All about my horses!

parelli

Nova’s Notebook – The Beginning

Pat Parelli is always telling us how he’s got yearlings on up that have happily learned the level 1, 2 and 3 tasks. Since Nova is at Pine Dell boarding stable, I decided that she should become a level 3 baby. I’ve given Jennifer Vaught this task.

This is what she looks like at 18 months!

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Jenny has fallen into the “I Love Nova” club. Jenny reports that Nova is bright and light. Nova is fox trotting and trotting during her training sessions. We’ve not seen any sign of the dreaded pace. She is doing great in her training. Jenny is going to have her ten year old daughter be the first one to ride Nova. She would like Nichole to start the experience in “starting horses” and Nova is the ONE. Jenny is going to lead Nichole around riding Nova. I wish I were going to be there to watch my baby take her first big step towards “Saddle Horse”.

I was chatting with a women yesterday. Her horse is in the same pasture as Nova. She told me that Nova was a sneaky horse. What? Well, when this woman goes out to get her horse, she’s walking along and all of a sudden she feels hot breath on her neck. It’s Nova. Nova has been following her.

Another couple who have a horse in the pasture have told me how they love Nova. She comes over to visit them. She’s sweet, pretty and friendly. Another person told me when they ride by the pasture, it’s Nova that runs over to meet their horse.

There will be more and more people in the “I love Nova” club as time goes on. The next one will probably be Nichole!

Jenny is Jennifer Vaught, long time friend and Parelli 3 star instructor for 15 years. 

JR’s Journal – Susan’s Big Blank Duh Look

JR and I were in a combined L2 and L3 clinic today doing just lovely.

We do have a horse in the clinic that tends to get upset when another horse
comes near him or touches him. I knew that from being in an earlier clinic
with him…but I got too close.

All of sudden we heard the squeal, the back up to kick, only we were too
close. The horse whirled and then the head snaked at us. Ears pinned and
teeth barred. The horse went in for the big bite and back up.
In a few hours after the dust settled, maybe in real time it was a
millisecond, I saw that the horse had my reins in his mouth. He was pulling
on my reins.

I sat there with a dumbfounded look on my face. DUH! After a few more
hours which might have been millisecond #2, the other rider slapped her horse with her mecate and he dropped the rein.

JR and I went running to JENNY! Jenny told me that when things go bad like
that, get off the horse! You have no idea what is going to happen…and
anything could happen. My best bet would have been to quickly get off.

I made my face go DUH again with a big blank look so everyone could see what a quick thinker I had been when danger started.

A lesson learned.

Why does this horse do this? It’s not because he is dominant and hates other
horses. It’s because he’s scared of other horses and puts on this great act,
so no one will know it.

During the rest of the clinic, we worked on those fears. First, we put him
near other horses and when he snaked his head and started after a horse, he
got to canter for a long time. He got to do flying lead changes. It took
two times before he settled down in a group of horses.

Next, some of the riders with a treat in their pocket came over and fed him.
Wow…that was a great surprise for him.

Lastly, we stood next to him and petted him with a carrot stick. His whole
attitude had drastically changed when the clinic was over. Not to say that
he was cured…but Jenny gave the owner some things to do at home to further work on this.

whew..Ok, here it is again…The big Blank look with open mouth…Duh

Luke – Level 2 Wannabee Horse

Here’s an amazing story of the L2 wannabee horse. His name is Luke
and he’s a National Show horse about as tall as the Empire State
building. When he was first in training with Jenny and Tony,
Anything would make him leap high in the air and land on the other
side of the arena. He would give Tony (who can ride anything with
hair) a run for his seat. Thinking about Luke being rode outside was an impossible thought.

Things progressed and Luke started using his brain to think. He even
got to be rode outside.

Luke was for sale to a PNH home. Most of us PNH home people were
fearful adult-beginning-riders with enough savvy to realize that Luke
wasn’t in our league.

Gasp…he became a lesson horse for our advanced teenage riders..and
younger adults. (None of us old adults would ever dare ride Luke, no
matter how safe he appeared to be)

Then he was half leased by one of the teenagers.

Our young adult who works at the barn…beloved of everyone… fell in
love with Luke a long time ago. she bore the leasing of the horse to
the young teenage girl with well concealed jealousy. She wanted Luke
for her own horse. Sharing Luke was not in her dream. She finally
swung a deal and bought Luke.

