Docscockylilcutter aka 'Stormy'

So I got to work with her two days in a row last week. Thursday and Friday. First session went really well. Getting her out of the pasture was an absolute nightmare, but not her fault really. And once we got in the round pen she did all the exercises great.

What I was going for first was a consistent canter whichever way I pointed without breaking or turning. Then I wanted to get a few inside turns. CA (clinton anderson) says to never let them turn to the outside because you don't ever want them showing you two heels. :shrug: I guess I can see that. And let me be clear I don't think he is the be all end all of horse trainers. But I DO think he has a great method and I like a lot of it. I love how easy and precise it all is. No guess work, simple, clear directions. And the horse gets it.

So, what are we doing in here??

I would really rather be back with my 'boys'

Looking for the cue to come in

 She did great with her turns. She didn't do one wrong (as in turning to the outside) turn at all until my husband came over to watch. And I think I was so anxious to show him how well she was doing that I cued her wrong a few times. If I really made sure I was keeping myself straight in my cues she did great. She has enough energy I don't have to get after her much at all. Now, this is a huge contrast to my mothers new mare. The first session with her I about died from exhaustion chasing her big hiney trying to keep her cantering! It was so bad that in the end I settled for a trot.

So after you get the horse moving out well without quitting on you or turning, and doing consistent inside turns well, I was ready to let her rest and find out that being in the middle, ie with me, was a good place to be! She got it right off and walked right up to me! I was a little shocked since both Cisco and Chloe wouldn't do that even after 5 or so sessions. You are then supposed to rub them down, scratch them, all over. She wasn't terribly focused on me at this point, a lot of her attention was on the horses hollering for her, but she did ok. A few times I asked her to go back around and then come back in to get her refocused.

I did a little of her following after me and then put her up after she had quit blowing. She did great for her first time out!

The next day I worked with her while my youngest napped in the car. (she is almost 9 months now, can you believe it?!) Chloe (not the horse, lol) watched la la loopsy on youtube on my phone in a chair nearby. She also was my willing photographer, lol.

I took this one. And I moved her halter up a bit after this too!

Doing some desensitizing to the rope

Stick/string desensitizing (don't laugh too hard at my skinny chicken legs -_-)

I decided it would be easier to just work her in hand this time having the kids and all. Plus that day was a heat advisory of 107, so the shade sounded pretty good! It was actually quite nice there, good breeze blowing.

So it didn't take me as long to get her this time, but was still a tricky endeavor! I really hope eventually I can get her to come up to me in the pasture. Or at least stand still for me to get her! Right now if you show any inclination to come after her she walks away. And if you try to head her off, she evades faster! I usually bring a grain bucket with a bit in the bottom to entice her but it still takes a while. Mostly because I have to keep fatso Chatterbox out of my way, which usually spooks her off as I'm chasing him away.

I started out reviewing our backing from the previous day. She is quite good at backing up from a wiggle of the lead now. I also introduced another cue to back, its called marching, where you hold the stick in your hand like a ski pole and march your hands and knees up and down at them. She backed up really well with that. Then I moved on to some desensitizing. Throwing the lead rope all over her, no prob at all, she usually stood with a hoof cocked through all of this. Then desensitize to the stick and string all over her body. Again, no prob. I didn't do the string slap because I want to wait to be in the round pen for that. I didn't want to risk her getting free with my little girl out there, etc. 

So then I tried to move on to hind quarter yielding but the first one I did she showed me apparently she has been kicked or something. She was very gimpy on her back leg and hopped her hind end over in stead of moving it. So I only did a few of those each side. She did well! That was about all I had time for. Once I got her put back in the pasture little one was awake and it was time to go in and cool off!!

I haven't had a chance to get out again this week yet. I tried the other night but by the time the husband was done mowing our acre and a half to watch the kids it was too dark. So we just went out and fed them horse cookies, lol.

