From Baby Steps

Sometimes I don't realize how far I'm come on this journey. I think it's about reflection and taking the time to reflect. I have the perfect place to do this with my journal, and I need to give myself time to write about it. So, I'm making a promise to myself to spend more time reflecting on our journey.

Besides officially completing Level 1, Duke and I have gone out of our comfort zone numerous times the past two week. And I'm finding myself moving away from 'Oh no' and thinking 'Oh boy!' more often.

First, there was the goat. And through this goat I experienced a successful It's not about the... from start to finish. :) Duke met a goat face to face a couple of weeks ago. At first he was skeptical and a little nervous, then he became curious, and within a few minutes Duke was sniffing and licking the goat. :) The key was approach and retreat. I had been riding when the goat came in with a young girl. When I saw this opportunity my heart skipped a beat. This was something I wanted to do for some time. Before purchasing Duke in 2008, his former owner told me about an experience he had while riding Duke when they encountered a herd of goats in a small field. Duke refused to pass by the field and went into flight mode. I'd seen the behavior once before when I brought Duke into the arena while a girl was practicing goat tying. At the time my confidence was minimal so I kept the approach and retreat session short and our distance from the goat long as we made our way to the round pen located at the far end of the arena.

But I couldn't shake the lost opportunity from my mind.

What kind of leader was I? A safe one, for sure, but at some point we'd have to leave our comfort zone. Fast forward to this month. We're enjoying a lovely, connected ride when we hear the sound of foot falls on the bridge outside the arena. From Duke's back I can see over the wall between the arena and the hallway and I see the top of someone's head bobbing up and down. I watch as they round the corner and approach the gate, leading a goat. Duke's head immediately went up and he stopped in his tracks. Stay calm.  Go slow. Oh boy! Now we get to play with a goat! I will admit the riding session was coming to a close as it was getting a little boring for Duke. Well, our session was about to get very interesting.

As I dismounted the girl saw Duke's reaction and offered to leave. The look on her face when I asked her if she would mind if I introduced Duke to the goat was priceless. When I explained that this was something we needed to do, at first I don't think she believed me. Maybe she wasn't sure she heard me right. She kept saying 'I know most horses don't like goats, so if you want to keep riding, we can leave.' I convinced her this is good, and I've been wanting this kind of opportunity for some time.

Slowly we approached the goat, who was completely unaware of us, nor did he seem to care. Duke's ears were forward, he appeared calm but his head remained a little high. I wanted to switch over to the halter and lead rope (better tools for the task), but they are on the other side of the arena. When we turned away from the goat to fetch the halter, Duke's life came up and he began to dance around me. Okay we'll face the goat again, and back up to where the halter is. Nope. Dance...dance...dance. Hmmm. What to do...what to do. Adjust to fit the situation...use the tools I have. If we were on a trail ride and the halter was back at the trailer, I'd have to use the bridle and reins. I wasn't keen about doing this with a bit in his mouth, so I unclipped the right rein from the bit (I love these Parelli reins!) and I now had a 22' lead rope.

A few steps forward, watching Duke's reaction (ears, eyes, head, mouth), he's relaxed. Take a few steps back. Stop. Breathe! He's blinkin' and thinkin'. Ears forward. Head has lowered. Forward a few more steps. Watch. Back a couple. He's curious...this is good. The entire time I remained calm, not once did I hear the echo of my heart pounding. Yea!!! This is what confidence feels like...finally! I'm moving a little closer to horse savvy!!!

We repeated this and I'm guessing it took between three and five minutes before Duke was standing in front of the goat with a mere few inches of separation. Through it all Duke remained curious. I noticed him breathing more when he stretched his neck out to sniff, then touch the goat with his nose. Check the goat's rope to be sure Duke doesn't get tangled up in it. I backed him off one step, and watched him confidently approach the goat again, head down, breathing normal. All this time the goat was still ignoring Duke and I, but then he turned around and the two were face to face, eye to eye. The goat's owner observed how it must feel to be a goat having something that size coming toward you, but the goat was calm and perhaps curious too. Clearly he wasn't afraid of horses.

