Update 9/21/09

Well, I have started working Ace under saddle again, and after feeling his knees they seem to have closed. I wanted to wait till after the summer to start riding him, which meant sadly that we missed the WHBS, next year I guess.

We spent three days with him just wearing the saddle for a few hours because he was so freaked out. Good news though, these past three times he did not BUCK EVEN ONCE! He is alittle spooky when I tighten the cinch, so we need a a bunch more sacking out on the ground. He is not nearly as explosive as he was so thats a plus.

I will post pics the next time I saddle him, but I will not be on him for a while yet. He is still someone nervous about the saddle being up there. I know that he is stallion material, but sometimes I wonder whether or not I should keep him intact. With his extra hormones its just that much more of a challenge for everything. He really resists big change (like wearing a saddle) and stuff like that seems to really stress him out. I've noticed that he's gotten really lazy lately, so we are working on getting his feet unstuck. He needs more flexing and more work in general.

Ugh. And for the bad news. Right before I was going to take off my crappy saddle, and put my riding saddle on him. He spooked (which rarely EVER happens) and lept onto my right foot. The SAME one my mare broke a month or two back. It had just healed, and I am back in a retarded boot. I don't know if he broke it or not, but its worse this time since I have been having numbness in my pinkie toe and the one next to it. UGH. Guess I probably SHOULD go get x-rays. FRUSTRATING. I mean I finally am getting close to being able to ride him, and I mess up my foot. Again. Gah. Talk about pist.

So even though I was limping pretty bad; okay horrible. I still saddled him with my saddle, which had a back cinch, sacked him out on the ground, from a fence (it was fun getting up there) lunged him, and worked him over obstacles with it on. Then when we were done I unsaddled him, gave him a bath and turned him out. Thats what you call dedicated lol (or stupid whichever =])

SO, hopefully tomorrow I will be able to saddle him again, depends on whether or not I decide to get x-rays.

UPDATE: MY FOOT IS NOT BROKEN, JUST HAS SOME SERIOUS SOFT TISSUE DAMAGE. I AM WALKING OKAY BUT WILL HAVE TO WEAR THE BOOT FOR AT LEAST A WEEK.

August 31, 2009

Ace is doing well with his 5 ground excersises. He is starting to pick up the side pass fairly well. His is really light in the halter and bosal. And is doing really well in the trailer. Soon we will start taking him for short rides.

He did pretty good with the farrier, except the farrier decided to hop the fence instead of going around, which really freaked him out. He is fine with me on the fence, but still strongly dislikes other people doing it. He may associate it with the blm chutes, when everything tramitic happened there were people above him. We got his front feet done, but the farrier didn't want to try his back feet, so he'll be back soon. The funny thing is, I rasp down his feet with no halter on, and he is perfectly fine. Hmmmn.

Ace was accidentily bred to Trust when she came into her foal heat, (he bred her through the fence while we were gone) so Ace may have is first progeny on the way. We have not decieded if we want to keep Trust to see how the foal turns out. She was bred on July 2, 2009. So she will be "due" (LOL, those of you who have bred mares know why I laugh) around June 2, 2009.

Sorry.

Sorry for the long space in between postings, I broke my foot shortly after finals were finished (not his fault, bitchy mares fault actually =]), and was limited on the work that could be accomplished with Ace. So far, he loads and unloads from the trailer, bathes, clips, and has been saddled several times. He had his first trim a few weeks ago and did really well. He is going to have another trim tommorrow. Ace has become super friendly, he is always the first one to the fence to greet me, and just wants to be loved on. He is very well behaved around the mares, and doesn't drop or get excited. He absolutley loves our new foal, Trust's baby. He is very affectionate. I have sat on him bareback around 40 times. Next we are working on getting control of his feet, and teaching him to yield. Then we will be working on laying down (a huge trust builder), the spanish walk, and finally riding. I focus very strongly on my horses foundation, which is why we accomplish all this first.

*Note*

For the next week, the posting frequency may, or may not slow down. I have finals scheduled all next week, and I will be spending alot of time preparing for them. I will still be working with Ace everyday, but I will not be doing any extended sessions unless he starts going backwards in our training. After the 13th, everything will be back to normal and regular updates will commence. Sorry, just a heads up if you check regularly. 

Update: May 3, 2009

Ace did very well today, my birthday. He accepted the western saddle much easier than the english, even though it is much scarier, just because he's had the last two days to practice. He had a MAJOR bucking fit today, between the back cinch and the sturrips hitting him, he blew up. He bucked hard for a good five minutes before he stopped. His sides where heaving so hard it scared me. I sure as hell do not want to be on his back if he launches into a full fledged buck off. I doubt a professional bronc rider could stay on him. When he panics, man is he rank. Talk about intimidating. SO. We are doing ALOT of ground work before I get on =] But he did calm down, and all was well. He lunged for the first time in the arena, and he did great. VERY productive day =]

Update May 2, 2009

I cinched up the english saddle today, (Sorry no pics, it was raining and cold) he did really well I was shocked that he didn't even buck once. He was pretty nervous, but handled him self well. I had him saddle in about 2 minutes versus the hour I worked with him yesterday just getting him comfortable with the saddle. I am not in a rush, I will do what ever it takes to get him to where I need him to be. I feel great about our progress, he's only been home for a week and a day and already got him saddled, haltered, lunging, picked up all four feet. 

=] Can't wait for tomorrow. 

P.S. Tomorrow is my birthday. Maybe my present to myself will be getting him saddled western. Bet he'll blow. 

Update: May 1, 2009

Ace is doing great. I worked on saddling him yesterday with an old english saddle that has the irons removed. Overall he did really well, but he was not too fond of the jingling sound the buckles on the girth made. I didn't get it cinched up because it started pouring rain, perhaps tomorrow. Ace has been easy to catch everyday that he's been here. Thank god because it took me two and a half weeks until I could catch trust easy. 

Goals for tomorrow:

• Drive Ace with lines through the leathers
• Saddle him english cinch and all /Possibly saddle him western 
• Teach him to longe on a long line in the arena.