ben and I (our first session was yesterday), but today I didn't even bother to get his bridle, we went "natural" from the very beginning. Yesterday we've finished of in a good, positive place so I've decided not to take him to the round corral. We played in the open today. I got his focus right away - hide your hiney and vuala I had 2 eyes, 2 ears, full concentration. What's interesting he didn't call out to any of the horses during our whole session. We started playing the 7 games. It was going so great that I started thinking about J and how difficult our first sessions had been. I know I had no experience at all when I started with Juliano but something else was missing, something else was different about me. Ben was keeping up with his responsibilities, maintaining gait and direction on a circle. I was standing on a tire, he was going round than he wanted to come in so I took it, rubbed him and sent him of again. He went on a circle and I drifted back to Juliano in my thoughts. What are we missing? Our friendly game is fine, Juliano is very obedient when we ride, all seems to be fine but this spark in Juliano's eyes is missing and he is becoming disinterested in me. He is not asking me questions any more and this gray horse I have going around me now is asking and asking. Then it struck me, I'm not being assertive and provocative enough with Juliano and this is making our rapport go up in flames. Ben is a stallion so I automatically have a different approach to him. When I ask him to back up he's better back up, if I ask him to go onto a circle he'd better... I'm being assertive because I know that if I hesitate and 'maybe' ask him to 'maybe' move away he won't, what's more he will be more than happy to move me. With Juliano I'm different. I'm overprotective and obsessed. Juliano doesn't want to back up at phase 1? Oh, I'm sure he has a good reason for that, I'm not going to up my phases because I'm sure I will offend him. So with Juliano our relationship lately looks like this:

Me: Son, I've made you soup, good soup. Eat it, it's healthy for you. Come on son, eat it while it's hot. Soup, good, hot!
J: Are you crazy, woman! What do you want? Can't you see I'm hanging out with the guys!

There is a great thought in Mastery Manual #10
"A worried leader is not going to win horses repport and respect".
Juliano was very right-brain when I met him, fact. But now I feel me worrying about his feelings is driving him crazy. He needs a cool, confident leader, not an overprotective mum with a bowl of soup following him around the pasture. I didn't know when to quit doing what I was doing. I was calming Juliano down all the time and what he needed was for me to use his LBE energy in a creative way. He is a left-brain extrovert! He needs a challenge!

Ben was getting bored with circling. I invited him in (don't worry, he wasn't going round for ages, my thought process was quick, I'm a LBE, too). Ben desperately wanted to roll in the mud. I drove him away from me and allowed him to roll. When he was done, he got up, put in a small rear and a buck, than started walking directly at me tossing his head. The stallion finally showed his true colors and now I was in trouble! Thank God I found my hidden layers of assertiveness that day. I looked at Ben and wiggled the rope. You'd better... ahh yes, back-up, good boy. I took Ben back to the stables and I didn't feel like leading a stallion any more. He was walking with me, when I stopped he would do the same and wait.

Now it was time for Juliano. I wanted to be the same assertive person with Juliano as I was with Ben few minutes ago. I have a weakness for Juliano and I let a lot of things slide with him. I've decided to ask more from Juliano today and make things happen by being persistent. If things went wrong I would stop and play friendly game. We went to our play field with Magda and our horses and after quick friendly game I asked Juliano to back up. What I got from him was "In a minute". I asked him again but this time I was imagining Ben was standing in front of me. Juliano backed up, stopped and looked at me. His ears were forward and the sparkle in his eyes was back. From that point our session went great. Juliano changed directions with a flying-lead change, he did a canter side-ways and other fancy things. Every time I invited him in he would run back to me with a face saying "What's next, what's next". It was an amazing session with an amazing ending. We walked home at liberty and Juliano got so stuck to me he didn't even think of eating grass or running back to the stables, where supper was just beeing served. I've tested the bond by turning back to the play field. Juliano didn't folow the road home on his own, he turned with me. I was finally worth following.

Today I've learned a life-changing lesson. All that time I was thinking the nicer I'm to my horse the more he would like me. This is a human way of thinking and I followed this path because Juliano had plenty of bad human experiences before and I thought this is the right way to handle him. Horses need more than just being nice to them, they need a good leader. A leader who is fair and knows how to balance the carrot and the sick. We have to adapt to changes we've made in our horses. Juliano needed me to be calm and patient some time ago, now he is ready to go further and I have to match him. I watched Juliano with his pasture mates before we played today. There were 6 horses standing by the fence, Juliano decided to go between the horses and the fence. He moved all 6 horses with just a look on his face, and they didn't kinda move, they would run back when J was approaching them. So how can I be a good leader for a horse that all the other horses answer to? Well, now I know, I have to be more assertive and provocative. It may sound obvious to you but until today I always thought I was putting just enough pressure on Juliano but it turns out I was nagging. I'm glad I had a chance to learn how assertive I should be from Ben, now I can work on it with Juliano. Ben is dominant because he is a stallion, Juliano is dominant because he is Juliano and treating him like a horse lower down the herd hierarchy is insulting him.

Another gray stallion

2010-08-03T00:03:00.011+02:00

I've been asked (again) to look after a gray stallion. Not Pressing this time but a 5 year-old Arabian-cross called The Kairo (stable name Ben). It is a totally different horse, not like Pressing in any way. He is more confident and a bit less sensitive to pressure. I'm going to play with him on-line for few days and maybe I'll get on him if I find him rideable.

Joanna and Ben

Today we've started the 7 games and I must say all went well, except bucking up. That was Ben's Achilles' heel. I did expect that, he is a stallion and I knew he wouldn't jump at the idea of me asking him to go backwards. I've spent quite some time at the round-corral trying to show him an open door if he backed a little, and by "little" I mean shift his weight back. From there we've made a quick progress and soon he was backing-up at phase 1 and 2. On the other hand I was amazed how light he was at porcupine game right from the beginning. I like this horses spirit and I think we will get along fine, I was a bit worried at first as I did hear quite a few horror stories about him.

Juliano on the other hand surprised me today. After I've finished with Ben I took Juliano back to his stall and noticed a long cut on his hind leg. After I've cleaned the wound J would kick out cause it was itching him, but when I went out the stable he would stop. I came back few minutes later and he started kicking again. I've noticed lately that if he gets hurt or gets into trouble he has to share that with me and starts acting like a little baby foal. Hmmmm, how interesting?

We than went for a quick ride into the woods with Magda. We expected an impulsive ride as we don't ride much this summer due to the weather. Of Course we were wrong. Boys were happy, relaxed and maintaining a rhythmic medium trot. There was no need to slow them down or correct them. Juliano was in the lead and he chose a path with a lot of branches on the ground. Every time we went that way before he would try to avoid what was in his way but this time he would slow down a bit to have a better look and go over obstacles. Does this mean J likes jumping now? I'm not getting my hopes up but who knows... maybe, just maybe his attitude towards jumping had changed. He certainly started looking where he is going which is great.

