Hugin, custom glazed by Paige Patty Easley on a Lipizzan sculpture by Donna Chaney.

I’ve known about Bent Branderup for years. In fact, I had a bone china model horse custom glazed after his stallion Hugin. He did well at model shows too. You had to see him in person for the detail. The spots have hairline halos and he has pink and mottling in all the right places. And this was the size of a Breyer Stablemate! Paige Patty Easley, who did the glazing, is a wonderful finish artist.

Back to the point … I was impressed with how all the horses that Bent rides move so willingly and well. I was impressed straight off. Recently, I found Marijke de Jong on FaceBook. She is a student of Bent’s and has published these training methods in English. Her eBook, Academic Art of Riding is clear and concise at 44 pages long. She methodically takes you though the steps of training, why some things need to come first, why and how to build your horse’s strength and ability before moving to the next exercise, what the aids are and how to train the horse. She also gives the historical context for the movement, which is quite fascinating. It’s a lot of information in a small package, with excellent photos and diagrams to illustrate the concepts.

I’ve done some of these things already, but I will be going back with Lily and starting fresh with Sasha to fill the holes. I am especially wanting to work with Lily to build her up from her lameness. I am and have been treating her riding and working as physical therapy. This program fits very well with this, as it’s goals are the health and well being of the horse, along with developing him or her to their best abilities.

Sasha is coming down from Tired Dog Ranch tomorrow to start her work with me. Watch this blog for updates on her progress, as we progress through these logical steps. I am excited to have her to work with.

Edited to add a link to videos on youtube.

Pretty Shield (now SMR 3977) and I earlier this month

This quote is from an article by Dr. Thomas Ritter that appeared in Flying Changes magazine. It is worth reading the entire article.

This sort of balance is something that useful in all areas of life. It’s just another reason I am glad I work with horses. They continue to push me to learn more about myself. in a couple of months, Sasha will move from her rehab time at Tired Dog Ranch to my boarding barn. I look forward to having the opportunity to learn from her.

And I mean true heartfelt positivity, not just acting it.

I love this blog post.

You horse (or dog or child or husband, friend, co-worker, etc.) can tell on some level whether you are authentic or not. Animals, especially horses, I find, pick up on this much more easily than us humans. They have less layers of societal stuff to get in the way. And they pay far more attention to our real intentions that we sometimes do ourselves. That’s what I find so wonderful about working with them.

I took advantage of the sun this afternoon and put a bit more work on Vinnie’s driving. I dug out the PVC shafts I had made years ago for Paisano and took them to out to the barn. Vinnie got groomed and harnessed up. I put on the cavesson that I’ve been riding and long lining him with. Then I put the full bridle on over that. I don’t have a driving bit for him yet, but I wanted something that wouldn’t pull through his mouth. I had taken the full cheek home, so all I had was a low port Kimberwicke. Since I was mostly going just ask him to carry it, that’s what he wore today. He mouthed it at first, but once we were headed out, there was plenty to take his attention away from playing with the bit.

I got this. What's next?

When we came to the gate, we passed it and went down the other way a bit. All told, we probably walked a bit less than a mile. I practiced halting and standing, as well as asking him to move side to side on the road from whip and rein cues. He did well to the left and a bit stickier to the right. That’s likely because it’s harder for me to reach his left side with my whip. I had my ground whip with a short lash. Next time, I’ll have to remember the one with a longer drop. I really need a proper driving whip.

Doing well.

Since he had taken all this so well, I decided to try driving him off the bit. I took off the shafts first. Then we did a few rounds of the barn yard, turning and halting before calling it a day. He wasn’t too keen on this bit and pushed his shoulder through a few turns. We ended on a nice halt that only took a couple of half halts to get. Now I just have to figure out the best driving bit for him. And do more sessions like today. Vinnie is quite willing to what I ask, once he understands what that is. Repetition and practice are what we need now.

