I rode Newt this morning. I changed the crossbar to a 24 inch jump. Newt would stop sometimes and then jump or walk over it. It did not flow from ground poles trotting to inducing him to jump. But he did not balk so maybe we can work into it. I thought I noticed slight improvement in the exercises today. He was not lazy like a few days ago. We even cantered in both directions with both leads. It did involve some baby bucking and we did not canter very far. We rode the three exercises. He still seems to have some reluctance to bend to the left. After working in the arena we rode up the east end of the Oak pasture. This was new for Newt and he noticed it. He must work into accepting new things very slowly. We rode to the top and turned around and went back to the barn. It was a good ride.
Wednesday, June 29 2011
Rode Magic today. His tracking on the right rein is improved. That is, he is bending more in the right direction though the problem still exists. My treatment when I feel the problem is to immediately ride a small circle in the direction he should be bending. I notice it most on the long leg of the oval exercise. We rode the needlepoint, oval and circle exercises. We trotted the canter set-up poles but the cross poles must not be challenging because Magic and Newt both just trot the whole thing. I pushed him into a canter. He took the left lead as he always does. We cantered two rounds of the arena and two rounds of the circle. At first I just had to push him faster and faster until he cantered. His response to the cue to canter is improving. We rode up to the top of Shirey Mountain, half around the top and down the middle. Magic is very calm on the trail. He does not look for spooks. In fact, he ignores some that I notice. I mowed the trails on Shirey a few days ago. The deer flies are a bother now. I think Magic is ready for his first trail ride on the Buffalo.
Monday, June 27 2011
I walked Newt to the arena. Moses, York and Topsie were trying to find some animal in the rock pile about 30 feet from the arena. Newt was concerned about what they were doing and we had to restrict our exercises to avoid that area. Then, as we were working at the other end of the arena, Moses sensed that I was a little worried and came down there to be with me. Actually, he was standing in the way of what we were doing. My horses are used to a lot of dogs but the fact is they always show at least an awareness to as much as a displeasure when the dogs are in the way. I love those dogs but I need to put them up when I am working a horse. So we had a limited workout. Newt’s lack of bend is on the left rein. Just the opposite from Magic. Newt had a little of the resistance and a little of the lazy, which I think is a form of resistance with Newt, but there are times when I am riding him that it feels good. We’ll just keep on working and moving in the right direction. We rode down the middle of the pasture to the west end and back on the trail. I walked him back to the barn.
Sunday, June 26 2011
Rode Magic to and from the arena, we did all the exercises and rode around the Oak pasture. Magic is a very trustworthy horse. It is a rare occasion when he spooks. He did good at the exercises. I have noticed a tendency not to bend when we are on the right rein on the oval exercise. He does seem to be able to bend (to the right) when we do a tight circle. So it is not that he cannot bend to the right. It is just that he bends the wrong way when we are on a large track on the right rein. We trotted the poles and Magic, just like Newt, did the whole thing at a trot. He did not take up the canter as expected when we went over the cross rails. We only did it once. When we have finished our normal work on the circle, I try to get Magic to do the circle with completely slack reins, i.e., bridleless, on the buckle. It works a little but I have to give aids with the reins occasionally. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture with about 200 yards at the trot. It was a very nice ride.
Saturday, June25 2011
Rode Newt today. I led him to the arena. I put a cross rail for the 4 rail in our setup. Newt could trot it with out jumping the cross rail. He was lethargic which is unusual for him. We were very successful at stopping and standing still today. He was not eager to move though. I do not think anything is wrong with him. I saw him running very fast in the pasture yesterday afternoon. We did our exercises with me pushing all the time. Even though he was lazy I did not get the feeling that he was calm and trusting. We rode under the dam and to the west end of the pasture and back. I walked him back to the barn.
