Update- Just plain having fun!

Despite the heat, I have been going down to the stables almost everyday, with the exception of the 1 week I was away in D.C. I am still trying to get back into the move of things in both at school and at the farm. When I got back on Friday, for example, Sharlie was swollen and very gassy because of not being exercised! Now I am trying to advance us as much as possible before we go to camp. But before camp, I am going to England and France for 2 weeks!! Luckily I have a friend who will be up to the job of exercising her once or twice while I'm gone.

I have been watching videos and thinking of ideas for liberty. I'm trying to ease a bit on the Online and work more on liberty in the arena since the round pen is not up.

This was just a quick update. I'm sorry if there aren't any updates for a few weeks. I'm swamped with horses and school!

Naturally,

Julia

Last Few Wonderful Days

Hey Peoples!!

I apologize for not writing for the last few weeks. I have been so busy. I have literally spent almost everyday down at the farm. I have been having a hard time trying to think of things to teach Sharlie. Finally I came up with this list to try and do or work on before camp:

~Lying down/(bowing)

~ Back up by tail

~ Improve Falling Leaf pattern

~ Start moving into Level 4 online

~ Level 2/3 Liberty

But overall Sharlie's general attitude toward life has improved greatly. I'm proud of her because she has been so obedient. Calm, responsive, etc...

I have already started by teaching her backing her up by the tail. If I stand behind where she can see me and gently pull, have one hand up motioning backwards, and say "back" she will take a few steps back. Its touching because she doesn't want to run me over!! :P

Anyway, I will update you again soon. I'm thinking about trying to canter with Sharlie and the new saddle soon.....

Bright Future ahead!

Dear Friends,

Today I tried my new saddle on Sharlie today. I have to say I did not have high expectations. I have bad experiences where I expect too much of Sharlie and I end up getting upset because things don't go as planned and Sharlie doesn't understand what she did wrong. So I decided to set my sights low. I decided that is would be fine if I never got to ride Sharlie today because she wasn't comfortable or emotionally ready. I was hesitant to get on after she seemed to have trouble adjusting to the saddle. But once I got on and we went down to the stream, I was already feeling a difference. She had her head lower down than usually and she lengthened her stride. And for the first time in a very long time, I trotted Sharlie more then I ever had. And I wasn't scared, I wasn't panicking, it was FUN! Her gait was much smoother and more fluid. Our future with this saddle is looking great!

Saddle!

My Wintec 2000 saddle arrived today! Can't wait to try it out tomorrow!!
Please also check out the blog below! There isn't much right now, but hopefully there will be!
http://caspersavvyjourney.blogspot.com/

Long time no write

Hello dear Savvy friends.

I apologize for not writing for at least a whole month now. But lately I have been extremely busy. We have state tests and big field trips happening in April so there has been a lot of extra schoolwork. Plus I was sick for all of last week, and the make up work has been overwhelming. Yet I have found time to play with Sharlie. We have been playing with cantering on the 22 foot line, Spanish Walk, traveling circles, jumping and collecting on the ground. Riding has been more of I am on Sharlie's back and I let her graze while I lay back and doze. The reason why I haven't tried to ride more and do patterns and such is because I sent an email to Parelli asking for help and advice. I told them about our problems, etc... I got a reply a few days ago saying to just take it easy and don't try anything new. Wait until I go to camp where I can get the professional help I may need, and the help that Sharlie needs. So I have been focusing on the ground mostly. The last few visits have been focused on grooming Sharlie because she, like all of the horses at the stables, is shedding her winter coat. It is comical how I can give her a small stroke on her neck and what I receive in return is a hand full of hair!

