May Flowers - Week 2

[rustop59]

May Flowers - Week 2

Hi everyone

:goodjob: Janice, the first week is always the hardest. I heard about the dog, must check it out on u tube.

Lav - adorable photo :h:h

Papmom - sending you lots of positive vibes

Have had a busy few days. My daughter had a big bbq on Sunday but guess who ended up with most of the work!! In fairness she did help but was not up yesterday morning when I needed to race against the hail to take a table apart and get stuff stored away ( thats right we are having hail in May).

My good news for the day is that I reached goal in Weight watchers, eventually after about a year! Very pleased with myself but know I need to watch out and keep going.

Big hello to everyone I did not mention.

Rustop

[Lavande]

May Flowers - Week 2

Good soggy morning May friends!

Wow, the garden is getting it's fair share of rain & should be happy. Of course I'll end up with soaking wet chickens too. Not a great smell :H

Janice, CONGRATS to you on your 7AF days :yay:
I remember feeling so incredibly proud of myself, hope you do as well.
Keep that good feeling going & refuse to ever let yourself down again!

SD, I have to remember to ask my daughter for the name of the herbal doggie downer tablets she used to recommend to her clients. Some dogs are just naturally hyper & hard to deal with. Matilda, so far seems to be OK with loud noises, etc but you never know. She does get herself seriously worked up when the kids are here, sometimes I have to end the play date & put her in her crate :H
I'm sure the end of the school year can't get here quick enough for you. Congrats to your son & his team!!!

FlyAway, how are you???

Rustop, congrats on making your WW goal! Good for you!!!!!

Must go get some food into me so I can take my morning dose of steroids - oh the itching

Have a great AF Tuesday!
Lav

[sunshine_gg]

May Flowers - Week 2

Good morning, good afternoon... whatever it is in your corner of the world!

Gorgeous, already VERY warm day here! Whoohoo! Too bad it's a work day! :H

SD.. you really want me to talk horse stuff? :H Actually this trainer/coach does a lot with EAL/EAPD (Equine assisted learning/personal development) so there were a lot of human components to it as well. Most of the weekend was ground work... basically just communication with the horses. Seeing, being able to interpret what the horse shows you, and responding appropriately. I took Trouble (my 26 year old, been a trail horse all his life) because, while he may be 'fairly safe' to ride, he has no trust in humans whatsoever. Or, I should say HAD no trust. I only got him at the end of last summer and we have been working over the winter a bit. He certainly has come a long way and I think he learned some this weekend as well.

We definitely found out that he responds very poorly to an aggressive handler... my friend/riding coach/host of this event worked with him on Saturday and things really escalated. Trouble was more on his hind legs than anything else. I ended up stepping in and requesting that the energy level be brought down, as this was clearly not working and he was getting more and more riled up. He is half Arabian, so he's a bit of a hot head to begin with.

My friend (who is very knowledgeable) really didn't appreciate a low minion like me telling her to tone it down, so there may be some mending to be done. But, one of the points the clinician kept stressing was, to listen to your gut... if something doesn't feel right, don't ignore it and to be your horses advocate.

So, the plan was, that pretty much everyone in our group of 10 would work with Trouble the next day but half of the participants were scared of him because of Saturday's display. Well, by the time I handed him over to my partner Maggie (maybe 10 or 11, 4ft nothing), he was so calm, quiet and willing, that she didn't even need a whip to block him during turns He was good with everyone else as well.

So, that was my weekend. Didn't really get to do much riding but that's ok. I got on him for a few minutes but more importantly, we solidified much of what we've been doing over the winter. A huge improvement is him accepting contact (between my hand and his head via a lead rope, lunge line); when I first got him he would shake his head violently to get out of even the slightest contact. I even lunged him very gently for a few minutes last night and he didn't rear up once. All is well

And, now I better get my butt in gear... a good friend's niece from Germany is on the ferry over to come and visit me for the day/night and will be here in a couple of hours. I look like hell and so does my house :H

Have a fabulous day, everyone... oh.. and Lav... your little Matilda is just too adorable!

[ladybirdheart]

May Flowers - Week 2

Thank you Lav for referring me to the quote from the DailyOm, it certainly rings true. I should like to reach out to my fearful, sad, or confused self as our Sunni gentles and advocates for her Trouble. Wonderful effort, Sunni. Thank you also SD for reminding me that things really do take time, I have had only made it at best half way to that six month place before starting over. I have so many feelings burbling up, it?s not as if they even show much on the outside, I just experience a lot of traffic inside myself. I do completely expect that it will get better if I just stay the course, and your progress is inspiring. Gearing up with you for your interview, Pappy...you know her, the smart one in the pretty new suit. Hello to all and best wishes. Janice, you da bomb! Love, Ladybird.

[papmom3]

May Flowers - Week 2

Awww thanks LBH!! Getting a tad nervous now but I think that is good.

SD-you have done well by your dog figuring out the den/crate thing! Great job!

Sunni-wow! busy weekend but very productive! I'm glad you can see the progress in Trouble. It can be so hard to see by ourselves. I know that most days I feel that DD hasn't changed one iota in 5 years but in my heart I know that is totally false.

Lav-OMG that was the cutest pic!!

Janice-keep up the great work!! You can do this!!

Rustop-my neph sent an update and mentioned the hail. I suggested he buy a pair of Wellies while he's there . Today they went to Glassnevin Cemetary and and posted a pic on FB of them in front of what looks to be some sort of table. The captions reads: The final resting place of the Liberator-Daniel O'Connel. Beautiful!!
Congrats on reaching goal weight! that is a huge achievement!!

Getting a tad nervous about the interview tomorrow but I think that is a good thing!