Return to the Scene of the...Clinic

Monday is my riding day with K.  We could not go out on the trails that are now covered in almost two feet of snow and possibly larger drifts. It's hard to believe that last week we rode in shirts... no jackets needed! 

This week I decided we'd take the horses back to the scene of the clinic. We loaded the horses and took them to the indoor arena about 15 miles from the house. Everything was clear, except their parking lot... but the truck handled the slick, packed snow, even with the chunky guys in tow. (And what the heck, if we'd gotten stuck, I could have put the guys to work hauling their own tow vehicle out!)

Dreaming on Pippin

We each had an opportunity to ride both horses. It was great fun to see someone else on my guys! It was even greater fun to see how Pippin has already responded to new things I learned in the clinic! Wow! He was a different horse altogether! Of course, we can attribute at least some of the change to this being a repeat visit to the arena. Also, it was just Pippin and Doc in the arena, not 9 or 10 horses, and since Doc was with us, he wasn't neighing plaintively outside the arena as he did during the clinic. But, there was no getting around it... Pippin was listening to me and he is learning! 

K on Doc

During the clinic Brent worked with us on communicating changes in speed with our bodies. He asked us to work on transitions and if the horse doesn't get the hint by using our seat, then we should ask them by using verbal commands and if necessary, we can tell them by using legs for impulsion and reins for slowing or stopping. After a few minutes of warming up Pippin and I went to work. The outcome.... I had a horse who easily moved from a halt to a walk. He would speed that up, or slow down. He performed nice, calm transitions to a trot and changed speeds at the trot. He slowed to a walk and halt.... without my having to use the reins! I was so excited.... I almost fell off!

Sure... we can still use a ton of work, but I'm so pleased with how Pippin listened and responded. 

A good day was had by all!

Pippin's Point of View: I Tried to be Good!

Oh what a happy day I had on Friday, and I made Mrs. Owner really happy, too! She told me over and over what a good boy I was. She hugged me, and petted me and scritched that special spot around my ears. It almost made me shiver in gladness. I was better than Doc. Hahahahaha to you, Doc! You were so bad and you made Mrs. Owner feel sad! That's not nice.

Early in the morning, before the sun even came up over the hill, Mrs. Owner came down to the barn. I was really surprised to see her so early. I was thrilled to get my breakfast early, too. Yum! But, then she put us in the big box that makes lots of noise. We rode for a long time and when we stopped moving, we weren't at home anymore. We were some place very strange with lots of strange horses. There were sheep there. There were strange dogs there. There was a cat that sniffed my nose there. Oh horrors, there was a mountain lion there. At least I'm almost positive it was a mountain lion. It was very shaggy. It smelled funny, and when I wasn't looking, it made a very loud, "heehaw-heehaw-heehaw" sound. That terrified me.  I just knew it was gonna come jump on my back and eat me up! But Mrs. Owner talked to me quietly, and pet my neck and said it would be all right. And, you know what? It was!

Mrs. Owner hitched me up, all by myself, and we had a lesson with a nationally known carriage guy name Jeff Morse. Jeff was very kind. He adjusted my bit. He helped me get my tongue back under the bit....three times! He said I'd soon learn not to do that, but Mrs. Owner isn't convinced since I love playing with my bit. I just wished that it tasted like something good to eat. Maybe she'll buy me a flavored bit. Hmmmm, would I want vanilla or peppermint? Tough choice!

Anyway, we drove around and around in circles until I was almost dizzy. Jeff showed Mrs. Owner how to help me bring my head down so I could "pull more efficiently", whatever that means! I did it a lot and Mrs. Owner and Jeff told me how good I was. I walked and I trotted and I really worked hard at keeping my head down. I tried so hard to be good! Jeff put magic elastic side reins on that helped me remember to keep my head down. This is a picture of me in the magic reins. Doesn't my head look pretty? It's not really low here, but it is lower than I usually keep it. Don't you like the nice bend I have? Mrs. Owner liked it and told me I was good.

I told Doc all about how good Mrs. Owner said I was. He turned his head away from me. Then he pushed me out of the water bucket. Then he pouted. He mumbled something about losing control....twice. Oh dear Doc. He said he was afraid. First, Jeff touched him and Doc claims that he didn't see Jeff standing there, so he reared up to get away from the touch. The second time he thought something was behind him, so he ran really fast to get away from it, but Jeff, who was driving at that point, got him to stop pretty quickly and Doc calmed down, a bit. But he was still pretty sure there was something nasty at that part of the arena each time he went by. It took a while for Jeff and Mrs. Owner to convince Doc that he'd be OK. Maybe Doc will have a better day the next time.