Mmm Advil...haha

I was supposed to work with both horses today but by the time I finished with Link the headache I'd had had worsened to a killer migraine....sooo it was just Link today...who did amazing, by the way!

Link
Today was the very first day that I ground-tied Link while I groomed him. I had to curb his curiosity maybe once but otherwise the leadrope remained on the ground, untouched, as I worked my way around him with my brushes. It was pretty neat to have him so calm (the large arena door was open), just gazing curiously outside while I brushed.

We tore through our 7 games today with another individual and her horse in the arena working alongside. Friendly game, check. Porcupine (pretty light), check. Driving game (very good), yo-yo (very light phases), sideways (used a wall but it was very good), squeeze (between me and the wall), check check check check. Our circling game was fantastic, I did not even need to talk to him today he was so calm and LB! His herdmate, Cisco, was there though in the arena (also calmly and quietly doing groundwork), which definitely helped. We did spiraling circles at the trot, changes in direction at the trot, and just some responsible circling. For the first time ever he stretched down and out today, rounding his back fully relaxed! We took on the weave afterwards - we're still having trouble on his right side but we got a walk on that side at the full length of the 22' and we got a trot through the pattern on the left side. I felt like we didn't progress much in this area today, but perhaps re-cementing the pattern is progress in itself I guess. Our weave at first was a little rough, Link kept missing the barrels. After a little bit though he calmed down enough to think through the pattern and complete it flawlessly at the trot, mostly LB.

When I saddled the big kid today he was extremely calm; I let the rope dangle again and he did not even bob his head in anxiety this time as I saddled him. We got through our 3-part maneuver (super light) before the other person and her horse left the arena. I thought I was going to have to dismount and end our session because he'd be too unfocused and RB to work like a partner with me alone in the arena (especially after a herdmate left)...so I started him on some patterns to keep his mind as focused as possible as the other horse left. He was a little unfocused, but I had him do circles on the rail and as we continued he relaxed. After that initial period of anxiety (calmed through the patterns on the rail), he was absolutely fabulous! We worked on w/t transitions along the rail and did our figure-8 pattern (trot one ring, walk the other) as well before doing some point-to-point - I wanted to clean up our downwards transitions. As our p2p progressed Link became more confident, calmer, and quieter - more LB. He'd listen to me and thus respond when I relaxed in the saddle to go from the trot to a halt; he was also standing quietly at each "rest point", licking his lips and lowering his head rather than waiting, tense, for my next cue. As he grew quieter, I lengthened our "lines" to the point where we were soon trotting down the long side of the arena. Since he was doing well there, I even allowed him to do a couple laps of the trot in either direction along the rail. I did have to talk to him a couple of times and even correct him with a few half-halts, but for the most part I had the reins slack on his neck as we trotted around the arena, and he was calm and LB!! His trot even felt more relaxed than I'd ever felt it before; there was definitely still some tension there but it was much more relaxed than on previous occasions. I can't wait for further sessions to relax him further as his confidence in me is instilled further and our partnership grows! We did infuse a little canter into our work too; I just felt I might as well get a little in, as the more we build on that (albeit in small amounts) simultaneously with everything else, the more he can be relaxed at it. He was quite high energy with it today and immediately (upon my canter cue) charged to the other end of the arena (where I was directing him); he relaxed fairly easily afterwards but only more work will create a more LB canter. His canter though was better than yesterday's - yesterday's was full of humped backs (contemplating bucking to get me off so he could have his way and run) and uber-charging, so today's was definitely a step forwards, as rushed as it still felt. Afterwards I wanted to make sure he was back on the right track so we did a little walk/trot along the rail for a couple of minutes. Just for fun I thought I'd throw in some contact work (still in the hackamore) as well, even though that is not where we are at yet - I just wanted to see what we could do based on the foundation we'd built so far. It took a tiny bit of work (all of a minute's work lol), but I had him doing haunches-in and shoulder-in along the rail in either direction!!! We also did some side-pass along the rail and some leg yield in the center of the arena at the trot!!!! Lastly, we tried out spiraling our trot circles in and out - he was great!! We've still got a long ways to go but wow the foundation we've already built is amazing. Oh, forgot to mention as well that we also did the cloverleaf (no reins for the most part) pattern and his back-up was very soft as well (asking for 10 steps, no pawing, bobbing head, or other anxiety - he was very soft with the back-up). That's about it! I was amazed at how relaxed he was with just him and I in the arena and the large door open to introduce distractions; obviously our partnership is growing! Once I untacked him he followed me about the arena and/or watched me curiously, no pacing the fenceline. At one point I thought he was going to pace, however he simply walked down the line to the barrel at the corner and played with it some before snuffling the ground and sauntering back to his food. He was completely thinking and not once in that unhealthy "zone" he gets into when he's pacing the fenceline. So so excited about our progress today!

