2008 trip to ISC Florida

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BLOG NOTICEhi everyone -- thanks for joining me on this journey, which, apart from some thoughts I will post when I get home, is now over - with the after journey period about to beginThis blog will be closed down and removed in two weeks -- so that it does not become out of date and yet remain on the webDon't panic though, ANYONE can have a copy of this blog emailed to them. I am having a contact form designed and added to this blog so all you will have to do is fill that out giving me a working email address and you will get your own copy of this blog to have and hold.Please be aware that the intellectual property of this blog belongs to PARELLI NATURAL HOSEMANSHIP, you can respect that by keeping the document for your own private use and not reproducing it or any parts of it for other people.The parts about my experiences is my intellectual property so I would appreciate your respect there as wellok -- off to ask my blog manager to put together a contact form!!thanks for being with me on this journey CJFinal Friday....Just a note on shoulder swings – remember shoulder in was done BEFORE the shoulder swings, and the turning on the haunches with the nose bending AWAY from the bend so the shoulders lead is also a good prerequisite to have...you want to move the shoulders AWAY from the fenceline with the BEND staying TOWARDS the fence...  Hi there – so we woke up today to a damp morning. As it was threatening to rain, we had a remuda for everyone in the classroom. So what did we take away from yesterday?·         Shoulder swings·         “I liked what Linda said about if your horse is unconfident – keep the contact, do sideways on the circle, and lift the reins”·         Serpentines·         The human needs to learn to relax on a concentrated rein too·         When to shift weight and when not to·         Even at Linda’s level of horsemanship she still gets upset, and still keeps reminding herself to put the relationship with her horse first·         Having and following the STEPS – and have the horse’s TIMELINE guide us through the steps·         Counting strides - -pick a number and stick to it – precision = collection·         Using a PATTERN to help horse and human to learn·         Firm enough contact for your horse·         Short reins·         On serpentine on the downward transition, if it doesn’t work or it gets bracy, just continue on the circle until he relaxes Then we headed outside (it was still just about dry) and did conga horse serpentines at the walk to try to get the pattern: curve, straight, downward transition, shoulder swing, change bend and head off on the new curve Observations after this included:·         I really felt the weight shift·         So many ingredients – really appreciate how the horse learns them·         Need good snakey bends!·         Each step is PRINCIPLE – so need to remember 80/20 rule·         I got so focused on my shoulders I forgot to let my hips move·         It was interesting to be the horse – even KNOWING the task it was hard, how hard must it be for our horses?·         I can see now how Duck Landings, Suspension Reins and Snakey Bends are KEY·         Remember the shoulder swing is to move the shoulders out of the way to free up the inside hip We were given two new key cards – one on power/engagement and shaping/balance/collection – and one on lead changes, simple and flying...  Then we reviewed the last two weeks – going through content and re-viewing some of the videos. Then it was certificate time – one student who has been sending videos in received his green string as well as his certificate!! That was good to see - -and a few professionals who were there received additional stars...so that made it a happy time. When it was time for thanks, we all sang a song written by one of the students to the tune off “we’re off to see the wizard” and that went down very well – luckily while we were preparing for the lesson with Linda yesterday everyone else had practiced so it sounded pretty good. This course’s T shirt was lilac with “a step or two” on it – a good reminder. So now all that was left was to wait – it was raining outside, so we would either, if it cleared up, have Pat do a riding demo for us - -or he would come visit with us if it was raining...we weren’t sure what to wish for! While we were waiting to find out, Kristi said we could ask ANY question, as long as it wasn’t about horsemanship, to ANY faculty member in the room – so we did. AT one stage I asked Trevor what his favourite dance was – he replied “Two step”and then people asked for a demo – which was great except he chose ME to demo with and I have never danced in my life!! It was very entertaining because HIS version fo the two step involves at least one spin on every step and most of the time BOTH dancers spinning! Interestingly he was a great leader and I ALMOST kept up and apparently didn’t look too bad. So one day riding with Linda, the next dancing with Trevor – wow, I definitely will have to look for more dreams to put on my list now LOL. Anyhow – Pat arrived and we went appropriately mad as a crowd. Then he sat there and talked to us about a few things, but primarily about how we were so happy because what was in our hearts and our heads was finally matching, and about keeping it natural... He talked, as if it were a conversation for an hour and a half – and it was fascinating. I have not heard him talk like this before – yes, he had his humour, but it was so much from the heart. I would not trade that conversation for all the riding demos in the world By now it was lunchtime – I headed over to the mercantile to pay for my shopping – and as they had 5 ½ inch cradle bits in (at LAST) I bought a cradle bridle that will fit both my riding horses and a C1 bit (my levels horse is mainly RBI when