Duke got closer and closer sniffing and investigating this strange little creature until the goat was almost under his neck. When he started licking it I wondered how long it would take before curiousity turned to dominance. I've played enough with him to know two things: 1) he comes down quickly from fear and 2) once he gets past his fear of something he immediately wants to dominate it.

Time to move on. I thanked the girl and she expressed a grateful and hearfelt thank you; I think she was in shock. Maybe in the back of her mind she was thinking this isn't how most horse owners react...they always want the goat to leave. :)

This time when I turned Duke away from the goat to retrieve his halter, nothing changed. He calmly followed me, relaxed and confident.

What goat?

Since it was time to clean his stall and corral, and I knew the goat would be in the arena for a while, I wanted to further maximize this opportunity. After switching over to the halter, I left Duke tacked up and tied him to a pole near the goat...about 20 feet away. Allow him time to take this all in, give him another perspective of the goat while I clean.  Twenty minutes later when I walked past Duke to take a wheelbarrow load to the designated dumping site, he was standing quietly, facing the goat, watching. Smile.

Chores complete it was time to untack Duke outside at the trailer. By this time the girl was talking to a new boarder, a young man who recently offered to train Duke for me (that's another story). As I walked past, I noticed they were talking about horse training and I overheard him commenting about how few trainers there are in this area (not quite true, but...) and how he normally charges $49 per hour (funny, he quoted me $7 last month). Someone was definitely struting his stuff and it wasn't Duke. Outside at the trailer, we get untacked and go back inside for a little roll before dinner. Duke must have been thinking about that goat because as we came down the alley his attention was on the arena. Ears foward...where is it? Around the corner, through the gate, there's the goat and without hesitation Duke walked right up to the goat, ears forward and curious the entire time. As if they were best buds...reunited; the same way he greets Elvira when she visits. Again I thanked the girl, and again she thanked me with a tone of gratitude and relief. It was amazing. We walked off to find the perfect place to roll, then back to his stall for dinner.

As I stood watching him munching away, I remembered something...a moment, a gift Duke gave me. During the initial approach and retreat, after I decided not to fetch the halter, Duke and I had just retreated from the goat. It was during that quiet moment as I was debating whether it was time to get a little closer, Duke slowly turned his head to me, softly touched my right hand with his nose, then turned his attention back to goat, licking and chewing. Even now it brings tears to my eyes. What a truly beautiful gift for him to offer. I noticed it at the time and remember thinking He wants to do this. Trust him.

Trust him. I haven't allowed myself to trust Duke. There's this part of me that holds back. The toxic remains from a word of caution carelessly offered by a person just minutes after she retold the story of the time she climbed on the back of a green three year old mare she didn't know, with no preparation, only to find herself later trying to stop a runaway who only wanted to return to the safety and comfort of the barn. And she's giving me advice. Don't you trust him! If she only knew. When it comes to horses, everyone has advice. They give it because they once had a horse, or rode ponies as a child. But they always give it...without thinking, without knowing. I'm learning being a horse owner doesn't make one an expert on the subject; I own a closet full of clothes, but that doesn't make me a clothing designer.

Everyday I thank God I found Parelli. Parelli keeps me safe, sane, well-grounded and on the path to continuous improvement. Better your best. Never let it rest. Get your good better and your better best.

Well, this entry took longer than I originally planned. Another reason I don't write so often, it takes me hours to write one entry. Okay, we can work on that!  There are more baby steps to write about, but I need to wrap this up and move on to some household duties before heading down to the barn today.

We passed Level1+!!!!

We received our score card today for our Level 1 audition; we passed L1+!! Possible scores are L1, L1+, L1++. I'm so excited. Duke was awesome! We received a L2 friendly, and a L1++ relationship.

Reviewer comments: Well done! For your Level 2 make sure to stay at the end of the 22ft line. Good job!

Woo hoo!!!!

Duke says that's pretty cool!

Parelli Level 1 audition - check! PASSED 1+!!!!

We did it! Finally, after riding the fence, hemming and hawing, making the decision to go forward only to be side-lined for two months by a persistent hoof abcess, Duke and I completed our Level 1 audition. I submitted it to Parelli for evaluation this morning. :) Yea!!! Last I heard Pat Parelli himself is personally evaluating all the auditions, so I'm really excited about that!



