Training Titus

 It was my turn at mom's today and when I arrived at 9:30 am Beth Meister and her mother were there visiting on the deck. Beth had brought a lot of baby things for the mothers OR the grandmothers of the new babies. 

Diane decided mom needed the portacrib in her basement so of the mothers that come to swim with their little ones have a place to put them down for a nap. Diane and I took that down to the basement. The toys were organized and all are really cool toys. Who ever takes them will be happy. There were really neat boy toys and a few girl toys. At noon I left as Mike was going to work with Titus. He long lined him all the way over here.

Berlica also came so she and I took Titus to the outdoor arena and let him run. When Mike came back he long lined him back to the cabin. Berlica was put up on him. At first she just laid across his back. 

He tolerated that so well she ended up swinging up onto him.

He did very well so Mike asked him to walk a bit with her on him.

He was praised, petted and put in the pasture to relax a bit while we were waiting for Rebekah to arrive. Today Rebekah was going to take Blueberry out on the trails. Blueberry was on the trails before but Mike always ponied her.  Blueberry is an off the track Thoroughbred so we wanted to make sure she would behave without being on the lead. 

Berlica was going to ride Jewel who hasn't been ridden for a couple years but she had been on our starting lineup of riding horses in the past. We just needed to get a refresher on her. 

Mike started with Mika in the lead ponying Titus. The trail ride went well until the second creek crossing. That crossing is pretty scary for a young horse and Titus stopped and would not cross. Mike dropped the lead rope thinking Titus would follow but instead he turned around and started back. When Mike and Berlica took their horses back to get Titus, Blueberry got nervous so Rebekah got off and just waiting. Titus realized he didn't know the way home and had to follow the other horses so when he turned around Mike got on Blueberry and Rebekah got on Mika and continued the ride. When they got to the field they switched back. When they reached our field Titus took off at a gallop, Mike had Mika run to stop him from going all the way home but when he turned Titus started heading back to the cornfield so Mike had to cut him off again with Mika. All ended well. Titus and Blueberry were put in a paddock and  Sally pulled out for the second trail ride. This time Mike took the chain saw to do some trimming on the other side of the creek. Rebekah rode Sally and Berlica stayed on Jewel. All the horses did great on the second ride and lots of trimming got done. When I got back to the house I made the video of Titus first free then long lining then with Berlica on him, going out on the trails then Mike needing to stop him from galloping home or into the corn field. I included a little of the second trail ride. The video is quite long, almost a half an hour.

Titus is not quite 2 years old and not old enough to really ride but the little time Berlica was on him wouldn't hurt him at all. He grew up at Middle Grove and is actually pretty fit that he wanted to gallop home. Diane had a lady staying in the cabin for the last 3 nights and when she went into it to clean was shocked to find for the second time the guests did not sleep on the sheets instead just sleeping on the bedspread with blankets.  She asked us to look at the way she had it set up to see if maybe she is doing something wrong but we all said it was good.  I lifted the bedspread and it is obvious there are sheets and a nice down filled blanket under the spread. 

She was so curious to why she actually called the last renter and asked. The lady responded, "that is how I like to sleep." That made Diane feel better. I couldn't help but to be pleased with how the rides went today. The horses are going to be needed for rides on the 20th so we really need to make sure they will be safe.