Saturday, April 18, 2009

04/16/09 Ransom in the Rain

After what proved to be a trying day at work (One of those "Hey, she's off on Friday, and it's 3:00pm. Maybe we ought to ask for that safety review an hour before quitting time, just to see if she'll stay late." Suckers.. I left promptly at 4:00pm

Arrived home to what appeared to be a looming rain storm. Didn't change my mind one bit. I grabbed Ransom, saddled him up dressage + side reins, thinking I would lunge him, add the side reins, lunge some more, hop on & walk him out.

Yeah.. Angel-horse showed up in the arena again. I ended up after a 10 minute warm up, jumping on, and doing walk and trot (on the loose rein then on contact) all the way around the arena, both directions, circles, serpentines, figure 8s, diagonals down the long diagonal.. The works. No nerves, no jitters. Ransom took a long hard look at the neighbor's cows, but with irregular rain showers, and snarly wind bursts, he was "All business".

I tried working on "Air brakes" with him, again with no luck. Wonder if it's a "teach an old dog new tricks"issue.. not quite sure how to instill it in him, because I hate feeling like I'm hauling back on him to get him to stop.

A good 45 minutes of riding. Good for his mental health, and mine.

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