Dappled Blue - Bailey

Session #16: Best Session Ever!

2/1/2015

Today I was going to try to get more playful with Bailey. When I tried it before, she got nervous so I was not sure if this would do much good in a situation like this. It was super windy in the arena and when I brought Bailey up she started to raise her head as high as she could and be prepared to jump around at the slightest gust of wind. The moment she stopped looking at me with soft eyes I would get all sneaky with the " you better back up or else I'll..... Get you!!!!!!😄 " attitude.

(I should mention that because the tack room was locked, I could not get my carrot stick.
So we just had fun without it.)

It was so much fun to play this game with Bailey! I asked her to back up at yoyo game at phase one. Bailey thought that she could think about the wind instead of me. So I went up my phases slowly and then went to phase four. Bailey's reaction was sooooo funny!
She had the most surprised expression!!!

As we played I was laughing my head off! I was thinking: Don't make me get to phase four! And Bailey was thinking: Maybe I won't pay attention to you today, ahhhh!! You tagged me!😅

By the end of the session Bailey went out twelve feet at phase one the whole time!
Before that I had to go to phase two at least once!

This was probably the best session ever!!!!!!!

It was a short session but we had so much fun and excitement and laughter that it didn't even matter. In fact Bailey and I have been struggling with the yoyo game for some time now, and I am so happy that we got it.

Session #15

1/30/2015

When I brought by Bailey up to the arena, she was nervous and wanted to move her feet.
She started to do the "skitter," when she is moving faster than a twelve foot circle gives her room for. I did not want to change to a twenty two foot line because she was not used to it. We haven't played with the twenty foot line because of other people in the arena and when we were alone the main focus was on relaxation. I also did not want Bailey to run it out because Amanda does not want Bailey to learn that she is allowed to run like that with other people.
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So far to stop Bailey I would exhale as obviously as I could and bring my energy down even more to stop, but still stay facing the circle or ask her to disengage.
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But today Bailey was not responding to the disengage. I asked her lightly for one circle and then I lightly tagged her with the stick and string. This made Bailey only speed up more.
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I called Amanda to the arena and she showed me a different method, the one when you pull the rope in the opposite direction she is going. It was very effective, but Bailey's mind felt like it was still up in outer space.
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I felt I needed to stop and think about it so I brought Bailey to her stall. We finished by asking Bailey to wait for her carrots.
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I have gotten a bit emotional and did not want to affect Bailey too much. I think she still knew about it as I can't hide my emotions from any horse as they are so very sensitive to body language.
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Update: we have gotten ourselves sorted out and have had an amazing session right after!

Video lesson with Kari Bowser

1/26/2015

I had a video lesson with Kari Bowser, 1 star Parelli Professional, on session #13, as I was finally able to get it on video. This is the video that I submitted to her:

Friendly game: was pretty good but I have to remember to not overdo it as Bailey can become too desensitized to the carrot stick.

Driving game: I do not get to phase four and instead get stuck at phase three.

Porcupine game: combine driving game with porcupine game to help Bailey back up.

FQ yield: to get it to the next level I need to communicate to Bailey to pivot on her outside hind foot by getting just the right balance of her weight so that she doesn't walk forward but does not cross over behind with her front legs.

Yoyo game: I need ask Bailey to lower her head and roll her weight back with some feel on the halter. I need to stay as close as is needed to help her understand better.

Circling game: during the send I need to focus on zone two first. I have been pointing the carrot stick at her HQ. It would also help if I asked Bailey to back up first so that her weight is on her HQ and she can move her front feet over and start the circle.

Overall:

We have established great rapport, the next step would be to get more playful!
I need to have a"tag you're it!" playful attitude and be more provocative.

I also need to start practicing pushing Bailey outside of her comfort zone just enough to get her to think " Oh my! What was that! " and then help her calm down. This will help both of us get emotionally fit.

I need to remember that when teaching I reward the slightest try, however when refining I reward when she is light.

Session #14

1/25/2015

Today was a relatively slow day for Bailey and I. We started with some stick to me at the walk and trot practicing light transitions.

I thought we should start learning sideways together. We started by the wall with me standing next to her asking Bailey to start with her front feet. Then I added the hind feet.
After nailing that, I started to ask for sideways one more step away. Bailey started to turn and to face me. So I focused more energy to zone one and two.

Bailey got too close to the wall then stopped and seemed to ask for my help to get unstuck. Again I focused more energy at her chest. We tried sideways without the wall and the result was sideways and forward at the same time. We stopped there.

To finish I asked Bailey to speed up and she zipped sideways in both directions almost all the way down the wall. She got a little nervous so we did some driving game to calm back down. The last thing we did was just having Bailey rest with her nose on the wall as she does like to change positions without me asking her to.

Sadly our arena time ended there.

Session #13

1/22/2015

Today Bailey was calm and relaxed from the very beginning. I got her busy right away. I asked her to walk then trot four circles in each direction. She likes to break gait on the third circle behind me. I think my body language changes. I do my very best not to think about the last circle and pretend that we need eight rather than four. The changes of directions at the trot we great! My problem was that I wasn't backing up enough for her to have room to change direction without breaking gait.

I asked her to go sideways by the wall, I persisted until she stepped very lightly and calmly.

For the friendly game I did helicopter at zone 5. Bailey was tolerating it, not really relaxed. Still it is much better than freezing when I lift the stick over her back.

