The End

Sad day!!

It's the end of the class!

The final today was alright. 

We have had better runs and Spirit was worn out so our free style totally flopped.

My grade did not like it :(

But here it is ...

(Gotta love Vanessa and Emily's commentary :)

It's been a GREAT semester and I've learned SOOO much!

Sad that it's over.

I'm proud of myself and of the things I have learned with my two handsome horses this semester.

Thanks Brother Twitchell!!!!

Bath Time!

Have I mentioned Spirit's horrible ground manners??

Well they make trying to clean him up for the final loads of fun ... not!

So thats what we did today, struggled with ground manners while I basically spot washed him.

It actually was better than expected.

But anywho, this past week = just more practice for the final.

I think it's actually going to go pretty well :)

I'll try and have someone film it and I'll add it to one last post!

Final Extra?

Ok so not much new to talk about.

Worked with Spirit today and he's getting better and better.

But now I think I came up with something for my extra little freestyle bit for the final!

I let him loose in the arena the other day after a great ride to let him roll and cool down how he pleased. He would play for a short bit but every time he would come right back to me and just stand with me. He wanted to be with me! So i decided to experiment and work with him as if he had a halter on — have him trot next to me, following my energy, follow where i went in the arena, stop with me and turn with me, as well as come back to me when he went too far ...

And would you believe it, he did it all!!

So I think we'll work on it more and try and do that for our final!

Just the Norm

Alright,

Not much more going on, just more progress and lots more learning.

Spirit and I are getting lots better! And Cowboy and I are getting better too!

Have to admit I'm WAY sad that this class is ending soon and I can't find another excuse to keep riding these guys after this!!

Just gotta keep working towards the final I guess.

So Much Going On

Ok so I know I'm slacking with the blog so here goes some catching up .....

Ok so Spirit...

He's quite the punk and he'll be dominant with you if you don't show him who's boss! 

And that's what I'm learning right now ... how to be the boss.

As far as riding goes, we're having a blast and learning a lot!

I ended up doing the laps with Spirit the day after we were aquatinted and we did better than I thought!

Then last week we went on a trail ride and he got quite a kick out of that! It was a gorgeous day and we all had fun.

But it's what I did after that I'm all proud of!

This is the biggest part!

I RODE COWBOY!!!

Like out in the open arena, breathing normally, no fighting, calmly walking around!

Ok maybe not the biggest thing for everybody but it's HUGE for me!! I feel so much better and I actually can't wait to do it again!

The ride was awesome because I was able to stay calm and he did a great job of staying on my focus! We walked around for a short bit and then tried to trot ... maybe not the best idea because he got so excited he didn't know what to do and literally ran into the wall ... but other than that I couldn't be happier with how it went!

The next thing to come is our obstacle course final.

So ... 

GOALS:

1. practice riding with Spirit

2. practice the final (w/ Spirit)

3. Get back on Cowboy!

Shoot ... Try Again?

Ok I admit it ...

I'm a big fat 

chicken

Yes I'm a big one ...

I got a new horse.

I've never been a quitter ... nor will I admit defeat just yet!

I will still work with cowboy outside of class and we WILL ride eventually.

but still

Here's the thing - I was dreading class everyday I had to ride Cowboy and I let the fear get the best of me.

And that in combination of risking my grade was one bad recipe to make Bailey miserable.

I think more than anything I wanted a different horse so that I feel confident enough to actually work on the concepts we are learning in class and become a better rider - I'm too chicken to do that with Cowboy just yet - but I would for sure love to overcome all of that and get there with him in the end!

So we'll see how this one goes.

still have to do laps tomorrow or friday.

Goals:

1. make friends with my new partner!

2. those laps!

Here Comes Another Test

Ok so here comes another test!

5 laps around the arena at a trot ... 

sounds easy enough right?? Not so much.

... every time you direct your horse you get docked

Cowboy doesn't listen well enough for that just yet. Nor do I feel confident enough to run around an open arena on him yet.

Well that confidence will have to come quickly 

... cuz it's next 

FRIDAY!

Looks like I'm going to have to do some serious courage finding and we're going to have to leave that round pen tomorrow and take a step out of comfort!

But that is how we learn, after all.

Wish me luck ... and some sanity :)

Goals:

1. those laps!

And We DID IT!

Ok so we made it out of the round pen!

Barely ... but we did it!

Definitely built a lot of confidence yesterday and also realized how scared I really was.

Brother Twitchell wants me to talk about that fear, so here you go Brother Twitchell:

Through this whole semester I have been so excited to learn and better my relationship with a type of horse I have never worked with before.

But because I have never worked with such a young energetic horse it also scares me and makes me very weary in everything I do around him. I have not been able to learn as well as I would like or progress as I would have liked to because I am sometimes scared to get hurt by him.

That, I think, is my main hurtle - me.

I have to say I have made lots of progress and every time I do I feel a little bit better! I think it's just the fear of "stepping into the dark" that keeps me from doing it.

And the hard part is I don't feel like I can explain my fears. I can't logically think of why this is freaking me out so much.

