Mission Accomplished!

Well, we made it to the competition and actually did quite well! Cabrito was just as good there as he was at home. We had some great practices with our coach, Ken McNabb, and made some good friends. Cabrito was really able to shine in the cow work where we placed in the top 10. Overall, we ended up finishing 15th - just missing the top 12. But I learned SO much and am really eager to get signed up for the next Mustang Makeover. I got a lot of compliments on my horse and my training techniques, mostly from my peers, so that sure meant a lot to me. Cabrito was sold at the sale for $600 and was taken home to Wyoming by one of the other trainers. I miss him a lot, but I know he will have a good home. I just wanted to update those who didn't get to attend on how it all went! Thank you to everyone for their encouragement and support, it was so nice to have the "cheering section" at the competition. I appreciate each and every one of you!

One week left!

Oh my, I can't believe our journey has almost come to an end! I'm trying really hard not to get nervous, and not be sad. Cabrito is such a special horse and I'm so proud of how far he's come! Since my last entry, he's gone to a horse show and one cattle practice. He was great at the show (just went as a spectator) and stood patiently tied at the trailer all day. I've done a little trail riding outside on him and he's been great. Nothing really spooks him and he's pretty willing to go over any obstacle I ask of him. He trots and lopes out nice outside too! Our arena work has been focused on getting more suppleness and control of the "4 corners" of his body. We still have a little trouble loping to the right - he likes to push his left shoulder out and go where he wants! Yesterday we made some pretty significant progress with that though. On the plus side though, his lateral work is quite good. He will leg yield at the walk and trot both directions and he knows how to side pass! He's also gotten SO much better about mounting and dismounting, he no longer tries to shoot sideways or forward when my leg swings over. He's also learned the value of being able to stand still and relax with me on his back. The other day he stood in the middle of the arena for a good 15 minutes without getting antsy! Cabrito also got his first taste of cow work last week. To my amazement, he took to it really well! He wasn't afraid, showed some natural cow sense, wanted to stop and turn with the cow - it felt great! We're going back for more practice tonight, and then again on Sunday. Yesterday I worked on being able to remove a jacket, flop it around, toss it on the fence, and pick it back up. He did pretty good with that, so hopefully the slicker on the trail course won't be a big deal to him. All in all, I'm just trying to come up with as much stuff as I can to at least introduce him to, so we can be prepared for whatever the competition will throw our way. Since Cabrito is pretty sensible and calm anyways, I think we'll get through it without a rodeo! lol. I've been trying to get a freestyle performance prepared just in case we make it to the top 10 finals, all I'll say is "Blues Brothers". :) Hopefully we'll have the opportunity to perform for everyone! Well, that's about all I have for now, I'd sure like for everyone to come and watch if they can. It seems like a really competitive group of trainers, so I know it will be a good show! Wish us luck...

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!

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!