Gunner

[Jess]

So, little bud has been doing really well lately. He's really relaxing and settling in - he seems to know that yes, I'm going to be fed all the time, no, I'm not going to be scared or hurt. And he and Summer are after relaxing a lot with being separated from each other.

He's shedding a little bit now, Steph and I can't WAIT for him to shed out, he's gonna be gorgeous. He's really well behaved in crossties now, and has gone from bolting out of his stall when you open the door to standing and waiting for you to ask him to come out. He's no trouble to catch and halter bringing in from outside, and he loves to be groomed.

Wanda's been doing some Parelli groundwork stuff with him, and he seems to be enjoying it. It's good for him, anyway, something different for him to do plus he's getting handled a fair bit.

He and Summer have been ridden, and I do use the term very loosely, but God only knows what they had done to them. So we're going to start from square one and just treat them like they're completely new to it. Anyway, I had him in the paddock with the saddle, jumping up and down next to him like you would when you mount, smacking the saddle seat, wiggling it around on his back, putting weight in the stirrups. He was such a good boy, he was a little freaked out for about the first 5 minutes and then he calmed right down.

Today we put the bridle on him while Steph was grooming him. Have to work on the actual process of bridling, he doesn't like to open his mouth for the bit and tries to put his head up, but once it was on, he took to it like a pro. No excessive chomping and rattling it around, no head tossing or dancing or anything.

Next weekend, perhaps, mounting for the first time? We'll see how he is.

[stephaniec]

At first, this pony drove me nuts. I didn't think it was going to work out because we constantly butted heads. So Wanda started working with him with NH and he seems to really like it. He LOVES her. And he's come an extremely long way. I'm even starting to like the little guy

He has excellent conformation, and squares himself EVERY time he stops. Nothing phases this guy and I can't wait to start working him as well as Summer. And I can't wait to see him when he sheds out. I want to show him too, maybe in even more shows than Summer. We'll see how it goes.

[abby]

thats great...what kind of pony is he?

[stephaniec]

He looks to me to be a NF pony. But there may be something else in there too. I'm going to see if I can track his parentage.

[Jess]

So, Gunner's been doing great lately. This weekend, if all goes according to plan, we'll be riding for the first time. I meant to ride him this past weekend, but once again, time just managed to get away from me.

But, so far, he's had the saddle and bridle on him, both of which he was fantastic for. We're mostly just spending time hanging out, grooming and the like. Discovered on Sunday he's not too fond of water/hoses, so the next nice warm day he's getting a bath and we're gonna work on that.

[stephaniec]

Well, Well, Well. Gunner was loped for the first time today. Holy crap! His lope is smoother and more comfortable than most trained horses that I've ever ridden! And he just floats into it. His jog is soooooooooooo western. Really slow. And nothing fizzes on this boy. Four years old and scared of nothing already. He's gonna make some nice pony.... will be for sale soon haha. Hint hint!

[Jess]

Wow, I haven't posted in this in a loooooong time. Last post Steph made was that he was loped for the first time He's kind of improved since then.

So far, he can:
-w/j/l in both directions. He'll drop his head, round out his back and really step in under himself.
-He collects but needs work holding it for longer periods of time, and is SO so soft in the face
-Backs up with head dropped right down, collected, driving with his hind end
-Stops and breaks at the loin off just your seat
-Is coming along reeeeally well with TOH and TOF, sidepassing, etc.
-Overbends
-Has an idea about speed changes
-Neckreins in a snaffle
-Is quickly picking up on hip-in exercises to prepare for flyings

Not to mention he's an absolutely unflappable trail buddy. I take him by himself all the time, and he's great for going with other horses. We sold his sister, Summer, a couple months ago and were surprised at how quickly and how well he adjusted to her being gone considering they grew up together.

The past few rides have just been playing around. Loping and jogging up and down hills to work on building up some more muscle, going for runs around the fields, and just having fun. Back to work this weekend though. Mostly we're working on getting control of the hip for flyings, overbending to start preparing for spins, and work on holding collection. Haven't been loping in the arena much because when it gets wet the footing gets all churned up and he's more likely to slip.

In the past few months he's participated in a Jim Durling clinic (and we'll definitley be doing more in the future), and his first schooling show in which he got three 1sts, two 2nds and a 3rd. His ground manners are fantastic, and his dislike for bridling is coming along. He'll lower his head for me when I go to put it on, and slowly but surely he's starting to open his mouth for me to get the bit in.

And, he actually lunges now! I don't even know what happened, we hadn't been working on it and I went to go lunge him one day and lo and behold, there was no "I'm going to just stand here and you can't make me move", there was no whipping around to the outside and getting all tangled up in the lunge line, nothing. It was awesome. Steph and I are convinced someone's been teaching him when we're not looking.

