They’re as big as she is!

On Halloween, my good friend Mr. Cowboy and his girlfriend Ms. Cowgirl took their horses to a local training facility and participated in the cow sorting. Hubby and I also took Diamond and Sugar to see what they thought of the cows. We got there a little after it started and boy that was a mistake! There were 11 pages of entries before us which made for a long day of hanging out.
Hubby & I pulled Diamond and Sugar out of the trailer and tacked them up, we warmed them up with towels over our saddles because it was raining and hailing... what a day!! Finally there was a break in the rain and we took them to the outdoor arena for some riding. Diamond’s little legs didn’t cover as much ground as the big horses did, and she was not happy being “left behind”. She would trot to catch back up with us. Our Trainer Mr. Cowboy is really trying to get Hubby to understand that Diamond can not make any decisions at all – she doesn’t get to decide the gait to go, or the direction, so they did lots of one rein stops and circles to slow her down. We all waited patiently for them to be ready and enter the arena where we all played around and worked on getting Diamond to respond to the rider’s aids – both leg and rein. Finally we were all warmed up and ready to go to the main arena where the cows were being worked.
Diamond has issues being around new horses because she’s so alpha. She understand that Hubby and I are HER alpha, but she still feels the need to dominate other horses, so anytime someone came by us, she’d pin her ears and snake her head at them. Or even worse yet, she’s swing her hind end towards them. I got tired of fighting her and we finally just had to move her off by herself until some of the morning people headed out and it wasn’t so crowded.

Waiting is so hard to do... :)

About an hour before our runs, we had enough room inside the arena to get Diamond and Sugar close to the cows inside – neither one seemed to care too much about them, and Diamond wasn’t nearly as interested in them today as she was at the gaming show the month before.
Mr. Cowboy and Ms. Cowgirl had their first run on their horses, and all went great, they got 9 of the 10 in before time was called. They then hopped on Diamond and Sugar and waited for the next go.

The first go... Diamond on the left, Sugar on the right

When their names were called, Sugar & Diamond went into the pens. Thankfully the cows were at the far end as it gave the girls a minute to realize what was going on. Ms. Cowgirl cut the #8 cow on Sugar, and Mr. Cowboy had a lapse in judgment and instead of cutting #9, he went for #7 – that run was done and over before it even got started, however all was not a loss. Diamond went into the group of cows – who were just as big as she was, and definitely weighed more than she did – and went to work. Sugar, who I honestly thought would plaster herself against the back wall, actually did great and was having a ball! They waited for their next go and rode Diamond and Sugar again. This time they did much better and got 7 of the 10 cows sorted before time was up. Again, Diamond went into the herd of cows and really enjoyed herself. She was getting into it once she understood what was expected of her.

Diamond & Mr. Cowboy sorting the cows

Diamond & Mr. Cowboy sorting the cows

Sugar & Ms. Cowgirl sorting the cows

Diamond & Mr. Cowboy sorting the cows

Mr. Cowboy and Ms. Cowgirl rode their own horses for the last go and got all the cows sorted before time was up.
We had so much fun and can’t wait to do it again. There is a private group who has invited us to join them right before my surgery, so that will most likely be the next sorting we do.

Big day off the farm

This past Saturday I took Diamond to a gaming show with some freinds.
We woke up early Saturday, loaded the horses and headed out for our 2 hour road trip. We arrived about 30 minutes before the show started and everyone was in the arena warming up for the day. We got our numbers and headed into the chaos. Diamond was on overload. She didn’t know which horses to snake out at, or to swing her butt to, and despite the fighting between the mares overnight, she still wanted to be with the two horses we went with. She would start to trot to catch up, and I’d circle her back around and begin walking again. She finally figured out that she doesn’t pick the gait, or the direction, and was content to just walk along.
Many of my fellow boarders were there and Diamond took comfort from seeing her barn friends. She never did call out to anyone, but would keep a sharp eye on them when she could.
Knowing that this was Diamond’s first real riding outside of the farm, and that she’s just barely 3 and still has joints that are open, I had planned to spread my events out as much as possible. Since we were already in the arena when the first event was called, we did that one. As they called numbers for Keyhole, I sat wondering what her reaction would be to the white chalk lines on the ground. She has never seen anything like this before, and it’s the one event we haven’t practiced at all. As it turns out, she calmly walked down to the keyhole, glanced at the chalk, walked right through the runway, turned in the circle, and walked right back out and trotted to the start line. WOOHOO!! We had done our first event!!
I brought her back to the trailer, took the bit out of her mouth, put her halter on and gave her the hay bag I brought her. She dove right in and was happy as a clam at high-tide. I went back to the arena and watched the rest of the riders for the event. I kept glancing over to check on her, and I saw her big brown butt turned toward me with her head in the hay bag. About the 4th or 5th time I checked on her, her body was turned toward me and she was in the tack room. I raced over there because I had brought grain and a bucket of treats for her and she was eating them all! She had spilled the grain all over the floor and knocked the treats out on the grass after eating about half of them. I untied her and walked her around for a little while, I didn’t want it all settling in her gut like a lead balloon and giving her a tummy ache. After we were done, I gave her a drink of water and tied the lead rope shorter so that she couldn’t get to the tack room. Just for good measure, I closed the door.
Our next event was poles. I did a little ground work with her to prepare her for being ridden again, and we mounted. We walked away from the trailer by ourselves (Another small victory) and just tooled around for a little while. Since this show was taking place at the Rodeo grounds, there were some cows on the property. Diamond caught a glimpse of them and stood completely still, ears forward, checking those things out. I sat there and petted her neck, talking to her a little bit. I asked her to step forward to get a little closer to them, and she walked about 10 feet from their pen and stared longer. She was so interested in those cows, it was super cool. I can’t wait to get her closer to one and see what she does.
For our pole run, she basically refused to walk down to the end. She was really confused and wanted to weave through them right away. My friend came out and walked in front of her. She followed him all the way through the pattern and did great with someone to show her what to do. (Thank You Mr. Cowboy)
After that, there were a lot of team events, and we weren’t playing in those, so she got a good long break.
Our last few events came close together and I wasn’t sure if she’d hold out for them all or not, and I really wanted to do barrels, so my plan was to play the others by ear and see how she was doing. I would skip one if she was tired so that she had enough left to do the barrels.
As we all were standing in the middle of the arena, with events on both sides of us, she decided to throw her head around and start backing up. She would not go forward at all, so I took my crop and tapped her between the ears. She quieted right down for about a split second, then bolted and had a bronc fest. She bucked a few times and I went to one rein stop her. As she stopped, she also yielded her hind quarters over really fast. I wasn’t expecting it, and I slipped right off her! As soon as I was off, she stopped all movement and looked at me like “Hey, how’d ya get down there?” I got back on, and she was fine again.
We lined up for Key race and she was ready to go down to those poles. She thought she knew what to do, and went through the first two, then took a hard left to weave like she did on the other ones. After we all stopped laughing, I got her back through the way she came out, we finished going through, made our turn and trotted back to the starting line.
That event went quick and we were ready for Cal-Stake. She had no problem with this one at all, we had used poles and barrels many many times in the arena to teach her to turn around something and get a good bend to her body. She trotted down, made a turn to the right. I gave her her head completely on the way back, letting her decide the speed to go. She extended her trot way out and we covered some ground.
I dismounted and brought her back to the trailer for some snacking and a drink. I loosened her girth and gave her a good rub down, checking her legs for any swelling and soreness. She was sound, so we headed out for barrels. There was a ton of people signed up, and we were #35, so we had quite a long wait ahead of us. She had calmed down a lot towards the other horses in the arena, and had stopped mean mugging them or trying to kick at them. Finally, it was our turn, and we headed to the barrel on the right at a nice trot. We made the turn and she headed for the starting line again. I got her corrected, and we took the second barrel and she realized what she was supposed to be doing and went down to the third barrel, made a nice tight turn to the left and we headed back to the finish line. I hopped off, and walked her back to the trailer. I un-tacked her, gave her a handful of treats (the first she’d gotten since she robbed the bucket on her own) and the remaining grain I had managed to pick up from the ground.
We packed up, paid our bill, and hit the road for our two hour return trip. We got to the barn about 10pm, took them all back out to the pasture, fed them some dinner, and went home to soak in the hot-tub.
I could not be more proud of my little girl. She was a good girl, and we both had a blast. I can’t wait to do it again!! Diamond truly is "Tough Enough to Wear Pink"!! (Isn't she just the cutest thing!?!?!)