I hope to get out there again maybe this Thurs and Fri since I will be busy tonight and church is tomorrow night. 

I'll keep yall updated!!

Day Before The Horse Fair!

Tomorrow is the day! And I am sitting here so tired! I was out with Daisy for four hours riding, bathing and getting all our stuff together. TIRED. I also see I have a light sunburn on my lower arms, the one day I don't wear a tank top!!

I'm SO thankful the sun came out and it quit raining today! They were saying all week that today was going to be our best chance of rain. They don't know my God, I made a request and the day was awesome! I got everything done I was hoping to.

So after running to town to get my mom and dads avalanche (this will be my trailer puller) and pick up a few things I came home and parked by the round pen. The child had thankfully decided to take her nap so I left her in the car and fetched Daisy. A BIL had appeared thankfully and he kept an eye on Chlo to make sure she was till sleeping.

I was very happy to have one more chance to ride before tomorrow. We refined a few things, solidified a few things, and got as good as we are gonna get in this time frame! I really wish I had known about this last week. Anyway flexing was much better today as well as my trotting. It rained a bunch yesterday and all night so the round pen was a bit soggy which was making Daisy even slower then she usually is, lol. I had spurs on today hoping that would save my legs a bit. They annoyed her a few times and she kicked out at them so I smacked her and gave her another jab to keep going each time. By the time we were cantering she was done with her protests and I didn't have any trouble with her. I only did a few strides of cantering because of the sloppiness.

After our ride I took her over and gave her a good bath. Her white socks are white again! She was a good girl for that even though its been years since her last one, lol. With all the rain her hoof crack, divot, HOLE whatever it is flipped up on one edge so I had the FIL snip it for me.

After that the husband got home from work early so he went and got the trailer from the neighbors. Daisy and I went over and checked it out and I tied her up to the side while the DH cleaned out the stalls. Then it was time to do our test load! She wasn't too keen on the first two tries but the third time she hopped right up in there. I had left a pile of carrots in the manger so hopefully she remembers this in the morning, hehe. I am not above bribery! ;) So then we decided to take her for a little ride. I threw her some hay and we took off. She didn't seem to have any trouble and hopped off nice and slow after we got home.

I took her back up in the yard and we brushed her out again since she was now dry and then I tried my braid again. Success this time!! I think the key was braiding SIDEWAYS not straight and it stays up tighter to her neck long enough to get all the hairs in.

She was such a good girl just chilling resting a hoof! The FIL thought itd be funny to braid her tail so he stood back there and did that for awhile, lol. And Chloe also sat on her back most of the time, she loved it.

So thats about it! Almost time for our small group for church so I better scat, I'll be back next with our report on tomorrow! Wish us good riding and a good time!

Ride #2 Great Progress! Ride #3 Okay...

Hey again! So I have two rides to blog about! First our ride on Tuesday, which was awesome. Daisy took everything we went over Monday and doubled how well she did it! Steering was much improved, as well as her lateral flex. She was awesome at that! I got the second half of my ride on video this time, so its not QUITE so boring. Still hard to see a whole lot and my battery was dead in my video camera so we are still with the Nikon!

We also did some vertical flexing, this is the first time I've ever tried this with her and she did great. Any little bit of movement with her nose towards her chest I rewarded and by the end of the ride she was dipping her nose nearly to her chest! One especially good one was what I quit on and jumped off and loosened her girth as extra reward.

I did mostly trotting this ride, my posting was much improved although after watching the video I see I was on the WRONG diagonal nearly the whole ride, well, at least all that was on video! How embarrassing. I also did a lot of two point this ride. I feel like I struggle a lot with keeping my leg under me. (which is confirmed by the video) I read somewhere that that can sometimes mean your stirrups are too short so I decided to try lengthening them a hole next ride.

