Monday, February 1, 2016

The one where nothing happens!

Kicking back, relaxing.. Oh wait, that never happens.
  It's been a busy few weeks but I figured I'd pop in and write a little -- commissions have picked up and they are crazy. Busy enough that sometimes I haven't been able to ride before it gets dark. Nice to have the extra money though, cause we all know how well the horse industry pays (hah!).

Holden has been great - we haven't worked as hard as I would like because the footing prohibits it. We had a small bout of snow and then a week of semi-melting days with frigid nights - makes for a nice ice-cake riding ring. We've been taking to hacking around the premises at a walk, working on steering with leg and neck rein only - he's getting good at steering and doing TOH/TOF with leg only.

We went on a nice hack today and Mike came (along with the dog and a samurai sword..). He used the sword to "clear the path"-- Holden was great with the clamor he made bushwacking, though at first he did have other ideas about sticking around. We made some new trails, walked to the high tension wires, went back home, and W/T/C in the circle at the driveway. The circle is small -- about 20 meters, so we didn't do too much but that is the first time we've cantered it. He was fantastic. I'm thinking tomorrow we'll spend some more time working on lightness of aids and cantering to the left.

God, so hard to get a picture of him sometimes. Here was one of the days we spent "westernizing" him - played with roping in and around him. Not impressed, but tolerated it.