You Never Stop Learning...

Never Ever!
I'm confuzzled... Let's start with this morning!

Online - We went out in the pasture and played on the 12ft line =-0 He did great! We did canter stick to me, we jumped over everything, sidewaysed over everything, he did a rollback and we just had a blast! I would rate his Online this morning in the Level 3/4 category.
Freestyle - I hopped on in the pasture and we walked around for a little bit with the 12 tied into reins. He did awesome! We stood on the pedestal and just hung out. I'd say it was Level 2. THEN we went in the outdoor and I got the bareback pad and the helmet and we were going to ride around a bit more. Well I just now remember Linda saying, "Stop when it feels good!" I had this grand idea of trotting around and following the rail and corners game. Yeah-no... It just had me stumped! He reared once, not high, but I slid off and did a big phase four. Grrr! I got so frustrated! I didn't look it, but I was so disappointed. Why can't I listen to my conscious?!?!?!?!?
Well I'm just going to hang loose and rattle for a bit. Lick and chew. Think about it.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Eddie being a patient boy!

Savvy on!
Lea & Eddie

FEET!

This morning I groomed Eddie before Classes, and I took pictures of his feet!

They are four weeks (tomorrow) from the last trim.
Right Front

Left Front

Left Hind

Right Hind

~Lea~

Practice What Your Bad At

Today it was Freestyle (where did that come from?).
Who would have thought Freestyle would come up after not being seen for a while and explode!? 8-O
Let me clarify...
We haven't been doing much freestyle because... well I don't know why... I think I was ignoring it. Well I'm diving right back in! I went out this afternoon after talking with Keri on the phone and thought that I could ride. I did. It went ok. My sister brought the video camera out and thought that if he was in a good mood, which he was, we could film my freestyle audition. Well, that didn't work. We did do most of the compulsories, but not very good quality. It reminds me of Norma's post; carrying out a task, but not looking at the intent. Our sideways was terrible, his back was also terrible and he was just......... No, wait, it was me! I was a bit tense because of the camera and I was B-O-R-I-N-G! He was a mild LBE, he wanted to play! But me... ha! I was a little LBI/RBI and I wanted to do these small, little refined tasks. He wanted to go cantering around the arena and do flying lead changes and transitions and just have fun. GOLLY!
I have a lot to learn! So! I'm back where I thought I was last month, gaining enough confidence and enough trust in him to do those things. To do what Linda does with Allure! I NEED to stop treating him like a LBI like he is in the summer, and treat him like a LBE which he is in the winter! AH! BFO!!!
You all can hold me accountable for this:
Lea Henze hearby states that she will not be a boring human during freestyle and will work as hard as she can on becoming a more provocative and passive and fun and relaxed human being. No more boring Level 2 stuff. He wants a challenge.

So... Now that that paragraph is taken care of, lets go to something that he did AMAZING with!

This morning we played at liberty and he was fantastic! First I had him on the 45 foot line and we did a few things to get his mind on me. Then the next stage, I took the 45 off and then put it around his neck. He did awesome with that too. Only a few times he would leave, but I would just reel him back in. I had another BFO today. Jess, the girl who used to own him, used to chase him around at liberty and called it 'lunging'. Well that's what he thinks we're going to do! Even after 2 years he still reverts back to that. Anywho, he did really good with the rope around his neck, so I just took it off and walked away and coiled it up. He followed me and then once the coils were all assorted, I put me savvy string up, over his back and we played stick to me. Now this was awesome! He used to go running off in a "You can't catch me!" way. So I didn't push it into a trot, a walk was enough. Then we played the sideways game, and he was so connected. Twice he left, but he came right back and we tried again. I think he did it twice both ways. BIG IMPROVEMENT! He used to just run off! And who knows, he might go back to it, but for right now, I'll focus on the good. Squeeze was a bit of a challenge for him today. Usually it isn't, but oh well! Deal with the horse that shows up! So we played with that for a bit and he finally got it. Yay! Circling was also great. He did two laps each way at the trot and he came back in willingly. Then we ended it there and I was so happy!

Well thanks for reading this long post! I needed to think my way through my brain and come out the other end!

Savvy on!

Lea & Eddie

Yahoo! Snow!

IT WAS SO PRETTY AND NICE AND BEAUTIFUL AND GORGEOUS THIS MORNING!

