Monday, November 28, 2011

Ground Driving

I have struggled with ground driving. I've tried it a few times and ended up with a horse that wanted to side pass all over the arena. She is "trying", but as her teacher, I fell short. I struggled with how I could help convey what I was asking. What was I doing wrong? Thanks goodness for Michael Sparling.
Michael is a Parelli clinician I met a couple years ago and have had quite a few lessons with him. He is an excellent teacher. I think he is the real deal, a wonderful "reader of the horse." Regardless of how you feel about Parelli methods, Michael goes beyond Parelli and is just an amazing student and teacher of the horse. A big "ah" moment was thinking of the horses nose as crossing the diagonal...when she did that to the inside..I left her alone. The side passing slowly went away.
I always walk away from the barn imagining I can't love this horse any more. Then she does new things that make me so proud of her and she finds ways to become even more special to me.
Can you tell I am 30 weeks pregnant in these photos? In ten weeks I will have a baby girl. One I hope loves horses as much as I do....looking forward to pony shopping.

7 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

You look wonderful and so does your horse. Congratulations on your baby girl(to come). And her name would be...

Lori Skoog said...

Lots of news! Congratulations are in order all over the place. What little girl would not want a pony? Good luck with your ground driving. I did a lot of line driving with Abbe, but she had on a surcingle and I used long lines. She worked just as well in a halter as she did with a bit in her mouth. It's amazing, what you can do from the ground.

Drillrider said...

A light recently dawned for me about "feel" when working with horses. I've had them for 15 years. Guess I'm a slow learner!

So happy for you on the new baby and I'm sure she will have the horse "bug" like her Mommy.

Glad you are back blogging----missed YOU!

C-ingspots said...

Congratulations on the baby girl and the driving accomplishments!! Your horse is absolutely adorable, and you look equally adorable being pregnant. And, no I hadn't even noticed until you mentioned it, and then I took another look! :) I need to start working on ground driving my new horse as well...another challenge for us.

OnTheBit said...

Congratulations!!!! You have had a very busy year haven't you!

Anonymous said...

Love the ground driving - and a baby! How exciting! (I have two but they're both in their 20s now.)

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