Bareback and bridleless....except with a halter. :-)

Tripp lets me jump on his back - notice my mounting board. I jumped on the board then up on his back. Didn't even phase him!



This is Tripp moving away from my leg! He thought he would nip at me so I popped him with my leg. He handled it well and I stayed up there a while longer.



Do I really want to walk over it? Sure! Piece of cake!


Yesterday, Tuesday July 8th, we had more storms! Lots of wind and the rain was coming down in buckets! I only visited Tripp a little bit last night, fed him early and gave him the night off.

Today we had a nice breeze and his pen still has some muddy spots, but a good part of it was dry enough for me to mess with him. I kept it simple because of the mud...I get the heebie jeebies thinking about him slipping and falling with me on him. Nope, this girl is going to play it safe!

I decided I would try to jump on him bareback and just lay there. I have a big board propped up on the lower bar of the corral panels and I bounced on it to jump up there. It really didn't seem to bother him at all, which I liked! He doesn't like to walk over the board from the other direction - correction, he will walk over it, he just doesn't like to stand there. I then decided that the only way I was going to jump up on the other side tonite was from a bucket - so I did that for a while. I was very surprised that he seemed so relaxed about it. It was just as easy from the bucket as it was the board so I kept switching sides. I would swing my legs back and forth like a pendulum, I would scissor kick, I would bend them and kick them around....then my husband says "Hey baby, why don't you try bringing your right leg up across his back to see what he does?" At that point I wasn't concerned with what he would do - I was concerned about getting my leg up there! Ha ha! "Uh yeah baby, I will get right on that..." I did get it swung up there and he was startled, but he didn't walk away. I was pleased. He kept bending his head around to check me out, which was fine with me. Then he nibbled a little too much so I popped him with my leg as you see in the picture. Looks like I am beating him! Just so you all know, if anything, I am too soft with him. :-) I am the lovey huggy dovey want my horse to love me kind of person, and this event is teaching me a lot! I need to be the leader - period! There is no middle of the road here. I can tell when I am starting to get soft with him because he will try to push me around. They sure are perceptive! Then I have to pull out the 'I am the leader of this team' card and all is well again.

I have had the tarp in his pen a couple of days now. The first night he drug it around and I found it on the other side of his pen in a big pile. He didn't mess with it too much after that - guess he figured he killed it enough. Tonite I opened it up a little bit to see if he would walk over it. He sniffed at it a time or two, and was cautious at first and stepped high, but then walked right over it.

I then pulled out the dreaded plastic bag....EEK! I am going very slow with the bag. Maybe this is where I am soft - but I don't like seeing him get to the point where he won't think. Tripp is a thinker most of the time, and for him to get like he got the other night means that the fear of this thing runs deep. Okay, that is my interpretation...so I am going with it. This time I used the one from my pocket and I crunch it in my hands and rub his face and neck with it. Then I walked him to the tarp while making bag noises so he had more than one thing to think about. We got to the tarp and he planted his feet and was not going to move. He stood there looking at me, ears up, cute as he could be, and it was like telling me he just could not do it.....YET. I didn't even tug on the lead rope because I knew he was thinking about it. Sure enough, slowly he stepped forward onto the tarp, I kept making bag noises and turned and started walking, and he followed me. I was really proud of him because I knew that bag was stressing him out.

I messed with his feet too. He will let me pick the front up, but he doesn't like to hold them for very long. He tries to take them, I hold on, he relaxes, I give them back. Tonite I tried the back and I can brush and pet down both back legs no problem, but picking them up wasn't so good. It is funny because Brian got a picture that looks like I am in control of the hind leg.....no, it was the second before he kicked out. Not in meanness, but enough to let me know I am going to have to work at it! :-) He has been alright with the rope around his lower hind legs - but obviously not alright enough.

No water hose tonite....it has been wet enough! I did kick the balls at him a couple of times. The other night was hilarious! I kicked it at him, he followed it all tough looking, then the wind caught it and it started rolling back at him and he backed up several steps! It is one of the cheap Wal-Mart balls that is very light weight, so they are moving around in the breeze all the time. I wish he would play with them more.

That is about it. I think it was another fun night, and Tripp and I both are hoping for dry weather the next few days! The weekend is coming up and we have things to do!
I have checked out some of the blogs from other EMM folks, and I am so impressed with how far they are with their mustangs already! Yay!!! Last years EMM was a great event for the mustang, and this year will be even better! I am grateful to have the opportunity to participate this year.

Goodnight all....
Karen and Tripp