Proved em wrong

I have just noticed that it has been a year since I have updated the Blog on Ali. I can't begin to say enough about how proud I am of this horse. She was a horse that people said was no good. She had a bad attitude and wouldn't be able to be ridden. I strongly disagree with those folks. I haven't updated any blogs especially this one because there is so much happening on a daily basis with this horse. Last spring I brought her over to the Abbot ranch where we sorted pairs for hours on end. We then came home and I started teaching her some reining maneuvers that she tries very hard to get the hang of. The thing about Ali is that she feels like she needs a strong leader. That leader doesn't even have to be a good hand just confident. Ali doesn't like to feel like she is being made to do something, she wants to be asked and shown. When she feels good about what is happening to her, she tries her guts out to please her rider. She is having trouble stopping correct, but she is getting better. She pivots very correct but there isn't too much speed. She also is starting to get a flying lead change, however, sometimes she doesn't change on her back end. So all in all I must say that I am super proud of this horse. I don't worry about the small stuff, with enough work she will be impressive. I am very happy that she is calm and relaxed in everything that she is doing. I know now that she will be successful in life and at least have a fighting chance.

Proud as Punch

I am very excited to report that Ali came to my house and didn't miss a lick. I was able to pick right up where I left off with her. After a couple of rides in the round pen here at home, she has graduated to being part of the hauling crew. Her and a couple of other horses now load up and go with me to the el paso county fair grounds for their work outs. Not the ideal situation, I would love to have an arena here at the house, but in the long run I believe that it is better for the horses. When I first brought Ali to the fair grounds I wasn't sure how she would react so I was ready to take my time and lunge her a lot and perhaps not even ride that first time. However, she was cool as a cucumber and I felt that she was ready with little warm up so I just climbed on. We walked around a little and moved off well into the trot, and slowly worked our way into the lope. Nothing was perfect, but often times when we let purpose get in front of principle we loose sight of exactly what we are doing and loose the horse all together. Every ride since has gotten progressively better. I am looking forward to riding her out in the pastures and taking her on some trail rides next week and in the future. Until next time, God Bless, BW

off and running

After being able to get on Ali and walk around she soon got ver comfortable with it, I was sure to keep her soft and light in the reins to keep her from doing what I call "bracing up" and that could've led to bucking. However we haven't had that happen. after walking around for a while I felt like we were stuck in first gear, she wouldn't speed up at all. I soon became very unsatisfied with that as that she wasn't getting broke at all. So i started tapping her on the rump with my lead rope as soon as she would make an attempt to speed up I would stop, she soon learned to speed up with my voice and I didn't have to use the rope. From that point it was easy to get her to trot. she was uncertain about it at first and I just let her go, when she would go a couple steps and stop I would reward that and let her be. then I would ask again, and soon we were trotting around both directions relaxed. Once we were able to do that for a couple of days I felt that she was ready to lope around, I had to use the lead rope and get her into it but she did and we were soon loping around both directions and keeping it going. It was then I decided to get off on go into the arena, after walking a couple of laps she let me trot around, she was looking around but she was relaxed the whole time I didn't make it miserable I just went for a little bit and then quit. I feel very good about her chances. I will start working on softening up her head and neck more when I am riding and working on some other things that might help her, but the main thing right now is just RIDE FOWARD. Unitl next time God Bless, BW

All aboard

I have been having fun getting to know Ali the last couple of weeks. She has shown me a lot about her personality. First thing that I should say about her is that she is a kind minded horses, however there has been a lot of things happening to her that she is unsure about. When horses are unsure about something they will flee, or fight. While most of the time horses will flee when they feel trapped they will fight. I view that this has been the root of the problem. With the world as she knew it turning completely upside down it is easy to make her feel trapped. For the first few days I would give her a way out and show her the way by not only letting her move when she needed to but controlling where she moved to and which feet she moved. I gave her a couple of lessons on respecting my space and she seems to be appreciating the guidance. After I learned some about her I felt that if I took my time and showed her what I was doing, she would let me get on. So I went through all the phases in preparing her for me to get on. I was careful not to move on until she was good with what I had just done. In no time at all I was in the saddle. I asked her to move her back feet and she did and stayed calm then I tried to get her to step with her front feet and walk a little circle, all with her head bent to the left. When she got excited I would ask her to bend her head and she would calm down. We didn't ever get out that small circle that day. The next day was about the same except I asked her to go alittle to the right as well. Small steps and taking out time is the name of the game. What might seem like a very little thing to the human is a big deal to the horse, most of all this horse. As the rides have progressed we have had small victories and are now walking around both directions. I tried to aske her for a trot today and she seemed uninterested in speeding up. I will keep working at it a few more days and accepting small victories and progressing every day. If I am unable to get her to move out better by next week I will get a friend of mine to come in and lounge her while I ride and that should do the trick. I hope that I am able to keep her in the frame of mind that she is in now and that we don't have the "blow up" that she has become famous for. I look foward to reporting more good news. Until next time God Bless.BW