I'm very pleased with how it turned out; was nervous at first but once I forgot about the camera my nerves disappeared. Duke was awesome, but I definitely need to work on my draw. He used to come to me with a lot of energy; last summer I could send him 100 feet away, get his attention and he'd canter or trot right back to me. Something happened and now my draw is broke....OR I spent way too much time in Level 1 and he lost interest (I'm thinking the latter). I have to really keep things interesting for him.

In the Parelli program, Level 1 is all about safety and building the relationship. Basic horsemanship skills must be demonstrated, but Parelli isn't looking for perfection. As Pat says, "It's not the technique that matters, it is the respect that follows." I admit I got hung up on the perfection thing...but mainly because my rope handling skills were lacking. I was constantly fumbling with the rope, stepping on it, and completely unable to manage it and the carrot stick (the tool you see me using...it's not a whip, but an extension of my arm).

Compulsory skills for Level 1: friendly game, massage all four legs, porcupine game (move horse around using direct pressure), driving game (move horse around using rhythmic pressure), touch-it (ball), yo-yo (drive horse away and draw back to you), figure 8, squeeze game, sideways game, walk/trot forward then stop and back up keeping horse out of personal space, back through gate (or stall door in our case...up a short hill no less!).

I had to find royalty free music...that also created a delay finding just the right music to accompany us. What you can't hear was all the background noise going on that night...another horse munching on his dinner, a tom cat yowling, one of the barn cats crawling around on Debbie (my camera person) although you can tell when he jumped up on her at the beginning of the tape. Just before then, you'll see me laughing after I untied Duke...that's because two of the barn cats were playing at Debbie's feet. You'll see one walking away from the camera at the very end. We see them almost every day, sometimes they sit by the door, waiting for us. They actually belong to a neighbor, but prefer to spend time with us. Must be because we're so much fun!

So anywho, enjoy the video. I'll post my results after I receive them.  Yee-haw!!!

A Survivor's Story

Had techical difficulty with the video (sorry Karen) so, I'll try another option.

Brrrrr...what happened to fall?

Okay, it's been in the mid 20s for the past five nights. Highly irregular for October. Decided to blanket Duke since his winter coat isn't quite filled in yet. He's done a thorough job of getting it dirty already. Yep that's my horse.

I bought another Fallis saddle about a month ago, it's much newer than the first one and very different. Have only ridden in it a couple of times, yesterday being the latest. Pics to follow; forgot my camera yesterday so I didn't get any pics.

Spending lots of time on ground work, rehearsing for my Level 1 skill audition. A Parelli friend and I spent a whole Saturday afternoon working on it two weeks ago, it was a lot of work, and hot that day (hard to believe, but true). We had fun and this is the first time I've seen myself playing with Duke; quite an eye opener. Got lots of good footage, and several out takes. Duke was fantastic, but after a couple of hours, the rebel clown in him came out. Playful guy that one...with a twist of naughtiness. The look on both our faces at the end is priceless. Oh my Dukey horse, he keeps me on my toes...always thinking! He's waaaay too smart and I'm way too slow. After this, he earned the nickname RC, for Rebel Clown. We started indoors, and worked through the skills/games, but after a couple of hours Duke started making up his own games. During the squeeze game between me and a barrel, he made it clear he wanted to play dominate the barrel, so we moved outside, ending up in the parking lot with two chairs. Here are the out takes and the reason why I affectionately call Duke my Rebel Clown.

Mirror, mirror in my stall...

Every day I play with Duke reveals something new...a little gem I can treasure. Today was so different from yesterday.

This weekend, after rewatching the problem solving segments of the Liberty and Horse Behavior DVD's, I set off for the barn Sunday afternoon fully intending to get a ride in (so much for paying attention!). Well, at the very least a little time bareback to work on my balance. That was my plan. Duke, on the other hand, had other plans in mind.

Pat often tells his students that while we may be responsible for having principles and goals, it is the horse who is ultimately in charge of the timeline. And Duke takes his duty very seriously.

Right now he's probably in his stall, feeling pretty smug.

