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.'

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!!