Just keep trimming...

Well, it has been a VERY 'trimming' week! On Friday, all the horses got trimmed, and we went down to OEW's and Mike trimmed Jigs while I held him. I played with him for a little while after that, and he was awesome! Then I played with Eddie when we got home from OEW. We played at liberty in the round pen, ran around the pasture, went for a walk all around the house, and then rode for a half an hour or more in the outdoor!

It was really nice, and a really fun day!

Then yesterday, the KC La Pierre course started! I learned so much yesterday, and it was mind boggling! I mean, I read his book twice, but this is SO much more in depth! And I am absolutely loving it!!! Today was another awesome day or learning! I think I have about 21 pages of notes now! Wowza!

Anyway, I will type all about it some more tomorrow! The schedule for tomorrow starts with classroom time and ends with a dissection! Won't that be fun!! ;) hehe!!!

~Lea & Eddie~

Finally a Cool Day!

 

 Ok, bad blog owner here. I haven't updated it in 4 days. And that's a long time for me!

I feel like Emperor Kuzco, saying "Bad llama!" And hitting himself in the face. I don't know if you've ever seen The Emeror's New Groove, but that's the movie it's from. And it's quite hilarious! ;-)

ANYWAY!

 Moving on....

Well yesterday was one fun day!

I took Diesel for a walk through the pine trees, we walked through huge spider webs (and I freaked myself out) lol! but Diesel was fine, and we finished our walk with some grooming up, and feet tending. See, his walls are thin, and he has some hoof wall separation (flare) so I'm in the process of cleaning that up. Mostly likely a mistake I made, so I'm learning to bring his toes back some more, and keep the flare from getting worse.

Then I played with Eddie and he was fantastic! We played with our connection, and he was really focused, and happy to play! You know what's amazing? I haven't used my stick in over a week! I just don't need it, nor does Eddie. My hand usually is enough, but when it's not, then just a little encouragement with the rope is sufficient. It so amazing! So we're not playing with a carrot stick, and lately not even a rope. WOWZA! Thanks to Carolyn Resnick for that. her podcasts really made me realize that everything you do 'online' can and should be done at liberty. So the horse has a choice. And I did that with Diesel the last time I trimmed his. He was at liberty the whole time, and I just had treats with me so that he had a reward.

*happy sigh* I just love this journey!

So next was Jigsaw! Crissie's horse!

I went out to play with him and we just had a blast!

Here's a video, and I think that explains it all! :-)

Lea & Eddie & Jigs & Diesel & Scout

Psalm 116:1-2

¹ I love the LORD, because He has heard
         My voice and my supplications.
 ² Because He has inclined His ear to me,
         Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.

Such Fun Rides!

Lately, Eddie and I have just had a blast! We've been riding every day, and he is doing amazing with it! Every day we do more and more.

So yesterday we just did some small things, had some fun, and got to where we were on the same page, mentally and physically.

Then today we had some more fun! :-)

All three of us went out to the outdoor and we trotted around, did some sidepasses, almost jumped a barrel :-/ hehe! And just had a blast!

It was really nice, and Eddie was really calm and happy to play!

Here are some pictures!

Finally, a Cool Week!

Well, the wind has picked up, the humidity has gone, and the cool weather has come in!!!

Yippee!!

So Eddie and I have been playing for the last three days, and it's been so nice! Yesterday we played at liberty in the outdoor and he was amazing. :-) We just had fun, ran around and played together. Then two days ago, we rode and actually had a great ride! We've been riding a lot more, when we're both in the same mindset. Which is happening a lot more often. It's really nice to not worry about where we're going anymore. I really became a task-master, and lately, I've let go of the lists and tasks and we're just having fun. Which he is absolutely fine with! And I am too! I read a book recently, called Horse Miracles. It was really good, and in it, there was a story about a lady and her horse, Honey. All they ever did was go on trail rides, enjoy each others company and have an incredible relationship where they both looked after one another. That got to me to thinking, that that is all that I ever want with Eddie. That, and teaching others how to have a relationship like that.

And we're getting there. Slowly but surely! Something from Chris Irwin's book said, If we get better 2% every week, then in three years we'll be 100% better. And that is so true! :-)

Anyway, I'm really happy for the cool weather!

Hopefully it stays like that for a long time, because the KC La Pierre course is coming up and it will be harder to trim when it's hot. But I think it will stay cool for a while, and all I can do is pray that it will!

I've also been trimming up the horses more. Diesel has gotten a crack, but it's because he paws so much and therefore, he wears down his walls. But I'm letting it grow out, and hopefully it won't get any worse. :-)

Hope that you are all having a wonderful week!

~Lea & Eddie~

AH!

I haven't updated in so long!

Ok, here's what Eddie and I have been doing...

It's been really hot out lately, so I've just been hosing him off, spending time with him, and just being with him. However, yesterday we had a marvelous ride!

We just chilled together in the round pen first, then my sister came out and we rode in the pasture!

Eddie did really, really well! I had to ask him not to chase Scout or bite Allison, ;) but once I told him not to do that, then he was fine, and focused! So we just walked around, went to different things, and we were going to start trotting, but we ended on a really good note when he did a fast walk for me. And it was hot, so I don't blame him.

It was really nice though, and hopefully we'll be able to ride more soon!

~Lea & Eddie~

Psalm 118:6

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?

August 7th.

 I played with Eddie and Scout together again! It was really fun!!

But first I just wanted to say...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! :-) Love you so much, and thank you for being a wonderful mother, and supporting me in the things that I do.

