Week 3 was very eventful for Uno. It seems to me he is getting bored with lunging in the main arena. Unfortunately there is only this arena and a dressage arena, and there is no lunging in the dressage arena. So the first couple of days of week 3 I added side reins to our lunging routine and worked on transitions from walk to trot, and to canter and trot. On the third day of the week I put a pole in front of Uno while he was on the lunge line (no side reins). Below is my video of his first pole (dont get too dizzy). He "jumped" it the first time and after that understood that it could easily be trotted over.
He's proving to be very brave when presented with new challenges. Here he figures out three trot poles, although I think I may have spaced them a little too far apart for his first time through.
The fourth and fifth day I started lunging Uno in full tack - saddle, bridle, and side reins. I found him to have a little different of a mind set with the saddle on. Before this, he would have easily walked on the lunge line until I encouraged him to trot. With the saddle on Uno went right into a canter when I sent him out on the lounge line. I decided for him to just get it out, since I hadn't seen so much "go" in him before. the side reins were kept on, and he never really got too overly excited. He just had a steady, consistent, canter. But our sixth day, after about 30 minutes of lunging, I decided to get on Uno. Again I feel like he is getting bored, and I would love to start moving him down into the dressage arena for a new change of scenery. In addition I don’t have as much lounging training tack as I would like, so I feel like there is only so much I can do from the ground at this point.
First of all he is wonderful at mounting. He stands still, and I did mount on his blind side. He does however constantly chew at his bit. I tried to keep a low, wide, loose rein. We worked on turns and circles. And even did some walk/trot/halt transitions. He was wonderful. I had it in my head that this was the day I would get on Uno however there was A LOT going on at the farm for some reason. We had a tractor going, neighbor's dog barking, about 15 cars arriving to a neighbor's BBQ. I almost called the whole riding expedition off. But Uno has NEVER been a spooky horse, and I felt good after the lunging. I am having some troubles with the actual video, so for now I have some still shots to share. Video to come soon. On the last day of the week Uno took the day off and enjoyed some hand grazing around the 9 acre property and lots of carrots.
If you have any tack you would like to donate to Uno’s retraining please contact me!
Hi Sarah! I added a link to Uno's blog from one of our Mid-Atlantic ones. He's SO adorable!!! Makes me wish I lived in the area and was shopping! Such a handsome boy!
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