Wednesday

Today was eventful. I got off from work later than normal but came home, changed around and went to the horses. When I got there I got Jess ready to ride. I was giving her a pep talk about her not giving me her best and that I expect to see her do better than yesterday cause I know she can. She is smart enough to and she knows what I want, its just a matter of her DOING it :) Well she pleasantly surprised me. We went into the arena and I first just worked her at a walk and a trot. Before I had gotten on her I had put a pole in the middle of the arena so we could ride over that. Once we had been working at the trot for a bit I trotted her toward the barn, made a u-turn and headed away. I asked her to canter and she bucked a bit but I kept asking her to go forward with my legs, seat and crop. She gave a few bucks with only a step of a canter so I just trotted her to the fence and headed toward the barn. Turned and headed away again and asked for the canter. This time she bucked once or twice and I got a few more canter strides out of her. I stopped and praised her a lot. Headed back toward the barn at a trot, turned and headed away from the barn, asked for a canter and halfway across the arena Jess cantered and we cantered the rest of the way. I praised her and trotted a bit more then hopped off and praised her. Went back in the barn and then put her out in the meadow. I was so pleased with how tonight went. We definitely got somewhere. Now we just need to work on the bucking and fine tuning a few things. But I feel quite pleased.

Once Jess was away I went out and got Daisy and Freedom. Put the hackamore on Daisy and the leadrope and halter on Freedom. I had my long crop along and I decided to pony Freedom off of Daisy and go for a short spin. He was making a habit of balking when heading out the driveway the last time I had worked with him (in the fall) and so I wasn't sure what to do. Well someone gave me the idea to tap him with the crop on his hindquarters to get him to move up and tap him on his chest to slow down. That is what I did and it worked like a charm. We didn't ride long but both horses did wonderful. I rode bareback and everything went well. So my day went wonderfully. So pleased with how everyone did!