Riding Tyke - 2015-03-15

Went out to work Tyke because the weather was beautiful! Christina and Peggy were willing to take Will, so I was able to get away to Windsor for a few hours.

This was the first time I tried to catch the boys since we dropped them off in Windsor. Fire and Tyke decided they didn't want to be caught. So I pressured them both a bit. Then Fire let me catch him (as he always does after a minute.)

Once I had Fire haltered, I pressured Tyke just a bit more. He kept trying to hide behind Fire (who couldn't care less since he knew I wasn't pressuring him). Tyke let me catch him pretty quickly after that though. I let Fire go again and took Tyke out.

I grained him a little while I brushed and saddled him. He's very good with his feet, except for his left hind foot. He's not bad with it, but he does fight a little and takes a bit to relax it. That won't be hard to fix though. I didn't have a place to tie him, so I just looped the lead rope around my belt. Got him brushed and threw my saddle on him. He moved a bit, but was good overall. I need to get a longer off-side latigo cause he is wider than Fire was when I last rode him.

Tyke is so cute tacked up!

After I tacked him up, I lunged him for a bit. I had the cantle bag on with a couple of empty plastic bottles, so it made noise. He was a touch jumpy. When I cantered him, he actually humped up a bit. Not too much, but he was a bit uncomfortable. (I was glad to see it before I got on him).

He and I need to learn how to read each other while lunging. If I even think about accidentally stepping in front of his drive line, he'll sit on his hocks and turn (which I love about him!) But when I ask him to turn, he fights me. A couple more sessions and we'll be fine.

I decided to play it safe and pull the plastic bottles out before I ride. Bethany told me she worked with him where she tied milk jugs all over his saddle etc, so he shouldn't have an issue with it. Different place, different person, and not being worked in a while makes a big difference.

After I had him going pretty well, maybe 15 mins or so, (with Fire screaming in the background, of course) I decided to go ahead and ride him. He was very good about being bridled. I chose to use my three-piece broken roller bit to start with. You can clip it with shanks or without. He was perfect while I mounted him, so I didn't spend any time working on that. I started by using the shanks but quickly changed to direct pull (I'm leaning towards not liking this bit in general...)

After I hopped on him, I let him go where he wanted so I could see what sticky spots we might have. Bethany was right, he wanted to explore! He first headed towards the driveway and out towards the (busy) road, but I steered him a bit away from that... After that, he headed to the pens with the other horses to meet them (I had never taken him around the property, so this didn't surprise me.) He wanted to stick around the other horses, so I started to work him some while over there. Fairly quickly, he headed out towards the other stuff. He was nervous about going near the old semi-flatbed, so I worked with him and was able to get him to walk up close to it.

He did keep going back to the horses, so I would pressure him and he would wander back off. My goal (that I made up on the spot) was to have him calmly walk around the flatbed. I had a really interesting experience with him. He really didn't like the flatbed at first, so I would work him away from it and stay completely relaxed if he was looking at it. He stopped while looking at it and I just took a deep breath and rubbed on his neck. After a few moments, he sighed deeply and walked right up to it! It was amazing, and I felt so connected to him! Then I wanted to go around it and maybe even a little down the path between fields (a little ambitious, I know, but he was leaving me feeling good!) 

I did get him to go around the flatbed twice. Never fully relaxed, but I took my small wins. There was one time where he was facing out towards the fields and actually spooked! Well, I say spooked, but it was like slow motion compared to Fire. He did spin, but before he was a quarter of the way through the turn, I had him bending to a stop. I love this horse so much! Just being able to ride through a spook and not end up on the ground makes me feel so much better about riding again.

After he was calmer about the flatbed, I stopped pressuring him to get near it (pressure away, no pressure close) and let him really decide where he wanted to go again. This time, he went down past the other horses and towards two buildings that are close together. They had some shadows down between them, and he was nervous about going between them. I did the same thing and stopped, breathed, and rubbed on him. I was in no hurry, and it worked! He went right through! I cannot wait to trail ride this horse and take him everywhere!

My one and only picture while riding Tyke. This is the best view ever.

We continued to wander around for a bit longer. We chased some chickens, said hi to the draft stud on the property. He was so relaxed and had his head so low, I couldn't get his ears and sky into the same picture! It was so nice to just enjoy riding! I have missed this! I really wish someone had been there to take a picture of me on him.

After we were done just messing around (about 45 mins of riding), I pulled his tack off and brushed him out really well. I also grained him and Fire a bit more and gave them their shots and wormer. They were both perfect for those. I am looking forward to so many years with this horse. He's so easy to work with, even with him being "hard" for me compared to what he was for his trainer. But if I put in even a little bit of consistent work with him, he'll be a dream in no time.

(2015-07-16) I'm sure someone will think I shouldn't have ridden him yet since he was maybe not really ready, but I am so glad I did. This ended up being my one and only chance to ever ride him and I will always cherish this memory. This was a really hard post to write because I remember ever second of this ride even though it was four months ago, and I'll never get to do it again with him...