Link's Secret

April 4

Today I decided to take a day off and only work with Link. I spent the day catching up on things at home so it was nice to just relax a bit with my own horse and have a shorter horse day!

When I initially brought Link into the arena, the place was empty (as usual); I thought he'd be a little ancy but he wasn't really at all. There was the odd time he spooked at something (ie. when I closed the large arena door), but otherwise he stood still to be groomed, head lowered and completely 100 percent LB and relaxed. No expressions of anxiety whatsoever!

On the ground we definitely had our challenges, though he did very well. Our driving and porcupines were great (working extra hard on that right side of his), and I got him down to a very very soft Phase 3 (wiggling my forearm) at the yo-yo, where the shank was barely swaying and he was backing up gently. I backed him all the way down the 22' twice and he was much softer than he usually is both times. Our sideways and squeeze (over a set of barrels) were also pretty good; our friendly game was injected in between all the games, particularly when I did use the stick for direction. Our circling game was a little rough...at first he was great, we got traveling circle, walk-trot transitions, and changes in direction and he actually stayed at the walk rather than immediately moving up into the trot for the most part. He did get a little RB though a little ways in and so it took some time and slow and patient work to get him back to being LB, but we did it! I was very proud of him for returning to working in partnership with me; soon we were back trotting and disengaging and such completely LB. Talking to him definitely still makes a difference and I ended up using my voice to keep him calm quite a few times. Next we tackled the weave; he was great to walk through the pattern with me on his right side, and then trot up it with my being on his right, but we could not seem to get a trot on the right side that remained calm and controlled (despite my body language - it helped to show I was uber relaxed, but did not fully prevent him from going RB). Since we just weren't getting it, I took him off the pattern and we did our figure-8, which we did until he was trotting calmly (he did it beautifully with very little direction on my part) before moving once again to the weave. We were still having troubles there and so went back to the driving game to re-cement his moving off of pressure (when he goes RB at the weave he misses cones by blocking me out and therefore not responding to my cues for him to move off and away from me around the cone) and also the switchback "pattern". At the switchback he was incredibly RB, bolting around violently as if I were about to beat him with the carrot stick - I just continued walking very calmly and quietly, giving him minimal and consistent direction and working hard to show him he could trust me and relax to listen to my cues. By the time we got from one end of the arena to the other (long side), he was relaxing much more; going back down the long side to the other end, he relaxed even moreso to the point where he was mostly LB and doing the switchback game. So we took on the weave again. We never did get much of a trot on the right side - we got a few tries of trot that were fully successful but started only about halfway through the pattern, which was an improvement for sure though! We also re-iterated our walk through the weave, with my being at the full length of the 22' - I had to be quite assertive in my body language on his right side (ie. very assertive pointing towards the cones), which seemed to help and ensure he was successful at the pattern. I'd like to see the weave even better, but today was an improvement within the session and about the same level as yesterday, which was still great to see.

