Ruffian: Day Two.

 May 10, 2011

Today Myles and I played with Ruffian and I rode. We decided to just put the saddle on Ruffian instead of the bareback pad and then the saddle. Ruffian wasn't bothered by the bareback pad yesterday and he was fine with the saddle so we didn't feel that it was necessary.

After Myles finished playing I played with got Ruffian cantering and moving around a little bit more. Mom suggested that we move all four horses around the riding ring at Liberty and that way get Ruffian and Knightly canter. 

I brought Twosox and Prince up and gave them the responsibility to stand still on their "spot" while I let Ruffian and Knightly loose. The look on their faces was priceless!! Twosox and Prince stood side by side and looked at me with two ears and two eyes the whole time. 

At first Prince, Twosox and Ruffian were trotting around nicely but Knightly decided that he wasn't going to go with them and he would turn and change direction when ever he wanted. So I focused on getting him going with the other horses. Once that happened everything went fairly smoothly. Ruffian and Knightly were saddled but weren't bothered by the saddles when they were cantering and jumping. 

Myles was there helping me and our goal was to get all four horses to jump the barrels. We got it really close one time but one of the horses dogged around the barrels but the next time we got it and then we had to bring them in... Prince came in to me really quickly... introvert much? Then Twosox stopped and faced me but didn't come in... another introvert? Ruffian and Knightly kept on going for a little while longer but finally Ruffian realized that I was asking him to come in and then Knightly followed soon after. 

It was a really amazing feeling to have all four horses one on each side of me and asking to be rubbed. Since Ruffian was giving green lights all around I mounted. The blackflies where really bothersome this morning and Ruffian was itchy all over so I wasn't sure if he was going to roll. He looked like he wanted to so I dismounted and moved him around a little bit and then mounted again. We did a little bit at the walk and then trotted. Ruffian picked it up a lot faster today and we almost trotted a full lap around the riding ring without any breakages of gait. 

We also played around with riding a Figure eight. Ruffian started to get it but I didn't want to push it to much. We also played with the ball and I bounced it while I sat on him. Ruffian was calm and confident the whole time. 

After he licked and chewed I dismounted and we went down to the front yard and I let Ruffian graze for a while on the 45ft line. I am always amazed by how willing Ruffian is and how he tries so hard to do what is asked of him. He is such a cool horse!! 

Naturally,

~Keri