Taking the pressure off.

Since my last post I've adopted the thinking that for the next month Poncho can have basically a mini-vacation. Not that he's not in work. Just that we aren't "working". We're mainly just hacking and putzing around for a little. Since the time change and holidays (holidays @ work are a total bitch) I've been losing my mind with the mentality of "Poncho needs 5 days of work 1 day hack". Of course I haven't been able to keep up with that I get off work at 2. Get home by 2:30. Get ready for barn. Get out to barn by 3:30. Prepare said pony 4:00. Not much time left over for productive work when you count in warm-up and cool-down. Boo freaking Hoo. Hence the new mentality.

So since the BO's horse is away at training for a few weeks we have the other field open to hack in for a change of scenery. Needless to say we are taking advantage of it.

Wednesday was farrier day. Ben (the farrier) was running late and I didn't want to put Poncho in a stall (there was a "toy") so that he could freak out the other ponies. So I just wandered around the barn letting him check out whatever pleased him. Like a picture frame OOOOH AWWWWW!

It's magical (that's my mom in the picture she's just sitting in a chair under said picture)

Aside from our ride today we've been sticking to mainly walking around with a smidge of trotting. Today however I felt like some more speed it's a tad boring just walking forever! So we trotted a bit more and tried cantering out in the field, on purpose I might add. Poncho got a case of the zoomies then. He zigged and zagged and tried to bronc once. BUT his canter was much more open and free which was the objective. We just need to work on containing the excitement a little. (Not too much though I love how he's so enthusiastic about his work these days.)

My oh so productive week comes to an end.

The week started with so much promise. I was super excited with the start of it last Sunday. However today was the last day I'll be able to ride this week. So to sum up I rode Sunday (amazing), Wednesday (scary cow ride), and today (friday = hack day). Wow! Oh well best laid plans right?

Today the scary cows that were horse eating on Wednesday never reared their ugly heads today. Thank goodness! However we did have a ton, ton, ton of people in the area (not too close) out hunting. So guns were going off left and right. Poncho is of course the only horse on the property who thinks the sound is earth shattering. However with the fact we were riding he kept his cool. I was actually pretty damn amazed. It could have actually been worse than the cow episode BUT it was not, go Poncho! However with all the "chatter" he was less than focused on doing any productive work. So after a little I just let him wander around on a loose rein and do his pony man thing. Which led us to going through the woods in his field. However we couldn't get all the way through with me still in the saddle. I had to hop off and lead us out. Oh well. He had fun.

Then I rode Midnite. My mom has decided that since she can't work her enough she would like me to try and squeeze in as many rides as I can. Right now we are doing nothing exciting basically just building up her stamina for the most part. She's not a fan on working from behind. She's more run around on the forehand and pull my arms out kind of girl. So we worked mainly on that today.

Two amazing rides and those damn cows!

Saturday and Sunday I had two amazing rides in the ring. We spent our time really solidifying our straightness and bending. He was super duper. Even with many distractions and being completely alone up there. He was nice and forward. Going on the bit amazingly (even though that wasn't our main goal he did non-the-less 80% of the time). His canter work was to die for going to the left the right somehow has gotten a bit messy. He just doesn't want to stretch out and really zoom on like he does going left. Tracking left I could just ride forever and a day!

Today he started his adequan again. Luckily this year the shots are still not a big deal. It just baffles me 6 1/2 years of extreme needle phobia and now nothing!!!!!! Anywho I was just planning a nice hack today. He hasn't been worked since Sunday due to some unforeseen circumstances. However that was fixed today! I got on and we were walking on a nice long loose rein when all of the sudden he jumps sideways. I straighten him back out and we go through this several times down the little hill at the front of the field. Hmmmmm. Then as we start rounding the turn I see it! Damn cows 5 or 6 of them in the field next door. Since it's such a huge field we rarely see them. And these are red cows not black. Oh no's. Poncho balked. I kicked him on he ran backwards. I kicked him on harder. He ran sideways up the hill. Then as we straightened out and I though we were in the clear BOOM! He did the weirdest run/hop/buck/rear maneuver I've ever ridden in my life! We went through that cycle several different times. I was able to get him semi-calm but never 100% throughout the rest of the ride.

Oh well there's always tomorrow. Since I work 6am - 12pm I'm going to stop out by the barn on my way home and sneak a ride in!

Poncho vs. Bogart and a hack in the field.

Yesterday Poncho and Bogart got to officially meet. They've seen each other from a distance. But I let them get up close and semi-personal yesterday.