Tacking Link up today he was quieter than yesterday; a little head bobbing but for the most part he was quiet and still throughout. Mounting up took two tries (the first he started to slowly walk off once I was up but hadn't swung my leg over yet) but he gave me permission and let me up on the second try. We did the same patterns we did last ride - walk-trot transitions, back-up, circles on the rail, figure-8, point-to-point. He was again great at all of them, though a little higher energy level today so we did not incorporate any canter in the point-to-point. He was fairly calm though at the point-to-point and his downward transitions (trot to halt) were a little cleaner than yesterday. All in all a great session though, it's great to be riding him and to have him LB and working like a partner with me! He is a very challenging horse and I'm amazed at what we are accomplishing thus far, particularly under-saddle (which is his most challenging area), it's great :)

Oh...oops...okay moving upwind now...lol

April 3

Chickadee
Our groundwork today was rather quick, as her owners were coming out to see her under-saddle and I wanted to have her saddled by the time they got there. We whipped through all her 7 games and the patterns - she was great and even improved over yesterday's session. Her owners got there just as I was saddling her, which was sort of neat because I was saddling her ground-tied and she stood still throughout the process (as usual), so they got to see that part as well. I wasn't quite sure what they wanted to see so I just went through everything we normally do under-saddle, but in a shortened format. We did walk-trot transitions along the rail, circles on the rail, etc. I think they were sort of starting to doubt me at this point; Chicka was spooking at the far end of the arena so I played a little touch-it under-saddle with her, having her walk up to the areas that were spooking her and putting her nose on them. She did it fairly easily, but her owners seemed like they were wondering what we were doing and whether it was her or me having control, haha. I explained the procedure to them before moving on to some stuff that would help them see better where she was at (by then she was pretty good about the far end of the arena). We did some trot and came down the center line weaving through the cones. I wasn't sure if she'd miss those cones or not because I could feel she was a little anxious, but she didn't which made sure we did look good haha. She looked great weaving through those cones at the trot. We also did some figure-8 at the walk and trot, showed her owners her back-up, and did some canter in either direction. They seemed very very pleased with her progress, which was great. She is doing very well, though today she was a little on edge so I was hoping she could accurately show them where she was at, which she did nicely. Over the next two weeks here I'd like to re-cement tarps, ropes around her rump, ropes being swung off of her, and get her leg aids down better than they are. Generally I'd just like to clean up what we have, ie. snappy downward transitions, clean corners, relaxed gaits, etc. She's doing great though and should go home in good order on the 19th :)


Link
Wow my favourite man was amazing today! When we entered the arena it was empty, so he was pretty uptight initially, spooking at everything and generally restless. I did not tie him and although he calmed down throughout the grooming process (so much damn winter hair! haha) he was still pretty restless. Doing our games though he slowly relaxed as we worked our way through them, but he still had that tendency to be RB. We tackled all other 6 games (which were great, most phase 1 or 2) before trying out the circling game and its associated patterns. I spoke to him a lot today, constantly saying 'easy' while he circled at the trot - it really really made all the difference today!! For the first time ever, we did the traveling circle at the trot, full 22', and he remained at the trot and relatively calm. He was a bit on edge, but never once tipped over that edge, which he usually does. We also did some transitions, which he started to pick up really well by the end, and we did some changes in direction; today he was anything but reactive. He was a little excited but held gait at the trot and was very responsive! We worked a little more on the driving game at this time too because he had the tendency a bit to just ignore me (out of disrespect, from what I could see); with a little work though he was soon hiding his hiney quite nicely and very quickly. When I asked him to disengage today, rather than disengaging and trying immediately to take off in the opposite direction, he was actually pretty calm (he looked like he wanted to take off, but didn't) and just walked up to me instead of taking off. The taking off is a manifestation of his feeling the need to continuously move his feet (flight), so it was great today to have him feeling like he did not have to move his feet so much. Next we took on the weave pattern - I really had to work uber hard to relax my body so that he wouldn't get RB and pick up speed on me. Once I learned to pay attention to myself and relax my body (I'd thought I was relaxed, but when I really evaluated myself I realised I wasn't completely relaxed - it was like I was trying to be relaxed but was poised to spring after him to correct him and him being so sensitive he definitely was picking that energy up), he really responded. He has a really long stride, so at the trot it was hard for me to stay super relaxed and still keep up haha but I figured out how to do it, and in doing so he also relaxed his trot so that I could keep up and he just naturally did the pattern well even when I fell behind, because I was allowing him to think rather than (inadvertently) pressuring him to be almost RB. The figure-8 he did perfectly at the trot...he was a little RB at first and even threw in some canter (!! haha) but he still did the pattern perfectly and then relaxed.

