This is one of the things I made for Thanksgiving...

a new game

(Liberty, 45 mins) Aravis is just starting liberty.. Here's a game we came up with. 

I-stand-on-a-stump-or-taller-object-with-cookies-and-before-you-can-get-me-I-run-to-something-else-tall-until-you-have-to-run-to-catch-up-then-I-give-you-a-cookie. 

Cool game, huh? 

:)

Extending

I brushed Aravis then played with her. She was so calm that her gaits were slow and deliberate but also elegant and elevated. She was gorgeous and did very well.

We played with circles, she cantered a lot (22' line). She was right brained at first but the settled down after about 10 mins of circling either way. She was showing her extroverted colors. Her sideways game is fantastic! I think we're connecting more, we had the opportunity to do some liberty and she stuck with me very well while I was playing at liberty with Cricket.

Cricket was hilarious and so so cool! She has a mischievous side to her, I think she just keeps getting a tiny bit more extroverted every time we play. She bucked, galloped, went sideways trotting... etc. Most of our play sessions are at liberty now days which she adores! Liberty allows her to go crazy but also to connect with me. I'm teaching her the extended trot with my energy on the ground. She's responding very well and getting what I mean. Her trot just flairs when you act as though your sneaking up on her. ;)

I've had a great horsey day!

-Elrohwen

I love the sideways game

(On Line, 60 mins) We played with figure 8s at the walk, she did well. She was distracted at first due to some strangers walking by her pen. 
We did some stick to me at the walk and trot, she is a bit disrespectful when I trot forward and stop. She's not quuuiittte as mindful as I'd like about space... but then, we can figure this out. 
Then we did circles looking for rhythm, relaxation, and contact. Got that after a while, she can be persistent! 
Her sideways REALLY came together! Loved it, very coordinated for not having been a parelli partner for very long. She's a great horse to have on this journey. 
She also did some squeeze over the log. Good. 
Then undemanding time. :) 

:) How interesting.


-Elrohwen

I'm back....

...And I've been back for a few days now, just didn't have time to write. I'm so glad to see my family and animals. 


This is my Thanksgiving passage (yes! I expect you to read all 51 verses!):

2 Samuel 22:2-51

 ²And he [David] said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

 ³The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

 ⁴I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

 ⁵When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;

 ⁶The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;

 ⁷In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.

 ⁸Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.

 ⁹There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

 ¹⁰He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

 ¹¹And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

 ¹²And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

 ¹³Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.

 ¹⁴The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.

 ¹⁵And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.

 ¹⁶And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

 ¹⁷He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;

 ¹⁸He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

 ¹⁹They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

 ²⁰He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

 ²¹The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

 ²²For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

 ²³For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

 ²⁴I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.

 ²⁵Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.

 ²⁶With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.

 ²⁷With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.

 ²⁸And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.

 ²⁹For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.

 ³⁰For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

 ³¹As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

 ³²For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?

 ³³God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.

 ³⁴He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places.

 ³⁵He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

 ³⁶Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.

 ³⁷Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.

 ³⁸I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them.

 ³⁹And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet.

 ⁴⁰For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.

 ⁴¹Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.

 ⁴²They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.

 ⁴³Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.

 ⁴⁴Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me.

 ⁴⁵Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.

 ⁴⁶Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.

 ⁴⁷The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.

 ⁴⁸It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me.

 ⁴⁹And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.

 ⁵⁰Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

 ⁵¹He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.

-Priscilla

PS. Lauren, if you have free time, is there any way you could translate this into Sindarin (elvish)? I would if I had time, but I don't!! 

I'm off!

I'm leaving early tomorrow for Colorado!

This is the first flight I've taken myself, looking forward to seeing Paul and Lynn. I'm bringing warm clothes and I've taken a good look at a Denver Airport map (and printed it!). I'm taking Mom's cell phone, it's charging on top of my bag so I don't forget it. I have leave from my work. The horses are going to be cared for by my horse protege, Mom! I have yet to find who will take care of Lottie. I have a clear idea of where I'm going!

This is going to be SO cool!

-Priscilla

breaking it up.. making the goals

Just thought I should do this because it's what is always advised by Parelli Professionals. Break down the dream into 100+ steps.

Short term goals for Aravis 


Friendly game

• Play with the Green ball more
• Introduce more varieties in riding
• Passenger lesson at the walk, trot, AND canter
• A greater bond

Porcupine game

• Leg yields at the walk
• Lateral flexion to a softer degree
• Spins (riding)

Driving game

• Getting zones more responsive on the ground
• Ride with the Carrot Stick
• Stick to me at the canter
• A lighter and more responsive back up
• More respect of space

Yo-yo game

• Back to the end of the line with Phase 1/2 every session 
• Downward transitions with more ease

Circling game

• More laps
• More laps with rhythm, relaxation, and contact
• Introduce obstacles 

Sideways game

• More steps in either direction

Squeeze Game

• Better bring back after jump 
• Develop the quality to where she doesn't want to sneak between me and the jump
• Trailer load
• Go other places (Rene's, walks, etc.)

Patterns

• Introduce more figure 8s
• Start the weave pattern
• Play with the Pedestal

Aravis is doing great! She's a super learner and I'd say she's a solid Level 1. She let some of my friends that she didn't know sit on her back with nothing on her-- at night! :)


I hope you guys get some insight as to what we're playing with just from this list. She'll get this in NO time! :) She's so special.

