The life of a rescued horse and other ramblings...
First Ride
After a week of cold and rain I woke up this morning to a glorious sunny day and I had nothing that I absolutely HAD to do. Okay, so I need to do laundry and clean the house but those can wait, I couldn't pass up the chance to go play with Alex!
I've had this niggling thought that my 10 year old nephew is small enough that he would make a perfect candidate to help me further Alex's training by being the first to get on her. It also helps that he is fearless and loves horses. ;-P So I called him up and he jumped at the chance to come help me. When I got there to pick him up he was up in the apple tree picking apples to take to Alex and he couldn't wait to go see her!
When we got to moms we spent about 15 minutes just petting, feeding apples, and brushing her and she was soaking up the attention. I haltered her and led her around a little to see if she was having an ornery day or a mellow one and once we determined that she was mellow I asked if he was ready. I told him to just lay across her at first and slide down if she started to act up and I gave him a boost. She backed up a few steps but then stopped and just stood there while he laid on her and I scratched her neck. After a minute I had him slide down and we both loved on her and then repeated the process.
After about the third time of him lying across her I had him go ahead and swing his leg over. Being her normal self, she just stood there. She turned her head to each side and sniffed each of his feet and then seemed to say "OK, if this is what you want!". I led her around the pasture for a few minutes and being the boy he is, Dalton wiggled and swung his feet but she didn't seem to care at all.
He got off an we loved on her some more and then we decided to try the saddle again. I put it on and cinched it so it was just touching her belly and led her around some. After a few minutes of that I went ahead and tightened the cinch (I need to get a longer cinch, I couldn't get it looped the second time!). She wasn't thrilled with the cinch being tightened but the only reaction was a flick of the ears and a couple of steps backwards. We loved on her more and led her around more then I told Dalton to use the stirrup to get up but to just lay across the saddle, the same as we had done bareback. The saddle twisted when he got on but she didn't care and he laid there for a minute before getting down. I straightened the saddle, held the opposite side, and told him to go ahead and get on her completely but once he was up to take his feet out of the stirrups in case he had to bail. He climbed up, took his feet out, and we stood there while Alex took a quick nap. *G*
Once she woke back up I led her around some more and then handed him the leadrope so I could back away to get some photos. She kept trying to follow me but she did respond to the lead rope, he had her turning left once, stopping, and even backing! Then we just walked around the pasture with him still holding the leadrope but her following me.
After a few minutes I had him get off and then get back on her on her right side. There's nothing I hate more than a one sided horse and Alex has always been touchier about her right side than her left so I want her to learn to accept mounting and dismounting from both sides. She accepted him on either side with no problems so we figured that was a good place to end the lesson.
We unsaddled her and she spent a few minutes chewing on the saddle while it was on the fence. Then we fed her a couple more apples and tossed her some hay before heading home.
We spent about an hour total with her today but only 20-30 minutes of that were riding since we didn't want to make her sore. It was a great lesson and the whole thing was so totally typical of Alex, anything we want to do is fine. She's always happy as long as she gets to spend time with people!
New photos are in the album titled First Ride and there are a couple of videos in the video section.
I've had this niggling thought that my 10 year old nephew is small enough that he would make a perfect candidate to help me further Alex's training by being the first to get on her. It also helps that he is fearless and loves horses. ;-P So I called him up and he jumped at the chance to come help me. When I got there to pick him up he was up in the apple tree picking apples to take to Alex and he couldn't wait to go see her!
When we got to moms we spent about 15 minutes just petting, feeding apples, and brushing her and she was soaking up the attention. I haltered her and led her around a little to see if she was having an ornery day or a mellow one and once we determined that she was mellow I asked if he was ready. I told him to just lay across her at first and slide down if she started to act up and I gave him a boost. She backed up a few steps but then stopped and just stood there while he laid on her and I scratched her neck. After a minute I had him slide down and we both loved on her and then repeated the process.
After about the third time of him lying across her I had him go ahead and swing his leg over. Being her normal self, she just stood there. She turned her head to each side and sniffed each of his feet and then seemed to say "OK, if this is what you want!". I led her around the pasture for a few minutes and being the boy he is, Dalton wiggled and swung his feet but she didn't seem to care at all.
He got off an we loved on her some more and then we decided to try the saddle again. I put it on and cinched it so it was just touching her belly and led her around some. After a few minutes of that I went ahead and tightened the cinch (I need to get a longer cinch, I couldn't get it looped the second time!). She wasn't thrilled with the cinch being tightened but the only reaction was a flick of the ears and a couple of steps backwards. We loved on her more and led her around more then I told Dalton to use the stirrup to get up but to just lay across the saddle, the same as we had done bareback. The saddle twisted when he got on but she didn't care and he laid there for a minute before getting down. I straightened the saddle, held the opposite side, and told him to go ahead and get on her completely but once he was up to take his feet out of the stirrups in case he had to bail. He climbed up, took his feet out, and we stood there while Alex took a quick nap. *G*
Once she woke back up I led her around some more and then handed him the leadrope so I could back away to get some photos. She kept trying to follow me but she did respond to the lead rope, he had her turning left once, stopping, and even backing! Then we just walked around the pasture with him still holding the leadrope but her following me.
After a few minutes I had him get off and then get back on her on her right side. There's nothing I hate more than a one sided horse and Alex has always been touchier about her right side than her left so I want her to learn to accept mounting and dismounting from both sides. She accepted him on either side with no problems so we figured that was a good place to end the lesson.
We unsaddled her and she spent a few minutes chewing on the saddle while it was on the fence. Then we fed her a couple more apples and tossed her some hay before heading home.
We spent about an hour total with her today but only 20-30 minutes of that were riding since we didn't want to make her sore. It was a great lesson and the whole thing was so totally typical of Alex, anything we want to do is fine. She's always happy as long as she gets to spend time with people!
New photos are in the album titled First Ride and there are a couple of videos in the video section.
Comment
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Comment by Gina & Siobhan on August 17, 2009 at 7:54pm - Wonderful news Ronni, Alex is such a good girl! Lots of love Siobhan & Mum xx
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