Domino 25

Rode with Lou today. I was trying to teach him the things he needs to know to continue with Domino next week. I had him use Jake 'cause he knows it already. So we worked on the components: backup, forward motion on lunge, shoulders and disengagement, lat. flexion. It takes alot of time to get it. I worked Domino demonstrating everything to him while he did it on Jake. Then we rode in the pen a little bit. To top it off we went across the road in an open area and he got used to Jake while I worked Domino. D still has alot braciness especially going to the right. I can stop him with my seat and back him and disengage him ok. Now the odd thing is that from the ground he is lat. soft, and even from saddle at a standstill he is pretty soft, but as soon as you start moving and he doesn't want to follow his nose he is very stiff. So I just hold the rein in position until he actually follows his nose then I release him. But it is not getting as soft as fast as I want him to be. I still do not have vertical flexion yet either. I have five more sessions with him before he goes home. It would be interesting to have him for 60 days and see where he is at. But not the case with him. Anyway today went pretty good all in all. Tomorrow we plan to ride more and actually go around the block over the water and through the woods before we are done.
Til next time.

Domino 24

This was the best yet. When I went in to get him he stood without a problem and faced me. I saddle him and worked on the components, backup, leg yield, shoulders, disengaging, side pass, c pattern exercise. All done very well and smoothly. I then worked on rd pen/ without fence (at liberty or freedom) he did the best yet. He stayed on the circle and moved into transitions nicely. He carried his head low and for the first time carried his head to the inside so I rewarded him by letting him stop. His transitions to walk, trot and canter were good and the downward ones were too. He did good both directions. He faced up each time I asked him too. I can see a change in his attitude today. Then I rode him and my goal was to get him to stay on the circle instead of fading over to the barn like he has been and he stayed soft and on the circle. He stopped with my seat a few times and without much if any rein aid. The transition to trot and back to walk was good and he stopped with my seat from a trot for the first time. He did that a couple times from both directions. His owner was watching the whole time. I then wanted to get a good canter out of him at least 3 or 4 good strides. He gave them too me so I let him stop. Then I showed Lou, his owner some exercises I want him to learn so he can keep up with Domino. Downward pressure; lateral flexion and backup. Monday we will work some more and hopefully he will ride Jake while I ride Domino out on the road. We will see what happens. I have six more rides and session with him before he goes home.
I took the kids for a ride on Jake this morning too. We spotted a wild turkey and that was all. But htey had a good ride. Jake moves a little fast but he did well. The main thing is we were safe. I even put Madi on Domino bareback while I led him around. She reminds me of her momma. She got on Mandy a horse I had just gotten and told her to stay off of until I had time to work with her. Well, before I had gotten home, Angie had already been on her riding around. Madi begged to sit on Domino and thought it would be neat to walk around on him. So I put her on him and walked him around. She did fall off though, bareback is not very stable. Domino didn't do anything and she wasn't afraid and wanted to get back on so she did and I walked her around a bit more. Then we saddle Jake and worked Jake up to the back of the truck. He didn't like it so I had some training to do with him. I had her walk around in the bed of my truck and make noise while I rode Jake back and forth and let him rest at the tail gate. After several times of him resting relaxed, I asked him to get close enough to the truck so Madi could connect with me and get on. Sure enough she did and we rode off. It worked good. Anyway the kids are home and I am waiting for Sharon to get home so we can do something this evening.
Gotta love it.

