Integrating Technology in Education Post

OK, first of all, apologies for the weird blog.. I made it a couple of years ago to store old message board posts and really didn't want to make another one just for this class. I'm not a big blogger - though I follow several - and just thought it would be silly to make a SECOND blog I never write on. Maybe when I start teaching I'll make a class blog; until then I'm not really bothered.

Anyway.. blogging can be an interesting tool in a classroom setting. I like the idea of a teacher using a blog to post a review of information covered in class - copies of classnotes, links to sites with more information - or to get a chance to write about a facet of the subject that could not be discussed in class due to time restrictions. I had considered students having blogs to post homework assignment, but thought that would be as much (if not more) work for the teacher, and it wouldn't apply to every student anyway.

I had not considered the implications a blog can have on english learning, or on general scholarly communication, until I read the readings. I really liked the Olwell article which mentioned using a blog as a way to communicate with a historian or other academic figure NOT associated with the classroom. This can be tricky; very popular blogs often get too much traffic for the original blogger to answer everyone's question - and in open blogs students always risk someone ELSE answering, possibly with bad information. Still, if it is done directly, it could prove very interesting. Also interesting was the CNN clip which demonstrated how a blog could be used to increase a student's writing ability -- in which case, the fact that it is globally accessible perhaps helps encourage the student to write better. It's an interesting idea.

Of course, blogs definitely have their drawbacks. The very fact that makes them indispensable -- their accessibility -- can also be a detriment to the safety of students, opening them up to the dangers of the internet. And even in wealthier neighborhoods, there is always the problem of student accessibility. Unless the projects are done in-class, they'd have to be for extra credit (i.e. not mandatory) - otherwise it's unfair to students without access to a computer.

Personally, I'm more excited about the role something like Facebook or Twitter (even though I don't yet Tweet) can play in a classroom than I am about blogs, but I definitely see their value.

One blog I follow (or, rather, followED - she has since moved to a private domain), which is really wonderful, is a photo-blog from a woman in WY who raised a baby coyote. She takes the most amazing photographs I've ever seen, and it's a really interesting journey she's takn. Check her out at: dailycoyote.net/

And, in keeping with this blog title, a photo of my former horse, Cloud. He was a really good boy; I sold him back in March when I no longer had the time/cash to take care of him. This is still one of my favourite ways to see the world, though..

Passage of Time..

We're still working on Circling game issues, but nothing major is coming up. I've taken some lessons with a L3 grad/trainer which have been extremely helpful and bought a new saddle in March (longhorn Wade). We're playing in some L3 ground tasks and L1/2 riding (still). The riding is an up and down struggle for me - it's really good some days, really bad other days. We're not doing a lot of it consistently, which doesn't help at all, but at this point I'd rather not ride and preserve my confidences than ride and lose them.

Some pics from this time period....

Generally things are going well. Our communication on the ground is starting to really soar, and we're starting to do some really fun things. Cloud's healthy and we're both happy.

Just as it should be!!

Major Progress!

Here's a post from the beginning of January, 2007, where I look back and see how far I've come -- it's really fun to look back to this post and realize how far I've come even AFTER that point!



So I've been having a few BFOs lately about Emotional Fittness and thought it would be cool to discuss it! Parelli is really a personal journey - getting a human to turn into a horse, and not the other way around like in most forms of "training". One of the goals for ourselves is this lofty idea of "Emotional Fitness." I always heard the words and understood it as something "good" but I'm just starting to GET it.

When I first started L1, I was really "raw". I had no emotional fitness at all and everything I did (wrong) was frustrating to me. I couldn't make mistakes - my horse couldn't do things wrong (i.e. different to what I had wanted) without me getting angry. I'd take out all my frustrations on my horse, feeling momentarily satisfied but leaving still upset and coming back the next day to find our relationship damaged. We'd make mistakes and I'd be stuck, unable to move on, unable to deal.

The other day, I asked for the circling game, a game I had not yet won, and Cloud did his usual dominating. He ended up crashing through the gate, breaking it. He's done this many times before and I've always been flustered and frustrated and then I'd quit. But this time was suddenly different. For one of the first times ever, I didn't get frustrated with him! I just acted like nothing had happened and worked on getting Cloud LB and SOFT again. I was still frustrated, but I was able to shut off my emotions and just deal with the task in front of me. The result was a preserved relationship. I left Cloud with me in a position of greater respect and the next day he couldn't wait to get near me! Obviously this is progress - now I make mistakes, but I know how to respond in a way that preserves our relationship. I'm hoping that the next step is knowing how to PREVENT problems - but I'm satisfied with this step for now.



