On the trail again, just can’t wait to get on the trail again, the life I love is ridin’ trails with my friends, I just can’t wait to get on the trail again

Posted on April 20, 2013 by horsegirlonajourney

Your assignment today is only to steer, not to stop or slow Rocky. I don’t want you to hold him back. Keep him lined up behind Bautisto and if he gets too close, have Maddie swing her string to back him up. ~ Erin Murphy to me at the start of our instructional trail ride

While my sharpest memory of the view is of the black dorsal stripe down Bautisto’s beautiful Andalusian haunches, I happily report that this advice from Erin has been powerful, resulting in more confidence and better partnership on all of the rides I’ve taken around the ranch since.

On Wednesday, Jan and I took an instructional trail ride with Erin Murphy at Empire Mine State Park. Jan rode River, mostly as a passenger but sometimes as a leader, and was ponied by Erin or her intern Maddie. I mostly rode Rocky on my own, but also got down and walked about a mile. I didn’t want Rocky to experience any tightness or anxiety from me in the saddle and when he slipped a few times on the pine needles, and when we reached steep downhills, I hopped down and walked. It’s easy enough to get back on when we come to a rock or fallen log I can use as a mounting block.

Erin’s instructional trail rides start when you get your horse from his pasture and end when you put him back — in our case, about three hours. Of the four humans and four horses, I was the only one who had anxiety about the trailer. I was able to articulate to Erin that I’ve had so little trailering experience that I didn’t know what was normal and what was an emergency. (“Is River kicking the stud divider?” “No, she’s just shifting her weight.” “Oh.”) We talked about the day’s plans while the horses munched their hay in the trailer. Allowing the horses time to relax after loading removes any kind of get in and GO! energy, and pretty soon after that we pulled out smoothly for our adventure.

I am so much better in the saddle now than I was last year. I still lean forward and also have my feet too far forward and therefore my balance is still off which in turn affects Rocky, but I’m much closer to the sweet spot, and I can stay in the sweet spot longer — and I notice sooner when I’ve gotten out of alignment. I can tell the difference in Rocky’s walking and trotting, and get my body back in position so that I’m not interfering with his movement or causing him discomfort, which in turn gives me more practice developing my independent seat.

But I am good enough in the saddle these days to stay with Rocky when he spooks to the side and not to even have a surge of adrenaline when it happens. I’m good enough not to worry about surges forward, which happened on the trail when a gust of wind spooked all four horses forward. My response was to put my hands forward and push myself into the saddle; I didn’t pull back or lean forward or restrict him in any way, and he stopped after a few strides. He was much more relaxed than Erin had expected him to be, and she congratulated us both on our progress.

This confidence in the saddle has let to me riding all over the ranch, including on the narrow paths between the cottage and the shop, and across the seasonal creek. The slopes that used to worry me no longer do. I’ve changed my thinking from “Rocky stumbles a lot” to “Rocky is so athletic and skilled at staying upright,” which is also true.

We played a lot of games on our trail lesson. The whole excursion was a friendly game for us all, getting us all accustomed to things like bicycles, runners, dogs, babies in front packs, and strollers. Also rocky creeks and slippery pine needles and horse-eating boulders and the occasional plastic grocery bag wafting across our path. Also other horses and riders going past, which is a challenge for River, who stares intently with her best Sweetie Face on, causing others to croon “oh what a pretty girl, such a cute horse!” while we all keep our faces blank. What on another horse is indeed a sweet face is actually River’s “I want to get close to you and then squeal, wheel, and double-barrel your chest” signal. River also stares at dogs, thinking dark thoughts.

Erin had Maddie and I play a yo-yo game in which Maddie backed Bautisto in a straight line and I was to keep Rocky straight behind him. I wasn’t to back Rocky, only to steer him, and to let Bautisto and Maddie take care of the driving in reverse. This was challenging to all four of us for different reasons: Maddie, backing her own horse while also driving mine (and having to coordinate her reins, body, legs, hands, and savvy string); Bautisto, in having to back even though Rocky was right there; Rocky, in having to go in a straight line instead of swinging to the side; and me, in resisting the reflex to lift the reins and back Rocky myself.

Erin had Rocky and me follow her for a bit and when he crowded Hermoso like he’d been doing to Bautisto, she used driving game with her savvy string. She used a more energetic phase than Maddie had been using, and Rocky ran into the string with his nose hard enough to sting. And after that, he gave them about a yard of space.