riding and learning new things) At 3pm the 6 week students had their farewell remuda: some discussion about going back to normalsville, but mostly sharing from faculty and students about what the course had meant for them. I feel it would be a huge invasion of privacy to share any of that here – suffice it to say that it was a moving way to end the time here. I shared that I really felt privileged to have had Zap as my partner here and he had taught me so much about feel – I would have far higher expectations for my own horses now, I knew what a phase 1 or 2 should feel like and if I have ot go above that when I am riding I will go back and find how to fix the relationship before I go on...later one of the faculty said he felt Zap and I had made good partners. I said I would not take Zap home with me because I want him here for when I come to boot camp – whenever that might be LOL. At the end we all received a copy of a group photo faculty had taken a while ago, and got to hug and say good bye to the faculty and each other... At 5.30 it was pouring down and the whole place was flooding – so we geared up and went and fetched our lease horses, walking them through the floods to their pasture – where they all hooned off without a single backward glance!! Ah well... Then it was up to the tack room to collect all our gear and come home to an evening of working out how the heck to pack it!! So tomorrow at noon I head off to the airport. Sigh. I will have a think on the journey and post a summary blog here when I get home...thanks for joining me on this journey.  Thundering ThursdayRemuda this morning was with Avery. After logistics and announcements – which included the fact that Katie Drake (Pat’s neice) would be singing live in the lodge tonight at 7, she asked everyone how their trailer loading was going...probably on the faculty’s mind a lot right now. Then she asked what we had observed/learned yesterday:·         Simplicity·         How in the demo the faculty put the horses’ needs ahead of their goals·         Really loved how the horse looked in those bull fighting clips·         One student said she had a different vision in her mind when she played with her horse and his online play was amazing yesterday...·         Avery shared that for her horse, JUMPING became his purpose for finesse, as with the engagement work he COULD jump and it was easier for him...·         I shared my happy day yesterday – which led to some talk about how RBI’s like finesse – they like the handholding that comes with it·         A student shared that she found herself doing a duck landing when she stopped her truck yesterday LOL – oh and she had got a sidepass at trot yesterday when riding...cool·         The same student asked “what is the purpose of all these things – haunches in, shoulder in etc?”
- the real purpose is so we can talk to all of their feet to do whatever we want
- talking to shoulders and HQ helps with, for example, flying lead changes
- to be better at bridleless riding: if we can talk to the feet without reins, we are better prepared
- athleticism, suppleness·         One student shared a concern that when he gets home, his riding partner does not enjoy the time he spends playing with these things when they are our riding together – another student suggested doing what we do with our horses – play my time/your time...he thought that would work·         The question was asked—what is the difference between sideways/sidepass and halfpass? Basically sideways is purely lateral, no forward movement. A sidepass is a bit sideways and a bit forwards – and a half pass just means the horse is bent in the direction of travel, which is hard for him so is a sign of his athleticism and balance Then we did a conga horse where we took turns being the middle person doing shoulder in and haunches out – and the people playing the horse had to be honest with their movements – doing then as they felt the rider move. When I was the back end, my rider moved his hips when he asked for shoulder in – so I swung out. He asked “why did you do that?” so I told him his hips had moved and he said “well, you shouldn’t have moved...” LOL guess some people don’t really get conga horses LOLWhat did people get from the conga horse?·         If you are on your balance point it works – if not it all cascades downhill·         Subtleties of feel·         Stop and observe what is happening vs correct if it goes wrong...·         If my eyes are closed I have more feel – someone else said that having a long focus helps·         Just DO IT and then reflect vs over think it before you try it We met in the classroom at ten – where Kristi said she would talk us through the steps to flying lead changes, then show us a video of Linda doing a demo – then we would be looking for volunteers to do a flying lead change demo WITH Linda....I felt excitement and anxiety together...this is the last chance to be in a demo at all, and what a cool one to be in...just a few weeks ago I had a dream about riding in a demo with Linda and now it could happen – cool. So the steps? Well those of you who have seen the lead changes DVD in the Success series will be up to date with the new “Lead change Ladder”... Now first, what has to be in place before we even think about going to flying lead changes? EVERYTHING we have done up to now!!·         Impulsion·         Fluidity·         Rounded back·         More engaged frame·         Snakey bends We need confidence, relaxation and fluidity – because this is the dance 1.       TRANSITIONS – CANTER/WALK
The old way of doing FLC’s we would push the horse sideways, change, then push the horse sideways and so on – in other words we were using a HQ yield to get the change. Now this works BUT it allows the horse to get weight on the FOREHAND
Canter walk transitions will get the weight on the hind end, with forward momentum.
