We rode in an organized chaos. We all rode in a straight line somewhere and first stopped and did hindquarter perfect turns. Then we trotted, stopped and did our hindquarter perfect turns. After we did that for a while, we started at the walk again and did perfect forequarter turns…and then again at a trot. How do you think Sue did with horses going every which way?
She was on the lookout, but did GREAT!

Then we rode on the rail. But this wasn’t just any plain Jane riding on the rail. Some of us rode clockwise and some of us rode counterclockwise. Us counterclockwise people rode on the inside and the clockwise people rode on the rail.
How about Sue meeting horse after horse in the arena.
No Problem! She was aware, but fine.

In fact, we even trotted. She relaxed enough to get a trot going and she kept it up for maybe one length of the arena. She was relaxed.

Then we all came into the middle of the arena. Jenny picked various horse and rider combos to go out on the rail and canter. She told my very best friend, Kari, to cut through the middle and do a flying lead change. I didn’t react very fast. I was sitting on Sue with my sore leg out of the stirrup. Kari came racing by very close to the group of horses…and Sue’s rear end. You know what that means. We spurted forward a step or two. I managed to hold my curse word to a whisper. No one heard me. I was alive and proud of my restraint.

The next horse cut through the center and I was ready. That horse dislodged a dirt clod which spooked Sue. We spurted forward a step or two. This time I didn’t even think of swearing. I was fine.

At the end we went on the rail. We were to ride collected. My new goal is to get Sue to give to the bit and become soft. She pushes on the bit like she has been taught.

Sue relaxed and started trotting. She trotted for a while and then went back into a fox trot or running walk. Then she would occasionally break into a pace. It was great.

We stopped near the middle as someone was in our way. It was nearly 8:45pm and my knee lasted all this time. Well, I told Sue to get her speed back up and she refused to move. She was tired. I reached back and touched her rear end with my hand and there was zero reaction and no movement forward. I touched her again with the same nothingness. I smacked her a little firmer with my hand and was still ignored. I ended up smacking that sensitive right rear end about 6 times before she would take a step forward.

What an amazing evening it was! We ended with my gracefull dismount from the fence. She followed me all over the arena while I collected my discared stuff.

Sue got a lot of treats at the end of this ride.

It just keeps getting better and better!

Last night I had watched the latest Parelli pod cast. It was about horses that are scared to have horses behind them or meet other horses. Talk about right on time Pod Cast!

Pat rode his pretend fearful horse, Cash, in the round pen. Linda’s job was to canter around the outside of the round pen. Cash rode on the rail inside and when she got too nervous, Pat just took her off the rail and went into and out of the middle. It’s approach and retreat. He did that for a while. Then he and Cash rode with Linda..side by side separated by the round pen fence. After that went well, he went the other way and met Linda and she cantered towards him.

HOW COOL! And we have a round pen set up in our large arena at Pine Dell.
This morning I was asked what I wanted to work on and I explained the concept to Jenny. Her eyes lit up with glee. We had a lot of horses that needed to go around the outside of the round pen throughout the lesson.

Everyone did liberty on the ground in the round pen and then it was my turn to ride in the round pen. Certain people throughout the morning were assigned to ride outside the round pen. Some were trotting. Some were cantering. The final person, friend Barb and Cocoa, walked bridleless!

Sue and I rode in front of the horses…with the horse coming up and passing us. We rode besides the horses. We turned and met the horses. It was GREAT!

Sue and I have never rode with the carrot stick. It’s a stick! We have been playing the friendly extreme game with the carrot stick when I first bought her and she is doing great. I’ve been afraid to ride with the carrot stick.

Here’s the other problem I was having with Sue. Don’t change gaits…Sue sometimes drags herself from stop to a go. Sometimes we are going along at a nice speed and she drops to a walk…she occasionally doesn’t respond to my squeezing of my legs to get her to speed up.

She still is terrified of something that appears to want to hit her. I have been using a very small slap of my hand on my thigh to make a very small clap noise. The smallest clap noise makes her startle and speed up. I hate the startle part. Other times she ignores my clap noise and just remains in the slower speed.

In the round pen to get her to speed up, I started clapping my hand on my thigh. When she ignored that, I put my hand behind her. She ignored that and I was able to touch her with my hand. She startled and sped up. We did that for a while until she quit the startle movement. WOW!

Then I asked Jenny to hand me the carrot stick. The exchange went well and I was holding the carrot stick and was still alive. Sue didn’t move.

I played the friendly game with the carrot stick. I rubbed her front part. We moved to the middle of the round pen and resumed the friendly game. I actually touched her belly and then came the time to touch her rear end. This was a scary part. The carrot stick touched her rear and and she didn’t even flinch! Wild Applause!

We started moving around the round pen. When she dropped into a trot, I managed to touch her rear end with the carrot stick…and we TOOK OFF! But it wasn’t that wild power surge. It was a medium power surge. After a moment or two, I was able to get her slowed down.

So this went on for a while. I learned that if I had the reins picked up with feel on her mouth, that my hands automatically pulled back when she surged forward. I started riding in the push passenger mode. I let the reins go slack, pushed against the saddle horn and let her go where she wanted. All I wanted was to keep at a trot-like gait. When I touched her with the carrot stick, my hands didn’t automatically tighten. I actually rode out some of the power surges without pulling on her mouth. Wild Applause here!

Near the end, she was getting mighty tired and started slowing down a lot. I had plenty of opportunities to touch her rear with the carrot stick. Occasionally I tapped her twice before I got a response. As we were going at the desired speed, my body told her to stop and we were very successful.

I also got to feed her treats while seated on her back. I tried to do that last Monday and she got scared of my leg when she bent around to take the treat!

We got out of the arena and zipped around on the wall. We had a horse pass and meet us and didn’t flinch!

I took her to the front, sidepassed to the deck fence and got off on the fence…another first. I have to lean over and slide down her side until my foot hits an opening in the wood. She didn’t move. I was grateful to live through this too.

It all was a HUGE DAY!