# Progression to Gaming Draft-Retraining



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Went out to the barn yesterday and today..haven't gotten a chance to work with Dude at all. Drew used the arena with Pistol yesterday; got a nice barrel kick aimed at me and Drew from him..He got Drew in the arm (only clipped it, so his arm isn't broken, thank a god), almost got me in the head..I'm glad I didn't have the lunge whip coz I probably would've overreacted and did something bad. D: I'm just really surprised he kicked at all though..he's never even spun away when I went to grab him, much less spin, kick out, and proceed to tear around the arena freaking out since he decided he didn't feel like lunging..
His stall rest weeks need to go faster than they are now, because I refuse to do more than handle him while he gets the meds in his eye. He decided to stab it with something while left unattended for a whole 15-20 seconds. :|. So no sunlight for him until his eye's better and there's no more meds getting put in, otherwise he'll be permanently blind in his left.
But anyway..I'm definitely going to be working with him Saturday after Drew gets done with my cousin's lesson..hopefully we'll be able to get a good stop in just a halter, bareback. And I'll probably be borrowing a few of Vic's treats and see how rusty his bow is, since apparently Michelle (his owner..well, at least I think owner) already taught him last year. Now I just have to figure out how to cue him to do it, lol.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, I think we've made a bit of progress yesterday (didnt get a chance to post until now).
Drew got him lunging walk/trot..somewhat decently (because I can't cluck enough for it to be effective as a cue for lunging). I also think that he's been trained to rear...Which, as nifty as that would be to show off with, I believe that (if this is the case and he was trained to) this is why he rears to try and get out of work. While Drew was lunging him Dude stopped and turned towards him, so Drew swung the whip up beside him to try and get him moving again, but he continued to rear (looking like all the horses I've seen do it on cue) everytime he used the whip. So, that's my two-cents on the matter. I'm going to try and see if he'll do it of I "cue" him for it when I work with him next, so we'll see if he is or not. And so we have something to compare his "rearing" to, it basically looks like either the levade or pesade seen in the higher levels of dressage and on the Spanish horse schools and such; Dude just doesn't hold it as long.
Otherwise, I'm a bit disappointed with the..non-progression with sidestepping. :/ I tried just pushing him and giving him the command, I tried "kicking" with my hand and giving him the voice cue, I tried "kicking" with the end of the whip and giving the cue, and I tried walking his head over and tapping his hindquarters with the whip while giving him the voice command. He does -not- want to do it. So, we'll be working on lots of giving to pressure type deals. I did end up putting a stud chain on over his nose though, because rearing with me so close to him was extremely unsafe and the chain let's him realise that after the first time, he's hesitant to do it again.
Anyway, I ended up deciding to hop on and do some circles, backing and spins/rollbacks for a little, bareback. Since I got him from the field after it rained (knew I should've grabbed him when Drew brought Toby up) I grabbed the towel to use as my "bareback pad" so that I wouldn't get quite as wet. He decided he was going to be scared of it .-. So I walked him around and had Drew set it on his back, spread it out and brought on end up so he could sniff it-decided it wasn't going to eat him (until later). I hopped on from the mounting block (still have to basically do a ninja jump onto his back, lol) and he tried taking off and throwing his head about. I did some circles at the walk with him, and then took him over so Drew could to trot/canter circles with Toby and I worked on backing, standing calmly, got him to sidestep to his left (only 4-5 steps, but a big accomplishment for him since last time I tried he went up about 4 times in a row during warmup at fair ;; ), and some flexing. He flexes the left better than I expected, only a tad bit of resistance to it; his right was a totally different story-ended up spinning a good 12-15 times until he finally gave me his head and stood. He does have an extremely nice spin for being a draft cross though, he's gonna at least be good at keyhole if nothing else, haha.
