Friends came to ride!

Oh my gosh! I have not written for ever!! so to day I'm going to catch up on every thing! Hershey came home from his second month of training, and he has been doing great! Before he came home though, we went on our second trail ride, it was amazing! We rode pretty far away, and it took almost three hours to finish the trip, I even had to bring a lunch. He did awesome, my trainer and  another lady rode with me of course, but Hershey is home now for good and he is doing great. Just today I gave my friends rides on him, and they said that they enjoyed it, And I'm glad things turned out perfect, almost, it was kind of cold and windy, but we still had lots of fun! There going to come over again soon and I'm going to teach them how  to ride very well! Wish me luck!! :)

Our first trail ride!

Hershey and I went on our first trail ride together today! It was fun! He got a little bit excited though, but we still had a great time. He was, well, hyper I could say today so he was not the best, but he was pretty good. When we went on the ride every new thing was exciting, so he had his head  high, his tail up, and his ears perked forward! About every 10 steps I had to make him do things like, backing, one rein stop, side passes, and 4 corners because his adrenaline was up so high that he didn't think, so all of those exercises were to help his brain to get back on track and realize that the all those exciting things he saw really were not that exciting! That trail ride probably was the most exciting thing that Hershey had done in awhile, I had fun, and I bet he had fun to!!:)

FUN!!!!!!!!!!

I had fun today! I practiced sensitizing and desensitizing, and I cantered barrels!!! It was so much fun and I don't think I have had that much fun in forever! Soon I bet Hershey and I will be galloping across the pasture and soaring like birds..... Oh how fun that would be! I found out the difference between a lope and a canter today, which I thought were the same actually were not, a lope is slower than a canter, and today I cantered! I even went over a little jump on him too! It was fun, I think Hershey was getting a little tired during our lesson, and when I dismounted for a minute and then went to get back on, he was asleep! LoL!!! I was so excited because my trainer told me that I could go as fast as I felt safe to go around the barrels!!!! I was so excited that when I did the barrels I tried to go really fast, but Hershey was so tired that he wouldn't go any faster than a fast canter, but I still had SO MUCH FUN!!!

Meet Milly's kittens!

Guess what! I finally posted on Hershey! I can't believe I did it, it was so fun.( Just so you know, posting is when you rise up and down with the horses rhythm as it's trotting.) I also practiced having Hershey bend his neck down and under himself which is called collecting , I did it with one rein. We had fun today, at first Hershey was kind of lazy, but after we did some ground work and desensitizing, he perked right up! I was thinking, even though this blog is usually just for writing about my horse and what we do together, I thought that maybe every once and awhile I could write about other things that happen that are interesting. So I decided that I would write about my cat Milly's kittens! Here's a pic of all of them, even though this one isn't very good, it's the best pic I could get, the kittens just wouldn't hold still for their photo shoot!

Here is a picture of squeak squeaking! ( Well, actually he isn't squeaking but it sure sounds like he is!)

Practice Practice Practice!

Hi!! Today I went to work with Hershey, and we were practiced some things he needs to work on, and some things I need to work on too!! I lunged him around and I worked on not letting him pull on the rope when he canters. What I did was as soon as he would canter and start to pull, I would backup and ask him to come in. Hershey was being kind of lazy today, so when I asked him to canter and then come in a, after awhile, he would lay back his ears. It wasn't the kind of ears back were he is saying,'' arggh, I'm mad at you, get out of my way''. It was the kind of ears back were he was saying, '' oh my gosh, I have to do this again''? I think he got a little bit bored of that exercise, lol!! So what we did after that was when I got on him, I practiced the walk, trot, and canter. And part of the time I had to ride with out stirrups! I just don't like riding without stirrups for some reason, but my instructor said that I need to ride without stirrups more than I do now so I don't feel any difference riding with them and without. That is what ''I'' had to work on today as well, I also worked on keeping my heels down, which is sometimes very hard, especially without stirrups! All together I think Hershey and I did ok today, but we are improving all the time!

