Snow Ride Finally Happened!

It really wasn't all that exciting, but since it was still the first real one of the season, I loved it!

We headed out on New Year's Day for take two since Orion had a temporary bum leg from being kicked a few days ago.  

He was all by his lonesome in the barn, while the other four horses were huddled together under the treeline across the field.  My boy looked lonely, but at least he was out of the snow and not being picked on. :(


I could tell he wasn't in a great mood when I found him because he just stared me down and refused to budge.  Usually I start walking toward him, and he meets me halfway.  That day, he just didn't care to do anything. Yay, antisocial, stubborn horses.....

He nearly took my hand off when I took him his hay.  He refused to take his bit when I tacked him up.  He tried to bite me when I was tightening his girth, which he's only done once in the last few months or so. -_-

When he refused the bit, I did what we tried the last time that happened and lunged him each time he refused it.  He was already in one of those moods, so the entire time I had him working, I had to constantly keep pressure on him to keep him going, which meant that I ended up getting a pretty good workout too.  Despite the freezing temperature, I ended up working up a sweat.

We kept it up for a good long time at one point because he started showing some of the signs of wanting to join up, so I thought that maybe, if I could get him to, it would make everything easier.  The one and only time he's ever joined up with me, he followed me around like a puppy and was quick to do absolutely anything I asked of him for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, he didn't do the final join up sign. He had his ears fixed on me and had his head dropped slightly, but I never got the whole licking and chewing thing that you're supposed to see.  

I asked him to change directions at one point so he wouldn't get dizzy, and he used the opportunity to try to intimidate me and start acting bratty again.  I finally got him going again and stopped him when he'd done a couple of laps on good behavior.

I asked Chels to help me after that because I was getting frustrated and angry at him for being a brat and at myself for not being able to fix the problem.  I knew nothing was going to be accomplished with me in that mindset.

She came over and put the bit to his lips, and each time he let her do it without tossing his head, she praised him.   (By the way, he's digressed from simply sticking his nose in the air, out of reach, to violently tossing his head up and down; he almost busted my lip while we were doing this).  Eventually she got him to finally accept the bit, grudgingly.  He tried to lift his head as she did it, but she got in his mouth nonetheless.  Lots and lots of praise for him for accepting it, even if it wasn't the way it should have been.

He was much quieter after that.  I think it was more because I'd tired him out than anything.  We went on a short, thirty minute ride up the road and back that was fairly uneventful.  By the time we'd finished trying to bit him, we didn't have a lot of time left to ride because it was going to be getting dark soon.  We had planned on doing a longer ride than that.  But oh well. We got to go, which was the important thing, and I got to practice posting when we got back.  I had Orion trot around the paddock so I could practice, and Chelsea got video of it so I could critique myself.


I don't know what the hell I was doing with my legs in this... I caught myself doing it on the ride a couple of times and fixed it, but I didn't realize I was doing it in the paddock until I watched this video. -_-  More to work on, I suppose! Haha.

Ziggy, my favorite pup from the litter born fall 2011.
I'm pretty sure Orion hated me by the time we finished this day.  Between lunging, riding, and then practicing my posting when we got back, he was exhausted.  Little horse is out of shape!  But so am I, so I can't really talk. :P




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