I got off and let him play with Pistol and Toby in the arena a little while me an Drew talked a little. I ended up getting the curry and body brush-brushed him all nice with the curry and went down his legs with the body brush. I borrowed Drew's brush and did Dude's mane and tail (probably the first time he's been brushed at all for at least a month or two). I'm surprised he didn't kick at me with all the yanking on his tail that happened, haha; but I'm glad. He did try to kick at me a few times when I went to brush his feathers out..he was completely fine with me pulling on them and running my hands/brush down, but Heaven forbid I take. Small comb near his feet; I did finally get them combed out and most of the mud off them.
Drew and I talked for a little more and he jumped Toby, then I lunged Dude a bit more, just for the concept-nothing difficult. Worked on sidestepping a little more (more willing than last time, but still threatened to rear, paw and kick at me (well, mainly kicking at the whip tapping his hindquarters). Then I put him in his stall for evening feeding and turn-in for the rest of the horses, let me take his halter off nicely with no head tossing or backing away.
As for our next little training session, I believe I'm going to retrain him how to bow with just a whip command. I'll probably borrow some treats from Drew and Vic and just use a lead to pick his hoof up, without it hooked so it's just looped and not connected to him if he decides to freak out and run away.
And as for stall rest horse, Pistol. Drew worked him a bit yesterday too. He was perfect until it got to sidestepping...He's completely perfect on the ground, but refuses to do it with a rider. He literally runs sideways on the ground when you tell him to step, but will not budge in the saddle. I feelfor Drew though, I know his man-parts were hurting, they had't've been, Pistol looked like he thought he was in a rodeo. He did do some type of fancy rear/buck/spin type thing though-if only he would do that on command, haha. I don't think I ever mentioned why he was on stall rest..Well, he ended up stabbing his eye on something in the arena (in a whole 15-20 seconds that Drew was gone) and with the medicine he's getting, any direct sunlight will burn through his eye and make him permanently blind for sure. He's allowed in the arena, but it's generally stall rest for him. But anyway-during his freak-out attacks, he whacked the good side of his face (the right side) off the skid-loader. :|. So now, he might have an issue with his right eye, since when we untacked and put his med in his left eye, we noticed that his right eye was barely open. *sigh*. I swear, he's the most moronic and accident-prone horse I've ever seen. I mean, he rivals Dude for the most moronic, but he's definitely the most accident-prone.
Oh, and apparently we left the water in the bottom barn on all night..Gramma went down this morning an just about flipped out. One, neither of us remember turning it on or the other turning it on. Two, we were walking near it almost the whole time we were down there, I'm pretty sure we would've noticed it running (especially since it would've been overflowing). And three, we didn't have the radio on at all on our last trip down there, so we would've heard it running, if not overflowing (it's loud, trust me). I just don't understand how we could have no recollection of either of us turning it on, or missed the noise it makes when we were leaving. But oh well, apparently we're really lucky and it had better not happen a third time (first time Drew remembers not turning it off and that was a few months ago) because the BO can't afford a new well. :/ I think Gramma could've been less of a female dog about how she told him, but it's not my place to get into that argument.
All and all, I believe I made some more progress with Dude yesterday, and I can't wait to work with him again his Saturday. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Went out today and ended up working with Dude a little since stage crew got canceled and I didn't want to go home to get hollered at. He didn't do quite as bad as I expected until Drew left to un-tack Pistol (of course). I got him to sidestep a bit both ways, got a better back-up than Saturday, and got a few real nice rollbacks. He was rather ****ed off that I made him trot up and down the arena a few times though. I didn't do any lunging; I regret not, but I was mainly worried about working on giving to pressure and sidestepping-which lunging doesn't exactly help a whole bunch with. He wasn't thrilled about doing circles on his right though, which I'm not surprised about; he's always had an issue with his right circles.
Uh, other than that, I got a few nice spinning baby rears from him when I went to flex him. He did..alright flexing to the right, only got about 5 spins until he stopped and realized I was only asking for his head; I got about 15 spins while flexing to the left, along with not even wanting to give me his head at all and tossing it around.

