Matt my grandson!
Had a long day yesterday. I gave Casino the day off. He has been on some pretty good rides and deserves a day or two off out of the ordinary.
I rode Pepe in the arena. We are working on more control for him. He is doing better but has a ways to go. I was working with him teaching him to give to leg pressure. I teach side passing on the ground and use the rail to teach this skill. Once the horse understands this we move to the saddle. Pepe was getting the concept on the ground but when we went to the saddle he was good in one direction but would fight the leg pressure to the point that he would push harder against my leg and push till he had my leg penned to the rail. I tried to get him to understand what I wanted but it was going no where. So, I got out of the saddle and we did some ground work, focusing on yielding to that leg pressure. There are a few things that I have picked up over the years to help with this. We worked at it for about 5 min and then went back to the saddle to see if he had it figured out. He did better but still he was trying to pen my leg to the rail so I couldn’t use it. Then I figured it out. Using the same exercise I was working on the ground, I used the corner of the arena to get it across to him. He would yield his hind end when his head was flexed without issue. So when we crossed the corner of the round pen I tipped his head just a little toward the corner and asked him to just yield his hindquarters. When he did I let his head out of the small circle, he thought he was going to go in and when he drifted off my leg the rail would catch him and he would be standing by the rail. He was great on his good side, the other direction. I was not long before he was doing much better about yielding to my leg and not getting so excited.
He has a long ways to go, but is trying hard to figure out what the right answer is. The more he does it the better he will get at it…
After that I went to Deming New Mexico for hay. Blew two tires on the way home, not my trailer, had to have Kathy come and help me, so messed up her day. We finally got home around 5 pm… Have I mentioned how much I hate going after, getting, paying for, just about everything that has to do with hay??????
Coffee time.
I rode Pepe in the arena. We are working on more control for him. He is doing better but has a ways to go. I was working with him teaching him to give to leg pressure. I teach side passing on the ground and use the rail to teach this skill. Once the horse understands this we move to the saddle. Pepe was getting the concept on the ground but when we went to the saddle he was good in one direction but would fight the leg pressure to the point that he would push harder against my leg and push till he had my leg penned to the rail. I tried to get him to understand what I wanted but it was going no where. So, I got out of the saddle and we did some ground work, focusing on yielding to that leg pressure. There are a few things that I have picked up over the years to help with this. We worked at it for about 5 min and then went back to the saddle to see if he had it figured out. He did better but still he was trying to pen my leg to the rail so I couldn’t use it. Then I figured it out. Using the same exercise I was working on the ground, I used the corner of the arena to get it across to him. He would yield his hind end when his head was flexed without issue. So when we crossed the corner of the round pen I tipped his head just a little toward the corner and asked him to just yield his hindquarters. When he did I let his head out of the small circle, he thought he was going to go in and when he drifted off my leg the rail would catch him and he would be standing by the rail. He was great on his good side, the other direction. I was not long before he was doing much better about yielding to my leg and not getting so excited.
He has a long ways to go, but is trying hard to figure out what the right answer is. The more he does it the better he will get at it…
After that I went to Deming New Mexico for hay. Blew two tires on the way home, not my trailer, had to have Kathy come and help me, so messed up her day. We finally got home around 5 pm… Have I mentioned how much I hate going after, getting, paying for, just about everything that has to do with hay??????
Coffee time.
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