day 66, 67

I better catch up with my report. Tuesday I worked with both and had a good ride on each of them. Robbie, after working on the ground with him I got in the saddle and flexed and walked off. I did several serpetines and YH. Then I asked for trot, no problem. When I asked for canter there was a bit of a hiccup, but nothing after that when I would ask him. I noticed when I was cleaning his hooves that he had overreached and nicked his front right heel on the outside. So that is why he didn't really want to go into a canter and when he did it was always in the wrong lead. Thus, yesterday I didn't ask for a canter from him. I worked mainly on getting him to follow his nose which he does too well at this point so much that he just thinks I want him to YH or go in a circle. But I also worked on vertical flexion and YF. He is doing real good and is nice and relaxed at the end. Darkstar on tuesday started really following me hurried up. When I got on him I don't have a problem with the go button. He moved right into a trot. So I let him go. I started cantering him as well. He still his high headed, but at least the forward is there. Now it will be just keeping the forward with getting him in balance. Yesterday, I worked with him on transitions from walk trot and canter, lateral flexion and starting to get vertical at least at a standstill. THe problem now it trying to get him to go straight and stay on the rail. I might do better with that once I take the rd pen down and ride in the arena. I probably will get a better canter and trot too. We will soon be doing that.

day 65

Had a good day with the horses today. Star was first in the lessons today and there was plenty to work on. I decided to rd pen him to build on the hooking on to me. The rd pen has worked much better for this. Today I had him walk, then stop. then trot and walk and stop. Then walk, trot and canter and stop. each stop was in the middle with him walking to me. I did this three times and by the third time when I let him stop (and he wasn't doing a lot of sweating or heaving at all) he walked quickly to me. It was then that I saddled him and moved him through YH YF, sending and circling around the pen. Then I flexed him and got on and flexed some more. My goal was to get more trotting out of him. I got it. I can get a trot in the right lead no problem it is going in the left lead that I have trouble. So for every lap in trot to the right I worked twice in the left. He was doing much better and getting much softer. Also he was not jumping as much. I had what I might call a 'light bulb' moment today too. I think in the future, a horse with his extreme trust issue, I won't do as much sacking out/desensitizing until he trusts me. I will do so but not as much as I did with him. This may have caused him to not trust me as quickly. Anyway when we were finished and he was put up I gave him the core of an apple and after a about a minute he took it from my hand after smelling it adn ate it. That was huge, because a horse that doesn't trust you will not usually eat from your hand. This was the first time he did this though it has been offered several times before. Robbie was really good today too. I rd penned him but not as much as he already hooks on to me and follows me. Today I wanted to get a nice walk to a stop, then a walk to trot to walk and a stop, then a walk to trot to canter to trot to walk and a stop. All without kicking up a lot of dust, but all nice and calm. He willingly moved through the transitions with no much compulsion or cue, but just enough to get him going. Then I saddled him and moved him through YH YF, sending and circling around the arena at a walk and trot and canter. He did well so I got on him. We walked on a loose rein and got several really soft YH one rein stops. Then we moved up to trotting several circles. My goal here was to get him to stay in a trot on a bigger circle and then get some soft one rein stops in both directions. I also wanted to work on getting him to follow his nose and stay more on the rail. We did several figure 8's and trotting through those. Then we started working on keeping the forward motion but trying to get collection. It wasn't long and I was getting vertical softness/collection at the walk for a step. Tomorrow we will build on this. So it was a good session with him too.

day 64

Had a good ride on the horses today. Had Darkstar really calm. I did a bit of rd penning and he immediately started to walk pretty fast up to me in the middle when I gave him a chance. Then I saddled him and went through the exercises. Then I got on him and had him move out. My goal today was to get alot more trotting out of him for a longer time. He goes good to the right but not to the left so we worked on that more. I also wanted to keep him closer to the rail then he has been. Both went well. Robbie was real calm all the way through. My goal with him was to get more trotting out of him and to start using the rein more. I wanted to keep him on the rail too. I think he had an upset stomach though so I didn't work him as hard as I would have liked. However, he did well, stayed calm throughout and did what I asked of him.

day 63

Had a good day with the horses today. I got Robbie out and rd penned him for a few minutes. Then put halter on and went through the exercises around the arena. Saddling was great cause he wanted to stand. I moved him around a few more times then I got on him and flexed him. Today the goal was to move him on a loose rein and only pick it up if I needed it. It worked. I had him walking around and letting him basically choose the direction and then after a while I started picking up lightly on the rein and move in another direction. When he was doing this well, I started to ask for a trot. That was great. We were trotting on a loose rein and doing YH one rein stops real light. I kept that up doing figure eights and circles at a walk, then a trot then back to a walk. I finished the ride with walking and starting to put more directions with rein. Star I got in the pen and decided to rd pen him and see if I could get some better follow from him. It worked a little bit. If had the time I would have done it longer to see if it could improve more. I saddled him and moved him around doing all the exercises then I got on him. Flexed him and asked him to move off. He did so readily. I too wanted to ride on a loose rein and just get him to move good. I also finally got him to trot out for me going to the right, but could hardly get it going to the left. I worked on that more until I got a good circle at a trot going to the left. He offered a canter at one point, but soon backed down. He has carried himself so out of balance that with me on his back it is just hard for him to carry it up to a trot with his head high and hollowed out in the back. But it is too soon to try to collection and roundness when he won't even move forward real good. The reason is that trying to get collection will make him think I want to stop at this point. My goal for both of these guys is to get a walk, trot, canter and back down with as much softness as possible while in the round pen. Anything else is icing on the cake.

