Well I don't know about any one else, but I have a darker style. So for easter I was wearing all black with red hints. That's just how I am! LOL. Here's a picture of me and a friend of mine on easter morning. Looking like the complete opposites that we are! But in the same pose =)

Finding the right words and actions to change an outcome.

I have trouble with not knowing what to say. And maybe that is because there is a tendency to not believe in having a value in my words and my stories about my own life. Like it is not worth-while. I guess it is time to change that way of thinking. Time to break out from where I am comfortable.

   I will start by talking about my most recent riding experience. It was Tuesday, it was fairly good riding weather. I was riding Teddy. He is our big 16.2 hand chestnut gelding. I always have a different experience when I ride him. We did a lot of ground training with him before I rode him though. He has a terrible habbit of being really pushy and throwing his size around because he knows how big he is. But we worked on that. We made him dissengage. This is just were his back legs cross over to move his hind end to stop him from being able to go foreward. This excercise went fairly well. He would challenge my authority every so often. But he eventually behaved. After he got this we made him back up. At first he would have none of it. he would try to move to the side. He would do everything but what I was asking him to do. But finally he submitted and did what I was telling him to do. But before he would do what I was requiring him to do, I had to change my posture, I had to change where I was looking, I had to change what my actions were, to be able to change his actions to make myself the authority to be respected. Becase he is a lot bigger than me, this was quite a feat for my small self. My ride went about the same way. We were working on me in my lesson. My muscle relaxation and breathing and control. Getting the feel of the newly introduced concept of alternately moving my shoulder towards the opposite hip as that hip rises. It relaxes the shoulder blades and back muscles to allow the arms, head, and hip flexors to move freely. It also makes one feel very secure and in synce with the horse. So while I was feeling that, I was getting the hang of it. Of course Teddy needed a walk break after having had contact on the bit for so long. So when we pick up work again, he decides to be a little bit thick headed. We put a pole out to work over, and he would go fast towards it, then slow and stall going over it, and then speed up when we were over it and heading back towards the barn. I made him do loops around the blocks that were set up, and when he was being suple and compliant and keeping the pace that I was requiring him to keep, we started to just glide. He followed my every aid and did exactly what I was asking of him. It was a partnership. It was beautiful. But first there had to be the conversation between us of who was going to be the one doing the asking and who would be the one to comply. I had to make sure, examine myself, breath, calm, and know that there was not a doubt in my mind of what I wanted my partner to do, and then persistantly ask it of him in a non-aggressive, but still authoritative way. It gave me a lot to think about and reflect on when I was done.

The beginning

Well like all things my love for horses had a beggining. I think. haha =) When I was really little my family and I used to go out to Oklahoma to visit my moms parents that lived out there. I would always ask about the horses and ponies that were on either side of my grandparents. My grandma's brother had the horses and I remember one time when I was probably around 9 or 10 years old I was riding one of the horses and my grandma was leading me. Well Star (the horse) didn't like being separated from her colt.. and to top that there was the smell of dead cow in the pastures. So she rears up and I cling to that huge western saddle for dear life! Luckily my grandma was able to catch the leadrope again though haha =).
     Then there's the ponies that I rode at her other neighbores house... haha! My favorite pony was named Cookie... only she wasn't quite so sweet to ride. That pony spooked at EVERYTHING the girl who she belonged to didn't ever ride her but I absolutely loved Cookie. One time when my grandpa was leading me she spooked and yanked the leadrope out of my grandpa's hands and took of around and around the yard. I was riding bareback and was trying to stay on, I was managing untill she ran under a little tree and knocked me off! I wanted to get back on her, but my grandpa had had enough for one day haha =). Those are two of my stories out of many more. But those are just the two that I thought were a good example of my first riding experiences.