TP

Last night I tested out TP (temporary pony) to see what her “glitches” really are. We worked in the RP w/the rope and she did very well with that. She was really keeping an eye on the kids. I don’t think she’s ever seen so many before. lol

Once I did that I did a little bit of LFR with her. I’m already aware that we have some issues with her coming off of pressure and she wants to crowd a little bit. She did well for her first lesson. No swishy tail when I whacked her she just didn’t really understand.

After that I saddled her up and jumped on her in the RP. She was pretty quiet compared to what she’s been the last few times I’ve ridden her so I decided to see how she’d do on a short road ride. MIL saddled up Sis and off we went.

She was booking it! She was on a mission to get somewhere fast! Sis was full of it too. She’s pretty lucky MIL was riding her because we probably would have needed to have a meeting. The first few cars that passed we stopped. I could feel her tense but she just stayed still (he said she hadn’t been on the road in about a year since they are on pavement). When we got past the neighbors house we noticed a big coon running down the field and then into the ditch and then it disappeared behind the culvert. Sis didn’t want to continue forward and I told MIL I felt like we needed to trust her instincts on this one so we headed back.

As we walked past the neighbor’s garbage TP looked at it & acted like she was a bit nervous but when I asked her to turn and face she did and she was calm. We decided to head down the short trail behind my parent’s house. There are a few nice water crossings there and I wanted to see how she’d do. She got a bit more excited on the trail but she never felt out of control. She just felt like a ball of energy. She crossed the water well but she had to “test” the bottom first to make sure it was solid before she would cross.

After the creek I wanted to rest for a few minutes. Standing still doesn’t seem to be one of her strong points at the moment. We flexed, then she’d walk off so we’d flex, then she’d walk off. When I got her to stand for 30 seconds I finally asked her to walk on (we’ll fix that issue if we keep her).

When we got back home I had DH pull out the roping dummy and hand me my rope. I threw a few off of her and she did well (much better then the first time we tried her out). I even drug it backwards a little bit with her and she did very well. I had a problem with my bit sticking in her mouth so I got off to take it off. By this time DH decided he wanted to get on her (his back is still bothering him so he can’t push it too much).

We put a different bit in her and he walked her around. He said he felt much more comfortable on her then he did the first time he rode her. I gave him a few pointers and then gave him a “mini” lesson on where some of her buttons were. Not once did he get frustrated with me. I think he’s learning that there is a lot he doesn’t know but he’s decided even if she isn’t the horse for him he needs to know it.

I helped him get her into a slow spin and the shit eating grin on his face was priceless. I think he’s already falling for her.

He’s at work today so I’m going to take her to drill practice tonight to see what she does. I think she’ll be fine but I want to do as much as possible in the next 2-4 weeks so we can make an educated decision when we decide what to do with her. And for those of you wondering no, I’m not going to ride her all of the time. I just want to make sure that she will be able to power down her engine for DH. I don’t need him getting hurt anymore then what he already is.

The Dr. did tell him he could ride though and I told DH I would “help” him with her but I wouldn’t train her for him. I said if he needed me to I would teach her the concept and then he could go from there. Mainly though from what I see now she just needs some time doing ORS & the passenger lesson. She also needs to learn to whoa from the word and we need to do a little bit of desensitizing from the ground. Other then that her shoulder button could be refined but her rib and hip button are pretty nice. Her back is awesome and she tucks and flexes well both vertically and laterally.