2016 Week 2 w/ Nike - Moving Forward

WEEK 2: 01/11-17/16: At the Fairgrounds again! This arena will probably be our home base for most of the season as it is fairly close to home and has LIGHTS, good footing (when not over watered) and it’s covered. There are also four pens we can use which makes rotating the horses  MUCH easier. This is our first time under the lights. Things look different. When we arrive tonight we noted that the foot was a bit swampy in areas. Someone over watered the footing. Sigh. Sowe had to be careful about what, where and when we did stuff.

            This was Day 3 in a row of both groundwork and under saddle work for Nike. We KNOW that in last humans did very little with her to develop her work ethic. Consistent work on consecutive days have really helped her to settle is faster and sass less. Plus we are seeing some muscle tone and we swear she is getting taller! We reviewed the lessons from the previous day. Since she was last to get work on Sunday we worked with her first on Monday. As we were doing our groundwork lesson other folks started to show up at the arena. Keeping Nike focus on the work takes effort and moving her feet helps. She figured out quickly that “two eyes” gets rest and rubs. Being a looky-loo gets her feet moving. One of the challenges we have had with Nike is her "gas pedal" while under saddle. She’ll walks at a mellow place all day long and will trot with some cadence and then just stop when she thinks she is done. Her last humans really did not push her through these points of resistance and she gets sassy (kicks out) when you cue for more impulsion. In short Nike takes a level of motivation to move faster, which folks who follow Downunder Horsemanship call Squeeze, Cluck and Spank. She is ridden in a smooth snaffle with a mecate set up so we have a “spanker” at the end of the line. She has a "sewing machine" like trot that she'll go into in protest of actually being asked to lope. It does some brutal things to one's innards and man-parts. Well tonight we rode through the "sewing machine" trot and sassy fit (she kicked out once and met the spanker) and found her real lope...twice. The lope was nice. The second request was given a much smoother response and felt really nice. My innards and man parts hate me, though. Still the soreness will fade and we achieved the objective. Now we build on that confidence. She also trotted with other horses quite a long time with cadence tonight which was nice. We ended with some lateral and vertical flexion exercises and some really nice backing. Ahhh, how we suffer for our art. One of our goals is to be as ready as we can for The Downunder Brumbies practice this Saturday. I think we are going to do pretty well.

We are also getting Ronan and Argent ready for the season ahead. Ronan and I are participating in a 3 Day Clinic with Clinton Anderson next month and I want us both to be a ready as possible so we can get the most out of the learning experience. Since I work with Nike and Ronan consistently we should be fine. The vast differences in work ethic, experience, and physical presence between these two creates an opportunity that allows my horsemanship to grow. I have to read and adjust what I am doing with each horse while remaining true to the essence of the exercise I am working on. It is a unique and challenging journey!

 Nike: First Ride

 Ronan: Glamour Shot