Studly's Mind Is A Steel Trap Afterall

My arena is finally dry enough to use. Yay, but...

Yikes! First ride on Studly. It has been so long for him that I was all nervous. Thankfully, my sister is home for tri break from chiropractic school. We saddled Studly up in the barn. I had to go through all kinds of tack and saddle pads to get him fitted. I settled on one of Snoopy's pads, which is too long for him since his back is a couple inches shorter than Snoopy's. I had to bust out a 34 inch cinch, even though he looks like a fatty now, he just isn't as big as all the other boys. I also decided on Snoopy's nice myler bit. Don't tell him though, he's really jealous of little brother.

We headed to the arena with Studly blowing and snorting the whole way. Jeez, I'm not a trainer, I'm wondering what I'm getting into. He was really laying it on thick, putting on the scare show for us. I walked him a few circles around while he pranced and chomped at the bit. I made my poor little sis get on him first because I knew if he did blow up, I could hold/stop him alot faster than she could. Well, my God I'm a worry wart. He didn't do anything. She rode him around for a few circles. It's obvious he is really rusty. He's got no power brakes, which is basically when you push your hand into his neck while shifting your weight deep into the saddle and he is supposed to park his butt instantly. On a positive note, the steering is all intact though. I wanted to work this horse so bad. It would have been awesome to pull out the dummy and see what he remembers, but he's not ready. It will be a couple weeks of just riding before that will happen. First show is in just six short weeks, so we have some work to do.

Here's two quick cell phone videos from right after she got on. I had a third one, but apparently my phone thought it would be funny to delete it. Some of the reining is atrocious, but she was having a hard time getting a feel for him at first.