Back in the Saddle Again

After a few days of ground work I decided it was time to saddle up and ride ol Chainsaw some more.  Last night I did some lateral flexing from the ground, lunged him a little, a few more de-sensitizing exercises and stepped on for a little ride.  Not much had changed, he stands really well to be saddled and to let me get on.  We started flexing from the saddle where he's really stiff still and needs lots of bending in the future.  He still thinks the boogey man is gonna get him at the far end of the arena, esp on the side towards the timber.  Still we did lots of ORS ( one rein stops) and flexing and had no major incidents while walking lots and trotting a little.  While I really want to get this show on the road it is kinda nice not to have a sore nose/head at the end of a ride.  Will keep after him and see how things progress.

More Ground Work

Another night of ground work for Chainsaw.  Did the repeat of the lateral flexation from the ground, no problems.  Got the handy stick and string out and did some de-sensitizing which went well.  A little lunging, yaaaa, going great.  THEN did some spanking of the ground and found a hot button.  Almost lost him off the end of the long lead a couple times, but he quieted down within a minute or so and caught onto this game too and realized that it wasn't going to hurt him.  At first he thought it meant to go go go and he wanted to lunge around me as fast as he could go.  But wasn't long before he caught onto my body language and stood stock still, licking his brains and with a cocked leg.  After that we did another session of loading into the trailer, with the door closing behind and while he's not getting A's in that department he does load and stay in the trailer pretty good.  It had been over a week since his last trailer loading and he retained most of everything he did the last time.  Was tuff not to throw a saddle on and ride, but that will come in due time.

Lateral Flexing

Am needing to get back with Chainsaw and ride him more.  The horse I am riding is a 4yr old gelding that is so laid back he isn't doing the job needed for the mounted shooting.  He just doesn't seem to want to run fast.  But this is supposed to be about Chainsaw.  We got back from the Iowa State Champ mounted shoot at Marshalltown Iowa, and LOTS asked about Chainsaw.  It was raining last night so after I grained our 4 horses I decided I'd see how Chainsaw would do with some lateral flexation.  My center isle is concrete and pretty slick so I decided to just work him in the 12X12 stall he is let into for grain since it has nice thick rubber mats in it.  We must have spun 300 circles ( OK not THAT many but it sure seemed like it) before he figgured out that I was asking him to flex laterally while his feet were NOT MOVING.  He did catch on tho was still pretty much on high alert, with a meowing cat and cats jumping up concerning him more than it would most horses. He might have been a little anxious due to the fact that the other three had left the barn and gone out to the pasture without him.  In a half an hour or less he was giving to pressure and flexing both ways fairly well. 
This morning I put the halter on him after feeding. ( I let our four horses in the barn 2X a day and give them about a half a scoop of Strategy then turn them out into an 8 acre pasture) This morning he flexed almost perfect in both directions in the stall and out in the alley of the barn. 
Am planning on some more flexing and sending exercises and riding this week and will report back on how it's going.

Ground work and some ridng

Have been riding ol Chainsaw at a little slower pace and doing more ground work with him.  Got to talk to the gal who started him about a year ago today and she was very helpfull as to how he's acting. 
Have worked with Chainsaw 2X on his trailer loading and now he's going right in with a very light ask.  I did lounge him the other night and tho he was rusty with it I could tell he had been lounged in the past.  He was stiffer going one way than the other but that should fade in time.  Am planning on keeping after him with some light riding, and more flexing and ground work to get him to give to pressure and relax.  He's great to stand to be saddled, stand for flyspray, and stands stock still when I'm getting on.  It's the transitions from the trot to the lope that get a little hairy.  Will be interesting to see if all that gets better when I do more ground work.  So far we are both alive and in very good health and have high hopes to continue that trend.

Blow up on Ride #14~~~Horse with a rider problem

August 24th was my 14th ride on Chainsaw.  Am learning to take a little more care in what I do and not just jump into things.  Guess I have been pushing this horse a little too far and fast for his comfort level.  In the process of riding, I have been trotting and cantering lots more than he must be ready for. My big mistake on this ride was that I had been riding another older horse and had my spurs on and felt they were not a big deal~~~Chainsaw felt differntly about the spurs.   Again on Aug 24th he whirled and reared an we met heads again.  This time he got me in the nose and eventually he did get me on the ground.  I got right back on and we rode some more, but a sore nose did make me pause and think this whole situation over.  Soooo I let him sit a few days and talked to some trainers and other horse people over the next couple weekends about him.  Got lots of ideas from put a tiedown on him and crank it down ( my least favorite choice) to have his teeth looked at and take him to a horse chiro.

Went to a big Mounted Shooting event and saw LOTS of really nice horses on Labor Day weekend.  Got home about 6 on Monday evening, Sept 5th and couldn't stand it anymore.  Saddled ol Chainsaw up and took him for a spin.  We did lots of bending ( advice from a Kansas horse trainer) , stopping, and backing at a walk.  The horse was very relaxed and did well for the 30 min ride.
On Sept 7th I rode him again and knew he would be a little more elevated since I had been mowing in the pasture earlier and Chainsaw and his buddies thought it was a WILD time to run and snort.  The horse was noticeably more spooky and alert for the ride, spooking ( just a little) when one of our cats jumped up on something near the arena.  He did have a mini-fit at a walk even but handled it much better than his others and didn't dive off or rear or any other bad behavior.  As hard as it is I am going to try to go slower with him and see how that goes for more rides before doing anything rash in the equipment area.  He is always going to be a more elevated horse and that is what I wanted when I got him.  Will just have to see if we can get along well enough to compete as a team in the Cowboy Mounted Shooting.