2008... :)

Ending on a BRILLIANT note!!!

I got the best presents for christmas - I went to my aunty's house in Yorkshire, and the family got me The Catching Game and Trailer Loading as well !!! YIPEE!!

And on top of the material I bought, the videos on the website are sooo helpful, I actually have too many ideas for me and Olivia!!

Just a quick update - we've been working on changes of direction, I took inspiration from the Parelli Puzzles with Susan and Dusty (level 2 online i think) and Olivia really seems to be having fun with that! I also started backing by the tail, only done a little on that today (a couple of steps but still...bet theres thousands of people who wouldn't even dream of it!!)

And then theres the sideways straddling a trotting pole, and the level 2 online patterns.

And an area i need to work on? My brother asked me what level I was, and I said that I thought I was about level 2, except that I haven't really been doing much liberty, and he asked me why and I said becasue I was scared of regection - basically I don't have any small areas where I can begin, so we must start in the huge school. My mum heard this and says to me, you're WHAT?!? How are you going to get anywhere if you're scared of 'rejection'??
How true. DUHHH Jo!!! I can do all the games on a slack line (prepartion for liberty) so thats my task for the new year! Good luck to me! (and olivia i guess).

And another good note, i LOVE my yard!!! Everyone is sooo nice (i've yet to meet a person who even hints at being unfriendly!) And even better? Everyone seems so interested in natural horsemanship! I've alreay had a request to borrow my level 1 dvds (which i need to remember to take down), and those who aren't practising it are at least interested!!

OHH I'm on such a high!!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS TO EVERYONE!!!
I don't have a snowy picture or anything, so I'll post one of a very fluffy Olivia last year :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

WOOHOOOO!!!!!

Ok, so I'm polish and we celebrate 'wigilia' on christmas eve, basically this is a looong dinner followed by opening your presents (yep, we open them a day early...ish...!!)

So, the point of that is, my AMAZING parents bought me the L&HB!!! YAAAAYYYYY!! So who's not getting ANY sleep tonight? Add that to last nights lack of sleep because of the TV Shows section which has been uploaded onto the savvy club website!
The amount of savvy I'm going to learn before the year is out is ...well...a LOT!!!!!!

Everything with Olivia is going grreeatt!! We've been playing a lot with patterns, and I begun some finesse patterns with her. She's going beautifully! In freestyle, I'm starting to use the carrot sticks rather than the reins, and its good until Olivia gets going fast towards the gate (which is where we have a problem with the brakes!!)

And of course driving from zone 5!! I'll upload a pic because I HATE big blocks of writing!!!



MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
Lots of love, Jo xxxx

Tri-Polar?

Its getting real hard to read Olivia's horseanality, I think this is going to have to be my priority now, because she changes between these three (LBE, LBI and RBE) sooooo quickly, and almsot without any sign !

Like today, she'd be throwing all sorts of challenges at me (i want to run, bolt, rear, buck) but then she'd stop and say 'well yano what, i think i'll come and stand quietly with you now!'

And then off she goes again!!!

Luckily, my christmas holidays have begun and my mum is taking until the new year off, which means i have lots of time to spend with Olivia, and we can improve our relationship.

I've vowed to spend UNLIMITED undemanding time with her, and there are some cracks we need to mend in the friendly game!! I now notice I've sorted abandoned these, because I've been so direct line and thinking about the END RESULT!
MISTAAAKKKEE

I'll keep you all updated on our progress :)

Jo, xx

Succes is a Journey...

Not a destination!

One of the few AMAZING things I learnt at Rachel Morland's course!!! WOW did i have a brilliant time!?!

I'll try to keep it brief, and put in a picture or two but they aren't very good photos as they are quite far away :( NEVER MIND!!

So on Saterday morning, we just played for a little and Rachel watched us. And me being me, of course froze! I think I become veerrry introverted in a new situation around new people, and i especially don't tend to like people watching me!!! So it didn't start off too well, but everyone was so lovely and Rachel was so encouraging it didn't take too long for me (and Olivia) to settle down!

So we played a bit with driving from zone 3 (and then dropping back to 4 & 5) which was interesting, and definately something I'm going to work on! We also played with focusing on what part of the horses body we want to move, and did this THING (?!?!), and I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, but it taught me THE POWER OF FOCUS

Fantastic! Then in the afternoon we did some riding, and I did a lot of follow the rail at the trot, and learnt about the power of neutral, and that I did a lot of nagging, and thats why Olivia began to ignore me! We did plenty of other things on the first day as well, and I came home buzzing as a bee (but tierd as a....well...tierd..!!)

Then TODAY! WOW! Well, the morning groundwork was brilliant!! Rachel reminded me the importance of making the GAMES FUN! (duhhhhhh). So Olivia has a tendancy to get bored with the circle and buck into the canter, so Rachel played with letting her stop and rest at a block, and this made her soo interested, and she responded to the lightest possible phases and in general looked like she was having fun!

Then in the afternoon Rachel let me play with carrot stick riding (note to self, buy another carrot stick!). This was FUN! we did the cloverleaf pattern at trot, and olivia wasn't too bad! It was fun to watch her nose as she tried to poke it at the stick when i asked her to back up ! Then Rachel has us each do something individually, and she asked me to canter the rail with the carrot sticks (WHAATATTTT!!!) I'm not going to lie, it took me about three laps before Olivia finally cantered, i seriously underestimated how much you have to think about when riding with 2 carrot sticks! Eventually (and after a nice big buck) we got to the cantering! and it was loveerrllyyy

Then we played with the bow tie pattern, and did some backing up and sideways. One thing that was great, was Rachel explaining the patterns. I bought them but I never really had much idea what to do with them, but now I know how to use them and I'll definately by using them from now in!

I'm too tierd to write much else, and that is just a fraction of what I learnt!!! AND on top of the all the amazing tips, I met some amazing people :D:D whooosssshh what a weekend!

Sorry, these aren't great because we were indoors and it was horrible and dark :P

Rachel making the circling game fun!


backing up with carrot sticks


very proud!



sorry about the crap quality!!!
Jo xx

A New Start!

So, today I played with Olivia for the first time in what feels like a million years, and boy was she an angel!!!

There were a few hiccups here and there, but weellll, with out them i would have learnt nothing!!

To begin with, when i went to her field, all I did was whistle and shout OLIIVVVVIIIAAA, and she came! Fair enough, it was at the slowest walk imagineable, but still :D!!

Then, we played a little, and she did not want to keep still! I tried to get her using her brain by doing lots of sideways and backups, and it worked to an extent, but she was still buzzing! So I spotted two obstacles i could use to do a figure of 8, and off i went!

Now I'm not going to lie...I need a LOT of practise at that pattern! I really don't know why its so hard for me to grasp, but I'm definately going to watch the DVD again! Despite me being a bit of a mess, Olivia sort of got it and that was enough to make me happy!!

ANDDD i also got about 3 laps of unbroken canter on the circle! WOOOOWWW!!!

When she seemed pretty calm, I put the hackamore on and did a bit of follow the rail at walk, trot and canter, which she did beautifully. she did chuck in a buck at the canter, but it wasn't mean, i think she was enjoying her self!

So, you could probably tell that i am a happy bunny!! And I think Olivia is as well!!

MAN, i love my pony!!!!! ANNNDD the best bit? 1 week until my course with Rachel Morland!

Jo xx