2015
Total Rides: 18
Total Time: 10 Hours 5 Minutes
Total Recorded Miles: 16.17 Miles
*Recorded miles were mostly on the road/most pasture ride distances weren't recorded
October
1 ride for a total of 1 hour and 51 minutes. 3.61 recorded miles.
Ride 114
10-4-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 1 hour and 51 minutes. 3.61 miles.
I rode Chrome, hubby on Rocky and neighbor girl on her mare. This was the first time hubby rode with me and neighbor girl and also his first time riding Rocky on the rode. It would have been perfect if we hadn't had to wait an hour for neighbor girl to show up and get ready. That was way too long for hubby to be in the saddle and his back was hurting. He survived though and that's a good sign.
Chrome started out excited and was so impatient waiting for her to get ready. He just wanted to see the other horses and did not want to stand still, so I had to do lateral flexing and backing to make him listen. He started to use backing as an evasion so I went back to only flexing him. Neighbor girl's horse was NUTS! She was so fresh and jigging constantly. It didn't bother my horses. They walked fine. Chrome only tried to break into a trot twice, but it's only because I had been asking him to trot to catch up.
Chrome spooked once at a car popping out behind some bushes above our head on the hill and slammed on the brakes, popping his head up so fast he almost got me in the face. Starting out I had Chrome on a short rein, but halfway through the ride I had him on the buckle. That's a theme it seems like lol. It was a really fun ride. Having hubby and Rocky there does a lot to calm me and Chrome down hehe.
September
3 rides for a total of 50 minutes. 3.6 recorded miles.
*The 3.6 mile ride I forgot to look at the time so don't
know how long it took, but had to be an hour at least.
Ride 113
9-21-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 30 minutes.
We did a lot of walking (even went up and down the road in front of our property practicing ignoring the neighbor's horses who were grazing right by the fence), a little trotting, a little backing and a little standing around. It was a good ride.
Ride 112
9-12-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. ? minutes. 3.6 miles.
My best friend rode Rocky and I rode Chrome around the block together for the first time. Chrome was such a good boy! He did so much better having Rocky along than when we go alone. He was a little bouncy when we walked by the first bunch of horses, but the rest after that he just ignored. He was so out of shape I had to get off and walk him up the hills. He was so tired he would just stop and stand there. I felt so bad for him!
Ride 111
9-7-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 20 minutes.
We rode around the yard, mostly at a walk with a tiny bit of trotting. Chrome's stifle gave out once and I could tell when it had been twenty minutes without even looking at the time because Chrome was worn out. He was so out of shape! Chrome stood patiently while I watched hubby ride naughty Rocky and wasn't even bothered when I yelled at Rocky. That was our first ride with hubby and Rocky. :)
August
1 rides for a total of 23 minutes.
Ride 110
8-31-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 23 minutes.
We rode around the yard, keeping it easy because his stifles had been locking up. I walked him over a tree top that had fallen a few times. On the last time over he spooked forward at something. Scared me, but was fine. He was being lazy otherwise, but listening. Also did some backing under saddle and he did really well, even tucking his head and giving instead of bracing.
June
1 ride for a total of 40 minutes.
Ride 109
6-13-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Synthetic Western Saddle. 40 minutes.
I rode around the yard. His sweet itch was bothering him and all he wanted to do was scratch. He didn't want to stand still so we did some lateral flexion. We ran errands, passed messages between hubby and dad who were at different ends of the property and carried the mail to the house like Pony Express! This was his first time wearing the western saddle and I'm not sure what he thought of it. I think the girth rides up behind his elbows too much..
May
3 rides for a total of 1 hour and 5 minutes.
Ride 108
I was so distracted trying out the new saddle pads that I forgot to put my helmet on!!
Not a good ride to forget either lol. Don't worry no one was hurt.
5-7-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 20 minutes.
I was trying out two new saddle pads to see which one he and I liked best. At the trot he did great, but at the canter, as you can see in the picture, he was crowhopping. I switched him back to his normal tack and he was still doing it and his stifles were also giving out, so I figured it was his stifles from the lack of exercise and not the pads.
Ride 107
5-4-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 30 minutes.
Hubby rode for 15 minutes to warm Chrome up and then I rode for 15 minutes. Chrome's stifles were giving out so I wanted to take it easy. I worked up cantering up and down the driveway. He was more eager going toward the neighbor horses, but he did canter toward the house too.
Ride 106
5-3-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 15 minutes.
I rode bareback around the pasture. He was very up and I was nervous riding in the pasture for the first time bareback since my fall. I froze up and asked hubby to lead us. I regained my confidence when I went back to the yard and we did some good work even trotting some circles in the driveway. He was very responsive and a good boy.