It was snowing when I woke up. I wanted to go out and play with Eddie immediatly. So I quickly ate a donut, washed my face, and went outside. We had a blast!!!! He just wanted to jump everything! He jumped the barrels, the cavaleties, the tube, the single barrel, and the log. Yeehaw! Here are the pictures:

It was so much fun! I love early morning play sessions!!!!!

Savvy out!

Lea & Eddie

Wonderful Day!

Today it was so nice out!

It was sunny and I played with Eddie twice.

The first time I went out and I groomed him, did his feet and gave him some TLC. We went outside after being groomed and we just played around. We trotted over the poles, figure eight, jumped the tube and barrels and we did lots of point-to-point. While we were doing the figure eight though, he would get the 45ft line up under his leg and he would get all confused. But he went straight to the pedestal. ICON OF SAFETY! =-D So then we would do friendly game and he would relax and lick his lips.

This afternoon I went out and we played 1/2 at liberty. First we went in the round pen and we did some basic stuff, pre-flight checks, then I took the 45ft line off and looped it around his head. Thank you Keri, for giving me that idea! So, we did all the games, but we were only half at liberty. It seemed to work really well! So we would head the other direction, and give me his butt while doing sideways, but I would tap his hindquarters and pull the 45 a bit and he would straighten out and tada! Perfect sideways! His circling game was pretty good too. He did a half a lap beautifully and then he got to come in. Then we did two full laps at walk/trot and we ended that game.

I think if we do this for a while (pattern) then he'll get the idea that when we're at liberty we don't always run around like maniacs! =-D

I'll keep you all updated regarding that.

This morning was kind of weird. The ponies seemed a little unsettled, and so did us humans. ;-)

I think we're all over our weird morning! Ooh, and the cool part, was that my 'daily reminder' book said that for today the word was heart broken. I thought it wouldn't apply to me, but then I read the content and it said that when things go badly, do you turn towards Christ? Or away from Christ. So this morning I turned toward.

Savvy on!

Lea & Eddie

Snow & Wind & Rain

Well today it was yucky outside. Plain and simple.

I wish we had an indoor now because it would have been a pretty good day to play.
Here is some Parelli related news from today:
I decided that I'm saving up for the Cradle Bridle! I'll probably get it at the Celebration in June. I'm so excited!
I cleaned Eddie's halter and now it's so smooth and shiny!
Eddie did really good with the bridle today.
Someone on the Savvy Club forum is driving me nuts... ;-l
I'm still waiting for the results of my audition.
God has shown me such patience and happiness
And I'm pretty much just chillin' until the weather gets better

God opposes the proud

But gives grace to the humble

Lea & Eddie

PICTURES!

PICTURES! Duh! I forgot pictures!!!!!!!! How could I do that?!?!?!?

So here,

here are a bunch of pictures!!!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Kapieren Sie an!

(Look it up! It's German!)

Snow?!?!?!?

Well last night we got about an inch of snow, so everything looked pretty and clean!
We had more 45 foot line fun today! He had no energy today, so we just did a lot of random things. A lot of zone 5 driving, which was fun because he would trot when I brought my life up. Ooooh! The best part?!?!?!?!? Scout was gone the entire time! Allison took him for a walk around the property and the entire time Eddie couldn't see him. I was so happy, he looked to me for companionship! I love you Eddie!
Then we went out to find Scout and we walked around the property for about 15 minutes.
We went back inside after that and rode around.
He had an attitude about it! =-) But I matched his energy and then he was like, "Okay... fine... we can walk around!"
But it was fun and I was so tired afterwards because of all the stuff we did.
Well, ttyl!

~Lea & Eddie~

It's Our Time

We filmed our audition today! It went SO well!
I'll definitely put a video of it on here once I have it uploaded onto the computer. Crissie??? She has to bring the software. Oh well, patience is a good lesson to learn. ;-)
But yeah, Eddie was amazing! We did all our compulsories (they are tattoed onto the back of my hand with permanent marker) and then I looked at my hand, and I had finished everything! We still had a few minutes left too! So we did some sideways without a fence and with barrels and we also did somce circling. My mom kept pressing me to do go out and do things better, but once Keri told me about the FAQ, I was glad I didn't It said it couldn't be 'choppy'. It had to be one long video. Whew! Glad I knew that! I'm really happy with it. I really think it showcases our bond and my relaxed attitude. For example, he knocked over a barrel during the figure eight pattern, but in the end we ended up sidewaysing over it. So it worked out swimmingly! ;-)
Oooh, and our February Savvy Times came today. YAY! I can't wait to read it!

~Lea & Eddie~
Soon to be Level 1 assessees