# A Tale of Two Gingers



## 2BigReds (Oct 7, 2011)

*Update 1 and a little history.*

Sock came to me with a few, VERY basic skills. He had basically been started under saddle, used a few times and then put out to pasture. I will say though, they put a darn good stop on him!

Since then, he's learned more groundwork exercises, gained better control of his gaits, become much more flexible, gained stamina, and we're starting to work on rollbacks and spins. Oh, and in which corners he is most likely to receive cookies while in turnout! 

Sock has such a willingness to learn when he's not being belligerent. Like the other day, when he decided that instead of having a nice, easy bareback day, he would buck me off and have his butt handed to him instead. After the ****-kicking, though, he was an absolute angel. He must've remembered it last night because he was amazing then, too! I'll wait until after today's lesson to pass judgment on how long-term his memory is though... :lol:

Time to go de-shed!


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## BarrelracingArabian (Mar 31, 2010)

He's cute! I love his halter by the way 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## 2BigReds (Oct 7, 2011)

Great lesson today! Only our 3rd together and they tend to be pretty spread out but that gives us lots of time to work on things in between. We're working on quarter and half turns on his haunches in preparation for spins and we're getting pretty pro at circles. The lope, however, is a different story. He's still kind of a butt about it because he's not used to balancing a rider at that gait. I've been lunging him a lot though to help him build up those muscles from the ground though so in time that should improve too! In the meantime it's a good thing I can ride a buck! :wink:

And boy, was he sheddy! :shock: And it's still January... Sheesh!




BarrelracingArabian said:


> He's cute! I love his halter by the way
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Thanks! That was right before he rubbed it wrong and broke the cord holding the beads on haha. I'll restring them one of these days! It was my favorite!


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## 2BigReds (Oct 7, 2011)

Looks like I've been doing an awesome job updating this! :lol:

Goodness we've come so far. No more baby brain, way better out on trails, and much more balanced in general.

We had the most amazing ride last night and it was such a breakthrough! He was getting sticky feet for awhile when asking for the lope, and I was eventually having to escalate to spanking with the reins almost every time I asked. Very frustrating, so I tried something different. Basically it was the cruising exercise that CA uses.

Asked with seat, asked with voice, then over under whip until he goes. Loose rein the whole time, no interference with his face at all. Only took him twice that ride, which tells me that I may have been pulling on him accidentally while using the reins to spank. :? Once he got it, I let him go wherever (though he was smart enough to stay mostly on the edge of the arena) and just drove his back end, no pressure on the reins. Butt came under. Back came up. Shoulders opened. Head leveled and on the vertical.

Holy cow. Why did I not do this before?! :shock:

I stayed one handed the entire ride, not even using the reins most of the ride. Even while schooling circles, side passes and poles! He seemed much happier after such a nice ride, too.

I just HAD to post something about it. I'm terribly proud of us both.


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