2014 5 20 Marie, Try and Sephira
Sephira
·
Catching game: straight lines
·
Friendly briefly
·
Porcupine especially backup from chest and
nose—softening
·
Yoyo: back up from phases quit on a lower phase
·
Lead her is she soft on lead and staying with me
o
Use HQ yield to keep her with me, try to lose
her
Recommendations: dwell time, DO NOT pull on the rope
(reins), short work time periods, only use rope to teach, thumb in my pocket
Try
·
New circling game from belly, lateral stick
swing
·
Game is will she keep the connection to 180
degrees on the circle? Then turn with her in neutral in my body
·
Find my focus game—is there a way to bridge to
what we already know or better to let her figure it out from “scratch”?
·
HQ on the circle—cue with stick whatever is
lagging
·
Riding
o
HQ yields
o
HQ on the circle
o
Focus game
o
Back up: maintain gait—my teaching assumption
o
Use lift one rein as prep for two reins
§
With connection soft feel—do not pull, not loose
General
Phasing: begins at phase one with energy, intention and
visualization and we are on a path to learn that that is an effective phase.
(hair, skin, muscle, bone for porcupine) Influenced by Parelli, BMe, new book
Alchemy of Lightness (recommended by Kathy) and past pursuits toward spiritual
growth, relaxation, control of my energy levels and a sorta “oneness with the
universe” idea. Journey toward lightness and connection.
Using ropes: time to move beyond ropes! Lead rope: Thumb in
my pocket. Unconsciously not only using rope but even pulling on rope rather
than maintaining a soft connection on rope like using reins.
Porcupine game is an underutilized game and particularly
important for riding for obvious reasons! All zones—goal is softness and
lightness—release comes when the horse offers the lighter response. This game
should be supported with the driving game if needed to be effective.
Driving game: phases—visualize, energy up, facial expression
and then body language. Check for unconscious noise with the stick and string.
I feel with Sephira we are learning so go slowly through the phases. With Try
we are refining so again slowly through the phases. I truly do not like
touching her with the stick and that is something I like about what I have seen
of MMJ approach thus far.
HQ yield: It isn’t a HQ yield without a lovely big step crossing
in front. I like the phases Paula described: intention etc, look at HQ, tap
ground, tap air and tap horse. Carrot stick 180 degrees from the horse.
Horse invading our bubble/space—how do we define this? When
there is a lack of permission for the horse—depends on how I view my bubble at
the moment. Sometimes I have a big bubble sometimes a small bubble or one with
permeable sides—the horse’s job to know when she is welcome just like my job is
to read the horse and know when I am invading her bubble without permission.
Can I read the dimensions of my horse’s bubble?
Circling
1.
It’s all about the connection rather than
mindless lunging which MEANS we do not continue on when the connection is lost.
2.
I had trouble remembering beyond the first step
of this so here are Paula’s notes:
a.
Circling:
first establish “where is his mind”.
If not engaged to me, then disengage hindquarters (hide your
hiney). Horse’s responses to circling
game should be: maintain gait; 2)
maintain direction; 3) look where you are going; 4) be checked in with
human. Step one is send from belly
button – chi. Lead with belly button,
stick is 180 degrees away from horse and resting on ground, next phase is lift
carrot stick, next is swing carrot stick, next is tag. When it is good, withdraw and draw horse to
you to reward. If horse’s mind doesn’t stay with you, then yield the HQ and
start over. Don’t allow “checking out”
on the circle. When you get a “try”, then
withdraw. Need to have one wave of energy when sending – lead, belly button, lift
swing, tag. Draw back when horse is
checked in and forward. Don’t
continually send the horse, as it then becomes a nag. Be sure to allow. Get
the thought of ALLOW in your brain, not send.
If horse gives you a cocked
ear or one eye, take that as a try.
3.
Investing vs spending time with my horses: again
from Paula’s notes:
a.
Remember to INVEST time with your horse with
your sessions. Use short sessions
(especially with left brained horses).
Don’t drill. Have a plan. Horse needs to be connected mentally the
whole time. SPENDING time with horse is
different – that is completely undemanding time – sit in stall with them, let
them come to you, etc. Don’t ask
anything of them. But, when session is
on, they should be engaged with us – not checked out. They need to be connected mentally.
b.
I find this idea limiting. I think Try and I
enjoy being together somewhere in between these two—obviously I would like to
see three states with an intermediate one of very loose goals and commitment to
them, taking Try’s idea and using it maybe expanding on it, praising and just
loving being together. Does not matter if anything gets accomplished but it is
not dwell time either. I think this is something we need in our relationship.
Yes we need being specific and learning for the mental stimulation and sense of
accomplishment for us both. Yes we need hanging out time in her pasture,
walking around, riding about, passenger etc where Try makes a lot of the
decisions and choices.
Try Under
Saddle—thanks Paula:
·
Lift the inside rein to ask for softness, then
forward. Want Try always thinking
forward. Want the stepping under with
the inside hind to come off of leg, not the stick. Want Try to think to the inside. After she reaches under, then come forward
energetically. Note that porcupine
issues always show up under saddle. Try
must understand flexion – soften nose, then slowly slip your one hand down,
then slip the other hand down. One at a
time keeps the horse from being claustrophobic.
Good preparation for riding with
two reins with connection or contact is bending with one rein of soft
connection.
·
Lifting the reins should mean “softness” to the
horse. Start with first one side, then
the other. Should just “drip” in to
finesse stage, not abruptly picking up contact.
