Art's First Ride

As of Saturday, January 10th, Art started his under saddle training and we walked around the round pen one way and then the other. Whoa is not an automatic for Art, so before we do any trotting, I’m going to do a little bit of driving to help remind him what that word means. I’ve started many horses under saddle and I can’t tell you how much I don’t enjoy it anymore. I’m to the point that I’m hoping that Art is the last horse that I will start from scratch. I just don’t like how slow of pace this part of training is. I appreciate the fact that it needs to be slow so that Art will learn without fear or intimidation and so that he will adjust to having someone aboard – I just really want to blink my eyes and be 90 days into our training. I like the part where you are past the point where they decide they no longer want to cooperate (and this will eventually happen between 30-60 days) and when you are finally confident that they no longer have any extreme silliness in them. This is when I can get to work and start working on side passing, pivoting, roll backs, and other training that will continue to get him more and more broke.

Of course, this all takes time too, but there is something extremely satisfying about a young horse moving away from your leg the first time. Kind of like a light bulb going off and you know that they know what you are asking of them.

I’m still extremely excited about Art and our future show adventures, but really about being there as he grows and learns and becomes the fantastic all-around horse I know that he is destined to become. I am really excited to see what Mark thinks of him. I know that 30 days isn’t much, but it will be enough for him to evaluate him so I can decide if he will start in Western Pleasure or Hunter under Saddle. This is all a very exciting time for me and Art.