When I arrived at the barn Sunday, the moment I stopped the car I realized I had left my key to the trailer (where I keep all my riding gear) on the dresser at home. Drat! Perhaps that was a hint which I could have heeded. Instead I called my friend Barb (who has the other key) and asked her to bring her set as she was heading down too. In the mean time, I got Duke out to play with him to see what side of the stall he woke up on.

Duke greeted me at his door and he was ready to get out. I wanted to use my 22' lead rope, but the latch mechanism was stuck (Parelli lead ropes have a nice brass swivel latch that locks securely...sometimes a little too securely), so I opted for the 12' lead rope, haltered Duke up and off to the arena we went. Inside the arena I tied Duke up and set up my iPod to play my Born to Ride playlist on my portable iBox (music really adds an extra level to our play sessions). Duke watched my every move, ears forward, patiently waiting for his chance to get down and have a good roll.

Sometimes I get into the arena with Duke and just go completely brain dead.

I used to be sooooo imaginative...what happened? I untied Duke and he began his quest for the perfect rolling spot. He soon found it, got down and rolled to his hearts content while I stood by, contemplating my plan. Check out his mood, gauge his behavior today and see what shakes out. On any given day when Duke's finished rolling he gets to his feet, shakes of the excess dirt, blows the dust out of his nose, blinks his eyes a couple of times, licks his lips and waits for my cue. When he got to his feet, shook his head, then arched his neck and starting trotting around with a LOT of energy I knew he was in a different mood. He wanted to play, but I misread his behavior and wanting to stay on task because I was going to ride today, I gently reminded him of the purpose I had in mind.

I have so much to learn.

And lucky for me, Duke is willing to teach me. I need to remember that.

We were at odds the entire time and what I missed in all his actions was that no riding was taking place. A half an hour passed and by the time Barb showed up with the trailer key, I thanked her but declined to take it. She's not a Parelli person but has a basic understanding of horses, and knowing Duke she didn't need any further explanation. But I couldn't leave well enough alone. I really wanted to ride Duke bareback. I turned the halter and lead rope into a hackamore (a bitless bridle with reins) and asked Barb for a lift up. From the moment I set myself on Duke's back, the game was on! He lurched forward and refused to stand still. He willingly gave me lateral flexion to the left (bend his head and neck toward my knee as a means of control) but he was stiff, rigid and bracey to the right. He refused to give; he runs about 50/50 on right lateral flexion. Sometimes he's soft and willing, sometimes he isn't. That was my second sign. Won't stand still. Won't give me his head both ways. These are classic indicators that the horse is not ridable. I circled him at a walk to the left but he was tense, high headed, and I felt him pushing against the pressure of the halter when I asked for a stop. Time to get off. I didn't feel safe, and it's been a long time since I felt that way on Duke's back.

Barb went off to clean Elvira's stall, and I set about to have a different conversation with Duke. What was up with him? Through several versions of the porcupine and driving game, I got the message. He wanted to play! Not with me on his back (thank God!) but on-line. The past couple of weeks I've tried something new with Duke, where we move around the arena, at a walk or run (me running...he's trotting...or loping). I mirror him. He mirrors me. And it's really added another level to our sessions together. With all the games we play, Duke learns new things quickly, but quickly gets bored with repetition so I have to be provocative...at all times. He's also very much a 'what's in it for me' kind of horse Left Brain Extrovert with Introvert tendancies). Duke and I spent at least ten minutes (not counting the rest breaks for me to catch my breath) running and darting around the arena. My favorite part was when I glanced over at him and saw him doing his playful head shake...the same kind he does when he's playing with another horse, or by himself. That was pure joy for me. :) This was followed by a very brief session of 'stick to me.' Duke matched me step for step. Just a couple steps back and one forward but that's all I needed. Horse-human harmony. I'm still smiling about it.

We then moved to the round pen for a little play at liberty but the dirt was muddy and slick so I kept that session short. After we mozied outside for a little grazing time, then went back to the stall. Dinner for Duke, mucking for me.

No matter what, there's no such thing as a bad day at the barn.

What did I learn from this play session? The two things Pat keeps saying and I keep forgetting: put the relationship first; and principle before goals. And if I forget again, Duke is there to remind me.