Today was kind of an easy going day. We got up and fed our calves. Then Melissa took a mini nap before we headed down to the barn. There, we brought in Chachi and put him in with the young colts. Zach brought in Tom because he was showing signs of colic when he was out with the other horses. Because horses cannot throw up, it is dificult for them to get rid of whatever has upset their digestive tract. In some cases, it is caused by gas build up in the digestive tract, other reasons can be from sand and other impactions. He seemed to be just fine by the end of the day though.
After that, Melissa and I went back to the calving barn to clean it out. We ate lunch at Granny's today; we had chili and french fries. After that we headed back to finish cleaning out the calving barn. Melissa helped Burt to bring in another round bale for Nora to munch on. After that we headed back to the barn and I saddled Chachi while Melissa went and caught Dino. I rode around a bit and Zach showed me that I need to be more definite and assertive with Chachi and I need to increase the life in my body when I ride. I'm still trying to grasp how to do that, so we'll see how that goes in the next few days.
After working with Chachi a bit, Melissa and I played cow and horse. This game is quite fun. It's basically mimicing how you would work a cow out of the herd. One rider is the horse and the other is a cow. Once the horse gets long on the cow, aka just past his eye, the cow will stop and turn the other way. The horse must do the exact same and then get long on the cow going the other way. It's a great exercise for working on your turnarounds and getting your horse to put its weight on the hind end when he stops.
After a bit of riding, we did a lot of moving things around in the barn to open up the arena more. This took a bit of time. We were then sent to the calving barn to retrieve some wooden bridle holders. After meticulously removing them all from the wall, we headed back to the barn for some more cleaning up.
Around six thirty we headed back to feed our calves and Nora again. Now it is time for some Mac and Cheese for supper.
After that, Melissa and I went back to the calving barn to clean it out. We ate lunch at Granny's today; we had chili and french fries. After that we headed back to finish cleaning out the calving barn. Melissa helped Burt to bring in another round bale for Nora to munch on. After that we headed back to the barn and I saddled Chachi while Melissa went and caught Dino. I rode around a bit and Zach showed me that I need to be more definite and assertive with Chachi and I need to increase the life in my body when I ride. I'm still trying to grasp how to do that, so we'll see how that goes in the next few days.
After working with Chachi a bit, Melissa and I played cow and horse. This game is quite fun. It's basically mimicing how you would work a cow out of the herd. One rider is the horse and the other is a cow. Once the horse gets long on the cow, aka just past his eye, the cow will stop and turn the other way. The horse must do the exact same and then get long on the cow going the other way. It's a great exercise for working on your turnarounds and getting your horse to put its weight on the hind end when he stops.
After a bit of riding, we did a lot of moving things around in the barn to open up the arena more. This took a bit of time. We were then sent to the calving barn to retrieve some wooden bridle holders. After meticulously removing them all from the wall, we headed back to the barn for some more cleaning up.
Around six thirty we headed back to feed our calves and Nora again. Now it is time for some Mac and Cheese for supper.