Road to the Horse!

We had a real nice day today and I got in a lot of riding! Pretty has been coming along quite nicely.
We had an opportunity for practicing standing-still while the rider mounts last week. Education is a wonderful thing! I'm not certain why she wanted to move around; she has been very quiet with mounting since the very first time I stepped up in the stirrup, but, last Wednesday and Thursday she felt the need to walk a few steps forward while I was moving toward the stirrup. Make the wrong things difficult and the right things easy... We had the opportunity to review yielding the hindquarters, several methods of backing and a little bit of C-pattern on the ground and she found that she did remember how to stand quietly with mounting and dismounting!
This week she is back to her wonderful self and has been very attentive and soft. We did some arena review; yielding hindquarters to bending, backing up, transitions up and down, and stop-on-whoa. After about an hour of arena work, we took a leisurely ride through the first calf heifers and their babies to check for sicks. I think she could be a real good cowhorse if the new owner ever had the inclination!
We went to Road to the Horse over the weekend in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. WOW! What a ride! It very definitely could have gone a couple of ways, but I am very glad that Chris Cox won, he has a way with horses and that's all there is to it...Tommy Garland's methods were very interesting and I was thrilled to watch him work. I have always had an inclination to do an endurance race on an Arabian athlete, but have never had the opportunity. I haven't even ever been around Arabian horses...so it was fun to watch him. -and then there was Mike Kevil. I still think that he is a damn good cowboy. I got the opportunity to talk with him and told him that I was glad he entered up. I have always admired his colt starting abilities. After he established some respect with his colt, they did quite well. -and he has a terrific sense of humor! If you haven't ever gone, you should go.