Levi laying down on the job

LOL Well it was my idea though ;)

I will first say I know some don't like the idea of laying a horse down but in my honest opinion I feel it is good for the horse. Sort of humbles them and lets them know you can do most anything to them and not be out to hurt them.

I did the Clinton Anderson technique of tying the foot up like in the picture below:

I used a leg collar off of an old set of hobbles, hook up a long cotton lunge line to it. Tossed it OVER her back and pulled it back under, did 2 wraps around the pastern and one half hitch.
I then gently put pressure on the rope to the side and slightly behind her center point to get her down to the knee first like so:

As you can see it must not have bothered her too much since she was sneaking  bites of grass LOL. Now I want to say she was not forced to go down at any point I only applied pressure and let her decide how to get that pressure released. 
I will be honest she already did know how to kneel as I had been working with her on that before somewhat, so that part was easy for her to figure out.  It took her a few kneels before she laid down.  She never threw herself over either, she did a nice gentle slow drop, all very controlled.  So she looked like this:

She laid there real nice while I rubbed her down, its a good opportunity rub them down with plastic sacks etc. Then we went between laying up and out flat so she knew I could control her like this just like when she is standing and and yielding the hind and forequarters.

Then I asked her to get up and made my rope into a rein and climbed on and rode her bareback with the halter for a little bit and she did GREAT. We practiced some neck reining, turns, stopping and backing. She is catching on very well and responds to nice light touches. :)  She made me so proud.

We finished it all up with a cool shower from the hose and cooled down so she could enjoy a bit of grain.
I have to say she is coming along very nicely. Who couldn't love that sweet face.

New Horse

This is Angel we got her on June 19 2011 from my cousin.  She is 4 yrs old and very green broke but loves people. She will be a new project for my son Nathan to work with. 

The first thing she did was go straight for salt block. One thing people need to know is you need to have some sort of salt source for your horses at all times.  This year we are putting out sulfur salt blocks as a friend of mine says they are good for repelling the ticks off the horse so we are giving it a shot!
Watch for updates on her progress as well. :)

Levi ride 5

Ok now our ride on 6/16/11 was slow to start as we had to mow the overgrown pen were had been riding in LOL.  So I got a very nice picture of my daughter Josie and Levi relaxing while we waited. 

Ok once the pen was mowed we moved on to working.  I climbed aboard and we did some bends and proceeded to start riding around. She got a little bratty, I think it was part being in heat and part bugs and being humid.
So we did some longing and more riding.  No bucking or anything for all of you that are waiting to read about that LOL.

The next training session I think we will work on hobbling and laying down, Clinton Anderson style, as well as more sacking out. I like to throw those in every few lessons as I feel its very good for them.  I want to try and get some video too maybe of some of these to share as well. :)

And for giggles here is a picture of her very first ride ever last winter... she did pretty good!

Ya ride #4

Well I got ride # 4 in last night (June 15, 2011) on Levi and I figured out how to get the pics on here!

She was at the pond up by the hwy so after work I stopped up there and let Nate take the car on home. I always keep a rope halter and lead in my car for just such occasions because I like to catch Levi's mom, Satin, and just jump on bareback and go for a ride sometimes. :)
Anyway I got Levi caught up and lead her up the road to where the horse trailer is at my dad and mom's place, not quite 1/2 mile. Did a quick brush, saddled and bridled her. I left her untied and she did great just standing there for her saddle and fly spray.

I got the longe line and longe whip out and did a little work on the longe line first which she did well but the round pen and the lower pen are in dire need of mowing!! I climbed on and we started out slowly, got her moving forward then did some circles and stops and backing. What a good girl she was!
I then took her in the yard and rode a bit. Here is a picture of us in the reflection of my husbands parts Nova,  I didn't have a photographer as both kids were busy so this is what you got LOL,  hopefully tonight I will have a photographer.

I then lead her around abit after our ride to cool down some as she got a little sweat going, so did I for that matter LOL.  We then walked to my house taking the scenic route by the chicken pen, trampoline, outdoor bread over/cooker and the big picnic tables LOL.

Then is was time for the rinsing of the sweat marks. She jumped at first but as she like to play in the water she calmed down and kind of enjoyed it a bit.

Then I turned her back out to the pasture and she enjoyed some grazing with her momma.  :)

Hopefully we will be doing some more tonight and maybe her first road ride by the weekend if I can get the kids to go.  Josie on Jakers and Nate will either ride his new horse or Satin...but it will probably be Satin :).



Training Levi ....

Well I decided it was time to start training Levi, my solid paint bred 4 yr old filly.  I did not keep track of those first 3 ride dates but I do remember how they went.

First we did LOTS of ground work and still do sporadic groundwork to this day. ;)  She behaves very well on the ground while on the lead, but she is a really big pocket pony to start with.  For those that don't know what a pocket pony is, she is the type of horse that loves to be around you from the start, very easy to catch, loves to be brushed and loved on all the time.
She leads well, ties well, loads in the trailer well (not that she has actually ridden in the trailer while its moving yet), she will even bow.
Now she needs to start riding, bathing and clipping but she is curious by nature and I don't foresee to many speed bumps along the way.
Her first "ride" consisted of me sitting on her while she wandered the pen a little bit and then continually turning to look at me like "what now??"
Her second ride was me riding her around the round pen at a walk which she was unsure of at first but we did some turns, stops and backing.  My round pen is just panels put up out in the field so I have no sand in it for good footing so we don't trot or canter yet but I asked a friend recently about taking her to their house to use their sandy round pen.. it was a wonderful YES. I wonder if it could be that she owned Levi's grandsire??? ;)
Ride three was in a small grassy lot at our farm bareback with just a halter.. she did pretty good..although she was a bit distracted by my female doberman that was wandering around with us.
So that is Levi's rides to this point so far.  I will post again when I get a chance to ride her again....wow I am thinking this is going to be a S L O W training LOL.