Other than that, I didn't really do much else. Pistol only had one little fit today, did his sidestepping near perfect. I'm not sure how you can go from completely and utterly refusing one day, and then be completely compliant the next..but eh, glad I'm not the one that needs to be confused about that, haha.

I did get a few pictures from Saturday uploaded, so I'll post them as well.








^--Drew lunging








^--Me lunging (Oh my dear, I look horrid and I think I look male D: )
Btw-he looks a lot nicer now than he did in these..I actually got his mane/tail brushed out and combed all nice (was going to braid his mane/tail..but since I'm not actually leasing him I thought better of it).


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Alright, I believe that we've made a big chunk of progress today.
I've finally gotten to get him to sidestep both ways rather willingly today. Drew helped at first, and suggested using the wall in order to keep him from trying to run forward when the whip touches his butt.
We've also figured out that his "bad side" is opposite while on the ground, opposed to while I'm on him. He stepped fine to his left on the ground, but was reluctant to step to his right; he got it after a bit though.
He did really good lunging, trotted on both circles nicely and had a better stop when I cued it. No more stopping in the middle of the circle and repetitively rearing.
Also found out he's not really trained to rear (I didn't try too much, but I don't think he's purposely trained to do it), I think he just enjoys it too much for his own good, haha.
I didn't get on today. Drew was going to let me borrow his saddle so I could hop on and actually trot, sidestep, and back with less hesitance-but we decided that HQHB probably wouldn't fit him too well, because I believe the saddles he's been using have FQHB. That's alright though, I think I'll ask Mendi (barn owner) on saturday after my cousin's lesson if I can use the saddle she's been using on him for a bit.
I have been keeping the stud chain on when I work him though; I may try without it on Saturday if he seems good. He's showing that he doesn't need it, since he hasn't gone up again the past two times, but I'd like to have it in-case I could benefit from having it on him. I haven't been using it, but it's still there for reminder basically, I guess. 

As for what else happened-Pistol was great for Drew while he was on, only had one issue where he ran into the lunge whip I, just so happened, to be swinging near me since he decided he wanted to sidestep into Dude and me while he was practicing figure 8s on the barrels.
Drew cleaned his sheath out, he was dirtier than either of us thought. He kicked a few times until he realized that he was going to get kicked back.

I brushed Dude a little, only had an issue with him biting at me twice while I was brushing his stomach near his sheath-but nothing big. I'll be working on that a little more, and maybe we'll even have to work on cleaning his sheath. Not sure I want my hands smelling like weird peaches though, lol.

I was going to get pictures, but ended up not. I'll definitely be trying to get some conformation worthy ones Saturday, as well as some of me on him. So be prepared to have me asking about his conformation, haha.


