Windy day!

Have you ever tried to change a bandage by yourself, on the back leg of an Arabian who might kick and doesn't tie well, in wind gusting up to 36 mph? I don't recommend it. The job got done, and done well, but it took nearly all of 30 minutes.

For Project Pete, I rode him in his western saddle again, which I will admit is kind of growing on me! We worked on lots of turns today at the walk and trot. He finally understood the concept of turning while trotting, which was great. He is pretty calm and acts like your run of the mill Quarter Horse. Very laid back, though he is pretty insistent that he wont be crossing any bar ditches any time soon. I thought he did really well today, though I think his saddle fits poorly and pinches his shoulders, so tomorrow I am going to try moving it back and see if that helps. Here is what I wrote in his log:

2/6/09 30 minutes

I rode Pete in his saddle today. He seems to be doing really well! His turns are coming along great. I am holding the reins bridged in both hands and moving them both in the direction we are turning. I tried neck reining him and that didn't register with him. That will come with time and practice with turning him as I described above.
We did lots of trotting circles and serpentines today. He did really well and caught on quickly.

So far I have 7 hours on him. I really hope to put a minimum of 30 hours on him just to see how far we can get in a 'month'. To me, '30 days training' will take a minimum of 2 months because I only count the days I am actually working the horse. I know hours and days don't really equate because I have put some really great 30 minute rides on Pete. So, I guess I should be aiming more for 30 'days' rather than hours. So far I think we have 9 or 10 days. I am feeling really good about his training so far and I really hope he can be a good horse for his owner. Tomorrow I would like to take him out to the big pasture for a nice long trail ride. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are supposed to be rainy days which means no training for Pete and extra bandage changing for Boomer. Boo!

Until next time...