The Camera Doesn't Lie

With my little horse buddy off hobnobbing with the Parelli's I had to rely on myself. How hard could it be? Set up the video camera, grab a horse and do some stuff with the horse. Little did I know the little circus that would ensue.

A little background for the non-horse person. Horses are simply little kids. Depending on their temperament they can act like kids do around 8 to 14 years of age. Cerra is maybe a "thirteen year old". Cheyenne is probably 9. That means that Cerra is going to be in the teenage "I'm too cool to do this" stage. Chy as a 9 year old is wanting to be the center of attention--PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!

I got the camera rolling and got Cerra on line. Chy celebrated by rolling. (lol) In front of the camera. Look at me. I tried to focus on Cerra. Chy went over and stood in front of the camera. LooK At Me. She got chased away. Back to Cerra. We are going sideways over the barrels--not bad--except Chy was now standing with her butt to the camera. LOOK AT ME!!! Stopped and moved her again.

I guess I don't need to say more--you get the idea. Even after moving on to the round pen it was the same story. It was actually hilarious--laughed a lot! I didn't get any time worth saving for posterity (or YouTube!) but I did learn some things and this is the whole point of this post.

I haven't had the experience of seeing myself in a ground session and it was valuable in the sense that I now had irrefutable evidence that --- I -- am --- (terrible, lacking, etc.) ok, not good. Granted the focus was scattered, but I got to see first hand that I'm doing a lot of things wrong. I move too much, I use my stick too much, I'm "clucking" too much, I'm not energetic enough, the horses are lackluster because I'm not asking enough. I could go on, but self-flagellation is not my strong suit.

Fast forward to today (Monday)--new game plan. I started the session with Cerra on the 12' line instead of the 22'. Instead of flopping around clucking like a dying duck, I had my stick at the ready in a range that I could make my point. Got their attention--and results--all while picking up points for lots of friendly mixed in. Cerra had one RB (right brain) outburst that was purely a test of me and we survived it and were better for having had the experience.

Turned out today's session was one of the best I have had for several weeks. Cheyenne's was especially good because she walked the teeter-totter for the first time without scaring herself. Next she mounted the wood pedestal with both feet! I asked Cerra, at liberty, to stand on the tire pedestal and I had two glorious horses showing off for our little world and mommy was so happy!

Took off Chy's halter and trotted myself back to the barn with two sweet horses following on each side. It doesn't get better than that!