Daisy did really well with a bunch of distractions as well. Of course Stormy was calling for her, and then two little ankle biters (some sort of fuzzy mutt and a weenie dog) came running at us in the round pen from BEHIND and she just flicked an ear at them, even while I was yelling and waving at them to go away, lol. (there is a house behind the round pen that they belong to) There was also a bunch of chainsaws going off a little ways away and the husband and his brothers and dad were walking around in and out of the woods near us, etc. Such a good girl!

Think thats about it for that ride! Here are a few video stills:

I also got to ride yesterday, even though the husband was not home to watch little girl. I gathered our stuff up and headed out there hoping the mother in law might want to watch her. I feel kind of guilty about it because she watches her Mon and Tuesdays while Im at work, then this week I have pawned her off to the husband while I ride all afternoon! I then finally get to see her around 7 or 7:30 when I'm done with Daisy. What a bad mommy! Its hard to have an extracurricular life with kids, it really is. I'm having so much fun, but also theres this guilt that I'm putting other things before Chloe. Sigh. What do you mommys do?? I guess when she gets older and able to ride with me it will get better...

Anway my mother in law wasn't home so I decided to just get Daisy out and groom her again and practice on her mane for Sat. I'm thinking of the running braid like I do on Dixie sometimes:

Problem is I've tried it twice on Daisy so far and it gets too low before I can get all the hair in, grr. I watched a few videos today so hopefully I can get my act together. I also thought of doing something like this:

Isn't that AWESOME!? But just imagine how LONG that would take? And I'd never get it that pretty. I also think its a bit 'western'. So we will just go with the running braid I think.

So I grabbed Daisy while my father in law watched Chloe for a minute and then parked her in the yard there to brush her. Sweet baby helped of course! She loves any sort of animal. The FIL got on the other side and started scrubbing her too and did my side to shame! He is a lot rougher then I am! There was hair all over the ground on his side, lol. Then I asked him if he had any clippers (he used to show at the QH shows in halter back in the day and has nice clippers) he said yeah so I got her bridle path and whiskers trimmed up! Also the long hairs under hear chin/throat. She looks so much less shaggy. I wish I could do her legs but I have no idea how to do it without making it a hack job and I worry about the flies. Also the reason I left her ears.

Then I decided to try banding her mane a bit so we walked over to the round pen where I left my bands. By then a brother in law had shown up and was able to babysit Chloe. After about 4 bands I decided that was for the birds and ripped them out. Then I set about doing another running braid. This one came out better so I left it in. It's probably STILL in since I forgot to take it out! D'oh! I still had about two or three more sections to get in. I'll try again today if it's not raining!

The wonderful mother in law made it home about then so I had a chance to ride! I'm wanting to squeeze in as much saddle time as possible for both of us. I highly doubt I'll get to ride today or tomorrow :(. Stupid rain! At least there is only a 30% chance Saturday of scattered showers. Scatter around us!! If it does rain I believe the arena is partially covered so we should be good as long as we are in the arena, haha.

So by the time I got her tacked up it was, well, dusk. The sun had set and it was cloudy. Boo. I knew I had limited time so I wanted to make the best of it. I planned on doing lots of trotting sans stirrups and lots of posting with stirrups. So I hop up, Daisy didn't move! Points for her! Then did our pre ride flexing. And I waited. And waited. And waited. Sigh. Minus points Daisy! I kept looking around and seeing how dark it was getting and my plans flitting away. So finally I got some decent response out of both sides, and some good vertical flexing. I had flipped my stirrups up already so we set off at a walk for a good bit, I know the old mare needs lots of prep before trotting, and I don't feel like I gave her enough. By the time we moved on to sitting trot she was okay, but at the posting I could feel that head bob 'off' feeling I talked about after riding her day three a few years ago. So I walked her some more, then moved off in the trot again, posting. She felt fine. :shrug: I think she just has some creaks, I dunno. I did quite a bit more trotting (a lot on a small circle trying to get her to flex to the inside) and never felt or saw her bobbing her head again. I think a day off or two will be beneficial and hopefully she will be good for Saturday. Like others said before I know she still short strides on that left hind for whatever reason, mostly at the trot. And I'm sure she has arthritis! Maybe I can get the vet that is there to answer questions to take a look at her.

