You've done it before...

Recently one of Avalo's students had a challenging jumping lesson on a school horse at the barn where she has grown up riding. It just didn't feel 'right' she said. She couldn't' explain why. Nothing had gone wrong. The  instructor, who is traditionally trained, was great. Trotting over a cross rail should be easy. The horse was pretty much a packer. He's done it before. She'd done it before. Come on, it's ok, you've done it before. You can do it, you've done it before. You've done it before...

Last week, we were tacking up horses at the hitching rail. I pulled out the stick with the plastic bag attached to the end that we use for many things - desensitizing, rhythm and pressure games on the ground. The same student's own horse here at Avalo reacted to the bag and jumped backwards at the bag predator. In my human-ness, I heard  my self out loud saying "oh come on, you've seen it before. Don't be silly, you've seen it before...". Sound familiar? Talk about being hit on the head with a, uh, plastic bag!

The Bag Predator

It appears that I needed a bag to give me a reminding BFO (blinding flash of the obvious)! It doesn't matter at all to my horse if he's seen the bag before or not, today's a different day! Putting any sort of expectations or pressure on my horse isn't going to help. I have to treat him in the moment, and deal with the horse that showed up. As with a student, I have to deal with the one that shows up. Whether she's cantered before or not, jumped a jump, or even mounted before might be a moot point depending on the day. Confidence is a challenging, sensitive and easily torn feeling. What is not pressure to one can be devastating to another. And, we are our own worst enemy.


The student did not jump the jump. Instead, she retreated from the lesson, relieved from the pressure, yet feeling somewhat confused, frustrated and embarrassed. She approached the same scenario at a later date in a different situation, with NH approaches, allowing confidence to prevail.The horse had a change of  plans for the day. Instead of practicing the anticipated lesson, he got to play online games with the bag to build his confidence and trust.

The more I thought about my response the more I realized we humans we react this way - "he's jumped the ditch before..., but she always gets in the trailer..., don't be stupid you've seen a tarp before..., he's always nervous in the water...". Enjoy the moments and challenges even if we can't do what we did last week or ten years ago.Our expectations can be pressure. Sometimes it's about building confidence in a green horse or rider, sometimes it's about re-building confidence from a shaken horse or rider.

At the end of the day, the student and the horse had 'done it before'. Taking the pressure off, adjusting to fit the situation, practicing approach and retreat for both the horse and human is essential. They both had "done it before". And they will both "do it again" with confidence and trust and support. And, try to live more in the moment, our horses certainly do!

Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Lessons & Birthday at Avalo

What a fabulous weekend! I turned 42 (wasn't sure if it was 43 or 42 figured I couldn't do anything about it anyway...). I was thrilled to receive a few lovely gifts - cat litter, cat scratching device, red velvet cake, many FB Bday wishes, a few Bday songs to boot and a shoe box with boot cleaning material) as well as the most important - good company with Team Avalo!

Ashley and Laura arrived Fri night for cake and dinner while Kim, Melissa, Brenda, Rebecca and hubby Dennis arrived on Saturday to have appts with Dr Kerry (DVM) and Christine Ridgway, our local phenomenal team helping our horses from the ground up holistically using chiropractic/acupuncture/saddle fit techniques and horse assessments. Dr R helped assess Babe's RH pastern ligament tear to a tee and the horses really accept him well (1800horsedr@gmail.com). 

I missed Ashley and Pecan's assessment as well as most of Melissa and Ely's but got to spectate in on Kim and Tempo and some of Brenda and Maggie. For Tempo,deciding on what really might be 'pain' versus 'mare attitude' was the key here and we were pleased to find she was very well put together for a young mare with only some tension in her muscle from her jaw to her shoulder muscle. The exercise recommended for tension relief here is holding her tongue which she wasn't fond of at first but relaxed into it nicely. Tempo also had a great lesson prior to her appt in which we worked on HQ disengagement, FQ yield and some back-up. Our focus is to be as light as possible to create the least amount of brace, and work through some thresholds with Tempo's very strong opinions! Maggie has a tight spot in a biceps muscle causing her stiffness on her right side and an ultrasound might be in store to help diagnose further.