 

 

As you know this is Poncho!

And then there's Bogart...

with his evil little grin!

It started off I was stopping by the barn to put on Poncho's medium blanket after work and had Bugman with me. He was barking non-stop (he didn't like being left for the big creatures) while I was attempting to blanket Poncho. So once I finally managed to get Poncho to realize I could blanket him whilst there was that god awful noise I took him out to meet "The Noise". Bogart was a bit concerned with Poncho closing in on the car. But he didn't freak out. He sniffed at Poncho through the crack in the window and didn't seem repulsed. So I rolled the window down a bit more so Poncho could get a good look at him. Naturally Poncho stuck his head in the window with out a second though. Bug was shell shocked and just sat there in awe. Of course once we walked away Bogart barked and Poncho tried to bolt off. Oh well it could have gone worse.

Today was Poncho's hack day! We've gotten up to 30 minutes of work in the hilly field. We even had a nice little canter. Not to shabby for my man. Once we were done he decided he was going to help me clean my tall boots off and proceeded to trot back and forth with me as I got my supplies. Then once he realized there was no yummies involved he promptly left for some grass. Silly man. 

Bad-ass Pony-man!

Poncho has been getting down to business!!!!

We had one semi-unproductive ride in the ring. Only because he had several days off in a row (I know bad me) so he was like huuh? You want me to do what? On the bit????? Needless to say we went back a few steps. But by the end of the ride we were rockin' it.

However the main thing we did last week was hack out! Tuesday we were out in the field where he was absolutely determined that the deer were going to come out and consume him. Luckily they did not. We worked on trotting at the front of the field. Poncho finds this semi-difficult. I mean he has to trot down a little hill and back up on a circle non-the-less! Tricky, tricky. ha.

Wednesday was our ring day I talked about earlier.

Thursday I made it out for a quick visit. I had my doggie with me (because he always comes to work with me on Thursdays) and none of my barn stuff. Sooo no work was done. (I hope to remember my things tomorrow) Poncho was not too happy of a camper that he didn't get to do anything.

Friday was pretty much a repeat Monday minus the horse eating deer. They still made an appearance but he didn't think they were carnivores on this day! Yippe.

Saturday and Sunday I didn't make it out because I had to work all weekend BOOOOO!

Monday the field situation got all changed up. The Barn Owner was going out of town so the other mare was in our ponies field for now. Which meant that the other field was open. YAY new field to hack in for a few days. So we went over there for a few minutes. It was a mega short ride because we have had some super hot days in the 70's compared to 40's and 50's. Poncho was one hot boy thank goodness he's semi-clipped. He didn't even want to trot! Poor man.

Yesterday it was rainy and yucky in the morning so I was hoping the lady barn sitting had put his rain sheet on before it started! I was so worried about that I wasn't even to upset that I was soaked myself (I work outside). Luckily it was by the time I got out there. Too bad it was almost sunset. SO I could only switch him into his medium blankie and call it a day.

Today he was a beast! He got down to business immediately! Hell yes! Almost from the start he was rounding up and moving out. We still had our moments of rebellion but they were few and far between. I was so happy. Our canter was loads better than it's been in forever! Progress. I love getting our consistency back. Now I just need money for lessons!

7 years

This is late but I've been busy so what can you do? I still can't believe it's been 7 years. I would post a ton of pictures from the beginning however I don't have any of those pictures on this laptop.

A little of this. A little of that.

So due to my work schedule and dumb hurricane Sandy Poncho got a week off. BOO. Oh well not much I could do about that. He weathered the storm well so we'll consider it a win.

Thursday I scooted out for a quick ride. Just a little hack around the field. I wanted it to stay positive after last Friday's. Success.

Friday was a repeat of Thursday.

Saturday PonyMan got clipped for the first time EVER. Not a major clip by any means. He was a tad reluctant about it since I was using different clippers than he's used to. It didn't take long at all and we was back out in his field running amuk.

Today we got down to business. We headed to the ring whip in hand - just in case it was needed. The wind finally laid down so I would have assumed we'd have a calm pony-o. However it seemed all the deer in the area we running around the perimeter of the arena/paddock area. Go figure. However he was still able to focus. Our canter was 10x better than the last time we were in there. I actually only need to whip to persuade him once! He however couldn't focus quite enough to be forward and soften to the bit. It was one or the other. By the end we had some progress. He was also a bit crooked. But with the deer popping out left and right I can't say he didn't have a valid reason to be determined to be a look out. Overall I was super happy with how he was given the fact our last "work" ride he was a bit pig headed.