(no subject)
Aug. 30th, 2007 12:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI'm tired. Had a good horse outing today. The google map has been updated with notes on Roaring Run East Fork (a surprisingly nice creek in late August. Horse wouldn't drink it.) and the new half-mile of covered distance.
We're still losing easyboots in the wilderness but at least we're finding them again.
We didn't take him. Liss hid the skinny red rope halter. She wouldn't turn it over. She said, "And what would you do if there wasn't a skinny red halter that Sam left here for his horse Sham?" I'll tell you what we'd do. We'd leave the grey idiot at home. D'oh. The fucker pulls back on normal halters like he doesn't know how to tie. He does not even TRY that shit with the skinny red one. I'm not ponying him with anything but the skinny red halter. If La wants him conditioned, she will see to it that the skinny red halter appears.
Anyway. We covered the two miles from Betsy Road to Pittman Road in twenty minutes, which means ten minute miles which means six miles per hour (so we're on target for speed) and we have a month of conditioning to go. I forgot to work on "slow trot to catch breath" but whatever. Horse hasn't bled from the nose for two outings, so yay!! That seems to be (cross fingers) done with, whatever it was.
She's trotting for ten minutes at a clip and not getting winded. We've added two-minute canters to our workload to up the aerobic content a little. In the canter workouts, I noticed that Nick uses the left lead exclusively. I've got to work on that, you betcha.
Anyway, we went down Pittman and turned for Roaring Run and rode the half mile out to the creek. Horse would not drink from creek even though it was lovely. I have GOT to get sponges and string for the kid so that we can sponge and whatnot. Note to self and all.
I made Casper and Cass go in front from starting up to the top of the mountain at the beginning of the ride. That's about 1.8 miles and it's not like Casper doesn't know the drill, here. Anyway, Cass was all like, "Yay!" until she discovered that her pony didn't want to go and wouldn't really move forward out in front without endless encouragement. (She is not allowed a crop, so her encouragement aids were legs and clicking to the horse. Her legs got tired.) MY pony, let it be said, only has to be asked once to get up and it doesn't matter if there is someone in front of us or not. She's got set it and forget it autopilot. I stuff her in medium trot, we stay in medium trot. I don't have to kick every three strides to get her to stay in a trot. Hell no. That'd be a lot like work and I can't be having with that. Cass said, "But it's easy when we're behind you. She just follows along -- I don't have to do anything." Mmm-hmm. And who do I get to follow, eh? How does my horse get to be in a steady trot?
Today, Cass learned that being in front is a lot harder than she used to think it was. Riding is NOT a matter of sitting on the horse and letting it follow along with the group. If you can really ride the horse, you can put it in the front and ask it to go... and it will go, at the speed and in the gait you say.
We're still losing easyboots in the wilderness but at least we're finding them again.
We didn't take him. Liss hid the skinny red rope halter. She wouldn't turn it over. She said, "And what would you do if there wasn't a skinny red halter that Sam left here for his horse Sham?" I'll tell you what we'd do. We'd leave the grey idiot at home. D'oh. The fucker pulls back on normal halters like he doesn't know how to tie. He does not even TRY that shit with the skinny red one. I'm not ponying him with anything but the skinny red halter. If La wants him conditioned, she will see to it that the skinny red halter appears.
Anyway. We covered the two miles from Betsy Road to Pittman Road in twenty minutes, which means ten minute miles which means six miles per hour (so we're on target for speed) and we have a month of conditioning to go. I forgot to work on "slow trot to catch breath" but whatever. Horse hasn't bled from the nose for two outings, so yay!! That seems to be (cross fingers) done with, whatever it was.
She's trotting for ten minutes at a clip and not getting winded. We've added two-minute canters to our workload to up the aerobic content a little. In the canter workouts, I noticed that Nick uses the left lead exclusively. I've got to work on that, you betcha.
Anyway, we went down Pittman and turned for Roaring Run and rode the half mile out to the creek. Horse would not drink from creek even though it was lovely. I have GOT to get sponges and string for the kid so that we can sponge and whatnot. Note to self and all.
I made Casper and Cass go in front from starting up to the top of the mountain at the beginning of the ride. That's about 1.8 miles and it's not like Casper doesn't know the drill, here. Anyway, Cass was all like, "Yay!" until she discovered that her pony didn't want to go and wouldn't really move forward out in front without endless encouragement. (She is not allowed a crop, so her encouragement aids were legs and clicking to the horse. Her legs got tired.) MY pony, let it be said, only has to be asked once to get up and it doesn't matter if there is someone in front of us or not. She's got set it and forget it autopilot. I stuff her in medium trot, we stay in medium trot. I don't have to kick every three strides to get her to stay in a trot. Hell no. That'd be a lot like work and I can't be having with that. Cass said, "But it's easy when we're behind you. She just follows along -- I don't have to do anything." Mmm-hmm. And who do I get to follow, eh? How does my horse get to be in a steady trot?
Today, Cass learned that being in front is a lot harder than she used to think it was. Riding is NOT a matter of sitting on the horse and letting it follow along with the group. If you can really ride the horse, you can put it in the front and ask it to go... and it will go, at the speed and in the gait you say.
