|
| Wednesday I had my 2nd lesson on my new horse. He is such a good boy. I am the one that needs training more than him.
My instructor rode him for the first few minutes and then I got on. We are still trying to figure out all of his cues and reactions which is why she gets on first. We found out that he neck reins on a dime (almost run myself under some branches because he turns so fast), moves a lot off your seat---lean forward a tad and he picks up the pace. Lean just a bit more and he trots. Sit back and he slows down his walk. His reverse button is coming along nicely and he is not throwing his head as much now that he has figured out we are not going to yank on his mouth. Actually, you hardly have to touch the reins at all with him.
I got on and took him through the trails around the house with my instructor walking along. She did things like mess with his ears (he was very head shy but is getting better), wave her arms, climb up on the picnic table and then jump down, roll tires at us, etc. as we went along. He was pretty unflapable.
Then we went in the round pen and she loped him some (canter for those of you who don't ride Western). He picked it up and would get the correct lead. She also did some trotting but he likes to go fast so we need to work on getting the slow trot out of him. He has it, he has just been trained to go FAST in the arena (previous life was a barrel/rodeo horse). I trotted a little and then she decided I WOULD lope him both ways. Well, my last horse was sold because he bucked me off at a lope. I was nervous but I did it in both directions and survived. No hint of a buck.
Yesterday I just did some ground work with him.
Today was riding day. The PLAN was to tack up Spy (my horse) and BJ (my girls' horse) and go on a short ride through the trails around the house. Well, by the time we got there this afternoon it was WINDY, the trees were creaking, etc. so we opted to stay in the pasture to ride. I made 20ds lead the girls around on BJ due to the wind but they can ride him alone in the pasture generally (we have only had him 3 weeks now). Spy just fell in and followed along nice and calm and wasn't worried about the wind.
Then after my girls went home my friend helped me do some ground work with Spy. She lunged him some and you can tell he hasn't done it in years and wasn't sure what she wanted. The round pen was too chopped up to use that so she had to do it on the lunge line which is harder.
We then worked on some Clinton Anderson style ground work---backing, desensitizing to the stick and string, etc. He was a little unsure at first but learned FAST. I am not super coordinated with this so that makes it more difficult. His backing is really coming along nicely. When he came a month ago he was throwing his head all over when asked to back. Now you just wiggle the lead rope and he backs right up.
I also worked on leading him from the off side (his right). He is doing much better with this as well. It kinda confuses him though as he isn't used to it and isn't sure exactly where he is supposed to go. He is still a little head shy on this side but again much better.
Tomorrow my friend and I are going out on a short trail ride--maybe an hour or so--for the first time this spring. Then the equine chiropractor is coming out to check all 5 horses so it will be a busy day.  S with BJ--notice the snow AGAIN  Dh meets Spy  N with Betsy | | |
| Hard to believe that tomorrow is Easter. It looks much more like Christmas around here than Easter. We had 10 inches of snow yesterday and last night. It was beautiful to look at but made my 8am walk with friends a lot of fun. We pulled the Yak Trax out of storage and hiked our 3+ miles this morning. Today we also got in another ride. I took Spy on our first mini trail ride in the snow---OK, my first ride alone, my first ride in the snow, and our first ride on the trails---all in one short ride. He did well and didn't mind the snow, heavy underbrush, blazing our own trail, etc. His rider even survived  Spy and I
 S on Spy
 N on Spy
I just led the girls up and down the driveway but they enjoyed their ride. They were going to ride BJ today but I dropped my cell phone on the trail while riding Spy and it took us 2 laps around the trails to find it. By then it was time to head for home. It will be easier to ride when the snow is not knee deep. | | |
| This week the snow is finally melting enough to get in a few rides. The first rides for the girls were on Betsy, the donkey. Betsy is quite round so saddle fit can be difficult. Bareback works well. Betsy belongs to my friend where we board out horses. Betsy enjoys going on trail rides and will keep up with the big horses.  S on Betsy
 N on Betsy
Then the BIG event of today was the first ride on BJ. We wanted to give him a while to settle in and we needed to wait for the snow in the new pasture to melt. Today with sun and temps near 50 it was beautiful riding weather. BJ was PERFECT for the girls' first ride. He listened well to them. Today they just rode with reins on the halter but next time we will move to a side pull or bitless bridle. He still needs to build up some muscle so they can only ride about 10 minutes each at a time right now but as he gains weight they will be able to ride him longer at a time.  N on BJ
 S on BJ
I also got in my first solo ride on Spy. He is doing so well. My first few laps around the pasture I had my friend lead me with the lead rope on his halter. I had his bridle on with reins as well. Spy walks faster than my first horse so I am getting used to moving faster up there. Then my friend rode him a few minutes. Next her daughter rode for a few minutes and then I got brave enough to ride him solo. He listened well which is good. We did find out that he does not have a reverse gear---at least we don't know where it is. No pictures of my ride though as I was busy riding. It is going to take us some time to figure out all of Spy's cues. He does neck rein well. We just can't find the reverse. He will move into a trot easily but we have not loped him yet. | | |
|  Five 600lb round bales in the barn Exercise #1 of the day was to roll 1 round bale out to the pasture and 5 of them into the barn. Due to the amount of snow still on the ground, the hay guy had to leave them on the edge of the driveway. My friend (the barn owner), my son, and myself got the "exercise" of rolling them through the snow. Great resistance training.  The manure pile
Exercise #2 of the day is the incline workout. This involves wheeling a wheelbarrow full of wet/frozen manure up the ramps and dumping it off the end. Wet manure weighs a lot more than dry, so this wet, melting weather is providing more of a workout for us.  12dd chopping ice
She loves to break up the ice for us--on the driveway, in the water troughs, in the water buckets and in puddles in the pastures.  11dd next to BJ
Not the best picture but this gives you an idea of how TALL BJ is. His back is quite a bit taller than the girls. Then again, it is easier to give them a "leg up" so they can ride than it would be to give mom a "leg up" on a horse this tall.  BJ's food
Another new farm chore is mixing up a mash for BJ 4-5 times a day. He gets senior powder, senior pellets, beet pulp and supplements twice a day. He gets 1/2 of his meal to start and then about 1 hour later the rest of it as it is a good size amount. Then 2-3 other times a day he gets soaked alfalfa pellets. He nickers to us now as soon as he sees us as he LOVES getting his nice warm food. | | |
|  Spy is shedding The horses are starting to shed, we can see bare ground in a few places and even a few blades of grass. Maybe this means spring is coming. I took Spy out for a walk up and down the driveway yesterday and today. That is the only place that doesn't have ice and snow. Lots of new things for him to see out there. The pool made him take a 2nd look but other than that, he is taking it all in stride.  Body shot of BJ
BJ needs to gain some weight. I took this body shot on Tuesday so that we will have something to compare it with once he gets more weight on him. He is enjoying his new diet of senior feed, warm beet pulp mash, healthy oils, and soaked alfalfa pellets. He is getting fed 4-5 times a day right now N took him for a walk down the driveway today. He has a fast walk--but then again he has VERY long legs at 15.3hh (that is 63 inches or 5'3" tall at his withers). He followed S around the pasture as she broke up ice for him and was scooping poop. | | |
|
