Miami

November 18

2009-11-18T23:14:00.000-08:00

46 days boarded
30 days training

I know, I did a horrible job of keeping the blog updated these last few days. Everything has been so busy here, so I've just forgotten to get on here and post at the end of the day.. and its impossible for me to remember exactly what was done on each day, now.

For the most part though, I've been really working on refining her neck reining so that she'll go home good and solid with that. Her jog has finally slowed down for the most part, without much prompting. She's figured out what she's supposed to do and is a lot more consistent. Her canter, however, has been rough. She does not like to pick up her left lead, at all. It's been a bit of a struggle each day. She needs a lot of guidance.. her hind end really has to be pushed inside before she is cued, or she'll pick up the wrong lead. And she is -fast- this direction! Speedy speedy! Her right lead is much, much better. And she remains relaxed throughout. Her only issue this direction is not wanting to turn easily.. she wants to use the whole arena, even when asked to circle. But she is getting better!

Our ride today was good and bad. Her trot work was amazing. Her reining was flawless. But her canter work was a bit of a mess. By the end of the ride she had things figured out. But it was pretty tiring for both of us. And today officially marks 30 days! I'm very, very happy with how she did.

Yesterday Diana came to see her again, and got up for a ride as well! They did a lot better today, clicking much better than their first ride. It was good! Miami is putting the pieces together and realizing that its no different than what I'm asking her to do. I got two videos of them working together, and have permission from Diana to post them!

November 13

2009-11-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

41 days boarded
26 days training

November 9 - Day Off
November 10 - Trained (Hard ride, canter focus)
November 11 - Miami sore, Diana visited
November 12 - Trained, Miami better

November 13 -
Miami was feeling completely better yesterday, and still fine today. She got used to sprinklers, today, since I had to water the arena before riding, it was getting pretty dusty. She shied away from it when it came her direction (when loose) but when I held her she stood and let it spray her.

The majority of the ride went well, walk and trot work today. Yesterday we did a lot of canter work again, so she got the day off from that.

She started to be a real brat near the end of the ride when I was asking her to do leg yields.. go figure, my cinch had broken and I had no idea. It was banging around and confusing her. What a good girl for not bolting!

November 8

2009-11-08T17:03:00.000-08:00

36 days boarded
22 days training

Once again I used the training curb on Miami today. She seems to like it.. her mouth is very sensitive, so it doesn't take much contact at all for her to get the hint about something. That's really helping in terms of riding on a loose rein. I can keep them lose, and barely touch them to give her a correction.

Again I did a lot of work one handed, lots of steering and stopping and yielding. She's really got the hang of it.

Trot work was good.. she can go farther without contact now.

And we did a lot of canter work today. She was extremely rushy. Going to the left wasn't too bad, and she really settled into it, and relaxed. Going to the right, though, she was a mess. She felt like she was thinking about blowing up on me, she bolted, refused to turn or slow down.. I just pushed her through it. When she got tired she started to listen. She got a small break and had to do it all over again. The second time was much better.

November 7

2009-11-07T20:43:00.000-08:00

35 days boarded
21 days training

Miami had the 'big girl' bit on for the entire ride today. I spent about thirty minutes just walking, and steering all over the arena. Completely one handed.

The entire ride was done with one hand. She's a fast learner, and is already doing so well with neck reining. Most of the time I can use only my hand (though I like to make a habit of using leg as well) but once in a while she does get a road block, so she's going to need a lot of leg reinforcement for a while until this is down pat.

Walk and trot, all one handed. Good job, Miami!

November 6

2009-11-06T20:32:00.000-08:00

34 days boarded
20 days training

Today was a long day, since we had a sick horse at the barn. Everyone was distracted and it transferred over to Miami.

She did pretty good, considering. She had to work around another horse in the arena, who was being walked (colic).

The beginning of the ride went pretty well, but she was a bit rushy and heavy on my hands. I decided to change her bit half way through and see how she did with a training curb... she took it all in stride. I didn't ask her for a whole lot since it was her first time with it, but we did our normal walk, jog, yielding, and turning.

November 5

2009-11-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

33 days boarded
19 days training

Miami's mom came to see her today! She brought her own saddle and checked its fit on Miami, and I rode in it for the ride.

She was a bit speedy today, but her attitude was great. I did her initial warm up and training session, before Diana hopped on!