I am also helping the owners of the barn by slowly ''playing'' with one of their ponies. Now I am not really playing with him. I am just showing him that being caught does not mean just going to go work. It means that he will be able to eat the grass outside of his field (Because he believes the grass is greener on the other side of course!) , that he will be groomed and massaged, helping him to relax and lose his winter coat. And that he can sniff and play with new things and not be punished for it. He can sniff my saddle pad and he can carry it around and then stamp on it for all I care. He should not be punished for being curious and smart. Because Casper is VERY smart. He is smarter than Sharlie, than any other horse I have ever met. And because he is so smart, it is a challenge to get him to trust me. I have to unpredictable every time I go to try and catch him, and if he doesn't want to be caught that day because either he doesn't want to or he can't emotionally, I have to swallow my disappointment and surprise him by saying "Ok, I understand. I wouldn't want to be pulled straight out of the shower and go straight to work." But I feel that we are making progress. He isn't spooking at everything. He can go up and meet horses that he hasn't met yet and not be scared of them. He is healing. But if you could comment and vote whether I should make him his own blog, or just incorporate him into this blog. Thank you.

So all seems to be well at the moment. I am on spring break now and I hope to help by grooming the fluffy horses that have still fur to lose. My birthday is only a few days away and I am looking forward to it. All is well at the moment.

May the horse be with you

~Julia

Liberty, Trailer and Camp! (Part 2)

PART 2

Hello Savvy Friends!

Let us start off where we left off. So Friday is done. Saturday I went to visit my 2 friends that have horses. They are interested in Parelli, and I hope to help them with their journey. Then on Sunday Mom and I went down to the stable to go on a trail ride. But first some liberty in the round pen. A bucket and a step stool come in handy to use for change of directions. We are going to be playing on making those change of directions into figure 8's soon! :)

Then after a quick exercise in the round pen, we went out for the trail ride. I was riding bareback. Sharlie was doing great! I can't wait till I get a saddle though so we can start trotting more.

After the trail ride we went to feed Sharlie in the trailer. I let her in at liberty, so she would be safer inside. She ate quite nicely. But then she spooked at something and ran out. But she stayed near the trailer and I caught her easily again. Then on Monday, I managed to wing the door so far that now only about a foot and a half is left before it closes.

So that's it for now

Liberty, Trailer and Camp! (Part 1)

Hello my savvy friends! These last 3 or 4 days have been warm, beautiful and excellent! So let me tell you a little bit about them... :)
Well, I can start with Liberty. If you have been following me for a while, you would know that we have struggled with liberty outside of the round pen. Well on Friday, I discovered something amazing. Either I had underestimated my relationship with Sharlie and hadn't given Sharlie and the relationship to step into the light, or our relationship has grown quickly and quietly, but strongly. Shall I tell you what makes me think this? Well as I was pulling Sharlie out of the field, I swung the rope around her neck, tied it, then turned to lock the gate. Then I started walking over to Mom to ask her something. Sharlie was grazing when I closed the gate, and I didn't think she would go anywhere. Then something amazing happened! When I was half-way between Sharlie and Mom, Sharlie lifted up her head, looked and me, snorted and came walking with me! I experimented with this interesting event. We walked around a little...Sharlie sniffed a trailer but seemed disappointed it was closed. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Then Sharlie promptly went off to eat some grass while I gathered my Carrot Stick. When I returned, she did NOT want to stop eating. I was put out that this cool discovery was over. In fact, I was determined not to let it be the end. I quickly took her off the grass and started to walk. She seemed to understand the grass was not going to happen. Then she spotted something that did not occur to me. Since I was already walking into the barn, she followed. I noticed she was more enthusiastic this time. I thought I was doing good! LOL no.... Then she trotted and hopped into an open stall that had hay AND food all ready inside! I tried to get her out but she was giving me the no-way-in-heck-am-I-getting-out-of-here!!!!! Look. So I had to coax her out. Silly girl. She seemed dissapointed but relaxed into a steady canter nicely once we were away from the barn. We had a good play session with a great trailer dinner. End of Part 1!


END OF PART 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warm(er) weather FINALLY!!

