Long Time, NO Blog!

Hey everyone. Again, I apologize for the lack of posts! I have been busy tending to Kucha's mental, emotional, and physical needs - especially after his injuries!

So I thought I would share with you guys what an instructor just challenged me with today. She said, "How can you get his mind so occupied, that he doesn't need to move his feet?" I have always treated Kucha as a horse that needs to move his feet to think - but that is probably a reason why he got hurt! So, my new challenge is to try and think of things that will get him mentally and emotionally engaged with me so that he doesn't need to move his feet to feel satisfied. Maybe I have been reading him wrong all along. Or maybe he is becoming more centered and I need to adjust my strategies and really begin to read what my horse is telling me. And I need to remember to MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS! Just because he has been an RBE doesn't mean that he has not changed.

This is a daunting task, as helping a horse that is RBE is fairly simple most times - move his feet to think. But maybe my Kucha is ready for something new - and clearly, with needing to keep physical activity to a minimum, I need to learn how to solve this puzzle!

Let's see, what else is new? Ah, yes! I was able to sneak an awesome peak from the bleachers in the Big Top of lessons people were taking from Walter Zettl, a true dressage master that Pat and Linda work closely with. Kucha and I played in the Parelli Games on Saturday, and man, what a blast we had! My friend Nikki has some pictures that I will post soon. We didn't get all the tasks completed or make time, but it was awesome to see how our relationship has changed since Parelli - and what has become important to me with my horse has changed since Parelli - the relationship has just taken over! This coming weekend, some friends and I are going to do the Silverton train ride which is supposed to be a blast!

Alright, well I am off to try and think about this puzzle before dinner. I miss you all lots!

Sorry!!!

Hey all! Sorry for the lack of posting in the past week or so. Now that I have moved houses I don't have internet anymore and need to use the internet at the ranch. I promise to take some more pics and to update you on Kucha, etc! I am very excited to see you all!

This sounds familiar...

Sorry for the lack of posting these days. Our days are just packed full from morning until night and when I get home, I head for the shower and hit the hay. Let me recap some of this past weeks events.

Last week I was in a demo for the Building Confidence in Riding course. The focus was follow the rail using indirect rein and direct reins to reinforce. Kucha was picked because he tries so hard and if you address him too quickly or make him feel wrong, he goes inside of himself, gets submissive ears and gets impulsive. When I was asked to participate, my heart rate skyrocketed, but I am so proud that I was able to get it together for him, warm up and participate! He looked more like the left brained horse that was with us, Ginger! He was such a champ. He never hesitated at the 20-some people in the stands and was more interested in eating grass! Awesome.

This weekend, a group of us went to Mesa Verde to see the cliff dwellings of Native Americans from LONG LONG ago! If you ever get the chance to go, it is beautiful and well worth the trip. On our way to Mesa Verde, we stopped for lunch and had the chance to go into Nathan's Hat Shop. Hats for Jack Nickelson, Will Smith, etc have been made here. I found the most beautiful hat and would love to have it made for myself, but maybe at a later point in life! Also, at Mesa Verde I was blessed to see wild horses for the first time in my life. A mom and baby were on the right hand side of the road and two large bays with awesome feet were to the left! Nibbling on the trees and then crossing the street like they owned the place. It felt as though it was a little gift to see them.

This week is our Moving in Harmony course and the same puzzles that presented themselves last week are still here this week. I am relearning how to post my horses trot. I am trying to retrain my body to get rid of 13 years of prior training and become a more fluid rider for my horse. However, it is proving to be extremely difficult for me and I am discovering that I am shutting down a bit. Negative attitudes and thoughts that it will never come to me often fill my head. This afternoon I realized that I do this in other parts of my life as well. When something doesn't come easily to me, I tend to shut down. When math got too difficult, I didn't even want to try. My mind would close and progress would be almost non existent. Same with accounting lol. BUT, when I would finally relax and be open to learning and open to the process, I would make progress. I am finding that when the posting gets difficult, I want to just play online and avoid it.

So my challenge to myself is to play with trotting every day. I will not let an attitude that has accompanied me in other areas of my learning to follow into my journey with my horse. And when I do, I need to recognize it and move past it. I have had glimmers of the correct posting and my horse shows it to me right away by lowering his nose to the ground at the trot! It is when I push myself to get it again that I seem to erase the progress I made.

Something to think about!

To me, you are perfect

Today was our second day of the Confidence in Riding course and boy have I learned some big things! And I can't believe it's only Tuesday!

Since my trip began three weeks ago, a major theme that has stuck in my mind is that "perfect practice makes perfect." It has made all of the difference in haltering my horse, preparing to saddle my horse, actually saddling my horse, and the list goes on and on. The difference in my connection with Kucha has been incredible. Taking the time it takes so that it will take less time is really what everything is all about.

Yesterday, I prepared Kucha to ride and we were both acting like partners so I decided to mount and go to the indirect/direct rein focus station even though the other ones sounded like more fun! Something deep down told me that it is important to start from the basics and make sure those were in order. I was riding in a hackamore and began practicing my lateral flexion, IR, and DR. I asked one of the instructors if they could watch to make sure I was getting full disengagements, etc. Their response was that my horse was braced and leaning and that it was time to put the snaffle bit on...