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Alright, did a bit more than I expected today. I believe it was a rather progressive.
Had a little issue getting him from the field, had to chase him a bit, but took less than 5 minutes, so I don't think there should be much more chasing left. He wasn't very excited about walking through the gate though..I'm pretty sure he's still a bit freaked out from when he walked into it and got a good shock (the back pasture that he's in is set rather high, since two/three horses that try to run through fences were pastures back there). I had some issues closing the sliding door to the barn though, he stood nicely behind me though.
I got a chain and lead and lead him around the arena a bit while Vic lunged Tea a bit to make sure she wasn't off or anything and I borrowed her lead when she went to go tack since it's longer than the one I was using. I sidestepped him both ways a few times, absolutely no issues, then lunged him both ways at a walk and trot with no issues.
I ended up deciding to saddle him up, just to see how bad his habits were, since I haven't worked with him for 6 months and people who don't understand the general concept of handling, tacking and riding have. :/ Didn't do half bad though, had a little bit of headtossing and tried to bite me twice while I tightened the girth, that was it though. I also figured out that I can't get on him from the ground anymore. D: I can't manage to stretch my leg way up and then manage to drag myself into the saddle, so I had to hop on with the block; he stood a lot better than he does for bareback mounting, haha. I'm going to have to work on that though..I need to be able to get on from the ground before we start going on trail rides, I refuse to be the only one usingthe block to get on-even if I have the biggest horse.
Anyway, I did my stirrin' (circle) work with him, walk and trot. He still has those nice pleasure paces, and a nice level headset. If I had access to a nifty, flashy saddle-I'd probably get a slower canter on him and show him in all the pleasure classes too. I think that even though he's not a dead-slow QH with a fake tail and banded mane (since that's all that wins around here), he could possibly win.
Drew set up two barrels for me to do figure eights around, and was nice enough to take about a billion pictures I haven't gotten around to uploading yet. I believe I have a few new facebook pictures though. He stayed close to the barrel on the left turns, but I had to keep him on the during his right turns. I think I'm going to start him on his left turn first when I start getting him back into the pattern, even though my BO isn't going to be thrilled about it since he'll be the the only one in the barn that doesn't start with a right turn; the way I see it though, if he's gonna give me a better, faster run on the left-I'm going to go with that as opposed to the other choice. I'd like to win some money, because I know he has the speed.
After we got about a billion pictures, I cooled him down a little and tried some sidestepping before I took the saddle off ( those Bighorns are -really- comfy! I think I'll be getting one of those when I actually buy a saddle). He definitely didn't want to do it with me on him. He absolutely detested going to the left, but he wasn't quite as bad on his right. I also tried flexing with him. He gets the concept, but he doesn't stretch far enough at all. He basically only tips his head towards me and thinks that he's done what I want..which is wrong. I want to stretch out his neck when I ask for a flex, not just get him to look at me. I slowly pulled his head a bit more and as soon as he pulled back I just held it where it was and didn't pull more or let him move his head back. We spun around a few times flexing on the left, but the right we only had a step-and got his head back to my foot. I understand that he has a king neck and can't stretch as readily as Toby can (nose at my foot and touching his girth path), but he should atleast be able to have me touch his nose by reaching down, but not out of my seat. Anyway, backing wasnt too bad, I'm still trying to figure out how he's trained (or untrained) to back..I'm not sure if it's a cluck, saying "back", or what anymore. So I've jus been saying back, while wiggling my feet, then pulling back and clucking if he doesn't respond to the first choice by backing. It was so much easier backing with a bit, haha. But I need to find a nice bitless bridle to put him in..or possibly a bosal. I'm annoyed with his ugly halter (LOL) and I can't show in a halter, so there's an issue there. I'd get a sidepull if we were allowed to show in those, but alas; we are not. I ended up untacking on that note and putting the (amazing) saddle back and hopping on bareback for a little and just sitting on him while Drew did circles with Toby w/t/c.
After Drew was done with that, I decided to continue training Dude over some small crossrails and a vertical (cones and 2x4s, but they've worked for the rest of the horses, so why not Dude? *shrugs*). He would only trot over the crossrails, which is when I ended up changing it to a vertical; he started jumping it, even though it wasn't the prettiest sight. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing trot poles next time instead of jumps..
I hopped off and let him eat some of the hay in he arena while Drew jumped Toby a bit and I took pictures. He has his new profile picture now, haha. I'll upload and post some of those along with the ones of me on Dude. We tossed Dude and Toby back into the field and went down to rake, hay, and water the bottom run-in since my dad said he was leaving to come get us (record time for cleaning the bottom may I add, and it wasn't even half-assed).
Oh, I also brushed Dude, his mane/tail, and attempted to clean his sheath a bit since he decided he was going to just let it hang out. I took the pick to his hooves, aswell..which was actually worse than I expected. I don't think any one has cleaned hooves since he was shod a few months ago..which is a shame. His left front was -completely- packed, his left hind was pretty much clear (he did -not- want me holding it though)-his right front wasn't as bad as the other one, but it was still pretty packed, and he really didn't want me holding his right hind-he kicked a few times, but couldn't get much "umph" behind it since I had it and how close I was; it wasn't as bad as either of the front, but it still had a decent bit in it (holy cow that was a horrid run-on..I dearly apologize to those reading this).
Now, I will get te pictures up as soon as I have a chance, but it may not be for another week. /: Musical is next week, and we have dress rehearsal the first half of the week right after school until almost 10 (oh, how fun...stage crew's a pain, I don't know why we do it, haha). But-atleast we get food, haha.
And since this is at almost 2 in the morning (which I just realised..since I guess I slept longer than I though, lol) I guess this technically all happened yesterday.  close enough, so same thing in my mind.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, I haven't really gotten a chance to do much with Dude since we've had dress rehearsal all week so far and we've had to clean, change, and then rush back to the school-but, I am definitely going to be working him Saturday, and hopefully tomorrow and Friday. I'll probably just lunge him tomorrow and/or Friday and do a bit of ground work though, so nothing big.
My package did come in the mail though.  I'm excited to go out tomorrow. I got a halter (can use poll pressure so I can actually do something when he rears or such) and aim hoping that it will fit him..He has a rather large head. I was under the impression that te average horse size halter was sized as a large? It looks like it ought to fit, but we'll see tomorrow. I also got a set of royal blue training reins. I'd like to get all black tack with royal blue "extras" (reins, splints/smbs, sliders, etc), so we'll see how the royal blue looks-because he's really only had black tack that I've seen. I hope it looks nice on him..it's probably my favourite colour of tack, haha.
I also got a ranch rope, which I hope to desensatize him to either tomorrow or Friday, depending on time. I figured we could learn together, or something like that. And he'll be desensatized to having a rope swung off/around him for the future, since I might try my hand at team roping during Hookstown if Drew would be so kind as to enter as my partner and be my heeler on Toby or Pistol. I should have Dude responsive and get I'd of his gate sourness by then, so hopefully we'd have atleast some type of chance, lol.
Also, I do have pictures of me on him, and our little..jumping adventure. I'll try and post them this weekend when I can actually use a computer ;; (touch pod right now).
Anyway, just wanted to be excited about my package coming in 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

