# There is something about the outside of a horse..



## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” 
― Winston Churchill

I am a fourteen year old girl living in Missouri. I currently only ride western and compete in western pleasure (and events similar) and barrel racing (and events similar) at the local level. I have only sat in an english saddle once and that was to walk my sister's horse back to the barn. I have hopes of trying to learn to ride english this summer 

My story started when I was three. My sister owned a stubborn pony named Daisy which she would let me ride as she led it around. One day she started leading my over the ditch in our yard as a "jump". Long story short, Daisy bucked me off, and I broke my wrist. I swore to myself that I would never ride a horse again.

When I was ten my 4-H leader convinced me to ride a small, painted pony named Copper. To this day my mom refers to Copper as "the one who started it all".
I suppose you could say I took "lessons" on Copper. (We didn't pay the owners anything, they were simply happy to teach me) We had planned to lease, and then buy Copper, but several issues prevented either of those things from happening. The main one being that he had worn his teeth down so low when he was young from chewing on wood that he could only eat special chopped hay, which would be EXTREMELY pricey to feed, Copper was simply not an option.

At the time my sister had bought a barrel horse, and because "she wasn't fast enough" was selling her. My sister convinced me to try to ride her. Even though she was very mareish, that Christmas I bought her with my own money.









Wildfire, 1996 Quarter Horse mare

I won the beginner division at a local playday my first year, and the amateur division my second. At one point I was running faster times than my sister on the horse "that wasn't fast enough".

When I was twelve I asked my parents if I could buy a yearling colt from my sister. My parents instead bought me that colt for my birthday, and trust me, it wasn't the brightest moment any of us had. To this day I regret buying him as an inexperienced twelve year old.









Gunsmoke, 2009 Missouri Fox Trotter x Standardbred/Saddlebred? gelding

Then, just a year ago in August 2011, I purchased my third horse after working with him through the summer for my sister in exchange for training on Gunsmoke. It was love at first canter. I pondered a long time about buying him, and finally did.









Buckshot, 1996 Missouri Fox Trotter gelding


Added to the above three, I am also working with a Arabian mare named Sugar in exchange for moolah'  and a Quarter Horse colt named Clover Kid resides at our house as my 4-H club is raffling him off for a fundraiser.


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Yesterday, Buckshot and I got to go to a funshow! 

We warmed up very good without any real glitches. Running poles he made too wide a turn on the first pole, but after that he did excellent on his weaving, which, to be honest, is normally pretty sloppy. We also did pretty good on flags, he went right up next to the barrel to let me grab the flag, but we tipped over the barrel to drop the flag back into.

Before the next event he started kicking his one hind leg repeatedly, and just generally acting out of character. My sister suggested that he could have something in his hind boots that could be bothering him. I took both his boots off, then his bridle, and had my mom go fill up a bucket to see if he could have possibly gotten dehydrated. He wouldn't drink, but he did start to eat some of the grass around where I had had him tied. We checked for swelling, walked him and checked for limping, but nothing appeared to be wrong.
I decided to go ahead and do down & back on him, but I was going to hold him back just to see how he acted. He seemed .. wobbly. Afterwards I took his bridle off again and he kept itching his neck and one back leg. After a bit of debating I decided we should probably skip barrels, so instead I rode my sister's barrel horse Roxy. I believe we got a time of 33 seconds, which was because I hadn't rode her in around a year, so we just trotted and did some light cantering.

Checked Buckshot this morning and he seemed perfectly fine. I don't know what was wrong, if anything was wrong at all.
Tomorrow there's a different funshow that I'm going to take both Wildfire and Gunsmoke to, crossing my fingers it goes well!