Also, I noticed a HUGE chunk out of her hoof Monday that I hadn't see last Saturday. I was like what the?? Here are a few pics of it, what can you hoof people tell me?? I bought some Fiebings hoof dressing and have been putting that on her for the dryness. Her hoofs are so dry right now. But she has never had anything that looked like that before! It doesn't seem to be bothering her, I dunno... I know she is ready for a trim. I hope you all aren't about to tell me its something awful!

 I wish I had some good barefoot trimmers out here, its hard to find anyone to do good horse work around here. I ALSO may get the farrier that is there to answer questions to look at her too if I can! Hey, why not take advantage, haha.

 So the ride went okay, I don't think Daisy was thrilled about running around in the near dark and was ready to go eat her hay. Thus not cooperating as well. I finally quit when I could just still see and took her back to the pasture. Thank goodness its staying darker lately!  

I did have my video camera this time, I set it up on a chair but the panels still block a lot. And it got so dark you can't see much anyway. For some reason it shut off after 25 mins as well. So no posting trot, just some walking and trotting without stirrups. I put both days together, I'm having troubles getting it uploaded so I'll put it up whenever its done.

I feel SO much more secure and in good position without stirrups. I dropped them a hole and felt better but still not as good as without. What am I doing wrong? Just not enough riding? Another big thing I need work on is riding with contact, Daisy too. She immediately wants to halt or slow down when I take up the reins to make contact. I try to be real flowing and keep my leg on. Its just hard to remind myself to do it instead of just letting them be all floppy.

Oh! I almost forgot! I got my booootssss in today!

They are sweeet. I can't wait to ride in them. So soft and supple. They are a tad on the long side but I also was trying them on with no socks so we will see! I know they will be a vast improvement.

So I have yammered on long enough! Until later!

Riding Day! Times Two!

Lots of fun times yesterday! The brothers in law came over yesterday afternoon, my day off, and asked me if I wanted to go riding with them. They were both going to get their horses out. Rusty is back from the trainers, and this was the first time he had had to get him out since he came home the beginning of the week. I wanted to get Daisy out so bad! But the mother and father in law had just left and little girl can't quite watch herself yet, lol. But I did go out and watch/help!

The little BIL got his horse out first. She hasn't been rode in quite a while, at least a year. He had some health issues all last year and is just now getting to feeling better. But she did really well! He lunged her quite a bit before hand, getting her listening and working good. Then he saddled her up and worked her some more before climbing up. She went along nice and quiet. Her only problem is the bit. They keep riding her in that dadgum tom thumb -_-. She does not like it and roots against it a lot. Anyway, he walked and trotted her a bit then asked me if I wanted to ride. Of course! So I climbed up and put her through her paces.

She is very green but willing enough. I worked a lot on trying to get her to slow her trot a bit, which made her round up at the same time, though that wasn't really what I was going for. I did some tight circles with her trying to get her to give a little and she gave in pretty easily.

So after I hopped off the older BIL was coming back with his horse. This was when all you know what broke loose. She had an absolute FIT! See, they used to be pastured together, which if you remember right from a previous post, caused all sorts of problems. When he got back from the trainer they put him in with Skip, the sister in laws gelding. So Daisy and Stormy have been together (Scarlet has left the premises, the FIL gave her to the trainer that Rusty went to, he is going to put some training on her and sell her).

Anyway there was NO containing her, the little BIL was just spinning in circles trying to keep her from running over him. Thankfully he was till in the round pen with her. Rusty was also getting quite excited, but nothing like her. Anyway the big BIL took Rusty a ways away and she settled down a bit. At this time I had to go back to the house to put little girl down for her nap. By the time I got back Stormy was put up and Rusty was being saddled. They had planned originally to ride together outside of the pen, but after the way they both acted, they decided that wasn't wise, lol.

