Pepsi's Training Journal

January 1, 2006

Pepsi needs to become my riding horse this year. He has made great strides in the last couple of years, but each time we make progress something stops us from getting over that last big hurdle where he becomes a reliable riding horse. A couple of times I just get too busy and can't dedicate the necessary time. The last time, he pulled a tendon (playing in the pasture) and had to have two months off. This year I am determined to make him my riding horse.

Below, I will make brief entries about what I am doing with him and for how long. I'm going to keep it quite short because I think the key isn't so much what I'm doing with him, but how many days per week I can work with him.

January 8: 15 minutes in the round pen, 1 hour tied, groomed. Pepsi was very quiet today. I spent time working around his head and mouth. He needs to learn to accept this without trying to nip or bite.
January 7: 15 minutes in the round pen, 30 minutes tied. The horses are all basket cases today because they've been standing around due to the daily downpour and resulting mud.
January 2: round pen and leading exercises.
January 1: worked on leading exercises, 15 minutes riding at a walk with the bareback pad in the arena.
December 28: round penned outside and then rode for 20 minutes bareback at a walk. He had one minor outburst.

Horses