Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Shorter but Sweeter

I rode on both Friday and Sunday and both rides were good.  Saturday I hardly had to lunge at all because she was paying attention.  Then I rode for about fifteen or twenty minutes.  I'm trying to quit on a good note, which isn't easy for me since the second I get something good I want to do it again.  The good news about both of our rides...no spooking!!  Though now I'm left with a horse who just doesn't pay attention to me consistently.  Also, when trying to gently tip her nose to get her attention back on me, it's taking a lot of strength.  Which means I'm doing it wrong.  She's being ridden in Happy Mouth Mullen, which I've heard can make it hard for lateral bending but Trainer #2 feels like it's a good bit for us right now since I'm nervous and tend to use more contact.  Also, the Princess came to me with a habit of curling behind the bit in an Arab headset so the Mullen encourages her to take the bit.  Still, I need to figure out why I'm getting tired shoulders when all I'm trying to do is get her attention.  This is another reason I stopped early.  I felt like I was getting carried away with stronger and stronger yet somehow less and less effective half halts.  Next lesson I am going to try and remember to take my video camera because I have so many aha! moments that I can't keep track of them, much less remember them the next day.

The other funny thing that happened on Sunday is that the pony kept trying to go down to the spooky end of the arena.  She would prick her ears, throw her shoulder out and try to sidestep over there EVERY time we got even near it.  I found out after my ride that Trainer #1, who is finishing up the last week of training rides on her, has been working her hard and ONLY letting her rest down at the spooky end.  So, being the smart pony that she is, the Princess thought the best place for us to go was the other end of the arena.  Of course, she still wasn't paying attention to me as she tried to drag me down there so we did not end up going there, but it was pretty funny.

I took my camera out to the barn, but then forgot to take pictures besides another one of her in the cross ties.  Here you can see how yellow her mane is.  I want to wash it but she hates the wash rack already and it's not super warm.  Plus, every time I wash manes I end up with the water dripping down my sleeve and even warm water turns cold pretty quickly.  So I'm going to spare both of us until spring, which means I have to live with the yellow mane.  I did use some Cowboy Magic on it, but she lays on this side every night and she sleeps outside so she always comes in with a big mud clot on her mane. Of course, I did buy a grey horse.  And I will say that despite the yellow mane and the mud on her face every morning, she is a RIDICULOUSLY clean little grey mare.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for following our blog. Good luck with the princess - she's seriously cute!

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  2. I know what you mean about knowing when to quit, or not knowing as the case may be :) I also want to go after more when things are going well and have to remind myself to end on a high note.
    Thanks for following my blog! Yours looks really interesting.

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