I've been really studying Cesar Millan (the Dog Whisperer on National Geographic), including reading his books - for awhile now, and have been finding a lot of it applicable to horses even!! One of the points was to not reward excitable energy, for example, you wouldn't put the leash on the dog until it's calm submissive, rather than excited dominant (for example). Excited submissive is a step down and is okay if it's part of the progress, but ultimately you do want calm submissive. Well with the horses then, and in particular then Link today, I didn't reward his RB behaviour by halting the pattern, even though he'd done it perfectly a few times already. Instead, I waited until he was calm and submissive before asking him to halt. It doesn't matter that he does it or not, it matters how he does it (which can affect whether he does it or not too). Pat I believe mentions this in his patterns dvd though, to not stop until you have the horse doing the pattern calmly. There's a lot more that I have found transferable from Millan's dog ideas to Parelli's horse ones.

When I originally brought Link in I had not planned on riding him, I did not think that I could get him LB enough to do any under-saddle work, as there was no other horses in the arena and he does not yet fully trust me as his leader. When we finished all our groundwork though he was great - he was very LB and I'd seen a drastic transition and a lot of thinking on his part from beginning to end of the ground session. He was a little ancy saddling, he kept his feet still after one correction but bobbed his head quite a bit, a manifestation of his anxiety. At that point actually someone came in to watch us a bit and so I wasn't sure how that would play in with Link's need for a herd - when she went to leave later would he be upset, or would he still see me as an adequate leader? We did all our level 1 patterns, walk-trot transitions, circles on the rail, figure-8, back-up. He did well at all of them and was much more responsive at our 3-part maneuver - particularly the bend to a stop!! His right side was hugely improved to the point where he wasn't moving his feet much and he was bending his neck with no resistance!! I was very proud to have him working as a partner with me. At that point the individual who had been watching us left, and Link's partnership with me did not change whatsoever. We did some point-to-point on short lines to relax him at the trot and work on our halts from the trot. His halts from the trot got better and better with each short line, to the point where I threw in some canter as well, on slightly longer lines. At first he was a little RB, wanting to take off and he felt like he might even buck, but by that point we'd already be at the halting point, so he'd have to halt. With a number of repeats he was giving me an actually pretty calm canter!! Still a ton of work to do, but I was very proud of him to get such a nice trot out of him after the point-to-point lines and to actually get a decent canter without his becoming too RB!!! All in all he was amazing today!! We finished with him completely LB.

The best part too was afterwards when I untacked him and he followed me about rather than pacing the fenceline. He paced a couple of times when I'd leave to take tack out to my car, but would immediately stop and remain LB when I returned!! Normally once he gets into his pacing pattern he doesn't stop for anything. It's like he gets into this unhealthy, unstable (mentally and emotionally) zone and cannot leave it for the world. So to see him pace, but still thinking while he did it, was amazing - and therefore to have him leave that pattern to follow me again was even better! He'd go from his grain bucket to follow me, then back to the grain bucket, then check out what I was doing, etc. A huge difference from some of our past sessions, it was great to see him so LB and thinking, and to see him working as a true partner with me. It was a fabulous feeling!!


Koolaid
His knee is still a little swollen, but there was less warmth there than yesterday, which is an improvement for sure. Full flexibility and no cracking noises or anything else unusual today!

