Getting the "feel"

Well I took the Brickster out for a short ride yesterday.  She had been wearing shoes when I got her and seemed to be stumbling on them alot when I rode her at her old home, so Sunday I had those pulled off and trimmed her up a little.  She is a little tender footed right now, so I kept is short and sweet after work last night.

She did quite well, I was awkward and (yes I'll admit it) a little nervous. She does get a little worked up when you are first saddling her.  I am thinking that a little ground work before riding from now on will do wonders on getting her into "a good place" mentally.  Not that she was mean or ornery, just...um ancy...I guess would be the right word.

I noticed that she is pretty buddy sour already.  She latched on to Trax so quickly and kept gravitating back to him.  She was very buddy sour at her old home, so I guess I should not be surprised with this.

The other thing I am having to get used to with her is the gait.  Her little short legs make her sort of choppy, especially at a trot. She does have a pretty nice canter though.

 I am used to Trax who is smooth and easy at almost any gait.  He has the best trot or canter or even a dead run and his transitions from one to the other are seamless and easy.  It takes nothing to bring him up from walk to trot and then to canter.  Of course with him bringing him down is always an issue.  (he is a firm believer in faster is always better)

With Bricks I have to work a little harder to get that canter, (although not as hard as I did with Killian) but when she gives it to me it is nice. 

We worked on the leg yields, and are getting closer. I just need to learn how to ask. Again I think if we go back to ground work to get her mind right, asking her to step sideways from a little bit of pressure, I think it will help.

When we were done, she got candies.  Carrot flavored Candies.  I'm pretty sure she did not get many treats from her previous own as she was unsure of what I was handing her, but after the first two she was bobbing her head up down in agreement!

Tonight it will be Danny's night and then a ride on Trax.  His neck has healed up nicely and it is time to get his mind right as I will ride both him and Brickster at the clinic this weekend.

As I write this I can't help but compare the different personalities in my horses With Trax it is always "hurry up lets go, I got other things to do"  With Killian it was always about conserving energy, I am curious to see where Bricks' head is at.

Oh, one other thing, when I went to the pasture to close gates and lead the loose ponies to their perspective living areas she came right to me.  I petted her and then walked away and she followed me to the round pen, which is where she lives at night.  Trax followed to his pen as well.   She is very easy to catch.  Most of my horses come to me with the issue of being impossible to catch.  Jay says I need to do more catch and release.

I will work on that.