> Yes, he will be four April 15 - tax day! Andi has come to me at the perfect > time in my gaited horse education. Any earlier, and I would be very worried > about his trot at liberty. But at this point in my education, I don't worry > about it at all.
Good plan. When we started Gusti, all he did was a trot...though when Iook back at pictures, sometimes it wasn't clean. So I know there is some gait in there somewhere. However, with Gusti's planned career as a driving horse....a nice trot is an asset. AND then comes Dagur...he's offering gait all over the place. So I asked a very experienced trainer...what do we do when he's freely offering a soft little gait during training??? We want to develop a nice solid walk....so all this gravy is hard to suppress...actually Cara and I are both a little giddy after a training session with him....he's just so darn much fun. Anyway, the trainer told me to say thank you, take what he gives freely and after about 30 rides THEN start asking for gait specifics.. But we're no where near that yet...this is just early days. We have all the time in the world. Wanda When his saddle training starts (after April) we will do a lot of walking (and he has a nice head-nodding flat walk in hand, BTW) and whatever next-gear-up he offers me. Whisper, my 1/2Arab, 1/2 TWH has taught me a lot about a naturally trotting horse offering gait, which we are now refining cues for after a year under saddle. He will be my first horse I plan on doing everything with from the get-go myself. I am very excited!! At at my age, we will be going VERY SLOW. Right now, we are going for hand walks down the road and into the sandy washes. I have trouble in the deep sand keeping up with him, so I grab mane and let him drag me along while I purposely bump his ribs with my body. Then when we get home, I give him a > bit of hay while I use the step stool to lay across his withers and back - > but I have not yet taken my weight off the step stool - maybe this weekend! > > Susan in NV > > > Happy High Desert Trails > > Susan in NV > Nevermore Ranch http://users.oasisol.com/nevermore/ > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > It's here! Your new message! > Get new email alerts with the free Yahoo! Toolbar. > > > "The greatest enemy of the truth very often is not the lie- deliberate, > contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and > unrealistic." > > "All truth passes through three stages. > First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. > Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer > > > [] The video every Icelandic Horse owner should have: > http://IceHorses.net/video.html > [] Lee Ziegler http://leeziegler.com > [] Liz Graves http://lizgraves.com > [] Lee's Book Easy Gaited Horses http://tinyurl.com/7vyjo > [] IceHorses Map http://www.frappr.com/IceHorses > [] IceHorses ToolBar http://iceryder.ourtoolbar.com/ > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > >
