Building Gemini and Riding Nina

Today, I took Gem to Hidden Mesa, a local trailhead to see how he'd do by himself. I've actually never taken Gem by himself for a trail ride so this was quite the test. I was perfectly prepared for whatever he might offer and very willing to simply lead him down the trail and play on the ground if that's what he needed.

He started out pretty calm and I was suprised. We walked a bit, I did a little feet-moving with him, asked him to go sideways down the trail some. But he was really just fine. Steve was with me so we walked and talked and I paid attention to how Gem was doing. We came upon a bridge over a creek and he crossed the bridge w/o a single worry. I was trying to decide if I should mount and decided to wait a little longer.

Another 1/4 mile of the trail and he all of a sudden got very worried. A couple of trailriders were coming behind us and he started to frantically call for them and seek comfort from them. I was actually just starting to mount when they came in view. He moved his hips away and started to get emotional just as I was putting my foot in the stirrup. Now, he wasn't crazy or anything, he just didn't want me to mount and he wanted those horses to call back and make him feel more comfortable.

Steve went on down the trail to do his run and I stayed with Gem in that spot to work with his state of mind. Tons of sideways, falling leaf, backing, and when he started to look calmer we'd stop to rest. He'd munch grass for a moment and then lift his head, call and we go back at it. He was slowly getting calmer and finding more comfort with me in our quiet moments. He finally found a reason to feel ok - after about 20 minutes, and we slowly started to walk back. He was fine from then on. We crossed the water - he stood in it and splashed a little. We did transitions, we stopped to eat grass. I just wanted him to realize I wasn't going to let the boogieman eat him, I was going to keep him safe and comfortable. We found a picnic table and stopped while he ate grass. Ahhhh...

At that point, I thought very hard that I should mount. He seemed ready to handle it. I decided not to, though. I decided it was enough for his first trail experience alone with me. I kept my desire for MORE under control so we could hit this trail another day and pick up from this nice quiet spot. His trailer loading was pretty good, but loading up to go home had him more hesitant. We just took our time and he was blowing and loaded after about 5 mins. I refuse to push him - that's what people have done to him in the past. I want to give him reasons to be trustful of me forever more.

When we got back, I rode Nina. She's ready for the next step in her training. We started with ground work and she was calm and respectful and just a joy. Then, we went to the round pen for mounted work on walk/trot transitions, more soft feel to me on her back and beginning to apply some good communication with my body. She did so well! Next, patterns!

I helped Chrissy next with her porky and her personal space (trot to back up on the ground). She'll be filming in the next day or two, I hope! And Kendall rode Rain for a while. She worked on weaving in and out of trees, go and whoa, and then finished with standing on tires with Rain.

It was a great day! I didn't get to Tina today, I plan tomorrow to start backing her.

Cloverleaf with Gem

Great session! Working on maintaining gait at the canter on the circle on the 22, then isolating the ends with soft asks (suggest). Squeezing over barrels isn't great yet, but he's getting it. We also had some nice figure 8's after a few minutes of him getting with the groove. He struggles going from the left eye to the right eye. I'll try to back up more and give him more of a release on that side.

Then, cloverleafs in the arena in the western saddle. Transitions and looking for softness and snappy transitions. His back up is very nice, but he over collects. Not sure how to fix that. Maybe I need to use just the stick in zone 1 and no reins at all. I got the most beautiful transition from trot to canter and we stopped on the X of the cloverleaf and called it a day for arena time. He's doing so great.

We went to the barn and started working on mounted sideways. That's tough for him and we haven't done very much of it. I tried to use the carrot stick to motivate him to move, but that didn't work so well. I need to go back to isolating the ends and getting him softer - right now I'm doing too much work.

It was a really nice session with him and I'm trusting him more than ever. We'll keep growing like this together and have some great things going in no time. We need to work on confidence away from the herd.

I redressed Z's wound and cut off more necrotic flesh. What a mess. Dang it.

Using Rain for Transportation

I had a little time and some letters to mail, so I tacked up Rain and grabbed my letters and cantered her to the mailbox. :-) Our mailbox is about 1/2 mile away, so we normally do it in the car on the way in or out. But today, I decided to make "real" use of my horse and actually accomplish a task.

I dropped off my letters, put up the flag so the mailman would know, and took the mail that was in there for us already. Then, I asked her to gait home at a fast clip. I was smiling the whole way. Rain is my favorite horse and she has a great 4-beat gait that is a blast to ride.

We were back pretty fast (after all, it was only a mile long ride) and I still had daylight for manure management and feeding. Before I hopped off, we practiced more bridleless sideways and she is moving so beautifully of my lightest suggestion. Love HER!

Finding the "Holes" and Trailriding

Took Kyle with me to Hidden Mesa for a nice evening ride. Kyle's kind of a trail snob - he'll only ride with me if I trailer somewhere. HA! So we brought Cowboy and Rain. First of all, Cowboy's trailer loading lessons truly paid off. He was confident and comfortable with the panels and staying in the trailer. I was so pleased!!