It's true - if Cloud had done that during my early days I would have made horsemeat out of him. I would not be able to control myself and we would be in a HUGE mess. I might even have gotten rid of him. So this is a huge improvement from where we were - but looking back on it now I can think of several ways to have prevented the problem altogether - so that we didn't have to GO there. That's exactly where I knew I would be eventually - and it's so cool to know that I've finally made it!

A Little Taste of HEAVEN

Ah.. our first attempt at bridleless riding!


Christmas Eve, 2006

Today we tasted our first bit of bridleless riding!!!!!!! YAY! It was absolutely amazing - No wonder Pat does so much of it!

We didn't actually go "naked" - Cloud had a bridle on - but we only had it as a "safety net" and didn't use it at all. I used my two carrot sticks and -man- it was great. I really GOT the idea of looking with your bellybutton, and I was surprised at how light Cloud was! The coolest part of it all was figuring out how to stop -- at first, I released my energy but nothing happened and I immediately went for the reins. But after a little while, I realized I could do lateral flexion even WITHOUT touching the reins and that worked beautifully!!! In one session, we "got" forwards, backwards, stop, turn and spin - really good for our first try ever! I'm so happy I'm floating!!!! We've come so FAR in these couple years!

(If you'll please excuse me, I just really have to do this...)

YIPPPEEEEEEEE!!!!

Looking at Other Trainers...

Post from mid-November, just after I came back from Equine Affaire...


Hi all!

Well, I spent the past 4 days practically living at Equine Affaire, but I'm home now! I had a really great time and I bought a ton of great stuff, too! The clinics, I felt, were a bit sub-par compared to other years, but I did find my way into a Kenny Harlow clinic on "Rearing, Bucking and Spinning, Gaining Control in Potentially Dangerous Situations" because Cloud's, well, been a little, um, bucking. I know it's just LB bordom, but I wanted some insight on how to quickly gain control. Up till this point, I'd never heard of Kenny Harlow. Man was I in for a treat!!

I'd been to another "natural" clinic and, while the lady had some good ideas, she was dry as toast. I mean, falling-asleep-I'm-so-bored dry. This guy though, Mr. Harlow, was really fun to watch. He was dynamic - always asking if we (the audience) had questions, treating everything as a game, lots of stuff -- it was a blast! Anyway, he was demonstrating preparation for riding techniques. Now, let me back up to say that, although Cloud and I are doing really well and advancing well on the ground, we're not doing well riding. I mean, I can trail ride and everything, but FQ, HQ and lateral (sideways) movements have been almost impossible. Cloud never got them and I didn't know how to teach him. Anyway, Mr. Harlow was demonstrating how to prepare your horse for those movements from the ground, using only the bit.

He's a really natural guy -- refuses to use anything harsher than a snaffle, able to calm spooky horses in a single bound, treats everything as a game (Yesterday, he had the horse's owner get on and learn what he was doing. Once they were good with that, he galloped over to her, whacked her on the back, said "you're it" and galloped off!! It was so funny!!) -- and what he was doing just made sense to me. So much so that I went to his session today for preparation, took lots of notes, and then headed to the barn. It was a ... COMPLETE SUCESS! Funny how things just click like that. Cloud was totally interested, learning and we had a GREAT riding session; although most of it was on the ground.

Now, I belive Mr. Harlow is a traditional cowboy in his groundwork techniques.. roundpenning and the like.. but in preparing for riding, the guy knows his stuff! But don't worry, I'm not changing camps! I don't think I could have understood it without my background in PNH -- or at least I wouldn't have been so sucessful. And I don't think he provides such a complete foundation as PNH. What I thought was cool was that I'm getting Savvy enough to know what can work and what will confuse my horse -- not that I'm there yet, but I think there's hope for me!

The other thing I learned at EA: NO ONE is as well-rounded as P&L! I went to a saddle fitting demo and the guy was explaining things very similiarly to P&L -- but this guy dosn't train, teach, investigate feeding programs, learn about learning, teach about fear, &c, &c, &c. There are lots of people who SPECIALIZE in one of those areas, but I've never seen another person who can do it all at once! Very cool!!!

Breakthrough Day

This is what happens when PNH starts talking about LB horses after previously never mentioning them: Breakthrough!!


5 November 2006

Just wanted to share my good day. It's been a while that I can say I had a genuinely good day; for the past couple of weeks, things have been kinda lackluster -- you know, just *OK*. Cloud's been bucking again when I ride and he wasn't *playing* with me -- he'd do anything I asked, but he wasn't into it. I don't have the L&HB course yet (and won't for a while) so I wasn't sure what to do.. but the I got my Savvy Times and read and re-read the LB horse article and GOT it!! I knew Cloud was bored, but I didn't know how to fix it.. we were in a rut and we needed to get out - just didn't know how.

