Update on Trifecta

Update on Trifecta

Everyone may have wondered where I have been.  My dog was sick and eventually passed away.  It was a hard time, and I had no desire to write.  Other things started happening, too.  My energy level plummeted.  I just lost my mojo.

That doesn't mean that I ignored the horses--I just didn't write about them.  I am starting to get more serious about training, now.  He is coming along with his lounging.  I have been doing it for longer sessions.  Before, I would maybe lounge him for 10-15 minutes, but recently I have more than doubled it.  I do a lot of transitions, and he gets lots of pets when he does well.  He just loves pets.

That is probably my biggest problem.  When he sees someone, he wants to go visit them for pets.  I have figured out that if I make him stand and ask the person to come and visit him, he doesn't try to visit them as much on his own.  A lot of times, I will have him walk or trot just past the people, stop him and give him pets.  That seems to be helping, too.

My next step is ground driving.  I think that Trifecta likes variety, and that will give us something new to do.  

I never ground driven any of my young horses in the past.  I did try it with Cruiser, and he was too puzzled by it.  I gave up after one session.  I always thought it made a lot of sense to teach a young horse to ground drive.  When Mingo was laid up for a few months during his recovery from his hoof abscess operation, I decided to do it with him.  Of course, he was pretty easy since I had already been riding him for years.  I taught him so I could teach myself.  Now, it is time for me to try out my now very rusty skills.

I have already got him a surcingle.  The first time I put it on him, he was in his stall.  I only partially buckled the 2 buckles since I couldn't see well.  I walked away to let him just get used to it.  When I came back, I found it one the ground.  My clever little baby figured out how to unbuckle it.  Since then, I have completely buckled it.

He is growing.  I measured him a few weeks ago, and he is just over 14 hands.  I wish I had known that our barn had a measuring stick when I got him so I could see how much he has grown since then.  He has grown, but I'm not sure how much.

He is filling out and looking much more like a horse.  I do have a weight tape, and it says that he has put on just over 100 pounds.  The weight gain has been steady, and he hasn't plateaued.  He has his full winter coat, and it is quite darker than his summer coat.  No one thinks he is a dark palomino anymore.

And, he is really becoming beautiful.  Of course, he will be following in some big footsteps.  Cole is such an amazing horse.  I was telling this to Ellen, and she reminded me--Cole was following some pretty big footsteps, too...