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Saturday, March 31, 2012

Good Boy, Ben! Good Boy, Paj!


Bob's Clyde Ben is one smart cookie.  David free-lunged him yesterday, and Ben remembered his vocal commands from last summer.  Ben came to the ranch in May.  We lightly worked him on lunging and some trail-type riding, and stopped when he became ill in August.  By the time he was ready to go back to work, we were in the throes of winter.  To have him get back in the lunge pen after all that time off, remember "walk", "trot", "canter" and "ho", and actually do it, is remarkable! 


You can see David use a little body language to help out with the canter depart, but all the other transitions are spot on!  Good boy, Ben.  Good job, Dave.

Paj and I used the lunge pen today too.  With record heat and a hairy beast, we had a short workout, then worked on our stretchy free-walk-on-a-long-rein.  I like to use the lunge pen for the free walk, 'cause you don't have to think about where you're going on that long rein.  It probably seems odd to folks that you have to work on a "free" walk, but yeah, you do.


Big hug, Paj!

Thanks, Coach!

Enjoy the day, buddy.

15 comments:

Mare said...

What a smart boy Ben is:) I love the Clydes:) And of course Paj the coolest Hanoverian ever (yes, I am fascinated with the fact that he's a sabino)!!!

Lori Skoog said...

Ben is a doll!
And a good free walk on a long rein can get you some high points in a dressage test. You sure have a gorgeous facility...the footing looks perfect. What was your record breaking temperature? We had snow last night.

sandy said...

Hi Terry, found your blog again after quite awhile. Went through selling and moving and all that jazz. Anyway, enjoyed catching up a little bit and seeing your wonderful horses.

Hope all is well - I'm thinking last time I was here you had an injury you were nursing and trying to get better - I hope that's all right now.

Inger said...

What is a lunge? I grew up riding horses and I find what you and Dreaming, Cyndi, was it, does very interesting. Those horses are so huge and powerful, it seems you really have to know what you are doing.

And I do know about cancer in dogs not fixed. So does my husband and he still wouldn't listen to me!!! We had a beautiful, big, red Doberman a long time ago, it was his dog first and he was not fixed. Because of this he got dangerous with other dogs and any critter that came into the yard. He go cancer in his prostate area and died at the age of 10. All our fixed dogs have lived much longer and healthier lives than that. So I am glad this will be done for Samson.

Ruth said...

Ben and Paj are so pretty :) Sounds like you had a great day !!

fromsophiesview said...

What a day you had...Ben and Paj got loads of hugs this day!

Texan said...

Smart cookie that Ben .. erm I mean horse :O)

Lots of horsey stuff going on at your place :O)...

sally said...

What a good day in the lunge pen ...and my word your dressage rails look great all put together in the background

Alison said...

Oh my, Ben just looks so gorgeous when he canters. That boy was blessed with good genes. (The good training doesn't hurt either.)

Paj looks so strong in that "hug" picture. And my, what a pretty saddle pad! ;)

Jim said...

Beautiful Ben loves to please, I see. No wonder he remembered...it was fun for him. I can see that horses need this 'guidance and work'....simply because of their size.

Funder said...

Oh, Ben is sooo beautiful! What a lovely mover. And yeah, the "free" walk becomes the "zombie horse" walk if you don't work on it.

thecrazysheeplady said...

GORGEOUS horses!!!

Kate said...

I tried to leave a comment on this post when you first wrote it but blogger was being obnoxious!

Anyway, gosh could your ponies be any more lovely?

Looking at your most recent post with snow and ice everywhere, this post seems almost comical with the horses out grazing naked.

Dom said...

What a smart horse :)

allhorsestuff said...

Lovely Ben! He's really great. Nice that he's recovered and so willing to work!
Free walk work sounds really good! Paj and you are a great team!
KK