I went Sunday to pick up Possum. Jenny has been working with him for just about three weeks now and I am eager to get him home and start doing some of this work myself. I can only hope to be a fraction of what Jenny is and manage to keep what she taught him going.
She showed me a new lunging exercise she had just done two days earlier for the first time. He had Saturday off so this was only his second time doing it. She puts the end of the stick on his neck and walks forward in a circle. His job is to trot around keeping the stick at the appropriate distance. Jenny kicked some ass at this. I fumbled around and found it super hard not to face him. This one is going to take me some work.
She also has been working with different obstacle set ups to do neck reining. This is related to my complaint that he seems decent at it at home but doesn’t take it with him when I am away. She suspects part of this is just his attitude. Now he seems to be neck reining all over the place like a pro.
Next was his right lead. This is much improved. I’ll have to keep working on it to really lock that in. When I got on I got him to pick it up several times but it was still some work. Regardless it was a massive improvement!
After Jenny showed me some stuff and had me put my hand to each we took our games ponies on a hack around her farm. Possum very much enjoyed this relaxing ride after three weeks of hard work.
After our ride I packed up Possum and we headed home.
I am so grateful for Jenny and all her horse knowledge.
Possum is missing foundation basic training and that is something I am not skilled at. But my friend Jenny is. She has had him for a little over two weeks and has been breaking through his entitled-pony brain.
I went out to her place Saturday for a one on one lesson with Jenny and Possum. She showed me all these exercises she’s been doing with him and then had me do them. There is totally some technique learning I am going to have to work on. She has a whole style and fineness to it that I can only hope to partially mimic with lots of practice.
She started off collecting him from the field and while walking to the barn she would stop. He was supposed to stop with her, at her should (like a dog heeling) without her pulling on him. She later had me do this and his response was amazing. He stopped! And stood! She explained he needs to be working when he is with me and not looking around, or trying to eat, and be paying attention to me.
We moved to Jenny’s obstacle ring and she showed me how she could whip the ground on either side of him and he did not flick an ear or move at all. He was trusting and paying attention. I attempted to video this but had a user error. I did video some of the rest of the ground lesson and you can watch it below.
She moved onto lunging with lots of change in direction. She said she has been doing this for about 6-7 minutes at the start of sessions and he seems to do best when he starts out this way and maintains the same routine. She said not all horses prefer that and do better mixing it up but my guy likes routine.
She points to tell him to go on (in the direction she is pointing), or to pick it up when he gets sluggish or lazy. The change of direction cue is her switching hands and pointing in the other direction. It is a bit hard to explain but you can see it in the video. She explained that if I put more energy into my cues he will give more energy back. I found this more obvious in the change of direction. If she gave more energy he was much more quick to stop and pivot to the other direction. Very impressive.
Next she incorporated in inviting him in. She would give him a cue of looking at his hind quarters to signal him to turn and he would turn and walk in. Each time he stopped properly in front of her, appropriate distance, and stand. She incorporated this into the lunging for several more minutes.
Next I gave it a try. I like the lunging and direction change very much. I joked that it was like a basic flat lesson where you hear “thumbs up, elbows in, heels down” or whatever you need reminders of. She correction my hands and explained why I want them where. Just like with riding it will take some practice. But it does feel pretty cool when he would do some of those direction changes so instantly.
Next Jenny had Possum do a lot of backing. She backed him around the arena, turning with the cue of looking at his rump in the corners. She took him all the way around the whole arena. Jenny showed me two techniques for this. With one she sort of walks towards him making sort of an X with her arms, crossing them back and forth. With the other one she marches at him, pumping her arms. You can see both in the video. Each time she stopped Possum just stood. We talked between some backings, one time for probably 10 minutes. Each time he stood and paid attention.
Jenny reinforced he is to be “working” and paying attention. He is not allowed to look around or eat or move around. If you know Possum he is a very fidgety pony. He often crosses his front legs and rubs them, stepping side to side and often spins on the forehand a solid 125 degrees. I know some of it is anxiety when he does it in competition. But it is also fueled by his boredom and him being in control.
