28 Days

Day 19 comfort zone, hers mine was fine. As it happened I hadn't read it before I did today so that was totally coincidence.

I have to say and this is just me, but if you are dealing with someone who lacks confidence they wont be off to the beach on day 19. Nor will they be a planning a fun ride. Unless she means do something small that's new and work towards it.
 
Feeling a bit irritated by this tbh. I like being advised to slow down, stay mindful etc. I try to be like that around horses anyway though so not much has changed in how I do things. I think the idea that within 1 in hand walk your pony will be matching your breathing and stride pace is unrealistic. That type of harmony in hand takes a long time to get achieve but the next day you are on to something new so it's a bit pointless. In fact the whole approach leads to superficiality: tick off the day's task and move on before you or your horse really have a chance to learn anything new of deepen existing learning. 1 session on achieving roundness with a light contact? That's months! I think it would be better if it was not 28 Days To Happiness but 28 Ways to Happiness so you spent more time on learning the unfamiliar parts.
 
@newforest repeating certain sessions seems to be what you are doing which makes much more sense. A lot of this is just how I am with horses (grateful, mindful, aware) so it's not a 'task' for a day but a way of being all the time. On the other hand some of the days represent weeks of months of work. I like the attitude and the ideas. I don't like the 28 days approach.
 
Yes as things are going on its not 28days to, it's 28 ways to.
One of the tasks I have added in as something that's going to be useful to us. So I have redone it.
I don't really see having a horse that's round is a way to happiness but having a horse that listens to your body and is light in the hand is I guess.
For that task I just asked her to drop as I haven't being riding her that way, but she knows the jist of it.

But I have concerns about beino told to take your horse somewhere new when you have barely done anything with them in places you know. If you lack confidence in places you know, you won't want to be off somewhere new! I know nervous riders and they struggle on routes they know on a horse they know.
 
If it helps anyone I purchased this book earlier in the year & also the MP3 downloads, I it helped me a great deal, not only as my fear of hacking greatly reduced I'm now not afraid of spiders (no idea how that happened) I'm still afraid of going on new routes but that's a fear of getting lost a whole new issue, also what really gave me an extra push was working at Liberty, the more bond and connection I gain from the ground the more forgiving my horse is when I'm nervous we no longer have massive blow ups at scary things, she looks and I zone out if the voices enter my head I sing them in my mind as if I'm a opera singer therefore it's harder for me to take it seriously, I am now aware of my body's reactions we have hacked a good 50 miles since with only 2 minor issues (1 a school dinner bell as passing) & (2 herd of 50 calves running towards us) but before reading that book and the nlp coaching I would have panicked with my horse it isn't easy though but a great place to start from
 
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I am not moving onto Day 20 as repeated day 19 again. Just did something different in the same place to see how she was.
Usually this would be enough to unsettle her.
For me it's her confidence I am working on and I just wondered if this approach could just help me bond a bit more, which helps her.
 
I've repeated a few days as well, but that's because I had to take a week off. (and will be taking another week off from sat as I'm away on holiday :) ) not sure what day I'm on now but was going to do the transitions day yesterday but ended up going out with a girl from the yard (peds field mates sharer. She's 13) so we worked on giving with my hands.

For me the book is about focus. I found I was at a point where I needed something to push me to ride and enjoy it. And this is working well with that. I've worked out my own wee routine too that works well where by I just focus on the task I'm doing (so mindfulness I guess) rather than worrying about riding the whole time. So it goes like this. 1, top up B's bed. 2, mix B's feed and put in his stable 3, do waters if needed 4, catch boys 5, groom peds 6, tack up 7, mount.

I now no longer get silly nervous when I'm tacking up as I've not spent the whole time thinking about riding.

I also do the 'how can I be more relaxed' day every time I ride. So thinking about where tension is and releasing it. Focusing on me is really helping him keep his stress levels down and makes me ignore any spooks from him, or deal with them differently.
 
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One thing I do like is that it helps me to focus on one thing at a time. The problem in my lessons is that the RI does lots of different things and we work on everything: impulsion, transitions, bend etc. And when I go into the arena with the idea of - say - practicing transitions I tend to get distracted by other issues that need 'fixing' like not bending. Yesterday I was doing the transitions session with Cally and noticed at the same timer I was trying to get her deeper into the corner, and trying to get her to flex at the poll and yield gently to me and to bend etc etc. I really need to just stop micro-managing and focus on THIS, HERE, NOW.
 
I dont micro manage probably because I see her head carrying as her responsibility. She holds it I don't. It just is where it is. What passes through it is more my concern.

Today I lunged in the middle of a 17 acre field and just worked on walk and trot while staying in the middle of the field. :) Having her in the halter on the hill gave her the opportunity to cash in on my weak human bean verses strong cob and leave. It did enter her mind which flowed a bit to the feet. It was though "I am staying because I have chosen to, you know I could go though don't you expression.
"Yes I know you know you could go, but I am hoping we have a partnership and you stay"
It's a long walk if she had left!!
Progress :)
 
It's not head carrying I am concerned with so much as using her head/jaw to brace. That's why I want flexion. I want nice smooth, soft responses with no bracing. One day!
 
Repeated the take your horse somewhere new.
We went down to the seaside. We were near enough to be able to get glimpses of the sea. It's a one way system with gift shops and convenience store.
There was loads to look at and I filed lots of stuff under "I could make use of that" "Wonder where they got those flags"
 
I've stopped. I read the remaining days and I will use some of them. I don't want to teach my horse to come to the call with food treats! With 8 horses in the field that would be a disaster! Some of the days are great but I lost interest in the '28 days' bit a while back. I did the transitions session with Xav today. He responded quite well.
 
I tweaked days to suit as you would with any training. Mine is on weight watchers so she doesn't know what a treat is.
She associates itches with praise though. She gets loads of those.

Day 25 I had sort if already done for Interdressage. It's the type of thing I get up to.
It was interesting to look into something.

Though the last question I can't answer, what about you?
 
@newforest , I'd be interested to hear what your final thoughts on it are. Kind of a why did you decide to do it and did it meet your aims?

I'm a few weeks behind now due to a busy last week of the school year and a week away on holiday. Looking forward to picking it back up when I get back though!

@KP nut I have already missed out or tweeked a few days as I felt they weren't relevant to us, or they included treats! I just repeated a day that I had enjoyed, (usually the long grooming one! Or the sitting in the field with him one) so far for me the most important task has been writing the 10 things I'm grateful for.
 
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