A week ago I had a private lesson with Sarah Lorenz. At the beginning of the ride I described Zoe's new habit - picking up this hoppy-trot thing after about 10 minutes - and that I was pushing Zoe through it to smooth her gait out. Sarah watched and decided that really what I needed to do was a) keep Zoe mentally engaged during the whole ride, and b) slow her down rather than push her through the moment. Slow down? Not so easy to do!
Sarah's take on the behavior is that Zoe gets bored and fed up with trotting, so she tries to take off into a canter. I, being the rider, need to take control (Huh, where have I heard that before?) and make Zoe go at the pace I set.
So we did lots of 20m circles at a s-l-o-w trot (almost a Western jog) and whenever she tried to take off, I just kept it slow, slow, slow and made her bend to the inside. Part of the exercise was to spiral in and then side-pass back out to the larger circle, all while maintaining her bend.
Gradually, over the past week, Zoe and I have had better and better rides. On Thursday she only tried her hoppy-thing twice! My mare may be stubborn, but in the end I have more perseverance. :)
Monte update: His new owner, Laurie, is conditioning him for a 25 mile endurance ride that is taking place in October. He seems to be thriving and enjoying his new life. It is her goal to redeem his reputation and show everyone what a great little guy he is. I couldn't be happier.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Monte On My Mind
Monte has changed hands again. And I think he is now with the family I was trying to find when I originally decided he needed a new home. During the year we had him up for sale I talked many potential buyers out of even coming to look at him because I just knew they were too inexperienced for our little guy.
Turns out I probably should have done the same with the last family as well....Monte's new little girl took a bad fall off of him (he spooked) and ended up needing pins in her elbow. I feel terrible that she was injured and understand why she is now afraid to ride him.
Luckily, her mom found a new home for him rather quickly and the new owner is a very experienced rider. Laurie's been riding him almost daily out on the trails, taking him up and down steep hills, into water and through all sorts of new terrain. He still spooks occasionally, but he's doing it. And best of all, she really likes the little guy. She's called him a "diamond in the rough." It seems Monte finally has a steady job!
~~~
I had a nice, long ride on Zoe yesterday with some friends. It was wonderful to just walk along and chat for a couple of hours on the lake trails. Zoe did great and only had a couple of tiny spooks (Turns out she thinks one of the bridges across the creek is evil - and we were just riding past it, not over it!).
I wish I were able to get out on my horse more often (a familiar song, I know!), and one day schooling and work will settle down enough so that I'll actually have the time to do just that. Until then, I'm sure Zoe is quite happy spending her days eating, eating, eating. :)
Turns out I probably should have done the same with the last family as well....Monte's new little girl took a bad fall off of him (he spooked) and ended up needing pins in her elbow. I feel terrible that she was injured and understand why she is now afraid to ride him.
Luckily, her mom found a new home for him rather quickly and the new owner is a very experienced rider. Laurie's been riding him almost daily out on the trails, taking him up and down steep hills, into water and through all sorts of new terrain. He still spooks occasionally, but he's doing it. And best of all, she really likes the little guy. She's called him a "diamond in the rough." It seems Monte finally has a steady job!
~~~
I had a nice, long ride on Zoe yesterday with some friends. It was wonderful to just walk along and chat for a couple of hours on the lake trails. Zoe did great and only had a couple of tiny spooks (Turns out she thinks one of the bridges across the creek is evil - and we were just riding past it, not over it!).
I wish I were able to get out on my horse more often (a familiar song, I know!), and one day schooling and work will settle down enough so that I'll actually have the time to do just that. Until then, I'm sure Zoe is quite happy spending her days eating, eating, eating. :)
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)