I have been a bit lost in the darkness for the last little while. Since completing my level 3 I didn't have that to focus on. I am so far off filming level four I wouldn't even know where to start, and it was a big relief not to have to think about levels stuff for a while anyway. I have started looking at all the Karen Rohlf DVD's and I'm working my way through the book. It is all making sense, and I have played with it a little bit, but I just still hadn't quite known where to start.
Yesterday I was riding Ruby home from the bus stop and since she is getting much more confident with me riding her, I thought I would start to ask her to release even more brace, and I started to ask her to bend her ribs. (Like the partial disengagement that Linda does). We went up and down the driveway (I find anything I can use in the absence of an arena). Ruby was getting bracier and bracier. She was starting to get really frustrated, and I was starting to doubt that I was doing it right, and thinking that I should quit, do some more research, and try again another day. But just as I was thinking that, Ruby went "I CAN'T BRACE LIKE THIS ANY LONGER!!!", dropped her head, and started blowing!
I hopped off, pulled the saddle and bridle off, and we walked home and had dinner!
Tonight I wanted to start playing with Karens preparations. In her first dvd she shows at liberty that your horse needs to understand your intention. That you can have the horse circling at liberty and
1) Can you be an invisible human, walk with it, up to it, and away from it, and it continues as if you aren't even there, in other words an active neutral.
2) Can you use your energy to project to the horse to speed up.
3) Can you walk to the horse with the intention of game over, you did great!
And the horse can understand the difference in your body language between all three.
It was fun playing with this. Karen also emphasises that you really need to project how wonderful the horse is doing, and mean it!! It is lovely how excited she gets when her horse tries, and I have been really trying this with Ruby. Imagine her surprise when we first started and I sent her out on a circle, she went at a walk, tentatively walked quarter of a circle in stiff right brain introvert slow motion, looked at me with two eyes to check she was doing ok, and I ran over to her and gave her a big hug and told her how good she had done!!!
The rest of the session was then fantastic, Ruby couldn't do enough for me! She had no trouble understanding my intentions as above, as we were already going down that path.
Hi Gen,
ReplyDeleteAm just catching up with your latest blog entries and enjoying them very much. You're very good at describing your thought processes, new understandings and what happens when you apply it. Thanks for sharing! Sounds like you and Ruby are growing closer and closer and closer....beaut!
Have been a bit overwhelmed with things to be done lately, so the horses have been left to themselves more than I would like. It's been interesting to discover though, (like Anne said too) that even doing a little on the weekends, my horses are fresh and remember surprisingly much! Had a little play with Possum yesterday while the Speedibeet was soaking, and she really put her mind to it! We had some problems with jumping for a while, because I had encouraged the wrong things earlier, but we're getting over it, and she's soo pleased with herself when she's jumped, it's wonderful! Should have a bit more time in the next few weeks to start some 'new' things with both of them. Need to get my folder organised - I had started off doing the same thing (printing out the self-assessment sheets)!