focus

ohhh dear what a long time since i last blogged

right well the play day went really well learnt lots and discovered even more about me and vinur.

went for a ride yesturday and it was amazing. vinur hasn't been ridden with much focus but i did my upmost to ride him with focus and it went really well.

we rode across a field and he was going all over the place evry way except where i wanted him to go, but i remained calm, kept focusing on where i wanted to go then used just what i needed to get him on track then quit. got there in the end but it took abit of time.

along on the roads i really noticed how he tries to get me to focus on something, but i stayed strong and didn't let my focus or attention go. soon he relaxed and we rode along quite happily.

on our way back he was able to make me loose my attention even if just for a few minutes and before i knew it we were on somebodies drive way and stopped, he seamed a bit happy about it, but ill know better for next time.

when we got back i practice tölt along the driveway which went not to well then we went down a small track a few times and failed miseribly so back out along the driveway then finally we get it and go back. after entering the farm rather than head to the stable i thought we could go and eat some grass in a field but vinur had different ideas and after a small disagreement he walked into a fencepost and hurt my knee alot, ok i kinda lost my temper, and pushed him on down to the field,

but it occured to me whether he walked into the post on purpose, maybe to hurt me, or maybe not as an extra thing to resist doing what i wanted. dont think that ill ever know but i will be weary of it just in case . . . might have to get my knee pads out.

but anyways on a positive note loved the playday and must get out to more and loving the new door that has been opened to me ( about focus and the horsnality report)

Where have all my blogs gone

have logged in today to find my last few blogs aren't here

bit of a bugger, but i will try and write more when i have more time than at the moment.

right well first post of the new year.

haven't done much primarily ue to illness and when i have had energy i've had to use it on my little lorry which has got its mot very soon . . . am very nervous, about it but am hoping for the best.

i filmed a savvy spotlight a number of days ago and learnt alot from the experience, i could do with being alone and not having two people watching and commenting on what i was doing. i also need to work a little faster so everything will fit in, i got 8 mins and missed something out. but i have a slightly altered plan which i will experiment with.

i had an evening ride of vinur last night, wasnt for long but we achieved a few things, after a shot play on the groun i got on his back and had a ride and we practiced direction changesby focus. we also had a bit of a canter but unbeknow to me we roe into a small branch tree which shoked me.

clicker training is going well and it seams like he is starting to cotton on to what the clicker means. so will soon start to expand this.

am reading up on leadership at the moment in preparation for my assessment day next week, and am enjoying what i'm finding and reading.

well its been a year since vinurs operation and it strange how things have come along, however i will go into this more next blog.

not parelli but i'm happy

a few weeks back i applied for a team leader job at work and yesterday i got a letter asking me to go for an assessment for the job, so im like over the moon right now.

i owe it in part to parelli in more ways than one, firstly i suppose i should admit that i used a few parrelli-isms in my application form, i tried to use them appropiately in a way that suited leading people and not horses.

secondly the thing that parelli really helped was to give me the confience to go for the job and to think of myself differently, and really look at what ive done in the past to justify to myself (and now to the company) why i could or should do this job.

at the time i just applied for the job just for the sake of it, and in part to show my team leader that i was capable of doing alot more than just what i do, now i could write about how bad the place is but i'm not going to dwel on it.

but whilst doing the application it got me really thinking about my past jobs, what i have accomplished, and it made me really think about what i am capable of at work, and with horses.

Mounting Practice

right well got some piccys now



had a little practice and then had alittle tölt practice as well which went well, especially since we changed the whole method of asking for it, but we think vinurs starting to get the idea now.



then had a play with chester, which went quite badly at first as he was running into all of the pressure, but after chaning to something different and going back helped, then went back to try another figure of 8 and changed to stand the other side which helped again. did also have a little ride, just in a halter and found him to just bace against all the pressure and i could feel my confidence going a little so i left it on as good a note as i could.

Well had a very nice christmasy weekend away, with real snow !

Anyways its very sad now, as we no longer have liberty and horse and success series, however hopefully they’ll be watched and understood by their temporary new owner. However it does allow us to go through the level 2 and 3 packs properly.

Anyways on to horses now. When in Sweden we had a good go on a more extreme lbi, he was very interesting, as ive ridden him a few times and each time has been different. After a little play up to a riding circuit I had a ride and tried to get a gait however he tensed up immediately and so i left it, he’s just had a new saddle and it really allows him to lift up his back and to put his head and neck down.

It was also nice to see a colt who i last saw as a foal, and he was very nice, unsure of people and quite low ranking as another horse came over and he moved very quickly. But it was lovely to see him again.

Had a few practices getting on vinur, and so that it going well, have found that vinur gets abit unsure if you get on from the offside, (the horse in Sweden did that too), but i think its just not used to it, so we’re doing a fair bit of friendly with it which is certainly helping, but it seams to be more when there is a mounting block (or simmular involved) but getting on from the ground is good – don’t want that to read like that weve only just started this as weve been doing it for ages, but its really only now that we are looking at it differently. Hoping to take a photo or two tomorrow. Providing that we are not snowed in.

taste of things to come

well, today was very interesting, so very unxpected, but like wow.

a number of times ive just taken vinur out to 'hang out' with him, an today was no different, so after a little graze i thought that we'd go in to the school and just have little play.

we starte by doing a circling driving game around a barrel, weve tried it before around a wheel barrow but it din't work well, but it did with the barrel, not suprising really, then we did some really good figure of eight. afterwhich i thought that id set something up so the we could do some sideways, so i took the rope off, just so he coul have some time to himself, i didn't expect him to follow me and be interested in what i was doing.

so after putting a few poles on the floor i was suprised to see him move over to them, a situation i couldn't leave so i asked him to go sideways, my heart was going and i was so affraid of doing anything to upset him and him just disappear, but no he went sideways. we did it both ways over a pole, we then did abit of draw, followed with some backup.

i had decided earlier that id like to have a little ride, so i took the opportunity to have a ride with only a cordeo, althought the steering needs to be improved a little it went very well, we had a little walk roun, then i thought id just ask for something more, and we ended up having a little canter and then we came out of the canter into tölt.

we then spent the last few minutes doing flexions and i sat sideways on him for a short while.

cant wait to see how our relationship and abilities develop in the future, however i wont neglet the fundamentals and i certainly dont want to push what we aren't ready for - as difficult as it will be.