Sorting Event!

Although my heart is still broken I am slowly, very slowly starting to come back around. I am trying to keep myself distracted so I thought I would write something for you guys :)

I went to The Ranch on Tuesday and worked with Ava. She just wanted to run and run on the lunge so I let her, only, my way. I made her do lots of changes of direction, it didn't take long for her to realize that I meant business if she was going to be all race horse-like. When she finally ran out of freshness I walked her around quite a bit to get her breathing back to normal. I didn't ride for very long since she was already out of most of her energy but we did have a successful ride. She is becoming much softer in the mouth and is learning to keep her head in a certain position. We also worked on take offs and downward transitions, they are coming along nicely.

After we were finished with our ride I groomed her off and covered her with her cooler (which I am loving by the way!). Then I went over and asked one of the boarders about a sorting event that was coming up (she mentioned it to me the other day). It sounds like a lot of fun and it is only $40! She also said that I could most likely get a ride over the event too, which is even more perfect. The next time I see her I'm going to tell her I want to go and hopefully my ride will come through and we can go. I truly do not expect anything from Ava if this works out. All I can picture is her acting like a fire-breathing dragon and prancing and rearing and all that horrible stuff. So if she for some miracle behaves then I will be happy but I don't expect it. Anyways, I will definitely take lots of pictures and hopefully I can somehow get someone to take a few pictures of me as well!

Lovely Little Lady

After having a long workout with Poco I enjoyed myself with a little ride on Ava. Although we could only ride in the round pen (cows and a cutting lesson going on..) she still did amazing. We worked on a little bit of collection, rollbacks, follow your nose, and then at the end I desensitized her to a really noisy feed sack. I would hang it on the saddle, throw it on her, wave it around, and at the end she was really good. At the end of every session I will always do some desensitizing, there needs to be a balance between sensitizing and desensitizing; too much sensitizing and they will end up being jumpy, too much desensitizing and they will become dull. It works really well for Ava and Poco.

I have also been wanting to try working with Ava on western pleasure. Although I would love for her to be a working rodeo horse I think I need to look at the big picture. What I really want is for my future children to be able to ride her and take her on trail rides and possibly if they want to they could even show her. If Ava has a life of rodeo I don't think she would suit young children (just my opinion, every horse is different); and I think western pleasure, showmanship, things like that could keep on the right track. So, yeah, for now I want my end result for Ava to be a kid safe horse with a little competitive attitude, haha!

A couple years back my mom got me
this book and it is supposed to be very
good so I will definitely be reading this

Right before our little workout

She always looks wide eyed, or, distracted?

Why Am I Still Debating Over This?

I can't remember if I've already made a post like this... Hmmm... Anyways!

Good lord, this is driving me insane. I've been trying to decide (for years) whether to ride english or western... I can't pick, I just can't, I need help! So, hopefully this can help me decide over the two. I want your feedback also! I already asked Ava what she likes better and she many times said english. I think it's because english saddles fit her about a thousand times better. I've never found a western saddle that will leave an even sweat mark on her back whereas almost all english ones have. I've tried a lot of different western saddles too! It's weird. Ava has a short, wide back with high withers. So, it sounds like an easy answer, maybe it is.

Now I'd like to do some pros and cons about each.

English

Pros:

•Shape of saddle fits Ava a lot better

•LOVE the look of english saddles

•Pricing is a little easier for me

Cons:

 •I don't feel as secure in an english saddle (mainly because I hadn't ridden in one for a while)

•Usually have to mount up with a mounting block

Western

Pros:

•I feel more secure riding western

•The horn makes me feel safer

•Being able to get on without a mounting block

Cons:

•Can't find one saddle that will fit her (this is a big one)

•I can't afford a custom saddle. Not for a VERY long time

So, looks like they are opposite of each other. Western saddles won't fit but I feel secure in them whereas english saddles do fit but I don't feel as secure in them. I haven't ridden in an english saddle for a while so it would just take some getting used to. Hmm... Possibly english? All I want is to feel confident that she is comfortable while riding. I can't stand seeing those dry marks on her back anymore, it starting to drive me a little crazy!

As for showing I don't think Ava could get very far in anything. I would love to do jumping but she doesn't seem to like it; I would love to do reining, cutting, roping but she could never get to a high enough level. The only thing she would be good at is showmanship. Overall, I think she just wants to be my horse; take me on trail rides and adventures. I don't know, I could be completely wrong! Ava never tells me these things, haha!

Anyways, does anyone have any insight on this? Everything is certainly appreciated.