Fun in the Wind

Eddie and I had a ton of fun today in the wind!
First we went in the pasture and played for quite a while in there at Liberty. He did great! He stood on the pedestal, ran away from me, and then came back. ;) So we went online after that so we could really play!
He had a ton of energy, so we did a lot of high play drive things. We jumped over lots of things, picking up the canter after-wards, dropping the canter after-wards, or maintaining after the jump. We also did some cutting game, fast falling leaf, and some zone 5 point to point, like we did yesterday. He was awesome, and we were really working on refining our online. It's looking like a polished Level 3, on to the middle of Level 4. Woohoo!
I really refined my phases too. My phase 4 became a phase 3, and it kept getting lighter and lighter. It was really cool!
We also started some 'spin and cd' that's what I'll call, "Spin and Change Direction." hehe, in short! Anyway, on our circle (a close circle) I would spin towards his tail and when I arrived back around I brought my stick with and he changed directions. It was really fun and I think he thought so too!
After that we finished with some sideways from zone 1. Again we played with really light phases and he did them beautifully!


All in all, we had a great time and even though it was SUPER windy, he was really attentive and happy to play.
What an amazing horse I have!


Also.... I started Mark Rashid's new book called Whole Heart, Whole Horse. It's awesome, and I'm already hooked! I love learning!


~Lea & Eddie~

Romans 6:8-11

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Online & Freestyle - what a beautiful day!

Today Eddie and I had a wonderful Online and Freestyle session!

First we played out in the pasture with the 45 foot line and LOTS of cookies! He was in a very, "Why????" sort of mood, so I really had to get his motivation up. But once I did, he was really offering a lot! He cantered over the tube, and kept his canter after he'd jumped. Then to draw him in, he came in at a very fast canter. And he was at the end of the 45 foot line! So I had to draw it in really fast. He was awesome!

Then we did some zone 5 driving. We did the weave and lots of point to point from zone 5. We even trotted around from zone 5 to different points. Although he was quite sluggish... ;) hehe! He's so silly!

We wrapped it up after doing some point to point at the end of the 45. He was so light, and really figuring out what I was asking of him. I think we're going to start to play in the evenings/morning now though. In the afternoon he's just so sleepy!

So I rode this evening, and he did pretty good. He was kind of fussy with me hopping up onto his back, and you could tell he would rather have been grazing. But we did some more weave, some very big figure eights, clover leaf and we stood on the pedestal. OH! That's what I forgot to tell you! Eddie stood on the pedestal with 3 feet when we were Online! And I'm sure it would have been 4 if I had asked him up on it. But he offered a lot! It was really cool! I never thought we'd be able to do that! And he had weight on it and everything!

We finished with some more pedestal time and I got off there. I probably rode for about 20-30 minutes. He did good. We need to play with it some more, but there's always something to play with! It keeps us busy. ;)

Have a Happy Easter!

Lea & Eddie

Mark 16:4-6

 ⁴ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. ⁵ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
⁶ But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.

A BEAUTIFUL Day!

It was so, so nice outside today! Yesterday it was super windy all day and it was cold, so I just groomed Eddie and made him really pretty. ;)

But today it was sunny and just a little chilly. So Eddie and I went in the round pen and we played at liberty in there for a little bit. I let him graze a lot, because all the yummy grass is coming up. But we did some squeeze game over logs, stick to me at the walk and trot, circling game, and some chase me game. He was pretty sleepy, so I didn't ask too much of him. I will definitely get some video of us playing at liberty. Because I think we can really send in our Level 3 liberty. But there's got to be a reason why we haven't done it yet. Maybe they will have an 'audition sale' or something. We'll film it when it's the right time.

After we played at liberty for a little bit, I hopped on, realized I didn't have a helmet and hopped back off. We went, got a helmet from the tack room, and went out to the pasture where Allison and Scout were. We rode for a nice long time! We did lots of point to point, weave, clover leaf and I let him graze for a while. He did awesome! He was so light, and I think the highlight of our ride was doing some sharp turns with just my seat! I didn't have a savvy string on, but I just used my seat and asked him to turn. He did it so willingly too!!