Before we move on to Rusty, here is some Stormy picture spam! Click on the pictures to see it bigger. (bear with me, I am loving my new camera and I get even more picture happy then before!)

 

                                                                                                                               Check out the tongue, lol

                                                             Baby girl having fun!

                         The husband said while I was riding she kept clapping for me every time I went by, lol! --->

So this was the big test! How was Rusty going to do after coming back from his training? Same? Better? Would the BIL want to keep him or go ahead and sell him??

Well I have to say I may have to eat my words! From what I saw yesterday I'd say he is a MUCH improved horse! Its like all the fire has been tamed and he is just relaxed and obedient. He got rode quite a bit while at the trainers so I don't know if it was just wet saddle blankets he needed, or someone to put him in his place, or both, but whatever it was it worked! At least as far as I can tell. 

The BIL lunged him for just a few minutes and tacked him up. He stood there falling asleep and also did very well while the BIL got on. He only rode him in the round pen briefly before venturing out. The trainer rode him for miles on the trails and was really pleased with him. He told the BIL if he decided to sell him to give him first bid! lol.  

He did perk up remarkably once he was out in the 'wide open' but didn't do any funny business. The BIL walked him around near the round pen a bit, then up around their yard, down the driveway, etc.

Before long he was done and asked if I wanted to ride him. I was hesitant at first, but then was like well why not, I'll kick myself later if I don't! So I said sure, and jumped up. Try not to laugh at my high water jeans, sigh, I really need to get some actual riding jeans! They are just SO EXPENSIVE. I have to have a 36 inch inseam to have jeans long enough when I ride. They don't sell those in regular womens jeans! Anyway, I really enjoyed him! We went exploring and he moved out nicely, but not too fast. He responded well to the bit to me, and we walked over some logs and went and saw my husband who was doing very scary things behind our house with a saw, lol. As we were walking to the corner of the house to go behind it, he couldn't see around the house to see what was going on. So he didn't really think it was a good idea to go over there! But I persuaded him he wouldn't die fairly easily and we walked around to where we could see my husband and stood there a bit. He wasn't sure it was a good idea to stay around so I had to make him turn back and face the saw a few times. After he was still a few moments we went on back towards the round pen. He was fairly level headed and so calm most of the time. Such a good boy.

So all in all a very productive day! All of us were busy today but I wish we could have gone out again, its been so pretty here and I just know the cold weather is JUST around the corner. I hope everyone else has a great weekend! Till later!

RidingTuff Part II

Hey guys! Sorry it has taken me SO LONG to get this posted. Mainly its because I had nearly an hour of video to cut down to 7 mintues! Phew!

Anyway! Like I said before, he was a super star!! I mean even I, who knows him best, didn't think he would do THAT well! I was just editing the video and he even RESTS A FOOT while I am sitting on him. Such a good mind on that boy!

So I was thinking of riding him that day, but also knew it was asking a lot of him since I had not worked with him in nearly a year but once (last week) and he probably needed more time for me to refresh him on things we had done. But I did bring my helmet and the saddle out there just in case. I knew if nothing else it would be good for him to carry the saddle around a bit. I also grabbed the driving lines so we could work on that.

So the husband was on babysitting duty, though she very obligingly decided to take a nap not long after I got out there and he laid her down in his parents house with the mother in law supervising. (the round pen is just in front of it in their front slash side yard)

I lunged him a bit to begin with and he was awesome. You wouldn't believe the inside turns we were getting! They were SO GOOD. Even turning back to the right, his bad side. I was SHOCKED. I guess I wasn't doing too much wrong, he just needed a bit of practice. :D His cantering was good as well, tho a bit lazy. His right lead was a little sticky as usual but if I really got after him to jump into it out of his trot we usually got the lead.

