Tuesday

Missy - Softer over the tailhead, but no other changes.

Kixsie - Hooftester came back positive, abcess or navicular? Began soaking hoof to see if I can draw the abcess down if there is one. If it is navicular, the owner is in Australia and left no contact numbers. My farrier is not up to date on navicular barefoot trims, am looking for someone in the local area to come evaluate her. Without owner permission, I can't take her for a veternariay (sp?) work-up with x-rays. Also hesitant about administering any NSAIDS.

Riding Lesson - It has been two weeks since Jaylee's lesson so we began with a refresher in position and balance lunging bareback. She did fantastic, so we saddled Sadie and worked on precision and cuing by having her ride Sadie in a large circle with the object to make it round and equal distance from a centerpoint (me) the whole way around. Jaylee started at a walk and then progressed to a trot. She did great, but had more trouble with the circles to the right than the left. Sadie did not want to keep bending to the right. Jaylee stuck with it and persevered! Jaylee stayed relaxed and balanced throughout most of the exercice. She would get a little off balance at times and draw her knees up, but with a gentle reminder, she dropped her heel back down and lengthen through the hip. In previous lessons, she was having trouble maintaining control and letting Sadie go wherever. Today, Jaylee maintained control and Sadie behaved beautifully. Once Jaylee had achieved her goal on the circles, I had her begin to ride Sadie on the rail. I expalined that this is where she needed to maintain control the most, because Sadie tends to rush when left to go as she pleases. Jaylee began at the walk, and transitioned to the trot smoothly. Her goal in this exercise is to maintain Sadie in a steady rythem and cadence while maintaining her balance in the saddle. She would let Sadie rush at times and break gait at times, but she maintained her balance and position well. She was able to adjust her seat to what Sadie was doing and cue Sadie appropriately. For Jaylee's free ride portion of the lesson, she chose to ride Sadie over the bridge several times and work the trot poles. She had fun and did a great job of riding the poles. A new thing that I am trying with my younger lesson kids is a Lesson Folder. We wrote down Jaylee's riding goals and lesson goals. She delighted in marking off several of the lesson goals already. I also included a color sheet and a horse emotion worksheet. I challenged her to decorate the folder and draw me a picture for next week. I will also be implementing a testing system so that my lesson kids can rate their progress. I think that this will really encourage my really young riders.

Wednesday is my no lesson day, so I can concentrate on the training horses. I also plan on working with Rendi and Val. They need to work on creating a better partnership.