Category: Magic

Magic and I rode this morning. We worked in the round pen. He is showing reluctance to move up to the round pen gate for me to unlatch and open the gate. My guess is that he did not like the gate moving towards him. Heather Smith Thomas has a section of a book devoted to getting a horse to accept gate opening from his back. I will read it. I think we are making progress with his bending and being compliant and my balance. We did a little cantering on the left lead. I could not get the right lead. I only tried once so as not to embed a bad habit. We rode in the arena and around the Oak pasture. Nice morning and a nice ride.

Rode Magic this morning. We worked a little in the round pen and then in the arena. Magic’s bending and my balance seem to be improving. That is good. We just need to keep on working on it. We rode around the Oak pasture. James Brady’s cows are up on Shirey. He put up a temporary electric fence. It is very temporary. There is no gate. As sensitive as horses are to hot wires, I thought it best not to temp chance and try to lower it and step over which is the only way to get in the fence. I am enjoying Magic a lot.

Today we rode with the Buffalo River Back Country Horsemen of America. It was a work day to ride and clip the trail from Carver to Mt. Hersey. Magic always makes me proud and I was full of confidence. It was a nice bright, brisk morning. Immediately after mounting I rode over to talk to Tory about a riding horse for Mara. This involved positioning Magic this way and that way and maybe a little re-positioning. Magic took exception to something and bucked me off right there. After I hit the ground my first thought was “I am not hurt.” and my second thought was to catch my horse. Magic stood there like a good horse. The entertainment is not usually this good and lots of people got to watch. I don’t know what it was but I will probably ride off and do some maneuvers to get Magic settled after I mount next time. It is eight or nine miles to Mt Hersey so we had at least a 16 mile round trip. It is a nice trail and we improved it considerably. Magic did good the whole time. I was concerned that such a long trip might tire him. He did move around when I was mounting the last couple of times. I expect they can judge the riders strength and mine was lagging. It seems more likely that he was tired and did not want me to get on. We finished on a good note. It was a good ride.

Magic and I rode this morning. When we ride around the farm, he does not like to stand still. If he stops he wants to start up again. I am happy for him to be forward but we do need enough patience to stand still. Trail riding with a group helps with this a lot because they go so long that when they stop, Magic is happy to stand still. I have been thinking about balance when I stand up in the stirrups. When I worked on it the other day it was not what I wanted. I got to thinking that jockeys must have good balance to ride so high above the horse. Dressage literature dictates that good position requires very long stirrups. Some time ago, Andrea commented that she thought I would do better if I had shorter stirrups. I don’t remember what prompted me to do it but I shortened my stirrup leathers one notch when I got to the arena. I noticed immediate improvement in my balance in the “two point position”.  I think I will keep them this length for a while. We rode in the arena, around the Oak pasture and around the field up on Shirey. I enjoyed the ride.

Magic and I rode this morning. It has been a few days since we have been able to ride. It seems that working every day has the advantage of getting us more focused. I tried to change diagonals by staying up an extra stride. It worked good sometimes and but it also made it obvious that my balance is something I need to work on. We rode a little in the arena and around the field up on Shirey. I enjoyed the ride.

Magic and I rode this morning. We did no lunge or cavaletti work this morning. We went straight to the arena. He did seem more fidgety, less relaxed. I have never considered it necessary to take the “edge off” with lunge work with Magic but I need to notice if there is any correlation. James Brady came on his motor scooter to look at the Shirey pasture option while Magic and I were in the arena. We stopped our work and rode over to talk with James. Somebody came by the other day to talk, same situation, just a truck rather than a motor scooter. Magic did not like talking to them. He got fidgety, backing up, doing everything but standing still. When we went back to work he was less focused and impatient. He did good anyway. No cantering today. We rode up and around on Shirey mountain. York jumped a turkey that flew over us. It made enough noise that I noticed it. Magic paid it very little attention although it does seem like he noticed the turkey. It was a good ride.

Magic has a half brother, Fund the Minister, same sire, that was also adopted from New Vocations. The owner(s) also have a wordpress blog. There was a post today about Minister’s progress with his new trainer, Erica.  Minister sometimes does not have perfect initial reactions to a new situation. It was nice to read that the trainer accepted the less than perfect initial reactions and had arranged the training session in a way that Minister’s reluctance was not a problem, not a failure. The next session, Minister had very good attitude and performance. A good example to follow. The link is Fund The Minister .

Magic and I rode this morning. We worked on the lunge and the cavaletti. When he pays attention, and he usually does, his feet land in the middle between the poles just like they should. He seemed more inclined to break into a canter today which he did I think three times. Possibly he is getting more balanced and able to slow down a bit. I rode him around the lunge area and around the bull pen. When we practiced stopping, he stopped straight and stood still, just like he should. I think this is the first time he stopped without stepping sideways before and after and the first time he did not move while stopped. I thought it might be an accident the first time. We did it again and he did it right again. I told him he was a good boy and we quit the “work session”.  I think he has it. I do not like to reach a goal, such as this, and then to practice it again and again. Practice does not make perfect for me and my animals. My feeling is that if I repeat it over and over, my horse will think “Well, this must not be the right way because he keeps doing it over and over. He must want something different.” I do know good trainers that repeat and test but that does not work for me. I think it is my personality or id that causes it. Magic might improve with practice, practice, practice with somebody else but it does not work with me.

We rode around the Sycamore pasture. Spring is about two weeks early this year. It was good weather and a good ride.

Magic and I rode this morning. We did just about the same thing we did yesterday. I enjoyed every step of the way.

Magic and I rode this morning. We worked the cavaletti on the lunge. I have a set of 3 poles set for trotting. Magic is skilled in putting his feet where he wants them. Now that he is comfortable with these poles, if he is paying attention, he places his feet precisely in the middle where they should be. The canter set-up jump has produced the correct lead several times but he is not comfortable with the situation. These poles are two strides apart, not one like the three poles. I remembered that Julian Westall said to bring this combination in gradually and that I had not allowed him to practice these two poles without the jump. So I have set the second pole on the ground. Magic did show some lack of understanding of this distance by trying to do three strides. We did do the canter setup and he took the right lead correctly and did three rounds. He has not relaxed at the canter yet and still has a little too much speed. I want to be careful and not create a problem by cantering on the lunge too much before he settles down.

We worked in the arena. I painted the marks for the 20 meter circle in the arena this morning. It was fun to ride this exercise with Magic again. We have improved.

We rode up on Shirey Mountain. Justin put a tall, about 210 feet, deer stand on a platform in the middle of the oat patch on Shirey. It has a canvas cover with widows that have flaps to cover them or hang loose like they are now. It was flapping and snapping in the wind. Magic eyed it carefully and we went on our way. Magic has confidence. I enjoy riding him.

Magic and I rode this morning. We worked on the lunge with cavaletti. Magic is improving. He took the correct leads off the little jumps. We cantered about three rounds each way.  It was warm. Magic is shedding. It was a short ride.

Newt and Little More were in the pasture where I have the cavaletti set up and I wanted to move them before Magic and I went in. Somehow in the transition, Newt went into the Sycamore pasture but Little More decided that he would go to the oak barn. Newt has a history of going bonkers when he is left alone which he considers “abandoned”.  I noticed what was happening and set about fixing the problem. Newt ran around the pasture and would slide to a stop at the gate. I was concerned that he might hurt himself as ridiculous as it seems. When I went to get him he did have a small cut on his head. He has issues that are difficult to deal with. He is nice in the barn but goes off the deep end for the smallest provocation.