August 1, 2016

Well today was the day. Our last consecutive day together. I took it pretty light today. We went through the barrel pattern a couple times and then went on a little trail ride by the house. Doc won’t be rode as much now that I will be going to school. He will only get rode when my brother or I go home on weekends. I really am so happy with him and where he is at right now. Perfect end to a perfect summer

I hope you have felt that training isn't always easy, but it is totally worth it. All horses have problems. Don't give up. Use your resources. Not everything on you tube is a good source or something you should go off of in training, but good, quality, safe resources are available on line. Hunt for them! If not ask someone who you look up to and respect as a horseman or woman. Ask a local trainer or email a famous one. Just don't quit. Get out there and train people!

July 30, 2016

Today is my second to last day with Doc. Man oh man, he sure has come a long ways. From not wanting to lunge to being ready for the barrel pattern (almost). I am so proud of him! My brother was here today, so it was a big review day. Doc and I showed him how to spin, roll back, arc, and how we started the barrel pattern. I went wild today and raced my brother on the barrel pattern. He was on  one of our other horses and I was on Doc. He beat me by a long ways! But I didn’t want Doc picking up bad habits on day two, so I made him do everything right even though we were racing the clock. It was fun to compete though, I think Doc liked it too!  

July 29, 2016

A much better day today. We did a lot of trotting and I think it really helped dear ol’ Doc. He seemed to be stretched out much better. I leave in three days, so today I decided to give Doc his first barrel racing lesson. Dad was here and he got to learn how I start a horse on barrels. I was sure to tell him why I do things the way I do. Dad seemed to really enjoy and soak everything in. When I start a horse on barrels I always stop before the barrel and then lope around the barrel until I get a perfect turn, then I move onto the next barrel. Doc did alright at this today and he seemed to be really trying for me. That is all I can ask.

I took this before our ride today. Little did he know he was going to learn all about that blue thing on the ground.

Here is a link to a website I really like. It has a lot of videos from a lot of trainers. keep in mind no one is always right and no one is always wrong. Each horse and each situation is different. http://www.trainingbarrelhorses.com/

July 28, 2016

I got smart and called the horse shoer today. My shoe man is really smart and has put hips back into place for me before on horses. I gave him a call to have him look at Doc to see if he had a hip out or what could be going on. Well turns out he is just beyond sore from all the backing, spins, roll back, and everything I have been doing lately. Normally I have more than just a month with horses, so I do not push them as hard as fast. And normally horses are not as smart as Doc and do not pick up on thing as fast. The poor boy! I am glad it isn’t his hip though. This being my last week to ride that would have been awful to lay him off! What I am going to change in my routine now is to do a lot more trotting before I lope and work him hard. This will help him to stretch out. I didn't ride him today, as I was waiting for results from my shoe man.  Since I didn’t ride, I had my sister take a coupe nicer photos of us.

July 27, 2016

I went into the barn again today and rode in the outdoor arena early this morning. I had completely forgotten it was the county fair and as a result runners ran along the arena and a ton of noise was going on. Doc handled it well, but I sure got frustrated! Doc is still pretty sore, so today was another easy day. We did a lot of simple walking work, a lot of arcs and a lot of moving off lets. He did a good job under the conditions.

July 26, 2016

Doc is really sore today! I think he may have a hip out or something. I tried the tests to check and I couldn’t see anything, but still to be determined. I just rode Doc around today. We did a lot of different things. I worked the tire drill, perfect circle drill, and a little bit of pole bending. It was fun. I do hope he gets feeling better soon. I sprayed him off today after our ride to help him cool down and get less sore. Hopefully it helped! This picture is along the fence I work roll backs on. It is my favorite place in the arena and we spent some time here today not doing roll backs, I think that was refreshing for Doc.

July 25, 2016

When I went out to catch Doc today he was very very stiff. I rode him pretty light because of it. Basically I just loped him around and stretched him out. I worked a little on spins and arcs. Good day for my dad and brother to be out of town. By the end of our ride he was a little less stiff. I just played with him in the arena off his back after that. I walked around cleaned the arena and he just followed me like a puppy. I got the rope out and was letting him have a feel for roping too. He literally didn’t even care about the rope. Such a good horse!