Today Brandy and I started our session  with some stick to me. She is getting much better at staying with me at the halt.

The yoyo game was even lighter and more willing than before! Next we played the circling game.
I was doing my best to be more interesting to her.
We did lots of changes of speeds, directions and even some traveling circles.

I had the hula hoop out and Brandy actually stepped in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have been working very hard on that, and she finally did it. After that hard work I took  her to eat some grass.

After that I wondered how to improve our friendly game with the tarp. After playing with it for a few minutes, I discovered that Brandy's "yeah but don't" spot is around her ears. It was a bit windy so I decided to leave friendly game with her ears for some other day.

I put my pretend "feather line" on her halter and did some more stick to me. Brandy is learning that when my energy goes up it means something is about to happen.

Then I took the rope off and we did some liberty stick to me! I learned that Brandy has a special bubble. If I accidentally move out of that bubble she disconnects. Another thing I learned is that Brandy stays connected for longer if we alternate me sticking to her and vice versa once  in a while.
 
I finished off the session with the new Masterson massage technique that I learned. It is called the withers wiggle. It is basically touching the individual withers with air gap pressure. Brandy just loved it! She went from alert and not paying attention to me to a relaxed state so fast. She had her eyes half closed and looked like she was really enjoying it.

Today Brandy and I started our session with some nice grooming and a massage. I had the tarp and the hula hoop out. We played some stick to me and did lots of figure eight's.

Her yoyo game was just amazing! She was super light and responsive.

I made a pretend feather line by tying together the strings of my carrot stick and my kids' stick. Brandy loved it! She was even more responsive and light.
 
After some time I thought that since the indoor arena was empty, we could try some liberty.
So I put the "feather line" on Brandy's back and started some stick to me, alternating who was sticking to who. Her liberty yoyo game was amazing so I tried the circling game. It was so cool how she didn't leave me just because I wasn't looking. Then I set up a slightly smaller figure eight.

Brandy is really good at the draw on my left but not on my right. As Pat Parelli says, "when you take the rope off all you have left is the truth." This was a really interesting truth to find out. Next session I will try to fix that.

Then mom came and got the camera out. I am extremely camera shy. Something about my body language must have changed because Brandy just left me.
 
I remembered how I played the catching game with Zaina long ago. I did not have the opportunity to play the catching game with Brandy before as Doll, her paddock buddy and best friend, is very dominant and drives Brandy away all the time.
 
I started playing the catching game with Brandy.
Brandy started to come towards me but then left to sniff the poop on the corner. I ran over there as fast as I could and tagged the poop with the carrot stick, and to my surprise Brandy CANTERED away. Yes I did say cantered! She also looked comfortable cantering and didn't bob her head or limp at all.
 
She stopped and after I disengaged her, she started to come in, but all that cantering had shaken the line of her back and it was now dragging on the ground so, naturally, Brandy had to step on it. She stopped and looked at me in expectation as if to say: well, are you going to help me so we can resume the game or what? So I walked over to free her (she is just fine with me walking up to her) then hurried back to the spot where I left off. Brandy seemed to really be enjoying the game. After reconnecting with her we did some more stick to me and ended the session.

I had a video lesson with Kari Bowser today!

Here is the video I submitted:

The following are some of the things I learned during my lesson:

When playing the stick to me I had some issues with Brandy not going forward  when my energy went up. I was making it as obvious as I could but she wouldn't move her feet unless I moved mine.

Kari suggested I would give Brandy a long phase 1 and then move my feet, and if she doesn't stick to me I need to reach over with the carrot stick to zone 4 / 5 and hurry her up. Brandy will soon pick up that if she sticks to me she doesn't have to do more work catching up.

Brandy is acting very left brained during the circling game and is not putting much effort into her task. I need to be more engaging to her by being more particular and asking more of her.

The weave: I need to practice bringing Brandy in with my core.

During the Yoyo game, I achieved lightness, now we need to work on a faster more willing response.

Next video needs to include the catching game, the sideways game, the squeeze, and some stick to me. 

Brandy has three new toys!!!!!!

Pool noodles!!!!!!!!!!

 I did not intended to do anything with them, just have them out for now.

Today was a bit of a slow day for Brandy and I.


We did some weaves and figure 8's. Brandy was lighter than ever, and was switching from weave to figure 8 and vice versa much more readily.


Next we played some circling game. We slowly traveled closer to the pool noodles, then farther away.

After that we played some stick to me. Both of us are improving a lot. Brandy even stepped over one of the pool noodles! Then I asked for just the front feet to step over the noodle. After standing like that for a few seconds I asked Brandy to back up. She was so calm!!!

At the end, I groomed her. She loves to be brushed.
Then, like most times, I massaged her.