They do marvelous…with a little bit of excitement when you
watch…or ride in a group lesson with them. Every now and then she
forgets and relaxes a little too much, he startles at something and
she falls off. But HAY! She is young and bounces right back.

In 2001, she passed level 1 on Luke. We were all joyful. Her goal
was to pass L2 in 2002.
Here it is in 2003. Luke has passed all but one of his L2 tasks.

Oh sure, everyone nods sagely. It’s the flying lead changes.

Nope. He passed flying lead changes about the middle of 2002. He’s
an athletic long-legged thing!

His owner kept telling me that she was almost finished with level 2.
The other day she said that she only had one more task to do. Flying
Lead changes? I said…as I had forgotten that they already did them.

Nope, she mumbled. What?! I said, not imagining what it could be.

mummble mummmble…pole….L mumble backing

Huh? I said.

“Backing thru the L” she snapped! “When he backs thru the L, and the
pole touches his back feet, he leaps into the air! He does it on the
ground, but not when I ride! He can’t stand those poles touching his
feet when I ride him.”

I disolved in laughter. This is the only horse in the world with the
last L2 task of backing through poles. All us other people are
struggling with flying lead changes! Good GAD!!! Horses are
something else.

CRAZY NEBRASKA PEOPLE!

Those normal people of us from the Midwest know better than to have
anything to do with Nebraska in the winter. Why the whole place gets
cold and snow and closes down for the winter.

When I heard that a Nebraska person wanted to have a clinic in the
winter, I said, “A clinic in Nebraska in the winter? Why that’s
crazy!”   So, a winter clinic was scheduled. Of course it’s my job to
go to all clinics with Jenny so that she can have someone carry stuff
around, get auditors to participate in the warm up morning sessions,
jaw around with people and take charge of the beach balls. It’s an
important job that I do, and I take it very seriously.

So…I just assumed this must be a heated arena since no one in their
right mind would schedule a clinic in Nebraska in the winter!

WRONG…we had a little tiny restroom off the arena that had a
baseboard heater. That’s it!!!!!!!!!!! This was a two day clinic.
It snowed part of the time we were there. Occasionally, it got
REALLY COLD.

Guess what..The clinic was full!…There were AUDITORS! AUDITORS who
sat there for two days in the 24-26 degree heat! I kept warm only by
moving and wore 25 lbs of clothes. With all my clothes on, I was
almost as big as the restroom! I looked like a winter Pillsbury
dough boy. My arms stuck out about 10″ from my body.

The riders had a great time. I love the moment when they all realize
that they are going to ride their horses with one rein and the halter!

No wrecks…everything went just great! We had a fine time. Jenny
had a L1 assessment and an hour lesson after the clinic was over on
Saturday. We froze to death during that time.

Then we had to eat.  At the restaurant, I was trying to stay awake while I was eating.  A Nebraska person was eating with us.  They caught my eyes flipping up and back..zoning out. By the time we got back to the hotel, we all felt like a Mack truck had run over us several time.

It took me two days to thaw out when I finally reached home!

Susan, reporting in from the clinic journey!

Velvet – Level 2 clinic with Jennifer Vaught

The day was sunny and bright. It was warmer outside in the sun than in the
indoor arena, so we were outside all day long.
But it was cold in the morning, so we started out in the heated lounge.
We had a knot tying class…we learned 4 knots.

We got our circulation started with balancing games. Jenny had purchased a
round board with a bump in the middle. The object is to stand on it without
the edges of the board touching the floor. Then we had to stand on a
skateboard looking board with a rollar underneath it. For this task, we got
to have a partner stand in front of us and give us their arms to hang on to.

Then we played human games where one of us was a horse and the other was the human. Jenny led the “humans” out of hearing range and gave them their
“tasks”. My human felt sorry for me and told me what to do. ha ha I figure
she was a little upset when I became the human and didn’t tell her what to
do. My challenge was to play the falling rock game and the reverse at a trot
game.

Next, we progressed to online with the 22′ rope. We had to stand on the rope
with two feet until the horse’s head was as far down as the horse felt
comfortable. I did get Velvet’s head down to where I stepped on the lead
snap. When the horse’s head was down, we were to play the friendly game with the carrot stick and string…plus hit the ground with the string.

