Wizard Rides 183- 188: Life and How to Live It

Monday, Oct 4
Wednesday, Oct 6
Thursday, Oct 7
Friday, Oct 8
Saturday, Oct 9
Monday, Oct 11

I hate to lump all these rides together, but I’m wrapped up in what seems like an endless stream of projects, and while I’m finding good saddle time, I’m finding very little blog-time. So here’s horse life for the past week, in a nutshell…

Monday, Oct 4

We had a stretch of rain, so I rode indoors. I’m discovering that we’re sort of stalled in our training. I need to a) re-evaluate our ride plans and b) get some riding lessons. I set up some trot poles and two cross rails on a circle. After our warmup, we trotted and cantered the cross rails on a circle to the left and right. Wizard was very game but a little rushy, so I think we need to strengthen our flatwork.

Wednesday, Oct 6

Rode Wizard indoors again. Just for fun, I tried him in his old Happy Mouth soft plastic snaffle. There was a riding lesson in the arena, so we got some good schooling with another horse in the arena. I’m always grateful for a little change of pace and company. I focused on lateral work, and it seemed to bring him back onto my leg, seat, and rein aids. It was interesting to feel how he responded to the old bit- he actually took contact with it, but did not feel flexible on it at all. I’m happy to see how he accepts contact with his Myler bit better than the Happy Mouth now. I think he’s developing a better relationship with the bit and with contact.

Thursday, Oct 7

Finally got to ride outdoors again! The big arena was a little sloppy so I tied Wizard’s tail up in a knot, but my skills are slipping and the tail knot fell out several times. We had a good, basic warmup at the trot and canter and did some jumping, from trot poles to a cross rail and finally a small vertical. Wizard has been rushing a little at jumps, so I think it’s time to go back to some basic trot-in poles into fences. There was recently a horse show at the barn so there were still some jumps set up with flowers underneath them and Wizard never batted an eye at them :^)

Friday, Oct 8

A delightful but quick ride. I had only a little time to take Wizard out so we did some trot and canter work on the trails for about 30 minutes. We even found a new trail!

Saturday, Oct 9

Wizard again assumed his responsibility as Trail Guide at the barn and we took some people out for a walk on the trails. We rode for about an hour and a half total, all walking. I think it was really good for him to do something different. I really like to change our gaits on the trails so he does not get used to fast or slow speeds.

Monday, Oct 11

My grandma met Wizard! It looked to me like mutual admiration- Grandma liked Wizard very much and he was very sweet to her. I ran him through a basic ride to show her his repertoire. Walk, trot, circles, leg yield, shoulder in, cantering (picked up each correct lead the first time- YES!), and just one line of jumps.