Sunday, August 3, 2014

Sit. Stay. No Thanks.

Quick update on my musing since last post.

I'm still not resting and doing all the things I shouldn't be doing. I just can't sit still and its a real problem.

I'm sure on my 2 week check up the doctor will shake her head and be like


I've ridden everyday, helped my bf move (which took 13 fucking hours) and done chores and all that, and then I regret it when I'm laying in bed throbbing all over and dying faster than the average human, and I cry into my paleo food and watch unnecessary amounts of netflix.


 That aside.

Took all three horsebeasts for a ride yesterday and they were total gems. Obviously.

Yankee, the trooper he is, carted around one of my friends around and she instantly fell in love. Everyone does. Bacardi only spooked at a few things, namely corn, and the horse eating squirrels living in the woods-understandable. And Lilly was perfect as usual for her owner. She really is a lovely mare.

Classic Monica derp.
On the Lilly front, I've been working on retraining her from western to english. As I said a while ago, she's VERY sensitive and requires the lightest feather hands you can imagine. She also tests you the first ten minutes of the ride but if you nip it in the bud with firmness, she quits. She's a NICE horse, just needs some schooling.

Today we worked on trot poles for the first time. She was awesome with those so we raised it to a little X-rail to see what she would do. yeah. Nothing. She knocked it over repeatedly. Figured it was best to just keep working on trot poles after that becasue she obviously didn't understand. Silly Lilly.

Kept the ride short because she requires a lot of leg and I tire easily, but it was a successful ride. Always interesting training the older horses as compared to young ones.

Pretty Lilly Belle
 I've also been working B in the trailer. He's EXCEPTIONALLY keen on clicker training and I taught him in about 5 minutes how to pick up each leg by pointing at them with the whip and how to move forward by pointing at his hip. Now just to TRANSFER that into actually getting in the trailer.

He's still so very worried about it, so I take it slow and don't pressure him. Relaxation is my goal through the whole process. Yesterday I got his whole front half to lean in and chill out, but not take any steps up. Hopefully this week I can get some feet in.

i think it'd be fun to teach him tricks though, since he picks up the clicker wicked fast like some insane idiot savant.

Tomorrow I'm hauling Yankee to actually jump!! Its been FOURTEEN weeks since he's seen a single jump and *GASP* 66 weeks since I last took him XC schooling. The eventer inside me is dying slowly.


1 comment:

  1. Yay for clicker! I'm glad you're having so much fun with it. I love it! With Chrome on the trailer I just stood in the trailer and waited for him to touch it with his nose, click, then step closer, click, any time he moved a single foot forward, click, etc. Break it down into insanely TINY steps. He will figure it out. :D When Chrome got all four hooves on I gave him a jackpot (click, treat, click, treat, click treat, really quick without him doing anything except stand there). Prepare to enjoy the waiting game. :)

    Good luck with your check up. I'm looking forward to the post about jumping Yankee.

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