Domino 23

It was tough but I got r done. Yep! I laid him down. Here is how it went down. I saddled him with no problem then worked on a little on back up, shoulders, disengaging, leg yields, side pass, and sending him on a circle. Mostly that was to warm him up and get him mentally with me. Then I put the single hobble on him and made him to show him he could still move with his leg tied up. When he relaxed I let his leg down. I did the 3x and then put the 22' lead on him too so that I had 2 ropes like long reins on him. That was so that I could pull his head to the right while I stood to the rear on his left and had the left rope to keep him from swinging his butt all the way around to me. I asked him to give to the right and after a few minutes he went down on a knee. I released him then went back at it. He moved arouind alot. He did not want to surrender. So we were both wore out, but after several tries over the course of about 40 minutes he finally collapsed in a heap on his side. I just had to make sure his head stayed to the right and his body laid down to the left otherwise he could break his neck. I made him lay there for a good 15 minutes while I rubbed him all over. He tried to get up 3x but I just laid his head back down and let him relaxed. He took a couple deep breathes and about went to sleep. Finally, I made him get up and shake it off. I took the hobble off of him and the other lead rope and commenced to lunging him, took the lead rope off and lunged him some more. He surrendered faster than he ever has, indicating that by putting his head real low. I asked him to face me and he did. I rubbed him real good then put he bit in his mouth and got on him and flexed him and asked him to move off. He trotted a bit but was quick to slow down. I wasn't asking for transitions now anyhow as I only had about 10 minutes. I wanted to work on lat. softness at the walk getting him to follow his nose. He is getting better but still braces on the right side. I will continue to work on that each day. A couple noticeable changes: 1. he gave to me quicker on the circle by putting his head down. 2. When I walked up to him later after all was done, he turned and faced me. That was huge. I will see what happens tomorrow.
This surrender thing is a big deal. As a side note it is kinda like a kid who does what you want but inside they aren't. And it shows up in attitude. It is like this with us and God too. Your having troubles? Maybe God is trying to get you to surrender to His way. Until you do trouble is what your life is all about. But It is your choice. If this horse would simply trust me life would be alot easier for both of us. If we simply trust the Lord, believe in Him and obey His word, life will be alot easier for you too. See Romans 12:1,2 for more.
Fully surrendered to Him.

Domino 22

Today went pretty good. His owner was here to begin a series of sessions with me. I showed him the backup, shoulders over, disengagement. I even had Domino do some leg yields and side passes. Domino is doing good at these things. I got the tarp, umbrella and whip out. He stood calmly for those. I had a bag og pop cans and he did good with them. then I did some rd pen work with him, without the pen of course. He stayed with me on the circle. We did upwards and downwards transitions in both directions and he did good. Then I got on him. I flexed him. As I noted earlier he is bracey on the right, and pretty soft to the left. So I worked the right side. Then I moved him off and worked on lat. flexion at the walk. I am trying to get him to stay on the circle so have to do a lot of correcting with the rein, but I try not to use the rein if I don't have to. I had him transitioning from walk to trot with my seat and back to walk with my seat, even got a few stops with my seat and a little bit of rein. I asked for and got 3 -4 strides in a canter in both directions. When he did that I bent him to a stop and rewarded him with a rest. Then back at the trot with circle esses for lat. flexion. he still is stiff on the right so am working on that. We finished with a good 1 rein stop and backup and then flexing. He was better on the right side then I quit. We will go back at it tomorrow and see if we can get more improvement.

Domino 21

Hey there. The day went ok with him. I got him right away and saddled him. I worked on reviewing things he already knows and just needs refining. Backup, shoulders, disengagment, leg yields which he is getting good at. I even worked on sacking him out just for refining, with the whip, tarp, umbrella. My big idea today was to take him in the rd pe, it is drying out, and really work him on transitions. I did this for a time after I saddled him earlier in the session. So I put him in the rd. pen and worked him in both directions. My intention is not to get him tired or sweaty, but to get him to really look to me for direction. I got on him and just made him give me forward movement without using my rein to direct him. The rails limit where he can go and I just went with him whereever he turned and only directed him with a rein if he stopped at the gate. I want the forward movement at the trot and walk and then after about ten minutes I started to direct him with the rein. I still can't get anything more than a trot from him and I really am after lateral softness, and movement on the circle with our without the rail. I didn't take him on the road because I am backing up and trying to get this from him. I want him to follow his nose wherever I offer him a feel. He does pretty good from the ground, but in the saddle it is another thing. Anyway I have had 15 rides on him and I can stop him and direct him I just want to refine him more. He still has a long way to go. Tomorrow his owner comes to start taking lessons from me so that when he takes Domino home he will be able to continue what I have put on him.
I also got to ride Jake this evening. I rode him on a 3 mile ride I have worked on stopping with my seat and a backup. We also worked on vertical softness, leg yields back and forth across the road at a walk and trot. I just let him stretch out real good. It will be interesting to take him and Domino out together and see how they do. That will probably be next week. When we got back to the yard, I asked him to kneel 2x and he did it without hesitation. This without working on it for a couple weeks.
had a good time with both horses, but it sure is good to go back to power steering.