We played follow the leader and traded places here and there and discovered that all four horses were most comfortable in this order: Rocky Hermoso River Bautisto. Rocky was a little too alert for me in the front, so I directed his (and my) attention by asking for sideways game left and right as we rode forward on the fire road. He was more comfortable walking next to Hermoso and leading by a head rather than single file. After an unexpected “slide stop” on pine needles on the downhill, I dismounted and walked in front, and Rocky liked that most of all. (“He likes to be in front but behind his lead mare,” said Erin.)

Figure 8 patterns helped in the beginning when Rocky didn’t want to stand still after I mounted and while I was tightening my girth. We played squeeze game with the creek, with each other, and with the gate at the start of the trail.

On the drive home, I had a multitude of emotions churning inside me. Anxiety, excitement, despair, joy, love — all the feelings I saw coming up during the ride and set aside to process later, as it wasn’t fair to ask Rocky to be left-brained and focused if I couldn’t do so myself.

The main thing now is to keep arranging my work schedule so that I have a weekday morning free every week or two for lessons, so that I can build on my learning and keep progressing toward solid level 2 freestyle riding skills.

Filed under: Freestyle, Lessons | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Bring the fun into your body that he needs in his body

Posted on March 30, 2013 by horsegirlonajourney

I’ve tried for a long time to figure out how to bring the right amount of energy into my body to communicate to my horses. Parelli calls this “bringing up your life” and Linda wrote a good article of Do and Don’t. I’ve been concentrating for a while on making sure to engage my core and body before I use my tools, but I just kept feeling like I was getting tight instead of energetic. And then on the release, I was totally flopping all the way to lifeless, rather than to neutral. (A couple years ago, I wrote about the time I grokked neutral and discovered it wasn’t the same as lifeless.)

Play time

In a recent lesson where Erin and I were talking about this (again), it finally hit me: I don’t tend to plan ahead when I’m going to move. I don’t think about “okay, I’ll probably be dancing for about 45 minutes, and then a 10 minute break, and then repeat that pattern twice more.” I don’t think “ready, set, go” when I drive into a swimming pool or head out for a jog. I don’t just take off from the front door at a dead run, but I don’t “gather” myself first. Not being in any sort of athletic competition where I’m waiting for a starting gun, I don’t have that anticipation and electricity buzzing under my skin just before exploding into action.

And I don’t really want my horses to explode into action, either.

But what I came up with in the lesson was to replace the word “energy” with the word “fun.” I told Erin “At the cone, we’re going to trot, so right about now I can start saying things like okay Rock are you ready? we’re gonna get to trot! we are! wait for it … waaaaait for it … almost there …. and …. Go!” And as I was saying those things, I was sliding my hands on the reins, checking in with my body and balance, smiling, and looking where I wanted to go. And then, on Go, I squeezed with all four cheeks and got a really nice transition into the trot. We trotted a few strides and then I eased into the halt for petting and praise. After the brief rest, I picked another transition spot and did it again. Same response.

I played with the concept again today on the ground, and Rocky went from “ho hum, circles again, big deal” to “which direction? which gait? easy or extended? now? now? now? YAY!“

Clarifying “energy” in my mind to mean anticipation, suspense, grinning, joy, and fun may be the key to bringing the play back into our play time.

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Riding lightly

Posted on March 28, 2013 by horsegirlonajourney

The willingness to show up changes us. It makes us a little braver each time. ~ Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

My recent riding lessons with Erin Murphy have transformed the way I shape my body, carry myself, and move when I am in the saddle. Which has also transformed the way Rocky shapes his body, carries himself, and moves, when I am in the saddle.

Now that we’ve felt it, we can seek it, and stay in that place for longer and longer periods of time.

rocky_after_work

Here’s how it happened.

Erin is particularly good at “separate, isolate, and recombine.” She can take all the things (ALL the things!) you are “doing wrong” and figure out the foundation piece that all the rest depends on. Fix that piece, and the rest of it falls into place.

In the first lesson, I told her that my slo-mo video shows my legs out in front, and that I feel like I get behind the rhythm and am posting from way far in back. Here’s a 30-second clip that shows what I mean:

If you don’t see the embedded video, you can see it here.

She asked me what my feet are doing, what happens to my feet in the stirrups, what do I feel in my feet, when I post. And then she stayed with me as I thought and posted a little and thought and tried and went through all the “not doing” (“toes aren’t falling asleep, weight is no longer on the outside of my foot, not clenching, not curling toes”). It took 15 or 20 minutes, but I finally solved the puzzle by discovering what I was doing: putting my whole weight on the balls of my feet, which pushed my stirrups forward, which pushed my body back, which put me behind the motion.

