# Stallion Parade



## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

AK, I tried the link and it says "Sorry, no pages matched your criteria."


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

^^me too


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Sameee. 
I'm glad Dez did well!


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

Same here!

I'm glad that it went well for you and Dez. 

I hope that man got a stern talking to by someone :evil:


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

I FIXED IT  Please let me know what you guys think...keeping in mind that I am aware we still have a long ways to go.


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

I think you guys looked really good!

There were a couple sliding stops that looked amazing! And i loved the bridleless/bareback that you did!

And i also loved how he kept whinnying. That was so cute!

His turns weren't horrible. He has the idea, just needs some speed, which you know. It looked like the two of you really enjoyed each other!  

I can't wait to see videos of him when he gets even better 

Edited to change a word.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Wow.. great rides! I can't critique because I know zip about reining, but what a great pair you two are! I loved the bridleless video - stunning. This is a horse worthy of being called a stallion.


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

> This is a horse worthy of being called a stallion.


i totally agree!


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

appylover31803 said:


> His turns were horrible.


Sadly, I know  something to keep working on though   He gets really lazy about it


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

JustDressageIt said:


> This is a horse worthy of being called a stallion.


Thank you


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

OMG i totally meant to write weren't. OMG i feel so bad and so embarrased   

They were good AK! All he needs is speed and he'll have them down pat!

I am SO incredibly sorry!


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

appylover31803 said:


> OMG i totally meant to write weren't. OMG i feel so bad and so embarrased
> 
> They were good AK! All he needs is speed and he'll have them down pat!
> 
> I am SO incredibly sorry!


No problem   I am laughing right now. When you compare them to what they SHOULD look like, they were horrible, but it gives me something to work on.


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

Well he's still learning! And you haven't been teaching it to him that long, so i think he did a darn good job on it!


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## MaryMooCow22 (May 7, 2008)

Nice! I thought he looked pretty good. Very pretty boy =].


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Aww, he's very cute.  Glad you fixed the link, I've been waiting to see him, lol.  Great job!!


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

He indeed is very quiet boy. Congrats on good training! He's really good for such young age,


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

Thank you all  It is a nice feeling to have months of worry and stress finally pay off to some extent.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

He-he! I hope he attracted new mare owners too to cover..


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

If not - it was still fun, and he may have gotten into the photo spread of our statewide horse journal. Because I haven't opened him for breeding until this year, I am not sure what the market for breeding is like.It doesn't really matter though because I will still be competing on him either way.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Really? I thought you used him for breeding before. May be just for your mares..? He should be a good daddy because of his temperament.


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

Yeah, I bred him to our mare last year, but no others. He was also bred once to his first owner's mare right before I picked him up. Otherwise, he has not been bred.  So... we will see...


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## mayfieldk (Mar 5, 2008)

Yeah, his turns were a little crap.  Do NOT work on speed. He has a horrible form as it is; he tends to switch his pivot foot and move BACKwards, which is baad. He needs to think forward through a spin, so he can lift his shoulder and lift his leg over the other cleanly. Once he gets his form down, then you can work on speed. He also needs to move his shoulder for you!! When you lay your rein on his neck and cue with your foot/spur... he needs to get those shoulders out of your way. Even lazy horses can do it correctly, and crisply too! Practice using a fence, so you can encourage him to stay forward, but he won't learn to walk out of his turns.
For his leads: I don't know if he is taught this or not, but it is what the top reining trainers teach. At a walk, teach him to put his haunches in (I think I've seen a video of you doing this? could be wrong!), say in to the left. Hold him there until he's calm, and keep his head and shoulders straight, or a little curved to the left, then kiss and ask for your lope. With his haunches in, he has to take that step for the left lead departure. Vice versa for the right lead. A good trainer said this to me once, and I believe him--if a horse takes the wrong lead, its your fault. It hurts our pride a little, but in the end it makes us better. If you set him up for the lead, he should know his job and take it. There are a few times where I think I can see you trying to do this (not sure?) but as soon as he lopes, he ignores your leg and looses the haunches in! He needs to be a little more calm and relaxed.
I also saw a few times where you were doing your circles, and he head was curved waaay into the center of the circle, and the rest of his body was waaay out of it (I'm guessing he didn't feel like listening to your directional cues :wink: ) When you are able to isolate his shoulders (like at the spin) that should disappear, as mainly it's just his shoulders leaking out and the rest of his body agreeing with the thought.
I would also put him back in a snaffle until he gives a little move in the face/jaw area. There were several times where he just rooted his nose out like, 'noooo thank you!', and that is a huge pet peeve of mine. When you pick up your reins, he should say, 'yes ma'am!' and give his face... when you asked for a lope departure, there were several times where he just wasn't having it! When you get his face a little more, it will also help your lead departures. (Ask him from a walk, and when he 'complains'--head in the air, trotting away like a silly boy--take a hold, back him up until he gives with his face, then say, 'would you like to try that again?') I don't like teaching a horse a 'headset' so to speak, but I do like teaching them to give their face and put it exactly where I want it, 100% of the time. It's less for the look and more for the mindset--he can't be thinking all kinds of silly-stud things when he's paying attention to you and putting his head down or curling it up where you want it. When he roots his nose, he is blatantly saying 'no!' which is what we have to fix. 
Does he have sliders? His sliding stop is starting to look nice, but he's gotten to a point where he jams his front feet. As soon as you ask him to stop, when he's done sliding (or almost done) IMMEDIATELY ask him to spin, and spin hard (Obviously, you can do this AFTER he's spinning well. I can't stress shoulder control enough!). This frees up his front feet, so you're telling him, 'Stop! but stay light.  ' You can also vary it up by pushing him out of the stop immediately, to keep him light, or do like a lot of trainers, and back him up decently. And as always, when he does a pretty one, let him chill for a long time. 
SHOULDER CONTROL! Just wanted to stress it again.  He seems to have a lot of tiny problems that stem from this, so work on it looots. Everything will get better! Steering, stops, rollbacks and spins. I'm sure you can move his shoulder, he just needs to do it a lot better.
After all of that, it is quite hard to take ANY horse and put it in an arena and ride it with no bridle, let alone a stallion, so amazing job on doing that. He is also gorrgeous (did I mention I love paints?  ) and I think he has a lot of potential. Just work on those shoulders and get him a little more 'broke' in the face, and I think you'll see a world of difference.


