Updates Galore!

As you can imagine I have been very busy these last few weeks so therefore I haven't posted in a while but I have plenty of updates on everyone! Ill start with Moosey. He is doing well and steadily (yet slowly) gaining weight.  I finally got the bitless bridle from one of my friends to try. ALL my horse's ride wonderful in it. Moose loved it but did better in the bitless side pull bridle and even offered both lateral and vertical flexion in it :) I plan on jumping him in it this afternoon when it cools down.

May is in heat so she is just as sassy and 'witchy' as ever. I had a barrel race yesterday and took her. She was fired up and ran a decent first pattern but I over rode her and caused some issues with first that cost us a lot of time. Our second run I loosened up on her a lot and tried hard to trust her to do her job and she ran much better. About a second off the fastest time of the day and we have a lot of room for improvement. Her mohawk is growing in great and stands up about 4 inches now and I love it! I ride her in the bitless bridle at all times now except when we are practicing. She is much calmer and does really well with it. Her head tossing and 'tourrettes' is almost non existent. I'm thrilled with the difference!

I pulled Riley up on Tuesday to see that he had a cut on his leg. Luckily it wasn't very bad and it didn't involve any tendon or joints. I hosed it really well and put some SSD and wrapped it for a few days and gave him some bute. There was minimal swelling. It was on his hind left cannon. I have a pic of it but this was from yesterday so it looks a lot better than it did. Riley also had his back shoes pulled on Thursday and now only has front shoes. Hopefully we can eventually get him back to be comfortable barefoot. As for the trick training it is going well and he is loving his new job. The lay is getting better and better as is the sit. I have some pics of him sitting at Liberty and rearing bridless and bareback. Right now he is learning to yawn on cue and bow on one knee which will progress to a full kneel. I am so proud of him and can not wait to teach him everything and hopefully one day we will get to the point we can do it all at Liberty, the tricks and the riding, that would be my dream :)

So that is all the updates for now. More coming soon and more pictures also. I can't decide whether I want to do Riley his own blog for the trick training and such or just keep it like it is. Obviously half the time I dont have time to post on this one but summer is a week away and I will have more help and more time so we will see.

Bitless Bridle?

Around the barn May is known as Maniac May or just "Tourrette's Mare". It's not meant in a mean way, it just suits the way she is always bobbing her head like she has a tic. From the moment the bit goes in her mouth or even in a hackamore.  Its not uncontrollable and shes not THROWING her head. Just bobbing it almost constantly. Especially when we practice and she has her barrel racing bit in. I've often wondered if it was just anxiety\excitment or the bit or perhaps a combination of the two. The last few times we have practiced she has shown lots of improvement and I really can't wait until the next race. I think she will be ready to clean house :-)
On the other hand I have been surfing around on the Internet for bridles without bits but specifically designed for riding...in other words not just a halter and lead rope lol. I know control comes from the riders seat\body\voice etc and how well the horse is schooled. Not from a bit but I would still like something just a tad more than just a halter for trail rides and stuff like that. I came across the Dr. Cook's bitless bridle and have been decided I might want to give it a whirl. I would still use her regular bridle on her when we compete but I think she would do good in this at all other times. If nothing else I KNOW it would do fine on Riley. He can ride in nothing. I also believe Moose would go fine in it too. He doesn't fight the O ring snaffle I use on him but he is very soft and sensitive for the most part and less is more in this aspect right? If anyone has any experience with one, let me know :) Either way I think it will be worth giving a try. I have to wait a little while to order one though as I just had two vet bills so I have to replenish my funds! One was for their coggins and the day after I pulled May up and her eyelid was swollen pretty bad so I had the vet out just to be safe. She was on banamine for a few days and an eye ointment and I put a mask on her. We think it was just the wind caused irritation and she rubbed it until it swelled. We still are watching it just to be safe as it is the same eye as she has the cataract from an injury before I owned her.

In other news Moosey is doing well. Putting on weight still slowly but surely. He is completely shedded out of his winter coat and he is VERY shiny. I didn't have time to ride him but I lunged(sp? I never know the correct spelling for this) him in the arena for a little while just to exercise him. After a while on the line I lunged him at Liberty and he was such a good boy. Once he got the idea I could send him out than bring him back in trotting with just my voice and body language. I was very proud of him! Maybe I will get to ride him this afternoon.  

Riley is doing great as well. Been working on the trick training and we are having a lot of fun with it. He is getting the smile a lot better and now lays all the way down and holds the sit longer too. We started the beginnings of the Spanish walk and he is catching on fast. What a good boy! Pics and video of all three coming soon.