Wednesday, June 22 2011
Rode Magic out to the arena and rode the exercises. We are making little improvements. When we ride the oval exercise on the right rein, he seems to bend the wrong way. He seems to be looking to the left. I rode the three poles two strides another pole. Magic did good but I was not in tune with such a big trot. I may shorten the stirrups a notch. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture and across the dam into the Ash pasture. We tried to push the cows from the Ash trees to the barn gate. They would just split up and we could not keep them together. I need to catch them on the fence so we just have to cover 180 degrees not the full 360. I think he is interested in cows. It was a good ride.
Tuesday, June 21 2011
I led Newt to the arena. I have set up the ground poles at then end of the arena. Julian Westall suggests using a ground pole / small jump combo that will cause the horse to canter on the correct lead. We are working toward that. I have it set up with 3 poles 4’3″ apart with another pole 9′ from the last of the three poles. The first 3 are one stride (trot) apart with 2 strides before the last pole. Newt trotted it just fine. I only have poles set up for the clockwise circle. It takes two sets, one for clockwise and one for counter clockwise. I rode the exercises. Newt was better behaved that the last time. He still has some head shaking. I rode the Crosby saddle and Newt seemed to do better. We rode above the pond and then made the loop on the west end of the pasture. Newt did seem to be loosing patience but he kept it to a low boil, not an explosion. I dismounted and walked him back to the barn. Today was an improvement over the Newt’s last ride.
Sunday, June 19 2011
Lunged Magic in front of the barn. He handled the ground poles just fine. He has learned what they are and what to do. Rode him to the arena and rode the exercises. Madelyn photographed the ride with our new camera. The pictures pointed out where I can make the most improvement. Loose some weight! Magic looked good but I had several problems. I was out of balance several times. There is lots of room for improvement. We rode around the Oak pasture and crossed the spillway and the dam into the Ash pasture. The cows were resting again. I’m going to check them first from now on. We had a good ride. Magic is dependable.
Saturday, June 18 2011
Lunged Newt in front of the barn. He does good with the ground poles. I rode him to the arena but he had some concerns at the gate. I did not see anything, maybe he just convinced himself there was a spook. He did a spin and perhaps another one but I was able to stop him with a one rein stop. My usual procedure in situations like this is to face the horse toward the area of fear and wait for them to accept it. I got Newt facing the perceived problem but I got the feeling that he was going to escalate rather than calm down. I hopped off and walked him through the gate. This situation was not what I want but it is so much better than last time he spun with me. He did not throw me, we got past the problem and went on and did our work. So it was a success, much better than a failure. We rode the needlework and oval exercises. Lots of head shaking and pulling. He was in a cantankerous mood, very different from Thursday. I do not know the reason. It was windy earlier this morning. I rode the Stubben saddle which I think fits him best but I’m going to make notes about how he acts with which saddle. He did one round on the circle that seemed cooperative. I stopped on that good note thinking I might not get another. I walked him back to the barn.
Friday, June 16 2011
Lunged Magic in front of the barn. He was able to trot the three poles and adjust his stride as necessary. I rode him to the arena where we rode the exercises. Magic is doing good. Sometimes I feel he is bending right and we have good cooperation and harmony and sometimes he sticks his head to the outside and falls out at the shoulder. I am not looking at this as a problem rather that we just need to keep on working and it will get better. We started the canter down the center line. He took the left lead again. We cantered a round in the arena and a couple of rounds on the circle. On the circle the first round he needed to go wide but the second round he was able to get it together and canter an accurate circle. It felt good. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture. I asked him to cross the spillway with running water. He was hesitant at first and stopped. He recognized that I wanted him to cross although it he did not want to. Then he walked across the spillway just like the good horse he is. As we crossed the dam, I decided to dismount to avoid a potential problem. We were walking immediately next to the water lillies and willows and there are a lot of bullfrogs this year. There was the distinct possibility of a bullfrog sitting on the bank and croaking and splash, splash, splash just like the Jesus lizard except louder. We avoided that problem. We went to look at the cows but they were all laying down resting so we missed working the cows this morning. It was a good ride.