Working on the lunge line and some recaps

     One of my favorite things about Jellybean is when she nickers at me when I drive up. She sees my little green car and calls at me. She also calls for me if I call out her name to bring her in from the pasture. Then she usually runs towards me. This is incredibly fulfilling.

Hey mom! Look over here!

    One a more focused note, Jellybean and I are sticking to the schedule. On Friday we completed a round pen session. Robert helped me lunge Jellybean and I rode her. We are still working very hard at understanding what it means when I kick/nudge her with my foot. She isn't learning this one too quickly. I'm hoping that repeated rides will help make the cue clear.

     Saturday was the Halloween playday, which I have already written about. Sunday we had another serious ride through the rainy farm land. The round pen was very wet, so I moved a little bit of dirt to encourage draining and got Jellybean dressed for our workout. We practiced what we already knew in the arena, then Robert stood on the ground and helped move Jellybean when she started trying to bite my foot instead of moving forward. We only did a little bit of trotting, since she was trying to cut the arena up to avoid the standing water.

     Monday was another work day for Jellybean. I put on her lunging clothes and we sloshed out to the large arena with the line and got ready to do some more work with the side reins. I am a little worried about over adjusting them and Jellybean revolting, so I have moved slowly with my adjustments. Turns out I have been worrying for nothing. The side reins only adjust so tight, and Jellybean is too small to feel any pressure from the tightest adjustment. Looks like I will be punching holes.

     I am going to ride her on Thursday I hope, unless the Halloween festivities take too long. Otherwise we will ride on Friday. Next week I hope to do some lunging over the trot poles and a couple of cross rails.

     In other news, we have been plagued by several obnoxious events which may have stolen Jellybean's breakfast a couple of days in a row. First we noticed that Jellybean's breakfast was being turned over in the aisle. Then a morning or two later, her grain was completely eaten! The next day she had no grain and minimal hay! This was getting obnoxious... then we saw her feed bin. WHICH WAS CHEWED THROUGH!

     We decided that the evil raccoons were trying to steal Jellybean's food, and then we found out some horses were not tucked in for the night and spent their evening eating everyone else's breakfast. We almost bought a game camera to see what was up, but it turns out we are going to instead catch the culprits. More on this story as it develops.

Skipping some steps, with good results

Well I decided to jump the gun and just see how things went. And they turned out better than expected! I posted the other day about the prerequisites to bridling, but when I got into the round pen I felt inspired to give it a try without the extra steps. Surprise! So I just put the halter around her neck so I had something to hold onto, then put my arm over her head (which she generously lowered) holding the bridle. Then I used my left hand to hold the bit and open her lips. She opened her mouth in addition to her lips and I smoothly brought the bit into her mouth. A few quick adjustments and I let her wander around. The bit is too wide, so I will be looking for a narrower one soon.

 

She chewed on the bit and tried to make it fall out. Then she tried coughing it out (leftover snacks came out instead). She tried rubbing it off on my leg. She tried rubbing her nose in the mud. Then stuck her mouth in the mini-lake in the round pen. About 10 minutes later she got bored with chewing, and decided to try and eat some weeds. She was very awkward trying to chew, and I guess she either figured it out or gave up. 

I was really impressed with her intelligence!! Although she did want to visit the other horses and continue teasing the geldings. 

Well other trainers might have suggested this be the end, but Jellybean was so chill I decided to push the envelope. I borrowed the vaulting surcingle and some reins from the tackroom, and set up a long lining exercise. The full check snaffle is especially useful for this exercise, because the bit cannot be pulled through her mouth and it spreads the pressure out better than a D-ring or O-ring. 


I pulled left or right, and while she was confused at first, she remembered this exercise with the halter and figured it out! 

And finally, just because I think Jellybean is awesome, I wanted to see if she was normally as sweet as when she was drugged. I brought Jellybean over to the gate and eventually (after she stood still enough) sat on her bareback. I didn't use the reins for direction, I just clucked at her to make her go forward. This almost worked, until she walked to the middle of the water puddle and wanted to sniff other horses... I saw the writing on the wall and pulled one rein to make her turn and move. After a few more minutes and some pawing in the water (!!!) I hoped off safely away from the mud. And thus ended our excellent training session!

On another note, I came across this blog about a mare who needed some lovin' and thought I would pass it along! I think Jellybean will be like this when she gets older.

Striking while the Iron is Hot!

     So yesterday was just another one hundred degree day at the barn... And for some reason I decided it would be fun to go out after lunch, since my science failed for the day. What a mistake! I cleaned out Jellybean's stall while she socialized with her boyfriends. She is Cash's girl, but sometimes other guys try to make a pass. Marvel was trying to get fresh with Jellybean, and Cash lost his marbles. They had some rearing and pawing, then Cash kicked Marvel, hard, in the chest. Marvel walked away, defeated. 

     After stall cleaning time (about 230pm) I grabbed Jellybean and we went to the round pen to work a little bit and try to get the fluid moving, as her back legs were stocked up. We worked on walk, trot, canter transitions with voice commands. Then I kidnapped Jeanneatte (who writes 14 Hands and Counting) and she helped me ride Jellybean again. We completed the same exercise as yesterday, I slide on from the fence then we walk one round of the round pen before I get off and repeat from the other side. In case you are wondering, Jellybean is still not herself from the Rabies. I expect she will be much better today and tomorrow. Maybe she will even feel fiesty again...

     Speaking of feeling fiesty again, I am reminded of a food dilemma  Jellybean is still sitting under 700 pounds. She is definitely in that awkward teenager stage constantly growning, and I want to make sure she gets enough calories. She is currently eating two scoops (six pounds) of 12-8 pellets per day plus about four flakes of coastal hay. She also gets about a cup of canola/corn oil and about an ounce of Red Cell per day. She is barely on the threshold of light work, and she's supposed to be a quarter horse!! I thought they just breathed air to be fat... 

     I am considering adding some weight gain or rice bran to her feed but I want to see how the teeth float affected her eating efficiency. I'll keep you posted.

First Ride on Jellybean

     Some of you may recall that Jellybean is very lethargic after a rabies vaccination from the last time she had shots. As a result, I decided it might be a good time to get on Jellybean. We walked her out of the stall, and over the round pen. I walk/trot/canter warmed Jellybean up, just enough to make her realize she was lazy at heart, and feeling poorly to boot. Then Robert led her around the round pen with the halter and lead before I climbed over on her back. She didn't do anything, not even a tail swish! Now this could be due to fortuitous timing, or she just likes me too much to throw me in the dirt (unlikely). In any case, this is just a small step towards the bigger goal of having a broke horse. 

My Goals for the next six months, not neccessarily in this order:

• Accept bridle
• Ground driving with bridle
• Lunging with side reins
• Accept rider
• Drive under saddle
• Accept leg pressure

As the fall comes back, (which will be sooner rather than later) I want to set up a weekly ride with her, where we work on the basics of giving to pressure and accepting more advanced cues.

All of this is great, but I was REALLY REALLY excited to sit on the back of my pony yesterday :)