I have realized that that fear is handicapping both me and Cowboy. When I find some confidence and decide to lead him things become so much better and his focus becomes better for the both of us.

Moving out of the round pen was scary and did not go perfectly smooth either, but it helped me learn a lot and also build my confidence. I am still a little weary, but things are getting a lot better - again. We're definately growing.

And I can say that I am excited for what's going to come next.

Goals:

1. Spend more time out of the roundpen.

2. Not be such a scaredy cat!

And We Ride!

Ok so this last week consisted of me fighting with myself to stay calm.

It could be going better.

On thursday Brother Twitchell helped me better understand Cowboy and how I should ride him.

Cowboy is a dominant little guy who doesn't like being told what to do.

In the round pen, with Brother Twitchell's help, I was able to build my confidence and get on. 

Once I better understood my horse it became a little bit better for me - but it's still going to be a whole lot of work to show Cowboy that I am in charge and to follow through with it.

We're definitely going to need a lot of work.

Goals:

1. Build confidence/work on communicating

2. Leave the round pen

Step Out of My Comfort Zone

So this week is more moving forward and trying new things.

New thing for this week — riding bareback, one rein.

I've been more excited for other things ... 

At the beginning of the week I was nothing but scared to get on Mr. Cowboy by myself and I am good at procrastinating!

But I could only do it for so long.

So after preflight checks and a runaround with Brother Twitchell, I gave in.

Granted he was a more high energy than I would've liked him to be but I came out in one piece and learned a lot. 

Now that we've taken the step I just need to build on it and become more confident.

GOALS:

1. More bareback, one rein riding.

Catching Up to the Midterm

Ok so I'm behind in updates.

Well this past week we have been just practicing for the midterm and working together great!

Annnd today we finally did our midterm!

I think we rocked it! Not perfect, but pretty well!

Our time was 3 min 33 seconds!

grade to come.

and then after we rocked the midterm we got to 

THIS!!!!

Ok big step for Mr. Cowboy and I!

Granted I was only on for a few minutes but this is a grand step in our relationship!

we'll see what next week brings!

Goals:

1. Don't get bucked off

2. Gain confidence in each other

(this time from his back!)

Almost Perfect!

Day 6

Ok I admit it, I'm in LOVE!

It's crazy what can change and how much we can accomplish when we

begin to understand and trust each other.

Again, it was playtime before we worked that he really needed.

worked wonders!

Today we did a practice run through of the midterm and we did almost

perfect!

time: 3:13

We hit some snags on the last obstacle, but hey, that's why we practice!

The real thing is next week, wish us luck!!

today = success

Goals:

1. More practice

2. Come up with new games to play

Hurray for improvements!

Day 5

= WAY better!!

And I think it had something to do with the fact I let him loose before class in an open arena ... that helped his jitters.

Sufficeth to say, we will be doing this before we work as much as we can!

Today he behaved very well and I stayed calm (yay me!), we kept him entertained and we did great on the obstacle course!

(he totally knows his stuff, just refuses to do it because i'm sure it bores him)

I need to learn that course more than he does!

We're going to keep doing what we're doing and, if my brain can come up with stuff, we will build on it each day.

Goals:

1. more trust

2. more obstacles

Work

Day 4

Today we made more progress.

I now know it's not so much I have to come up with challenging things for him to do as much as constantly changing what we are doing.

That takes energy ... lots of it.

I will definitely get a little more in shape from this little adventure.

After all was said and done we did well and I think we're getting better.

We'll see if I feel the same when it comes to riding ....

GOALS:

1. trust

2. obstacle course

And We Begin!

Day 3

Ok so today was interesting.

Good, but interesting.

Mr. Cowboy is a little child and needs to entertained as such.

This does not go over too well when there are lots of other horses around him, half of which are going 

bazirk.

Needless to say we started off ground games with a rodeo.

We worked on keeping focus and keeping busy and I think we made leaps and bounds in the trust/understanding each other department.

and as far as our "work on" list from last week,

I think we did well.

I think working outside of class is going to be our best bet from here on out ... in an empty arena.

REMINDERS:

1. Keep him engaged and challenged

Meet Him!

This. Is. Cowboy!!

Isn't he handsome??

And a little pill too!

He is my new partner for my Animal Science 347 class - Advanced Animal Handling.

He is a leggy little 3 year-old sorrel gelding with lots of energy!

Over the next few months we will be working on getting to know each other better through communication, understanding, confidence building, practice and more communication.

This was the first week of classes, ergo Cowboy and I just met a few days ago.

Our interactions have gone as follows ...

Day 1 - 01/05/2012

I caught and brushed the little guy and realized real quick he's scared of just about everything (something to work on for sure), can't/won't sit still, loves to nibble anything he can get to, and has no sense of space around him. He just wants to do nothing but PLAY!

He is a youngin' after all.

Day 2 - 01/06/2012

There was too much going on in the arena for him to pay attention to anything — especially scary little me. Needless to say our time spent together today was short and not the most positive experience. I admit I spent the whole time trying not to get squashed or freak him out. 

Better luck next time.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

1. trust

2. attention span

3. confidence

We'll see how this goes :)