Then I took him to the side and put his saddle on. He was pretty unconcerned. It took us probably 20 minutes or so to just get the darn cinch where we could get it tight enough. Thank goodness my husband was out there, he rigged it up good on the off side so I could get it tight enough on the left. He stood quiet like a good boy!

I walked him around a bit to make sure he was cool, he was, so I brought the long lines in and got those run through the stirrups and off we went! This part was a bit hairy. He hasn't been ground drove in a long time and it took him a few minutes to understand what I wanted. But he was SO calm and 'whatever' about it. After a few rounds we had it figured out pretty good, but he was still really sticky about his 'woah' and turning was still a bit tough as well. All we were using was the halter. So it started getting dark and I figured if we were going to ride (which was becoming a serious possibility with how well he was behaving!) I'd better get over there and get started!

I took him back to the side and the hubby came in for support. I did some hopping beside him, then some stepping in the stirrup, then laying on my tummy, etc. He started getting tired of me pulling his saddle to the side I think and started moving forward. So I went back to just putting my foot in there until he settled, then back to the other. And then up I went! You can see the husband get all startled and nervos on the video! Its so funny! He said to me, "your supposed to let me know before you do that!" Sorry!

And what did Tuff do? Nada! He moved a bit to distribute my weight but that was all! So I slid off pretty quick and then went back up, etc. So fun! Then I moved him to the middle where we had a good 'runway' and climbed back up and had the husband lead us around. He was walking so slow and careful, and when we made the turn my husband said he was moving his legs more sideways then forward, haha. So we stopped a few times and went the other way and then I called it a day! GOOD BOY TUFF! It was too fun! I decided against hooking reins to the halter and guiding him myself since he had been so 'sticky' ground driving. We need more work on that and besides, there is no rush. I need to get him a good bit and have him working well in it. Should have done this already, really. The full cheek I bought him last year is too small now for sure. Next time I may work him some in the bitless bridle and see how he does with it. If that goes well I may ride him in that until I can get a bit.

So that about does it! I loosened his cinch right after I got off as reward and then took him to the side and untacked him. Then the husband took him back to the pasture and he got his grain for the night.

I am SO PLEASED with him! I wanted to ride him again this weekend but it didn't work out. Hopefully soon!
Here is the video! (you m ay want to click on it and open it on youtube, its a little large for my layout and you can watch it in HD there)





As for long term plans...well, the husband thinks we need to sell him. :( He is too short for him to ride (and too short for me really and truly). I guess he is never going to be more then a big pony. He said he would ride with me if I would sell Tuff and buy him a dead broke horse he won't have to worry about. I'd love to keep him for Chloe later on, but what would he be doing in the short term? Thats at least 4 or 5 years from now. And we can't afford 3 horses at this point...

Sigh. Its going to be hard to find him a good home. He is unregistered, small, and green broke. Yeah I'm going to get him riding pretty well before I put him up for sale, but he will still be just starting his riding life, therefore, not good for kids just yet which is really where his niche will be. Much thinking to do!

On the other hand, it is exciting to think of getting another horse so I can actually have someone to ride with! The husband said he wants a Friesan. LOL! But would be okay with a Percheron, oh okay darling. Lol, seriously though, he just wants something that isn't ugly, lol, and will take good care of him. SO DO I. I will have to have one that I know will never take off, buck, or rear with him. Being pluggy/lazy is OK with me though, lol. I shopped around a bit the other day. Most times you need a couple thousand for something like this, but maybe we can run up on a deal. We won't be able to spend more then $700 or $800 on one. And that is pushing it! But we also dont need something registered and it doesnt have to be show quality. JUST SAFE. I'm thinking on at least getting $500 out of Tuff. IF WE SELL HIM. I still haven't made my mind up about this! Lol, Ive put a lot of time and and emotions into this horse. Plus him being Daisys baby. Sniff. TUFF WHY DIDNT YOU GROW?! :(

Okay! After an excessively long post, I will say...until later! Stay safe and have fun everyone!

