Curly gets to play

Actually, the title should be "R gets to play and Curly gets to work!"

Twice this week little sister R has asked to come out the barn with us so that she could learn to round pen Curly. And she's not doing too badly for an eight year old! She tells him what gait she wants, twirls the lead rope and does a decent job keeping it up until he complies. And to Curly's credit, he seems to be giving it an honest effort as well. It's not always easy to figure out just what exactly she's asking for. :-)

She has also been leading him around the barn and trail course, making him go through, over and around various obstacles. This is all very good practice for both of them.

Little sister R, showing off her new cowboy boots!
(Don't you just love the outfit??)

I asked her if she wanted to take a ride on the big boy, but she's afraid. I don't blame her, but I also think he would behave just fine. Anyway, it's nice to see her enjoying herself out at the barn and it's nice to see Curly with a job, even if it's an easy one.

Friend A showed Curly to a young woman looking for a horse yesterday. The potential buyer seemed to really like him and told A she would call me about purchase terms (leasing? payments?). R heard me talking on the phone about all of this and got REALLY upset. She's fallen for Curly now and wants to keep him. It's so hard to break your little girl's heart.....

I told her that we would find a better horse for us and that she could work with Monte until we did get that new one. She wasn't appeased with this answer; her loyalty is definitely with Curly.

But he's not sold yet...the young woman hasn't called - and quite possibly never will.

E rode Monte with a larger group of riders (her 4-H club) on Tuesday. It's been months since she's done this - and they both need to do more of it before fair! Her control of Monte slipped in this situation. She admitted to being distracted by all the other riders (it was a bit crazy at times!) and consequently, Monte had a tough time doing his job. Ruben was there and noted the things she needs to work on. This Friday's lesson might be a tough one!

Show clothes update: New jeans have been bought - 38" inseam! Also, borrowed English riding boots couldn't be found so we ended up buying some. They are nice but oh-so-expensive. Uhg! Grandma has offered to sew a riding jacket for E. She's modifying a regular pattern to look as much like a traditional jacket as she can. Yeah for grandmas who can sew! Also, we found some Western boots at Goodwill yesterday that are in almost-new condition and only slightly too large for E - and they are reddish in color, which will look so much better than her brown boots with her Western outfit (black pants, white shirt with a tiny bit of red stitching). I think she might be ready....

Riding strong

E had her third lesson with Ruben last night.

It has been raining recently, so when we went to pick up Monte we found a horse who was more brown than white. After 45 minutes of brushing he sort of resembled the horse we bought - with a gray tinge to that white body of his, though.

The lesson started with E showing Ruben how she's doing with the tasks he gave her last time - softness in her hands, getting Monte to keep his head tucked and gaits collected, etc. Ruben was amazed with her progress; E was able to do most of what was asked, showing more confidence in her riding than I think I've ever seen.

I couldn't manage a decent picture - kept cutting body parts off!

Because of her success, Ruben added the canter to their lessons. It was quickly obvious that Monte is still testing E; he pulled his nose out, playing with her and the bit but was sneaky so that it was difficult for her to feel. Monte managed to time his head-bobbing with her hand movements. After being shown what the horse should be doing, E was able to begin asking for the correct form. They aren't able to keep the nice frame at this gait all the time yet, but with practice both horse and rider will do wonderfully.

Ruben sat with me for a few minutes as E practiced in the round pen; he was pleasantly surprised by the progress she had made since her last lesson. And was even more surprised when I mentioned that they hadn't ridden since last Saturday. He was also happy to see that E is not letting the horse get away with anything, either. She has learned to be more consistent and intentional in her requests, and knows to keep at him until he complies. And she's figured out that he's not going to purposefully dump her on the ground, even if he is throwing a temper tantrum. Her fear while riding is decreasing.

If they keep up the hard work, winning a ribbon or two at fair might actually be a possibility!

Show clothes update: Second try at getting an English riding jacket arrived yesterday - this time too big! We'll take it over to grandma's to see if it can be altered and made to work. Also, E has gotten taller this summer and the jeans she was planning on wearing for herdsmanship are too short. (sigh)

Morning rides

The heat has been horrendous around here - topping out over 100 every afternoon. But there is a benefit to that - in my mind at least. E has been motivated to get to the barn to ride before the sun really starts baking everything in sight. She has actually gotten out of bed willingly at 7 a.m. for the past few mornings, and plans to continue with that schedule until school starts. Amazing what a cool breeze can accomplish! And I much prefer mornings at the barn to middle of the day excursions.

