Little bit of our practice/training today. She's got to get better at being comfortable at a gallop. Only way to do that is spend more time doing it! I've focused on smaller circles and switching leads, stops, rollback, and sidepass. Now to learn to stretch out and gain some freedom and speed! (While keeping calm without crow hop bucks and butt tuck spooks😂)
Day 2 of the Bow with Koda. Really want to hurry and get to the finished product and getting her to lay down. I'm so impatient 😂 but the best thing to teach you patience is horses!! If you rush them you'll have nothing but a mess. She started getting tired of it by the end, and it's important to end it on a good note and quit them before they quit you.
Practicing her stepping to the side for me to get on. If you want a video on how I taught this I'll be more than happy to make it! I had her with a wall on her right and behind her, with me by her shoulder keeping her from going forward. I had a whip/stick and just tapped her on high right side of her booty. You keep tapping and tapping until she takes 1 step towards you with her booty and immediately release. And repeat tapping process, if needed put back against the wall and start again. If you take pressure off immediately they will figure out exactly what you want and you can ask for a couple steps. Simple but helpful to start teaching them to step up to mount! Fair warning, I tapped on her for a LONG time until she got the first step😂 be patient!
Horse Tip- there are many fruits and vegetables horses can have, including bananas!! It's great nutrition for them, but not all horses will eat them. They also love pears. Just be careful to do a quick search on something before you feed it, they can't eat everything! Bad foods for horses include tomatoes and onions. Something they can have occasionally but I wouldn't give often, peppermints!! They love them but it's all sugar.
Also- if you give treats ask the horse for something first, ask them to disengage their hindquarters or move over towards you like you're getting on. It will help build a bond!
Water isn't a big deal for this little filly! Started on this early in life. Teach your horse to trust you and to trust you as the leader, and you can get past their fears! But you also have to trust and believe in your horse if you want to grow as a team
Koda has done well with everything, but she really needs more loping. She is still uncomfortable loping around and changing leads, so we'll shoot once a week in stages and the rest of the time just work with loping and go through a few stages. 😄🐎
2nd time riding with just a neck rope. Definitely a test of how well your horse understands leg cues! And great practice for me to use mostly leg and less hand because my hands had little effect😂 she's just not used to the pressure there but picked up on it pretty well. I'd recommend starting this with a halter/bridle on for safety though. (She got confused at the gate and kept trying to guess what I'd ask. So we went back and forth for a minute until she just waited for me to ask)
This was the first stage of the weekend. Koda now has 101 saddled rides and 3 shoots under her cinch! She still needs lunged so I can tighten the cinch to where it's needed. She still gets spunky when shot off of or loped sometimes, especially after a few weeks break. She doesn't meet everyone's 100 day training expectations, but she's had alot of spaces between rides and not alot of real loping work etc. I started her last summer during my last semester of college, and she has really done well despite our training situations with no round pen etc. Really want to see her reach her full potential one day and see how great of a pony she can be😊 going to add roping and cutting to her resume one day too! I just have to learn from my mistakes and do better with her, horses aren't always "giving us a hard time, they're having a hard time". And it's our job to stay calm and be smart and help them through it. Easier said than done and I'm still learning!
Little Bun had alot to say about cleaning and rearranging the girls house😂 turn up your volume. (Boys are currently looking for a new home, both lionheads)
With horses or any animal training. Keep emotions out of it, don't take anything from your day with you to the barn. What happened to you during the day is not their fault they have no idea, do not train or ride your horse while carrying that baggage.
Over the years, something that has always come up in the horse world is that horses "test" us. In nature and out in their pastures, horses have a natural pecking order. They naturally want a leader and order in the herd. But in this the leader is constantly challenged. We have to learn to be that leader for our horse, and often times they test our ability to be so. I'll be working with a horse and he will cut me off from the barrel and turn before it, or I'll be on a trail and they'll try to spin around and run back. Some think they can bite or be pushy. But the point is, it is natural and can happen at a show or anywhere if a partnership isn't built, and the leadership isn't clear. Before running a course or hitting the trail, be sure your horse understands who is the guide and that they can trust you to be so. I've ridden a horse for months before and got lazy on the work I did with him, only trail riding and letting him do his thing. Then out of the blue at a competition he turned early in a course and cost us time. Just check up on your horse every now and then and give them a challenge. They want to and have to know the order, and they will try to see what they can get away with sometimes. Instead of waiting for them to test you, test your horse. Let them know you're still guiding them, and give them situations to work through to gain their trust in you as that leader.
(Video of me and Koda last November before we took a break)
