It has been hot! hot! hot!! So I get out with the boys when I can, but really feel myself, and them dragging when the temps get over 100.
Rascal is just doing wonderfully. His confidence has made leaps and bounds. I was even able to spray his legs with the hose yesterday. He loves water, and I am trying to preserve that play drive. With approach and retreat he eventually let me wet his feet while he tryed to catch the water drops on his lips. He even rolled in the dirt when I turned the hose off. He's getting very clever with his lips, and I'm excited about teaching him to use them for fun things, especially now that he's not worried about objects. I'm really starting to understand what Pat means, "there isn't anything you can't do when the horse becomes a part of you". Now that I have his trust, and have built a relationship, we can do anything!! And I can't wait.

I was able to watch my Calm Ride and Freestyle Patterns yesterday. I LOVED them. And am so excited to have these new arrows in my quiver. I'll definitely have to watch them again. But today I'll be checking out Finesse and Natural Collection.
All the riding portions, especially in level 3, remind me so much of my first "natural horsemanship" lessons I took several years ago before I found Parelli. Only now that I have filled in the gaps and know the foundation and psychology side of why it all works, it is so much more exciting and makes so much more sense. I think my timing and progress will increase greatly because of it. I'm SOOOO excited to be "re-doing" what I have already done with such a better understanding of why I'm doing it.
I played with Tucker yesterday reminding myself of his low motivation and boredness with the roundpen. So I placed grain in little piles all over the property and sent him from point to point. All of a sudden he was offering a trot with ears forward and looking for what I'm sending him to. I asked for the lope, and though he had a hard time picking up the left lead, he was very round and collected. So I allowed him a few strides before rewarding with a stop. Sometimes he is not very physically coordinated -- I don't know yet if it's his mind or something else, so we'll play with it. I think we'll work in figure 8 today and try to pick up a nice easy lope again.

Well, I am back after a week away at kids camp as a counselor. It was fun, and I loved being in the area with my church family for a whole week. I was glad to come home to my own shower and bed though.
I also came home to my "riding package" from the savvy sale. It included freestyle and finesse patterns, along with calm ride, and natural collection dvd's. The more I see and learn about dressage the more my fascination and desire to learn increases. I think the excises and ingredients leading up to dressage will be a fantastic way to teach Tucker to use his muscles better.
We had people over on the 4th of July, and Tucker have pony rides to all the kids. He did wonderfully with all of them, and stayed very tuned into me as he packed around his cargo. But I was really able to take notice of how he moves, and it was obvious why his muscling is the way it is. The way he carries himself clearly shows where he lacks, and I can't wait to begin teaching him where to stretch and he can be more comfortable. Little things that seemed so small to me before are suddenly standing out as something he's telling me needs to change. Like mounting, he tosses his head slightly, he doesn't like transitions, and lateral flexion was difficult when he first got here but has gotten much better. Anyways, I'm so excited to be able to help him, and think it will be a fun journey to improve work on. Not to mention that the collection and finesse will first begin in my body, and I'm looking forward to learning how improving my own seat will help Tucker.

Rascal is doing fantastically well. He has so much more confidence. I have been trying to keep his sessions short and sweet. I realized that feeling like you're going to die for 30 minutes isn't as bad as feeling like you're going to die for 2 hours. ha! Not that I'm doing anything to purposely scare him, or hurt him...but as a severely right brain horse, we know he constantly wonders if he's gonna be the next bbq. So we have progressed well into level 2 ground skills. We've begun zone 3 driving instead of me leading him everywhere. Asking his nose to lead the way, instead of mine, will show me lots of thresholds that I would rather find on the ground than on his back.
Tucker is taking a little time off to gain some weight so we can really progress through our levels to be ready for Colorado next year. I really want his health to be good during the fall winter and spring and just not have that be a worry to us at all. Don't get me wrong, he is in good health, but in the past thinner horses tend to catch every illness and ailment that passes through when they're under-weight and cold. But his limp is gone, and is eye is 100% better.
Next week I will be away at kids camp as a councelor, and the week after that I'll be headed to So.California for a little vacation. Disneyland, Le Brea Tar Pits, and the beach are calling my name. So the ponies will have to do without the tall brunette with the orange stick for awhile.