Need some ideas, hosting a play day tomorrow….help

Tigerlily · Need some ideas, hosting a play day tomorrow….help

I am hosting my first ever play day tomorrow….as a means to make some new friends. Nothing formal with ribbons or compitition or anything like that, just like minded people sharing ideas and having fun.

We are all bringing what ever toys and obstacles that we can fit into our truck n trailers, so we should have all sorts of ‘stuff’ to play “with”….but I was hoping people who have been to parelli playdays and clinics, could give me some ideas of fun things to do on the ground with them and each other. I have only been to 2 play days, and one clinic.

One of my favorites is the stick to me/protect your herd game, where everyone is in a big circle along the fence, and one person goes in the middle with horse at liberty and plays with them, everyone else protects their herd of 2 should the horse leave their human, not allowing the loose horse sanctuary hiding behind their own horse. Usually takes a good number of people to play depending on the size of the arena. And liberty play can be as simple as just seeing if the horse will follow you off line as you walk around, to advanced as playing level 4 tasks off line and see if your horse will stay with you while you challenge him.

Another fun favorite of mine is simply….follow the leader…thru an obstacle course. Everyone in a line, following each other thru the obstacles. I also know of the ‘can you?’ game, where one person chooses the game (1 of the 7), the zone and the obstacle for another person to try to do. And also things like….can you….sit in this chair and have your horse do these two obstacles. …Etc.

And then there is the plain old obstacle course.

So what other ideas are out there to be had? We are planning a trail ride around the park when we are done playing on the ground.

Katharine

A variation on the "can you" game is to pick a simple object - a cone - for example and have each person come up with a "can you" with the object

A word of caution. Try to make sure that people aren't over matched with the obstacles or tasks. Variations on a single task are better. "How little does it take...." fits everyone and is less likely feel badly.

I wouldn't worry too much though - a group of people+horses+obstacles=fun!

I am jealous and wish I was going. I love play dates!

Tigerlily

that is a good idea katherine, thank you.
i believe that 3people are at least L2, I am L4, my son passed L1, and my dear husband has owned a horse all of 1 week.....bless his heart he still cant put a halter on without help. i like the one task with variation idea.

for my husband, i plan on having him just lead his horse around and try not to get killed

.....his mare, while not highly educated, is an LBI pussycat, who pretty much does what ever you ask of her without hesitation. all he needs to learn....is how to ASK.

so for him and my son, the one task 'can you', such as maybe....can you get her to put her nose/foot on.....insert obstacle....sounds good. i think letting him kinda work it out on his own first, before interjecting my 'expertise' upon him, is a good idea. i would rather leave it up to him to ask me 'how'....IF....he feels he needs it.

great idea...thanks.

PasoBaby_CarolU

Parelli's had this little puzzle pack in the L&HB course that you could modify and use.

On little pieces of paper list all the obstacles everyone brings. Put in one empty can or small bucket...or Tupperware.

List each of the 7 games on other pieces of paper, put in another container.

Then list zones 1-5 on papers and put in a third container.

Then people pick the obstacle, what game they are supposed to play, and from what zone from each can.

Tigerlily

thanks carol, i forgot all about that. this is pathetic...i actually own that game thing they sold for like $70

have no idea where it is, used it once with a friend like 5 ys ago. forgot all about it. it is likely making a cool condo for a few spiders in my tack room. thanks for the reminder, will look for it tonight.

it was fun when we used it. we were both 'creativity' challanged.

i like the idea of when you pick a 'zone' that you get the choice of either having that zone play with the obstacle and you anywhere you want to be, or FROM that zone you have the horse play with the obstacle with any part of his body.

thanks for the reminder....great idea

bit

big horsey soccer ball. Sometimes the horses don't even need you.

Tigerlily

PasoBaby_CarolU

Well, you can always play a game of soccer too. We have a lot of fun doing that.

Tigerlily

oooohhhh....that would be fun playing soccer.

Copious_Amour

Tigerlily

Katharine

How did the playday go?

becdubie

What katherine said....and

....where are the pictures?

Tigerlily

been a hell week, at work and home and i am late for work...
here's a link to some of the pics....still working on it.

it was fun, but will come back and tell all later.....

http://www.naturalmanners.com/photosvideos.cfm

PasoBaby_CarolU

Nice pictures. I really like your arena.

Your pictures of Tigerlily brought a tear to my eye. She looks like a really nice mare. I'm so sorry. I lost a mare to DSLD also and know how you feel.

Tigerlily

thanks carol....I ....WISH.....that was my arena. it is a public arena.

I miss both my Tigerlily and My Snookie, but they are together now in heaven, best friends together again. Lily was the sweetest horse EVER. She was about 16.3hh and a clumsy goof.

Here is my blog post about the event.......

This being my first one to ‘host’, I was unsure of what to expect or do. It was a lot of ‘stuff’ to load into the truck, out of the truck, set up, and reload into the truck and unload again at home. Whew…that alone was enough to wear me out. It was Bill and Jason’s first playday too. Bill having only been a horse person for all of 1 week, I was worried about him too. I was worried about his safety and fun level. We got there an hour early to set every thing up. We proceeded to play at 11am, and the ‘end’ time was set for 4pm. Turns out….THAT is a long day. Bill and Jason were very helpful….and we learned that Syrah is a bit of a load to haul. She flattened the trailer tires! They were good enough to get us there going slow, and once unloaded, Bill took the trailer to the gas station to air up the tires before we headed back home. Also, despite their hatred for each other, and a few squeals, Rose and Syrah traveled together well. Maybe next time, Spirit won’t need to travel in the tack room all alone. (I figured he was safer in there, in case a war broke out between the girls) Before we played, while we were setting things up, we let everyone just run around, something they can’t really do at home. The group that was meeting us, had trailer issues and were unable to contact me to let me know they were running late, so we just got started thinking they weren't going to show up.

