Too Much to Take In

Ok well first of all I got my Filly out and worked her a bit on the lunge. Took me a bit to catch her because she was being silly and 
wanted to play. Eventually

 after me getting after her for a couple minutes she submitted and came to me. After a bit of lunging I went ahead and let Sam take her over the little jumps. She started to get really frustrated, lazy, and even over and under jumping a lot of them. 

We tried calming her down and setting her up to succeed. To avoid refusals we set up a guard rail to keep her straight and forward. We also focused on her getting a collected tuck over the jump, like the picture on the left shows. This shows that the horse is using its shoulder to lift its forelegs which means the power is coming off of her haunches

 giving more power and balance. If her knee were to be under the shoulder (more like the one on the right) it would be a sloppy jump with no back force. After a few successful jumps we called it a day for her work. I got on bareback with a bridle and walked her out. We focused on correcting her head. She continued to let her eyes travel to the outside. With a quick pull and release to the inside she quickly got back on track. The only thing I need to remember for next time is to not release the pressure on the outside when pulling on the inside. After all this we stuck her on the hot walker and got out Rose who had just suffered from a major allergic reaction the day before. We walked her around while we fed the horses and talked about horses body language and how their brainwaves work. It was very interesting. Also learning about the way horses work out in the wild socially was very interesting. 

I just thought I'd add another beautiful picture of my girl =)

Moonie and Me

So today was a challege with Moonie. I haven't ridden him in awhile so I chose him as my horse for the day. He was doing great until we had to trot. He was a bit forward and I haven't used the curb bit in awhile so that was confusing too. He kept trying to cut corners so Sam had me trot little circles in the corners he was trying to cut. He finally realized he couldn't get away with it and went around the corners like he should. After doing that in both directions Sam directed me through the canter. We picked up the right lead everytime which was a plus in my book. Although it was really hard to keep him collected and slow and direct him through the turns properly. I think I need some real work with directing him and using the curb more efficiently before I try that again. But in the end, it was a great lesson and I had an awesome time. 

Training Day

So today was rather interesting. Fridays Sam has 3 sisters come and take lessons. I had nothing to do and wanted to ride so I took advantage of the day and went down to the barn. The girls chose Tequila and Moonie for their lesson horses and I got to take Mac out for the day. Sam used me as a guinea pig a couple times around but the craziest part was when it was my turn to train. Sam was lunging Tequila with one of the girls, while she had me training the other girl on Moonie. I had never done this before at it was a little weird. But I must say it was fun! :) After they were settled Sam allowed me to take Mac to the back of the ring to work him out a little. We trotted and cantered a bit and he was being a little energetic but all in all a great boy. During our cool down I tried the couple of exercises on Mac that we did on The Filly. I also tried to work on some diagonal work. After that we cooled our horses off, took Rosie out, I got a few pictures, fed, and left for the night. 

Picure of me and Moonie ;)

The Chance Filly

So today I had to be sure to get back to the barn to do a fallow up on The Filly to see what we had accomplished in the last day. We started out with our quick ground exercise and I got on. The Filly has already shown a new comfort level with me and has really grown to like me. 

Today she had a little energy to start out so I let her trot around and she had no problem what so ever in the corners. After she got her little burst out she brought her attention back to me and we continued. Today, unlike the other day with our circles, we started a new exercise. "The way to the horses brain=the feet." 

Our new exercise we started was getting her to move her haunches over. (Taking a diagonal step with her back leg, crossing over her other, and changing direction without using her forelegs.) We did this at the walk because of her balance. First, I would get her at a nice forward walk, hold the outside reign, slide my inside hand about a foot from her face, apply leg pressure, and pull my inside reign out to direct her. Once she crossed her back leg, I would release pressure and let her walk forward. We did this a number of times in both directions and she and I did great!

I can't wait to get on again and see what she has learned and can continue to learn.

Picture of Misty's Blue Moon copywrite Taylor Herrera

Catching Up!

Ok so I know it has been awhile since I've posted and this is not something I am very proud of. But something has come up that I need to start posting about again. At the Long's barn we have a mare that we call "The Filly" who is 11yrs old and newly broke. Since I have told Sam that my goals were to learn how to be confident enough to ride and train youngsters she gave me this challenge. 

Now The Filly has some balance problems from not being ridden at an early age. She also is very high strung, maybe has some ADD, and too much energy. All these together make the perfect horse to train :) She reminds me so much of Elie.

So just today I had my first 'real' training day on her. We had been doing some ground work focusing on her hips and shoulder. Getting her to trot around me in a close circle and changing direction constantly. This exercise has really proven to grab her attention and calm her down. She gets really nervous around people and when I get her out and bring her to another place to work. 

After calming her down I got on her and forgot so quickly that I was on a greenie. Instantly, I was trying to force her to do what she didn't want to. Sam redirected me by telling me to make her idea my idea and use the energy she has given me. I turned her in the direction she wanted to go and moved her on. Then I began using the tools we learned on the ground while mounted. Changing direction and making small circles to calm her down was key. I very quickly got her attention back and ears on me. 

Because of her poor balance she tends to fall over in the corners, instead of bend. Because of this, I had to be sure I had a firm and steady outside reign for her to lean on while in the turns. If I failed to do so she would trip, fall, or flip her head at me. Once we got the hang of it the corners were easy. 

To take advantage of all her energy, we trotted her out with our exercise and did fairly well. She is already showing a great improvement in her balance and stride then when I first met her. While trotting it was hard to remember to keep a steady hand on the outside, so that is something to remember for next time. But as we continued it got dramatically better.

So that was my first day training The Filly. Sam says we make a perfect match :)

Picture of Misty's Blue Moon copywrite Taylor Herrera