But it wasn’t my feet that were causing this. It was my thighs! Somehow I’ve carried the idea all my life that if my knees were “in” I would be pinching the horse and thus not riding with balance.

Erin showed me how to hug Rocky with my inner thighs in such a way that I am not pinching like a clothes pin but not missing half of my core engagement, either. With my knees in like this (which is not “knees in” it is more “thighs actually touching saddle”), I can keep my tailbone heavier than my pubic bone when I engage my core. Which allows me to round my lower back more. And which allows me to relax my ankles and feet and calves, so that my lower legs are available for cues but not part of my balance and not carrying all of my weight. And lo! my hips were more able to move with Rocky’s motion, up and forward, loose, even at the sitting trot.

I felt more “lift” and “lightness” in the saddle than I can ever remember feeling, and I felt Rocky move more freely under me. Erin walked beside me as I rode with this new awareness and she moved my lower leg around, back and forth and in circles and moving my toe up and down and showing me that lower legs are nice to have but not required for riding. (Which I knew, from reading about Barbara Adside, whose legs end at the knee and whose career includes stunt riding and paraequestrian dressage. But I didn’t know know.)

It isn’t entirely a matter of strength or stamina, though. Schleese saddles for women has a nice synopsis, with illustrations, about how pelvic anatomy and saddle shape can put women at a disadvantage. Dr. Deb Bennett goes into a lot more detail in her article “Who’s Built Best to Ride?” I’ve recently bought a book about exercises for riders, because reading about how it all fits together is helping me be better in my body in all of my activities.  And I might even integrate some of the exercises into my life.

Rider Fitness: Body and Brain: 180 Anytime, Anywhere Exercises to Enhance Range of Motion, Motor Control, Reaction Time, Flexibility, Balance and Muscle Memory in the Saddle

Reading about anatomy of human and horse has helped me engage my core and body differently, and find more physical harmony with Rocky, in all of our maneuvers. I recently discovered Gillian Higgins, who is one of the people who paint the insides of horses onto the outsides of horses — and humans! — and teach clinics in how we can work together better.

Horse Anatomy for Performance

How Your Horse Moves: A unique visual guide to improving performance

Filed under: Freestyle | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Yep, I saw the change: the power of purposeful engagement

Posted on March 14, 2013 by horsegirlonajourney

Last week, we executed a perfect weave pattern, at the sitting jog-trot. We did serpentines at a relaxed posting trot that was as balanced as we’ve been in recent memory. We performed walk-halt-back-trot transitions a few times. We were engaged, connected, responsive, and we caught some of it on video. Proof it happened!

And also great feedback for how I push my feet forward in the stirrups and don’t hug with my thighs and my hands are all over the place and I do all sorts of other bad stuff, such that my next lesson (yesterday) really felt like a riding lesson, in which made a whole bunch of changes and got all kinds of better in just the one session.

But! Before that, this was our best Freestyle riding to date. In fact, it was good enough that I will post 15 seconds of our video, our BEFORE benchmark for 3 months from now. This is where I am on my journey as I start the riding phase of Parelli level 2. [[Note: Some have said they can't see the embedded video, so here's the link.]]

What changed? Everything, of course, based on our mini-clinic. (A mini-clinic in purposeful engagement) I kept the phrase “purposeful engagement” in mind and tried to check in with myself periodically. Am I purposeful? Am I engaged? Where is my focus? If I set the example, Rocky can follow my lead.

I put this into practice yesterday after I mounted up. Instead of standing at the mounting block for a few minutes, breathing and deepening and stretching, I spent about 30 seconds doing that and then brought up some excitement and said “C’mon Rocky let’s go let’s go!” and asked for forward. He walked slowly forward, then turned his nose toward the rail and started to head back toward the gate, where our friend Seth stood with a camera. And instead of resisting this turn, I went with it until we were facing Seth, and then asked for a back-up.

Rocky stepped back willingly enough for a stride or two and then stopped, so I asked again, and kept a little pressure on, and backed all the way to the middle of the arena — trying at the same time to keep my left leg on as he wanted to swing his hindquarters to the left. I continued to insist on straightness even if it took us a while to get there, and on backing up steadily if not swiftly, and I felt the click when his attention left Seth and locked on to me.

