Mara rode Laddie again today. She sits on the pony and I lead. My round pen is grass which is not best for most things but excellent (soft) for what we are doing now. Mara fell off the last weekend she was here and her parents, and grandparents also, are very concerned for her safety. We have a good pony and a good situation but we need to keep safety foremost in our minds. The round pen protects us from a lot of potential problems. My thinking is that the best way to develop Mara’s riding skills at this time is time on the horses back. We don’t have to worry about her hands until she has good balance and a good seat. Her desire to ride is essential and I might overdo it if she was here all the time. So we keep it short, like 15 minutes. When Mara is a little bigger we can start on groundwork. Lots to look forward to. I know I am having a lot of fun and I think Mara is too.
Saturday, September 10 2011
Mara was here today. We went to the barn, fed the horses and rode Laddie. Once we got the horses fed, Mara wanted in the tack room. I did not know why she wanted in but I opened the door. She went straight to the grooming basket and got her brush.
She knows the routine. We groomed Laddie and trimmed his rear feet. Then we saddled and Mara got on. I have wanted to know what to do to improve her seat and balance. After today I think her seat and balance improve the more she rides. Last time she fell off. We were all concerned and she paid attention the whole time and did not loose her seat. Well all of us except Mara, I don’t think it bothered
her one little bit. Mara was sporting a new riding helmet. I was surprised at how well it was designed to fit and protect various sizes of small heads. Available at WalMart. The pink matched her shoes perfectly.
Friday, August 26 2011
It was nice outside this morning. It has been hot for a long time. I rode Magic for the first time in a long time. We rode just a little bit in the arena and then up on Shirey Mountain. Magic has plenty of energy and willingness to move forward. I have plowed the field on Shirey and Magic was very interested in the exposed soft dirt. This was possibly his first exposure to a plowed field. He reached down and took a bite. Yes, he took a bite of the dirt! It was an enjoyable ride.
Carole and Mara arrived at our house about 7 pm. After a while Mara took me outside and we went to the barn. She was excited to see the chickens and dogs. And the horses and ponies. She wanted to go see them all in each pasture. Little More wanted to get in her pocket. He just seems to love little girls. I think he would be very careful if just he and Mara were together. But the extreme difference in size prevents me from just watching. We fed the geldings and ponies. We got Laddie out after they finished eating. Mara likes to get her brush and groom brush the horses. I put the saddle on Laddie and Mara wanted to get on. I led them around and Mara was practicing her cluckin’ and smoochin’. She smiled big while she was riding. Laddie is very nice, no quick moves or anything like that. Then all at once Mara fell off. I think she just stopped riding. It did not hurt her but landing on her back gave her a good scare. Again, Laddie is worth his weight in gold. Mara’s little face was close to the next step but that foot never moved! There is no physical damage. I don’t think there is any emotional damage but we will have to wait until tomorrow to see for sure. Hopefully Mara will be wise and learn from her experience. Always keep riding, especially when you’re on a horse.
Wednesday, August 24 2011
Lots of excitement today. The Lawrence girls, Sophie and Maggie, came to visit the ponies. Sophie is 11 and Maggie is 8. They ride over fences at home in New York and both are very good riders. This time I worked with Maggie and Laddie and Sophie and her mother, Pam, worked with Scottie. We went in the round pen but Maggie wanted to get away from the others so I put the lunge line on Laddie and we worked in front of the barn. I noticed that Maggie was having to kick Laddie sometimes to get him to go. She was mostly riding Laddie and the lunge line was just a precaution. I took the opportunity to get a switch for Maggie and explain that when Laddie did not respond to her legs, to tap him with the switch, so he would learn to respect her leg. Maggie listened real nice like I was telling her important stuff. As I watched her ride, I realized she not only knew what I was talking about, she was very skilled in this discipline. Maggie would be talking to me about a pony she rode at home, Laddie would slow down, she would use her legs, no response, WHAP!, and Maggie’s tale would go on without the slightest interruption. Laddie was a much more responsive pony after Maggie’s ride.
Sophie was not having the same luck with Scottie. Maggie and I looked over where they were just in time to see Scottie put on an excellent bucking exhibition. I do not know what the problem was. Scottie may have been protesting that 11 year olds are too big for a pony his size or he may have protested at having a rider that expected and required response from a pony. What would have shown what was going on would be for the girls to swap ponies. Sophie suggested something like that but Maggie said “No way, I’m riding Laddie”.
Sophie and Maggie ride every day at home. They love it. It was lots of fun to have good riders ride the ponies. It was lots of fun to be around girls that love horses that much.