I was SO happy! So I hopped off and laid in the grass (Yes! We have grass now!) and let him graze some more.

I have really been listening to his preferences lately and the results are awesome! He wants to graze, so we graze, then do some things I want to do. And he does the things I want to do so willingly.

I think sometimes people get so caught up in what they can't do, that they loose sight of what they can do.

Put the relationship first!

~Lea & Eddie~

Proverbs 22:2

² The rich and the poor have this in common,
      The LORD is the maker of them all.

Fun, fun, Liberty!

Today was a lot of fun!

Mike came to trim the horses' feet this morning. Which they were wonderful! Very sleepy, and very willing.

Then this afternoon Eddie and I played in the outdoor at liberty! He did AWESOME! We trotted around, I had him chase me, he stood on the pedestal a lot, we did close circling game, lots of squeezes, he almost laid down and we just had a lot of fun!

I asked him to put his back feet on the pedestal. He did it really willingly and started to graze. So he looked very silly!

Then we did some close circling game and he did it at the trot, and at the walk without wanting to leave at all! So I think he really gets it! (We're REALLY close to filming our Level 3/4 Liberty Audition.) Very, very soon hopefully!!

Then I ran around he trotted after me a lot. I would change directions really fast and he did too. He was having a lot of fun!! He would rear, and buck and I was just sprinting everywhere. It was so fun!

After that we did some squeeze over a tall jump. It was a barrel, with a pole going from the top of it, to the electric fence. He just flew over it! It was so cool!

He really, really wanted to roll after that, so I tapped the ground and he almost did! But in the end, he decided to roll and I just gave him a carrot when he got up. He was so sweet! (And VERY dusty!!) ;)

We ran around some more after that and then we went back outside to the pasture.

I clipped on the 45 and we did some cavaletti time and some big, 40+ foot circles at the canter. He did great, I was really proud of him!

I hopped on for a little bit after that and ended on a good note there.

We had a blast! Eddie's liberty is really taking off in the Level 4 zones! It is great, great fun!

~Lea & Eddie~

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

A Fantastic Ride!

It is a wonderful, sunny, Friday!
This afternoon I took Eddie out to the outdoor and we started with some liberty. I had Allison tape us while we did some Level 3 Liberty Audition things. We can do everything, except circling close by at the walk and trot. Once we can do that easily, then I'll send it in. But there's absolutely no rush! Circling is hard for us both anyway, because it's really a one-sided game that goes totally contradictory to a 50/50 partnership.
Anyway, we'll be playing with that a little bit.
We also did some pedestal stuff, jumping, straddling things and lots more. I got it all on video, and I should have the video up tonight!

We went for a ride in the pasture next. Eddie did fantastic! We trotted around for the first time this year. Trotted a lot actually. And we weaved in and out of cavaletties, stood on the pedestal and played with how light we can get our back up.
It was awesome and I was so proud of him!
It was such a nice ride and I'm really learning to enjoy the things that are happening in the moment.

The last chapter in Mark Rashid's book is title, The Connection.
I may just have to type part of it up, because it's so true, and it states such a good point. It says that there is no 'there' in your horsemanship journey. It never ends, but there are never any, 'there's. If you know what I mean. When you say, "I can't wait to get there" There is always going to be something that you can't do, that you want to do. And instead of looking at the things your horse can't do, look at the thing he can do. And when he does the things he can't do, consider them gifts. You can't force a gift to come to you, all you can do is except it.


I just really, really liked that chapter. I think it really sums up the relationship between horses and humans.

Keep it natural,
Lea & Eddie

Proverbs 16:9

 A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps

BIG NEWS!!

I have really big, exciting news to share with you!!
We heard from our trimmer, who knows another trimmer. (they both do KC La Pierre's method) and he is going to be hosting a KC course at his place in Woodstock! It's only about an hour away! My mom signed me up, and I'm going to (Lord Willing) be taking it on August 28th-September 1st!!!
I'm so excited! And I'm so blessed!
It will not qualify me to be a 'certified' trimmer yet, because I looked into it on the website. Well... Actually I might... I have to dig to find the information. But still, it's a HUGE blessing!
That means that I can for sure do our horses!
Woohoo!!!
Oh, I can't wait! It's going to be an amazing oppertunity!

