Parelli here I come!!!!!!

Allright! The audition was AWESOME!!!!! Getting to ride with Pat was INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blue was a total champ and was a dream. Just being in the environment was thrilling. I couldn't wait to get started.

At the end of day two I got to chat with Brian and he said I was accepted and wondered when I wanted to start. So I said right away, well, after the Harrisburg celebration, of course.

So I'm in the airport on my way back to Florida!!! I just got to spend three days with the family in Harrisburg absorbing all the awesomeness of the Parelli celebration. We had a blast and I think I bought about 15 shirts to wear for my externship, haha. Jeanette and my dad also joined in on the fun and bought lots of things and then to my surprise my mom asked if she should get a carrot stick if she was going to start playing with horses. YIPPPPPPPEEEEEEEE!!!! Mom wanted a carrot stick. I wish we had the moment on video!!! Now she can join in on all the fun.

Well the fam left on Sunday earlier then the show was over, so that was sad, but they had an 8 hour drive home. Anyway, I decided to volunteer with the breakdown of the entire show. It was cool to be behind the scenes. We got everything done in record time.
I was starting to worry because I hadn't figured out where I was going to sleep and how to get a hold of a cab number. But I got a hold of Avery (one of my instructors) and she grabbed a lady (Sue) by the arm and Sue had a rental car and a spot in her bed :) So I got to join them for their buffet dinner and it was fun cause I sat with all the Parelli folks. Then I went with Sue to her hotel. The next morning we had an early wakeup call because Sue was standby for the earliest flight, but I wasn't about to complain seeing I was getting a ride to the airport.

So now I'm sitting here, loving the fact that we now have free wifi in certain airports :):):) So far it's this one and the one in Charlotte. So much better then paying 10 bucks for an hour!

I'm still a little in awe of all the things that have happened so fast the last week, but I'm going to roll with it and love every minute of it! I can't wait to get started tomorrow at Pat's barn. I'm sure I'll be shadowing most of the time and just getting a feel for everything, and it will drive me crazy because I won't be allowed to play with the horses yet, but I will do my best to behave and be patient :) It's so darn exciting!

I doubt I'll be allowed to blog, so the entries will become less and less. Sorry, but as you can all understand, I'm not going to do anything to mess up my chances at Pat's barn :)

Ah, life is good :) Enjoy every minute, it'll pass you by, so open up your eyes and mind and absorb it all!!!

Awesome news!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I have great news, but I won't write it until the end of my post!!! I'll keep you in suspense, haha.

Anyway, Wednesday afternoon after our matador games I met up with Steffie, Kelly and Tiziana and we played follow the leader games. We had such a total blast!!! We did all the obstacles at the level that each of us were ready to play with them. We just laughed all afternoon and encouraged each other and had the BEST day! We giggled, and grazed, and just enjoyed being out in the sun. Man, I'm going to miss them so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then Thursday they were invited to ride at Pat's barn because they had been there for 8 weeks. I was mostly sad that I had to spend the day without my friends, but also envious that they got to go up to Pat's barn and chase cows and stuff. Lucky devils!! But I had a great day anyway.

I did manage to mess up my left lead with Blue, so I'm not sure what I did there. I think I'm starting to try too hard, instead of let it happen, and it's putting pressure on her, and then it just goes downhill.

Anyway, Today I was in the demo for lead changes and she did great. We are still a little stuck with the left lead, but I'll work on it this weekend. Then we spend the day grazing with my buddies and playing in the water.

So for the good news :):):):) I put in my application for the extern program. Then I waited all week to get word. Well, this morning Pat came up to me, and towered over me and told to be at his barn Monday and Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm AUDITIONING!!! IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! 2 days at Pat's barn! IEEEEEEEEEE!!!

So yeah, I cancelled my immigration meeting that I had set up for Monday!!! I'll deal with that later!

IEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! 2 days at Pat's barn!!!!!!!!! The pressure is on!!!!!!!!!! It's going to be AWESOME!

So anyway, that's the good news. Blue will stay at the Parelli center this weekend. Sunday I'll have to get her clipped and all perty!
Oh, Pat saw me play with her this morning (at liberty in the enchanted forest) and he told me I had done good work with her :):):):):):)::)

Anyway, tomorrow I go to Seaworld with my buddies and then they fly to Germany and Spain :( But luckily I'll have Brittany and Sandy to hang with :)

IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, I"M SO EXCITED! And it hasn't really even sunk in yet!!!

Matador training!

I'm writing in the morning because I never got around to it last night. It was hella cold now that I'm used to the temp here! So I wanted to get back in bed and watch a movie!

Anyway our class time was fun. We learned about the shoulder-in, haunches-in, sideways and halfpass. I jumped in on the opportunity again to get a free lesson (meaning I volunteered for the demo!). It was really neat. I didn't realize the shoulder in was so slight, I was always overdoing it! It's really just a turn of my own shoulders. Then we went over the rest.

In the afternoon I went to the matador focus station. We had watched a quick clip in the classroom with a guy on his horse and a bull. It was absolutely fancinating!!! This horse was the most athletic creature I have ever seen! So we got to do simulations with that. I was on Blue and then an instructor would go to stab Blue in the butt with his carrot stick while I was doing the indirect rein, and tada, her booty swung around :):) It was so funny! Then we went straight into the direct rein so that her front end spun around. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!! Blue did not take her eyes off of the instructor and his horse from then on. She was not even about to get touched again!!!! She is such an awesome horse! I had two more people say that they wanted to take her from me! NEVER!!! She's mine, all MINE!!!!

Then I played some follow the leader games with some friends and we spend the afternoon doing some grazing. It was another great day!!!!!!!

Fun weekend!

Wow, time is really getting away from me!!!

Quick recap! Friday night we went to the Karaoke bar and I sang Julie Roberts song "Break down here", which was totally fun. Then we went out dancing.

