Catalina (lessons with Carole)

Yesterday I rode Catalina outside and there was a lot going on. She was very quiet and well behaved. The day before she had a nervous day so i was cautious not to put too much pressure on her in the beginning of the work out.
I went right away to my  square and when she was balance did my leg yields.
Carole watched and said to start adding more inside leg and outside rein to the turns.
Catalina was very good about not running away from my leg and did the right thing by engaging her inner hind leg and coming more onto the  outside rein.

So the message of the lesson was when the young horse is good on the outside rein begin with the inside leg to the outside rein.
Remember in the beginning of the square we are just teaching outside alone as we approach the turn and then inside leg and rein alone as we step through the turn.
now we begin adding the inside leg and outside rein together.
we can not use two aids together until the horse understands each aid alone.

Remember as we advance along the training scale with a young horse they will need many reminders along the way of prior lessons.  Sometimes it's 2 steps forward one step back but remember that the big picture should always show steady improvement and the young horse must go at their own speed so as not to ever loose "heart" or confidence.

Catalina and the lawn mowers

Yesterday Catalina had her first experience outside with the outdoor ring surrounded by lawn mowers.
She lunged good but i could tell she was a little worried.
After lunging i walked her around from the ground for quite a while and when she took a deep breath and relaxed i stopped her and mounted from the ground.
No one was holding her and she stood perfectly still the whole time i mounted and waited until i asked her to move forward.
She seemed completely comfortatable with the mowers.
I only walked her as 40 minutes had already passed and that was enough of a lesson for the day.
we walked back to the barn through the feild and I got off her very pleased.
Next time i might even be able to give her a normal workout dispite distractions like loud lawn mowers.

These things can be great training opportunities for any horse but one must not push the horse past their ability to be relaxed and focused.
My Dad use to always say "a nervous horse can't learn anything"

Catalina

Catalina was  very good today.
She lost her focus when a 2 year old came into the barn and was making some noise, but after a few minutes of being steady with her she regained her focus completely
It will be a while before she is completely straight to the right, but each day she is willing to allow me to ride her into straightness.
Because she is so forward and active naturally it's a challenge to get my leg on her and have her "wait" for it.
this requires some help from my mom to ensure i do not go to my hands and keep riding her back to front.
She has a really nice long neck and reaches out to the  bit with her nose in front of the vertical.
This is very important and one must take care not to loose that quality and allow her to become short in the neck.

It is hard to find trained horses that truly stay in front of the vertical but that is a sign of good training and allows for much more honest connection.

update on Dynasty and Evekko

Friday was a good day for our two year olds Dynasty and Evekko.  They were both free lunged in the indoor. After free lunging work we put the saddles on in the indoor and got the girth almost tight enough to put them loose with the saddles on.  I usually take about 2 weeks to get the girth really tight so the horses are comfortable and never afraid of the girth being tight. If this process is rushed horses can become “girthy” and “cold backed” even if they are not predisposition to do so.

We started with saddles being put on in the stall and now we will put the saddles on for a while in the indoor until they are more use to the girth being tight. Once they get use to the girth being tight we will again go back to putting the saddle on in the barn.

We have started putting the bridle on in the barn but will not add this to the ring work for another few weeks.

Both horses still need to learn to jog along side of me with good manners. Dynasty is much more respectful of the indoor gate and is focusing more and more on her handlers and less on the other horses.  Living with a heard of horses that are different ages has been very good for her.

I strongly believe in raising horses in their most natural environment until they are 4-5 years old.

This means they have to learn to socialize