E's...um, I mean, Curly's Lesson

Yesterday's lesson started out just fine. Curly was very responsive to E. in the round pen and he was fairly well behaved during the whole brushing/saddling up process. In the big arena, things were going okay as well - or at least no worse than usual.

E has switched to using two hands with the reins for now so that she can have more control. Currently her leg cues are not strong enough and Curly is not responding well enough to neck reining either. But about 15 minutes into the lesson coach A. couldn't take it any more and asked E. to hand Curly over. I'm not quite sure what it was exactly that was frustrating for A. to watch - I couldn't see that Curly wasn't doing anything that was out of the ordinary for him. :-)

But Curly probably now wishes he had behaved better with E! A. can be a demanding trainer, especially since she knows that he has done better in the past. As she rode him, we figured out that he probably needs a new bit; his current bit is now too soft and he can ignore it easily. It took A. a full 20 minutes to get him to a point where he was as responsive as she wanted to the bit.

Additionally, when Curly is asked to stop, he has developed a new bad habit of dropping his head and pulling the rider up. He was even able to pull A. out of the saddle this way. Poor E. must feel like he's going to throw her over his head each time he does this!

Spring is here?

We spent a good hour brushing out Curly's tail and main and de-mudding the rest of his coat this past weekend. It appears that shedding season is beginning already. I guess that's not too surprising considering the warmer temperatures we've been having. It actually got up to 50 degrees during E's lesson yesterday and she rode without a jacket for the first time this year.

E. has been utilizing the round pen prior to riding Curly, which has helped a little but they still need more time. He has been most receptive and ready to work with E. at the end of their lesson - just when she's ready to give up! As they left the arena yesterday E.'s comment was, "I need to get a longer-than-45-minute attention span." It's hard for her to focus and push through the worst part of the lesson after having spent a whole day at school.

The hay we picked up last weekend seems to be working a bit better. Q wastes less of it anyway. So we'll go get another 2 tons this next week to get us through until June.

Q is still recovering from surgery - and is terribly bored! We led him around the barn yard yesterday, letting him munch away on the green grass; I think this was his first excursion out of his stall in over a week.