day 62

Today I moved some fence and transferred to it the arena where I am working the two arabs. I put it up so that I now have a makeshift round pen. Boy did it make a difference. I no longer have to be concerned about them running 100'trying to get away from me. So after I got it up I put Darkstar in it and let him wand.er around. Well he doesn't wander much. The curiosity bug hasn't bit him. So I moved him at liberty as if I was rd penning him. He jumped at a few things, my saddle hanging on the fence, the bag of shavings in front of the hydrant. But he soon settled down. Then I moved him around with the halter and then put the saddle on him. I moved him around some more with all the exercises he knows. Then I got on and flexed him and Yh. Then we got some good forward movement. I only had a little time so I wanted more than a walk. I got him to trot real good around a couple times in both directions. He didn't like it, but did it. Then I got Robbie out and he was all over. I worked him at liberty to get him to know the boundaries then put hte halter on him and worked him sending him around the saddle as well as at the hydrant. I had him trotting and cantering. Then I put the saddle on him and went through the same things. Then when he was relaxed I got on him and went through the exercises. Then moved forward into a walk. He was tossing his head some, but that was because I had a little pressure on the halter from both sides. It might be confusing him or it might be just that he doesn't like the pressure. Anyway, we did several circles in both directions and I was getting him to move out more on the rail and we started doing alot figure 8's across the center constantly changing directions. Then we started going straight again and he offered to trot so I let him and just got in rythm with him then relaxed. The we went the other direction he wasn't so ready to trot, but I got him up into it and we trotted a couple circles then I eased him back to a walk and stop. I ended with YH several times both sides and YF and then quit. HOpefully tomorrow will be even better.

A new month

I got started on Day 61 today with these guys.
Darkstar started. I worked him on the ground and saddled him then moved him around some more. He was real relaxed though he would jump every now and then. He reminds me of my horse Jake who was seven when I got him and he was headshy, shoulder shy, it seemed I could hardly touch him anywhere without him getting a little edgy. Well Star is somewhat like that. Today I got good movement out of him. He faltered at first but when he knew I meant business he went for me. We circled and YH several times. We got so we could go almost around the entire arena. There were spots that he didn't like to get close to so I didn't push him yet. He is still getting used to carrying me around, though this is the 11th day of riding. I even got some trotting out of him, but it spooked him and he would stop. So I backed off and excepted speeding up and holding a faster walk for a few strides. The trotting makes me bounce a little on his back even in a post so he has to get used to that first. I rode him for 30 good minutes and he was ready to stop when we did. Of course he had lots of mini rests during that time.
Robbie was wanting to move so I moved him around really making him work so that I could get him to stand to groom him. Then I worked him more with lots of direction changes and YH YF movements. I would let him rest in the middle. Then I would take him over to the door he likes to stand at and make him really move and then take him to the middle to rest. Then I saddled him and he was a bit full of himself and I could sense him wanting to buck so I shut it down before he could with a direction change and hurrying up his feet. I did this til he was good and relaxed then I got on him in the middle. He never once wanted to go over to the door or the hydrant where the excitement was at last week. I had taken him over to the hydrant on the ground and made him get real close and bump the saddle against it and he jumped a bit, but then did it again and it didn't bother him. I rode him for 30 minutes too, but he was moving out pretty good and doing a nice circle for me. His YH are real good and soft and then we would go forward. He would toss his head when I added the outside rein to get him to move straight, but I would bend him and then he would be ok. He just doesn't like the pressure at that point. I really want to start working on bending and flexing at the walk with both of these guys but they really have to get better at moving with me on their back. I need to be able to ride with a loose rein. We are not there yet. But we will get there.

my horses

I finally got to ride my own horses today. I decided to work them in the same pattern as they needed to be brushed up on being soft and vertical when I pick up the reins. So what I did was work them from the ground for about 5 minutes. Then I got on and flexed them. I had them move their shoulders over and then stepped forward into a walk. We walked 5 mintues, then trotted 5 minutes, then cantered 5 minutes. You wouldn't believe how long 5 minutes seems when you are trotting or cantering. These horses haven't been worked much lately so I wanted to work on getting them warmed up some. Then I let them rest for a couple minutes. I flexed them again and then at a walk started to ask for lateral softness and then when I was getting that I asked for vertical. They both took to it rather quickly. Then I practiced switching shape in terms of vertical, left or right shape. Then I asked for leg yields away from the bend then into the bend. They both did pretty good. I plan on working them all three days of this labor day weekend, so by the end of these three days they ought to be where they need to be. Jake was much rougher at the trot and canter. I rode both on a loose rein, but Jake is so bouncy at a trot and even worse at a canter. I think it is because he is not in balance. But when I can pick him up and get him into balance then he gets smoother. But that is for another day of riding. Had a good time on both of them.