Pferde Schüle
Cindy was out today to work with Coors and me. She had been coming out weekly to do this and it is a combination of showing what we have accomplished the previous week, letting her take the reins, and having her there for new steps.
Today she was running behind and I had groomed him up and rolled the cart noisily around him, getting my arm workout as I bounced the shafts up and down. She had gone back and forth about what she really wanted to see and do, but we ended up on seeing where we got with me climbing aboard.
I donned my vest and helmet and to minimize New Things I threw the bareback pad on him. When she arrived I had her take the lead and I bounced up and down next to him, which he found slightly alarming and thought he might leave town once, but after that he tolerated it well enough. I repeated on both sides until he was only slightly eyeballing me. I slumped over his back and had Cindy lead him off, repeat twice both sides. He walked off slightly unsure, but went along with the new thing.
From there I purposefully awkwardly shuffled my leg over him and we did another mini walk, repeat on the right side. I started to ask him a little from my legs and reins. It took him a little to realize that the leg aids were equivalent to the whip, but in short order we could walk, halt, and turn with no issues.
His harness is due to ship on Tuesday and with any luck it'll be here before Christmas. He is pretty much ready to go in the cart with the exception of feeling the breeching, which should be just a couple of sessions of showing him how to push into it.
He was much better this week about cantering in the big field both without and with the tire. I'm now doing our "cardio" on the long lines instead of in the roundpen. I got quite the workout with him earlier this week! Yesterday with the tire we kept (mostly) round curcles at the back of the field so long as I remembered to give and take with the inside rein rather than trying to hold him to the circle. Having the open space instead of the dressage arena allowed him to drift without negative consequences and once that tightens up we can go wherever with it.
He doesn't care about the traffic at all. Earlier this week I had him haul the tire back to the house and he barely twitched an ear as we went from dirt to asphalt to gravel to asphalt to screechy concrete to gravel and back to dirt.
I'm happy with his progress and Cindy is happy too so it's all good!
Ballad had a pretty good day today. We found a nearly acre level dirt lot (save for a couple large rocks) to work in. I took the reins briefly to demonstrate some things with holding both reins in one hand and then we asked him for his first few official canters in harness before handing him back over to David for the rest of the drive.
Chroi may be in for a tune-up for a wek or two in January after the show. I'm waiting to hear back. I know I said one horse at a time, but it's only a week or two... right?
Video on Facebook
Today she was running behind and I had groomed him up and rolled the cart noisily around him, getting my arm workout as I bounced the shafts up and down. She had gone back and forth about what she really wanted to see and do, but we ended up on seeing where we got with me climbing aboard.
I donned my vest and helmet and to minimize New Things I threw the bareback pad on him. When she arrived I had her take the lead and I bounced up and down next to him, which he found slightly alarming and thought he might leave town once, but after that he tolerated it well enough. I repeated on both sides until he was only slightly eyeballing me. I slumped over his back and had Cindy lead him off, repeat twice both sides. He walked off slightly unsure, but went along with the new thing.
From there I purposefully awkwardly shuffled my leg over him and we did another mini walk, repeat on the right side. I started to ask him a little from my legs and reins. It took him a little to realize that the leg aids were equivalent to the whip, but in short order we could walk, halt, and turn with no issues.
His harness is due to ship on Tuesday and with any luck it'll be here before Christmas. He is pretty much ready to go in the cart with the exception of feeling the breeching, which should be just a couple of sessions of showing him how to push into it.
He was much better this week about cantering in the big field both without and with the tire. I'm now doing our "cardio" on the long lines instead of in the roundpen. I got quite the workout with him earlier this week! Yesterday with the tire we kept (mostly) round curcles at the back of the field so long as I remembered to give and take with the inside rein rather than trying to hold him to the circle. Having the open space instead of the dressage arena allowed him to drift without negative consequences and once that tightens up we can go wherever with it.
He doesn't care about the traffic at all. Earlier this week I had him haul the tire back to the house and he barely twitched an ear as we went from dirt to asphalt to gravel to asphalt to screechy concrete to gravel and back to dirt.
I'm happy with his progress and Cindy is happy too so it's all good!
Ballad had a pretty good day today. We found a nearly acre level dirt lot (save for a couple large rocks) to work in. I took the reins briefly to demonstrate some things with holding both reins in one hand and then we asked him for his first few official canters in harness before handing him back over to David for the rest of the drive.
Chroi may be in for a tune-up for a wek or two in January after the show. I'm waiting to hear back. I know I said one horse at a time, but it's only a week or two... right?
Video on Facebook