April
1 ride for a total of 20 minutes.
Ride 105
My friend trotting Chrome. Look at his trot!
4-12-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 20 minutes.
I rode approximately 20 minute split into two short ten minute sessions. He got his hooves trimmed between that hehe. With his saddle on! My farrier rode him too (that's her in the above pic) and he was so great. Forward, happy, responsive. She cantered him four times and he was forward and held it well. She said I just need to drive him forward more instead of just sitting there lol.
March
2 rides for a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes. 3.22 recorded miles.
Chrome was on high alert! First time seeing a horse drawn wagon. I got off lol.
3-29-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. ? hours and ? minutes. 3.39 miles.
Chrome was high as a kite! He had his tail flipped and was prancing around. I walked for 1.86 of the 3.39 miles. He saw lots of galloping horses, the wagon in the picture above, stood patiently while neighbor girl galloped her horse and splitting up and meeting up with neighbor girl when she wanted to ride through the field and I wanted to stay on the road. Lots of craziness in that ride. The funny thing is when I got him home I cantered him and he was perfect!! Very responsive transitions both up and down, held it the entire length of the driveway and no crowhopping. So warming up before cantering is a must. I called that a great ride and hopped off. I forgot to look at how long it was.
Ride 103
3-5-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle.
First ride off property in the snow! Fun!
February
2 rides for a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes. 3.22 recorded miles.
Ride 102
GoPro fail lol.
2-14-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 40 minutes.
Rode around the yard. He was being a pill because Zep was grazing without him. Did a lot of lateral flexion because he was bracing so bad. I tried working on him yielding his haunches, but he wasn't getting it. I rode him to the back of the pasture and he was being very balky. I insisted that he keep going and he was suddenly super "up" and kicked at his belly with one hind leg and was hunching his back. I thought he was trying to intimidate me (he was), so I kept doing lateral flexion over and over until we made it to the front of the pasture, then I jumped off and unclipped his reins to longe him. He did it again while longeing so I realized something was bothering him. I unsaddled him, rubbed all of his sweaty areas, flattening out the hair and then saddled him back up. He was fine for the rest of the ride.
I was nervous so I took him back to the yard, but he was still being pissy about Zep grazing. When we went up the driveway and he spotted the neighbor horses he started ignoring me, so I started doing more lateral flexion until he calmed down and relaxed and was paying attention again. I walked him over the straw bales a couple of time. His stifles were sticky (from the long ride and deep mud on ride 101), so I kept it at a walk. I did a long desensitizing ground session afterward because he was being so reactive. Video in post.
Ride 101
2-9-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 1 hour. 3.22 miles.
Rode with the neighbor girl. Chrome was spooking at everything, including a dog that was following us every single time it appeared through the trees. The dog came over a hill above our heads, behind us and Chrome bolted into the street, turned for home and slipped. The slip scared him because he stopped, thank goodness! He didn't try to bolt again after that, but he eyeballed things and spooked in place a lot. I kept him on a tight rein because he wanted to trot to stay close to the neighbor's mare. He wasn't jigging though. At the halfway point he finally relaxed and I gave him rein. The last half of the ride was enjoyable.
January
4 rides for a total of 1 hour and 36 minutes. 2.52 recorded miles.
Ride 100
1-25-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 20 minutes. .28 miles.
Short, good ride around the house. Worked on lateral flexion, backing and yielding his hindquarters. He remembered how to yield his haunches in both directions. I cut the ride short because it started sprinkling on us.
Ride 99
1-17-15 - Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 36 minutes. 1.57 miles.
A short ride to the hill and back. He was being green and balky, but otherwise he was good. He felt a little off, so I longed him when I got home and shared a video.
Ride 98
1-15-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 15 minutes. .25 miles.
I was testing out my new GoPro. I walked him around for almost fifteen minutes to warm him up, then worked on yielding his hindquarters to my leg again. With the help of treats he was finally getting it. Time to break out the clicker again!
Ride 97
First ride back since the fall so I was tense.
1-12-15. Bridle/5.5" French Link Snaffle. Aussie Saddle. 25 minutes. .42 miles.
I have to admit my heart was racing as I went to mount up, but once I was on I was fine. We walked over straw bales to strengthen his stifles and even jumped it once! I cantered him once, but he jumped into it very eagerly and I freaked and shut him down... oops. After that we just walked and trotted around some. I briefly introduced him to yielding his hindquarters off my leg while mounted for the first time. He was confused.
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