Saturday, May 04, 2013

I introduced Joseph to the bosal yesterday.  He didn't quite like it at first.  I wasn't going to be able to get it on him in the psture with no halter on.  He just wasn't cool with it.  So I put a halter on him and played around, and he had it on in just a few minutes.  We had practiced proper head position for bridling on an earlier day.
I "drove" him around the pasture with my arm over his back to get him used to rein movement and requests.  He was hard to motivate forward, he thought it was weird that I was back at his girth bumping him with my side.  Plus, whenever he thinks something is weird he just wants to stand still, not move forward.  But we worked through that pretty well, and overall it was a great session.

Yesterday my sister asked if I wanted to go on a poker ride.  I told her I didn't have a good horse for that.  I like poker rides because you often get to see new scenery and trails, but only on a good horse.  I think with the level of energy there, with horses jigging and calling, you'd be setting yourself up for failure if you were to ride a green horse, and it's not fair to the horse.  She said I could borrow my old horse Danni from her friend.  I said, "Sure!" 

Now, I wouldn't normally ride just anybody's horse.  I'm not that brave and I really don't see the point.  For me riding is more about the relationship between me and my horse than it is just about getting on any horse and riding.  But I know Danni is safe and we did at one time have a bond.  She's a sweetie.


 None of my pictures in the woods came out, so I just ended up with bright, sunshiny meadow pictures.

I would love to camp at this pond, but it's private land.
  
Thank goodness we met up with this guy who knew where the trail was.  It wasn't flagged very well.

Danni does jig some when she's excited, but still she's pretty much totally safe, even if it is a bit rougher than walking. We did 13 1/2 miles today, and I have hardly ridden at all this year.  My butt HURTS.  But I rode in Holly's Orthoflex saddle, and it must have been good for me, because my knees and ankles never hurt at all.

After I got home I was so excited about doing some more trail riding that I decided I'd better get Scout back in shape.  He was a really good boy.  I went out with the idea that I was going to be a helping hand to my horse, instead of thinking about how he irritates me, and we got along beautifully.  I can't even tell you how bad it hurt to set my butt in the saddle though.  It got better after a few minutes.  In the past I found that the best cure for saddle soreness is more riding, but I never tested that in the same day.  Ouch.

I couldn't resist a silly picture as we were picking up cones.  Scout thinks it's dumb.

This isn't the best picture of either of my boys, but it shows how much bigger Scout is!  Big and doughy.  Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have gelded him so early.  Would he have been more muscular, I wonder?

3 comments:

Keechy said...

I think any time you gelded him he would have ended up 'doughy' eventually. He just needs some regular schooling work to build muscle. :) Actually if you'd gelded him late he might have been shorter because apparently gelded male animals grow more length of leg bone as less energy is spent on the hormonal stuff. (Or so I've been told!)

Andrea -Mustang Saga said...

I've heard arguments for and against, but I don't know if anyone really knows for sure. I wouldn't have minded him a little shorter, though! Not at the expense of his good behavior though.

Keechy said...

No, good behaviour is a must, and he might have duffed up his mum if you left him longer. Some of them are precocious. :)