Sunday, March 30, 2014

First Ride on Brego - Jumping style

So Brego has been at the facility going on a couple of weeks now. SInc ehe was yanked out of the pasture where he hadn't had any work since November, Tom agreed to spend some time working him in the western saddle for me before I attempted to throw the postage stamp (as Tom refers to when he speaks of my jumping saddle)
 He was settling in and finally getting to where he wasn't deathly afraid of the one end of the arena. Below is a shot of him working on that end.. starting to look pretty good...

See the size of those jumps behind Tom and Brego??? Someday maybe...

Yesterday, after much procrastination, I decided to put that postage stamp on him and give him a whirl. What was the worse thing that could happen in an indoor arena?

It took us about 10-15 minutes to settle into and figure out what each of us wanted from one another. I have to keep reminding myself that Brego just doesn't really know much. Tom has been pretty easy on him and really hasn't asked much of him up until last fall. After a while, he did start to listen to me , all the while keeping one careful eye on the monster end of the arena.


Pre ride staring at the monster arena door.. 


I put some trot poles down and we worked over those several times. It all turned out a lot better than I anticipated. Unlike Maggie, if he isn't listening after a couple of "offers", you get after him a little and he straightens right up.With Maggie we have to negotiate. I can't get after her because then the fight is on and she doesn't let up.  So riding a gelding, albeit green, was a nice change..

He did so well I was really tempted to take him over a couple of cross rails but I stopped myself short and left things off after he trotted quietly around several times and over cross rails with a steady even cadence.. 

Mission accomplished. It's all up from here right??


Ok, where's my carrot?





4 comments:

CG said...

He looks like a cutie! What breed?

How is your GSD doing?

irish horse said...

Brego is so cute! He looks like he'd like a little mischief however...

I also think your name update is just fine. We all change, but your farm name encompasses all.

Jonna said...

CG-well you might be the first one to ever describe him as cute.. especially with his big head...!! But he is athletically talented. He is a Morgan /Barb cross. Xena is doing great, thanks for asking.. other than her few little quirks, which are now manageable, she has really turned into a great dog... very dedicated and loyal.true to what the breed is supposed to be. She even let my dad in our house when we weren't home one day. That was a big deal. She growled a little but that was the extent of it. How is yours doing?

Jonna said...

Hi Irish Horse- Yes, he can be a handful but I think he has lots of promise. Thanks for the feedback on the name change!