Good Quote

When your ready you will be ready, doubt won't then creep in...
-Dawn Emmerson, Level 3 student.

I'm taking that quote with me for a LONG time.
It seems like I've been a Freestyle rush lately. If you look at my goals at the left side of the page all my online and almost all of my liberty is done and freestyle and finesse are not going well. But we have only been doing Parelli for 1 year and 11 months!!!! I do NOT have to rush things and push myself over thresholds. Now I can breathe again!
Take the time it takes, SO IT TAKES LESS TIME!!!!!!!!!
DUH!
Silly, silly me!

So today I played with Scout at liberty and online and yes, freestyle! (sounds ironic) lol! He did SO SO SO good. I was blown away-impressed. He was stretching and rounding his back and flexing at the trot. YAY! He usually braces and is like a upside-down bad banana. But he was nearing the good banana posture! Yay Scout!
He even felt different to ride. He was pushing up into me with his back at the trot and his back felt... wider almost.
Oh! Oh! Oh! He even jumped the barrels with exuberance! It must be all the cavaletties my sister has done with him. I'm so proud of both of them!

I sat on Eddie for a few minutes in his dry lot. I gave him carrots. He was so frisky! So I got off (I was bridle-less) and we did so fancy moves at liberty! I was in zone 1 and I had him go sideways. His neck was all arched and he looked like a stallion! hehe! I'm going to play with him soon.

That's all! Thanks for reading!

~Lea & Eddie~

Play Day!!!

A play day to remember:

Suede-

I went down the hill, to the herd and he was very curious about me and Crissie. He came right over and I haltered him up after letting me check him out. I brought him up from the pasture by playing stick to me at the trot. Automatically he had a positive attitude. We played with different obstacles and he was interested in all of them. He wanted to eat the grass, so I had to be provocative and get him interested in me. We played in the outdoor, and all over the lawns, jumping over different things and playing with different tasks. Deb, his partner (and owner) told me his story. She got him as a yearling and broke him to ride. She bought him as her horse, and one that she could rely on to ride. Deb said that they went to a Helen Topp clinic and that Helen said that she wasn’t asking enough of Suede. Deb then asked more of him and passed half of her Level 2, she only had the simple lead changes to do. While she was working on them during one session she asked for the canter, Suede exploded, bucked her off, kicked her and ran and hid in the indoor arena. Deb said ever since that accident, he was a complete RBI when it came to riding and saddling. She started from the beginning and is now working on point to point. So, naturally when I brought him in the indoor arena he was completely a RBI. We worked on thresholds and I was able to sit on him, and do some basic Level 1 things. I did a super relax and was rubbing him, when he sighed and chewed. It seemed like he was so appreciative that I was taking my time. I got off and we were just standing and Deb was talking about waiting to pass Level 2 and enjoying the journey. Well I felt him and his fur was standing on end. I said, “Oh boy!” and took him to do some figure eight. After that he sighed, and chewed and his eyes softened. Whew! A lot to learn from a tri-polar LBE/LBI/RBI!!!

Lea & Eddie

Play Day Tomorrow

Well tomorrow is the play day! Yay! It's going to be SO fun, I cannot wait!!!!!! Crissie came over for her birthday today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAREST CRISSIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) hehe! And then we went shopping for hats at famr and fleet. I got a tan hat and it looks snazzy!

I'm hoping to play with Eddie later today if it doesn't rain. It's pretty nice out! =-) My sister and I rode this morning. It felt good to be riding again! We walked around in the outdoor, stood on the pedestal, almost trotted and swung on from the ground (well almost the ground, from the tire) and I used my new lead line I got yesterday. We went to Y Knot Rope Tack yesterday and got Crissie her purple finesse reins and I got a 14ft. line for Eddie. I love it!!!!!

We had a great play session last night. We played at liberty and he straddled the barrel at liberty and bowed, and did amazing circles. I would say a Level 3/4 quality!