-Me

Geometry and Relationship

If you know me, you'll know that I hate math. Always have. It has something to do with the way my brain works, I don't think with order, methods, and formulas. I'm a free-spirited writer, reader, font-maker, etc.. You get the picture. I don't like to have to order my brain, though I control it, I don't split everything up and categorize it.

When I do math, I have to find a way for me to remember, think, and process without shutting down or going nuts!

Do you know what this is?

 

Most of you do! It's called a Ray and it's introduced in Geometry. The point is called the endpoint but I like to call it the starting point.

A ray has a starting point and it goes on and on and on without end. If it had an end, it would be called a line-segment.

Our Relationships in life look like a ray. They have a starting point and, in our perspective, they go on and we can't see an end (unless we have a falling out). Only God can see the line-segment (if it is indeed a line segment.

Our relationship with God looks most like this:




A is our birth, B is our death, and eternity is the time we (his children) will spend with him.

(Somewhere in between A and B, he changes our hearts so we can follow him and live with him forever)

And that's how I remember!

-Priscilla

Aravis is a good jumper

Aravis' first baby tooth!

I found this in her feed bucket this morning!! :) There's still about 4 or 5 left to go! :)

Saddle fitting

I did some saddle fitting today with the new saddle and pad. Aravis rounded under me but the saddle didn't put me on my balance point. I came home and made a shim so I'll try it out again sometime soon. I'm going to use my Wintec 17" for everyday riding. I'm going to use the new jumping saddle for special occasion jumping and the Wintec 16" for training over jumps. I'm really excited about this Parelli pad! 


Below: this is the pad



About: 

  o Evenly distributes the weight of the entire saddle tree
          o Improves saddle fit
          o Alleviates pressure points
          o Provides anti-slip performance
          o Protects the horse s back
          o Allows the horse's back to flex and move more freely
          o Allows the skin to breathe , and COOLS the horse through evaporative process.
          o Insures No pressure on the spine or its ligaments
          o Improves air flow and release of heat
          o Allows right and left balance for the rider
          o Improves the feel of riding by facilitating close contact
          o Improves the horse's comfort and performance

This revolutionary non-slip, (custom fit) pad is designed to work with most English saddles.  The baffled air cells (through micro-porous filters) inside allow the pad to fill gaps that occur between the horse's back and the saddle, providing optimum weight distribution and eliminating pressure points. 

The Theraflex Pad slowly reshapes as the horse goes from standing to moving thereby continuing to create a perfect interface between the moving back and the static saddle.

This pad's functional air cells are the same shape and size as the air cells of all of the English pads.  It is only the overall base material that is sculpted to fit the overall shape of our saddles for the sake of appearance, and to prevent the saddle flap leather from touching the body of the horse. It can certainly be used under other English saddles.  

Below: You know these camping pads? How they inflate through an air valve? 

Look at the picture of the saddle pad, see the air valve? There's a specially shaped air pad in the saddle pad that inflates! It really does help the horse move better... :) Cool, huh?

I think so... 

-Priscilla

I have a fairy-godmother

I had a great day yesterday!

I had a friend over that I met at the home-school group, she rides horses... but not horses like Cricket and Aravis! Mostly horses that want to buck you off, prance down the trails like maniacs, etc. You should have seen the look on her face when I told her to simply wiggle her finger to back Cricket away. When she got on a rode, I said she could sit back and wiggle her toes to stop Cricket and she said, "Seriously?". It worked.

We went to Rene's and looked through tack and clothes. Rene is my fairy-godmother.
This is what I came home with:

2 horse blankets
1 pair of front jumping splint boots
1 Parelli saddle pad (they are originally $300 but she's only asking $100)
1 Collegiate saddle (free with the pad, if it doesn't work out, I give it back to her. These saddles are usually $1000+ new, this one is in excellent condition)
A HUGE stack of really really cute and cool shirts that I love!
1 pair of English jumping reins
2 pairs of stirrups, safety and regular
1 pair of leathers

NOW you can see why she's my fairy-godmother!! :) I LOVE HER! (not just because she's so amazingly generous but because she's a REAL person, she's sweet and so kind!)

God has BLESSED me!  SO RICHLY!

-Priscilla

Beware: This is a horsie post

Aravis, (On Line, 45 mins) We played online in prep for riding, she was really great. I had a 'how interesting!' moment. I circled her one way and she was great, she had good rhythm. The other direction, it sorta fell apart, she made a lot of transitions, wanted to change direction, etc. I wasn't bad, I knew what to do. I just hung in there, stayed slow, friendly and consistent. :) It came together.
She also did a few steps of sideways in either direction! (clapping!) This horse is SO smart! She also did a really good figure 8 at the walk (level 1). :)


Aravis, (Freestyle, 45 mins) Rode follow the rail, indirect and direct rein--which she blew me away with the quality! She did full spins, they seem to come to her naturally- it's the quarter horse! :)


Cricket, (Liberty, 30 mins) We played at liberty and I got a lot of really light and connected responses. We weren't doing anything serious but she was great anyways!


That was the horse part of the day... The other part wasn't as exciting.. :) 


-Priscilla

Going places

I'm going on a trip to Paul's house (Colorado) from the 15th-21st! :) Super cool! 

-Me

neat word

col  (kl)

n.

A pass between two mountain peaks or a gap in a ridge.

I'm using this in my book, don't steal. ;)