Of Training, Horse Shopping, and Wish Lists

It’s been a horse-filled week, and I haven’t had much time to blog about my continuing adventures with Ace this week. I also spent a day at Quarter Horse Congress, mostly checking out vendors — which is exceedingly more dangerous now that I’m a horse owner.

Training Update

This week was the first that I finally started focusing on getting Ace up to speed in the saddle. We’ve continued to do our groundwork, primarily using the Parelli games, and he’s very responsive for most of it. He’s paying attention to me, moves off of pressure well, and focuses. Now we really need to work on transferring that knowledge to having a a rider on his back.

Tuesday we started out with some ground work. After a few days off, and free lunging before that, Ace seemed thrilled to be getting some attention and playing games instead of exercising so hard. He was very light and very responsive on the ground.

Plus I decided to finally try my good Crosby Prix De Nations close contact saddle on him. I hadn’t tried it yet because I was worried it wasn’t going to fit his high, long withers. I’d been using an old all-purpose saddle, that while a little wide, had a cut back pommel to give him some more wither room. But my saddle actually fit him perfectly. Because it’s narrower than the other one, it sat high enough on his wither without pinching or adding funky pressure points. Of course, it helps that his back has filled out significantly since I bought him, allowing for better saddle fit in general. So I was absolutely thrilled, because I was convinced I was going to be stuck buying a new saddle for him. But for now we look good and he is moving comfortably!

So anyways, it was nice to finally ride Ace in my good saddle. He’s still pretty dead to leg pressure and is a little hesistant to be very forward. I had Dave help me from the ground for a little bit with getting him to yield his hindquarters. He’s very good about it when I’m on the ground asking with the stick; but he hasn’t quite equated that with leg pressure yet. So with me asking from the saddle and an assistant on the ground, he started putting two and two together. We also worked around some cones on steering and bending. Instead of just weaving through, I circled the cones. And instead of just a normal bend, I tried to get him to yield his hindquarters as we went around the cone. And it worked wonderfully! He started moving his hind end away from my leg pressure and crossing his legs as he did so.

I also discovered that while he tends to travel with his hind end to the left when lunging, he goes straight when I’m on him.

Because we were so successful Tuesday, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to ride Thursday or Friday, I snuck out for a quick reinforcement ride on Wednesday before I had to head in to church. It was the first time I just got straight on him without doing groundwork first, and he handled it quite well. I alternated between trotting on the rail and walking circles and patterns through the cones. I’m slowly moving him up into more and more laps at the trot, both for conditioning and for training purposes. He has the best trot in the whole world! It’s very springy-floaty. He’s quite light on his feet. I find that I’m having an easy time posting or sitting, that it’s easy to keep my legs still on his sides, but that he still has that thoroughbred spring that I love. It’s hard to explain. Come visit me sometime and I’ll let you try it out for yourself.

Shopping At Congress

I spent almost all day yesterday checking out vendors at Quarter Horse Congress. Even though it was predominantly western, I saw stuff everywhere that Ace and I just had to have. I was pretty well behaved, though, and only came home with my very first cowgirl hat, a cactus cloth bathing mit, a bott knife, and some cute tall boot socks I found buy one/get one free at Stateline Tack.

One of my favorite stops of the day was The Australian Stock Saddle Company, where I got to meet the owner, Colin Dangaard. The company’s tagline is “Ride Like The Man From Snowy River.” As a sucker for good marketing, and for The Man From Snowy River (check out the poem this classic movie is based on), I was hooked. Collin was a blast to talk to, especially with the Aussie accent. We found out that he got into the saddle business because he’d actually worked as a writer on the Snowy River movie! How stinkin’ cool is that? I also decided that I have to have one of his saddles for trail riding. Not joking. I fully intend to take Ace out on the trail with Dave and Tracie, and even trailer away for some longer trips. And my little close contact jumping saddle is not going to cut it. These saddles are good leather, well-made, and are designed for all day riding.

Plus I want to be like Jim.

Fortunately, I don’t need one of the fancy, expensive ones and can get a comfortable, middle of the road saddle for around $600. That’s definitely on my wish list! If I’m smart, I’ll buy one at Equine Affaire in the spring or at Congress in the fall so that I don’t have to pay for shipping.