Lucy's Parelli Journey

Monday, 14 July 2008

Just a quick update!

Benji
Bettering:

Friendly game
Bigger thresholds for thresholds
Trust
Confidence rather than dominance

Lily
Bettering:

Trust
Catching
Confidence
Friendly game
Confidence rather than the fear
Confidence rather than dominance

It's so interesting to watch the both of them when I'm sitting in one field, watching the other and vice versa.
Benji is feeling insecure because he seems to feel that his leadership is being challenged by Lily. When I catch Benji in an insecure mood he's hard to get through to. When he's chilled he's great, wanting variety yet will panic if I move him too far away from Molly. Provided she doesn't intrude on our play sessions I don't mind playing near her and we'll work on it as we go along. I know a lot of people would be annoyed but I think it's cool that he's buddy sweet because it means that he's not feeling lonely when I'm not at the yard. I checked his feet for heat and digital pulse this morning just as a routine and although I didn't pick them up he wasn't too happy about it so my approach to that needs work. I should've worked my hand from the wither down whereas I came in from zone 1 and touched the bottom of his shoulder. Silly me, sometimes I take his confidence for granted and forget my manners!

Lily is doing well and is settling back in quickly. When she's RB we'll just chill out and when she's LB I'll apply just a tiny bit of pressure so she doesn't get bored. She decided to test me the other day by biting my belt loops so I sent her back, she asked me a question and I let her back in. I noticed she didn't lick and chew though. She did it again, wanted to see if I'd be consistent so I did and left her out a little longer and she licked and chewed. Pretty cool!
She had a cut on her hind leg from what I can imagine was her kicking the fence to assert herself to the chestnuts. I took one look and thought "wow, I need to take care of that but how?! She gets upset if I'm any further back than beginning of zone 3" but needs must and it took about 10 minutes to work my way down the first time and after that she was fine with it.
I took her out inhand grazing yesterday just about 10 metres away from her paddock, if that and because she was LB when she went through her main threshold she was LB 80% of the time whilst we were sat enjoying the sun. When she got too far away I could yield her HQ from where I was, sat down on the grass. I would focus on her bum and just wave my hand rhythmically a little and she would be like "you rang?!". She's such a sensitive mare but it can be a double edged sword at times.

Wow, okay, not such a quick update then. All in all a great first week back for Lily and I'm looking forward to my lesson on Friday! :)

posted by Lucy at 11:23 pm -

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About Me

My name is Lucy Middleton, I'm 17 years old and from the United Kingdom.
I started Parelli in January 2008 and it has been an incredible journey so far.
Pre-Parelli I did the best with what I knew but now I know better; I want to do better!
This is my blog to document my progress as a natural horseman.

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Lily

her own page.

The Philosophy

It's not about disposable horses; it's about relationships for life.
It's not about quick fixes and artificial aids, it's about savvy; true understanding and expertise.
It's not about winning and others losing; It's about win-win: you and the horse need to feel good.
It's not about me me me; It's about changing the world for horses, becoming a person of knowledge and influence, and sharing what you know.
It's not about fear and doubt; It's about unconditional love and trust.
Love for the empowerment of others and trust that you'll never ask the horse to do something that would hurt or diminish his dignity.

Reveal your horse. Discover your potential. Live your dream.

-Parelli