Robby started out great. He came running to the gate. Thank goodness because it's MUDDY and I almost considered not working him as I didn't want to try and trudge through it. He came through the gate and waited for me.

There were other horses inside getting ready for a trail ride so he shouldn't have had an excuse to be naughty in the cross-ties. He was okay getting ready. He's too smart. He always "pretend paws" as soon as I get out of "whip distance." This means he lifts his leg threatening me that he might paw. Sometimes he strikes down, but never hard enough to hurt himself, just enough to cause a stern "ROBBY" from me. Today we tricked him and Louise stood by his side as I went to the tack room to get his pad and bridle. As soon as I walked away his hoof came up and crack (not hard) Louise got him across the chest with the dressage whip. Robby!

He was pretty good getting ready and GREAT getting to the indoor. It was uber windy today so I was hesitant to start "real" long lining. I actually forgot to bring the long ropes out with me. I set up a bunch of poles, the barrel and brought the mounting block into the center of the big-indoor. Rob ran around and checked everything out. I then went back to the main barn to grab the long lines.

He did pretty well by himself in the big arena while I was away. He trotted around and was standing by the back door looking out at the outside horses when I got back. We lunged and he did great. He only cantered to the right, but we'll get better at that. I don't care if he likes to only walk and trot...

I grabbed the long lines and attached them. I didn't have a whip at first and he wasn't too sure what I wanted him to do. Prior to this I would keep the lead hooked up to the Parelli halter and would attach those "in-hand" reins to his bit and walk him around and circle him. Having the Parelli lead on the halter allowed me to move his head and pull him ahead if he got confused.

Today was all bit. As mentioned at first he didn't know what I wanted him to do and  I didn't know what I wanted him to do other than move forward. At first he was commanding direction. I steered him (kind-of) to the other end of the arena and picked up the Parelli stick.  This was what I needed. I was able to tap him on the butt and keep him moving forward. It was great. By the end of the session he was walking like a little plow horse. We'll have to work on the Who/Stand. But moving forward and turning happened and without much fuss. He actually settled in and was walking with his head parallel to the ground and was licking and chewing. He's such a good boy. Well until...

Until we got back to the barn to untack. I hooked him to the cross-ties and as I was walking back from putting his pad/surcingle away I heard - SNAP.  Little bugger.  The past three times he's figured out how to snap free with the break-away cross tie. He knows just the proper amount of pull needed for the cross-tie to slip throw the break away part. Then he's FREE!  Since he's such a wuss he typically just hangs out by his stall (which is where he's cross-tied), but he's Free! Jerk.  Again Louise to the rescue. She unooked the cross-tie from the safety release (as seen in the image) and hooked it straight to the wall. That naughty (smart) horse continued to pull (just hard enough to feel it and enough to formerly set himself free) but this time he was still attached to the wall. He was getting so MAD. It was kind of cute. 


He's smart enough to stop pulling when he knows he can't go any further. I'd like to be able to trust  him, I think after a few more times with being attached to the wall (with only his left side - he hasn't figured out the right side was break away too ;p - he's not as smart as he thinks he is) I will hook it to the safety-release again so I feel better. He's keeping me on my toes that's for sure!

Today I got to the barn late. I almost prefer this when getting him ready. Rob’s much better with horses all around, as are all horses. I looked at him (see photo) and thought well my little mud bucket had some good rollin’ out in the pasture.

I then took this video of the "inquisitive boy" when bringing him into the aisle-way. 

After this little side-track it was time for work. He was good for his hooves and actually picked his front with only the verbal ask – good boy! He loved the mud-brush. He’s a brushing whore. And he barely pawed at all. I’m telling you, all you hard handed yelling horse trainers – ignoring Arabians is the best form of punishment ;).

He was better with bitting today and only picked his front hoof up to try and protest the tightening of the cinch. 

