Today Eddie and I had a blast!
It was hot, but we got to play and ride! I made a new line out of really thin, light rope and it was about 30 feet long. So I put that on Eddie's halter and we went off to play!
We did some small stuff, and then we got more in sync with each other by doing some transitions.
After we played for a little bit, I put on his sidepull and his reins and hopped on for a nice ride!
We did some 'buddy following' and he was having a little bit of a hard time with following my directions, so we did some light rein cues and he got it really quickly. :-) So we did some more things to get our minds on the same page, and he did really well! We rode for about a half an hour, so it was really nice to get back into the swing of things. That was our first riding session in over 3 weeks. So I was really happy with it!
Hopefully tomorrow we'll have another session, but even if we don't I'm sure we'll have fun!!




~Lea & Eddie~

Psalm 119:93

I will never forget Your precepts,
         For by them You have given me life.

NRN

hehe, you may be wondering what that means...
And it means:
No Refresher Needed

That's what our latest play sessions have been like. Lately it's been too hot to play, so Eddie and I have just been doing some small things. But on the days that we do some big things it is totally NRN! ;-) hehe!
The other day Eddie and I did some long reins, and it was really hot, so he was quite slow. Well... so was I! We did some of the long reins and then I hopped on for a few minutes. But he was sweaty, and I was too, so I got off and we went inside to cool off and get hosed off. :-) Now two days ago...
We played at liberty in the outdoor and he had a blast! We did some chase me game and he cantered after me, jumped a barrel on the draw, we went on the pedestal and I hopped on for a little bit bareback and halterless. It was really fun and he was having a blast as well!!
It was nice to get a play session in, since it was in the evening and the humidity was down.

Now today, I'm going to trim Diesel's front feet (if he needs it) and probably take Eddie for a walk this evening. It's way too hot!

But here is a video from the last 3 or 4 days! :-)



~Lea & Eddie~

Phillipians 3:14

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

A Fun Ride!

July 25th.

Today Eddie and I went out to the pasture to play! First we did some thing to warm up, and he had a TON of energy! So we just played around with that for a little bit, and I had him go over some cavaletties and jumps to get him thinking about where he was going. That really helped, so then we moved to a little bit of riding. I used my sidepull (It is REALLY nice!) And he did great with them! I think our backups were the lightest that they have ever been!

 

Water, Water Everywhere!

Today Eddie, Scout, Allison and I had a TON of fun in our big puddle!
It rained 8 inches last night, so everything was very wet, (including a stream in their paddocks) and therefore, it left a huge puddle. So we took the horses down there and played for a long time! I got soaked and we just had a blast! I even hopped on for a few seconds and we splashed in the water, Eddie laid down in it, and so did Scout! It was just so much fun! I think, if Eddie had a pond, then he would just live in it! lol!

So we had a lot of fun, and I made a video!
The pond is starting to dry up, but we took the horses down there again this afternoon and they pawed in it some more and Eddie made a few muddy messes. ;)
What silly ponies!




~Lea & Eddie~

Sidepulls & Baths

Today Eddie and I just chilled!
I hosed him off and cooled him off this afternoon. But earlier, we did something different!
Our sidepull came today, so I took it out to the barn and we tried them out! First I just put it on him, then I attached the reins after he got used to it. He did really well, and we did a few things. I could really see him thinking about it! :)
So I hopped on and we did a little bit of flexion, then I asked him to backup and it was SO light! Probably one of the best backups we've done. So I think it will take a little while to get used to them, but I think that they will make a really big difference!


After I hosed him off we went out to the track where it was nice and muddy, and we tried to roll together. I asked him to paw the dirt and then I would give him grain. So he caught on quick, but he didn't go down to roll. But we'll keep doing it every day and hopefully he'll get it! :) It was fun though, and I think he was thinking about rolling. ;-)


Anyway, we had a fun day, and it was really nice to do something, even though it was hot! ;-) I think I'm getting used to this heat!


~Lea & Eddie~

Matthew 19:14

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

 

Last Couple of Days

For the last couple of days, Eddie and I have been taking it slow. It's been really hot out and humid, so we haven't been doing much. So we've been going for walks, I've been hosing him off and just chillin.
I've also been watching some more horsemanship videos. Some of them are GaWaNi Pony Boy and Mark Rashid. And I have to say that Mark Rashid is my absolute favorite!!
He had a young horse handling video and it was so sweet, and just so natural. I just loved it!
GaWaNi was a little bit of a different story. For some reason, I just didn't agree with some of his things, and it's not what I expected. I was expecting something way more passive, but what I saw was a lot of dominance. And from his books, I thought that is what it was going to be. But that's ok. Move on, and just use his theory that he stated in his book. :-)

But today, I took Scout out and we went for a ride around the track. I also played with Eddie for a little bit and took him for a walk and also hopped on! So it was really nice! :-) We had a great day!


