just a good ole boy

After picking up right where he left off, Winston seems excited to be going out on long rides. I have had Kari ride him a few times and he has been pretty good for her. I have been trying to coach her on the best way to ride him and get the best results. He seems to be trying to figure out what he wants. My goal and idea for this was that he not be so used to me since I am the only one who has ever done anything with him. He is still the kind of guy that is going to make sure she is serious about what she is asking, (he would rather choose his own way to walk down the trail, eat grass, trot when not asked) when she convinces him, there is nothing he wouldn't do for her. It has been fun for me to watch them the couple of times that she has ridden him. He is a good boy. When I ride him, I still have a lot of fun him and i gel pretty well and he has long since gave up making sure that I am serious about work, so we mostly have a good time. We hauled out and went for a ride the other day and Kari and I took turns switching horses, Winston was like an old pro out there. There were some things that he didn't like but he simply looked and side stepped around them just like a good horse would. From the outside looking in there is no way to tell that he has the little amount of time that he does. I am looking forward to some more long rides and getting him used to feeling me in an English saddle.

back to his old ways

After some well deserved days off Winston (Bailey) is off and running and up to snuff with his old ways. By old ways I mean quiet, relaxed, and friendly. When I returned to work on him, I simply saddled up and went for it just like he had no time off at all. He was a true gentleman. I was very happy to find that he wasn't acting fresh or spooky at anything. I took him for a long ride through the neighborhood and the woods near the ranch. He was awesome, (a little lazy going out at first but I prefer that to wanting to run off) A couple days in the arena and he was right where I left him, I have now started letting people ride him a little so that he can get used to several different feels of folks. It seemed like he was taking care of them. I love to see horses that are cool with just about anything you do to them. I know that anyone who rides him will have an absolute blast on him. Until next time, thank you and God Bless, BW

Wind, Wind, Wind

Today we are experiencing gail force winds here at the appropriately named "windy ridge ranch" I have been working Bailey in wind, every day for three weeks or so. Today it was just too much. I wouldn't have had a good time and he wouldn't have either, I don't think. So I took today to catch up on writing, and other administrative tasks. Bailey has been awesome as of late. I have been riding him all over the place and there is no place he wont go. The better he gets, the more time I spend on his back and thus the better he gets. He isn't afraid of too much stuff. He still sometimes gets nervous about things that I am doing to him but he is easy to talk down and he hasn't made a bad move in quite some time. He is still sticky to the right side but is improving every day. He doesn't seem to to be that way with the bit, the very little that I have worked with that. So hopefully he will settle right into that. He has been wearing the bit now for a few days and I have not really touched it much. I want him to 1) be as soft and light in the halter as can be and 2) Take a lot of time with him getting used to it and responsive with it. I feel that he will have to be bridled for the rest of his life with someone other than me so I want him to enjoy it to the fullest and be soft and light. That is all that has been happening with us, thanks and keep in touch, God Bless, BW

slow and steady

Not too much has happened after the first ride. I have been working him everyday. His right side was a huge problem for him. For a couple of rides he would go fine to the left then he would see me out of his right eye when we would turn and then bolt and run. I would simply just let him go. We were safe in the round pen and he would just run and run. soon enough he would relax and I would walk him to the right. I have since made it a point to do everything I can from his right side. If it can be done. I even went as far as to turn my halter inside out and put it on from the right. All this has been very useful as he will see me out of that eye and not do anything silly. However, he still doesn't want to bend that direction very well and keep all four feet stepping equally. He wants to leave his neck straight and step around. Great if I was working on that lol. But right now I need him to soften up and step equally. He is gaining slow but sure. I wish the wind around here would quit blowing so hard, as it is hard on me to get motivated and the horses tend to spook a lot more often. I know it is not all bad to work horses in this kind of weather, but it is frustrating at times. In the long run tho, it will be good for them. After Bailey got to the point that he would walk around relaxed and not spook at seeing me in his right eye (he still gets startled but he doesn't want to run away, knows it could be a lot of work lol) I started riding him out in the pasture he is doing great with this. We haven't gone far as we are by ourselves most of the time but his is handling things well. Every time he gives me a reason to I flex his head to the right and wait on him to relax before releasing then we walk on. I would like for him to lead with his nose when turning. He has been wearing the snaffle bit but just packing it along I haven't touched it yet, I would like for right turns to get a little better first so that I am not fighting with his mouth. If he continues to be stiff that way, will work on it with the bit in and hopefully he will come around to it. He is showing great ability to stop well and be very light coming backwards I haven't asked him to stop hard but I have a feeling it is there by the way he is acting so I will only work on this with transitions and backing up when we are completely stopped, I don't want to ruin anything by practicing too much. I hope things keep progressing along, I feel good about our chances. If he continues to get better at the rate he is I will need to come up with something to do for our freestyle show. Thanks and God Bless, BW

