Who Is Breeding These Dull Ponies??

This morning I rode Texas when I should have been cleaning stalls or going to work or something. Something always has to suffer if I opt to ride.

If you recall from earlier, I had been riding Texas in pokey warmblood spurs. He started sucking back when he felt them so now I ride him spurless (spur free?) again. I ride with a medium length crop so that I can use it either on his shoulder or his haunch, depending on what I am trying to correct. I am also now trying to prepare him for a little child so I am insisting on quicker upward transitions and that he maintain his pace without a lot of nagging, even if I am in two-point. He is really catching on to this at the walk and trot but cantering is still a little difficult. Today I opted not to canter at all so that I could really focus on his trot. He's pretty good to the left but to the right he tends to drop his inside shoulder through the corners and let his haunch fall to the inside down the long sides of the arena. (Incidentally, letting the haunch fall to the inside is something I have noticed in a lot of Western trained horses.) I also worked on teaching him not to anticipate turns. We did serpentines and every time he would anticipate a turn, I would turn the other way.

He gets tired toting me around for too long so I ended with some ground work -- teaching him to walk, trot, and halt with me without having to use aids. If he is a pony hunter he will need to jog in with his little rider and it's always obnoxious to have to nag them to jog. The horse or pony should stay at the handler's shoulder without any tugging or clucking or dragging. We ended with some side-passing over poles, which he found very baffling. I have to dig a thumb into his flank to get him to move his haunch over but we quit as soon as he had the idea of crossing his legs and keeping his body straight.

So, do you see the theme here? Whips, nagging, clucking... the pony is so dull! I know not everyone likes to ride a firebolt like Isabelle, but it just isn't pleasant to have to use such firm aids. The Welshes I have encountered until recently have all been so much more sensitive, but Cory and Texas sure are dull. I'm glad my mares are all much more willing because hopefully this means their foals with Cory will be a little more focused and forward than he is.

(Today's photo was taken a couple weeks ago after Texas had his mane and tail washed with Quik Silver. Something caught his attention and he showed off his new neck muscles for me.)

I'm Back!

Well. I was struggling a bit this past summer with some issues unrelated to the horses and I rather lacked the energy for blogging. Autumn is here, things are great, and I want to write again. I can't exactly catch the blog up with every ride I've done, so I just have to start fresh with what I have done today.

First, we need to meet Inigo. Inigo is a three-year-old Rheinland Pfalz Saar gelding. This means "fancy German horse" for those of you who are unfamiliar with the language. Actually I have no idea what it means but I have finally learned to pronounce it so that's a start. Inigo was orphaned at birth so he was hand-raised (I don't recommend this) and will always be quirky because of it. He struggles with horse language and since most effective training is based on the horse's own method of communication, it doesn't work on him. It's been incredibly frustrating trying to work with him at times, because I've had to make up a training system based on trial and error. It's a good thing he is solid black and drop dead gorgeous or I may have given up. Everyone has to have some redeeming qualities, right? I was actually very surprised and pleased to see him pin his ears at Teddy today. This is the only time in three and a half years that I have ever seen him do this, and it gives me hope that he might learn other horse things as well.

I have ridden Inigo about six times now. If I had been blogging all along I would know the exact count... but it's somewhere around there. He is a half-brother to Isabelle but is nothing like her under saddle. Isabelle is hot and sensitive and forward, and Inigo is dull and slow. Today was the first time I rode Inigo in the arena with other horses. Sarah was hacking Phoebe for me and Jordyn was on her horse, Fly. Inigo was very good, although a little more explosive than usual. Whether this was due to the horses passing him, the cooler weather, or the fact that he hasn't been turned out in a while, I don't really know. We did some accidental cantering and some little bucks, but nothing too bad. He is actually a little off on his front left which is somewhat worrisome. He is a little thrushy so it may just be that, but it's kind of scary when a young warmblood comes up sore because the first thing your mind jumps to is OCD. I'll have to keep an eye on it.