When I was out checking in on Koolaid and Silver though I thought I could see out in the next field over (under different ownership), two cow bodies. So I went over and checked...the rest of the herd was a little ways off and I couldn't tell if they were pregnant or not, but there definitely wasn't a single calf on the ground out of say 12 or so cows that I could see (some were behind hills and such though). The cows I found were definitely pregnant. The first one had been torn apart a bit by coyotes, but she hadn't been dead for more than a day or so. The calf was still inside (very visible though thanks to the coyotes) :S I couldn't tell if he was breech or something, it was too hard to tell and I wasn't going to pick through everything with bare hands (lol). The second cow hadn't delivered either, and there wasn't a mark on her as far as coyotes go. She hadn't been dead for more than 15 minutes, maybe up to 30 but that's it; she still had foam around her mouth, she was still actively bleeding, etc. Her vulva seemed torn and she was definitely bleeding, but not enough to kill her...but perhaps there was more going on internally? I found it interesting that the second cow had chosen to lie (and later die) so close to this other dead cow... Also, I found it pretty maddening that these cows had died fruitlessly. Cows are expensive to lose, especially two, PLUS their calves! Where was the owner of these cows??? Why weren't they in? Why were they left to calve out in some field far away from any watchful eye?? Were these the only pregnant cows in the herd and so the owner did not value them or their calves?? I don't understand, but it's such a waste and it makes me angry that two cows suffered and died without someone even trying to save them or help them. To lose a cow or a calf despite every effort is one thing, but to lose one because you didn't (seem to) give a shit, is another. I'm not in that rancher's shoes so I cannot really judge - maybe the two calved earlier than the rancher had anticipated and so were not brought in yet, but it is still upsetting to find two cows and their calves in the shape they were, with no apparent care. My only recommendation is to stay upwind. Don't walk downwind of dead animals...like I did. Lol.

Link under-saddle!

April 2

Chickadee
Chicky seemed like she'd maybe slid a 1/4 step back today, but nothing serious, it just meant we had to work a little harder than usual. We worked quite a bit on achieving a higher level of respect, as she did not seem at first too keen on giving me all that much. We got some snappy transitions and changes in direction at the 7 games. Overall she was not as sensitive and was somewhat unfocused (she was quite concerned about what was outside that open arena door...but she ignored the other working horse -who was quite reactive much of the time - completely, which was great!). Her yo-yo was Phase 4 today (and HUGE Phase 4) when it is usually Phase 1 or 2 at most. Her porcupine was alright, but I had to use some driving game. Her driving game was great though. At the circling game she kept wanting to canter, but pretty soon she was doing the traveling circle at the trot. Changes in direction were a little rough on her right side (which is always her worst side anyways) but got better throughout the games and patterns. For the sideways game we had to use the wall - little more work to do in that area but we finished well. Her patterns were great after some initial mistakes!

By the time we got to her under-saddle work, the other horse and rider were gone, so Chickadee was even more distracted, but overall she did great! Her patterns were perfect, her transitions were okay (distracted), and we got quiet, comfortable w/t/c's in both directions. Her back-up was horrible though, she absolutely refused to back up, even though she normally does so in an instant when I so much as pick up a rein and ask with the lightest touch. It took a lot of work just to get two steps each time I asked! Afterwards we went for a bit of a walk around the yard outside, say 15 minutes. At one point she spooked at a tractor that roared up a ways behind her, but after a turn-and-face she was great. We walked through snow, huge mud puddles, slippery, sticky mud...etc and she was completely calm and great throughout.

It's probably too much to ask that she be where we left off after 6 days off like last time she had 6 off! I guess I can't be lucky every time. Haha. Oh well, a 1/4 step back is not much ;) we'll bring it back up by tomorrow hopefully :) On another note, she was great to catch today!


Link
Monkey walked up to me today on his own to come check me out ;P I did not tie him up either (I caught him after putting the yellow Dee away) and he was quite calm throughout, lead rope just looped over my arm. He was a little curious of everything (1 - part of his extroverted personality, and 2 - part of his being a young extroverted 5yo toddler) but for the most part remained still, even when I used the metal shedding blade on his winter coat (which he normally does not allow - I'd forgotten he didn't like it and had just automatically started using it before I remembered hehe). No pawing, no pacing, no bobbing his head, no anxious behaviour whatsoever, which was great!

