At the Show

Well, we had our first show. Good and bad stuff happened.

When we first got there Claire was very calm. I immediately saddled her up and got on her. I could tell she was not really listening to me, so I rode over to the round pen, got off her, and lunged her a bit. She did pretty well, even cantering in the right lead occasionally. I got on her after that and rode her in the arena. I kept her feet circling as I could tell she was a little nervous. She spooked at the far end of the areana by the chutes and I kept her there for a awhile-- both circling and standing still. Brian was in the arena riding Poco, so that helped. Claire is very attached to Poco, and relaxed when she saw her in the arena. He left the arena and rode Poco out to go to the trailer to help Hillary get ready for the show. Claire started to get a little nervous, so I kept her feet moving and then we eventually left. I went over to the trailer a little peeved at Brian for leaving without telling me, but I got over it. I rode Claire with Hillary riding Spencer over to the round pen, and I rode her in there awhile. She was still a little spooky, but had moments where she dropped her head and was really listening to me. Later I rode her in a class and there was only one other person in the class. Claire has a very bad habit of when she gets near another horse, she starts to back up and wants to kick them. I stopped that real fast, but I never got real close to another horse after that. I went into my class and she did not want to go in the arena by herself. She reared a little and then I just corrected her and made her do the greenhorn horsemanship class. She had to trot and walk and back up. She also had to back into an L, which she did horribly. We got last place out of two, but I was satisfied I made her do it. Once when I was sitting over in the warm up with her and was flexing her side to side, she whirled around really fast, ( she was getting spooked about what was in the woods) and I fell off. I immediately got back on, more determined than ever to make her mind and settle down. She really did okay considering it was her first show and everything was new and all. I need to go back in my training and train some more for the head down cue. She did not do well when she was nervous about coming down into the bridle, -pushing through the bit---but I am determined to backtrack and really work her on that. I have got to push through some of this resistance that she has shown me in the past about working, because that is a respect issue more than anything else. I am beginning to realize how much work a 2 year old is, and I am wondering if I should send her to a trainer who can ride her out at shows and get her over all the spooky stuff. I was proud that I started out so brave, but I wasn't real excited about riding in the Walk/Trot class with a bunch of other horses, because I wasn't sure what she would do, and I didn't want to get bucked off. I thought I signed up for the class, but they didn't call my number so I didn't go in. I hope I am doing the right thing by training her. I have to get a lot more strict about any resistance from her on the ground. I have decided I need to ride her longer, and start loping her once I get the hip over at a trot down. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Another Great Day of Riding

I rode Clarie again today. I lunged her first with the saddle, and she did fine until she was asked to canter. We had a little bit of a rodeo with bucking, rearing and backing away with a refusal. I popped her and kept her going and finally she cantered in both directions without having an all out fit. I stopped her as soon as she cantered with no resistance. I can't figure her out with the loping. She does the same thing in the round pen without a saddle. I just have to figure that she is plum lazy. We had a good ride after that. I trotted her in several large circles with her keeping the same rhythmn and cadance. I wore big ball spurs for the first time and she responded bettter. I will definitely keep wearing them. I am trying to get her ready for the show. I will try and ride her tomorrow, and hopefully Friday as well. I will try and get Brian to take a short video of me tomorrow! She is a dream horse-- aside from the bucking on the lunge line!! She is picking up the right lead now, but it doesn't seem to be her favorite side to travel on. She picked up the the left lead on the right lead circle, but then switched to right lead. I have decided to stop worrying about it. I am going to be working on trot, walk transitions and arena exercises starting tomorrow. Now that I have a watch-- I will time my rides to at least thirty minutes!

Wonderful Claire!

I have started back riding again. I have ridden now 3 times after taking a long break. The best news of all is that Claire no longer has a problem wiht her right lead! She takes it naturally in the round pen. She is wearing front shoes now, to keep the crack from getting any worse. I have to conclude that her problem before with her heistation to take the right lead was because of the crack in her hoof. Yeah! I am taking her to a horse show this Saturday just to get her used to the surroundings. I am a little nervous as I am sure she will get spooked, but I have to do it sometime. I have decided to leave the 'clicker' behind in my training, now that we are getting serious about working hard.

Here is what I did yesterday:

1. I trotted her in big circles and really put my weight in my seat bones and leaned back off her front end to get her off the forehand. She did wonderfully! She kept the same pace in a nice slow trot. I was very pleased. We went several times and in both directions and I occasionally asked her to lower her head and come into the bridle. I am going to start working on more collection this week.

2. I rode her out around the house and she was a little spooked. She runs out when she gets spooked and I just turn her when she does that. I rode out with Hillary and her friend. They were riding Spencer and Poco.

3. I am going to start doing some light cantering this week-- I think. I might just work on trot circles and on some more arena exercises. I hope to ride her at least three times this week.

I really love this horse-- but it is time to start working with Annie!


I will post a video this week on our trot circles.