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glenatronAn important part of getting a good start on the youngstock is giving them things to do.
Today we took them up to the ranch of one of Martin's friends ( and perhaps one of the most charming and interesting gentlemen I have ever had the good fortune to meet ) who has a lot of trails around the hills and down beside a river with open grassy areas and steep wooded hills. It was a really gorgeous location.
First I rode a bay horse called "Socks" - more a description than a name - who was a real treat. He just had that nice balance of not being pushy but not being slow and listening when I asked him to come back to me ( particularly on the steep rocky sections he was able to rock back and stay with me rather than avalaunching down the slope ) and just generally being great. He got a bit anxious about rustling of clothing ( last time he went out a branch had scraped over someone's coat and he had lost the plot a little but Martin had me prepare him a bit at the start and by combining that and largely dodging branches we managed to avoid any problems there.
Second up I was riding little Duncan who I have ridden a couple of times before:
He's a very sweet little guy but we've not really clicked like I have with some other horses here. I tend to be quite calming to horses I ride and he is quite calm to start with so it's work for me to get him forward. Less so today as we were out and he was sharing a set with a very in-season mare, which caused him to entirely forget the meaning of the term "gelding" for a while. In order to save him from either a kicking or the biggest disappointment of his life I tried to keep him a safe distance from any of the mares and mostly succeeded. The horses we were riding this time round were less experienced and we all had to put on some one-rein stops from time to time and turn a few circles, but we got along and the setting was ideal. I mean, seriously:
In other news: I can pull a one-rein stop with my camera around my wrist :D
Tomorrow I think we'll be doing A-Pen work to teach some of the horses about cow work, balance points, flight zones and building up their defence.
Today we took them up to the ranch of one of Martin's friends ( and perhaps one of the most charming and interesting gentlemen I have ever had the good fortune to meet ) who has a lot of trails around the hills and down beside a river with open grassy areas and steep wooded hills. It was a really gorgeous location.
First I rode a bay horse called "Socks" - more a description than a name - who was a real treat. He just had that nice balance of not being pushy but not being slow and listening when I asked him to come back to me ( particularly on the steep rocky sections he was able to rock back and stay with me rather than avalaunching down the slope ) and just generally being great. He got a bit anxious about rustling of clothing ( last time he went out a branch had scraped over someone's coat and he had lost the plot a little but Martin had me prepare him a bit at the start and by combining that and largely dodging branches we managed to avoid any problems there.
Second up I was riding little Duncan who I have ridden a couple of times before:
He's a very sweet little guy but we've not really clicked like I have with some other horses here. I tend to be quite calming to horses I ride and he is quite calm to start with so it's work for me to get him forward. Less so today as we were out and he was sharing a set with a very in-season mare, which caused him to entirely forget the meaning of the term "gelding" for a while. In order to save him from either a kicking or the biggest disappointment of his life I tried to keep him a safe distance from any of the mares and mostly succeeded. The horses we were riding this time round were less experienced and we all had to put on some one-rein stops from time to time and turn a few circles, but we got along and the setting was ideal. I mean, seriously:
In other news: I can pull a one-rein stop with my camera around my wrist :D
Tomorrow I think we'll be doing A-Pen work to teach some of the horses about cow work, balance points, flight zones and building up their defence.
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Date: 12 Feb 2009 04:56 (UTC)no subject
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