Well, it appears that winter has finally arrived Southern California style...the nights are much cooler and we've been experiencing damp mist in the lower canyons- they're pretty foggy although you can see the sky. Very strange....
Last night I worked Max for a little more than an hour and once I got him to wake up, it was pretty decent. Although it rained almost two weeks ago, the stables have been slow to dry out due to the heavy mist/fog presence (even during the day there's a haze) and thus, the footing on the track and elsewhere haven't been the best.
Max's arthritis doesn't appear to be an issue, at least so far so once he got warmed up, we were able to do some good cantering. We practiced roll-backs and canter charges and Max seems to be getting better and especially at staying still at the halt. Unfortunately, in the past Max has had a tendency to dance around in place- maybe anxiety due to getting buzzed up, who knows? Now put him in a group situation and it can be a real trial, especially on the trail.
One good thing about the drill team practice I've been doing eith the Warhorse Foudnation on Saturdays is that we practice the canter charges but we also mix it up by making the horses just walk and halt at unexpected moments. That way, the horses will eventually come to realize that it's not all about blindly running and that they could be called upon to do other things. In short, it's training them to pay attention to the rider. Of course this is good in theory but sometimes the reality can be different like last Saturday when the horse next to Max kept rearing and wanting to charge and Max was feeding off it it. At one point Max tried to leap forward and it was an interesting moment of riding it though. I couldn't have done that two years ago.
Any way, we did some training and I then took him on a short trail ride, checking out the California Polo Club and watching some of the polo match. The exercise was good for both of us and Max was happty to get his bucket at the end of the evening.
Last night I worked Max for a little more than an hour and once I got him to wake up, it was pretty decent. Although it rained almost two weeks ago, the stables have been slow to dry out due to the heavy mist/fog presence (even during the day there's a haze) and thus, the footing on the track and elsewhere haven't been the best.
Max's arthritis doesn't appear to be an issue, at least so far so once he got warmed up, we were able to do some good cantering. We practiced roll-backs and canter charges and Max seems to be getting better and especially at staying still at the halt. Unfortunately, in the past Max has had a tendency to dance around in place- maybe anxiety due to getting buzzed up, who knows? Now put him in a group situation and it can be a real trial, especially on the trail.
One good thing about the drill team practice I've been doing eith the Warhorse Foudnation on Saturdays is that we practice the canter charges but we also mix it up by making the horses just walk and halt at unexpected moments. That way, the horses will eventually come to realize that it's not all about blindly running and that they could be called upon to do other things. In short, it's training them to pay attention to the rider. Of course this is good in theory but sometimes the reality can be different like last Saturday when the horse next to Max kept rearing and wanting to charge and Max was feeding off it it. At one point Max tried to leap forward and it was an interesting moment of riding it though. I couldn't have done that two years ago.
Any way, we did some training and I then took him on a short trail ride, checking out the California Polo Club and watching some of the polo match. The exercise was good for both of us and Max was happty to get his bucket at the end of the evening.
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