Ride #2

Yesterday was ride #2, and it went really well! He was totally by himself today, so it was nice to see that he still trusted me and had enough confidence to move without a helper horse. We started out walking a little both directions, then I asked for the trot to the right. I let him trot out about half a circle and then used my seat to ask him to walk, which he responded to nicely. When we went to the left, he trotted off, started to speed up and got a little bothered and broke into a canter. We did about 3 frenzied canter circles before I was able to get him back to the trot with a soft seat and lots of "easy, easy". I let him stop and think on that for a bit and then we went back to the right. Here I asked for the canter on purpose (my ground driving paid off, he knew exactly what I wanted) and did a couple real nice easy turns around the round pen. Back to the left we went for "on purpose" canter and that went nicely too. So nothing more than a little scoot and panic and Cabrito quickly figured out there wasn't anything too scary about me being up there. I can tell he is going to be very sensitive and responsive, so I'm definitely looking forward to teaching him the cow work - I think he'll be good at it! It's too rainy and wet to work in the round pen today, so hopefully I can bring him into the indoor arena later and refine our ground work a little bit more. Since everything you do on the ground directly relates to how the horse is under saddle, I want to give him the best shot at being a good riding horse by properly preparing him in his ground work.

First Ride

Well, we've done A LOT of stuff since I last wrote! On Friday I took Cabrito through our indoor obstacle course - which meant plastic tarps, teeter totter bridges, hanging pool noodles, tires and streamers. He took it all in stride and there wasn't an obstacle that he refused to do. He wasn't too crazy about going through the curtains that were hanging down, but he did do it! Yesterday I pulled the horse trailer up so we could work on loading. From the time I pulled him out of his pen to the time he had all 4 feet in the trailer, it was only 7 minutes!! I'm just so amazed that this horse went from being perfectly capable of taking care of himself and not needing me, to willingly following me and doing everything I've asked him to do. Outstanding!

Today I decided was the big day to get on him. I saddled him, did some more ground driving, and then had Spencer come in on Roxy for moral support (and to play pick up man if things got a little out of hand lol). I got up on him and had Spencer walk Roxy by us to help Cabrito get moving, and we were off! He was walking real easy and relaxed, and even took the lead going to the right. He seemed to be pretty independent and didn't mind going ahead of Roxy. He was even starting to sit on his hindquarters and step his front end over off my leg when we changed directions! The funny part was at the end though - I decided he did well and was looking to find a place to quit, so I was trying to get him to stop and stand still for just a second so I could dismount. He was milling around a little bit and pulling down on the lead rope, so I just hung in there and waited for the right thing to happen so I could reward him. Well, I never got that chance cuz down his front end went, he was laying down!! I kicked my stirrups and stepped off the right and tried to get out of the way before he got up. He just stood up and looked at me like "what are you doing down there?" I knew we couldn't end like that, so fortunately he let me get back on and back off the "right way". Hahaha. Well, I've never had a colt do THAT with me before!!! And of course Roger had already turned the camera off, so no pictures of the unorthodox dismount!

A lot to be proud of!

Yesterday was a really great day for Cabrito and I - we got a lot done and for the first time I felt like he was really actually enjoying being with me. He was easier to catch in his pen, and then I took him to the round pen and did a little grooming. I don't want him to think that going to the round pen means work and nothing else. Then I got him saddled again (with no problem!) and began ground driving. I like to do that so they can learn and get accustomed to the cues that I will be using for walk trot and canter. Colts seem to pick that up so much quicker when you are on their back after you teach them from the ground. He handled it really well, and learned the cues pretty quick. Then I worked on putting my feet in the stirrups. He did real good with that so I went ahead and put some weight in them, and since that went well, I pulled myself up and leaned over his back from both sides. Yay! I think I'll be able to get all the way on by early next week, but I want to do a little more ground work first. So after all that went so well I took some time to groom him more. I wrapped the lead rope around the fence so he could start practicing being tied. He tried to walk away once but gave to the pressure and didn't walk off again. He is SO smart! I brushed his mane and tail out, which he seemed to enjoy immensely. I didn't want to give up the feel-good vibe we had goin on, so I took him on his first walk around the property and let him graze some. He is doing so well with leading and seems to really trust me. I couldn't be prouder of Cabrito and the progress he's making - he's turning out to be a very special horse!

