It's too easy

Last Saturday I only had a little time to continue my catching exercises with Banjo. I did it within the inside feeding space, so each time I walked away it was only 5 feet. But after only 3 or 4 approach-retreat tries, he consistently stayed still.

It was such a nice night tonight, I tried it in the pasture again. This is only my third session, mind you. I think I could have walked right up to Banjo on the first pass, but there was a bit of tension. So on my second try, I got right up to him and fed him a fistful of clover. On the third pass, I was petting his neck. Last week he would have fled.

On the fourth pass, I think he remembered he was supposed to NOT like all this attention and decided to move away. That's OK. I'm happy with where we are. I thought it would be springtime before I made this much progress.

Note to self: used yet another hay bale 2 days ago.

I Knew it!

There was a reason for Sparkler's crow hopping/bucky behavior! I think we proved it.

Dawna came out tonight to do some bit fitting. I've not been sure whether to ride through her behavior or not. If it's just that she's learned I'll get off when she kicks then I need to do ride it through. If there's a reason for the behavior, that's another thing.

The first thing Dawna did was work on a big knot in Sparkler's neck, massaging it out. We walked her some and she was fine. Then I put on her sweet-iron snaffle bridle and within a few seconds of walking she kicked out with her left leg. We tried a JP-type bit on the headstall and she seemed to take it well walking her but holding onto the halter underneath. To be sure, though, we put the reins on and bang - as soon as I picked up the left rein, the leg kicked out and she bucked with both feet. It sure looks like something in her mouth -- activated by pressure from the rein -- makes her buck.

What to do? We tried Dawna's side pull but ran out of time to really test it. So I'm going to get one -- a Liz Graves model, very reasonably priced. There's no bit! If this theory is correct, it should solve the problem. Stay tuned!

Some interesting links related to these topics:

• Liz Graves sidepull
• What is a sidepull
• Equine massage

Come again

I found an article on Teaching Your Horse to Come When Called and thought I'd give the exercise a try. Bob came out to watch. He's as interested in all this now as I've been.

The deal is to approach and retreat over and over. I had to walk 20 feet away each retreat so I really got some exercise. The weather was cool and sunny. It took at least 15 minutes before I could get close enough to touch and have him remain still. But it was cool how he stayed planted and just watched me.

Since he was still jumpy, I tried a variation. Instead of slowing down my approach to get really close, I marched noisily and heavily within 2 feet but past, turned and came back. Pretty soon he was grazing unperturbed by each pass. So I tried the same in front of his head. Again I could get within 2 feet and whiz on by with no reaction.

I ate supper and came back 20 minutes later to repeat, as instructed in the article. This time, on the second approach I was able to stop at his head and pet him. The third time we digressed, so I went back to marching close by. Can't wait to keep this up!

Power to the arena!

The trench is dug, the line laid and we have a breaker box and power in the arena. Bob has 4 regular lights on the storage side, but we're waiting on a lead for used arena light fixtures. If they are decent we'll get them at half price, so it's worth the wait.

Muddy puppies

The horses are so muddy with all the rain we've gotten. I got Gilly and Sparkler cleaned up on Saturday but Banjo is so hard to catch I put him off until Sunday. I tried riding Sparkler but she keeps pulling her head down when leading and when I get up on her, she does this crow hop-bucky thing. I'm hoping to get together with Dawna this week to get to the bottom of it.

A tough nut

Banjo is a hard one to figure out. On Sunday when I finally cornered him, he actually put his head in the halter. He is starting to appreciate how nice it is to be groomed and he's starting to relax. I massage him, rub him, hug him and just touch his legs a lot. I'm not even trying to hold his feet.

In the arena we started by trying to walk over the tarp -- over and over. He would not walk on it for anything. Always around it -- maybe a foot or two on the edge. So I thought that's a start at least. We did some lunging. To the left, he is great! To the right not so good. Flexing the neck went really well, so I felt confident that I could ride.

I saddled him and again had trouble moving to his side without him doing circles. Once I did get him to stand still, the minute I picked up the stirrup it set him off. So I took my time and repeated the drill until he would stand still. He took the bridle well and we walked a few laps and stopped at the mounting block where he balked.

Continue or not

I almost decided not to go there, but something told me to continue. We walked around and stopped at the block and he moved away. After several rounds of this, I moved the block to him. Around in circles, then finally, voila! He gave up and stood still. I stepped up, put my foot in the stirrup, tightened the rein and got up. Stock still and good as gold. Yeah!!!

I was ecstatic! We rode for quite a while. He has no whoa, but I can do a one rein stop by circling to the left, so the neck flexing is paying off. No good on the right.

I'm happy.

I've got one!

I'm getting a Wintec! I found a Wintec Pro Dressage in the right size online and at a good price. It includes the leathers and irons and comes in a wide gullet. Dawna has other gullets so I can try them to see what will fit. If I need, I can buy additional gullets online. I will also need a cinch and pad. The check is in the mail. Maybe I'll have it by next week.

Autumn is here

Last weekend we had record heat and I needed time to take care of mundane projects around the house and yard. Saturday the weather was cool but sunny and I made a trip to Gordon to see my brother's cabin. It wasn't until today that I had time to ride, it was very cold and wet.

Let there be light

On the bright side, we have an estimate from the electrician for lighting in the arena. By next week we should have a trench dug to connect the power from the old barn to the arena. In a few weeks we should have arena lighting and an outdoor flood light.

Missed saddle

I've been looking for a used Wintec dressage saddle. Dawna has one that seemed to fit Sparkler and I'd like to take English lessons. This particular saddle seems to fit most gaited horses. So with some luck, I'd have a saddle that would work for any of the three horses.

Tonight on eBay, I got the next to the last bid in on one, but I wasn't fast enough to get another in and it expired. Bummer.