Saturday, June 13, 2020

June 13, 2020


Shine
Shine is visually more balanced after doing some bending practice for a few days (see * below for details on the bending). It’s a good way to wake up the muscles, get the blood flowing, and the brain engaged. Shine has always liked groundwork, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. I think, especially with Shine, that having a groundwork day once or twice per month is really going to help him stay nimble.

 * We do the bending in their stalls, so they don’t get going too fast. We use the western split reins looped through the cinch to remind the horse to keep his head toward the center. The inside rein is much shorter than the outside rein, causing the horse to get a pull on the inside if they don’t keep the bend in their body. We suggest starting out with only a slight pull and working up to him keeping his head more toward the center.

Soot
Soot is getting much better at leading. We usually don’t go too far before we work him, but from his stall to the close round pen has been working well. Been working on walk/trot transitions and trot/canter transitions. The trot/canter transitions still need more work. We have been using the nylon halter for Soot, but we recently switched back to the original rope halter. We do have more control with the rope halter, and we get a better response rate from him too. We have also figured out how to allow him to pull the tire evenly by using 2 calf ropes (one of each side). That way the tire follows along behind him rather than to the inside.