Monday, October 17, 2011

Windy

Some people do not ride when it is windy. I like to anyway. I think it is a great time to test my horsemanship. I just have to keep the horses attention on me by moving his feet frontwards,backwards, left and right. So I did. I rode both horses today. That was fun. I took Jake first and worked him through all his paces. He did real good.
Then I got out Raven and worked her for a half an hour. That was all that was needed in order to accomplish what I wanted too. I have few more steps to get her through before taking on the advanced level. If I canvet some good time on her this week maybe next will be the start.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

beautiful fall

No, I didn't fall. It is beautiful with the leaves and all though. I haven't been working with the horses much because of time and such, but this week I have been able to work with Raven on saturday and yesterday. I got out with her yesterday and just worked on her backup from the ground. My goal was to get her to back with energy and keep pace with my movement as I walked toward her. I need to remember that I can't expect her to go as fast backwards as I go forwards though. I want to be able to back her in any direction and turn her in any direction without her stopping her feet, by using just my body language. She does pretty good now. I can turn circles and squares etc. They are not the most perfect, but they'll do. The purpose of getting a horse to back with energy in any direction is really to have control of their feet. It builds feel and connection too. By the way, this is an advanced exercise to boot. After about 20 minutes of this she was sweating bullets and I had put my back out again. And I didn't even ride her. Oh, well. Hopefully, I will get out again with her before the nasty weather hits this week.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Refreshing

You know when you are seemingly run down and just not feeling like doing anything. It is time to get on your horse. Yeah. I did tonite and it was like I was recharging my battery. It felt good to be in the saddle again after over a week of not riding. I gave a few lessons, but no riding for me. So tonite after my work was done I saddled up Raven, did a little ground work, with the power line trimmers using their machinery as a distractant. We went through our routine and finally I got on and boy when I did it was like slipping into my lazy-boy chair after a long day. It felt so comfortable up there. She was relaxed and we worked together as one doing all sorts of moves including just walking around doing nothing in particular. We did work on the bending exercise and also lots of rein exercises to work on connecting the rein to her feet. I also worked her on roll backs along the fence and bending along the fence. She is so responisve to me. I just have to pick up a rein practically to get her to collect up. She is such a joy to ride. But I know this makes her better too. Peter Campbell said at his clinic that you shouldn't ride for yourself, but to help the horse. Well, I rode for both tonite and it feels good. I gotta stop letting other things get in the way of my riding. So do you need to be refreshed? get on your horse or whatever gives you pleasure and helps to releave the stress of the day, sans-drugs, alcohol, etc. do something productive.