Busy Summer and Start of School!

The summer was a great one and I have been very busy with school and CAS since!  Romeo has been progressing tremendously and I have some videos that I will be posting soon. In the mean time I have some pictures to share!  In the first we are playing the circling game, the next we are doing both on and off line "sticking to me" game, as well as some yielding from pressure from the opposite side (was very difficult for him to learn but he is finally getting the hand of it!), a few tricks, and lastly a picture to show the trust that we have been able to develop through Parelli!  I am so proud of our progress over and after the summer!  These photos were taken last month.

I have also been doing a lot of photography of my own and have been uploading them to my separate photography blog.  I am loving photography and I just bought a new tripod so I will be making good use of that!  I find that it really allows me to be creative!  Here is a link to my other blog: http://wordpress.com/welcome/step/read/

I am going to be starting back at the seniors home after a break for the summer.  Can't wait to begin again and I will be following up my visits with posts like I did last year.

I am also going to delve into film making and editing as a part of CAS.  I spent about 5 hours last Wednesday the 4th of this month doing some audio editing, and trying to figure out some editing programs that I downloaded.  I had such a fun time and I was very proud of my accomplishments in terms of the audio that I was able to create.  To create the audio that I did, I had to learn how to record audio from youtube, edit it so that the sound was good quality, and then merge two audio files (one for the music and one for the quote).

End of Biking

Now that the really cold weather is coming I have stopped biking to the barn.  I enjoyed it a lot while I was doing it though, from June until now.  Not only was it a beneficial exercise for my knee but it was nice not having to rely on others for a drive to the barn.  It also helped give me the feeling that I have been missing since being unable to run everyday because of my injury; I realized just how much I have missed exercising and I am glad I was able to make this realization that I need exercise in my life.  Exercise helps me to destress and it is a good thing for me not only mentally but physically.

Mid Summer Report

This will be more of a Parelli update.  I have been updating my photography blog regularly so feel free to check it out!  I have also been continuing biking on a regular basis to and from the barn.

I have been working with Romeo almost every day and he is doing very well!  The other day though I spent a good 2 hours on his first trailer loading session and boy was in interesting!  He was full of fireworks and rears and he tested my patience and strength and experience the whole time.  I honestly didn't think I would be able to get him in to that trailer.  But in the end I was able to get him to go in and out by myself.  There were quite a few Parelli techniques that helped us immensely that we had worked on previously and thank goodness we had!  The yo yo game was a big help as was the circling game.  As well as more basic things like the porcupine game to get him to back out of the trailer.  I will be going out again today to do some more follow up exercises.  My dream is to eventually have him able to load at complete liberty by cantering with me across the field and into the trailer without hesitation.  Hopefully I will be able to achieve this!

Also, here is a more recent video of our bareback and bridle-less that I have been able to achieve through Parelli techniques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1eNDTa6tI

Update!

Been doing some photography so check out my photography blog!  I am really getting into trying out new techniques and angles for shots and I am doing my best to teach myself about the different settings on my camera.  I am having a great time with this aspect of CAS!

I have also been doing a lot of Parelli with Romeo and he is improving tremendously!  I feel like I am leaving every session walking on clouds because I have never been this proud of him before!  He is really trying very  hard and he is becoming so much calmer and attentive!  Pics and videos to come!

SUMMER!

Now that school is out I finally have time to update this blog!  I have been doing Parelli consistently with Romeo all this time even if I haven't posted about it and will probably work on it 4 times a week at least throughout the summer.  I was out today actually and I am really seeing improvement!  Our liberty work really took a knock when we moved barns, mostly I would suspect due to his un-confidant nature, but I have slowly been working at getting his confidence back by keeping him on the line and today I tried for the first time in a month taking him off the line and he did everything I asked perfectly, even some of the newer stuff I have been teaching him!

For a more creative CAS activity, I will be continuing my photography with my new camera by creating a photography blog for the summer.  I will post back once it is up and running.

