Minnie

KarinUS

KarinUS

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2001
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Texas
Picking Minnie's trainer seems to have really been a lucky draw.
I spoke to him today and she's welcome to come to his farm in the early spring. I still had some worries about how she would handle this and how they would handle her but he gave me all the answers I needed.
I am so excited!
It will be great motivation to continue with my lessons and become better for her so that I can work with him together on turning her into a fabulous riding horse.
I also ordered her her first bit (so far all training had happened in her Nurtural bitless) and I am hoping another NR member can make her a well fitting snaffle bridle.
Up until I started to shop for bridles in Minni's size I didn't really realize how nice the trainer was in giving us the bridle he had from Nurtural in Warmblood size. It fit so well. And I had no idea of it's worth until I looked at Bridles online. Yikes I owe that man~! lol
 
I rode her again on my own. And now I am not sure if I should continue. Or stop and wait.
She is only green broke and I wonder if riding her now will teach her things that will make it harder for the trainer to teach her properly.
She very much resists going to the left for example. And my rising trot is probably not as good as it could be. She keeps going in the sitting trot (which always was my weak point with DJ!) but stops after a few strides in posting trot.

Now I am also unsure about her saddle. Since it's a Sensation treeless it may be even more pronounced when I do something less than perfect since she can feel it much more than perhaps in a treed saddle where there would be a tree and lots of flocking separating my errors from her back.

I am a total chicken but for some reason I really enjoy riding her. (If you knew me the thought of me volunteering to get on a green broke horse would be absurd)

I may ride DJ more to work on myself. And of course I have lessons on Saturdays on a school horse...

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I love her colouring! She is beautiful. As to whether you should ride... There is loads of in-hand stuff you can do in the meantime that will help her ridden work if you want to wait for the trainer. On the other hand, you are probably doing fine as you are! When horses are first backed, first they need to learn to adjust to maintaining their own balance with a rider on-board - which is much harder in trot, so a few strides at a time is fine. Perhaps just ask for a few strides rather than wait for her to choose to break gait if she is feeling unbalanced? In walk, try and focus on going with her movement - rather than on doing anything 'correctly'. Eg as her belly swings from side to side, allow your legs to swing along - kind of encouraging forward movement by matching her energy with yours. And think: 'forward'. If that makes sense. But don't listen to me! You're ahead of me anyway. I haven't got on mine yet!!
 
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I took this pic of my daughter, Nikki (age 3) and Minnie today at the barn and I just love that expression on her face!
 
Thanks. :)
My plan is to ride her today for the first time outside the enclosed riding area. Wish me luck. This might be the first time I'll have something unpleasant about her to report... :o
 
It was terrible.

She really didn't want to go. I wanted to keep it easy so she wouldn't get sour on riding. But she was resisting everything. The saddle kept slipping too.
The stirrup straps wouldn't turn. She spooked once and I thought it would be the end of my days.
I tried to fake being relaxed and try and keep a decent posture. We only trotted a tiny bit and a short canter after the spoke.
My OH took pics of the disaster ride. Weird thing is I remember every second of it as total struggle and he still managed to take cute pics of Minnie!

I figured my face would look like this: :frown: and Minnie's like this: :devil: but she's just pretty no matter what.

I probably really should just keep my butt off of her. How can I make riding fun for her? I don't want her to hate it! :(

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speaking of butt... I am glad I have a draft cross. On a regular sized horse my butt would be wider than the horse's! :o

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Faking a relaxed and happy attitude...


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Got her back into the ring (which she GREATLY resisted) and am just relieved we both survived the outside of an enclosure riding...
 
It will get easier, just keep persisting! Give her lots of praise and you will get there.

She really is beautiful! A less hairy but chunkier version of my Moët!
 
Well done for getting out :)
Is there another horse nearby you can ride out with? The company may make her more comfortable? When I was backing a shettie I used to take her for in-hand walks first, then do familiar loops and just hop on and off every so often.

Or have someone lead you out - so she isn't having to think of 2 new things at once: ridden cues for movement plus keeping her balance. She can be cued by the lead-rope (much more familiar) and just focus on the balance?

Love the pics!
 
lol I am not as brave as you think! I was still on our own acreage. The other horse can be seen at the barn.

One good thing did happen. She has a bitless bridle and still she was really resisting rein pressure.

I had a hard time turning her. Then .... MAGIC... I did the Mary Wanless thing where you don't focus on the rein and just steer the horse's wither with your V (thighs/butt) and it WORKED! With much less fuss. Got to get better at my riding before I complain about Minnie's

I'll pick up a clicker and do some more clicker training with Minnie. She enjoyed that. :)
 
I didn't ride today. It was cold and rainy and just miserable.
We still played with Minnie though. She's always the first to greet me at the gate and my little ones like to clean hooves.
The 5 year old only has to gently tap her leg and she will pick up her big old feet for him and hold them up. She really is a doll. I love her.
Maybe some training tomorrow if it's not so rainy anymore...
 
Since I wasn't quite sure about the join up we decided to focus on target training today. She loves that. Here's my 3 year old helping me by moving the target around:
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Minnie is very stiff going to the left so we also did a few circles free schooling in both directions. She's still very reluctant but it's getting better every time.
I am taking Francis' advice and just working on it frequently but briefly.
It's so nice to get feedback on here so I can focus more on the stuff that goes well and don't get worked up about things that don't go well.
I still (and always did) think she will be outstanding.
 
Thank you. She really inspires me. :)
I had a fantastic lungeline lesson on the instructor's Trakehner mare. My plan is to have a fantastic (or well t least 'good enough') secure seat by summer so that I can do Minnie justice when she's off to the trainers and I am riding her there.

(The trainer is also kind of easy on the eye so I don't want to look like a total dimwit in front of him :o )
 
I'm going to have lessons on a simulator so when Thyme first starts being ridden, I can help rather than hinder here. Hopefully!
 
How fun! I read your report on it. Was surprised you had to power it by your own movement!

Had another very nice time with Minnie today. I was worried about her preferring going to the right so much but this was only our third session with focus on bending to both sides and she has noticeably evened out already! At times I couldn't even tell which one was her stiffer side.

I've also been working out myself with the Muscle Language DVDs -1 each day. Don't roll your eyes. I was shocked how expensive this set was as well! But I found a used set and managed to buy them using reward points from my credit card.
Hopefully it will magically transform me into a fantastic rider! ;)
 
Minnie's first bit arrived!
Not sure why that excites me but I am happy to have found the one I wanted in her size -most 6" bits appear to be a lot 'stronger' (bigger horse = stronger bit?). :)
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