So, worked with Dude a little. Halter doesn't fit :/ I'm kind of ****ed off, but I can deal. Hopefully I can just send it back for a refund, but I'm not sure. Everything but the throatstrap fits perfect, not loose, but not too snug..The reins should be perfect length though, since they're the same length as Drew's, plus another inch or so, so I'll be able to d-rein without having it tight on the halter.
Didn't get a chance to pick his hooves or do any serious brushing, but I triedto get all te mud O could off with the metal curry since we didnt look at the time until we were late to leave for musical.
I lunged him a bit, only walk/trot. Had one issue on his right circle during trot, but it was better than last time, so I'm not complaining. Hopefully we'll be able to ride tomorrow, since my mum's taking us out right after school..but I won't be able to do much more than bareback since I don't had a saddle yet.
No pictures just yet, hopefully I'll have them up this weekend...or possibly tomorrow if Drew's computer cooperates before we have to leave, but I wouldn't bet on it, sadly. :/ Other than that, I -may- be taking him to a show, just to try and work on the gate sour crap I have to deal with because of his old lease..but I hope with me working with him (since he actually came from the other side of the field when I walked out-I'm assuming he likes me a lot more than most, since he takes off from everyone else) that we'll get over that relatively quickely and maybe get some ribbons this year, haha.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Went up around 13.00 today..brushed Dude, body an mane. Fitted the new royal blue halter I got for him and brought him out. Tied him and did his hooves, gave him a few treats since he finally gave me his hind legs after trying to kick me with them. I side stepped him and lunged him on his left circle. He looked a tad bit off, but nothing that you'd call lame. I turned him and sent him off on his right and he was -obviously- lame. :/
I stopped him and checked his legs for heat and checked his hooves, nothing noticable. I picked his hooves again, and found a small rock, which I figured would have been the issue. I sent him off on the left and he was fine, same thing happened on the right though. Set my BO a text and told her, she asked if I saw anything or what. Told her I cleaned his hooves twice and didn't feel any heat; she said sorry and offered to let me ride Poco while I was there since he was lame and that the farrier is coming on Monday for him and Sockies. That's fine, right? 
We took another look at his hooves, picked around the frogs out a bit more and he just about fell over on Drew (he did it). Right around his frogs are starting to look a bit thrushy, and we figured out his shoe is on crooked.  I'm sure the shoe has nothingto so with it, since it's obviously been like that since his last shoeing. So, I walked him around a bit more, and pu him back in his stall. I'm hoping that he won't be lame next weekend, but I'm not getting my hopes up any.
But, that's about it for today..I am worried about Izrael and Pistol locked up in half the run in though...They didn't seem too happy when I left, but it's not my call. :/ I'm just hoping they'll be fine and neither of them try to jump over the fenceline we have up..coz that will end up horribly..
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well..I haven't really been keeping up with this. D:
But, no one's missed anything..He's still lame. :| 
And BO seems to think that me picking his feet is making him lame? How, I have no clue, but whatever.
He's been lame since I first noticed, and I'm actually not surprised she had no clue. :/
She thinks that just because he's walking fine means that he's not lame, wrong chica. He's only lame at a trot on his right circle, still. He walks perfect and I'm assuming he's fine at a canter, since he has no problem taking off in the field and leaving me standing at the gate. ;; It has gotten better though..so I can't complain.
He went for a nice little trail ride off-property on Sunday. So, if he's worse off than he was Saturday when I saw him, I'm going to be extremely ticked. I'm trying to work with him so he won't look completely crazy at shows next month, and I can't even do that now!
But I can't say anything, because he's not my horse. :| If he's still lame by mid April when I plan on paying lease, I refuse to lease him. I'm not going to pay to ride something I can't ride. *sigh*
But, I did get his mane to stay on one side I'm going to try and braid it next weekend again in a diamond braid this time, and hopefully he won't still be lame. :| Because a whole month lame is, in my opinion, time for a vet call. -.-
Enough of my rant though..Today hasn't been a good day and I don't feel like thinking about how Dude's been lame and I haven't even been able to figure out why. There's no heat or inflammation anywhere. Ugh.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, finally got to ride today
I haven't ridden that long in awhile, and my body realizes it!
He did really good, didn't do a whole bunch of trying to walk off while I was mounting, and I've finally got a saddle to use without having to bug the BO about unlocking her tack room or leaving a saddle for me to use out. It's my favourite trail/roping saddle. <3
I did a lot of figure eights, barrel on one end and a pole on the other. He's has really nice turns on the right, and his left are..getting there.
He's picking up on neck-reining and is getting even better. I'm hoping to get to the point to where I'll only need to use leg for a barrel pattern and only neck-rein for keyhole and the such.
I took him over a few trot poles, and we (well, he decided) trotted over a small cross-rail a few times. He doesn't quite understand the concept of jumping instead of trotting over them..He tried some sort of half jump with his front and trot with his back, so I'll have to get some SMBs for him so he doesn't knick his legs next time. I'm hoping that we'll be able to whoop some a$$ at the shows in Gambler's Choice, haha.
I'm also working on getting him up and off the forehand, he did surprisingly well today. He really started pushing off his hind after coming around the pole/barrel instead of just lurching forward like he usually does.
Uhh..other stuff...
I let my little cousin RJ help me bring Skippy in when I got Dude, and let him help me brush Dude while my other little cousin got her lesson. He seems to really like it..so when I finish with Dude and he's..safer, I'm going to ask my Aunt if she wants to give me $10 for lessons for him. That way it'll be cheaper than $20 lessons for both her kids, and just $30 for both of them. I'll have to see if my lease-contract allows that though..since I have no clue. o.o
I'll be talking to my BO about the lease, money and signing stuff next weekend when my dad comes up. I was going to today, but I'm assuming I'll need a guardian to sign and my dad's the one that's going to be paying for some of it so I figured it'd be better if I had him there to discuss and ask his questions as well instead of my mother.
I think we ended on a good note with the riding today, he got really lazy and just..odd after about 2 hours. I summed it up to him being out of any actual work since last show season, so I cooled him down, un-tacked, and brushed him out.
I did take some pictures before I let him roam the arena while I cleaned up, but I'll have to upload those at another time. They should be up by the next update. 
All-in-all, I'm rather proud of the progress of today's work.