Our Key Race Ride headin’ down to the poles ~ she looks like she knows what she’s doing!!

Our Key Race Ride coming back through the poles ~ she went straight back through without trying to weave

Our Key Race Ride Heading for home


Our Key Race Ride crossing the finish line ~ looks like we’re cantering, but we’re trotting very very fast!

We’re just posin’ ~ Everyone thought she was so cute & just LOVED her!!


Our Cal Stake race ~ What a nice bend in that body!


Our Cal Stake race headin for home ~ look at that extension, we’re coverin ground now baby!!

First Canter

I have been given the go-ahead to ride again from my Physical Therapist so long as no more emergency dismounts are going to happen. Therefore, Diamonds training is back on track.
On my time off, I’ve started reading and watching Clinton Anderson (damn that’s one hot cowboy!). He is a big supporter of a firm foundation from the ground, and applying those simple ground lessons into lessons under saddle, all with the basic principal that if you can control your horses feet and movement on the ground, that translates into controlling your horses feet and movement under saddle. Sounds almost too simple, but let me tell you, it works! Diamond is picking it up and absorbing it all like a champ, and she’s retaining the lessons, so there is virtually no repeating of teaching.
A friend of mine who has been using Clinton’s methods for quite a while has been helping me with perfecting my cues and body language and he came out to the barn Sunday to watch me work with Diamond and evaluate how we are doing. 90% of our ground work is completely solid, but there was one minor issue with her yielding her forehand. Instead of stepping to the side and in front of her outside foot, she was stepping forward a tad. With my still gimpy knee, I am unable to step in front of her quick enough and far enough to cut off her forward movement, so he worked with that for a little bit, and within 10 minutes, she had that one nailed too.
He began the desensitizing exercises with her, and she was not jumpy at all – so they quickly moved to flexing to either side. This has been an issue for Diamond ever since Hubby took her on the trail ride in April. She does great from the ground - in her halter, with the bit, it doesn’t matter, but once your mounted, her head reaches for the sky. Well, my cowboy friend trains horses all day as his job, so he has worked with this type of behavior on many horses, and knows the best way to fix it, and should something happen (the horse rears) he has two good legs to emergency dismount on.
After working on the flexing from the ground, and with one foot in the stirrup, and more with weight in the stirrup, he finally throws the leg over and does it from the saddle. The first 10 times, her head went up to the sky, but no release until she flexes to the side and gives to the pressure of the bit. Finally, the light bulb went on, and she decided it wasn’t worth the fight, the only release was when she did it right, so she may as well quit fighting it.
I go on to tell him that she doesn’t really have a good “go” to her, and that she’s still figuring out the pressure on her sides means to move forward. She gets stuck sometimes and will just stand there no matter how much squeeze she gets. As I’m finishing my statement, he squeezes, and she moves off perfectly. He asks a couple more questions and we get to the fact that I’ve never trotted her under saddle. Hubby has trotted her on the beach, but that was only once, a few months ago, but that I’d love to get a walk, trot, canter out of her today. Mr. Cowboy loves a challenge so he gladly accepts and begins to squeeze her more and gets a nice trot out of her, he clucks, kisses, and squeezes but can’t get that canter, so he grabs the over/under on my new mecate reins and gives her a slap with it and by gum, she picks up the canter on the correct lead and everything. It’s a beautiful thing, her tail is flowing behind her, her mane is blowing in the wind, and her ears are not pinned!! WOOHOO!! My little girl is cantering. He does the one rein stop and she slows down and stops. She immediately begins chewing and licking.

We discuss riding her with spurs, and no, I’m not against spurs in general. I’m against spurs on riders who are unable to control their legs, and since Mr. Cowboy doesn’t have a leg control problem, I have no issue with him riding with spurs on Diamond. I have ridden her with spurs on, but have not used them on her before. I open the round pen gate and they walk up to his vehicle and he puts his spurs on, and into the arena they go. He applies very light spur pressure and she walks off. They get a W/T/C both ways when he gets down and asks me if I’d like to ride her.
I get on, and we flex both ways, just like a champ, she does not throw her head once. We begin to walk around the arena, I ask for a trot, but had to use the over/under to get her going. OMG! That little one can trot FAST! I hung onto the horn for stability just in case she took of into a canter, I did not want to pop her mouth and punish her for moving forward, which is what I asked. There is no reason for her to understand right now how to rate her speed, or which gait I’m asking for – I simply asked her for a faster forward. Mr. Cowboy gets my spurs and puts them on so I can use lighter cues with my legs while asking for turns and such – and to help keep her from pushing my leg into the arena wall. (We aren’t sure if she’s doing it to be snotty and try to rub us off, or if it’s a balance thing right now (My opinion is the balance), but regardless, we want her to know it’s not the right thing to do)
I barely touch her with my spur and she begins to walk off. I again touch her with the end of my spur and she begins to trot. We got about ½ ways around the arena when she slowed down and didn’t want to keep trotting. I asked again with a little leg, but she wasn’t going to move, so I grabbed the over under, squeezed, clucked and went to spank, and before I could spank, she was trotting. She’s getting it – just like Clinton’s horses get it quick, so is Diamond. If she moves off when I squeeze or cluck, she doesn’t get spanked.
I get one good trot around the arena without being run into the walls, and call it a day for Diamond. I brought her into the barn, un-tacked her and gave her a big scoop of grain. She earned it.

First Walk/Jog class

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and my farrier was taking Sugar to a Western Pleasure show put on by a local saddle club, so we decided it would be a great idea to get Diamond off the farm and out into the real world.
We picked Diamond up at our barn and she had to get into the trailer all by herself. She has always had Sugar in the trailer first, so she was a little unsure about it for a second, and then she just hopped right in and scooted up to be tied and have the divider closed. We got to my farrier’s barn and loaded Sugar and all his tack and headed to the show.
We get there and meet up with TX and her mare. All the horses are tied to the trailers and standing very patiently. Diamond is looking all around her taking in the sights, she really seems to love experiencing new surroundings, and takes it all in stride.
I took Diamond into a smaller covered arena and began to work her on some ground work. The entire time, all three amigos are calling to each other, and Diamond doesn’t want to focus on me and what we are doing. After a few minor reminders that I am the one she needs to be worried about, she begins to listen perfectly. After not working with her for five weeks, it was almost like starting over at the beginning, and we had some tough moments, but finally got through it all. I tied her back to the trailer, gave her a good rub between the eyes, and a drink of water.
In the mean time, TX had been working her mare, and had discovered she was off on her back leg and couldn’t be shown – so she was bummed. This was to be her mare’s first show, and they had been practicing for a while now. I jokingly said “Well you can ride Diamond” and to our surprise, she said “yeah, I can, ok” and that is how Diamond wound up in her first show being ridden.
They call the Walk/Jog beginner horse class and a ton of riders enter the ring, around 20 or so, and TX walks Diamond in and mounts. They begin walking with the rest of the class; they make the first corner when Diamond spots the spectators in the stands and freezes. She won’t move an inch. TX tries flexing her right and left, tries to get her to walk in a circle, and nothing. Diamond is rooted to that spot, ears forward, watching the other horses, soaking in the entire situation. Sugar walks by, and I thought for sure Diamond would follow her, but no dice. The judge calls for a reverse direction, and TX does manage to get her turned around when Diamond sees me and Hubby standing by the fence and she walks over to us and stands in the corner for the rest of the class.
At the end of the class, they were leaving the arena when the judge and a ton of people came up to them to tell TX that she did an awesome job – she didn’t force Diamond to go with the class, she just let her stand there quietly soaking it all in, making it a positive experience for her.