Saturday we were invited to hang out at Pat's barn with him!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! We got to watch him play with his stallion, then we got hang out with the three babies, which were ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to take one home! They were so sweet. Then we watched him and his son and Fawn Anderson work some cows. Totally awesome!! Then he asked us all what our goals were. It was totally the coolest thing to be up there and watch him at play!

Then we went to the mustang challenge and watched Linda put on a demo and then 4 of her instructors came in to play, so that was super cool. That evening we watched the mustang challenge and the Parelli Instructor won! It was awesome! He cantered into the trailer on the horses back!! Some of the other contestants were very hard to watch and we were only there for the top 10, so I can't imagine what others looked like. But then again, I'm a Parelli student now so almost everything non Parelli makes me cringe :(

Sunday we watched a bit of the auction and Jesse's (the Parelli Instructors horse) was bought by one of the guys that works on the ranch for his 7 year old son. It was super cute. And there was also a parelli student that got 4th in the competition and her dad bought the mustang for her and she left crying. It was so sweet.

After that we decided to go swimming with our horses. Well, it was only me and Leslie that wanted to go all the way it. It was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much fun!
You'll see the pics on facebook. I'll also post the video's!
Anyway, the one problem was that she kept putting her head under water!!! So we swam, but she'd put her head under water, so we'd head back to shore so she didn't drown! It was the funniest thing! Anyway, it was just super duper fun, and the vids will be posted on youtube, look up MsPureBlue.

Today I did the demo and we worked on finesse. I had to shorten up my reins big time! So that her shoulder would stay underneath her and her neck wouldn't do all the turning. It was super cool and Kathy was the teacher. Everyone said it was super cool to see the change. Too bad I didn't get a video of that :(

I put on the cradle bridle today and we just played online after our riding session to get her used to it for the rest of the week.

Anyway, I'm totally scattered brain because I'm doing too many things at once, so most of this probably doesn't make sense! Anyway, off to give Blue her supper.

Oh No, week 3 is already over :(:(:(

I didn't write yesterday. I'm slowly falling out of the blog habit, I can already tell, but I will try and keep it up for those of you who are actually reading it for one more week.

Yesterday we worked on ribs while riding. So we would ask for them to move their ribs while on a circle without the reins and not leaving the circle! It was interesting, but we basically had to break it down into all the reins styles and how you would move which part and then at the slightest try quit. Well, I was pleasantly surprised! I didn't really think it was possible, but Blue caught on and did great! We'd only ask for about 4 steps and then quit. Going to the left was just awesome, but to the right was a little harder, so there must be a brace in my body.

Then we just cantered around the enchanted forest and played with the clover leaf pattern in the fancy arena. It's so much fun with the carrot stick, but Blue does get a little unconfident if we're cantering and i redirect her. She tries to speed up to avoid it.
But it was good and we worked on our canter departs and it's so easy once I set her up correctly. We did a conga horse with two people and my person wanted me to do a canter depart and i didn't get it with her just pushing on me, but when i saw her do it i understood. I told her it would probably be easier if my hips were slanted and my body was shifted so that I could just forward on the lead. Well, DUH!!!! Why don't i do that for my horse??? So after I got that I went out and set Blue up and TADA!!!!! Canter departs! And she didn't get mad or upset, she just jumped right in, it was AWESOME!!!!!

Oh, I just started talking to some friends, so I can't really remember what I wrote, so I will just continue where I thought I quit :)

Today I messed with my saddle again and had Avery help me. Back to the less wide tree, so we'll see how that goes.

Then riding, we praticed staying on the rail. She wanted to be a bit impulsive so we did a little bit of finesse and we moved along. Finally we got some nice canter strides and no cutting of corners. Then we worked on the question box patterns and I had to quit right away because she got it really quickly. And I didn't even use the reins or carrot stick. The leg work from this week prepared her and it was great!!!!

Anyway, now I have to head home and shower. We're going to the karaoke bar and then out dancing!

Oh Oh, My LBI is baaaaaaaack!

Today was fun. I went to the RBI remuda and learned all about them. I wish Jeanette and Mom were here to listen to all the things because it would make things so much clearer to them! I asked them to video tape it at some point so that everyone can hear about it! I think one day they will! It was just great!

Then I was in a demo, only blue didn't feel like following the pattern, so we didn't really do the next part of the demo, haha. But it was way more fun to watch a demo from a horses back instead of sit on a hard bench! Fawn came over to me after that and asked me to donate Blue to her, hahaha, because she has one that looks just like her, so she wants to make a team out of them. But nope! Blue bug is MINE, all MINE :):):):):):):)

Then we did carrot stick riding and I decided to try to tie the plastic bag to the end of it. I hadn't done that before but it was actually super good!!! Blue was sensitive but not scared of it! So it was a good combo. Normally she just ignores the stick until I need to deliver a phase 4 and then she gets scared of it, so we normally don't get very far. But today was great. We did the direct, indirect, and disengagements with out reins, so that was cool. Then we did stick to the rail and transitions. Well, her stop is awesome, I pretty much fall onto her neck each time, haha! Then I played with my saddle more again and changed my wintec tree into the super wide and see how it feels tomorrow.

Then tonight after dinner it was so nice that I took her for a walk at liberty again. Well, the LBI is back!!!! She was like yeah, yeah, I'll kinda follow you, but I'd rather graze. The first couple of days she was worried and stuck to me like glue, but not tonight!! I was a good 100 feet away from her and she was still just completely content. So then I started to sneak back to zone 5 and she glanced, but didn't turn and face, so she got a good little swack, but she turned and faced and then went right back to grazing. Oh man, oh man, so I asked a couple more times and got completely ignored. So I decided to put the halter back on, and then I made her move her feet. Snappy departures, change of directions at the canter, fast backups, sideways trots. She looked FANTASTIC! like a cow pony, so athletic. She knows when she's irked me to make her work and then she can feel the pressure, hahaha. It was in all good fun ofcourse, but she still knew she had pushed it a bit too far. So after about 5 minutes of that I took the halter back off, and I had my lovely sweet pony with me again, hahhaahaha. Then she grazed and I walked off quickly and I would see her look up and I'd start running away and she came flying towards me in a gallop, and bucking like crazy, hahhahaha, and came to a sliding stop in front of me. It's just so amazing what moving a horses feet can do for leadership!! And then we went back to her pen for her evening peanut hay.

