Catch up post!

Well, sorry that I've been absent for so long! 

Bones has been doing very well. We actually moved boarding places again. We went back to the place we were at. It's the third time I've moved my horses there. Hopefully we will be there for a while, now!

Other than that, there isn't much to report. We've been doing some trail riding, lots of bareback riding, and some ground work/lunging.

He has been doing fairly well on the trails (alone). Still looking at everything, and being on edge throughout the ride. But, he has improved some. I think that we've really bonded over the past few months, and he trust me a lot more. In turn, making him more relaxed on the trail.

It was hunting season last week, so no trail riding. But we did take a walk around the barns and Bones got to munch on some grass. We walked in-between some tightly placed round bales. He did much better than I expected. I figured he would rush through them almost knocking me down, but I stayed relaxed, and so did he. 

 The next day we went on a short (15-20 minutes) trail ride through the pine woods. He did okay, but it was our first time out in at least a week in a half, if not longer. It was also the first ride of the season with snow on the ground. He was pretty pepped up, and spooked at a couple of hawks that darted out of the trees. But, he was easily controlled and calmed down pretty quickly. On the way back to the barn, we rode through the round bales that we previously walked through. He was a little more anxious with it under-saddle, but still did excellent. When we got back to the barn, we went into the arena and worked on a few things.

We worked on leg pressure and neck reining (which is an every ride thing), trot-to-canter and canter-to-trot transitions. Bones also highly prefers voice cues to leg pressure and kicking. He actually gets pretty pissed if I use too much leg pressure or give him a little kick, he tends crow-hop if I push him too much. Sooo, we worked on getting him to accept leg pressure for upward transitions, instead of voice cues alone. We're also tuning up his "back-up".

 Kazi has been doing really good, also. He is being partial-leased by a nice girl. Before he entered the lease, I took him on several trail rides with others and with him alone. He is just becoming a fantastic riding horse.