I went out tonight with low expectations as the horses were all in due to the massive downpours all day long. I took the little horse into the indoor and just prepared myself to have a crazy pony flying around at the end of the lunge line. To my surprise, he was quiet, relaxed, and darn obedient! Only a couple of uncalled for transitions - but even those were quietly done. Ha.
So I went ahead and hopped on...and his good pony behavior continued to undersaddle work. He was gnawing on the bit like a lunatic, but I've learned to ignore that. Otherwise, he was great. Quiet transitions, extremely balanced, and best of all - stretching down! No giraffe head at all! As a side note, his canter has gotten so much better than when I first got him; I actually look forward to it now instead of dreading the wild unbalanced careening of before.
I think whoever commented on consistent riding was spot on - I've been religious about not giving him more than 2 days off recently. I prefer every other day, but sometimes that just ain't gonna happen. Now, if I could just get to the gym as often as I get to the barn....
Anyway, Skate was fabulous. I gave him loads of treats and praise and left feeling much better. Good therapy session : )
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8 comments:
YAY!!!! It is wonderful to hear good news! I am glad things went well!
Yay for your ride being good. Alot of times they act up when its bad outside.
How nice to have an indoor to ride in during nasty days like today. I have a feeling I wont be riding for days until our ring clears up.
Yes, I love my barn and it's indoor. Its not large...more like a glorified round pen (its only 100'x65') but you can ride perfectly well in there if you're alone.
YAY! What a great ride! I'm jealous too. I just looked at the weather forcast and it looks like rain for all of next week too!!
Yay, I'm glad he was good for you. :)
Yay, good pony! I'm with you on the gym thing...I'd love to do cardio/strength training every day, but work and the barn eat up all of my non-sleep/eat time.
Re: gnawing at the bit...depending on what you've tried/your trainer recommends, I've had huge success with just trying out different bits. I realized the other day that the french link full-cheek snaffle I was using was encouraging Kellar to be mouthy, so I swapped him to a plain loose ring. He's SO much quieter in the bridle now...his natural "I'm bored/antsy" thing is to still root a bit and play with the bit, but now he does it for 2 seconds a couple times a ride, instead of for 10 seconds once a trip around the ring.
Don't you just LOVE the days where they surprise you??? :)
In addition to the giraffe analogy, Gayle used the term "llama chicken" the other day...isn't it perfect?? A llama chicken WOULD run around looking all inverted and choppy!
Good job being consistent with the rides too - I know it's hard but that's why we have the blog, for motivation. :)
Yay for good therapy sessions AND no more wild careening around at the canter!
I've found consistent work to be the key with MANY horses that I've worked with as well. Pepsi especially!
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