Welcome to my blog dedicated to my special guy Molson!! Hopefully I will update daily; if not, expect a double post the next day. My Molson is an awesome boy, I think you'll like him :) Starts February 1st 2012 and ends February 1st 2013.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Rode the boy today and he was really good, we went over a little cross rail a few times and he really enjoyed it. Not much new to report, haha. he does really well in a d-ring though, I’m gonna just start switching his bits up more.
Uhhh, I won’t be updating this often at all anymore since my personal blog is going on hiatus. I’ll update sometimes probably. Just a heads up.
Daring me tried cantering him bareback, haha. He certainly tried sending me flying, got a few good whips, kicks, etc. But other than that it went really well, though I need to work on him stopping off my seat. It’s amazing how non-sensitive he is on his back and sides. I have to REALLY sit deep and squeeze my seat and tighten my core to get him to halt, and even then I often have to tug him with my outside rein. That was intensely frustrating and yeah. He’s a stubborn asshole but I love him. He was good for the most part. His trot work was good, and once he got reprimanded, his canter was good as well. Though it’s really hard to ride bareback since he’s unbalanced.
Back to a saddle tomorrow. Just no stirrups. :P
Molson was good today and yesterday, our first rides back since Sunday. I needed the time off so I’d be confident to ride again. It paid off, because I’m right back where I was before and can get after him and reprimand him when he’s not listening. So, he cantered beautifully, we’re schooling the old Training Level tests and will start the new ones in a bit. We’re also schooling lots of 1st level stuff, and when he picks up the wrong lead I can ask for a flying change instead of a simple change, which is really convenient.
Today I cantered him without stirrups for the first time in a long time and it went really well. I’m excited to start hauling him places to get the bugs out of him so he’ll be sane for shows. Until then, I’ll embarrass myself at Achievement day but treat it like schooling I suppose, since I don’t give a shit about a damn 4H show. Who the fuck cares, really.
4H with the boy yesterday was shit. He’s a total asshole when hes not at home and I’m terrified to get on him again and embarrassed for next time I have to take him somewhere. He bucked, bolted, and totally ignored me under saddle and ran through me constantly on the ground. Flips out over the smallest things and refuses to relax. Outrageous. I don’t know what to do. It sucks not having an instructor or trainer in the area that you can trust. So I’m on my own with this one.awesome.
‘Dis is my poneez from a few days back :3
Sorry it took me so long!
Molson is a bit past halfway through I believe!
Good ride on le Molson
He picked up the wrong lead the first time I cantered him, so I figured why the hell not and asked for a flying change. He got confused (When i did the change yesterday it was to the left, i was cantering right) so he did a downward to trot. I asked him to canter again on the wrong lead, and asked for a flying change again. He did a really flat change, but it happened. :D And to the left he got the lead I asked for, so I didn’t bother, but when I changed directions and trotted right again, he decided to canter again, got the right lead, so I went on the diagonal and asked for a change. No problem at all. It was floaty, smooth, and uphill. He’s stiff on his right side, so that explains why it was flat and harder to get.
His trot is getting a lot more free as well, a lot more expressive. And his walk is getting a bit more swingy too, and he’s letting me have rein contact more often. His lateral work is getting absolutely beautiful. I’m so proud of him.
Didn’t have time to ride Moonbeam, nor did I have the energy. Blah. Must sleep early tonight. Will I though? Noooope.
24/02/12;
Great ride today again. He was a bit of a grumpypants, so it wasn’t a long ride, but it was difficult. Lots of trot, lots of lateral, circles, bending, trot poles, etc. We cantered again, both leads, and cantered a circle left and 2 circles right. He crow hopped in my 2nd circle to the right, either because he was frustrated, tired, my position was bad (stirrupless!), or it was his reaction to my whip.
Anyways, he was really good. Took him for a short trail ride afterwards as well because he’s getting arena sour, so I had to. He loved that. No pictures from today, my apologies. Take this week-old picture of him begging for treats:
Had a humbling ride on Molson and a relaxing bareback/halter cool-down :)
We did lots of trot and I tired the crap out of him, got really floaty over the trot poles, did some nice leg yield (have to work on him moving off of my left leg better but he’s great on my right leg) did some circles, diagonals, etc.
And- here’s the best part- we cantered again! No wait, it gets better! We cantered circles! oh you would not believe how proud of him I am <3 He didn’t crow hop at all! :D What a good boy! And we even touched on collection again today! It was great :)
21/04/12;
Sorry for the inconsistent updates. We had a huge snowstorm a few days back and the arena’s just usable again now. So I had a fabulous ride on the boy! He did sooo awesome :D Tired him out, hopefully he’ll start shedding some pounds soon. As you can see in the picture, he needs it. Haha.
But we did trot poles (Got really active over his back and in his hocks), leg yield, shoulder in, trot circles (20, 15, and 10 meter), turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. He did great. So proud of him, he’s accepting contact pretty well!
12/04/12;
Wowowow :D He was really good! Just had a brief bareback/halter ride and did basic walk/trot circles and serpentines. We also worked on some leg yield (to my surprise he did lovely despite only being in a halter!) and did turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. Also to my surprise, he knows how to do that too! :) Such a good boy.
