Cocoa's 3rd Ride Videos

Each horse averaged 10 Minutes from start to finish. There will be things in these videos that aren't how I would prefer the horse to look and times when my position may be wrong but I need you to keep in mind that these horses had a 3 week crash course from halter breaking to being ready to ride and only 3 or 4 rides and  may leave any day.  I would prefer to spend the time to establish a good and light bend on the ground while standing and through in hand leading and lungeing in the vienna line and also to keep their heads low to get endorphines. I have showed them a little but if you read the other blogs you'll see they had a lot to learn in a limited time.  When these horses leave they will not be handled with correct, tactful Chris Irwin style body language so part of my job is to make sure they will do their job regardless of the persons position.

I was pleased to see Cocoa only flinched a little at the end as I reached up to tighten his bridle, he was one of the horses that hid his head from the halter and you still have to put your hand across the nose to halter rather than bringing it up from the bottom.  

You'll notice throughout these videos that I mount, dismount and saddle from either side and that the horses have adjusted well to having scary ropes tossed and dragged around them.  Unfortunately Matthew, my excellent videographer missed filming me mounting but Cocoa stood nicely bent around while I got on.  I prefer to have them bent when my butt hits the saddle so I know which way we're leaving.

You'll see I'm steering very lightly with timing and lots of release as soon as the horse attempts to go the right way. The amount of contact I keep with a horse depends on how comfortable I feel.  The sooner I can get out of their faces, the lighter they will stay but there are times when a firm contact is needed both for my safety and the horses comfort.

I also like to start using my legs on them right away, both for go and give your hindquarters.  At the end when the horse keeps going around his front end I've actually just bent him and am waiting for him to stop again so I can dismount.  I like to have them bent at that time as well in case they get scared.

Stay tuned, I will post Red and Snip tomorrow after the videos upload.