Friday - On Our Own

I was bored watching on line CLE class required to maintain my law license--SO--I decided to take the lunch hour etc. and go to the barn and give Try a little loving/carrot as a thank you for being her and being a part of a great week.

I got there and Bethanna and MH had had issues with Mimi (RBE) being upset while MH's LBE Charm was so happy and better in his pasture with all the big boy geldings. Apparently they had brought Mimi in to groom handle (she turns 2 in October) as she has been living out and the decision has been made to offer her more experiences. Anyway she was unhappy and when she got back to her new pasture with Try she was really annoying to Try. Bethanna wanted me to take Try out and we rehearsed how to do this safely--turned out to be a non issue as I am handy with stick and string. LOL

So why not go ahead and ride? Bethanna wanted to get Roscoe and see how she would do with the ground work prep Dan did before she rode yesterday and needed someone else around for safety, especially because it was very windy with storm coming.

Try and I played with the cueing--see notes for 21 days to form a habit.

Some interesting highlights:
Try offered, out of the blue with no cueing whatsoever from me--
1. Riding: Sidepass the cavaletti
2. Liberty--walking together--she stopped and offered vertically straddle a cavaletti
3. Riding: Cool sidepassing at a trot right and left on the driveway--she wanted to leave the farm and get to the good grass out on the road. I could have shut this down but it was fun so why not. We could even use this another day to play with my cueing it from the straight or shaped turn in my body.
4. Glorious, sweet, relaxed, helpful stick-to-me and the golf cart when I brought all the equipment, tack etc in when the rain started. walk/halt/changes of direction, maneuver around obstacles etc.

The cueing and above interspersed with plenty of dwell time as Try and I watched Bethanna and Roscoe. I thought about not having a plan and just doing, had some passenger time and just hanging out.


Bethanna and Roscoe's session: I was surprised that it did not meet expectations. Bethanna wasn't sneaky cautious but didn't push his buttons like Dan did. She also didn't work on as long a rope tho he did get a chance to let go of energy circling with the flank rope. She was able to swing stick/string all around his body and he was tolerant of her in zone 4. He was good with lateral flexion but stiff on the right side. Bethanna was concerned that she did not get the tension out of his ribs, especially right side and she felt a potential buck when she tightened the girth.--but did give riding a whirl--it was fine walk and trot in a ??30 meter circle but when she tried riding around the ring into some of the claustrophobic and scarier areas and the wind really picked up--she got off. I think she is going to call Dan to ask a few questions as Dan set her up so beautifully to ride Roscoe yesterday. She does not want to risk being bucked off--if she can't fix this then he will need to go to someone in the area who "breaks" horses and she does not want to do that. I just hate this--people should not have equine babies unless they are prepared to give them the early experiences and start--to set them up for a happy life!!!!