I see friendly game everywhere

2010-07-28T11:20:00.002+02:00

It was a great sunny afternoon and we've decided to go on a hack with Magda and her horse Dum Dum. Last year during summer we would go to the lake with our horses almost every day, but this year Dum got sick so this was our first chance to go swimming. When we've reached the lake Dum immediately went in, he literary dragged Magda into the lake. Juliano wanted to eat grass first but when he saw Dum going for the reeds he decided it's a much better treat for him and followed. We were both sitting on our horses in the water, we were talking and our horses were going over another patch of reeds when someone on the shore started to beat sand out of a blanket. There was a print of a large dog on the blanket. Juliano was afraid and got tense, but the man continued. He than picked another blanket and by the time he finished with it Juliano was back to eating reeds, totally relaxed like nothing happened. What a great friendly game :)

Freestyle - all systems check

2010-07-25T16:14:00.011+02:00

I finally got my saddle out, it was covered in dust. 1 month went by and all we did with Juliano was liberty and bareback riding - it was simply too hot. I didn't have a specific plan for that day only to check if all "systems" still worked. To my surprise the breaks were working better than ever - canter/walk/back-up transitions perfect.

Breaks - check

Steering - check

Gears - check

As all the systems were in place and Juliano was in a positive state of mind I've decided to give jumping a go. Juliano was always sceptical about going over jumps, he would squeeze in between two verticals of a square oxer, he would back up to a jump but he would refuse to go over. I think the underlying cause of our problem was my fear. I would ask Juliano to go over a jump but in my body I was saying stop before it. Clever horse, he knew better than me what I wanted. Today was different, today he was jumping like crazy. He felt my confidence.

Another moving moment

2010-07-24T18:46:00.001+02:00

Yesterday we've "scratched our backs" with J today we had another moving moment. I was standing with Magda in the pasture, we were talking and watching our horses graze. Suddenly one of the mares spooked at something in the forest. All the horses started running, so did Juliano. But instead of following the herd he turned around and ran straight towards me for safety. He stopped and hid behind my back. I had tears in my eyes. For a horse to like a human is one thing but to choose a human over other horses... something magical is at work here.

Bonding with the herd

2010-07-23T21:04:00.000+02:00

Last night we had plenty of rain. Finally our horses could go out to some fresh grass and cool air. I didn't want to spoil Juliano's fun with the gang besides he looked like chocolate Easter bunny, covered with a thick crust of mud. I've decided to have a quick bareback ride. I got on him on the large paddock with other 5 horses surrounding us. I wanted to make our session more about my focus and using the "eyes" on my belly-button and knees more than anything. We did great, few minutes in trot and canter, doing a figure 8 in between two trees. I didn't use the string, so big success, just the focus. I than allowed J to walk up to his friend and the most amazing thing happened. I started scratching J on the neck, he did the same to the other horse and the other horse started scratching my leg. This was our herd moment. Amazing that horses are willing accept us as part of their herd!

Share your story

2010-07-22T10:26:00.030+02:00

During my stay in England I had a chance to tell Juliano's story to a lot of different people including Linda. This got me thinking about how we can change the lives of our horses and how important it is to share our stories with others in order to see the difference we've made. So for those who don't know us yet here are few words of introduction.

I met Juliano 5 years ago, he was 9 at that time. He was aggressive and had a very negative attitude towards people. He was spooky and unconfident and he seemed introverted to me at that time. This is what I came to every day at first:

Not a pretty picture!

I don't know his whole history but I know he raced when he was 2/3 years old, finished his racing carrier at the age of 4. After that he went from one owner to next, he was ridden in draw reins and was basically a "difficult horse".

I always looked at Juliano through the perspective of his past experiences but the further in programme we've got (level 1 than 2 and 3) the more changes started to happen in both of us. In the last year things were going so good I almost forgot what problems and nightmares from his past life we have faced on daily basis 3-4 years ago.

Over the years we’ve hit some serious bumps in the road and there were times I thought I should quit riding and just have Juliano as a "pet". At the beginning it was quite hard for me to believe that we are on the right path. I had problems with doing one lap of canter without spinning out of control while others were riding their "obedient" horses past us looking at me pitifully . I than found myself in a place where I wouldn't ride in front of anyone except my Parelli friends. During one of his demo's at RFOH Pat said to the British crowds "Death before embarrassment" and this is exactly how I felt. Not only did I choose a different path with my horse but people didn't understand it and they wanted to see results straight away.

Soon after that we've started having breakthrough after breakthrough. Sometimes progress manifested itself in tiny, baby steps and if I had problems with seeing it I always had Joanna and Magda to fall back on. I often said to my friends "I don't need an instructor when I'm riding, I need a shrink". And that's who we were for each other, a shoulder to cry on if we varied off course. Even now when things don't go according to plan or we have a bad day with J, I can talk to them and in the matter of seconds I'm back on my feet, motivated and positive. I think everyone needs to share their stories. Having true, like-minded friends is a blessing but even if you don't have such people around you there is plenty of us in the World. That is why I want to encourage you to share your stories with other Parelli people. Via blog, Share Parelli, Facebook, forums, you name it. This is what we people need in order to stay positive and positive leaders is something our horses need us to be.

Yesterday I opened J's box and allowed him to wonder around the stable. I stood there for at least an hour observing him as he went form horse to horse saying "Hello", playing with hanging head collars and trying to dismantle stable doors. I was amazed how curious he was and believe me he was everything but curious when I got him. How can a horse change like this? The answer is simple - I allowed him to take from me what was taken from him before. Even thought I've made tons of mistakes, he was able to get his dignity, curiosity and playfulness back because I allowed him to do so and encouraged him through play. I could be there for Juliano because I had my friends there for me!

Time apart

2010-07-20T11:20:00.002+02:00

Things are going better than ever with Juliano. I was worried that this time apart when I was in the UK would upset J and we will have to take few steps back in our relationship. But luckily I was wrong. Our Liberty is better than ever and our Freestyle mojo is back. Yesterday we went for a quick spin bareback with a Savvy String on J's neck. He did beautiful canter-stop transitions and he did them with me just bringing my energy down, I didn't have to touch the string once. We than played with sideways a bit. This also is starting to work out without touching the string, jupiee.

So how does this time apart really work. I started thinking and I noticed I've changed after seeking Pat live and after talking to Parelli instructors. I came back with even more patience, better timing and I'm more focused than ever. I know what to isolate and work with each day and I know when to quit.

It's not the destination, it's the journey

2010-07-16T00:46:00.007+02:00

We are having an unbelievably hot summer here, this was expected - after a cold winter a hot summer will come. This limits out play time to early mornings and late afternoons. We can't even let our horses out during they day as they get covered with bugs in seconds. So the only comfortable place for horses to be in right now are their boxes. There are almost no horse flies there thanks to swallows. Keep up the good work little guys!

The only thing I managed to do with Juliano after my return from UK was to show him his new green ball. I can't wait for the weather to cool down a bit as my head is filled with new ideas and inspiration form Pat and Linda. I would really like to look into the "The Game of Contact" with J.

In the meantime I would like to recommend Linda's post http://parellihorsemanship.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/thats-dangerous/ about an interesting incident she had with Regalo hacking out one day. It's funny how other riders often perceive people riding their horses bridleless. I've received quite a few comments like this over the years - "You are riding a TB in a halter, you must be crazy" or "You will get quicker results if you ride the normal way". But I have a different picture in mind. My goal is to ride with J one day and do piaffes and passages with him in true harmony. Even if it is our last ride together it will be 100% worth it. After all it's not the destination, it's the journey that matters!

A week of Parelli

2010-07-15T13:32:00.006+02:00

In the modern society we operate through rules and regulations, DOs and DONTs. Whereas with a horse we should communicate through feel, love, language and leadership. To work out the way to combine both human and horse instincts is a true art.

