Late post from a cold cold day

So we were out Saturday at the barn (a week ago?). The big driving trials had been canceled due to the weather. Robert decided it was too cold to do anything, so he stayed inside. As a result Alyssa and I had the place all to ourselves. It was very cold though, so we were disinclined to do much. Alyssa decided to turn Star out in the arena, I went to take Colonel on another one of our walks. As I approached the arena I heard hoofbeats and flying sand. Colonel was getting a little nervous (shocking!) but he basically kept to the rules (non-sarcastically shocking.) We came around the corner to see Star blowing and snorting her head high in the air, her tail curled up and over like a Husky's tail. She was prancing as though restrained by her interest in Colonel. Momentarily Colonel had calmed down when he saw all the commotion was from a horse, then he panicked again when he saw it was from a crazy horse. Star's interest in Colonel could no longer hold her and she galloped at full speed down the arena, bucking occasionally as she went. We watched her run crazily around the arena for a while and then Colonel and I moved on. Apparently turning your back on a crazy horse is a no no in Colonels mind. When Star came galloping up in our direction still blowing and snorting Colonel threw his head up in the air and started to bolt, then he stopped, it looked as though he had run into a wall (and I know what that looks like I've seen him do it.) I'm thinking maybe I had just witnessed self restraint, because in my book bolting away from Gillian is a serious, line snapping offense. In some ways I think that bolting is one of the most severely punished crimes Colonel ever commits. Not strictly by design (although its way way up there, a notch down from rearing, right around there with biting.) When he bolts though, I snap the line hard, and his running off provides a lot of the force. So there was that progress anyway.

Moving off again we walked over the bridge, he was pretty receptive to moving back when I wiggled the line, so we didn't have to stop, I could correct him en route. Then we turned back around and did the familiar dance, step, Colonel rushes forward and is stopped, Colonel is backed up and is displeased, Colonel has to stand there until he lowers his head and/or sighs, repeat.

It gets a little tiny tiny bit better every day.

As we were walking back I saw Alyssa sitting on Star and was extremely pleased that this was working OK, and wanted her to quit before I was given a reason to be unhappy with Star.

We turned out the old girls and they behaved as they usually do. Then I suggested that this would be a good day to give Mike (alyssa can provide background) his first riding lesson. I suggested Star because she likes to pack around the arena, and she'd already run around plenty today. I rode her around a few times on a loose rein and she was going pretty well so I hopped up and, having been given the usual first ride talk, he got up into the saddle. I walked along with Star but she was doing her ground-covering walk and didn't feel like slowing down for me, so I took the inside track and walked along. Mike is a pretty good natural rider. He's very athletic and he also keeps his joints relaxed and his posture is great. A good combination.

They had been going around quite nicely when Star started to cheat in to the inside of the arena going towards Alyssa, then trotted, then cantered off at a pretty good pace deaf to our calls to slow down to a walk. No obvious reason. Mike held on admirably, I was kicking myself for not teaching him a one rein stop, but, eh. Eventually he came off, did a nice roll when he hit the ground and claimed to feel fine. Probably true.

So now it was punishment time. We tightened up the cinch on the saddle (western for a beginning rider) and after two laps of long trot we cantered. And we cantered. And we cantered some more. Star wanted to stop pretty quickly so I kept my leg on her. We went for quite a while, and it was actually really fun. I havent really had a reason to force myself to canter for a long time and Star is a really fun ride once she's going. One thing that was very comforting was the certainty that if I asked her to stop she would stop. No fussing or anything. Eventually she got tired and refused to canter anymore. I whomped on her with my legs, she reared and bucked trying to get out of it. I won a few more canter strides and then decided she'd had enough. I wish I had had a crop because she's not stupid, she knows that quitting time was heavily influenced by when she started to fuss. I'll have to fix that at some point.

I gave her back to Mike and Alyssa walked around on an inside track. Even huffing and puffing she still has a huge stride. Mike seemed to be un-traumatized and after about three laps each way he got off and we put her back. She had traces of sweat by her ears and girth so I was pleased with myself. Its not every dry, cold day that I can do that to her.

I'm hoping that she learned something from this session. Certainly I learned that she should be worked pretty hard and then given to the beginner, even though she's a good packer for me and Alyssa. Mike was very gracious and said he had fun. I'm thinking Star should be his mount again for his next lesson. We'll do walk-halt transitions. She stops quite nicely, as I said.

I wont have a lot of barn time for a while, Jesse and I are getting a dog, we have one picked out and its young so I want to give it some time to make sure its housebroken and whatnot. Eventually I would like to take it to the barn and do some agility stuff over the various jumps out there, plus its a nice place to walk a dog. Maybe someday it will get barn dog status and he can run around on his own. Papillon and I could chase him ;) (kidding, of course, mostly.) Maybe I could have him run along with me and Keno (or Star someday?) Fun stuff but it will be a while before he's mature enough to handle it. I might just stash him in an empty stall some days, or leave him with Mike in the trailer.