# Re-Training My Lucky Little Lemon



## LemonZeus (Oct 6, 2013)

This horse Lemonade is the most irritating little mare. She's so soft and willing to throw herself into work on the ground, then under saddle she's a whole different beast. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I really should introduce her.

Here's Lemonade (Show name tentatively Lucky Little Lemon-thoughts?):









Seriously, look at that face. It screams "Grumpy Mare"









My dad bought her at auction, loved the way she moved in the ring (of course did not consult me whatsoever). He loves the heck out of her. And Lems loves him. They're buds. Problem is, he trail rides 10 or 15 times a year, and she's the type that _has_ to be in work, or she gets wild. So, I work with her in the meantime. All in all, for an auction horse, she turned out incredibly well. She's trained in reining, and is darn good at it. She responds to cues so quickly, and really gets into her job. A little too much. She works herself up and gets a little too hot for my taste. Mr. Plunky Zeus is more my speed. If _he_ got any slower, he'd be going backwards.

But anyway, that's Lemons. Quick to learn, quick to respond, quick to get you off her back. I'll be working with her and my trainer throughout the summer, so I thought I might start a journal on her. Gives me something to do, and keep track of her progress. So, without further ado...

*Lucky Little Lemon's Training Journal!*​
Biggest things we need to work on:
-Accepting the bit. She gapes her mouth and does what she can to avoid it. We got her like that, makes me think she came from a heavy-handed rider.
-Figuring out what is a cue, and what isn't. She responds to everything. Scratch your nose? Must be a cue for a spin.
-Catching when loose. She's a terror to catch. We've come quite a ways with this one.
For me:
-Working off seat. She's not fond of leg cues, works extremely well off seat.
-Light hands. She'll let you know if you're too heavy.
-Body awareness. She'll let you know if your shoulders have slumped forward.
...among others. We'll see what else crops up!

I might make her out to be a dangerous, crazy girl, but rest assured, she's not that bad. We're doing lessons, I'm confident, minimizing risk, pushing my comfort zone without breaking it. She's a step up from Zeus, and a lot of the concepts I practice over and over again on him, because he's so much more forgiving than her. They're definitely quite the pair 

Another mare stare to hold you over until next time!


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## ligoleth (Sep 9, 2011)

What a chilling stare!
Makes me glad I typically work with geldings.


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## LemonZeus (Oct 6, 2013)

She's definitely expressive! Here's one that shows her in a little better light


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## Roux (Aug 23, 2013)

Sounds like an interesting horse indeed! She looks way grumpy on the first pics but in that last one not as much. Are you going to be training her for a specific discipline? Good luck this summer!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## LemonZeus (Oct 6, 2013)

I have to admit she's like a breath of fresh air after working with Zeus. I use a lot of pressure/release with my training and I have to apply SO MUCH pressure with him. Then I move on to Lems and she does the right thing as fast as she can. She learns a lot faster than he does. 

I'm going to stick to reining, but lightly because her hocks are so straight. I don't want problems with them later on. I put her on MSM as a preventative in the summer, while she's in work. We're working on showmanship, too. It's been a little bit of a challenge. She likes to have both eyes on me at all times, so when I stop, she disengages behind to look at me. I'm definitely okay with it when I'm leading with her behind me, but not so much when we're practicing for showmanship!


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## LemonZeus (Oct 6, 2013)

Well, while taking a break from "studying" for finals, I went out and saw the ponies. We just went out and hand grazed for a while. Then came back and wormed. We worked for maybe 10 minutes on accepting the tube in her mouth, then went ahead and dosed her. That stuff doesn't look like it tastes good! I'm a little sore from a minor bucking incident last night, so we didn't do anything too crazy 

*The "Lemon Stare":*









You can kind of see how she's shedding out. Her shoulders are a nice golden color, very pretty. I fed her paprika on and off right after the shortest day of the year, I think there's a change. Her winter coat is so pale.