two elements here:
- Suspension rein: being able to pick up both leads equally. Once you can do canter/walk transitions, you can go on to:
- Counting the strides: your horse can count so can use this to set up a pattern. 7 strides is a good number to start with – for a short horse you might use more, for a long horse you might use fewer but you WILL pick a number and stick to it – “precision brings collection” – a Linda Parelli quote. 2.       SWING THE SHOULDERS
This keeps the weight on the hind quarters – we used to swing the HQ which put the weight on the FQ, so now we free up the shoulders. So we ride along the fence line, allow the shoulders to come off the track, and then push them back on. We as riders keep our weight on our OUTSIDE hip (so we don’t get the lead change, we just move the shoulders). We want to be able to move the shoulders freely and keep the same lead, and keep the hind end on the track so best place is to use a rail for feedback. 3.       ESTABLISH A SERPENTINE PATTERN
Kristi demo’d canter on right lead around a half circle, during the straight part do a duck landing and suspension rein to walk, swing the shoulders over to open up the hip, change the bend (and change your weight) – then off on the other lead...be particular about your serpentine... 4.       FLYING LEAD CHANGES
simply take out the downward transition on the serpentine. If you have set it up right, with the serpentine as a pattern with specific number of strides, your horse will OFFER you the flying lead change. When you take out the downward transition, you simply do the swing shoulders and change bend in one smooth fluid movement  When you start your serpentine might be quite large loops – once the pattern is established you can refine this – until you can do them on close to a straight line. We watched a video of Linda doing the lead change ladder demo to a six week course in Colorado – very interesting. Then it was break time – and about ten of us headed over to volunteer ourselves – and Kristi said how they would do it is that we would ALL saddle up and head out – Linda would take us through the lead change ladder and it was up to US to take ourselves out of the lesson when we felt it was going beyond where we or our horses are today. Well that took a LOT of pressure off – being one of ten people was far easier than being one of two LOL – no doubt that is why they set it up this way. We all headed up to our horses – Nienke and I made a pact, holding up our hands and giving ourselves permission to be exactly where we were today – that helped. I tried to follow the usual routine with Zap, who was delighted to see me before lunch: I brushed him, saddled him, went to the 100 ft round pen to do the walk, trot canter and jump prereqs, hop on and do safety checks and do the usual transitions at freestyle, fluid rein and check out the suspension rein stuff. Barbara was there taking photos which was good to know... Then I came out of the round pen and headed across the bridge – some of you might realise that this is the exact routine I have had for the past few days, and it really helped with the nerves! Now just as a note to anyone riding in a demo – whether with faculty or Linda – just ASSUME that your riding ability will drop by at least two notches LOL I think that happens to everyone... Out there Linda came and chatted to us: she reminded us that it was our responsibility to take ourselves out when we needed to. She said that she would ask us to do canter walk transitions, then take a break, then do counting strides – then for the singing the shoulder she would lead us through that, then if any of us were still in the session, she would walk us through the serpentine too...well, that sounded like enough support for us, so we all headed off to practice canter/walk transitions and, if they went well, to start counting strides. I can now officially inform you that I learned that my fluidity goes back at least two steps when I am in a lesson LOL. Actually it was interesting, Zap would canter – then walk for about a stride – then want to trot...so I kept him on a couple of circles around some trees and it went better. After a period of time I finally worked out that I needed to be a LOT more fluid on the depart AND the downward transition and smoother with the suspension rein – duh (I never said I was a quick learner LOL). Zap found my contact inconsistent, I was either not clear enough or pulling a bit, sigh. When we got to counting strides, I found that sitting back, slightly lifting the inside rein got us a lovely soft instant canter depart – how cool – and that we COULD get the 7 strides quite consistently at canter...it was just the walk that Zap wasn’t happy with LOL. Anyhow with my adjustments to my fluidity and smoothness we got better – and I thought good enough to at least do the next step – although I had a feeling that the next step (swinging the shoulders) would be about as far as we would get... and that was ok. That was the step I found hardest to follow when I watched the DVD so I was keen to do this bit. One horse was lifting his head on the concentrated rein so Linda asked the person to circle her, and when the horse lifted his head – to lift her hands – and if he lowered his head, she would lower her hands ... very interesting. Our tendency is often to RELEASE the reins when our horse lifts his head – what are we teaching? We need to be able to teach our horse to find relaxation IN the concentrated rein, not by dropping it.... A couple of people whose horses found impulsion difficult, or the contact difficult – chose not to continue. Linda had helped then with