I will also continue volunteering at the seniors home and continue biking.

Horse Stuff!

Since my last post I have really been focusing my efforts on Parelli.  I have been out normally 3 times a week at least to work with Romeo (biking there and back).  Since he has been moved to a new facility where he is by himself in his pasture, some of his old bad habits have been coming back, as well as some unwanted new ones.  I have been doing a lot of Parelli groundwork to reestablish the boundaries and respect that I require him to have.  It had been sometimes frustrating but I find myself developing even more patience than I thought was possible for me (since I am known to have little patience).  But Parelli is definitely making me a better horse person and giving me skills that I can apply to other areas in life.  I am so grateful that I discovered it because it has been doing wonders for Romeo's manners and I get complimented on it all the time.  For example, my barn owner was just telling me the other day that he was surprised that Romeo didn't even flinch when he throws hay over the gate with a pitchfork, as many horses will normally spook.  I have done a lot of work with swinging the Carrot Stick over and around him, and slapping it on the ground to make sure that he is desensitized to this sort of thing so that when he is in a situation such as the one mentioned, he hardly even looks.

Here are some pictures of us doing Parelli!

Start of Biking

Now that the weather has gotten nicer and less wet, I will begin biking for CAS.  I will bike either every day or every other day (hopefully for the whole summer until it starts getting cold again) to the barn and back.  This is an exercise that my physiotherapist recommended to me for my knee injury and since I'm unable to do most other exercise, I figured I would give this one a try and hopefully it will help strengthen my knee like he said it should.

Busy May!

Seniors Home:  I volunteered for an hour and a half yesterday (May 5th, 2013).  I worked up at the front desk and it was the busiest night I have every worked there!  The phone was constantly ringing but I felt good that I was able to help everyone that called, even though some of the calls were more challenging than the ones I have been previously dealing with (such as needing to know the names of the workers - I didn't know but I was able to look them up in the right binder).

Parelli:  I have moved Romeo to a new barn and since he is the only one in his pasture, he has come to the conclusion that he owns the place.  He has therefore become more dominant than I would like.  For this reason I have been doing even more Parelli with him, a lot of backing up (we even have been practicing backing all the way to the end of the pasture) to try to get him back into knowing and respecting his place.  I have also done some work with him on making sure he doesn't run over whoever is bringing him his food.  He now knows that he must stand at a respectable distance until the person had called him over to eat.  So far the Parelli is helping tremendously and I am glad that I have it to fall back on in situations such as these.  My next project will hopefully be trailer loading as I found out in moving him that it definitely needs to be worked on.

Battle of the Books Recap

We had the Battle of the Books event the other day and it was such a fun experience!  I was in a group however I had been the one to initiate the activity and had done the majority of the work as it was my initiative and desire to participate.  I really enjoyed taking the time to read the book (Before I Die by Jenny Downham) due to the fact that I never have much time to read in IB, but taking the time to do so was definitely beneficial!  I loved the book and was very enthusiastic to be able to work further with it.  I introduce the book to my partner and when she agreed to read it, I began planning our arguments for the debate, as well as working with her to create the visual representation.  Both were new experiences for me as I have never done real debates before and I don't create videos for representation, so both brought me out of my comfort zone, but were good experiences!  This was definitely a larger activity than what I am used to undertaking, as normally the CAS activities that I do are more individual and don't have a deadline to work under, but I enjoyed this larger group project that I was able to initiate and do the majority of the planning and the work for.  I feel like we gave a very good debate even though we didn't win, and I am very happy that I participates and felt much more confident doing the debate than I thought I would.  It was a fantastic experience!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vz6TVLLRzE

New Home and Things

Romeo has been settling into his new home this week that he moved into Friday (12th April, 2013).  I have been doing small sessions of Parelli almost everyday to help him focus on me and not the many distractions that he has been getting to know.  It has helped him in this change and has given him confidence.