~Lea & Eddie~

Matthew 16:15-16

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

Pictures!

I forgot pictures of yesterday!!

 

A Fun Day with Friends!

July 18th.

Today I went out to Rebecca and Savvanah's place to play with them and do some horsemanship stuff!
I gave them an on the ground lesson and then gave them some pointers while they were riding. Mostly I just watched and took pictures, but it was really fun! But then she let me ride for a while and Savy did great! She is such a good girl! And Rebecca, (drumroll please!) passed her Parelli Level 2!!! WOOHOO REBECCA!!!!! :-) So proud of you guys!! So now we're going to learn from different horsemen together and we can further our relationships with our horses! :-) Lots of fun!


So today, mom and I are taking it easy after a really busy morning. I am exhausted though! lol!
Hopefully things will settle down soon and get back to normal.




~Lea & Eddie~

Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I am with you;
      Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
      I will strengthen you,
      Yes, I will help you,
      I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ 

Christianity and Horses

Hey there people!

It was another hot day here today, so I took Eddie for a walk and hosed him off. He was really enjoying it! And enjoying it more when I brought out popices!

Lol! hehe! Anyway,

Check out my new tab at the top of this page called Christianity & Horses. :-) It was really fun to make!

~Lea & Eddie~

A Wonderful Session!

Today Eddie and I had a great play session!
We did some more long reins (picked up where we left off on Monday) and he did awesome with them. We just played with being connected and doing transitions with the littlest amount of pressure possible. Which was usually just a change in my breathing and a point with my finger. So that was really fun! Then we played with me changing my focus while we were running.
So we would be going along, pointed towards one thing (or place) then I would change my body focus to a log or something easy to see. He did really good with that, and it really got him thinking and me thinking as well! Kept me clever, and him engaged!
We finished with going to the pedestal, and then I hopped on for a little bit. Lately, after we do these kinds of sessions, where it's all a brain game, we are so ready for riding! Much more ready than I would ever have been if we just did some tasks. So I hopped on, and every time he would turn around, look at me and I could tell that he was going, "Where now, mom?" It was really neat, and hopefully we'll be able to ride more, because we had a lot of fun!!

We ended there (and did a few minutes of cavaletties) and then we went inside to cool off.

It was really fun, and I think we both like using our brains more than our bodies!

~Lea & Eddie~

Numbers 22:28-30

²⁸ Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
²⁹ And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me...."
³⁰ So the donkey said to Balaam, “ Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?”
And he said, “No.”  


(I love this verse for so many reasons!) :-)

Thoughts on...

Galatians.

5:22-23 to be exact.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Well, I'm going to give credit for this idea to Mrs. Schirmer, who is a very close friend of the family. I had actually thought of it before, but she encouraged me to write about it.

So, how does this relate to horses? All the things stated above do.

Use all these things with your horse!

Love

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Faithfulness

Gentleness

and Self Control

And if we apply all these things to horses and humans alike, then we'll have an incredible relationship with our horse!

In Galatians, it also goes on to say that "Love is above all else," So even when we fail in other aspects of our fruits of the Spirit, then love will make up for that. Horses know when you're trying to help them, and they will be patient with you in return. :-)

There's more to come on this, but I just wanted to introduce it first!

~Lea & Eddie~

Eddie's Teeth

Well, here is an overview of Eddie's diagnosis.
HE IS FINE!!!!
Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!
So our vet floated his teeth and he won't need it for a long while now. It was hard on Eddie with the tranquilizers, but he did good and trusted me and now he is recovering and as happy as a clam!

So, we'll probably play on Thursday or maybe go for a walk tomorrow. But we're just going to take it slow, and see what happens day by day. :-)

~Lea & Eddie~
(who is feeling a lot better!)

Philippians 2:9-11

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Moved to a new Location

www.TrustMeNaturally.blogspot.com

So Soft & Light!!

