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~