He likes me! He really likes me!!
Two and a half weeks until Ride The West and the Spokane adoption.
Four weeks until I pack up and head out for Sacramento.
Five weeks and it will be finished.
I think I'd better talk those cowboys into letting me ride just a bit more, don't you? I'm not too concerned about loping at this point. I want a rock solid walk and trot in the next two weeks, then we'll start loping. And he's got to learn not to fret when there's a crowd. That's number one on his to do list.
Sandy's Seventh Week:
1) Rode in arena
2) Turn out in outdoor arena and introduced to traffic (no big deal!)
3) Lunged in arena with another horse
4) Stood at arena gate while the Hydra Bull was running inside
5) Saw cattle on the other side of the arena fence
6) Comes up to be caught, even outdoors
7) Nickered when he saw me!!!
It's a short list, but powerful. He relaxes quickly now when new things are introduced. He's happier in larger spaces (no surprise to me) and outside than in the round pen. This week's goal is to get him used to working with several horses in the arena at the same time as him, and of course to start riding solo!
Join the Hay Burner's Club and donate $15 towards Sandy's upkeep and I'll send you a 5x7 photo (once the horse is here, of course.) Or buy advertising space in the form of a button.
8 comments:
Cool, great progress! And good luck, you are busy! Ine thing I noticed at the Midwest Challenge is that they need constant time on them, because the crowds are scary!
Things are going good! Are you going to take Sandy with you to the adoption?
Katee mentioned an adoption in Eau Claire this weekend, which is about 3 hours north of me. I'd love to take Remington but unfortunately I have other plans. Hopefully we can attend another one close by. I've been to a few, but only on the preview day, never the actual adoption.
The crowd itself only seemed to bother the horses at the midwest event when they were close. During the riding portion in the large arena, the crowd wasn't at eye level and didn't bother any of the horses. Until they cheered. The cheering was really scary. Maybe you could download some crowd noises (they've got to be available online) and have Darling hit play at random moments.
Jessie--I'm bummed you won't be able to attend the adoption this weekend! I was at the Minnesota Horse Expo this weekend telling any body who'd listen to me about the adoption so hopefully a couple Minnesotans will show up.
The list doesn't have to be long with gains like that. Way to go!
Sandy is really coming along. I don't add the lope until they feel pretty balanced at the trot. I think that makes it much easier for them. And actually I just work on pushing them forward at the trot and giving to pressure to both sides to limber them up. Once they get comfortable they tend to go into the lope on their own and I let them. If they just want to do a few strides, I go with that and build as their confidence builds. It doesn't take long and they're happy to lope.
The Spring Fair was the week before our horse show. The facility can't accommodate both at the same time because we use the Beef Barn for stalls and put in another arena out there. I hope to post about the show after I get done working horses today.
Wow things are really progressing here! I'm a bit behind on my blog catch-ups. Great to see Sandy likes you and is coming along real nice.
Isn't that just the sweetest when they nicker at you???
Tracey-
Are you going to Ride the West?
Jamie
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