Negative thinking

Once again, another good article in one of the horse magazines. This time it is Bob Avila and his article is in Horse and Rider. There is so much good stuff that we can all get and use from horse trainers.

We have all seen the negative thinkers, they are on the side lines before they even go in for their run thinking "I just know" he/she is going to do this or that. "I just know" that they are going to have trouble with this or that. They have already set themselves up for failure before they even start. When a negative thinker is convinced that it is going to happen, it most likely will happen. You don't even have to be a competitor to be haunted by this demon. There are many triggers for negative thinking.

The way to slay the negative thinking demon is with the power of positive thinking.

Now I will borrow some things from Bob's article.

One thing to help with getting rid of negative thinking is with visualization. I have read more than one book on mental management and they all talk about visualizing how you want things to be. It really does work. It works like this, visualize every part of your run, each step, each flank. Picture exactly how the field looks and how your dog will run. Visualize each flank and where your dog needs to be and how it will look with the sheep going thru each panel, penning and shedding.

When you visualize a positive performance, you're using positive power, rather than negative power that pre-programs a negative result.

The mind is a powerful tool and most of us don't utilize it to the fullest.

Blocking out distractions:
Rather than worrying about what others think(something you can't control), start thinking only about yourself and your dog(something you can control). Concentrate on ways you can help him be the best that he can be.

Dump the negative memories:
Mentally delete the bad feelings that follow a bad run, allowing yourself to learn from any mistakes you made. Not only does learning from them turn a negative into a positive, it helps you avoid a "mistake hangover," so you don't carry the bad memory forward. Know this; if you trial, you'll make mistakes. We all do. Get over it.

Trial or work your dog as much as you can.
Nothing helps slay negative demons like the confidence you'll get by facing them on a regular basis. The less you trial, the bigger those demons seem to get. Mileage and experience will, over time, give you the confidence--and coping skills-- to manage the negative emotions that are bound to crop up every time you face a new challenge on the trial field. Then you can have fun, after all, isn't that what sheepdog trials are all about.

It was a good day

They all said that today was going to be horribly cold. The day did start out cold at only 1F above. But it did warm up to at least 21F with absolutely no wind. It was a beautiful afternoon. I went out to get the mail and it was so nice out that couldn't resist working my young dog. We had some extra excitement added to our work session. As I was walking over to the one area to work Sting the sheep ran over to the shelter area and then puff over the fence went two of them. The jumped over in a space between the corner of the fence and the shelter. So, tie Sting up and get Corbie out. Had her put the pregnant ewes in the barn, which had its own excitement. Stella got on top of some hay and jumped over the stall door and decided that she could do something with the sheep. Caught her and threw her back over the door. Continued on with Corbie who go the two yearling sheep out of the chicken yard and back into the same area. I then put a hog panel across the spot where they jumped out. Now, I was finally able to work Sting.

I flanked him around the sheep in both directions. For the most part he did well, he did slice into them a couple of times. I am sure that it was frustrating for him because he couldn't move as fast he wanted in the snow. It was also frustrating because at first the sheep kept running back and forth between the shelter and one corner of the fence. But, Sting kept his cool and we finally got them covered and kept them out in the middle of the area so that we could work on flanks and very short outruns.

I actually got a little too warm out there working him. This on a day that was supposed to be so cold. :^) Oh, and I haven't had to take any cold medicines for two days now. I am over that icky cold!!

And yes, I did a few exercises today. I can feel my abs. I also rode my bike for 4 miles. It feels so good to be able to get back to exercising and riding my bike. I just want the snow to melt so that I can go out for long walks with the dogs........and especially get out and work my dogs.

Back from the living dead

Finally, I am feeling better. After having this nasty cold for two weeks, I finally feel normal. I finally was able to do my exercises again today. Haven't had the energy to do them while I was sick. Got to do exercises today. I couldn't do a 1 min plank any more now. I will need to build up to that again and I will! It just felt so good to be able to exercise again. Tomorrow I will ride my bike too.

Some of our winter visiters

I finally got a picture of this female pileated woodpecker. I have seen them flying around our farm, but haven't been able to catch until this day.

Also caught these two in same tree. A male cardinal is in the upper branches. A downy woodpecker is lower on the branch.

We always seem to have at least one pair of cardinals around our feeders as spring approaches. I did not catch the female today, just the male.

This guy comes to our bird feeder every winter. He is a red-bellied woodpecker. I know, I always thought that he was a red headed woodpecker, but according to this site he isn't.

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/Birds/Winter/Red-Bellied-Woodpecker

Snow again.........grrrrr

Now doesn't he look like he is having fun?!? Out blowing snow yet again.

Figure that we got at least 8 inches of snow, but we also did receive some freezing rain and rain pellets yesterday too. This does not look good as far as spring flooding in the state.

Lots of snow to blow to clear out the driveway.