Half-Brained, but It Is a Good One
I have been putting some rides on Cinnamon for Marty (seems fair, she watches my kids most days, I can put some rides on her mares) and have asked her if she wanted me to work Sunny too and today she decided it would be a Sunny day.
For those who don't know (and I think that counts as everyone at this point) Sunny is Cinnamon's mother. Long story short Dave and Marty were looking for a horse before we bought Ruby and Chris found Sunny. The lady they bought her from was classic backyard breeder. Her neighbor got in a chestnut Fox Trotter stud and "to see what he threw" bred both Sunny and her TWH mare. IN JANUARY. We saw the stud briefly when we picked up Sunny and all I remember was a nondescript chestnut with a smudge of a star. The lady wasn't sure if Sunny was pregnant as her "vet had short arms." It's amazing Cinnamon came out so well!
Chris rode Sunny for a bit before buying Ruby and I used her briefly for lessons until she stopped getting worked regularly. Part of it was because she had a parasitic ulcer occur in the corner of her mouth, which scarred and shortened her lips so that the bit no longer sits straight in her mouth. Marty got a nice hackamore/bosal for her, which she went pretty well in and acquired a Dr. Cook's bitless bridle a couple years ago that we have used on Cinnamon.
Sunny was Clinton Anderson "trained" by her previous owner. This did some awesome things and some not so awesome things. For one it took a LONG time before Sunny realized she could walk in the roundpen. She's also the reason we kindof got into the Clinton Anderson thing, went to a couple clinics, acquired snazzy sticks, and a couple videos.
Today was the first time Sunny has had the Dr. Cook bridle on and it is the first time I have ridden her in possibly three years. Maybe not the wisest of choices. I lunged her and tested her bending, stop, and back with the bridle before climbing on. Since Sunny is terribly out of shape I was planning on just walking and trotting her a bit. She ended up offering the canter as she has defaulted to her old mode of "leg pressure while I trot means canter!" We had a couple moments of a slow-as-snot canter. She's like Kash, why trot faster when I can just canter?
She made some faces while trotting and I'm not sure how much she likes the facial pressure. She HATED the mechanical hackamore, but did pretty well in the bosal (I think the physical noise from the chain irritated her more than anything). I figure give her a few rides in it and if she is still making weird faces switch back to the bosal and see if that doesn't fix it. It almost looks like a grimace.
She's also a bit braced in her neck and wanting to stop with a giraffe neck and backing up instead of giving her face. We did some explaining on the difference between sidepassing and turn on the forehand and then called it a day.
Tomorrow is another pair of lessons, Shilo bringing her boy Henry over, and the little brothers in the evening. I may try to work Z before my first lesson...
For those who don't know (and I think that counts as everyone at this point) Sunny is Cinnamon's mother. Long story short Dave and Marty were looking for a horse before we bought Ruby and Chris found Sunny. The lady they bought her from was classic backyard breeder. Her neighbor got in a chestnut Fox Trotter stud and "to see what he threw" bred both Sunny and her TWH mare. IN JANUARY. We saw the stud briefly when we picked up Sunny and all I remember was a nondescript chestnut with a smudge of a star. The lady wasn't sure if Sunny was pregnant as her "vet had short arms." It's amazing Cinnamon came out so well!
Chris rode Sunny for a bit before buying Ruby and I used her briefly for lessons until she stopped getting worked regularly. Part of it was because she had a parasitic ulcer occur in the corner of her mouth, which scarred and shortened her lips so that the bit no longer sits straight in her mouth. Marty got a nice hackamore/bosal for her, which she went pretty well in and acquired a Dr. Cook's bitless bridle a couple years ago that we have used on Cinnamon.
Sunny was Clinton Anderson "trained" by her previous owner. This did some awesome things and some not so awesome things. For one it took a LONG time before Sunny realized she could walk in the roundpen. She's also the reason we kindof got into the Clinton Anderson thing, went to a couple clinics, acquired snazzy sticks, and a couple videos.
Today was the first time Sunny has had the Dr. Cook bridle on and it is the first time I have ridden her in possibly three years. Maybe not the wisest of choices. I lunged her and tested her bending, stop, and back with the bridle before climbing on. Since Sunny is terribly out of shape I was planning on just walking and trotting her a bit. She ended up offering the canter as she has defaulted to her old mode of "leg pressure while I trot means canter!" We had a couple moments of a slow-as-snot canter. She's like Kash, why trot faster when I can just canter?
She made some faces while trotting and I'm not sure how much she likes the facial pressure. She HATED the mechanical hackamore, but did pretty well in the bosal (I think the physical noise from the chain irritated her more than anything). I figure give her a few rides in it and if she is still making weird faces switch back to the bosal and see if that doesn't fix it. It almost looks like a grimace.
She's also a bit braced in her neck and wanting to stop with a giraffe neck and backing up instead of giving her face. We did some explaining on the difference between sidepassing and turn on the forehand and then called it a day.
Tomorrow is another pair of lessons, Shilo bringing her boy Henry over, and the little brothers in the evening. I may try to work Z before my first lesson...