Great Job TX and Diamond!!

Hold Please

Diamond's Training is on hold - I was working with Sugar on mounting without rearing, when she did just that. Luckily I was not in the saddle, but had a foot in the stirrup and was leaning over her. As she went up, I jumped back and out of the stirrup, but landed wrong on my right leg. I messed up the knee pretty badly, and the orthopedic specialist is talking surgery to repair a torn ACL, and a 9 month recovery. I should be back in the game just in time to miss the spring shows! Oh well, there will be plenty more years of showing, and I'm refusing to stress over one missed year.
All will be fine in the end. Diamond will get to play the summer away in the pasture while I recover and look for a home that's a better fit for Sugar. Somewhere where she can be a Mom, or even just a pretty lawn ornament. If I owned my own property, there is no question, I'd keep her. She is my first horse, and the love of my life - as I'm typing this, I have tears in my eyes at just the thought of not having her in my life, however, I have to make a choice of keeping my Sugar, and not riding, or finding her a good home, and getting a horse that fits my riding needs better.
In the mean time, her and Dad are just hanging out catching some rays when the clouds aren't too thick... aren't they just the cutest thing?? :)


S&D

Too hot!!

Oh my gosh!! It was super hot yesterday, a record breaker, and everyone was feeling it. Instead of riding in the arena last night, we took the girls on a trail ride to play in the river.
Hubby walked Diamond down the hill in hand, we’re still only riding on flat ground until she’s bigger and more solid, and once across the RR tracks, he bridled her up and hopped in the saddle.
We came to a fork in the trail, where part goes through a small patch of woods, and another part continues next to the tracks. This is where we split up. TX, Acacia, Sugar and I went next to the tracks, and Hubby & D (who was in the lead) went through the woods. When we got to where we could see each other again, D had her head turned our way, keeping track of us. It’s funny to see how not-confident she really is... she puts on quite a good front most of the time!! LOL
Getting her out of the arena was a great idea. It gave meaning to the right and left rein aids for turning, she obviously couldn’t walk into a tree, so when asked to go right, she understood WHY!
I first brought Sugar into the water, and she pawed and pawed, snorted and sniffed the water like she had never seen it before... then hubby wanted to ride D into the water. She had been ponied across by Mama six weeks ago, and did great, this would be the first time in the creek by herself. She wasn’t having any of it!! Before it turned ugly, I grabbed her lead rope, and walked her down to the edge of the water and let them go. She walked right in!
(Although she’s throwing her head, and hubby looks pissed, what was really going on is that Diamond is a snacker and hasn’t quite figured out how to eat with the bit in her mouth. The grass gets caught on it, and she can’t swallow it. Once we cleared her mouth of grass, the head throwing quit and she quieted right down.)
By this time TX and Acacia were in the water, so I walked back up the bank to grab Sugar (who thought she was starving... she cleared the patch of grass like she hadn’t eaten in years... yeah, my 1100lb QH is starving!! LOL)
The six of us stood in the creek, letting the cool water run over our aching tired feet. When Sugar would get warm, she’d paw and splash water over herself. Diamond stood as close to Sugar as she could get, and Acacia seemed to care less about any of it. She was just happy to be outside.

Gaming???

At the barn I board at, we have quite a few gamers. They go to the local saddle clubs and run Barrels, Key Race, Pole Bending etc. and it all looks like so much fun!
In an effort to get Diamond out into the big big world, I try to take her EVERYWHERE. She LOVES watching and seeing what happens outside of the barn.
This weekend, we are taking her to a gaming show. We will go into the arena with all the chaos and crazy hot horses, and when they call our number, we will walk/trot through our events. The first will be Cal Stake, and then we’ll have a little rest as they go through some other events, until they get to Poles, Flags, and finally Key Race. So she knows what’s going on and expected of her when we get there, we practiced a little last night.
First, we did Cal Stake. She eyed that pole like she wasn’t sure what it was all about, and took a wide turn around it. After a couple times around, she didn’t mind it one bit and was turning nice and tight to the pole.
Next, we did poles and she was a complete CHAMP. After I walked her through twice, she knew the pattern and didn’t need as much assistance from me to complete the course.
After poles, we did Flags and she was NOT having the flag pole next to her (this is extremely difficult for us also, because she’s still a two hand “training triangle” type of steerer, so the pole is moving over her neck the entire time), and then she spooked when I put it into the bucket. She took a quick turn and a couple of trot steps, which being bareback, wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve hung on to, LOL!! So we went back to the barrel, and practiced hearing the pole move in and out of the barrel until she stood calm and relaxed with it being dropped and banging in the bucket. We then picked up the flag and carried it back to the first barrel. One thing I did notice though is that she didn’t mind the blue barrel nearly as much as she did the red one...
Finally, we did Key Race. She was a little confused with the poles stood in a square. She thought she was going to weave in and out of them like in pole bending, so it took some coaxing to get her through the center of the square, make a 180 turn, and back through the poles.
By the time we were done practicing, we had quite an audience, and Diamond LOVES performing for an audience, so she was being especially in tune with my cues, which was the exact opposite of how our practice started. And all this while a fellow boarder was practicing her polo whacking the balls all over and cantering around the perimeter of the arena. I think it was a great experience and practice for our first gaming show next weekend. Tonight, we’ll see if we can get a few more people and horses in the arena to get more chaos going

So tired....

Yesterday we had a very beautiful warm day in the Pacific Northwest. I took Diamond to the Arena and played with her and the big yellow ball for a while, letting her sniff it and kick it around. She’s still not 100% sure about it, but her curiosity is winning out a bit.
After a while, we had some boarders who wanted to ride, so we left the cool shade of the arena, and headed outside to the full sun round pen.

About a month ago, Trainer X and I attended a clinic about starting horses, we wanted to go and see if there were any new ideas we could learn, and ways to work with horses. The first thing the clinician told us was “Tired is your friend” to get the horse tired, and they will be less likely to fight the lesson... so I wanted to try that theory out with clipping Diamond.

I grabbed the cordless clippers, oiled them up nice and slick, and went back to the round pen.

She ran, she galloped, she cantered, she trotted, and she jogged whatever she wanted to do, the only rest allowed was if she would allow me to put the clippers while turned off, on her nose. As soon as she moved her head away, she had to move back to the rail and go around at any gait she desired, so long as it wasn’t a walk. She stopped many times, and came up to me and allowed me to touch her nose briefly, and a couple of times, she’d slow down and look at me, I’d hold the clippers up, and she’d give a big sigh and keep on moving, she didn’t want to be touched with them.... Finally, after about an hour of this game, she’s sweating and breathing hard so I grab her halter and lead rope and snubbed her to a post on the round pen. She pulled back and fought for about 10 seconds, and then just gave up and stood there while I clipped her nose, chin, and bridle path.