They both did great, and it was good to see them work together! With a bit of practice, they'll both be golden!

November 4

2009-11-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

32 days boarded
18 days training

After time off, Miami was definitely energetic today. She ran me over when I tried to put her in a stall, and took off running when I started lunging her, completely ignoring me. When I got her stopped I simply took the lunge line off and let her run until she had it out of her system. She was sweaty before our ride even started.

I was worried that because of it, she'd be in a horrible mood, but we actually had a very nice ride. Her jog was amazing, she's doing a lot better at her leg yielding.. getting nicely set up for neck reining!

November 1 - 3

2009-11-03T19:28:00.000-08:00

29 - 31 days boarded
17 days training

When I arrived at the barn on the 1st, Miami's hind legs were both swollen and hot.

Cold hosing, and monitoring.. everything else seemed fine. Only minor lameness (trot only), good appetite, alert.

Swelling was gone in three days.

October 31

2009-10-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

28 days boarded
17 days training

(I can't report details of this ride, since I forgot to keep the blog updated.. not sure what we worked on.)

October 30

2009-10-30T18:45:00.001-07:00

27 days boarding
16 days training

We had a few things going on today so no riding. Back out tomorrow.

October 29

2009-10-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

26 days boarded
16 days training

Today was an interesting day. Because of the rain, a few of the horses were in the arena to keep dry, to help with the rain rot. I decided to leave them in there for my ride.

No lunging again, just hop on and go. Miami is doing much better about that, now.

She was worried about riding around the horses since these are her current pasture mates, and apparently higher order than she is, but she listened to me despite being nervous, and rode past them, in and out, around. When one of the others tried to chase her off she listened when I told her not to move, despite her desire to run away.

Mariah, my Mustang, came over to the fence to watch, so I let her into the arena to play, too. She has not met Miami yet so they were both curious about one another, but did well anyways.

During our canter work Mariah wanted to chase us, and started bucking and playing. Miami didn't bat an eyelash. Definite improvement!

October 28

2009-10-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

25 days boarded
15 days training

Today was another day spent trying to get Miami to relax, and stop anticipating heavy work. No lunging today.. but I spent the entire session walking. There was no trot work. Nice slow, relaxed walking, and lots of leg yielding.

By the end of the ride she was able to weave back and forth through pylons in the arena, guided by leg only. It was a good ride!

October 27

2009-10-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

24 days boarded
14 days training

Miami has been full of energy the last few days, and she's been faster and more high energy than I would like, under saddle. So today I did a lot of ground work with her.. The beginning of the session I put her on the lunge line, and she immediately started to trot. I just let her go, and she broke into the canter. I left her to do her own thing until she worked it out of her system.

Once she relaxed, I put the side reins on her and we did a lot of time with the side reins on to bring her head down and help to slow her stride, and relax. She was pretty tired by the end of the workout.

I hopped on and rode her for only about ten minutes, all walking. Lots of bending and turns, and leg yields.. and we worked in the corner game.

October 26

2009-10-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

23 days boarded
13 days training

I spent most of the day in bed, sick. So unfortunately, no riding today.

October 25

2009-10-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

22 days boarded
13 days training

Today was another good ride. Nothing huge to report, though.

We did a lot more canter work than normal, trying to get her to really bend and give while cantering, and to relax and slow down. She still needs a lot of work.

I also took her on a small trail ride after the arena work. She did great.. though she spooked at the mini in the pasture. She wanted to turn and high tail it back to the barn so I made her stand and watch, and she eventually relaxed. Walked through running water on the way back without any issues.

October 24

2009-10-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

21 days boarded
12 days training

We had a very good training session today. We spent a lot of time doing ground work, lunging with the side reins on. She really stretched her head down and drove from behind. She looked great, and her strides were slow and relaxed. Her canter with side reins is beautiful.. now we just need to get that kind of result under saddle!

Her riding was great. She was warmed up and ready to go, and we had no fights like we did last time she had the side reins on. Overall it was a very good, successful ride.

October 23

2009-10-25T20:55:00.002-07:00

20 days boarded
11 days training

All of the horses were miserable today. It was cold and windy, so we took the day off.

October 22

2009-10-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

19 days boarded
11 days training

Today was much better. It was exactly the opposite of yesterday, really. Her lunging was a mess. She was rushy and snorty.. so we did a lot of trot/canter transitions. She's really figuring out the canter, finally. Her strides are slowing and lengthening and she no longer looks like she'll fall over. She keeps her head low, too.

