Last night, I longed Harley and Boss. Both on the halter only, about 40minutes total for Harley, 25 for Boss. Harley had a gorgeous cadenced canter... made me wish I was riding it. I flexed him left and right, worked on turns on forehand/haunches, backing up, and a little desensitizing.
The neat part about "warmup day" for Harley? I find holes in his ground work. Last night, I tossed the leadrope over his head, and he startled. As a result, I tossed the rope over his head from both sides at least a half dozen times. He started out concerned by it, then relaxed. Success. His back-ups in hand have gotten a little stubborn as well. Something to work on, probably better with a dressage whip in my other hand, so I can do something other than smack halter knots on his face.
Boss was fantastic. Again, made me wish he had a bit and saddle on. I would've ridden. He was "up" for about 5 minutes, then relaxed his neck and was trotting all the way through from his tail to his nose. Neat to watch.
Ran out of daylight, or I would've done the same for Romeo. Poor guy, he looked jealous of the others. Mo, you don't need the "warmup day", that's what's great about you. Everybody gets new feet Sunday afternoon, so I'll be getting rides on all three today and tomorrow morning. Monday will probably be "adjust to our new hooves" day, which makes riding questionable at best.
SunnySD was the first brave soul. I know 'DG-irisMA' had some ideas, but they didn't come through - send 'em in Facebook or email, please ma'am. Sunny - Let me see what I can find in trail clinics. I don't know too many quiet folks that do trail riding, and the large group rides down here turn into beer-fests, something that I don't know is terribly fair to Harley for a "first start". A trail clinic sounds fantastic though - a good chance to desensitize him to so many things, and get him "out of the arena" in a way. Thanks! I'll report back what I find.
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