I hope that next time, she’ll be remember it wasn’t so bad, be more cooperative, and not have to tire herself out so much.


On a side note, it’s 12 days till we leave for Sacramento to watch Trainer X and Acacia compete in the Extreme Mustang Makeover Contest, and I have always wanted to ride a “wild mustang” so I asked TX to wait to work her until I got there and I could ride after the lesson...
As I mounted, a flock of birds landed on the roof of the arena and scared Acacia, and she scooted forward enough to knock me off balance (with one foot in the stirrup, the other half way over her back) but I recovered and didn’t fall off. Once we both were breathing steady, I asked her to move forward. We walked all over that arena, serpentines, straight lines, circles, and she was beyond AWESOME! She is so relaxed and comfortable to do her job; it was an amazing experience to watch the transformation from a wild scared horse who had never been touched before, to a comfortable, confident, willing saddle horse. GREAT JOB TX!!

Day at the Ocean

This Sunday of Memorial Weekend, we took Sugar and Baby Diamond to the ocean for some beach fun. Diamond got out of the trailer and thought it was so cool! She was checking everything out; Bikes, cars, kites, dogs, the big big water... all sorts of distractions for her. She stood great to get tacked up, and was alert and absorbing everything that was going on. Unfortunately, I had switched some tack around at home, and grabbed the wrong bridle, so I didn’t have her bit, she only had her halter and lead rope, with a pair of reins. We started out walking the horses in hand and Diamond quickly became very calm and relaxed, so Hubby hopped up before we knew it, he was trotting past Sugar and I, they were going over drift wood logs, checking out the sea weed that had washed up on the beach, and crunching over empty crab shells.
We played on the beach, and in the water, it was a perfect day, about an hour into the ride, the clouds burned off, and we had blue sky, and a mild wind
Sugar had a harder time absorbing the change of scenery, and we spent a bit more time walking in hand before mounting, but once we did, it was incredible!
I’ve ridden many rental horses on the beach, they are pluggy, and herd sour horses that drag their feet on the way out, and death trot on the way back in. This was so different! These were my own horses, and I had done the training on Diamond to make her the confident little girl who took the big wide ocean all in stride.

Riding, avoiding the bit, and other fun stuff last night

I have been riding Diamond consistently now, about 15-20 minutes at a time, and only at the walk in our soft arena. On our last ride, she had decided that she was going to pull against my rein aids, so I had planned to ground drive her before riding this time. She has always done great being driven from the ground, and did just as great the first few rides, but has decided to start testing the waters. Normal kid stuff (I have a teenager at home, I know all about testing the waters LOL)
I ask Hubby to tack her up, and let him know that I’m going to ground drive her before riding tonight. He comes out of the barn with the headstall and riding reins, and declares “I’m just going to ride her”. Ok, this didn’t sit well with me for a couple of reasons. First, I want to correct any mis-behavior before it becomes a habit, and second, he knows NOTHING about horses other than you get on, kick them, and go.... (Yes, it drives me NUTS and he has no desire to learn anything else)
Knowing that one ride, that he desperately wanted, would not derail her training; I gave in and let him ride. Instead of riding in the arena, he wanted to ride in the fresh green grass... what does Diamond want to do? Eat it of course!! So now, they are in a battle for her head. She wants it down eating the grass, and he wants it up pointing off into the sunset. After watching him struggle for a minute with her, I went over and brought her to the gravel parking lot where the grass would not be a distraction. Hubby seemed to be happy with the intervention, but then became frustrated because she wouldn’t move. Well that’s because she doesn’t understand that kicking her sides means to move, she thinks she’s in trouble. This is a problem because hubby doesn’t want to learn to be a better rider. He doesn’t want to learn the cues I have taught her to move. First we cluck once, that says “please move”, then I squeeze with my calves, that means “Move forward” and finally, if it’s needed, I squeeze with all my leg, sorta digging my heels into her sides, and that means “MOVE NOW DAMMIT!” So, hubby is kick kick kicking her and gets frustrated and says “I need a pair of spurs!” OH NO YOU DON’T! There is NO reason to spur Diamond when she is simply not responding because it’s unclear as to what’s being asked of her. I again, go up to them, take the left rein in my hand, and lead her forward. She walks to the end of the parking lot and freezes. She does not want to walk on to the gravel road (from the gravel parking lot). Now mind you, she’s been out of the parking lot plenty of times, we’ve hand walked her many times up and down the road. After some encouraging from me, and some major praise at every step, she finally got all four feet in the road. We kept walking about another 15-20 feet with stops about every four steps. We turned around, and she walked non-stop to the barn. She knew where home was!! LOL
After that frustrating experience, Hubby gets down and grabs the driving reins and says “She needs to steer and stop better” (Boy, isn’t that what I said to begin with?? LOL)
I change to the full cheek snaffle, and we go into the arena where Trainer X is free lunging Acacia in a perfect circle with no lead or line on her. Acacia was so focused on the task at hand; we did not disturb her one bit! (Good Girl Acacia!!).
I put the ground driving reins on and ground drove her all over the front half of the arena, stopping, backing, right, left, serpentines, figure eights, everything I could think of to keep her paying attention to me and not the commotion in the other half of the arena... and she responded perfectly. I made sure my aids were consistent, and weren’t any stronger than when I’m in the saddle (we tend to get a little braver and stronger on the ground than when we’re in the saddle at the mercy of this 1,000lb animal LOL)
After I was satisfied that she was responding properly, Hubby got back on and I observed from a distance... it’s amazing the things you can see when you’re not involved in the situation.
Diamond responded much better to the right and left rein aids, she did not stop when asked, but took about 5 more steps each time, while pushing against the bit, or throwing her head up to avoid it altogether.

To keep that avoidance from happening, I am going to start riding her in a running martingale,

which will encourage her to keep her head down, and also build some of those much needed back muscles.
As a side note, she now lunges on the line both directions!! WOOHOO!!!

Lunging

Last night Diamond learned how to lunge on the line.
She really had no idea what I was asking her to do, until I thought and thought of how to break it down to her.
Step 1 – Hold lead line in left hand and have D facing me
Step 2 – Lightly tap her left shoulder in a rhythmic manner until she moves it out (even a lean was good enough to stop the tapping)
Step 3 – Ask her to keep that shoulder out and walk one circle around
After what felt like tapping for an hour, she finally leaned out, and I immediately stopped the tapping and gave her lots of good girl praise! The second time, I think I tapped longer, and I so wanted to quit because she was just staring at me with her “I hate you” look!! LOL She did try to run me down that time, but luckily, I moved out of the way just in time, and was able to continue the tapping. After a couple more “mow mom over” attempts, she finally got that if she just leaned away, or took a step to move her shoulder to the outside, that annoying tapping stopped.
We finished with a trotting circle and all it took was a ton of patience, and about 20 minutes. I am so very proud of my girl!!!
Tonight, we will review lunging to the left, and perhaps start the lesson on the right side.

Now what??

