Big Progress!

I am sorry that I haven’t kept up with the blog but life has changed quite a bit for me. I spend more time at the boyfriends house in the evenings than at home and he doesn’t have internet service..or tv for that matter. He has a big farm that is on this lovely country road with just wide open land all around. It is only 20 min from me but very rural in nature. I do catch up on a lot of reading which is good!

Is everybody else feeling a bit better now that the weather has improved? I swear it is like instant motivation when it finally starts to get warm and the sun is shining. I have been dragging and seeding all my pastures. My grass is looking good. There are so many farm projects that are now in progress. Keeping me busy but nothing new there.

I missed the lovely Thoroughbred show at Winter Place Park over the weekend when I woke up with either the stomach flu or food poisoning. That was no fun. I heard great reports and Tami and her crew always do an amazing job. CANTER Mid Atlantic really appreciates the support.

Truckee continues to improve in leaps and bounds. Amanda and I are sort of tag teaming the riding on him but she is doing most of it with me supervising. She is doing a great job. Sometimes the only way somebody learns is by being allowed to have a shot at it. I know that is how I learned! I really love teaching people how to understand ottb’s and all the secrets that I have learned over the years. It is a very rewarding process.

She felt like Truckee was hitting a bit of a wall in the flatwork especially to the right. I got on him and I felt that really going right he just needed more outside leg/rein so it’s more of a left rein issue than a right side issue. He wants to cock his head right and fall through the left shoulder. He wasn’t super happy about me pushing his body straight with the outside aids but he started to come along. One thing that I am constantly harping on the girls about is use LEG..more leg..and not hand. My riding ring has grass sides and they can’t manage to keep the horses in the ring 🙂 That is the homework that I gave. Outside aids to ride the horse straighter in the body to control the outside shoulder.

Truckee has a great canter but upon arrival it was more like a gallop. You really have to sit up and half halt and use your leg and body to encourage him to come under himself and lift in his back but not bearn down on the bridle. You will see me give him a little whoa half halt and then he balances up. I want to be able to soften the reins and relax without the horse running faster. You do that by teaching them to balance themselves by using your seat and legs for your half halts. Don’t let them balance on the reins..nor can you balance on the reins. You want contact but you also need to have the contact be a giving contact. You should be able to let it go forward with no change.

I have to say that this horse is really one of the nicer horses that I have ridden. I know that he is just under the magic 16h and he doesn’t have a lot of white on him but there truly is something very special about him. His uphill nature feels fantastic to ride, he is soft in the bridle, moves well off the leg and just has lovely gaits. He is barefoot and still gaining muscle and he feels this good. I think this horse could go upper levels with the right rider. He just gives me that feeling and I’m not often wrong about those sort of things. He likes a program but that isn’t a bad thing. He just has such great work ethic and is willing to please. I really enjoy him and so does Amanda. We both remarked how you just want to keep going with him because he is a fun ride.

Anyway here is the flat from yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsNJNuOgWmo

Compare this to his first ride about three months ago! Looks like a different horse for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F54KrDOJaE

His jumping is also coming along. He jumps anything and everything and is adorable. Here is Amanda jumping him last week or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZTHvc3wWAM

Rockin Fun will soon be leaving. He continues to be a farm favorite. He is going like a million bucks and his new owner is going to have a blast with him! I have been riding Junior again and hope to get him to some events this spring. He had some kind of reaction on his knee and was out for a few weeks. He is trying hard to avoid work 🙂

I also bought a new resale horse that will be coming from Oklahoma. His name is Cherokee Paint.

He has some cow training..lol..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUpPliLFDtk

I may also have another former CANTER owned horse coming in for either training or sale. Not sure which yet but we will see.

The CANTER horses move to the new location on the 15th. Amanda and I will be putting them all in work so we should soon have five total for sale including Truckee. Stay posted!