This week here in the UK brought me together with people from all over the World that not only apply this concept to horse-human relations but also to human-human ones. Working with Pat, Linda, instructors and volunteers showed me how natural and how positive toward others they are. Organizing an event like this is surely a stressful and demanding job but everywhere I looked people were smiling and working as a team. It was a true pleasure to work with them and we had great fun.

At the end of my stay, after Gold Summit, I had a chance to show Linda some photos of Juliano and have a chat with Pat. To be able to share my and Juliano's journey with them just made my day.

I'm still trying to re-live the whole week. It was so intensive in learning and observing that it blended into one huge memory. I'm sure I will be going back to some experiences in the couple of next days and I will post them here for sure. Until than, keep it natural!

You will see true harmony in their eyes - day 2

2010-07-10T23:46:00.005+02:00

It is my 5th day here at Stoneleigh. Each day is a long and exciting one and each day I seem to be more and more amazed by human-horse relationships that I see up close.

There are over 40 Parelli Professionals here at Royal Festival of the Horse. Most of them brought their horses with them. Every spare minute I have from helping with organizing the show I turn to the demo arena for inspiration, to take photos and observe what's going on. I'm astonished by the atmosphere in the demos. Each human-horse pair is happy, focusing on each other and having great fun. One thing that struck me while reviewing the photos I took the previous day was that both instructors and with their horses have the same face expression when they play. True harmony and partnership! Just have a look:

Kim and her fjord

Sarah and Mouse

Franco and his gorgeous haflinger/arabian cross gelding

The Royal Festival of the Horse - day 1

2010-07-09T09:19:00.013+02:00

The main highlight of the day was Pat's session with Robert Whitaker's new stallion. He is a young show jumping stallion that Robert just brought from Germany and he was very hard to bridle. Pat played with him for over 3 hours. It was a very controversial session and few people left the demo early.

Pat and Robert

Lift the tail button

We stayed and watched amazed how calm Pat was. Understanding horses is a life long journey and sometimes we see things that we still can't understand especially if we'd never came across such an extreme horse. But I was confident that Pat was doing everything for the horse. The horse was very left brain all the time, he didn't panic or move much, he didn't sweat a bit.

Pat finished his session in a very good place for the horse. He played with the horse for another 6 hours the next day at the barn here in Stoneleigh. The outcome was: the horse could be bridled with no problems and Robert want on and competed on him the next day. I think it was in stallions favor that he came across Pat Parelli, otherwise brideling him would get harder and harder each day until he would become one of those people label as crazy, untrainable and not right in the head.

Here you can view some clips from Pat's sessions with Catwalk

This day has proven to me how little I know about horses. How many things I still don't understand or I simply don't see. There are no quick solutions to problems like this stallion had. We should always take the time it takes and try to work on problem areas with the horse not against it, even if the problem seems small or trivial at first. Otherwise some day we might discover the horse can't take it any more. We might be under the impression that the horse suddenly started refusing being bridled, clipped or shoed etc but the truth is the horse probably was putting up with our inadequate behavior for a long time.

Testing Parelli rope strength - unconventional way

2010-07-01T13:50:00.003+02:00

You newer know when your Horsemanship equipment may come in handy. Yesterday I've had a chance to test strength of 22"ft rope. My good friend called me in the morning "I run out of petrol in the middle of the woods, I'm in the stables now but I won't be able to tow it today as I'm going away for the day. Can you bring some gas with you to the stables and move the car for me as it is blocking the forest road". I said OK, sounds pretty simple. Boy, was I wrong! When I got to the car with fuel it wouldn't start, and did I mention it is a Mercedes G Klasse which ways 2,5 tons with all the tools inside. Well, I couldn't leave the car there so I decided to tow it with my Ford Focus. I went back to the stables to get my car and look for a rope. Of Course no one had a tow rope. I was thinking what to use and than - eureka, a 22"ft Parelli rope looks perfect for the job. But will it hold?

After a while I was back in the woods, Focus in the front, G Klasse behind and the rope in between. I started towing, slowly, listening for sounds of a braking rope. It turns out both the rope and Ford did just fine. The rope held a 2.5 ton car and what's more the forces on the rope must have even bigger as the forest rode was quite rough. Well done both to my car and 22" ft rope!

Liberty Bloopers video

2010-06-30T10:29:00.004+02:00

It is quite hot here in Poland. Bugs are making horses go crazy. All precision tasks are on hold until it gets cooler. I've decided to focus on bits and pieces of liberty. One day everything was going great, great draw, Juliano did sideways and circling game at liberty and stayed with me. The next day Juliano was palying mind games with me ... just have a look

HD version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq3CTo-mLr0

Dreams do come true

2010-06-29T04:25:00.015+02:00

“Organize your life around your dreams - and watch them come true.”

Two weeks ago I've sent my resume along with a link to my blog to Parelli Center. I applied for a social media internship. Few days after that I knew I was going to UK for the Royal Festival of the Horse to see Pat and Linda, their horses and to get a chance to work closely with the team.

When I got the call from Brett and Sue from Colorado I was on cloud nine. It has been my dream for some time now to see Parelli and Parelli instructors work up close. And now not only will I see Pat and Linda live but I will have a chance to get a glance of "behind the scenes" action. I still can't believe it. I'm taking my camera with me so be sure to find tons of photos here when I get back. I hope Mikey Wanzenried will be there and will find few minutes for me cause I need to pick his mind about his work with Red Sun. By the way, this video of Michael and Red Sun was one of the first Parelli clips I've seen and I'm amazed by the relationship between them every time I watch it.

I'm so excited I can't sleep. Now the birds are singing so loud I'm sure I'll have trouble falling asleep, so it's 4:25AM and I'm off to let Juliano and his gang out.

Happy horses out in the pasture and their new friend - roe deer

Fox bark friendly game

2010-06-29T00:36:00.007+02:00

Looking through my cell phone I came across an old MP3 of a fox barking. It reminded me of a problem we've faced last winter.

We were working on-line with our horses in the indoor arena. It was dark, everything was cover in snow. Our indoor arena is right next to the woods so if there are any animals nearby we can hear them inside as the arena is under a big balloon-type roof. That night we've heard a vary strange and quite frightening voice. It sounded a bit like an animal calling for help. All our horses spooked. They went left brain and wouldn't settle down. Even Dum, which was strange cause he is the one that stays calm most of the times. We tried different approaches to calm our horses down, nothing seemed to work as the animal kept calling. We began to worry something bad was going on in the woods. After half an hour of struggling we managed to take our horses back to the stables. Even though the stable is quite far from the indoor arena the horses kept looking out their windows and were still under a great deal of stress.

When I got back home I started searching the net for wild animal sounds and I found the exact same voice we've heard that night. It was a bark of a fox. Some sites said it was a "warning" bark. I downloaded the voice onto my phone and played it to our horses over and over. After roughly a dozen loops of the MP3 the horses started to ignore it. Dum was the last one to settle. It just proves that it is quite hard to spook a left-brain introvert but when they do get scared it takes them longer to get over it. Juliano (left-brain extrovert) is the other way round, he spooks at something, jumps and than he goes "Hey! what a tasty piece of grass next to that scary thing". Anyway, thanks to our MP3 friendly game our horses were desensitized to foxes barking and the next time they heard the bark live they didn't even notice it! We soon forgot about the whole thing but I also forgot that I set my ring tone (only when Magda was calling me) to the "Fox" MP3. Few days later I was leading all 3 horses to the paddock and Magda called me. The fox on my phone started barking and I jumped right up. Juliano, Dum and Wisełka looked at me with a face that said "You stupid human! It's just a fox, relax" :)

Here is the link to MP3 that we used http://www.mscustomcalls.com/mp3/fox/fox%20calling%20out.mp3

Step away from the horse!

