Visits and Visualization

Well, lots to say, but I will be brief in overviews.
Tuesday...
was the first official day of school. I went out about 9 o'clock, caught Woody, put the hackamore and bareback pad on him, attached my helmet to the handle, and headed out for a walk. we walked about 1/4 the way down the driveway, and then turned back. He was doing well, so I mounted him and headed back down the driveway. We rode around a bit, and walked around the pasture fence and into and out of the the round pen we are in the process of revamping. All in all it was a successful ride. He tried to eat grass some, but I would just hold the rein up and he would run into it, so he eventually stopped. One time he had a temper tantrum, but after he moved around some and realized it was no big deal, I released him and got off. He did great. I took Teddy for a walk afterwards on the driveway and in the grass some. We walked, trotted, and cantered. He is SO enthusiastic and curious, its unbelievable. I was telling Mom earlier today if he were 5 hands taller and a warmblood, he would be my perfect partner (next to Woody that is :)).
I didn't work with the horses on Wednesday, but on Thursday...
My friends Clare, her son, and Sara came out to visit. I have been getting to know Clare via email and online in general, and we picked a day that worked and they came out to visit. They are members of the Parelli Play Group, and several of them are coming to audit a day of the Harry Whitney clinic. We had a good time visiting, and Clare took pictures and will no doubt be writing about it in the near future on her blog... http://happytrailsnaturalhorse.blogspot.com/
Today...
I went out originally just to take Woody and Teddy out on walks. Woody was first and we went all over: in the yard, woods, down the driveway. At one point, I decided to run him down our big hill, so I took off running and before long he was cantering and bucking all over the place down the hill. He was havig a blast, and at the end of the hill when we stopped he stood there and blowed a couple times and yawned several times. I guess he just needed to run a bit! He also tried to eat grass several times, and I found myself just keep on yanking on him to get his attention else where. I obviously wasn't being effective because he kept trying to eat, so I decided to change tactics. I thought that it would be a good idea to redirect his attention when he tried to eat rather than tell him "don't do that, don't do that." I don't want to nag him, so I would watch him and everytime I saw him begin to think "grass" I would ask him to speed up and trot a few steps, or back up, or SOMETHING to get him thinking "I need to be with her." It worked great and as I opened the fence to let him back in he just stod there in the grass waiting for me to let him in. HOW INTERESTING!!
I brought Teddy out next and he stood still and didn't have any interest in eating as I closed the gate. Then, he turned right with me and very enthusiastically burst into a trot. I took it and we trotted a ways, then walked. We, too, walked all around the place. We went to the swing set and he was getting a little rushy walking under the beams, so I just sent him back and forth under it until he improved. I then sat down on one of the swings and he just sat there really fine with it. He did good. I tell you, that horse learns soooo quickly and trusts so much, its amazing. He is such a great partner. We went around the fence on the way back and I put him up.
Mom was in the fence putting Charlotte hackamore on her, so I decided to catch Woody again and put the bareback pad on. I also caught the pony again and wanted to work on the BEGINNINGS of ponying him from Woody's back. We walked a little bit around and backed up really well, so I took the rope of Teddy and moved on. Woody did some Figure 8 patterns away from the barn really nicely, and then we waited on Mom. Once Mom was on, we went around the pasture doing different stuff. We walked up and down the hills (Mom cantered lots on the hills, but Woody really started anticipating running up them, so I decided to show him its ok to just walk up it). I set up a jump out of barrels for Woody, and the first time was rough. We went toward it, and I was commited to it, but Woody stopped. I took a deep breath and tried again. He went over it, but he overjumped HUGE and I was unseated and then he put his head down and sort of ran off. I did a one rein stop and regained control, but it was shaky. Mom gave me a "pep" talk and told me how I had to be commited to it, or else he wont be sold on the idea. I went at it again with full intention of going over it and having it go great, and though he overjumped, he had a good landing and didn't get all "WHOOPEE!" at the end. Improvement!
Next we rode around and Charlotte and Woody pushed the ball around a bit. Ok, Woody pushed it around a LOT, and kept trying to kill it, but he was having a ball (literally, haha). It rolled down the hill at one point, so we all headed down the hill and played some more. When we decided to come back up the hill, Mom thought she was just going to walk (she had been cantering up the others and Charlotte was anticipating) and I was going to go for a trot. I ask for a trot and I got a head down shaking, swervy, fast, not directed trot from him. I said, hmmm, and walked back down the hill to try again. Mom and I talked and I realized that the key is to approach the situation without any history. You have to "do it like its never been done," meaning pretend he has never done it (whatever the task is). That means, you don't anticipate blank (insertthe behavior the horse is exhibiting here) happening. I approached it differently, lifted my reins and kept them lifted (to give him direction and if by chance he did decide to put his head down he would hit the rein) and VISUALIZED the beautiful trot I longed from him. I nudged him and got my energy going and... guess what? He gave me that trot. He gave me a non-rushed, connected, soft trot, and he stopped right when I asked him to on the hill. Amazing stuff. I got off him right then and there and rubbed on him some. I untacked him and called it quits. Amazing things happen when you leave your fears and history in the past and approach things like your both doing it for the first time. Your horse forgives the past, can you?
~Eden