August 3, 2013

The last few times I have been out with my horses has been awesome! Golden Charmer is really starting to listen to my hand and leg cues, and Seyvilla is becoming more accurate with her turns and positions that will help her when we do more cow sorting.

Though Golden Charmer is not as easy going and calm in most situations as Seyvilla, he is becoming more used to things moving around his head, back, and legs. It was probably about a month ago that I walked him over to the fence and stop while I gathered up the halter and lead rope that I had hung there earlier. When I reached over, from his back and picked them up off the fence, he startled at the “scary” stuff and shied away. It was odd that he minded because I can swing a calf rope around his head and even gently bump him in the ears and he doesn’t flinch. Well, this “scary” halter and lead rope issue needed to be fixed . . . The next day I had him stop by the fence, and I lifted the halter and lead rope. This time, I kept it over the fence so if I had to let go it would just hang itself on the fence again. When he moved away I dropped the halter back on the fence and then asked him to do something else. Later that same day I asked him to come back to the fence again. Now, about a month after starting with that “sacking out,” he will let me pick up the halter and lead rope from the fence and he’ll just stand still. It might have taken longer than forcing him to accept it the first day, but now he knows that it won’t hurt him and he didn’t ever get afraid of it.

I will be taking more cow sorting lessons with Seyvilla in a few weeks. We are currently working on the specific skills we learned in our lessons before so we will be ready to apply them and learn further techniques in our coming lessons. I’ll make sure and post when we have a sorting event and I hope to see you there! Just yesterday a rode Seyvilla up to the roping arena when they were doing the usual morning jackpot runs. I rode her all the way up to right behind the heeler’s box and she stood relaxed. It was really fun to sit there mounted and not have to pay careful attention to what she was doing every minute. She doesn’t mind cows now, so the fun is just beginning!

April 1, 2013

Seyvilla has been favoring his left front leg for a few weeks now, so I have not been able to ride her. I took a short video of her at the walk and trot so I could see the difference over a few days. She is getting better, but I think I will have to stay off her for a few more weeks. Like a human who pulls a muscle, I will have to slowly work back into exercising her. I have been walking her around every few days, but she basically needs rest.

On another note, Golden Charmer is improving every day! I have enjoyed working with him more since I can’t ride Seyvilla. I remember back a few months, when I was having trouble getting him to pick up the easy canter. Now he picks it up the first or second time I ask him. He is also good at listening to my leg cues now. Yeay! I am getting used to his canter gait too. It takes some getting used to because he is so much bigger than Seyvilla. I am pleased with how far he has come in the training process. Next step is to work him around the cows. He doesn’t mind the rope, so once I can get him to not mind the cows I will start roping from his back. Fun!