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Today at the funshow went decent  I felt like I got a lot accomplished. There were some issues with catching Wildfire and I decided to take Buckshot instead of her.
We unloaded, groomed, and tacked up the horses. Gunsmoke let me pick out both of his front feet fine, had no reaction to me tacking him up, or getting on him when I lead him over to the arena to warmup. Of course, as soon as I got on him, asked him to flex, and to go he decided to buck on me. No little crow hops either, a full out bucking fit that had me rocking in my saddle pretty good. I corrected him, and then preceded to warmup.
I signed him up for all the pleasure classes just simply for the practice (One of the greatest things about small funshows, no one expects you to be perfect!) Great for me, the only other girl in my class was riding a greenbroke pony. Trust me, that was interesting. My horse kept attempting to or actually bucking as soon as I asked for a trot, and her horse was basically all around the arena and was spooking at everything. The judge laughed it off with us, he thought we made a pretty good show  Needless to say, we got second.
After that I broke out the handy-dandy crop and worked Gunsmoke harder, making him work extra hard if he tried to buck. By the time my next class started he would willingly trot without even tossing his head. My next two classes I was the only one and he did TONS better. No bucking, and he would almost start trotting with a bit of leg pressure. He did break gait about every six strides, but he would go back into his trot without any fuss.

Then I did Egg & Spoon on Buckshot, got second out of three people. After that it was all speed 
Flags- 25.206 seconds, he did really good again! The pattern was a bit different then what we're used to, but we didn't have any major complications or spookiness.
Poles- 31.8 seconds. May seem a little slow to some of you, but this is probably the fastest time I've had with him yet. His weaving has improved dramaticly in just these last few shows we've been to!
Barrels- 23.79 seconds. We probably would of had a better time, but the timer glitched on our first run :\ Turns were pretty wide, and I know he can do better. Going to set up some fun patterns at home and practice with him on it.
Catalog race- 32.196 seconds. 
Keyhole- 12.598 seconds! I was SO pleased with how well he responded to me! We ran up and he didn't spook at the flour like 99% of the horses I know. I cued him with my legs and he did an excellent roll back. I was more happy because the other girl in my class had this big, fancy barrel horse and she beat me on everything else expect this. She ran a 14 second time and was complaining at how the circle was too small for her big horse to fit into. Makes me happy to own a 14.2hh horse 

My mom/sister took some pictures, so I'll see about posting some later.
Also ordered a new bit for Wildfire just a couple minutes ago along with a pair of clippers, can't wait for both of them to arrive! Buckshot has quite the amount of hair on his fetlocks, and all of them need bridlepathes clipped too.


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## loveduffy (Dec 22, 2011)

that is it I ride western trails and that is good for me you are having fun and that is what counts


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

What a great story!! I love that you didn't give up horses and now you're back and rockin' it at fun shows 

Keep going, girl!


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Thanks! 

I've been really busy lately, so I haven't done much. Just done a bit with Sugar, who is my sister's horse that she is going to be paying me for working with. (Er.. was. She agreed to just pay off my vacinations with for the year, which ended up totaling more than she was originally going to pay me, so I'm fine with that!) She's a 6 year old greenbroke Arabian mare. 
On Tuesday a just did a bit of stuff on the ground with her, majority of it working on getting her out of my space, which is the one thing she is bad at.
Yesterday someone came to look at her (My sister is trying to sell her) and a 3 year old Quarab rescue named "Jasper". I rode Sugar for the people and she was an absolute butt  I think it was the worst she has ever done undersaddle. The lady said she would let my sister know if she was interested, which I honestly doubt she was! XD The first thing she said when she got out of her car was "Oh .. they're so small.." As Sugar is *maybe* 14.2 hands and Jasper was malnourished and is around 13 hands? She also tried to convince me that my loose ring snaffle I ride Sugar in is only ment to be a secondary Dressage bit?

This is Sugar- (Old old old picture, sorry!)










Anyway, my new bit for Wildfire arrived today! Clippers are on back order, but I'm excited to try it out. Hopefully tomorrow, my sister may even come over to ride ^^


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Lol! Loose ring snaffles are prevalent in both styles of riding  But they are favored in the dressage ring.

Cute horse!! I cannot imagine a horse that small.. I worked with a Haffie but that's a different build altogether.


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Skyseternalangel said:


> Cute horse!! I cannot imagine a horse that small.. I worked with a Haffie but that's a different build altogether.


For some reason I always seem to end up riding/working the short horses :lol:




Figured I would post some of my goals for this summer/year,

-Improve Gunsmoke in general (I don't necessarily have a place I want him to be at yet, just want him to show improvement in general)

- Learn to ride English

- Run a 19 second or faster barrel time (I *almost* made this goal last year!)

- Be able to jump small jumps in a western saddle without nearly falling off. (Texas Barrels ... I never ran fast times on it because I always tense up before the jump, plus, who knows, maybe I'll really like english and want to try jumping?)


