Alle die jungen Pferden arbeiten!
Saturday I had rode both Jasper and Tru-D during lessons. Jasper was first. Our sheep neighbor was lungeing her gelding Wall-E since he had a couple weeks off. Jasper was very fascinated with what was going on and alternated between wanting to trot off towards them and standing and gawking. I lunged him briefly as the student warmed up and then climbed on. He was distracted, but not bad until it was too much. He jumped forward into a canter, did a little head toss and then was trotting. I responded by insisting he KEEP trotting and we cruised around for several minutes as the student worked on trotting and steering herself. He finally started asking about slowing down maybe? and we trotted a little bit more before calling it good.
Once that was out of his system he did really well. He is coming along nicely for a three year-old. It did get my adrenaline going a bit and my right leg was a little shaky when I adjusted my foot at one point. I worked through it and we survived. I still really trust him. He does tell you when something is starting to get overwhelming.
He also has a pretty nice trot even if he is a bit of a giant doofus and not the most gracefully athletic creature. The little bit of canter I felt was pretty good too!
My third lesson canceled so I gave everyone their good stuff and got Tru-D ready a smidge early before the last one at 10am.
I took her into the roundpen to start. I was determined we were going to work on the canter. I haven't cantered her since the middle of last year. It was possibly a year ago, actually. Winter was just busy and riding during lessons she wasn't feeling good enough to ask for it with a student around and my own nerves were at play too.
Her five yar-old year she had some recalcitrance that we had to work through, which mostly ended when she did that flying leap and I hopped off of her mid-shenanigans and then got back on. She's been doing really good the last few months though.
Anyway, we were in the roundpen and I had the dressage whip so I didn't have to disrupt my leg position to insist on the "go." She actually really surprised me. She eye-balled the jumps a bit, but other than that she came off my seat for the canter pretty much every time after her first "you want me to WHAT?!" She did lean towards the inside a bit on occasion, but did start to sit up a bit.
She does have a nice canter. It isn't super springy yet, but I think it is a good base that covers ground and is smooth and easy to sit. Aubrey was a bit late so Tru-D got a good amount of work in and was able to mostly chill as I worked with Aubrey and her mare Dot. Aubrey is a decent rider and she may put some rides on Tru-D for me in exchange for lessons. I just don't have time right now to put even three rides a week on Tru-D and she needs more than just a weekly ride from me. She isn't doing bad but I would like her to move forward a bit faster than I can manage to do with my limited time.
Monday after I finished with Moonie and Jolene went home we hooked up to the trailer and loaded Talon up. We took her down to Horseshoe Park and had the public arena all to ourselves. She was looky and aware, but quietly so.
After tacking up we took a walk around the arena in each direction before I climbed on. She wasn't fond of the trail course area and was a little suspiscious of the little substation thing that occasionally kicks on its A/C and makes a good amount of noise.
Once her head dropped a little we picked up a trot and cruised. She was occasionally backed of, especially towards the scary parts and then a couple of times she was a little strong, but stayed containable. Were I a little braver I might have suggested a canter, but not quite in a bit, open arena that she's never been in before!
It is a gorgeous arena with lovely footing. It also makes her look like a regular-sized horse. Ha!
Sunday we pulled out Zeke and we long-lined him a bit. He got to wear the new training breastcollar. I need to find some more hame straps and secure it better. It looks so cockeyed here. He did good walk and trot and he had a little attitude here and there, but not bad and well, he's a yearling and I think this was the second or third time long lining him.
I was quite proud of myself all four young horses got worked over the course of three days. Success!
I am oing to enjoy this week minus a training horse. The one who was next in line needs to hold off for a month or so as she just bought a house. I'll contact the next in line the end of the week and see if she's ready to go or needs to wait longer and then I need to check with the NEXT one in line. Holy cow! We'll see if they pan out or not.
Today I had Dolly and we were just going to do a loop around the neighborhood with the tire. She did alright for the first portion, but as we got closer to home she was jiggy and did not want to stand and I even dropped her bit to the curb setting instead of the snaffle to get her to back off my hands. There were so many circles and we passed her house a few dozen times until she felt somewhat reasonable so we swung in. Then she was jigging in the arena (the arena has a gate off property) and I finally was feeling done because sand is a pain in the butt to walk it. If she had the energy to be a goober hauling the tire she could haul my butt. I sat on the tire until she walked nicely, got off the tire, gave her the chance to walk nicely, got on the tire again, rinse and repeat. She was being so heavy my right ring finger went a bit numb. It's about back to normal now. I ended up working her over an hour and a half. I'm hoping she is a bit more humble for her second hook in the cart tomorrow.
I admit I hadn't believed Christy when she said Dolly could be a bit of a pill sometimes as I had never run into such a persistent streak of resistance with her in the year or so that I have been working with her off and on and the last six months of consistent work. No idea what was going on with her. She even did pretty good passing the herd of horses and ponies (about 8 from 10 hands to 16) that were galloping back and forth and snorting and calling to her.
I have a former client who does videography and might have some old equipment they are looking to move on. I finally finished editing the first video last week and sent it off. I need to shoot another one and need to try and get that done this week.