Part of our training process is sacking out. We’ve had one session with the tarp, and after a while, she accepted it, walked on it, and didn’t let it concern her. Round two with the tarp wasn’t so successful.
I tacked Diamond up, grabbed the tarp, and the big yellow exercise ball and out to the round pen we went. Diamond was more concerned on the way out about the big yellow ball than she was the tarp, so I thought it would go fairly smooth.
Once out to the round pen, I took some baling twine and tied the tarp to the saddle horn. She stood there fine until I shook it out to spread it over her rump and that’s when she took off like a buckin bronc. She bucked her way around the round pen and finally figured it wasn’t going to go flying off in the wind, nor was it going to eat her. At this point, she lunged both ways around the round pen. Occasionally, when she made turns, the tarp would get under her front feet, and she’d just stop and either back out of it, or wait for me to come untangle her. Somewhere, at sometime, she has learned that if she gets stuck, to just hold tight and not thrash about, that Mom will come rescue her... and so I do.
Once she was going great with the tarp, I grabbed my big yellow exercise ball and started tossing that in her direction. She HATED that ball! If the ball was thrown in front of her, she came to a sliding stop and spun around to take off in the opposite direction. If it was coming behind her, she picked up speed to avoid it. And if it accidently hit her square in the ribs, she jumped! I had hoped to work with her long enough to get her comfortable with the ball, but she was so worked up and panting, that I had to stop. We will work with the ball tonight and for as many nights as it takes for her to not be afraid of it. She also managed, in her frenzy to get away from the ball, to shred the tarp...
To cool her out, we ponied her around from Mama Spurty. Hubby and Mama took Diamond around the yard, in the arena, down the road, and even past some cars. What started out as a disaster waiting to happen with Diamond wanting to be in the lead, and Mama wanting nothing to do with the ponying crap, turned into a very good lesson for all involved. They are almost ready to pony on a trail ride 
I also rode Diamond last night for a few minutes, and she is really getting that when I squeeze with my legs, it means to move forward. Even with the “chaos” of Hubby cantering around on Mama, and TX walking Acacia around, D stayed focused on me and what I wanted... she did however think that when we stopped to chat in the far corner of the arena, that it was time to roll, but thankfully for me, she stayed upright 

STAND

This past weekend, we were playing with the girls in the pasture aisle way, and they were eating grass when I decided I wanted to see if Diamond would stand for mounting. Turns out she doesn’t... So, off to the round pen we went.
I had the halter and lead rope on, and tried again to jump up and mount, and she trotted off, so I pulled her back around to me and tried again. Again, she trotted off, so I unhooked the lead rope and sent her around the round pen. She took off at a canter and didn’t want to slow down which was fine. She could burn that extra energy because it would just make the lesson that much easier.
When she finally slowed down I asked for the Whoa, and she looked at me and kept trotting... NOT OK! So back to the canter she went.
We did lots of changing direction to reinforce to her that I control her movements and finally her speed.
After about 15 minutes of this, she was all too happy to stop and stand my mom. I hopped up again, and she took a step. Down I came and back around she went.
Finally, she figured out that if she just stood still, and let me hop on, I would get back off and she could be done and go back to muching that fresh green grass.

More Ground Work

Baby Diamond has come so far since she came to us in December it’s just amazing! I love every minute of the transformation from a baby horse that would spook at her own shadow and try to suckle my mare to a young horse that has ground manners, can lead, load, bathe, and pick up her feet. She no longer thinks cars are going to eat her, and can calmly walk down the road in hand just like Big Sister Sugar. She no longer fights the saddle, and bit, she stands calmly to get tacked up.
All this is wonderful, but in light of the accident with TX and Acacia spooking at the blackberry vine, we thought we’d take the three girls in the arena and do some ground work with them, just see how steady they really are...
After we let them run around and get their rolling done and bucking over with, we pulled out the tarp. Tarps are not Diamond’s favorite item, but she will now walk by the tarped boat in the parking lot without trying to run away from it, or crawl in my lap, so I was very curious to see how she’d handle one being put on her.


She was the first to go, so it was still nicely folded up and quite small so it only took a moment to get it over her back. However, when we unfolded it and it made all the crinkling noise, she was not a happy camper! Once she discovered she wasn’t going to be able to get away from it, she stood there like a good little girl and let me rub it all over her body, over her head, under her belly... everywhere. While she didn’t look too impressed with Hubby and me for subjecting her to this, she didn’t try to rear or bolt. We secured it under her halter and led her around the arena, and over the bridge, and finally asked her to walk on the tarp, which she did after a little coaxing...
We did the same with Acacia who again tolerated it, but wasn’t overly joyed about the situation.
And Sugar, who could have cared less, marched right over the bunched up tarp like it was a hill of grass, and proudly wore her superwoman tarp cape around the arena and over the bridge (grudgingly over the bridge!! LOL)

Just Me and Mom

Saturday was a busy day for our family. It was Hubby’s birthday, and him and Son, along with some other guys went to the AMA Supercross at Quest Field, so that left TX and myself with a day to fill with quality horse time.
We went out to Enumclaw to check out the “Extreme Trail Challenge” at V2Farms, we got some great trail obstacle ideas to try on all the girls, after that we went back to the barn to play with our horses.
It was to be the first day of actual riding for Diamond. I brought her in from the pasture while Sugar watched very inquisitively wondering what was up... it’s usually Sugar that gets brought out while Diamond stays in the pasture... We tacked her up, she didn’t fight the new metal bit at all, and looked cute as a button when we walked out of the barn down to the round pen.
One of the barn owner’s kids was mowing the grass and asked if he needed to stop so I could work with Diamond. I said “NO! Keep mowing that grass.” Mowing the grass is one of those everyday parts of life that Diamond will have to get used to, and I’d rather do it now than when I’m walking down a road to get to a trail and pass by someone while I’m in the saddle, so this was a perfect opportunity for Diamond to learn a valuable life lesson... Mowers don’t eat horses! Needless to say, she wasn’t convinced and basically refused to go on that side of the round pen, so I pushed her over there on her next time around and boy can that little girl buck! After she went around two or three times, she was fine with it and realized it wasn’t one of the horse eating varieties and we began our first lesson under saddle with a rider and no one leading her around.
She wanted to walk off when I stepped in the stirrup, and TX corrected her right away, which made me lose my balance and kick TX in the shoulder... (oops! Sorry!!) Once I was in the saddle, Diamond stood stone still really well, so I used some flexing exercises to get her moving while squeezing with my legs and she got it. She understood that meant to move which ever way her nose was being pulled. We walked around the round pen for about 15 minutes, we went both right and left, and through the center doing figure eight’s. She got it! She whoa’d and backed perfectly. I was quite impressed with my little girl! Guess all that ground work paid off.

Water Crossing Part Deux

Last night the weather was beautiful, TX, Hubby, Son and I all took a horse down to the creek to play in the water. Hubby walked Big Sugar for some exercise, I walked Baby Diamond for some experience, TX walked Acacia for the experience, and Son rode Mama Spurty to use as our pony horse. We walked down the big hill, past the llama’s, barking dogs, a rummage sale, and across a very busy road. There was only a moment of confusion when Baby Diamond and I were behind TX and Acacia, she didn’t like that too much so we switched places and all was right with Acacia’s world again. Her and Diamond bonded quickly and became fast friends and buddies. All the horses went right over the rail road tracks with no problem, and as we got into the woods, we stopped and ate some dinner and let the horses relax and munch some grass. After dinner, we continued on to the creek where Hubby walked Baby Diamond into the water and let her splash around for a minute, and then he switched her out for Acacia who also hopped right in the water and began playing around. Boy this was not expected at all. Acacia was having so much fun she decided she wanted to walk up and down the river and wasn’t ready to get out yet! After we finally convinced her to scoot out and let someone else have some fun, hubby used Mama Spurty to pony Baby Diamond across the creek. It gets pretty deep in the middle, but Diamond didn’t mind one bit! She followed right behind Spurty and took it like a little champ!

