Week 18

A lot going on this week, so here goes a long post :)

Tuesday: 2 hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Worked with DG on desensitizing and touching around her mouth to prepare for the bit. I wouldn't say that she's headshy, but she doesn't like her lips being messed with, so I spent about 15 minutes just touching her all around there. There are many ways that people like to work with a horse that has a certain part of their body that they don't like touched, but I've found that the best way that works for me is to find a spot (usually on their neck or chest or withers somewhere) that they're extremely comfortable with having scratched, and then start resting your hand on the spot that they don't like being touched, and as soon as they keep still, remove your hand and scratch the place that they do like having touched. If you continue this for a while, gradually increasing the length of time that you leave your hand in the 'no no' spot, or increasing the activity (for example, with DG's mouth, I eventually practiced putting a finger partway in her mouth because that's what you do to ask them to open up for the bit) and then make sure you end on a good note. After that, I round penned Fiona and did the same kind of thing on her ears again. She was worse with her ears than DG is with her mouth, but after a few days of alternating scratching her neck (which she LOVES) and touching her ears, she's improved a lot, and  where she used to throw her head all over the place and try to get away if you touched her ears, now I can run my hands down both sides of both ears and she barely moves. After I worked with those two, I fed and then rode Hollywood, he did a couple of great stops today.

Hollywood

Cute picture of momma and babies!

Thursday: Was feeling a bit under the weather today, so I just stopped by Sunnyluck Farms to do stalls super quickly, but I also scheduled a jumping lesson for Cliff and I on Saturday! I've always wanted to learn how to jump, and Cliff loves it, but I have no idea what I'm doing so I'm super excited!

Friday: Two hours at Sunnyluck Farms. Saddled Fiona and tied her head around, and rode DG. She is on the lazy side (which is better than the alternative in a green horse, in my opinion), and we're working on keeping a steady canter. She LOVES to stop, and naturally just stops and starts backing, which is great, but we're working on not stopping until she hears the word "woah".

On DG

Apple

DG Stopping. *Ignore my position*

Saturday: A gal from my barn who is a really talented jumper gave me a lesson on Cliff this evening. We focused on my 2 point position and setting Cliff up to go over poles (I haven't jumped hardly at all, and I haven't ridden English more than 15 minutes at a time in years). Here are some pictures of the lesson:

Warming up

It's a start! :)

Working on using his body in the circle and keeping a bend around my leg without dropping his shoulder

Softening up

I forgot how much work English can be. My legs were burning by the end!

Clifford is not impressed. 

Sunday: Spent 2 hours at Laughing Buck Farm messing around and riding with a friend. I also put Cliff on grain because he's starting to look a little thin.

Just walking around on Cliff bareback because I was so sore from the jumping lesson yesterday :)

*The stopping picture of DG belongs to Sunnyluck Farms*
Links:
Laughing Buck Farm's Facebook
Sunnyluck Farms Website
Sunnyluck Farms Facebook
And, I'm excited to announce that Laughing Buck Farm's website is now up and running, and it looks amazing! Go check it out ((A short bio of yours truly is on the "Meet the Instructors" page))!