I also picked up another Scottsdale/Phoenix client. She was thinking of full training, but we'll try weekly sessions to start and go from there. Full training is typically faster and cheaper, but if she can put in the inbetween work it might work out in her favor. He is completely green and just lunges. I'll have my work cut out for me getting him driving. He's also still intact. I have another young mini stud I just started working with last week too.
Anyway, things to do!
Once that was out of his system he did really well. He is coming along nicely for a three year-old. It did get my adrenaline going a bit and my right leg was a little shaky when I adjusted my foot at one point. I worked through it and we survived. I still really trust him. He does tell you when something is starting to get overwhelming.
He also has a pretty nice trot even if he is a bit of a giant doofus and not the most gracefully athletic creature. The little bit of canter I felt was pretty good too!
My third lesson canceled so I gave everyone their good stuff and got Tru-D ready a smidge early before the last one at 10am.
I took her into the roundpen to start. I was determined we were going to work on the canter. I haven't cantered her since the middle of last year. It was possibly a year ago, actually. Winter was just busy and riding during lessons she wasn't feeling good enough to ask for it with a student around and my own nerves were at play too.
Her five yar-old year she had some recalcitrance that we had to work through, which mostly ended when she did that flying leap and I hopped off of her mid-shenanigans and then got back on. She's been doing really good the last few months though.
Anyway, we were in the roundpen and I had the dressage whip so I didn't have to disrupt my leg position to insist on the "go." She actually really surprised me. She eye-balled the jumps a bit, but other than that she came off my seat for the canter pretty much every time after her first "you want me to WHAT?!" She did lean towards the inside a bit on occasion, but did start to sit up a bit.
She does have a nice canter. It isn't super springy yet, but I think it is a good base that covers ground and is smooth and easy to sit. Aubrey was a bit late so Tru-D got a good amount of work in and was able to mostly chill as I worked with Aubrey and her mare Dot. Aubrey is a decent rider and she may put some rides on Tru-D for me in exchange for lessons. I just don't have time right now to put even three rides a week on Tru-D and she needs more than just a weekly ride from me. She isn't doing bad but I would like her to move forward a bit faster than I can manage to do with my limited time.
Monday after I finished with Moonie and Jolene went home we hooked up to the trailer and loaded Talon up. We took her down to Horseshoe Park and had the public arena all to ourselves. She was looky and aware, but quietly so.
After tacking up we took a walk around the arena in each direction before I climbed on. She wasn't fond of the trail course area and was a little suspiscious of the little substation thing that occasionally kicks on its A/C and makes a good amount of noise.
Once her head dropped a little we picked up a trot and cruised. She was occasionally backed of, especially towards the scary parts and then a couple of times she was a little strong, but stayed containable. Were I a little braver I might have suggested a canter, but not quite in a bit, open arena that she's never been in before!
It is a gorgeous arena with lovely footing. It also makes her look like a regular-sized horse. Ha!
Sunday we pulled out Zeke and we long-lined him a bit. He got to wear the new training breastcollar. I need to find some more hame straps and secure it better. It looks so cockeyed here. He did good walk and trot and he had a little attitude here and there, but not bad and well, he's a yearling and I think this was the second or third time long lining him.
I was quite proud of myself all four young horses got worked over the course of three days. Success!
I am oing to enjoy this week minus a training horse. The one who was next in line needs to hold off for a month or so as she just bought a house. I'll contact the next in line the end of the week and see if she's ready to go or needs to wait longer and then I need to check with the NEXT one in line. Holy cow! We'll see if they pan out or not.
Today I had Dolly and we were just going to do a loop around the neighborhood with the tire. She did alright for the first portion, but as we got closer to home she was jiggy and did not want to stand and I even dropped her bit to the curb setting instead of the snaffle to get her to back off my hands. There were so many circles and we passed her house a few dozen times until she felt somewhat reasonable so we swung in. Then she was jigging in the arena (the arena has a gate off property) and I finally was feeling done because sand is a pain in the butt to walk it. If she had the energy to be a goober hauling the tire she could haul my butt. I sat on the tire until she walked nicely, got off the tire, gave her the chance to walk nicely, got on the tire again, rinse and repeat. She was being so heavy my right ring finger went a bit numb. It's about back to normal now. I ended up working her over an hour and a half. I'm hoping she is a bit more humble for her second hook in the cart tomorrow.
I admit I hadn't believed Christy when she said Dolly could be a bit of a pill sometimes as I had never run into such a persistent streak of resistance with her in the year or so that I have been working with her off and on and the last six months of consistent work. No idea what was going on with her. She even did pretty good passing the herd of horses and ponies (about 8 from 10 hands to 16) that were galloping back and forth and snorting and calling to her.
I have a former client who does videography and might have some old equipment they are looking to move on. I finally finished editing the first video last week and sent it off. I need to shoot another one and need to try and get that done this week.
I also picked up another Scottsdale/Phoenix client. She was thinking of full training, but we'll try weekly sessions to start and go from there. Full training is typically faster and cheaper, but if she can put in the inbetween work it might work out in her favor. He is completely green and just lunges. I'll have my work cut out for me getting him driving. He's also still intact. I have another young mini stud I just started working with last week too.
Anyway, things to do!