Acacia also got her turn being ponied across and did fantastic as well! All the horses had a fun and very positive experience with the water, and I have no doubts that when we cross the creek under saddle, there will be no hesitation in any of them

Water Crossing

We are fortunate enough to have some trails within walking distance from the barn where the horses will cross a road, go over some rail road tracks, through a creek, past barking dogs, and some cows and llama’s that the neighbors own. With the nice weather, we’ve decided to take Baby Diamond on a couple walks... just like walking the dog, but it’s a horse... LOL.
She’s very inquisitive and interested in seeing the world outside the barn. Everything is new and exciting to her. She sees birds fly overhead and she stops to look, she see’s the dogs and she stops to look, there isn’t any splating or bolting, she just wants to see what’s there, and that’s a great thing. We have walked her down the big hill, across the road, through the woods, over the rail road tracks, and up to the creek.
The first day, she sniffed it, took a drink, and proceeded to jump right in! Hubby was standing on a rock about 3 feet into the creek and it about knocked him down!
The 2nd walk was much less eventful since she had already seen the water; she just stood in the water as if to say “Well, are we going to go to the other side or what?”
Today, it’s supposed to be one of the nicest days of spring so far, so Hubby and I are going to take Baby Diamond, and Sugar along with TX and Acacia and we are going to go for a walk down to the creek and let the horses play and introduce Acacia to the water.

My First Vet Visit

Saturday we had the vet out to the barn for spring shots. While he was there, we were talking about Baby D and her training when I asked about her teeth. He stuck his finger in her mouth and promptly said they needed to be done. So, we get her drugged up and he began to float her teeth. After the floating, we had her wolf teeth pulled. Hubby is saving them and showing them to everyone who comes by... such a proud papa. He beams, they gag... LOL
By the evening, she was fully recovered from the anesthesia and hungry... we took that as a good sign and gave her dinner. She ate it all, so her mouth must not be hurting too much.
Dr E did say to give her a week to recover so she’s on some R&R and just being a baby this week. We took advantage of her being out of it and gave her a complete shave, nose, chin, bridle path and ears. She looks so cute now!
She is coming along so nicely that I’ve lent out her training saddle to TX for using with Acacia and I’m going to start putting my riding saddle on for our lessons.
My other mare Sugar has a favorite habit of rearing, so I had him look at her as well just to make sure there isn’t any medical reason for her rearing, and just as TX and I suspected, she’s just a spoiled rotten brat and rearing is her scare tactic for getting out of work... Dr E gave some very interesting ways to overcome that obstacle as well... I’ve tried the nice approach of rewarding good behavior, but I do believe that negative behavior has consequences as well.

Back at it again

Boy it has been a busy month. TX & I have adopted, retrained, and rehomed an abandoned horse from the barn. I found a stud horse for Sugar, and now it’s just waiting for the perfect time. (Am I ready to be a grandma?? LOL) and we have attended another show, where BOTH Sugar & Diamond did fabulous, Diamond went over the bridge in the trail class, (WOOHOO!!) and performed the rest of the obstacles nicely. She placed 3rd behind two older horses that are more experienced. Now it’s back to the daily training with Baby Diamond.
I have continued with our existing training regimen, consisting of exercise in the round pen, controlling her speed, direction, and movements, bitting up, tacking up in the cross ties, standing ground tied, lowering her head when asked, and ground driving. We have moved from turns and WHOA, to backing as well. And as usual, Diamond is doing great, taking to all of it nicely, and nothing seems to throw her for a loop into outer space. She is still leery of the clippers, but is getting better with each session.
We are working on the response and reward system. So when she stands quietly, the clippers go off, when she’s wiggling around, walking circles, throwing her head, I keep those clippers on, and touching her. The times of quiet standing are getting longer and longer, and it’s almost time to step it up a notch out in the round pen... If she stands quietly and let’s me clip her with the clippers, great, but if she moves off, then it’s lap time!

Ground Driving

This past weekend was full of fun and exciting times for Baby D. Son & I got her all brushed out after a few days of rolling in the mud, grabbed the saddle, pad and bridle, with her still in the cross ties we tacked her all up. This was a first time being tacked up while tied, and she didn’t try to avoid anything at all. She’s really coming along nicely.
We round pen her at the trot for a minute and then hook the lead rope to the bit and get her flexing and following her head really nicely.
We grab the driving reins, run them through the stirrups and ask her to walk on. With just the slightest of cues, she follows the direction both right and left. We worked on those two for about 5 minutes circling, weaving, and doing figure 8’s in the round pen when the big test comes. I gently pull back on the reins and ask “Whoa” and she STOPS. No head throwing, no rear, no extra steps, just a complete full stop!
I ask son if he’d like a ride around the round pen and he excitedly said “YES” so up he climbs, and we walk around with the lead rope. We are not riding her at this time, so these few and far between “rides” are just for her to get used to someone being above her, and so far, she’s taking to it like a fish takes to water.
Since then, we’ve had husband on using the lead rope tied to her halter for direction, and again, she did awesome! She’s coming along so nicely, I’m very excited for her to turn 3 in August and for the real training to start!!

Our first show...

Friday evening we got all bathed up and pretty for our first Western Pleasure show in Auburn. I did a half French braid in Baby D’s tail and tied the obligatory red ribbon around the bottom of the braid just in case. She does not normally kick, but I’d rather be safe than sorry...
Saturday we woke up early and headed out. When we arrived, she had Big Sister Sugar and Auntie Sitka for comfort, so she stuck close to them while we found our stalls.
The In Hand Trail Class for 3& under was the first one called, so off we went to go check out the course. It started off with a slalom trot through some cones and over 4 ground poles, we came to the corner where we picked up the coat, and walked to the next corner, and hung it back up. Then we were to side pass over a log, but that didn’t go so well since we didn’t practice it at home. We walked through the “L”, but were unable to back around the corner, we went into the diamond where a turn on the forehand was perfectly executed, and over the bridge, which she also wasn’t too sure about, and didn’t walk over, but around. For our commanding performance, we won a 1st place ribbon! WOOHOO!! This is just the first of many shows that Baby Diamond will attend this summer, and I am planning on showing her in as many in hand classes as I can. We may even make an appearance or two at my friend’s gaming shows just so she can have more exposure to different horses and atmospheres
And i promise to post pictures as soon as i get them downoaded from the camera and figure out how to do it :)

Iz a SHOW Pony

TX has convinced me to bring Sugar my 8yo to the WP show this Saturday. On TUESDAY she says "We've gotta take our horses this weekend and see how they do"... ummm ok, sure, why not?? No reason except we've been concentrating on this OTHER mare that was left (abandoned) at the barn I board at, trying to find her a good loving home and I have not been riding Sugar for about a month. Thankfully, Sugar has had some sort of WP training at some point in her life, and has a great headset and when she wants to can slow her jog down and look so perfect. I however, have NEVER been to a WP show, and am slightly nervous of this... a “what am I getting myself into” sort of nervousness.
As I'm looking at the classes to see which ones to sign up for, I notice a "In Hand Trail 3yo and under" I have the PERFECT horse for this class!! Diamond is now going to the show!! We are going to do this trail class and have fun at it. I have had NO time to prepare her for anything we might encounter... not that I know what we'll see, but I imagine it will have some logs to go over, and a tarp maybe (which she's not too sure of those tarps...LOL) but the point of this class for me and Diamond is to get used to going to strange places, and still behaving and performing to her ability. Whether we place first or last, is not important... this is a learning experience for the both of us and I'm sure we'll have a blast! I think I’m looking more forward to the trail class with Diamond than I am riding my own horse in the W/J classes!!

Clean Shavin????

