Monday – Lots going on at work and elsewhere and I was a bit down today. I knew that I need some time at the barn. That time did not fail me! Bonita and I had a very good day.
I started out grooming her and checking the trim that I did last weekend. She let me clean around her udder. Before she has been really touchy there, so this was progress. I also dewormed her. She took the tube just fine and got a bit of alfalfa mash for a reward. Her reaction to the smell was a lot of lip curling … quite cute.
So out in the arena, I asked for a couple of hind end yields. All good. Then the tarp over her back and neck. She was alert, but didn’t move. Next was something new … hobbles. She had given me a bit of hassle with her feet when I trimmed her, so I wanted to work on giving her feet. I put the hobble cuffs on her front feet without tying them together and let her walk and trot on the lunge to get used to the feel. She stepped higher and was really thinking about it. I stopped her and clipped my lead to the right hobble and proceeded to get her leading by the foot. It took her a few minutes and a number of steps where I pulled her foot forward with the lead and also asked her to come with the lunge line (still attached to her halter). Once she came forward and to the side from her leg, I switched to the left side. She picked up on it much more quickly this side.
Another new thing I introduced today was a lariat neck rope. I had fun this weekend riding Lily with it and playing with Vinnie, so figured why not Bonita? She didn’t like it going over her head at first. She doesn’t like things around her ears too much. After a few times, she settled and accepted it. So I removed her halter and tossed it to the side of the arena. By the way, every time I left her to get something, she stood ground tied like a champ. I was really proud of her!
So on to the neck rope… she got turning really well, crossing over in front nicely. Stops worked well too. So I got my cavasson with side rings and took her to the mounting block. She scooted a little when I rested my leg over her back, so I jumped on a bit faster than I meant to. No issues there. I got off again and remounted a few more times with her standing well.
She walked off okay and we had a few balky moments. She didn’t really like me asking her forward by bumping her gently with my heels. After some experimenting with drawing her to the side to get movement, I found that she really got the forward cue of squeezing my thighs. We rode for another twenty minutes. By the end, she moved off in a nice forward walk at the first squeeze, turned well, even starting to get the idea of neck reining from the lariat rope and stopped okay. That needs the most work. She stops perfectly from the neck rope, but not everyone rides with one of those. I’ll continue to ride with it, but transfer the stop cue to the reins.
We did some nice figures, down the center line and B to E in figure eights turning both directions. I also had her on the rail pretty well. Even though I’ve been on her twice before, I would call this our first real ride! I feel that we are on our way!
And generally her demeanor was calmer, more head level time, less giraffe impersonations and eye white showing, more chewing and snorting. She has a really nice walk when she moves out too. I found that when I used a more active seat. She did quite well with seat and thigh cues. I look forward to exploring what else she does well with.
Tuesday – I had an errand to do out of town before the barn, so I thought I wouldn’t get any work done with Bonita. Guru Amar came along, so we decided to play with Bonita a bit. Guru Amar is a good rider, though it’s been a while for her. I offer for her to get on Bonita and she took me up on it. So Bonita has now had a second rider. I also had Guru Amar practice leading her with the neck rope.
Wednesday – A quick groom in the cross ties, saddled and into the arena today. I did a little ground work and free lunged a couple of rounds, then got on. Today Bonita shows me her sullen side. I was figuring that this would show sometime soon. I think that it’s time for a rider and ground person working her at the same time. That way the ground person (likely me) can get her moving, while the rider can cue her and give her the feeling of moving under a rider.
Thursday – We are on a roll… Today I tried my Stonewall saddle on Bonita again, this time with a western felt pad. I lunged her and it was a little loose behind, but with some adjustment of the pad, it was acceptable. So of course, I had to try sitting in it. She moved out better than she had with the Wintec. Yeah! Then Sarah asked is it was okay to bring her horse Pete in. I dismounted while they came in and let Bonita have a look. She stood great for me to mount again. She is coming into heat and would have preferred to visit with him, but instead we walked on the rail. It was a really good experience for her to have another horse there. She was calm and forward, moving off from my cues. I had to tap her with my whip a couple of times, but she wasn’t balking like last night. And her whoas were better too. It was a late night, but quite productive.
Saturday – It was warm and I was feeling lazy. I feed and brought all the horses in and sat for a while. Then decided to go for it. Bonita is not too crazy about the idea of being saddled from the near side. I worked with her loose in her stall on this. She was fine with me tossing the pad on her from the offside, but I had to work for a few minutes until she would stand still on the near side.
I bridled her with the snaffle over the cavesson I’ve been riding in. This way, there was a little effect on the bit when I used the reins. She chewed on the bit but was okay with it, so half way through the ride, I clipped reins right on the bit alone. She was more calm with her mouth this way. She was just fine with turns and stops off the bit, light in fact.
I also got on and off her a number of times. She stood for all of it. She also let me rub her ears today, inside and out and found out that it’s actually pretty nice. She really ended up enjoying it … almost as much as Lily does.
The next step will be trotting. And I think I’ll need some ground help for that. Another thing that I would like to move to in the next week is riding outside.
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