Lesson 6-22-11 Wednesday

Off night for sure.  I started lunging Meika without a lead rope which we had done before with good results.  Not tonight.  She was plugish and slow and didn't want to draw in.  She did it once and then was non compliant after that.  I put the lead rope on her twice after that.  She knows this, I know this but for some reason not tonight.

I did saddle and bridal her on my own tonight so this was a first!  The cinch was alittle loose but other than that I did it right.  Yeah me!

Fred lunged Serenity for a bit then mounted her.  He was tense for whatever reason.  At the same time Meika was giving me hell.  She knows the rails around the pen but tonight decided she didn't want to walk the rail.  I kept having to make her get closer to the rail which made me frustrated at me and her.  I don't think Fred or I were in the right mind set tonight.  More lunging, more training and more patience is in order....next time.

Sorry Amy.  We'll do better next time.  Promise.

6-15-11 Lesson

  I was a little nervous after my last ride with Meika on Sunday.  I'm fortunate to have a wonderful trainer who not only is training Meika but myself as well.  She keeps me grounded, focused and above all calm.

Amy and her gorgeous baby Appaloosa Fiona

  Before our lesson we walked around the round pen and picked up pieces of glass that seem to appear there overnight.  I'm walking and Meika's following.  I stop and bend down to pick up glass and I feel her breath on my back or butt.  It was pretty funny.  I even felt a nibble on my hat.  She can be cute.

  This afternoon I lunged Meika without a lunge line and using only a lunge whip.  Meika was wonderful.  I tried this last time the lunging went well, but the drawing in was 2 times out of 10 tries.  Tonight....4 complete draws.  I took one step back and took the draw stance, patted my thighs and made the clicking sound.  That worked each and every time.  I was so damn proud of her!

  Then we moved on to opening the gate and not letting her charge through it.  We did a lot of whoa, stopping and standing still.  Then moving up a foot and repeating that process.  Finally Amy opened up the fence to the field and Meika and I walked through it.  The main focus was getting her to turn and go past the open fence and continue on.  The first couple of times were rough but I didn't let her get away with it.  We did turn and finally walked passed it to where I wanted her to go.  Ok, got that down.  Hopefully, I can still do this without Amy.  

Sunday's ride on 6-12-11

  Fred and I decided to go riding around the smaller pasture with Meika and Serenity our boarders beautiful paint horse.  Serenity was busy giving Fred a hard time apparent she wasn't used to the bridal after our trainer fixed it the right way.  They had all the bits going the opposite way for some reason.  We decided that she probably needs a broken snaffle bit vs the leverage bit she is currently using.
  So Meika in the mean time is having her own set of issues.  I'm anxious for some reason.  I tried 3 different times to back off and just chill.  I now have mounted her 3 ocassions and dismounted when I didn't feel comfortable.  Meika is feeding on all of this.  Poor baby she has such a neurotic mommy.  Damn shame!
  I finally gave up but not wanting to end on a sour note, I led her to the round pen and mounted her again.  She just didn't want to listen to me.  I ended up letting Fred ride her which probably wasn't a good idea for reasons I won't go into.  She is my horse and she needs to know and listen to me is the bottom line.
  There are days when I just love her and see us riding off into the sunset at a ripe old age....then there are other days when I want to sell her on Craigslist and buy something I can ride.  Not sure what that is...lol