Follow the Rail

Had a 2 hour session today because he needed it. I think the session went pretty good but our one issue was following the rail to the right at a trot. There were a couple of spots that he just couldn't stay on the rail. He would turn into the rail and head the other direction. I could not figure out what the problem was and it seemed to be left brained to me. At first I would keep him turning until we were going back on the rail in the same direction and then I tried the concept of "you want to go the left, me too, lets go faster". I thought being an introvent he would hate that. But, he flew to the left at a canter. It didn't bother him at all. Then when I asked him to slow, he did. Just perfectly, for him, I might add. Didn't seem right brained at all, hmmm, how interesting. Finally, he gave me a slow controlled trot for one lap, no exiting the rail, so I hopped off and called it a day. I'm always wondering if I did the right thing, and we'll see. The next time I ride, it should take less time, right? I'll keep you posted.

Saddle Issues

    Saddled Can Do today and started riding in the arena. Things were going great but I needed to tighten my cinch a little so I got down. I then realized that my cheap saddle with its nylon latigo was slipping. I can't ever get it fitted right and now I know why. It is always slipping. I did not get frustrated, I simply removed the saddle and used my Parelli bareback pad. It felt wonderful, and I felt secure. Maybe my riding is getting better!!!!!! Can Do probably felt a whole lot better too. My good saddle (the one that cost so much, not really good) is too tight and it seems to pinch Can Do's withers. I noticed some white hairs appearing after using it on a regular basis. The cheap saddle fits her better, I just may have to buy some leather latigos. If that won't work, I may have to ride her bareback forever! or that is, until I can buy my Natural Performer. I'm saving up now. Wonder if Maurice will let me ride bareback during the clinic in October.
    I feel Can Do trying for me. Although she probably knows everything I'm doing, she is listening to me and doing what I want. That amazes me because Gizmo does not. I feel like I'm actually going somewhere. Can Do and I just need to develop our communication. I'm not really teaching her anything. My idea is that once I know what all that sensitivity feels like, I'll be a better leader for Gizmo. She is just giving me experience. She is even sticking with me without the lead rope when I hose her down after we ride and when I walk her back to her pasture, which is a two minute walk. She rocks!

First Liberty

I felt progressive with Can Do today! She was attentive and cooperated with me. I need a NP saddle so bad. I'm using one of those synthetic saddles with her because my Circle Y in too tight for her round back. It just seems to fit her better, but not great. Maybe Santa will bring me one. I'm really lol right now!!!! Anyway, I was happy with her session of FR, direct turn, indirect turns, and stopping with my seat. I even played a little liberty with her in the arena and she stayed with me. I tried stick to me. If I tried asking her to move her front end in the pasture, for example, she would ignore me or walk away, so I felt good about that. When I did a partial disengagement to change her from my left side to my right, I got two eyes and it flowed pretty good. Joey is putting sand in my tire today and is regrading my path in the arena. Yeah!

Can Do

Played online today. We havent' done that in a while due to the dew on the ground. My ropes get so heavy and I don't think it is very productive. My handling skills with the 22' rope were in need of practice, has it been that long? We played with backing by the tail, hind end towards me, touch it, circling game, which led to fallen leaf, and figure eight. Her fig. 8 needs lots of work. She can't make it around the barrel without stopping and pinning her ears. I worked on sending her around the barrel and using the carrot stick to lure her to me for a treat. It helped, but it doesn't fix the problem. I need to do this more consistantly with her. She flips between right brain and left brain dominant in a nano second. Are all horses challenging? or do they have some that just go with the flow? It seems to me that they all have some kind of hang up somewhere, could we just combine all positive quallities into one horse and make a super horse, lol!

Bareback

Rode bareback because I'm trying to improve my balance. I think my balance is fine iif Can Do wouldn't slam on the brakes. She more than likely feels movement from me that I'm not even aware of. I love the Parelli bareback pad. Can Do did fine for our lesson except for the fact that she kept stopping on me. After staying in the arena a while we ventured out into the real world. Her trot got faster of course, but I felt pretty secure.

Can Do

Can Do just needs some consistency from me after I put her on hold to focus on Gizmo. Rode her on Monday and she is prettly obedient, but is lacking the leadership she needs because of my inexperience. She is a retired cutting horse so she knows what to do for a cowboy, she just does'nt know what to do with a level 2 parelli student. It is kind of like she is saying to me, " would you just learn how to ride correctly, and by the way, could you please graduate from kindergarten!!!" Oh well, I'm trying! If I could only ride horses all day long, lol!

Feeling Extroverted

 I rode Can Do yesterday for the first time in a while. I was feeling a bit extroverted and wanted some forward movement after Gizmo. She was very obedient and I enjoyed the ride. I'm thinking about taking her to my next clinic instead of Giz. I'm trying to work on getting the shims right for her. She is very downhill. I've noticed that when I take off my saddle pad she has a dry circle area on the side of her withers. I watched the saddling dvd yesterday morning for some shimming ideas, but it rained all day. We have been so dry that the rain was welcoming, but typical for our area, when it is dry, it is dry, and when it rains, it never stops! I'm sure it will be hard to find hay. I find it hard to play with two horses at the same time. I just need to come up with some sort of workable schedule like Giz on M, W, and Fri then maybe Can Do on T, Th, and Sun. It seems like it would be easy, but it never works out. I need to figure this out though, because I'm ready for the saavy train that is truckin it's way to me. I'm feeling good about my savvy. I know I'm getting there.