Anyway, my sister did come over to ride, and my friend that is learning to ride!  
I rode Wildfire in her new bit and she did okay :/ She seemed stiff when I asked her to turn or stop. I did end up switching back to a bit she was more familiar with halfway through our ride and she responded a tad better. I'm going to try it some other time again to see if she was just having a "bad day". (*sigh* mares..)

During our ride we worked on jumping over some small logs, which was actually pretty enjoyable. Other than that we just worked on weaving a bit on poles, but nothing else really.

We stopped for lunch, my friend had to go home, and my sister fell asleep on our couch lol 
I went ahead and rode Buckshot just for the fun of it. I honestly didn't make him work very hard, just went ahead and had a bit of a fun workout. We practiced a bit on barrels/poles, made up a few crazy patterns that were pretty fun, and then jumped some logs aswell.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

That or it didn't work for her, horses are very particular about the bits they like. Maybe she got stiff because of the nutcracker action of the snaffle?


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Wow.. things here have been insane! I don't really feel like going into detail, but it's just been crazy.

But I have begun to start completing one of my goals.. riding english! 
I was able to borrow a friend's english saddle to ride Wildfire in. I rode her at both a trot and canter, though my posting needs TONS of work. I feel like I know how to post, but I need to get the rythm of her trotting more. (If that makes sense?)
Afterwards I untacked Wildfire and switched back to western to ride Buckshot. Just had some fun riding him, nothing big.


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Had the farrier come out today to trim both Gunsmoke and Buckshot's feet, aswell as put shoes on Buckshot's back feet.
Because I have yet to explain Buckshot's many hoof problems, I'm going to now. When my sister first go him his hooves were at completly straight angles, as time progressed with some trims and rasping one of the hooves grew out normally, while the other never did. The farrier today basicly told me he has a club foot on that side and probably always will. Then his back feet are very flat footed, which is why I had him shoed in the back.
Then the other two has close to perfect feet. (yay!)


After the farrier left I rode Gunsmoke for awhile, first time out of the roundpen on my property  I could tell by the time we untacked that he was a bit softer than when we had started.


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

I was able to go to one of the arena's around here to ride with some friends yesterday. We got home around 11:00P.M. so that's why I'm only posting now.

I rode Wildfire english again, worked on my posting a bit more, and cantered a few times. She wasn't generally behaving all that much  She would walk this perfect trail walk, but I had to reaaaaaallly work on getting her to collect her trot more.
Later I rode Gunsmoke and .. I felt like a proud parent by the end of the night! 
He was doing circles and some serpentines for me with less pressure on the reins than I think he ever has. He also would go into a trot without me using a crop. The only thing he did "wrong" was that he kept spooking when people would gallop past us. Which, as my sister said, if you *really* think about how many times I've actually ridden him (4 or so outside the roundpen, *maybe* 15 in a roundpen) he's doing great 

Playday tonight I'm taking Buckshot to, so I'll be updating again soon, another Sunday, and then starting on the 20th me and a friend will be going to Rodeo Bible Camp ^^


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Playday lastnight which I took Buckshot to.

Poles- 48 seconds (Knocked down a pole. It's our worst event to begin with, and doing it first out of the night never helps)
Flags- 18 seconds (Placed 3rd!)
Down & Back- 12 seconds
Barrels- 24 seconds 

Suuuper tired, but still can't wait for Sunday! I may bring Gunsmoke aswell, not quite sure.


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

The funshow sunday went well  I walked poles, flags, barrels, and keyhole on Gunsmoke. I thought poles/barrels would be good practice for him on turning, and flags/keyhole good events to help desensitize him. We started with flags, which he was very spooky during, but after that he didn't spook once. He was a bit slower to go into a trot than normal, but other than that he did fine.
I also had Buckshot, who did great as normal. 

Flags- 30 sec. (It's a bigger pattern than we normally do, and he was hesitant to go up to the first barrel.)
Poles- 31 sec. (Muuuuch better! Placed 2nd)
Barrels- 22 sec. (Again, better, but I wish it had been faster)
Catalog- ? This is the one I didn't have written down ^^;
Keyhole- 12 sec. 

