Riding Daisy and Driving Freedom

Today went quite well :) First when I got to the barn I brought both horses in because the farrier was coming. He did Freedom first. It was Freedom's first time ever being done by the farrier simply because the farrier always checked him when he came but he never needed done before. Anyway Freedom did amazing!! I figured he would do pretty good but he stood very still for the farrier and just took it like this was something he had been doing his entire short life ;) Gotta love him. Daisy did very well too.

After the farrier left, I saddled Daisy with the English saddle and snaffle bit and took her to the arena. I worked her in there for a bit on trotting over some poles, slowing down and speeding up when asked, and working on backing some. Once I was finished with that, I took her to the gate..it was closed and I got her to stand as I opened it and she walked thru it. On the barn we have a big roll door and at times it can be hard to open and close...well I got Daisy to stand nicely as I opened it from her back and we walked thru. Then I got her to stand pretty nicely as I closed it again. Closing it again was more of an issue than opening but Daisy and I worked thru it. She did quite well. Since she kept wanting to walk forward I made her back up and move her hindquarters and forequarters over, making it more difficult for her, hoping that would deter her from moving forward. It seemed to help and she stood nicely as I closed the door. We then headed out to the yard and did some fun stuff :) She loves to canter, I love to canter, so we cantered :) The thing I love is that before she didn't listen hardly at all at the canter with the snaffle bit...now I feel like I have control. We are still a ways off from being totally on top of it but we are definitely on our way. Feel a lot better about it this summer than I did last. Anyway, there is a big tree stump/log that is across the grassy strip that goes out to the back of the property. It is small enough to walk over/jump over so I decided to see if Daisy would be into this. First I took her over at a walk and then at a trot and she jumped. We did this three or four times....I must say I had absolutely the most fun doing it and Daisy really seemed to love it as well.

One thing that stuck out to me the other night (Monday) was when we were riding the top meadow where she is now to check for things we came to a spot we couldn't walk thru..she had to jump. And she cleared it no problem and she did it without question or asking why. She trusted me and I trusted her. It was so amazing because it was a tree that had dipped over and we had no place to gain speed to jump it, so we had to do it from a stand still but she went over it without thinking twice :) I must say I love my horse...she is the best. I get frustrated with her, sure, but she is just amazing!! :) Her son is too!

That was kinda off subject but anyway. Well after we jumped the log a few times, we cooled down and then I took her in the barn, untacked her, hosed her off, and put her away. I got Freedom and got him ready to line drive again. The other evening I had put the harness on, along with the bit, and took him out the lane a ways. He did so wonderful!! I was impressed with how he did with it being only the second time with using the bit as the guidance although he had it in his mouth numerous times before. He just continues to surprise me. He is very responsive to all I ask. I didn't drive him long since I want it to stay "exciting" to him yet and not were the new activity out right away. Although he does seem to really enjoy it! I drove him back into the barn, untacked him and then hosed him off too. Overall I really enjoyed my evening. I had fun with both horses and they both did so well! :)