Anyway, another totally fun day and I'm excited for tomorrow again!

saddle annoyance

The saddle is seriously a pain in the butt!!!

Anyway, I went to the bowtie focus station bareback. I did not want to mess with the saddle. So we did our hind end disengagements into canter departs that way. She got the pattern and we moved on. She's much to quick to get it!

Then the shim mess started. And that took a long time. Eventually we settled with one, but as soon as I got on I felt like i was falling forward :( She didn't really like it either. But we just kinda dealt with it and we started trotting around the enchanted forest. She was a little RB so we did lots of circles around trees as we made our way closer to home and then when we got to the main gate I kept her going. She weaved around some and kept trying to stop at the round pen (that's our lay down routine), and I would ask her to maintain gate. Finally the last one, we were pointed towards home and I asked for a trot again and she didn't rush off! So we left it at that.

That was about it for today! Oh we did work on getting laterflexion without reins, and disengagements without reins, and that worked, so that was super fun!

Riding again!

Today was our first riding day again. We got to play with the balls and the seat builders which was fun.

Avery did a great demo on how to get your horse ready and really working with the porcupine game. I'm going to use that a lot when I work with Blue because it will really help with her dealing with pressure behind the ears and not freaking out with being tied.

I went to the shim check and messed with it some, but in the end, I still pretty much hate the saddle! Blue doesn't seem happy with it, I just think it gets in the way, blah... Anyway, it was ok with walk, and trot, but once we started cantering it didn't go very well. There's a downhill slope to the honeycomb, so she really got annoyed at the canter. I think the saddle is just pressing down on her then because she isn't really rocking herself back yet, and then my weight and fluidity isn't helping I'm sure. Anyway, it looked a bit like a stretch/crow hopping session for a bit. So finally I just ditched the saddle and worked with her. I put her in the round pen and for a good two rounds she just stretched her back out. So that tells me the saddle was really messing with her. I'm really going to have to figure this out these next two weeks!

Then after supper I went out with Sandy and she followed me on her Indy and I got to smack Indy for coming to close, haha. After a few good hits she got the hint! Then we took it up to walk/trot/stop/backups and Indy got it! So we quit. It was great for Blue because I was less particular and not paying attention to her and then she likes it much better because I'm not nit picking and I'm slower to correct her, which she's a fan of as well.

Anyway, it's dark out and I'm heading home!!

Holy storm!

Ok, so about 3 a.m. it was pretty damn scary! Wind, lighting, thunder, crashing rain! I was not able to get back to sleep so I had to read part of midnight sun! Finally when it settled I could sleep again.

We show up at Parelli at about 9:40 a.m. Oh my gosh!!! There are like 8 trees down! So I give Blue her breakfast and I put on my riding gloves to help drag tree branches. We worked with all the Parelli faculty and externs and more volunteers. Crazy how the trees roots are so shallow, it's like I coulda pushed them over!!! And a lot of them were hollow! But super tall trees at that. It's pretty sad to see a lot of them gone :( I guess it's time to start planting some! It was perfect before the storm, if they get another storm it's going to start looking empty :( At about 12 there wasn't much more to be done without the big machines, so then I took Blue out.

Blue I had had a blast. She took me around and did all her things that she knew would get her some grain. She's a total one trick pony! Once she gets it, she wants to do it over, and over, and over again! She understood I wanted 4 feet in the water, so that's what I got, 4 feet and then she'd turn and come back out and get grain. She did this about 15 times! Then she took me to the carwash and went through it at liberty about 30 times! Grab a cookie and turn around and do it again. She is so stinking funny!
I also took her up on the hill for a workout. we did traveling circles at the trot and canter. It's funny, the more she canter the more uncomfortable she gets. If I don't have her check in then she starts getting worried. But we worked through it and she blew out and was my little Blue Bug again. She really doesn't enjoy getting worked up! And the girl is hard to get sweaty!
This week we get to ride :)::):):):):) Woohoo, now we can really canter all over the place :):):):):):) Woohoo, less running for me!!

Anyway, it was a super nice day and I think I got a wee bit sunburnt.
Dustin called and said he made it safe back to Korea, so I'm happy about that. Not that he's in Korea, but that he's safe :)

Sticky Saturday!

Today was hot and muggy! Ugh..... And now it's all windy and pretending it's going to be all stormy, but no sign of rain yet!

Today I took Blue out in the enchanted at liberty again. I asked Julia if it was ok, so I wouldn't get in trouble. She stuck to me, so I was really happy about that. We just roamed around and did little things here and there. Nothing too exciting really, just fun to watch what she comes up with. She did take off in a little jog and I was like, OH SHIT! But she took me to the water pond and offered to put 4 feet in :) For the rest she walked over some poles, went in the trailer again, got up on the big square sand jump thingy, and just little lots of cute things. Pretty much more of the same. I can tell she likes liberty much better because she always pulls the rope out of my hands when I have her attached to it, it's funny.
She did ignore me once today when she found some really good grass and was not hiding her hiney and coming over, so I decided I would put the halter on, before I really delivered a phase 4. I crouched down and sure enough, nothing, so WHACK!! and ta-da! she was fixed, hahah, the little monster! She loves to see if I'll really follow through. A lot of the time I don't, but that's because she responds, yes, a little slower then I would like, but in the end, I still get what I hoped for.
Oh and then Linda came by on Remmer and all I could think to say is, Hi! For real, my mind went blank after that!!! So so much for small chit chat. I told Kelly she just missed linda and she said, "What did you say to her?" Ahhhhh, nothing! She said, "You could have asked her how her ride went!" Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, right, yeah, that would have been a good one. Man, i'm so socially moronic at times!