Before I put her back in her paddock I let her eat some grass.

Today I decided it was a 'see how much we can achieve with the tarp' day.  To get connected we played the circling game with changes of directions and speed. We also did traveling circles for the first time(super slowly, but it still counts!).

Then we played the yoyo game next to the tarp, then over it. Brandy is going on the tarp more confidently than last time but she still thinks she needs to lift her feet  higher than usual when she steps on it. Also when she is backing up she drags her feet more, maybe because the texture feels funny under her hooves or the noise it makes worries her or she just wants to make the tarp wrinkly so that she gets to rest while I straighten it out :-P

We played the circling game some more and I took her to the fence and asked for one step sideways which she did beautifully (on both sides). Although she still has the tendency to run away when I ask her for sideways. I let her know that I do not appreciate her bum in my face by lightly tapping her HQ with the stick. After doing that once she stopped doing it for the whole session. She is understanding the concept of the sideways game, and what I am working on right now is how light can she be when playing the sideways game.

The last thing we worked on was a surprise!
Below is a clip my mom filmed at the very end.

We finished off the with a short massage session. As I carefully ran my hand over the bladder meridian like usually, Brandy released her tension in the poll more than ever before: she licked, chewed, snorted and shook her mane. I can tell she trusts me more because she is opening up to me and releasing her tension in my presence.

I couldn't believe two HOURS passed so quickly.

We practiced more stick to me today. It's like I have two left feet. I have lots of trouble getting into rhythm with  Brandy's feet, especially when we are already walking so I worked on that some more.

Donna was playing with Zaina and we decided to let the mares touch noses. They touched noses slowly and carefully, then Brandy squealed and jumped back. After that they stood, lowered their heads, licked and chewed about it. I remembered that in an earlier play session Brandy allowed Zaina to touch her tail and was pretty calm.

We also played the circling game. Brandy has improved so much! She now is understanding the the idea more. Donna had the tarp set up and when she wasn't using it, we played the circling game while I was standing on it. We also played the yoyo game next to  it.

Next I set up a figure 8. Brandy seems to enjoy it as much as I do. She did it with a nice big smile on the rope, was paying attention, and her
disengage was nice too.

Then we went back to the tarp. It was in the corner and I thought it looked like a nice squeeze. We played the circling game next to it. I made it more of an oval to provide  release when she went through it. Then I started to make next to the tarp a good place to rest. She got to stop and rest by the tarp but when she left she was asked to trot away from it. Soon she began to get more comfortable with the tarp.

Donna also had a very low jump set up and Brandy touched it with her hoof and even offered to put one foot over it! But I had to take her away from it because they were Donna's homemade poles made from PVC pipes and colorful duct tape. They might break if Brandy got a little too comfortable with them and offered to step on them.

Then we went back to the tarp yet again.
This was the big moment... I was going to walk over the tarp with enough slack in the rope for Brandy to have a choice weather to walk over it or around it. She followed me right on it, then... she heard the noise her front feet made on the tarp and put her nose down in surprise to examine the cause of the unfamiliar noise. After letting her nose at the tarp I backed her off of it and let her think about it.
Then we both calmly walked over the tarp.

Donna then suggested that I try some liberty with Brandy as she was taking Zaina for some grass as a treat, leaving the arena empty. I took the line off and found out two truths. One, that she is connected to me enough to do stick to me through a wide squeeze and two, that Brandy left me, to go stomp on a small pile of grey grit left in the corner of the arena. She nosed at it for some time then stepped on it and licked and chewed. I wonder how long she wanted to explore it.
 
Then it was sadly time to put her back in her paddock with her buddy Doll and tidy up.

Today I had the inside arena all to myself!
So I took full advantage of it and set up a figure 8 and a very big weave. I also had the ball and Brandy's new hula hoop out. 

First we practiced stick to me. I am learning to guess which foot is going to move first and time my feet to hers. Another thing I practiced was getting into rhythm with Brandy when we are already walking.

Next we played the yoyo game. Now that Brandy understands the concept of the game we are really having fun switching it up and being more particular. For example asking her to take two steps back then one step forward then back all the way, then forward half way etc. Brandy was really light today and had a awesome draw. I am hoping to switch to the 22 foot line soon! 

After, we did a squeeze between the hoop and the ball! She went through this squeeze relatively calmly considering how right it was! Only about wide  enough for her to fit through.

We also played the circling game with obstacles!
They were two barrels, one standing upright and the other lying on its side, the ball and the hoop.
I sent Brandy on the circle and watched as she figured out the obstacles. Soon I started being more particular and started asking her to come to the inside of the barrel and to the outside of the ball and adding changes of direction and changes of speeds at the walk and even trotting a little! Brandy and I had tons of fun playing with the obstacles.

