Post by Deleted on May 25, 2014 2:03:48 GMT
Sigh. If only Rain hadn't been such a handful all of her life. Irene dance-stepped out of the gray mares reach as the quarter horse kicked out, not at all thrilled to have her belly brushed. The woman shook her head and clucked to her, jiggling her lead rope to distract her before darting back in to finish brushing the dirt off her horses belly. Rain had this knack for finding, and soaking in, dirt. Regardless of what Irene did to prevent her from getting so dirty. Today had been one of those days where it took four hours of brushing just to put the saddle on without creating sores on her horse. She'd have hosed the mare down but the hot-water heater in the barn had broken the night before and she wasn't going to use the frigid ice-cold water that was left on her horse.
"Alright, now you listen here." Irene growled at the mare as she threw the blanket and lightest of her saddles onto the tall horses back. Crimson Rain tossed her head and squealed, attempting to bow her back and throw the saddle off before Irene could cinch it. Irene was faster and had the quick-cinch girth tied up tight before the mare could kick out. Disgruntled and defeated, for now, Rain settled down to let the woman finish adjusting and fastening all the straps on the saddle. Girth, back cinch, breast collar... Finally she bridled the mare, shaking her head at how easily Rain accepted the bit today, and dropped the cross ties.
"Today, Rain, you will work on turning." she patted the mares neck and swung up into the saddle. The gray mares ears twitched, listening, as she champed the bit impatient to get moving. Irene clucked softly, riding out the early hops that Rain gave, cold-backed as she was, and pressed her into a lope around the arena to warm her up and expend some of her energy. After a few minutes she reined the mare in, pleased with the quick stop she was given. It wasn't quite the sliding stop that Red did, with Rain being under trained and all, but it was a serious improvement from when she first started training the mare.
"Alright, lets go." she told the mare, swinging the split reins over to rest against her neck on the right side. She applied pressure with the matching leg and shifted to try and push the mares head, neck and shoulders around to the left while holding her hips in place. Rain started to swing her hips around and squealed indignantly when Irene corrected her by pushing them back into place under the mare with her right heel. "Ah-ah, Rain." she scolded the mare. It took an hour but she finally got the mare to pick up and swing around a complete circle on her hind-quarters. Moving from small steps in the right direction to multiple feet around to a half circle and finally a full spin.
"I think that's enough for now." Irene scratched the sweaty mares dappled red-tinted gray neck and smiled. She'd gotten Rain to do her spin, just one, on command at any point in their exercise once she finally taught the mare what she wanted her to do. She was even taking half-spins and charging off on command, now, in both directions. All without moving her hindquarters around her shoulders. She was finally coming along.
"Alright, now you listen here." Irene growled at the mare as she threw the blanket and lightest of her saddles onto the tall horses back. Crimson Rain tossed her head and squealed, attempting to bow her back and throw the saddle off before Irene could cinch it. Irene was faster and had the quick-cinch girth tied up tight before the mare could kick out. Disgruntled and defeated, for now, Rain settled down to let the woman finish adjusting and fastening all the straps on the saddle. Girth, back cinch, breast collar... Finally she bridled the mare, shaking her head at how easily Rain accepted the bit today, and dropped the cross ties.
"Today, Rain, you will work on turning." she patted the mares neck and swung up into the saddle. The gray mares ears twitched, listening, as she champed the bit impatient to get moving. Irene clucked softly, riding out the early hops that Rain gave, cold-backed as she was, and pressed her into a lope around the arena to warm her up and expend some of her energy. After a few minutes she reined the mare in, pleased with the quick stop she was given. It wasn't quite the sliding stop that Red did, with Rain being under trained and all, but it was a serious improvement from when she first started training the mare.
"Alright, lets go." she told the mare, swinging the split reins over to rest against her neck on the right side. She applied pressure with the matching leg and shifted to try and push the mares head, neck and shoulders around to the left while holding her hips in place. Rain started to swing her hips around and squealed indignantly when Irene corrected her by pushing them back into place under the mare with her right heel. "Ah-ah, Rain." she scolded the mare. It took an hour but she finally got the mare to pick up and swing around a complete circle on her hind-quarters. Moving from small steps in the right direction to multiple feet around to a half circle and finally a full spin.
"I think that's enough for now." Irene scratched the sweaty mares dappled red-tinted gray neck and smiled. She'd gotten Rain to do her spin, just one, on command at any point in their exercise once she finally taught the mare what she wanted her to do. She was even taking half-spins and charging off on command, now, in both directions. All without moving her hindquarters around her shoulders. She was finally coming along.
HORSE TRAINED :: CRIMSON RAIN
