Aria End of May Update
Here is an update on Aria and what we have been working on the past few weeks. There was a turning point somewhere along the way where we each started to trust each other more. We ventured outside the round pen, into the barn aisle (which is usually pretty scary for horses the first time with the matting) and eventually outside of the barn all together. She stayed with me the entire time and never offered to bolt.
I also introduced lunging, going counterclockwise was easy for her, clockwise took a day to teach as she’s more guarded on the right but we got there. Then we worked on putting on saddle pads. When I first brought out the saddle pads Aria was sure she wasn’t going to allow them anywhere close to her but that changed within a few minutes. We have worked up to lunging with the surcingle and will move on to the English saddle shortly.
Other ground work has included learning to tie, backing, starting to work over obstacles, haunch turns and trotting in hand. She has graduated to living in the arena full time at the moment and will walk up to me to be caught. One of her favorite things is being groomed and we always end each training session with that.
I have loved watching her demeanor change from being scared and timid to bold, inquisitive and playful. She loves to learn and tries very hard to figure out what I’m asking.
Hopefully by the next update she will be wearing a saddle with confidence as well as ground driving, loading in the trailer and working on side passing and more difficult obstacles but we will see. I am on her time and will only ask for what she is ready for. My goal is to have all of her preparation for riding done by July (medically I can’t ride before then anyways) but will only do so if I feel like she is ready.
Aria
Here is an update on tag 8052.. I first wanted to say that I have a fractured bone in my leg that happened a week prior to picking this mare up. The bone was supposed to heal in 6 weeks so I wasn’t very concerned but a few days after picking her up from the corrals I got the news that I have a dvt in my leg which is actually more serious than the fracture. That being said my training with this mare will be going slow as I need to really make sure I’m very careful not to get injured while taking the medicine I’m currently on to treat the clot. I won’t be able to ride her until I’m off of the medicine which will be in 6 weeks with the best case scenario.
I unfortunately didn’t end up with a horse that is on the calmer side, she is quite the opposite and needs time taken to trust so maybe in the end we are the perfect fit but only time will tell.
On pick up day I was in awe of how beautiful this mare was as she loaded onto the trailer but then followed the surprise of how wild she was as the trailer shook once she was loaded. I haven’t seen many mustangs shake in fear once they were loaded but she sure did.
With safety in mind I decided to give her a little time to settle in with some extra space and began working with her on horseback (thanks to some help from Ryder). She was actually very comfortable with me riding next to her and I could easily ride within 5’ of her. But once on foot her buffer zone was closer to 25’. So after a few days I decided to move her into a round pen and work with her from the outside of the round pen (once again trying to be creative on how to be as safe as I can be). She settled in and after a few days accepted touch with my hand on her neck, forehead and back and little by little enjoyed some scratches which led to being able to take her tag off. It may not seem like much but to have gotten to this point with this mare seems like huge progress as our training session ended tonight with her allowing me to put a halter
Virtual Show
This past winter Ryder and I have been competing in virtual shows every month to stay motivated when the days are short and the weather isn’t very nice. It’s been a great way to learn new skills and challenge ourselves. Special thank you to my husband Koal for coming out to film our patterns on the cold winter nights. I feel like Ryder and I started out a little rocky with the first show but by the end of the winter series we vastly improved and ended up placing 2nd out of 11 in our in hand class and 3rd out of 9 in the riding class in the March show. Each show I requested to receive the judges notes so that I would know how we can become better.
The patterns always included some challenging aspects such as targeted foot placement (near the end of this pattern you will see how he is only supposed to put his right foot over the pole and at the very end only the left foot), learning how to tolerate opening an umbrella while I’m riding him, carrot stretches on horseback, etc. Needless to say backing a figure 8 certainly isn’t something Ryder cares for but it’s a good skill to work on as we ride a lot of mountains and fences at the ranch and being able to have that communication of targeted foot placement in case we ever get into a sticky situation is paramount.
I have changed the name of this page to accommodate my 2024 Oregon Adoption Challenge horse and will be posting about her in a day or two. I would like to continue to post updates about Ryder but also show the progress of my new horse. When I first did the challenge last year I hadn’t planned on competing again but it was an amazing summer being so focused on meeting goals with my horse that I decided to do it again.
I wanted to post some photos/videos and an update from the competition this last weekend as well as a few videos that I never had a chance to post taken a few days before we left for the competition.
Ryder had some amazing moments that really surprised me including walking up to be caught by someone he’s never met in the conditioning class, loading so well in the trailer (he normally loads great but this was trailer he wasn’t used to), and doing exceptionally well in showmanship as sometimes he has moments where he doesn’t want to stand still and setting up and working in straight lines have been our struggles but he did so well.. In the trail/compulsory class he was very frightened of the crackling noise coming through the speaker and the judges sitting in chairs in the arena (one of his worst fears is people sitting in chairs) so I wasn’t even sure if we would make it through the trail course but he did all of the obstacles even the gate with the audience sitting right by it. I thought he would settle by the time we did our compulsory movements but he just wanted out of the arena and wasn’t able to show what he can really do. It was a stressful environment for him but he gave me his all and that was amazing that as frightened as he was he still tried so hard.
