Reflections and Responsibility

REFLECTION & RESPONSIBILITY - Friday: In keeping with our “More with Less” theme on training and focusing on the “quiet conversation” aspect of Annie’s development seemed to tie into the concept of responsibility and reflection. Annie is responsible for her feet and doing all that she can to find balance and cadence while giving a really solid effort to be respectful, responsive, calm and light. Our responsibility is to be consistent, fair, sensitive to the release and offering the best deal for the horse to find the right answer.

We achieved understanding and executed these responsibilities well today. Annie maintained her gaits without much pressure or correction at all. She moved out when asked and slowed down when asked. She worked on skills in the round pen and on the trail/obstacle course and did pretty well! After a bit of a warm up to help her get into “time to think” mode, Annie did a great job focusing on cues and communication/body language. Not all that long ago Annie’s reality was “go” and “my way.” Today (even though the old ways creep in slightly now and then) she much more inclined to stop, look and listen/check in. The communication goal was to see how “quiet” we could get it while still achieving certain goals. It is workout mentally, emotionally and even physically to say the least. She did really well!

Saturday: Our focus exercises included Schooling Circles (on the ground and under saddle), Transitions, Serpentine Pattern, Riding the Rectangle/ Riding Diagonals/Post-n-Circle, Rollbacks along the Fence, Shoulder In/Shoulder Out, Vertical Flexion at the Walk, Side Pass Along the Fence (on the ground and under saddle). We wanted every exercises to happen in a “quiet conversation” mode with cues being clear but light. We achieved a really good level of performance before we called it a day. Even got to ride with some new folks and Annie got to meet a really sweet mini named Stormy! When we got home it was time for a nice cold water rinse, some time on the Tree of Knowledge and then a snack!

Sunday: She was a rock star 99% of the session! Our focus exercises included Schooling Circles (on the ground and under saddle), Transitions, Serpentine Pattern, Riding the Rectangle/ Riding Diagonals/Post-n-Circle, Rollbacks along the Fence, Shoulder In/Shoulder Out, Vertical Flexion at the Walk, Side Pass Along the Fence (on the ground and under saddle). We wanted every exercises to happen in a “quiet conversation” mode with cues being clear but light. We achieved an improved level of performance over Saturday’s session which was pretty darned cool! Once again we got to ride with some new folks and Annie got to meet a really sweet Mustang gelding named Poncho! We worked on her “space issues” with other horses and before long we were all trotting along together on loose reins. When we got home it was time for a nice cold water rinse, some time on the Tree of Knowledge and then a snack!

Reflection is all about giving back was is seen or received. We wanted to always give back when she gave. Sometimes this is tough to do because it is all about timing but we will always try to improve our hands, legs and seat so the Annie gets the best deal possible. We have some wins and some interesting challenges to learn from this weekend. Those teaching moments are so necessary to Annie’s growth as an equine partner. Those signs of thinking and relaxation are like a cheer from the horse! You know you are on the right path. Good times! She’ll get a few days off because we have to work so as to keep the horses in feed but will do another (at least) three in a row this week for sure!

 We have come to the point in the journey that we feel we can begin to look for a "forever home" of Miss Annie. We have her priced as fair market value and we hope to meet some "qualified" families. We are being pretty particular about her next stop.

You can see a short video of Flames Remedy loading up in the trailer and backing to some steady pressure at: https://youtu.be/akjQxW-4Xng

You can see Flame’s Remedy “get to know you” video at: https://youtu.be/W8OVMVGyHDA