May’s First ride!
I gave her the 9th off as she had done something for 6 days straight.
On 4/10 I did all the ground work as described before and she was pretty focused, so I repeated all the mounting work—Then I got on. She was not wearing the 1970’s bit because she decided that she wanted to suck in the bit guards. So I put another reinless rig on her and let her carry that. I also had her wear a rope halter/ hackmore with reins. She was very comfortable, so I asked her to give me her head (laterally) and she did that, really softly. Then I asked her to bend her head and move her hip. Soft! I usually feel kind of tight on the first ride. I really want it to be easy for the horse, but there is the real possibility of a wreck. It is relatively easy to misjudge and ask for too much and then the horse might get scared or worse—kapow—blow up! Didn’t want that! Next, I asked her to move her front feet and walk off. I don’t kick a green horse—that leads to bucking too often, so I usually flag with my legs and use a rope back an forth over the withers until something happens. Then quit and let them move. This time she walked off—a few slow hesitant steps. Yeah! Did that about 3 times and quit.
4/11-Horse show! May stayed home and I took Penny to show, Dartagnon to show and Risa to hang out at the trailer and ride around. Penny was so very laid back! She even won some classes and had a very strong showing in trail, where she is a natural. Dart has been afraid of new venues and he did really well also! Risa tied well at the trailer and was able to walk and trot in the warm up arena, so not bad at all!
4/12. May ride 2. I did the ground work—move all the parts! That was soft. I am still impressed by her nice sideways movement. Introduced a plastic bag—very scary. She finds it very different than  the tarp. Lunged her with the bag tied to the saddle and she had some humpiness! “Go faster!” I said, which helped her work it out some. Took off the bag and worked on getting up and down inthe stirrups before settling into the saddle. Really want to feel her relaxed not tense and it took a little. Plus I used a different saddle because the other one was in the trailer not the tack room and I would have had to go get it. It felt different to her and did make her a little tense. Got on and sat there. I will not get on unless they stand still, which she did. I used the same hackamore and reinless bridle set up, asked for lateral flexion, move the hip, then move the forehand and walk. Not fast! Not steady! But got forward motion and she remained relaxed! Also asked her to go sideways against the fence, which she did!
4/13 Ride 3. Ground work with the bag—need to do a lot more with bags, but we did a lot of approach and retreat and she got more confident—not calm, but progress for sure. She doesn’t know me well enough yet to really trust me, but she is getting there. She seems to still feel out of place here and doesn’t know who her friends are. She ate with Dart tonight—they ate out of the same pile! She will be bummed when he goes home 4/22. Watching her free lunge reveals that her lope is rough but she is clearing the log I have in the round pen much better at all gaits. Ok, so I got on and she got a little tense but I spoke to her sternly and she quit. Lateral flexion, move hip, walk off—and she just walked right off. Plus her steering was remarkably improved from yesterday. To turn I lead with the rein, look where I want her to go and push or use intermittent pressure with my leg, usually to influence the shoulder. I practice WHOA(long and low) and sink down, followed by 1-3 steps backing every time we stop, and then turn and walk off. Decided to try a few trot steps around the round pen. Used the rope over her withers and my legs and said trot where upon she startled forward and I choked up on her and pulled her down to a walk. Not the best—she needed to be allowed to move. She was not too worried so I tried again and she trotted a few steps. Walk, stop, back, turn, repeat. After a few tries I got off. Very cool! She is going sideways, stopping, backing, turning and trotting on day 3. All of this needs lots of refining but we are getting a start on the basics! AND she seems calm and interested. Oh yeah—had four spectators—Risa, Penny, Dart and Cometa. Only Dart offered to help by leaning over the round pen to nip at May. I told him I didn’t need help and shooed him away. The crowd did not seem to bother May at all, if they walked with her or ignored her completely. Nice!