Post by racaille on Jan 16, 2009 17:00:35 GMT
Just as well I ride like a cowboy LOL ;D because today Paco was a bronc!
He was suspiciously all right during the warm up but I knew he was cross: there was the extravagant head-shaking (his L'Oreal moment to show off his long mane - although filthy) and much bit-snatching.
But as soon as I tried to settle him down to some work he just set of with multiple bucks and then the round-back bronc that he does so well. Just like a cowboy I put my legs forward and leant back and enjoyed the rocking horse effect. Little beggar!
We were doing transition work and of course he had no intention of stopping. Here are two things I must learn this year
1 Never be too lazy to fetch my gloves from the car if I'm using the rubber reins. Ouch.
2 When feeding carrots, I must not let my attention wander and I must keep my fingers out of the way. Ouch again.
Still, we decided to finish with some fun so set up a slalom course like barrel racing, except we did the slalom both ways. This is Paco's thing (he obviously has serious ambitions in the cowboy direction). He can go straight and fast through the slalom and then turn on his front legs with his back end cantering round (is there a name for that?) We won every match. Hee hee ;D
He was suspiciously all right during the warm up but I knew he was cross: there was the extravagant head-shaking (his L'Oreal moment to show off his long mane - although filthy) and much bit-snatching.
But as soon as I tried to settle him down to some work he just set of with multiple bucks and then the round-back bronc that he does so well. Just like a cowboy I put my legs forward and leant back and enjoyed the rocking horse effect. Little beggar!
We were doing transition work and of course he had no intention of stopping. Here are two things I must learn this year
1 Never be too lazy to fetch my gloves from the car if I'm using the rubber reins. Ouch.
2 When feeding carrots, I must not let my attention wander and I must keep my fingers out of the way. Ouch again.
Still, we decided to finish with some fun so set up a slalom course like barrel racing, except we did the slalom both ways. This is Paco's thing (he obviously has serious ambitions in the cowboy direction). He can go straight and fast through the slalom and then turn on his front legs with his back end cantering round (is there a name for that?) We won every match. Hee hee ;D
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
when I wanted him to go out of a gateway for a short hack to cool down and I knew that if I forced the issue he would sidle towards the gate and then run through and hang a sharp right and I would lose my knee on the gatepost. So I did things differently (cos I'm a wuss). But Paco and I will have been together five years this August and we're like an old married couple: we finish each other's sentences almost! ;D
)
Always saddle your own horse
First time I asked for canter he had his little outburst, then settled down after a couple of circles. But he tried it on again later in the lesson and I'm sooooooooooooo glad I didn't fall off in front of the relatives.