Back a step

Callie had a good session. I worked him in the pen. Then took him to the back to saddle. I did some more gw. Then got on and worked some flexing and bending then went back to the pen where the others are and he thinks he wants to be. There I really worked him loping, trotting, yield hindquarters and forequarters for about 15 minutes straight. Then I walked him out of pen and down the road. We went around the block nice and easy. A little trotting and loping, but not much. We went through some water and then came back where I unsaddled him walked him to the pen and then finished with some intense gw by the other horses. Then I put him up. Hopefully he will decide it is no fun to be with the others when I want him to be somewhere else. Had to go a step backwards with Moon. He did not want to be with me so I ran him for 25 minutes to the left. I was waiting for him to give me some indication that he was paying attention and not wanting to leave. Finally he gave me a look and I took it. I circled him to me. Let him rest for over 5 minutes. Then he wanted to leave again so I ran him to the right which he was already going. Then going to the left he gave me a look and I stopped and circled him to me again. This was not what I planned for today, but this is what he gave me. He stood with me several minutes and that was it. So Grand - I chose to do the same with him. He doesn't follow as well as I want so I ran him too. About 25 minutes around with him as well. He faces me and takes a few steps but not enough. He does good on the lead but I would like him to do so at liberty. I had to run him about 10 minutes more and gave him another rest. Partly for me too. His lower lip was quivering some so I took that as a signal. Plus he was blinking a lot. Probably horsey code for I want to stop. But I want him to stop and follow. Then I practiced YH YF and BU at liberty then would ask him to come forward. He did ok.

got to the Jeffries

Had to run Moon around a few minutes then he started to follow me. I went through all the exercises. He does pretty good at them. At the last 10 minutes I worked on the Jeffries method. He did good on the right side, but not so comfortable from the left. However we were able to get through it. I was on from both sides and I look like it too. I was literally a human curry comb. I have the hair to prove it. :) So Grand wanted to run a little too. As I write this he just walked across the pen 30' or so up to me. I learned something with him. I kept his feet moving doing circling, sending, changing directions and gait, backing up all the way around the arena, driving in a square, etc. over the course of about 20 minutes. Then let him stand for a few seconds and proceeded to the Jeffries method where he stood fine for me to get on. He now is rt beside me not wanting to leave. But that was our lesson. Callie, did pretty good today too. I worked him pretty good from the ground with saddle on. Then I got on and he walked off ok. I did some serpentines and circle s's with him trying to get him to soften up and follow his nose. Then I asked for a trot. He wanted to hurry and get back up to the front where the other horses were so he sped up and I turned him back to a trot. This happened several times. Then before he decided to canter again I asked him and He would speed up and then want to slow down, but I wouldn't let him. We cantered for 10 minutes. Up at the front of the field he kept wanting to turn toward the barn, but I had to use a lot rein and leg to keep him going. Finally, it hit me. I would wait till he got up to where he thought he wanted to go and I made him really work hard, then left him alone on the other side of the field. That had a little effect on him. I will try it again next time. I hurt my lower back tonight so I don't know if I will be working the horses tomorrow or not.

fast horse

Well yesterday it was all I could do to keep Callie moving. Today was a different story. IT all started out innocently enough. I did some ground work with him to see how yielded he would be and he seemed good. I brought him back to my workout area (a big field I have) and saddled him up. After moving him around some I thought all was well. Then I got on and he was resistant to the point of trying to buck a few times. So I thought, he doesn't usually buck so there must be something wrong. I got off and started checking things out just had to reposition the saddle farther forward. I got back on and started working on his softness. He is not very soft at this point. I did some forward and bending exercises and then moved off at the trot. He wanted to gravitate back to his new buddies up at the barn and started to canter so I let him. For the next 30 minutes or so we mostly cantered. Oh, he wanted to slow down, but then he would call to his buddies and I would yield hindquarters, and he would canter so I let him and then when he wanted to slow down I said, NO. When it was all said and done this morning I know that I have to work on his desire to pay attention to the rein and my leg. Right now he wants to do his own thing. I gotta say though, that if I had been eating pasture grass and being left alone for 6 months and someone came along and started messing with me, I probably would not be really happy about it either. So Grand did real well today too. I had to rd pen him a little but he is starting to follow me more and more each day. My goal today was to go through all the exercises then to start driving him in a straight line with the lead rope. It took some work, but he started to go straight rather than go in a circle. I think this helps to get him to really look to me for leadership like where are we going next. My other goal was to start the process of the Jeffrey's method where I get on him bareback. So I bounced around him and then started leaning on him and actually hung over him several times today without so much as a bother to him. I had similar thoughts for Moon. Now moon takes a little rd pen, but then he walks real fast up to me so I don't have to spend much time with that. The other exercises he gets pretty good. He is not as laid back as So Grand, but he catches on quick. I also started flip the rope over his head and around his butt for a turn and go exercise that teaches him to follow his nose. So Grand does the same thing. When I started bouncing for Moon and then leaning on him he moved a few times, but soon just stood there and let me hang over his back. Tomorrow I will attempt to get all the way on both of them if they are calm enough to do so. I keep wanting to push them a further and keep making progress with them.

