I have been meaning to make a new post for a few weeks now, please forgive my tardiness.
Ruffi’s fourth and final week of training went perfect! In addition to some long and low lunge work, she went on a trail ride a few days before coming home. Shelby was kind enough to trailer her back to us on March 1st. Once we got back to Stanwood, Shelby and I tacked up the mare and she gave her one more ride before she was officially graduated from charm school! Overall it was an incredibly positive experience. Shelby was amazing to work with and was able to treat Ruffi with the kindness and compassion she deserves while also setting firm and fair boundaries of acceptable and safe behavior. In addition to training, she took exceptional care of our gorgeous girl. Sometimes when a horse gets sent to a new residence, even if for a short period of time, they can lose weight and condition. Thankfully Ruffi did not and returned in better muscle tone than when she left due to her more active life style.
Since being home we have been very conscious of ensuring Ruffi stays in work. While I am still building up my confidence to be on her, I have committed to working her on the ground as much as I can and she is still getting weekly training rides from Shelby at least for the next month or two.
During her first week back, Ruffi did get a few days off to acclimate to being back home. She was worked in hand a few times and I did get on her once. Shelby came out on Sunday and gave her the weekly training ride. She was a little up, due to being separated from her brother, and the weather. We were able that day to move her to a different stall on the next aisle so that we could try and mitigate some of the herd bound behavior.
So far this week we have been able to get out to the barn twice. Both times I worked miss mare in side reins for about 15 minutes. She is building up her balance and her stamina. When we went out on Wednesday, after lunging, I did decide to get on her and see how I felt. I was able to get on her and ride her around at a walk. I was super proud of myself and I am very excited for the future!
Her next training ride is on Saturday. I will try to update everyone on both kids going forward. Lately Bacardi had been flatting a lot and working on connection and straightness. Now that it is almost spring, we will start ramping back up and hopefully be able to attend some schooling dressage shows this year!
Happy Riding,
A