~Lea & Eddie~

More Heat ~ But a Fun Bath

This afternoon was so fun! It's a bit cooler today, not as bad as the past three days, but it's still hot. So I decided to give Eddie a bath because he was sweaty. I just did it in the dry lot because I was home alone and it gave Eddie's feet a chance to soak up the water/mud.
So yeah, I was hosing Eddie off and I let the little boys (ponies) inside to get some shade by the stalls. Well Scout comes and stands right by me as I'm spraying Eddie off. "Ok, Scout, I get the picture!" I hosed him off too at liberty. He loved it! But then Eddie would get jealous so he would bite Scout. Well I had a hose - mwahahah! I squirted him in the face and he didn't do anything! He was like, "Yeah, AND! It's just water!" So I squirted him harder and he stopped biting Scout. Meanwhile Diesel is rolling/grazing with his head stuck through the fence. I went between Eddie and Scout and hosed Scout off for a few moments, then I hosed Eddie off. It was so cute! Well I let Eddie go with the ponies and he went and rolled. Then he got up and started chasing them! Bad big pony! So I went in the outdoor, swelled myself up and yelled, "Eddie!!! Get back in the barn!!!!!!!!" I kid you not, he looked at me after pushing Diesel around, thought for a second and went back in the barn! lol!!! I guess my energy worked! So I closed the gate so the little boys could have the outdoor and Eddie was looking at me like, "Sorry mom!" I chuckled and itched him a little. He liked that! Then the little boys rolled at the same time and it was hilarious!

Funny ponies!!!

(check out http://gaurdianofmyheart.blogspot.com/ for my daily bible verse, they will be on there from now on)


~Lea & Eddie~

New video!

That pretty much sums up all the things we did this morning!


~Lea

Finally a Play Time!

This morning I finally got to play with Eddie!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!! It was amazing!! He offered so much!
We backed up to a barrel and sidewaysed off of it and onto it. Then we straddled a tiny barrel. He loves doing that now! We jumped over a few more things, then stood in the shade for a while. It was in the 80/90's and it was HOT! The heat index was 105! =-O Yuck!
After standing in the shade for a while, he straddled a few more things, and figure eighted between two buckets. What a guy. I love you Eddie! Even though it was hot, he gave it his all and I didn't push him over the limit.
I gave him a rinse off later to cool him off and he really liked that!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Psalm 121:7-8
7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.


Lea & Eddie

Hay & Humidity

Yesterday we got our delivery of hay!!! All 200 bales of it! It smells so good and is going to be perfect for the boys. God so provided with giving us just the hay we needed.

Well the last few days has been hot and humid and buggy and wet. So I haven't been able to play with Eddie too much. =-( Which totally stinks! I'm going to groom him later and rasp off his feet a bit.

And Happy Father's Day to everyone!!!

Here are some pictures from the last couple days:

Rain, rain, rain pouring down.

Can you see the wren?

Lightening bolt.

Can you tell I haven't done much with the horses? No pictures of them! boohoo!!!

Well happy Father's Day and I'll chat with ya later!

Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

~Lea & Eddie~

Post #200

=-O WOW!!!! This is my 200th. post!!!!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!

Let's see, what did we do today...
This morning it was raining like crazy. We had some pretty big storms that went north of us and we got a lot of rain. So after it rained we let the horses out and my sister and I had a water fight. hehe! It was fun! Now they are out grazing and I'll probably groom him later. It is SO hot out now and we turned the air conditioning on for the first time this year.

Well since I didn't do much today, I wanted to sum up the past 200 or so days.
(Don't worry, it's not going to be long!)

Well... I started this in September and we were working in Level 2 mostly. We had only had Scout for 2 months and he was playing in Level 1. Then we just started working on Level 3 things. I wanted to assess my Level 1 but the old assessment was too task oriented. November - winter came and so did more riding. December we cantered for the first time while I was riding! YIPPEE!!! We discovered Diesel this time of year. January we made our 2009 plans and little did I know I would get all the online tasks checked off by June! February we passed our Level 1 and 2 online!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! March we played through all the mud and yucky-ness of spring, April we started working on more Level 3 things. May - we regressed in riding, but flourished on the ground. June we got back into riding and continued with our on the ground where we were solidly in Level 3/4 on the ground and 2/3 riding! YAY!
Well that's all!
One of my favorite verses:

Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.


Lea & Eddie

Fun with Tucker

Yesterday I went out to play with Tucker! Let me explain how we met...

My sister is now working at Farm & Fleet. She met a really nice girl, Danielle, and she has horses. Tucker is her 3 year old project and she said he always needs something to do. (In my mind a LBE) She also said he was a lot like Eddie. Which he is! Big time! I think if I had played with Eddie for the first time now that I know what I know, I would have gotten the exact response as Tucker. He's a LBE/I and is both at the same time. He thinks, "You and two gorillas couldn't make me move!" then once you do get him moving he's an extrovert, "lalalalalala! What a beautiful day!" So here's his Horsenality profile from one play time:

LB much???

