Out with Linus

As seems to be the norm for me..my photos have posted in reverse order! Oh well, it all happened today. I got out with my own Curly fella today. He was mega excited when we started but I didn't see him at all yesterday so I fully expected him to be wound up. When I first went out he was lying down and when he saw me pretended to ignore me and didn't get up. I went into the barn and came out with his halter and brushes. He sprung to his feet and came to the gate. He tried to take a nip at me but I scolded him before he got close enough and then he took off bucking and kicking. I think I was being told off for not visiting him yesterday. For those who don't know, Linus lives on my parents farm which is very close to where I live. I am there every day to look after him and our herd of Angus. When I can't be there, my Dad looks after Linus for me. They have their own special bond....especially now that winter is here and Linus is nuts for Dad's furry winter hat!

Linus needed a good grooming since the wet weather had dirtied him up a bit. He was great with his feet today too. He gets better all the time. He has his little quirks but also knows what I will not put up with. There are some pictures below of him trying to untie himself. He did succeed the first attempt so I threw the lead on the other side of the gate, but didn't make much difference. It's one of his favourite games. I saddled him, which is turning out to be a very easy task for him. He accepts the girth tightening really well. Then I put the bitless on him and decided we should start working more on neck reining. I've read that it is possible but not the simplest task to master in a bitless but I had done it last year on Linus. We mainly starting trying it with the May mini-challenge. Linus did much better with his reminder on it today than I had hoped for. We did several circles in both directions and there is one picture below kind of showing it. It's not the best to show what we are doing but what I liked about it is that it shows his ear cocked to me and I have his attention. Then I put my foot in the stirrup on both sides of him and that was no drama. I leaned over the saddle and he threw his head up but froze when I said Whoa. I praised him for his good lesson and got us ready to go for a walk. I tied his lead around his halter and hung it from the saddle in case I needed it but my plan was to do some more work with him wearing the bitless.

Off we went, did a fair few circles and quarter rolls up the laneway because he was excited and not sure he was going to listen to me. Once I enforced the fact that he was going to listen to me he settled in and we carried on. He used a few things as excuses but for the most part was a good boy. We headed up the same way as when we met the riders. He knew the spot because he snorted and pranced and was looking for them. He was pretty disappointed they weren't there. I spent a good part of our walk beside the saddle and holding the reins up by the pommel and we practiced our stops, turns and go aheads. He was again better than I hoped he would be. Especially when I guided him to the sides. There are some neighbours who see us out regularly...made me think how amazed they will all be the first time they actually see me on his back!! : ) I'm out there so much walking him with a saddle on or ground driving. Oh well, he is learning his traffic manners and ground manners each and every time we go out.

We had a slow but enjoyable walk back and are hoping to get out much more this week. LOVING all the new bloggers and posts!! 2011 is off to a full throttle start!!

Where did the snow go??

Where are the other horses??

neck reining

is this for my foot???

gonna keep ME tied up?? ya right!

tasty!