I Know, I Know, I'm Sorry...

Ive been hiatus. I'm sorry. I have every intention to post and then it just slips by and time lapses and things arent on the forefront of my mind anymore.

Firstly: Milo is great. I love him so much!! Our rides are consistently good (although I havent been asking for anything new, just exercise and maintaining what we have, mainly), but I have been adding more work with less.

What I mean by that is I've been experimenting with doing as much as I can with as little as I can. Evidenced by my last post: working sans bridle. Although I havent focused specifically on increasing that skill, I have been ditching spurs, ditching saddle, and seeing how much I can do with less. Which is, surprisingly, a lot. I realized in the last month or so working with less, how much I havent been trusting Milo to know his job. Instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt, I have approached each ride with the preconceived notion that I have to train him, and make sure every step is right. I havent realized that Milo knows his job and is consistent with it.

Up until recently. Now that I have been riding with less I've realized how much Milo knows and how much of it I take for granted. I've been pleasantly surprised to discover I can do just about everything bareback and without spurs that I can do in the saddle and with spurs on. I have been ecstatic!

Now, onto another subject...

Boyfriend is now Fiancee!! Yay! And check out this awesome ring he gave me! Solitaire is the engagement ring and the horseshoe is the wedding band! So in love! We have a date - this August 18th, and are fastly planning for the event. :) Although Milo is not going to be in the wedding, this weekend we are having our engagement/Save the Date photos done and Milo will be a part of those. :) I hope he behaves himself, but thats why we are hauling him to the location and hour ahead so I can "exercise" him a bit and get him in a more pose-worthy mindset.

I will post photos once I have them!! SQUEE!!

Working off the Line

On Wednesday I tacked Milo all up to work, but since I hadnt ridden in a few days, I thought I would longe him first. I had the bridle on while I longed, and nearly as soon as he made his first walk lap I noticed his mouth was really salivating. Globs were falling out and when I opened his mouth there was a lot more saliva in there then normal. Milo does get a wet mouth when we ride, but not normally of his amount nor as quickly into a workout as he did. So I decided to take the bridle off in case something was going on, but still wanted to work him.

So on the ground I practiced our leading sans bridle/halter. This isnt totally new to Milo, we had worked on this kind of stuff in the past, but it had at least been two years since. He was great; lead well, trotted, turned both directions, and even did well on the off side. Then I thought, well, lets test how well I'm riding with my seat and legs and see what we can do under saddle without the bridle. So with it still off and on the saddle horn, reins sort of looped around his neck, I stepped into the stirrup.

I walked him around the arena a few times, but thats easy to follow a wall. So I worked on a few circles, he had a hard time changing directions from one circle to the next, instead when I asked for the change in bend in his body he kept the bend the other direction and yielded his hip. Something to work on in that simple change of direction is not coming totally from my seat. I trotted him a little bit but that was a little tricky. He did do quite well at turarounds:

I'm eager to continue work without the bridle and see how far we can go. Im not sure Im going to be doing much showing this summer so at least this is something new to work on and keep us both a littler more fresh.