Slow horse

Well, I got in another Horse yesterday. Callie is one that I have ridden before for his owner. He is real nice paint that doesn't really have a go button. I worked with him this morning did some ground work taking him through all the fundamentals exercises. He is a bit sluggish and resistant to moving in certain areas, but he hasn't been ridden since September of last year. So that is to be expected. I didn't want to work him too hard today knowing he is not in shape. However, after the ground work was satisfactory I mounted and went through my checklist of things like standing still, lateral flexion, yield hindquarters and move his shoulders over. He did fine, but I really had to put some life in him. Then I took him out of the pen and did some walk trot canter around my big field. He doesn't like to canter in in the right lead, but left is ok. Still he needs a lot of prodding to get him going. He is so laid back that it might take a bit of effort to get him with the program. As far as the two Arabs, they are really doing well. I have taken them through all the fundamental ground work for the most part, as of today. I still have to keep reviewing with them. But I have learned that Moon is a right brain introvert on the Parelli scale. He is reactive, distrustful, hesitant, and high headed, but he does move quickly to the thinking side of things. He follows me much better everyday. He will calm down pretty rapidly. I was sending him between me and the fence and he would lunge through to the left, and much calmer to the right. But as we worked through this he calmed down and started going through at a walk. I would say he is doing very well. So Grand is very distrustful, but making progress. He too followed me more today than he ever has. He still had to do some round penning, but not nearly as much. He might be a right brain introvert too. It takes more to get him going than it does Moon, but he is not high headed or really over reactive. He seems to be calm and take things in stride for the most part. Probably the biggest thing about him is that he might get bothered by something, but moves to the thinking side of his brain rather quickly. I've learned I need to give these guys lots of breaks when they show me they are thinking. He is getting really soft in circling and flexing too. My estimation is that both of these horses are coming along nicely. I will soon be getting them ready for introducing the saddle. Should be interesting.

good training week

I guess I need to update on what is happening with the Arabs. They are both doing real well. I have been able to get as far as what Clinton Anderson calls the sending exercise which is number 9 of 14. I have learned that So Grand, the 11 not 14 yr old stallion is one who quickly reverts to the thinking side of his brain. Once he gets something he is good to go with it. I have been working outside with both of these guys and that has been really good. I have got him following better today than all week and he is staying calm most of the time. I am demanding more of them with respect to each exercise and how much I want them to move. He was the really standoffish one but is coming along nicely. Moonie is doing well too. Today I didn't have to rd pen much, he was following me all over. He is a little more reactive but is starting to get to the thinking side of his mind a little more quickly. I really felt like I was connecting with both of them really well today. They were responding to my cues with lighter pressure and giving me more movement. They get two days off and Monday we are back at it.

Started with the Arabs again

Today makes the 3rd day I have been working with So Grand, a 14yr old black Arab Stallion, and Moonie, a 9yr old Black Arab. Both of them I worked with last fall for a month just getting to the point where they could be led and their feet handled. This time I am working towards actually riding them. So I started in the round pen and had two good days with them working on getting them to follow me and then to work on getting them to Yield the hindquarters, forequarters and backup. They weren't too bad at recall from last fall. Today, I worked with them in an outside arena, not a rd pen, but a rectangle of about 40x60 or so. It was a little too big for what I wanted to do, but the footing is much more solid so getting them to canter was better. Moonie, got the most workout today. I did my usual rd pen stuff and then went to pick up his feet and he would not stand still for the hind one to pick out. So I made him move. It was about 15 minutes later of trying to let him know it was better to stand and let me do it. But he would have none of it. It did finally get done, with him picking it up and holding it for me. I think the outdoors adds an advantage to indoor in that there are more distractions so you really know if you have their attention or not. What goes on indoors can be totally different to what happens outdoors. We got through a lot with him and he was following me much better than before. So Grand made some improvements too. He is still standoffish as far as following me, but we did establish some good consistent direction staying in gait and got some good changes of direction. He let me pick up his feet with no problem either. Because we were outside we didn't get as far as I had hoped, but we will make more progress tomorrow I'm sure. I don't think I will have to run as much.

spring is here and riding too

I thought I would get on here and let those who are interested know that I am finally back at it. I attended Equine Affaire over the weekend and had a blast. Attended several clinics and picked up a few tips. I got home and couldn't wait to start riding again. I found that my riding boots will work for me after all. I thought that after my foot surgery I would have to get another pair, but these work just fine. I simply shouldn't walk miles in them. Since Monday I have been riding both my horses just getting the bugs out and reinforcing a few things. Raven is sure a lot farther along then Jake is. I have been refining their stop on whoa and also their response to my leg cues. Yesterday I worked Raven and then decided to pony Skye the yearling stud colt. I had to dr. him above the eye so I thought since he loves to be next to Raven ponying him would help to settle him. I worked on him leading around. He had some trouble with that but it all worked out. Then when I thought it was time I got around to dring his wound. He must have hit his head on something in the hollow spot above his left eye. I noticed when the farrier was here on Monday that something didn't look right and when I peeled away the crusties there was some puss oozing out. I got ahold of some furazone and yesterday dred him. He didn't like it one bit. I don't have a twitch so I just took it real slow and rinsed it off as best I could then applied the furazone. it doesn't seem to bother him much and doesn't appear to be swelled much. I will keep an eye on it. I hope I don't have to call the vet. Today I got out there before all the rain and rode Raven. She is so out of shape that after a few minutes of loping around she is heaving so I gotta take it easy on her. I want to get her stops real good. I hope to have her doing sliding stops before long. I also want to work on flying lead changes. I have never done them intentionally. I noticed to that like riding a bike riding a horse comes back real easy. I hadn't been on one since January and was somewhat concerned that I would not be able to pick up there footfalls very easy, but it was like it was second nature again. More and more an indoor riding arena looks real good. I had to stop because of the rain and thunder. I am getting ready to start with two Arabs next week too and then also I have Callie coming in May. So it will be real busy real soon.