Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Went for a ride today

Siaga was back to normal this morning. So after he had his breakfast, I took him out for a morning ride. I decided to give him three tests.

Test number one: Ride through the neighbors woods for the first time to see just how well he is really responding to direction instead of following the normal path.

Results: He was a little ansty and tried to rush things, but he did ok. He needed more rein direction than normal.

Test number two: Ride all the way around the corn field using only my legs for direction.

Results: He did very well. Only on occasion did I have to lift a rein and bump his nose to get him going in the right direction.

Test number three: Leave the riding crop at home and not use it because I haven't been needing it.

Results: I should have taken it. We got around the field to the irrigation ditch which had caused my fall, and he stopped. He would not move. Normally I'm afraid of him taking off with me. But there was no way that rock-pony was gonna move across that ditch. I think he was just a little afraid that if he crossed it, I'd fall off again. I squeezed, nudged, kicked at his sides, slapped his rump with my hand and with the left over latigo, rocked foreward and back... NOTHING!

The only way to make him move was to turn him around. So I finally found a shallower, wider area where he could easily walk across, and he went over VERY SLOWLY. Walking along the ditch on the other side, he kept stopping every few feet and I'd have to turn him away from it a little. After we got away from it, he was just fine.


We also passed a lot of groundhog/fox holes out there, I let him pick his own way around those, because they can be very dangerous, and I figured he would have a better idea of how stable the ground was under his feet than I would.

Over all it was nice, though.

1 comment:

  1. Good day! I'm sure he was nervous about the ditch, and I bet on some level you were too. It wasn't a good experience for either of you.

    Enjoy the no rain for a few days.

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