~Lea & Eddie~

Psalm 23:1-3

¹ The LORD is my shepherd;
         I shall not want.
 ² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
         He leads me beside the still waters.
 ³ He restores my soul;
         He leads me in the paths of righteousness
         For His name’s sake.

First Bath, Play Time, and Riding!

Today Eddie and I had a great play session!

First I gave him a 'bath' and scrubbed his socks so that he looked really pretty! :) He is a LOT cleaner now!

So we went out to the pasture and did some fun little things. We trotted over the cavaletties, jumped the barrels, stood on the pedestal and straddled the log. It was a real test of my savvy, because I didn't have a stick, just the 12 (now 8) foot line. And Eddie was doing some really amazing things with me! It was really, really fun! We also did some cutting game, falling leaf, and stick to me. He did great! I love you Eddie!

I hopped on him for a little bit when we were done playing. We did lots of point to point, and we were going to trot, but I didn't have a helmet with me. :( But it was a really nice ride! He was neck reining really nicely, because I just had one rein on.

And now for the good news!!

SUN!

March 16th. 
 
Sorry that it's been a while since my last post!
I got a cold/fever/cough, but now I'm much better and I've been able to get outside with the horses more.
I played with Diesel and Eddie yesterday and they both did awesome! Eddie and I played at liberty in the outdoor and did lots of fun things out there! We did some squeeze game over the barrels, stood on the pedestal with 1,2,and 3 feet and did lots of yields with him standing on it. :) We also did some close range circling game and he had a lot of fun with that! A few times I had to turn with him, but he did about 2 laps at the walk with me in neutral.

I played with Diesel next! He was very, very LBI and quite a little bugger. But he is just so sweet and he does try to do what you ask of him. We did some weave that he did really well, stood on the pedestal, which he loved, and did some circling game, which he did not love! I just went with it. He is so funny!

On to today!


~Lea & Eddie~

Rainy Days

The past couple of days have been very windy and very wet. It's been raining on and off and it's gotten pretty chilly without the sun.
Yesterday I gave Eddie the day off because he was very RB, it was windy, and it was raining. So he was inside for most of the day, but we let them all out a couple of times and they ran around quite a bit.
Two days ago I took Eddie for 2 long walks because they had ran around in the morning. I took him for one walk all the way around the track twice because he had gotten really sweaty. Then I groomed him and let him eat for the afternoon. But I went back out later in the day and let him graze for a nice long time back behind the trees. It was nice because it was out of the wind, but it was still pretty chilly!

And today it's a little less windy, and it's not raining, so I'll probably do something with him. We might play in the round pen so we don't tear up the grass in the pasture.
We haven't really been doing much lately, it's just been windy, cold and dreary out. But the horses have been pretty active and have had some good gallops out in the pasture almost every day.
Spring is here, and mud season has started!


~Lea & Eddie~

2 Peter 1:5-8

⁵ But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, ⁶ to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷ to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A Wonderful Play Time & Ride

Eddie and I had a wonderful day today!

It was another beautiful 55+ degree day and it was sunny. This morning it was pretty yucky, it rained until 12, but then it was sunny for the rest of the day.

I took Eddie out to the track and went for a lap. Then we went in the pasture and played around! But by-golly, the grass is really starting to come up already! Eddie was quite happy to go out with me and graze.

So we grazed for a little bit, then we did some weave, cavaletties, jumping and squeeze game. I asked him to jump over a half barrel, and he had quite a hard time with it. But I just stuck with it, and he finally jumped over it twice! It was awesome! You could really see that he was trying and figuring out what I was asking him. :)

My sister came out after we had played around for a good 45 minutes and then we rode together! I only had to get off of Eddie twice, but other than that, he was completely fine with me riding. And it was windy, so I thought he would be a little silly, but he was perfect. Our Freestyle has really bloomed this spring! ;) Remember what I said about 20 posts ago or so? That our freestyle will be like a late bud? But when it blooms it will be the most beautiful of them all? Well I think we're opening up. Yippee!!

