Hmm

War does not determine who is right,

War determines who is left.

Waahoo!

We're going to help at the UK Savvy Celebration in November!

Trail riding rocks

Thursday evening Max, Arch, Harley and I went out for a quick hack. H is now solid enough to tack up with about 5 seconds playing. I stil like to move himaround to settle the saddle down, but so far his behaviour has been great (but I ain't makin' no assumptions).

Right from the start (or "Get go" as our American friends say) he was chilled with his head low. Level, as Chris Irwin would put it. Even the scarey pond wasn't scarey. Talk about becoming Calm, Brave, Athletic and Smart. We seem to be making progress on the Calm & Brave. The nasty preditory concrete block held little trepidation for the intrepid Harley. He didn't even hesitate the stand on the first one. The second caused a little resistance but considering we spent nearly an hour discussing it the first time, I'm well impressed. He's already got a head start with Athletic and Smart.

Tonight I mainly did undemanding time whilst Max coached Carol. Got to charge up that Draw Battery.

Over dinner tonight Max & I tried to remember some of the simulations we've done in the past so we can use them in Monday's play day.

Note to self: Don't just write down the theory. Write down the simulations as well!

Miller Metaphor Magic

Thanks to Steve for this:

"Develop a good relationship so that you can DRAW on that relationship!"

My L4 Pony

I was going to open by apologising for not blogging much lately, but then I thought "Stuff it!
The reason why I haven't is 'cos I've been busy doing really cool things with my really cool pony".

One cool thing was a 12 mile endurance ride in Staffordshire. It included a ford which Harley was sceptical about to start with, but pretty quickly decided that it not only felt good to stand in but also tasted good to drink. It's getting so much easier for him to find his way through thresholds.

A good half of the ride (if not more) was around the edges of fields where the surface was pretty good, so we cantered a lot. Harley has decided that he likes cantering and I must admit that I like it too 'cos he is so smooth. He's also quite quick. Apparently Archie was galloping in order to keep up. Waahoo!

Tonight the absolute coolest thing ever happened. Max & I were playing with Archie & Harley and it was going pretty good with H, so Max suggested circling him at liberty. It was an open space, not a round pen, so I was a bit reluctant 'cos I thought he'd leave. Anyway I took the line off and he stuck to me, so I gently asked him to circle. In fact I had to send him quite firmly (at least for Harley) 'cos he didn't want to move away from me. He moved out a little way (maybe 10') and circled me at trot. He was really relaxed, with his head down and came straight back in when I gave him the slightest look. Soooooo Coool!!
I gave him loads of clicks & treats & scratches & rest. I was soooo chuffed!
We did that couple more times and even did changes of direction.
I then got a bit over ambitious and tried a Figure Eight. He just about did it twice, but looking back I could feel the Draw running out and third time he left. He came back (cool) but I put him back on line and tried to recharge my Draw. We just sat on a barrel & chilled.

I remember James telling me about him getting a telling off from Pat for chilling with his horse when he was supposed to be doing something and James used the excuse that he was " working on his Draw".

After Honza's course I've come to the conclusion that Draw is like electricity. You store it up until you ask your horse to do something that uses it up (by driving away). When you've used it all up your horse doesn't want to draw anymore - you've got a flat draw battery. So you have to recharge it.

So charge your battery.

Be careful what you think.

Sow a Thought and reap an Action

Sow an Action and reap a Habit

Sow some Habits and reap a Character

Sow a Charater and reap a Destiny

Destiny

You can't control the wind ... but you can control your sails

Anthony Robbins