That's about all for now. Going to give her a little more snacks for tonight and head home to watch a movie or something.

Savvy Spotlight

I'm here at the Parelli center on Saturday morning so that Blue can get some food in her belly. Then I'm going to let her run in the big arena with Rein and then we're going to go check out Ocala and all the tack stores. Blue's been eating wood, so I've been told that she's lacking copper. I'm going to try and add some seaweed to her diet, so we'll see how that goes. Then later on in the afternoon I'll come back here to play with her some more. So gets so dang bored in her stall, even though it's pretty big and there's lots to look at.

Well, yesterday was a treat :) I got to try a savvy spotlight practise with 10 other people in front of the faculty that was around and the rest of the students. I was 9th on the list, so I had to wait about 30 minutes before it was my turn. In that time Blue just molested me the entire time. She played with the rope, the carrot stick, my hat, a faculty member, non stop messing with everything. But it was fine, we were just hanging out.

Then it was my turn and I was a little worried. We've been going into the round pen everyday and it has become a habit to lay down first. Sometimes it takes longer then others for her to find the right spot. So I was worried that it may take her 3 minutes, the entire song time that I had, to find a nice comfy spot. So that would have sucked. Luckily she was AWESOME! We walked in and within three seconds she was laying down :) I gave her some grain, sat on her back, and then got up to ask her to stand. Of course she looked at me like that was not near enough grain, but after a couple of secs she joined me. The rest of the savvy spotlight is on my facebook video's, and the 2nd view point is on my youtube page. It doesn't seem to want to load on facebook :(

Anyway, point of the story is, Blue is awesome. We did laying down, stick to me with walk/trot/stop/backing up, the pedestal, little bit of accidental sideways, spin to the left, spin to the right, trot to me, back by the tail, mount by neck, dismount by butt, and bow, I think that's it, all at liberty. She was awesome!!! There were only a few instances that we lost a little communication, but she caught right back on when I asked a little clearer. She was adorable :)

The rest of the day we just kinda hung out and played. It was fun :) Next week I get to ride :):):)

Then we went out with the girls and two of the guys in our class. It was hilarious. We did some line dancing, some booty dancing, and some country dancing. Oh, and I rode the bull! Which is fricking awesome fun!!! I rode it twice and then the operator made me come back and ride it backwards, hahahaha. The first time I rode it with no hands because it just seemed awkward to hold your arm in that position, but the second time I toyed with me, holding on and then releasing and seeing what I liked best. Anyway, it was super fun, and I want one for my birthday! Haha! It was fun to have that many girls out all dancing around, i'm so lucky to have such an awesome group to hang out with!

That's all for today, i'm going to let Blue stretch her legs!

An oh boy moment!!

So last night after I wrote my blog Blue and I went for a walk in the enchanted forest at liberty (Blue is loose), there's a fence that surrounds the area, but it's about 10 acres or so. Anyway, we strolled around and she was real sweet and stuck with me the entire time. Sometimes she'd let herself fall behind and then she'd come flying to come catch up to me again. We grazed some at the back and strolled back again. We came by the pedestal and she got up on it and so I gave her a cookie. Well, seeing she got a cookie for that she went and loaded herself in the trailer, hahahahah! So now I really have a self loading pony :) It was a nice night.

Then today, we did our morning routine of going to lay down in the roundpen while I fed her grain. She basically brings me to the roundpen now! Then we learned about synchronizing, and taking leadership, and then letting the horse take the leadership.

In the afternoon I went to the Savvy Spotlight remuda, but before that I took her to the roundpen to do some practising. Well, that's where I made the mistake. I decided at that time that I was not going to give Blue as many grain treats, I was not going to let her turn and face me for grain treats, and last I was not going to let her bring her shoulder in to me to come stand next to me. Well, big mistake! By the end of that roundpen session she really didn't care so much for me :( It wasn't that dramatic, but she definetly let me know that her feelings were seriously hurt!!! Her shoulder moving in is her comfort, so I don't think I'm going to push her away really anymore. She asked much more politely after I told her not to do it. And she's being better about the grain as well.

But the problem was, we had to go put on a savvy spotlight! So we had 4 people at a time with a bunch of people watching. The 4 people had to play with their horses for a song. Well, my draw was basically half broken. She was coming in, but it wasn't like it was the day before. And she was doing half of what I asked her. So I just kept it light and easy and just took what she offered. 3 minutes is really to short to do much of anything anyways. But it was fun, and I learned not to be hard on my pony.

So tonight I went into the enchanted forest again and we played a bit at liberty. At one point she saw another horse and trotted off and left me, hahah. But when I got about 100 feet from her I whistled and she came cantering back to as if to say, what took you so long! So then I played with her on the 45 and was practising cantering out there by herself. WOW, did we have a RBE moment! First it started with a simple buck in one "corner", then the next time she went around it was another buck, added by another one a couple of feet further. Then the third time she really got creeped out and had a little rodeo, and then she went completely peppe le pew crazy tearing around. So I watched her for a bit, because I don't get to see it very often, it was cute! Then she was really getting crazy and just running as fast as she could, so I decided it better be time to interrupt the pattern before she's hurt. She was still there because she turned and cantered towards me and snorted right in my face, a couple of times! hahaha! Then I send her and did some falling leaf and that was fun!!!! I never get to deal with a right brain anymore, so it was fun!!!!!!! But not good for her, so I got her to settle down. Then she really stuck to me!!! After she caught her breath I send her out on the canter again and she controlled herself :)

On our stroll back we stood on the pedestal again and she loaded herself again. Then I asked her to load up again and she did so I was able to get to the front of the trailer and give her some grain. Then she took me to the roundpen because she wanted to lay down and eat some grain again, hahah. It's her new trick now. I wonder if I should keep her out of the roundpen tomorrow until my savvy spotlight, haha, because she'll want to lay down right away, hahah. We'll see how it goes tomorrow!

