I couldn't ask for a more perfect day then I'm having today; first I audited a workshop then had a lesson with America and Jerry S. Williams and now I'm watching the Superbowl. Horses and football...two of my favorite things!!
I loaded up this morning and headed out to audit a L 2/3 workshop with Jerry S. Williams..."Does My Horse Respect Me?". The workshop was a great refresher for me, especially now I'm playing with a new partner, plus I learned several new techniques to add to my quiver of arrows.
After the workshop, Ingrid's husband Bob, grilled hot dogs and participants and auditors alike were invited to have lunch. What a gracious offering...Bob and Ingrid are incredible hosts!! We all had a nice visit with old friends and new while eating lunch.
After lunch was over, it was time for my lesson with America and it was an amazing lesson. We are still working online and building her confidence when away from home. America was a bit RB when we first arrived at the workshop...it wasn't extreme and I found it fairly easy to regain her attention; however, her attention span was pretty short to begin with. During the workshop she did some moving in the round pen, trotting and occasionally cantering around, sometimes calling to other horses but she eventually became comfortable enough to take a couple of rolls and do some grazing. After this I noticed she was much calmer and when she did feel the need to move her feet, it was at the walk and occasional trot and not the trot and canter she was previously doing. When I went to get her for our lesson, she met me at the gate and seemed ready for our session. I played version 1 of the catching game and she stuck to me nicely so we haltered up and went out to the playground, no need to play versions 2 and 3 of the catching game. We played with several of the obstacles and one thing became very clear...America is VERY careful where she puts her feet...she thinks about things before she does them. It's a big key to who she is...I have to give her time to think down to each foot. Another big key is her responsiveness to my energy. She can feel the pressure of my "bullhorn" belly button so I need to be cognizant of where it's aimed!! It's also very easy to influence her depending on where I aim my "bullhorn". That's not to say she is over-reactive to my energy, just that my phases can be so much lighter with/for her. For instance, when playing the yo-yo, I can project energy through my belly button and she will begin backing and she will continue to back until I turn it off!! To bring her back, I project my energy behind me and relax my shoulders a bit and she comes back in. I love that our yo-yo is pretty equal...it's just as easy to send her back as it is to bring her in.
Ingrid has an obstacle that is two big boxes filled with sand. One is fairly low and sits next to another that is fairly high. You can access it from all sides, from both high and low and you can access the high side from the lower side. America had no problem going up and down the low side nor did she have a problem going from low to high but when I asked her to go off the high side, she really had to think about it. I had to back her up and send her several times and she finally decided to go off although she really had to think about it and she did it s-l-o-w-l-y, thinking her way through it.
We played with figure 8's for the second time during our lesson, playing with energy and drive and draw. America was a bit sticky and wasn't putting in a whole lot of effort so we upped the game a bit, upping my phases for a few revolutions of the pattern and she caught on pretty quickly. We ended up doing the figure 8's at the trot with America putting effort into it and looking very LB at the same time. This is a huge improvement for her as previously when we upped the gait the would become RB and reactive.
We also played a bit with the circling game keeping with our theme of looking for relaxation then bringing her in. It didn't take long...her trot looked lovely and relaxed after 2-1/2 laps. She really was looking pretty relaxed on the first lap but I wanted to get a really good look at her on the circle, hence the 2-1/2 laps. Left and right circles were equally good. She was a bit drawn to the horses in the pasture next to where we were circling, pulling a bit in that direction, but Jerry gave me a good strategy for that and it worked like a charm; the next circle there was no pulling so I allowed her to go 1/4 more lap and bring her in. I didn't want to bring her in where she was doing the pulling!
We had quite an audience during our lesson and I had to laugh when during our figure 8's, someone held up a card with a 10 on it! I thought it was such a fun thing. I'm so smitten with my Mustang mare...she makes me look so good, like I actually know what I'm doing. I can't give her enough credit for trying her heart out for me; she makes everything seem soooo easy. I do want to say though...Renegade has been one heck of a teacher...he required I earn my leadership points with him EVERY day, every play session, sometimes several times during our sessions and that has prepared me to offer my best to America. Thank you Renegade and Thank You America!
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