The article had a couple great things in it (I mean, the whole thing was great, but some things really *stuck*). One thing was that LB horses are really food motivated (which I knew -- gee, how I knew!) and it suggested using it to our advantage OK - that's easy enough! The other thing was that circles, arena work, routines, &c was NOT a good idea, and it suggested trail rides. Those two things really jumped out at me. (lick, chew) So what did I realize?? I was bored with the games, too! I didn't have any interest in "put your nose on" or in circling game or whatever. I was just doing it because that's what PNHers do! If my horse is my mirror (which he is) than no wonder he's bored!!

So I had my first attempt on Thursday: The first thing I did was break out the cookies!! The second thing was to set up the arena. (can't change too fast, you know) I put cookies on everything - then I got Cloud. We did the same routine, even though I tried to do it differently.. but that was all that was routine! We got into the ring and started playing. The game had changed. It wasn't the "put your nose on.." game we were so bored of anymore - it was "go find the cookie!" Cloud got so into it and we had a great time -- he was tuning in and asking questions and having FUN. We ended up playing at Liberty for a long time and he stayed right with me finding the cookies!! Then we rode and did the same thing from horseback till I ran out of cookies. It was a good day, but not the best .. and I was still a little discouraged.

But today was great!! He came to me in pasture, which he'd been doing.. but today he was interested!! We didn't go into the arena ONCE - not at all - even though I missed my routine!! We found a puddle in the driveway and played in that. Cloud's not a big fan of water -- he'll go through it if you make him, but he's never happy about it. But today was different -- it really wasn't about going through the water! I really understood the meaning of "separate and recombine"!! We worked one step at a time -- the goal wasn't to cross the puddle, it was to take small steps and put his foot in the *deep* parts -- instead of jumping or steeeeppping over it. We took it really slow. I felt like I was being direct-line a couple times, but for the most part I was reading him -- focusing with MY whole body and relaxing at key moments. I was interesting -- when he thought I was going to force him through, I relaxed and played Friendly -- or I gave him a cookie (I keep LOTS in my pockets at all times now) and he was TOTALLY FOCUSED!! His ears were up and he was constantly asking questions! What really surprised me was that we didn't spend a lot of time on the puddle. I'm really predatory like that -- when it's good I want to push it, but today I did a lot of retreating and leaving. We took 3 different "stabs" at it, and made HUGE progress!!

Then, to make things better, I even got to ride!! For the first time in a long time, Cloud stayed perfectly still when I saddled and even stood still when I mounted -- stopping and asking for directions!! I made sure I had a lot of cookies in my pockets and gave him one sometimes when I asked for lateral flexion -- and it made him more interested in giving it to me!! (Darn, Linda actually *knows* what she's talking about!) We rode all around - outside!! Not in a boring arena, but outside in strange places! And I was so proud of myself that I didn't ask for higher gaits, even though I wanted to. We really ended everything on a good note!!

Then.. I turned him out and we played at Liberty -- really playing! He ran around with me and stopped and turned and we were totally having fun!!! It was the best feeling EVER. More cookies and scratches and then I left.

I'm just totally happy to have gotten this far!! To be happy and in true harmony! One thing I noticed that was AWESOME was that Cloud and I have always gone through these "down" spots -- where we're not doing great, disappointed, dissatisfied -- and they've always lasted a while (a year ago, they could last upwards of a month!) but this "down" patch only lasted a couple weeks -- and it NEVER got as bad as some of the other ones have. It used to be so aweful that I'd consider selling him; he'd be attacking me and I'd be frustrated beyond belief. But the further we progress, the less often and less severe these spots are!! I'm just so happy!!!!!

Thanks for reading and letting me share!

Sarah & Cloud

Little Learning Moments

Exerpts from posts with minor little BFOs...


19 October 2007:

For example, he's always been so resistant to jumping barrels. He'd just crash through them, and it's impossible to keep him learning while we stop and reset the barrels; we'd stop and reset, then he'd crash through again. IMPOSSIBLE, or so I thought. The other day, I asked for help. I had a friend reset the barrels for us while Cloud was circling. At first, he just crashed through again. Then he got confused - these things keep resetting!! Then he got resistant: I don't care if you do have magical powers and can reset these things - I'm not going over them! Finally, though, he relented: OK, whatever, I'll jump them. SUCCESS! But it's nothing I could have ever done by myself, so it really forced me to ask for help.


20 October 2008

I know for me (and this is not advice, because I know nothing about your situation!), though, it was always a sign that we weren't spending enough undemanding time with eachother. That was a hard thing to learn for me.. and I'm still learning it.. but it's getting easier with practice. On good days, I'll just go up and sit in his pasture to do my homework. Obstacles weren't enough for us - Cloud needs to not always DO stuff with me. He just needs to hang out sometimes!