BACK AGAIN! Day 21

DAY 21 – BACK AGAIN! We were able to head back over to South Shingle Ranch again    today! This time instead of Nike being worked first, she went last. We put Ronan and Argent through their paces! Since it supposed to be a decent night we felt okay getting everyone a little sweaty. Long rides, wet saddle pads and concentrated training is the key.

            The goals with Nike today included freeing up her gas pedal, working on her brakes and seeing about refining her steering. We were also going to do almost all of this session in the large arena. Sounds simple but the truth of the matter is these fundamental skills give the horse and the human a real workout! We started off in the round pen and got the fresh out and the mind engaged. Every session sees improvement and understanding. As we work together we find she knows some neat stuff –what we call big bang skills which have flash but don’t necessarily help her to be a great equine citizen. Icing on the cake as it were. We will utilize those skills when appropriate to be sure but for now it is about getting all the gaps in her foundation filled. We did the off the line work in the round pen and helped her find a better cadence for her trot and lope. Then we headed over to the large arena via the pasture with the mini horses. Since she seemed interested in them we figured it would be best to introduce each other before going to work. Good plan.

            We did our ground work and raised the expectation of performance a bit. Got a little sass from Nike but that was to be expected. The sass didn’t last too long and she did pretty well. Lunge for Respect 1 and 2, all four Backing methods, Yielding the HQ 1 and 2, Yielding the FQ, Sending and Circle Driving were reviewed and improved upon. Then we saddled up after making all the necessary tack adjustments for her slender build. We worked on Cruising at the trot, One Rein Stops, Yielding the HQ under saddle and getting some nice turns/ direction changes. Because we raised the expectations of performance in this area over the last session we got some sass. She refused to move out a time or two when Squeeze and Cluck happened so Spank was applied. She tried to pop up on the forequarters a little so she got hustled in some tight circles. She even tried to kick out/crow hop once. She got to be sweaty instead. To be fair we know we have worked her more in the last 21 days that she had seen in the months of being leased out. Our expectation bar also moves which was not in her contract before. A reality shift sometimes brings sass and you simply have to deal with it, correct it and move on. By the end of the session we got some really nice posting trots, easy turns, good stops and even a pleasant lope! She needs more saddle time and conditioning of course but if the progress she is making stays on course we are feeling pretty good that she will be a joy to work with. She is a young horse. She is growing. She is learning and she is trying to perform. Can’t ask for more than that right now.

            The weather here in the Sierra Foothills looks to be WET and COLD this week. Will do our best to squeeze in training as we can.