Training horses

Rhoda arrived early afternoon to build on Ayanna's training. Yesterday Ayanna accepted Rhoda sitting on her just fine. Today she was ready to move with a rider. Ayanna was great.

This round pen reasoning Karin starts the horses on is just plain wonderful. By the time they are ready to be ridden they know all the basics such as go, turn, stop and back up. Ayanna thought nothing of walking over the tarp with a rider. She did so well, it was tempting to ask for more but instead she was given a treat and put back so Zalena and Marika could be brought in. Steven Marchal arrived, while Rhoda was riding Marika, Steven worked with Zalena on her bow. Below is Rhoda and Marika:

Below is Steven working with Zalena:

next he asked her to accept the tarp with no problem at all.

It probably helped that it is bitterly cold. She must have thought the tarp was some kind of blanket. Zalena is no dummy, once she was done, she walked right over to the heater and stood there warming herself.

Rhoda finished with Marika and just for fun brought her over to Zalena, Steven covered both with the same tarp.

Above they are looking over at the heater and below they have wandered over to stand next to this marvelous invention. Notice the glow of the heat on their chests.

Funny funny mares, most horses would be afraid of something like that. They were put away and the boys brought out. Today I stayed and watched for a while. Steven started on Valiant with Rhoda riding Evan.

Both boys have learned to bow with a rider, so impressive. The riders soon switched. Evan is still naughty throwing some pretty big bucks when asked to canter. Glad both Rhoda and Steven have no problem sitting them. The most entertaining part came when Rhoda was going to mount Valiant, each time she would get ready to mount he would bow. These wonderful trainers finished up giving Olivia, Jewel's filly a leading lesson. She also had to stand still while all 4 legs were picked up. She is learning quickly.