Afterwards I tacked up Wildfire and headed down to the river to ride with some friends. It was really fun and enjoyable, a little cold by the time we finished, but still fun ^^


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Buckshot and I got back from Rodeo Bible Camp yesterday! It was amazingly fun and inspirational. I learned a lot about barrels and poles too, so maybe I'll make that goal of mine.

Wednesday- First day, no riding. Just got to meet members of my team, etc.
Thursday- Rained ALL night, the arena was over ankle deap soupy mud. Trotter/walked the track on barrels as we thought we should, and later were showed how we were actually supposed to.
Friday- Set up cones to trot/walk like poles, later we loped/trotted the barrel pattern.
Saturday- Loped/trotted both poles and barrels.

The instructor thought I had a really good handle on the subject and would make a "crazy barrel racer!" She was also really impressed with Buckshot, which made me happy ^^ I have her e-mail so I may send her videos in the future to critque.


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Worked with Gunsmoke some tonight. I had planned to do some groundwork and then ride him for awhile, but my sister had used my saddle without my permission, and it was at her house :evil: 
So, as planned I did some groundwork with him, and then sat on him bareback, which is the first time I had ever done so  He didn't move whatsoever when I got on him, he just looked at me like, "Wait.. isn't there something missing..?"

Should be riding tomorrow aswell, hopefully it will be cooler than in the 100's!


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

I'm horrible at updating this on time, so I'm going to write out a post for two different days.

Wednesday-
One of my friends, my sister, and I went riding. I rode Gunsmoke, my sister rode Sugar, and my friend rode my sister's OTTB Regal. 
It was 110F degrees out, and needless to say, all of the horses were being a little cranky and irritable. Gunsmoke was being very stubborn to go into a trot, to turn, or to do anything other than stand in the shade. The good thing is he didn't try to buck me off, the bad thing is he starting trying to bite my foot whenever I asked him to do anything :/ I guess he decided that he wasn't going to be able to buck me off, so this was a better idea. I really worked on getting him to stop this, as I've seen older horses with this exact bad habit.
We had planned on doing some groundwork after riding, but it was simply too hot out.

Friday-
Another Playday with Buckshot. I was going to take Gunsmoke to it to walk the patterns with him, but I couldn't find my crop and we had already been running late, so I only brought one horse. It was probably for the better, as it was around 110F degrees out again!

Poles- 30 something? I didn't hear all of the time after my run. 
He did decent, he was being stiffer than normal all night, which made his weaving sloppy. Still, compared to when I was first running him he has improved tons.

Flags- 19 sec.
He turned himself around at the barrel we drop the flag into, otherwise our time would of probably been a couple seconds faster. Placed 2nd. (winning time was 17 sec.)

Down & Back- 11 sec.
Not much to say on this one, just a second slower than the top 3 times.

Barrels- 23 sec.
On our first run the timer glitched. We would of had a better time, but I got my hands tangled in his mane (don't need to tell everyone how many times I do this...) going to the second barrel. Placed 3rd.

Also got to use my new SMB3 boots that I got off craigslist! I got them for $30 bucks, only used twice as the lady I bought them from said they had been too small for her horse. I was pretty happy


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Once again.. I can never update on time ^^: I apologize for that.

Wednesday (July 4th)-

I rode Wildfire in our town's 4th of July parade. She started out okay, but before we came to the square I was ready to turn around and walk her back. She was really flipping her head around and generally just misbehaving. Personally, I hate being in the parade with a horse that doesn't behave. With so many little kids and other people around.. well, pretty self-explanatory there.

This made me come to two desicisions:

1. I am going to get her teeth floated. Honestly, they haven't been in a long time and I think it's about time I just went ahead and got them done.

2. I am going to move her into a seperate pasture by herself and Buckshot. This is because she gets incrediably buddy sour with all horses except him (Which I suspect is because he doesn't really tend to care if he's alone or not), she was previously with about 5 geldings total (which was why I think she was in heat so much), and finally she had also been in with Sugar, who is really hyper. (She gets hyper around other hyper horses).

Thursday-

Set up a new water tank and moved Wildfire & Buckshot to their seperate pasture.

Saturday-

My sister came over and we worked on posting and jumping. I can post going to the right, but not going to the left lol 
We also set up some hay bales and jumped over them for the first time in an english saddle. My sister gave me some tips and corrected my position as best as she could.
I used her jumping saddle, which I like TONS better than the other saddle I had been using which had been an all purpose dressage saddle.