circling and using sideways to relax their horses... Linda called us over and asked each of us in turn to comment on the process so far: there were a mix of comments from impulsion, contact, -- I shared that I felt my fluidity really needed to be better... Then she demo’d the swing the shoulders movement. Then she showed an isolation: do a FQ yield but make sure the SHOULDER is leading – the horse’s nose is bent AWAY from the direction of movement...we played with this a bit then she sent us off down the fenceline doing the shoulders away from the fence, then back to the fence – I was in front...it was hard to get the shoulders off the fence without moving the HQ off the track – moving the shoulders BACK was easy LOL – it got easier – we went all the way down the fenceline then waited and came back along the fenceline. Amazingly it got easier with time. As we headed down there again, Linda rode along to help us: she said to me to lift my hands (they were down by his withers) to help him relax...this was hard, but well worth doing this exercise as now I feel I have – the feel of it... We tried jogging/trotting – on the way back along the fenceline back towards the audience, Zap got worried (he was at the back) and his head came RIGHT up, so I lifted my hands and when he came back down, I relaxed and we just walked along, long and low – I thought this would be a good exit point for us. So when Linda asked who was ready to try it at the canter – I said I was out – she commented “savvy decision, CJ” so I headed over to the shade where almost half the group was by now and hopped off Zap. I clipped his 22 ft line on so he could graze. Thinking about it, this was the most “work” Zap has done in a riding session in the whole 6 weeks so far, so he had done really well. I wasn’t sure I had ridden as well I have on previous days – but hey, I did as well as I could in that moment out there and heck, I had just ridden with Linda!! As I stood there in the sun, watching Linda and the other riders, I was so happy – how cool was this? I had ridden the first two steps of the lead change ladder with Linda teaching me! Several people were able to do the canter shoulder swing – one person’s horse offered a lead change so Linda talked about our weight on this exercise: we need to KEEP our weight on the outside of the horse, so he knows not to change. When Linda started this exercise with Remmer he would change a lot – and she worked out that she needed to be more balanced in one of her sides if she wanted this to work – so she worked on her body and its evenness and that really helped. Linda rode a serpentine at walk around some cones that were set up...big loops – and asked the remaining riders to WALK the pattern, remembering to swing the shoulders and change the bend appropriately. Then she suggested some try it in trot and walk... In general she was reminding people to downward transition EARLIER, to give more time for the swing the shoulder, change the bend and weight – and then head off on the new bend of the serpentine. Then she suggested some try the canter/walk set: on the first time through, she helped a couple of people with their canters and one person got a lovely collected canter from her horse – so stopped there (she used her body position and a suspension rein to achieve this) Peggy, riding a lovely grey arab, did a great job of demoing the canter bends, downward transition, swing the shoulder, change the bend and off on the other lead! It looked really nice and soft and relaxed... Linda suggested Peggy stop there – and then she showed how you could reduce the serpentine bend to an almost straight line...wow. In the discussions after the demo, Linda talked about her sessions with Walter Zettl which was interesting....sharing her learnings and her frustrations. One of her frustrations was resolved when she realised she was not petting Remmer enough when he WAS doing a good job....hmmmmm When she summarised she commented that most of us could benefit from shortening our reins: our horses NEEDED consistent contact, and a loose rein does not give them that. Just as with the fluid rein, where the drag is surprisingly firm for our horses to respond, if our contact is too light our horse feels dropped and that creates anxiety rather than trust – so to shorten our reins to have clear contact is necessary if we want to ride at this level. Of course, needless to say we are not pulling at all (hmmmm) thanks to our practice with the suspension rein before we get to this stage... She also reminded us that it is important for our horses AND us – to learn to relax while staying on a concentrated rein.... At the end of the demo Linda also shared tomorrow’s surprise: Pat will be doing a demo for us...excellent! So we had lunch -- where Barbara let me download all her course photos from her camera – so the final version of this blog will have some pretty cool pics in it... Coco was out to take pics for the 6 weekers (we had been hit by rain a fair bit on the fluidity one course which cut into our photo time) – so I headed over with Zap tacked up and rode a bit – then headed over to the honeycomb to practice some liberty so she could get some photos of his enthusiastic stick to me game. Just as we were getting that going (and yes he DOES still gallop to me!) thunder and lightning started and the faculty rounded us all up and asked us to head in (Orlando, lightning capital of the USA).... So that was it for today, we listened to Katie Drake sing (which was lovely) then headed home, ready for our last day tomorrow...and I finally had a beer and some chocolate! Ten days without either it’s been tough