Pecan, Ashley and Dr Ridgway

 Laura had a fabulous ride on Apache - our lovely App gelding for sale who had a late start U/S and who is turning out to be a FUN flashy event mount. This was the first time Laura has ridden him since he was re-started 5 months ago and he ended with some nice softness and trotting over some power poles. Check Apache out at (www.avalofarm.com)

Ely and Dr Ridgway

Melissa tried riding Keebler in 'the couch' - my super comfy saddle since she hasn't found the right saddle yet for Ely/Keebler. She adjusted herself well and got some really nice trot/walk transitions and self vertical flexion by the end of her short lesson.

Rebecca and Dennis brought our new boarder - Sharif, a young, leggy, RBE arabian gelding who will be staying with us until Rebecca and Dennis move onto their new farm. Rebecca will be able to play with Sharif, help at Avalo, and continue to bring Gabby along with me in his training when she comes for her weekly visits at Avalo.

Ashley and Pecan finished up with a few nice jumps with nice soft hands. I rode Pecan for 15mins to encourage some self carriage and wow I had forgotten what a bouncy big trot he has - a lot of suspension when he rounds bends - she will have abs of steel sitting his trot! Ashley has joined Middleton Hounds in Charleston this year!

Dachia, Vicki, Zoe (JRT), Ashley, (Maria (DMH) and Chickens (Barred Rock sisters)

Dachia took some pics and visited while Vicki watched and tagged along. Steve worked on his aquariums all day and orchestrated various tidying and plant chores while Alyssa helped in the kitchen and with horse hay and cat dinners. Lia is on her way tomorrow for a contact lesson and for me to try riding the famous Rowdy!

Thanks to all of Team Avalo who could make it this weekend and we missed those of  you who couldn't make it! Upcoming horse plans include Jasmine Farm CT with Apache on September 24th, lessons in Charleston October 2/3rd, possibly Pine Top HT with Regalia (see Regalia at http://avalofarm.com/Regalia.php) October 9/10th and hopefully Paradise Farm HT on October 23rd with Regalia and either Tremolo and/or Apache, and a visit to Avalo from two of my Canadian PNH Professionals en route to FL. 

It will be a busy month, as usual, here at Avalo Farm. Please follow my blog for various posts about Avalo Farm's Natural Horsemanship journey's, training, our students and insights! I love all of you guys and can't wait for more visits, lessons, fun and good company!

Michelle - Avalo Farm Natural Eventing

Natural Eventing and Parelli in Florida!

Greeting from sunny (rainy today) Florida!

It's been awhile since I've been here and it all seems like a blur. I've spent almost 4 weeks at the Parelli Study Center at Pat's barn which has been a fabulous experience with many wonderful people. It's so amazing to be around so many riders who all put the relationship first, are savvy with everything they do, and who uphold such high standards that Pat strives to instill in all of his Professionals. It has been an extremely rewarding journey.

Babe and I just won the Preliminary division of 22 riders, many who are well known pro's like Bruce and Buck Davidson. We were 7th after a nice dressage test, lacking pizazz but still nice. Because we stayed steady in stadium with no rails and on time we bumped into 2nd due to other riders having rails and time faults. I walked the XC 5, yes 5, times do make extra sure dementia didn't set in again. At the last 2 events we ran, I should have won but due to a TE was eliminated in one (galloped right by jump #13) and the other read the times wrong and sauntered over the finish line thinking how great we were. Well, ok, we were great, but our time was not! We still placed 2nd or 3rd anyway :) So 2 of these course walks were with a wheel - one in feet which really challenged my math, the other in metres and with good advice from another seasoned event rider Hilda Donahue on how to set the target times easier. So, long story short, we were actually almost 15 secs undertime over the finish line! We spent most of our time building confidence, safety and keeping our relationship intact before we really focused on the time. I want to add that Babe does all of his phases in a custom made copper-mouth double-jointed snaffle and is very responsive :)

Rhapsody had a great event at Sporting days - her jumping was phenomenal now she needs to ramp up her dressage. She also ran here at Rocking Horse but didn't place. That's no matter, her jumping was, once again, brilliant. Both Babe and Rhapsody maintained true heart and desire, gave it their best with no hesitations. They are truly amazing horses and it is the foundation that counts!

I'll be home again in a week, for a few weeks, then back to Fl again before the crew packs up to leave for CO. Then it's summer time in SC! Yeah my kind of weather! And I miss my cats terribly, without Ses and Ame here with me I may have gone really looney. Thanks to everyone who has supported me to be here - Dachia, Shaun, Steve, Alyssa for running Avalo, all of my NH students and Event students who are endlessly faithful and loyal to the journey together. I Love you guys!

Michelle