I have also spent quite a few lunch hours this week in the greenhouse at school, watering the plants and trying to decide what we are going to be painting on the wall.  As of know we are leaning towards a fish scene.

Haven't Posted in a While!

I haven't posted in so long but I assure you I have been keeping up with my CAS work!  School has just been so busy since March Break with midterms going on and lots of projects and essays but I have managed to stay on top of things.

Seniors Home:  I have volunteered a few nights since last posting and I was able to go a couple of times with my friend who is also doing CAS service there.  We were able to visit with lots of seniors in their rooms and I really think it made each of their nights to have someone to talk to.  We learned a lot about the lives of these people and each one had their very own interesting history.

Romeo Parelli:  Romeo had been progressing faster than I could have hoped!  I think he is almost ready to move to level two since he seems to be able to do all the friendly games smoothly.  We have moved barns however, but we will start up again soon.  I also discovered that we need to work on getting him on and off the trailer and Parelli has some good dvds and tutorials for this since it is such a common problem among horses these days.  It isn't a bad thing that Romeo has this difficulty though, since it gives us more to work on which I believe will only increase the bond and trust that we have been developing.  And I will continue fine tuning our level one work for right now since I really want to him to have a good foundation before moving on.

Art:  I haven't been to art recently, I have only had the one acrylic class so far.  The grade 12s who have been teaching us have been busy with mocks but I believe there will be another meeting next week.

Gardening:  The gardening is going great!  I have been to water once so far but have decided to take part more in the artistic side of it since it is hard to get the watering schedule to work with my own.  I have been working with a few other students to come up with an art design for the wall in front of the garden and we will be working on a rough draft as soon as we all decide on a theme.  There is also a video that a fellow student made of the gardening committee and I am in it.  I am the one doing the drawing near the end of the video.  Gardening Video

Battle of the Books:  This is something new.  I am doing a Battle of the Books at my school with a fellow class mate on the book Before I Die by Jenny Downham. I read the book last month after watching the movie based on it and really enjoyed it.  It has some great and very important messages about dealing with life and death and I believe it can become a classic (which is the theme of this year's Battle of the Books; a novel written withing 25 years that we think could become a classic).  The actual event will be Tuesday (April 16th 2013) at 7:00pm.  It is also a fundraiser to help certain literacy groups.

Plants and Art and Romeo

I did some Parelli with Romeo on Tuesday (March 12, 2013) and worked on the circling game at liberty.  He started to get it but I finished off with the lead so that I could end on a better note.

I had another art class and I started working with acrylics.  I painted a color wheel.

I also am working on a bigger CAS project with a couple of other class mates and we will be redoing and maintaining the garden in the school.  I will mostly likely be in charge of painting the walls surrounding it but for now I am helping with watering at lunch and after school.  I went to the greenhouse at lunch today and Tuesday (March 12 and 14, 2013) and after school yesterday (March 13, 2013).

So Much Going On...

Parelli:
I did about a half hour on Friday (March 8th, 2013) and another tonight (March 10th, 2013).  I worked some more on the old stuff but focused on the circling game at the trot with him going around me at the end of the lead and me not turning and following him with my body like you would normally do.

Volunteering:
I volunteered at the Seniors Home on Saturday (March 9th, 2013) and did some work at the front desk as it was pretty quiet in the rest of the building.  I did talk with a few seniors and it made me sad when one kept getting up and asking the same question even after being answered.

Art:
I have had two CAS art classes with Mr. Haynes on the 7 aspects of art and have decided to do acrylic stippling as my project for this unit.  There will be another class tomorrow.

More CAS (through storm and illness)

I have done a fair amount of Parelli even with the bad weather we have been having lately and my being sick.  I went out Friday and Saturday of last weekend (15 and 16 Feb. 2013) and this past Saturday (23 Feb. 2013).  Romeo has become very good at the circling game at the walk so I have started doing it at the trot as well.  I even did a little at liberty for fun to see what he would do and he did it perfectly!  I am so proud of how well he is progressing!

