November 26th workout (for me not the Mare)

1:30-2:30 p.m
So I rode the Mare Mare today, just bareback and around the pasture but it was the most work I have done bareback on her since I got Crickett three years ago last Halloween.

I used to ride my old appaloosa Frosty Moose all the time bareback, the last year I had her at my house that is all I did on her and I loved it so much. With Crickett it is a bit different because

1. She is younger
2. She is rounder
3. She had more energy
4. Her gates are not as smooth
5. She is not trained as well..yet

Recently I have been trying to get on her a bit more bareback even if it is with just a halter and lead rope. Crickett has been doing much better on listening and working of more subtle clues then she has in the past.

One of our major problems bareback is that I do not have the balance that I did when I rode all the time bareback so I think Crickett is a bit more reluctant to work for me. Today we trotted the most and longest that I have been able to. I am pretty sure she is reluctant to trot because of this balance and so we will just have to work harder on that then anything else when we are bareback. I have yet to lope her although I know that it will be easier then the trot but we are not ready in the control sense either.

I also worked on side-passing, haunch and fore quarter turns. It has been a while since I have stopped to work on these things and even today I did not go as in-depth as I probably would have had I been in a saddle. The mare did not want to do her fore-quarter turns at all, she turned and tried to bite me so she got a mouthful of boot. I worked until I got one really good move each direction then quit for the day.

I just took of the bridle in the pasture and let her follow me to the gate where we stopped and I scratched her ears for a while. Crickett does this thing where she puts her head between my knees and waits for me to massage her ears. Its pretty cute and I don't try and discourage it in anyway.

This picture is of the Hell Bitch and the Frosty Moose. Frosty came to me for a few years the went back to her original owners for the rest of her life. She died early 2008.