Sunday, August 14 2011
Mara and I finally got to the barn without any “adult supervision”. She has picked up a lot of what we do. After we fed the horses, she got her brush and was ready to brush something. She brushed the stall doors, my blue jeans and the ponies. We saddled Scottie and took him to the round pen. Today it seemed that she has gotten the idea to keep her seat in the center of the saddle. I do not expect that she has that control but she does have the idea. She had no problem today keeping her seat in the center of the saddle and she kept her balance. Scottie took off quickly once that took Mara by surprise. It did not scare her, she just realized that the horse moves quickly sometimes. We lunged in both directions at a walk. I got her off and suggested that she lead Scottie. It worked when I took the end of the lead and led Mara and Scottie came along also. We’re working on it. Mara rode again and then we took the saddle off. It was a good ride and a good time at the barn. Scottie was very good.
Saturday, August 13 2011
I rode Glory this morning. It has been at least 8 months since I rode her. She is a very big strong horse, half TB and half Percheron, 17+ hands and large for that size. She is a very nice horse to ride. She is so wide that it is uncomfortable for me to ride her for a long time. Since seeing a video of me riding Magic, I think I need to improve my independent seat. Glory is so big and strong that I get tossed around on her back. Maybe she is the horse that can help me improve my seat. We just rode around in the round pen. She seems to remember everything. We will move onto the arena soon.
Carole and Mara came to visit this afternoon. We had a nice visit to the barn. Mara rode Scottie and Laddie. Scottie moves a little faster than Laddie and Carole was nervous watching her daughter loose on the back of a horse even if it was a pony. (It may have bothered Carole and Madelyn but I saw no concern or caution from Mara.) We have had a dry spell and good rain recently. The fresh, tender, green grass makes Laddie tender footed. (light grass founder) We did not ride Laddie much because of that. Mara had a good ride. No problems, no fear.
Sunday, June 10 2011
Mara spent the weekend with us. She rode Laddie this morning.
Mara likes dogs, cats and horses. She will walk around the barn hallway and go to each stall, look at each horse hanging their head over the stall door and say “Hi” and sometimes wave. She sincerely tries to communicate with each animal and I am certain they understand her. A few weekends ago Mara rode without an adult holding her on. I just set her on Laddie and took my hands away. Then I had Laddie step forward. She adapted to his movement and that was that. I did not know how I was going to get her to make that step, but it just happened. I just kept on leading Laddie all the way from the barn to the house and Mara never had any problem.
She has a little black Sears and Robuck western saddle just like I had as a kid. I told her to hold on to the horn. Then I told her that she would not hear me say that very often. I just want her to ride the horse and be comfortable. We have to get her a helmet. Today we rode in the round pen. My plan is to get her used to riding by herself (w/o holding adult) which I think we can consider accomplished. The only problem I noticed today is that if her seat slips to one side (always to the right) she adapts her body to the offset rather than scoot her seat back to the center. My inclination is that she needs to learn to scoot her seat back to the center and keep it that way.
Or does she need stirrups to accomplish this? She seems to have good riding posture in the saddle. When she rode bareback yesterday, her inclination was to squeeze with her knees which caused her legs to bend and her knees to move up towards the withers. Today in the saddle, her legs are under her. My next step is to have the pony move in a circle on the lunge line. I can control the move forward and stop so Mara can work on her seat. The next step is to have Mara start controlling the go and stop. Once she learns that, we can ride the Buffalo River Trails… I would appreciate suggestions. Are there any books on “How to teach a child to ride a horse”?
Sunday, May 30 2011
Mara was here today and we went to see the chickens and the horses. Mara and I were able to pet the chickens. I put the horses in their stalls and let the ponies out. Of course Laddie and Scottie were wonderful. We brushed them and I put the western saddle on Laddie. Mara rode all the way to the house with me leading and Carole holding her on. I encouraged her to hold on to the horn. I also told her she would not hear those words come out of my mouth very often, just for the next few months maybe. Mara would reach out and pet Laddie on the neck. She really likes animals. She was having a good time. Her father said she would probably be riding next summer. I agreed with him. I also said “Next summer starts June 22.” I expect it will happen pretty quick. Mara just needs to get in several sessions like today.
It was windy today and I thought it best to wait for calm weather to ride Newt in the arena. I lunged and rode Magic in the round pen. Then we rode to the arena. I just got Jec Aristotle Ballou’s book “101 Dressage Exercises”. I have been riding the 20 meter circle repeatedly and I am very happy to have some new options. I got the 20 meter circle exercise from Lynn Palm. It is good but I just do not think repetition is good for training. My experience is that my horse and I can, and often do, get into a rut doing the same thing over and over. I feel blessed that I have so much space and riding options. The horses I am riding are green and we are not yet doing a lot of trail riding variety. We will in the future. I tried “needlepoint” but a bull courting a heifer kept getting in out path. Then we rode the “oval” exercise. Well, we tried. It may be some time before we ride the exercises well but it is something to look forward to. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture. Magic’s front shoes are clicking and I will tighten them to see how that works.