Last weekend was a record warm for this winter, reaching almost 55 degrees!!! I was sweating I was so hot (being covered in 4 layers). And last weekend Sharlie and I had our first good trail ride since the beginning of fall. So the weekend went quite well. Then all during the week Sharlie had lots of spunky energy. We did a lot of Friendly Game, some cantering and a little squeeze. We have cut back on the trailer for the last week. Then this weekend (last weekend of February), I realized camp is only 3 months away!! Sharlie is now regularly getting into the trailer and eating her dinner in there. Now I need to start working with the door. Of course it is a 2-person job. I need someone to hold the rope through the other door while I am swinging the main door. So then the rope won't get caught somewhere, and if Sharlie tries to get out, but is stuck because of the rope. That will take our hard work back to zero. I am also finding out more info about camp, trailers and trucks. Thank goodness I am lucky enough to have a few options already available.

This nice warm weather really helps with Sharlie's attitude. She is more positive and in a learning frame of mind much quicker! Its drying up nicely all around the farm. Now, if it doesn't rain, I will be happy!

I am almost ready to buy a new saddle, I just need to post my black pony saddle on craigslist first.

This weekend, I had the chance to work on a Science project on Innate and Learned behavior, and I used horses, Horsenality and Parelli as my base. I am really hoping I get a good grade on it.

So let us all cross our fingers and hope the warm weather continues!

Naturally, Julia

Note to Self:

~ Find out about trailer

~ Ask about borrowing/renting truck

~Work with Sharlie

~Find more info about camp

~Get saddle

~Sharlie needs to be fit! :)

Making Progress...everywhere

Hello all Savvy Friends!
These last few Fridays seem to keep turning white....I think I have had enough snow until the end of 2010. I am starting to believe that I will have to live with mud on the farm for the rest of my 4 years here!
But otherwise, I have made great progress with Sharlie, and my hobbies, passions and pass-times. First of all, Sharlie now is quite eager to load in the trailer, and now have the door propped at a 90 degree angle to the entrance, which is a real improvement, since when we started at 180 degree angle. She rushes in to eat her food as quickly as I let her go in. (That is the opposite of what she used to do!) She also has developed a habit of turning around, pausing, then coming out. I don't know what to make of it exactly, because before, she backed out as quickly as she could. Maybe she isn't afraid to turn her back on the "evil dark metal cage on wheels" as she exits. Which is definitely progress. I am really starting to look forward to being able to close the door on her without her freaking out. And of course going to camp!!
I have taken a step back from riding since my "temper tantrum" a few weeks ago. I am mainly waiting to buy a new saddle before starting to riding again, but if I do a little bit of bareback at the walk...without Sharlie swerving too much...I suppose it works. But I am still mainly waiting to buy a new Wintec Saddle. But for that I need to know her size...etc...etc...etc...
I still need to post my black pony saddle on Craigslist and once I get a new saddle, I need to sell my brown one too.
Now, thanks to my friend Jessi, (who is mentioned in earlier posts) I have started a photography blog. The link is http://naturallycreativephotography.blogspot.com
There are already some photos posted, and I am hoping that with the return of spring, I can capture more. If it snows again, I want to try and photograph our Christmas tree. It looked splendid yesterday, covered in a blanket of soft snow. And of course I want to photograph horses, but they are much harder to capture on film. I learned that when Sharlie was prancing like a princess and the minute the camera flashed, she sneezed on the lenses. The result...snot all over the camera! Anyway, I also made another blog to teach people about the horse's point of view. How they are PREY animals and we are PREDATORS! Some people just don't get it. *sigh*
Grades are improving for camp. **Note to self- Ask Ms. Madison what grade in math is, and ask Ms. Freeman what grade in science is!**
Also improving- I can't wait to meet Kara tomorrow. It seems like the weather is plotting against us! I will post as soon as possible about tomorrow. I really can't wait to meet her, and I got her a birthday present. But I can't tell you what it is because Kara may see it! ;)

Well that's all for now, but I will report back soon!
Keep it natural!
Julia

New Blog!

Hey Everyone!
Just as promised (just a little later than expected) I have made a photography blog.

BUT WATCH OUT! :)
It says it is Naturally Creative Equine Photography, but it will not just be about horses. Just most of them will be.

http://naturallycreativephotography.blogspot.com/