We tacked them up before we loaded so we could get there, get on and go. So, I found some important holes in Cowboy's understanding of "how to be a mount". I had to kind of laugh at myself for all the training we haven't done yet and what I've glossed over. He doesn't really know how to yield the hind or the fore from the saddle. Subsequently, he has no idea how to go sideways or half-pass. Those are handy, handy tools when you have a horse that is more impulsive than you want. Well, I wouldn't call Cowboy an impulsive horse, but there were moments where he wanted to trot and I was asking for a walk. Next lesson, we get those things going!

Then, he seemed to be tender footed on the rocks. That surprised me since he has great, solid feet. I've noticed that since having him here with me, he doesn't walk well on my gravel driveway. I truly need to get some gravel in my track! At one point, he seemed super sore and I hopped off to check and found a big rock lodged in his hoof. Poor guy - he needs to toughen up those soles. I'll add gravel this week.

He crossed water just fine - I figured he would. He walks soooooo slow. OMG. I'm going to try to find a faster walk in him. Also, our down transitions were not so good on the way back. He got more impulsive going home, as all horses tend to do, but he immediately got bracey as well. We'll be focusing more and more on getting rid of the brace. He's got a lot of built-in brace for us to get through.

It was a great ride, good time with Kyle, and a great test of what we've built and where Cowboy and I are headed. I needed it to remind me of all the things we have to fix up if I'm going to use him for L3.

This weekend: trimming hooves. Everyone needs a touch up.

Very cool!

Finding time

I finished work a little early, got kids snacked after school and then I headed out for an hour of horse time. I headed out and felt like kicking off with Cowboy. I had some ideas of things to try with him to cause him to be more supple. We started with a little ground work, but today I wanted to start upping the game. He can do more than I've been asking and he's ready.

I started by asking him to trot when I trot, canter when I canter. He seemed to have some fun doing that! I had him pretty close - maybe 10 ft away and he was engaged and ready to transition up or down as I asked. Then, we went for some trotting sideways on the rail. He got a little defensive as I asked him for more speed going sideways, but he quickly got the idea that I wasn't criticizing him - I just wanted him to offer more to the game. I actually got some cantering sideways! Then, we went for some circle game and I asked him to canter more laps. Until now, I've been happy and content with him simply cantering when I ask. Now, I took it to the next level by asking that he maintain the canter for longer. It was a different game and he was a little confused, but he caught on quickly and got the idea in no time. He's smart, smart, smart.

I was really happy with how he handled me asking for more, so it was time to ride. I hopped on (he's so great about mounting - stands still and strong every time) and we started with some simple follow the rail at the walk. I wanted to work on suppling him with bending a lot at the trot. I realized something today, though. He's a short horse! I can do that all day on Z, but Cowboy sees no purpose in moving fast or far. That's when it dawned on me - no wonder he hated cantering on line so much! He's a short horse! So, I had to pause and remember how to motivate a short horse so we could actually progress. I have some obstacles in my arena and I decided to bend around those and circle each one. After we circled 1 -3 of them, I'd stop him at one and give him a small treat. Ah HA! Now we're talking! He started actually getting into it and trying to figure out which obstacle was going to be the "treat spot". He got a little skip in his step and became a little more interested. I realized though, the best suppling is going to occur on the trail. That's where we'll go next - when I have enough time to dedicate to it.

I hopped off and asked for a little more sideways at the trot. I just think it's a good game for Cowboy and I want him thinking sideways and moving off the rail soon.

Then, I tied him off and grabbed Z. I need to ride her bareback - even if it's just 5 mins at a time. She's so sensitive and so annoyed if I ask wrong, we need a lot of practice. I took her into the round pen and asked for some walk/trot bareback. She got annoyed when I asked for forward to strongly. Whoops, sorry Z. But then we trotted for a bunch of laps in both directions easily and happily.

I finished off by spending just a few minutes asking her to bow. We haven't done that in a while and I had to remind her of the cue on her cannon bone. But she went back fairly easily and it's time to ask HER for more. She's comfortable at a certain place and I need to push her comfort zone. It's a hard trick for a RBI - trusting me is a hard thing for her.

L3 Online - Almost on Film

We were out there for a couple hours today, but the footing still isn't quite good enough. Z is not comfortable jumping 3 ft with a slippery ground. Steve was out there with me and we moved the jump to a flatter, somewhat drier place and I started asking her to give that a try. She was definitely better with the new jump location but it was slipper enough still that I decided to bail. We went to the round pen and captured the circle by the flank task.

She's moving into the trailer with such gusto! I have to be careful to make sure it doesn't appear that she's escaping into the trailer (how profound is that!). Our sideways is better than ever and I can feed her rope while she goes sideways now. She's pulling a little at the canter on the barn side of the circle, but I think we're still more than 75% soft and willing.

Cowboy is here and I want to get some time with him. I've been focused on getting these ground tasks assessed and done and the other horses need some time from me.

Also, got Nina trimmed by myself. I changed my attitude and gave her the time she needed and she did great. She was giving me a little trouble in the prior trim and I realize I had started getting a direct lined attitude. Good for me - I'm learning. Need to catch up Gem and Rains hind feet and then everyone has happy feet for a few weeks.