Tonight I put Madison on Slygirl. She did a great job with her, kept her quiet and calm and has learned to ride with two hands like we do around here. That is always a tiough switch from kids who have been to horseback riding day with the girl scouts, and rented trail rides. I was pretty impressed with both of them, as they tooled around in the driveway and around the barns.
After she putzed around out there for a while, I had her ride in the round pen a little bit. It is remarkable to me the differ
ence in that horse between inside and out. She is so content while riding outside, she would do whatever she was asked, go where she wanted her to, and be happy about it. Considering that Madison does not have a lot osf experience riding, I was really impressed with how Slygirl adjusted to her cues. She did all right in the round pen at first, but her mind just clicks over to a different station all together--there, she is much more technical, and got confused and frustrated.
So I rode her a while and she was frustrated for sure. I am not at all convinced this saddle is not pinching her---not something that happens with Madison because she is so much lighter than I am, but clearly something was stuck in her craw tonight. Barry showed up and we changed saddles and after an initial sorting out of things, we worked through it and ended up with a nice ride. I say "we"---I mean Barry did, as I watched to see what was going on.
In the end, all is well that ends well, and everyone learned a lesson. I learned to try something new when the regular is not working, and that she can handle a young kid without a lot of experience and adjust to her just fine. She learned that it is not up to her to get mad, and that all it will get you is more work until you get it right. Barry learned that when I say something is wrong, it quite likely is.
She is spending the night in the round pen instead of her stall so she can work out any kinks she may have. Tomorrow is another day
It was getting a little dark with these photos and I only had on the big lens, so I had to get pretty far away to get her in the photo, and they are a little grainy. I will get the hang of this thing yet.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Slygirl gets another child pilot
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7 comments:
it is amazing how far you have to be for the Auto Focus to work, isn't it????
Madison looks great on Slygirl! I bet Ash & Madison will have some fun riding around the farm with you.
I thought Barry would have learned a long time ago that you are always right & that he needs to listen to you at all times! :-)
Nice photos
Yeah, they will Julie, good point. Ash will be good for Mad to get more confident, but I have to admit watching her last nite that she has really improved since the fall, and she has not really even ridden since then.
I was REALLY proud of her getting on there--in the past, she was not interested in riding anyone besides Rock, and she did not hesitate, just scrambled up there
Slygirl has really done well and is growing up. When does she leave? How is Radar doing?
She leaves next weekend. We are working throgh some issues, but what can you expect on a young one huh? They are not set in their ways yet. She will get there.
Radar is just fine--has been since an hour after he got home, when he was anxious. He took a nap after that and has been the same ol boy ever since
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