I also got out to the seniors home last night (23 Feb. 2013) for an hour and a half.  It was a pretty quiet night but I did get my first experience with a senior who was very confused and not all there at the moment.  To be honest it was a little frightening and really made me think about life in general.

More CAS

I did some Parelli this past Friday (Feb. 8, 2013) and just worked on some basics, such as the Friendly Game and the Porcupine and Driving Game.  On Tuesday (Feb. 12, 2013) I really worked on the Circling Game and getting him to continue walking around and beside me at a set distance with me keeping the whip on the point of his withers and not having to use it to get him to keep moving.  This was a great exercise I learned from the Parelli dvds and something I will definitely try to perfect.

I didn't volunteer last weekend due to a very bad storm on Saturday and Sunday.

I talked to Mr. Haynes about more CAS art.

Parelli Pictures

 (Friendly Game)

 

 (Friendly Game)

  

(Friendly Game with Carrot Stick)

  

(Friendly Game with Carrot Stick)

  

(Friendly Game)

 

 (Friendly Game with Carrot Stick)

 

(Driving Game)

  

(Driving Game)

 

(Yo-Yo Game)

Lots of Parelli and Some Other Stuff

I had exams last week so I didn't get too much CAS stuff done the weekend before.  I had no school beginning on Thursday though so I was able to get out to the barn Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (31 Jan, 1 and 2 Feb, 2013).  I spent about half an hour each day on Parelli with Romeo.  We are advancing very quickly!  He has mastered the Yo-Yo Game and is doing really well on the Circling Game.  He can do the circling game well at the walk and sometimes at the trot, we are working on that right now.  I also bought the Parelli levels 1 and 2 on DVD so I will be all set to continue when we have mastered the 7 Games.

I went to the Seniors Home on Saturday (2 Feb, 2013) from 7:00 - 9:00.  I helped drive the snack cart and delivered snacks to all the seniors who wanted some.  This was so much fun and I really hope I can do it again next time I volunteer.  I also found out that the senior I was going to visit passed away.  I did go for a walk though and any senior with their door open, I would stop in and say hi and talk with them for a while if they wanted company.  I met quite a few seniors who had very much to say and I learned a lot about what they did during their lives.  It was a great learning experience!

Parelli and Seniors

Last Sunday (January 20th 2013) from 6:00 to 8:00 I volunteered at the Senior's Home.  I went to visit the lady I had visited with last time I volunteered but she was sick so I answered the phones and worked at the front desk instead.

I also spent a bit of time on Wednesday (January 23rd 2013) doing Parelli with Romeo.  He had quite a bit of energy but that was good because he was extra responsive and he did an excellent job at the Driving Game.  So good in fact that I think I will be moving on to the next game soon!

Parelli Weekend

I did a lot of Parelli this weekend!  I did about 20-30 minutes each day this weekend (January 11,12,13, 2013).  I think we have perfected the Porcupine Game and I have started with the Driving Game which Romeo seems to find much easier.  He was able to yield his shoulders very well.  At first with backing up he tried to avoid the carrot stick by walking away instead of backing up but he got it after a while.

Belated Blog Post

Last Tuesday and Saturday (January 1st and 5th 2012) I spent 20 minutes each day working on Parelli with Romeo.  We have pretty much mastered the moving of the hindquarters with the Porcupine Game and the moving of his shoulders (which is more difficult for him) is getting progressively better and easier.

I also volunteered at the Senior's Home on Saturday (January 5th 2012) and in addition to answering calls, I overheard some of the workers saying one of the seniors wanted some company, so after getting their permission I went to go visit her.  I stayed and talked with her for about an hour and I think she really enjoyed it.  It was a very new experience for me but I enjoyed it as well and I told her that I would try to go and visit her every time I volunteer since she said she doesn't really have and family that visit her.