Whisper’s First Ride

Well, not exactly his first but I’d venture to say it was his best. I would recommend Tall to anyone. He took the time to ask about Whisper’s background and get to know him, do some groundwork first without the saddle then with, and eventually become Whisper’s newest bestest friend.

The day started out with Whisper being Whisper. We did some groundwork in the morning. He did pretty well but was jumpy. We introduced a new exercise hoping he would concentrate and settle down a bit. This met with marginal success. I put him back in the pasture and ran home for lunch. An hour later I was back at the stable tacking him up for his big adventure. In the middle of this the mare and foal who were occupying the round pen we were going to use were brought into the stable. The foal came trotting up to make Whisper’s acquaintance. Visions of Whisper meeting Skylar at EOI came rushing back. Whisper was terrified of Skylar and there was a fence between them. I expected an immediate meltdown. Amazingly he merely looked at her and stood quietly while she danced around. He continued to stand quietly when she came back a second time. It was time to move to the round pen.

Tall went through groundwork, unsaddling, more groundwork, saddling, putting weight in the stirrup, putting weight on the saddle, up, down, up, down. And then the rains came. It was downright boring and I’ve never been so happy to be bored. There was no drama, few hysterics, and the drama queen was banished at least temporarily. When Tall got on, Whisper just stood there while he rubbed and bounced and rubbed some more. When he got him moving it seemed he only had a reverse gear. Whisper can back up straight. He can back in circles. He can practically do figure eights going backwards. It probably took 20 minutes of stopping, starting, getting on and off, circling, a little spooking, and finally a couple of slaps on the butt with the ends of the reins before the light bulb lit and he moved more or less forward. The first couple of circuits were done in a beautiful sidepass. After that he moved forward first at a trot then a walk. As the video shows he’s almost like a different horse – his head is down and he looks calm and happy. Funnily enough when Tall tried to back him after this it seemed he’d forgotten how to go backwards. We all decided that’s just fine for now. Once again Whisper has validated everyone's faith in him. I firmly believe he can do this.

Same Old and Some Cautious News

We have been having some rather intensive groundwork sessions. One thing that’s different between how I’ve handled groundwork and how Whisper’s trainers do it is direction changes. Where both Sam and Callie tend to keep him going in one direction for long periods of time I like to change direction often. I decided Whisper needed a fast workout with a lot of changes to keep his interest and attention. To that end after his warm up, we cantered to the right, cantered to the left, then cantered some more. After several minutes of this his head came down some and he became more responsive to requests for direction changes. He is almost to the point of pivoting on his hocks although I probably shouldn't push that. I don't think he'd make a great cowhorse but what he lacks in quickness he more than compensates for in length of stride. He can cover a lot of ground quickly.

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to watch Callie work him for the past week or so but I can see improvements when I work with him. Where it has been difficult to keep him walking for any length of time now he seems happy to walk without breaking into a trot - this is very effective for cooling him down after a workout. 

He has also become more responsive in the pasture. For a long time we would take his pan of grain to him and let him eat it wherever he wanted. We finally decided he could eat at the feeder like the other two horses. A couple of times Spice snarfled his dinner but to date nobody has gotten his carrot or apple. Where I used to take his treat to him now he comes to me for it. Below are Whisper and his buds Spice & Doc waiting patiently for dinner - not.

Now for the cautious news. I have spoken with the person we've chosen to do Whisper's 'first ride' and it is tentatively set for Wednesday. I'll touch base with him tomorrow to finalize a time but hopefully the next post will include video of the big boy under saddle. Fingers crossed!

Work and Walkabout

Today Whisper went on an adventure. First we did groundwork which went well except for the moment I dropped the lead. I ran to jump on it which startled Whisper. Luckily I actually landed on my end just as he hit his end. Thinking I still had hold of him he continued his circle. We went over poles then over a small jump – he hasn’t jumped since his surgery. He did well and my husband was able to take some video. I haven’t seen it yet but will post it when I get it.

Afterwards we went on a walkabout. We went over the bridge which he checked out thoroughly but didn’t object to crossing. The water didn’t bother him; the ducks didn’t bother him; even the belligerant horses up the road didn't bother him. They bothered me - we didn't hang around. I had to tell him to get out of my pocket a few times but overall he was more interested than nervous. His was looking everywhere at once and his ears were swiveling so fast they were practically spinning. He got to graze a little and went back to his buddies with stories to tell.