Alsso... I'm most likely going to get professional hunt seat lessons!!! It's a bit of a roundabout story, but basically my sister is trading a horse she really wants to get rid of for lessons for me and maybe even some for herself.

Saturday-

Called the vet, have yet to be called back, to make an appointment to get Wildfire's teeth floated.

Horse show today!

I did flat hunt seat and one jumping class for practice and fun, this show is pretty "famous" in a sense for being good about giving advice and tips. I also did western pleasure events, and was planning on doing speed, except Wildfire managed to twist her ankle.

Hunter Under Saddle - Last (I didn't expect any better!)
Hunt Seat Equatation - Last (See above)
Hunter Over Fences - Disqual. (3 Refusals) I think this is the class that Wildfire twisted her ankle in. Because we had been warming up over these crossrails, she did the first two fine, the second two she was hesitant about, and then the third she would not do whatsoever.

Showmanship - 1st!!!  (
Horsemanship - 2nd

During horsemanship she felt completely fine, no hitches in her gait, nothing, but when I came out the arena my sister and mom told me she seemed to be limping/stiff. I had one of them trot her for me so I could see, and I noticed the same thing. I considered going ahead and doing western pleasure, but I decided not to. I just would rather not risk it.
We rubbed her legs down with liminent and wrapped the one up. I also gave her some MSM when we got home and also gave her a scoop of Buckshot's joint supplement which I'll probably keep her on intill state fair or later.

For anyone going "OMG you need to take your horse to the vet, she could be horribly injured!!!!!" I honestly don't think so. For one, she willingly loped and trotted for me in the arena, for two she also trotted up to me when I went to check on her after we got home, and three her gait didn't feel off when I had been riding her.
I'll probably end up double posting (if I remember..) because I'm going to go out and ride Buckshot


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Sorry, forgot to post and couldn't post yesterday!

Later Saturday-

Did a bit of groundwork with Buckshot and we rode for a little while. Probably around 15 minutes, just sorta a fun ride to unwind with.

Sunday-

My sister had a family come out to look at horses. Only after they came did they tell her they were looking for a kid broke horse, and all she has forsale currently are green broke, stated clearly in the ad.. *sigh* 

And, of course, during all this Sugar broke into Buckshot & Wildfire's pasture. I probably would've of just left her there if it wasn't for Wildfire's leg, as I really don't want her running around. So, in the midst of trying to catch her she ran through two more fences.. *sigh..*

One good thing out of that, Wildfire's leg looks better. No noticable swelling, no limping, she just looks stiff at this point. I considered giving her bute (I didn't have any the day of, but got some now), but she doesn't appear in pain, so I'm just going to continue giving her MSM and a joint supplement.

I'll be helping with our church's VBS all week intill friday/saturday so, unless we have any sort of freak accident, I probably won't update intill then.


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

By the time we unloaded yesterday it was 1:00A.M., so that's why I'm writing for Friday today too!

Friday-

Took Buckshot to a playday and.. Gunsmoke! I plan on making him a show horse, but I really wanted him to have the experience, and I also take any chance I have to ride him in an arena. 
He bucked on me once while warming up (when I asked him to canter), but I have a feeling he wasn't trying to be bad, but he was just having "fun". He spooked at some mud puddles in the arena, a little boy in a red shirt, and a girl with an extremely gate sour horse that flipped out behind him. (I didn't blame him for that last one) He let me wave my crop infront of his eyes (flag practice), he was turning good, and also picking up his trot very well. He also has the perfect "western pleasure" headset lol. When we walk his poll is even with his withers, and when we trot/gait he lifts it up a bit higher. (and so far I've never messed with his headset, he just does it by himself!)
We trotted up to the poles, walked through, trotted back, and trotted through most of the flag pattern. He did really good, and was nice and patient to just stand tied during the last two events.

Buckshot was the complete opposite of Gunsmoke. Normally, I barely have to cue him to turn, and we can walk/trot on a loose rein, (I keep my reins a bit tighter canter, but not tugging on his mouth either) but today he was completly wired. It did storm that night, so I have a feeling that may of had something to do with it.

