Ferriana Rides

All the ground work is paying off!  Ferriana has had about seven rides over the last two weeks, and she's doing incredibly well.  Rizzo the new dog is happily coaching Ferriana and Miles is also pitching in when he can.

We now have a solid walk, trot, canter, whoa, and back under saddle.  Ferriana knows how to stand quietly for me to open the gate while I'm on her back, and she's happily walking and trotting over grids of poles and crossrails. 

That's one of the perks of starting a horse from the beginning at an older age (she's eight).  She has a longer attention span and is physically stronger than a young horse, and with as thorough as I am with the ground work, by the time I actually get on she knows how to do everything.  Now she just has to learn how to do it with me aboard.

Here are some videos from her fourth ride, and her first ride in the arena.

Ferriana is also stopping really well.  I teach all my horses to do breathing halts, so that when I exhale in a certain way they essentially sit and slide.  Ferriana has caught on to this quickly, and if she's unsure what to do she'll stop and look at me.  As she gets more confident she stops less frequently.

We also have taken a ride out in the back forty with Rizzo, as well as a friend on her horse.  Ferriana was great out there, thought the whole thing was very interesting.  Later in the day she had a farrier appointment to trim her hooves.  I gave her mild sedation because of her history with farriers, and she was good for her front feet but impatient with the back ones.  No kicking, however, so I'll take it as a win.