These hooves are made for walkin'...

Tripp on the mossy pond bank...not too far behind him is where the cherry tree rubbed over his butt! What a surprise to Tripp!



Tripp and I are walking down the hill towards the big pond. We both need the exercise.



Tripp: The ditch looks big, I don't think I can make it.
Karen: The ditch isn't that big, if I can make it you can make it.
Tripp: Let me think about it.
Karen: (lets Tripp think)
Tripp: Okay, I can do it. And he does!

I did not post any video tonite, but when I was watching the ones we took, I noticed that I talk - ALL THE FREAKING TIME! It is like I am having these whole conversations with Tripp, and I talk to him like he is a person. Brian told me he just wanted me to see what he see's....what does that mean? :-)

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Thursday the 17th was a relaxing evening. In fact it is the most relaxing evening that I have spent with Brian in quite a while. No kids - no hurry to get home since I was happy waiting until it got a little cooler to work with Tripp. We went to the Amish and had a couple adjustments made to the saddle. It is much better, but still a little long in the stirrups. Right now it is set so we can make more holes with room for adjustments.

We got home about 7:30 and I just wanted to saddle Tripp and fiddle fart around the pen a while. I moved two timbers in the middle of the pen and we walked over and around them. We even rode straight thru them, then backed up. I can't wait to get my mini course set up! It was a short session but good.

Tonite we spent quite a bit of time with Tripp. I still have a plan for his training, but I need a stronger one, so I have some thinking to do. In the meantime I am also getting bored of being in the pen, and I know Tripp is going stir crazy! That is probably why he is copping an attitude at times. I decided tonite I would saddle him up and take him for a walk.

I put the other horses in the other small pasture - I didn't need any 'help' from any of them right now. He started out real good, then went to the little snorty rearing hopping juvenile that he can be - we went to the bigger pen outside of the fence and worked! The main problem was all the grass in the pen! I really had to keep after him to move move move! It is the first time I got to see him canter...it was relaxed and looked so smooth! I can't wait to be on him during one of those times! Anyways, he worked harder today than he has since he has been here, and actually so did I! It was good for both of us.

I then took him for a walk. We went around the smaller pond first and the cherry tree caught on the saddle, then zipped right over his butt! HOLY TOLEDO BATMAN! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT? He zoomed right past me, I tugged on the lead and he spun around and stopped all wide eyed. We walked back and came back thru again. It took 4 or 5 times before he would spook in place. He didn't like it, but he tolerated it and just stood there. I was proud of him! I was also proud of him for not dragging me around the pond bank! He really can if he wants to. :-)

We walked around the smaller pond a couple of times, then headed down the hill to the bigger pond, and walked thru some of the washed out areas. You know what? He really did good for never having been down there before. He did start trying to pull away from me and rearing up again (we have video of that so I can see what I am doing or not doing - I will study it). I try to get around him to push him, but he anticipates it and keeps his front facing me. I smacked the ground with the end of the lead rope to get his attention. Brian said I needed to do that the first time he did it - hind sight you know.....
This is all a learning experience for me, and I admit it....I am such a girl! ha ha! I have to get a little more assertive with him. Okay, I have been informed that I need to get A LOT more assertive with him. I am getting there - it is just hard for me to do that. Now throw a brat human child at me...I can be assertive and demanding all day long! But an animal - nope, I am not good at it.

He did get back on track and I decided once we had at least one good crossing over the small washed out area, we would be done. He finally did walk across it instead of jumping, and we called it a night. He walked back up the hill like a gentleman, and I hosed him off as a treat.

Brian thinks the attitude is his way of telling me he has had enough. Too much stuff - I want to be done and do what I want to do. Sometimes I think that is true. He does not act mean towards me - he is just being a pushy brat, and I need to find a good way to get control of him and make him move. I have not had my whip/stick out there...I will take that next time so I have more 'arm reach' to get him moving around. Sure don't want an accidental swipe of the hoof to nail me or worse yet, someone else!

As crazy as this might sound to some people, his attitude thing really is good for me. I am learning so much...and it is things like this that make me think differently about what I am doing. Not to mention my main goal in all of this ... It is to prove that most anybody can gentle a mustang and work with them. Any time there are issues, I need to find a way to deal with them, and by seeing me do this and knowing my background consists of loving horses, not training them, maybe someone will realize that they really can adopt a mustang too! Even if they can gentle them and have someone else do the training...I want people to know it is way beyond possible to accomplish this and be a part of a mustang's life.

We are finishing up week #5, and I have been on Tripp almost every night this week. WOW! I don't have any idea what our progress is going to be the next few weeks. I know what I would like it to be - but I will wait to see what Tripp and myself are comfortable with. I will admit, I really wanted to just ride him out the pasture tonite to give him a change of scenery - but keeping safety in mind kept my butt on the ground where it belonged. We needed to walk, we needed to work on him being a gentleman and not a spoiled little boy, we needed to see how he would react around all the new stuff.......

By the way, I ordered a helmet and I really thought it would be here today. I am hoping for Monday now! I got one that I think I will wear even tho I don't want to. I love hats, etc., but they give me a headache. Even if they are adjusted loose. Well, I don't want to have another meeting with the ground like I did with Nevada, and hit my head! That would be more of a headache! So....I am going to try to start a new habit of wearing it while I am out with the horses. Who knows? I just might look HOT in it! HA HA HA!!!!!

Tripp report as a whole - I am happy where we are right now. He tries so hard, and he is so cute when he is thinking about something. He tilts his head sideways and his ears will kind of fall over. I will try to catch a picture of it sometime. We still have a lot to do, and we will get to it in time.

That is all I can think of for now.....
Thanks for checking out our progress!

Karen and Tripp