Day 75: nasty weather, awesome day.

Too wet & cold to play today, but have a couple of prospects lined up for the new year as far as a horse career goes so I'm anxious to see if the near future holds an awesome hand for me. :)


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Day 74: :) last break day!

Bought a spiral notebook to keep up with how much time I'm investing (well worth it!) 2013 so this is the longest break my little man will have I hope since he'll be 3 this upcoming year. :) my little baby is growing up. Hahaha. Night!


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Day 73: YESTERDAY

No play - cramping.


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Day 72: ew.

Cramping horribly. No playing today. :(


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Day 71: played with Ike in snow & ice

It was chilly, but I could breathe and I hated days going by without spending any real time with Ike. Went through everything he knows while using my new 6 ft pink stick. :) (thank you Ron) Ike is doing progressively better with "through" without me beside him. (Sending him forward) doing really well with his feet even at liberty.


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Day 70: winter wonderland

Still snow on the ground, though the sun was shining. I've been a mess of sneezing, watery eyes, runny nose,& congestion. Didn't play with ponies again today, & thankfully Colin moved our hoof trimming appointment tentatively to Monday. Hope it doesn't rain. Bah.
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Day 69: White Christmas

It's snowing outside. Started with sleet. Not pretty at all for ponies. :(


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Day 68: sickly

Didn't play with ponies today. Have a low grade temp which I'm hoping doesn't get me down for the next few days. :/ Ron is just getting over it. Yuck.


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Day 67: typical day

Normal play. :) suuuper sleepy! Gn.


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Day 66: just fed

Christmas is right around the corner, so my day was spent in Frisco & McKinney. No sessions today.


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Day 65: gorgeous weather

Ike is fantastic. :) picked up several cones again today. Doing well with kiss, hug, using his lips to move the cone (wow) hahahaha I wanted him pushing it but if he wants to make it complicated-awesome. He'll only get better at manipulating those powerful little lippies and make teaching other things that require that precision easier. :) going to teach him taking something in his mouth soon, so excited that he wants to be mouthy. Don't want to discourage that, just don't want it directed at me/people. Mounted him from a fence for the first time today. Was kind of scared of how he'd respond since its coming from above him. Showed him I was there, touched him, put one leg over, removed it, repeated and shifted from the fence to his back. He just continued eating like that was totally normal. :) love my pony so much.


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Day 64: passed the 2 month mark.

Never in a million years would I have expected to be so far along by now. Ike successfully lifted cones more than once today. Not 100 percent understanding what he should do if it isn't faced where he can nudge the base, but he's trying, and I'm happy with trying :) doing awesome at step ( up down or over) sidestepping, walk trot transitions, smiling, hugs and kisses, handing each foot, tucking his head into a halter or bb. Comes when called, makes the choice to be with me at liberty. More receptive to new dogs near by on the ground. Come warmer weather I think I'll do quite a bit of ponying him with Amocean. We'll make an awesome little riding pony of him yet! :) love my boys.


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Day 63: YESTERDAY learning push with nose

Did perfectly this am.. Still really trying to have him gain the understanding to pick up downed cones. This will be really awesome in my mind for picking up fallen cones on horseback and giving him the foundation for pushing with his head. Doing great with hug and kiss.


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Day 62: ummm..

A day of getting 2 saddles, grooming a cat, and dropping and picking up Polly for a teeth cleaning and vaccines along with cards Rob's final night here left no time to play with the boys. :(

I did however find an incredible person whom I'm discussing custom saddle pads with! Oo-la-la!!!

Crazy long strenuous day. So so happy Polly's mouth has been cleaned. She needed that. Gn.


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Day 61: YESTERDAY

Ike's doing awesome at new stuff including kiss, hug, cross (feet) and folding his leg. (Front left.)

Also working on pushing with his muzzle (that will be huge in so many ways!)


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Day 60: so exciting!

Wow. Did so much with Ike today, its crazy.