Trainer voting brackets

Hey everyone, if you have a minute, please go to http://helperwidgets.com/widget.cfm?WIID=76A748B7-9CC1-9B58-907514F96D7E18B6 to vote for me in "favorite trainer" voting brackets. You can vote more than once and have until the 26th for the first round.

Thanks!

Saddled!

Well things have been going really well around here with Cabrito. Even though the wind has been relentlessly blowing, he handles it so well and isn't too bothered. He's been wearing the bareback pad around, I've picked up all 4 of his feet and have started using brushes and curry combs to groom him. Yesterday was the first day he went in the indoor arena, and probably the first time he's ever been in any sort of indoor building! He did so well, wasn't spooky, and even got to admire himself in the mirrors. I've been working on catching and haltering him in his pen - he seems to have a different mentality in there than when he's in the round pen. Something along the lines of "this is my space and you're not catching me". So, as soon as that shapes up I'm going to try and move him to a regular horse pen so he can be around other horses more.

This morning I decided to try saddling him - even in the horrendous wind gusts! He did great, no problems with the pad or the saddle, or having the cinch tightened. I led him forward a couple of steps and let him feel it. Then I tightened the cinch up some more and turned him loose. To my amazement, he didn't hump up or buck or anything. Just went walking and trotting around the round pen. I stopped him and turned him back kind of fast into the fence and sent him the other way and he still didn't even buck. What a great first experience for him!! I slapped the seat with my hands and moved the stirrups and fenders back and forth, left him in the round pen for 20 minutes while I cleaned his pen, unsaddled him and put him away.

Next on the agenda is some ground driving, ponying and hopefully this friday working on some obstacles. Then next week I can hopefully get a ride in on him!

Saddle this week?

First off, Happy Easter to everyone! After yesterday's session I'm thinking I might be able to saddle Cabrito in the next week. Even though the wind has been blowing non-stop for the last 4 days, I've still been plugging away with my boy. He sure has a great sense of confidence so the wind didn't seem to get him all pumped up like it does to the "domestic" horses. Yesterday I worked more on touching him everywhere, including his legs and belly. He got to experience the lead rope being pulled up around his girth and handled that really well. Spencer even took his coat off and rubbed him on the back with it. Then I worked on teaching him to lead up next to me better. He caught on to that pretty quick and I had him leading well from both sides.

I'd like to get him saddled soon so he can get comfortable wearing it. I'm going to start with a bareback pad and go from there! So hopefully we'll get that done this week as well as some ponying and introduction to some obstacles for more trust building.

Caught again

This morning when I worked with Cabrito, I decided to see if I could get him haltered without roping him first. He did very well with letting me walk up to him and rub his neck and rub him with the halter. But, when I got his nose in the halter, he got bothered a couple of times and pulled away. I didn't want him to get in the habit of pulling away when I go to halter him, so I tied the lead rope loosly around his neck so I would have something I could help him stay with instead of trying to hold him there with the halter halfway on. A couple of times on working through that and he let me slip the halter on just fine. Then I worked a little bit more with trying to rub his face a little bit. He did much better and was letting me rub his muzzle without too much fuss. Then I worked my way up to the bridge of his nose and between his eyes. He didn't like that much at first, but pretty quick he was lowering his head and closing his eyes while I scratched his face. I spent a lot of time rubbing him in new places today, like the very middle of his chest, the top of his poll, down his legs, his belly, flank and touched and picked up his tail. Cabrito stayed so relaxed with this, I think he's really starting to trust me. I could tell that he would stiffen up a little with concern, but quickly relax when he realized that nothing bad happened and I removed the pressure. I drapped the lead rope over his back and let it swing a little and moved it all over his body from both sides. He's still not as comfortable with me on his right side, but he did allow me to do everything there that I did on the left side. We ended today's session with some leading stuff and seeing just how slight a pressure I could get him to yield to (which was very slight - he is quite sensitive and will be one of those horses that you can get to respond off a "thought"). I'm really glad that I was able to be successful today and am still making small progresses. I hope that all this extra time that I've had to take in the beginnning will allow me to catch up a bit in the next 2 months before the competition!