Friday, July 24, 2015

Whats the Point??

So I stumbled upon the below video yesterday, and was very impressed with most of their performance. 

If I tried to do that trail course on Notch right now, we would probably look like a bull in a china shop. There would be ground poles kicked all over the place and cones rolling around, not to mention a refusal at the bridge, because we just don't like bridges that are not actually functional. Just a couple weeks ago Notch acted like me asking his to trot over ground poles was equivalent to me asking him to go over a 3 foot jump. But anyways I digress.

The one part I just don't understand with these Western classes is the broken lope. I know what there goal is, they want a nice slow lope that looks peaceful to ride. What they have ended up with is a "gait" that makes it appear that the back legs are broken and dragging behind the horse. Why can't they have a nice collected lope that actually looks comfortable for the horse too? It is this standard in the Western Pleasure based classes that will keep me from ever showing in those areas. 

So that is the end of my morning rant. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!


Thursday, July 23, 2015

Stepping out of our comfort zone!

I am a very competitive person...and with that comes the fear of doing something poorly in front of other people. This has led me to shy away from the competing side of riding due to the fear of looking like a fool. Well this morning I decided to try and move past this "stage fright".

Notch and I will be taking part in a 4 week Team Sorting league. We will be working with a random partner to attempt to move 10 cows from one pen to another in numerical order in under 60 seconds. I have not done any cow work with Notch, but he did spend some time around cattle at his previous home.

So next Wednesday is our first night out, so stay tuned for an update!

Something tells me we're not going to look like this lol


Monday, July 20, 2015

A Revelation...

So I have figured out what is probably our biggest problem! Notch has a best friend and when he is around his brain turns off and the only thing he wants to do is be with him.

This became clear a couple weeks ago. Notch and I were in the arena by ourselves and everything was going great! (even with the big scary tractors moving around just a few feet away.) He was forward and listening to me, we even had some really nice circles going (which is an accomplishment for us both).

Then his FG (favorite gelding) joined us and suddenly I was riding a crazy giraffe! The only thought that was going through his mind was "must get to friend right now!"

Since that day we have once again ridden completely by ourselves and he was listening very well, and he was also a angel when there were other horse around the arena (although they were not in the arena with us). SO it appears that our main issues arise when his FG is with us. Now that I have figured out the problem I need to figure out how to address it, because riding the crazy giraffe is not my favorite. And this proves he knows what I want him to do, hes just ignoring me when the herd instinct takes over.

Any insights would be very much appreciated!

Still one of my favorite views

 

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

An Update

So I am now a couple years out of school and I still have no idea what I want to do when I "grow up". I wish someone would just fund my hobbies or I could win the lottery, but since I never buy a ticket, that seems unlikely. So for now I will continue this whole work and job thing to fund my riding addiction.

Looking Spiffy
As for Notch, there have been some changes there recently. At the beginning of June Notch moved to a boarding facility near by, and although I miss seeing him out in the pasture at home, I truly believe this change is better for us. The problem with having him at home was the limited riding areas available to us. My neighbor has a small arena that they were kind enough to let us use, but the footing was less than ideal, and did I mention it was small? So now that he's moved we have access to two lovely outdoor areas, a round-pen, and and decent sized indoor arena as well. Additional perk is that there land runs along side a state forest with equestrian trails, so we can trail ride without having to trailer. So now we have no reason not to ride! And after last year we need that!


Working in the indoor arena

Also meet the newest member of the family. Nika joined the family in April of 2014, and she will be a 1.5 years in August.


Monday, July 6, 2015

Hello...Again

I'm Back! I know I've said that before but this time I really mean it! So I'm working on a new introductory post to get anyone caught up that might still be following this blog!

Look we still exist!