Changing My Way Of Thinking...

When it comes to riding.  And let me tell you, it's a battle!  (0:

It is so hard for me to  load up my horses and haul them 45 minutes away just to ride, alone, in circles for about 45 per horse.  (0:

Fiona came home on the first of May and I have been trying to ride her 3 days a week.  I am also trying to ride Remi 3 days a week.  Horse Girl of course is not sound enough to ride but that leaves Tari to ride and only 7 days in a week!  I work Monday thru Saturday, 6:30 am to 3 or 3:30 pm.  Scratching out time for everything isn't easy... 

Enter Mindy!  Mindy now has Chix up for sale and at the BRC's for a tune up and exhibition/promoting.  She also has Sally at the BRC's.  Sally went from being there just for a solid start on the pattern to getting ready for fall futurities.  Sally is a natural athlete and the BRC says this horse is going to go far.  So very excited for my sister and Sally...

So with Sally and Chix at the BRC's, that leaves Mindy with Breeze Bomb and Speedy...  Breeze being the only one she can ride made room at Mindy's place for Tari!

So Tari is now at Mindy's for the summer.  This is a win-win for all of us!  (0:

Mindy has another horse to ride this summer...and to train on, which no matter what she says, she seems to enjoy!  I don't have to try and eek another ride on a horse or feel guilty if someone gets skipped/sets for too long. (The BRC is full up right now so she couldn't take Tari until later...)

My sweet Tari, apparently doesn't like being at her Aunt Mindy/Other Mothers.  She is not turned out with other horses, so she has NO ONE to boss around...Mindy's fence is always on, so she can't put her head through anything without getting whacked...  And Mindy took her out of the Little S hackamore and put her back into a Snaffle bit.  Poor Ol' Tari!

Tari has also had a few more pop out moments where she can't keep herself in a straight line and a few temper tantrums...just like her sad little crow hops she had with me when I wanted her to long trot rather than lope...same thing with Mindy.  Loping is so much easier than trotting...duh!  LOL!!

So while Tari is getting re-acquainted with working, I am learning how to ride Fiona!  Riding a baby is hard!! I know Fi is five this year, but she is green and inexperienced.  She is willing and happy to go though.  We just have our moments when I have to get all of my aides in order to get the job done.

Up until last week we had mostly ridden on the trails by my house.  Riding a greenie on the trails alone is a lot like riding a drunk.  She has no one to gauge her speed off of, except the dogs.  That doesn't work well.  She also has nothing to really keep her in a straight line, except me....so if I start slacking even in the least, off we go in some sort of funny side windie type of path.

I always wanted a tall horse...and now that I've got one, and I'm a wee bit fluffy...I'm not so sure I need a tall horse!  (0:  I am now looking for a stick, to stick her and see what her true height is, but I'm telling you that she has to be 16hh or better!  (0:  It's a stretch to get my butt into the saddle.

Her trainer has called twice to check on her and see if I am having any problems.  He told me not to hesitate to call him if anything should arise.  I promised I would call if I needed anything.  I think he loved my horse! LOL!!  He told my sister that she was a joy to have around and the most personable horse he's ever met.  (0:  That made me smile...a lot!!

Riding Remi is easy...well most times.  She has started to argue a bit over speed.  I almost always let my horses breeze when out on the trail.  I like to run...and if my horse wants to run, then I think we should run!  With the exception of Fiona, if she could figure out how to run with me on her back, I don't know if we could maintain any sort of line while running that would keep us on the road...then there is stopping...  Yeah, not Fiona...but definitely Remi and Tari when she was in a different shape than round!  (0:  So I usually try and long trot for 15 minutes or so, then some walking, then some loping and before we head home one good sprint.

  Remi likes to get high headed and sort of jack hammer her front end into the ground in protest if she doesn't want to slow down or hold rate.  She did with me last year at a barrel race and the BRC's dad suggested that I put her in a tie down.  She had been in one before we got her and I had always thought of it as an option, so after a few more episodes I went a head and got one.  I have had it on her for a week now and not once has she hit the end of it.  She knows what it is and what it does...and she stays well within it's bounds.  

So problem solved.  Nope.  Now she has decided to get behind the bit when I want her to slow down or hold rate.  Lovely.  Probably something the BRC and I will cover once I get out there for a lesson...But none the less, I LOVE riding Remi!  (0:

So last Sunday I decided to load up the girls and haul to the Dalton Arena.  It's a local arena that anyone can use.  Finding a time it's not being used isn't always easy, but it is nice to have around when you need/want it.  (It's 45 minutes for the time I close the door on the trailer until I park.)  It's big, open, and pea gravel so the footing is always OK.  Never muddy, never deep, never shallow, just OK.

I hauled Horse Girl just to not leave her.  She hauls good and as long as she is not alone and there is no drama around her, stands tied quietly.  I figured that with her being along I didn't have to worry about what she was or wasn't doing while being left home alone.

Remi started out my two horse day.  And she rode like a dream!  We long trotted and loped the perimeter of the arena no problems.  Transitioning up or down did not get a duck of the bit or a toss of the head, just compliance.  We loped big circles, we loped smaller circles, and we loped figure eights.  Just like I knew what I was doing!  It was great!!  I'm pretty sure we both enjoyed it!  (0:

I kept an eye on Fiona the entire time I rode, and she rested a foot and just hung out.  She could have cared less.  I secretly thought she would be a dink when it was her turn, just because she had been so good standing tied.

That was not the case at all!  With the fence to guide us we had no trouble holding a line while going straight.  We did have small speed fluctuations, but nothing too terrible.  She was a bit stiffer going to the right than to the left, but she was great!  We loped and trotted big circles, and trotted some smaller ones and trotted a few figure eights.  We also worked on moving over each part of her body...shoulder, rib cage, and hip.  

I like my horses to slow their roll when I ask them to ease up.  On the trail I say it over and over again without  a real consistent response from her...  But if you are loping circles in the arena and ask her to ease up...well she drops her butt and stops.  And she actually stops really hard.  It was shocking, so shocking in fact that she unseated me and I thought to myself what a spazz I must look like from the road.  Just to see if it was a fluke, I loped the other way and asked her to ease up...same results!  Now I do want her to differentiate between whoa and ease up, but boy was that fun!  LOL!!

All told, I really did have a good time...and after it was all said and done the hour and a half round trip wasn't too bad.  I got to work on some things with the girls and feel Fiona work in the arena.  I also got to feel her S.T.O.P.   She is no cutting horse and she definitely is not a reining horse, but her stop is fun!!  (0: