Well I did not go to the jumping clinic on Sunday :-( We had everything loaded on Saturday and even practiced loading the horses cause I wanted to make sure we'd have a smooth departure in the morning. Well the trailer lights weren't working... I'm sure you've all been there, about 20 hrs of work later it lights up like a Christmas tree but we had to rewire the whole trailer (Good thing by hubby is quite the handy man). We all agreed it was just meant to be. At least I got to watch the Packers win!!!
Sunday we did do some jumping at home. We jumped our first oxer it was probably only a 18" high and 2 ft wide but it was new for us. Theo barely jumped it he kind of hopped over it. After doing that some I decided I wanted to jump him a bit higher just to see limit. We got to a 2ft something before Theo started to get tired. I don't know if he would have been up for the clinic anyway. He is doing TONS better with the ulcer medications but now I need to work on his endurance without stressing him out.
Theo will be giving Natalie (the girl who owns the Arabian) lessons on Sundays now so she can get familiar with him. I am bringing Abby and Theo to the Midwest Horse Fair so I need Natalie to ride Theo in the Demos. Only 11 more weeks to Fair!
Abby had a full week off since I was preparing for the clinic but I rode her last night. She is such an amazing riding horse. You really would think she has years of experience rather then 30 days! She is able to hold her gait for longer now and being more consistant with picking it up when asked. She is backing straighter and really starting to respond to my legs. Here is an example of her attitude. Last night I wanted to get a full 1 hr of ride time on her but I was getting really cold and knew I would have to still pick the arena before I could leave. So I rode her over to the pick made sure she knew I had it and then rode her to the pile of manure. I scooped up the poo from on top of her and then steered her to the bucket. She didn't care at all and patiently waited for me to scoop the pile! It was hard on my arm so I only did one pile but we had alot of fun. I have a feeling she will just be one of those horses you could do anything with.
Until next time,
Theo, Abby, and Blaine
Wisconsin, USA
Blaine, you are right, Abby sounds so easy going! Not many green horses would be non-reactive to poop-picking under saddle. Re: Theo, sounds like a big jump to me!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, sounds like you're ready to try polo!? :)
ReplyDeleteThats a cool idea to try and combine riding and mucking out! A great way to introduce Abby to new situations and good to practice her balance with you reaching to scoop the poop!
ReplyDeleteThat was a really neat idea. I want to train Linus to be able to open gates and such from the saddle.
ReplyDeleteI only can encourage you to do Polo! I will try that with some of my horses as well. Did earlier bycicle polo, it MUST be fun with a horse! As long as we ar careful about the joints ...
ReplyDeleteI may just look into that polo stuff. I suppose competing on a short gaited horse may be considered cheating to some extent though.
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