I let the boys, do their own thing, and ask for instruction when they wanted it. I think that was best, otherwise I am just the know it all wife/mom barking orders at them.

You know...the whole....let it be 'thier' idea! Syrah is not ‘afraid’ of anything, except being ‘alone’ or being asked to ‘go fast’. Bill did REALLY good with the yo-yo game and was getting a fairly decent grasp of the circling game. But a few times he, for what ever reason, wanted her to go faster…on a 12’ line. ……so she bolted away from him a few times. Jason was quite the 'teacher' for his dad, and had frequent "tasks" for Bill to try. Turns out my kid is the know it all! Then Jason suggested Bill try to sideways her over the pole. It was pretty much a no go. They both need a fence. Bill asked me to teach her the fig 8, which she picked up pretty quickly, and I also addressed her need to flee when pressure is put on her…..thus her learning her first steps of sideways. Jason and Spirit, worked on reviewing L1, and he told me he thinks he wants to work on L2 now.....after doing nothing (other than a couple schooling shows) with his pony for the last 1yr and 3mos since he passed L1. But….ok, we can make it a family affair, maybe, and we can all play together in the yard. (do you think dreams really CAN come true?)

As for Rose and I, we did quite a bit more than I expected to. We got to work on all sorts of things. On the 45’ line, we worked on change of direction at trot, yo-yo, sideways over a barrel, driving from zone5, pushing a ball. At liberty we played stick to me, sideways toward, and draw backward from zone 5, and at freestyle we played with learning how to ride from a neck rope….stop, reinback and turn. We also did all the good stuff she knows well, sideways, fq/hq turns. It was no surprise; I was exhausted 3hrs later when the other ladies joined us. They got the trailer stuck between a tree and a propane tank. YIKES! I played a bit with them, but was so tired, I mostly just rambled on like a social moron

No surprise there! I would have like to join them on a trail ride, but Bill was spent, and had already loaded the truck with all the toys. The cool thing was that one of the ladies was able to help me a bit with Rose. Rose has issues with other horses getting too close to her. So I asked them if they could approach her and offer a cookie, to see if it could change her mind. It did a little, which is the only thing that has ever made any appreciable….positive difference in her. So I think it is a great direction to explore further.

All in all, Bill, Jason and myself had alot of fun together, and I made new friends. I don't know how soon I will do another one, simply because it is alot of work to load all that crap in the truck! And if Bill doesn't come...that means I gotta do it myself! For now, I am waiting on Jason's soccer schedule to be posted so I can see what Saturdays I even have available, and then plan my horse schedule for the next few months.

One day at a time I guess.

PasoBaby_CarolU

Sounds like a nice day. I love Play days...Rosie loves play days and that helps. I think Carina will love them too. She thinks EVERY day should be a play day. She stands there and nickers, "MEEEE MEEE MEEE" We even call her Meme! LOL

Well, too bad that isn't your arena...I'd move in!

Tigerlily

so I went to a playday last month.....and boy oh boy, did they have some good ideas! Just knowing their games has got my creative juices flowing. But at this point, it seems easier to just go theirs, than host one for myself....at least for a while. the whole point anyways of me hosting, was to make things happen for myself, rather than sit around waiting for the nothingness that was coming my way.

So the first game we played was to split into two large groups, 7 each, and line our horses up facing the fence. then one person was blindfolded and led around by someone else, to the tail end of each horse, and we had to find our horse by feeling the back ends of the horses. we thought...the game was how well we know our horses, but really it was about trusting someone to lead you...a lesson in communicating. Everyone correctly identified their horse!

The second game was a relay race game, on the ground, lead your horse to a small bucket of water, get them to put a front foot in it, put all their weight on it for 3 seconds, and race back. Rose was awesome. first she picked up the bucket and emptied it contents, leaving just a little bit of water in it, then she pawed the air like a circus horse (her favorite trick by the way) then stepped in it and glances at me as if to say "my way is more fun than your way" and then we headed back quickly. this was a hard challenge for alot of horses....either because of fear or because of not having a solid foundation of communication.

I had to leave at this point to get to my sons first soccer game, but the next two games were to lead your horse thru an obstacle course by a font leg, and another relay race weaving thru barrels.

the riding games were:

a weave relay race, weave thru, horse must touch fence, weave back, you must tag next person in order for them to start thier weave

backing your horse in a straight line from one end of the arena to the other.

pair up in teams, each rider holding one end of a strip of crepe paper, ride an obstacle course with a fig8, pole lane, weave, and small jump.

I was bummed i had to leave early, but will be there for the whole playday next time, and will report the games when I get back.

seems we all could use some help with creativity in playday games.....sharing is good!

Hertha

Some cool ideas there, Michelle. Are you going to keep a master list for all of us to refer to?

I'm presuming that no one got kicked while searching out their horse's butt???

CoolsLadyInRed

Tigerlily

Hertha, I will just use this thread to keep track for anyone interested.

Kicked? let me say this.....based on how many not so experienced people were there, AND a few horses that didn't really stand still very well.....My heart was in my throat for sure. But the person leading the blind, led them up to the hind end from the side, not directly behind, she then took our hands and placed it on the horses hip....we were on our own from there. some were easy to tell it wasn't our horse,....either to small or big. I had one of the tallest horses there, so it was easy when my hands were on a puny butt to know it wasn't my rose. I was more worried that who ever was holding her would be mugged by her, as she loves to intimidate those she can

and she doesn't like other horses near her. but the guy....nearly totally new to horses held his own just fine. i learned to have a little faith that day