Snow induced panic.

There’s no real need to get into what our ride was like on Tuesday because it was essentially the same as Monday. Mr. Superstar yet again – except he was a little tired and our canter lacked the same umpfh. But it was only a slight difference. I was still over the moon with him.

Then work picked up massively or it was yucky and dreary so I didn’t get back out until Friday night. Unfortunately on Friday there was only enough daylight left for me to make a mad dash out in the fields to blanket.

Which leaves us with yesterday. Oh what an interesting day it was. It was pretty darn cold considering the winter we’ve been having – so low 40’s with windchills in the low 30’s was pretty bitter. I decided to work Poncho in the indoor because we both hate it so much. But need to get used to it for nasty days. I rode for about 10 minutes w/t before deciding for his benefit to untack and let him loose in there to get his “sillies” out. He definitely didn’t put up much of a show. Figures but it was actually good he kept his composure. That is until it started to snow – in which Mom panicked trying to get everything in and then got super excited because it was SNOWING. Apparently Poncho massively fed off her energy and started freaking out. So to prevent things from escalating to far I had to blanket him and take him back to the field. Easier said then done. Poncho is a big bully by nature. I’ve managed to curb those natural tendencies 90% of the time, except for when he’s in panic mode. So he’s trying to run me over while I hold him for Mom (she refuses to hold him when he’s in this state). I took several well placed elbows to the shoulder to get him to settle and then he was golden until we went outside. By now the snow was coming down so hard that you could barely see. Poncho kept trying to run infront of me but he was manageable. After what seemed like forever we got the field. By the time I got the halter off he just calmly walked off. Go figure.

Then I promptly grabbed my camera and some treats for Poncho for putting up with the craziness that was the indoor attempt.

Poncho, the superstar.

Yesterday I finished up at work early so I managed to squeeze out to the barn. I lucked out and ended up being the only one there! So I changed and went out to grab Ponch man. I decided on a whim to do a quick sheath cleaning before our ride. He can get kind of cranky if he’s got a little (and I do mean little) bean up there. He did. I got it. He kicked out. He calmed down. He got treats. Simple time to move on. We tacked up and headed for the ring. I needed to move some poles out of the way so Poncho tagged along with me.

He was bit iffy at the mounting block. Not unusual these days. Don’t know what’s gotten into him. So we worked on that a little. We warmed up by just meandering around for a little getting him to listen to my leg for direction not leaning on the reins. (we were in the hackamore)  Then we moved onto trotting where he promptly gave me his I can’t and won’t do this attitude. Where I promptly slid the reins through my fingers kicked and smacked him with the whip. He was not convinced immediately. It took a couple of times. But then he just surged forward and gave me some of the best trot work to date. We did some pole work that was already set up nothing fancy or difficult. After doing that a few times we cantered each direction. He was very forward in his canter it was very nice. His left lead is still far better than his right. He still gets sticky on his right in the “stop” corner. We worked on that too and came to a nice understanding and it only took one kick and one buck! Proud. Then we walked around for a few because at this point I was huffing and puffing. We picked up our trot work again and trotted a circle in each corner, both directions to get him supple. We did some leg yields at the trot – which I was super impressed with for our first time trying them. Did a little more pole work. Then I did a lap of two point in each direction, I wanted to start of slow with it and not kill myself. However come to find out i’m not even remotely sore today from it.After we were done I needed my vest so to the car we went. Where Poncho found it fascinating that I could “disappear”. Then I did lots more grooming on him. Love to pamper pony. He was bombarded with treats and attention out in the field too. I was just over the moon with how he went. I was even kind of bummed that there was no one around to see my super pony in action.!!!

The spurs go on, the bit comes off, and we leave the ring.

Lots of things changed since our last ride on Tuesday. Friday I decided to put on my little spurs just to remind Poncho, hey mister my leg really is there. He got a little annoyed that he couldn’t just ignore me. But listened well enough. Spurs aren’t something I ride in all the time every once in a while just to remind him. We only walked and trotted mainly because he was just so resistant to the bit. We got some quality, quality trot work. However when he was not he was bracing and crossing his jaw. I felt so bad for him he was clearly unhappy with it. So to make it up to him we hacked back around the barn again. We even opened and closed the gate this time. I also promptly switched back to the hackamore once I put him back. We’ll use that atleast until I can buy a nathe bit to try.

