A Full Weekend (Roscoe Day 62-64)

DAY 62-64: It was a full weekend. We had a retreat weekend at our place. About 12 of our friends came out to have a quiet and relaxing country weekend with good food, good beverages and fine fellowship. Has it will happen around here a mini Horse 101 class spontaneously happened. Laurie and I were both off on Friday so we headed over to the arena. The footing was not stellar after the days of rain we had so we had to be careful. Groundwork (as always) occurred after a little run-around-and-kick-up-your-hooves time. Love that part. We laid out four cones about 15 feet apart in a straight line and set to PVC “logs” out at a diagonal to create some obstacles for us to play with. After we did some Follow the Fence at the walk and trot along with some one rein stops we took to the cones and got creative. Roscoe was a bit stubborn at first because of the increased level of work and difficulty but we got through it and had some nice laps through the course. He was yielding his hind quarters better from under saddle than in previous sessions and his cues felt lighter too. We even loped several times for short distances! He still needed to be in better condition and balance for that gait to be maintained for any length of time but it is a start! On Saturday after breakfast I wanted to have some quiet horsey time with Roscoe in the round pen. We groomed and then hauled tools/tack to the round pen. Folks came out, coffee mugs in hand to see what I was working on. One thing led to another and I started talking through the training process and let folks try their hand at some of the groundwork exercises. Then we tacked up (demonstrated this) and worked under saddle a bit. We focused on our steering wheel and gas pedal. Spoke about and demonstrated the squeeze, cluck, spank method (just had to touch the spanker) and then let folks try a few laps with Roscoe. He was a rock star! He really took care of folks and listened to me when on the line. We had a person who had NEVER been o a horse before and Roscoe walled and trotted (on the line) like a champ. It was a great time for everyone. On Sunday after breakfast I went out to get Roscoe for a quick groundwork review. It morphed into a regular training session and ended up with Roscoe taking a 5 year old and a 3 year old for a pony ride. He did well but got bored with it by the end of the session. I then hopped on and did some mental exercises which made him feel better. Lots of treats and brushing ended the session. Our trail walk will have t be put off until Monday I think (grin). It was a great weekend!