which_chick | Entries tagged with project horse

So there are two project ponies. Genie (Pon-Pon) and Snap. They are tiny. Genie is about 13.1 hh and Snap is probably 12.3 hh. (These are rough heights with a stick on dirt while ponies were greedily eating their grain. They are both air-ferns, thrifty as fuck, and have no need whatsoever for an actual can of grain. They get "grain" to entice them to come out the field for work, split between "before work" grain and "after work" grain because for greedy ponies, having grain TWICE is better than having grain ONCE even if it's the same total amount but served in two halves to make two "grain" events. Since it's a quarter can total per pony, that's like four greedy pony mouthfuls at a go, not a lot of time for the adult in the room to screw around measuring the pony.)

( Yes, please, tell me about the ponies! )

I got my project horse Genie (Pon-pon) out of the field on Saturday and reviewed her work to date. I think I was last on her on 2019 but y'know. Time slips away. Anyway, she was fine. So I took her on a leisurely trail ride on Sunday, where she was a complete trooper.

Pon-Pon is the bay in front of the ears being ridden by the camera-holder. She's small. I am big. I already know this. I'm glad you disapprove, oh keyboard warrior. Good on ya.

Thing is, there is absolutely nobody else to put rides on this pony. She can either stand in the field being useless and eating her head off and not getting any skills to keep her from slaughter while her ACTUAL OWNER (not me) is over 70 with a heart condition or she can walk along with me aboard, learning to be a riding horse.

The "doesn't ride" 7 or 8 year old pony mare is not worth nearly as much as the "trail rides politely in groups, traffic safe, crosses water, trailers beautifully, easy to catch and tack up, stands patiently and without fussing, walks, trots, and canters, has a decent whoa" pony mare. I can get her from here to there, but it takes time. We need to do a lot more rides which I am hoping to do this winter and spring. On the plus side, she hasn't put a foot wrong yet.

I also have Snap, who is the tiny bay that Trys was going to work on but Trys has another project, due in late December, that has precluded work on Snap. I got her out of the field and beat on her on Sunday morning, which was productive and resulted in an acceptable level of agreement by the time we were done. Bubba wants Snap for Chuck (okay, long-time readers are aware that "Bubba" refers to a 5 foot nothing blond sprite named Cassity and Chuck is the aforementioned sprite's wee daughter "Charleigh". But if you didn't know that, now you know.) and so there needs to be a fair amount of work done on the Snap. She's already sensible, but she needs to pony politely and have a LOT of handle because she's going to belong to a five year old who cannot physically yank her head up from the grass. I have added her to my project horse list because if I can make Snap into Chuck's pony, then she goes out the field to go live with Chuck and Bubba.

I've been logging rides into my phone calendar. This is so that I can track how much I ride the Bird. Like, I think I ride "a lot" but do I really? Am I riding as much as I think I am? So, we have The Phone Calendar. How did April go?

April 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 30. I rode Bird 18 days in April. There are 30 days in April, so I'm doing slightly better than half the days. Is there room for improvement here? Yes. Yes, there is.

I hauled Bird up to the Very Nice Indoor in Imler for another weekend lesson. The endless sleety snowstorms and frozen temps here have really put the kibosh on outdoor riding so if I want any time in March on my freaking horse, it's To The Indoor. Or whatever.

( It's drama for me... )

Such nice weather this weekend led to some Horse Updates.

( And most of them are good! )

It was 27 out today. Everything is frozen.

( I still went out and played horse. )

I took Bird for a spin today. The ground was muddy as hell because rain so we did walk-trot work, emphasis on position, on no-stirrup posting, on no-stirrup two point, on walk and trot haunches-in and shoulder-in and leg yield. Trys came along on Tinnie.

Afterward, seeing as how there was still daylight, I took Project Pony Genie out for a spin. It's been a while since I sat on her, but whatever. Anyway, Trys came along with her project horse (Snap) for company, just leading Snap along because she doesn't actually ride yet. Genie was kind of an ass, with assorted general nervousness supplemented by somewhat lackluster efforts at rearing and bucking (both of which I shut down promptly). Partly this is good because "more willing to try shit" means she is somewhat more comfortable with a rider aboard. But, partly it's also not good because honestly pony I just want you to walk and jog politely and not pull crap with my dumb middle-aged ass aboard you. I really should take Genie out for more outings more frequently but there's no damn daylight. I'll do what I can.

Updated pic of Genie the project pony.

bay pony in winter fur

She went for a solo spin yesterday across the road. A bit nervous, so there were a lot of circles, but no actual bad behavior. Today she went with Trys (pictured) and Snap (Trys’s project pony) for company. Much better, no worries at all with a buddy. I will try to alternate buddy outings with non-buddy outings so that she can practice solo rides and get confidence with buddy outings. Still just walk and trot – the ground is frozen solid and she’s still unsteady and building muscles and balance.

I also took Bird out for a with-saddle outing in which I worked on my no-stirrup trotting. Fuck I suck at that.

So fall effort with Dressage Lady Barb (hereafter, as always, DLB). How’d that go?

( There's a LOT of whining... )

Other project horse updates. Genie.

( Read more... )

Punch and day 6 of the streak. I had to find my riding gloves (I typically ride naked-handed in the warmer months because they’re arabs. If you need gloves b/c of the amount of rein pulling… look, that is not an Arab problem but maybe your horse should listen better to your rein aids and not hang on your hands so much? If you LIKE gloves, then by all means wear them.) because it is for real getting cool out there and my middle-aged hands stiffen up in the cold.

( Read more... )

Zipper for a turn today. He was a total rockstar.

( Read more... )

Went out and dressage clinic’d with Bird today. He’s my four year old, started under saddle this spring, and he doesn’t have a whole lot of skills. Mostly I took him out because my pony lady needed more warm bodies at her clinic thing and it doesn’t hurt him to Go Out and Do Things. I didn’t expect much because he’s a baby but I ponied up my sixty-five dollars and drug my four year old out to the dressage clinic. My instructor was enthusiastic about me going to this damn clinic because she allowed as how it would be Very Good for my riding.

( Read how it went? )

One a day, plus iron

I really should fill this shit out

Entries tagged with project horse

Progress with the ponies...

Wow, I have not updated in a while. Here are some updates.

Phone calendar accountability.

Another outing to the indoor plus Cooler Chickens

Horse updates now that we have warm temps.

Baby it's cold outside... but I rode anyway.

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Fall clinic with Dressage Lady Barb (DLB)

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Dressage Clinic with Bird

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