Update 10/31/09 *15th Ride*

When we got home from quad riding today, I decided to saddle up Ace again for his 15th ride. While everyone else was unloading the quads, I saddled, booted and groomed Ace. He did really well, his ears would flicker, listening to the quads and me, but I saddled and got on easily.

I worked on side passing and two tracking, so far he is side passing well to both directions and two tracking to the left well but is still somewhat sticky to the right. Tomorrow I will work some more on body suppling and evening up his sides. He is getting really comfortable at the lope now, and is moving out well and keeping his head level.

His transitions are getting very smooth, at first every time I asked him to change from a lope to a trot, he would just stop. Same thing happened when we would slow from a trot to a walk, he would shut down and stop. I started focusing on just dropping down a gear and he is doing great. As for our transitions up, he is very smooth, keeps his head level, and does not get chargey.

After I was done, I unsaddled him and threw him in the trailer with Hope, our four month old foal. I just wanted him to get used to having other horses in the trailer with him. They both did really good.

While I had hope out I tied her to a post and hopped on Ace bareback. (This is his second ride bareback) I made sure he was listening to me and walked over to Hope. I untied her from his back and started ponying her. (I ponied Trust, one of my mares, off him recently as well.) She was hopping all over, but he never acted up. He even drug her a little when she decided she was done walking lol. Three times she reared up and "mounted" him from behind, I thought for sure he would shoot forward and spook, but he never even lifted his head LOL.

When I was done ponying, I open the arena gate and walked them in. From his back I undid her halter and turned her loose. She took off running, and he just waited for his next instructions from me. I walked him over to where Trust was locked in eating some extra alfalfa, and opened the smaller gates and hooked him open from his back. This was the first time I had opened the smaller gates from on top of him. These gates are a little more difficult because I have to have very good control of his whole body to position him perfectly to be able to reach the latches. He did excellent and lined up with the gate easily.

He constantly surprises me with how well he handles new and potentially scary experiences. I am so happy with him =]

Update 10/26/09

Today I rode ace again, and he is doing extraordinary. Today we rode around worked on some body suppling and control. He is picking up the side pass and two track well, and he is already doing very well pivoting on the hind and forequarters. For the first time, I had Ace pony a calm older mare around, he did very well. At first he nickered a little bit, but after I fingered the reins he stopped. He never dropped, just walked around and lead her all over. He was really calm about her walking next to him, bumping him and nosing around him. He really is a gentleman. Getting more and more exited for next show season.

Update 10/25/2009 *12th Ride*

Sorry for the long stretch between posts, I got a little carried away lol and forgot to update!

Today, I rode ace for the 12th time, he is doing fantastic. The last three days, I trailered Ace all around town, he has done great.

Friday I just trailered him around, letting him get used to being in there. I brought him home after about 45 minutes, unloaded him and rode for about an hour. He did excellent, and unloaded slowly and carefully. His ride went really well, he is starting to get in better shape.

Saturday I hooked up the trailer again and hauled him to Wal-mart since we needed to do some shopping. I waited out with him for about thirty minutes while they shopped. Then we hauled him to the Bridle Path Arena where I unloaded him, saddled and rode him for about two hours. About 15 minutes into our ride, 7 riders showed up and rode with us. To date, Ace had never been around other horses and riders, let alone strange ones. He did very well, he never dropped and only whinnied twice when they first showed up. Getting him back to concentrating at first was a struggle, but soon he gave up and focused on what I wanted him to do. He is loading and unloading great with out any problems.

Today, Sunday, I took him to the arena again (I trailered him there and back) his ride went great, I am so proud of him and how calm he is being. Next show season will be awesome if he acts half as calm as he did this weekend. We will be pulling lots of blue ribbons. =]

Update Ace's Third Ride

Well today Ace had his third ride, and he did AWESOME! AGAIN! I am in the process of uploading videos and pictures, they will be up shortly. He is doing great moving his hindquarters and forequarters over, and is walking forward MUCH more freely. Today I even asked for a trot, and after several smacks on the butt; he trotted happily. We rode quite a bit around walking and trotting, and then I took him into the big arena for the first time; so far he had only been ridden in the round pen. He did great, he did not try and trot or run with out permission, but he walked even better since he actually had somewhere to go instead of just around in circles. To view the videos, here is the link http://www.youtube.com/user/barehorsetraining

10-07-09 Update BIG NEWS!

Though I had been working on saddling ace for the last month or so, he was still terrified of the saddle. Per Clinton Anderson's advice from his training segments on RFD-TV with Cider, he recommended that if a horse is scared of the saddle, leave them in a safe pen with it on for several hours until they realize it is not going to eat them. So for three days in a row, I saddled him after he finished eating in the round pen, removed the stirrups (horses can break their jaw if they reach back and try to play with the stirrups and get their lower jaw hooked. Even if you are leaving your horse tied for even a short amount of time with the saddle on, remove or tie up the stirrups so they cannot reach them.) and turned him out with supervision. At first he was very scared, but after about an hour he calmed down and relaxed. I removed the saddle after 4-5 hours so his back could breathe and he could have some relief. (I NEVER recommend leaving the saddle on unattended, or on overnight. That's just cruel, they need to be able to lay down, relax and just be a horse.) I repeated this for three days, and worked on other ground control exercises when the saddle wasn't on. Tuesday, Oct 5th I tied him up and saddled him. He is still somewhat nervous when that saddle goes on and comes off, but he started really relaxing right after he was cinched up. I sacked him out really good with several different objects and he was still nice and calm so I started climbing on him, sitting on him, and generally just getting him used to me being above him. He was fine with it, so I reviewed the cues I taught him for saddle work and climbed aboard. He was AWESOME. All I did the first day was ask him to move his shoulders and hips over, and started him backing. He was super calm so after riding him for about 10 minutes I hopped off and ending it on a good note. NO BUCKING!!!

Yesterday, after I got home from college, I sacked him out good again and went ahead and saddled him up. This time I asked him walk forward after we reviewed moving hips and shoulders over. Surprisingly he walked right off. Many horses get their feet stuck at first, and are scared to step forward, but he walked right off. We walked all over and worked on the pivots, he acted like a 30 year old plug, not a 3 yo stallion lol.

I will post pics today, and hopefully video I haven't gotten any yet.

Update 10/05/09

Ace is doing excellent, yesterday we had some major breakthroughs. Since lately he had not been trying as hard as I would like him to, and for the most part he was practicing evasion, I decided to sack him out tied up. He has been tied extensively, so I figured why not. He had yet to seriously pull back so I started out slowly. I warmed him up in the round pen and worked on some of our exercises. I rubbed him down with my hand all over, and then brushed him and picked out his feet. I started sacking him out with a horseman's flag with a sack attached to it. ( We've done this a lot with out him tied) He was fine, no reaction. Then I started grabbing various items fly mask, towels, feed sacks, and sacked him out with each item until he was comfortable with them, progressing from the least scary to the most scary. Then I did the same with the pad, saddle, and eventually a blanket. (Which he has never had a blanket on ever) A very successful day indeed. He did pull back a few times (I wanted him to so I could test how well he is giving to pressure, and so he doesn't panic when he gets spooked enough sometime to pull back.) he came right forward and gave like he was supposed to. Here are some pics.

(Note* Obviously since Ace has not been shown, he did not win this blanket. It's one I won a few years ago. AND since he's only three lol he'd have been way to young to ride back then lol.)