Patience, it is an AMAZING quality

Ah, so today was fun. It was my birthday so I went out to the barn. We were supposed to have parade practice but it ended up being a trail ride because no one else showed up. haha

Before we went on the trail we decided to entertain ourselves by trying to mount up bareback, from the ground, I suck at this. Still didn't make it today, but made progress. I just have to say Rebel is so patience when it comes to some things, I mean, once your on him he is very impatient, but Three other girls and I worked on practcing mounting up bareback and used him, he was just loose.

Connie, is amazing at jumping on bareback, she some how made it onto to Princess from the ground, which is an 18 hand percheron carriage horse.

I almost made it on to Rebel, who is about 16 hands. My friend Kerry was laughing because at one point I had one leg on and over his back and my other leg was on the ground flat. Yeah, Flexible.

On the Trail he did ok, we all went bareback just for fun in a field next to our barn. There were 7 of us:

Mrs Lou-the barn owner on her Tennessee Walker: Scarlett
Me-on Rebel, my paint cross
Kerry-Mrs. Lou's daughter, my best friend, on her Paint Horse: Jessie
Connie-Mrs. Lou's other daughter on The POA: Sparrow, who is in training.
Brittney- Girl at barn, Leases an OTTB: Ranger
Tammy-Brittney's Mom, on her...QH? Barbie
Mary-Girl at barn on her Arab X Dreamer.

All the horses were pretty worked up today. I know Rebel spent most of the time in a slow jog, I even got him to collect a little, but it required having his head slightly to the inside.

I did learn one really good thing today. I think I have said before how Rebel is really bad at stopping, well I found that he responds quite a bit more if I pull back less and really sit deep. I mean really deep, but any progress is still progress.

Yesterdays Ride

Its hard to find decent trails that I can ride to from my barn, but yesterday my friends, connie, mary, and I went managed about a 10 mile ride in 4 and a half hours. We did "The Hound Dog Trails"

I was on Rebel, Connie was on her pony Zulu, and Mary was on Dreamer. Connie and I are very experienced riders, Mary really wanted to go on a ride, and I think this was doozy for her.

The Hound dog trails are very simple, very flat and wide. Lots of good loping room.

The horses did great. Connie and I did a lot of loping, and tryed to get Mary to lope, which didn't quite work because she didn't feel like it. As a result Connie and I had to stop and wait a lot, which is good training for Rebel as he is really impatient and hard to stop. Ah, at one point there was a HUGE ditch. about 5 feet wide and a little deep, Connie and I tryed to talk our horses into going through it. No Dice. Mary finally gets off and leads Dreamer across, so we jumped off. and I threw the reins over Rebel's head, gave a little tug, then I jumped over the ditch and he followed. On the other side Connie had to help me mount up as the saddle was slipping but it was as tight as I could get it, while we were doing this Zulu took off at a jog, Mary was already on and after him, and Connie is yelling at me "Hurry Up, go catch Zulu" (Mary usually isn't able to catch them) So I get on and kick Rebel into high gear, man he has some power under him. I got him to slow down once I saw mary had a hold of Zulu's reins. I ponied him back to connie, then we realized there was nowhere really to go, so we set up to cross the ditch again.

What I love about Rebel is once he tries something once, he can do it again. He is brilliant. I was the only one who didn't have to get off and lead him back across. I was hoping he'd walk it, but he jumped that ditch. The ride home was very uneventful. A lot of stopping to wait since Mary wouldn't let dreamer lope. But a great ride.

Welcome

Hey, seeing everyone's training blogs made me want to make one for my horse Rebel and the other horses I ride. Rebel is my own horse, I inheirted him last october from my dad. He is a 15.3 Paint cross. Nothing fancy, just my loveable trail horse with a very mischeivious attitude.

I'm trying a picture here and hope it works:



This is him before his move to VA Beach. There are tons of horses in my life, but I definately trust him the most.