Snow+rain+some more snow+f-f-f-freeeezing cold....

= very moody horses and a very unmotivated owner!

We did get a nice day though, on sunday :D I played lots online with general and we had fun, i havent been working on anything in particular just messing, i really really want to get back into riding him now and seeing how we get on. He started all his neck snaking, head between knees game again sunday night, gahhh, so i need to take a step back and go even slower. Its times like these i wish he was an introvert!! its bloomin impossible to go this slow with a LBE and not get 'those looks' :/

anyway. we'll just keep trying!! Another woman at the yard, Pam, has got all her dvds on order, and her equipment came last week. she cant wait to get started with her RBE Robbie, I cant either! cant wait to have another savvy friend so close :)

Still awaiting my savvy times, i need it :(

I'm sad to say me and holly are no longer 'partners' as such, my mum has taken her on full time, she doesnt do parelli but it was getting too confusing for holly to be doing parelli with me and not for mum. So I decided the best option was to give her up and let mum do everything with her. They get on really well, and have a great relationship, mum's always 'clicked' better with holly than i have. So wish them luck!! i have a feeling, once i get a job and start helping out money and time wise, mum might get into parelli. I hope so!!

Other exciting news.. might be getting a new horse in the summer :D Its not set in stone but its an idea floating around. I'll have my own job by then and should theoretically be able to afford another, the plan is to get a baby or a rescue and start from the beginning :) We'll see what happens!!

off for now, please pray for some better weather round here :/

savvy smiles x

Play session, rode general (!!), savvy club DVD and new recruits!

I had a great morning, played with general online for a bit then i took the halter off and put the 22ft line round his neck (where savvy string goes) and played like that. ive never done it before so i didnt know how well he'd respond but i'm so glad i did! he spent a few minutes in utter confusion, he couldnt understand why he had no halter on yet i was somehow still attached to him lol! but soon he started to really get it and i played all seven games and some lateral flexion too :) he responded really well to having the pressure on his neck rather than his head, so hopefully (maybe) might be able to ride him in just the savvy string this year :D its a step in the right direction!!

I also got on him today too! First time in 3 months! he was really, really good :) i was only on for a couple of minutes but i didnt want to over do it. I'm going to ride again tomorrow, he's such a star!!!

I've been doing lots of parelli studying recently, i've re watched my horsenality dvd from success series (definitely one of my favourites!) and got some more ideas about the horses. I also watched my level 2 online dvd again, and some savvy club dvds :) i really like the newest one with DR Miller, he's got some great philosiphies and very interesting to listen to! i loved his talk on his experiences with pat too!

Savvy times has been shipped!!! cant wait!!!

I've got 2 new people into parelli, one lady is really keen and she's ordered all her stuff and joined the SC, cat wait for them all to get started, i wont be a loner anymore!!! We're hoping to have 1* instructor Stacy Atkins out in the spring to get them started and give me a lesson with general :) cant wait!

anyway, off for now, hope everyone is coping with the horrible winter!!

savvy smiles x

Hello!!

Havent posted in a while so thought i ought to :)

General was supposed to have his back checked on friday but the woman got kicked by a horse earlier in the day so she was out of action!! keep her in your prayers!! she's hoping to be ok for this friday, i hope so because i really want to start riding my boy again!

Playing has been limited, its been so rainy and cold i just cant get the motivation. when i do, its so muddy and slippery that i cant keep general's mind active and he gets bored, and holly is NOT a fan of playing in mud (who is?). I've had a couple of short sessions but its very difficult. I really hope spring is going to show its face soon!

I have however been trying to teach general something. I've practiced mainly in the stable where its warm and dry haha. i want to get him to bow when i tap his leg with the carrot stick, i have to say its not going exactly to plan...
So he will bow if i lift his leg and lean backwards. He will stay there long enough for me to get on and then he'll stand up. So thats really cool! I'd like to get him to do it when i tap so i can try when i'm on board. he WILL lift his leg when i tap... sometimes. other times he just stands there staring into space as i tap his leg over and over, then finally lift it myself. The other day, i was chatting to someone at the yard, i accidently knocked (and i mean such a light touch, i hardly felt it) his lower leg with my heel. and he lifts his leg. honestly, he is too clever for me and CONSTANTLY outsmarting me!!!

anyway, I'm off for now, got school :(

savvy smiles x

Undemanding time.

I've been doing lots of it :D I played with General on saturday and i was sitting on the fence getting him to come sideways to me for mounting, then played the 7 games while up there (my chance to be lazy!) then he came to me, put his head in my lap and fell asleep :) it was so sweet. we sat there for about 20 minutes, just sharing a moment, having a cuddle and realising how little of this we do. So after that I made a plan to spend more quality time with him. So everyday after school i've been just giving him cuddles, sitting in his stable while he eats, chatting to him, grooming for longer etc etc. I've seen some good results, he's been really calm the past couple of days :) We had the farrier to do his shoes yesterday and he was such a good boy, didn't fidget once. I'm so grateful that we have such a nice farrier though, he's very quiet with them :)

Played with Holly on saturday too and focused on her spanish walk, its getting there, just looks really messy at the moment! I had a BFO sideways game related, we've always had trouble with it. I was in front of her and thought about moving her hind quarters, so suggested with the stick and she moved. then i thought hmm, how about the front, so i drove the front end. she moved. slowly but very surely, we ended up with a few steps of sideways :) :) why didnt i think of breaking it down like that before??? *slaps head and says DOH!* haha.

