Hope you all had a good Easter, however you celebrate it. I had family over- yes, the minions and their mama, my sister, are here. We attended Good Friday Services, and Sunday Mass, and the kids got lots of horse time in. They rode both Delia and Beamer, but I think I'll have them ride Delia the most as she is the horse they will eventually be able to trail ride and go to little shows on.
They made lots of progress, learning how to ride in a bosal instead of the curb bit that they use on Beamer. It required some effort too, as Delia is nowhere near as broke as Beamer! It was a really good learning weekend for them, and it showed me that Delia will someday become a good kids horse.
This is the youngest minion, she will be 7 next month. Her favourite thing is trotting on Delia! She did a little bit of steering today. The other two, who are older, did a lot of learning how to steer and stop and progressed to the point where they got to ride her solo for a bit today.
As for big girl stuff: What I need to work on with Delia- Overcoming herd bound, learning how to move individual parts of her body, turns on the forehand and haunches which are rudimentary right now, sidepass which is barely there. Once she gets lighter in response to my leg aids ( I may need to put my spurs on, she is pretty dead sided) I will be able to get her performing nicely in lateral moves too. On the ground, I am working on teaching her not to crowd me, and not to dive for grass when she is being led. She has a bit of un-learning to do in that department! Once I have all those elements at a walk and trot, then I will see how she does at the lope.
Over all, I am pleased with this mare, she isn't a fancy show horse or a speedy games horse, but if I can develop her into a steady mount for me for trails and Cowboy Dressage, and be able to put kids on her for fun shows, she will earn her keep.
6 comments:
Glad you're enjoying Delia, and pretty cool she's being safe and steady for the kiddos too!
Delia's quite the gem!
Sounds like Delia is working out nicely! They all have stuff that needs work, even the home raised ones.
Looks like a great little horse. It's tough to break herd boundedness when you're riding away from your barn. Even our solid little mare, Money Penny, has problems with that, but out on the trail she's golden. Have fun with her!
Sounds like a lovely weekend. And Delia seems like a very nice mare and a good fit for what you want
It is so fun for me to see youngsters on horses and being taught to ride! You are a good Aunt! I hope those girls know how lucky they are:)
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