So Eddie and I did some weave, and clover leaf and 'follow the leader' which was Scout and Allison. We followed them around for a while, and the whole time I was just using one rein and neck reining him to move away from the rein. He did great with that! And it also really helped that I was using my whole body to turn him to different places.

Well gtg!

It was such a wonderful day! I hope you had a wonderful one too!

Lea & Eddie

Proverbs 10:3

The LORD will not allow the righteous soul to famish,
      But He casts away the desire of the wicked.

We're Riding!!

Well today was an awesome day!!

We took all the horses for a walk around the track today. They seemed like they really enjoyed it! Then we decided to ride for a while! I hopped on Eddie and he was okay, but got sort of... Well I don't know how to put it, he just gets silly and gets extroverted. So I did was Mark Rashid talks about in his book. Make the 'wrong' thing hard, and the good thing easy. Which equals, convincing the horse that it's easier to do what you want than to do what he wants, in a very passive manner. So I hopped off, and sent him in some circles at the trot. Not what he wanted to do. Especially in the mud! So after he 'told' me he was done by facing me and going "I get it!" I stopped, and got back on. We rode around for a little bit, and he got extroverted again. by getting 'extroverted' I mean that he starts to lean into the pressure, wring his head and try to bite Scout's rump. *shrugs* That's just Eddie! Anyway, I hopped off again and this time it was much shorter of a time he had to circle. He really wanted to come back in! So I got on again. He got a little snarky one more time but I was about to get off and I could see him thinking, "No! Stay up there! Please!"

So I did! And we had a lovely session just introducing riding again! He was a little spooky because it was a tad windy, so I didn't stay on too long, but it was a lovely session! And my confidence doesn't look like it's going anywhere. I had the courage to polietly say, "No thank you, please don't be silly!" And he responded quite nicely because I did. I didn't get mad or frustrated, it was more of, "You want to be silly... Let me help you!"

I'm so excited that I have the key to his brain. I don't think this spring will be a repeat of last year, Lord willing. I know exactly why God put me through that test last spring and I don't think that I'm going through the same thing this year. :) I'm very excited!

                        ~Lea & Eddie~

Mud & Wind!

Well today we played in the wind and mud today! :) We went out to the track and did another lap to have him stretch his legs.

All the horses ran around this morning and just galloped everywhere. It was interesting to watch! Anyway, they were pretty tired this afternoon, so I let them sleep, and then it started to rain, so I locked them up. I ate a banana with them, and read with them during the rain. But once it was over, I was out with Eddie!

So yeah, we went for a lap in the track and went back to the pasture to do some small things.

He was pretty skitterish, so I made sure that I was being his confident leader for him. :) He really appreciated it and was quite relaxed within minutes.

We stood on the pedestal, did some weave, played with the cavaletties, and played with the gate. He was having some trouble turning, facing and waiting when I sent him through the gate, so we went back and forth 4 times before he decided it was easier to just stand still and wait for me to close the gate.

Goodness, I love horsemanship! When he was having trouble with some things, I would just wait until he was better, or persuade him it was easier to do what I asked.

We had a really good play session! Even though it was windy and cold and muddy, Eddie still tried his heart out and was such a good boy!

~Lea & Eddie~

 2 Timothy 1:9

 who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

Playing in the Mud

Boy! Am I tired!

I just got back in from playing with Eddie and Scout. They were both great and they both had a lot of energy!

First I took Eddie out to the track and we went for a lap in the mud/ice. It was really nice, we stopped and took a few pictures, watched some squirrels, and Eddie ate some snow. It was a really nice way to relax with him and he relaxed too. We had a great time.

We went in the pasture after that and played with some weave, cavaletties, sideways and straddle.

Eddie's weave was really good, and he was really light and responsive.

With the cavaletties, Eddie was trotting and stretching and having a great time circling around me and doing the poles 2 at a time. ;)

We sidewaysed over the barrel, and pole and just gave him a few things to do to get his mind thinking. :)

And lastly we straddled a pole lengthwise. It took awhile to get, but once he got it, he got it!