Played with him this morning and wanted at least a couple of new easy behaviors
1. "kiss" which is just touch which he already knows but on my cheek. I guess polishing it would be him raising just his lip to my cheek
2." Hug " which is just flexing with me in the space that flexing creates.

Yesterday, I worked on him with cross (crossing his front feet) and he already knows that from side stepping, so its just capturing the moment one leg is over the other and having him hold that. So much of training is capturing a single movement within a motion or series of motions. Or, breaking something up into all the little motions that create it, so he understands more.

Also working on 3 different leg movements in addition to the cross.

1. Fold your leg under and hold
2. Stretch your leg out and hold it on ground for parking
3. Step high

He's being called forward on the pedestal so getting more confident about back legs up there. Not all 4, just walking his front down and his back up.

Other than that, George suggested I let the horses on the grass today which I've not been doing as its newer planted sod ad the roots are easily pulled so the single time I'd done that in the past wasn't looking like I'd be doing the grass a favor which is a favor to the horses in the long run. Anyhow, I let them out and wanted to see if Ike would listen on new territory with grass all over the ground as a distraction.

He even had to cross a real ditch and his practice with the word "step" up, down, over, made teaching that a breeze.

Also, walked him by and up to a bench swing and a punching bag with a flapping plastic black trash bag on it, by a squeaky windmill, and over an old burn pile. All of these were new to him but bc of past exposure to other things and a calm demeanor in his human:p... He was able to follow with only minimal hesitation.

He's outside eating lunch now. He's sooo awesome. I think he's going to have an awesome vocabulary come his fourth birthday. I don't know what I'll have left to teach him at that point! :p



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Day 59: side step beside me & lift your leg

Played with Ike as usual. Introduced him to stepping sideways as I do with us facing he same direction and lifting his leg up (left then right)


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Day 58: YESTERDAY

Played with Ike. All normal stuff. Nothing new was introduced. He did well. He's been a little distracted these last 2 days. The weather isn't pleasant. We actually got rain today. Thankfully I got my lesson in before it was heavy. Love my pony.


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Day 57: VIDEO

http://youtu.be/Gl0lxuWeRx8


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Day 56: turn with me

My pony is so much fun. Shot an awesome video of an afternoon session but accidentally didn't hit "use" so it would be saved. He's learned to turn with me when I spin the opposite direction. Still improving with "stand" and "smile" he is so so so SO much fun! Ron helped build a little enclosure in the paddock so I can seperate whomever Im not working with. (Much easier)


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Day 55: the sun is shining.

Today, we played with everything he knows. He's stepping in the hole that held water nicely. The water has drained now, so I'm hoping if a little water gets added at a time, he'll be more comfortable stepping into water. He was doing beautifully with everything INCLUDING pace today. (Only walk/trot) since he's younger. Working on backing straight and backing with a pull on his mane asking him to reverse. Also introduced him to tipping cones up. Not pretty at all! He actually did it, but not pretty. I did just introduce it, so it should be expected that its not gorgeous yet. :). I'm proud of all his effort.


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Day 54: Brrrrr.

It was 31 degrees today. My hands were FrEEzING as I tried to cue and treat Ike. Only played with him about 10-15 minutes before I had to surrender. We actually had snow flurries sticking to the grass outside the horse paddock. Didn't do anything new. Night.


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Day 53: water training -yuck

Yesterday Ron made a natural step in earth and dug a little baby pond to get Ike used to crossing water. I introduced the water to him today and I'm covered in dry mud ( all from handling the stick and line) it took about an hour to get him calmer about approaching/crossing (not stepping in yet) that's all I did with him before breakfast.


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Day 52: stepping sideways facing me both ways

Lowering head nicely. Moving sideways nicely. Doing soooo much better at standing. Sending him past me to do various obstacles "over", "through", "around ". Still improving with Holding feet up when asked for them. Improving all around.