Slow but sure

I missed a week with my blog. To tell the truth I was a bit down on myself. I was reading how everyone else's horses were doing and I wasn't even on mine yet. That is the first lesson that I had to remember. It is only between me and the horse and no one else. I had to take a day or two to remember that. But when he started out so well I got a little too excited and over confident. Also, last week was horrible about snowing and wind blowing cold, and leaving the pens sloppy and unsafe. He took a long time before he finally got used to the saddle. He is not as much afraid of it on his back after the first couple days. (he wore it all day) But it was the action of me throwing it on. After several thousand times of repeating the process he is good about it. However I feel that I could arm wrestle the Incredible Hulk as much work as my right arm got throwing the saddle. He is still super touchy about things on his right side and has been for a while. I work and work on that side and he is slowly getting better. I think we are approaching the hill and we will be over it soon with that, I will explain more a little later on. When Johnny told me that he wanted to come over and bring me some hay I asked him if he would bring a saddle and help me put on the first ride. He seemed to be excited about that. I kept working with every thing I could to try to get him ready. Ray Hunt told me when I was working with him, "you are not trying to ride this horse you are trying to get him ready to ride." I did everything I could think of to do that. After several sessions of mane braiding and pony boy lessons Johnny got here. He did a couple of things just to make sure that he could. (and he could) And I got on. I took a lot of time getting on and made sure that I would be able to get off when that time came. So many people forget that, they will eventually have to get off and they might want to prepare their horse for it. Bailey only had a small hump in his back for a little while and didn't try to buck. In no time at all Johnny handed me the rope and off we rode. Johnny did most of the moving at first then Bailey started to catch on that I was the one that should be asking him to move. Great first ride. Second ride, I didn't have much time to prepare myself before Bailey broke into a buck. He wasn't able to get me off, but it wasn't because he couldn't. It was only because I knew that I couldn't fall off. And that is all I feel kept me there. However it was only when we went to the right that this happened, to the left he was fine. So that is what we did most of the rest of the time. Go to the right so he could see me with that eye. Soon he relaxed and I got off. From there he let me pick up all four feet very relaxed. I can't thank Johnny enough for helping me out for those first rides. I have done several colts by myself and even in less time. However, I feel that by making the first ride another good experience for him I have gained his trust even more. And all the rest of the stuff is just a matter of showing him how to do it. He is not every horse and I feel that he is very special, not just because he is my mustang, but because he is a special little horse. He is smart, athletic, and wants to be calm. Like Johnny said "this little horse has a head full of sense." Third ride, no help, got on after a short round pen session, and he was cool. Rode off to the left, no problem. turned to the right and he squirted off. I just let him go, when he relaxed some I turned him to the left to take away the scary pressure. Ended on a great note. He had to get a little sweaty, more that I would have liked but he had to go through the rough spot so he could get to the sweet spot. I will keep filling in for this horse as long as it takes. I like him a lot. thanks for reading and I hope that I have more great news to give next time. And remember we do this for the horse and every horse is different it is up to us to change for them. God Bless, BW

keepin me in check

Hey everyone, I have heard it said that the best thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse. That is true in so many ways. I was doing real good with Bailey,(still am) with tossing the rope, picking up his feet, jumping around him, and all that good stuff. I finally deemed him ready to don the saddle. I worked up to this as well, and I had made up my mind that if I had reservations I would work on it some more. (I have put the saddle on several horses for the first time but I am trying to be extra careful and not set him back). After I was able to flop the blanket anywhere I wanted I worked my chaps hitting him on the opposite side of where I was throwing, soon he was ok with that as well, only one thing left to do. When he saw me carrying the saddle he shied some so I worked very slow at this. Soon it was on his back but with the cinches on top. I don't feel like I should fool him and saddle him that way so I worked on swinging it on with the stirrup and the cinches on top of the saddle, soon he was able to relax and I dropped the cinches and swung the saddle on, I repeated this several times. Cinching up has not been a problem. Shortly the saddle was on, I moved his hind quarters and sent him around me at a walk, then he decided to trot. All I can say is that I am excited about the athletic potential of this little horse, that is how good he bucked. After that he has been leery of me, I work at getting him caught and he has to try hard to trust me, However every day he has had to wear the saddle. He hasn't bucked since the first time but I have to ease through the process, every time to get him saddled. However, I am starting to see some improvement and I can tell that he is trying, he is just afraid, and I can't blame him for that. I ponied him out today and he was wonderful. I am trying not to do too much to him while he is trying to sort out the saddle, he will let me know when it is ok to move on to other things. I have only seen one other horse in my career that didn't take the saddle well after the first saddling, so I am very humbled by my little horse. However I need to remember he is looking to me as an example so I am simply staying steady with my emotions and by doing this I am keeping my frustrations at bay. I have some one I really trust coming to help me when I put on the first ride. Him and I have worked together in the past and we work well when I am riding a colt and he is working it from the ground or from the back of another horse. In doing this we are able to get quite a bit done on the first ride and it is so much less traumatic on the horse. So even though several of the other competitors are putting rides on their colts as I am speaking I am not in a hurry to get my ride in, my ride will come when the horses says so. Ray Hunt told me "you are not trying to ride this horse, you are only getting him ready to ride, when he is ready you be ready," Thanks for taking the time to check in. I am having a ball with this little horse, God Bless, BW

Off and running

Well the first week with my mustang was a great one. On the second day of having him I did a lot of approach and retreat and was able to touch him on the jaw. I then worked around his body always retreating to a place he could handle it when he got nervous. Soon there after I got his halter off and put it back on a few times and left it off. He took right to coming off the pressure to his hindquarters and was easy to teach to lead. From there it has been a lot of sensitizing and desensitizing to get him used to me doing things and preparing him for the saddle. With all this he is putting up with me doing the dead man on his back but he is not completely ok with it. He acted like a horse and didn't live up to quite as good as he has been doing when we were videoing him but that just lets me know that I still have a lot of work to do. I still need to remember that I need to work him one day at a time not worry about the competition. If I move at his pace and do what I do, the competition will take care of itself. I hope that I have more good news to report next week. Thank you and God Bless. BW