The wheels that I ordered for my cart are in. I have all the supplies to paint it. I’ve decided that it will be black. Then I will need to make the seat and back, measure for foam and upholstery material and purchase those. I am not sure what color the seat will be yet. I do hope that the cart will end up being large enough for him. I wonder if it will all be ready by April for the parade in Oakridge. Stay tuned!

Last week, saying hi to Hargobind

He did jump a few times and the loose horses running up the fence by the road made him puff up a lot and dance a little, but he never lost it. He was most spooked by a huge rock someone had put by their mailbox. It didn’t even move! But it elicited snorts, backing up and wanting to scoot down the road. I asked him to face it at a comfortable distance. As soon as he was willing to take one step toward it, we moved on.

He was light in the bridle and listened to my seat to steady him. When we rode up to the arena at Three Cedars, someone was washing the mirrors at the far end. More snorting! We had a really nice big trot along the back side of the turnouts that turned into our first short canter. And later he gaited on the pavement home. We got to the gate to his barn and he wanted to explore further, so we took another turn down the side road.

And he hasn’t even had ten rides yet. What a joy…

It had been POURING all day, so the poor boy was wet.

It had been raining steadily all day and continued through the evening. I had stripped his muddy sheet and then walked him down through the rain to Three Cedars to work. I wanted to try my Wintec AP saddle on him. It seems to fit alright, though I’ll be switching out the gullet for a slightly narrower one after Paisano leaves next week. I rode him a some after lunging. The sheepskin that Pam put on my saddle is really nice! I quit after he did a full round of the arena at the trot. Prior to that, we had to spend some time looking in the mirrors, sniffing the mounting stand and otherwise exploring.

Working away

One more week and Paisano leaves. Then another week and Lily comes home. There are so many transitions going on that sometimes, I don’t quite know what to think. Still, I keep going to the barn and doing what needs to be done each day. And it’s usually something interesting.

I found that the girth on Paisano’s harness finally fits Vinnie. He must have filled out. In fact, I measured him today and he is 13.1 hands. He HAS grown! I moved the harness over to the new barn and tried it all on Vin, then ground drove him yesterday. Pam came by just as we were finishing up, so she snapped a few photos and took a short video in his paddock.

I also spent a bit of time sanding down the cart. I removed the seat and backrest. That took some use of a small sledge (one of my favorite tools) and a hacksaw, along with drilling out rusted screws. My wonderful husband was able to remove the bolt holding on the singletree too, so now the frame is entirely stripped down. The only downside to the day was that the rust treatment I had saved from painting my trailer would not come out of the can, despite much shaking, swapping out spray tips, soaking them in mineral spirits and anything else I could think of. I might have to use something else. It’s too bad, as this stuff worked really well.

I also stopped in at a local bicycle shop to see about new wheels. All they had were ultralight, single thickness, alloy rim wheels. I think that I need something a bit more sturdy than that. And less expensive! I guess it’s back to the web to search for heavy duty, inexpensive 26″ wheels.

I'll have to make new seat and backrest. These are destroyed. I want to make the back taller and the seat a little deeper anyway.

And lastly, in preparation, Vinnie had his teeth done today. He had a few points, but otherwise a good bite. I asked how many caps he has left to loose. When Dr. C counted, he found that Vinne has one less tooth than normal in each row! It’s consistent on both sides top and bottom. It does not hurt his mouth or chewing at all. He was just born that way. Paisano’s teeth were done as well, but we didn’t think to count them. I’ll definitely ask about Lily’s when she has them done in December. Spanish Mustangs sometimes have one less rib and a missing or fused lumbar vertebrae. I wonder how many have four less teeth!

Okay, this is just fun! It made me laugh and even cry.. talented little pony, with an opinion to boot!