We did all the games, sideways was his hardest. I really noticed that his FQ yield was off. Since western.. oh I don't know what you call it, the showmanship thing on the ground... Anyway, I noticed that his FQ yield was off. His HQ yield was perfect since that's what the showmanship thing does, but his FQ yield was really hard for him. He stuck his nose in the air and refused to move. I didn't want to get too tough because Danielle was there and I didn't want to seem too rough. It was also because he's SO LB he didn't want to move. Dominance issue. =-D I can handle that. His circling game was pretty good, change of directions really got him interested and the squeeze game seemed like it engaged him. Haha, he did this thing where he would put his head really low to the ground, then step over the rope and pull the rope out of my hands. I had to think of my savvy arrows and pulled a nice fat juicy one out! I gave him a whack on his rump if he did that because he almost gave me a rope burn. Then he would spin around and lick his lips. Yay! My savvy-ness worked! I do wish I could have done something more provocative, like once he pulled the rope from my hand send him around really fast in a circle or something so he would think I mean comfort, safety and play. But it's what I came up with at the time and it worked.

So yeah, it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I cannot wait to play with him again. It's going to be a big difference!

I ended up playing with four horses yesterday! No wonder today I'm so tired!

It's going to rain here, then it's going to be fine weather for the rest of the day, so I'm going to play with Eddie later. Diesel too!

Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Lea & Eddie

STRADDLE!!!!!!!

Eddie can now straddle a barrel!!!!!!! YIPPEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yesterday we played out in the pasture with various things. We did 'good' circles and he did about two or three laps of a relaxed and rhythmic and connected trot. Yay! Then we worked on 'straddle a barrel' where they jump into the air and halfway over a barrel. He did really good and I corrected him a few times (wiggled the rope in from of him) and he stopped right in the middle! It looked so cool and I gave him a peppermint for it. He liked that!
I'm going to go and play with them now, so it should be fun!!!!!
Oh, I also wanted to tell ya that later this afternoon I'm going to my sister's work buddy's place to play with her colt. Too fun! She says he's a LBE and always needs something to do. Hmmm... He's going to learn really quick!!!! I can't wait to play with him. It's going to be super fun!!!

Revelation 19:11
Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

Lea & Eddie

More Fun & Energy!!!

Today was very... interesting. My mom worked in the afternoon, my sister had to work and so did my dad. So I was barn manager! lol!
I played with Scout in the afternoon and we played with close circling game at liberty, stick to me, driving game and sideways. I hopped up on him a few times and it was fun!
Then I played with Eddie in round pen. He had SO much energy! I had to do this, and that and have him watch out for the poles and the barrels and keep him busy until he said, "STOP! I don't want to go there anymore!!!" My reply, "Cool! Let's chill." Eddie - "Thank you!"
So I had to use up his energy, therefore I used up my energy. I'm so tired! Then he could finally think and we played at liberty. He did really good and I was very impressed with how far we've come. Even my sister was impressed.
Love you Eddie!!

Isaiah 40:28
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.


Lea & Eddie

WOW!!!!

Yesterday was SO amazing!
In the morning my sister and I rode around the pasture. Except for falling off, it was an amazing ride! We trotted the weave pattern, sidewaysed over the barrels, played point-to-point and had a lot of fun! But I have to tell you about the fall. lol! There was this stupid hot rod that was using our road as a drag race and he sped off and his motor was defening! I was so mad at myself, because it crossed my mind to get off, but I didn't and I fell off. =-( But I learned from it. THE BIGGEST PIECE OF ADVICE I CAN SAY IS GET OFF WHEN IT CROSSES YOUR MIND! Duh! I don't know why I didn't, but now I know!!!
Then I played with Eddie in the round pen. He trotted the figure eight pattern at liberty without any cones, or barrels! We finally have the change of direction down. Yay! It was SO much fun!
I played with Scout after that. He was amazing! I hopped on at first and we played follow the rail bareback and bridleless and we worked with transitions withing transitions. Like a slow walk, medium walk and fast walk. He loved it!!! Then I got off and we played at liberty. He was so light!!! I had the savvy string over his back and he was circling close to me without leaving. Then we played the cutting game and he had his ears flat back. lol! He was so funny! And then we played stick to me and he was all collected and exuberant and willing! =-D
I can't wait to play with them again today!
Oh, and with Diesel I got to pick up all his feet without any, or little fuss! YAHOO!!!!!!!!