2010-06-23T14:18:00.011+02:00

There are certain days when everything just goes wrong. Monday was like that, we call it "Black Monday". Few stressful situations at work, friends dog got seriously injured by wild bores, Dum didn't eat his oats at all that day - you name it, everything was just not right. So why did I expect our session with J to work out.

We worked on-line and there were a lot of people there, watching or not, putting on pressure. When you have a mix of people in the stable, some "naturals" and some "classical" it's obvious both groups will observe each other and maybe, not always out of bad will, criticize. That puts a lot of pressure on the rider. Over the years I learned to ignore it and focus on Juliano but on days like this you want at least your horse to understand you. Well, it turned out I couldn't be more wrong. I had to understand myself first. As game after game fell apart I had to step away from Juliano and observe him for clues, clues about myself and I got it. I was focusing on our human problems not on him. Why should Juliano focus on me than. He wanted to go back to his pasture as he knew there was no point in cooperating with a "right brain" human.

"Blah, blah, blah not interested"

"I will go sideways in trot but still not interested"

That night I was thinking what to do next, how to make the next day positive. There were two thoughts that went through my mind which I thought were the best solution:

1. work alone with J, away from human distractions
2. work on something simple that I know from today is broken

So the next day we did a Level 1 circling game. We played away from people on the secluded pasture. Only me, Juliano, his pasture mates and Magda were there. Magda was working with Dum in one end of the paddock and I took Juliano to the other end. All the puzzle pieces from yesterday started coming together. Juliano was not turning his had away from me on the circle. He did beautiful changes of direction and although I didn't ask for it he did a flying lead change a couple of times. These were his first flying lead changes on-line ever! We played for 15minutes and it all just worked out great.

These two days proved to me that a bad session is not a bad session after all. It highlights the problem areas and allows both you and your horse to make a step forward the next time you play. Most of the time the next day brings you something unexpected like the flying lead change. I'm sure that if I drilled Juliano to do the change we both would get upset. Another thing that I noticed is a change in Juliano, he wasn't the emotional one on Monday, in fact he was exuberant but not right-brain crazy thoroughbred he used to be. So a word of advice, before you judge your horse's behavior: step away from the horse and look at yourself. Are you as focused, cool and collected as you can be? Are you a good leader for your horse? Remember your horse will read you like an open book, any time.

Freestyle video

2010-06-18T03:02:00.014+02:00

A quick update how we are doing is now up on YouTube. I've decided to make it a quick, relaxing ride so I got on J out in the filed, I didn't want to take J away from his pasture friends. When he saw me with a pad and carrot stick he came walking straight to me, good sign :) We walked for a bit together than I got on him. Few minutes of walk, head down, Juliano seems relaxed. In trot he got tense a bit so we tried some figures eight, serpentines and transitions. I think he may be still a bit uncomfortable after his farrier visit on Tuesday. When he relaxed in trot we cantered a couple of laps and that was it. I got of him, he waited for me to send him away, again good sign. At the end of our short session we did Juliano's "abs workout" routine.

Enjoy! Larger video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzEG92L3n3E

We ride our problems into our horses

2010-06-17T13:47:00.000+02:00

Lately I started fixating on Juliano's well being, again. Especially his neck, shoulder muscles and topline. I looked through the books I have on this topic, and to be honest one thing is consistent through all types of books: relaxation. Whether is an anatomy DVD, classical dressage book, savvy magazine or veterinary book. If you want your horse to be well and correctly build you have to work on his mental and physical relaxation! This is nothing new, we've heard it a thousand times from Pan & Linda "Mental/emotional relaxation is number one". But I was surprised that word "relaxation" is so widely present in classical books and the authors put great emphasis on that. I was surprised because most of the dressage riders I watch these seem to forget all about it.

Dr. Gerd Heuschermann in his book "Tug of War - Classical versus Modern Dressage" writes:

The great importance of looseness

Looseness is a central criterion for a horse's entire training... only through looseness can:
1. The gaits remain pure
2. The horse achieve the optimal muscle tone
3. Real collection be achieved
4. Complete "throughness" be attained
5. The horse develop its maximum capacity to perform without getting tired.

I decided to set my goal for this month to total relaxation. On-line and freestyle, especially finesse. I will not put any pressure on Juliano and I will be not trying to tech him new things until I either see he is getting bored or I can see he is loose and ok with the element he is doing. This may mean we will have to walk only for some time. I don't care :) it's time to relax even more.

Unfortunately Juliano picked up on my contemplating mood yesterday and he seemed a bit sad to me, or maybe he was just calm. If you have a LBE and you don't see him go nuts you automatically think he is sad. Well Juliano definitely put his Zen mode on yesterday.

Finesse - oh boy!

2010-06-11T20:53:00.001+02:00

It was quite hot today, so I went to the stables in flip-flops. I was meant to get changed into riding boots later and ride finesse in the saddle. But silly me, I forgot to take my socks with me. So I rode bareback.

We haven't done finesse in a while. Maybe that's why todays ride was filled with "Oh boy's!" Juliano was very energetic today so at first we had problems relaxing and slowing down. We have to work on straightness, that's for sure. Juliano wanted to do small circles today and the chiropractor we saw on Monday told us to ride straight for a while. That's what made Juliano brace a bit and speed up even more. Another oh boy was when I picked up the reins. He was much more comfortable with traveling with his head down. So we mixed both, I asked for a bit of contact on a straight, when he settled in it he got to travel with his head low again and do a small circle.

The thing about riding finesse bareback on J is my balance. When he gets tense and rushy I loose my balance for few seconds and this makes him rush even faster. This is not a problem when we do freestyle, cause than we stay more in sync. It took us while to overcome this today. By the end of the ride I worked out a way to stay relaxed. I figured that if I pull my toes down, instead of heal down my seat is much more relaxed. This was even easier to do with no boots on :) so maybe it was a good thing I forgot my socks!

Chiropracter visit

2010-06-07T10:58:00.004+02:00

Today we went to see a chiropractor, one of the 52 best in the World. He works with horses in USA, Canada, United Arab Emirates etc. He is also the official vet/chiropractor for German Olympic Team. We had to hire a trailer and it was a first trail ride for Juliano since 2004. We loaded up at 8:30 and went to a nearby stable where the chiropractor would examine 24 horses. When we got there Juliano was quite excited about the new place, although we went for a long hack there last year, and wanted to see everything and greet all horses. At 1PM the chiropractor arrived and J was second to go.

The man looked at Juliano and said "Right, this horse was ridden by a heavy rider about 4-5 years ago". I was shocked as I didn't even have time to tell him Juliano's story and he knew what was wrong straight away. He worked on his neck and shoulder muscles as he said he was tense and had rotated his shoulders. He also said this was an old habit of J's and he had to carry himself like this to compensate for the weight of the rider on his back. Juliano was trying to walk away from him at first but soon stood still, relaxed and started to snort. After 10 minutes it was all over and I was told that J will move his shoulders more freely and use his hind legs better.