The Cart

I ran into a friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time at the Ann Armour lunging demo a couple of Fridays ago. Afterward, I was lunging Paisano to practice some of what I had learned. We were also chatting. I mentioned that I though he would make a great driving pony. My friend says, “I’ve got a cart that’s been sitting around. Do you want it?” Do I?? Well, YES! I’ve been looking around for an affordable training cart for a few years now. I didn’t want to pay $500 for a cart that I would have to upgrade to do CDEs and entry level carts that would work were anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000. I picked it up on Friday. Yea!! Thank you Candee!

After stripping the wheels and seat

I think that I'll get a new singletree to be safe. I just have to get this one off.

I will also be reupholstering the seat and may make the back a little taller. I have some birch plywood that will look nice stained and showing in back. I might even consider adding a dash and a spares box under the seat. But before all that, it will be treated for rust and repainted. What color though?? I would love to hear opinions. If you post a color suggestion, please also consider the upholstery color. I welcome ideas!

Future carriage dog?

Candee sent along a couple of sacks of harness that she got with it. There were parts of two leather harnesses and two nylon. The leather was too far gone to salvage, but I washed the nylon parts in the washer. Yes, the husband asked what was making all the noise… I had put them in pillow cases, but didn’t tie them shut, so it all came out loose anyway. I tried! It looks like I have everything except the saddle, with doubles of some pieces. Even if I don’t end up using it, at least it’s now free of mold, dirt and cobwebs.

Harness parts that came with it. Some may fit Vinnie for training. My harness may be a tad large for him for now.

Can you tell that I am excited about what we can do with this new addition?

Dream State #14 from a Twitter #MailART project

If I end up picking a color combination suggest here in the comments, I will send the winner an original piece of artwork, likely a monoprint with hand additions, similar to some pieces that I did recently for a mailArt project, but larger…

It won’t be the image posted here. I’m showing as an example only. This one was mailed out to a member of my twitter group. If you are interested in knowing more about that, here is a link to the Flickr group of pieces received.

Father & Son

I think that Vinnie has turned out to be an improvement over his sire and dam. He has nice traits from both of them. He has Lily’s beautifully shaped Spanish head, four beat amble, and dun coloring. From Paisano he has a nice uphill build, suspended gaits and flashy sabino roaning. I’ll really enjoy watching him mature over the next two to three years.

I think that we are getting a nice group of horses up here in Oregon to do parades and Expos with. We plan to take part in a spring parade in Oakride next April as our debut. Then I’ll be looking for more opportunities in the area. I think that Vinnie could stand in as either an Indian pony or a classic cow pony.

Here are a couple more photos from last weekend…

Vin in his period looking gear. I wish that the saddle had a bit larger seat for me though...

Walking out nicely in his second ride ever and the first time ridden in a saddle.

I'll leave you with this photo of him sleeping in my lap on his first day of life.

I was reading Mugwump’s latest post and I realized that Paisano needed a bit of a tune up on this front. So last night we worked on it. After a short bit of chatting with other boarders, I took him straight to the round pen, still dusty from rolling.

Paisano tried to snatch bites at his favorite weeds on the way over, then when I let him loose, he meandered over to a spot where he could reach more weeds. Instead, I sent him out at a trot. All he gave me was a little jog. I had my lunge whip that gives a nice pop and he got it laid over his rump. “NO, I want you to MOVE!” was the message. At first, I had to step into his space half way across the round pen. At one point, he kicked out twords me and that got him a response that really woke him up! I reversed him repeatedly for a few minutes.

By the end, he was responsive to all voice commands and would canter energetically until I asked him to do something else. He’s gotten into a pattern of just quitting and even slowing to a stop recently. I had slipped into the habit of always asking him to keep going, rather than expecting him to stay at any gait/speed until asked for something else. I am not going to do that anymore. My expectations are changing. I just don’t want to work that hard! Today was the beginning of that.

At a good whoa with him parallel to the fence, I asked him to come into the center. Then I gave him a good once over with my hands and some stretching and a little massage. That was his reward for the good work he gave me at the end.