"I liek grass"









Even Zeus got in on that sweet grass action:










Seems like this is turning into a photo blog. Oh, well :wink: Back to procrastinating!


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## Roux (Aug 23, 2013)

I am _dieing_ to get into reining. I really want to learn more about it and work with one of my geldings but I haven't found a trainer that is in my area yet. Can't wait to see more


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## LemonZeus (Oct 6, 2013)

Oh my gosh. I LOVE reining. Not that I've ever done any "advanced" moves, just foundation work, but it's FUN ! I hope you find a trainer! I'm trying to decide if I want to keep going to my regular trainer who does Zeus and me, or there's a trainer specifically for reining right down the road from me. Right now I don't think it matters much, since we're just working on control under saddle. But it's something to think about. Not doing anything until they get vaccinated next week.

Lemons got a bath yesterday! Got her white rear pasterns all sparkly clean. They were dirty again today, but whatever. Still happy they come out nice. Her tail will never be white again, I think. She lifts her tail too high to it hangs right down when she pees :-( 

And today we (re) introduced trot poles! It's a great feeling when you see them slow, round, and thinking about where they're putting their feet. Kept the session short because its 90 degrees today. She got a nice cold hose and a fly mask afterwards. She was a supa star today. You go, Debbie girl.


This sucker is GOLD. I'm trying to scrape off her nasty winter hair as fast as possible:









Bling bling:











Zeus was also being a creep today:









Does this fly mask make me look fat? Bought it too small, whoops.


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## LemonZeus (Oct 6, 2013)

*Lemonade, what have you done?!?*

Why, oh why did you have to do this. Every day I spent lovingly braiding and conditioning your mane in the hopes that one day you'd look like Finest China Rose. And then you go and do this :shock:









What have I done to deserve this?!

She's NEVER itched her mane before. She just got wormed. I guess it just rubbed against the round bale feeder too many times  She's getting a neck protector ASAP. I put MTG on her so if she really was itchy, it'd take care of that and help grow her hair out faster.

R.I.P Lemon Mane

(Sorry this journal is boring lately. I'm waiting on vaccinations, and then it'll be a training/trail riding/lesson party!)


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## LemonZeus (Oct 6, 2013)

*Hooray!*

I had a successful ride on Lemons! We lunged, I threw the saddle on, flapped it around a bit. Then my dad got on and put me to shame. He just clicks with her! But mostly, she knows he's a confident rider. I am, but start second guessing when things go south. Biggest thing I'm working on.

So, he jumped off and I got on. And we did a mini lesson. She likes to follow my "spotter" around and not listen to my aids. Practiced cementing her to one spot while my dad walked to the end of the field. Big thing for her. It was great!

Zeus is out of commission for a while, but I have a different thread on him.


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## Roux (Aug 23, 2013)

Ooooh.... I hope her mane grows back quickly! My Roux did the same thing last fall (or another horse ripped a chunk out is what I think) and now he is a 2 inch mohawk in that spot... >.<


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## LemonZeus (Oct 6, 2013)

I hope so too  I ended up roaching it! And I kind of like it. Maybe it'll grow out a little by the end of summer, I want to take her to do some halter classes. Get her out and about a little.

Another boring update. My focus has been on Zeus lately. And oh yeah it's stormed for like 500 days in a row. But, I went out and started working her on hills to build up some booty/back muscle. Apparently she didn't like it very much. Instead of bending around on the lunge she cantered straight and gave me a pretty sweet rope burn. I JUST bought new gloves, too, should have been wearing them!

Embarrassing story time!
The other day both of them got their hooves trimmed. I had a friend helping me hold cause she happened to be at the right place right time :wink: So that got done, and put them back in the pasture, maybe 150 feet away? Came back and my friend told me that the farrier asked if Lemonade was *PREGNANT*! 

Yes, she IS a wide horse...









But pregnant?! I think she looks pretty darn good for coming out of a chubby winter.










Oh, well. I'll get her fit again some day! And a little sass to last until next time :


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