Saturday 3 March 2012

Bad ride, But Good news

I finally had a morning to get caught up on some of the blogs that I follow and I am so happy that I did all the posts were filled with progress and great feelings of accomplishment, I love reading those types of posts especially after a not so great ride last night. Last night I managed to get out to the barn which is long over due I really need to start getting out there more often which I will explain later in this post.
Last night Alex came with me to the barn because he wanted to ride one of the horses he rides during the day, so I went out and caught G which was easier than usual. He was super quiet when I picked out his feet and while standing in the cross ties, I did notice a few bite marks on him so he might have just been relieved to get away from the heard for a little bit.
He did fantastic while lunging no bucking or galloping he listened to my cues and did walk trot canter beautifully I was excited for our ride I figured it was going to be a nice easy ride tonight. I got him all tacked up and Alex brought one of the other horses inside and that was it G was freaked right out there was a new horse in the arena, his tail was swishing and he was kicking out randomly. The other  horses and our horses are kept separately for what ever reason.  Getting on G was quite difficult as well we had to circle the mounting block about 5 times before I could get him to stand still long enough for me to hop on.
Once I was on and Alex was on I started G off at a walk just working on our rhythm and getting him to pay attention to me and not what was going on in the arena. We worked on our corners and walked side by side with Alex and the horse he was on. Everything was going ok until Alex and I started talking, a sound I made sent G off the deep end and he bolted, I was able to get him back under control but after that I couldn’t keep him at the canter he would not respond to me leg aids and kept tossing his head and swishing his tail. I got off and put him on the lunge line where he continued to have his melt down and for a few minutes it was me vs. him in a game of tug-o-war I eventually won but he would not go slower than a canter and would occasionally have a little melt down when ever another horse came near him.
I tried to get back on and continue at that point but he was way to freaked out so we called it a night, he was able to spend about 30 minutes in the arena with a mare that he likes, by the time I put him in his stall he was calm and his eyes relaxed. I will be back out there tonight to try again, I need to get out there more often and now that life is settling down I will be.
While G was wandering around with Bella in the arena I was able to talk to Bella’s owner, her and I are always the last ones at the barn and get along really well. She will be going to some shows this summer and offered me a ride there with her whether I would be competing or not. I’m hoping that we may be able to do some schooling shows or entry level dressage and if that is the case G and I need to get out butt’s in gear and start some serious training. So now we are fully in training I am looking for a second job so I can pay for lessons again and pay for a dressage trainer to come out and put 1 ride a week on him. We will see how that goes, but for now we are in training and tentatively planning on competing this summer. If we are not ready I am going to take him anyways just to have him at the show getting used to all the other horses, the people, the tents and the craziness of a horse show.
So tonight is riding (I’m hoping I can find my Dressage 101 book so I can start working my way through the exercises in it) and bright and early tomorrow morning there will be more riding before I go to my X weighted seminar and boot camp (only 10lbs to go!! I fell fantastic!)

No comments:

Post a Comment