Hebrews 1:2-4
2 God has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.


Lea & Eddie

Humidity! Blah...

It's a whirlwind to find hay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My mom has been looking up and down to find the right hay for the year. I give her a TON of credit, she has met SO many people (some are really weird) and we still haven't found the hay we're looking for. But we're trusting in God that He will provide. We've never been out of hay. =-)
I played with Scout and we worked on getting rhythm, relaxation and contact while I'm leading him. It went really well. I would focuse on a dandilion and think we're going to trot there. Then we would trot and I'd focus on another and think, we're going to stop and back up. After ten minutes of that he was doing great!!!
I haltered Eddie and I played with both of them online. It was fun! We did the last 4 games and they did really well. Eddie liked the fact that Scout was in 'biting range' and I had to correct him a few times so he didn't take a chunk out of Scout. lol!
I let Scout go after that and Eddie and I worked on the figure eight with canter/trot transitions. He even did a flying change! Woohoo!!!
The mosquitos were horrible, so we all ran inside and I put the big boys out on the track.
I hate bugs!

Romans 15:4-6
4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. 5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Lea & Eddie

Video from my sister!

A video from my sister. Love you sis!

I'M BACK!!!!!!

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!
Well the Madison Celebration was awesome. I learned so much and it was an amazing experience. It seems like every year I go, I grow. ;-) hehe, I rhymed! Anyways, this year it seemed like a lot of people knew me! 8-O I was not expecting that! Valerie and I got to talk, Anna sat with us, Fran and I talked, Helen Topp smiled, Karen Ulvin said hello,
Jill said hi, Marcy smiled and said hi, Dominga talked to us and I think that's it! lol! It was so cool, but kind of weird at the same time. Most people I saw at the clinic, but a few others said they knew me just through the forum/blog. I guess God is finally making my dreams come true! Not being recognized, but getting out there and teaching people. =-) Hooray!
All in all, the Celebration was probably one of the best. I don't know if it had the *WOW-ZA* energy like last year, but it was still awesome!
I have also been contemplating the purchase of the Cradle Bridle. I have enough money, but I don't know if I want to save it up for anything else. I'd better pray about it, and tithe first!

I got to play with Eddie the last three days, which was GREAT! I rode the last two days and I've been working on 45ft line stuff with all my new tidbits of information!
I promise I'll be posting more often.

Psalm 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.

TTYL!


Lea & Eddie

LEVEL 2 FREESTYLE!!!

YES! It's HERE!!!!!!! I did my Level 2 Freestyle this morning!!!!!!!!
Please, please give me feedback. I don't want to send it in, pay the $50 and not pass. Please be truthful! Thank you so much! I had a BLAST which is huge, since just last month I was so nervous to do anything on his back.


Lea & Eddie

Clinic Overview

Here is my summerization of a 2 day Helen Topp Level 3 clinic. Enjoy! =-)

Day 1

In the morning they did On Line and worked on the Power of the Porcupine Game. That’s at least what I called it. Lead by… everything! Something she really stressed was no more then 4 oz. then use support (driving game). Also you have to lead by the tail, and get that good, before you lead by the hocks. Hehe, then Mike played circling game, except he was on the circle. Bo, his horse, had to stay in the middle and pivot on his FQ while Mike ‘cantered’ on the circle. We shall see if he does it on his spotlight on Friday. =-)
Helen gave us a few pointers on things to do in an Audition too. She said to do LOTS OF CIRCLES. Not something I thought of. She said that the audition team was looking for Good Circles. Good Circles = rhythm, relaxation and contact. Rhythm is, well having a good rhythm in his gait. Relaxing on the circle, and having contact with you (relaxed line). One more tip was to make the hard thing easy by over-exaggerating things. Say if you have a hard time cantering in Level 3 or 4, get used to a gallop. If you want your horse to be used to blackbirds, get them used to eagles, as Pat Parelli says.
Now after lunch was riding. Helen talked about the Cradle Bridles. Basically that the C1 is for RBE or super young horses, the C2 is for RBI and the C3 is for LB horses. Then the rest of the day was about HQ control while riding. We talked about the Counter Arc – the normal shape you use when going sideways.

