Yesterday was quite an amazing day here on the ranch.
We woke up and did our chores like normal. Then Melissa and I headed down to the barn where we got the saddle horses in and started watering the arena down. We simultaneously worked on our roping, getting our 50 loops in for the day. After that, we went and caught Dino and Gump.
We practiced everything that Zach and Jenn have taught us. The four ways of moving the hind end, bending, leg yields, haunches in, transitions, and much more. Once that was all good, Melissa taught me how to hold my reins when I have a rope in my hand. I worked with that for a while until I could decently ride Dino around like that. Then we put our ropes in our hands and worked on some heel shots. My first one didn't go so well, but I proceeded to get the next three in a row pretty decently. Zach came out and gave some pointers on my last shot. After that we unsaddled and went upstairs to have lunch.
After lunch we went to move Nora and Tony into the pasture with Dulce and Issimo. Tony's legs are pretty straight now and he gets around just fine so we thought he could use the space to run around in. He was so excited that he literally ran circles around Nora as fast as he could. We then hooked up the electrical fence again so Tony doesn't venture out of it. It took us several tries to get it working, and eventually Zach had to fix it.
We then headed back to the barn where Melissa and I brought Banjo in for Zach's friend to ride, Steve. This was a good learning opportunity for us because we got to take what we learned and teach someone else. You don't really know how much you've soaked up until you really teach it to someone who is pretty new to it all. And we had each other in case we were missing some concepts.
After that we headed to Bob's Steakhouse for dinner. When we got back, Melissa and I did chores before heading down to the barn again where everyone was playing their guitars together and singing. We ended up staying for two hours, making it a very late night, but it was worth it.
We woke up and did our chores like normal. Then Melissa and I headed down to the barn where we got the saddle horses in and started watering the arena down. We simultaneously worked on our roping, getting our 50 loops in for the day. After that, we went and caught Dino and Gump.
We practiced everything that Zach and Jenn have taught us. The four ways of moving the hind end, bending, leg yields, haunches in, transitions, and much more. Once that was all good, Melissa taught me how to hold my reins when I have a rope in my hand. I worked with that for a while until I could decently ride Dino around like that. Then we put our ropes in our hands and worked on some heel shots. My first one didn't go so well, but I proceeded to get the next three in a row pretty decently. Zach came out and gave some pointers on my last shot. After that we unsaddled and went upstairs to have lunch.
After lunch we went to move Nora and Tony into the pasture with Dulce and Issimo. Tony's legs are pretty straight now and he gets around just fine so we thought he could use the space to run around in. He was so excited that he literally ran circles around Nora as fast as he could. We then hooked up the electrical fence again so Tony doesn't venture out of it. It took us several tries to get it working, and eventually Zach had to fix it.
We then headed back to the barn where Melissa and I brought Banjo in for Zach's friend to ride, Steve. This was a good learning opportunity for us because we got to take what we learned and teach someone else. You don't really know how much you've soaked up until you really teach it to someone who is pretty new to it all. And we had each other in case we were missing some concepts.
After that we headed to Bob's Steakhouse for dinner. When we got back, Melissa and I did chores before heading down to the barn again where everyone was playing their guitars together and singing. We ended up staying for two hours, making it a very late night, but it was worth it.