Sorry this is 4 in 1

So i had 4 amazing play sessions with Freya last week. We are moving leaps and bounds. Hopefully i can remember everything. Where to begin. I think i played every game and had my friends throw out challenges as well. We started off with the Friendly maybe extreme friendly. Lets say that more clearly. Extreme friendly for us. I was doing the helicopter over her head from zone 3 and she and i felt wonderful. I am concentrating on better practice with the carrot stick. I don't trust myself throwing the carrot stick over her using extreme just yet. Too worried i might snap it on her belly. I have been practicing though. From there we moved to circles, which are coming along marvelously. I couldn't be prouder. We used the big ring and didn't need the rails of the round pen such a huge accomplishment. She was so connected even at the trot. We then played with the bridge which in my last post was fantastic, however the next time we played at it, it wasn't and i had to go to a phase 4 with some help from my friend. She couldn't figure out how to get her hind end up on the bridge. Anyway without and hesitation up she gets just from the look. Wow. Amaaaazzzzinnggg. I love my horse. We then just hung out and watched everyone else play for a bit. And i got all kinds of yawns, licks and chews, she was feeling great.

Next on the to do list. Porcupine....still working on it in different zones however the forehand yielding is much nicer and well the hind end is remarkable. She is getting so light. The yo-yo...i was getting some resistance in the beginning where she wasn't giving me 2 ears, but in the end it was beautiful. We worked on some sideways, which again is pretty darn good. I know that i want to try to stand still and have her go to the end of the 22' line. We did that last summer and i really haven't tried since. I guess i don't feel worthy just yet. Then for some fun we did a little bit of jumping, with a disengagement and a re-send in the other direction. She was trying to blow off and again, it doesn't take her any time to figure things out. ( Maybe i should be giving myself a little bit of credit here because my leadership and trust in my horse has come a long way. And i know that this is a team effort and that we are both learning and teaching each other) I was on such a high at this point i asked Miss Keri for a challenge. And she delivered. She had us back through an L shape. And the heavens sing. We did it. It wasn't beautiful but we did it. It was a first for both of us so we both had a lot of questions ;). At this point it is lunch time. Sue had just returned from running an errand and decided to play with Poncho, who was also doing very well. With him the best thing to do is hang out and do nothing. He is such a curious horse so in turn i think it makes it very hard for him to just CHILL. Sue also played with his feet. Getting him to pick them up and hold his own weight. Back to Freya and me. So since Sue decided to play i decided there was enough time to RIDE. AAAAHHHHH. It was so awesome. I rode in the big ring for the first time. There was no confidence issues or the slightest of fear in me. We played at just riding point to point on the rail with a hind end disengagement. The disengagement was fantastic, the point to point i guess was fair, and this is the traditional girl coming out when i say MOVE. I was patient and waited for her to respond to me. What a feeling. I honestly didn't know it could be this incredible. Well i could keep going and going on how wonderful it felt, but where would that get this post. Ok, we ended on a fantastic not.

Next Day. We started out with doing some friendly with the saddle, go the saddle on and started moving around. We played some stick to me at the walk, trot, halt and back up. It was a little rusty but in the end it was great. It is always great who am i kidding. lol. Then as the day before we played with the bridge and she got on right away from aprox. 15 feet away. Again wonderful, Then comes the circles, not so great. There was quite a bit of confidence on her part as well as some dominance. So with the help of Sue, we worked through her snakey attitude and finally got some connection. Not enough to ride however. We ended on a great note, but not good enough for me to be comfortable to ride.

Day 3

Today was awww just a relaxing day of grazing and lots of love and trust and a little bit on thresh holds. I decided cause it was late in the day to take her up the quarter mile driveway past the house past the barking dogs, the over grown garden and the scary sumac trees. Those trees are the biggest issue for her. So we took our time. The objective at the end of this was to get her to the bus stop to pick up my little girl. My son had come home early cause he was apparently sick. lol. He manged to eat all of his lunch on the way home and then jump on the trampoline, but he was sick. We made it to the bus stop and then of course Ryland had his scooter at the end of the driveway me thinking that was going to be an issue for Freya, boy was i mistaken. She is totally fine with anything my crazy kids could do. They could be flying through the sky and i don't think it would bother her. I guess i am very thankful to have the kids doing these crazy things because with out me knowing it....it is desensitizing my horses.

Day 4

So today we ended up doing a lot of clean up outside and i didn't think there was going to be enough time to play with my horse.....haha but i made time. The progression that we are making makes it so easy to just catch her and hang out and then see where and what we come up with if anything. So during the clean up i found a tarp. Something we have'nt played with for 2 years or so. Into the ring i go. My daughter helped me nail it to the ground and so began the process of getting Freya to touch it all over again. We started with me on the tarp acting silly and then moved to the rope slapping it and the carrot stick all over it, and she had gotten curious, which surprised me. The next step was the yo yo. Back and forth until......she actually touched her toenails not the whole foot on the tarp, so the tarp was resting more on the tips of her toes. That was all i needed, it was something i didn't want to keep pushing. On that note we hung out some more and grazed and chatted with kiddos, and all in all it was just a marvelous day.

Touching Base

So i had a fantastic play day yesterday, as well as a saddle fitting. My friend Sue came over and we were just going to check out the saddle i bought for Freya 2 years ago, needless to say she was a little bit dusty. I decided to play first, and thank goodness i did. Sue is an amazing woman with so much knowledge. She was helping me to understand what my horse is asking and saying. I was playing with the disingagements. The forehand was not very good. Sue is watching me try with the front end and then ask the question why are you trying to do the whole circle, when it is obvious she doesnt quite have it. HUMMMM why am i trying to get the full circle. Cause that is what i am asking. Now, this is where the wheels will start to turn. One step at a time says Sue. Of course. Why am i trying to get the end result. I am forgetting to teach things. Needless to say Freya and i accomplished our forhand disingagement, then we both had a lick and chew, it was so cool. The hindend is eas for the both of us. She really is a star with the back end. The other thing i did was i finally let the rope go and let her step on it. I left the 22' rope on her in the round pen and walked away. She reacted none at all. You could see her trying to figure out which foot was on the rope. That was the highlight of our play session. Something i have wanted to overcome for quite some time.

As far as my saddle. For something i purchased on ebay 2 years ago, you would think it was tailored to my girls body. And from sitting in the saddle from my perspective very comfy and sits me on my balance point. You can find really good buys on ebay. Thanx for the incredible saddle.