On whoa in the round pen … I do not want a seasoned horse to turn to face me. This is just my preference. I know that many people always want their horse to ‘face up’ to them. Since my basis is in dressage, lunging, long lining, etc., I want a horse to stop where I ask them and not move their feet any more. If that means facing perpendicular to me, that’s what I want them to do. If I am driving, it means facing away from me. Whoa means “Whoa right where your feet are now,” not “stop and face me.” It’s hard to retrain them not to face you, when they are on the lunge line. In long lines, there is more control. Still, it can be frustrating during the transition time, where they think that is what you want. So I likely differ there from most of the NH world. So be it.

The jaquima on Lily. I've since put it on a Zilco trail headstall.

I worked in hand some on stepping under with the near hind foot. He has a harder time with this on the right. That flowed well into some lateral work. He tends to offer more sideways and less forward that I want. Or maybe that is me not getting my cues correct. Either way, we had some improvement there.

It’s supposed to rain all weekend, so I am not sure that I will be able to get any of the long rides at Pisgah done that I wanted to. I had laid out a training plan for the next six weeks until the Foothills ride. This three day weekend was going to be a great opportunity for some long slow miles. I guess I will have to get used to the rain… Today I am wimping out and working in the studio instead. Well, after I’m done with this blog post anyway!

I'll leave you with this photo of Lily being a good mom. She's telling Vinie to keep away from her baby.

Yesterday, I was up at Tired Dog Ranch. We pulled Vinnie from the pasture with his mother and siblings and put him to work!

First came the saddle. He had never worn one before. All I had was my FreeForm, as I was trail riding Paisano this weekend. I couldn’t really girth it up tight enough, so it slid forward some. All I got out of him was a little half buck. Then he settled down.

Look at that mane...

He showed us his lovely movement.

I also put a snaffle on him, which he didn’t really care much for. He kept getting his tongue over the bit. Since the saddle didn’t really fit, I took it off and did a bit of long lining. Then all tack got stripped off and we just played a bit.

Vin is a huggable pony!

I had a small audience, so just for fun, I hopped up and down next to him. Then I thought, “How will he do with my weight?” He could have cared less! I jump on him, wiggled all around patted him and bounced. Vin hardly moved.

Me saying, See, he could care less! I was pretty surprised at how calm he was about it.

Then we asked Amy Jo if she wanted to hop on him. He was a bit sweaty, so I let her take the first ride.

Can you see us all grinning? I think that Vinnie is too.

After she was up, Amy Jo said that she had never ridden bareback before. I think that they both did a stellar job!

He knows turning.

I think that he wondered what took us so long.

And after his bath - the grown up boy!

The round pen at TDR now has beautiful bark footing, thanks to Amy Jo moving two dump loads. What a grand place for a first ride. Thank you, Amy Jo! And MANY thanks to Megan for taking tons of great photos with my camera.

Last weekend, Pam came out and taped Paisano and I. It was meant to be a basaeline sort of video to record where he is at in his development and training. I rode him with a bridle first, then tried this. I don’t think that I ever rode him bridleless when he was a stallion. That makes this maybe our third or forth try. The previous times were in the round pen at Tired Dog Ranch, so a much smaller and more contained space. I was very happy with how he did. There were a few times where I had to put the rope up near his throatlatch to turn him and he really wanted to go hang out in the sunny far corner. Needless to say, those were outtakes.

He was good on basic walk, trot, canter, turn and stop cues. We have to work more on things like turn on the forehand and haunches and leg yield. Those are a bit harder to do without rein cues. I didn’t get more than a couple of steps before he moved forward. That can come with time. It’s a bit harder when there are no reins to restrict forward movement. In retrospect, I should have started this against the wall. Another step will be riding with another horse in the arena.

