BESS

[htrimm08]

Saturday we went for a trail ride, it was gorgeus and warm out so I thought it would be nice. She was a little cranky at first but quit it after a while. She transitioned very well from gaits and didnt "run" in between transitions as she used to.

after the ride I put her out to graze whats left of the green grass, if the weather clears off hopefully I'll get an hour or so in between studying to ride.

[htrimm08]

so, I havent been posting, but that dosnt mean I havent been riding!

Now that the weather is getting colder and her fur is getting longer I am not working her so much, now we go for trail rides every second day and so far shes gotten over her fear of icey puddles, lol. Shes been doing good and keeping her weight on.

were also doing some parelli and its been going really well. I'll try and post a vid next time we have a go at it.

today I rode in the paddock and Im still having a problemo. She listens to my commands, but the problem is if I am loping/trotting in the direction of the barn and when we get close to it and I turn her, she will not stay loping/trotting, instead she will walk or "run" and at the same time she will side step towards the barn a bit.

I've tried many times to make her break the habit, and even though she dosnt get away with it, she still turns but its fusterating. Is there something else I should be doing? Or what am I doing wrong? a little help here girls.

pics & vid soon

[relaxen2]

keep her working when you gat back to the barn.to her barn=comfort=food=no work

[cindy]

That sounds like a Jack trick. If you use a crop tap on the side near the barn, to push in the other direction. Also, when she gets near the barn work her hard (pushing forward or circles) and when she gets past the barm let her walk on and relax. Never let her stop at the barn, when you are finished riding go away from the barn to dismount and then lead her back to the barn.

[Jess]

It sounds like she's sticking her shoulder out and barging off. Try blocking it with your outside rein, bumping with your outside leg and getting her to do a sharp 90 or 180 degree turn away from the barn.

[htrimm08]

ok so I rode again today...before we rode I massaged her muscles and stretched them out and loved her a while.

First we started off with some parelli, it went went well, I started off with desensitizing her with the lunge whip, rubbing it over her neck and ears, etc. and then flicking it on either side of her, then I worked on calling her to walk forward and back up with the lead on. So far she walks towards me when called well, we need a bit extra time for the backing up. tomorrow we'll do it again and then the next day I try it without the lead line.

Then I rode around the paddock for about a hour. We worked on the little problem stated above as well as transitions. I used my rein and outside leg with crop for incouragement as well as voice commands. After a few times around she improved a bit. Definatly better than yesterday. shes good at walk and jog but still gets a bit carried away at lope but we can do nothing only improve right? After that I cooled her out and just walked around with her for a bit. hopefully tomorrow will be more improvement.

p.s, thanks for the advice girls!

[htrimm08]

quick update.

I did parelli with her again today, its going very well, we did just a few simple things because I dont want to rush anything and ruin it. I also rode her around the paddock, shes improving with it little by little, its just a big attitude problem with her. Before me shes never been handled properly and gotten away with everything, nobody really took the time to teach her right. All in all im pretty happy with todays results.

[htrimm08]

I havent posted in a while, unfortunatly thats because I havent ridden since.

Ive done some more parelli with her and its still comming along great. I havent been able to spend alot of time with her because of a pile up of h/w, drawings and volleyball unfortunatly she is the one who has to miss out, but I dont think she minds the "no riding" part of my absence. I'm moving her back to Forteau tomorrow because we now have snow(ugg) oh how I loath the winter months that make horse ownership difficult.

With that means less riding, but as soon as the snow is gone we'll be booting er' up with training, funn!

well, heading off to the barn now,
peace!

[htrimm08]

whoo, long time no see

well winter is on, shes back in Forteau. unfortunatly Ive only ridden a couple of times since the snow has fallen, just trails at a walk/ trot, wouldnt want her to slip. The last ride she has quite the abundance of energy, due to the lack of rides. As much as I love it when shes enthousastic about trail rides, Id rather stay on the safe side and kept it at a walk. I tried to go for rides since but its been freakin freezing the last few days, so cold that it took like 10 mins to get the ice off her feet yesterday Im praying that it goes down to at least -12 within the next few days..I need to ridee!

[htrimm08]

k so. There's not really much of an update, I'm just counting down the days until the snow melts, I can bring her back home and get the arena on the g-o and start working with her hardcore.

butt.. shes doing fabulous, at a great weight and shedding out the fuzz. the roads are all ice free so were going for trail rides as soon as her feet are trimmed. Today I rode bareback around the paddock with just her halter and a lead. I'm suprised that the whole winter being laid off she hasn't turned idle. Last winter she was just like Jeykle. Id be lucky to get her to listen like she did today with her bridle on.

[Sabrina]

This winter must have something in the snow or something, cause Honey wasn't bad at all on her first post-winter ride either today

[htrimm08]

I haven't been able to go for rides ever in the winter because there was a huge bank of snow in front of the gate from the snow plow, its starting to all melt now, and with some help from a shovel, its mostly all gone. Bess is terrified when she steps onto snow and sinks past her knees.

after fifteen minutes of convincing that the snow was not going to gobble her up we managed to get out for a actual ride today, we went into town. I kept it mostly at a walk pace because 1) she hasn't been worked at all since november and 2) her toesies are in need of trimming.. It was a tad difficult to keep her calm, lots of stored energy she wanted to get out.

[htrimm08]

I finally whipped out my saddle and went for a trail ride, after ALOT of work with the shedding blade and brushes. Her hind legs are so rotten that I was almost too embarrased to let people see her, she looks like shes got no momma.

I really want to clip her, but I still want her to have some fur, because our summers are a tad windy most of the time, is that possible?

On the ride she behaved pretty well, she was a bit skittish at first but I cracked down on her and she behaved after that. and Thats pretty much it, oh and her feet had been trimmed, happyy.

[htrimm08]

soo it was quite lovely today, after a downpour yesterday so I did some work around the barn and groomed Bess until she shined, even though the fur never ends.

I took her out for a walk, we went for about 3k. Just around town, stopped to talk to a few people. On the way back I got lazy and just hopped on to see what would become of it. I wasnt able to get her to slow down as easily with just a voice command at first because she was hyper and wanted to get home. But after a few minutes of loping she chilled out. I asked for her to stop a few times, and slow/pickup, just using voice, also I got her to cross the road back and forth a few times just for fun. t'was awesome. When we got back I gave her a nice massage and groomed her somemore. I was FULL of fur, from head to toe by the end of it.

I'll try to get pictures next time its nice out, if i remember my camera

[htrimm08]

K so, today I cleaned out the barn, and gave her a nice groom.
Then we went for another boot around town. Mostly trot/lope, its time for her to get off her lazy ass. Just itching for the snow to finish melting so I can work with her! I hate waiting. Ive also added flax to her diet to get a nice shiny coat. funn

Just one thing though, Ive noticed lately that after we ride, she coughs a bit, normal or no? I cant remember if she always did that. Thinking maybe just like mucus build up in her throat from working? That happens to me sometimes lol.

I've got a few pictures added, next time I'll try to get some riding pictures.