Nothing but smiles :):):):):):):)

Ok, another awesome day. I really can't help it. Maybe my positive attitude is clouding my vision!

Anyway, this morning Blue and I did our morning routine now of laying down a bit. Then a little liberty play with walk trot canter stick to me, on a small circle. She does pin her ears at the canter, but I don't know if it's because she's concentrating so hard, or because she's pissed off. She could leave, because it's at liberty................hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Anyway, today was horse/personality day again. I joined the LBI and I definetly fit in there as well. Especially with someone telling me what to do, instead of asking me! I will do everything in my power to not do it, just because someone told me to! And then coming home to unwind after a busy day. Dustin is still reeling at this point and still needs to unwind, but as soon as I enter the door I want to get on the couch and CHILL! Even after we've gone out partying, he wants to turn on the music and start cooking and all I want to do is hop into my warm bed. I love knowing about these horse/personality charts. They just explain so much! I'm dissecting everyone I know now!
And of course our horse conga's were tons of fun. We practised spins and change of directions.

So I got my Blue bug and we moseyed our way up the hill. Did a little trot, walked way out behind her and focused on the trailer and she jsut walked right on in and waited for her grain snack. This focus thing is seriously start to work now. I mean, I was like 15 to 20 feet behind her and she went right in!!:)

Then I went into the round pen and played with the draw again. Once the draw was at a good place, which took about 6 tried for her to really come cantering/trotting in, then we could move on the change of direction. So we did change of directions at a trot and ofcourse she remembered it all from yesterday and just started to offer after I reminded her once that that was what we were doing! I seriously have the smartest little mare, and she does not like it when she's wrong!!! So then I tried figure 8's at the canter and that went pretty well, sometimes she'd drop to a trot, but would pick it up right away again. Pretty flying lead changes :)

Next it was trying to start the spins, with the two different methods. One was starting with the drive zone 1, and then other was starting with a draw first. Well I started with a drive and first she just wanted to sidepass so I had to help her move her nose a bit more around and then I ran to the other side of her to let her know she was perfectly correct by doing so! Well, ofcourse when I told her it was right, that was it, she had it! and as soon as she brought her zone 1 around I was there to draw her back in and send her in the opposite direction! It was so cool! It totally worked!!!

I did both directions at a walk, and then moved out of my round corral and just did at liberty in the honeycomb, so that added a little more fun because there were other horses in there with their owners. Blue was a champ and stuck with me. And if she did walk just a wee bit too far away I would whistle and she would come right back to me :)
So then I tried the other spin where you draw them towards you first and then send them, and it worked too :) I was a little nervous because if I sent out too much energy she could have left me, but she was awesome!! So we did those a couple of times until she really got it and then we got off of it!!!! :):):)
Oh Oh, I got a great tip from Avery. What I didn't realize that I was doing was when I was drawing her in my body had the attitude of game over! Well, this draw is not supposed the have the attitude of game over, but of come to me and be ready to do something else! So I REALLY have to watch that now!!!

Then we grazed for some time and chitchatted with whomever was close by and spend some quality time. Ofcourse I wanted to push my luck just a little more and I tried a spin at a trot, hehe, and it worked :) So I really left it after that one!!! She is just the best horse.

Oh another thing I discovered is that Blue was a RBI!!! When I filled out the chart I had dots in all the other three quadrants, but zero in the RBI. But as I got deeper into it and starting thinking back when I had just gotten her, and remembered how patient I had to be with her, because she always wanted to check everything out before she was ready to move on, I was basically doing RBI strategies. But now she doesn't really have any of the worry qualities unless we start something new and I don't take it slow enough. If I help her just the right amount she never gets overwhelmed and she just flies through all the new tasks. But if I go to quickly then she'll get really frustrated with me and herself for not understanding. So, huge lightbulb in my head!!! I never even looked at her like that anymore, because she has all the other qualities on the horsenality scale, in LBI/LBE/RBE when she wants to have a little fun.

Anyway, so all is well. I'm having a SUPER blast and every day is totally awesome!!!!!!!!!!

I really miss Toby, my gelding, because he's a RBE/LBE and he would have so much fun here! I would like for him to have the same experience. He would just love all the things they have to offer here!

Now I'm going to go for my evening stroll with Blue :)

Another good day :)

Ok, today was super fun again! Shees, i'm totally getting spoiled!
We did a super fun game with our remuda's with the savvy strings and learned a lot about communicating with body language and being a leader and a follower.
Then with the demo we got to see 4 different horsenalities and then play with horse conga's, which I just think is too much fun as well!

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I have a super fun group of friends here! Steffie from Germany (28), Tiziana from Spain (24), Kelly from Missouri (I think, and about 25) Vip from Thailand (19), and Alex (no clue how old, and pretty shy). Then there are just a ton of nice people in my class. But our group is super fun and we eat our meals together and hang in the afternoon to let our horses graze. Everyone gets along so well because we always talk about our horse/personalities and it's just super fun. We always call each other out about it. And we learn so much from each other. Kelly is a total info book about horse health and nutrition, so I'm constantly picking her brain. I must be annoying the crap out of her. And oh, Sandy (from Ontario, the extern) and Brittany (California, also an extern) are around a lot too, and are a hoot to hang out with. We watched Twilight Sunday with this group (without the guys:)) and just ooh and ahhhhed about Edward, hahhaahahah, it was fun!