We halted for a few seconds and then I asked him to trot forward, and I think he was so surprised that he did so without any brace or question at all. We followed the rail for a circuit and then cut across the arena to change directions and follow the rail another 3/4 circuit and then started serpentines…the weave…walk-halt-back-walk and walk-halt-back-trot transitions…and after about ten minutes of this, walked cheerfully up to Seth and halted for quite a long lick-and-chew and a smooth dismount. Somewhere in there we had a nice extended walk and I did my stretching and deepening. Rocky put effort into his responsibilities of maintaining gait and direction and he felt happy and willing.

I was elated and exhausted. Partly from the semi-bronchitis I’d experiencing for the previous three days (that did indeed turn into a week of sickness, bleh), but also from the focus and concentration of 100 percent purposeful engagement. I was using every muscle and continually checking in — asking myself: eyes up? shoulders level? core engaged? legs wrapping? heels elongating? energy and body lifting? lifting to turn, lifting to back, lifting to stop? and hell why not lifting to go forward too? — and coming up with patterns and keeping signals clear and not getting distracted by our audience or the other animals on the ranch.

Those times that I do manage to “engage the natural power of focus” per the Parelli Four Responsibilities of the Human, I rediscover just how much attention and engagement that takes.

Probably the only other place in my life where I manage that is when becoming completely absorbed in a book, where I no longer hear environmental noises or have any awareness of my own life separate from the life I’m living in the book. But that is almost entirely mental and emotional; the physical part is merely in laughing, crying, startling, heart pounding, and other small motions. Reading does not take the physical fitness as horsemanship does, nor is one generally managing one’s body through time-and-space, so there are fewer factors to keep within the sphere of focus. (I considered other activities — eating, sex, swimming in the ocean — and I still think the closest analogy for me is reading.)

Yet the more I stumble into the sweet spot by accident, whether it’s two strides of perfect harmony while riding or one arena length of total, absolute focus, the more I know what it feels like and the more able I am to seek it, and then even to find it.

Filed under: Freestyle | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

A mini-clinic in purposeful engagement

Posted on February 28, 2013 by horsegirlonajourney

“The more questions you ask, the more bleh his face gets,” Erin told me, midway through our lesson. “When you get purposeful and confident, his face gets happier.”

I spent almost three hours with Erin Murphy at Equine Partners, Inc., today. We met at the barn so she could walk with me to Rocky’s pen and see how he responds when he sees me, proceeded through the warm-up on the ground, saddle fit and cinching up, and riding. At each stage, we discussed the behaviors, how to interpret them, and what actions to take. We covered a hundred things, at least.

But when I reflect, I see that there is common theme running through everything — both the holes that we discovered and the successes I’ve been having: Purposeful Engagement.

Purposeful Engagement means:

  • Have a purpose for every action, such as playing with transitions during warm-up (action) to lengthen and strengthen muscles (purpose).
  • Use purpose as a platform for leadership; purpose builds confidence.
  • Consistent, confident purpose creates interest where external objects like cones, poles, and barrels do not.

For more details than anyone could possibly want, read on.

Read more »

Filed under: Leadership | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Putting the relationship first, because it’s not about the …

Posted on February 26, 2013 by horsegirlonajourney

One of the Parellisms that I understand more deeply as I progress is “It’s not about the ____. It’s about the relationship.”

Hayseed

No matter what it is, it is always about the relationship, first. Putting the relationship first means more than making the relationship the top priority. It is also the primary, the root, the first cause of everything we do together, not just the result.

Last week’s riding sessions went well. Lots of learning and trying, for both Rocky and me. But the weekend rides included Incidents that could have turned into danger if I had allowed them to escalate. The weekend rides featured brace at all three levels, mental and emotional and physical. This does not mean they didn’t “go well.” It means they are new challenges on the journey.

I am confident and skilled enough to stay on through small arguments that would have scared me stiff a few years ago. And I am savvy enough to hop off at the first thought of “Hrm, maybe I should bail while I can still do so on purpose, and handle this from the ground.”

But the real question is, why are we arguing?

Sunset in the front arena

I know it is the relationship. I can feel that something is wrong. I just don’t know what it is.

He still whickers when he sees me and trots to his gate to meet me. He thrusts his nose into his halter. He puts effort into the new things we are playing with.

He was acting like a partner, not a prey animal or a teenage boy, last week during our freestyle riding practice. He has been moving beautifully, floating over the poles, choosing to go over the poles at liberty, cantering with relaxation, looking more fit and sound. His back has not been sore until Tuesday, which makes sense, given Monday.

