Reining Training :o)

On Sunday I had a great riding-session with Baga. It seems as if she really wants to be a reining-pony anytime :o) Here you can see a video of us: It shows a left turn, strike to canter from walk and direct stop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz7a9AazigY
The second one shows us trotting a slalom and striking to canter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuTKt-QlF7g
Everything worked very fine and Baga listened great to my focus! Now we need more to work on transitions between different gaits and not only direct stops ;o)

Riding clinic

On Friday I arrived at the Seven-Gate-Ranch and took some pictures of the people who had riding-lessons with Klaus. I also took Baga for a small ride but can not remember what exactly we did. Only some unspectacular thing ;o) Later we tried some trail-obstacles but I noticed that they are very difficult even though they're looking easy.
On Saturday we started the clinic with the real base: leading, mounting, approaching only with weight and showing the direction, start at a trot, making stops, going backwards. I decided to try the tölt-saddle and natural hackamore for this and it worked very fine (see the pictures below)! We (8 people) were splitted into 3 groups so I always had the chance to see how the other were doing and took many pictures of them.
The second lesson was mainly about leg-yielding (Schenkelweichen). First on a fence, then in slalom around some pylons or through riding small circles around the pylons. And the more qualified riders could also do it in trot (I'm not one of those :o) But Baga and me worked hard and there was some progress to see. The most important thing is that I keep all in my mind and can go on with it at home. This was just the end of our lessons on Saturday but in a good second I tried to ride some canter. I had avoided to do it since last October. Luckily it worked but only for few steps. Then Klaus came to me and took Baga for a small demonstration ride :o) It was really great to see him riding canter in both directions, asking her for leg-yielding, stops and spins. Everything worked great!!! So here you can see Klaus and Baga:

Later he told me what a wonderful horse she is and that he had a lot of fun! What a proud horse-owner I am now!!!!
On Sunday it was damned cold so I took all the clothes I could find around me. Later I even changed the helmet against a warm cap. We were very lucky that the rain changed into hard wind and we really stayed dry the rest of the day.
The first lesson on Sunday was about responsiveness and going on the bit so I repeated the practices from Saturday but asked more for collection and it worked from time to time. I didn't expected to do everything perfect at the first try but I noticed that everything what we learned the day before was easier than ever earlier! Yeah, we got it ;o)
Then we started cantering! Klaus explained every step in his naturally easy but funny way and then we should try it by ourselves. I had no idea if it would work or Baga start bucking like often before but she didn't. We striked off at the canter from walk and it was brilliant. We cantered two circles with slack in the reins and it felt as if we never did anything else!!! Outside of the riding-ground all my friends were clapping and cheering because they knew about my canter-problem. We tried it again and again and it worked very very fine. Unfortunately I also wanted to canter the other direction but we failed. Now I know which side is our bad one and will work on an improvement ;o)
The other riders also learned to ride counter-bends but my brain was too full to understand what to do so I decided to be happy with the things I got. If I have more prcatise with cantering and don't always think "Now I have to canter..." then we can think about more complex lessons like counter-bends! At the end we learned how to turn the forehand and the hindquarters and it was no problem to do it. Here you can find the pictures of the weekend: http://skinfaxa.de/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=18668
Now I have to hurry....bye bye.

Coming soon...

Of course the riding clinic was great but I had no time to blog until now because I am still uploading the pictures. Soon I will write a full report for you. Here you can see one picture of us with natural hackamore:

Baga drove away.

During the weekend were I working with Baga on the trailer to prepare her for yesterday. Klaus came to pick her up for the riding clinic which is planned for the weekend. First Baga had to find out that this trailer is not different to Teresa's one and then she walked on it. After some minutes Baga was ready to go ;o)
I think nobody of you know how bad Baga liked the trailer before but now we attained the goal!!!
Klaus sent me an email that Baga arrived well and started to eat her hey immediately. So, I know she is fine. Today I have to manage a visit to the dentist and then I can drive to Baga tommorrow to spend a whole weekend with her and learning a lot to progress in our relationship ;o)
Here you also get an actual pic of SSSól (and Mýsla):

Official level 1 graduate!!!

Sabine-
Thank you very much for your On Line audition. The assessment team has viewed your audition and it was a pleasure. We appreciate the opportunity to be a part of your horsemanship journey. Congratulations! You are now officially a level 1 graduate! Your on line savvy is level 1++!! This means that you are well on your way to level 2! Now it is time to start having some fun! You have the basics down "Pat". You and your horse are now ready to start playing on longer lines and developing more and more positive reflexes. Thanks again for your dedication to your horse and to the Parelli program. We look forward to viewing your future success. Have fun and keep it natural!

As you can see I received my assessment from the Parelli Centre yesterday. Now I am unbelievable happy and looking forward to the level 2 challenge! Thank you Baga for playing with me and being such a great friend, thank you Pat & Linda for creating this program, thank you Klaus for always having an answer to my questions and thank you Christiane for waking me up ;o)

Small puzzle: What gait is this? It's supposed to be trot but it looks so pace-like.

It's not about the audition!

Short time ago I told you that I sent in my audition to the Parelli Centre and that I am afraid not to pass my Level 1. Not even one week is over but I learned a lot. First I thought "Yes, I made it." Then I thought "OMG you failed." Now I think: "Never mind if I passed or not, I got stronger the last days and made good progress." That's it. Not which mark I get or who is telling anything about me. It's about friendship and relationship! Yeah, I know, these are quotations. But now I got it! First I tried to take a new audition-video to prove anybody that I can make it better. These tries end up in frustration because everytime anything happened what made the new video un-perfect again. After all I decided not longer to think about and just going on with the game. And suddenly came the progress :o)
The second pro was the condition to take a video. But I am always nervous if somebody is watching me and it's the same with a camera. Some time ago I asked a friend to take pictures of us during the play-time and what happened? Nothing worked. I lost the naturalness because I thought on "How is this looking?"
Now I take a video nearly every day. That's not because I love to see me on videos. It's for the progress, for my diary and to see my (bad) body language. If nobody would have asked me to take a video to pass Level 1, I would never have noticed that I ask Baga something to do but my body says "you don't need to do this" "I am unsure" "I'm in fear" and very soon I would get frustrated because nothing works like it is supposed to do.
With my new attitude things are getting easier. For me and hopefully for Baga. You can see how we did the figure-8 yesterday. The day as I took the audition we did the figure-8 only for the second time. No wonder that it looks a bit inharmonic.
These days I go on playing around the trailer. Soon we will go on a journey and I plan to make the trailer loading as easy as possible for Baga. If everything goes well I can use the trailer during the weekend to load Baga on it - just for unloading her again. Yesterday I placed two pylons beside the trailer. Maybe 1,5 meters away. Then we played the squeeze game and the yoyo-game. It went well but I could feel a big opposition reflex of Baga. She really hates the trailer and don't want to be near it! That's why I sit down on the wheel case as often as possible to feed her or only giving her positive feelings.

Ground work with SSSól

Leading

Circling

One picture from the highway yesterday.

Level 1 On Line Audition

I did it:

Actually I wanted to wait until we are perfect but Wednesday was nice weather and I could leave the work earlier than normal so I decided spontaneous to take my audition video. Wednesday I thought: "Hey, how great we did. And no matter about the faults." Now I think: "You idiot, why couldn't you wait until you are perfect to take a perfect video?" We'll see if it was enough to pass.

"Beam me up, Scotty!"

This weekend was a cutting clinic at the Seven-Gate-Ranch again. Baga had to stay at home but I got the chance to take part with the extremely cool Paint Horse Scotty!
You can find some pictures of Saturday here.