Lucy's Parelli Journey

Saturday 9 May 2009

Lately things have been a little bit hectic as I've said before so when I've had some time to spend with the ponies, I haven't had the right energies to play. Yesterday's session with Arran completely changed that!

I was quite excited waiting for Arran to get to the yard as he hadn't seen it before nor had he met Saffy yet. The weather had been rather unpredictable throughout the day but the wind was blowing the clouds over as soon as they came so it was sunny and mild - best type of weather for horsin' around. I wasn't sure what to expect from my lesson with Arran, I never do unless I have a specific issue I'd like to address which always makes me look forward to the sessions more. When he arrived, we had a bit of a catch up then I played on line with Saffy for 15/20mins and all was going great so we decided to look at my Freestyle. I had been rather lazy and only brought my bareback pad instead of my saddle which was silly of me but I wasn't really sure I'd be riding. I thought it'd be a good opportunity to better my independant seat so I popped it on and hopped on. It was the first time I'd ridden Saffy in her new home and I felt confident enough to ride her in the full acre of one of our fields rather than stick to an enclosed area which is most unlike me. Saffy is one of those ponies that you'd have to do something dumb or try really hard to fall off so off we went for a mosey around.

We then moved onto a cloverleaf pattern, walking at first and improving her lightness to my phases. Previously she has been handled with rather heavy phases and responded heavily in return so since she's come home I've been trying to refine them, so far so good. Once I could tell she really got the pattern, we upped it to a trot and maintaining gait was a lot better than I would've expected from her. I think this is because, being a LBi, she finds arenas really boring but if she's out in fields or on trails she's enthusiastic. We played with it on the left and right reins in walk and trot, it was great to help me remember my focus and to not look down, one of my bad habits from my traditional ridden life. The more we played, the more I learned not to micromanage her and to push her around turns from the outside rather than pull from the inside. Every once in a little leaf we played with purity of gait when our energies weren't matching and her trot has improved sevenfold since I got her hooves done. She can be a little bit buddy sweet and seeing as Lily was in the field with us, there was one particular corner she'd drift out from with the intention of going off to graze with her. This really helped me practise stronger focus rather than engage in a battle of wills with the reins, the more we did it the better she got, or the better I got perhaps? Hmm, how interesting!

Arran then suggested to play trot/canter transitions on the pattern and this was were things got a little tricky. My laziness meant I was relying on the bareback pad when really I needed my saddle to give me a little security whilst learning something new. I'd never cantered naturally so the aids were a little odd to get used to, when going round the cloverleaf so fast and having to remember all these things to do it was tiring! We got a few nice canters but as I draw back my outside foot to ask for canter, my outside leg and hip get tense and rigid so I lose my balance. Saffy also learned that when I ask for canter, if she trots fast enough she can unbalance me and I'll quit asking, clever pony! A few times I had hairy moments where I had to really concentrate on my butt sticking to her rather than landing on the floor which was funny. All the time Saffy wasn't bothered and just carried on doing what she wanted to do whereas Lily would've absolutely freaked if it had been her. Arran said I was doing everything right it was just the balance so I'd have no problem aceing this in the saddle and then I can progress to doing it bareback. I've hurt my leg muscles a little from the unsteady moments so that's something I really need to work on in both simulations and on Saffy.

We then moved on to Cherokee bridle riding! I couldn't believe it, the session had been fantastic any way but this was just the mother of all icings on the cake. I doubt Saffy had ever done it before so we were both new to it and after having a bit of a play with the safety net of my ropehalter and line still on, we then moved onto having just the Savvy string Cherokee bridle and carrotstick! This really put my focus to the test and also my ability to push turns rather than pull so we played on a figure 8, she did so well that we moved onto a trot. She was responsive, following the feel and maintaining gait throughout most of it. I kept forgetting to focus far into the distance of where we wanted to go but when I was doing all I should be, she was holding up her end of the partnership. What a great note to end on, I was absolutely ecstatic and felt Savvy. Arran thought Saffy was a really good partner for me and I happen to agree, our energies and person/horsenalities mesh well. I can't wait to see where our journey takes us now I know I've got such a fab levels partner! :)

oh and watch this space - Saffy will be having her own little webpage like Lily and I'll also be revamping my blog's appearance this week.

posted by Lucy at 11:10 am -

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