CISCO

I'm ushering today at Kauffmam Center for the Performing Arts which pauses the horse journey. But I had thoughts. Yesterday, I thought about the many many steps we take to keep ourselves safe with horses. Since I'm a polished veteran now and know everything, I've been neglecting some of these steps. The thought of making an audition for the Level 4 tasks has brought me back down to reality. We can not skip safety steps in a test, so let me just put full safety back into my warm-up. When…

Cisco is anchored to me. He runs along side of me. He is bonded to me. I thought today, Trailer loading at Liberty! Turns out, he is not anchored to me in the yard when it comes to trailer loading. Yes. He ran about 60 feet away from me. I resorted to the halter and sent him into the trailer. No! I had moved the trailer and he had to step up higher to get in. So we had a trailer loading session. He didn't explode when he got into…

Again I used the 22' rope around his neck. We played the circling game with the concept of not pulling on the rope. These are simple things, but not easy. We have not yet accomplished circling at a trot with the rope loose in my hands. Until he can do this on the 22' rope, perhaps doing it on the 45' rope will either be easier or more difficult. Ha! This is what horsemanship is all about. Guessing, trying, breaking it down into pieces, trying, etc.. Next is trailer loading.…

More trailer today. This time we loaded with the 22' rope around his neck. He loaded at a trot the first couple of times! Whoowee! Same as before, he exploded a couple times when he first loaded. I managed to drop and grab the rope when he exploded out of the trailer. Then he ate a bit of grain, turned around and stayed quiet. I had dropped the rope. I had to figure out how to get the rope in my hands to get him to come out. I didn't…

Level 4 task is for the horse to load himself into a trailer at a trot or canter (at liberty). I have my 3 horse trailer at home for a while. Cisco and I went to load. With my 14' rope... This trailer is different and makes him nervous. So we had words for me to send him into the trailer...about 10 sentences. Then he panics, turns and runs out. About 5 times of this, he finds the bucket of grain and takes a mouthful before panicking and running out.…

Surely everyone in the world knows that Velvet, Sage and I completed the Parelli Levels Journey from Level 1 to Level 3.  If you don't know that story, please buy the book and read about it!  Susan Fox Trotter.  The Level 3 pass occurred some many years ago, 2001.  I've been involved with a few horses since that amazing accomplishment, but the desire to return to the levels journey never came back. Until now. I blinked and the perfect horse appeared in my pasture.  Cisco, my raffle win, is the…