I've worked Rob five of the last six days - here's a breakdown of what we've done
2/29 - Today we started with the bareback pad cinced up and a copper D-ring. He's great with "saddling" and putting on the bridle. He moved around more than my liking with the fly spray, but wasn't bad. He was an ASS with picking up his left front (I had already put on the splint and bell boots - my lesson learned - should'a picked the hooves first), but was great with his hinds today. I had to pinch his chestnut AND lean on his shoulder to get him to pick up his darn foot. I put the Parelli halter over the bridle and we started out by walking the parameter of the area both directions at the walk, halting and standing several times. Then we did some yo-yo game and lunged (with the long line). His circles are getting better and again he did a very nice job with his transitions between the walk and trot. His canter is improving too. Then we tried trotting in-hand. He usually gets a little hot and overly "playful" - I have to remind him often I'm a human and not a horse. My method only uses a little "Parelli," but I do like the improvement in his manners - LESS THE BITING. The little bugger actually BIT my forearm when we were practicing our triangle at the trot. I'm not as good at "blocking" him when I'm running. I smacked him with the end of the carrot-stick. I'm convinced he is not really an arab as it didn't phase him at all! This and the loss of tail makes me thing he's got some Appy somewhere in his lineage (I'm only slightly kidding). We stopped and I made him face-up. Then we did a few more trot/halt and stands. We ended on a good note. 2/28 - My friend Shawna visited with her family (husband Joe, four-year-old Greta and 8-month-old Lauren). Greta wanted a pony ride, but settled for petting and brushing Cobrizo. I took Robby out for them to see and free-lunged him. It was warm so he was pretty mellow. He went around and then followed me around. It was an easy day for him. 2/27 - It was muggy and hot today. The temp was 85 when I worked Rob at 11, but the index said it felt like 94. We did an easy work out. He was pretty good. We did some in-hand practice and worked on our triangles at the walk, counter-clockwise. He's still nipping at me so I held the butt end of the carrot-stick up to block any on-coming teeth. He lunged both directions. Although his circles are more ovals, he did a nice job transitioning up and down between the walk and trot. The canter has some work. 2/26 - Day off 2/25 - Today we did some in hand first. We did a lot of walk/halt/stand combos. I did this from both the near and far side. Robby is much more mouthy than I remember. Part of this is because he hangs out with Cobrizo (the most annoying horse in the world), but I also attribute some of it to my mom letting him "play." She claims she doesn't, but I've seen her let Cobrizo grab the end of the rope and hold it in his mouth and chew. Robby thinks he can do this with everything - the lead rope, halter, Parelli halter, whip (carrot stick) end... That's not good. It's annoying and will not be funny when I decide to put his leather bridle on. This is something that I have to have patience yet be firm. Hopefully he'll mellow out on the mouthy front as we keep working. This being said, my mother worked wonders at teaching Robby his space (versus my space). He's much more light when being asked to move over, back around etc. His lunging today was better but is still a little out of control. He had less episodes where he stopped and spun around. It's like he's remembering he should listen to me :) 2/24 - First day working since last October ( I think). We started out slow. I put on the parelli halter and we played a little friendly, yo-yo and porcupine game. Then I put him on the long-line and attempted to lunge. Thank goodness I remembered to wear gloves. YIKES. But man this horse can move. His hawks darn near touched his tush as he trotted around.
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AuthorI am the owner of Khristopher Robin. Robby is a 3/4 arab 1/4 saddlebred Chestnut gelding, foaled August 2008. Archives
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