I did not expect to place in the top 10 but we ended up placing 7th out of 19 overall in the adult riding division. We also placed 1st in handling and conditioning and 2nd in showmanship in our division, which was very exciting! There were some amazing horses and trainers at the competition and everyone did so well!
I’m so thankful to my family and friends for all of their support throughout this entire process from the beginning when I picked him up at the corrals through the competition and am very happy to now have such a wonderful horse to take on some new adventures. We met some very nice and supportive people last weekend and had a great time! Ryder is going to get some well deserved rest
Yesterday Ryder and I competed in Handling and Conditioning and Showmanship. He did great in the Conditioning class and loaded well in the trailer, took a minute to settle but then let me pick up his hooves and allowed someone else to catch him in the round pen. He very surprisingly walked up and stuck his nose in the halter. As much as we’ve practiced he can still be weary of other people so I was very proud of him when he let someone else easily halter him!
Our showmanship video is below. He did everything well especially since he can be nervous in a show environment. Today is our riding class and we are hoping for the best.
Ryder and I went on quite a few adventures the last few weeks. We went to a horseshow, a poker ride, introduced Ryder to working cows, rode at a friend’s arena, went to Perrydale Trails, and rode at our local fairgrounds.
It took him a bit to settle in at the horseshow but he placed 2nd out of 6 in his ranch showmanship class. The poker ride had quite a few other riders which was a great experience for him along with many people staged along the trail to tell us where to go and a couple nice water crossings. He took to working cows very quickly and was very comfortable around them and the ride at the fairgrounds was right before Pee wee rodeo so he was able to be around quite a few kids and activity.
We only have a few weeks left until the competition and are working on refining a few things including his jog and picking up leads along with having other people catch him but I’m happy to be where we are at in his training. He seems to have become much more comfortable with going different places and settles in much quicker than he previously has. We are hoping to fit one more show in before the competition to get him used to crowds of people and gain a little more experience in the show environment.
Here are a few clips from the last two weeks with Ryder. As we have been venturing out more it is harder to get videos but I still try here and there. Last week we rode over 20 miles of fence line which started off with him being apprehensive of going through sagebrush (he especially didn’t like it touching his legs and belly) and under trees, etc under saddle but that just meant that we had to build more trust in each other and it ended with him being in the lead and willing to conquer whatever obstacles we came upon whether they were steep hills, passing random deer or water crossings, he seemed to really enjoy it.
We also hauled to a different arena and went on trails away from the ranch and have been practicing various obstacles including opening and closing gates, side passing and trotting poles, bridges, mailboxes, etc and he had a chiropractor visit. Ryder currently has 27 rides on him and counting and waits at the gate every evening looking forward to being worked with. The next few weeks ahead of us we have some new adventures planned which I am really looking forward to..
Here is an update on Ryder. We have spent the last few weeks working on different obstacles to build his confidence as well as meeting and being handled by other people so that he isn’t scared of strangers. He has also been loaded and hauled in a slant load trailer (previously I had hauled him loose).
Before being ridden I wanted to make sure the basics were covered in his training which included having his hooves handled and trimmed. He has had all of his hooves trimmed thanks to my husbands help holding him for me (Ryder has been bonding well with my husband).
I have been continuing working on basic ground work and ground driving in and out of the arena. And we had our first ride!
All of Ryder’s training seems to be supervised by my loyal German Shepherd as you will see in many of the video clips..
Here is an update on the last few weeks with Ryder. He is a very sensitive horse so I went back to the basics for a little while before introducing anything new. I did introduce positive reinforcement with a target then moved onto self haltering as I wanted to be sure he enjoyed his training.
The last few weeks we have accomplished trips outside the barn, leading over obstacles, hauling to another property, a lot of ground work which I wasn’t able to include in the video (forehand and haunch turns, backing, sidepassing and trotting in hand), saddling, fly spraying, blanketing, getting used to being tied, being handled by other people and meeting new horses. We have just started ground driving and are working on picking up his hooves. Looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish in the next few weeks!
This is a video with short clips from my first week with Ryder. I hope to try to post these progress videos every one to two weeks to show what we have been up to.
Ryder started off very upset pacing in the round pen when he arrived and I let him settle for a few days and asked very little of him. From there I worked on getting him used to me and worked up to petting him but it was strictly on his right side as that is what he was comfortable with. Slowly I was able to start touching his left side little by little and get him comfortable with him allowing me to pet his face in preparation for the halter. I introduced the halter with the help of some alfalfa (his favorite thing).
This week we have accomplished being able to be pet all over his body, removing his tag, haltering, learning to lead, lowering his head for me, backing up, yielding his forehand and hindquarters, allowing to be brushed (including his tail and belly) leading out of the round pen and being able to catch him in a large space. He has made so much progress and is starting to come out of his shell. He always seems a bit surprised and apprehensive of new things but accepts them fairly quickly. I am very impressed by the improvements he makes everyday to being more comfortable with me and everything I ask of him. I’m looking forward to the next four months of training with him.
