Little bit of sideways action with Mr yesterday. I didn't ride him for long thanks to waiting a bit to see what the weather was going to do and when I did get on it was quite fresh and breezy, a pleasant change to the ridiculous heat of last week.
We rode for a bit in a passing shower, which he wasn't too impressed about, and that gave me a wonderful opportunity to check out just how effective the short serpentine is to get things settled down a bit!
Mr is a bit unsettled in the head in this video when I'm asking him to side pass but I'm not too worried. In theory I shouldn't have asked for something like this while he was so distracted but you can't always wait for things to be perfect to do something. The question was simple, think back to me a bit and move off the leg. I've only been playing around with this for a session or two so you take what you can get and build on it. Training isn't always pretty.
Small steps, small wins, brick by brick.
So whilst I only had 30 or so minutes on Mr at Fred's Pass it was about so much more than the riding. It was loading on the float quietly (still some work to do there but overall wasn't too bad), travelling on his own, waiting patiently to be asked to unload, standing quietly to be saddled and unsaddled, meeting a new horse and not being an idiot about it and then the whole floating story again for the way home. The actual time spent in the saddle was only a small part of the things we worked on for the morning.
These are all things that are part of the starting process, it isn't just the work under saddle. I find myself getting fixated on the ridden work and not everything else that I've been working on outside of that that is just as important. The little things, like standing quietly to be saddled and mounted, coming off the float nice and steady, standing quietly to have the feet done, all those seemingly insignificant and little things matter and matter big time. Don't lose sight of that.
Awesome morning out yesterday before it got too hot. Mr was an absolute legend and cruised around out on the polocrosse fields like an old broke horse :) We managed to walk, trot and canter around on a loose rein without a care in the world. I had planned on going out Saturday afternoon but it was just way too hot so went out Sunday morning before the heat of the day made its presence felt. Thanks for coming along Korina, really enjoyed catching up with you and Truckie.
I'm actually home this morning so perfect opportunity for Mr to spend some quality time on the high tie while I can keep an eye on him. We've got a backhoe digging a trench so we can run power across to the stables so there's lots going on which is all good experience for a young horse.
Little dude just gets better and better with every ride 😁 First canters tonight and besides trying to slam into the panels from time to time when going right it was rather uneventful. Finished off with a cruise around out amongst the trees and happy days.
First ride in the snaffle for Mr last night. This is one of the most delicate and important parts of starting a young horse in my opinion. We should always be conscious of the feel we offer on the rein with any horse at any stage of their education but these first few rides in a bit can have a massive impact on the horse.
I was asked recently if I long rein/ground drive young horses before I ride them in a bridle. This is something I have done a bit of in the past and can certainly still do but not something I see as necessary any more in the starting process. I've learned and improved a lot over the last few years (thanks Anthony!), the feel I offer the horse and my whole understanding of feel are probably the biggest things I've learned and improved.
I want to be able to feel the horse make the slightest try at following the rein and give back to them a microsecond later so I can build on that and develop as soft a horse as possible. I also want to be able to offer as light a feel as I can to begin with and long reins just don't quite offer that same level of feel or instant release.
Whilst I have 2 reins on the snaffle, one attached to each ring, I'm still very much working off just one at a time. Until the horse happily follows each rein individually I have no business picking up 2. Mr is a bit sticky off the right rein so there's still plenty to work on before I go to picking up 2 reins on him.
Ride 3, more trot, a cruise around outside the round yard (including opening the gate without getting off) and finished off riding back to the stables 😁 Bit by bit the pieces are slowly being developed and put together.
Huge thanks to Caitlin for coming out and riding Penny to keep Mr company for these first few rides plus getting some videos and photos.
Hot tip to show your appreciation for your hoof care professional...... brush your horses legs off if they're covered in sand and dirt before your hoof care professional arrives👌 Note I said BRUSH not wash. Why? Think about it a bit 🤔 Your hoof care professional has to be in close contact with your horses legs and feet for a reasonable amount of time. What do you think is nicer to handle?
1 - A dry leg and hoof covered in sand?
2 - A clean but wet leg and hoof?
3 - a clean and dry leg and hoof?
Try handling your horses legs for longer than a minute each time they are one of the above and let me know ;)
Hoof care professionals don't charge nearly enough for what they do, things like this cost you nothing but are certainly noticed and appreciated by said hoof care professionals.
Found trot on Mr tonight 😁 There was a bit of sass and funky attitude there tonight but nothing serious. Mr rather enjoys chasing my crazy dog Luna and Luna rather enjoys being chased so I think most of the funny little head toss moments was aimed at the dog and wasn't about being asked to go forward. Ideally he would be more focussed on what I'm asking him to do instead of the dog but a few times this afternoon Luna provided a bit of draw and helped with impulsion so I ran with it.
I'll push him forward more tomorrow and ask more of him but tonight's questions were fairly simple to find the answer to..... trot please, follow the feel on the halter and roll the hindquarters over when I ask. There's a few things I could have done better with tonight's ride and I certainly made a few mistakes but overall it was another good session with this cool little horse.