It was a very interesting to see what the chiropractor would say about the other horses. He forbid to lounge some horses, as he found them to be overdeveloped in their shoulders and under in rumps. He looked at one horse and said "The horse is ok, but the rider is stiff and crooked. Where is the rider?" He than worked on the rider. Most of the time he advised riding on long reins and encouraging horses to stretch down and doing a lot of sideways. He didn't tell me to change anything so I hope I'm working in J's favor. After he has seen all horses he decided 60% of them are worked incorrectly. He will come back in September to give us a demo on correct techniques, watch us work with horses and than work on problem areas in our horses. It will be interesting to see how it goes as the man also told us he is not going to work with people that didn't change their work routine as he advised. I'm a bit nervous cause now we will have to focus on every detail of our work through muscle building perspective, and as I was not told to change anything I have to work that out on my own.

I'm going to review all the DVD's and books I have on conformation, massage and anatomy. If I find anything interesting I will share it with you. I will also try to keep in mind to note down here how we focus on posture with Juliano and if he changed after his chiropractor experience.

Our first 2-day trail ride

2010-05-23T08:11:00.002+02:00

For some time we have been thinking of going to Brzózki for a longer trail ride. It's about 22km from our stables. This year we finally decided to go (Asia & Wisełka, Iza & Rossini, me & J).

We set out just after 12PM armed with food, water, horse treats and maps. It was warm and the sun was shining. The night before I sat down and studied the road through the woods on Google Maps. I've been to Brzózki before, when I was in pony club, but this was ages ago. This time I had to choose the road on my own as Asia and Iza didn't know the way. I learned our route almost by heart so the next day we had no problems in getting from point A to B.

The way to Brzózki took us 5 hours. There was a lot of walk, some trot and canter. We also stopped a lot for grazing. Juliano spent most of the time we walked with his nose in fresh, green grass - he mastered eating and walking. There were parts of the trail when we had to go through villages or on tarmac roads. I got of and walked with J, it was cool, walking besides a horse, not holding him, just with rope from natural hackamore under my belt.

All three horses behaved beautifully. They immediately assigned roles between themselves. Juliano was leading, but when he was unsure to go over a bridge for example Wisełka would take over the lead for some time. Rossini was in the back all the time and Juliano made sure that he wouldn't get to close to Wisełka, he is very jealous of her. It was a calm ride. The forests in that area are more wild, there are no people around just deer and roes.

I was worried Juliano would go extreme right-brain at a different stable, especially this one as they also keep cows, pigs, goats and sheep. We arrived to Brzózki and turned our horses out to a small paddock. They all rolled in sand and drank water we brought them. To my surprise Juliano remained left-brain. He was curiously looking around. He pranced in collected trot around Wisełka for a bit to show the horses in the next paddock who is boss. We were amazed to see our horses approach the opposite fence of the paddock. In the paddock on the left hand side cows were kept. Juliano has seen cows before, about 4 years ago and he was scared to death than. After an hour we took our horses to the stables. Juliano and Wisełka got boxes side-by-side in an English stable so they could see the area all the time. They got their evening feed out in the paddock so now we gave them plenty of hay and water. They were happy in their boxes, eating hay so we went to unpack. I was also worried Juliano wouldn't lie down in this new, strange environment but when I went to check on him at 10PM he was fast asleep on his belly.

Next day it was raining cats and dogs all morning, we were thinking of calling for a trailer to get home. Just our luck, it stopped reining just after 12. There was an exam going on at the stables that day, sort of like British BHS Stage 1 & 2. A lot of people had horses from Brzózki to pass their badge on. I was sitting outside the box with Joanna when a lady came with tack and went into J's box. She must have confused him with a different horse. We didn't say anything until she started brushing J. We were just waiting to see what will happen. It was quite funny to see expression on Juliano's face when she got in "Wait a minute, you are not my rider!".

We left Brzózki at 1PM. It took us 4 hours to get home. Horses were happy and relaxed and though it was a second day of intensive riding for them they were still full of energy. Back home Juliano went galloping and bucking down the field.

It was a great experience, the scenery, silence, wilderness and spending time with our horses. Trips like this create an even stronger bond between humans and horses. After all we are going into unknown together and depend on each other. I was pleased to see Juliano brave, calm and interested in new surroundings. What more can you ask for :)

Wild bores visit

2010-05-11T01:36:00.002+02:00

From time to time we get a visit from a heard of wild bores. Great firendly game for horses. Sometimes they also join our horses in the pasture and graze side by side. One day I was turning Juliano out to the large paddock next to the woods, bores were there. Juliano galloped to them and started rounding them up.

Freestyle update

2010-04-28T01:21:00.002+02:00

After the long winter of freestyle in the snow I now get to see the results. Juliano is more relaxed in canter, we can finally do the canter-trot transition. I'm going to repeat myself, but this was very hard for us. Juliano is so forward going it is hard to convince him to canter slowly, let alone go down to trot. It's not always perfect but we are getting there fast. I also convinced Magda to ride Dum on a savvy sting for the first time in the paddock.

Juliano is 14!

2010-04-09T01:01:00.001+02:00

Today is Juliano's birthday. He is 14! Can you believe it? He still acts like a two-year-old :)

It was day off for birthday boy, of course. He got a Uncle Jimmy's Hangin' Ball and spent the day with his pasture mates playing with balls with treats inside.

Happy birthday Juliano!

First time out after injury

2010-04-07T00:48:00.001+02:00

I turned Juliano out today to a small paddock, alone. I didn't want to risk him going crazy with other horses as the new skin over the wound is still quite thin. He bucked and reared a bit but to be honest I expected a bit more. Over these days of box rest and looking after him Juliano started acting a bit like a baby, looking for affection more than independence.

Recovery

2010-04-02T00:32:00.000+02:00

I go to see Juliano twice a day to take him for a walk and to visit his equine friends. He can't go out alone as he could tear the stitches and his fresh wound open. He is quite upset when he is alone and he sees his pasture mates go out. He calls a lot :(

The wound is healing fast but we have to wait for few more days before we can take the stitches out.

Injury!

2010-03-30T00:47:00.000+02:00

Today I got a phone call from a friend from the stables beginning with "Marta, don't panic but...". At that point I knew something was wrong with Juliano. Justyna said that Juliano's lower leg was covered with blood and she thinks its serious and we might have to call the vet.

I got to the yard and yes, the leg was not looking good. J had a large v-shaped cut on his front knee. I called my friend vet (Anna) and went with to hose J's leg of. When Anna got there she decided that Juliano will need stitches. We managed to survive the whole procedure but now he's got 7 stitches and is on box rest for 10 days.

I don't know how we will survive 10 days without paddock :(

Best winter ever!

2010-02-05T13:54:00.004+01:00

Day after day we have tons of fun, is this what riding is about? For us, yes! We focus mainly on freestyle and it is paying off. Snow helped us improve our walk to canter departures. We can't do much of sideways or backing up as it is to hard in the snow, but I'm sure perfecting the upward and downward transition will came in handy in spring.

Today we went on a short hack with Joanna and Magda. We managed to canter down the field in deep snow, there was no overtaking all three horses kept distance and maintained good rhythm. After the ride horses wen't for a quick roll in the snow and we went for a cup of hot coffee.

Asia and Wisełka

Magda and Dum Dum

Me and Juliano

Boys in the snow

2010-02-05T13:02:00.003+01:00

What a day! We have snow fall everyday now, winter of a century most say. Apparently, in this part of Poland, last winter like this was over 20 years ago. Most of my friends who don't ride are sick and tired of shoveling snow but I'm filled with joy. Riding in deep snow feels like sailing or windsurfing in high waves. Yes, it is very demanding for the horse so we do short rides and we only do freestyle, but horses love it. Especially Juliano as he loves jumping up and down anyway.