You work up to the sidepass by using the Counter Arc, then Straight, then finally the half pass. Once you can do them at the walk, maybe start the trot. Improve the Distance, Speed and Quality.
If you also make a triangle with cones,

then you can go sideways towards them, on an angle. But be sure to work from Counter Arc to Straight to Sidepass.
Next was Haunches In and Shoulders in!!! How fun!
Alrighty… How do I explain Haunches and Shoulders In? Let’s see… Go to your Indirect Rein position, with your finger nails pointing upward. Except with this exercise, don’t turn the finger nails up, just use a suspension rein. So, as your going on the circle:

You look down the rail, and like the picture says, take it either from the wall (SI) or as you get to the wall (HI).
Fun, huh?! Helen said to really make sure you always mirror your horse. Always remember Distance, Speed and Quality!
Engaging INTO a turn. Say what?!
Before you do any of this, get your indirect rein good, better, best. Get to where you can bend him through the turn, then bend into the turn as illustrated below:

Next was the Bowtie Pattern! Here’s the pattern:

This was a really fun Pattern to watch! In the circle, you do an Indirect rein, and once they get back on the rail, release the rein. It’s like half of a barrel pattern!
Alright, well that was what wrapped up Day 1.
Now on to Day 2! (I'll post Day 2 later!)

Lea & Eddie

Rain and Humidity!

Today it was very wet. =-l I got up this morning and it was raining, then it cleared up for a bit, and I played with Eddie. We played at liberty and for the first time we did a long range sideways. The barrels were at the other end of the round pen and I had him sideways away and then I leaned back and he came towards me! =-D YAY! The bugs were really bad and it was so humid, so we ended there. I do not like humidity! We went to my grandma's after that and I mowed, then we went to Lowes, the post office, the library and then we came home. It was about 5 by then. We ended the day by celebrating my sissy's birthday!!!

=-)

Lea & Eddie

Best ride this month!!!

Yesterday it was perfect out!!!! It was warm, sunny and there was a slight breeze. So I played with Eddie in the morning and we worked on more 45ft playing. It was SO much fun!!! Then I rode. I hopped onto the bareback pad with my finesse reins in hand and I could feel a little nervous. But I took a few deep breaths, collected myself and we were off! We weaved in and out of the cones, did the figure eight, trotted for more then 50 feet, sidewaysed over a barrel and did FQ & HQ yields. YAY!!!!!!!! I remember Linda saying, "Get off when it feels good!" So I forced myself to ride into the dry lot and I got off there. I didn't want to push myself over a cliff or go too far. But we're really getting there!!!! Level 2 Freestyle here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then I rode Scout out in the pasture. We trotted around, and the most fun part - I was barefoot! lol! So we trotted around, weaved, sidewaysed and had a lot of fun! I felt like an indian! lol!!!!! Out in a field, trotting around, bareback and barefoot! =-D
I worked with Diesel after that and he did pretty good with his back feet. I was able to pick one out, and hold the other. Yay!
Hooray for savvy days!!!
Trotting....

What's over there?

Super send! lol!

Love my horsey!

More trotting!!!

Oh, and HAPPY JUNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =-) But most of all.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON (my sister)! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!! HAVE A GREAT 19th. YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was raining this morning, but now it's sunny. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TTYL!!!!!!!!!
OH! And the clinic is tomorrow!!!!!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My verse today isn't from the bible. It's the lyrics to a Jeremy Camp song. I woke up repeating these lyrics in my head, so maybe God was telling me something? lol! It's called, What It Means and you can scroll down to the very bottom of this page and play it on my playlist. =-)

I've been here a thousand times before

Face down on the floor

Wondering how I even reached this place again

But, You have shown so endlessly, how Your love pours over me

No picture can re-create the beauty that I see

Show me what it means, to live my life a sacrifice

If only I would realize how much it took to pay the price

I know I'd always give, everything to You

I want this world to see Your perfect majesty

Reflecting from my life this brilliant poetry Written all over this place

The signs of all creation that You breathed

Words can't even state how much You mean to me

I want to face my very crime

Of not giving all of mine

But I can feel the hope You bring to me

Lea & Eddie