I LOVE my horse!!!!:)

Hey!! I'm finally writing a post again, I haven't written one for ever, but now I have a lot of catching up to do!!:). Hershey went back to training again for his second month about two weeks ago. He's doing pretty good now, though he just had a few little things that he needed work on, and I got to ride him and practice loping!! It was awesome! I can't wait until I get to have another riding lesson with him. I was thinking of all the reasons why I LOVE having a horse of my own to ride and every thing that comes with that wonderful privilege. I LOVE that GOD gave me this wonderful horse, so, I'm going to make a list of all the reasons why I LOVE having a horse of my own. 1. Horses are fun!!  2. I LOVE my horse   3. My horse LOVES me!  4. They are fun to ride!  5. Just the joy of knowing you have a horse to LOVE and care for!!!:) That's why I LOVE having a horse of my very own. Do you see how many times I used the word LOVE? That's right, 8 times, and now I'm going to use it three more times, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, my horse Hershey, and I am very blessed to have him!!!!:) :)!!!

Hershey's home!

Hershey is home now, he has been home for about 3 weeks,  but I have not written any posts for awhile.  He's doing pretty good, but sometimes he has some problems I have to work on. He does not stop when I longe him when I ask and he's getting a little pushy. I went to a lesson with him and my trainer helped me get him back on track. I also learned some new exercises to do with him.  He 's doing better now, thank you Lord for letting me have such an amazing horse, this is a dream come true! I've been riding him too. It's so much fun! We also might be joining a 4-H group!  Here is a picture of him at home.

 

 

 

I'm happy!

I posted!! I'm so happy that I finally can do it, Hershey helped me do it to by listening to me. I did liberty with him, and I practiced putting the bridle on him too. I can't believe how much Hershey and I have learned over the past month, we're bringing him home in two days! We rehearsed what we're going to do when he gets home, I can't wait! After my lesson with him, Hershey's trainer, my mom and me went to the tack store to look for a saddle, bridle, bit and reins, we are going tomorrow to buy them, I can't wait till Hershey comes home!

Different moods

Two days ago I did another training session with Hershey, it was awesome!! I loped on him!! It was so fun, I also practiced my posting, I have to practice more though, because I have to lean forward to get the motion to go with the rocking of the horse, and I can't do that unless I lean forward, which I can't do very well on Hershey, but I'm still working on that. Yesterday when I rode him he wasn't listening very well, it's kind of strange how horses can have a wonderful day, then the next isn't very good, that's what happened with Hershey. I was doing ground work with him and he wasn't listening, he wasn't turning, and he wasn't stopping or backing, but after my trainer got him in trouble, and made him work, he did great, I loped on him and stuff, it was awesome!

How to bail off

Yesterday I rode Hershey, and I had fun! We practiced obstacles, trotting, and backing. I did a lesson with two other people. We practiced the emergency bail off, it hurt! But it was fun! We started by having our horses walk by a tarp, then we would swing our leg over, jump off, and roll away from the horse. We practiced that a lot and my riding instructor said I did it right because I got a bruise on my shoulder. I asked how I did it right, she said it was because I got a bruise and  not a broken bone! And we even rode bare back when we did it, it was so fun!

Much better!

Yesterday I went to work with Hershey again, him and I both did much better then last time! I worked with him and did most of the same stuff, but we did do a few  new things, like when we were in a big arena that was square and I would send Hershey around it with out a lung line, that is called liberty, he would gallop around and around until you asked him to come in, or join up with you. What I would do is back up until he would stop and look at me, then I would turn side ways. That is how wild horses speak to each other in the wild, I learned it in a book about this man named Monty Roberts, it is a very good book, and my trainer also told me how. My riding instructor also said that Hershey knows and reacts to how you are feeling, and if your confident or not. She figured this out because the last time I rode him I was a little nervous, and he did not listen very well, and when she rode him he was also being a brat, because she was a little angry at him, but yesterday when I worked with him I was feeling better and so was my riding instructor, he was awesome! We are still working on figuring out all of his little quirks, and stuff! My riding instructor also told me that he is what she calls a sleeper, he pretends to be tired and sleepy, but he actually isn't! That's why we did liberty with him, to see if he was faking, and he was! After we got him tired out, I got on him and he did a lot better then the day before, he's learning a lot too, I practiced trotting on him with a bit and bridle, my riding instructor said that she thought that it was my best trot she'd ever seen me do! I can't wait until I get to ride him again, which I hope will be soon!