Watching the video, I realized that some of his apparent resistances may have been due to the fact that he had fly bites right where the rope crosses his chest. Pressure probably felt good! No wonder he leaned into it a few times, instead of backing off. I might post another clip of scratching him afterwards. It’s pretty cute. Pam pointed out that he was so relaxed that his lower lip was flapping the entire time.

Two of my favorite stills from the video…

The music is Corazon by Mirabai Ceiba, available from Spirit Voyage

When my aunt pointed me to these years ago, they resonated with me. They have been an excellent way to deal with my horses. In adopting them for that purpose, I found myself considering them with my children, my husband, my co-workers and on and on. Pick one, consider it in your life and see where you go…

From The Center for Non-Violent Communication. The italics are mine.

10 Things We Can Do to Contribute to Internal, Interpersonal, and Organizational Peace

(1) Spend some time each day quietly reflecting on how we would like to relate to ourselves and others.

(2) Remember that all human beings (all creatures, actually) have the same needs.

(3) Check our intention to see if we are as interested in others getting their needs met as our own.

(4) When asking someone to do something, check first to see if we are making a request or a demand.

(5) Instead of saying what we DON’T want someone to do, say what we DO want the person to do.

(6) Instead of saying what we want someone to BE, say what action we’d like the person to take that we hope will help the person be that way.

(7) Before agreeing or disagreeing with anyone’s opinions, try to tune in to what the person is feeling and needing.

(8) Instead of saying “No,” say what need of ours prevents us from saying “Yes.”

(9) If we are feeling upset, think about what need of ours is not being met, and what we could do to meet it, instead of thinking about what’s wrong with others or ourselves.

(10) Instead of praising someone who did something we like, express our gratitude by telling the person what need of ours that action met.

The Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) would like there to be a critical mass of people using Nonviolent Communication language so all people will get their needs met and resolve their conflicts peacefully.
2001, revised 2004 Gary Baran & CNVC. The right to freely duplicate this document is hereby granted.

I had a great (and tiring, hot) day at Inavale. I was a backup timer on one of the hazards for a CDE (Combined Driving Event). This is like three day eventing in harness. Today was the marathon, the equivalent of cross country jumping.

Many photos are here

It must have been close to 100 degrees by mid afternoon. Some of the horses were visibly tired and a few pulled. But some were very fit and really impressive!

I started to have visions of Paisano out there on the course, then Vinnie, THEN them as a father-son pair. Then I considered Lily and Margarita as a matched pair! Oh, yes, I was fantasizing big time. Then I considered the amount of training, time and funds to get to that point. Still, with long term planning, maybe…

It certainly would be great to get some Spanish Mustangs out in this type of competition. If you perform well with good turnout, you can do well. There were many breeds of all sorts and all sizes there today. And I do think that my horses could handle it quite well. Let’s see where we are in a couple of years!

Bonita did very well at the SMR meeting and is now home with Chuck and Kay Day in Camas, Washington. I enjoyed working with her and thank Kay for letting me take her on as a my first outside training project.

During the week before the SMR meeting, I showed Kay the ground work that I had done with her. We went on a few rides through the woods on narrow, very new trails. Since we had just scoped these out and barely started to use them, there were a few iffy areas, which Bonita handled very well. She is quite happy to lead and went most anywhere I asked her to. She will follow too, but it is not her preference.

Our longest ride was four and a half hours. Much of that was stopping and cutting out downed trees and brush. I did some, but mostly it was Kay doing the hard work. Bonita stood well, but wasn’t too interested in being close to the other horses. She likes her space. There was some nice grass up there in the woods, so all three horses enjoyed the stops.

The one real obstacle for her was a narrow part of the trail next to the creek with water flowing over and through some larger rocks. She had just stepped into a soft spot before we got there and I think that she was none too sure of the footing. Eventually she did follow the others over. Going back, it was no problem at all.