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

Thank you for the long and detailed response!

As for the shoulders, I agree, that is our biggest ongoing problem. I have the Josh Lyons performance series, and I am going to go back to basics with the shoulders to see if I can fix the holes. He was doing better with his spins, and then it seemed like he relapsed and started not even reaching across the front and washing the back. I will work on that a lot this summer, and can hopefully have it perfected by the Aug. 23 paint horse show. 

Bracing in the face - I agree, this has and probably always will be a huge problem of his. I do a lot of work with serpentines focusing on nothing other than head softness, and will continue to do so - he is always much better after 20 minutes or so of that, but then has forgotten it by the next ride . I will probably always continue to train in a snaffle, but I have to show now in a curb because of his age. 

Slides: he does have slide plates on back. I have been struggling a lot with him locking up his fronts very badly. I did a lot of stop back at the trot, which helped a lot, but I like your idea of spinning (when he gets that down) to keep him light. I know it is hard to tell, but those slides are an improvement from a couple of weeks prior - although he was doing much better 5 minutes earlier in the warm up arena. 

Leads: I have done a lot of work with hips/haunches in for lead departs and lead changes, and he had been doing fabulously with it. Of course that day, he seemed to conviniently forget my leg cues! :x I will go back and work more on that again until it is dead solid! Did you notice though, how much more easily he picked up his leads when I did the bareback part? Some of it might have been that I was already on a circle, but some I think is that he could just feel me better. 

What gets me most, is that he was not focused and calm during the routine - he was distracted. All day up until right before we went into the arena, he was very focused and well behaved, and then I made the mistake of walking over to the ring to wait while the rider before me was still in, and they happened to have their mare with foal at the ring with their stallion - Dez flipped out and I never got him back! :x :x I know this will improve with age and maturity and experience, but I was so irritated about it. He really was saying "NO" to me like a little baby and washing out in his circles because his focus was elsewhere. 

Overall, I was happy with the ride, but irritated at the same time because there was so much that he messed up simply because he was distracted. There was also plenty that needs to be worked on despite his distraction (spins & slides). Well, I guess there is always something to work on.


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## mayfieldk (Mar 5, 2008)

No problem! I know I like long responses too... it makes me better!

For the shoulders: I train mine on the ground to spin--like showmanship horses, and I make a certain sound (like a 'sshhhh' sound) when they spin. I train them to move there shoulder ONLY from a dressage whip... so when I ride, they know exactly what I want, and I can use the whip to reinforce from the saddle if they get 'lazy', hehe. It might help your guy a lot--you should be fiiiine for an August show.

Face: I know what you mean, I have a thoroughbred like that! If you know he's just being insistent (NOOO don't WANA!) then you can get after him a little more--take a good solid hold of those reins and back him up until he gives his neck and jaw. Then release him like he is a genius, lol! I think serpentines are really good to TEACH a horse to be soft in the face... but sometimes, horse's use it as a crunch. Ask and then demand--if he doesn't want to be soft when you are polite, then he needs to be given an incentive to, lol! Why would he be soft in the face every day when you come out, if you always give him a 20 minute warmup? As long as he knows what to do, just come out and expect it--you'd be surprised what horses will do when you give them a little bit more responsibility!

Slides: Oh, they weren't horrible! He got his butt right underneath him, as soon as you asked.  I watched a lot of top reining trainers ride, and spinning is what they did to keep them light--it seemed to work really well! Once he gets light in the face, it might help him from bracing, too. Loosey goosey!

Leads: Hehe, it probably was the circle, but he seems to know enough to pick those up when you ask! Like I said, expect it! And when he runs away in a trot, back that buddy up and say, 'not uh, try that again mister!' My horses aren't allowed to anything if they brace like that, hehe. You seem like a really nice, quiet rider, so he should be able to feel your lead sliding back for the lead cue--he shouldn't need anything else. We can help our horses, but we can't hold them there forever!

It really wasn't a bad ride  I just think there's always room for improvement. I definitely want to see a video of the next one so I can say, 'look how much better that was! I knew he could do it' hehehee.
Good luck! He's gorgeous and has a lot of talent.


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

I really like the leg markings, where did you find him?


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

Thanks Mayfieldk, I will keep working on it.  I will get a video up of the next time for sure. 

My2geldings, I love his leg markings too - I got him from a breeder in Grande Prairie, Alberta.


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