Practice makes perfect

I went to work with Hershey today, it was fun and hard! First I worked with him on the ground and did stuff like 4 corners, lunging, backing, and stuff. Then I got on him and rode him around, he can't stop normally yet, I still have to do a one rein stop with him, ( it's where you bend the reins around until he stops ). We practiced trotting, he needs a LOT more practice! He's getting better though, we also did stuff like, turning corners, backing, and going in a strait line. It's going to be hard training Hershey at times, but it's going to be fun too! Here's a pic of Hershey after his first bath!

Hershey's first training day

We dropped Hershey off with my riding instructor today to get trained, I had a lesson with him and I learned a lot, I lunged him, lead him around, backed him up, did little exercise with him, and learned how to not let him push me around.( Like he tends to do so he does not have to work.) I could see how, when my riding instructor told me what to do when he does that, how he would hang his head or look surprised when I corrected him, I really did think he was not expecting the work he had to do! I bet he was thinking, gosh, this is not what I had planned for today! We still had fun though!

Meet Hershey

This is Hershey! Isn't he gorgeous????!



Loading Hershey

About a week and a half ago my mom and I went out to try to load Hershey in to our new horse trailer by ourselves for the first time to take him to my lessons....... Not very good results, we did exactly what the lady we got him from told us to do, but I think Hershey thought we were boring, because when we lead him up to the trailer and asked him to go in, he just planted his feet and fell asleep! I  tugged and pulled, ( which I learned never to do because it's like playing tug of war with a giant! ) and even tried to tempt him with treats and hay, but he just looked at me for a moment and fell asleep again! If I could read his thoughts, I bet he would be thinking this,( gosh you people! Do you really think I'm going to get into that little moving box? I don't think so, I'll just fall asleep until you give up.) After about 45 minutes of unsuccessful attempts, we gave up and called my riding instructor to tell her we could not get Hershey into the trailer and we wouldn't be coming to lessons, we were already late anyway. My riding instructor told us she had been waiting for this call. she came out a few days later to help us load him, what she had me do was work Hershey a lot, like lunging, backing, going over things, ect. Then I would back him over to the trailer and have him face it with the doors open, what this is supposed to do is have Hershey learn that away from the trailer is work but by the trailer is rest, I did this a few times then we tried to load him, he did pretty good with getting his front feet in but he always tried to step back out, and when he did this my riding instructor would raise up a whip behind him (not hit him) so he could see it and if he still tried to get out she would tap him on his behind and he would get right in! My mom and I  tried this a few more times and he did really good.

Hershey's story

I'm going to tell you all how I got Hershey like I said I would in my last post, he was caught in the wild from his Mustang heard when he was only two weeks old by Native Americans, then the Native Americans who captured him sold him at an auction, and another family bought him and raised him until he was about three years old. Hershey was not raised with other horses at the family's house, so he really didn't know how to be a horse! That might sound quite strange but it's true, so this lady who works at a vet bought him and raised him until he was six with her old mare, so he learned how to be a horse, then she gave him to this other lady who takes in horses that need homes. She then gave him to this high school student who worked with him for a year for her senior  project, but she couldn't keep him so she gave him back to the lady who takes in horses. My riding instructor knows that lady and found out about him, and worked with him a little bit, she said that he had a really good mind but Hershey has only been ridden about ten times, so he did not know much. So when I got him my riding instructor  said that she would train him and I could help. And that is how I got Hershey! It's quite a confusing story isn't it!

My horse and me!

Hi, I'm going to tell you all about how I got my horse, Hershey and what I started this blog for. Hershey is a Mustang, he is all dark, dark brown/black, very sweet and loveable, and  he is 8 years old. I am going to be helping my riding instructor train him. He is going to her house soon to be trained and I am going to help! Every week I will go to help her a couple times  and learn how to train a horse, and that is why I started this blog, I am going to Write all of my experiences and adventures while I learn how to train Hershey! so, this is somewhat like my online journal, I would like to thank GOD for this amazing opportunity to have and train my very own horse!! Personally, I believe that the horse is GOD'S most wonderful creature, (no offence to all the other ones!)So I hope you all enjoy reading about all the adventures Hershey and I have together!