Monday, April 4, 2011

Bill goes out again

The difficulty with getting a young horse out is finding a place to take her where there is some atmosphere but not so much that her mind is blown. I would be taking her around the road to the riding facility quite near us, but after a falling out over a thin horse everyone thought was mine (Including the SPCA) I don't want to use her facility anymore or be associated with it. The whole situation was pretty wrong. Anyway, I had an epiphany and that meant that despite being a bit hung over and tired, I took Bill down to a friends place. They have quite a few horses and are next to a small airport so it was a good option I thought.



Bill was actually pretty freaking awesome. she was only really a slightly more spooky and forward version of the horse I ride at home so that was very exciting. The day before I had ridden her out in a 5 acre paddock to see if she would cop with open spaces even though open spaces are the most risky on a young horse. She was awesome there though as well so I'm starting to get more and more confident in her ability to cop and behave. That being said she is very green and I'm sure the worst is yet to come :)



So she traveled really well and instead of sweat dripping off of her like her first trip, she was only a little bit sweated up on her flanks. Thats excellent! She also loaded and unloaded really well. I lunged her for about 4 minutes and then got on. My friend was working his horse at the same time so it was awesome for her to be worked around a strange horse. She really did behave so well, far beyond my expectations. The only time she got a bit upset was when the other horse cantered up behind her. They have lots of little logs as well so I took her over all of those and we are pretty much eventers now lol!



I did my first jumping from the canter as well and safe to say it's going to take her a while to get the timing of that sorted. Bill is a bit downhill and has this massively long powerful canter stride and she really isn't sure what to do with all of that power. It's a matter of flatwork and strength and over time it will improve and become more rideable. She loaded up to come home perfectly, and I was just so rapt with her that it's not even funny. I'll take her down there a few more times and then I need to start looking at a busier outing, a practice day or such thing.

2 comments:

  1. HOw awesome that Bill was wonderful. I love the last photo. Super cute horse.I think you guys are going to have a heap of fun together. Doesn't it make a massive difference when they happily load onto the trailer and off again.

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  2. She is a good looking girl. She'll probably keep growing and level out nicely. Glad she was so good for you.

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