I decided to ride Abby one last time to see how she was going to do for Chase and MIL was going to ride Black. To my surprise she decided to ride her bareback (good for her). We headed down the road with Abby being a bit reluctant. I don’t think she’s very fond of being the lead horse. MIL asked Black to trot to catch up and you could just hear the joy coming out of her in laughter. Black has a big, floaty trot & it is a lot of fun to sit.
I had Abby in her new bit and wow can she turn (neck rein)! When I’d set the rein on her neck she would put her head to my leg (as if she was flexing) and turn quickly. Almost too quickly! Turning right wasn’t quite as good as turning left but she is a very athletic pony. She’d make some little girl (or boy) one heck of a barrel horse the way she can turn. Needless to say she was full of it. Fat, lazy, athletic pony + spring time ride = a lot of work! Meanwhile MIL sat back on Black enjoying her ride.
When we got close to home I asked Abby to stop and let MIL and Black continue on towards the house (Abby had separation issues last year on the trail). After she stood still for 30 seconds I got off and backed her all of the way to the house. She wasn’t thrilled. Back at the house we did some LFR stage 1 and then when she was nice and tired I tied her up in the corer of the barn and left her to think about it.
Yesterday we went out as a family. DH on Max, Chase on Abby and Ty and I on Black. I had asked DH to do some GW w/Abby before leaving but when I got there Chase was riding her. I did some GW but not as much as I had wanted to since we were running out of daylight.
She did very well for Chase (she wasn’t the lead horse). Ty had a blast! He loved trotting and he loved the baby “moo-s”. He liked the baby “moo-s” so much that he had a mild hissy fit when we left the moo-s. He picked up the reins a few times and tried to get Black to go but thankfully he didn’t make contact with her mouth.
When we got home I told Chase we weren’t done. I put Abby’s butt to work and told him that when I was done he was going to get on, ride her down the road, stick his hand in her mane and let her go where she wanted. If she turned for home I’d take over.
Chase hopped on after I did some LFR with her (which by the way I’m noticing huge attitude improvements with her at the lope) and headed down the road. She tried turning for home but he stopped her (he wasn’t supposed to) so I had him get off and I backed her all of the way home and did some LFR again. He got on again and this time she didn’t even think of going back home. She stopped once on him and looked back. I told him to just squeeze her and see where she went. She decided to keep going down the road like planned so right before we hit the neighbors drive I let Chase stop her and let her rest.
He stayed there for a good 3-4 minutes before I had him dismount and we let her walk home behind the four wheeler. At home I backed her up to the barn and was in the process of backing her into the barn when DH and I got into a small tiff so I ended up leading her in and tying her up. I think she got the gist of the exercise.
Here are a few pics of Chase (not the best I know).
1 comment:
It's nice you could all get out together. Sounds like the new bit is working real well. It also sounds like Abby is losing her barnsourness(?)
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