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Tiny Magoo’s April Adventures

Tiny finished out her first month with us fantastically! She’s a joy to have in the barn and in training – not enough positive things can be said about this horse! Check out Tiny’s April adventures below.

4/2: Another lunging session in tack working on transitions and trotting over poles. Trying to keep Tiny’s attention on me and not so much on the outside of the arena! Very good girl overall.

4/4: Lunged Tiny in surcingle and very loose side reins. Would like to get her working more over her back and starting to understand connection now that her transitions are going well and she’s focused on the lunge. Not entirely sure about side reins – did a lot of walk work in the beginning so she wouldn’t have a negative reaction. A little bit reactive going from walk to trot. Does like to pull to the outside of the circle when she starts to feel worried.

4/8: Our second lunge session in side reins. Still started with a good amount of walking to try and get Tiny comfortable with the contact. She’s absolutely not sure – but we had better work in the trot and she started to reach into the connection slightly. Had moments of worrying about it, but does absolutely nothing bad! Just insecure and trying to figure out what I want from her.

4/10: Another lunge in side reins. Did less walk in the beginning, and started to do way more transitions. Still not cantering in the side reins because she’s very unsure. Had a couple of moments where she halted and got worried about what I wanted. With the smallest amount of pressure, she moved on and ended on a good note. Will need to continue work in the side reins to help her understand what the connection is all about.

4/15: Started with yet another lunging session with the side reins. Tiny a lot better today! More confident about moving forward into the connection and many less halts from feeling worried about not understanding what I was asking of her.

4/17: Brief lunge to warm up. Hopped on Tiny and worked on walk/trot transitions and moving off of my leg on a circle. Was very distracted by Apple, Arlo, and Promise getting rowdy because it was close to dinner time! However, she remained well behaved although a bit distracted. Really happy with her behavior and honesty.

4/22: A fun day for Tiny – did lunging over small jumps! I wanted to see Tiny’s reaction and it’s also a good exercise to help her learn balance and where to put her feet. A lot of horses will try to go around the jump, but Tiny excelled at being incredibly honest and brave. Although she had many green moments, she had quite a few jumps with excellent form! I think she also enjoyed it.

4/24: Brief lunge warm up for Tiny in side reins. I never lunge her because I think she’s going to be rowdy under saddle, but because I’m still using the side reins to work on her connection. A side note – Tiny is always perfect at the mounting block! We did more transitions and moving off of my leg today. Sometimes Tiny gets curious about what’s going on outside of the arena, but it’s genuine curiosity and as soon as I remind her we’re working, she’s back to paying attention!

4/29: Tiny was fantastic under saddle today. Starting to stretch into the connection and beginning to thoroughly understand moving off of my leg laterally. She’s such a good girl – did some trotting without hands! Tiny’s canter today was much more balanced than it has been. We also trotted tiny x-rails and although she’s not quite sure where to put her feet yet, Tiny was game and tried very hard.