That little bouquet of virtual flowers put a big smile on my face. It's nice to have some new friends out there - even if we may never meet in person. I'm going to wimp out on handing out the award since I can never decide on just two or three people to give it to...***********
I haven't been to the barn since Sunday - I feel a bit guilty, but not much I can do this week. Rusty is well cared for and a few days off won't hurt either one of us. I had a great ride on Sunday, he was being pretty good. He has been acting a bit silly on some of my other rides. He always tries to canter if we are trotting and I give him a little squeeze of leg - most of the time he just tries for a step or two then goes back to the trot. It gets kind of annoying after a while. I have been working on learning to flex and counter-flex him to help straighten him out. When I combine those rein aids with keeping my leg on, he thinks it means canter. Usually I just ride it out and we are working on being consistent with the aids. When I rode on Sunday, I thought if he wanted to canter, well then he could canter. After a lap around the arena, he didn't think trying to canter everytime I touched his sides or moved the reins was such a good idea! Ha-ha, silly (lazy) horse.
It is interesting working with an older horse - you often come across "buttons" that you didn't know you had. He came from a dressage barn, but he has had a lot of western training. He will canter if you raise your inside hand and put the rein on his neck, along with a squeeze of the legs. I'm not sure if that is an english or western cue - or a bit of a hodge-podge. Any opinions? He will also canter with the outside leg back and a bit of rein to tip his nose to the inside. He is also trained to trot with a click and canter with a kiss. Kind of interesting how training can be "layered" over the years and they still remember - when the want to, of course!!
Not sure when I'll get a chance to post again - probably not consistently until mid-December. Gotta work hard and keep Rusty in the style to which he has become accustomed! I'm still reading everyone's blog, but not always commenting as much as normal.
Hope all of my friends in the US have a nice Thanksgiving!
8 comments:
I agree with you... its interesting what kind of training (good and bad) you can discover when you buy an older horse!
Thank goodness most of the time you can retrain (or readjust??) them to your way of going.
Personally, I like my horses to know that click is trot and kiss is canter.
Nice to hear from you Laura. Congrats on the award. You deserve it. You've got a fun blog and you're a nice gal, too.
My mare is 15, so I know what you mean. She also knows a click for trot and a kiss for canter. But she prefers to walk or trot. Trying to get a canter is like pulling teeth. I'm not a fast rider and actually prefer to just hack around on a trail so it's not a problem for me.
But I bet cantering all the time might become annoying, if what you really want is a trot. lol!
Sounds like he just needs to get the canter out of his system before he can focus. :)
Good luck at work on your deadlines. And chin-up during the snowy grey winter days. :)
~Lisa
New Mexico
Oh and thanks for the Thanksgiving wishes, too.
I can totally relate about having to work overtime because someone else didn't pull his/her share of the load. I have a guy at work who comes in around 11:00 AM, takes a 2-hour lunch break, takes about 10 cigarette breaks, surfs the Internet all day, and leaves at 4:00 PM. Then on the day of a deadline for his tasks, he calls in sick, so I have to do what he had 2 weeks to do in just a few hours. He's the number one reason why I get stuck working evenings, weekends, and holidays. I've begged people in the company to fire him, but they just won't let him go. I guess the company likes to throw $80,000 a year plus insurance costs on dead weight. I can tell them that if they don't take action with him, they are going to lose me.
Don't work too hard. Take time to breathe.
Congratulations for your award.
Have fun with your beautiful white horse.
I can totally relate to your crappy week and not seeing Rusty since Sunday! I hadn't been to the barn in 3 days and that didn't impress Lester much.
I've been working overtime alot too and it just sucks, it's been cold and I really miss riding Lester- not riding in general, but working with him.
Rusty's canter cues don't sound like english or dressage cues to me, but have fun continuing to figure out Rusty.
My Boy was trained to lope off at a kiss too, and I use it, but he isn't always consistent. I wish I had the problem you have with Rusty breaking into the lope~ I wish my horse was more willing to lope! It's not his thing~ unless he's running from me in the pasture, LOL! :)
Sorry you are having to work so much, try to find some time to relax and enjoy the holidays!
Those cues don't sound too western to me...I would bet it was just a habit that his old rider got into and Rusty just learned that when mom does "X" she wants me to lope off.
Keep working at it - if it all were going perfectly you'd have nothing to work and would be bored. Just gives you something to work towards...
Hey there -
Hope everything is ok? Haven't heard from ya in a bit...
You'd let us know if something was amiss right?
Hope its just the Holiday rush taking up your time, and not something bad miss ya!
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