Poles- 32 sec.
Flags- 69 sec. As I said before, he was very hyper and jumpy today and he wouldn't stop/slow down for me. We also revisted how he was when I first got him: "Barrel? WHAT? I canNOT touch that thing, or going within in five feet of it!" 
Anyway, I made him trot on the way back, and afterwards we did a lot of walking circles and just generally unwinding.
Down & Back- 11 sec. In our own defense, the horses that beat us are 1 -2 hands taller!
Barrels- 25 sec. It was very muddy by the second barrel, so we took it slow. I would rather have a slow time than an injured horse.

Saturday-

Wildfire's leg had been looking good, so I took her and Gunsmoke to the arena with some friends to prepare for State Fair. (July 26th - 29th) I mostly worked with Wildfire on staying in the gait I wanted her and collecting her trot more. (Gosh, that's bouncy!)
With Gunsmoke we did some circles, trotting, flexing, backing up, etc. Basically the regular routine. He actually likes to do Serpentines more than circles or figure 8s. I also got him to canter without bucking! I got him to do it twice, and both times we just went a few strides and stopped. I love his canter!  I rode him trail riding once and got him to canter quite a bit, and its so naturally collected! I'm telling you, he _wants_ to be a show horse.


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

I didn't do much today, I just clipped Wildfire's ears, whiskers, and bridlepath. I also went ahead and clipped Buckshot's bridlepath and the hair on his fetlocks on his front legs. (It gets all nasty in his sport boots) Wildfire is VERY touchy about her nose, so we really worked on her letting me clip her whiskers. 
Buckshot I have never clipped before. He was very scared of it, which surprised me, and was pulling a bit on the leadrope. He would normally relax then, and I'd move a bit closer with them, he'd tense, relax, I'd move a bit closer, and so on. He spooked on time very badly when one of the dogs nipped at his heels. Once I got him calmed down I scolded said dog very severly. Most of our dogs have some "cow sense" and have been used in the past to help herd the cows when we had them. My Baussie knows that she will get in trouble if she chases the horses unless told. (If they break out) Zip, my sister's dog, tries to "help" with the horses, which is what he tried to do in this situation.
Anyway, we started our process over and I got him clipped. I didn't do his back legs because there was nowone to hold onto him and the cord on my clippers wasn't long enough. I'll have to get an extension cord out there next time.

I was also not pleased with the clippers I bought. They cut fine, but they're very noisy, they vibrate a lot, and easily start to overheat. I also wish I would've just bought a cordless one too. Oh well, you live and learn


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

We went to the vet today to get Wildfire's teeth floated. We accidentally came a week early then we were supposed to. (Just a communication error) The vet said it was a simply mistake and after he was done with his current patient he would go ahead and do her teeth.
As I've said before, Wildfire does not like anyone messing with her nose/mouth, so she was a bit of a pain. He ended up giving her extra sedative, and it cracked me up how much she was acting like a drunk person. :lol:


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

Well.. I think floating Wildfire's teeth worked, she was acting like her old self. There is a reason I rarely ride this horse at home: She acts hyper, she won't walk, she'll trot, but she won't lope. She tries to bite my feet. She is soooooo stubborn. I hadn't experienced this in a while, kinda made me smile lol
Just for fun, I took her bridle off and tried riding her in the roundpen. She neckreined with the bridle/reins around her neck, but she didn't understand "stop." (For anyone wondering, yes, other people were with me.) How she acted didn't necessarily surprise me.
Later I hopped on Buckshot, we were going to practice a reining pattern, but the only bit I had was too loose on him, so I decided not to. My sister convinced me to try him bridless too. I just put my reins over the saddle horn instead of taking his entirely off, as I honestly didn't expect him to do anything. Instead, he would turn off my legs, wide circles, and small circles. It wasn't very professional looking, like I don't think we could've done serpertines. It wouldn't stop entirely off my seat. He'd kinda off drop a gait at a time everytime I said "woah". 
Either way, just a fun day


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## 3Barrels (Jan 27, 2012)

I had meant to ride Gunsmoke today, but I reaaaally justed wanted to have a fun, unwinding day. I did some "lunging for respect" with Buckshot. He's starting to understand when I point it means "go", but he hasn't gotten that it matters which way I point lol
After that I just rode him in a halter bareback. I'm going to start looking into some excercises to do with him that will build up his top line.


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