Hopefully i will get some more undemanding time with them this week. Not long now til i can ride my boy again!! Yahoooo!!!

savvy smiles x

LBE's are FUN...

So general's been doing his stretches and all his new exercises, they've been going pretty well. He's so clever, his carrot stretches are so simple to him and he does it with hardly any help from me :) i'm making it into a trick, so I say left.. he stretches left, i say right, he stretches right, up, down, twist etc etc. he stretched to the left when i said it last night :) woohoo!
One of his new exercises is to lift his left legs up as high as he can. She recomended raised poles, but they are WAAAY to boring for him and after doing them once or twice he just demolishes them... lol! so I tried putting travel boots on his left legs, as last time he had them on he was hopping about and definitely raising his legs high! so i put them on.. guess what... he walked normally. no problem at all. didnt lift up high, just walked as if they weren't there. clever horse??? i'm sure i heard him laugh at me...

So at the moment I'm having to just pick his feet up and stretch them, its not ideal as he's supposed to do it for 10-15 minutes and by about 3 minutes my back aches and he's fed up. any ideas?

Haven't had much playtime as the weather has been awful... again... I need to move somewhere nicer :D I had a play on sunday morning, general was mega right brained though and leaping off the walls, i got very worn out brining my energy up but we got there in the end and he was very nice to play with. we just practiced maintaining gait on the circle, weave, figure 8 and sideways (which, may I say, was the BEST i've ever seen him do! Really straight without a fence and concentrating real hard! love him!!)

Gotta love those mischevious, playful, but so so lovely LBE's :D :D

Tonight I'm off to a parelli social meeting :) can't wait to meet loads of other like minded people and get some ideas!!!

savvy smiles x

Happy :)

We had the back specialist back early, because we thought general seemed much better and we wanted to know! so she came out today and checked him over....... MUCH BETTER!!! she said he's way better than she expected, his pelvis is fine now and his muscles are much looser, he's having a few problems on his left side though so he's got some more excersises to do. he has do do 15 minutes of raised poles a day now, so to stop him getting fed up and finding his own fun (darn those LBE's!), I'm going to have to find an interesting way of doing it. i'll probably incorperate the seven games into it as much as I can.

so i'm really pleased :) she's coming back in 3 weeks and she says i might be able to start riding him again by then :)

savvy smiles x

Sorry for neglecting you, I have lots of things to report

I know I havent been posting much over the christmas period, I've been so busy I havent had a minute!!

Firstly then. I spoke before about general bucking etc, and I was going to have him checked. well we had the back specialist out and she found out some interesting things. He appears to have a rotated pelvis, which is the reason behind his odd behaviour :( He also has terribly tight muscles which are becoming uncomfortable for him and also why he's been more tense recently. I feel terrible now!! However I know how forgiving horses are and I hope he can forgive me for misunderstanding his problem. Now I'm understanding how he feels, he is on a 'rehab' programme. He can't be ridden for at least 6 weeks (well, theres 4 weeks left now) and he has to do lots of stretches and exercises everyday to loosen him up, and the lady fiddled around with him to get his pelvis straight again, she's coming back in four weeks to check him again. Hopefully he will start to get better now. I can play with him on the ground gently and take him for walks, so thats ok :) I've found myself spending more undemanding time and friendly game with him, so maybe this will improve our relationship too :) I've been spending more time with holly too which is good. More on her later.
So I've been taking general for walks as often as I can, but being a LBE he just wants to RUN!! but he's not allowed :( I've been protecting my space and playing the seven games when i take him though, which keeps him thinking and in the end he decides its a cool idea to walk next to me.

Holly is doing really well, her games are getting good but we're still struggling on sideways, she will do a couple of steps but I dont think she understands it yet. We will keep trying!! Her spanish walk is going well, she'll do a couple of steps of it now walking with me, only if I have a good supply of treats mind you ;) I've been playing with the online patterns too, she's great at touch it, figure 8 and weave at walk, we're practicing trot but sometimes she gets a bit ahead of herself and forgets to go through the cones hehe. We have played with simple lead changes too and she is good at that! She was also brilliant at the falling leaf pattern... YEAH! I think the patterns are better suited to her than the levels! she is enjoying doing it.

So yeah! interesting few weeks. I hope everyone had a great christmas and new year, stick to those resolutions ;) I dont have many this year, just to be as good as I can be for my horses.

savvy smiles x