Just haven’t felt much like blogging lately, but of course I’m still riding.  The weekend was great.  With the river down and mild weather, we got all the horses in the park for the first time in over a month.  We kept them quiet, though.  Cole got a very valuable reminder that he is supposed to walk when I want him to walk.  He tried to trot whenever we got to a spot where we usually trot or canter.  I call them “trigger points.”  When he would walk, I would click and treat to reinforce the…

Just haven’t felt much like blogging lately, but of course I’m still riding.  The weekend was great.  With the river down and mild weather, we got all the horses in the park for the first time in over a month.  We kept them quiet, though.  Cole got a very valuable reminder that he is supposed to walk when I want him to walk.  He tried to trot whenever we got to a spot where we usually trot or canter.  I call them “trigger points.”  When he would walk, I would click and treat to reinforce the…

Last night, I was riding Cole in the indoor arena, and I spontaneously decided to try to teach him leg yield at the trot, again.  I was working on it about a month ago, and he seemed to be a little confused.  He used to do leg yield at the walk, but that morphed into a really nice side pass.  Well, when I would ask for leg yield at the trot, he would try stop and try to side pass at the walk.  He was getting frustrated that he wasn’t getting it right (no clicks) so he started going sideways…

Snowy Ride with Cole

I have been working with Cole in the arena with much determination to train him to be an awesome horse.  Well, the other day, I decided I am getting a little off track.  I have been neglectful of his trail training.  The real reason isn’t my goals in the arena.  The real reason is the weather and dark evenings.

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I started my session with Cole, last night, with lounging.  I am trying to teach him the verbal command for canter.  Last year, we avoided the canter because of all the bucking, bolting and rearing I was getting.  This year, I just really want to get him to canter.  Well, after all the bucking, bolting and rearing, he settled down enough to get clickable transitions.  I don’t think he is getting the word, quite yet, but we are doing better.  If he is in one of his power trots, he has a hard…

Cole was doing his dance as soon as I got him in the arena.  We practiced it as I led him around, but then it was time to work.  My goal was to further strengthen his corners.  You see, on one end of the arena, there are no walls.  There is the viewing room, the shavings pile, the barn exit and none of it is in a direct line.  We have to make the corners on our own.  I suppose he wasn’t doing them well, all along, but when I started to practice laterals, he tried all kinds of things on those…

I practiced Cole Train’s dance moves on Friday, and he was getting very consistent with higher steps.  I wanted to show my sister when she came out on Saturday.  She was very impressed, and of course he made her laugh.  Sunday, he started doing it when I led him into the indoor arena!  Yes, Cole likes this game.  I did some clicking with him for the dancing, then mounted to ride.  My sister was there, again, and to stay warm, she suggested she walk with us as we warmed up at the walk.  Even…

Cole Train is One Step Closer to Becoming a Circus Pony

Cole and I started out very poorly on our ride, last night.  We entered the indoor arena, and the horse that was being ridden at the time became very spooky.  Cole picked up on it, and he decided to buck and play as I was leading him.  Well, this made our companion’s horse even worse.  The rider became insecure and left to get a…

I had the arena to myself for my ride with Cole, last night.  He was in a particularly good mood—I think it was the chilly weather.  We started with just trotting around to warm up, but it didn’t take long before I started our latest project—leg yield at a trot.  He used to do it at a walk, but it turned into the most perfect side pass.  Cole now loves to side pass all the time.  About a month ago, we spent a week or so on turn on the haunches, and he loves that, too.  Consequently, he is…

It was really chilly last night.  The temperature in the indoor arena was below freezing.  Of course, that is not too cold to ride, but last year, I would have had to lounge Cole before riding on a night like last night.  He would have been awful, too, with much rearing and bucking.  I decided to just ride him and see how he did.

I am happy to report that he behaved beautifully.  There was no spooking, bucking or bolting.  Yes, we have come a long way.  He didn’t perform very…

Last Great Ride of the Year

I had the Monday after Christmas off from work.  The weather gods were looking down kindly at us, and furnished the best sort of weather for a winter ride.  It was sunny and about 40 degrees F.  Bliss…  We had ridden the last 3 days on the hill because the river was too high, but even that cooperated with us and was low enough by Monday.  We were going on a Christmas trail ride.

Unfortunately, my sister had to go into work.  She…

Cruiser is Who He was Meant to Be

Way back when I bought Cruiser, I was given his papers.  He is not registered as a Morab, but as a Half Arabian.  I don’t even have proof that his mother was a Morgan.  I just took the word of his previous owners.  Quite honestly, they could have told me he was half St. Bernard, and I wouldn’t of cared.  I fell in love with him, so none of it…

I found out that I can’t post Cole at all in the arena.  I tried and tried.  I felt like I never did it in my life.  I would go a couple strides and fall into the saddle with a boom.  Poor Cole would immediately halt in confusion.  I had to give up because I felt I was torturing him.

So, then I tried it with Cruiser.  He simply didn’t give me enough oompf to get off the saddle.  I gave up with him, too.

I post both horses all the time on the trail quite…

Sorry everyone.  I haven’t been blogging because I have been busy.  Not with riding, but with work.  Hopefully, we are finally breaking out of this bad economy.  I am a printing estimator, and in the world of printing, if the estimators get busy, everyone else will be getting busy in a few weeks.

Of course, I am still riding.  The weather has been strangely good in the last few weeks.  Sure, we have had rain, and that’s never any fun, but we haven’t had that much snow at…

I’ve been doing a lot of riding in the last week.  I had a 4-day weekend—just using up my sick days since I was quite healthy this year.  Usually the weather is crummy in Cleveland in December, but I was really lucky.  We had dry and sunny days.  I couldn’t cross the high river on Saturday and Sunday, but that was all right.  I got to ride with my sister in the arena and we rode on the hill to the river a few times, too.  Monday, I took Cole on a trail ride with my boyfriend and his horse,…

I am determined to improve my riding in the arena, this winter, so I got out my old Mary Wanless book.  I am reviewing chapter by chapter.  I got to the chapter on breathing and bearing down—and I realized I wasn’t doing it right anymore.  Somewhere during trail riding and breaking in a new horse, I lost it.  I practiced all day at work to prepare for my rides.

I started out with Cruiser, my older horse that I am starting anew.  Guess what—he had his best day of the winter. …

Ranger Tests Us

It’s not often I mention that Ranger is having a problem, and that’s because he is a fairly consistent horse.  Every now and then, he throws in something to keep my sister, Ellen, on her toes.  Well, he did it, again.

One day, back in November, he acted very strange during tacking up.  We…

A Small and Unexpected Miracle

Years ago, I’m not even sure when, I found a lump in Cruiser’s throatlatch area.  It didn’t seem to hurt him, so I waited until the next time the vet came out to ask her what it was.  She said it was a tumor on his thyroid, that there was nothing we could do about it and it wouldn’t do any harm.

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It was a chilly night—right around freezing—perfect for riding horses with winter coats.

I rode both horses in the arena last night.  My ride with Cole wasn’t consistent, and I just couldn’t seem to get my body in sync with his at the trot.  Remember, he has a huge and impulsive trot which can be tough to sit and I consider impossible to post.  I have found that you need to plug into the side-to-side motion while keeping the movement slightly forward, too.  This gets the best…

I worked both horses in the arena, last night. Cruiser is being consistent and each ride he’s improving slightly. At this rate, he will be 30 years old by the time I get him where I want him. We worked mostly on straightness. He has been bending to the right when going to the left. This never used to be so prominent, so I think that some of it might be the stiffness of old age. If Cole had the same problem, I would know it was more me than Cruiser. We added small circles to the right to our…