Leaps & Bounds

Sangria is doing great - I am extremely thrilled with her progress, her mindset, her attitude and her ability to learn new things. We have now had quite a few rides under saddle, including a trail ride and riding at the arena where the drill team practices. Last night we had our first trot steps and our first attitude blow up since she was hot and tired and didn't want to go anymore. I cant say enough good things about this girl!

Last Friday, Jenny and I spent the evening together working with our mustangs. While we have both been working with our mares individually, we were looking forward to working them together. I had ridden Sangria a few times bareback but I hadn't been ready to ride her with a saddle on yet prior to our session. This was the perfect opportunity so I as eager to see how she'd do! Amazingly, she was perfect!

The very next day, Cowgirl Spirit held our twice-weekly practice at the local arena. I have brought Sangria there many times, but haven't felt that she was ready to ride there yet. This time, I felt like we had progressed enough to ride with the other horses. She was good though distracted with all the activity going on. I only rode for a few short moments, but was extremely pleased with her! At the end of the day, we rode down the short trail to the river to let the horses play. I decided to pony Sangria down since I didn't know if she would be ready to ride solo. She loved the water!

On Sunday, we went out on a trail ride. I had intended to ride Sangria, but it was extremely windy at the rescue headquarters and for the first time since bringing Sangria home, she was nervous and anxious. She almost didn't let me catch her either! This is very out-of-sorts for her, so I decided not to ride her on the trails and instead pony her along.

Once we got out on the trail, however, she pretty quickly returned to her easy-going self. We were all enjoying the perfect weather and trail ride. Half way through, I decided to try and get on Sangria and ride her for a bit. She was great and had no problem on the wide logging roads. However, I became nervous on the skinnier deer-type trails as Sangria and I didn't have our one-rein stop implemented well enough yet. So, when she trotted down an incline to catch up with the horse in front of her, I panicked and decided it was best to go back to ponying her!

Yesterday I took Sangria back to the round pen to re-install our one-rein stop and move forward in our training. We also rode strictly in the bit for the first time - she was great! It took about 20 minutes before we reliably had a good halt in either direction, but I was extremely happy with how quickly she caught on. I also feel like I can now ride her on the trail and not worry about being unable to stop!

We also trotted for the first time under saddle - which she got, but is a bit lazy and after repetitive request to trot, she bucked in annoyance. I automatically growled at her, which scared her and caused her to bolt a bit. I was able to pull her around and stop immdiately! Awesome! I asked her to trot again, to which she moved out easily and didn't offer anymore attitude. What a good girl!