Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Another Great Ride - Ride 24


I had another great ride on Chrome!  I did take some pictures of the saddle and have some thoughts about it, but I ran out of time to edit them, so I'll post about the saddle tomorrow.


I tied Chrome to a tree because it's been a while since I tied him up and just made him stand patiently.  He needs some practice in patience lol.  The flies were bothering him so I quickly groomed him and fly sprayed him, then I let him stand while I took pictures.  When he was quiet I tacked him up.


I took my time tacking him up because for some reason I normally get in a hurry and he's been acting like he doesn't like me tightening the girth.  He did great today.  I enjoy grooming and take my time with it, so I think tacking up should be the same way.  I must practice that!


I started out just walking him around the yard to get him warmed up.  I decided to work on my equitation since I was in the saddle and he is getting so good at walking and steering.  I've noticed the Aussie saddle makes it difficult to sit in a correct dressage seat.  My thighs naturally slide forward and want to rest against the poly (sort of like the pommel) which puts me in a chair seat.  I was focusing on keeping my knees down, legs back and toes forward.  It was soooo hard!  This used to be second nature to me!  Darn it all those years without a horse to ride lol.


We got bored and decided to herd some ducks (above).  That was fun hehe.  Actually steering and taking a picture was kind of difficult LOL!  Once he was warmed up I worked on trotting for longer distances and trying to find some sort of tempo I could post to (yeah I'm out of practice with that too and I think my stirrups are too short or he's too bouncy because I felt like I was getting thrown up into too high of a post).  He did really well.  He still tries to stop on his own, but a gentle nudge keeps him going.  In fact considering he's so lazy I'm really pleased with how forward he goes off of light leg aids, but he doesn't freak out when I accidentally bump him with a heel or anything.  :)


In the picture above he's settled back down into a calm walk after a bit of trotting and I'm not even holding the reins on my not even four year old with less than thirty rides on him.  :D  LOVE this horse!!  After trotting I worked on steering some more.  I'm practicing making my aids as light as possible so I don't make him dull, so I was holding the reins by the buckle with one hand and using just two fingers (thumb and forefinger) to cue him to turn.  He did so well!!  Heck I could probably teach him to neck rein at this point lol.  

The ride was twenty five minutes and a ton of fun!  I'm loving having a horse to ride and more specifically I'm loving riding Chrome!  He's the best horse I've ever trained/ridden/worked with.  :D


On a totally unrelated note, look how long his mane is getting again!  He's still tearing it out by his withers though.  :(

Anyway I'll post the other pictures tomorrow.  I have a TON of them lol.  Now off to bed.  Night guys!

P.S.  I almost forgot!  I mounted him from the ground a couple of times today.  Normally I use a mounting block (or anything else convenient like a stump or tailgate), but since I had the saddle and no mounting block I just got on from the ground.  He did great, but he definitely does need some work on standing still!  That's my fault though, so I don't blame him.  :D  Oh and I totally forgot to work on the stuff I did last time like backing and yielding his haunches... yeah I am so easily distracted lol!

2 comments:

  1. he looks wonderful. I love the first photo.
    The tying up is a great idea. I haven't done that for a while with Steele.

    just a thought on your seat difficulties- it might just come back to the saddle again. I struggled for years on my position and then changed saddles and it was so easy!

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  2. I second teresa. you might be fighting the saddle. you shouldln't feel like you are fighting the saddle. post some side pics of you just sitting relaxed!! maybe we can help figure it out.

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