I arrived at the stables just before 2PM today so got a chance to ride both horses while the sun was shining. Juliano did great, we had so much fun. I left the speed in trot and canter up to him and focused on the way we were going. He was very responsive. Slight touch on the string and he was on the right track again. I didn't have to use the stick at all today. Well, almost :P

Pressing also got a run in the snow. I had problems at first to get him going. When you are used to a horse that canters just because you think of canter it seems like a lot of pressure if you have to squeeze another horse to get trot. It took me few minutes to get the stallion going especially in the deep snow. At first we was not thinking of going at all. He wanted to dig in the snow instead. There are a lot of things I have to get used to again, from my previous years of riding, before I got J. For example, for this horse it is easier to ride with contact. You let go of the reins and he gets lost, looses his balance. He is a great horse to ride, very obedient and willing, just different.

Riding both of the lads today just made me think how much we've changed with Juliano. How different we ride now. When you sit on a "normal" horse after doing PNH for some time you realize how good your horse really got over the years. Pressing just like Juliano is a left-brain extrovert but he does not show that under rider, so for me there is this spark of own invention missing. On the other hand he is easier to control and stop than Juliano. I hope both horses had fun in the snow today, I'm sure I did!

Great white ... stallion

2010-01-31T12:33:00.000+01:00

As from today I have another horse to ride and look after for a month and a half - my friend's 6 year old stallion called Pressing. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. He is ridden in a classical way so that's how I will ride, but we will try to learn some gound skills in the meantime. I'm glad Juliano's halter fits him, cause on his stable headcollar I'm sure he would drag me behind like a kite.

Speaking of on-line mishap, just remembered a funny scene from last winter. We were doing some circling in the indoor arena, which was filled with other people riding. I was not looking at Juliano, talking to a friend, he was supposed to be trotting around. Juliano spooked at the sound of snow falling for the roof and started running towards the other end of the arena. He pulled me, I tripped and fell. I couldn't let go of the rope as my friend was riding a stallion J hates. So I got dragged 20m on my belly. So just like in windsurfing in horse riding we can also do a body drag :)

Back to the great-white stallion here are some photos for you to see what I'm dealing with form now on :)

More snow = more fun

2010-01-26T12:20:00.001+01:00

Paddocks are covered with a fine 20cm layer of snow. It is safe for barefoot horses to run and play now! Juliano and his gang were the first ones today to "destroy" fresh surface of snow that fell overnight. I was lucky to be there with my camera :)

Paddock games

2010-01-03T12:09:00.001+01:00

As there is no grazing now Juliano is thinking of creative ways to spent time out in the paddock. The ground is still hard and there is just enough snow to cover it horses try not to trot or canter. But they have to do something.

Juliano and Rytmika (young mare) decided to play the game of "pass me the stick". After a while they lost the stick and J decided to start licking Rytmika on her chin. Every time he licked her she shied away so the game went on for at least half an hour cause J wouldn't give. Interesting... what was on J's mind.

First snow

2009-12-12T11:44:00.002+01:00

Winter is officially here! Days are short and we waited for the snow to fall. During winter if we don't make it to the stables before sun set we ride in the woods after dark. Snow makes everything look bright at night. It also makes the woods look magical.

Every time we ride at night in snow the forest is so quiet. Horses are relaxed and seem very happy. They don't spook at all. Most of the people say that we are crazy to ride at night and are surprised every time they see us leave into the woods. On our first night ride I was a bit worried but soon found out there is nothing to worry about. Horses never trip or miss a road and they seem to be looking after us on their backs as they tend to steer clear of trees with branches at rider level. Its truly a magical feeling - dark forest, white carpet of snow and just the sound of horses snorting in trot.

Iridology

2009-11-27T13:19:00.005+01:00

Few years back I studied equine iridology with Ellen Collinson. I wanted to study iridology as at Technical University of Szczecin, where I graduated IT, our professors created a diagnostic tool for humans based on changes visable in the iris. It was also the time when I met Juliano. Thanks to Ellen I could learn more about iridology for horses. I soon found out that it is very accurate and can help horses and their owners with a lot of problems.

Once in a while I take photos of Juliano's eyes up close. I keep them on my computer and compare from time to time. If I see that something is happening in the eye (discoloration, stress lines, spots) I try to work out what's wrong either alone or with Ellen on the phone. It's a great way to prevent problems, cause you will see it in the eye before any other symptoms occur. For example calcium deficiency, stress in back muscles, problems in lungs etc. Also if you are unsure what's the source of lameness the eye will show where the problems lies. Pretty cool stuff.

The story I wanted to tell you is about Juliano and his mysterious colic in 2007. One day I came to the stables to discover that J didn't drink any water for almost a day. He pooped into his automatic drinker and no one noticed this. As he filled himself with hay and had no water to drink he soon started to show signs of impaction. I called Anna and we started standard colic procedures. He got better after few hours. So we went home after making sure he is ok. The next day J was fine, went out for a bit, got hay and bran mash but in the evening the same thing happened. He looked disinterested, sad which I know means he is not well. This scenario continued for another day, ok during day, sick in the evening. At that time we knew this was not to do with impaction any more. We consulted another vet and started thinking of going to an equine clinic in Berlin. I decided to take photos of his eyes and give Ellen a quick call. She was home and quickly downloaded J's photos. We both looked at them and Ellen said "There is something going on with his spleen, it's under too much stress even for a horse after colic". Ellen suggested giving him spleen and liver herbs, the build up of toxins also started putting liver under pressure. Ellen posted the herbs to me and soon J was on them. He was not feeling well for 5 days at that time. But after 2 days of feeding him herbs with mash he started to improve. On the 3rd day he was fine both day and evening. The herbs worked. Thanks to Ellen he was fine again cause who know what might have happened next.

Juliano never stands still like this unless he is napping

This exhausting week for both of us tough me two things:
1. Always put an extra bucket of fresh water and don't depend only on automatic drinkers.
2. Horses are never sad without a good reason, so if you know your horse well never ignore even the slightes change in behavior when the horse is at home.

Savvy string trail riding

2009-11-17T11:33:00.003+01:00

When I first started riding Juliano I didn't even dream about riding him bridleless. I longed for the day when I would have just slight control over what J was doing and how fast he was going.

Today we went for another savvy string hack. Two horses, two dogs and us. Juliano was calm and maintained gait that I picked. What's amazing is that he can be in front of other horses now with just savvy string on his neck and I have no problems with control.

More Polo

2009-10-17T10:15:00.005+02:00

We are getting better at polo. Juliano learned quickly to follow the ball but not to go directly over it. We practice polo with just savvy string on J's neck. J treats his responsibilities seriusly: don't change gait, follow the ball.

I must say that for me polo has proven to be a great way to practice focus. When you sit on a horse and you want to go to the ball you simply have to focus on it. Your body automatically turns towards the ball, the eyes on your shoulders, knees and bellybutton as Linda often says do the trick. You don't have to imagine a point on the ground, which is also great but you can easily get distracted or if you land near the spot you think "Oh well, good enough". Here you have to get to the ball, hit it and than again travel point to point.