Bonita is fun to ride with nice smooth gaits. We did mostly walk-trot, though I did try a short canter out on another Forest Service trail on Friday. That was her second canter under saddle, the first being a few strides in the meadow earlier. She came down from it nicely and it was no big deal.

Kay will continue to ride her, with the addition of maybe one 4-H’er. I believe that she is still for sale. Please contact Kay Day for more information.

Bonita’s time with me is coming to a close. Yesterday, I trailered her up to Tired Dog Ranch for a ride. I tried out their new round pen, made from found materials. It works well! When the grass inside is eaten down, it will be a good area to work loose in. We will take care of that the week before the SMR meeting.

Here are a few photos from yesterday. Amy Jo took the ones of me and Bonita and I took the rest. Go here to see larger images.

After trying out the round pen, I rode Bonita in the meadow and we had a first few canter strides under saddle. She is VERY smooth! I did get a few little rocking bucks at one point, but she gave it up quickly and never offered any of that again. I continued to ride her around the meadow with Amy Jo on Larry following along. I wasn’t too sure about going out on a trail ride, but after a little more riding, we decided to go for it.

We went through a gate and into the forest. Bonita didn’t like it when Larry got too close or when Bob (dog) was right behind her. Other than that, she was great. She led the entire way, stopping when we had to wait for Larry, responsive and happy to explore.

We looped through the woods, ending on the gravel road past their property. Then we went down the forest service road a ways. She was sound on the gravel. Bonita could have gone a lot farther. She didn’t even begin to sweat and we were out for about an hour. She was okay going around several turns of the road alone without Larry too. Someone needs to take this mare home from the meeting and keep working with her. She’ll be a great, willing partner for somebody.

Bonita did well enough with Five O’Clock Charlie and Wonderful, that I left her there for the week. I’ll be back on Saturday with Paisano and will stay though the SMR meeting June 19-21. I hope to get in more rides on Bonita with Kay, her owner along. After the meeting, Bonita goes home with Kay to Day’s End Ranch in Camas, WA.

I didn’t intend to ride tonight. I went to check on Bonita and clean her stall. We have been having huge thunder and lightning storms the last few days. Bonita was kept in for a couple of days this week. Not because of the storms. She had figured out the she could crawl under the field fence into the paddock next to hers. The grass is up to her eyeballs. Needless to say, what girl could resist the temptation? she ended up with a good scratch across her rump parallel to her dorsal stripe. I wanted it to stay clean, so she stayed in. She will only get turnout in the indoor arena until we go to Tired Dog Ranch. The cut has scabbed over nicely and is not in the saddle area. So I saddled up and we rode.

This was out fifteenth ride. We worked in the indoor for about fifteen minutes. Bonita is in season and showed me so by complaining a little bit at my leg on her asking her to trot. She balled up and got a tag ‘light in the front’ as they say. A good Eeehh, Ehhhh! and growl and she gave it up.

I’ve been practicing making right angle turns across the arena and after a bit of that, I got off. Then it was outside to the front of the barn. I haven’t ridden her out there yet. I mounted up in the parking area and we rode into the grass outdoor arena. It has been mowed recently. Part is still tall grass, most is in rows with areas of grass sticking up like a punk rocker’s spiked mohawk. And a small area is mown evenly. We walked around both ways for a while. Bonita was alert, but didn’t spook. She just watched very carefully. Cars went by. Birds moved in the hedge and she was fine.

I went on to trotting, practicing spiralling circles and lots of transitions. Trot six strides or so, walk, whoa, walk six strides, trot, walk, trot and on. She has a nice little trot that’s easy to sit when she relaxes. I also let her move out to see what her bigger trot is like. It’s really quite nice! I love that she moves out with just a small squeeze or vibration of my calf. No hesitation, she happily moves out and happily comes back down to walk and whoa.

I also continued with turns on the forehand. We are up to about a quarter turn, then she goes into sidepass. She is a bit stiffer from the right leg, but improving. When we were all done, she enjoyed some grazing on that grass that is so green from the recent rains.