For those of you that know a bit about the relationship between Kucha and me, you know about his tongue chewing. And you also know how much it upsets me to see him chew his tounge. It seems to happen when he feels any sort of stress and it is an emotional displacement. Since we began PNH the amount of chewing has decreased significantly, but it still creeps in from time to time. When he was wearing the hackamore, we would do what I thought was an IR and he would chew his tongue afterwards. An instructor explained to me that I wasn't getting the message down to his feet and he was left with emotions in his head. I have had fears of putting a bit back into his mouth since he hasn't worn one in two years. But when there is a brace in the body, that means there is a brace in the mind.

So today, we played in the snaffle bit and it killed me to see how he would chew his tounge during lateral flexions, etc. But one of the course assistants told me something that really touched me. She said that I should observe his tounge chewing, but not to get upset about it. Think that he is perfect, because he really is perfect, just as he is. I just need to let him know that I am there for him in those times that he does feel like he needs to go inside himself. And today, that is what I did. We rode all around the playground and played with lateral flexion. Even though we mostly walked and trotted a bit, I felt we made a huge change. I played with lateral flexion until he was able to put slack in my rein quite quickly and he even began to exhale and relax during it.

I'm proud that I was able to trust myself as a leader and trust that my horse would respond and that I was able to stick with him and give him what he needed until we experienced a change. After we were done, we went back to the pens and I gave him a shower and he yawned the entire time. I truly felt it was important to him to take that time - to show him that a release will follow but not on a brace. He doesn't need to worry about rough hands anymore - and I am committed to proving that to him. It is the release that teaches. Tonight, I said goodnight to him and told him "to me, you are perfect."

Week 3

Tomorrow starts the beginning of my third week here and the first of my riding courses for this trip! The first two weeks have been online and liberty work preparing us for freestyle! The course is Building Confidence in Riding! Pretty excited! Wish us luck!

Learn something new every day!

Sorry it has been a few days since my last post. By the time I get home at night, I am usually exhausted! But today was pretty interesting and I thought I would share my BFO (blinding flash of the obvious) with you!

Every Tuesday, we look at the information and course through the filter of horseanilities. We study each horseanility, discuss how to motivate them, center them, etc. Since Kucha and I arrived almost a week and a half ago, it has become quite apparent to me that people are caught up in pegging their horse as a certain horseanility. They go to the mercantile and dig through the t-shirts and discuss, "well, I'm not really sure what horseanility so and so is, what shirt should I get?" It's like you need to pick something in order to become a part of a club! I too have been confused about where Kucha is in terms of his horseanility, but today, I discovered that my horse can be quite centered, he can be extreme right brained, and LEFT BRAINED!!! He can be all different kinds of brained!!!

Today, my horse was bored with me and I had to get more engaging with my figure 8s and weaves as we prepare for liberty! Tomorrow, who knows what the case will be. He could show up as one thing and turn into something else. Something new I learned was that for horses, there are 4 moments in one second! Imagine how much changing they do all the time! So, the lesson I learned was to truly address the horse that shows up, understand them in that moment and address their needs, and then use the strategies I have learned to get him engaged. It is all about balance - keep them engaged and trusting without blowing them up. With Kucha's big white expressive face it is clear to me when he is bored, when he is interested (I love when he looks at me with both those ears and o man, what a face!!!), when he is unconfident. He is the best teacher I could ask for, showing me something new every day and sticking with me to help me become a great horseman!

Here are some pics from the ranch! Sorry it took so long to put them up!

My Best friend

They say it is easy to be critical and tough on those that are closest to us. That rings true in our day to day lives in our human relationships - and it has also proven to be true in my horse relationship.

Once again, the power of simulations has showed me that my energy, even when my body is in a neutral position, is up and full of emotion. I have been so aware of that this entire week and I have been nothing but upset with myself for it. After receiving feedback from a simulation, I had to smile, say "thank you," and let the tears fly. I came to realize that I needed to accept that my energy is high, I need to own my emotions. When I thought that the other day was a big day of emotions and feeling low, today got lower.

Focus stations filled the afternoon and the RBI in me wanted to sit out of the stations and separate myself from Kucha until I could get more emotionally fit. But something in Kucha's eyes and in my heart felt that we should go play. And then, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I have been nothing but critical, judgmental, and harsh on my best friend. Just because he feels the need to move his feet a bit more than other horses, has a few RB tendencies, doesn't mean that I had the right to judge him for it. In other words, my ego that was so concerned with having a horse that wanted to be with me got a huge smackdown. This afternoon, I smiled at Kucha and I understood him. I understood him when he wanted to move his feet a little instead of standing still to eat. I understood that just because he wasn't arched on the circle didn't mean that he wasn't focused on me. He had an ear on me the entire time and was more than willing to come in when asked. And just because he wanted to move his feet a little didn't mean that I had to amplify his energy and attach my emotions onto it. Just because he can be RBE doesn't mean he needs to be treated as an extreme RBE all the time.

I know this is quite a long post but what it comes down to is that I had the best play session with my best friend this afternoon. Accepting myself and my horse for who we are in the moment allowed me to be an understanding and trusting leader for him. And the expression on that big white face of his said it all. It was as if he had been waiting for me to see him for who he is for so long. He is my greatest teacher and I can't thank him enough for hanging in there with me.