Rep...First Ride.

Darling drove down to the Cowboy's today so that she could help out with Rep. I had her saddled already and had lunged her for the first time in a big arena. There's a slight difference between a round pen, where walls hold a circle together, and an arena where a horse can drift. Rep walked a nice circle, but when asked to trot, she opted out of the program once she ran out of wall. It took some convincing, but with a little work she decided that she could, indeed, continue a circle even if a wall were not alongside her to help carry her around.

What I love about this girl is how she never gets upset. If she doesn't understand, she tries something that she 'gets', until you can explain what you're after. At that point, she does what you've shown her to do.

I'd turned Rep around from the ground before, but Darling hadn't, so when she arrived I put her to work while I snapped a few photos. Rep had no problem following the rein as Darling pulled it over the saddle. Darling stood on Rep's left side, pulling the right rein so that Rep had to turn her nose away from Darling. You can see the rein over Rep's back. As Rep turned, Darling stepped back a bit and allowed Rep's butt to swing around. Easy as pie!

After this we went to the round pen to see if she'd ground drive. Not a problem. Nothing different than being turned around, thought Rep, as she followed the direction of the reins. Everything was so quiet and nice, that Darling donned her helmet and up into the saddle she went. I led her in a nice, quiet circle, first right, then left. Darling then dismounted, gave Rep a treat, and we were done. A very nice morning, don't you think?