Messin' 'Round

Well, I was able to ride three horses yesterday. Unfortunately it's getting dark to fast! I started with Ana, then Coffie, then Toffy.
I gently threw the saddle on Ana because she throws her head up whenever I put it on and slide it off (she needs to go to the chiropractor, which is probably why she doesn't want to canter.  I did mention it to Terry, but he's harvesting so it will be about a week before we can get her over there).  When I went to get on her she started to walk off before I even got a foot in the stirrup, so I, very aggressively, wacked her butt around... she stood quite nicely. I thought about cantering her, but she was already way to eager to go, so I kept it at a walk for a little bit, working on neck reining and pulling her head to my foot whenever she went faster than I wanted. Then I asked her to trot. Oh she loved that. I have never had a horse so willing to go forward. She went over the jump nicely though, but apparently she doesn't see fit to actually jump such a lowly object.
I calmly asked her to walk, which as to be expected she didn't do for very long, so I pulled her head to my foot, stopped, and stood there for a bit. Again I asked her to walk and she did the same thing, so I pulled her head to my foot, stopped, and stood there. I asked her to walk again, but when she started getting like lets go faster, I want to go faster, faster is my favorite word,
"Easy," I sad and she's like okay, I can relax, walking isn't bad. She walks calmly for about 20 feet then; let's go faster, I want to go faster, faster is my favorite word.
"Easy."
Okay, I like walking.... let's go faster, I want to go faster, faster is my favorite word.
"Easy."... I did this for about five minutes not once pulling back on the reins. Each time she settled down into a nice walk.
"Woah," I said, breathed out, and sank into the saddle. She stopped I got off and we were all hunkey-dorey.

When I worked with Coffie I did groundwork because I wanted to see if she would enjoy being ridden more if I spanked her hind end a little bit. You should have seen the rollback she did when I lunged her! It was a sight to see! Spinnin' on a dime like no other.
At the end  I trotted her over the jump; she did a beautiful jump....with her front end. Then with the laziest attitude ever walked over it with her back feet.  *sigh   Nobody can say I didn't try.

I rode Toffy; mostly trying to get her to go over a metal ladder. I led her over it first. Then rode her over it. Both times she was a perfect little doll. It took a little convincing to get her to go over the first time, but she did it.
The third time she stepped on the opposite side of the ladder with her back feet and it smacked her on the back feet. You'll never guess what she did... yeah, jumped forward as if the world was going to end. I went over it again, with Terry standing on it. She nimbly jumped over the dang thing which I was not ready for. I stayed on, but Terry still laughed.
I tried it again and for some reason or another she spooked before she even stepped over. A 180 degree pinwheel turn was executed. Guess what my chiropractor told me NOT to do...fall off. Guess what I did...fall off. In my defense my back was bugging me all day, so falling off didn't make it much worse.

So, that was my day. For all you horse riders out there I would highly suggest getting you and your horse to a chiropractor at least once a year. Even if you don't think there's anything wrong go anyway. All that falling off your horse is NOT good for your back. See I went in for my lower back and found out that between my shoulder blades was worse than my lower back. I didn't even know that part of my back was messed up, but on further consideration I figured out that I'd had that problem for about four years maybe more, but I'd just put it off as the woes of playing violin. So, go to the chiropractor. You'll be glad you did.

Time is Valuable When You Have Little of It

It has definitely been a long while. School started about three weeks ago... and I have gotten to ride horses three times. It really stinks. I have cross country practice after school and we get done at 5:15ish. If I think I can manage the homework I have, I go to Terry's and ride for two hours. Makes Then I get home take a bath and stay up till 9:30 doing home work and fall right to sleep because I am exhausted.
The fillies are all doing well. Though I'm really glad that we're keeping Toffy for another year. She's just not as far along as the others and could really use the extra year to become that much more reliable. She's a scardy cat. She does great on trail rides, but random objects do not go over too well with her, and she has a little trouble doing things that have never been asked of her before, but I learned something about her the other day. She needs to be rewarded for every little try. Example. I wanted her to step through a tire, and she lifted her foot. I rewarded her for that. Later she might place her foot on the tire, and then go back to just lifting her foot. She still gets a release of pressure, and praise for trying. If I quit rewarding every little try she quits trying.
I've started working on circles with the fillies. I'll get them to trot a tight turn around, and canter a large circle. Right now they can't do it real well. They fade out on the circle, but they'll get it. Just takes practice.
Misstack is loads of fun to ride. I start with her. I worked on lead changes last time, and the time before that, and today I had a I-don't-care day. Basically I let her go wherever she wants she just has to go what speed I want. We galloped too. That was so much fun! Next time I think I'll tell Aleythia to bring the camera and we'll get some pictures of all the horses. I haven't had pictures in a really long time.