We started out on the ground with our 7 games, which he breezed through with ease for the most part. Our first "game" was to do some switchbacks, just to establish communication (I wanted to show him I was calm and reliable, that we could communicate in a LB state of mind...after a few moments he relaxed with me and we got onto the same level of communication). I had to remain very calm and quiet and just walk my straight line while casually cueing him to continuously change direction. He did great though in the end! He was a little too right-brained to do the sideways game without the wall though. His yo-yo was much better than usual, Phase 3 (wiggling my forearm) - but a very very light Phase 3!! Normally he is at Phase 4 (wiggling my entire arm) - full-out (uber wiggling, lol), and he still stands with his head raised and body tensed; it's taken a lot of work, but he is getting there! His driving and porcupines both were phase 1 with 180-360 degree circles. Since it had been awhile since we'd last played, and even longer since just him and I had played all the games together, I started off the circling game with the 12'. This was the point where the other rider in the arena (different from the one working while Chicka and I were at play) told me I could borrow her longe line. Actually, no. Buuut thanks anyways. I put him on my 22' and we continued our circling game. He did tend to want to go RB and canter, but for the most part he was on an edge, like he wanted to stay LB but was teetering to falling of that edge and becoming RB. We started off slow, with short lengths of trot before I'd ask him to hide his hind and relax. A few times too when he took off into a run I stopped him but then had him move out immediately afterwards, keeping his mind busy. The thing that I felt had the largest affect on him today though was talking to him; I just kept repeating easy, easy, the entire time, and we actually got several laps (one+ at a time) in either direction, which is a lot of progress for him, particularly after 6 days off!

I talk to my horses a lot (usually) and do find it has an effect. Chickadee seems to always perk up and know she's done well when I tell her good job; they are able to read our tones of voices. I always knew it had an impact, but with Link it just really sank in because of the drastic difference it made with him. So that is my goal, to talk even more with the horses - with Link today I even added in the good job line (lol). I think the easy's cause him to relax because when he's on that verge of becoming RB, he's not paying so much attention to my body language anymore, he's tense and is becoming more and more "zoned" - the RB walls are approaching closer and closer until they're surrounding his vision like a tunnel and he stops thinking and seeing. So the voice is something that he doesn't have to see and notice himself - he automatically hears it and in it he hears relaxation, and so he follows that leadership a bit. The good job's seem to convey my happiness in their achievement, so that they know they've done well. We even ended up doing some successful changes in direction at the trot (usually cause him to become RB)!! We did do a few transitions (w/t) but did not attempt the traveling circle or spiraling today though - another day!

Our weave was a little sticky at first; usually I start Link off on the figure-8 to get him in a good frame of mind before moving on to the weave, which is more challenging for him to play than the figure-8, but today the other rider had her daughter riding the horse around the barrels I'd set up and I didn't feel like asking for the barrels back (lol). So we started with the weave! Doing the weave with my being on his left Link was fine, even at the trot, but my being on his right side was trickier for him (his right side is always the trouble spot on the circling game and under-saddle too). It took a number of runs (to which I got a hey look, he knows the pattern now! in a I-think-he's-done-that-pattern-enough-times voice from the other rider, haha) but we eventually got a more-or-less LB trot down the weave on his right side, which was great! If a pattern is boring a horse, it is definitely time to move on, however if it continues to teach a horse, then it is definitely okay to continue! Afterwards I decided to just use the cones for the figure-8 rather than steal the barrels back - besides, using the cones would have been more challenging. He was brilliant! At first he did not quite understand and was a little RB (manifested particularly on his right side by taking off when that side faced me), but once he figured out all we were doing was the figure-8 pattern he performed it perfectly, and at the trot!

