Some bad and some good. MRAW installment #1 but there is video :)

If you don't know what MRAW means, go back and read my previous post.


I don't know what got into my Steadyman yesterday but he was being a pill. I decided to ride him out to the field. We have had success in riding out alone before but our last attempt did not go well and I didn't at the time have time to work him through it. I had time yesterday but I was actually hoping he would just be a good boy and go where I asked him to. That was not the case. He got to the edge of the fence line and stopped dead in his tracks. I kicked and kicked until he moved forward hoping that would be all he needed for encouragement. BOY was I wrong! Every few steps STOP! So I started circling him and circling him the pushed forward. A few more steps, same thing, over and over and over. Then about half way into the 9 acre field he decided no amount of circling was going to work. He gave me a bunny hop and so I circled some more and pushed him forward and then he gave an actual rear. DAMN IT boy you are on my last nerve. Not wanting to die yesterday I hopped off and walked him farther out into the field made him stop and I was going to get back on. Well of course he didn't want to stand still and kept attempting to turn back toward home. So I stood there making sure he did not get what he was wanting. He was going to stand facing away from home like a gentleman if it was the last thing I did. I then decided the boy needed some work to get him thinking about me and not everything else except. So I sent him in circles from the ground. I did this about 3 times and he finally stood nicely so I could get back on him. I pushed him forward just a few more feet and decided if I didn't want this to end badly it was time to call it quits. The horse had already had a temper tantrum and was on the verge of a full blown melt down. And you know what they say, they didn't build Rome in a day. So we walked back to the house and I intended to take him back to my "arena" and work his little hiney. But he got as far as the barn and STOPPED!! I could have strangled him at this point I was getting frustrated. Part of something I have really been working on is in stead of getting angry and throwing my own temper tantrum I needed to use my little brain and find something to get his attention. This is a work in progress for me. I immediately jumped off and grabbed the lunge line. Muahahaha, if you can't listen then you will work. And work he did. He threw a few fits on the line but to no avail, Mama kept making him work. I took him back to the barn got on and he stopped again. Ok lets do this again. More lunging. Third time was a charm and he decided he would walk nicely out to the arena.



So he was a royal PITA!! But out of it we got some nice work that I am happy with. Not perfect but nice. He had something going on to the left at the canter and I decided not to push it because he was listening and he could have possibly pulled something in all the circling in a muddy field. Other than that I am pretty proud of the work he gave me after his fits. Sometimes he gets behind the vertical but we are a work in progress obviously.