The ride was great. She was calm and relaxed the entire time. She's figuring out the jog now, but she still can't hold it without support. That will take some time, but that's okay.

We did canter work under saddle today, too. She's really learning fast. Much faster than I expected her too. She can canter on a nice circle now and keeps her head lowered and soft the entire time. Voice commands are great, too. Kiss to get her into the canter.. just one and she goes. And she understands easy and woah, even when she's cantering. She's also starting to relax enough that after the canter she can come back down to a nice slow jog without anticipating another canter cue.

Overall a very good ride, today.

October 21

2009-10-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

18 days boarded
10 days training

My ride on Miami was a little bit shorter than I would have liked it to be, today, because Miami had a real attitude and it was just hard to get anything across to her.

Her lunging session was short, because she seemed to be in a really good mood. But as soon as I got on her she started throwing a fit. She threw her head back so hard at one point that she just barely missed my face. I could find absolutely no reason for it.. she is not in pain, no heat, no sensitivity. I think it was just a bad day.

So the ride was all walk/trot, and I only worked her long enough to get her to calm down and relax and then she got to quit, before we got into another fight. No reason to keep working with a horse that only wants to fight with you.

October 20

2009-10-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

17 days boarded
9 days training

Its my anniversary - today off.

October 19

2009-10-19T18:52:00.000-07:00

16 days boarded
9 days training

Today was Miami's best day yet. We had a short lunging session and I immediately knew that she was going to be in a good mood.

She was extremely relaxed and calm, head low, rounded, slow. I set out a tarp and we walked across it several times. We did turn on the haunces and forehand several times, side passed, and then worked on walk and trot.

Her trot was gorgeous today, and I was going to get video and realized I'd left it sitting on the counter beside the door.. so unfortunately no video.

I didn't do any canter work today because I wanted to end on a good note.. and she did amazing.

October 18

2009-10-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

15 days boarded
8 days training

Sunday - my normal day off. I wouldn't have been able to ride today even if I'd really wanted to, though. My neck is swollen and I can't turn it to the right. Hopefully this is a one day thing!

October 17

2009-10-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

14 days boarded
8 days training

"Mommy" came to watch Miami work today and I think she was pleased with what she saw.

Miami had a good day. We started with the lunge work again, no side reins today. Walk trot canter both directions until she was relaxed and smooth at all gaits.

The ride went smoothly. She's fighting me a little bit with leg yielding, running into my leg instead of moving away from it, but its common and she'll work out of it with time as long as she's not allowed to get away from it.

She was a bit speedier at the trot than she has been previous days but she'll figure it out and slow down soon enough. Her canter was probably speedier than it ever has been.. she was flying, but I kept her in the canter until she relaxed and slowed her strides a little.. another improvement.

October 16

2009-10-16T23:03:00.000-07:00

13 days boarded
7 days training

Today I decided to mix things up a bit and skip lunge work. She needs to learn to deal with being ridden without being worked prior... and she'll need a bit of work with that. It was a fight the entire ride.

She was wired and had an attitude. It could have been partially to blame for the weather though, because it was a pretty chilly day with a loud whistling wind.

She didn't do anything bad, ie: no bucking or anything, but she certainly had an attitude. It wasn't the most productive ride in the world simply because her head was in the clouds (figuratively speaking) the entire time. She'll have to get used to it, though.

October 15

2009-10-15T22:54:00.000-07:00

12 days boarded
6 days training

Today was a good day. Miami got a nice long warm up session on the lunge line to loosen her up, before I applied the side reins. Since she has so much trouble at the canter I figured the side reins would really help to get her balanced up and comfortable in the gait. They worked wonders on her, and though I only used them for about ten minutes there was a definite improvement. She had a nice relaxed trot with her head low, and a slight bend - I'll use the side reins every once in a while to help build up her muscle. Cantering with them on was like a completely different horse.. with a bit of support, her gait was nice and smooth and stretched out.

After the ground work I got on and rode. She fought the bit a little bit more than normal, but I had expected it. Because of on the bit work on the lunge, she was starting to get tired of it by the time I got on, but after a small bit she worked through it and realized she wasn't done yet.

Mostly trot work again.. that will be the primary focus for a while. She did great, and her canter is seeming to improve, bit by bit.

Overall it was definitely a good ride.