Babies are so much fun! Meet DAX

Oh, how I get involved in the doing and miss out on the sharing...

DAX came to me last month after moving around a bit.  He was thin.  OK, he's still thin, but we're working on that!



Day 1

He is a 3 year old Arabian with the mind of Eyore...

I was in no hurry to ride him.  I knew he had been started, so I just focused on getting his weight up and developing his focus in the round pen.



Day 10?

Since I had such little information on his past experiences, I just started him as if he had never been ridden.  We worked in the round pen.  We worked on the lunge.  We worked in hand.  We worked in the saddle.

The first time I rode him was perfectly uneventful.  We walked around the round pen and his ears flopped.

Then, I rode him in the arena.  We started incorporating trot work into our saddle time.  And poles on the ground!

Meeting his soon-to-be herd mates...

Elevated poles are still a bit of a challenge...  He clears is with the first foot, then kind of just drags it over with the second foot.  He just stands there and watches it fall down underneath of us, then calmly walks over the carnage.

Derpy pony...

I did my last 2-point timing on him because I thought the work would be great for teaching him to maintain his gait unless I explicitely tell him to do something else.  So what does he do?
He offers 2 strides of canter...
Then realizes his mistake and goes right back to the trot without me having to do anything!!

Cantering after 2-point practice.

Great brain.  Really!

His brain is so good, in fact, that one of my less-experienced girlfriends was dying to ride him.  She walked him around until she just couldn't sit in the saddle any longer! 

Green horse, green rider, intense supervision!

He is finally strong enough to hold our combined balance in the trot, and we have started canter work.  It's not pretty yet, but what a sweeping stride!!

I can't wait to show him the ropes and see what he has to offer in the future.  What a blast babies are!

Pocket Pony