Riding Tuff!

Dont have time for a full post but thought I'd tease yall with this picture! Muahaha, I know I'm evil! I will say it went AWESOME! He was perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better first ride! Go Tuff!

Tuff Has His First 'Riders'!

Hey everyone! Sorry its taken me so long to get to this post!

Last Saturday was a really fun day! My husband didn't go to work like he has every saturday for at least 2 months, and we just hung out at home and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Well later that afternoon I got my stuff together while he was mowing the lawn and headed out to the round pen. Dropped my stuff off, tracked down the western cinch I was going to try with my english saddle, and went and got Tuff. They were of course down in the other pasture again, but this time I just called them up and had them follow me up to the barn, instead of going and fetching Tuff and leading him. Worked great! After we got to the house they all went on up the fence line to the hay rack and Tuff walked right up to me. Nabbed him and we were out of there with no trouble at all!

So on out to the round pen. I put his full-cheek on again, this time under the halter, that seemed to work well. Then I put his saddle on and tried the cinch. FAIL again, lol, way too short still. Sigh! So anyway I took that off and walked him a few rounds on the lead to make sure everything was good with his bit and then on to lunging! Which went a lot better this time. I kept my cool, patience, etc, and did everything slow and as obvious as I could. He did great! Was cantering on the left lead in sync (no cross firing!) and he got his right lead about three times. He even did a few good right inside turns, I think he's finally getting the idea a bit. Just takes practice!

All this time he was carrying his bit and had no trouble with it at all. His mouth was quiet most of the time, he chewed a bit, which is totally fine with me. Thats a good sign. Clenched mouth = bad sign!

So after we did a good bit of lunging I went back to the gate and decided I would go ahead and just try the FILs western saddle on him. This is the point where my memory card completely filled up in my camera and I didnt get anything else on video until my husband came out and I cleaned a bit off to get the last bit of our work out.

Anyway, the saddle was still in the hay barn from Scarlets ride, which is right next to the round pen, so not problem finding it. The problem was carrying the huge thing while leading a horse! Not so fun! I about broke my back lugging it over there hunched over with one hand (I made Tuff carry his saddle blanket, haha, he didn't mind) and we made it, thankfully its quite close to the pen.

I settled him in there, straightened his blanket, let him sniff the saddle a bit, and up it went! I think he might have blinked, and that was it, lol. That thing is a good 25+ lbs! So I moved it about a bit, got my cinch attatched, and tightened him up a bit. Still no problem at all. He was more interested in chewing on his grooming bucket, lol. I flapped the stirrups on his sides a bit and then we moved on out into the round pen. He looked a little confused but walked along well and didn't offer any trouble at all. So for the next 15-20 minutes I would stop every so often to wiggle the saddle side to side, pull on it as if I were getting on, (also hopping up and down like a fool next to him, lol) and then after he did well with all that I started putting my foot in the stirrup and putting a bit of weight in it, not stepping up in it yet, just enough to make the saddle pull a bit. After that was boring I started hoping up into the stirrup for a second and then back down, all of this on both sides. He was so good! I called my husband somewhere in there and when he got over there I had him hold him while I stepped up in it a little more.

At this point I was feeling pretty brave and had my husband hold onto the outside stirrup while I stepped up and layed on my chest/stomach over the saddle. I was holding my breath, pretty positive I wouldn't have any trouble, but you never know! But of course, I didn't! So I did that a few times, and then I told the husband to give it a try. When his much more substantial weight stepped up Tuff moved quite a bit to get his balance, but was in no way alarmed. He got back down and stepped up again and that time he didn't move at all. Good boy!

So then! I leaned up over him again and told the husband to lead us a few steps. THRILL OF A LIFETIME. He did great. Of course he was a little hesitant about moving but so calm about it all. I slid off again and then we repeated and he did even better about moving out that time. We only did like 3 or 4 steps, but it was huge to me! :D

So there you have it! Tuffs first 'ride'! Very good and uneventful! If I wasn't pregnant I probably would have swung over, but I'm not going to risk that. Plus I want him to do some more growing. By fall I think we will be set!

