So, I got here

[adafrog]

Made it to Kentucky. My sinuses are still kind of crappy, but not horrible. I slept some on the plane, so I wasn't too tired. And since I've done all this before, getting out of the airport was pretty quick-that, and I picked the right car rental, the others had lines

Comments

[gyri]

What a different experience this is for you! I'm really interested to learn about their training methods. That's sort of what we learn in Parelli Natural Horsemanship. They call it "freesytle" riding and use sticks to guide and support (and again, they are also used on the ground to desensitize horses to scary things, as well as calm them down---called "The Friendly Game"). And they teach all their students to ride with just a halter and lead rope at first, using one rein to discourage the tendency most people have to pull back on both reins with both hands (which you should never do with a snaffle bit anyway). Once they can overcome this, they graduate to a simple rope hackamore. When the student has progressed enough to have developed an independent seat and soft hands, they graduate to a snaffle bridle for English or sometimes a curb bridle for Western. This is for refinement only, not control.

It's not only the people who are started this way---they start all their young or untrained horses this way.

I'm so happy that you have a connection with Zolar! And I imagine he must be VERY different than riding an Arab!

Can't wait to see pics!

Treasure was much better today, btw. So I think I will try riding her tomorrow.

[adafrog]

Nooooo, not Pirelli! lol
Yes, he uses this on his babies.

He is really different. Even when his head is up, he's totally smooth. lol