Neck reining

Sometime last week, I was reading Black Beauty and in chapter 2 (training) says (talking about when his master put the bit in his mouth) "I didn't like it at all, but I knew my mother and the other horses wore one. So, with my master's pats and kind words, as well as the oats, I got used to wearing my bit and bridle."

That gave me an idea. I hadn't been working Valley - mostly cause I didn't have a plan to work with her - and I wasn't getting anywhere in her training. But Those sentences right there that Anna Sewell wrote gave me an idea. I was sort of going to start over with Valley's training. I was first going to put a bridle on Valley and get her used to that before moving on to the saddle.

So a few days ago (I can't remember exactly when. It might have been Sunday or Friday I don't remember) I started her "new training". I did as usual, and got her out of the back pasture (dad still hasn't finished the fence *rolls eyes*) and took her up to the barn to eat. After she ate, I walked her around the front pasture to graze.

Next, I took her up to the house. I tied her up to the trailer (not horse trailer, just a regular trailer. I'll get a pic for ya :) and went to the shed to get Valley's bridle. I took off Valley's halter and slipped on the bridle which Valley didn't fight. From the moment I put on the bridle to the moment I took her down to where my "invisible round pen" is (where I used to take her and Chloe down to graze, by the lake), she was chewing on her bit.

I had Valley stand there for a few minutes to get used to the bit, and then I flexed her on both sides a few times. Then I got up on her back and flexed her on both sides a lot. She tried to move around at first but of course I ain't gonna take that! So I kept flexing her until she stood still. It didn't take too long.

I backed her up a few times and she's really good at that - especially on the ground. When I'm on the ground, I barely have to pull back on the rope, cause she knows what "back" means. :) I love my horse.

While I sat there on her back, I decided that I should work on her turning. But then I thought that since I am training her to ride western, then I should teach her to neck rein :) Now I have no idea about how to do that, so I just made it up lol. So hopefully I'm doing it right.. Anyways, I took the reins in my right hand, and pulled them to the right. Valley was pretty confused at first, but I was kicking/putting pressure on her side, so she figured out what I wanted her to do and she turned to the right.

She did okay for her first time.. but it's gotten a little better with each day I do it with her. But yesterday, when I kept trying to get her to turn, she would flex instead (mostly on the left side) and try to (sometimes succeeding) bite my legs! It hurt! And I couldn't get her to turn her head around and it was annoying. I finally got her to behave, and I got her to walk around my invisible round pen :):) So fun!!

Anyways, here are a few oldish (about a week lol i think the first time I did the bridle thing) of my dirty pony-sized 3 yr old HORSE :P I would have put some more updated pictures of a few days ago, but I can't find my camera so i can't upload them on the computer.. anyways, here are the pictures:

















She's filthy!!!















she gets bored pretty easily ha ha




















Peace out,
Sarah