Today we ventured out to the pond field! Poncho was elated, of course. We just walked around to give him a mental break day. Although towards the end I did ask for a trot. I must say he does have a time limit. If he doesn’t get put to work after a certain amount of time it just doesn’t happen. Well that happened today. He was lazy x10 at the trot. He did it but put no effort into. Way to go. haha. Oh well he’s aloud to have a lazy day every once in  awhile.

In other news I got new tall boots today. Instead of getting new half chaps and paddock boots I found at my local tack store a pair of Ariat Volants $100 off the regular price – hard to pass up. So I had an impulse by. Also we got Midnite some new joint supplement. Hopefully in another week or two she’ll feel better. Those mares are crazyy running around like lunatics at all times of the day.

Some more rides and some dissapointment.

I’ve squeezed in three more rides since my last post. On Sunday Poncho was spectacularly forward compared to the previous. He still was a  little hesitant about the bit. We got in some nice, nice work until a grey horse showed up. He was floaty over the poles. He was forward in the trot. He had a zooming canter. Now I found out over the summer than Poncho has an unhealthy obsession with greys. He is just head over heels for them. Example; we were cantering around at a good pace we go to pass said grey horse, Poncho starts really collecting his trot so he’s almost hopping so as not to pass the horse. Then over the summer he would scream for them and try to grab the bit and run to them. Interesting I think. I don’t know what it is about greys. But it sure is funny.

Monday It was just m. He was brilliant I can’t believe there was no one there to see. His canter was pure perfection there’s not much I can really say other than I was head over heels impressed with him. To give him a reward we hacked around outside of the barn a little. I had to open the gate from on his back, wow, was that comical. He figured out opening it but I couldn’t get him to understand closing it. So that’s for another day.

Tuesday was a bit of damper – not bad but in comparison not great. He is definitely bored in the ring, so am I but the stars haven’t aligned to leave the ring lately. (but mark my words come Saturday we will be out of it) He was a lot less forward. He was kind of stumbly (he gets that way when he puts no effort into his work). So to liven him up I decided to jump. We got 5 refusals before I decided to just canter hard at the jump and he got the point then. Silly pony must have forgotten he can in fact trot jumps. We did also have some glimmers of him going on the bit. We also had some moments where he was bracing his jaw soo hard. It was a very back and forth kind of ride – but it came together in the end. Also when I got off  I noticed my chaps popped a hole by the zipper – so sad. Hopefully I can replace them soon.

Alas, we put the bit back on.

Today was Poncho’s first day back in his bit since before the new year. Crazy to say that but true. I must say I’ve been in love with how he’s going bitless. However with the bit today he seemed to be thinking “what-the-heck”. I guess since it’s been over a month he just forgot how it worked? I don’t really know. He was a bit resistant – we will work on more softening tomorrow. He was semi-rushy (a really bad habit he gets into when his teeth need to be done, guess he forgot they were done two days ago.). He was falling through his shoulder in some of the turns. But once he figured out how things worked again that was solved. We only walked and trotted today just to let him process this sudden change. Ha. After I don’t even know how long another boarder came into the ring to jump. So Poncho and me just meandered around in the grass section for a few.

I pampered him a little bit once we were done. He’s got to look mighty fine for his coggins pictures tomorrow. So I trimmed up his mane. It’s not spectacular but in my defense I didn’t have clippers (I usually roach it) or anything but scissors. Needless to say I made due.

Then I grabbed Midnite, she’s getting ready to go into boot camp. Except a very wimpy boot camp, EPM version if you will. She was much better at the crossties today she didn’t really try to pull back at all. I just let her sniff around everyone and look where ever she wanted to before we got down to business. Luckily my saddle fits her too, so I didn’t have to switch to western. We did very minimal work. She is all over the place at the walk. At the trot she threatens to throw temper tantrums – she doesn’t follow through though thank goodness. All things considered though she’s not doing to bad.

