Jumping Jacks!

what an amazing week!

To start it off we had the Big Surprise. Saturday morning we all worked as fast as possible and had all the work done and lunch made and packed by 10.30 am. we were planning to use my car but the tire was flat and so we all piled into Peit's pickup truck. We drove for an hour and Thomas and Gabi had us play the guessing game about what we were doing. as they gave us more and more clues my stomach began to tighten and i became worried that i knew what we were doing. i had the image of climbing and abseiling and such activities - "does it involve ropes?" i asked "yes" they replied, i gulped and felt my self go introverted. i dared not ask anymore because i didn't want to know the answer. "Is it scary?" Anna asked, "Yes" Thomas and Gabi said. "Does it involve trees?" Elvira asked, "yes" they answered. after a couple of stoobwaffles Thomas was so excited he had to tell us, we are doing obstacle courses high in the tree. the first one is blue, then red and the balck one is the trickiest and is over 16 metres above the ground. i let out a tiny squeek and finally whispered, "i've never done it before" as the others finished recounting times they had done the same thing. i know my little sister had done it with her school but i had never done anything like it.

we arrived at Fantasy Forest at midday but the office worker told us the tree jumping was closed for lunch until 1.30 pm. we walked around looking for things to do. we passed by the cave entrance of the subteranean experience. it was a narrow underground passage full of obstacles that you had to crawl through. Thomas went in and it was pitch black and he came back out. i was intrigued and i climbed in. it reminded me of the school trip i did when i was 13 and we visited the trenches of World War one in Belgium and had walked through the tunnels in the dark. somehow i was less afraid here. everything was man-made and i knew there would be nothing dangerous. i crawled through on hands and knees, pushing my hands out ahead to feel the walls for turns and obstacles. there were ropes hanging in the passage that i had to push past and i was climing over a log when the tunnel filled with light. suddenly loads of french people with helmets with lamps on came into the tunnel. i could see all the obstacles and suddenly the whole thing was verfy boring. i turned back and returned to my friends annoyed by the french "cheaters" with their massive lights! we wondered around looking for a place to eat and ended up getting icecream. by then it was still only 12.30 but Thomas and Anna wanted to queue for the tree jumping so we would be first and not get stuck behind any slow people. i began to fret that i would be one of the slow people.

we hiked up a hill that was so steep you almost needed to get on hands and knees to climb it and found some picnik tables and equipment laid out. we sat down and chatted, Thomas had a nap and Anna did pilates with a tree. i was starting to get excited and agitated and wanted to move around. eventually, as more and more people arrived, a car drove up the hill and the instructor got out. he clapped his hands together and started talking in french. he pointed at the gloves, hairnets, helmets and harnesses. we all collected our equipment and gathered around the instructor who was at a frame with ropes and demonstrated how to use our clips and how to glide between the trees. as soon as he had finished we headed to the start of the first course. we managed to get ahead of everyone and Thomas and Anna took the lead, followed by Elvira, then me and Gabi behind me. it took me a while to get good with my clips, at first i wa wasting a lot of time fumbling with them. one of th first things we did was walk along a wire holding one that was susspended above us. there were three wires above us, one that the harness was attached to, and one for little people and one for tall people. i chose the little people wire, being only 157cm, but it meant my arms were bent and i really had to brace them ad the wires rocked and wobbles. Elvira, only 5cm taller than me, had taken the higher one but she could barely reach and went across like she was on "the rack" in a torture chamber. we then had to cross a series of swings, of various designs, some were planks, boards, poles or just wires, some went to anf fro others from side to side. we had to cross nets and swing on ropes, slide down the zip wires and pull ourselves along. i was starting to enjoy myself and get more self confidence but i still felt too slow. as soon as we finished the blue course we went for the more challenging red course. having been the first to complete the bule course we were the first ones to start the red. this one went higher into the trees and the challenges were more difficult. the swings were further apart and i had to jump between them because i was too small to step across. we came to an obstacle we call the stirrups. it was two parallel lines of stirrups hanging from red ropes but at staggered heights. it was tricky to keep stablility but i managed to get mine so still that i could not reach the next stirrup! in the end, after my foot had slipped all the way through a stirrup and i ha the image of breaking my leg, i decided the best was through was to let go. i dropped all the stirrups and let the clips of the harness take my weight and slid down to the end ready for the next obstacle. the course ended with a zip wire to a rope ladder on a tree. if you missed the ladder you would slip back and hand to pull yourself along the line. i watched Elvira wizz down so fast but she missed the ladder. i took my turn and jumped off. i started spinning in my harness but i managed to steady it facing where i was going and i pedalled my feet in the air like scooby do trying to keep up the speed so i would reach the ladder. i caught the ladder with one hand but then had to pull myself up and for a moment i was stuck. i reached my free hand up to the zip line and pulled myself closer to the tree until i could swing at it and grab it with both hands. i then had to disconnect the harness before i could climbdown. i was so pumped, i felt great! we all decided we needed a drink and toilet break before taking on the hardest and highest course. i had no hesitations this time. i climbed everything as fast as i could, i jumped through the swings, shuffled, slid, pulled, pushed, dragged kicked my way through the course. at one point we had another swing rope, my least favourite obstacle, and as i swang across the gap i managed to hit my eye on a safety cable! it wasn't too bad but came up red straight away. i felt on top of the world as i raced to the finish and felt capable of acheiving anyhting. Gabi and Thomas had said that our surprise would be a test of emotional fitness, balance and attitude and it certainly was!

we topped of the most amazing day ever with go-karting (on the most dangerous go-karts i have ever een in my life!) and mini-golf (i think an even biggger test of emotional fitness than the tree jumping!) and then went to McDonalds for dinner! we never eat fast food here so it really made it feel like a true excursion!