Oh yeah! We also stood on the pedestal with 3 feet and he offered to stand on it with his back feet. Here's a picture!

We ended there and then I went to play with Scout!

Scout and I just ran around at liberty for a little bit. A few times he would canter off and do this really fast trot to come back to me. He was so silly! We did a little cutting game and some stick to me. Literally 'stick' to me... the mud was so sticky and my legs got so tired! :D

It was a really fun day, and to top it all off, Diesel rolled in the all the mud. He was filthy!!!!

Here are some more pics!

 

Lea & Eddie

Scout & Diesel

Play before the Rain

This morning I went out at 8 o'clock and played with Eddie! It was supposed to start raining at 9:30 ish, so I wanted to play before the rain.
First we went out to the outdoor and played at liberty. He had a lot of energy! I had him chase me, do some cutting game and stand on the pedestal. We also did some stick to me at the walk and at the trot. He did really good, and his neck was low and stretching the entire time.
We went to the track next and went for a lap online. He was a little weary because Scout and Diesel were running around up by the barn, but he stayed connected and interested in me most of the time. After our lap, we went out to the pasture next and played with lots of things!
We did lots of cavaletties and he was really stretching! It was so neat to watch! We jumped a few single barrels and stood on the pedestal. He was really enjoying the exercise, and it was nice because the ground was really hard. The mud was still frozen, yippee!
I had an idea to get on, so I just did! I kindly asked him not to run forward when I mounted and backed up a few times. But I was really pleased that I was able to ride, my dad was sawing, Scout and Diesel were running around and he had a lot of energy! So I think this spring, If I keep up my confidence and he allows me to ride more, we can really progress in our Level 3 freestyle!

It was a great morning play time and now it's raining.
Time to watch Andy Stanely and spend the day with my family!

Have a great Sunday!

~Lea & Eddie~
 

Psalm 139:23-24

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
       test me and know my anxious thoughts.

 ²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
       and lead me in the way everlasting.

Liberty!

March 6th.

Eddie and I played in the round pen today! He did fantastic!

We started with some fun stick to me and he was awesome. We did walk, trot, stop, backup transitions and he did them flawlessly.

But he did keep wanting to graze by the north side of the round pen. So I would make it hard for him to. ;) When he went to it, I would ask him to come to me, and if he didn't then I would ask him to do a circle and come back to me. After the 4th time he wanted to stay with me, and stop walking in circles!

Sideways was next. I asked him to sideways over barrels, towards and away and then sideways to other barrels and sideways back towards me. :) He did really good, everything was light and he was really responsive. Eddie and I also did some spanish walking and he was having fun with that! I also asked him to jump the barrels and do a figure 8 around them. He did three and lost interest. But I don't blame him, it's boring for him and for me!

We also did some close circling game at the trot. I had to turn with him, but he still did it really well!

I hopped on for a little bit after that. I let him graze for a while and we watched Diesel trot around in the pasture. Diesel is such a silly guy!

Plus! This is exciting! I ordered a Baretek Western Pad. It's like a saddle, but it's a bareback pad. Yippee! I'm excited!!

 

It should be here in 2 weeks. Hooray!

~Lea & Eddie~

Proverbs 6:20-23

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s command,
      And do not forsake the law of your mother.
       ²¹ Bind them continually upon your heart;
      Tie them around your neck.
       ²² When you roam, they^[b] will lead you;
      When you sleep, they will keep you;
      And when you awake, they will speak with you.
       ²³ For the commandment is a lamp,
      And the law a light;
      Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

March 5th.

Eddie and I played out in the pasture again today. It feels even more like spring!

I put the bareback pad on him, because he hasn't had a girth on for quite a while. Sure enough, he was bucking a lot and had a ton of energy!

We basically played with a connected circling game and avoiding all the mud. It was really slipperty, so thankfully when he did his bucking, it was in the snowy/icy areas.

I laid on him, sat on him for a little bit, he licked some more barrels and I ended on a good note. He had a ton of spunk!

For sure, spring is in the air!!!!!!!!!!

