BESS

[htrimm08]

today wsa hilarious. i went to the barn, but first i had to go to the point to get Bess. we left with no hesitation, to my surprise. did a bit of jogging but mostly trot. when we got there i hooked her up to the cart and took my friends for a ride up the road. and on yeah, she tried to take us off roading in it.
later i lunged her and she was good with that, and after she was following me around the paddock like a puppy.

p.s, i also got some pictures and a funny vid of the girl with her head stuck in my friends car. lol. ill upload them later

[htrimm08]

Friday I rode Bess to my barn. It is about a 1/2 hour ride The ride over was good, we trotted & cantered a good bit except at the beginning, when we got onto the highway before the trail she decided that she wasnt going to listen and instead eat. big no no. When I tried to urge her on she started to back up so I pulled her into a few tight circles to let her know that I meant business. After about 5 mins of this she gave in and we were on our way. Im in the process of breaking her of these bad habits.

When we arrived I untacked and put everything away in the barn. I let her graze for a while and then lunged her. When i ask her to trot/canter, half the time she goes back to a walk without my asking her. after alot of coaxing she will go back to a trot. any insight girls?

Saturday I got up at 9:30 and went to the barn, groomed her and went for a small hack, bareback along the beach. it was awesome, I wish I could start every day off like that.
After dinner my friend Natasha and Tim(our german exchange) helped me bath my dirty horse on my lawn. the shampoo I havd is apple scented, hmm she never smelled so good lol. I let her dry off and after I rode her back to the barn where Tim showed me his mad riding skills. he tells me that he dosnt ride very much but trains his horses, but I dont believe him. He hopped up on her bareback, and I was like heyy I cant to that! I guess it would also help that hes a giant with no body mass.

Today at 11:30 I went to the barn again, to find her napping, so I lay down with her and chilled and shared a bannana. Then I flicked her off, brushed her mane&tail and went for another ride bareback and when We came back I lunged her. She wasnt so resistant this time but it was still tiring after a while. She fusterates me sometimes.

thats it for this weekend. pictures are posted, take a look!
happy horsying!

[htrimm08]

its been a while...hmm i thought i posted a few days ago? hmm :s

The girl has been gaining more weight. I've been lunging her every second day, whenever I can get the time really. She's been doing alot better with it. At first she is ignorant, not wanting to listen still, but that quickly changes, she'll soon figure out that the longer she misbehaves, the longer ill keep her going. last Friday I did some "ring work" a.k.a my lawn
we got a few things accomplished such as
-trotting poles
-framework
-transitions
it went great, a few times she did bump the poles but she is getting better at it.

This morning we went for a short hack along the shoreline again and she was wonderfull. transitioned gaits beautifully, theres not really much else to say about that, I have some pictures, if i can just find my usb cord.

[htrimm08]

k well, havent wrote in a while, but I've been riding every day possable.

yesterday evening we went for a ride, bareback. were trying to put on some muscle, its no good having a good weight if its all fat lol. At first she was a grump and not listning so i pulled her into some tight circles and backing up. We also worked on trotting poles and jumped a few, they werent very high now, but its a start.

I have pictures to upload later

[maria]

Oh, your jumping her now? Sooooo cool!!! I have to come up and watch sometime

EDIT: wait, stupid me, I'm sorry, I'm confusing you with another Heather who also owns a Bess, so sorry!

[htrimm08]

oop I forgot to write in

wednsday I rode the girl, instead of a trail ride I decided to work with her a bit, with leg cues mostly and backing up, I havent really paid attention to it before and recently I discovered that Bess rarely backs up in a straight line, only for a few steps and then she turns anywho we did that for an hour and then after I found Random logs where I was riding and decided to Jump for a hoot. She was good, avoided the "jump" a couple times at first but then got comfortable with it. Man I dont know why I never tried jumping earlier? tomorrow I will be doing the same things and later on a bath for the pony!

anywho, shes continuing to gain weight, which is in the process of turning to muscle, shes very healthy and happy, progressing quickly and I couldnt ask for more.

