Thanksgiving Day!

Hi! Well, on Thanksgiving I went out and played with Brizzee! My mom was done cooking, and my Uncle & Aunt were outside, looking at the horses. While they were looking at all the other horses, and my mom talked to them, I got Brizzee's halter, the Carrot Stick, and started to play with her. Boy, she is not the horses she used to be! We played the Circling Game#5, she did very well. She walked, trotted, changed direction, etc. Then, we played the Sideways Game#6. Storm, our Arabian, was on the otherside of Brizzee, the side that I wanted her to go sideways. I was going to do something else, but decided to go ahead and try it. She did it! She went sideways, and guess what else? Storm was going sideways too...until Brizzee laid her ears back and nipped at her. But Brizzee kept going Sideways, so I was excited!

Then, we played Stick to me!! I stood in zone 2, with the carrot stick in my left hand. I was walking, she walked beside me. I then ran, and she trotted with me. I stopped, and she stopped. Then I backed up, and I was in her zone five (in fact, I was looking at the back of her legs), wiggling the rope (Yo Yo Game #4.). She backed up...STRAIGHT!! I was really excited!

Then, I went into the round pen, took off her halter and lead rope. My Uncle & Aunt sat on the fence, watching me. Brizzee left me at first, and sniffed things. I then went to the center of the round pen, pionted, and then she started walking! Usually in the round pen, when I start playing the Circling Game, she goes Right Brain Extrovert, and starts to Canter, and won't listen, until after a few minutes, but she was really calm this time. She went around, trotted, changed direction, and then came into me.

I then sat down, and tried to send her off...hahaha. She wouldn't leave me. She just kept getting closer and closer to me. At one piont, I thought she was going to my backs with her hoofs, she was that close. I leaned back just a little, and could lean against her legs! She had her head over me. I kept trying to send her away, but she just kept finding a way to get close to me again. She was nervous, because of the two people sitting on the fence, and she wanted to stay close to me...at least that is what I think. It used to be that she didn't want ANYTHING to do with me, so I was really excited.

Finally, I stood up, backed her up, pionted, and sent her. She finally went. I then sat back down, and she did everything I asked. When I asked her to change direction, it took a few minutes. I kept pionting, and finally, I kept flicking the Savvy String in front of her. She finally turned around, and started licking. She was just a little confused. I think glared at Zone 3/4, and she came right in to me! I then picked up both of her front feet from on side, and slowly stood up. I then walked around the round pen, and she was really close to me, her head over my shoulder!

My uncle & Aunt thought that was really cool. I decided to end it on a good note, and turned her loose. At the end of the day, I thought back to the way she wouldn't leave me, and I remembered what Pat always says: "After you take the halter off, the only thing left is the truth!" So that means that she WANTED to be with me!! That gives me a really good feeling inside! That night I printed out the Level 1 "Official Assessment". I then asked my mom the serious of questions, and I am Level 1 in everything...almost. I'm not in Freestyle yet (riding), but I'll start doing that soon. The only thing I need to work on on the ground is:
Getting her to jump.
Go sideways,
And when I play the Driving Game to move her hindquarters, she moves her front end a lot more then she does her hindquarters. I wasn't even aware of it until my mom mentioned it to me. So, we need to work on that stuff, and then riding. And then, I'm hoping to "officially" pass Level 1 and get my Red String!! Let's, I think it is red!!

Well, that's it for tonight!

Savvy On,
~Randa~ & ~Brizzee~

"May The Horse Be With You." - - Pat Parelli

Arena Play Day!

Hi Everybody! I am so sorry that I haven't posted on here for a very long time. My mom was at the hospital last week. She has H. Pylori, which is some kind of infection in your stomach. And then after she was back home, I came down with the cold, so I haven't done anything with Brizzee after that day we went to the Arena (I can't remember the date...opps). But, my mom and I did look at a horse the other day (that's where I got the cold). There's a picture of Brizzee at the Arena. It was dark in there, and the camera wasn't set on the right "thing", so it's really fuzzy! Sorry.

So, our session:

First of all, it wasn't going too good. We got the Parelli Barrell Covers, and were trying to put them on the barrels, it was really hard. Then it took forever before my mom backed up to the trailer perfectly. We have a huge and heavy stock trailer, so you can't even budge it just a little, it is so heavy, so you have to be right on the spot. She was close once, not even an inch off, but she had to back up again, because it wouldn't go down on the hitch...UGH so annoying. Then, it was time to load the horses. Ute went in just fine, and then Brizzee became RBE, and freaked out. Nearly ran over me in the trialer. We played a little bit, and then she jumped into the trailer, and she leaned all her weight against Ute (our Quarter Horse that my mom played with). Then, we were finally on our way!

We got there, and I was staying calm, but I was worried, wondering what she would do. We unloaded Brizzee first, and the first thing she did; put her head down to eat grass. That is her comfort zone, EATING (that's an LBI for you, very FOOD ORIENTED!). She didn't move her feet too much, which she usually does when she is unconfident, and worried. I squeezed her between me and the trailer a coupple of times, played the Circling Game with her, and then we went into the Arena!

I paused in the doorway, and let her decide when to go all the way into the Arena (which was really dark). She stepped in there, looked around, got really focused, and then she sighed, licked, and looked at me like what now? We walked around a little, and then I found a place where she seemed comfortable, so we played a lot of Friendly Game, and then the other six games. We then did Touch It and Figure Eight Patterns. We played a little bit of Stick to me. At first, she was trying, but then not really. With the Circling Game though, she did three complete cirlces at the trot without breaking gait! I tried to get her to jump over a log, and hten a barell, but she was unconfident, so I moved the barrels apart, and she walked through a little space. It's not that I want her to jump, I just think it would be good for her, but we're taking it slowly.

When she got calm, I tied her really loosely to the fence. Before when we were there and I tied her, oh my gosh. She would whinny, prance around, jog sideways, she would literally, go nuts/crazy. But she wasn't this time when we were there.

She stood calmly, her eyes half closed, and swishing her tail. I brought the Saddle and the Natural Hackamore in. I did the "pre ride checks", and then saddled her. After I cinched her the first time, I tried to play the Circling Game, but she would NOT go out. She would back up, and then when I'd try to send her, she'd come really close to me, and look at me with her big brown eyes. Then we played the Stick to Me game, and she did trot, but she kinda lagged behind. When I stopped, she came right up to me. After the third cinch, she still did that. I finally turned to my mom.

I asked her what Brizzee's problem was, and why she kept coming in close to me. My mom laughed and said it looked like Brizzee was telling me not to worry about all that stuff, and just get on. I walked her around a little, and mounted.

Once I mounted, I hurried up, and just stood there. Then we began to walk. I found my balance piont, bent her to a stop, and got in tune with her. Then, when we went into a trot, I brought my life up a little, and started pedaling more with my feet, it took a little bit, and I was just beginning to "smile", when she went into a trot. Oh, I was so happy!! Then, I brought her back down to a walk, then a trot, then bent her to a stop. I was going to do the Follow the Rail pattern, but he had a lot of different things by the rail, and some panels were missing, so we didn't. But she did really good. She was 100% better then she was last tim!

I think the trouble was last time, that I was introducing her to too many new things at once, and I was making it worse, because I was worried, scared, and didn't have much savvy (not that I do now).

But it all went well this time! We had a lot of fun!

I'm thinking about riding her again this Sunday, it's supposed to be nice and sunny. I'll probably just ride her here though. I'll post some more on my other Blog as well tonight, so be sure and check in there too. Thanks for reading!

Savvy On,

~Randa~ & ~Brizzee~