~Lea & Eddie~

Fun, fun, fun out in the pasture!

 March 4th.
Today Eddie and I had a lot of fun out in the pasture! First we played with some weave because he was pretty sleepy. So that got him moving and thinking.

Once he was awake, we played with a barrel from a long way away. I asked him to sideways over it and push it over. He did and I was a REALLY long way away. What an amazing relationship you can grow with natural horsemanship!
After that we played with the log. I asked him to jump it and then straddle it. It was really funny... I had him sideways towards me while I stood on the log. hehe! Then once he came close enough to me and started to lean on me, I laid on him while he sidewaysed the rest of the way off of it! :D It was really fun!
I got on and rode for a little bit afterwards and he was super!

~Lea & Eddie~

Yesterday's Play Time!

Yesterday was a lot of fun!

I took Eddie out to the pasture and we played with a lot of different things. We did some amazing circling games! I asked him to back up a full circle and he did a half! I was so proud of him, we've only played with that 3 times and he's really getting it!

We also did some 45 foot line things, I asked him to go to a lot of different obstacles and do something with them. He stood on the pedestal and even stood on the pedestal with his back feet while I was a good 40 feet away. Then we jumped the log from 35+ feet away and played with some freestyle after that!

I brought him into the track, grabbed a barrel and laid on him a few times. We played with standing still while I got on, and off. Because last time I got on, he took off at a canter. :-/ lol! So I had him stand quietly and patiently while I hopped on him from the half barrel and back off the other side. Because I didn't want to use my 45 foot line to ride, I just used my savvy string. It really makes you be lighter and lighter! hehe, I was also listening to some music (I had Mary Ann Kennedy playing the whole time I played with Eddie) and it really helped me be slow and take my time. :)

Plus... I still can't get over that Mark Rashid book, I've learned so much from it, and it's already helped our riding and my confidence with riding!! WOOHOO!

Anyway, I mounted a few times and ended on a very sweet note. Eddie's face was priceless though... "We're done?! That's all you wanted to do?!"

So, next time I get on, we'll do a little more. :) Yippee!

I played with Scout next. He was a blast! He rolled, cantered around and had quite a bit of energy! He even STOOD on the log! I don't know how he did it, but sure enough he was REALLY high up there and just as relaxed as could be... Hmm... How interesting! I let him decide when he wanted to get off, because I didn't want him to fall off of it. What a silly guy!!

Dad and I put mats in Eddie's stall later that day and it looks awesome! So much easier to clean! We also took all the horses for a walk to let them graze and we wrapped up the day.

Now today, the horses get to be out on the track! It's the first time since Christmas! They love it and they love the movement they now have.

Hopefully I'll get to play with Eddie later and take Diesel for a walk!

~Lea & Eddie~

Proverbs 4:23

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

Scout's Play Time - falling leaf, logs & friendly

Scout was great! But he was really jumpy, so we did a TON of friendly game and lots and lots of unexpected friendly games. Because sometimes he just doesn't know when you're being friendly and when you're driving him.

So after we did some friendly game, we both rolled, we went to the pedestal, stood on the pedestal and went to go play with some logs. He usually doesn't jump, but with these new ideas in mind from Mark Rashid's book, he jumped them so willingly!

There's a part in his book where he says, (something like this) "Some horses will feel the need to conserve energy, and not use it. Because when danger comes (i.e. a predator) they need to use that energy to run from it. He used an analogy that the old man taught him --- There were baby bunnies and another bunny out in the pasture. But the baby bunnies were frolicking about and playing all day. The older bunny wasn't playing, but eating. But when the coyote came, one bunny made it and the other didn't because they had used up all their energy.

So some horses feel the need to conserve energy (the LBI) because they don't know when the predator might be coming.

Anyway, short story long, Scout jumped the log because I had an idea of what I wanted instead of just dictating what I wanted him to do. I jumped it with him. So he felt like a partner. :)

We did some falling leaf after that and he was being so silly! He was trotting back and forth and ringing his head and being silly!

I love you Scout, you're so sweet and always so willing to try!