At her second lesson with Ruben (Monday) she practiced timing her stops, turns and lead changes. Everything is still being done at a walk, but her communication with Monte is improving dramatically. Ruben also showed her how to assess muscle soreness in Monte and what to do when she finds a sore spot (he had many). By the end of the hour Monte was fully engaged and was listening intently to E's requests. She's finding that she has to have a goal in mind to keep her horse interested; he isn't one to be happy just aimlessly walking around.

Since fair is fast approaching, E is stepping up her riding time and plans to go out to the barn every day that she can. That gives her only about 25 more rides...to perfect her Western, English, trail and halter/showmanship skills. Piece of cake. Ha!

Actually, she's doing really well and is comfortable with most of her skills in Western at a walk. She'll add the trot and canter over the next few rides. She's been ending each ride with some time on the trail course. Monte is learning to think right along with her as they approach the various obstacles. Showmanship is something that E really enjoys doing, so I expect them to click on that skill fairly quickly. That just leaves English...and my hope for them is to just get through the classes. E knows that winning ribbons isn't very likely at this year's fair. And she's okay with it.

Show clothes

Did you know that we have abnormal, mutant bodies? At least that's what I would conclude after trying to buy some English riding clothes for E.

I must admit to spending inordinate amounts of time recently, trying to find the best bargains in breeches, show shirts and show jackets. I am blown away by the high prices for everything! I felt overjoyed to find a jacket for $40 and breeches for $30 - and immediately ordered what I thought would be the correct size. I even went so far as to measure E and compared that to the sizing charts; should'a been accurate, right?

Guess again! Sleeves on the jacket are inches above her wrist and the breeches look small enough to fit R! ARRRGGGGGHHH!

So now it is a race with time to send it all back, get better sizes and hope it all arrives before fair....

Lesson #1: Relax

E had her first lesson with Ruben on Friday. It was hotter than heck out there (about 100) and she wasn't too motivated to ride in the blazing sun, but the anticipation of riding with Ruben and the occasional little breeze got her out into the dusty round pen with her horse.

Immediately Ruben could tell that Monte has lost some of his softness and responsiveness; the horse was taking advantage of his inexperienced rider and backtracking in his training. First off, E was shown how to make Monte lower his head and tuck his nose - a feat that Ruben made look easy but proved to be a bit more difficult for E.

The main lesson that she walked away with was to be more relaxed. E holds herself somewhat rigid and tight, which is communicated through her hands. The horse is less likely to want to work with her because of this. Several minutes were spent showing her how loosely to she should hold herself and then also how quickly she needs to react and release. Simple ideas - hard to put into practice.

At the end of the lesson, Monte no longer looked like a white horse. He was a muddy mess! Ruben invited E to hose him off before we left - which is where we discovered a new type of super scrubby. It was a plastic thing with soft bristles, attached to the hose. And it worked wonderfully! Gotta get one of these:
(and they're cheap too....Yeah!)

Back in the (Western) saddle again...

E threw her ol' Western saddle on Monte yesterday. After a few moments of confusion, they both remembered what they were supposed to do to make it work. One of the hardest things for E was to keep her bum in the saddle while Monte trotted; she much prefers posting to being bounced along. After working on slowing his stride down to a more respectable Western pace, though, she found that his gait smoothed out a bit and she was more comfortable.

It's really cool to watch her change the speed of his gait through her seat alone. The movement of E's hips/pelvis tell him how big of a stride to take. I think it is magic, actually, because the whole process is completely invisible to the people on the sidelines.

Neighbors

Monte got to move to a larger stall/run today out at the horse barn. And he now shares a fence line with Curly.

When E brought the little man to his new run he was very excited and immediately began prancing all around, head and tail held high. Curly was curious and excited about the new neighbor as well, and walked up and down the fence to watch the show.

Monte soon discovered that this new space is big enough to actually get up to a canter - as long as you're able to make a quick turn and immediately slow-down at the end. He also felt that he needed to assert some dominance over the other horses that border a small portion of his run. Again, he held his head and tail up high, snorting and striking out at the fence between him and "his subjects" (as I'm sure he sees all other horses!). They just mildly looked at him and eventually walked away.

E has decided that she wants to try competing in both Western and English at the fair this year. This could be challenging since she's still very much a beginner at English and hasn't ridden Western in many months - and never on Monte!

I think many riding hours are in her near future in order for her to even be marginally ready.