Flying Change

A month of back pain, back bones out of place is over. Fancy is "back" on track of my dream goal! Surely no one can ever forget my passion to do flying lead changes to pass the requirements of the Parelli Level 4 Tests! Fancy has given me conditions and I have failed all spring and summer to meet her requirements. She has been secretly teaching me another requirement and I recently became aware of the last condition. Fancy has been trying to do a flying change before I asked.…

Today was a great day with Fancy. I mostly rode with the controlling rein higher than the supporting rein. I kept my hands low and might have kept them contained in a small space rather than using my full arm extension to turn. (I'm starting to talk like Tom Dorrance in his book. Sorry.) Fancy's vet chiropractic appointment last Friday was the best ever! Gasp, we did flying lead changes during the lesson today. It's been a long long time since that happened for me. I watched Erin do many…

People say: "I have a crazy mare. Crazy mare. When she is in heat, she is horrible. I can't do anything with this mare." People like me laugh quietly inside when we read or hear this statement. We assume those people know nothing about handling horses. We have never had a mare like that. We love our mares. We choose to have mares! My confession on the alter of horsemanship: "I am sorry about my assumption." Fancy is a left brain exuberant extrovert with hormonal pain problems. She resembles the…

Focus on softness, willingness and small circles, without argument. Fancy wants to drift toward either end of the arena while,I want to do 10 meter circles. When I can get one 10 meter circle without an argument,I've won. When we do these at a trot she tries to do a poo up flying lead change and change directions argument even though we are not cantering. Fancy lives to rule. I've changed slightly more. I will handle the argument with no arguing back to her. I keep my strong focus on…

Easy to be all smart and brain fun about the lead change conditions that Fancy laid out and my demand to review the conditions before asking. Snort Day 1 After Learning the Conditions: I forgot about the conditions and the mandatory review. Here's what I thought: OK, I think we are ready, let's do it now. Left leg cue right leg cue. I did the enthusiastic part during second try. When I was driving home, I remembered the thinking part. Big Failure Day 2 After Learning the Conditions: No review.…