Lea & Eddie & Scout

Proverbs 2:10-11

When wisdom enters your heart,
And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
Discretion will preserve you;
Understanding will keep you,

Simple Truths

Today Eddie and I went back to simple truths. Well that's what we've been doing for the past couple of days. It's gone SO SO SO WELL!

I've been reading Mark Rashid's book, Horses Never Lie and it's amazing.

It really dives into what leadership is about. Here are a few quotes that really stood out to me:

"Just because we think a horse should do things a certain way doesn't mean that the horse sees it the same way."

"No amount of training in the world can take away what Mother Nature has instilled."

"The less you do, the more you can accomplish."

"The old man would set things up for the horse to make a decision and allow the horse to make it. He never seemed overly concerned about forcing a horse to do something it wasn't comfortable doing or punishing a wrong decision. He would simply let whatever was going to happen, happen and then go from there."

I think it's a really great book, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to do natural horsemanship!

With those quotes in mind, I went out to play with Eddie and Scout. Boy it did change some of the things I did! Like yesterday, when I decided to ride Eddie. I just let whatever was going to happen, to happen and we went from there. I think we could all learn that!

Eddie did really, really good today. We started with some falling leaf and he was really offering a lot. He did some amazing spins and turning on his hind quarters. I also reminded myself that falling leaf is a sideways game. ?! Yep, a sideways game, and with that in mind, we did some fun sidepasses at the walk and trot. :)

 Then we went to the log and I had him do some sidewayses until he was calm with it. Because he would jump and just gallop away. So I let what was going to happen, happen and I let the 45 foot line slide all the way to the end, slowly closing my hand until he came trotting back. Then I would send him over the log again and he would do it again. Yet again, I let the rope slide through my hands and he came trotting back. So after the 3rd or 4th time, he did a perfect squeeze game. I sent him, allowed him to go and jump, and disengaged him. Saaaavvy!

We did some more falling leaf and some S patterns after that. Then we ended by doing some trotting from zone 5 and going to the pedestal from 45 feet away. It was really cool. Almost the whole time we were playing, I only had 4 coils in my line. Usually we have about 10. But this time it was less than half of what we normally do. Saaaaaavvy!

Then we did cavaletties for 15 minutes. I could already see him stretching and bring his energy through his topline and bringing his hind quarters underneath him.

I love you so much Eddie! You are the love of my life and you're my dream!!!

Scout was next! He was super! (I'll put this in a different post, this one is pretty long!)

It's March!

Happy first of March! Thing that are going on in this month...

~Spring is on the way

~Mr. Parelli's Birthday

~Diesel's Anniversary (1 year)

~Me and Eddie's 2 year 11 month anniversary

It should be a very fun month! February just seemed to fly by!!

Anyways, on to today...

Today I played with Eddie out in the pasture! He did super! We started with some stick to me, lots of transitions and having him feed off of my energy. Then we went to the logs and we squeezed over those a few times.

Things were going so well, and he was in such a good mood that we played with some freestyle leadership skills. In the Spring - no... wait, I'm not going to say he always .... --- Last Spring he went through some major LBE spurts and was really dominant, and trying to be the leader. So this Spring, to do some preparatory things, we're starting early with some leadership activities. I honestly don't want what happened last spring to happen again this spring. So we're starting early and I'm sure it will pay off.

I laid on him, and hopped on for a little bit. We licked the log and walked around it. But every time something would pop up that he would usually have opposition reflex with, I did something to break the habit. And it worked wonders! It's like I had a key that fit the lock just right. I had a savvy arrow for every thing he threw at me. And he was AWESOME! So gentlemanly and very polite!

Like I said, I think I found the key that fits his lock. And now I'm unlocking his brain! :)

We did some zone 5 driving after that and did some awesome circling game from zone 5. We did more point to point to different barrels and went back inside!

We grazed after that and played with a little wooden disk we found out by the trees. I had him step on it and it took awhile, but he finally got it!

Every day I'm going to keep this image in my mind:

 

It's Emily Thompson and her horses. She is truly the person I look up to. Starting Parelli at a young age and going to new height with her horses.

~Lea & Eddie~

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
      But fools despise wisdom and instruction.