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Aug. 9th, 2010 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickGood outing on the ponies today. Taku has sores on one side (she's built like her mama, sores instantly from girth due to having absolutely no elbow room) and so we are riding bareback for the duration. We have scrubbed up her existing fuzzy girth (it was crufty) and lined up also a neoprene one to see if she tolerates that one better, but trying these things out has been tabled until she's healed up proper. Right now, it's bareback (no pad) riding at the walk and jog, coupled with ground work. *sigh*
I'm riding bareback in solidarity with Waylie -- my horse has a trot just as dreadful as Taku's and if I'm bareback I won't attempt to exceed his abilities because I have to ride along with him. Both of us will get better at sitting our respective shit-tastic rough-trotting mares as we go forward. (I'm looking hard for the silver lining, here...) On the plus side, his seat will get better out of sheer self-defense... and the seat HAS to get better before he can ask for speed. She's got buckets and buckets of speed -- he's going to need a seat to sit pole bending on this horse.
We're also doing pick-up-her-feet stuff. Fronts are OK, back feet need work. Horse does not even remotely offer to kick, not sure why nobody ever works with the damn back feet. We've loaded her on the trailer and had her stand there until she relaxes, then asked her to get off. She needs better leading skills and more patience for standing around. Maybe we'll work on those this week.
This past weekend Waylie bridled Taku all by himself for the first time. (He knows how to bridle a horse. This horse had inexperience-related bridling issues when we started seven or eight days ago. We have resolved the bridling issues, here, is the point.) We started it as practice -- I showed him, step by step, what to do. Then I guided-practiced with him, helping with the steps he missed or did incorrectly. We did guided practice twice. (Taku was very relaxed, almost bored, with the process by this point, which was part of my master plan.) And then I leaned up against the truck bumper, ten feet away, not holding the horse or helping straighten out reins or anything and he did all the parts himself with only minor verbal coaching. Taku, who was bored but at least knew what the game plan was, cooperated like a champ. At this point, Taku needs to be asked a couple of times to put her head down so that he can reach over her ears (he's a short 12 year old and she's 14hh) but other than that, it's good. It's not sudden or nasty or anything. He goes slow and easy, patiently, like I taught him, and he bridles his own horse now. He is quite pleased about this because he saw the first day rodeo with Theron and he *knows* she has progressed since then.
It's amazing what regular work can do... Taku is a damn smart mare. She's not unkind. She likes people. She's not actually spooky or nervous or high strung. All she needs is someone to work with her. If I can keep her from scaring or hurting the boy, if I can keep the boy interested in the mare, if I can build his seat so that he's ready for more speed by the time she's ready to offer it... yeah. Whole lotta if in that equation, I know. Let me dream a little, here.
I'm riding bareback in solidarity with Waylie -- my horse has a trot just as dreadful as Taku's and if I'm bareback I won't attempt to exceed his abilities because I have to ride along with him. Both of us will get better at sitting our respective shit-tastic rough-trotting mares as we go forward. (I'm looking hard for the silver lining, here...) On the plus side, his seat will get better out of sheer self-defense... and the seat HAS to get better before he can ask for speed. She's got buckets and buckets of speed -- he's going to need a seat to sit pole bending on this horse.
We're also doing pick-up-her-feet stuff. Fronts are OK, back feet need work. Horse does not even remotely offer to kick, not sure why nobody ever works with the damn back feet. We've loaded her on the trailer and had her stand there until she relaxes, then asked her to get off. She needs better leading skills and more patience for standing around. Maybe we'll work on those this week.
This past weekend Waylie bridled Taku all by himself for the first time. (He knows how to bridle a horse. This horse had inexperience-related bridling issues when we started seven or eight days ago. We have resolved the bridling issues, here, is the point.) We started it as practice -- I showed him, step by step, what to do. Then I guided-practiced with him, helping with the steps he missed or did incorrectly. We did guided practice twice. (Taku was very relaxed, almost bored, with the process by this point, which was part of my master plan.) And then I leaned up against the truck bumper, ten feet away, not holding the horse or helping straighten out reins or anything and he did all the parts himself with only minor verbal coaching. Taku, who was bored but at least knew what the game plan was, cooperated like a champ. At this point, Taku needs to be asked a couple of times to put her head down so that he can reach over her ears (he's a short 12 year old and she's 14hh) but other than that, it's good. It's not sudden or nasty or anything. He goes slow and easy, patiently, like I taught him, and he bridles his own horse now. He is quite pleased about this because he saw the first day rodeo with Theron and he *knows* she has progressed since then.
It's amazing what regular work can do... Taku is a damn smart mare. She's not unkind. She likes people. She's not actually spooky or nervous or high strung. All she needs is someone to work with her. If I can keep her from scaring or hurting the boy, if I can keep the boy interested in the mare, if I can build his seat so that he's ready for more speed by the time she's ready to offer it... yeah. Whole lotta if in that equation, I know. Let me dream a little, here.