The rain has been invigorating. It is a bit cooler, yet humid as well. It’s not our normal weather. We are usually going into straight, sunny weeks by now. I feel for anyone who has hay cut or baled out in the field. A lot of the uncut grass is laying over flat from the downpours. I do hope that it lets up in a couple of weeks for the SMR meeting.

For a day when I didn’t plan to ride, it certainly turned out well.

This week I didn’t ride so much, but went back to work on a hole in her training that I knew was there. When I first brought out a bottle of fly spray, Bonita got all white eyed and backed into the corner of her stall, entirely freaked. I had left that all alone, while working on other things, figuring that I would return to work on it later. Now that flies (and more common at this barn, mosquitos) are here, that time has come.

I’ve never been much of a fly spray gal. None of my horses cared too much the few times that I did spray them, so I didn’t have much experience in training a horse to tolerate this. I brought out a spray bottle filled with water, haltered Bonita and worked the stall. My first goal was to spray her until she stopped moving, then praise her. After the first couple of spritzes, she decided that she had had enough and reverted to pushing her shoulder into me and trying to pin my against the wall. This is what she used to do when anything scared her. I went back to what I used to deal with this before.

I hold the cheekpiece of her halter, bring her head towards me and down a bit. Then I ask her to step her shoulder away from me. This worked and calmed her somewhat. I then continued on with spraying her. I kept ahold of her halter and moved with her as she turned circles in the stall. I did not try to stop her and just kept spraying her. If her feet stopped, I stoppeds spraying immediately, praised and stroked her.

By the end of the first session, she had done a number of circles in the stall, but would stop after just a couple of sprays. The second session was much shorter and she calmed down and stood much more quickly. Now I can spray her in the barn ailse. She does back away from me a few steps, but will then stand. She’s not yet totally okay with it. I will continue until she is. My goal is for her to stand ground tied while being sprayed.

Saturday night, I added a ride … after the fly spray. I did two turns each way on the lunge first to test the waters. Then rode two reined for a while. I unclipped the cavesson reins and we finished our ride on the snaffle only. We rode into the evening under lights. She did well, even in the dark, spooky corners, just looking a little more carefully.

I rode again Sunday morning. I didn’t bother to lunge this time, instead doing a short bit of in hand work to focus her. We had a good ride in the arena working on transitions. I also started working on large, loose serpentines at the walk, getting her used to the idea of bending and turning off the outside leg and supporting outside rein. I rode through the pattern for the Intro A test a couple of times too.

I also took my jacket off while mounted and rode over to the fence with it over her withers. She was just fine with that and didn’t even jump when I tossed it on the ground. After that, I opened the gate and we had our first ride out of the arena. We went down the path to the turnouts and rode around the last one, repeating our practice of serpentines and bending. She was more looky, but didn’t spook or have any issues going out alone. What a good girl!

Motoring along on a loose rein

On Saturday, Amy Jo came down to help me feed and turn in. Then she met Bonita and took some photos while we rode outside for the second time. I replace the regular cavesson with one with side rings. I wanted to ride two reined, one on the snaffle and the other on the cavesson. The last time I rode her with just the snaffle, she pulled and started to get hard in the mouth. I want her to stay light, while she is learning how to respond. This works quite well for that, as it is a slow transition from what she knows (cavesson/sidepull) to what is new (snaffle).

This shows the two rein setup

Nice relaxed walk

So today was a little bit of a challenge, but a very good under saddle session. She does fall in on her shoulder going to the right, so that’s something to work on. I started asking her to yield her hind end from leg cues. She got a step on each side, so that’s a beginning. I also spent some time riding on the buckle and on a loose rein at the trot. She is nicely forward in both gaits, which is very refreshing. And she still stops dead on a breath out or Whoa. Not a bad eleventh ride!

Thank you, Amy Jo, for taking such nice photos.

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.