The day Poncho lost his mind, and then he got his teeth done.

What an interesting last two days we’ve had. Tuesday I got off work early which equals barn time! So I got out there as quickly as I could to grab Poncho and get a quick ride in. The weather has gone sporadic again and it was quite warm out. Being as it had warmed up Poncho lost his mind. Yepp. He broke out of the cross ties twice. He snorted and jumped at the gate to the ring. The white barrels (that are always in the same spot I may add) were going to eat him. And there was a monster behind the run-in shed. But while all this was happening we were able to get some decent work put in. We got some spectacular trot work. Our canter was a bit iffy. When he was on he was on. Nice forward momentum and nice and supple. However when he wasn’t it got yucky, he would rush and try to buck. His little bratty moments even caused him to slip once. But on the other hand he successfully completed his first simple change! Proud moment.We did a little bit of polework too. It’s been awhile since he’s done consecutive trot poles so at first he was funky. Ha. Very back and forth. BUT after a go around he was a pro. There is just nothing better than the feel of his trot when he really gets going over those trot poles.

Today we were scheduled to get the ponies teeth floated. At work one day we were talking about riding horses before their teeth got done. So I decided to try and ride Mr. Ponch Man beforehand. There we other people riding so it was a good test for Poncho’s concentration. We did some trot poles again. His trot was even better than yesterday. Luckily I was able to get one great canter in on the left lead. He was superb compared to yesterday. It was just a bit tricky to work around everyone in the ring (not everyone looks out for others GAHHH.) I digress he was awesome today. His mind was once again recovered. (Minus a few more blips at the cross ties.)

Then on to the teeth floating, I still can’t believe I get paid for working on my own horses, the ponies weren’t to happy to be put in the stalls. But once things got rolling they settled. We started off with Midnite – good thing too she was sleeeepy afterwards. Poncho was much better getting his sedation (we still needed a grain bucket though). The riding beforehand did wonders he was a perfect gentleman. He did however do a couple of his snorts at us. Goof-ball. Everyone woke up fairly quickly, in comparison to previous times. Midnite went back to her field while Poncho munched on his dinner. When we left everyone was happily munching in their fields.

Two more days of fun!

I seem to have gotten on a bit of roll here. I must say I LOVE IT. I love seeing my horse so much. I love being able to ride and have lots of fun with him so often. The only downside I see is I will probably find out that I’m more broke than usual come the end of this month. But that’s out of my control.

Anywho, yesterday was the farrier day. So Poncho got his feet done and then I hopped on for a quick ride. I wanted to make sure after seeing the video that we were forward and forward we were. After I was able to maintain it for several laps at the trot we moved onto our canter. That was quite interesting. We had an amazing canter going for almost a whole lap and then he just started trotting before I even realized what had happened. The little guy seems to think he has a time limit on the canter. How funny, I have no idea how he decided it. But it’s definitely something to work on. Then for our cool out we hacked out in the grass and then walked around the barn to the back where the cross ties are. He seemed to enjoy that little change up.

Today I tried out my new saddle pad on him. I got it when I ordered our sand purge supplement.

 

To have a change of scenery we hacked out in the pond field. We haven’t been able to get out there for about two weeks. Poncho was sure fired up. Partly because of the time – it was afternoon. Ha he’s used to early to mid morning workouts. So I threw him totally off. And then the pond field horses were dispersed in different areas. We didn’t last too long out there because right as we were getting ready to start out trot work the pond field horses broke back in and then the barn owner turned out her horse. I don’t like riding with other horses in the field, especially when we’ve got Midnite with us and these geldings aren’t used to mares being in there field. So we called it a day.

A weekend filled with freezing temperatures, gusting winds, and tons of fun.

Saturday I was able to swing out to the barn after two whole days of not being there, I hate that. Any who mom had to work so it was just me. I even lucked out enough to be the only one there after about 10 minutes. I love when that happens. So I pulled Poncho out from the field and tied him up. Where he promptly acted like he was going to die. Of course since the last time he was up there we had our unfortunate incident. He managed to hold it together long enough to let me tack him up. Then we rushed out to the ring. It was a bit hard not totally frozen, but hard enough I didn’t want to push it. So we only walked and trotted (minimally).