Autumn is here - time to upgrade On-Line

2009-10-01T10:58:00.008+02:00

It was hard to focus on on-line during summer. Heat and bugs, bugs and heat. It was much easier to go for a quick dip in the lake and horses loved the cool water after long days of sun.

Now, days are cooler and we can start working on out ground skills. So we picked up from where we left off: level 2++. Today we worked mainly on sideways, circling and than stick to me. Juliano did a great sideways in trot. Circling was a bit tricky cause J was full of energy, bucking and all. I was very pleased with stick to me at liberty. Juliano followed me around the field in trot, stopped when I stopped. Than he left me for a great big circle of gallop, but to my surprise trotted back to me after one lap.

Great day!

Horsenalities

2009-09-24T09:34:00.015+02:00

Juliano – left-brain extrovert (used to be right-brain extrovert)
Way more “go” than “whoa” not only because he used to race.

EXTROVERT features

High energy, more "go", tendency to run: As Juliano is a thoroughbred he has few hundred years of breeding to back his high energy levels. He used to be very explosive and still tends to be quite rushy when he is learning new things. His answer to all new things is: speed up, run. Now he has learned that after running he can stop and face feared thing. He is much more confident and I can see he gets curious about things and situation that could potentially have scare dhim in the past. The biggest challenge for him is to stand still.

Quick: He is quick in everything he does, whether it is getting from point A to B in the pasture, eating grass. His best friend is a left-brain introvert so it is very interesting for us to watch them in similar situations and how they react to it.

LEFT BRAIN FEATURES

Dominant: He tries to dominate every horse, big, small, stallion, mare - he thinks and acts like THE BOSS. Few years back he treated me like a private carrot dispenser. He still tries to dominate me but in more subtle way.

Pushy: Same as with dominance, he pushes geldings and mares around in the pasture. "You stand there. You! Stop eating grass". When people came with carrots to the fence J pushes all the other horses away, same thing happens when standing before the gate, he has to be first one to go to the stables.

Tolerant: He is very tolerant towards his herd. When he plays with geldings he will allow biting on the rump or hocks to some extent. He is very tolerant to my mistakes. Just the other day we were jumping with two carrots and I accidentally put a carrot stick in his face. He put his head way up but just few seconds later I could do a friendly game with the stick and I guess he understood this was not on purpose.

Unconcerned: He can sometimes go into this "I can't see you, not interested" mode when playing on the ground and things are going to slow for him. If you are not moving his feet and asking him to do different things his mind just drifts away.

Confident: This switches from confident to unconfined depending on situation. I'm happy he is much more confident now than he used to be and in new situations he tries very hard not to loose it.

Curious: He is very curious. If he is unsure about something you can see in his eyes that he is scared but at the same time wants to approach scary thing and smell it. When we go into the woods he often suggests that we choose paths we've never walked before.

Playful: At pasture he has to be everywhere at the same time. He plays with Dum one minute, next minute he is eating grass, gets bored, runs up and down the fence. Under saddle you sometimes get a feeling he is not sure what he wants, weather to canter, trot, eat grass or go sideways. On trail rides he can gallop one way, slide-stop, turn and gallop in the opposite direction, not because he got scared, he just felt like it. Funny little horse.

Smart: He learns very fast. You want him to put his leg on a pedestal, next thing you know he puts his leg on a chair and tries to balance with two front feet on a lying pole. He saw me once getting carrots out of my car, same day he run away from his stall, stood by my car ant tried to brake in. He knew exactly which car to pick from 20 others. So once he overcomes his fear issues he gets everything very fast.

Charismatic: Always the leader, most horses answer to him. He is the first one to greet the new horse in the herd. Liked by all geldings, adored by all mares.

Naughty: Oh, yes! As soon as he realizes you can't handle him he is over your head. When bored in his stall and there is a saddle or head-collar he can grab he will grab it and throw it. He undresses horses from rugs in the paddock and bites tails and manes off.

Mischievous: When he learns a new thing and is confident about it he will use it against you. When we started learning sideways he started doing beautiful half-passes toward grass. Now that he likes standing on the pedestal he wrestles with me on it when I ask him to get off. Best scenario: he will get off and than back on in few seconds when I'm not looking. He knows the rules of catching game very well. Once he run away from his pasture and wanted to play catching game in the woods. Every time I lost interest and tried to walk away he would gallop past me, stop and face me within 10 meters from me. He loves to change my games into his which makes it even more interesting for both of us.

Tendency to bite:
Not so much any more. He used to strike very often few years ago.

Mouthy: If I ignore him and leave the saddle on his door I can be sure to find saddle on the ground and saddle pad in the water bucket. If he is not out in the pasture after lunch by 3pm he grabs and throws his head-collar in front off his stall. Than he pulls down the rugs. Usually by than people who work in the stable are so annoyed that they take him out.

Willful: He knows when he is "naughty" and he does it on purpose. Sometimes you can see in his eyes that he is laughing at you.

Exuberant: He can be very exuberant, especially when he is in his stallion like mood. When playing on line or at liberty it is very easy to ask him for collected trot. He likes showing of both around horses and humans.

Friendly: He is friendly towards horses now. He used to be very aggressive but now he is friendly towards all geldings who accept his leadership. He is getting more and more friendly towards people.

Juliano the Stallion

2009-09-11T15:02:00.013+02:00

For past few months of summer I wondered where did the stallion in Juliano go. He was gelded at the ago of 8 so from time to time he remembers good, old times and turns into this crazy, wild stallion. But this didn't happen for a while. Is it that he is older or maybe he settled so much his spirit also went down automatically? Well, little did I know, thought the "beast" inside was idle for a while, he's now back, full strength.

Usually his herd consists of Juliano, Dum (another gelding) and four mares. Few days ago, three out of four mares came into season. So Juliano was busy for few days jumping from mare to mare. It was interesting to watch herd dynamics change. Dum, best friend was now the worst enemy. By the way poor Dum, he was so lonely and every time he tried to as much as look at one of the mares Juliano gave him the "Schwiegermutter" look.

It all came to a point that I couldn't ride or play with J one day cause he was too tired from all the covering, prancing and bossing around. I even had problems taking photos of him as girls were surrounding him all the time.

Happy Hackers

2009-09-11T11:12:00.004+02:00

Happy hackers, that's what we are, now. It makes me even more happy when I think how much progress we've made as far as trail riding is concerned. It used to be part of riding that I feared the most with Juliano. Two things used to go wrong when we entered the woods. One was that Juliano didn't want to go there and would rather stay near the stable. He didn't trust me and every time roads crosses and there was an option for going home he would strongly oppose if I wanted to go away from the stables. So we used to go round and round in circles and whoever got dizzy last won the fight and we either went back home or went on to the next crossing. The second thing was J's speed. When it was just the two of us I could only let him walk, trot ended up in dead gallop. When we went with other horses he would race everyone, he wouldn't even let dogs go in front of him. And of course, Juliano spooked at everything.

We've worked hard for the last two years to make the woods a friendly place and trail riding fun, cause that's what it should be. First year I would only take Juliano on walks in hand. A lot of grass eating, smelling things and exploring took place. He got more and more confident. After a year of confidence building and showing J that the best grass grows between the trees it was time to start riding in all three gaits. We've done millions of transitions and it worked. We could now walk and trot, but canter was still a big issue. Juliano would cover a lot of ground with every stride and would speed up if I let him canter for more than 10 seconds. Working on canter took us a bit little longer. Just this summer it all came together. I would ask Juliano to canter for few strides and by the time I could reach down one rein we would be already on the verge of gallop. In time, I've learned to go through my fazes quicker and finally understood what we needed is the good old faze 4! I've never been the greatest fan of faze 4, cause I never knew when it is necessary and fair. After trying it once in the trail-canter situation I was amazed, sad at first that I had to use it, but oh-boy what difference did it make.