When she becomes soft, give a release immediately. If her mind goes off
the circle, open the inside “door” -iInside leg goes on and back.
·
Back Up.
Lift reins. Head should be
relaxed down, then add leg, think back and remember that she should maintain
gait – i.e., if you want 10 steps instead of 4 she should do it. If head comes up, maintain gait until she
drops her head, then release to reward.
Being particular
about sequence is important.
FEELING is more
important than thinking.
More from Paula:
Thanks Elizabeth!! Your notes helped me,
too. Re the part on being "in session" or "just hanging
out", I absolutely see where you are coming from and appreciated the
comment about not making them a slave during your lesson. I got a kick
out of Try - I think that Marie offended her a bit - ha! She is such a
character!! What a horse! Did she ever do that with Dan? (Yes Paula, she is really great at communicating when she doesn't like something--with anyone!) I
remember Dan telling me that "the game is always on when we are with our
horses." My thoughts on that: they are ALWAYS aware of our
body language and that we, as their leaders, are always teaching them in all
our interactions, so therefore, we need to be particular and careful.
Perhaps it's like parents and their children - we were always aware of our
parents' thoughts and behaviors, even when we weren't particularly paying
attention to them. That may sound crazy, but just is sort of my take on
the interactions with our horses.
Licking and chewing on this:
1.
Admiring Paula’s specificity vs my seeking
global feelings of “one-ness” whereby I teach Try to assume. Are Try and I
hanging out and doing Parelli tasks in a stream of consciousness way for our
own pleasure and sense of togetherness shifting leadership from one to the
other—or are we making a confused mess? It feels good that has to mean
something! On the other hand, Dan, Dawn and Marie (Pat) have all said when I
get to the barn it should be all about feeling and think/plan at home. How can
we be particular and careful and free, uninhibited, feeling and in the moment
all at the same time?
2.
I have been using ground/liberty play to balance
riding sessions. I feel Try and I pursuing finesse or dressage learning is not
in her LBI nature and being pushed and drilled toward a human’s performance
goals is something she dreads at all cost. Thus playing around at liberty games
whereby Try can feel smart and accomplished is great. For much of our time
together over the years liberty has been a relatively undemanding,
fill-yer-bucket kind of thing. Sharing, partners, being together. So liberty as
a buffer to other pressures.
3.
With riding we are on a really good path thanks
to much help—especially Kathy and one great session with Joey Barley. We are
feeling a very happy forward relaxed trot—Try has this great yeehaw joy about
it. Also when I comb the reins or otherwise ask/allow Try to stretch down (she
loves it) she will come up through her topline--especially if I ask by using my
core similarly—match and mirror. In addition, I have just started peppering in
very soft feel/connection and she is good with it.
4.
Also now that Sephira is here—she can be my main
teacher for dressage/finesse/physical development of the horse. (After 10 years
of Parelli with my over-riding goal being horse psychology and understanding
Try, it seems time to understand the physical rather than rely on a trainer to
teach me.) So with Sephira, perhaps I can shift focus with Try to keep the
physical development going and be creative about it.
5.
A #1 focus with riding Try, Devon and Sephira is
and has been lightness of cueing. Both Try and Devon enjoy and respond to
seat/weight, focus and to some extent intention in cueing. For Sephira this is
not in her repertoire as yet but I am sure she will love it!
6.
So how to teach/learn? Paula mentioned the slave
issue. I can think of two “natural” horsemen who insist on an intense
focus/connection from their horse every second of the many hours they spend
together. This frankly creeps me out! Reminds me waaay too much of one dance
choreographer I worked with for years! Paula asked about Dan and Try and I—I saw
a gradual shift in focus the last year or so. I kept saying Try is 22 years old—doesn’t
she deserve some sort of semi-retirement of pressure?? (Try really liked Dan
but didn’t like the extreme pressure to solve puzzles though she learned and
grew from each.) I felt a shift toward my letting go—being freer, improvisational,
exploring match and mirror energies for the pure joy of it encouraged by Dan.
Also more sharing of leadership between Try and I happening though I don’t know
if that was intentional. Dan helped me to see how complicated Try is. I love
that she always communicates how she feels about things even if that is
negative. She is better with pressure from humans but in the past this was
severe. Try can be relaxed to the point of melting, soft and loving. She can be
evil and full of powerful RBE energy—which is generally just totally fun for
me. Kathy said she met Try as a ?five year old—she had been asked to help as
Try at that time had two gaits—halt and frantic.
7.
So TASK: what is the purpose? No task without
purpose. To me teaching a task a justifiable purpose can be increasing our
connection, learning greater lightness and fun/joy in the moment. There is no
longer any task for task sake or passing off a level. Been there done that.
With liberty level 3—something that had been recreation for us—I drilled/pushed
it to the point that Try bit me.
8.
Connection: This sounds sorta woo-woo but we are
always connected. Try knows when I am on the farm. I know whats up with Try
when I am riding Sephira. This relates to what Paula said in the first
paragraph about children being aware of parents. That everything I do means
something to Try and Sephira—that I am always teaching them (and they are very
much always teaching me!! Try has shaped me with BMe from day one!!) The
challenge is to be more aware of the process between us to be creating good
habits. Hmm would be interesting to go back to all the info on habits from Dan.
Anyway even when we are seemingly not connected there is an underlying
connection between Try and I after our decade or so together—the intensity
varies with the situation and I am cool with that.
9.
Try and Sephira already share a connection as
they are in adjoining pastures. As Sephira and I get to know each other more,
it could be ultra-cool to play with both together—need to know that they can be
together without me first tho. LOL
