Yesterday we hauled Gussie and Rose up to Canyon Arena for a refresher, both mares were in need of it.
Rose is getting legged up for her winter in California, and showing.
Gussie needed some reminders- she has a diva attitude going on so she had to protest a bit but she did pretty good too.
She sure looks good under saddle! That's a reining saddle we are trying out on her, I'm having a lot of issues trying to find the perfect saddle /pad combination for her.
This morning it was Mesa's turn. Every day when I take her into the barn to eat her ration, I set the pad and saddle on her, no cinch. Today, after eating I had her carry the saddle to the round pen. I want to soon be able to pony her saddled up so she needed to first learn about being cinched. Just out of curiosity, and because she is so calm about wearing the saddle, we tried pretend cinching and leading her; Shayla held the latigo so that she could feel the cinch but it wasn't done up, while I led her, but she jumped a bit and the saddle came off. Sure enough, she needed rope work.
So, rope work she got!
She did pretty good! Another day of that and we will try the saddle again. I got her to pack the saddle back to the barn.
Ice was next up. She is a 2 yr. old and is still going through basic training. Shayla worked her free longeing for a bit and then she rode while I had her on the longe line so that she could have her first time being ridden at a trot under saddle. It went well!
She's a pretty cool li'l horse. Very good minded and easy to get along with. She is going to be fun! We have plans to pony her and Mesa tomorrow, using Rose and Gussie. Let them get out and explore the trails here- speaking of which, we took Gussie and Sassy along the trails and across the river and up the steep trail to the hayfields, with the idea of checking saddle fit on Sassy. The saddle that's on Gussie in the photo above and on Ice in the video is getting tried out on all the mares to see who it fits best.
It was a pretty nice day for riding. The river is still low and crossing was easy...... except for Goose who had to fight the current!
The hill is pretty steep, but so nice for the view.
Sassy is starting to get her baby belly, and she hasn't been worked much lately so this was a bit of a challenge for her, but she has a lot of heart and just chugs along.
The view at the top was lovely too. Made me wish that we could just keep riding up there , but we don't have permission to cross the hayfields, so we headed back down.
All in all it was a good day, about 4 hours spent doing horse stuff (grin). More tomorrow!
Riding day 63 & 64
Riding day 63 & 64
3 comments:
Looks like a lot fun! :)
It's good to have a ridding buddy. So happy you are enjoying so much horse-n-saddle time! Love the photo between Gussie's ears, what a view. Looks like it cooled off in your area. Long sleeve weather is my fav time to ride. We are still very hot (especially for September) and after non-stop rain we find ourselves full of mosquitos again. Hard to be outside while getting eaten alive. Have fun ponying the young ones!
Your Mesa is looking really good! She is a beauty! Poor Goose:) It looks a tad chilly there! :)
Post a Comment