A gate to the face...

It is always interesting to be aboard a young horse as they experience new things. Today, instead of getting on Snip in the round pen, I intended to ride to the round pen…just for the adventure. Aaron had the girls in the stroller and Bowen was tootling along with a shovel in hand. The days have been mild and about 50 degrees, such nice weather…especially for the middle of winter. What a blessing. So Aaron went through the first gate…and I was hoping he would hold the gate as I navigated Snip through. We had good forward motion, until Aaron let the gate go and the wind caught it and the next thing it crashed into Snips’ nose. Of course, he went flying away from the insult. Thankfully, I went flying with him, instead of flying the opposite direction. He trotted off, but came back to me pretty quick. He was very apprehensive when I turned him back toward the gate that had just attacked him... when he was close enough to see he could make it through he bolted and tucked his tail. Poor little horse. We worked on staying away from the other horses in one of the big pens, he figured it out pretty fast, but I opted to get off and lead him into the round pen. It gave me a chance to tighten the cinch … which never got real tight due to the fact my over pad got drenched in the miscellaneous Oklahoma rain. Some day we may get accustomed to rain proofing no matter what the weather “seems” to be. Finally, we worked on freeing up, loping and flexion circles in the round pen. Snip, much like his mother, is always trying to beat you to what you might ask him. So, now every time we stop and I cue him behind the back cinch, he backs up, moves his hip, and then finally when I cluck he will move forward. It makes me realize that I must be very in tune to the little cues that I am giving him. In this instance, I will use his sensitivity to my advantage I will use this as a backing cue and to cue forward motion move my legs more forward at the front cinch. We’ll see how the Lord works it out. Am very thankful to have the opportunity to ride Snip like I do…God is kind.