So here is the video! Mostly lunging, and at the end you get to watch the husband walk and trot around with Tuff dressed in his bridle and saddle, hehe.



Next steps! Start working with the bit. I haven't touched it so far, just been letting him carry it, so we will start doing some flexion with it next time I'm out. After I'm sure hes got the concept we will move on to ground driving, probably wearing his western saddle with the lines run through the stirrups. I'm so glad I tried the western on him, seeing as I can't get a girth to fit the english. I'm going to be riding him in the western anyway, I was just afraid it would be too big for him. Seems okay for what we want to do with it right now though.

After that? Well I can't think of anything else besides refining everything he has been taught and then actual riding. So we will probably work him off and on this summer when I have the time (and feel like it, I'm less then 3 months from my due date now!) and then sometime this fall start putting some rides on him.

Have a great week everyone!

Scarlet Gets Rode

Hello again everyone! Hope you are all getting the gorgeous weather we have been blessed with lately! Its been in the 80's all this week and most of last. Love it!

Anywho, the same day last week, Wednesday I believe, that I worked Tuff the FIL got his little mare out as well. My memory card was full of Tuff from earlier, so didn't get as much footage as I would have liked, but I got a bit!

So at first she was a little spazzy. He lunged her to begin with and she was a little racecar in there. She kind of looks like she is running scared. But when he asks her to woah, she WOAHS. And then looks at him hopefully like, "can I come in to you now??"

So he did that for a few rounds and then got out his saddle and bridle. That was a bit interesting, lol. We're not sure how many times she has been tacked up (and rode for that matter) but it can't have been many. You'll see how skittish/nervous she is in the video below. It's almost like she is expecting someone to mistreat her. She has a hard time keeping her feet still when you are messing with her. Even just brushing.

Anyway after he got the saddle on her he lunged her around some more with the saddle, she didn't buck or anything but she was definitely moving on out. After that he put a bridle on and thats where she had serious problems. Any time he tried to pull on her outside rein just standing next to her she would have a complete come apart and he would have to let her go. So he would calmly go and collect her and try again. Same thing 2 or 3 more times. So finally he told us to watch her and went and got some driving lines.

Now at this point I'm thinking to myself, okay something is not right, we need to go back to the beginning here and sort it out. And get that dang tom thumb out of her mouth. But of course its his horse so I'm not going to tell him how to train her.

Anyway, he comes back and hooks her up to those and she has one nasty episode (its hard to describe what she does, she doesnt buck or rear or jump, she just has a spaz attack!) and he hauled her in and made her back up and give to the bit. And BAM. She was a different horse. Head down, docile, do whatever you say, whenever you say. He walked her around that pen turning her both ways for another 10-15 minutes and she never picked her head up or offered anything that he didn't ask for. When they woahed, she stopped and stayed there. It was like a light switch flicked on! Crazy! He said is the way she has done when he's worked with her before, its like she has to have her little moments and then she just gives up! His phone even rang when he was on her and he walked around one handed talking on it and she didn't have any issue at all with it.

I'm hoping its because of the way she was handled before and that eventually she will figure out that we aren't going to hurt her and she doesn't have to put her defenses up every time we work her. Hopefully!

So after that he took the lines off and started pulling on her saddle, putting weight in the stirrup, etc, and then just swung up and walked her off. No problems! They rode around for quite awhile just walking and trotting. She looked relaxed and a okay with everything the whole time.

Here is the video of the saddling, a little of her spastic lunging, and them walking and trotting
around the round pen. (thats my handsome hubby assisting, hehe)



So anywho, definitely ended on a good note. I hope she remembers that and starts out that way next time!

Next Post: Tuff Has His First 'Riders'!