"Don't ever use something until you don't have to."

I have been studying and applying my use of body language for the past few weeks, with as little as the rope and carrot stick as possible. I have only used the 22' line to ensure that she has plenty of room to move if you wants it, but so far she has not needed the full rope. If you have been reading my blog, you know that I have been playing with Finale and will continue to focus on her during the spring and summer (and most likely will continue playing with her after that as well). So how do I go about training her, as she has only been ridden once before...

I am teaching her On Line, very loose lead line, first. I will then move to a cordeo rope around her neck On Line instead of a halter. I am either going to purchase a 22' feather line or a 30' role of the same rope from Samson rope... If it is the same weight as the savvy string, I may want to go just a smidgen larger, but maybe not. I do want to put a very light ring and snap on it, kind of like on the older 22' line if that were to work out. I have gotten her to the point of where she walks, stops, backs up, and turns all with only very subtle body language and anywhere within 20-21' On Line (because there's always slack in the rope) and probably within 20' at Liberty if I keep my self presence, energy, and body language all right. Getting those three things to flow beautifully and completely for a prolonged amount of time is something that I'm still working on, but it's coming along well. I don't really plan to do the seven games in order but instead be as fun and creative as she needs me to be and teach her step by step along the way as I feel necessary. So far it has worked really well, as long as I keep my own little philosophy, mental notes of thought, mental notes of teacher's words and insight, etc, intact. So far she is extremely light and already very close to me. She has progressed so much in the last two weeks or so.

With the cordeo rope, I plan not to have a stiff or leather rope like many people do but instead use the Samson rope (gosh, I love that stuff!) with a size that is slightly larger in circumference than the savvy string but slightly smaller in circumference than the 12' and 22' lines. I want something that is nicely in the middle, if possible. I am then going to splice both ends and attach an adjustable leather piece at the top with the splices. This will have a small (stiff) piece of cloth-ish material on it with a ring attached to it. From the ring, I will be able to attach either a longer handle or for On Line, a lead line.

Once I get her to the point of where we can do Liberty in a fairly large area without her leaving me and On Line with only the cordeo rope and the feather line out in the open field without her leaving me, I think she will be ready to be ridden. I realize that this may take a while but I want her to be completely in tune to my body language and I want to make sure that I have my body language in tune to her before I even think of riding her. I plan on training her to be ridden with only the cordeo rope as a back up and mainly body language. This will make for nice, subtle aids.

As for Cherish, no worries, I am still playing with her, just not as much as I used to. I think it is almost better to have less but more meaningful sessions with her. "Less is more." She quite enjoys just being with me, doing nothing, going for a walk, and then she might be in the mood to really play. I think that before, I was too ambitious with her too often. Shame on me... she just wants someone she can trust. I was always wondering why she trusts me more freestyle than she does on line. It is because at freestyle, I mosey with her. On line, I want to PLAY PLAY PLAY!, even if not that much. Finale loves to PLAY PLAY PLAY! but it does not do much good for Cherish. Now that I have realized this (duh, why didn't I figure it out sooner?) I do take my time with her much more and still use my very light aids with her. I don't care if we never accomplish anything, as long as we have a good time.

The playground: The tire is out there, and we are going to get soil or sand to put on top of the poop that we filled it with. I have already cleared an area to put our wooden pedestal that we made with plans from www.savvystation.com We are going to paint it tomorrow. The next thing I want to do is shovel an area for that squeeze thing that Julia came up with and maybe ask around for logs or put an ad in the Tennessee Trader for logs. Lately I have been noticing really nice logs on the sides of the roads... "Mom, look, they have logs they're not using!!" She's probably sick of hearing that oh so hopeful voice now. Her question is always.... "They're huge, how would we ever get them home?" Humph. But there's grass growing in the pastures at least! I see green!

I believe that is all for now. I will continue to update on how Finale is doing, so far she is doing absolutely WONDERFUL. I also need to take the time to write in my preferred style on my blog... Hmm.... Where does the time go?