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Finally took him outside for a bit on Saturday while my little cousin had her lesson. He completely forgot about how he's suppose to neck rein, and kept going up to the next gait when I put leg on to move him closer to the round pen. :/
He did alright going up and walking/trotting around the outside of the roundpen a bit. Had a few issues at the opposite end of the arena by the gate though..He tried trotting/taking off to the other end a few times, didn't let him. He had a bigger issue when he decided to flip out and just about sidestep (remember that he hates sidestepping when I ask him for it) into the fence and over the hill. o.o He felt like he was threatening to go up, so I brought his head around to the inside and cued him to step opposite. Finally managed to get him away from the gate and walked calmly back to the other end. Walked around the pen a few more times and walked him back down towards the gate, he tried to trot a few times, but never threatened to bolt or rear, walked him to the opposite fence of the gate and trotted him back down to do some cantering around the pen (he's too big and not collected enough to canter in it..yet). He went diagonal towards the gate a few times, and tried dropping to one of those nasty trots, but was very comfortable elsewise
Since we were on a good note, I got off and walked him back over to the gate and down to the barn. I didnt really have the time to deal with another spaz attack at the gate. BO was leaving for the weekend and I ended up going back with my aunt because I wasn't allowed to ride without 18+ person with me.
All in all, he did alright. I need to get a blanket to put over his pad and preferably a breast girth for him though, his saddle slid back a good 1 1/2-2 inches in the 40-45 minutes I rode. ;; I think I'm going to blame the pad though, coz it's a wierd one..It's made of some material that gets slippery if it's wet. A blanket would probably make it look a whole ton better too, lol.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well..today was a rather crappy day..And Dude's headstall may be MIA ;;
Anywho, BO left for an Easter party, so I had to basically beg my mum to sit at the barn for an hour so that I could work Dude. I finally got her to come; she said she was going to sit in her car at the bottom of the driveway, but she ended up driving up the driveway and walked up the small hill to the barn and watched me.
The horses were all in, thank goodness. It was like a monsoon outside, swear. o.o
Dude was all fine and dandy until I brought the saddle out, he spooked at the pad (which never happens..so I'm not sure why?), and he refused to stand still on the tie. My mum was freaking out coz he was moving from side to side. Her reaction was funny..but I still wish he wouldn't have been a butt about tacking >.>
I didn't get to use his headstall/bit because the headstall was missing (lovely, huh? BO texted me a little bit ago asking if I made it there, and if I did where did I put it..too bad I didn't see it to move it. ;; )
He didn't want to stand to mount, which wasn't anything new. I used a folding chair to ninja dive on once (not really a ninja dive..over-exaggerating  ), and the next two mounts he actually stood long enough for me to get my boot in the too-small stirrups ;; (they're average size..my feet are just larger than average apparently. xD ).
I did some serpentines and circles with him. We cantered a bit between turns on the serpentines, and trotted circles. He really wasn't wanting to listen to the neck reining, and didn't want to give me his head. It's a shame, he had been doing so good with the neck reining.):
Anywho, my mum got some pictures and videos..I can't upload the videos right now, since I'm basically being attacked to get off the computer right now, so I'll just put some of the pictures up.


