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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 15 2011
Lunged Newt in front of the barn. He can trot three poles almost without looking. I got on and rode him to the arena, something I have not done in a while. He did good. We worked in the arena. Newt was very manageable today. We did not canter. I rode him around the top of the pond and made the loop on the west end and back to the gate. Topsie and York had run something to ground under a old lumber pile beside the gate so I got off and walked him by the commotion. If I had ridden past that gate, they would have jumped an armadillo that ran under Newt and then performed the famous armadillo straight up jump and hit Newt in the belly. And that would have been dangerous for me! So I just walked him back to the barn. It was a good ride.
Monday, June 13 2011
Lunged Newt in front of the barn. He seems to be able to handle the ground poles naturally. I added the third ground pole and he just trotted all three. I did not adjust the distance. They were about 4’3″ center to center. I walked him to the arena and mounted there. He is getting a little fidgety when I mount. I attribute that to my awkwardness. I may put a mounting block out there and see if that helps me and thus the horses. He was pretty eager this morning. We rode the needlepoint and oval exercises. He was somewhat evasive, not a big problem but neither was he cooperative. He settled down when we rode the 20 meter circle. I think the fact that I know pretty much exactly where we need to be in 8 places around the circle helps us concentrate. We rode west down the middle of the pasture all the way to the west end and then walked back. He did good. I walked him back to the barn from the Oak pasture gate.
Sunday, June 12 2011
Worked Newt and Magic on the lunge with a little ground poles to negotiate. Newt was very concerned that the cows were in the back pasture. It made him very alert. He can cross two ground poles in a big trot. He paid no attention to the poles. He decided the cows were a serious threat. I did not get on his back. Magic was not concerned about the cows in the same situation and did a normal workout on the lunge with the addition of the ground poles. I rode him to the arena. We rode the needlepoint and oval exercises. He did good. He paid attention. We rode the circle at the walk and trot just so we would be in position to start the canter on the correct lead. We rode on the right rein and he took the left lead at the canter. It was a little awkward evolving our path to a left rein round in the arena but we did it. I just rode down the long side and then back to a trot. Magic has a good canter and does not get real excited because we are cantering. Initially my objective is to get him to start the canter and keep it up for a little longer each time. I want to be in a situation where it does not matter which lead he takes, just that he does transition to a canter. I am trying to teach him a cue to start the canter. Once I get that accomplished, Julian Westall suggests that I can use ground poles and a little jump will put him in the correct lead. Right now just starting the canter is not clear. To Magic, it is the same cue to trot bigger and faster and he goes into a canter because he cannot trot any faster. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture. Magic did very good. He would walk so fast that he would start to trot. He does not have a habit of going faster than I want, he just wants to go. I will be able to develop the habit of walking fast without breaking into a trot. When we got to the pond dam, I dismounted and led him across the dam. He had to cross the running spillway that was carrying enough water to make considerable noise. He had some reservation but did what I asked. Once we got past the gate and the end of the dam, I mounted. We went looking for the cows and found them. They were beside a fence. I took advantage of the fence and had Magic follow the cows along the fence line. (A fence is an advantage for starting cow work because the fence takes care of 180 degrees and the horse or dog only has to control the other 180.) Then I walked him ahead of them and turned and headed them back in the other direction. Magic pays attention to cows. We had to get pretty close to pressure them to move back in the direction they just came from. One of them made an evasive move and Magic made a very fast counter move. It looks like Magic has lots of interest in cows. That will be interesting. He seems to naturally move off of his hindquarters when he is working cows. I have trained one cow horse. We had a need for a cow horse and Lady developed into a very good cow horse. I don’t know how to train one unless it’s OJT (on job training, i.e., a job to do.) But there are some cows in the pasture and we can move them around and see what happens. It was an enjoyable ride.
Saturday, June 11 2011
I introduced Magic and Newt to ground poles today. We lunged in front of the barn. Surprisingly Newt was OK with them right away. They had the effect on Newt that they are supposed to have. I was able to get him to trot two poles with only one stride between. He did it with increased energy, lowered his head and raised his back. Magic took a little longer to walk up to the poles, smell them and step over them. Magic trotted over two poles but he was more reserved than Newt. It was interesting.
Thursday, June 9 2011
I led Newt to the arena. We lunged at the walk, trot and canter in both directions. I soon became obvious that he was full of himself today. We rode the needlepoint and oval exercises and a little on the circle. We did not attempt the canter. He was just a little too full of himself. We worked a little on the turn on the forehand. I just wanted him to step his rear end away from my leg and he did. I got off after the arena work. No trail ride today. I walked him back to the barn. He did a lot of fussing with the bit today. He offered residence today but occasionally he would forget himself and just fall into cooperation with good bend and control.
Tuesday, June 7 2011
I rode Newt to the Oak pasture. Lunged walk, trot and canter in both directions. He was calm at the canter until his foot slipped (dew on the grass). Then he must have been embarrassed for slipping so he bucked a little. Whenever they slip or stumble, they do not like it. I would like to find out what is the best footing. I am riding Newt barefoot with no problems and I want footing that will allow barefoot. I expect shoes would help his traction but then he gets tender-footed when the shoes come off. We rode the needlepoint, oval and circle. He did the exercises better today. He did two good canter circles. The next time he got to the “barn draw” area, he started drifting that way, I applied corrective aids and, whoops, that was too much so he did a little bucking. (obviously not hard bucking or I would not have stayed on) That was clockwise. On the other rein he slipped on the canter depart and did a little more bucking. We are making improvements. We rode the trail all the way to the west end of the pasture.
Magic’s problem with tender feet or whatever gets worse each day since he lost the shoe, off front. He went six weeks and one day before he lost a shoe. I need to get him some boots for a situation like this. I hauled Magic to Sherri Ricketts and Dale put on new shoes. This time he got eight nails in each shoe and Dale liked the results much better. The sore foot did not seem to be sensitive to hammering and only one sore foot. So this time was better. Dale thought the leg was sensitive to lifting up and suggested that we do that foot last next time. This was Magic’s first haul since he got here. Loading at my barn was no problem. No problems while hauling like last time between Diamond T and Conway. He was reluctant to load at Sherri’s. He would not respond to the target or the treats. Response to asking for a step forward with the lunge whip was not good either. He did respond to a rump rope. I make a big loop tied with a bowline, slip it over his rump and pull from the front where I also have the lead rope. It worked. He loaded in about 20 minutes. I was happy to see him respond to pressure. If he does not respond to the clicker target or the treats and does not respond to pressure, then he will not load. I had plenty of that in February. I expect that after a few days, I will be able to ride him again. I hope so.
Monday, June 6 2011
I walked Newt to the arena. We lunged walk, trot and canter in both directions. Only 1 – 2 rounds at the canter. We rode the needlework and oval exercises. I think there was some improvement, maybe not good but better than the worst time we did them. I rode the circle at the walk, trot and then picked up the canter. Newt has a tendency to buck when we canter. We’ll just have to keep after it and not allow the bucking to evolve into something more substantial. He does not seem to have a problem picking up either lead or switching leads at the canter. We rode the trail west 3/4 of the way to the end of the pasture. No problems but Newt does keep his eyes open.