Groundwork and Riding Lessons

Monday, I did some groundwork with Phoenix in our new round pen. I played the friendly game with her again, using the balls and a carrot stick. I put the red ball on her back and she didn't care. She got a little jumpy when I put the yellow ball on her back. But after a few times, she was fine with it being there.

Phoenix was afraid of the carrot stick. She kept walking away from it with a frightened look in her eyes. She didn't mind the carrot stick as much when I held the string. When it was just the stick that was touching her, she didn't seem scared. After awhile, even with the string, she stopped being afraid of the carrot stick. She did really well.

Tuesday, I did groundwork with Sunny, one of our mustangs. She was stubborn at first, but then she did well for me. I'm still learning the Parelli games and so is she. We learned together. She didn't want to back up and she kept walking away from the carrot stick. She did do well with the Circle game. It was pretty easy to get her running in circles, but sometimes she would go the opposite way than where I wanted her to go.

Yesterday, I had my third riding lesson. My first lesson (well, first riding lesson since childhood)  was on Tuesday 6/11/13. I was supposed to have it the Monday before, but it had been raining. I'm supposed to have a riding lesson every Monday, but after my first lesson it was raining so much that I couldn't have another lesson until 7/1/13.

On my first lesson, I learned some groundwork to do to warm up the horse before riding. I rode Rocket, a lazy and sweet horse that did not want to move. I weaved through a few barrels and then trotted while my instructor had Rocket on a lead line. Trotting is bouncy and makes me feel like I'm going to fall off. However, when I get a hang of posting, it shouldn't really be a problem.

In my next two lessons, I rode Seren, a lazy Mustang. When I'm on her, I like that she goes slow, but I'm leading her it would be nice if she would keep up with my pace. So far at my lessons I've only done groundwork, weaving through objects (at a walking pace, of course), and trotting on line as I try to post. However, there was something unexpected occurring during my lesson on Monday. A horse there was desensitized to gunshots. They were shooting off a gun right next to this horse. It was a little scary when I was Seren and the sound of the gun was spooking her. She trembled and moved around, but she didn't buck or rear up. Still, it made me nervous and my trainer kept Seren on a lead line for safety reasons. I was glad when they stopped shooting it.

I like riding, but I'm an impatient person. I've only had three lessons and I'm already wishing I was improving faster.

Here's some pictures: