I can’t decide which photo shows off his mane best. That said, I am pretty thrilled at how Vinnie’s mane is turning out. I wonder if it will reach his knees, like some Spanish Mustangs do…
Photo A - edited the most
Photo B
Photo C - back in February in his winter coat.
What do you think? A, B or C??
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.
Gratitude creates it’s own attitude. It can give you a new perspective, a new focus. I am going to use this day as my opportunity to see those things.
The first photo I saw of him that sent a chill down my spine.
And when he was starting to grow up. He was a few months older here than Vinnie is now.
And September 2007, as a four and a half year old stallion.
Take a few minutes today to create your own Thankful Thursday.
I delivered Vinnie to Tired Dog Ranch on Saturday. They are both loving life there. Here is a slide show of Vin’s introduction to part of the herd. If you want to go right to Flickr and see all the photos larger, here’s the link.
Lola, the bay roany sabino mare is now in the front pasture and Larry/Lorenzo has taken her place. I hear that he and Vin have become fast friends and sparring partners. I can’t wait to visit again and sit to watch their fun. I have to thank Amy Jo and Sally for taking such great care of these two for me. It is such a treat to see them out together, fully enjoying being horses. I have to say that Lily certainly enjoys the water left from the seasonal pond. She will miss it when it dries up…
Well we have crossed over our halfway point on Bonita’s time with me. It started with twelve weeks.
Monday – We had lunge session in the indoor carrying the bit. It was blowing and rainy, with the horses coming in at the end, so quite a bit of distraction. Bonita was very alert, but behaved and listened well. I used a surcingle and clipped side reins to the bit at the end. They were quite loose, just to give her an idea of it.
Tuesday – Another lunge session, this time with saddle and side reins on the snaffle. I also did some in hand work off the snaffle, starting to ask her to step under with her inside hind leg. She got it, with large steps on the left and less so on the right. At the end I put weight in the stirrup on both sides and lay over the saddle. She stood well for this, not moving off, just shifting to balance. That was a good note to end on. Bonita has also gotten good about lowering her head on a head down cue. She will stay there for as long as I ask. In fact, I usually have to ask her to bring her head up. This helps to calm and focus her. To end, I stood in the stirrup a few times from both sides and lay over the saddle. Bonita stood without moving for all of it.
Wednesday – We started with ground work and a little lunging with side reins, then and some in hand work off the cavesson. I wanted to start her learning to move laterally from pressure. She is better on the near side. Her right side is generally stiffer and her shoulder falls in when lunging, so I wasn’t surprised that there was more resistance to moving over from this side.
Then I repeated standing in the stirrup. She did walk off once with me laying over the saddle. I just stayed there and asked her to whoa. Next time, I got brave and followed through with swinging a leg over. She wasn’t into walking on, so I practiced getting on and off a few times. Mostly we stood, while she balanced. She did walk off a couple of times from squeezes. I pretty much let her wander where she wanted to, with a turn here and there. I planned a whoa and she complied very nicely. That was it for the evening. So we had our second ride, the first one with a saddle.
That was it for this week, other than trimming her feet on Saturday. I had other things to do, which I’ll cover in another post…
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