I have 2 CHARGES NOW?!?!?!?!?!

Yup, looks like I'm back to having 2 horses. Sigh.

I had a conversation with my Dad over the weekend and talked about Reno possibly trying Reining again. See, Reno's a 7-yo QH gelding who's owned by my Dad and about 4 different people ride him. He's been thrown out to pasture earlier this year because he was starting to throw shit fits, rearing, etc, because people were being too harsh on his face and using correction bits to fix him instead of lightening up their hands. I had quit riding him back in April because I had gotten Dollar back and Reno was just acting up way to much for my liking. But now since he's been kicked out to pasture because Natalie's not riding him anymore (she keeps saying he's stupid and worthless), so he's not being ridden. Sam won't deal with him (she's way too harsh for him) and Dad has his horse to deal with. So that leaves me.

And yes, I know I ranted about quitting Reining, so here's a compromise. I will do Reining on Reno (I know he can do it. He was awesome with me), but that's where I draw the line. Even Dad's been getting the hint that I'm moving over to English. So yeah.

So today was my first ride with Reno in about 6 months. Got to my parents place, visited for a bit and then went to get Dollar and Reno. I had grabbed a grain pail so that I could avoid walking out in the watery pasture, but the wind was going against me, so the horses could hear me or the grain pail. Grabbed the two that I needed and managed to get them out without letting Mars loose. Brought them up to the barn, tied up Reno and put Dollar in a stall. My nephew Brody was in the barn and was helping me put together Dollar's grain by pouring it into his tub and grabbing (small) handfuls of supplements. Teaching him already. Lol.

Fed Dollar his grain and then went to get Reno ready. Brody stayed beside me as I brushed down Reno and even attempted to help me, but got scared because Reno did a fully body shake. Got Reno quickly tacked up because Brody kept asking me to go for a ride, so once Reno was ready, I threw him up onto Reno and he just sat there with a huge smile on his face. Yes, he loves riding his horses. I had to take him down so that I could ride, but he started crying and ran to Poppa (Grandpa) saying that he wanted to ride. So Dad put him back on Reno and took him around for a walk while I finished getting ready. Oh boy.

Once I got Brody off of Reno (again), I bridled him up and hopped on, praying that he wouldn't try to kill me. Started out at the walk and just getting used to riding in my Western saddle again (seeing as Dad won't let me ride English on Reno) and it didn't feel as comfy as my English saddle :-(. Worked a bit on his collection, to which he was very touchy about, but he did as I asked him to. See, Natalie's been using a correction bit on him, but I switched him down to a much softer bit. It still has a port, but it's very gentle because that's what he needs right now. He was doing pretty good and I switched from riding 2-handed to one handed and he was still giving me collection!! Yeah!!

Moved Reno into a trot and he was still doing pretty good, giving me the collection that I asked for. Dad tried to tell me to ride him 2-handed, but I said that I like training one handed because I can't ride 2-handed in the show pen and Reno freaks out when you change something as simple as that on him. So I kept to one-handed. He was doing very well (much to my delight) when I just picked up the reins a bit, bumped him a bit and his head would reach down and collect. I don't want his head dragging on the ground (he just won't do it). I just want his head level and quiet, instead of tossing about. And he stayed quiet! Progress!! I loped him for a bit as well, but he was being so touchy on his face, that if I asked for collection, he'd break down into a jog. Not that that's a bad thing, but when you're trying to work him at the lope, it's annoying.

All in all, he did pretty good, but we'll have to see how time goes. If everything goes according to plan (and we all know that it never does) I'll hopefully be Reining him next year in CCRHA/NRHA. Hopefully :-) Oh, and I took a pic as to what he looks like now....

Yeah, a little on the tubby side, but don't tell him that.

After I was done with Reno, I tied him back up, untacked him and went to bridle Dollar. I figured that I'll just ride him around bareback for a bit to get him moving some more. So I hopped up bareback, and as soon as my nephew saw me riding a different horse, he decided that he must ride as well. So he climbed up onto a chair and I brought him up to sit with me on Dollar. And since the reins were connected, he was holding them all by himself (although he hadn't figured out the steering quite yet) and was just blabbering away. After we walked around the arena a couple times, I put Brody back down on the ground and continued my (somewhat) workout with Dollar.

He was being good and responsive as always. I worked him a bit with his canter and keeping his head collected then called it a day. Still haven't seen my hubby much since I got back last night from Brandon, so I went home to spend some quality time with him ;-)