Midori 18th Ride
We have officially landed in Minnesota and today was the first day horses were back to work.
With making the haul from Arizona to Minnesota, heat in Arizona, etc. Midori hasn’t been ridden in about 2 weeks.
She has almost killed me, my vet and farrier.
Today was about her 18th ride and the horses are in quarantine, so we could only ride out in the open on the cross country course.
She still didn’t miss a beat, despite being in a new place, the wind blowing and riding out in the open for her first time.
We do currently have some training openings in Arizona and Minnesota.
Horse Camps are always a huge hit and a great way to start with horses or just grow in your skills.
Our next camp is coming up on April 20th, 2024 from 9am-3pm.
The whole day is spent riding and hanging out with horses. Students learn a lot, from horse safety, handling, tacking up and of course riding.
The cost is $100.
Signup online:
https://www.sonnyotr.com/booking-calendar/day-horse-camp
We are also an ESA vendor and can do payment with that (PM for details).
It is such an honor to be able to carry the American Flag in honor of our Nation.
::
Such a great weekend enjoying the sport of rodeo at @lostdutchmandaysrodeo and was officially crowned as the 2024 Lost Dutchman Days Rodeo Queen.
Thank you @bryan_bender_photography for capturing such an amazing photo (cover photo).
Malibu is available to an approved home! #horsebackriding #quarterhorse
Midori Training Progress
I’ve been working with my personal horses slowly, but here is another training update on Midori.
Loading - as to be expected, this was a major feat. After about 30 minutes of real work (I am not counting the 30 minutes chasing her around the property) this is where we got. I tested it out the next day and it stuck.
Worming - this is how she almost killed me, before. I tried to worm her and she reared up and came | | this close to landing on me. We eventually got it done, but it took a lot of sweat. Now, worming her a couple months later, and this is how it went.
Leading - as I’ve stressed before, I am big on having the horse work with me without a lead on. Midori is by far my best horse when it comes to that.
Working from the right - she has always been weird on her right side. One day I remembered the saying “anything you can do on the left, you should be able to do on the right”. I never needed to really think about it until Midori. That first night, just trying to get her to lead on the right side resulted in a major melt down. I’ve gotten real good at handling her melt downs, and so after about 20 minutes, we were walking on the right side almost as good as the left. Now we’re starting to develop that without a lead.
This horse has been the most difficult horse I’ve ever worked with. Yet, I also see her being one of the greatest horses I’ll own. It’s been amazing seeing the love this horse has developed for me. To make it even more special, she’s totally a mamas girl, because she still will not trust anyone else. If I have someone hold her, she keeps her eyes on me the whole time.
Tito Bareback & Bridleless
First time for Tito riding bareback, why not just take the bridle off as well?
Truly - Day 2
I sure am blessed with some amazing horses.
Would you believe me if I told you just a couple days ago I could barely get this horse to walk forward when leading her?
Today was our second time heading to the round pen. Last time we worked in the round pen it didn’t go so well… that was about 2 weeks ago.
Since then, I have been focusing on spending time with her, grooming her, attempting to walk her forward to get her to our brushing spot. Finally, the other night we tried a new way of “talking to” to get her to walk forward. Not a problem after that.
Finally, I was ready to take her to the round pen. Now, this horse doesn’t have much of a background. She’s 6 years old, had a baby and has sat around in the pasture, for the most part. Yet, something told me she was ready. So, we decided to give the saddle a go. She was great about it. Probably only her second time lunging ever and she willing listened and learned and we got her to work a walk, trot, lope - all with a saddle on.
Again, I just got a feeling I couldn’t stop there, so I decided to see what we could do without a line keeping her close. Well, this video shows those results. We spent about 5 minutes doing this and this was a small chunk filmed in the middle of that time. I did have a treat handy for this part, but we continued on without a treat and she still worked the same way.
Stay tuned for another post explaining what I’m aiming for and why I find this so important.
Note - she does have an occasional off step. She’s pretty tender footed and will be getting shoes, however, farrier etiquette is another thing we’ve been working on.
Tito Poles
Gosh I miss poles. Been practicing pole weaving with the students and decided to have some fun on Tito. Day 3 of playing around and I’m pretty impressed.
I might need to fully train him on pole bending and hit some jackpots when he’s older.
Midori 1st Ride
Training horses isn’t easy and can be extremely frustrating, but it’s the milestones that make it worth it. Today, was a huge one.
This horse has almost killed me (only slightly exaggerating), my farrier and my vet, all on three different occasions.
When I first got her, we worked on lunging for a couple of days. Then, she was sick for awhile, so I haven’t been able to work with her. We got back into it a couple days ago, starting with lunging. She quickly became a new horse. Yesterday my friend said, “what is it with horses being obsessed with you? She seriously won’t take her eyes off of you.”
Today, I just decided to go for it and took my first ride on her. She’s very reactive, so we kept it short and sweet. When I first got this horse, I instantly saw tons of potential. These last couple of days have reinforced that.
2023 Futurity Prospect
All I can really do now a-days is ride horses. This here is Tito make a nice lope through on the barrels. He’s casually seen them on and off, but we’ve put more emphasis this last week.
After we finished, this lady asked “dash ta fame?” He’s gonna be a good one.
2 Year Old Trail Ride
Tito is getting close to 60 rides and he completed his first trail ride under saddle. He was a complete pro, and led the pack the whole way.
Yesterday I introduced him by taking him on a mini trail ride solo.
He makes training easy❤️
2 Years Old, Less than 30 Rides
Still got 2 more weeks until I can get back in the saddle, I can hardly wait to get back on sir Tito.