:-) So I did get to play with the horses today, and in fact I played with them all! We did what we did yesterday, I played with Eddie alone in the outdoor, then I called Scout and he came in with us. Today was so much better than yesterday! We did some circles together, and then we played with some connection games, drew them both towards me at the trot, and Eddie was totally focused on me, and not Scout. So that was amazing!! Scout did great too, he's getting better about not being worried about the carrot stick when I encourage Eddie. It's funny, because when I ask Eddie to trot, Scout does instead, and when I ask Scout to trot, Eddie just stops. hehe! So we have to play with that a little bit more, but I think we're really getting it! Man, I sure do love just having fun with them!

It will be fun to see, if in a year or so, I can ride one, and play with the other at the same time. It's probably easier too! :-) We shall see!

~Lea & Eddie~

Psalm 149:4

For the LORD takes pleasure in His people;
         He will beautify the humble with salvation.
         

August 6th.

Today Eddie and I had a ton of fun! We played at liberty in the outdoor and we just PLAYED! I would run around and he would chase me, then I would chase him around, and he would buck and play! We did some connection things to test how good our draw was and it was awesome! We played around like that for 25 minutes or so, and then I added Scout to the mix.

I usually don't play with them together, especially not at liberty, but I thought, hey why not?! Eddie knows when I 'scold' him not to chase Scout, and Scout loves liberty, so why not? We did a few things, and I was pretty uncoordinated. So we went slow. :-) We did get to do a few laps in the outdoor with Scout on one side of me and Eddie on the other. Which was really cool! But we did a few little things, and I mostly played with one, then played with another. Just so that they could get a feel of what we were doing.

It was a blast though, and we'll do it again tomorrow!

~Lea & Eddie~

Ooops!

Forgot pictures!!

 

It's Beautiful Outside!

Mmm.... I can almost see Fall peeking around the corner!

It is so nice outside today! The weather is just perfect! Sunny, clear, windy, and cool! And no humidity! Yahoo!!

So today Eddie and I played out in the pasture. We played with some small things to warm up, and now the majority of our play sessions are riding. So I'm really excited about that!

After we warmed up, I hopped on with some new reins, and his sidepull and we just went! I learned something pretty valuable from Chris Irwin's book. It's an ok, book, I wouldn't call it one of my favorites, but he has some good tidbits for collection and control. He said that a horse is like a river. And we're riding the waves. Our legs are the banks, and the power comes from the hindquarters. Our reins are like a dam, controlling the water and directing it. I thought that was a really good analogy! So we played with that, and also Mark Rashid's ideas of being clear, and direct.

I would ask Eddie to back up, and I tried to make it feel like I was stopping a canoe. It worked somewhat well, but I think we need to play with it more. It really made me want to ride again this evening! ;-) But we did some of that, and I had to come up with a list of things I wanted to do. We went sideways a few times, worked on our backing up, and having him just listen to my ideas. It went really well, and I think it's just going to keep getting better from here! Yippee!!

~Lea & Eddie~

Psalm 119:130

The entrance of Your words gives light;
         It gives understanding to the simple.

August Already?

I guess so!
It's already August 3rd!
So, this month, there's not too much going on. But at the end of the month, I'll be attending KC La Pierre's course and that will last until the 1st of September. So I'm really excited about that! Hopefully it won't be too hot. :-) And then other than that, it's going to be a pretty slow month.

Lately, it has still been really hot, so I haven't been able to do much of anything with Eddie. And when it is cool out, the bugs are out. The mosquitoes to be precise. I don't remember a summer like this! It's been humid, wet, and very hot. :-( But enough complaining.... lol!

I hopped on Eddie yesterday and just did a few little fun things. Rebecca came out for the day (thanks for coming out! I had a blast!) and we hosed the horses off and then sat on them and rode around for a little bit. It was really hot! But Eddie and I got to try a principle that I learned!

I stumbled across an amazing blog )thanks to the people on It's About the Horse forum) and it is just fantastic! http://ayearwithhorses.blogspot.com/ Check it out! It is all Kate's clinic notes from a Mark Rashid Clinid. I read from Kate, that this one gal had some trouble with her horse. And Mark Rashid told her that the horse was looking for clear, communication. There were too many grey areas that needed to be black and white.
That was a huge lightbulb moment for me!


Eddie liked grey areas on the ground. We like to just go out, and see what comes up. But Rebecca made an interesting observation yesterday. She said, "Eddie is a totally different horse when you get on him!" And of course I had to agree! He is indeed!
So I hadn't thought about it much when I was riding (about the grey areas and such) but I just gave Eddie clear communication. Like, "Stop now." not in a demanding attitude, but in a passive attitude that made him know that things were ok, and I was still completely calm. And it gave me a lot of control! I also asked, walk over here now, touch this now, sideways over here now and so on. And he was a totally different horse!
He was so willing, and I think he was glad for the direction!


Afterwards, I thought about the grey/black/white areas and realized that he likes black and white when we ride. He likes to know what's going to happen, how it's going to happen and when it's going to happen. And that makes so much sense, because he was abused when he was ridden multiple times from the trainer, and even from his previous owner.
This will be tough for me, because I'm a feeler. I like to feel my way through play times and just come up with things as we go along. But this is making me into a better horsewoman, because I have to balance that. I have to feel my way through a situation and think my way through one. That means that I have to plan things out, instead of just going with the flow.


This will be an interesting endeavour! Wish me luck! :-)

~Lea & Eddie~

 This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it--the LORD is his name: 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'