A Spot of Ink and Story: My Lesson with Amanda- Day 5 of My Internship with Emily Larramore

My Lesson with Amanda

Amanda came on Friday morning to come give Emily and I a lesson each. Emily wanted to learn how to teach her horses how to come sideways toward her. I just...wanted a lesson. I had so many different things I wanted help with- and there were probably many things I needed help with that I didn’t realize needed work.

Lightening bolts shooting out of your belly button. Simple enough, right?

Emily played with Vanna first, playing for quite a bit. I watched at first from outside the arena but got distracted after a bit...then Amanda called me into the arena to watch. Good timing!

I watched as Emily played with Vanna. There was a definite difference from when I first started playing with her...and not a good difference. Her phases were much heavier than before.

Body position and language. Even I was intimidated by this.

After a bit, Emily took off the halter and let Vanna graze for a moment before I went to go get her to play. No, she didn't do sideways towards her yet.

I played with some easy games. Friendly, driving, etc... It was when I had trouble with the Yoyo game that Amanda came to my aid.

My Phase 1 was wiggling the rope, lightly but still wiggling. Amanda explained that Vanna is so sensitive that Phase 1 is energy. Just shooting a lightening bolt from my belly button at Vanna should be my Phase 1. My phase 2 is wiggling a finger, not even the rope.

Problem is: How do I get lightening bolts out of my belly button??

Frustration. It sucks.

On a side note, depending on who you have a lesson with (Emily or Amanda) they will describe this use of energy in two very different but very accurate and realistic ways (in my opinion).

Emily describes it as a big purple wave. Amanda talks about lightening bolts shooting out of your belly button.

And man can you feel her lightening bolts!

Emily is riding bridless!

Back to the lesson.

So how do you shoot lightening bolts out of your belly button? You picture it. You bring up your energy and shoot that energy out at your horse.

I was having a really hard time with the lightening bolts. I got frustrated! So Amanda tried another approach. "Get pissed." she told me. That was a little easier. I started getting my energy up more inside me. Body position and body language are also major factors in working with energy.

There were several occasions where I would get my energy up, I was ready to shoot lightening bolts to back Vanna up...and I would hesitate. It was just for a moment. But then I would lose it. I lost that energy.

I think that was the most discouraging of all because I could see it in my head so clearly but I wasn't able to do it. The most I got was Vanna take a small step back. It was small, but at the same time enormous. An enormous achievement.

Our draw on the other hand was much better. Well it was still rather tricky but not nearly as challenging as the driving. For the draw you have to push the energy out behind you. I found it easier to picture the purple wave for this scenario.

Amanda is riding bridless! :D

However, however. Something I think I was doing (though I'm not sure because no one commented on it) is that when I was pushing the energy out behind me, I think I also had quite a bit of energy still pushing on Vanna.

Maybe its a control thing. I just need to learn to control it.

Another thing I need to figure out is that hesitation thing. It bothers me. Maybe I just need to practice...

Indirect rein...without reins.

"Perfect practice makes perfect." -Parelli

I decided to end on a good note. To where I got a lovely draw, just using my energy. Amanda explained how it will be uneven for a while. My draw will be better than my drive, and then it will interchange before evening out.

Sleepy horsey. :)

Then Emily put the bareback pad on Vanna (and got a bite on the butt in the process!) and we continued to do what we had before. Our trotting and using less and less of the reins. Its starts to feel like routine at this point.

Sadly, the grass was slippery and it was muddy from the rain. I had wanted to jump but Vanna was slipping around and finally told me "Enough is enough."

My turn!

So I hopped off, trusting her. Then Emily decided to try sideways toward her. And of course, being the amazingly smart horse Vanna is, she already knew it and did it easily for Emily. Whoo!

Then we had a bit of fun, Amanda, Emily and I. We took turns riding Vanna bridless. At a walk, but still! :D It was awesome.

"Go around the cones Julia."

Don't you just love our photos? They are not corresponding to the text at all! :P

I would like to say I am being bribed to post these. I will try and finish up these posts within the next couple of days but once I'm in London, Internet will be iffy.

As I was saying, Emily is bribing me to post these. When I have written them all out then she will post her next post on her blog. How mean is that? Now I am the bad guy here! (lol) I am the one who is responsible for her blogging activity.

"With great power comes great responsibility." -Spider man

Stop and backing up.

As you can probably (hopefully) tell I'm just playing around with you guys. Especially Emily. :) I can't wait to read her new post. But she sure does know how to motivate me! Smart girl. (Though I think this is considered Julia-torture! :P)

The posts I must complete in order for Emily to write and post hers:

- Day 6 of My Internship with Emily Larramore

- Day 7 of My Internship with Emily Larramore

- Reflections of My Internship with Emily Larramore

- Putting it into Action: Playing with Sharlie