Riding right along...

Well, it's been a while since my last entry - I have been sooo busy! Spencer and I took a short vacation to Reno for the Californios Ranch Roping and Stock Horse contest. It was a really good time and always a great opportunity to watch some spectacular roping and beautiful horsemanship. I love going to watch that because it always inspires me to come home and start working harder on my own horsemanship. Cabrito graduated to riding in the arena on his 4th ride, and did quite well. He's usually pretty relaxed and doesn't seem to be too spooky. We hit a little bump in the road last week when he decided that the moment that I swing my leg over him to get on or get off was kind of bothersome. And lucky me, this seems to be one of the hardest training issues to get through without making it worse. So to work we went on getting on and off, on and off, on and off until it improved. Of course, that moment he gets bothered is the moment where I have the least amount of control and balance. So I had to work really hard at helping him stay balanced and relaxed and not losing my own balance. It gets better every day but it definitely seems to be a concern for him! The little guy moves forward really nice, he trots out and lopes when cued, and seems to have a natural stop on him. I'm working on helping him get a little more comfortable with bending right, his right hind leg is weaker, so whenever he gets in a position where he needs to load more weight on that leg than the others he gets uncomfortable. That is just a testament to how deep the sense of self preservation runs in him. He knows that when I put him in that spot, he's at a disadvantage to get away if he needs to. So I've just focused on putting him there, seeing if he can relax and take the weight on that right hind, then I walk him out of it. As he gets stronger on it and more trusting that I'm not going to let him die if his escape is compromised, he should get better about that! Last weekend he went on his first trail ride around the property. Roxy went along as a babysitter, but as I should have known, Cabrito didn't need her! He was comfortable leading the way and also comfortable with her trotting off ahead of him. I was quite proud of him as there was no spooking, he stayed relaxed and seemed to enjoy himself. I'm planning on getting him to go on his first outing next week to the Barnes Ranch for some cattle practice and then a fun show on the 22nd. I'm confident now that even if he gets scared, I can keep a lid on it and help him come back to me for leadership. Cabrito is doing so well, I'm not even worried about getting things just perfect for the competition - I think he will rise to the occassion and show everyone what a capable little horse he is!