Anyway, how do I put this all in a nutshell? Gunner is frickin' awesome.

[Becca]

i remember watching your super pony in the jim clinic! i couldn't believe how fast a learner he is from what katrina told me the day before hand go ponz! next show season you guys will deffinitly own The arena! haha.

i still need to get up! saturday i mayy be free.. i want to see your boy in action!

[stephaniec]

Well, this hasn't been updated in ages, so here goes.

We haven't been doing a whole lot with Gunner over the winter because I only have an outdoor arena. But he's been on a few trails, I did a couple of lessons with Katrina before Christmas, and Jess has started him in lessons these past few weeks with Sylvia.

Gunner has come along soooo far. As soon as you sit on his back, he collects and is totally focused. I've never seen a horse more focused on a rider. His collection is beautiful at the w/j, and really coming along nicely at the lope.

Gunner will now stop, tucking his butt right underneath him with a drop in the seat only. No reins. He will back up without reins, seat only. And his backup has gotten as good, if not better, than half the pro reiners out there. Its amazing.

He neck reins like crazy. And in a halter at that.

His turn arounds have gotten REALLY good, and he's been started on spin exercises. He also learned to two track in two lessons. So he's also getting ready for flyings (should have the flyings down by the summer).

He's really quite an amazing pony, and is not even 5 yet. I know both Jess and I can't wait until the snow is going to really get him working.

[Ashlyn]

Everytime I read the posts about him I'm ready to come to CBS and put him in my pocket and run away. He sounds amazing!

[Emily C]

That soudns awesome Steph..maybe someday I can steal a ride on him

P.s I'll be out tomorrow, I am recovering from Menangitis.

[happilyeverafter]

I expect to see this pony cleaning up in the western show rings this summer, Steph and Jess !!!

He sounds amazing

[stephaniec]

Last night Jess came up for a quick ride on Gunner. They were doing some lope work, and I told her to try a flying for fun. At first he just flipped the front, and then he did it! I tried it, but he would only flip the front for me, but I suck at lead changes

WooHoo Pony!!! Next.... Spins!!

[oxmaybesoxo]

What a talented little boy
Steph your not the only one that finds flyings tricky.. I just can't seem to get the leg/seat/hand movements down pat!

[Jess]

So much for Gunner getting flyings down by the summer, he's constantly surpassing the goals that we set for him. Not only did he get a real nice one the other day, but we had a lesson with Syl yesterday and did two gorgeous ones. He did them as soon as I asked, didn't crossfire, didn't speed up, didn't duck off the circle, nothing. They were so smooth that it took Jess Pallard and Sylvia telling me he'd done one before I'd even noticed. I guess I'm used to Reo's big *buckbuckbuckchange(sometimes)buck*.

But anyway we started out with working on getting a nice slow jog. We've found his, it's no slow-motion pleasure jog but it's really nice, I'm pleased with him. Did the stopping-backing exercise to keep him going nice and slow and from rushing off into his jog. Then we did some speed changes at the jog, he goes forward with just a little squeeze and a cluck, and he was responding to my seat really really well. He wouldn't quite come back to his nice slow jog but there was definite effort on his part when I asked for him to slow.

Then we worked on a counter-canter exercise, doing a serpentine on one lead, so a loop on the correct lead, loop of counter-canter, then right lead again. He was tearing around on the forehand like a loon at first, he has no trouble in the counter-canter, he's really balanced and doesn't try to run out or break but he just flattened right out and for some reason thought "Yee-haw". Syl told me to use my inside leg/inside reins around turns, and talk about a difference. He was like a different horse, he picked himself right up and started to rate his speed and really move his hip around the turns. Did that a couple times, when he was going good asked for a flying and, like I said above, he got it perfectly.

We rode for another little bit after our lesson, and hung out with Syl and Jake and watched them, then headed for home. I decided to ride him down the road instead of lead him and he didn't even look at the cars. A school bus came by and I hopped off (I'll admit it, I'm a complete CHICKEN when it comes to the road, it's just so so easy for something to happen). When I hopped off, Gunner just kind of looked at me like "Uh, why'd you get off?". The bus went by and he didn't pay any attention to it. So he's fine with cars, trucks, dumptrucks, vans, buses, concrete mixers... everything except motorcycles. The real souped-up noisy ones. And even then he doesn't flip out just jogs forward or backs-up and gets a little nervous.

And he's white now. He's even getting white hairs on his face this year for some reason? Ah well. Bottom line, Gunner is awesome.