I am having a heck of a time getting Diamond to allow me to clip her... anywhere. She eyes those blue clippers and sees the devil himself sitting there.... and that’s before they’ve even been turned on!! I have rubbed her with them (while off) and yes, she does let me do that very grudgingly, and she will now even allow me to rub them on her face when turned on, but as soon as they get into position to clip, she gets scared.
So I thought, maybe if she saw my other mare Sugar get a trim, she’d be a little better about it. I had both horses in the cross ties facing each other, and trimmed Sugar with out incident. Chin, nose, bridle path, ears, everything I wanted to trim and she stood there like the great mare that she is.
The whole time Diamond stared at us like we were growing horns right in front of her. I left Sugar in her cross ties, and moved over to Diamond with the clippers on. She did her cross-tie dance (you know the one... move forward, backwards, paw, paw, snort, right and left dance...) After she calmed down, I stood there just rubbing her neck with my hand while I held the clippers in front of her so she could see them and smell them if she wanted. After a few minutes, she decided that her curiosity was stronger than her fear and she took a step forward and put her nose on the clippers.... hey those aren’t that scary after all... She was perfectly fine with them in the position they were in, but as soon as I moved them, she wasn’t having any of it... so back to the rubbing and petting we went. After a few more of these advance and retreats with the clippers, I was able to move them around and touch her nose with the “wrong (non-clipping)” end and move it around... The feel and noise doesn’t appear to bother her at this point, so I turn them around and think I’m going to clip her muzzle.... As soon as the noise changed from just running to cutting something, it was all over for her... it’s changed and she’s not comfortable with that. Finally, before the battery died, I managed to clip about ½ of her nose one or two hairs at a time, and none of her chin... She is quite a site to look at with ½ of her face nice and smooth, and the other ½ long... but hey, we aren’t out to win any beauty pageants yet, so who cares... I’d rather take it slow and clip her as she’ll let me instead of getting her cooperation through fear and pain.

Who's gonna make me????

It has been brought to my attention that dear hubby, while his intentions are good as gold, is not the one to work with little Diamond. He is a push over big time. He’s afraid that he’ll make her mad at him and she won’t love him anymore...
I can relate. I used to feel the same way about my 8yo mare Sugar. When I first brought Sugar home, I was pretty clueless. Sure, I’ve ridden lots of horses off and on for many years. I would be the fearless one to “get on anything”. Boy was I stupid!!
I bought Sugar from a lady who lived close to me, and had bought her for her daughter’s first horse... I was told that Sugar was full of “Vinegar”. Oh, ok, what does that mean? Well it meant that Sugar would flat out refuse to go to work for the daughter. She would toss her head about 30 feet from her pasture gate, and the daughter would get down, walk Sugar back to the pasture, and be done.
I was pretty sure that I was a confident enough rider that she wouldn’t pull that crap with me. Boy was I stupid!!
We bring her to the barn where I board at, and Sugar & I proceed into the arena all tacked up and pretty looking. I grab the mounting block, and hop right on. Sugar takes off like a bat outa hell bucking her way across the arena, and I fall off about 3 bucks into it. I get back up, and remember from my younger days “You GOTTA get back on, or the horse wins” ok, I dust off my pride, take a look around to make sure no one saw me, and go back to the mounting block to try it again... She was PERFECT! It was like a mounted a different horse... ok, so long story short, this goes on for about a month. Every time I go to ride, she bucks me off, I get back on, and all is happy.
One day a group of people from my barn decide to go for a trail ride. I tack Sugar up, I’ve round penned her, and we’re ready to rock and roll... Sugar had other ideas... she decided at that moment to rear up, and fall over backwards. I did not have time to get out of the way, and she landed on me. Now my horse has hurt me and BAD! So when it came time to work with her again, I had the kid gloves on big time. I would stop at asking, and she knew it. That mare had my number and she wasn’t going to give it up without a fight... Thankfully the barn that I board at has the world’s best owner, and she helped me work with Sugar retraining her with bitting up since that appeared to be her problem. Even after all that, I still was too afraid to get on her, and the owner wasn’t going to risk her neck to do it for me so I was stuck....
Enter Trainer X. She had been training and working with my Dad’s horses and he recommended her to me. Thank God, after I tell her the story of the rear, she still agrees to come out and take a look.
She worked with Sugar twice a week for about 2 months. She made the right thing easy, and the wrong thing hard. When Sugar reared, she went to work in the round pen. Not for 5 minutes, but until Sugar’s lungs burned and she got it through her head that rearing was bad and it sucked to do. We also discovered her problems were due to 1) an ill fitting saddle, I’ve since bought a treeless 2) she’s not broke to a snaffle, gotta use the twisted wire gag, and 3) the rope cinch irritated her sensitive belly
In the mean time, I’m also working with Sugar on the ground in the round pen, and spending quality time with her just bonding and being her friend. I practically lived at the barn last summer, we would go for in hand walks, graze behind the barn, grooming while she was grazing, just sitting in her pasture reading while she hung out, and eventually she decided that I was not the enemy, but rather someone who loved her very much. Now, Sugar would go way above and beyond for me, and I know that she will not do anything to hurt me in any way. If there’s a problem, she’ll tell me, and I listen. We now have a GREAT relationship and she is a very willing partner.
Training with Diamond has gone much the same way... her previous owners told me that she was “A Man’s Horse” because she preferred the husband over the wife. I’ve discovered that was simply because the husband wouldn’t put up with her pushiness and made her behave. Now Diamond is much more attentive and responsive to me than she is to my husband. Why is this? It’s because she views me as her leader. I am Alpha Mare to her and I will protect her from the big horse eating lion lurking behind the tree. I am firm but fair with her. She knows that she can get away with not cooperating with hubby, and she can’t with me. She’s bought herself 20-30 minutes of not working just by moving her head around to avoid the bit before he calls me out to the round pen. For every action, there is an equal reaction. When she moves away to avoid the bit, or the saddle, my reaction is to make her run. She has learned that Mama don’t mess around and while I may be the one to make her work, she respects me so much more than she does him... and until he “gets it” they will continue to have disagreements because why would she work when he’s not going to make her??

More bit work

So every night I've been doing the bitting up work with D. She's learning that while it's not that bad, she really would prefer to not have anything other than grass in her mouth, so she's gotten a little evasive with the bitting up.
However, this Sunday, she was great!
I round penned her for a few minutes to re-establish that respect/Alpha role and calmly and quietly walked to her. I held her nose from the side, and put the bit in her mouth. She only turned her head slightly once. Once she was bitted up, I worked on her walk/halt/turn around voice commands for a few minutes. She is doing great. I can almost stand still and not move in front of her for the “Turn Around” command, and she loves the Walk command... so much less work than her trotting around. After about 15 minutes of this, I left her alone to spend quality time with the bit.
About 30 minutes later, I returned to the round pen with the saddle and pad. She wasn’t too fond of the saddle pad, and ran away from it, so I made her work at the trot for a minute until she decided it was easier to stand there and let me put the pad on (and it didn’t even eat her!!! LOL). Then I held the saddle for about 20 minutes while she sniffed it. I did this until I could walk around her from both sides and she wouldn’t move. Each time she moved away, she was sent to work for two or three circles. Finally, she stood perfectly still and let me put the saddle on and adjust the cinch and tighten it. She didn’t want to move at first, but soon she realized she could, and we worked again at the walk for about 5 minutes, and then I left her alone in the round pen all tacked up to get used to it on her back.... She is so adorable all tacked up like big Sister Sugs.
I went back out to the round pen after an hour or so armed with a pocket full of treats. The first thing I did was give her a treat. She never once tried to scratch the bridle of saddle off, no rolling or anything. I took the bridle off, she opened her mouth right up and let the bit slide out, I gave her another treat. I loosened the girth on the saddle and gave her another treat. I took the saddle off purposely trailing the off stirrup and girth across her back. That's just how we take our saddles off, since the stirrup usually falls down anyway, so she may as well get used to that now. No flinching, moving, or anything, so yes, she got another treat.
I took her in the wash rack, washed her hoofs off, tied her in the cross ties, cleaned her feet with out any problems, and yes, another treat. I put her in her stall, put the blanket on her and tucked her in for the night.. she was a very good girl. I am very proud of my little Diamond baby.

