Friday's Driving Curly and Girly and Riding Shasta!

Now Friday was an other eventful day. In the morning I babysat the four children. I took three of them to the tractor show where my parents were and dropped the baby off at his grandma. After we were done at the show I took the rest to their grandma too. Then I went to Sharon. Ida Ann (one of the girls that works for her at Vicky on Friday) was there too. They got back from Vicky at the same time I got there so we ate lunch then took Curly to the farrier. Ok they had driven him to Vicky but the crazy horse reared up in the spring wagon just because he got cross at waiting so long at the light. Sharon drove him on the way over to the farrier and he did really good. Then on the way back we went a different way and I drove him. He is such a pain and challenge to drive compared to Speedy (obviously Speedy has lots more years of experience than Curly). He did so well and stopped and stood so nicely for me at all the stop signs. I am just driving not using the brake yet..Sharon is in control of that till I knwo more how to drive first.

Once we got back from driving Curly I had to go to the dr. I have had a sore throat for a while now and that is why I went. He gave me some medicine to take and it seems to be getting better. Once I got back from the dr we hooked up Girly (remember the two ponies..well Girly is the mom) in the two wheeled cart. She shyed a lot but by the time we drove her she did excellant. When we came back from that there was a family of three that came to ride. I decided to ride Shasta since the people that have her on trial said they arent' gong to ride her again because they can base their decision on how their ride went (well that changed after this ride). Ok now you have to remember Paso Fino's are known to be hyper right. This horse hasn't been ridden much for the past three years and just needs a firm hand with lots of gentleness. Well first of all you have to hop around before you can even get in the saddle..this girl doesn't stand still...but I have been working on it :) That is why I said it is a blessing to have a horse that stand still. Anyway we started out with me as the leader as we had the babies along (we had all three mom's along as well) so Sharon was bringing up the rear because of sometimes the babies lag behind. Well we weren't more than out on the trail and Shasta shies about everything. I stayed on till the one time she went one way and I went the other. I landed on my feet and wasn't hurt but I was not a happy camper. She had never really shied at anything the other times I rode her and now she acted like everything was otu to get her. She shied at most everything for the first while and then she got mad..not sure what made her unhappy but all of a sudden we are about ready to run and she goes hopping over into the field that is along the path. I got her to listen to me and follow the other horses which also made her mad (she hates being in the middle or last but she is learning that isn't so bad). She danced around a few other places along the way back still (on this ride we were using a bit..not sure what kinda). Then right before we turned onto the trail to go back she really got mad and danced around and reared up a bit (more of a Curly rear not a Sunshine rear) and danced around some more..She also did some hopping in place. It was kinda funny once I figured out she will get very mad but not do more than dance around a bit and hop in place. We went back to the barn (ok we hadn't ridden all that long since we had the babies along) and I just rode her around the house and got her to turn. We fought a bit more (she reared for me again) and hopped in place some more. Then we headed out again this time without the babies (the same people were along on the same horses we just left the three babies behind). This time you would never have guessed how bad she had been before (as far as shying and getting mad). We went thru the creek and such and she danced around a bit by the creek (she had gone thru it the other day so I knew she wasn't scared of it) but she went thru. Then when were were ready to run again she danced around a bit more and since she was acting so dumb I puposely made her go last and wait to run till I said so. She hopped a bit but settled down and then I let her run. We went up thru the woods and I got her to stop completely without much of a fuss. I was so happy. The second time around went so much better and she listened and did so much better. I was so pleased!! I told Sharon I think if we try the bitless bridle (well hackamore first and she came up with the bitless bridle then) Shasta will do better. We didn't try it Friday night but I was still so impressed with how she improved in those two outings. I had never gotten off of her when we went back to the barn :) Before I left I loved on Daisy and spent some time with her :) (If you are wondering I didn't change my love to Shasta I am just filling in as much time with her as I can before she gets sold if I don't get to buy her. And yes I still plan to buy her with how dumb she acted because I have the peaceful and good feeling about her. Don't ask me why but it is a gut feeling :D I think that she can improve because she has never been ridden for a month straight 3 days a week like I have with Daisy so I have a good feeling that if she has groundwork done with her and also just lots of miles put on her she will improve :)