Christine's Bridleless Ride

My youngest sister Christine was competing in our riding club's Queen's pageant. One of the sections was a horsemanship pattern which she performed bridleless on her horse Max. She did an excellent job! And she taught Max to ride bridleless herself. Not bad at all for a 12 yr old! :]


Although she often rides him around at home tackless she only decided to do the pattern brideless once she got there, literally waiting to go on in the warm-up arena. She won the horsemanship and the pageant! Congratulations Christine!

Here's the link to the youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwVSjbx0Rqc

Chistine with her crown and sash!

Peralli Horsenality™

Horsenality™ is something that Pat and Linda Parelli developed to help you better understand your horse’s individual behavior and temperament characteristics. Usually I don't say I train this certain style or that certain style. I generally borrow from whatever seems to work the best for the particular situation. I did find this chart neat to look at and fun though.

To identify your horse's "horsenality," consider every trait listed on the chart and make a dot on the specific ring that best corresponds to your horse. For example, if your horse is extremely playful, you would put a dot on the outer "extreme" ring under this trait. If he is non-responsive, but only some of the time, you would put a dot on the middle "moderate" ring by this trait. Some of the traits may not apply to your horse at all. You can have dots in different quadrants, but the vast majority of horses will end up with most of their dots in one quadrant, which reveals that horse's Horsenality.  Basically there is four categories.

The Right Brain Extrovert needs safety. Never push him past the threshold until he's calm. You will need to retreat and to interrupt the pattern. You must have a strong focus and must match the horse's high energy level. Give him a job to accomplish to replace his fear with something positive. He must think of you as his "safe place."

The Right Brain Introvert needs comfort. The worst thing you can do is push this horse before he's confident. You'll ruin his trust in you if you push him before he's ready. Taking your time is important because you'll need to wait on this horse to process things. He needs to believe in you.

The Left Brain Extrovert needs play. He craves creative, imaginative tasks and can't stand to be forced into anything. Because he hates to be bored, you'll need to speed things up, be enthusiastic and come up with variety in your lessons. Allegro falls into the Left Brain Extrovert category.



The Left Brain Introvert needs incentive. There are plenty of ways to offer incentive without "bribing" him. (Think rest, grazing, treats, scratches.) This horse needs to have a purpose and wants to go somewhere. Riding circles in an area with this horse will lead to resistance and defiance. Use reverse psychology for best results.


For more information about Horsenalities, visit www.parelli.com

Mustang Furturity long line: Diane Ward and Doc's Golden Allegro

The first futurity for 2 yr old mustangs was held Friday, 22 for the yearlings who competed in the 2009 yearling Extreme Mustang Makeover. I believe there were 7 entries who signed for the class out of the 30 who were eligible. The mustangs really filled out as 2 yr olds, although it was obvious, for most, that unlike many domestic horses they would likely continuing to significantly grow until they are about 6 yrs old.



Allegro and I had a blast at the show! It was great to see all the horses and trainers again! I always feel really inspired after these events and seeing the amazing things that everyone else is doing. It really gives me something to look forward to keep working towards. I also met a lot of new people who were utterly wonderful.

Video of me competing in the class:

There's a saying in performing that say " you'll have half of what you have in practice in the usual performance". So far this has not really been true for me until the lunge line event. Allegro was off the wall crazy going in to this because I didn't have the time I needed to burn off the crazy energy before hand. He goes a lot slower in practice, and the lope to walk transition was supposed to have a small sliding stop in between. But oh well! It still went great! I'll have to post a video of us practicing some time so you can see what I mean. (also I know nutcase tried to poop. -_-)

Some pictures of practicing the day before at the arena:

Allegro lunging in the warm up arena outside.

I just got done rinsing him off so he's wet here. You can see why he's called Golden Allegro.

Pictures from the actual show:

I think I forgot to mention we won. It seems to me the horse should wear the ribbon. After all it is a horse show.

 I am still extremely lucky to have a horse like Allegro. It kills me I got him for free! Not to mention he's now registered as a palomino. I think he was the only registered mustang up there. I keep hearing that some horses teach you things and not the other way around. He's definitely one of these horses. Because of his athleticism, intelligence, and willingness it allows me to train easily without complications so that I get the end result so much quicker than I do with most horses. It lets me know if what I'm doing is effective or flawed before I try it with a subject that I may have more difficulty with.

The entire longe line class.

Hopefully the other contestants won't feel the need to kill me if I put all of them up... -_O

I have to say the horse closest was pretty good looking. Very well developed muscles, good movement. Honestly I didn't get to see the others... I only saw slap jack and his owner Helena because they happened to be in the warm up pen with me.


I really hope they continue doing the Futurities. They allow a preparation to teach the two year old how to move correctly so that when they're under saddle they already are "good movers" also it's a chance for the adopters to get involved, and allow the people who weren't able to haul up for the actual yearling challenge a second chance to show their horse. Also I fear that sometimes the horse's don't continue their training after the challenges because their is no incentive. This is incentive! I know they're planning on for 2011!


Thank you to everyone tht helped me get to this point most literally the Livingstons who did the literal getting there since they hauled Allegro! (I am so funny-_-). My parents my, mom for pulling the car into he horse pasture because I wanted to work Allegro when it was dark and there was no other lights. Christine nd Rachel (my sisters) for being very supportive and helping me figue out what was wrong with my own technque.

The Livinstons again for letting me use their show halter! XD


And everyone else who gave me advice or helped in some way!

Jumping pictures

Because our camera is so slow these were not actually taken back to back but were from multiple jumps. I just arranged them so you could see the progression. =] Enjoy!

More updates on the yearlings

Everything has been going fairly well with the yearlings and Allegro. Jessi and Amanda are still thinking about names for theirs and Rachel and Big Mak are getting along. It just takes time to get to know the horse before you can give it a name that suits. Jessi was thinking about naming her horse "Hot fudge sundae" to which I said "That would be a mouthful!" :]

Here are some pictures:

 

One nice thing about these yearlings is that they actually have hair on them. When I first got Allegro his mane and tail were very nearly nonexistent.