During the retreat last week, Newt was used as my demonstration horse during the groundwork portion of the retreat. At first, he was pretty busy-minded in the arena with the other horses while we did introductions, but it wasn't long before he came down & stood still. He did quite well as he helped me to demonstrate the groundwork exercises for everyone. There are still times when he wants to resist coming off of the halter pressure at times & this reared its head when we moved out to my jumping logs. While he would step over the smaller logs, he was resistant to being directed towards the larger logs & often tried to find comfort with the other horses. It was nearing dark & I wanted to give everyone else a chance with their own horses so we ended the session with him resting next to the log as I stood on top of it. We'll venture out again when the other horses aren't there for him to seek comfort from. Early this week, we continued to work on Desensitizing, Yielding the HQ & FQ, Flexing, Lunging Stage 1 & 2, & paid particular attention to Sending & Circle Driving & working on having him come forward off of halter pressure.
Newt will begin my deworming protocol on Wednesday. We're scheduled to have a session with Jen of Knotty Equine on October 11th & may potentially be scheduling dentals for the same day.
On Wednesday, I sprained my right ankle pretty good. While I've been doctoring it a bit, I was able to get out to take photos of the horses today & spent some time working with them. I am going to give myself Monday & Tuesday off so things can continue to heal. Because of this, I'm going to subtract 7 days worth of training from your October invoice to make up for my recovery time.
When we start back up on Wednesday, we'll review these exercises & begin desensitizing to the saddle pad & potentially put the surcingle on. If all goes well & I'm feeling agile enough, we'll go ahead & saddle. We'll spend a bit more time working on those exercises under saddle before knocking out his first rides here.
- Lexy Nuesch
Next week's update will be posted on Saturday.
I do my best to get these updates posted in a timely manner, but it's not uncommon for me to be outside until after dark, depending on the weather, my schedule, & who gets worked when so updates will sometimes be posted quite late in the evening. Don't be alarmed if you don't see your update right away. In rare cases, I may have to push them until the next morning, but I'll reach out & let you know if so.
Comments