My plan today was to work on Cisco staying with me while I tried to loose him. But today, we did it online instead of at liberty. I used the 14′ rope. I have purchased a slightly used 45′ rope. I plan to get it out of the mailing box and try to start loving it. sigh….
I saddled up Cisco in the barn. He was loose, eating hay. I loaded up the saddle. Then I wondered if he would back out of the barn with me standing behind him and a little to the side. I raised up my arms and beckoned him backwards. I almost fainted when he understood and backed out of the barn. I rubbed him with every step backwards and we did enjoy several treats during this process. Now that was really really amazing!
I had noticed feedbags in the barn and thought, play object! When we got out of the barn, I placed the feed bag on the end of my carrot stick. We followed the feedbag with it making the crinkly noises. Cisco had not a care in the world about the feed bag. In the round pen, we played the “put a foot on the feed bag” game. He was not excited about that game, but didn’t make very much of an objection, plus he get treats when he planted his foot on the feed bag. We only played with the front feet on the feed bag. Next time we will see about the back foot feedbag game!
I sat on the barrel after the feedbag game and we did a lot of major petting. Then I decided to ask him to side pass halfway around me. We did wonderful going to the right and he ran away from me going to the left. Oh my! We had to work the kinks out of that! His job is not to leave me!
Another game we have trouble with is turn on the hindquarters. Crossing over in front is his job. He does this fine if I stand in the regular spot and move with him. He even does this perfect at liberty if I stand in the right spot and move with him. However, we are working on him turning 360 degrees without me moving. He gets insecure when his head is at the 180 mark. He wants badly to turn back around and face me. Picture this: Cisco is running free and lose around the round pen. I pick up a carrot stick and he immediately turns a 180 to reverse directions. I pick up the carrot stick again and he spins around and continues traveling the same direction. That is a revved up 360 degree spin. That is what we are working on!
Today is many days without rain in Missouri. Cisco coughed just a few times when we were playing on the ground. When I rode him, his coughing was severe enough that we had to exit the dusty pasture. We could only walk. When I urged him up to a slightly faster speed, he coughed. It’s the dust. We walked out of the yard into the turf farm and he got just a little bit excited and his breathe screamed in his throat. Oh my.
Cisco and I made it back to the barn. Cisco on one side and pasture horses in stalls on the other side. I took his saddle off and had just put it on the ground when someone snarled at Cisco. I don’t know who it was because suddenly, I was the target of death. Cisco jumped to the side…where I was standing. I managed to shove him enough so he didn’t land on me and I felt something in my leg rip. Oh great. I bet that was my hip and I’m going to need an artificial hip. That’s what us old people think when something goes bad. Body Part Replacement Time!
I managed to get the stalls open for the stalled horses. I managed to get Cisco inside the pasture, instead of outside. I was able to walk. I decided it was not a hip replacement injury. It has something to do with a muscle in my rear end going down to above my knee. I limped into the house and discovered this muscle is one of the first muscles that hit the toilet seat when you sit down. Then I discovered it was the muscle that lifted my leg up to get my boot up. On the next day, I discovered it was a muscle used when you swing that leg over to mount your horse and even pinged when I asked the horse I was riding to canter. It’s a muscle that we sit on when driving a truck or car. It’s darned inconvenient when this muscle gets pulled.