This was really what I would call Meghan and Carissa's "Parelli Summer" Both of them spent hours with, Easy and Carissa's Belle. Belle was 6 yrs old, coal black little Missouri Fox Trotter mare. Easy again was 21, both of the girls were 15, when they did this Demonstration. First they did a talk to the audience and a question and answer session, they did this again in between the ground and riding section.
Meghan starting some on-line work with Easy, look at their legs, Easy would "dance" with Meghan and match her every move, with no touching at all. Here they are stepping backwards. Easy is a master of body language, I will explain that more in tomorrows post. I just love the intensity of the communication between the two of them, Easy's ear and eyes and Megs eyes and head, it really was incredible to watch. I hope Meghan appreciates what a special gift this was that Easy gave her.
Carrissa putting the tarp on Belle. At this point Carissa had not ridden Belle yet.
A little bit of yo-yo.
Meghan starting her liberty demo with Easy, there is no lead rope on the horse. You can see the ring we built with white braided string, 70foot in diameter, they had to set this up every time they did a demo that day. We got really good at fast set up, us parents, LOL. They had a tarp, barrels, poles, jump, foam noodles, and the Parelli ball, to play with.
Jumping barrels at liberty, Easy stays right with her and does everything asked.This red barn on the right is the livestock barn, the horse barn is even farther to the right on the other side of the grandstands. Dont get me wrong, if Meghan lost consentration Easy would take off the other way, she didnt do it often, but Meg had to pay attention to her at all times and stay connected.
This picture is all about the expression, look at Easy's face. Meghan is asking her to come in to her.
I think this is a really cool picture, natural spotlight.
Meghan is still playing with Easy on-line in this picture. I will never get over the beautiful background we have to ride in at our fairgrounds.I wish I could post a few minutes of the video I took, but they are still on 8mm tape.
I still have one more day of Post from this Parelli summer, with even cooler photos, one of both Meghan and Easy off of the ground, in the air, side by side.
Part 3 the final installment.........
Wonderful pics of the girls...they sure know their stuff!!
ReplyDeleteYes they worked really hard at it. But they had a lot of fun doing it, and that is what counts.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great time. I had a week of Parelli training last summer and loved it.
ReplyDeleteIt's so much fun playing with horses on the ground. My old horse, Taffy, she was fun, we didn't know any Parelli stuff, but she'd follow me all over, free longe in the field, and I finally got her to canter along with me on the ground a couple of times, that was really cool. I love all the pictures you have, both girl and horse look like they are having a good time.
ReplyDeleteOne question, not having the funds to watch various trainers videos and stuff, and no RFDTV, most of what I get is from reading books and online and talking to people. I have noticed that some go with a tap of slowly increasing pressure, and I was reading about the Parelli stuff, and that seems to be constant pressure that slowly increases. Which do you think is better? Or do you think it depends on the horse?
I love how you can go on an adventure discovering people's blogs by looking at what blogs that people following your blog are also following :)
Hey froglander, it is fun playing with them, that is what Parelli is all about. I am a Savvy club member and get a dvd every month, except quarterly they send us a magazine. Its $20 a month but so far it has been worth it.
ReplyDeleteTap or pressure, either one can be used as phases, a horse that ignores pressure you can advance to a tap untill they move.
I also played with our other mares while Meghan was doing this, they responded very well, and I think it has really helped my appy mare Emma, she tends to ignore just pressure, and I have to up the phases with her. I will continue Parelli ways, it seems to fit how we handle our horses, and it came very easy for us and our horses, the understanding that is.