So now we are happy hackers, and yesterdays trail ride was like a dream come true! We went for a ride with Madga & Dum, didn't expect much, just a relaxing ride in the woods. Juliano and Dum love to ride with us and they choose paths that lead away from home. We now have to ask them to go home, otherwise hacks would take 3-4 hours. So we've decided to let the boys choose route yesterday. Both Juliano and Dum wanted to go on the trail that goes past a lake, that we bathed in whole summer and into the woods we discovered this year. Off we went. The path leads through the villige, a place where Juliano reared up and fell down with his previous owner. Now Juliano is as cools as a cucumber there, though there are dogs jumping out and barking, cars, construction sites, you name it. At the lake our horses insisted that we stop there for a quick hoof-dip. We did and after few minutes continued on. When we started trotting and Juliano wanted to visit every path that he wasn't on before. Strange, huh? Is that the horse that hated exporing? After few de-tours we finally got to the long, wide road that we know. Juliano was leading in trot. But what A trot it was, fast, powerful, extended. I turned to Magda to see if she was OK and if Dum was still trotting or breaking into canter. Everything was fine so we continued on for 10 minutes. We stopped for a bit of grass. Both Dum and Juliano were happy, snorting, stretching and what surprised us most they didn't sweat at all. Ready to go again. We were now on the path leading home, both on horses that had a bad reputation of "Not stoppable when going home". Again Juliano was in front doing his huge trot. We went up and down hills and they didn't break the gait. Amazing! I was holding the rains of natural hackamore in one hand, by the very end and Juliano didn't even think of cantering. Again after 10 minutes we went down to a walk. We both said "there is no way they are dry now". Well, both horses didn't sweat a bit.

This is the moment that you work and ride for. Juliano is just over 15 hands, Dum is 17'2", both doing extended trot, towards the stables, Dum at the back keeping his distance all the time, J in front keeping the same pace and rhythm. We were trying to keep up with rising from the saddle, no holding or pulling on the reins, we could just as well be bridleless. At the end of the road I've let my energy out a bit and Juliano slowed down and stretched into a slow trot and than into a walk. We could tell both horses were very relaxed, although one could think traveling at that speedy trot would me a horse tense. I'm 100% positive that the boys were very happy and we ... we were just happy hackers.

A little bit of Finesse at a time

2009-09-05T21:31:00.011+02:00

We've started working with bridle and bit last winter. I was always afraid to go back on the bit cause I thought Juliano will get tense and unhappy. So we took it slow. When I felt we had all the pieces of puzzle in place on natural hackamore I re-introduced the bit. At that time I realized it was me who had the issues. I was afraid to pick up the rains and to use the bit in any way. I always recalled an image of J stiff with a hollow back and fear in his the eyes. Before I got him he was ridden on draw rains and called crazy and unridable. And as he is an ex-race horse the one thing he knew was how to lean on the bit to get this extra kick out of his hind legs and go even faster. Not a pretty picture.

So, we've been doing bits and pieces with the bit for the last 3-4 months. A bit of fluid rein, a bit of serpentines and 8's to relax, all on loose rains. Than I've added few minutes every session on concentrated rein.

Today I could feel the progress. For the first time Juliano seeked the bit when saddling. He took it just like piece of carrot. Our warm up was very relaxed, with few breaks which we took standing on a pedestal. By the way, not long ago Juliano was so afraid of the pedestal he would not go near it. Now not only he loves it, he seeks other things to stand on. There are few chairs in the open arena and he dragged me to one and offered to stand on it :) how cool is that.

After warming up on loose reins it was time to ask Juliano to shorten his frame a bit. A couple of serpentines, smaller circles and random sideways and shoulder-ins here and there my concentrated reins were loose again. Juliano got much shorter and more collected. Even in canter he wasn't speeding up and our walk-canter transitions got much more supple and smooth. Before, going into canter felt like sitting on a speeding motor bike going from 0 to 100mph. I was so happy with that I decided to visit the pedestal for the last time, take the bridle off and go for a walk in the woods. By the way, we have invented a new hackamore with Joanna and Wiselka. Happened by accident of course. I took of the bridle and than swung the finesse reins over his head to have them on Juliano's neck. They got stuck on his nose, so I thought "Ok, lets play friendly with them on his nose". It turn out there are no problems with riding like this :) good to know.

Freestyle vs. polo

2009-09-05T00:18:00.008+02:00

No day of the week is now the same for us. Trail rides, freestyle, riding with 1 or 2 carrot sticks, finesse, on-line, liberty – we mix, mix, mix to keep this playful brain oh J's busy. I'm getting better and better at surprising him with new challenges so I've decided to make our warm up time at freestyle a bit more creative. My first thought: polo! So after few hours of looking for an on-line shop with decent and affordable mallets I bought one in Argentina. Couple of days later my “weapon of choice” arrived. I was both excited and puzzled, long, much heavier than carrot stick of course. How am I going to ride with this on J? How is he going to react? I had millions of similar questions in my head on my way to see him that day.

To my surprise, Juliano was very confident around the mallet, curious at first. He tried to bite it, maybe he thought is was a carrot? When he realised he can't eat it he started to act just as it was a carrot stick with an expression on his face “No biggie, just another stick, what are we going to do with it?”

Just to be on a safe side we played a little friendly game with it and it was time to get on. We went to warm up to the woods with Joanna and Wiselka. Juliano was fine with me swinging the mallet on both sides and in front of his face. Wisełka on the other hand was very surprised. She imidetly spoted the difference and got a bit tense when I gave the mallet to Joanna.

After our unusual warm up we came back to the arena, switched the mallet back to carrot stick and tried playing with a ball and stick. We approached the ball at walk and trot with me leaning a bit to touch the ball. J was fine with that, didn't change gait and direction. I think we are now ready to try hitting the ball with the mallet. So guess what are we going to do at our next freestyle session :)

Level 2++ pass :)

2009-09-04T15:07:00.003+02:00

We have officially passed our Level 2 with Juliano, huray! Now it’s time to move on to the fun and challenging Level 3.

Freestyle L2 comments:

“You are very close to level 3, great balance and fluidity! Just focus on doing more of the Level 3 patterns and getting your phases of turning more snappy (where you don’t have to use your stick often). Also, don’t release your aids for indirect and direct until your horse has put a lot of effort in.“

On-line L2 comments:

“I can tell you have a good relationship and clear conversation happening between you and your horse. To progress towards level 3, do things at faster gaits, using more of your rope, in particular your circling and sideways games. For circling, stay in neutral, showing your horses responsibilities.”

A long and tricky road lead to where we are now. Being an ex-race horse Juliano was very impulsive, every sudden move in the saddle ended up in canter or gallop. When he got confused he run. When he run I got out of balance so he run even more. At some point I thought, there is no way we are going to settle. I watched other horses and classical riders at our stables and envied the way they could just canter slowly and than stop. Now the impossible became possible. We sorted out our impulsion issues with thousands of bulls-eyes and consistency. Juliano switched from Right Brain Extrovert the Left Brain Extrovert, and OH BOY no more consistency, it’s time for creativity.