Especially working on pace, traveling on my left side as well as the right, and new... Pressure on base of neck means turn head opposite direction.
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Day 51: learning sideways facing me

Ike was doing everything he's been shown and I decided to introduce sideways to him while e is facing me so he doesn't feel his only options are to back or feel confined since I don't want him moving forward and crowding my space. He's so smart. Within 3 minutes, he was moving sideways facing me. Only asked for single steps since its new and I wanted to release the pressure for his efforts. My very bright pony is totally awesome.


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Day 50: lower your head.

Along with everything he's doing, I have him dipping his head when I do that with mine. It's quite funny to have him mimic. Still improving most with pace and standing. He's actually doing better so I'm going to keep polishing it. Repetition is key but its also how you bore a horse so I have to look at ways I can ask him to do those things without being boring. Challenge? :p


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Day 49: YESTERDAY

Just played with Ike, included Amocean so he doesn't feel left out, but communicating with 2 horses proves much more difficult


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Day 48: I have a genius pony. :)

Introduced Ike to all the new stuff today.(with the exeption of the steer head and the lariat)
He crossed the PVC pipe (done something similar)
He wove the cones and circled them as asked (done something similar)
He walked between 2 vertical posts (never done before)
BEST standing he's done was today. I actually walked all the way around while he was asked to "STAND"
(this word actually lets me ask him to keep his feet planted on the pedestal when he steps up and I can walk under him)
He's planting his feet on a strip of mat about 5 inches wide (AWESOME!)
He's backing by his tail (have attempted this in the past, but got my first positive direction today)
He's lowering his head (newly introduced, not a great understanding yet) He'll get there!
He let me mount with a swing up first time today and flexes either direction at liberty.
He's just grasping everything I introduce him to so beautifully! Its awesome!
Standing is what I struggle the most with because when I move he wants to as well. However, he's finally starting to gain an understanding that I want him to park his feet. Also, as previously mentioned, working on him traveling MY pace. Often he does, but he wants to pass me up and enabling him to do that positions him as the leader or doesn't put him in a position to see what I'm doing easily.  Work in progress. I can't constantly nag him or he won't see being with me fun, but at the same time, consistency enables him to better see what the desired behavior is.  If ever he doesn't grasp what I'm asking, I have to look at how I'm asking and how I can be more clear. I have to keep a clear head and thats beautiful training for me. 
He's also letting me grab a foot with a lead rope and reposition it to park him out. I can tap his back feet with my feet and he backs them up to lower his stance. 
I'm doing lots of feet handling and getting him to understand what I want with his feet before I put hobbles on him.  I won't have him wear them long at all, I just want him to trust that anything I do isn't going to harm him even if its unnatural.  He's just absolutely awesome. 
I'm in awe of how readily he takes everything in.  Absolutely LOVE that pony.
I do need to tie him or pen him and play with Amocean though.  Poor guy is being left out! Amocean doesnt do everything as readily or willingly as Ike, but man has he wanted to be part of the action lately. Its cute.

Day 47: my pony got presents!

Ron bought me a western pad as a birthday present this year smx air ride pad which I returned for store credit today and spent if on new stuff. I sold my saddle, so Im riding bareback for the time being. Hopefully I can FIND a 15" australian saddle before too long.
I got a set of hobbles. I got a pair of plastic holders and a 4" diameter PVC pipe for going over (jumping for Amocean but not for Ike yet) I got 3 cones, a syringe, 2 picket line ties, and a steer head. (Already had a rope at home) cramps were killing me today, so I only fed the babies. I didn't do any training today.


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Day 46: I love my pony.

He's so so smart. Introduced him to a bitless bridle today. Actually asked him to flex and move forward and whoa. Did superb. I won't do this daily by any stretch of the imagination, but man is he gonna be awesome! Everything I do on the ground ties in with communicating to him from his back. It's absolutely awesome to experience that transition first-hand.

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Day 45: he cantered!!!!

Lol. I routinely walk or jog to have Ike walk or trot by me, today I wanted more speed so I ran and suggested he pick up the pace too.. So thrilled that he actually did. That was awesome. Side stepped both directions today. Over my little pipe obstacle too. :)


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