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Bailey in the stall

12/31/2014

I was in the stall with Bailey and thought I would try one little thing. I saw it on Parellitube the official parelli YouTube channel. Here is the link to it.

http://youtu.be/acFG0jA7WEc

It was about girthing issues.

I saw Linda ask the student to put a rope around the horse's girth and start to tighten it very slowly. When the house showed sings of displeasure she stopped the tightening and waited for the horse to relax. After the horse licked and chewed she started again.

I did this with Bailey and soon she started to relax. I did this a couple of times.

The next time I saddled Bailey, she was a little calmer when I slowly did the girth up.
However she still switches her tail and holds her breath as I lower the saddle on her back.

Another thing I noticed was that she really hates it when I tighten the girth up one hole on the cross ties but she is a lot better in the arena.

Next session I think I will bring a blanket to practice putting on her back and see if that helps.

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Session #8

12/23/2014

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Today's session was short and sweet.

When I first led Bailey into the arena she was very nervous of the wind outside. I helped Bailey become calm and connected by asking her to trot on a circle. She was very pushy and kept shoving into my space especially behind me, so I turned with her asking her to stay out and to maintain gait.

We also tried some traveling circles.
Soon Bailey calmed down a little and started to stop and give me both eyes. However she still had her head high and was very aware of the noises. I set up a figure eight and started to teach her her first proper figure eight.

Bailey had a wonderful draw on her left but not on her right. So I practiced just the right side until she was better. Soon the figure weight was amazing and she kept a smile in the rope the whole time. Since the arena was empty I thought we would try some liberty figure eights. She disconnected once but then came right back after I disengaged her hindquarters. We enbed the session with a treat and a rub.

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December 20, 2014, Session #7

12/20/2014

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I had the most wonderful session with Bailey today. I had the first five minutes of the arena to myself so we did some liberty stick to me, yoyo game and a small "almost" figure eight.

Also our draw was wonderful. She came right to me from about ten feet away.
Our send could use some work though.

Then two other riders came in and we agreed to set up some poles and markers to play with. Bailey was cautious but curious and soon started to nose at the blocks and poles.
For some reason she started nibbling on the poles and licking at the textured bumps on the side of those blocks. I am not sure why she tried to do that.

Next I stood on one of the blocks and rubbed Bailey's back. She nosed me up and down and then lowered her head. She looked like she went a little introverted for a few moments but then she licked and chewed a lot.

We walked over the poles and attempted to trot over them. Bailey was willing to follow me at the walk and trot over the poles but hesitated when I sent her herself. I stood the blocks on their side and let Bailey explore them. We spent lots of time just standing together in the arena letting Bailey explore the toys at her own time.

The next thing I asked Bailey to do is to back over two poles in a row. She was a little bit nervous but she kept her cool and backed over them anyway. After she stepped over the last one I let her have a moment then I took her away from the poles. I just stood there with her for what felt like a few minutes. Bailey gave the biggest yawn ever and then three more yawns, followed by a lick and chew. I felt this was the perfect time to quit and to give Bailey her baby carrots.

I took her down to her stall, put her blanket on, braided her tail and finally gave her the baby carrots. I asked her to wait nicely while I was dumping the treats in the bin.
I am so happy that Bailey was trusting so much so soon that she even yawned
in front of me.

My thoughts about liberty at the beginning of the session:

I think Bailey does liberty at the beginning of the session so nicely because I spend so much quality time with her, such as grooming, massage and just being in the stall with her.

Another reason might be that she loves to be the follower and she forms a connection the moment I offer one to her.

Over all this was probably the best session I ever had with her so far.

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Full Body Massage

12/12/2014

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I gave Bailey her first full body massage.

First I took her crest and firmly shook it side to side moving up and down her neck.
As I was doing it Bailey relaxed her lower lip and her neck became much more loose and relaxed. I discovered that Bailey's favorite spot for me to wiggle her with all my might is just past the break of the withers. The exact spot varies from day to day and I have to search around for it every time.

Next I dragged my knuckles down her neck on both sides using as much or little pressure as Bailey liked. Next I did the withers wiggle. Bailey breathed out on the second wither but did not release anywhere else.

The next thing I did was the head down technique. Bailey never allowed my to do this technique before. But today she relaxed her head down and really started to enjoy it. I massaged her poll using about grape pressure on the bony areas and slowly increasing pressure on the muscular areas. Bailey absolutely loved it! Her eyelids and lips drooped, and she started to relax into my hands.

After I finished she zoned out a little bit and then she shook herself and licked and chewed, showing me her tongue.

Next I attempted the scapula release technique. Bailey is telling me that I am not very good at it yet. But she did breathe out and did a tiny lick and chew without showing her tongue.

Next I worked on her hind legs relaxing the pelvis and QH. She soon settled down and really relaxed her HQ. After I did both hind legs she licked and chewed then turned to look at me. I smiled at her. The very last thing I did was touch her endorphin release points above her eyes. After the massage I tossed some cut up apples in her feed bin.

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Session #5

12/6/2014

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I went to play with Bailey today!

In the first few minutes we had the arena all to ourselves. Bailey was nervous and wanted to move her feet. So we did some traveling circles at the trot. When she calmed down, I did a little bit of stick to me. I thought we could attempt some liberty as I did not know when I would have the arena to myself again.

We did liberty stick to me at walk and trot. That was the perfect place to take a break and do some massage techniques.

I firmly wiggled her crest and touched some endorphin release points on her face. Bailey shook herself and licked and chewed. She then asked me a question, so I decided to do some porcupine game. Bailey was very light everywhere I asked her: on her nose, chest, HQ, FQ and poll. Next we did driving game backwards. Bailey came back up almost all twelve feet without me walking into her space. In the next session we can work on refining the phases. This was an awesome session and I can't wait until next time.

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Bailey in the stall

Session #8

December 20, 2014, Session #7

Full Body Massage

Session #5

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