All about my horses!

Bob Blackwell

JR’s Journal – Kindergarten Days in Jenny-School

A couple of years ago, I decided that I knew what I wanted in my next horse.
I wanted a naturally gaited, athletic horse. My baby’s name is JR and his
mommy and grandpa can do flying lead changes.

JR is 2 1/2 now and he went to Jenny school yesterday. I talked to Jenny
after work and she said guess who I rode today? I couldn’t guess. She said,
“I rode JR”. Well, there’s another JR in the barn, so I said which JR. She
said, “YOUR JR!”

WOW! She “wallered” all over him and he was very calm. So, she decided to
get on him. He didn’t move for a while and she just rubbed him. Finally, he
decided to move a foot and she hopped off. I think that’s pretty good for
his first day of school!

JR is a fox trotter. We are going to start him differently than the “normal”
fox trotter. We are going to ignore his natural gait. If he gaits, fine and
if he trots…even better. We want him to trot. He will learn his athletic
stuff first…like flying lead changes and then we’ll go back and teach him
how to be a great gaited horse.

It’s a grand experiment we’re going to be havin! Lot’s to think about for a
youngster!

I had the arena to myself tonight, so JR got to play while Velvet and I
practiced on our level 3 tasks. What fun we had!

JR’s Journal – Clinic Journey

At official yearling status…exactly one year of age, JR attended his first clinic at Pine Dell. It was his first time to ride in a trailer by himself, to be in a barn, and to be in an indoor arena. He was just a LITTLE upset when we arrived at Pine Dell. I heard a lot of yearling whinny during the first part of the day…most of it right in my ear.

BUT, he did just great! He had the least problems of any horse in the clinic. Of course he hasn’t had the time to develop many opposition reflex habits. We played all the games. I discovered he knows how to follow the feel of the rope and he moves when he feels pressure. At the end of the day, we had many barrel and pole obstacles to walk, trot and canter across, over or go between. We finished all the tasks before anyone else and we were in our stall eating our late lunch. The bigger horses got to stay and be rode for another hour.

About a month later, we went to another beginning clinic. He did even better this time. He certainly didn’t whinny like he did the first clinic. He grew up a lot that first clinic and bonded with me. After the second clinic was over, I felt like JR and I shared the same skin. His general inclination is to stay close, no matter how many times I shoo him back.

So why am I paying to take JR to a clinic when he is too young to ride? Easy Answer! These two clinics got him in an arena with nine other horse…all running around with their humans. He certainly got used to being in a crowd. He hasn’t had a chance to develop opposition reflex yet, so I was easily able to do all the tasks assigned. He is easy to convince to do what I ask of him. I feel that I’m developing a much better horse by taking him to these clinics. At a delicate time in the building of his personality, I’m in an arena with an expert trainer…my safety net.

Besides, we had a good time!!!

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