Clown-boy in Training

Ben has been in training for 1 week. He's doing so well! All of our hard work over the past year has paid off- the trainer was able to start working under saddle right away, and by day 3, my boy has started looking like 1 million bucks...well in my opinion. His ride does start out very standardbred-y, but the trainer is working on teaching him to loosen his back, and once that happens, he switches from pacey/cart mode into cute rideable dressage horse mode.

This video was taken at the very end of his ride, so he's a bit tired and taking a bit of effort to keep moving along. I have a bunch of other footage, but its all bouncy and choppy because I apparently suck at holding a camera for any length of time.

The plan is to visit him weekly, on Saturdays, and document his progress. I didn't use the camera for still shots because #1 it was a little dark, and someone was a bit spooky as it was - nevermind adding a flash to the mix, and #2 the photos that require a flash come out crappy anyway.

And...so late in coming...but our Halloween pictures have finally arrived! YAY!

Official Announcement

I know, I know...its been too long without a Ben update. Sorry about that.

I have great BIG news to announce on Ben's behalf.

Drumroll please....

......
......
......

Ben is going into full training in February!

Why, might you ask?

As you may have seen in previous posts, and even seen in the posted video,  Ben has a heckuva stride on him. His young launch/stop/start movement is very jarring to my body, and 98% of the time, I walk away from our rides in massive pain, and the inability to teach my young horse the finer qualities of being a great riding horse, like trotting nicely. I (mostly) fully believe that with someone to bridge the gap, to teach him how to carry himself and go forward at an even cadence, I will be able to ride him successfully, without shelling out $$$ for hellish massage appointments. Now, there is always a chance (enter reality check) that his movement may always knock my body out of whack. It is out there, like a little rain cloud looming over a distant mountain. But we're not going to worry about that until it comes closer and starts pouring down on us.

And the best part, since I won't be the one riding, I can be armed with my camera to take pictures and video when I get to visit him, which will be 1-2 times a week. So hopefully this blog will get more visually stimulating!