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| From Mustang 'n' Cowboys |
I have a lot of pictures of TnT working with the horses. I will share those this next week. Daffinah is really a sweetheart. Every day she tries harder to please. Tony said yesterday that "she has a lot of want to!!!" He worked with her in the round pen, cinching up the saddle again and adding some of his weight. No bucking!!! She even got her first bath since she came to the stables. I have pictures of that too!
Travis rode Lucky out and around by the containers that have been placed in the field. He had no problem and walked through them very calmly. Sorry no pictures there, but I do have some that Travis and Tony took when they went on a ride down the wash.
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It rained in the San Joaquin Valley today! Most times it will sprinkle and that is it. So Travis, Tony and I headed over to the stables. Tony saddled Coal and headed back over to the house to get the new breast collar he had purchased from Fairfax Saddlery when we were in Bakersfield a couple of days ago. Travis took Cahlibur over to the turn out pen. He just grabbed a hold of Cahliburs' mane and off they went! No halter, no rope, just a cowboy and his horse trusting each other. Tony can do this with Coal, too!
Then Travis headed over to take Lucky out. It started sprinkling! I stuffed my camera in my sweatshirt jacket as I followed Travis. It started sprinkling harder as Travis led Lucky over to the metal hitching post in front of Coal's pen. The first picture shows how intent Lucky was in getting the rope untied. Travis worked with him attempting to stop this habit. I don't know how to spell it, but Travis made a sound that means "No you don't!". It sounds like you are saying the "a" in tr(a)ck twice! If anyone knows how to spell that...please let me know!!!
In the second picture, Lucky is only putting a space between the rope as his nose moves back and forth, as if to say, "I'm not untying, I'm just resting my nose between the ropes!" Travis used the curry comb to brush Lucky down before putting the saddle on him. In the mean time it is really starting to rain...Below are pictures toward Lucky's pen that showed the rain coming down quite hard, the clouds above the stalls, and the sun shining through after the storm broke.
By the time Travis had Lucky saddled, Tony and Coal returned with Katy and Rusty in tow. Rusty is getting better about staying close. He tried to chase a rabbit or ground squirrel, but skidded to a stop and came back just as soon as Tony called him!!
It is now raining very hard, I have since retreated to the truck for cover, Travis took Lucky to the shelter of Cahliburs' stall and Tony, Coal and the dogs sought shelter in Coal's stall. I looked over at the girls and Belle was running back and forth between her stall and playing with Oakley by bucking and throwing her head around. Oakley was getting perfectly wet while she played in the rain. At one point she bucked getting all four hooves off the ground while throwing her head around. The shower must have felt really good! And Cahlibur was searching the turn out pen for something to eat!!!
Back to Lucky's rainy day training...after about 10 minutes the rain stopped and Travis mounted Lucky and headed for the field. Years ago there was a race track on the property. The starting gate was given away in an attempt to clean up the place. I will never forgive the board members that allowed it to get away. What a piece of history taken from a century old horsemen's association...well anyway...Travis took Lucky out past what is left of the race track into the middle for some good old reining exercises.
Along the side of the track are about a dozen or so telephone poles that once held the cable that was used to fence off the track. These poles are now used for training. The third picture shows Lucky weaving back and forth; an excellent neck reining training setup. In the last picture, with a little coaxing, Travis had Lucky walking right through the mud puddle that had gathered by the round pen.
The first two pictures are a repeat of the training when Travis introduce Lucky to driving. I was not able to get over to the stables while Travis was working with Lucky, so Travis took these pictures before Tony got started. It was good reinforcement training for Lucky, too!
As you will notice, Lucky has his bridle on but the reins are very long so that Tony can walk behind him. While driving Lucky, Tony is instilling in him the building blocks for reining. When the right rein is pulled, Lucky will turn to the right and when the left rein is pulled, he will turn to the left. Likewise when both reins are shook and he is "clucked at" he goes forward and when both reins are pulled he will stop.
In the third picture, Lucky is saddled and worked on a short lunge line. In the fourth picture, Lucky has learned fast that he can rest when he listens to Tony to come to the center of the round pen!
Remember: Always stop your training, no matter how long or short the session may be, on a good note.