Then I turned the circling game to the weave.
I find the weave I bit challenging and have trouble sending her through with confidence. I think I did pretty well with that today. I know, because Brandy mirrors me and she walks through the weave with confidence when I send her through with confidence. And when I am unsure she stops and looks at me. After doing the weave a few times I turned the last two blocks into a figure 8. I remember trying to do the figure 8 before and it was a mess. But today it was very easy and she did three figure 8's with lots of slack in the line.  

The next thing we did was  the porcupine game and she is needing my hand on her nose less and less during the FQ yield.

We finished off the session with me bouncing the ball all around her and on her back and finally (because I felt she was ready) I pushed it between her legs for the first time. Brandy didn't even flinch!
The whole session was amazing!

Guess what Brandy did today! She took two steps sideways down a pole!!! Here is how it happened: I was grooming Brandy by the mounting block while Donna was setting up some obstacles for her horse Zaina. Then she went to get her and I started to play stick to me with Brandy. I saw the pole and asked her to put her front feet over it. Brandy looked very comfortable with the pole between her feet so I asked (using the porcupine game) her to take one step sideways, she did and even offered another one!!!!

The yoyo game was really light and Brandy was really paying attention to me. She still gets stuck sometimes but a bit less then she used to. Adding the driving game is really helping her.

After the yoyo game we started to play the circling game. My new more effective strategy is to ask her to do something harder if she breaks gait. Making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard. Brandy was not very sore today so I  asked her to trot a little bit. The first time she broke gait I asked her to back up then change direction then trot. After repeating this one more time she walked three laps around without  breaking gait. Her disengage was nice too.

I wanted Brandy to take one forequarter yield step both directions without my hand on her nose. It was tons of fun to help her figure out this puzzle. Of course we quit when she finally took one step at phase one without my hand on her nose.

After our play session I did the bladder meridian on both sides and got her to  release at the poll and the HQ.

The only thing that did not go as planned was that it was very windy and we couldn't play with the ball.

I did not have much time with Brandy yesterday, because the arena was wet with rain. By the time I finished grooming her the arena dried up in the warm sunshine. We practiced stick to me in zone two. It is going pretty well but we need to improve on her walking with confidence while I am in zone two.

The other thing we worked on was the yoyo game. Now this was really interesting. It was amazing to watch Brandy learn and figure it out.

First, like usual, I started by asking her to take  a step or two back using the porcupine game and then proceeded to yoyo her back. After about halfway out she tried to go out to the circle, I continued to ask her with phase one. She swung her HQ around and faced me. Then she got stuck, so I created more energy by swinging the tail of the rope at her chest and quit when she got unstuck. Normally I would have asked her for a circle or invite her in. Instead I asked her to take one step towards me and then stop. It took her a second to realize what was I asking of her. Brandy has a really good draw and loves to stand close to me and get her forehead or "delicate zone" rubbed. 

She looked at me with pricked ears and asked  a question. I asked her to yoyo back three steps and she even offered a forth one. I brought her in half way, stopped, then invited her in my space to get her delicate zone rubbed. Then I yoyoed her back all the way and then played the circling game.

I find the circling game challenging because Brandy always stops behind me the first few times then she passes behind my back just fine and I quit. It has become a pattern and I am not exactly sure how to break out of it.

I think that either Brandy is not sure what to do yet and I just need to resend her with phase one until she gets the idea or, she perfectly understands me and is just being disrespectful in witch case I need to turn around and tag the ground on the spot where she was. On the other hand she might run when I tag the ground and even trotting can be painful for her at times. Next time I have a video lesson with Kari I will ask her about that.

Here is a little back story: I've been interested in equine massage for some time now. I thought it might be fun to try it out and see if it is for me.

Sadly, I am very squeamish about blood, guts, etc. I decided to overcome the squeamishness, find some books, and try it out. Donna recommended a book called: "Beyond Horse Massage" by Jim Masterson and even let me borrow her copy.

The Masterson Method is a very gentle, kind method that pays attention to the horse and adjusts accordingly to his/her response. Also the book has clear, easy to understand diagrams and I find it is a great start for slowly overcoming squeamishness.

So I  started reading the book, slowly soaking up all information. In the second chapter I learned about the bladder meridian on the horse. You are supposed to very slowly and very lightly run your fingertips down the meridian. The next time I got to see Brandy, I thought, why not just lightly run my hands over the bladder meridian just to see it on a real horse. I had no intention on getting any release.

As I run my hands down the meridian Brandy started licking and chewing and by the time I got to the ting point she was asleep with her head lowered and her leg cocked. I feel very encouraged with her response and will continue to learn more about equine massage.

If you are interested in learning more I suggest searching Masterson method on YouTube as it has some great videos.