(no subject)
I've been spending my mornings with River this week, and we're making amazing progress. Today the husband, Howard, took him out and went balls-to-the-wall with him. I really wanted to see what River's capable of from the ground vantage point, plus Howard has that streak of fearlessness that I'm regretfully lacking. Call me chicken, but if River's going to start bucking the second he hits a lead change, I'd rather not be the one on the death trap, ya know?
Bad re-trainable habits aside, I think I've practically stolen this horse with what I've seen his natural talents to be. He's got so much in there that's completely untapped. He turns on a dime, he does flying lead changes that would make your head spin, and talk about showing every indication of an amazing sliding stop. He picks up the wrong leads, but changes them on the fly with little encouragement. Something that's easily trained out.
The only thing I'm having difficulty with is getting that head DOOOOOWWWWN out of our laps. His gaits are pretty jerky, but once he relaxes that neck, they're to die for. It's just getting him to DO it. He's on a looser tie-down right now, but I don't want to go any tighter with it, since I've seen him resist it big time. I also need to get a new bit for him. The holden-curb deal I've got him in is great for the trails, but get him really working and it's almost useless for control. I think he's going to need that longer shank, unfortunately.
Hehe, he did attempt to take Howard for a few "rides" out of the arena though. Totally unacceptable behavior of course, but when you're already frustrated with your husband, seeing your horse try to decapitate him on a gate top is sort of theraputic >;-) That's my boy, what can I say. Of course, I could murder that stable hand that keeps opening all the gates to get the wheelbarrow through them, then leaves them open even though we're obviously working in there.
So anywho, things are going very well with my boy. I'm just hoping I can do well by him. He's got all that raw talent in there just waiting to be disciplined, and I just hope I'm good enough to be the one to bring it out right, you know? Plus at this stage he's 9- but has pretty much been broken with what's necessary for work and that's about it. I can think of about a million different directions I can go to specialize him in, but man I hope I make the right choice. Yes, he's an amazing trail horse that can go and go all day, but he's meant for more than that I think ;) It's just.... WHAT?!
Ok thanks for listening to me ramble. I think my family and friends are getting sick of listening to me talk horse all the time :P For some reason what bit I'm using just isn't their idea of riveting conversation, lol. Sheesh. Weirdos!! ;)
Bad re-trainable habits aside, I think I've practically stolen this horse with what I've seen his natural talents to be. He's got so much in there that's completely untapped. He turns on a dime, he does flying lead changes that would make your head spin, and talk about showing every indication of an amazing sliding stop. He picks up the wrong leads, but changes them on the fly with little encouragement. Something that's easily trained out.
The only thing I'm having difficulty with is getting that head DOOOOOWWWWN out of our laps. His gaits are pretty jerky, but once he relaxes that neck, they're to die for. It's just getting him to DO it. He's on a looser tie-down right now, but I don't want to go any tighter with it, since I've seen him resist it big time. I also need to get a new bit for him. The holden-curb deal I've got him in is great for the trails, but get him really working and it's almost useless for control. I think he's going to need that longer shank, unfortunately.
Hehe, he did attempt to take Howard for a few "rides" out of the arena though. Totally unacceptable behavior of course, but when you're already frustrated with your husband, seeing your horse try to decapitate him on a gate top is sort of theraputic >;-) That's my boy, what can I say. Of course, I could murder that stable hand that keeps opening all the gates to get the wheelbarrow through them, then leaves them open even though we're obviously working in there.
So anywho, things are going very well with my boy. I'm just hoping I can do well by him. He's got all that raw talent in there just waiting to be disciplined, and I just hope I'm good enough to be the one to bring it out right, you know? Plus at this stage he's 9- but has pretty much been broken with what's necessary for work and that's about it. I can think of about a million different directions I can go to specialize him in, but man I hope I make the right choice. Yes, he's an amazing trail horse that can go and go all day, but he's meant for more than that I think ;) It's just.... WHAT?!
Ok thanks for listening to me ramble. I think my family and friends are getting sick of listening to me talk horse all the time :P For some reason what bit I'm using just isn't their idea of riveting conversation, lol. Sheesh. Weirdos!! ;)