We worked in the small-indoor as the flooding was minimized to a small section which actually proved advantageous as it forced him to circle on the end he typically cuts short. He’s so good when it comes to the puddle too. Most horses stop and roll-back when “forced” into these situations. Rob slows down and cautiously moves forward. I really like this about him. He will be a great kids horse some day as he gets scared but never does anything stupid. He’s a good boy – less pulling things off his blanket rack. Oh and I almost forgot. When I was putting away his surcingle and bridle he pulled the bag of carrots into his stall and ate ALL of them. Arghhhh Robby!

The farrier came out today. I'm happy to report that the angles on Rob's front feet are almost equal. One foot (the clubby one) is a bit bigger but keeping the Farrier is nice enough to keep rasping it down each time he visits the barn (even if Robby doesn't need a trim). 

Today Rob was a Rockstar, well realtively speaking. Not only did he stand like a pro in the cross-ties, he went out to the outdoor today without acting like someone just shot a firework over his head. He did bolt into me immediately leaving the barn, I winced, shut my eyes, held my breath and was half expecting to feel his hooves scrape down the back of my legs. But instead of getting more ansty he stopped and struck his "invisible saddlebred" pose. I think this is a sign I have a pretty good little fella in the works. 

He WALKED past the pigeon coop and into the arena without spinning one circle. BIG improvement from yesterday.

He lunged (much more controlled) walk, trot, canter, whoa both directions. I then attached those short-long reins and asked him to move forward. Today he was not as receptive, in fact he really wasn't receptive to the reins at all. He did listen to my voice commands so hopefully we can start synching the two.

Even bigger news today is that Brahma was being shipped to George.  He was actually supposed to leave tomorrow (Thursday) but the shipper called Louise (the barn manager) and said he was coming today. This made me a bit quizzical about the shippers George chose to hire. It seemed odd to me that Brahma had to travel to MN to head back to Illinois, I know it may have been out of the way to go back to WI from the Twin Cities to head south to Illinois, but that is also an additional day and several hundred miles on the trailer.

The hauler talked to me assuring me she knows what she's doing even though her dates for the MN horse expo and locations didn't match up. I hope for Brahma's sake they provide a smooth, safe ride. He's expected to arrive tomorrow, Sunday or Monday... 

The vet was coming out today to give Brahma his health check. Mr. Brahma Llama is leaving for NY on Thursday. He already had his coggins test last month. All they did was take his temperature, look at his eye and teeth and listen to his heart and breathing.  Aren't they supposed to take a blood test to see if he's a carrier of anything?  I think something was missed, especially since they charged $90 to drive 8 miles to do the above mentioned things.

I worked Rob in the large arena tonight. Skye, a four year old, adorable, palomino quarter horse was getting tacked up in the back barn. The door was cracked so Rob could peek in to see another horse.

There were some very large pigeon coos and chuckles. This coupled with all of the outside doors being open made it quite scary for Rob. We lunged in the center and he walked and trotted in both directions. He wasn't too keen on cantering so I didn't push it. I know this won't be a problem in the future. 

I had purchased some long reins (shorter than long lines) when I visited Libertyville a few weeks ago. It would have been nice to simply hook them to the bit, run them through the surcingle and go. But they were cheap. You get what you pay for holds true here. I couldn't open one of the snaps large enough to hook around the little O-ring. ARGHHHH.

Skye came in and he's a baby too, only under saddle for 9 months. And he had a squeaky new saddle, literally. Eee eee eee. Rob wasn't sure if he wanted to follow him or run away. Oh the conundrum of my little buddy.  I kept trying to open the second snap and finally got it. I put both reins through the surcingle rings and told him to walk. At first he put his head down and pawed (Rob auto-reaction when bored or confused).  I tapped his butt and clucked and he moved forward. He did really well.  I grabbed hold of his mouth and kept telling him to walk. He went in circles and stopped like a pro! Yippee! I don't know if it was dumb luck or if he's a quick learner, but I'm not going to question it. I flipped the reins over his butt and went on his off-side. He walked, circled and stopped and that was good for me.

Not bad little horse. Not bad. :)