home roof (5/10/2023) -by Anne

Heat went on this am for a bit. 30's out. Yesterday the roofers gave us a new roof. What hard workers they are. They started at 7 am and worked until 7:30 pm. It was a very noisy day, but well worth it. They did a great job They say their moto is " New Roof No Mess". They left the place cleaner than they found it.

I am a bit tired today, so glad for the quiet. I find I still miss Rob . I find watching a comedy show helps. Laughter is the best medicine.

I am a horsemanship instructor. I learn something new every day when working with horses.

My horse Takota is a mustang from the Black Hills Wild horse sanctuary. He is ten years old now and I have had him for a little over 5 years. I have been training him and learning through him as part of my natural horsemanship journey that started more than 20 years ago with Parelli Natural Horsemanship. I have now been following Linda Parelli's program with Takota.

When riding horses it is important to go step by step and be a patient but progressive trainer. You must be consistent, but know when to use variety so you are not boring your mount.

So I have been working on basic dressage wth Takota. He has been learning to accept the contact of the bit. I have tried many bits. He chomps and fidgets. He prefers going bit less. Finally as a last resort, I broke down and bought a hippus bit. It is made by company in Switzerland. It is ergonomicly designed to not touch the horses pallet and not move around too much in the horses mouth.

We have been working with this bit for awhile. Takota has been starting to have some pretty nice trots, when I am correct in my position and I can keep him forward enough. I haven't done much cantering lately, as I am getting myself and him back in shape after taking 6 weeks off with some bruised ribs back in March. So the weather has finally turned beautiful, so I have been enjoying riding in our large outdoor arena.

Yesterday, we had a good ride with some nice 7 or better trots and 3 large circles of freestyle canter. So when I went out to the arena today, I was thinking about how it felt yesterday. I warmed up lightly online, and then mounted up. I rode a lap each way at the walk, going through the seven warm up questions on my head. He was ready. I rode at the trot a lap each way and he was giving me good forward trots. I decided to practice some transitions to help keep us focused and be more interesting. Trot, walk, trot . Good. Back, whoa, walk, trot, walk. Good. I picked up the trot again and he was nicely forward with contact. Hmmm maybe I should try a canter? I hadn't been cantering much, so I have been doing all my cantering freestyle on a loose rein. Also because of his still learning that he can go forward at the walk and trot without feeling restricted from the bit, I hadn't attempted to canter with contact. It can't hurt to try, so I asked him to canter. Boy am I glad that I took that step. Not only did he have a nice transition, he gave me the best canter I have ever felt on him. He was on the aids, with nice contact. I hadn't thought he was ready, but you never know what you can do, until you try.

I now have a different perspective on cantering. Takota showed me he was ready and I think it helped show him what I had been trying to teach him all along.