Benson, oct 19th

[teezernbreeze]

Good to hear benson is doing so well He's such a handsome boyy!

haha Justine, Rio is like a 30 year old horse in a 3 year olds body

[htrimm08]

thanks Ashley

had another ride after the last lol. With finals and everything going on I haven't been riding alott.
I lunged him out because he had been inside AGAIN. ugh. Anyway, right away I started on our first bending excersise and then moved on to trot/lope transitions, then did some more bending, trying to mix it up to keep him interested, then loping, and a little break, and then on to our other bending exersize with the wall, and more trot/lope transitions. I did different patterns with him instead of just riding along the wall or on a circle to make it more challenging and fun.. He was really good again.

Yesterday I didn't have a whole lot of time so I just lunged him a bit, he was being a bit of a dufis at the lope because he kept breaking to the trot so I had to get after him. After a bit he quit that.

Just so ya'll know I wont be returning to Truro after Christmas due to a program change that I can't start till the fall, unfortunately its just too much to handle to have him at home this time of year so during the winter Benson will be staying at Bellocrest and I have it arranged that Joelle will ride him once or twice a week, she really likes him, and I really like her view and ideas so I trust her not to push him too much.

I will update on here as she updates me though, so stay tuned! lol

[htrimm08]

Had another pretty great ride tonight, started off with bending, he seemed a bit stiff at first but I got that worked out of him, again I mixed it up between trotting, loping, and bending, then trot/lope transitions, different patterns and such. YAY.

[htrimm08]

once again, another successful ride! First i lunged him out, we had crap weather today so he was inside again, tonight we worked a bit on bending and again on loping and t/l transitions.. I've been trying to work on keeping a really secure seat at the lope and paying attention to my leg aids. His transitions were very smooth tonight, we did some simple serpentines at the trot, and worked on halting from the trot. As well his backing up has improved alot.

At lope we also worked on lead changes straight on the diagonal, this was my first time asking him to do so, and he picked up the right lead and left perfectly. Once he was doing well in all of this I decided to give him a break, the real work and sweat will come tomorrow!

[htrimm08]

KSO, i love my horse sooo much. hes been so good to me

Today I really made him work, basically a lot of everything from our other rides, we did a lot of lead changing, some more serpentine's, bending, halts, his backing up is gradually getting speedier, yays. He was soo good. By the end of it he was just like please mum, i just want my supper. tomorrow i dont have a whole lot of time so for fun I think im going to bareback him, and for the first time, at the lope big tings.

[htrimm08]

so yesterday I had a pretty decent ride, he was being a slight dink at first, there was another horse in the ring.. i blame it on that lol. it was basically like our other rides, lots of bending and transitions..

today i had another lesson with Joelle. He had to be lunged out for a while first, he had alot of built up energy today..We did more bending exercises, getting him bending on each side right after the other.. we did all trot work today, worked on control on a small circle, and bringing him in until he walked on a circle and then pushing him back out trotting into a wide circle, and cutting across the circle to change directions. we basically did a whole lot of that, and by the end of it my legs hurt and my horse was very sweaty and tired. it was a good ride.

[htrimm08]

sooo, with all the terrible weather and wind that N.S has been having, the coverall roof on our arena is umm... not there anymore..

so that means no ridding for benson for a while, Joelle did however go to see him and cuddle.. brushed him down and such, she said that he was very cuddly and sooky as always <3 she said she will still go see him anyway while unable to work with him, thats good because he always loves the attention.. i miss him

[htrimm08]

Suzanne and Krystina went to visit my po a few days ago and got a few pictures of him for mee, i thought id share here.. constant updates tell me that hes being fat and happy, having a time playing with his friends, being good as alwayss <3



this one is my comp background lol

annd sooz got a snap of what used to be our arena, oh dear...


Also I'd like to add that upon returning to Truro in the spring, I have planned to ride in a Holly McDonald reining clinic at the end of April.. theres one at the end of march as well, but after most of winter being off I don't think he'll be ready, I'm also in the process of getting amateur registration for breed shows, there are a couple in particular I'm also hoping for us to get started in.

lol, alot of time alone leaves alot of time to think and plan things!