This morning, Eddie and I had an incredible play session!
We started out with some small things, like balancing up with myself and his mind, so that we were both on the same page. Which took about 15 minutes because we haven't played for about 5 or 6 days. So we did a little bit of stick to me, and just feeling things out. 
Then we did some cavaletti therapy and he did really well! We trotted over those together a few times and then I decided to work on my softness and lightness. I dropped my stick, because I was using it way too much, and then we went to small 10 foot long reins.
Oh, that was such a learning experience! But it was a really good on!! I was finding that I had to encourage him a lot to get him going and have him not eat. But then once I picked a target and got it in my mind "We are going there!" Then everything was perfect! All it took was a thought to go forward, and I just sent all my energy towards the thing we were going to. We did that for 4 or 5 things and then we went down the south line at a trot, which is about 300 feet long and we jumped the log together at the end of the line. It was so much fun, and I could just feel all my focus going towards one thing, and he felt it too!
Plus I have been working on my breathing. Because I realized that I only take little gasps when I play with Eddie, which causes me not to focus. So it's deep, abdominal breathing for me!
Beath in... :-O beath out.... :-o
hehe!


Anyway, it was an amazing play time and I think we will have a lot of fun playing with all these new things together! :-)


~Lea & Eddie~

Matthew 4:4

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

A Quick Little Message

Today, we took it easy again, because it was a really busy day, I didn't want to aggravate Eddie's tooth, and it was pretty warm out. I did trim Eddie though, and he was really good! :-)



~Lea & Eddie~

Exodus 20:4

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in 
heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

Hooves

Well (I start my posts with that a lot, don't ya think?!) Today I took Eddie for a little walk, let him graze and kept an eye on him. He is much better, and I would say, almost back to normal!!! Which is great, and I just hope that he doesn't have to have it pulled on Tuesday. Fingers crossed, head bowed and hands folded! :-)

Anyway, I sat with Diesel as he slept and laid down, and then I took Scout for a little walk today too! I think I'm getting used to the hot weather, because it was pretty hot today! ;-)

So, without much to talk about what happened today... I thought I would bring up a fun topic that I love!

HOOVES!

I am fascinated by them!! Truly fascinated!!!

I love their ligaments, digtal cushions, sole plans and frogs! hehe!!

So, needless to say, that's one reason why I decided to take Kc La Pierre's 5-Day course in August. And I am so excited about it!!

Anyway, I have been trimming Diesel and keeping Eddie's feet rounded off and keeping him from chipping in between trims. They are looking great! I very pleased with how they look!

I like trimming so much, that I took this hoof diagram and trimmed it up because the two was long. ;-) hehe!

Here is Eddie's foot int he summer of 2008

And here is Eddie's foot in the winter of 2009. Look at how healthy his wall is!!! And his frogs!! WOOHOO!!!

I'm also learning so much from different horse forums, and they all have a hoofcare section. So it's interesting to see people trimming well, and not so well. It's very good discernment!

Anyway, I better stop before I go on and on, and make you all confused!

~Lea & Eddie~

Philippians 1:6

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

The Big Three

...things that happened today.

~Eddie got into 'trouble' again
~Mark Weiler (big corporate head in Parelli) called
~ I learned something amazing from Kathleen Lindley's book. 


Ok, so first things first! Eddie was eating out of his bucket today, eating his Dehy to be exact, and then a piece of tooth fell out of him mouth. WHAT?! I picked it up and it was about the size of a penny. That explains why he was iffy yesterday. So I watched to see if he was eating, and he still was. And he ate the rest of his grain, and has been fine every since. But we're still keeping an eye on it, and a vet is coming out on Tuesday to take a look at him. Hopefully it won't be too serious.


Ok, next thing! My mom sent a letter to Pat, Linda, and Mark and told them why we were unhappy with Parelli, and he called us! So my mom just explained why we left and they talked for about a half an hour. He also said that Pat or Linda may call, but if they don't then he will call back. Wow! But we're still looking at other horsemen and I'm learning so much! A new learning curve for me, because now that we stepped out of the box, it's just excelled my learning so much!


Ok, last point! :-) I am absolutely LOVING this book! It's called In the Company of Horses by Kathleen Lindley. The chapter I read today, Mean Well was really good. Well, all of the chapter have been really good! She talked about helping horses. Helping? Yup, helping! When you think that you 'help' a horse, they may see it as help, but they may see it as 'ok, but I'm going to do it my way.' So things that we think 'help' a horse, may or may not help them. Something that may help one more, may not help another.
So that relates to what things I've been thinking about with Eddie.


It's a halter thing. This is usually how his lateral flexion looks like when in a parelli halter:

But that's on a bad day. Here is what it looks like with 'no string attached' literally:

That's on his own, and how we do it bridleless. So I'm going to try something different:

It's called a sidepull, and it does what it's called. Turning the nose, not twisting the nose.

So we will see if that helps or not! I am truly enjoying thinking out of the box! Because, after all, that's what horses do!! :-)




~Lea & Eddie~

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

98?!