While everyone else trotted and then walked on the 22′ line, my challenge was for Velvet not to break gait at a canter for 5 circles.

Our next challenge was reversing at a trot, but Velvet and I got to reverse
at a canter, hence doing flying lead changes. Wonderfully, Velvet is
improving her flying lead changes at her “problem” direction. She doesn’t
get the lead change in back, but she now can change leads in back at the
canter. This has taken a YEAR!

Our next challenge was to ride with the Cherokee Bridle. I think Velvet was
the only horse that has ever experienced this before. But, it didn’t take
long before we were all trotting around with the string being carried in the
mouth by all the horses…it took 10 minutes! Velvet and I haven’t done this
for almost a year, so it was cool to see her calm down and hold the string in
her mouth in a short amount of time.

After lunch we rode with bridles. We had have our halters on our horse.
Then we were required to bridle our horse from our knees and then take off
the halter…still on our knees. Thank goodness I know how to do this now.
That ground was hard and I didn’t want to stay down there very long. I
remember when taking the halter off when underneath the bridle was a complete total mystery. I think it took me 3 years to figure it out. I think Velvet figured it out long before I did, and just took over.

We started out doing rollbacks at a walk and trot.

Then we played follow the leader. The challenge is to stay no farther or
closer than a horse length. Those that break the horse length commandment
generally get to run flying leads (without the horse!) after the lesson is
over. Luckily, Jenny forgot to “punish” the ones who broke the horse length
commandment.

Then we did real flying lead changes one at a time. Velvet and I didn’t get
a single one. I now realize that I have to be really “UP” for this and ride
very aggresively. Velvet and I were just too laid back by the late
afternoon. Then two people at a time did flying lead changes. We had logs
laid out and did the lead changes in a figure eight pattern.

After we were done with this, we all dismounted, unsaddled and put on our
bareback pads. Jenny demonstrated how to help someone mount. She
demonstrated this several times. Then the auditors got to help the rest of
the class mount. The auditors got quite a workout. They had to move
barrels, logs and help with mounting.

We walked and then trotted. There were two riders who had never rode
bareback before. They were quite nervous about it, but gradually became
relaxed enough to ride at a trot. My challenge was not to use my reins. One
of the auditors asked me why I couldn’t use my reins and I explained that it
was a level 3 task to ride bareback and bridleless. So he said, why don’t
you just take off the bridle then. I surprised him and did…but I put the
savvy string around Velvet’s neck. I’m almost ready to ride with no backup
(string or carrot stick)…I’m right on the edge. However, I’m no where near
balanced enough to ride and change directions without the bareback pad.

HAY! We did a lot! There were only 5 people who rode in the morning session and we gained one for the afternoon session.

We all had a wonderful day!

JR’s Journal – Clinic Journey

At official yearling status…exactly one year of age, JR attended his first clinic at Pine Dell. It was his first time to ride in a trailer by himself, to be in a barn, and to be in an indoor arena. He was just a LITTLE upset when we arrived at Pine Dell. I heard a lot of yearling whinny during the first part of the day…most of it right in my ear.

BUT, he did just great! He had the least problems of any horse in the clinic. Of course he hasn’t had the time to develop many opposition reflex habits. We played all the games. I discovered he knows how to follow the feel of the rope and he moves when he feels pressure. At the end of the day, we had many barrel and pole obstacles to walk, trot and canter across, over or go between. We finished all the tasks before anyone else and we were in our stall eating our late lunch. The bigger horses got to stay and be rode for another hour.

About a month later, we went to another beginning clinic. He did even better this time. He certainly didn’t whinny like he did the first clinic. He grew up a lot that first clinic and bonded with me. After the second clinic was over, I felt like JR and I shared the same skin. His general inclination is to stay close, no matter how many times I shoo him back.

So why am I paying to take JR to a clinic when he is too young to ride? Easy Answer! These two clinics got him in an arena with nine other horse…all running around with their humans. He certainly got used to being in a crowd. He hasn’t had a chance to develop opposition reflex yet, so I was easily able to do all the tasks assigned. He is easy to convince to do what I ask of him. I feel that I’m developing a much better horse by taking him to these clinics. At a delicate time in the building of his personality, I’m in an arena with an expert trainer…my safety net.

Besides, we had a good time!!!

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