Sundays ride + cute video

Sorry i have been sooo busy i am currently on the hunt for a better paying job with shorter hours so it has been a little hectic. But i finally found some time to update about the quick ride we had on sunday.

I went out on Sunday to see how G was he was standing in his usual spot since they integrated the herd which is right next to the water trough on the Geldings side looking over at the herd on the Mares side. He knows how to get over there he just must be scared of the Mares or something lol. Aparently when they first opened the gate G was one of the first to go over to the other sides but once the mares started getting crazy running and kicking G took off back over to the gelding side almost as if to say "deese bitches be crazay" lol and hasnt gone back over since.

I brought him in and he was not looking stiff or sore and the swelling had gone down so i figured we would ride. He was great to tack up and clean out his feet, his shoes are still doing awesome and looking great and we are on just about 8 weeks im really impressed.

We started off  with a bit of a battle at the mounting block trying to make him stand still so i can get on, i find it very irritating when he tries to rub his face on me while im trying to mount or that the minute i put my foot in the stirrup he tries to walk off, so its still a work in progress but im not scared to hop on anymore so thats a good thing. The other thing we have been trying to work on is not walking off the minute i get on, he is just so enthusiastic to GO and do SOMETHING that waiting for me to get on seems like a bit of an inconvenience to him.

Once on we did our usual walk around the areana to check out all the scary stuff in both directions, then we start with doing circles at every letter with no reins only my legs working on responsivness again in both directions. Then we started working on our contact with the bit and proper frame. Today was much easier to get him into that frame and mindset but i still really have to work on my body working independantly of itself. Its so hard to have your hands doing one thing and your legs doing another, definatly something that i am working on . We did much better i was able to get contact going both directions, with him playing with the bit and haveing just the right about of slobber on his lips.

My trainer always tell me that bum sweat and mouth slobber is good thats what we want evertime we work lol. Anyways we did good in the trot as well with our contact but i am still finding he is hanging on my right leg its making me crazy thats my weaker leg and i cant push him off it so we tend to drift to the right when he is hanging on my leg like that. So i have started carrying my whip in my right hand so when he is hanging on my leg like that and doesnt respond to my leg i can give him a tap with the whip.

All in all a great ride made up for the bad ride last week on wednesday. After i got off i was walking around the arena to stretch out my legs because we have shortened my stirrups and im still working on my heels down muscles i had a bit of a stalker i couldnt help but laugh. G was following me around the arena with his head low trying to catch up to me so he could scratch his face on me, aparently im not just the one that brings the food or the one that brushes him out and loves on him i am also a walking scratching post how lovely.

sorry the video is crappy quality lol but im trying to live up to my new years resolution and post more pictures and videos.

Learning contact *videos*

Finally i figured it out so here are the vidoes i promised in my last post. These are about half way through so it isnt perfect yet and G is still trying to figure out exactly what it is my Trainer is asking. As i said before this is NOT be riding and my trainer hates my saddle lol.

well i guess we are jumping......video

When i bought G i bought him to show in dressage but lately there has been jumps in the arena and it takes everything i have to keep him away from the jumps. So last night i figured that we would free jump him and with help from N (she's and Eventer) we set up a jump, now everytime i have free jumped a horse in the past it takes 3-4 people to get the horse going and get it to stay on course.... not G... he tends to follow me in the arena like a puppy so the first time i ran and jumped over the pole with him trotting over it behind me. After that he would round the arena and go over it himself with very little encouragement from us. The one time he didnt quite estimate the distance properly and hit the pole he didnt panic just kept going cool calm and collected. We finished free jumping him with the pole half way up the standard.... sorry as i have said before my "lingo" is attrocious lol.
Anyways here is a video of the last jump we had him do.

So tonight we are going to go out for a nice hack then N is going to start G over fences and teach me a thing or two so i can allow him to jump once a week to break up our dressage training. I definatly cannot ignore his love for jumping so he will get to have one night a week of something fun.

There are a few shows coming up (mostly eventing and hunters) but G and i are going to go to get him used to a show environment and expose him to crowds and the hectic environment of a horse show.