Sunday, November 30, 2014

Roscoe CANTERS!!!



I had an early Christmas gift, Roscoe cantered for me. And it was wonderful.
Today I was determined to ride and Mom was off too so we needed to take advantage of that. Luckily I was finally recovered from having to work at 430am on Black Friday. I could have gone my whole life without having that experience. But I guess it keeps me employed.
We decided against DaVinci and Winston since they have not had a trace clip yet. At 50 plus degrees it was too warm for them. That means the girls and the red boys. Well Dottie has not been informed it is past the time for being in season and has been teasing Roscoe. I did not want to ride him with her. So I said I would ride Roscoe first, then we could take the others out.
I went into the arena with the idea that we were cantering today. We walked around to see if mind was connected to body. Roscoe was aware of Dottie in the field above, but he was listening to me. I asked for trot and was happy with his energetic response. Without much fuss, I asked for canter. It required kissing, saying "canter" and a tap of the whip, but he did canter to the left. The gait was short lived due to the turn. That canter was so great and uphill.
 I changed to the other direction not expecting much since this is the direction he leans in on. With encouragement he picked up the same awesome canter. Then he surprised me by continuing through the turn and for another circuit. I kept one hand on the saddle horn and let him go where he wanted. Then I said "whoa" and he came down to walk and then halted. A total superstar. He never showed any stress or thoughts of misbehaving. Peggy said he looked like he thought "Oh we can do this together, cool." I did another left lead before finishing. He is not as confident to the left, but I was not pushing the issue today. As far as I was concerned, he did what I asked so he was done. Video here.
We also changed his nose band to a figure 8 and put real reins on his bridle. He was quieter with his mouth wearing the figure 8 and I was happier with real reins. Plus he looks so cute.
 

5 comments:

  1. Way to go! Watched the video and he has a lovely canter! Also - love the new bridle on him, he looks very handsome :)

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  2. Thanks, it feels as great as it looks. He inherited Barry's figure 8, love that look. Took a few extra holes to make it fit though.

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  3. Good boy!! He did great!!! Congrats!

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