Twosox: Having a BLAST!!

April 28 2010 

This morning after I trimmed Knightly I played with Twosox. We had so much fun!! I put the bareback pad on him for the first time in a LONG time. He was pretty much okay with that. There were a couple times he wasn't so sure about it but he did really well. We played for a bit in the corral before we went up to the riding ring. We did circles, sideways, yo-yo's, and playing with shelter. This time I stood on the outside and sent Twosox in like it was a trailer. At first he wasn't to sure about after a couple tries he was confident. Then I backed him into the shelter. I was actually surprised at how well Twosox did! After he back into it he looked around, lick and chewed and then I brought him into me. 

Then we went up to the riding ring. We had so much fun. I think that this was probably one of our best play times! We did 30 laps on the circle each way. Going to the right I only have to make 1 correction and going to the left I only have to make 3!!! For the first day that is incredible! Both Prince and Twosox have really amazed me in maintaining gate so well!! They have been doing an amazing job! I think part of it is because horses love having a job so once they know their responsibility they love it! 

After that I was going to get on and ride because Twosox was calm and confident but when we went over to the gate to close it Twosox started spooking at things. The wind had picked up and it is scarier on that side of the corral... or at least Twosox thinks so. I think the trees don't help. We did some sideways a long the fence. At first Twosox was scared and wasn't paying attention to me so it took a while but pretty soon he calmed down and we got some really nice sideways both directions. Mr. Parelli says "If you want them (the horse) used to black birds get them okay with eagles" so I grabbed the big piece of plastic that was one of the things that spooked Twosox and off we went. It was soooo  much fun! I love problem solving! We did almost everything with the tarp. At first Twosox was to scared even to touch it so we played with that then he would touch it and let me rub it on his head and neck... but nothing else so we kept playing and then I could rub him on his back and on the side of his stomach, then his hindquarters, then his hind legs, then under him. Pretty soon I could rub him every where! So then when the wind started up again I let the taro blow around a bit to get Twosox used to that and so on. After that I asked Twosox to stand on it. He was fine with that. It was really cool because as he was standing on it the wind picked up again and I thought that Twosox would jump off of it but he stood there, he spooked a little bit but he tried really hard not to move. What a special horse! The wind stopped and Twosox was still standing there then he looked at me and asked a question. It was so cool! 

After that I got up and rode. I felt confident that Twosox was okay with the wind and everything in the arena. We had an amazing ride! We did some point to point and then circles at the walk and trot. Twosox's trot doesn't seem so big any more! I think that since I can sit Prince's fast trot with the bareback pad Twosox's trot seems like nothing! 

Circles went well. Twosox did really well for the first time doing them in... well months! I haven't ridden him in a long time! It must have been back in February that I last rode him! After the circles we did some 9-step back ups and other things. I remember when Twosox was lighter then Prince and now Prince is way lighter then Twosox but I have put a lot more time into riding Prince. We ended with Follow the rail. I asked Twosox to trot and he would trot a little and then break gait so I would let him walk a step or two and then ask for the trot again. At the end we trotted almost half of the arena! I was sooooo proud of Twosox!! One thing that I realised was that since Twosox was so sensitive even if I moved my reins a little bit he would feel that and slow down. So I really had to make sure that I kept my hands still. It was really interesting! I can't wait to ride Twosox more! 

I think this was our best playtime ever! Twosox was incredible! I can hardly wait to continue advancing our riding!

Naturally,

~Keri