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Haven't had too much time to post for awhile..I'll just give the short version 
I've been currently working on getting him off the forehand and using that big butt of his, along with stopping, backing, spinning, and neck reining. He's been doing really good, I even jumped him a little. Last weekend my cousin had her first jumping experience and was buggin me about jumping Dude. Now, he doesn't really jump much and just trots over them everytime I'm in the indoor. He half-halts from a trot in front of the jump and lunges over it everytime I jump him. His ears were perked the entire time and He definitely seemed to like it. We went for a long trail ride, and finished up. Three/four Saturday's ago I got my dad to hop on..he kept complaining about how it hurt his crotch xD
But anywho..I've finally paid to lease him. I paid on the 30th of last month for May and got all the papers signed and everything. Sadly though, he is not lame and put up on stall rest since Monday. I'm underthe assumption that I will be able to ride either Poco or Lucky since I am paying to lease Dude and he is unable to do anything other than walk to the top barn to be groomed; of which I am not paying to groom him, I did that since I came to this barn for free.
But, I found this out Tuesday..after ai had planned s trail ride with my friend because it was suppose to be nice out. I got to ride Poco, all the tack I'm using for Dude fits him as well. I will never not reposition and regirth another saddle again after a long trail ride. It does not matter if the saddle didn't move the whole trail ride, or running up hills, because I now believe that as soon as I get in the roundpen, they are hell-bent on sliding right to the side ;; I stayed on while it was on the side of him, but as soon as it slid closer to under his belly I dropped offthe saddle and have been in major pain since ;; I'm ****ed I didn't get back on and opted to just walk him out to cool him down, but oh well. I'll just have to tighten the girth 5 or 6 times instead of the 3 times I tightened it before the trail ride >.>
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Went out today, still lame. :\
I let him loose in the arena for a little with Poco and Pistol just so he could walk around and socialize a bit. I got a few pics of all of them and a few of Dude. I braided his mane, but I ended up taking the bands out before I left because I'm not completely positive I'll be out there to take them out until next saturday..
Here's zee pics. 
























^--Disregard his hands and blurred face..this is the first time he's actually been on a horse that didn't just follow along, he was just walking around the arena a bit before I hopped on for a trail ride.

















And, here's a few from last saturday before he went lame. ;;








^--Excuse the "matching" tack, I haven't gotten him a breast collar to match his new colours yet..
















^--Disregard my blurred face. ;; I had to keep myself "safe" on another forum. *rolls eyes*


----------