So I got Blue in the morning and played with laying down and Shirley took video, but It's too long to add to you tube or facebook, so I'm going to have to take a short one tomorrow.
Then in the afternoon we practised increasing circles on the circling game according to our horsenalities. So for blue just see if I can add a couple more. I didn't push it, I got about 5 for each one and will build from there. I don't really count when we are doing travelling circles, but we probably get more then because we're actually going somewhere.
Also worked on our Figure 8's at liberty and they are coming along! I was quite surprised! I thought that was going to be the hardest one, but setting it up in a round pen makes it so much easier!!!!! Now it just feels like we are dancing together :) It's just so much fun. I love making sure i'm not pushing her too hard, and keeping it interesting enough, but not over doing it with new things, and just adding on to what we practised the day before. It really is just super fun!

Just now I went for a walk with Shirley and we let them graze in the back of the enchanted forest. Blue always pouts when we head home again, so I try and be sure to have some dinner or some treats ready for her. I wouldn't like a boring stall either!

Anyway, time to head home and read Midnight Sun!

IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Ok, so first off the weekend was super fun!!! Check out my facebook page for pics! I met Dustin on Friday in Tallahassee and we drove around a little to find a place to eat. We ended up eating in a bar, but their burgers were fantastic. So we got lucky for bar food!

Then Saturday we ate at IHOP's, and drove down to the coast. We took a nice walk along the beach and then went on to St. George's Island. There I had raw oysters for maybe the 2nd time, I can't really remember if I had them before, I had them steamed I think. Anyone, the idea totally creeped me out!!!! But surprisingly they were decent/good ? Not sure yet, I'll have to have them again. And Dustin said they were the best oysters he'd ever had! So lucky for me, if they had been worse then I'm not sure if I'd like them. Then we drove back and went and had Indian food.

In the morning we went to Cracker Barrell and puzzled out that little game they have on the table, and then we parted ways :( It was a short trip but WELL worth it! I already miss him horribly! I'm supposed to not see him until the end of July, but I'm not sure if I can hold out that long, and I may meet him in Japan when he's there.

Anyway, I made it back to the Parelli center around 2:30 pm. Blue gave me the cold shoulder for the first minute or so. Yes, she wears her feelings on her sleeve! So I gave her a cookie and she still decided I wasn't worth her time, because I had left her for a day and a half. I played hide your hiney about three times, and then she was all smiles again. Ready to buddy up with me again :)

Well, I had my belly belt full of grain and I headed for the sand round corral. I was hoping to get her to lay down and stay down with me. Luckily I only had grain on me, so when she rolled I made my way over and gave her the grain. Well, guess what! It took her a while to eat all the grain out of my hand, so she didn't get up, and then I was ready with another hand full of grain!!! So I got her to stay down with me for probably 5 minutes. Then I got up. She got up and I was ALL SMILES!! We played a little, but mostly just had fun.

So Monday rolls around! Well, I give her her breakfast and then I eat mine. I go out to see her and she leaves her breakfast for me and is ready to head out. I take her to the round corral again and hope for the best. I mimic the laying down process and sure enough she lays down and I shove her full of grain :):):) It totally worked. Well, then to my surprise we got up and started walking around again, and ofcourse I try to push my luck, so I mimic laying down again!!! GUESS WHAT!!! IT WORKED!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
So yeah, we probably did that 5 more times!! I even had my friend watch her real quick so I could get more grain and do it again.
Then we had class and it was all good stuff again about Prey/Predator relationships. It's all so dang interesting!!!
After lunch I get Blue and I head to the round corral again. And sure enough, it still works! We laid down together again and she just loves her grain!!! We did it a couple of times. It's funny because when I ask her to lay down a couple of times she needs to actually roll at a certain point too, hahah, so I'll get up to get ready to leave and she'll actually get down and really have a roll, haha.
Then we worked on figure 8's at liberty and that was a blast. She gave me lots of attitude, probably because I asked with too much energy, but it was hilarious. In the end we were making process. Then we took a break in between the honey comb and once again I push my luck. It's a grassy spot, but she was a bit sweaty, so I start mimicing laying down again, and TADA!!!!! She lays down :):):):):):):) x 1,000000000000000000!!!
Everyone was asking if I asked her to do it, so I asked her to get up and asked her down again.
It is so super fun!!!!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow I'm only going to allow myself to do it in the morning so I don't burn her out on it. But it's like her new trick, so she's happy to do it for me.
I let her graze a lot today, so she was happy. And she's so sweet, she keeps checking in on me. And now when she gets a ways away I can whistle and she comes over to me with the sweetest face you'll ever see. I'm the luckiest horse owner in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!! We really are connecting on a higher level and I'm just not getting mad or upset anymore. Everything she offers is just absolutely wonderful, even if it's not exactly what I want. She's just a super horse :):):)
Anyway, I'm going out to give her some more snuggles!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I'm just so excited!!!!!

Fun Friday!

Today was good again.

I took Blue out in the morning and we went for a stroll. Then I let her go in the large arena and we did some at liberty playing. We had lots of fun again. She did a little pepe le pew canter, and it was adorable.
I keep getting asked what breed Blue is. Is it not obvious? I sure thought so. But some think she could be mixed with a lusitano or andulusian (spelling?). My friend tells me she has one that looks just like but isn't a QH. Oh well, she's cute as a button to me, no matter what the breed!

After that we had Pat come in and talk about what's going on in the program and why all the changes and of course it all makes sense. The things that he's going to have going on in the future with ambassadors and such are cool too. So good things to come.

Then we had our going away chitchat and then it was lunch time.

After lunch I played with Blue on the 45 and she took me to all the obstacles. I mean literally, we would head in the direction and she'd go, yeah yeah, I got it. So while it was fun in the beginning, after that it got annoying. So then I had to take some of the leadership back and she didn't like that much. So we had a little conversation and then it went much better again. We also did 2 line driving and it's improving. First she gets all pissy because I have so much control, and then she finally accepts it and stops fighting and works with me, instead of against me. Then she gets a cookie :) However, I need to cut back on those now too, because she expects them every 5 minutes. So now it's time to level it out again. So that's going to be the challenge again.
So it's back to stand on your mat and don't move your feet. That's the easiest way for her to remember who's in charge by 1% :)

Anyway, now I'm off to see Dustin, so it's going to be a great weekend :)

Phew, it was hot today!

