Riding in the round pen

E had the first official ride on Ginger!

It was a gorgeous day (55 and sunny) so we rushed to the barn after school. I quickly cleaned stalls (finally got some pellets for Ginger's pee spot) while E brushed as much mud as possible off the horse. Ginger was still too dirty to put a saddle on though, so E decided to try her bareback.

Ginger was a bit of a wreck at the hitching post. It appears that she has never really been taught to stand quietly for any length of time. We had to continually remind her where she was to stand and had to reinforce that she was not allowed to bump us or get into our space.

E then took her into the round pen and quickly discovered that Ginger is TERRIFIED of grocery sacks. So we did a little desensitizing exercise and began the process of getting her used to those horrible horse-eating monsters. Within five minutes we could walk past her while dragging a bag.

Putting the bridle/bit on her was completely different, though. She immediately stood quietly and calmly while E performed this task - better than Curly, really. She was a little nervous when E tried to get on her back, but quickly settled. E walked her around the pen for a bit, trying different cues and requests. She was able to get her to turn with rein cues, and was able to stop and back her. E did not have much luck with leg cues, but friend T (who also had a quick ride on Ginger) was able to use some leg to turn her.


Overall, we were so happy with the ride. Ginger needs a tune-up and is sometimes pushy, but it all seems to be things we can work with.

And the vet says....

We took Ginger to the vet today for a pre-purchase exam. After checking her over head to toe he declared her sound and a worthy purchase.

She was being a bit of a pill...might be from the warmer weather, the new experiences and environment, her cycle or maybe that's even her regular personality. Hard to tell, really. E took her into the round pen for a bit and Ginger went wild, tossing her head and kicking up her heels.

We still haven't ridden her...hopefully will this week.

Wild Stalli..umm...Geldings

E and I are a bit under the weather - nasty colds - so we weren't able to take advantage of the nice-ish day to go riding yesterday. But we did manage to do a big cleaning of stalls and runs. As we cleaned out each horse's stall we would release them out into the trail course area of the barnyard. Gets the animal out of our way and gives the horse a bit of freedom.

Ginger must be cycling right now. She was quite interested in the boys and was "winking" at them (I learned a new term in my research on mares last night!). Of course, being geldings, all the boys would just stare at her lifted tail, blink, and then go back to what they had been doing. I was glad to discover that Ginger is still amenable to our handling even while she is in estrus.

When it was Curly's turn for freedom he began acting like a wild stallion, charging all over the place with mane and tail flying behind him. It made me laugh and we began calling him "Curly, Wild Stallion of the Cimarron." That quickly evolved into "Curly, Wild Gelding of the Poop Pile" since his laps included a romp through that area as well. He even made a leap over a large pile of rocks. When we rounded him back up he was all sweaty from his exertions.

E's comment as we drove away: "I'm feeling happy now."