Wizard Rides 201, 202, 203: No One Here But Me-O

I started giving Wizard an extra meal of soaked alfalfa cubes because he has lost a little weight. He is a terrible cribber, so his owner decided to try the Dare Collar. Previously, Wizard was wearing no cribbing collar. In the past, Wizard’s owner has tried every cribbing collar imaginable, with no luck. The Dare Collar seems to be doing a good job so far with no rubbing or discomfort.

Monday, 11/22/10

We got a break in the weather and had several days of mild temperatures without rain. I took advantage of the un-November-like climate and rode outside under the lights after work. After several days of riding in company, it was a treat to ride alone and focus on our work. Since Wizard had just done a horse show the day before, I kept our workout light but worked on keeping him limber, asking for him to stretch his topline and free his shoulder at the trot and canter.

Tuesday, 11/23/10

Another nice day, another day of riding outdoors. I headed to the barn before work and set up an extremely simple course of jumps in the large outdoor arena. Most of the jumps were cross rails but a few were verticals, and I set up one line of trot poles so we could work on the exercise from last week’s riding lesson. The course was basic line-diagonal, and one of the outside lines was the trot pole setup. We trotted the first group of poles and then walked the second set. It took a few tries before Wizard got back into the groove of being round and relaxed. Once he was giving me “my” trot, we took the rest of the jumps. If he felt rushed, I slowed him or stopped entirely after a line. If he felt responsive and balanced, we continued to the next line. By the time we were finishing our ride, Wizard was giving me a wonderfully balanced canter. It felt like nothing I’ve ever experienced from him before- he is learning how to balance and focus.

Wednesday, 11/24/10

Before I went to work on Wednesday, Wizard and I headed out on the trails. He was feeling a little fresh so I asked him to trot as soon as we got across the street and onto the main trail. Wizard was snorty and felt energetic and interested in the trail. We rode for about half an hour, mostly trotting and then walking as a cooldown- it was a fun ride. I gave Wizard his hay cube mush and then he spent the rest of the day outside with his friends.