Eating tilapia! Even the food is great here!!

Today went well again!

Our classroom sessions were very interesting again. We talked about the 8 principles. Then, TADA! In walks Mr. Pat Parelli himself!!!!!! With Dr. Miller and his wife!!!!! So double awesomeness!!!!!!! He just said hello to everyone and asked where everyone was from and then they had to leave again, so we could get back to class.
Then we're out with our demo and I look up from my conga horse and there's Linda towering over us with Remmer!!! We were in the middle of the conga, so we couldn't really stop and stare, haha. But super awesome!!
Oh, conga horses, Totally fun!!!! Hahah, it's such a laugh! We should definetly do more of that at home!!!
I'm already getting the reputation of the girl with all the energie. The older ladies tell me that they love watching me run with Blue as fast as I can through the fields, so that's nice. And then my other friend, who held Blue for me while I ran into the store said that she'd never seen a horse so attached :):):) Blue was trying to find me and head into the store :) Everytime I'd yell out to say that I was almost done, Blue would try and find me again. So she finally told me to be still, because she'd have to get Blue resettled each time. Extremely nice compliments!!! I'm totally flattered!
After lunch I went and got Blue, but I was completely drained from our conga horse session and sitting in the sun. So we just walked out through the enchanted forest and did a little walk/trot/canter, but I was so dang pooped. So I just let her go in the large arena and she had herself a good little run. Then I went back and watched a dvd on farrier prep and had an ice tea and we were rejuvinated!
I went up on the hill and played with all the obstacles again and well, Blue found her favorite!!!! It's like a small car tent! Open on both sides. The first time I was driving from zone 5 and she trotted right on through, so when I popped out, she disengaged. Then we went back through. Well, then I wanted to leave and she wanted to go in again! I had to literally drag her away. We played with sideways around obstacles, and weaves, and jumps, and the ramp and she's totally awesome at all times! But once again, on our way back to the pens she took me straight to the tent! And then she stopped underneath it and relaxed! So I walked in with her and she didn't want to walk out, so we hung out for a good 20 minutes! She's pook her head out and watch all the horses play, and then she's back up and reposition herself for a couple of grass pieces, then she'd bug me some, then she'd bite parts of the tent! She just loved it under there. It had a really nice breeze, so I can't blame her. If you guys have seen my Blue pics, she did the same thing to our ratty "car wash" that we set up. That was her hang out while the strips of tarp blew around her. She's such a ham!!! And then finally we strolled on and made our way back.

Man oh man, it's just so fun! I hope I have more energy tomorrow, because I'm driving to Tallahassee to meet Dustin :):):) How did I get so lucky to get both of the things I love ??!?!

Oh, and I may be stuck in Florida longer because I'm not allowed to leave the States, or I won't be allowed back in!!! And there aren't any appointments available as of now for my trip back!!! Oh my, what a place to be stuck in!!!!!!!

I'm going to have to start writing each day!

Well, I've already forgotten half of the things I did yesterday!
I will try and remember!

Yesterday we covered Horsenalities and other things, but too much to write about. Ofcourse very interesting.

Then my play session revolved around having Blue swim in the pond. Well, I already kinda knew she was not a huge fan, and it's still obvious. She'll go in, and then look at me and ask me what the point of it is. She doesn't really play in there, just walks in, looks at me, and asks to come out again. Next time I'll wait until she's super hot and have her go in and see what happens!

We played with a lot of driving from zone 4 and 5, and everytime something went a little wrong, I just back up a zone and helped her out some and made sure I was being clear about everything. I tried laying on a big stump at one point and she just molested me the entire time! So I got up and played with her some more. My favorite part was asking her to canter on the 45 foot line and then cantering along side her and going as fast as I possible could. She would go flying with me and then I'd slam on the breaks and she's come screeching to a halt :) Of course getting a much deserved cookie!

Today we split up in our own horse/personality group. I, ofcourse, went to the LBE. Fit right in, and everything they had to say was pretty right! I will work on that! For those of you that are also LBE and know what I'm talking about (our bad qualities!). We had to keep our feet moving, but also have a purpose to it. So we walked on the top of the honeycomb rail! We had to make it all the way around. It was super fun and I was hauling ass! Super fun stuff!
Then I had a workshop with driving with two 22 foot lines. It was fun, but quite heavy! I think I'll try the 45 in half next time! Blue responded wonderfully, but at one point decided grazing every two seconds was much more fun! So finally after Avery reminded me that my cluck better mean something, Blue got a phase 4 with the end of one of the 22 foot ropes! Problem solved :) We also did trailer loading from zone 5 and our figure 8's are coming along nicely now in the trot :) Oh my, so much to be happy about!

Then we went out on the 45 again and flew through the field together. So much frikkin fun!!! It was super hot and everytime I would come slamming to a hault she skidded to a halt. One time her hind legs stop, and she made 11's with them because the grass was slippery! Woohoo, reining horse in the making, haha. We played with all the obstacles and she was a star.
However, every time I would sit on the grass for her to graze she just hovered over me. She nudge me some, play with my hair, play with the rope some, but not graze! It was baffling me. And then, as soon as I got up, she'd start grazing!!! I was so confused. I finally asked Avery, and she said that that was wonderful! She said that we had a real partnership, that every time I went to sit down and relax, she would stand gaurd for me, and then as soon as I stood up, she would feel protected by me, and start grazing. That pretty much made my month here already :):):) We're partners :)

She's absolutely the cutest thing as always. I'll walk towards the pens and whistle out to her, and I'll see her head perk up and she'll start looking around trying to figure out where I'm coming from. It's the cutest thing! And then she locks in on me and starts with her soft little nickers. She's seriously the nicest little horse in the world!!! I'm so dang lucky!