domino 20

well I wanted to really get some progress today, but it was not to be. I got in the pen and first it took me a few minutes, ie. a few times around the pen, to get him to catch me. Then I saddled him and began to rd pen him in his pen. He did good on his transitions going to the left, but to the right he didn't want to slow down. I worked him about 15 minutes as I wanted to ride most of my time with him. So I got on him and just wanted good forward motion on a loose rein. I don't want to have to direct him too much with the rein because he is so bracey. Nevertheless I still had to use the rein to direct him. I could get a trot but couldn't keep him on the circle like I can from the ground. I worked a lot on lateral flexion at the walk, then the trot. He got into a canter and took a few strides, I let him stop because of that. You know reward the slightest try. After about 20 minutes of this I took him out on the road and moved him around. We went down the road and I got better forward motion, but he doesn't want to pay attention to the rein and follow his nose. So I worked on that going down the road. I had to basically fight him for a half mile 'cause he didn't want to leave. But a few times on the way back he would really step out, but then wouldn't listen to the rein when I wanted to direct him to the side of the road, he would just keep going towards home with his head bent to the side. That is not what I want. I just have to keep working on this with him. He stops ok and disengages alright, he is just stiff on the lateral flexion. I am getting a backup with my seat and a little bit of rein and that is getting better, but I really want more from him regarding the lateral flexion with forward motion. He does ok with lat. flex, at a standstill though. Anyway he is doing ok abut I want more from him. I am thinking of laying him down to see if that will help. I will work him tomorrow and see what happens. His owner is coming on Wed. to watch me work with him and start to learn some of this stuff. I only have 9-10 more rides on him and I hope to really make some more progress.
I road Raven later this evening and it is like night and day on her. I love riding her and the soft responses I get from her, but I gotta remember that Domino doesn't have the time on him that I have on her. I think he could go along ways and I could get him alot better over the next 2 weeks. Anyway gotta go the battery is about dead.

Domino 19

It was a nice day, but windy, which is a good thing because it adds to the distractions. Distractions for a horse can be good because it offers one more opportunity to teach the horse it is best to focus on me despite what is going on around him. So the first thing I did was move him in a circle and work on transitions. He is getting better at the transitions with just subtle moves by me. His canter is still not the best but he transitions well to it he just doesn't want to stay in it. I can get him to go all the way around at least once and even that is getting better. I saddled him and worked on leg yields, c pattern exercise, shoulders and disengagement. He is getting pretty smooth at those. After about 20 min. or so I got on and wanted to just work on forward motion and transitions to trot and canter and staying on the circle. He has quite got that yet. We worked on lat. flexion using circle esses at the walk. He just doesn't like going around the circle with me on his back and keeping the forward motion is hard. If I am on the road he goes pretty good but not in the pen. Anyway I rode for about 30 min on him and then I think he decided to check out and kept fighting me. I worked on backup using my seat and legs a few times. Then I found a good place to quit, flexed him a bunch and stopped. After I took the bit off him I tried to get the halter on so I could take the saddle off. He walked away from me. I think he thought I was going to work him some more. Well, he made me. I couldn't just let him walk off so I had to really get after him 'cause he just wanted to hang around his stall area. Once he started going around the invisible circle again I let him stop and he stood while I took the saddle off. It added about 10 minutes to our time. By the way, this was yesterday about noon when I worked him.
Sharon n I went shopping later and then joined the grandkids for trunk-or-treat at a church in Holland in the evening. That was fun. Afterwards they had cider and hotdogs in the church then we went on a hay ride with them. It was a lot of fun. Madison was an angel, Kaity a fairy, and Zach a fireman, Lilly was Elmo or cookie monster, but she didn't get any candy. I went as guess what? A cowboy, but I forgot my chaps and spurs. :}
hope you all have a great day.

Well gotta get ready for church.