Dallas & Jasmine

 Dallas

Last night I had two wonderful experiences on these horses! First I rode Dallas in the arena at a walk mostly, I did get him to trot for a bit on my own but Jeannie had to come in and put pressure on him from the center of the pen...he is just REALLY lazy in the round pen. He is a very bumpy trot. Later I left the pen and went to to the pasture with him since all his buddies were off in a different pasture. I hopped on and he started to go towards the gait to the buddies pasture and Glen quickly shut it...he paced up and down the gate I turned him around and we went for a nice gallop along the fence. And just when I though it was his all...he showed me he can move even faster...but guess what it was like sitting still...it was the smoothest gallop I have ever ridden...he does NOT respond to well to the snaffle bit, probably used to the more popular western style bits of tomb thumbs,curbs, or something with shanks. But all in all it went fine. And guess what NO BUCKING at any gait...it was nice!

Jasmine

So then we decide that went well so why not catch Miss Jasmine and take a try at her. A little background on this horse. Well first off she is a sweetie :) Second off she is not broke. Last year Jeannie started to work her and she bucked her a couple times, and the last bucking fit left poor Jeannie unconcious and then training was suspended...so Jeannie snatches her from the pasture and she goes into the round pen. She is a little afraid, jumps a bit at the rope, so I take a moment to just calm her down. I precede to just saddle her up like it has been done everyday for the past year or so and she does great. Same goes for bridling her. I can tell she is nervous a tad but nothing out of the ordinary so I decide to just go with her energy. I don't do any groundwork as far as free lunge because I don't want to build up her anxiety level. Some horses are best just left calm and relaxed. She didn't show any disrespect towards me, she was just a little nervous. So I jump up there and just sit for a moment and reassure her and then instead of kicking her or squeezing her I rock to kinda knock her off balance and make her move...she starts out and I give her a few minutes to realize I am up there before asking her to turn and she does great! I went to dismount and I think I must have hit her rump with my foot as I was coming off and she jumped forward out of fear but I quickly regained my seat and she did do one attempt at a buck...I pulled her head up with my trusty leadrope attached to her halter and then it was over and off we went again. Nothing more bad happened...in fact it was a very enjoyable pleasant ride. Her bucking is out of fear, nothing more...so as long as her little rides remain calm, pleasant and enjoyable her confidence in the situation will increase and her fear will disappear. I think she is going to be fairly easy to break...

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