Wednesday & Thursday

Alrighty! I'm goin to tell ya'll what I did on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Wednesday, the workshop was cancelled so we just went out and rode. Zan was a real gooood boy for me, listening well and doing what I wanted him to. There's not much to say about it, sooo...

THURSDAY: I went to both SunnyBrook and Victory. I'll tell ya'll bout SunnyBrook first.

SUNNYBROOK

Uncle D took me out to SunnyBrook. We marched right in and I - armed with a Pepsi and a bag of potato chips  - literally dove into the tack room to start sorting, cleaning, and organizing. That tack room was a WRECK. I wish I'd gotten a picture. I sorted through everything. What we found was amazing:

• at least 15 nylon halters, rope halters, and grooming halters
• maybe 10 flymasks in bot small and large sizes
• four western saddles
• 5 western headstalls
• 4 western bits
• three pairs of rubber boots
• two english saddle pads
• 7 or 8 western saddle pads
• 2 bareback saddlepads
• 1 complete western bridle
• 5 sets of reins both english and western
• lots and LOTS of other stuff

As you can see, most of the things I found were completely western. And THAT is why my new goal for the tack room is to get at lest two english bridles in there by the end of the year. ;)

After spending two hours on the tack room, I went out to get my new project pony, Lucy, from the field. 

Now, I might as well explain about Lucy. She is a mare who was left abandoned by her owner out at SunnyBrook. Uncle D worked with her for a while, but for the past few months, she hasn't had any work at all and is scared - if not absolutely terrified out of her wits - of me. She is tense, excited, and FULL of energy. 

Back to when I got her out of the field. I took her up to the barn; the whole way from the pasture to the barn, she was  quietly neighing for Grinder, the gelding in the field (I HAVE to talk to Uncle D about getting him moved to another field; he's proud-cut). But as soon as we walked into the barn, she stopped neighing and started jigging. I wish I'd had my camera with me to take a video. She would start jigging in one place, I would jerk the lead and ask her to back up and move out of my space, and she'd glare at me, pause for a moment, and then start jigging again. What's up with that horse? Finally, though, I got her to stand, back, and move her hindquarters away from me without incident. 

I took Lucy into the indoor arena / roundpen (it's just like a roundpen, but the walls are different) and asked her to stand. She was too busy concentrating on Cookie, though. She bolted to the side, towards Cookie, and I landed in the dirt on my butt. FAIL. Thank the lord I had a 14-20 foot lead rope, though. I jumped up, dusted off my pants, and grabbed the end of the rope. I made Lucy spin to face me, and then I unhooked the lead from her rope halter and free-lunged her for 20 minutes. It took a while, but eventually she ignored Cookie and lunged to voice commands and my posture. 

After lunging, Lucy was calm but still alert and tense. I got a brush and ran it over her, and then ran over (almost) her whole body with my hands. I flicked the rope around on her, and even put it around her legs and she was fine with it. Obviously, she's had some training. I put her in the cross ties and picked up all of her feet. She seemed to not like her back feet picked up, and they looked sore. Uncle D is going to have the natural hoof care farrier come do her feet and have a look at them. 

Hopefully, she'll continue to be this much of a good girl! Next time I see her, it's going to be lunging, and then working on bending and more desensitizing.

VICTORY

On Thursday, Zan was a good boy. Other than the fact that I walked all the way to the back of the field and then he (along with JW, Rainmaker, and Joe) ran up to the barn (away from me), he did well. Our ride was alright. Our canter going our good way was excellent; I'd like to work on SOFT HANDS! Going our bad way, he was just a butthead. Everyone (Eric, Erica, me) is tired of having to remind me when I'm going too fast. I'm going to work hard on not having to be told.

Zan, it seems, is picking up on halter quickly. He now pivots 180 degrees around on his hind right foot, and I am very pleased with that. We need to work on standing still, staying focused, and trotting in-hand.

Madison worked with Sonny and Taylor worked with Pete. Taylor is finally getting the whole cantering thing down! Yay! Just in time for the Blue Denim show this weekend! 

Other than that... It was a pretty good day! I was dead-tired after that, and had a relaxing evening roasting marshmellows and watching TV with dad. ;)