When we tacked up and Jenny had me flex his neck right after mounting. I am going to use this in competition when he gets anxious. Give him a task.
I am so amazed at the progress he has made. Jenny is amazing. She has him this week and I’ll get him back next weekend at Popsicle Pairs. Then it’s up to me to continue this work at home.
I’m just so thrilled! Did I mention how awesome Jenny is?
My tracker did not work properly back here and kept cutting off. There is no cell service here so I assume that is why. I tried to draw in a very rough yellow line adding where I rode to the trackers line.
Friday I was out of work in time to fit in a quick ride so I headed down Little Dry River Rd until it turned to gravel, then I made a left onto FR240 Vepco Rd. They have been cleaning up this road which was already in rather good condition. I took note that the FR branch on the left looked well cleared and I want to ride that next time. I don’t think it is terribly long so might be best for a day with limited time. Last time I rode it I believe it was so overgrown I turned around and drove to a different spot.
I drove up to the first right hand fire road, 240E Kitchie Mountain. This turn off has a loop but it’s always full of dumped trash and is awkward so I simply pull past the entrance and then back in and park on the side rather than pull in and use the loop. There’s plenty of room for this even with a larger rig.
I rode out past the closed fire gate and along the fire road. It did not appear to be recently used although it must have been, which I’ll discuss further into the ride.
Normally I bare left at the split. I did go straight several years ago, there was a tree down that was easy to navigate but the trail became over grown (these are old fire roads). Today I decided to check it out and found the downed tree moved and the path much improved. It did not appear to be cleared for vehicles but it appeared to be cleared for hiking. It would make a nice hiking trail. It’s not too steep at any point and the trees and such vary in type.
Do be aware that this area does have thorn trees. These are the ones that look like normal trees, so perhaps you reach out to push a branch and find yourself stabbed by large thorns.
The trail continues and I found a few downed trees that were no issue for on foot traffic. I dismounted at the second one and Simon sort of jumped it. A larger horse that is trail smart would probably be fine. But it was maxing out Simon’s height capability. The drop off to the side was pretty intense and the ground was soft and crumbly so a little sketchy. But I still felt comfortable progressing.
The trail wrapped around for a while and there was a few evident old turn offs that did not appear to be cleared. Eventually the trail just sort of disappeared so I turned around. I estimate it was a little over a mile in from the split and a mile back. It was also walking pace because of the narrowness of the trail. Watch your knees.
I returned to the split and took the normal left hand path (now to my right). This fire road is pretty open and clear and wraps down and around. Eventually I came to a cut in the ground. It appears the covert is being changed out. It was dug out and a piece of a new one is in there along with a piece of the old one. Just on the other side is a righthand turn up the mountain that I had once taken. I was hoping my tracker would show this meeting up with the branch I took earlier. But my tracker did not show anything.
I turned around and headed back letting Simon trot up the few miles of mountain and returned to the truck.
Saturday we had a fun intro to games day at Anne Morrison’s lovely 3 Socks Farm in Mt Jackson, VA.
There were six riders new to games and I rode Simon. Anne’s indoor is awesome and long enough to set up 3 proper lanes at a time and has excellent footing!
Everyone did excellent and I was very impressed with all the ponies (including the horse sized ponies).
Last Friday I managed to get out for a nice little ride through the woods.
I parked at the Massanutten Visitor Center and headed down the Wildflower trail to the closed picnic area, then followed Orange to Pink blaze and enjoyed a leisurely ride.
Last time I rode this way I had to turn back at some heavy downed trees completely blocking the way. That was probably a year ago and they were clear and there were no obstructions.
I got out to Turner Run in early February but did not record it here. It was a nice ride and I took the left hand old fire road back. It did require me to go off trail and slide down and climb up a rather steep bank to get around a down tree. Which I believe was there the last time I took this path. But was otherwise decent.
Blue Ridge Pony 