[Becca]

great to hear heather, only thing i have to add is that i wouldn't back her up for an hour, as it can damage there rear legs (hocks in general ) really bad. just be careful of that other then that she sounds fabulous!

[htrimm08]

lol bec, I only did that with her for about 10 - 15 mins throughout the hour, the rest I worked on leg cues

[htrimm08]

soo went on a ride today, id like to call it a "power ride", we did alot of cantering and trotting, some galloping to build muscle. I really wanted to get her working up a sweat, and I succeeded The ride was about 15k long and I was devoured by the flies, but I was happy, she also behaved very well. before we left I did some stretches with her and when we got back I gave her a good massage.. I'm also thinking about putting her on glucoseamin or some kind of joint suppliment, seeing as shes getting up there in years...feel free to add your opinions on that, id love to hear it

I dont want to start working on anything else with her until she has her leg ques down to a tee, so for the next little while we'll just be working on that, and power rides.

[htrimm08]

just got back from my ride, once again we worked on leg cues. It went very well, I had her at a walk mostly, and trotting. In the end I had her doing small circles in both directions using very little rein and she responded very well.

after that I took her for another power ride on the trail, and booted around town, got her working up a good sweat, then went back to the barn unbridled/saddled, put her halter on with just a lead and shes now in my backyard.

Next week we'll be starting transitions, mostly from trot-canter, because as of right now, its really rough. theres a peroid of time between the transition sometimes where she "runs" instead of just smoothly changing from a trot to a canter collectivly.

[htrimm08]

oh my goodness, its been a while.

well I havent done much with her in the past week. all Ive done was work and draw, and then Wendsday night there was a small flood and the water made a trench and washed all the sand from the path down around the barn. It was nuts, that night I went to check on her pouring rain, with water almost up to my knees at one point. Oh the things we do for our babies.

I'll be riding later on today, some updates from that soon

[htrimm08]

hmph. yeah this is working out great.

to start off with a little update on her, shes so fat now, which is good for winter comming up, very fuzzy and cuddly lol. She is Shoed again, until December, then I am buying some booties for her Christmas gift, but shh dont tell her!

well Im ashamed to say that I havent been riding as much as id like...about 3 times a week

last wednsday I worked with her a good bit, still on ques and backups, she reacts well to neck reining at walk/trot/jog, with just a little bit of pressure on her side. Im super in love with my new bit, she responds well to it. today we had a great trail ride, she was a dream. I brought her to the other barn to graze for a couple days, while the grass is still green.

one thing that sucks, is that now that her coat is longer, she sweats very easily. around her chest/neck. I guess I will have to invest in a cooler as well.

[htrimm08]

well she is back home again

today I lunged her and played for a bit then massaged all her muscles, she is in such good shape now, im very impressed.
I dewormed her today, and soon will be adding glucosamine to her feeding once I get my next paycheck. also will be switching to hifat hifiber for the winter.

[htrimm08]

thursday I rode again,

we worked on a bit of ques, and stops. also loping in differnt directions and circles. Shes very strong with circling to the right but when circling left she slows to a "run" or trot. It wasnt a very long ride because It got dark quick. Today I'll be working on the same things.

Its funny when I think about first when I started riding her(also when I fist started riding) when I was 12, I would get so excited when she would Lope for me even the littlest bit, she was so stubborn and half the time I couldnt do a thing with her. She had the worst behavorial problem, would always stop to eat, just wouldnt listen to me when she didnt want to(which was often) Now we work so well together and both evolved together.

[htrimm08]

yesterday I rode for a half hour. We worked on loping/trotting circles again, stops and also turn on the haunches.

She did very well and is progressing a bit with every ride. She still rushes a bit when we go in the direction of home but is much better with it, with just a little voice command she slows to a good speed where I have total control.

Hopefully if I get around to it I'll get fencing put up around the area for an arena before the ground starts to freeze.