He was doing so well and I was thinking I could handle the challenge today (or at least try it), so I tacked him up, leadrope looped over my arm again. He was actually very still to be saddled, though he did bob his head a bit in anxiety...so more work to do there ;P It took a few tries before his feet stopped moving when I tried to mount up, but he let me up in the end. We started out with our 3-part-maneuver; the latter 2 parts (turn on the hind, turn on the fore) were great but we had trouble bending his nose to my knee on the right side - he kept bracing against me and moving his feet. Finally I figured out though to a) ask softly - when he pulled his head away, follow him without trying to pull his nose back, then re-ask immediately and softly, and to b) accept small! By rewarding his slightest tries (rather than expecting the same response I was getting on his left side and only rewarding that), I actually got a lot more from him. I started by rewarding when he so much as bent his nose a little to the right (even if his feet were still moving) and kept asking for more until he was bending his nose to my knee easily and without a fight (just for a few seconds, but that was great progress for him!!). We worked on our under-saddle patterns - officially and all of them together for the first time ever: walk-trot transitions (if I talked to him calmly I was able to get longer LB trot), circles on the rail (extremely soft and responsive to my leg - these were a breeze for him!), changes in direction (same response as the small circles on the rail), and back-up (a bit of a challenge for him - whenever I asked he'd become anxious and try to paw, bob, and even brace a bit against me, but we got a few responsive and soft steps each time I asked). We also did the figure-8 pattern - he was a bit RB but still did it well...more repeats (ie. more sessions doing our the figure-8 under-saddle) will improve that area though. We did not do too much moving out otherwise, a little bit of trotting figure-8's and down a bit more of the long side of the arena than usual (usually I keep his trot lines pretty short) and he was great...a little RB and as a result I could feel his body tense the entire time and he even threw in one small, smooth buck (so smooth I'm not even so sure it was not just an extra-long trot stride hahaha) - part of his RB reaction to get me off so he is free to take off in flight should it be necessary, but otherwise he did fabulous! I think more repeat sessions will help calm him down and allow him to be relaxed under-saddle and particularly at the trot. Also, the woman with the other horse in the arena had taken over again (ie. kicked her daughter off the horse) and was yelling at this Appy (little sidenote: this Appy is 4yrs old and ridden by a 11yo or so girl...the horse doesn't even know what she's doing yet, how can you expect it to follow the direction of an 11yo, especially when said 11yo is unfocused and crying because her mom is yelling at her to take control of the horse...) while kicking her sides violently and making the horse turn tight circles (nooot a pretty picture...and then she was wondering why the horse kept biting at her and bucking). The horse herself was not really RB but the energy the woman was projecting (and all that yelling), had a huge effect on Link - he'd humped his back a few times in nervouseness before while we were trotting but had not bucked until the woman began yelling. Just as we were about to pass her on her horse (she was in the center but at one end of the arena), she really took the yelling and kicking a notch up and Link spooked a bit, throwing in that afore-mentioned buck to get rid of me in case the screaming predator taking down that Appy decided to take him down too! Lol. At that point I actually dismounted, which helped him go back to being mostly-LB once again. Once the woman dismounted (a good 5 min later), I remounted and we played another 5 minutes or so to end on a good note. We ended there and I led him out before the other horse could leave; as well as he was doing, he was still quite tense and on the verge of going RB and so I did not feel he was in the right frame to be working in the arena alone once the other horse left. We'll save that for another day when we are better prepared! Once our foundation is firmly cemented it will not be an issue whatsoever to work on our own.

It's been awhile since Link and I have done anything under-saddle, so I was proud of him for us having such a successful session with his working like a partner!! Overall he was quite tense both on the ground and under-saddle, but even so he did everything very well and I strongly feel repeat sessions (particularly if I can get him on a regular, daily schedule for a bit here once I am done practicum) will help him relax into a deeper LB state. In the mean time we'll keep progressing through those patterns to develop that partnership :) I'm keen on experiencing some of the liberty Link and I did this winter but I guess I'll have to wait a bit hehe.


Koolaid
His knee is still a little swollen, which worries me, but he maintains full flexibility, even after 3 days without physio (I was on practicum). When I did his physio today his knee cracked a couple of times and sounded a little "rough" as I initially picked it up of the ground, but he had no troubles flexing it and the joint itself felt really smooth as I did his physio, even from the very beginning. So, so far so good...hopefully that swelling (and a little heat) goes down soon here! My hope is that the weather is nice enough tomorrow to take his half-brother Silver out for a ride!!