Friday, April 27, 2018

2nd Haflinger ride with Seli on Mag

Today we fit my Wintec to Momo (he's slightly wider than their extra wide gullet) and as we rode out, I loved the feel of it again. It was like I was transported back to the many miles on good horses in America.

I was able to just enjoy myself today because nothing bad happened last time. Again Mag did not want her on his back, so we just tricked him again and she jumped on. Then we just stood there for a while, with me stroking him and talking to him.

We did the exact same loop as last time and Mag was well behaved. She did a lot of standing still with him, I guess she is taking it seriously when I say it's important to me. I asked that she not lead the entire ride, because he also must have follow skills.

Momo was kind of pokey today and she said I should pick a stick from a tree and if I carry it, he'll walk faster. Well, it was a tasty birch and Mag kept trying to eat it until I finally had to remove every leaf: ) Mag kept trying to squeeze past us, he really prefers to lead.

The dog ran off a few times which necessitated more standing still practice, waiting for him.

Nearly done the trail turned into a tiny street but the postman's car was blocking the entire street. We had to wait in the driveway of the house he was delivering to, and that took a surprisingly long time, and Mag was really anxious to keep moving but couldn't with the car there.

Then he finally came back and we made it to the fast street and suddenly her dog took off by the fancy arena place, and there was a lot of traffic at that moment, and she was yelling at her dog and it really upset Mag and he started dancing around.

Mag also had an episode of kicking out, alternating hind legs, kicking at air or the ground, and even kicked Momo in the foreleg when we got too close. I don't know what his kicking out at random is, it's like something's tickling him but there's nothing there.

We saw a compost pile on fire! 

I'm pleased about all the disciplined standing we worked on, and even counted to 20 once. Asking her to take my photo was a challenge cuz Mag was done standing still, so most of the pics she got are blurry. But we got in some good practice today.




     






     






     



Again Seli dismounted by swinging a leg over his neck and jumping off, and again it worried him.


After, I insisted on grooming Momo again because it's how I thank him. Mag stood there tied up, dozing, looking like it took everything out of him today. We were out 4 hours, but our ride was only 2, I think.

Now he's frolicking in the pasture, I set up a third grazing strip so now they have 3 sides, a U-shaped area to graze and due to its shape, it seems to encourage mad galloping. Even the donkey ran her fastest today for the fun of it.


4 comments:

Camryn said...

Oh how that has me missing Camryn. Very similar in build! She wasn't fond of strangers riding her like Mag. Though her typical response was not moving or taking them under a low branch 😂

Sara said...

Momo is a cutie. Mag letting your friend back on is progress! Why does she dismount like that? Is it a German thing?

TeresaA said...

This is so good for Mag.

Kitty Bo said...

So much I rad about Mag's behavior I think, "Arabian. Arabian. yep, Arabian." I never think, "Psycho Arabian." Just opinionated Arabian. I'm glad you aren't giving up on him.