BRIEF UPDATE
Had a training session with Mona a week ago; today, I played with my own horse for a change. The barn manager was at work, there was a new horse in the paddock, and Mona and Kat were out with the herd. I need to find out the new logistics before proceeding this week.

Mona's session last week was interesting. She did the first five games pretty well, but then she got scared during Circling, pulled free, and ran off with the 22' line trailing between her legs. If Cheerios had done that, he'd have ignored the rope. It freaked out Mona. So after she cantered all RBE around the paddock a few times bucking at the rope while I prayed silently for her to sloooooow down, she stopped and froze.

Poor thing was terrified. I felt so bad. But it was let go or I would be a nine-finger today. Every time she shifted, the rope touched her legs, and she freaked. It took two bolt and runs before she settled down and let me collect the rope from her legs. The funny thing was, once I had it in my hands, she relaxed.

From there, of course, the plan changed.

Instead of teaching the last three games, the new plan was "desensitize her to the rope" aka LOTS of Friendly Game. I taught her to give to the pressure on her front legs. The rears weren't happening. She kicked out when the rope barely touched her. Probably not in the right mindset at that moment. At first she panicked when she felt the rope, and tried to bolt, but I disengaged her and had her stop.

I know I did the right thing. A bit later, she lost confidence and bolted off with the rope again—but this time, she got about 30 feet away, slammed to a stop, and turned, faced and waited.

WOW.

She needs a lot of work to be less sensitive to that.

Didn't even get to Kat that day.

So today, I focused on my horse, and it was awesome. My feel and timing HAS changed as a result of playing with these other horses. I saddled up and bridled him—first time bridled in ages—and we went out and played a little with Finesse, Carrot Stick riding, point-to-point, and OMG HIS SIDEWAYS IS FINALLY KICKING IN.

In fact... I was so excited. I thought as we were trotting along in a nice, collected little jog, I wonder if I can trot him sideways on a diagonal like all those fancy dressage ponies.

I thought it, I did it in my body, and...

So did he.

WOWWWW. I mean, WOW. My roping horse just did a beautiful little whatever it's called!

Level Three, here we come.

MUCH BETTER TODAY
Yesterday went much better than the previous two sessions. Although he gave me the butt when I went to collect him and Shaveya for feet trims, he quickly sighed and allowed me to halter him when he realized I wasn't going away anytime soon.

After trimming, I took him to the round pen for a bit of Liberty. No goals, no agenda—just see what happens. My only "goal" was to be far more polite, watch for his try, reward more, be softer, and if I get what I want, stop there—don't push for more.

The improvements were startling. (More after the jump.)

I played all 7 games with him at Liberty. He is still turning to the right when I yo-yo him back. I tried to remember what I'd viewed on a L2 or Savvy Club DVD (been watching a lot lately) from teaching Sideways—fix each part separately. So, I can't back him up AND correct position. Better to get him into position and ask for the yo-yo. If he starts to angle, stop, reposition, wait. Try again. Did that a few times and it began to click.

The segment I was watching in my head was Linda teaching Sideways Mounted without a fence. Horses will try to go forward, backward, left, right—anything but Sideways. So it's a case of "not there, not there, not there—there" in response to a step forward, a step back, a step turned—sideways.

I used this method all day and my goodness. Success is back. OK, so my problem is sometimes I get distracted by life or my own brain and get too quick, too pushy, too impatient. Got it. Slow down, be more step-by-step, be patient.

Big successes:

• my riding felt better
• he did Sideways Mounted without a fence
• Fig 8's Mounted are better
• transitions are better

I was being more precise in asking for transitions to the point where I wanted to see if he was listening to me or just reacting. I boiled it down to things like walk one step, stop, backup one step, stop, walk three, stop, trot five, stop, back up two. At first he was just on auto-pilot but pretty soon he was waiting to see what I wanted. Cool.

Worked on picking up leads. I practiced at the walk taking away one lead by bending, positioning for the next. Then at the trot. Then just getting the lead—not changing yet. Then when that was working okay, I tried Bowtie at the trot. Just bend to a walk, change direction, resume. That got to be automatic for him so we stopped.

Lots of FTR, a quick Cloverleaf, some random riding and PPL and a lot of sitting and meditating. It was a good day.

FEELIN' A BIT LEVEL THREE
This will be a quick post (I hope) because I want to head out to the barn again. Two days in a row, woot! I've been managing every other day, which is GREAT for my riding and play. My riding is the thing that has needed the most focus.

I dug out my Savvy Club DVD collection for inspiration since September's hadn't shown up yet (their new mailing system, uh...) and found, can you believe it, one that was UNOPENED. The shame! (Well, it was one from my Mom's last few weeks of life, so, it's forgiveable. PNH was the last thing on my mind.) Haven't watched it yet because I have about 15 to rewatch dealing with lead changes and Finesse.

One of them was from Savvy Conference. Linda was demonstrating how to swing the shoulders over along the rail, as prep for lead changes and Finesse. It's kind of a Sideways movement. I watched, paid careful attention, and...

...yesterday, after playing at Liberty in the round pen and doing a little FTR in the hackamore to warm up and make sure he was listening, I put on the bridle for a little Finesse. (I tried to bridle from the saddle, but that was NOT working. To Cheerios' credit, he behaved admirably once the hackamore came off. He didn't take off and he listened to my requests from the savvy string tied around his neck.)

Well, we tried the Shoulders In swing thing.

IT WORKED!

I let him drift from the rail, then I moved my shoulders over and barely guided him with the direct/suspension rein, and OMG HE DID IT. Perfectly. Blow me away. We played with that at the walk, then the trot, then I spied a cone and decided to attempt the next exercise she'd done on the DVD, which is to trot diagonally toward the cone using the Shoulders In to achieve a forward/sideways at the same time feel. I am not a Dressage Rider, so forgive me for not yet knowing what this is called—half pass, maybe?

Anyway... that worked, too! It's like Cheerios has been waiting for ME to catch up to all of the amazing things HE can do, and he's excited to show me.

Oh, and Tuesday?

We jumped.

You read that right. Just a low jump, nothing more than two beams crossed over a pair of barrels on their sides, but it was a jump, it was on purpose, and it felt great.

We seem to be progressing exponentially all of a sudden. I'm feeling like we're in L3 in some spots. So, the time has come. I am headed to the L2 clinic October 10th, then I'm taping my L2 October 15th. I'm sending it in and assessing before 2009 so that I can keep moving forward. It's OK if I begin to assess L3 next year in savvies and find I'm still L2 in some. I'll have my blue string, and we'll be on our way. One string closer to Parelli Professional Time.

OK, I'm off to the barn...

OH—Shaveya is coming to me willingly again. I might play with her a little today.