Tuesday, December 30, 2008

You Know It's Warming Up When...

...it starts to feel so danged cold!!!

Thanks to humidity, 40 degrees and damp can feel colder than 20 degrees and dry. Why does humidity do that?

Steve Holt! had an exceptional day. City Boy went out and chipped away at the compacted snow in the driveway this weekend which made it possible to introduce Steve Holt! to the horse trailer. I've got one of those double door trailers, and just for fun I decided to leave on closed to see if he'd climb in through the narrow opening.

He did!

Darling missed being there with the camera when we unloaded a bit later. The first two loads had us turning around and walking out, but after the third entry I decided to ask him to back out.

And he did! Easy as pie, too, without so much as a moments hesitation.

Later in the afternoon I loaded him up again. This time City Boy jumped behind the wheel and we headed down the road for our first trailer ride since arrival. Steve Holt! is nervous in the trailer and bounced around most of the way. When we reached our destination he found himself outside of an arena. Being the gentleman he is, Steve Holt! walked pleasantly into the building with me.

The rest of the afternoon can be seen here in the video clips that City Boy captured while we were there. Things worth noticing are how light and responsive he is on the end of his rope. We ended up with company and despite the fact that he was always aware of where that horse and rider were, he continued to do as he was asked.



5 comments:

Shirley said...

Wow, Tracey! He sure is coming along! Looks like riding him isn't too far away. Hope you can video that!

Tracey said...

I'm thinking he's not far off at all, Shirley. If I were a more aggressive trainer I probably would have been on, but I'm really happy with where we're at. I'd rather plug the holes from the ground than realize too late that I've got a leak, lol!

We're supposed to have quite a storm blowing in right now and despite my thermometer saying we're at 38 this morning, the snow is nothing but ice out there. I'm hoping we can get a couple days of decent weather before it turns ugly again so that I can continue the arena work a bit.

gtyyup said...

He's looking great Tracey...yes, hope you can get video of the first ride!! He's looking nice and soft on the line...beautiful!

Do you have him loping with the saddle yet? That transition from the trot to the lope can sometimes cause some bucking...not always, but quite often. I always like to get that going on the ground before I step on.

Keep up the great work!

Tracey said...

Thanks, Karen. Footing at home really hasn't helped with the lope, although he's done half a round a time or two. Did a little bit yesterday as well. No bucking. We're going to try to get up there again in a couple of hours and maybe I'll step into the stirrup this time.

Still want to spend just a few more sessions with him in the bridle and getting him used to the feel of the bit moving in his mouth before climbing on. Don't want him getting scared should I have to snatch his head around.

Anonymous said...

He looks great Tracey! I really like his body style too, he's pretty well put together! Great job thus far and am looking forward to hearing how that first ride goes. ;)