Wednesday, April 20 2011
I rode Newt this morning. I walked him to the Oak pasture and arena. On the lunge we went clockwise first and he did all three gaits with control. I thought “Well, patience pays. He is very calm this morning and this is the direction he always acts up. When we went the other way, he showed me that he could buck and kick on the left rein making my discussion of the hard and soft side mere speculation. Lots of energy this morning. It was brisk for a day in April. He kept a keen eye on everything in the pasture, cattle, dogs, and some other things he said I was unaware of. I enjoy a ride when there is plenty of energy. On the trail around the pasture I played it safe and turned around earlier than last time. Honey and York were hunting in the woods and I knew this was not the morning I wanted to face the test where Honey jumps a bear and… . Newt loaded in the trailer easily and calmly this morning.
Sophie and Maggie from New York visited the ponies this afternoon. Laddie and Scottie quickly won their hearts. These girls brought
their boots, chaps, and helmets. They ride at a barn in New York and are good riders. Sophie is about 12 and Maggie is maybe 8. They came to ride. The ponies really enjoy petting and leading (the ponies lead the kids most of the time) more than riding. Treats are the best. They rode in the round pen, a good safe place. After a while I suggested Sophie ride a larger horse. I was thinking of CeCe but Glory was looking over the fence like she wanted some of the action. Sophie rides a big horse at her barn so I just got Glory. Glory is so pretty that everybody just
loves her. Sophie rode bareback and looked like she was comfortable on a big horse. I got Glory’s saddle and bridle. Sophie could control Glory’s gaits, walk and trot, and get her to start and stop. Sophie rode very good and Glory was on very good behavior. For some reason all the other horses thought this was a good time to come running. Little More was loose and ran around the round pen. Sophie and Glory took it all in stride and had no problems. I enjoyed watching. Maggie kept her mother occupied leading her around the pasture on Laddie the whole time Sophie rode Glory. (It may seem like I am careless letting little girls ride big horses but I did have enough sense to get Maggie and Laddie out of the way.) After we put Glory back in the pasture, Sophie immediately went and got Scottie to ride some more. After a
while, just to give the ponies a break, I suggested that we work the ponies together loose in the round pen. Laddie and Scottie show no reserve when they do this. They like to go fast and fight over who leads. The one in the lead play kicks and the other bites his butt. It was all fun. I finally said the ponies had enough and we put them up. Sophie and Maggie had a big time and so did the ponies. I think Glory enjoyed it too.
Wednesday, April 13 2011
Led Newt to the Oak pasture. We lunged and rode in the arena. He seems to have an inclination to canter on the lunge. Today he maintained a good balanced canter counter clockwise. Going clockwise he would get excited and buck and kick (not malicious). I do not know if it is his hard and soft side or what. I cannot see that it is more difficult clockwise. I’ll watch more carefully. We rode the circle and around the arena. Newt did good. I did not think of trying the loose rein circle like we did the other day. That is probably a sign that it did not feel as good today. Nor did I try cantering after the excitement on the lunge. I am happy with our progress and I can wait until the time is right. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is so appropriate for training. We rode about 100 feet further than the other day on the path around the pasture. Newt did seem more relaxed and I did not feel it necessary to keep him busy navigating a serpentine around grass clumps. When we got near the gate, remembering yesterday, I dismounted in case there was a calf explosion that might spook Newt. And there were about 4 unseen calves laying behind the log pile so it probably was a good idea. The calves kept their place and chewed their cuds. Once through the gate I mounted and rode to the barn. Unbuckling the girth, I noticed one of the billets had broken. They were old billets that looked good until I used them a while. I re-rigged an old western saddle with bucking swells to handle English girths. I will re-do it western style because I might need those swells some day soon. Newt is turning into a nice horse and it would be good to keep my seat if he tests our togetherness.
The ponies are requiring more care these days. Laddie recovered from a founder after I put them in dry lot. I had moved them up to grazing half a day in a grazed pasture. Four or five days ago I started leaving them on pasture all the time. In about 2 days Laddie had sore feet. I have dry lotted them for half day for three days and Laddie is much better tonight. They are sweet ponies and deserve good care. Mara will be here this weekend. They will be thrilled.