Day 216

Yesterday we went to the Midwest Horse Fair and it rekindled my interest in Parelli. So we bought two more halters and leadlines and their Hit the Trail DVD (especially interested after last weekend's fiasco with Brie) and set out today to play some of the games we knew.

We went in the outdoor arena because the indoor was pretty occupied. Brie is a pro at the 3/7 games I've taught her so far. I found out today that we never taught Nina the YoYo Game, so my brother spent the time teaching her that. Harry, while he knows the YoYo Game, sucks at the most basic of all -- the Friendly Game! He's just so scared and thinks that when I swing the rope over by him that I want him to longe so he takes off. We really need to work on that before moving on with anything else. It's really opened up my eyes to how much he doesn't know and just to the extent of how scared he is of everything. I didn't think he would be that scared of the end of his lead rope. Although he did think that the carrot stick was amusing, he kept trying to bite it when I would rub it on him or swish that rope around a little bit.

After everyone played the YoYo Game and we finished freezing in the wind outside, we tacked up to ride. My mom wanted to see how Brie would react to her baby Myler bit, but put it under her tongue and I didn't notice for about 15 minutes into my warm up. So I had to fix it. After I fixed it, she was just not listening at all, so I switched back to her bit that she's been using for a while. She never really wanted to calm down and give me a walk, so I had to keep circling her. Then she didn't want to back up straight, so we did that. My mom decided to switch after Harry bucked, but Brie still wasn't behaving.

Brie apparently got a little better while my mom was on her and Harry calmed down while I was on him. He really is doing nicely. We largo'd today and it was fantastic. Just to feel him go with such a difference in speed, the difference we've been working at, without breaking gait was a great feeling. I can't wait to show him next month! So starting next week we begin preparing for the Midwest Classic. I think that next weekend is our last full weekend of practice before the show, because the week after that the farrier comes out one day and the week after that the vet comes out and by then it's the show the following weekend! I can't wait. I hope we do well.

Also, when we bought the DVD and halters, we signed up for ParelliConnect! I'm using it under my mom's name and will definitely be exploring it during boring parts of class my free time =]

Day 140

I didn't go out yesterday because we went to the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison! Talk about a change of weather -- while it was 80 last week, it was snowing yesterday! It was really fun, I'd never been there before and there were DOZENS of vendors! But the time we got through with most of them, all the horses were done with and you had to pay extra to stay and watch the night shows. So we left. But not without getting free tickets to the Dancing Horse Stable! Looking forward to that!

As usual, started Harry off getting him into the trailer. He was a punk today and did a pretty large, unacceptable rear while my mom was trying to get him into the trailer. I tried with him first and he was just not having it, so after his stunt with my mom, she put on her "If you don't get in this trailer right now, we're selling you" face and he went in like a lamb. I figure that by our first show next month he'll have no problem...hopefully.

I got to ride all three of them today! I started off with Brie. She was kind of skipping with her back legs which had me worried so I didn't do much except walk her and get a little bit of corto, definitely no canter, especially since we weren't out yesterday. She was limping more when I switched with my brother to ride Nina, so we ended up putting her away with some lineament. Now we know why she was limping though -- she was kicking her stall all night! Naughty girl.

Nina just trotted along and I got yelled at by my brother for posting instead of sitting the trot. "Don't post! She might get the idea that she's not supposed to gait!" So I enjoyed quite the bumpy ride.

Then I got to work with Harry. I was a bit disappointed with him today, as my mom had been having awesome rides with him the past two weeks (and I didn't take the opportunity...grrr), and he was just so-so today. Also, probably because we weren't out yesterday. But overall he's a huge improvement. He doesn't really tap dance anymore or any of the bad things he used to do. He's calming down quite nicely and only got antsy when Ray passed him on the horse he was working. I hope that within a month we can get his gait to tighten and for him to calm down even more, then we'll definitely do well at shows with him!