Post by thomasdog on Mar 24, 2012 10:43:21 GMT -5
My fingers whisp over the new bridle and I try to catch Reno's head. "Reno!" I cry, "I thought you LIKED riding" Reno gives a small snort in reply. My hands reach up once again and this time I catch Reno's halter. "Gotcha!" I cry triumphantly, slipping the halter off and quickly slipping Reno's face into his bridle. My saddle and pads are already on his back, as well as four nice, new, white polo wraps. "How about hacking in the field today, boy?" I ask my baby softly. Reno just snorts in reply so I sigh and lead him out. Reno's unshod hooves make a soft noise on the concrete ground. Oh, how I love our stable, Hope Valley Stables, but as far as I know, no one else is here. Pity. It is really oh so nice. When he reach the outdoors, I see 2 large rings, one for jumping and one for dressage. And oh, in the distance I can see a few more rings for assorted things. Off to my left are pastures, and to my right is the parking lot and roads. I will have to ride past the pastures to get to the fields, which will be a nice warm-up. I reach the mounting block, tighten my girth, roll down my irons, and hop on, gently. "Reeno" I murmur softly to my horse. Then I cluck to him and head him toward the fields.
After a 15 minute or so minute walk, I reach the fields. I don't see anyone in the large space, or in the surrounding forest, so the ask Reno to begin walking around the borderline of the field on a frame. Once Reno has gathered himself up and is using his hindquarters corrrectly, I ask him to go to a trot. His strides are strong and young, and I am once again grateful for my sweet horse. Keeping Reno on a frame, I trot across the diagonal and change direction and my diagonal. I squeeze Reno on to a more forward trot in a frame. I feel him groan a little bit with the work. I tighten my legs even more until Reno is in a very beuatiful extended trot. Forcing him to hold it for one side, in a frame, is hard work for my boy and he tires quickly. I then sit and ask for a nice collected sitting trot. Reno happily obliages and slows down. I have him do multitudes of exercises, half-passes, shoulders-in, haunces-in, bending, turns on the hauches, turns on the forehands, so on so on. By the time Reno is sweating profusesly, I have been riding at a trot for 1 hour.
I bring Reno down to a walk and loosen the reins. After he catches his breath we can canter.As Reno pants, I think about him and me. I got Reno 2 years ago at a horse auction, when he was Four. He had very little training and had never jumped. He was totally 'wrong' and carried himself like a 20year old, not a 4yearold. I could not help but buy him and turn him around. For two long years, we have worked together to make a partership. I have still not jumped Reno over anything bigger than a pile of poles, but in my opinion, Reno never learned correctly so I decided to take my time. Today I am planning on hacking him around on the flat, hard, to work his muscles and really get him thinking. Tomorrow I think I will drag out some poles and do a pole course with pole bounces and such to work on his coordination.
I gather Reno up and get him back into a forward walk in a frame. Then I add my leg and Reno easily picks up a canter. I also do soulder-ins and haunches-ins, but Reno had a lot more diffacultly at the canter. Half Passes are also hard, and I simply cannot do them at a canter. I think to myself, I wish there was someone around here who knew how to do good half-passes at the canter...
We do lead changes and circles until Reno is foaming from all the work and I am pleased at his progress. Reno is tireless, always playing and testing the boundries, which I really do not mind as long as he dosent do something really bad. I give him a gentle pat and let him 'have the reins' as we walk back to the barn.
When we get back, I see that it is noon, time for Reno's lunch. I spray him off in the roomy wash racks, and ice him legs because we worked for 1 3/4 hours, which is a long time for both of us. I then brush Reno off really good and clean his water bowl, bedding, and sweep the floor outside his stall as he dries. Then I dump him 2 buckets of beetpulp into his feeder, wash and dry the buckets, begin soaking some more beetpulp for next time, and take Reno home. By this time it is 2 o clock. "Oh no", I yelp, "I'm going to be late for school!" And with that I give my horse one last pat and race out the barn doors.
After a 15 minute or so minute walk, I reach the fields. I don't see anyone in the large space, or in the surrounding forest, so the ask Reno to begin walking around the borderline of the field on a frame. Once Reno has gathered himself up and is using his hindquarters corrrectly, I ask him to go to a trot. His strides are strong and young, and I am once again grateful for my sweet horse. Keeping Reno on a frame, I trot across the diagonal and change direction and my diagonal. I squeeze Reno on to a more forward trot in a frame. I feel him groan a little bit with the work. I tighten my legs even more until Reno is in a very beuatiful extended trot. Forcing him to hold it for one side, in a frame, is hard work for my boy and he tires quickly. I then sit and ask for a nice collected sitting trot. Reno happily obliages and slows down. I have him do multitudes of exercises, half-passes, shoulders-in, haunces-in, bending, turns on the hauches, turns on the forehands, so on so on. By the time Reno is sweating profusesly, I have been riding at a trot for 1 hour.
I bring Reno down to a walk and loosen the reins. After he catches his breath we can canter.As Reno pants, I think about him and me. I got Reno 2 years ago at a horse auction, when he was Four. He had very little training and had never jumped. He was totally 'wrong' and carried himself like a 20year old, not a 4yearold. I could not help but buy him and turn him around. For two long years, we have worked together to make a partership. I have still not jumped Reno over anything bigger than a pile of poles, but in my opinion, Reno never learned correctly so I decided to take my time. Today I am planning on hacking him around on the flat, hard, to work his muscles and really get him thinking. Tomorrow I think I will drag out some poles and do a pole course with pole bounces and such to work on his coordination.
I gather Reno up and get him back into a forward walk in a frame. Then I add my leg and Reno easily picks up a canter. I also do soulder-ins and haunches-ins, but Reno had a lot more diffacultly at the canter. Half Passes are also hard, and I simply cannot do them at a canter. I think to myself, I wish there was someone around here who knew how to do good half-passes at the canter...
We do lead changes and circles until Reno is foaming from all the work and I am pleased at his progress. Reno is tireless, always playing and testing the boundries, which I really do not mind as long as he dosent do something really bad. I give him a gentle pat and let him 'have the reins' as we walk back to the barn.
When we get back, I see that it is noon, time for Reno's lunch. I spray him off in the roomy wash racks, and ice him legs because we worked for 1 3/4 hours, which is a long time for both of us. I then brush Reno off really good and clean his water bowl, bedding, and sweep the floor outside his stall as he dries. Then I dump him 2 buckets of beetpulp into his feeder, wash and dry the buckets, begin soaking some more beetpulp for next time, and take Reno home. By this time it is 2 o clock. "Oh no", I yelp, "I'm going to be late for school!" And with that I give my horse one last pat and race out the barn doors.