Retention, A Blessing

Once my parents came home, the relief of having support again awakened the need to ride. I needed pony therapy and Roscoe definitely needed the work. I have two dead blankets thanks to the Cob boys deciding play time during blanket change was a good idea.
So I convinced Mom to ride with me over the weekend. I worried about what we lost during the two month break. I did feel somewhat better when an article mentioned that over in Europe horses tend to get long breaks.
Energy was not a problem. We seemed to have hit on the right feeding routine for him finally. He has maintained his weight so well this winter.

With the energy I was surprised that he also brought the right moves. It turns out our "10" canter from last year was not a fluke. I still felt solid when we canter to the right. Retention is such a blessing. And the fact that Roscoe is at the point of retention is an achievement. To me that says his training is on the right track. Now I just need to get his left lead up to the right's standard.

I used the feeling of the right lead to help work the left. Of course I think the biggest problem is me and my inconsistent outside rein. So I steadied the rein and focused on getting the same feeling of being around him evenly. It was hard for both of us, but I felt a difference. The next ride was not as successful since he was probably sore decided to fight the change. He still felt good though.

Sadly the weather has been so wet that I have not managed another ride recently. At least when the next ride does happen I will not feel like we have lost so much time and have to make up ground. This year I plan to do very little showing and try to focus on moving up to 1st level with more lessons. That plan starts in a couple weeks with Adult Camp. This move up will be hard because it will be a move up for both of us. I only have one 1st level test under my belt and that was on a made horse, so I can't help Roscoe. I think he is going to help me.

In other news, breeding season is coming up next month. Roscoe will attempt to breed one of the mares from last year who has a new owner. I let the breeding transfer. He possibly has another breeding as a result of the Westfalen Stallion auction. I will know more later this month. During one of the auctions, my ethics lost him a bid. Roscoe's contract is good for 3 breeding seasons, live foal guarantee. If a rebreed is needed, the mare owner only pays $200. One mare owner bid on a discounted breeding when she already has two contracts with two years remaining. I could not let her pay more than she needed. So I lost out on some stud fee, but hopefully kept a mare owner happy.

And of course I will be setting up the Foal Pool soon. This will be a short time one, the due date is soon.