The park was beautiful today. The sun was out, the creeks were flowing, not much wind, and we did some slow miles, working on rating these horses is killing us! But a fun, fun ride.
Phebes got to experience some small waterfalls. You should have seen the BIG eyes on that horse! I had very little problem with her pulling yesterday. Of course we were going pretty slow, and there was only one horse for her to feel competitive about.
She had one little melt down yesterday, but it didn't last very long. We were up at the fire tower area of the park, and some people were driving through the park. She decided she didn't like the vehicles. We were taking a break at that time and she started getting fidgety, pacing, and I had a little trouble getting her to stand still mounted. When we left, she wanted out of that area and had a little hissy fit because I was asking her to slow down. That was the only time she broke out of the trot into a canter yesterday. I had to halt her and put her into a walk for awhile to settle her back down.
She still isn't drinking. She looks at the water, and stands in the streams with her head down. But as soon as a horse takes a step out of the creek, she's done with that, and wanting to follow down the trail. I REALLY REALLY don't like this. I want her to drink and take care of herself. She isn't drinking when we get back to the trailer either. I'm not sure if she just doesn't need the water since our distance is still under 15 miles, or if it is an emotional issue of being herd bound to whatever horse she's riding with. I may have to do a few rides solo and try to get her drinking that way.
Overall, she's improving. She doesn't blink over water crossings anymore. She's still a little sticky going over downed logs on the trail. But she eventually goes over. She's pretty concerned over downfalls of brush too.
We galloped about a half mile or so yesterday, and OM Gosh! She flies so fast...I'm galloping her up some gradual hills to build her cardio. She should be a good horse in mud, she's getting enough practice at it!
This week's agenda:
Schooling in the hackamore.
7 miles on New Years Day using the hackamore.
14 miles on Saturday, if it isn't too cold....maybe push up to 16 miles, but we'll need more trotting if we do or we'll run out of daylight for driving home.
~E.G.
Sounds like you had a good ride. How about loading? Did your mare load good? We rode Sunday on the roads. My mare did fine, but when we were trotting and cantering on the way home she kept lowering her head really low? She's never really done that before. She keeps her head pretty low for an arab but this was extremely low, and very strange.
ReplyDeleteLaura and I are going to try to ride at Versailles state park Thursday morning. You are more than welcome to come along if you want. We will do the A B trails. Sounds like your horse will be able to keep up. Really, we don't go that fast!
Michelle Detmer
FYI - my arab wouldn't drink on short training rides of less than 20 miles either. At endurance rides and longer training rides she drinks WONDERFULLY and takes really good care of herself. Don't give up!
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