Bitting Up

So last night was the big night... let's see what Diamond thinks of the bit. I am borrowing the rubber snaffle from TX, took the brow band and throat latch off the head stall, and out to the round pen we went. Diamond isn't particularly found of the round pen, this is where she has to work, so she’s a little less than enthusiastic about going there. After only one stop and the question you know she’s asking “Are you sure you want to go there... there’s all this nice green grass to munch on right here...” we made it.
Now Diamond has figured out that it’s much easier to come and stand quietly by Mom, so she didn’t run off to work, which made my life easier. I took the halter off her, put the bit up to her mouth, and she turned her head. Ok, no big deal. I followed her head around, put the bit up to her mouth again, and she opened her choppers right up, allowed the bit to go into her mouth, and the headstall to be put over her ears.
OMG! WHERE DID THIS HORSE COME FROM? She has NEVER had any of this done to her; she is GREEN GREEN GREEN as the spring time grass. Everything is a first for her, and she’s taking it like an old pro!
She stood there for about 3 seconds with her mouth open waiting for this thing to fall out of her mouth. When it didn’t, she closed her mouth like she’d been carrying a bit her entire life!
I went to do my chores and she went to wandering around the round pen. Hubby came out to see how we were doing, and was amazed it was a done deal already. We checked on her quite a few times from the barn, and never once did she pitch a fit or get pissed about this foreign object being in her mouth.
After we finished with the chores, we went out and lunged her for about 10 minutes, practiced her “Whoa” and she did perfectly. She was not distracted by the bit at all!
We removed the bit and headstall, she opened her mouth to allow it to drop out, and to the arena for a well deserved roll in the dirt. Today will be another test since she has an idea of what is coming... but I don’t expect anything other than cooperation from her!

It's saddle riding time!

Saturday after our wonderful trail ride between rain showers, we brought Diamond out of the barn and down to the round pen. I had Trainer X with me for guidance (hell who am I kidding, I was throwing her under the bus!) and her wintec saddle. I put the pad on Diamond and she took a step sideways, the pad fell down, and she ran a half circle to the other side of the round pen. Ok, that's not bad really. We walked over to her, put the pad back on, she stood still. GREAT! I gently set the saddle on her, walked around to the other side, and gently grabbed the cinch... DAMN! TOO SHORT! TX adjusted it and I grabbed it again. I got it tightened enough so that the saddle wouldn't fall before Diamond became uncomfortable and move away. She went about a quarter of the way around and stopped. We approached her again, gave her lots of pats and loves, and tightened the cinch again. When she moved off this time, I made her move around a few times. I do not want to restrict her, but she has to know the right thing is to stand without moving, and if she does move, she's going to keep on moving until I stop her. After a few circles, she was willing to stand still again and we tightened the cinch enough to hold the saddle in place under our weight. TX took the leap of faith and stuck her foot in the stirrup, hopped up and down a few times, Diamond pinned her ears back, she was not sure about this new behavior, but she wasn’t going to run circles again, so even though her ears told us she wasn’t excited about this, she stood still trusting us to not hurt her. I sent hubby to the barn for treats and when he came back, we told him to mount. He did, and she did GREAT! We lead them around the round pen for a couple of circles, tied the lead rope to her halter, and let him guide her. She did perfect - Like she’s been doing this her whole life. Turned, stopped, everything without so much as a buck or head toss. We all were on cloud nine – this couldn’t have gone much smoother. TX – she didn’t get any new bumps or bruises, Hubby – has broke his first horse, and me – well I’m just excited to have found this little Diamond in the rough, and to know that she trusts us completely. This week, we’ll bit her up and start teaching her to give to the bit.

First Ride???

Last night, after the chores at the barn were done, and all the horses had been tucked in and fed, we took our little Diamond and her bestest buddy Sugs out to the arena to frolic and play without their blankets on.
They had a blast and ran around chasing each other bucking, rearing, and jumping straight up in the air for about 15 minutes. After it settled down a little, and they decided they wanted to be with hubby and myself, we took the opportunity for some training.
Hubby was leaning over her (picture a guy leaning on his shiny car... that's what it looked like) just putting some weight on her so she can get the feel of it. I grabbed the step stool again, let her sniff it out until she was no longer curious about it and put it next to her as I would if I were going to mount (may as well get her used to this stuff now right...) she moved away from it, so I picked it back up and just held it in my hand while I rubbed her all over. After a few more minutes, I put it back on the ground. This time she stood still and let me continue to rub her without moving from it. I went to both sides, and she stood perfectly still. I stood on the stool and continued to rub her, she was completely unconcerned with me being "taller" all of a sudden. I got down and went to the other side and continued to rub her all over.
I had hubby get on the stool so she could "see" both of us up there. Again, calm as a cucumber. I had him swing his leg over (he's a little taller than I am, so it was easier for him to do that) and actually sit on her. She could have cared less!! What a little trooper she is! I had her take a few steps, we walked a circle, she looked at his feet dangling, took a picture on the phone, sent it to my friend who found us this mare, and got off before she decided it wasn't all that cool any more and threw a fit.
Hubby is on cloud nine, he is so happy with his little baby, this is truly a match made in heaven for him. We still are going to saddle her up this weekend, and we just might get another ride in there. We shall see....

time

So we've had our little girl for a month now. Exactly one month and two days. and of those 33 days, we've had snow or rain for at least 30 of them. Sorta makes training hard.... We have started working on respect by lunging and working in the round pen when it's not 1)Frozen, 2)Snowy & 3) a lake, so needless to say, not as much or as often as i'd like. She has gone from absolutley refusing to move (anything other than her feet flying backwards at my head LOL) to being able to control her movements and speed quite nicely. She still does give the occasional buck, but they are getting far and few between.
So far, we've introduced her slowly to our other two mares, one of which is 28, the other is 8. Both had to school her as to her position in the pasture, but all 3 get along nicely now. Occasionally there is some squeeling as D tries to move up a spot, but Sug is having none of it, and Mama just flat out won't put up with any crap from a 2 year old with an attitude. Those two have helped out so much. It's amazing what the herd can do for us humans. D's previous owner's mare babied and coddled her so much so that D was top mare. She would eat first, leave the pasture first, decide when to graze first, she was clearly the herd leader which i would imagine was hard on her being the baby and not knowing what to do really. I think she's much more comfortable now with Mama and Sug's to follow.
So on with the training... We have introduced the bareback pad and saddle pad to her. She's willingly stood there and let us put them on her. I even tighteded the girth on the bareback pad and let her move around to feel it on her belly. She took it all like the little champ she is and didn't freak out at all!
We've bathed her in the wash rack, she thinks she's an ostrich. If she hides her head, the hose can't find her :)
We've blanketed her - at first she wanted nothing to do with that big green monster trying to eat her up, and now we can put it on and off right over her head. She got tangled up in another one that was "modified" to fit her - i thought we were in for it when i saw her, but she stood nice and quiet and let me take it off - today, she tripped on it while putting it on, almost hit the ground, caught herself, and then stood there for me to untangle her.
I've climbed above her on the step stool and flapped my arms on both sides of her body imitating the sound and feel of the stirrups and again, she stood there trusting everything i was doing was not going to hurt her. My husband has leaned over her and gone for a few steps. Again, she got a little wide eyed, but didn't buck or rear. She didn't do anything except take a few quick steps and then settle right down...
this weekend, it's saddle time.