Today was much more productive, even though it was colder the ring was drug and not frozen! I wanted to experiment a little with out warm-ups to try and make them a little more effective. We walked a lap in each direction on a loose rein. Then picked up the trot and trotted a circle in each corner, in both directions. Then we walked it out a little to where I started asking him lengthen and shorten his walk. Following that we did some leg yields all over the place. I was attempting to get him nice and supple – forward too. We were however a bit lacking forward today though. I suppose the wind and other contributing factors took his focus. That’s okay though it just gives us something to work on this week. Oh and my mom was nice enough to snatch a few video clips today so I could see how things were going. It’s not the best riding by any means but it’s something I can compare to later.

http://youtu.be/VwbYj8FgVEA

So far, so good.

I want to catch everyone up before I jump right into what’s going on now. So bear with me, this may get long.

 

This was the first year, that I can recall, where I started off the new year on horseback . I got off of work (my old job) early and ran out to the barn as fast as I could. It was bitter cold and super windy. But I was going to ride no matter what. And I did. Poncho was superb as per usual. However we did only walk and trot because the wind was just horrendous. Although it was not as bad as the following day, Monday. WOW. I only rode for about 10 minutes because the wind literally hurt my face. Even though those two days were mega-short and mega-unproductive in most senses. I did at least get a feel for my new tack. My new saddle a duett allegro, which I got for a steal on e-bay. It is oh so comfy and Poncho loves it. And my new hackamore, thanks to my wonderful parents, because he got fussy with the bit (he’s scheduled for a teeth floating in two weeks YAY).

Wednesday I was able to step-up the work some. We were finally able to walk, trot, and canter. We even managed some polework. Unfortunately we did encounter some issues this ride. It all started off kind of rocky. When I went to get him from the field he was running around like a lunatic with his buddy. After wrangling him up he seemed to settle down some. But then at the mounting block he was trying to walk off before I finished getting on. Which he knows is a no-no. He wasn’t too forward in his trot when we first started. And then he tried rooting several times, luckily I was able to figure out he was only doing it in relation to what Midnite was doing. To wake him up a bit we went over some poles a couple of times. Then we cantered only on his left lead though. He was superb in the canter. He was nice and forward it was a big change from just a few weeks ago. After the nice canter we got some wonderful trot work in afterwards. I was super pleased with him come the end of the ride. Then Midnite got some attitude with mom. She was not happy to be worked and made well known. She was attempting to bolt, balk, and just in general being bratty. Mom got her to work out of it but it was not a fun workout.

Saturday we did some work ring work. We worked on our canter a bit more. On his right lead he needed a bit of work. He was a bit sluggish on it and he kept trying to drift in. After a couple of attempts though he worked out of it and was offering up some nice work. On his left lead he was superb, naturally. We briefly did some polework, not much though.  And he only rooted a few times – much improved from the last ride.

Sunday we hacked out in the pond field. It was a bit frozen out there so we only trotted briefly. Mainly we spent our time just enjoying the scenery.

Wednesday started off pretty rocky. I’ll start off by prefacing on Sunday our Barn Manager accidentally opened a garage door right in front of our horses freaking them out – Midnite got loose. So everyone was fine until they weren’t first Midnite busted her lead rope and tried to run. Mom got her back and then Poncho split his halter in half and tried to run. I luckily was able to cling onto him and the saddle to prevent even more disaster. Once we got them wrangled up again and got out to the wring things improved dramatically. Poncho was trotting super forward and lovely. We did lots of pole work. Mainly going over poles that we placed in between the standards (he’s afraid of them). The first time over we did this odd hoppity kind of maneuver.  Second time around he was a champ. We did that several times and then I asked for a canter. Holy Moly, we flew sideways about half a stride away from the ground pole. So he jumped it and then looks back like what the heck just happened. haha. So we re-did the canter and got a successful one. But before we could do much more work it started raining so we headed in. Midnite did a lot of pole work too. She had a different course to maneuver through though I think she did it quite well. We got their blankets on and then headed to the tack store to replace the massacred halters.