Yup, 98 degrees! In the barn that is, and it was HOT!
So I went swimming to keep cool, and then I took Eddie for a little walk. He was feeling a little iffy, so I kept an eye on him. But he was fine by the end of the day.
We went for a walk, I hosed him off twice and then we rolled together which was fun.
:-) Now on to today! ;-) that was the shortest post ever, and now on to the longest post ever!

~Lea & Eddie~

It is Hot Out!!

Well, today it was VERY VERY hot! Almost 96 in the barn, so I didn't do too much with Eddie. I did hose him off though! Which was fun!
He always loves to put his mouth over the hose and then I turn it on. hehe! He just loves it! And it's pretty funny too!
So I let him out to the 'bubble' in the track, and we rolled together. Then after about an hour, I brushed all the mud off of him, and then he was nice a pretty! hehe!

I think that this fall and this winter will be a fun one! Last summer it was so cool and I rode almost every day. But, there's no changing the temperature and we'll make the most of what we have! :-)

~Lea & Eddie~

 

Student of the Horse

Today Eddie taught me a lot!
We played in the round pen and I groomed him up while he grazed. He was so good, and was really patient when I had to pick out his tootsies and pick them out. I trimmed them up two days ago, and they are looking really good! His mustang roll is looking fabulous!
So we went into the bubble after that and did some circles and just played with some yields. Then I let him decided where to play. And he picked the outdoor! So I followed and we played at liberty in there.
I was also really aware of how I used my phases. Which was really hard, but it really helped!
We also did some side-passes, and just some fun things that he likes to do. We ended on a really good note, and then we ran inside, which was fun!

Yesterday we also played with our extended trot and canter (while I was on the ground.) It was so much fun, and he was having a blast! :-)

I love it when you see their expression and it is just one of PURE JOY! :-)


~Lea & Eddie~

Hard Decisions

Today it was really hot & humid out, so I just groomed Eddie up and hung out with him. It is supposed to be quite warm out for the rest of today and tomorrow.
But anyway!
I just wanted to post about something that's been on my heart lately. (this is my first post like this, so bear with me.) ;-)
Recently my mom and I have had some decisions. And let me tell you, they were hard. This post isn't going to be about the decisions, it's going to be about the thoughts behind the decisions.

I think that God puts us through these hard times to mold us and form us. After all, (from a Christian standpoint) it's not about the horses that we help, it is truly about the people that we touch. I don't know if horses are eternal, but they most likely are not. However, humans have the capability to, if we surrender our lives to God and live by His ways. When God-serving and honoring people go to Heaven, it's not going to be like a Hall-Of-Fame. It's not going to matter what non-eternal things we accomplished. However, what is going to matter, is how many people we touched. That's something huge that I needed to realize. Because horses are animals, I believe that they are here to teach us things like patience and trust and many others.

Anyway, it's not about the program that we follow, it's not even really about the horses. It's about the people we touch. And how we influence their lives to serve our Savior Jesus Christ.

We all want what is best for our horses, and what makes them happy and confident. :-)

I hope that made sense...

Anways, I hope that you all had a great Fourth of July!

~Lea & Eddie~

Happy Fourth of July!!

Happy Fourth of July Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful 4th!

~Lea & Eddie~

Too Hot to Play

Yesterday Eddie and I had a relaxing day. We didn't do much, and I just hung out with him, sprayed him off with the hose, and then I groomed him up (once he had rolled and dried off).
I let him graze for a while too in the evening which was nice. :-)
Overall, it was a very good day, and hopefully we will be able to play a little bit this evening. Although it's supposed to be a hot Fourth or July! Ah well, even if we do nothing today, I know he's a happy boy!


~Lea & Eddie~

July 2nd.

Eddie and I had a lot of fun today! (and so did my sister and I!)

I filled up the horse water trough (which we usually use for hay) and it made a lovely swimming pool! hehe!! So that was a nice way to cool off. :-)

Anyway, after we were done 'swimming' I played with Eddie in the round pen. It was really nice in there, and we had a blast! We did some change of directions (which he did beautifully!) some advanced sideways, and we played with spins a little bit.

I didn't want him to work too hard, because it was hot out. So we ended our session with some grazing time.

It was really nice, and a perfect summer afternoon!

~Lea & Eddie~

July 1st.
Today Eddie and I played in the outdoor at liberty again! He did amazing, and we had a lot of fun playing with some new things. We actually tried to do zone 5 driving at liberty, and he was awesome with it! My sister took a few pictures:

Then after we did a little bit more of that, we just had some fun and trotted around. It was really fun, and Eddie just loves those new challenges! hehe, so do I!
I hopped on him for a few minutes bareback and halterless and just sat there and we was so good. :-) I love that horse SO much!!!

~Lea & Eddie~