Just another day in Paradise!

Today was a very good day! We started off at one of the Ranches at 8:45 talking over what we had experienced yesterday at the Dressage barn we were at.

Since I wasn't able to post yesterday I will start with yesterday now, and move to today later!

We were at a "Fancy" Dressage barn yesterday doing our "Rhythm" class... Which essentially means we were playing with instruments all day! It was really fun.

In the morning we watched Sara work on some of the horses at the barn, this was nice because we were able to see the different ways of approaching different horses.

Above is a picture of our class watching Wendy Woo, the musician/singer who came in the afternoon to help us learn about rhythm. She was very amazing and fun!!! We watched some horses in the arena part (behind us) walk, trot and canter while we were playing simple rhythms to their foot falls -- it really helped us to understand how the horse moves and uses his body to do his job.

We ended the day off with a mini jam session which was really fun!

This is Sam, each of us got a short chance to work with him, he is lame and has been for a long time, we used him to get to understand what an "off" rhythm is.

We spent a good portion of the early afternoon learning how to walk!!! I know, this sounds really funny, but it is true!!! We walked back and forth across the arena in pairs, one of us was the front of the horse and the other was the "ass"!!!! Yes, this was a big joke yesterday as well! Then we had a "canter" race to finish off that part of the session.

There are two more pictures that I just couldn't resist putting up! This is Julie, she was the kitty at the barn yesterday and she was a big suck!!!

She actually layed there on her own!! I didn't have to hold here there!!!! She made me miss home!
So this brings me too today! As I said, we started at one of the Ranches in the morning and were there all day. We continued working on mobilizing the shoulder, (which we started on Monday) and moved to the neck before lunch. Sara did a short demo for us and then we worked on horses for the rest of the morning.

Here I am working on getting the feel through the Withers which carries down to the mobilization of the shoulder.

We usually start here, as this is where another horse would approach to say hello, I am essentially introducing myself and presenting my intent to the horse. Below is a photo of me and Casey, a previous student of the course; she comes to help us out in our classes. In the photo I was working to release the Withers as she focused on the Croup and hind end.

After I have introduced myself and felt what I can I will move down shoulder and attempt to release the shoulder blade from the rib cage and Withers.

We started to work on the neck for the first time today, everything that we do is in a very gentle and quite manner, we essentially present the idea to the horse and it is upon them whether on not they adjust the problem.

This afternoon we ended class a little early because it was a very full day of learning and working.

Tonight we are watching P.S. I Love You and tomorrow the girls are going up to Estes Park, I am going to stay here and get some laundry done and go for a nice long walk!!!

Have a wondeful weekend everyone and make sure you comment on the blog if you feel so inclined (what you want to hear more about, how you are doing... or just how much you miss me!!)

I love you all! Night!