my Parelli birthday...

Well today is my birthday! And I have had a good day!

Evangeline made me a bracelet and jewellery box...she has had this ready for a couple of weeks now...and Morganne enjoyed helping me to open presents and drew me some pictures....I was also given some nice jewellery and metal trays  from my mum and sister I plan to use in my craft room...

And my choice of activity for the day...a Parelli Natural Horsemanship lesson...lol..it was a family outing!

And since Chief was kind of my rather big present...it was a good choice!

Evangeline was keen to go so we skipped school and loaded Chief in the float at 8am and headed to Bullsbrook for a one on one lesson with Louise Atkinson...

And phew! I am worn out!

As Louise said I left home with a rather nice quiet horse in the float (trailer) and arrived at Louise’s place and unloaded a completely different horse…blimey! I suddenly had this crazy ex racehorse!

That was a huge learning curve in itself! If I had seen Chief like that I would have never have bought him! Luckily I know this is not him normally! But it is good to know how he reacts out of his comfort zone!

Louise helped me with him and worked him for the first half hour until he calmed down…it all seemed actually about him being there alone…no other horses…so Louise bought a young horse up to keep him company! It was good to see how to deal with him in that situation as I had no idea!

Then I was put through my pases…in the nicest possible way of course! There were a few things I was not doing correctly!

And few things Chief is doing like pushing very subtly usually with his shoulder which I had not even noticed…so a big thing to work on.

Parelli is all about safety and control and building a relationship with your horse. So he needs to learn to stay out of my space! Except when he is invited of course!
But it was great as I found out I was doing ok and that I could be more "forceful" with Chief as I was unsure as to how much pressure to put on. He needs to know that I am the alpha horse so to speak!

So I have some things to work on and some ideas to keep him from becoming bored!

And so I shall have another lesson and then I hope to be set to go to a clinic in April!

We did not much for the rest of the day and then had takeway for dinner! That suited me...no cooking and I was too tired to go out!

Do you think 7.30 pm is too early for bed...lol...and thank you for all the lovely birthday messages on Facebook....Lissy

working with Bella...

We started Evangeline’s Parelli Natural Horsemanship with Bella today…learning the friendly game and the porcupine game...The 7 games are all about safety for the horse and rider and developing a relationship with your horse or pony...
We are waiting for Evangeline’s kid size equipment to arrive with the kidz stick and string and her own halter and line. I bought this purple on locally to get started but it is a pony size but a bit big. I am hoping the Parelli pony size will not be too big as Bella is very petite.

For the non horsey people out there...ears back are not always a warning sign...

The friendly game was great. The carrot stick is not a whip and is never used as such...you can  rub them with it, flick it around and all over them and they should not be frightened.

Lots of lip licking is a good sign!

Bella is good at hind quarter yields but not very keen on forequarter yields in the porcupine game.You can porcupine her back on her nose but not on her chest so well.

I then did the driving game with her good on the hind quarters but not so well on the forequarters. Again it took a bit to get her to drive back at the chest.

I tried the yo-yo game and that was quite challenging as she did not want to budge and would try to turn her head away sideways. Finally she did a couple of steps but it took a lot of shaking my whole arm! But that was enough.

Then Evangeline had a ride and that went very well. I had her on line and she rode with her arms out practising turning with her body and going around the cones. Bella did a great job and I was able to drive her around the cones with Evangeline using her body. We then just walked along practicing Bella stopping when I stopped in front of her.

So a pretty good start for us as we are all learning...Parelli is not for everyone but it suits us...to me it is a bit like the Montessori of the horseworld...Lissy

working with Chief...

Chief has been here for two weeks now. I am only just beginning to get to know him and him me.

I am worried Chief is bored with my basic level of skill. But he is very tolerant of my bumbling efforts.

I am organising some play equipment to put out in the paddock to make our sessions "on the ground" (that is not riding) more interesting...logs, poles, tyres, barrels and so one to add to the cones.

I am sticking to a walk when riding as I feel my skills, balance and signals I am giving to him are limited. Riding used to seem so easy but now I fee like I am beginning again.

The play equipment will also help with making the sessions in the saddle more interesting too.

But that is why I am so glad I have discovered Parelli Natural Horsemanship.

I gives me a path to follow to improve my riding skills but more importantly I feel I can really develop a relationship with Chief by purely working with him on the ground and that to me is a fantastic discovery.

It is early days but I feel so optimistic. I think I would have given up already on my dream to ride if not for Parelli.

He is not impressed with my desire for photo shoots...Lissy