on Sunday i could feel my muscles but nothing as bad as i had expected. i played with Paris online and he was having so much fun. he was pretending he didn't know what a change of direction was so i would give him the oppertunity to change and if he didn't take it i would "close the door" behind me as he went past. he quickly was putting effort into changing direction and was doing amazing flying changes from left to right and cool simple changes from right to left. he felt so connected that we played stick to me at liberty in the bg arena whilst the others played with their horses. Anna had set up a big jump and i asked PAris to stick to me and go over it but it was a bit too much and he took off but i soon had him back. i went online and did more stick to me and this time he popped the jump without issue as if to show the others how it's done! he is the coolest horse in the world!

 i had a small session with Riva  and began thinking about my goals for the week ahead. Cindy, one of the girls i did my 10 day trial in january with, arrived with Rianna to start their 6 month working student placements.

On Monday we set our weekly goals. For Paris i planned to get a calmer canter and get canter trot transitions without reins, i also plnned to get flying changed from right to left and really start zone 5 driving which i have been meaning to do for ages. For Riva i had found that her friendly game in motion was broken, especially with the carrot stick and savvy string so i wanted to fix that with a view to leading to the Karen  Rolf stretching exercises. i also planned to do freestyle patterns, corners game with her and transitions on the trail. With Touria i planned to really get her thinking with puzzles like push the ball and carrot hide 'n' seek, as well as have her start the karen Rolf stretching exercises, as she always trots with her head up and using the musclse underneath her neck rather than over her back.

Paris has been amazing this week. he has been so playful and cheeky. he was cantering in a steady calm manner. it is still a big canter by most people's standards but that is his working canter and the pace he is comfortable with. he was so left brained and did not have a right brained take off all week. i was so pleased with how he was going i even tied the reins to my saddle with the savvy string and did canter circles with trot to walk to halt to walk to trot to canter transitions without reins. the hardest transition to get was the trot to walk. he either wanted to be jogging or grazing! at one point he even started grazing whilst doing a big relaxed trot - talk about left brained! he has become very playful online, making big efforts to do flying changes and changes of direction. i took the plunge and asked for a lesson on zone 5 driving. it was really cool - a few simple things and we were doing transitions and indirect rein with one rein in zone 5. the main thing was for me to keep physical contact with zone 5 with stick or hand until Paris really gets the idea. at first he was confused and kept trying to turn and face. i ran as fast as i could to keep up with his spinning hind end until he stopped and he worked out that he got comfort whilst i was in zone 5. first we started with indirect rein which is applied just like in the saddle but the rope applies steady pressure to his inside hind leg. he was over-reactive to this at first but i kept the rope on him until he was calm. the porcupine game is about appropriate response to pressure, not avoiding all pressure. he was thinking a lot about doing circles around me rather than accepting me behind him. my position was very important, i had to keep myself right behind his tail, which was harder than it sounds, but everytime i came out to oneside it put pressure on zone 4 and he would think about disengaging resulting in him doing smaller circles. once he was comfortable with me in zone 5 and could disengage i asked him to move forward, i lifted my energy and rythmically tapped his hind end. at first he took a step backward because our only previous communication in zone 5 had been backward lead by the tail. i walked back but maintained the tapping, doing it in phases. after a couple of trips through the four phases in four phases he stepped forward and i rubbed his tail. soon i had walk halt transitions from zone 5. next i lifted my energy and put a trot in my body and he was able to trot, as soon as i walked he would go back to walk. i am now so excited about playing more in zone 5. i was tired and sweaty after our session because it involved quite a lot of running! zone 5 driving will get me fit!

This wasn't my best week with Touria. she is now really questioning my leadership and when we were trail riding she was threatening to buck by lifting her back and snaking her head down. i would use a rythmic pop motion to keep her head up and interrupt her evil thoughts but i knew it was still there. on tuesday it was so bad she was doing it at a trot and i dared not allow her to canter. yesterday we tried a differnet saddle with her. this one is a western type saddle and when i cantered her online with it she bucked, i slapped the ground to send her forward and she took off bucking and bronking, i ran around the arena with her, matching her energy and slapping the ground until she was in a forward canter with no bucks. we did this several times on each rein until she was offering my a nice canter without bucks from phase one. her steering is not getting any better although i have found she is best if i do the level one "kicking the naked parachuter" direct rein method. i am fascinated about how to get her mind and her respect.

Riva has been very interesting this week. i began doing lots of friendly game, especially in motion. i was waiting for signs of her being left brained before i would quit and she has responded really well. when it came to doing any of the other games i was much softer and slower in all my phases, and treated her as if she were a right brain introvert. her first response is usually to brace and then she gets into an argument but my new tactics gave her nothing to brace against. she has become soft and sweet and much more relaxed and trusting! with her circle game she would always turn in after a few strides. if i increased my phases as she expected me too she would run to the end of the line and keep tension in the rope and shake her head and then turn and face anyway. so this time i would simply repoint and wait. she knew what she needed to be doing and after some time to think and when she realised that i was being passively persistent in the proper position she actually started to maintain the walk on the circle. we have built this up to the trot and had some nice canter transitions. i have started riding her in the arena in the bareback pad too - she gets tense and hesitent very easily and it is amazing how much more you feel through the pad. her trot is so comfortable though! i was hoping to do corners game with her but when she is alone in the arena she gets quite unconfident and so i did passenger, touch its and a weave pattern on a circle. I'm really pleased with how she has softened toward me, she is such a sweet horse really.

it will be really interesting to see how things develope next week with each of my horses!