[htrimm08]

i figured i might post in heree.. I got to spend three visits with Benson while in Truro, the first day I lunged him at a walk/jog and he was fab.. the next day I lunged him walk/jog and a bit of lope.. then I got on and walked him around, because the outdoor was a mucky state, I tried some of the bending excersizes we were doing before I left anddd, you wouldnt have known that I left, he did great. He also did well with backing up too. The next day we went on a little trail ride by ourselves, the first time hes ever left the property.. it took a few times walking up and down the road for him to get comfortable with leaving, but he didnt kick up a fuss, always the little gentleman.

It looks like I'm not going to make it back to truro in time to get ready for the holly clinic, so unfortunatly we're gona have to sit out on that one, but a herb best clinic follows that one at the end of may! ...

[htrimm08]

Im back for the summer, benson is looking fantastic, hes filled out so much more and is really comming into himself.

since I've been back we've just been doing some light work and trail riding, hes doing great.. today we really got adventurous and went exploring for over an hour, the trails around Bellocrest are to die for. Once he got a little spook while jogging along and he spun right around and tried to trot off in the other direction but he found his head and cooled off.

I wish the rain would go far far away so the arena can get time to dry up, the front paddock too of course, its discusting having to trudge through it to get to the feild.

[htrimm08]

We've had a few rides in the arena since it dried up (finally!) I started off with lunging him at the beginning to get him warmed up.. the first day he was obviously a bit rusty, bucking and throwing his head when asked to lope.. also on his right lead i had a bit of a time keeping him going.. but yesterday he did his ques spot on.

As well with ridding, he has had some issues with picking up his right lead, and when on a circle he tried sticking his shoulder out, veering off to the left.. soo I had to fight with him a bit until I got him going around nicely at least twice.. he sweat like a pig yesterday.. other than that I've just been doing the regular stopping at jog, backing up and bending, hes doing really well with it all..

[htrimm08]

I got back from labrador on monday.. and now going back again for a week :/

anyway we had a nice ride yesterday, Suzanne came and took some pictures.. ill put them up at some point.. we worked on all the regular stuff, plus did some walk/jog transitions on serpentine's we also worked on slowing down his lope, i was told that I was leaning too far ahead, and so i was, but when in the right position I feel like I'm leaning back, lol. I'll get used to it in time. We had a little trouble getting him going good on his right lead, but after a few circles he eased down and we went back out on the rail.

[htrimm08]

oops forgot to post.. I squeezed in another ride before going home, he made me super happy that dayy. We did lots of excersizes, circling in corners, serpentine's at w/j, also lots of j/l transitions on the rail.. his lope was real nice, his transitions were smooth, so we moved on to trying w/l transitions-not so smooth, its more like a couple choppy trots then lope lol.. he will get the hang of it soon no doubt.

As well I started him again on neck reining, I need to switch headstalls though, my other reins are heavy sluggers.. he gets the basic idea at a walk but thats about it.. so for the next little bit I want to work on that as well as his w/l transitions, and speeding up his back-ups.

We have the Central Nova show at the end of June, I'm hoping Arlene will get Sue Frasier in before then to help me with my Eq, so excited, but nervous! I'm interested to see how Benson will react to a show atmosphere.

[htrimm08]

Today we did some ground work, working a bit on turn on forehand and side passing from the ground, he did great.. Then I trotted him around bareback for fun.. I also introduced him to Abby, arlenes new app mare that I will be doing a bit of work with.

Yea.. Bout it.

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Soo we had a quite eventful weekend! We entered in our first show together at Central Nova, and in my opinion he did great for his first time, we did western horsemanship, equitation and pleasure in which we got 6th, 4th and 3rd, we also did barrel racing but by that time he was getting fed up and started being a stink so we didn't place. He was quite scared of the people sitting on the bleachers and wouldn't go near it, and I had a bit of a hard time keeping him tight to the rail at a lope, he was more interested in everything going on around us.

We alsoo had a little adventure trying to get him on the trailer home! I've never been so agitated with him ever, considering he walked on the trailer fine, going to CN. yep, it was quite the shit show, its like if its not the perfect situation and if he dosnt want to he just wont.. this horse does not like being forced, and usually I don't have to force him, but alas thats not always the case..

Soo, since sunday I've been putting him on the trailer a few times a day, today he went on twice with ease, the third took some time, each time when he got on I rewarded him with a treat.

It was soo hot today 26 degrees! After our ride I was absolutely exhausted, we did mostly jog work, bending, getting him off my leg, did little bit with turning on the forehand and haunches, and a little bit of lopework at the end of the ride.