All through the morning and early afternoon the weather was beautiful. The air was crisp and cold; sun was shining from a sparkling blue sky. Then we started driving to the barn, cue the clouds and snain (snow/rain mix). We arrived at the barn, cue the wind and cold. Fantastic!
I closed off the arena and set up everything, only to turn around and watch Gambler and Kezi canter into the far pasture. Usually I halter Gambler and walk him back. Sometimes, however, I bring my carrot stick out and chase Gambler and Kezi in, so that I can close the gate to the outer pasture while they wait at the barn. Today they decided to run further into the pasture before returning to the barn. Thanks guys. After I closed the gate I walked back to the barn. Gambler and Kezi decided to sit in the opposite corner of the pasture and watch Mom walk the dog. I grabbed Gamby's halter and walked out to get him while the wind drove pin pricks of icy snain into my ears. Brrrrrr! When I approached Gambler, he acted like he was going to run away, something that he rarely ever does. Turns out he didn't recognize that I was coming to catch him. When he faced me I backed up (instead of walking toward him as I would if I was going to chase him into the barn) and he walked right up to me, lowering his head for the halter.
Well, that was quite the ordeal. Once I finally had Gambler in the arena, I went through the usual routine of grooming, playing the games, and longeing with the saddle. Gambler was great, as usual.
Then I mounted up. I didn't end of trotting today, because Gambler was a little nervous about being ridden in the saddle (combined with wind, snain, trees, and hunger). That means no solo ride yet. I'm not going to ride Gambler without Mom at the end of the rope until he will walk, trot, and stop from both gaits when I ask him to. Although I was disappointed that he wasn't ready for the next step, we had a good ride. He didn't buck, although he thought about it a little. He is understanding the cue to move forward and the cue to stop, as well as the cue to turn.
OOOHHH He's such a beautiful horse! :D And snain is such a good word. *nods*
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteLeah and I are just starting to do real trot work, and it's good to have someone else there with you for that. All of it is so new to these green horses--hard to say how they'll react sometimes. You're doing a great job!
ReplyDeleteI was just reading your blog post about trot work, and I found it very encouraging. Gambler has the same difficulties, speeding up and then stopping and tossing his head. It is good to know that it's typical greenie behavior!
DeleteVery typical. And, we have a lot going on to think about and also keep our physical balance for them and support them in the saddle and reins. It's a learning curve for both horse and rider. :)
DeleteYes, I have discovered that Gambler is off-balance when he circles to the right. He is so off-balance that all my weight usually ends up in one stirrup. This is also the side he bucks on.
DeleteBucking can definitely be a balance thing. Focus on keeping your balance centered just like when riding bareback, even though you have stirrups. I have to remind myself that constantly because I'm horrible about bracing in the stirrups. Such a hard habit to break lol.
ReplyDeleteGambler is doing so well! It may feel like it's taking forever, but it's not. I don't even remember when I trotted Chrome under saddle for the first time, but I didn't start doing it regularly until we moved, so it had almost been a year under saddle. Hang on, let me go look because now I'm curious lol.
Okay looking at my riding diary it was ride ten before I ever rode him in the saddle. He trotted with me without me asking in one of the early rides, but the first time I asked was ride 13 and that was with hubby leading us. It was only three short little trots. Did it a couple of times on our own for ride 14. Then it was ride 17 in March of 2013 (remember I started him May 2012) that we finally did a bunch of trotting in the round pen for the first time, with me actually teaching him what adding leg meant. So yeah, don't feel pressured into hurrying with it or anything. Take it in your own time at a pace Gambler is comfortable with. I have never once regretted taking things so slow with Chrome (my reason for going so slow was to allow him to mature physically and mentally since he was only three when I started him).
If you're ever curious about the timeline of how I did things with him (it took forever before I was comfortable enough to try cantering him) check out the riding diary page in my sidebar. It has all of the rides written down in one place with dates and a brief overview of what we did.
P.S. I hate snain too lol!!!
P.P.S. I forgot to mention in the last post... did you see how much Gambler has grown??? He looks huge next to you compared to before. Have you measured him recently?
I struggle with my balance in stirrups as well. When I was ten or eleven I learned to ride - walk, trot, canter - bareback. Then I started taking dressage lessons and I nearly fell off at the trot. It has gotten better with practice, but stirrups still tend to throw me off. Of course, it doesn't help when the horse is already off-balance.
DeleteThank you for your encouragement. Sometimes when I'm with Gambler I feel like I'm under so much pressure to teach him everything as soon as possible. But no one is pressuring me but me. Gambler and I make the most progress when we are relaxed and just enjoying each other's company.
I did notice that Gambler has grown when I was putting this post together, but I haven't gotten around to measuring him. I measured him last in February or March. At the time he was about the same height-wise, but had bulked up and gotten a little longer. I should definitely check again.
It's so funny how much we have in common. I learned to ride bareback and the first time I trotted in a dressage saddle I bounced around like I'd never ridden before lol.
DeleteYou're exactly right about the pressure. We totally do it to ourselves!
He looks like he's grown inches!! Maybe it is just because he's bulked up so much it gives the impression of added height. He looks great! You should do another transformation post with a conformation picture from now and when you got him!!