canyonpants's blog

Me and my rollercoaster emotions...

Posted Sat, 07/31/2010 - 03:56 by canyonpants  canyonpants

Joining the Savvy Club has taught me many things, but the most important thing I've learned since I've joined is that Canyon is a screaming (or lack thereof) RBI (with LBI moments). This is slightly difficult for me to accept for some strange reason. When I first bought her, she was most definitely extroverted, but as she's settled in, she's gone in the other direction. This is all fine and dandy, believe me, it's just that now I'm having a very hard time deciding if she's going inside her "shell" or if she really is calm.

Information overload...and loving it!

Posted Tue, 07/27/2010 - 15:40 by canyonpants  canyonpants

I haven't blogged in a while, but while I was away, Canyon and I went on two more trail rides! She's doing fantastic, and now she's at the point where she'll go out just fine if there's another "buddy" horse for her to follow. Going out by herself is still a big obstacle, but that's okay; I understand, and we're working at it slowly but surely.

Trail-blazer in the making!

Posted Tue, 06/15/2010 - 16:50 by canyonpants  canyonpants

It happened! I managed to take Canyon onto the trail. I decided to go with a woman who boards at the barn, and although she was slightly skeptical of me riding off with just a bareback pad and a halter, she knows how to keep her own horse in check and allowed me to do whatever I needed to. I rode on a totally loose rein, and Canyon followed Kali without a problem. And, when Kali spooked a few times (it was windy), Canyon just pricked her ears. No RB behavior whatsoever!

Full steam ahead!

Posted Fri, 05/14/2010 - 01:53 by canyonpants  canyonpants

I haven't blogged in ages. My God, you all probably thought I ended up shipping Canyon off for glue - which, thankfully, did not happen. It didn't even come close to happening, because I realized that her explosion was a one-time thing. The other horses on the ride were not dependable; my friend informed me of this when she returned, and it led me to believe that Canyon knew something I didn't. Maybe she knew that it wouldn't have been a safe ride? Maybe she knew that it wouldn't have been a confidence-building experience for either of us? She's a smart horse, so I don't doubt it.

On trust and self-control...

Posted Sat, 02/27/2010 - 04:21 by canyonpants  canyonpants

My friend and another boarder were going to go on a trail ride this afternoon, and I thought I'd go with them. Canyon's been at this barn for a long time now, and I was sure she was ready. I went out an hour early to play with her and get her prepared, and she was being a gem.

That is, until we started off. She was nervous - head up, ears swiveling, and all that - but she was still moving forward. Then, out of nowhere, she rears up and spins back towards the barn. Naturally, I bent her and shut her down, but she started crow-hopping and throwing her head...

Heat-wave playday!

Posted Sat, 02/20/2010 - 14:29 by canyonpants  canyonpants

It was 36 degrees today, and I actually managed to ride and play without a jacket! Needless to say, I was in heaven and so was Canyon. She was nearly asleep the entire time, but she kicked it up a notch during our liberty session; she always does. She loves liberty, especially when we play "tag". Heh. We started out playing on-line, doing Zone 3 driving, hindquarter yields, front-end yields, circles, etc. Then I took the halter off and we did some playing at liberty. I tried to introduce liberty circles to her, but...we have some work to do on that.

Shareparelli.com virgin.

Posted Tue, 02/16/2010 - 01:02 by canyonpants  canyonpants

Yup, I'm completely and utterly new to shareparelli.com, but I think the concept is wonderful. I've been on other forums/blog sites on the web, but never one specifically for Parelli participants.