Horsing around!

I played with Brego and Cricket today. I’ve been living in the moment a lot more, I could feel some frustration trying to well up but I quickly shut it down and then it disappeared. It was really good.

Cricket decided to be LBI/LBE and very playful "You can’t catch me!" I loved it and did a few draws before she CANTERED toward me!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brego is progressing faster than any horse I’ve ever played with, he’s well into Level 3 Online and he’s so curious and willing!! His sideways (most challenging for him) is getting better and I saw more collection in him a some more slack in the rope!! :)

To answer your questions, Abby gave me Brego about 9 days ago, she is busy with school and can't give him the time he deserves. I'm trying my best to fulfill his potential to the best of my abilities... :) 

Vanya Sulie!

Priscilla

Brego

 Here's the deal. Brego is mine, but if I ever want to give him away, Abby gets first dibs as she was the former "owner"....

 

"Conformation vs. Build" or "The advantages of a Mutt"

Do you remember how I always thought it would be cool to have a Warmblood? I was reading articles about conformation (structure of the horse) and have learned that it is nothing more than the skeletal/bone placement, the build is made of only tissues and muscle. Many horses can look like they're a different breed altogether just by having a different "workout". This theory does, of course, have obvious limits (Example: You cannot make a Shetland Pony look like Secretariat). 

Warmbloods, because of so many generations of breeding and inbreeding (which can have a bad effect on gene pools), they have a tendency to need special care and they also can have weak bones and/or issues with thyroid. Looking at Brego's bone structure right now (it's about all you can see right now, he's so skinny), I can see him being able to go many directions with his build. Since he is also a mix of breeds, he has the potential to be stronger than many Warmbloods (yes, that's right, Warmbloods). 

Because he is skinny right now, I have an advantage, I don't have to "work up" or "work down" certain muscles I can start from scratch and not have to worry about muscles that are over developed. 

Right now, I'm planning on building foundation fat and muscle in the right areas and then eventually I will start gradually building what I call "Finesse" muscles. They're like icing on a cake, these muscles also have to do with your relationship because you can't really build these without having precise communication and such. 

I think I'm getting more excited about Brego.... :D 

Quel Fara!

Elrohwen

"Just watch what horses do in the pasture naturally. This is what, I'm sure, your horse is begging you to understand; how does he do it naturally? If you could understand that, if you could get your head around it, if you could try to emulate nature. Never forget your horse's nature it it's finest form. If we can understand it, then what we can do is start to open up the real secrets to success with horses. It takes Love, it takes Language, and it takes Leadership. And that horse is going to respond with Respect without Fear, he's going to be Light and Responsive, and the Bond that we will create is going to be Strong. That's my only goal, it's to keep it natural and keep it simple, help humans understand horses. Understand them so much that it actually becomes innate, that's what savvy is. It's designed to help you have horse savvy, because if you're savvy, your horse is going to know it and he's going to respond to you so naturally that he's going to think you're his mother. That's the goal. To keep it Natural." --Pat Parelli

Living in the moment.. Why does this seem new to me?

WOW.. I had a blinding flash of the obvious about the way I need the approach Cricket and all horses really. Live in the Moment! Don't carry around baggage from previous sessions, I never really understood what "playing with the horse that shows up" really meant until now! It was INCREDIBLE the change I saw in Cricket. 


I've been very confused when I've been playing with Cricket the last few sessions and I don't know why but is consequence Cricket became confused as well. I think I was playing with the imaginary future Cricket or the dreaded Cricket of the past, I'm not sure which but either way, it was very wrong. Would I have wanted to be the horse at the end of my rope? No. I have to keep asking myself that. It was dreadful. 

Cricket and I warmed up *super* slow and I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere (but I was okay with it), we were playing touch it and point A to point B. She was VERY introverted and Catatonic. I kept it at the walk and *very* slowly I saw her confidence develop and she wasn't catatonic anymore. It was very good. Then we played stick to me at the walk and trot, that also was *very* good. She was quite a bit more warmed up and LB, I was very happy with it. She could trot all the way across the pen when I was only at a vigorous walk, then I went into a slow jog and she cantered with me which was pretty awesome. After that we played with patterns, I didn't get very far on the figure 8 before I realized that Cricket was *LEANING* into the halter towards the other horses, (*again*) and going Introverted. Blah! She went Introverted every time there was a turn, so I thought, "How can I make less turns and more draws?" Aha! Make it into a paper clip shape! She was leaning at first but I was persistent and the first time she came around the corner at the trot, running to me all without leaning, we *stopped*. We got off it! "Getting off it" is sometimes hard for me. 

After that I played with Brego, he was really willing and he's a quick learner. He's an LBI/RBE and very naive, it's hilarious. Brego has ZERO "baggage" and is always thinking we're just horses with long bodies. 

I think I said how interesting out loud for the first time without feeling any frustration at all today.... hmmm

Vanya Sulie!

Elrohwen   

Every horses dream.....

..... sitting around with his buddies eating! Can you guess what Brego's doing right now? Yep, just that. He's eating senior feed with all his friends in the turnout next to him. He's really loving life.

He's on a new diet right now for gaining weight. He's a growing boy! :D

He'll be on grain and hay for 1-2 weeks before he starts working out. He just needs some more meat on his ribs and a little more energy before he starts working the muscles.

Brego when he's fat and muscular