I love my horse!

I love my horse!  Have I mentioned that? I'm sure I must have because I absolutely LOVE my horse!

I went out to the barn to work him a bit tonight on the lunge line and this time we didn't need to use the whip as motivation! YAY!  He's such a smart horse.  I walked him and trotted him on both reins and then decided to see how he did on the Canter.  We picked it up on the right rein in no time! The left we were a little slower with but eventually got it. :) Then I let him off the lunge line to see what he would do and he walked right over to a corner of the outdoor ring and started munching on grass.  Yes he's very food motivated. :) I got the lead rope on his halter and then walked him around the ring a bit.  Had him step over a trot pole that was on the ground.  At first he didn't want to step over it and tried to fight me but eventually he got the hang of it and walked over like a pro. :)  We walked over a few more a few times then I thought what the hell let's try a trot over a pole.  The only time he's trotted over a pole he actually jumped it when Alli was on his back.  Tonight there was no jump. He just trotted over it like a pro star!

Have I mentioned I love him? ;)  

When I got him back to the barn I started scratching him by his the crest of his neck and he was making funny faces cause apparently that's his sweet spot. Leo got video of it with my phone.

Don't mind my disgustingness.  I'm still working on getting me in shape.

Another installment of teaching a young horse to lunge!

Ok well he sort of knows how to lunge, now it's just expanding on that. LOL

Friday night I came home from work, decided to go for supper so loaded the car with Alex, Judy and I and we went to Swiss Chalet before we headed to the barn.  I'd promised Alex he could come see Jack Friday night and it worked well cause Leo had a gaming session so he wasn't home.  Anyway we had supper then went to the barn.  As always Jack was in his stall munching, I swear he's very motivated by food. Pulled him out of his stall away from his precious hay, and put him in cross ties.  Alex at first wanted to groom him so I said he and Judy could groom him.  Suddenly Alex didn't want to groom him after only doing half of a horse.  Little brat. ;) Anyway Judy finished grooming him while I made him look like a dork. 

I know, he's a gelding but wear's purple.  He's sure of his manly ness. :)  After Judy finished brushing his tail I took him to the ring with the lunge line and we decided to do some lunging.  There were already a few people in the ring so I wasn't sure how exactly this would work, good thing the ring is HUGE!  Well he was good at picking up each rein in the walk and trot, I decided to brave it and try some cantering.  Hahahaha.  That ended up being a joke.  Couldn't get it on the one rein but got a few strides on the other.  I was happy with that.  I'm not in a big rush with him and so I'm not going to push him.  We'll progress when we're both in shape.  Course if I don't get my butt back into the gym he'll be in better shape than I will. LOL 

Anyway didn't do anything with him today since it was raining and we don't have an indoor ring but hopefully after work tomorrow I don't have to take mom to the hospital to have her knee looked at and Alli and I can get to the barn and ride him.

Jack

So I decided to go a different route with this.  Now my blog is going to be my adventures with horse ownership. :)

As some of you may know, cause I'm not sure who actually reads this, but I bought a horse! YAY ME!  Ok I wasn't intending on buying one right right away cause I figured I'd work, save up the money to buy a new computer and then the truck and then finally a horse.  So I got a little messed up on the order.  But anyway, Alli, my coach and friend, will sometimes buy horses and train them and resell them sort of like flipping houses but with horses and the very risk of death and or injury all the time.  Now normally she get's the crazy horses and retrains them and resells them.  So when she told me she got a new horse I figured he was cute but was going to be crazy.  Boy was I surprised! She gave me the details on him- 4 years old, off the track, 16.3hh(every hand is four inches)-but imagine my surprise when she tells me he's sane and actually kind of lazy and that he'd be the perfect first horse for me!

I told hubby about it and he just smiled.  Alli kept telling me to hurry up and get the money and buy him. I was like "If only I could" she kept telling me she'd take payments.  :)  I sat down and talked to hubby, and Judy who's living with us now, and jokingly told Alli that I would talk to Judy and see if she could help me for now and I'd pay her back. Once again surprise number 2, Judy said she would!  So it was settled and Alli and I decided how much a month I would pay her and so on and so forth.  So for the next year or so I'm paying her at least a couple hundred.  Plus then I have to pay for board, and farrier (which is pretty decent since he's barefoot) and Vet. All in all not bad.

So yes I've bought a horse. 

My life is really a zoo now! 

So I haven't actually ridden him much yet, just still getting to know him.  Everything will come in due time. :) I love him already. He's a smart little cookie and nothing phases him.  Except being in his little three stall barn without his other two friend's.  Though starting in a couple weeks he's going to be an outdoor pony for the summer. :) The barn where he's at is about a block from the region's international airport, so the planes fly over head constantly.  He doesn't care.  I was walking around the arena on Friday on his back and a plane flew over head, a car horn honked right beside the ring and one drove past him and he didn't care. I love him!

I've started, since I don't get on him by myself quite yet, that I'm lunging him.  I don't do it to long with him as he is still learning this.  They don't lunge on the track so he had to be taught. The other night we tried and we just were both getting frustrated so I stopped.  He got one way but couldn't figure out the other. I let him be for a few days, he had his feet trimmed last night, so I made the trek out to the barn tonight and decided to try again.  Well I wasn't about to give up on the side he was struggling with, though when he still wasn't getting in after 20 minutes I was feeling VERY frustrated, but we kept at it and FINALLY he got it!  I'm so proud of him!  So I didn't do much more, and left it on a good note!  I love it when it clicks!  More later after our next adventure in Lunging. :)

Alli Riding him.

Never seen a pole on the ground before! Went over it!

Alex loves him too.