I wanted to work on something completely new and challenging for Bailey. I looked at the self assessment list and choose backing up by the tail. I remembered that it took me about four sessions to achieve this with Alex with me standing in zone five using the rope to ask him to step back. I got that with Bailey in about twenty minutes.

We began by backing in zone two working our way to zone five. I thought that was pretty impressive. I started to pick up her tail before asking her to step back with the rope.

One thing we ran into was that Bailey likes to turn around and face me a lot. I smile at her and get positioned to try again. But she is doing her best and licking and chewing practically the whole time.

As always, I asked her to wait for my permission to eat her carrots.

Session #12

1/18/2015

Today was a very short session for Bailey and I. We had about half an hour of arena time. Bailey was very nervous when I first brought her up. She was racing around on the circle, snorting and waving her tail around, prancing short panicked steps. She was trying to crowd me a lot, so I was very firm about where the boundary of my bubble was.

She also was very quickly changing directions, invading my space in the process. She once reared a little bit and then continued her prancing. I had gotten after her for it twice and she stopped trying. Soon I felt her mind slowly come back and she started to think again. However she still needed to move her feet. I thought we could put her energy to good use and do some medium speed sideways.

She trotted sideways about twelve feet away. I could see that she was putting effort in organizing her feet. After about twenty feet of sideways I brought my energy down and Bailey came to a halt. Bailey had a good lick and chew. Then, unfortunately, Bailey heard a big noise outside and she started to panic again, she started running half circles around me and I knew she lost her head again.

I knew there was no stopping her so I smiled and allowed her to move as much as she needed to. She crowded me very hard one more time and I got after her a little harder. Bailey thought that that was unfair and she bucked around for one full circle. Then she looked at me and I smiled at her.

We did some nice slow circles at the trot. She soon relaxed and was bending to the inside with her head lowered. As she was trotting she licked and chewed a few times.

As she wasn't crowding my anymore I though we would try some proper circling game. She nicely walked four circles in each direction and and then trotted four circles to the left and three to the right.

Next we did some stick to me. We both trotted and then I brought me energy down. Bailey stopped and then she backed up with me in perfect harmony. Next I stood on the mounting block stamping my feet with rhythm waiting for Bailey to relax. We also did some extreme friendly game with the carrot stick. Our arena time ended then but we accomplished so much. I am very happy with this session.

Session #11

1/10/2015

Today I practiced my lounging skills. I am happy to say that I felt more confident than last time.

Bailey was very relaxed, responsive and forgiving of my mistakes. I was very thankful of that. Soon I had worked everything out and started to work on changes of directions.
Bailey's changes of directions were so light, responsive, quick, relaxed and balanced, and Bailey had her head low and relaxed. I was sooooooo pleased! I could have done a happy dance!

We also had one accidental lope! I had pushed Bailey a little too fast and firm. She loped two strides before I slowed her down by bringing my energy down. I have not planned on this little lope as Bailey was very nervous the last time Amanda asked her to lope on the ground. We then went right back to practicing changes of directions.

I thought we would try the trotting figure eight. You know, the trotting figure eight that prevented me from passing level two with Alex? Anyway we tried it and the results were awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bailey looked so awesome and balanced and light!!!!!! I was so excited!!!!!!! Our progress is rocketshooting as the changes of directions at the walk and trot will help with a lot of other things.

Session #10

1/9/2015

Today when I brought Bailey into the arena the rain was absolutely pounding on the roof. I will be honest, I was not completely trusting that Bailey would relax in the beginning. But as I walked up the ramp I did my best to be as relaxed as possible. I even exhaled and smiled when Bailey looked at me.

Bailey was actually very calm and responsive during the whole session. We did some extreme friendly game focusing in zone four and five. We achieved relative calmness with extreme friendly game directly behind her. I spent a good half the session getting more and more relaxation especially when I helicoptered the carrot stick over our heads.

I practiced a little lounging. I was a little nervous as Bailey was nervous the last time I tried it. It went very well for my first time lounging properly without Amanda watching.

We did some stick to me at the walk and trot, working on asking her to shift her weight to her haunches just a tiny bit by porcupine her nose down and back with the halter at phase one.

Bailey is very good at this because of her training under saddle and working in the bridle. We ended the session with some sideways game! Our best yet! We have the lightness down, now we will start working on distance between us.

Session #9

1/3/2015

At the beginning of this session Bailey was nervous and disconnected. I let her move her feet until she asked me a question. Then I played some stick to me with her, practicing asking her to lower her head and relax while walking. Maybe next session we will try this at the trot.

Next I took her to touch the barrel. Bailey nosed at it and then she licked it. Then she nodded her head and licked and chewed. She began to relax even more. I positioned Bailey beside the barrel as if I was going to ask her to move sideways over it.

I played porcupine game on her shoulder just enough so that she shifted her weight toward the barrel and I decided to quit there.

We also tried a little bit of sideways. I asked Bailey for four steps and then I smiled and gave her a rub. When I took her to her stall I gave her a treat, asking her to wait for my permission to walk over to the feed bin.

Also, this is not exactly Parelli, but I will record this anyway. Amanda has been teaching me to lounge Bailey. I am getting better and learning how to talk to Bailey. I will practice more next session.

First day of the new year!

1/1/2015

Today when leading Bailey to the spare stall I asked her to lower her head and to shift her weight back a tiny bit. I try to do this any time I am leading Bailey if the moment is appropriate.

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