Ready to Roam

I love Sunday; it's the only day of the week I'm not slammed with responsibilities! I chose to spend pretty much my entire Sunday messing with Amicus. We went our first trail ride late this morning, then we did some ground work this afternoon and this evening.

Chap and I had talked about doing a trail ride all week together with our 'stangs, but our schedules just didn't align until this morning. Before hitting the trail, we went through the paces in the arena to loosen-up the boys. After the friskiness was knocked off our horses, we opened the gate and headed for the hills! Boy were they excited! Our goal for the day was to introduce them to as many obstacles as we could possibly find. We rode them up our 1/4 mile driveway so they could watch the cars go by. Keep in mind that when you live as far out as we do, you just may be waiting a while! We got pretty lucky; not only did we get a hand-full of vehicles, but some of them were pretty loud and shiny. The boys must have gotten pretty desensitized to cars on the 10 plus hour drive from Cross Plains, because they barely batted an eye! Really the only thing we saw that was even remotely of interest to them was a big, blue piece of plastic laying on the shoulder of the road. Aside from that, they pretty much would look, sniff, and move forward. Good guys! HOOAH (Chap's mustang) acted like he had been a trail horse his entire life! Amicus did really well also, but he certainly acts his three years! He'll definitely be a horse that likes to take off and run through an open field. I can't wait!

After we got the boys safely back to the barn, we gave them baths, groomed them from head to hoof, then turned them out to graze for a little while.

A couple hours later, I grabbed Amicus out of the pasture for our second educational lesson for the day. This time, we worked solely on ground work- leading, trotting, sending, backing, etc. As an added bonus, I worked on leading him places he normally wouldn't find himself, like the deck off the front of our barn! He climbed the steps and everything...not even slightly hesitant! Can't wait to see what we'll accomplish this week :)

You've got to stand for something...

Amicus and I didn't have any huge breakthroughs tonight...just thought I'd show you some new pictures. We did, however, get to share the arena with my brother, Chapin, and his EMM horse, HOOAH (Chap's a Soldier :) ). Distractions, like other horses, are such great training tools! Chapin and I have tentatively planned a trail ride for Friday or Saturday. It's time to get out of that arena!

"No time spent in the saddle is wasted..."

"...As you learn to communicate with the horse and appreciate what he can do for you, it will add a fascinating dimension to your life." -- Mary Gordon-Watson



How accurately stated, Ms. Gordon-Watson! Let me tell you, the past two weeks have totally cemented my bond with Amicus, and they have, like Mary Gordon-Watson stated, added a whole new dimension to my life. My time working with Amicus is my favorite part of my day, and I feel like he looks forward to it also. He consistently gives 110% when we're working together, whether we're doing ground work or riding around in the arena.

The last time I updated the blog we were still working only in the round pen, striving for consecutive forward movement. We've come along way since that point!

After the last post, I did give him a week off to rest his lameness injury. Speaking of which, we're still not completely sure what's going on. Initially, I felt like maybe his shoulder was out of line, so I had the chiropractor come and give him a whole-body adjustment (he did a remarkable job allowing a new human to put her hands all over him!). That didn't fix it. Yesterday, our barefoot trimmer (Alex Sperandeo/Miracle Worker), came over to assess the situation. Alex seems to think that Amicus is kind of disjointed in his legs due to his long hooves, which is causing him to favor. My experience with Alex tells me that this assessment is probably spot-on. He'll be back to trim him again in a couple weeks...I'll keep you updated on that front.



Last week, after our week-long hiatus, Amicus and I took to riding again. He still handled it like a champ! We've done mostly light riding to this point, consisting largely of walking, trotting, turning, stopping, bending, and collecting. We moved up from the round pen to the arena, and I think he enjoys the opportunity to move around a little more.

Remember me telling you how intelligent Amicus is, and how quickly he picks up on things? Well, Amicus is responding so well to leg and seat cues that I'm able to drop the reins and turn both directions, stop, and back up! He's an amazing animal.

I'm starting to think at this point that I'd like to keep Amicus for my own after the competition :)

“Progress always involves risk; you can't steal second base and keep your foot on first base.” -Frederick Wilcox

So exactly 13 days from my first session with Amicus, guess what happened? I'm sure you guessed right...we're under saddle!! I seriously cannot put my relief into words. The first ride, Saturday, was relatively uneventful. I put the blanket on him and saddled him up while he

was ground-tied...he's so mellow. After he was all saddled, I lunged him around just a bit to get all the little boogers out of his system. Then it was time to hop on! I stood in the stirrups from both sides several times before actually planting my behind in the saddle and slipping my feet through the stirrups. When it was finally time to do just that, I have to say I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be! I know I say it all the time, but I just have so much trust in this horse that I truly believe he'd never harm me. (Let's hope I never have to eat those words ;) ) When I finally did climb up and sit down in the saddle, it was, even though I've gone through that same motion hundreds or thousands of times, like the first time. It was such a rush. I was excited, giddy, anxious, and punchy all at the same time. The mere thought that I was on top of an animal that was previously untouched by human hands...it's something you have to experience to comprehend; I can't even do it justice.

He did such an amazing job. We had two little hiccups; both times he got a little distracted, then just forgot I was on his back. He shut right down right after I regained his attention. Great first ride.

Today (Sunday/Day 14) we had our second ride. This time, we worked more on getting consecutive forward motion. Boy was he a champ! We had quite the crowd, as we usually do on Sunday afternoons, and he took all distractions in stride. I really can't tell you how pleased I am with Amicus.

As far as additional under-saddle progress goes, I think we're going to take it nice and slow. He seems to have a little issue in his shoulder. He's

never completely lame (or three-legged lame as we say in the horse world) but you can definitely tell he gets uncomfortable after hard exercise. I'll keep you posted!