At liberty choosing poles

Yet the backing up evasion has escalated to the mini threat-rear which could escalate to real rearing. This is Not Okay. And I don’t know what is causing this behavior. What is he trying to tell me? Other than NO?

If your horse says no, you either asked the wrong question, or asked the question wrong. – Pat Parelli

I have done everything I know how to do, from adding more complexity to the arena patterns to keep them fun, to backing off and doing simpler things to keep them unscary, to going outside the arena when he so obviously wants to, even though once we are outside he seems to be looking for things to get up about. I have included undemanding time in the barn with a hay net, a random carrot in his pen as I walk by, hanging out and grazing on the lawn.

I have run out of savvy arrows and have scheduled a lesson with Erin for Thursday so I can get more in my quiver.

Incidents recorded in detail after the jump. Ready? Jump!  Read more »

Filed under: Leadership, Learning Experience | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Things we do together — a workout report

Posted on February 22, 2013 by horsegirlonajourney

You can’t fix everything at once, so today I focused on SQUIRREL!

Rockstar and Regina

We warmed up with circle game on the 22-foot line, playing with four poles and with traveling circles with relaxation. Rocky offered a canter and I let him know I was pleased. He’s cantering with his head and neck relaxed these days, with his nose still a bit to the outside but his whole body in more of a rounded position.

We have a nice new girth that has elastic on both sides; plus, it’s a little bit longer than the old girth, to fit Rocky’s new physique. He’s finally keeping weight on and looking more like a 6 or 7 on the vet’s body condition scale instead of a 3 or 4, and he is moving so much more comfortably and fluidly than he ever has. (We also borrow Erin’s CSI saddle pad, although I’m going to get one for us, soon.)

New girth

Our mounting is going great. He is lining up at the block with me on either side, and squaring himself up when I rock the saddle gently. He’s no longer trying to walk off as soon as I’m on, and I am taking more time to breathe and relax and get in tune before asking for the walk.

We are still struggling with staying on the rail. Either my foot is hitting the panels at the rim or we’re veering three lanes hubward. It happens in both directions about equally, so I don’t think it’s a problem with me having too much weight on one side. I wanted to play with point-to-point to work on straightness, but Rocky didn’t.

I experimented and said “Okay, where do you want to go?” and played passenger. Turns out that he  wanted to play stand-at-the-gate-or-make-small-circles-near-the-gate. He wandered around for a while within 22 feet of the gate and then stopped with his head over it, twice.

rocky looking over fence

So I thought what the heck, and we practiced opening and shutting the gate together, which he has started helping me with, side-stepping toward it so I can unlatch it, backing up to help me shut it, and the like. I wasn’t as confident with my one rein outside the arena, but I thought “let’s see what happens” and put my rein on the arena side and we walked around it four or five times. He wanted to get interested in things happening lower down the ranch but kept forward willingly enough when I half-halted to return his focus to our circuits, and when I asked him to get near the gate again to go back in, he didn’t argue. Much.

We practiced our hindquarter yields. Next time, I will chant “lift creates light,” as I realized I was pushing with my leg instead of merely squeezing and then upping my phases by spanking the air (or the butt, if it came to that!). A horse can feel a fly walk on his hair so I doubt I need to be pressing my leg so hard into his ribs when he’s bracing. It just encourages him to brace more.

It’s hard for me to steer and post at the same time, but I’m confident as a passenger now, so I kept enough rein to check with a half-halt as needed and otherwise let him kind of go wherever he wanted, just to help me build my strength. Can’t have balance or harmony or grace or even much leadership during the trot until I have strength. However, thanks to my new Lynx Zoom sports bra — the best sports bra I’ve ever had, the first one that actually supports my giant bazoombas without discomfort, the first one that actually controls the bounce (which the Enell tries to do but doesn’t) — my body was working in harmony with itself for the first time since … ever. I even jogged up to the barn in the thing and felt no digging of straps or flopping of boobs or squashing of — anyway. Huge difference.

All in all, a good session. Definitely a practice and not a performance, and a novice practice at that. I feel like I’ve recently been putting in the workouts and training that will lead to a successful Freestyle Level 2 audition later this year. More importantly, I’m enjoying the workouts and training. Things that in the Olden Days would have felt like they’d “gone wrong” now just feel like Things We Do Together.

Rocky and Regina

Filed under: Freestyle, Rockstar | Leave a Comment »

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