Oh, I forgot. I have never been so interested in a teaching setting! For once I know what the teachers are talking about, when they said it would be beneficial to come to class already having studied the material. Well, now it totally makes sense. You can just follow along and absorb everything! I have never had so much fun learning stuff! What a waste those 4 years at college were! I should have come straight to Parelli! I love everything that comes out of their mouths, it just makes perfect sense!!!

Ok, i'm going out now to give my perfect creature her much preferred, and well deserved grain!!!

Too much fun!

Ok, I'll try and write a quick recap of the last couple of days.
The trip went fine. However, the first day I got stuck at the borderfor an extra 2.5 hours, because of my whole permanent resident card put on hold deal. Horses not too happy, but didn't complain. Then dealt with high winds, which sucked big time, and then a GPS that decided to send on us some miserable driving roads when you're tired and it's dark out. But it all went well. Horses were total troopers.
The next two days went by without troubles as well. Trailer loading went without problems, except that Rein rubbed his bum raw by leaning on the butt bar the entire trip! Poor guy!
They got to settle in and relax all of Saturday.
Dustin made it up Friday night so we got to hang out all weekend which was fantastic. We had so much fun. We went on a kayaking trip down a river (forgot name), but super nice and quiet. Watched the alligators bake in the sun, and the turtles and birds, on a perfect Saturday, not too hot, and no bugs :) Then we went out to the Melting Pot and ate ourselves full! It was great!
Sunday morning we were the first ones at the Parelli center and signed in. Walked around the playground some with Blue and then went to lunch with Dustin.
Then Dustin went home and we had our welcome speech. After that we just spend the day playing mirror me (mirror the horse). Blue decided she needed to be around Rein, so we allowed that, but at all times we protected our herds of two. She was not pleased when Shirley told her to not come close to Rein. I don't think anyone ever shoes Blue away, haha. Then after a while I made it a bit more uncomfortable around Rein and only let her graze when she was away from him. She could walk back towards him, but I wouldn't let her graze when she was near him. So that basically sealed the deal and we walked off on our own. So she was a wee bit right brain the first day, but only a slight case. Nothing with running around or freaking out. So I was super pleased.
Then our first day of class. We went through our lessons and they were very interesting and reminded me again of where my brain needed to be. Then I went out to my focus group of playing "touch it" on the 45 foot line. Well, we had a brilliant day. Blue was totally awesome, very intune, very quiet, very responsive. She touched everything I asked her to, and then she offered to jump everything, or stand on everything, or go into everything. We did the new trailer out there, the trailer simulation tent, the tire squeeze game, the jump squeeze obstacle, the water up to her belly, all without hesitation! She was a total trooper! So I mixed it up with some leading in zone 5, and some stick to me, and walk/trot/canter circles heading in the direction of another obstacle. We just had a blast playing with all the new obstacles. She looked so dang cute jumping over the natural jumps :)
I hosed her down about 3 times, cause the poor little critter was just sweating!
Then it was supper time and we both got to eat. After that she wanted to come out with me again, so we went for a walk while the sun was setting. I started off in zone5 and let her get farther and farther away. Then she got a little worried because I was so far behind her and she was looking for Rein. She went over the bridge and just before the end she picked up a little trot. I just held on and she turned and faced me. So I made sure she was ok with the bridge and hd her walk over it 4 times on her own, and she was fine again. Then she led me to the back on the field where another horse was being ridden and that where we grazed. I laid in the grass and every now and then checked to see if she would come back to me while I was laying there. I would just whistle and slap the stick towards zone 4 and around she came and walked over :) After a while the mosquitos got to me, so I asked her to head back. We walked back with me almost at the end of the 45 foot rope and practised our steering, so that was fun. The rope kept going between her legs, so I would have to disengage half a turn and then ask her to walk forward again so that she would be heading in the right direction, but it worked great. We also did some squeezes inbetween tight trees with me back there and also back over the bridge. I put her back in her pen and she was not happy to have to go back in there. While I was walking away she was still watching me. Oh, she also talks when I get close to her pen, and that is one of the best sounds in the world :) Life is good :)

Not going to reread! Sorry for all mistakes!

Less then 12 hours!

Today I moved Blue back to Shirley and that went smoothly. I'm doubt she'll enjoy the three day trailer ride, but she's going to have to deal with it to get to a sunny, and warm Florida, so I'm sure she'll forgive me! Now I'm about to pack my suitcase and try my best not to forget 100's of things! I don't know if I'll have email at our horse motels, so we'll see how that goes. Can't believe I'll be in Florida on Friday!

The start of my blog!

Ok, as you requested, here is my blog. Please excuse my horrible writing skills! English second language student here!
I'm heading to Florida in 2 days with my friend Shirley, and our two horses, Ms. Pure Blue (Blue), and Rein. We will spend an amazing month in Florida studying Parelli Natural Horsemanship! I will be following the level 3/4 Masterclass. I can't even begin to wonder how wonderful it's going to be!
And on top of that I will get to see my husband on the first two weekends :) He is living in South Korea flying the F-16 for the US airforce, but is in Alabama for a special training month. I decided to not to go with him to Korea, because it was an unaccompanied tour. We move a lot because of the airforce, so I took this opportunity to live back at home and hang with the folks and my sister in Ottawa, ON, Canada. I get to spend my days with my lovely horses and learn as much about Natural Horsemanship as possible. I travel back and forth about every three months to spend a couple of months with Dustin, so it has worked out really well. He works way to much for me to be living with him anyways! Over 12 hours a day = not very much time to hang with me. So our living situation is a little tough, but best for both of us for now.
Anyway, I'm off to put brand new oil in my lovely vehicle for our three day drive starting Wednesday :)