https://youtu.be/uCpSwlOEycg

Boone’s April: This month, I worked with Boone mostly on consistency in trotting and loping rather than more technical training. I tried my best to stay consistent this month in making sure Boone got his daily excersise and the effort has paid off. Along with supplements, the exsercising has definitely incred his muscle mass and muscle tone. With warmer weather now in the area, he has also started to loose his winter hair and slick off. Being very busy, sometimes I wouldn’t have time to work Boone and my other horse, so I taught Boone to pony with my gelding and he does great minus the fact that when he gets bored he will annoy Nickel by slightly nipping at him or simply booping him on the butt. Other than that, he responds great to the halter pressure when asked to trot or lope alongside. We had our second outing this month as well to the local arena for a play day. I didn’t compete, but Nickel, Boone, and I rode around the whole facility for most of the afternoon and I used that opportunity to work Boone in a new environment. To my surprise, he loped exceptionally well and was very willing and calm in responding to my cues and what I was asking for. This next month now that he is in good shape, I plan on moving into more advanced and complex maneuvers and working with him to respond quicker and preform more efficiently. We also plan on going on a trail ride with a group of ten on a 1000 acre ranch and we may also be working cows which will be amazing for Boone to experience.

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Sorry for the late response, I emailed my ad to you.

This month has been really hectic and life-changing for my family hence the late post. I lost a lot of time to work with Boone, but even without being able to ride very consistently, we bonded over feedings and basic grooming and spending time together. We put Boone on vitamins about a month ago and along with a few days with a blanket on, he has slicked off and is starting to show muscle definition. His temperament has changed substantially too. For example, when my friend came to my house for an event, he trotted up to her car and greeted her when the last time she was over, he wouldn't let her touch him. He used to be scared of walking through our barn to his pen without someone leading him, now he casually trots through the barn into his pen and nickers for his food. Although we haven't done much work under saddle, the last ride we had was the first ride he willingly loped both directions for me without showing aggression or shifting his hips around. We also discovered this little pony has a crazy good stop. Speaking health wise, we have cut down his grain from 1 scoop a day to 1/2 scoop a day with the same amount of forage (unlimited grass). His problem areas though still include sensitivity to pressure, and being skittish. These aren't severe, but I wouldn't put a beginner on his back yet. My goal for the end of April is to be able to easily work Boone in the round pen under saddle without worry and him be able to easily shut down and bend to pressure when given. A bonus would be to be able to set my little brother on his back and walk, but this will only happen if we are 110% sure Boone is confident enough and trusts me enough. Safety will be priority over meeting these goals. {https://youtu.be/FuR_STmRLeI}

Article: 1. 3 Reasons: to keep your horse safe if it ever got caught, to keep you safe because their instinctive "fight or flight" can be dangerous, and to allow your horse to mature enough and become bombproof to where they are seen as better by inexperienced or young riders buying the horse. 2. Items: Bucket, old horse blanket, rope small children, flag. 3. establishing how "bombproof" the horse is. 4. continue consistent pressure 5. False Video 1: 1. To teach the horse to not use the flight response with small things before excercising that idea with larger scarier things 2. A and B 3. It tells you they've relaxed and accepted what your doing; you should release pressure. Video 2: 1. turn into it 2. move 3. buckets and flags https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvJZSlnpNHg

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EDcRpaaVG90 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkdTFTgOopQ This month has been an absolute roller coaster. The beginning of the month we started off with a solid two weeks of just trotting in the arena and slowly incorporating loping into the picture. He has shown to be very stubborn with a snaffle bit, but works well with a soft spur and plow reining which I plan to fix. He has trouble staying on the fence and keeping a trot, but he picks it back up when asked and does fine. I started introducing Boone to roping by simply roping the dummy around him and having him stand tied while I rope on my other horse. He definitely needs the experience. Towards the middle of the month though, we hit a low. He seemed very unwilling and unmotivated and I made the mistake of pushing him too hard and he started crow-hopping or slightly bucking towards the fence when for my safety I bailed off. This frustrated me very much and that night and the next day we worked thoroughly in the round pen where I concluded he is willing to lope, but it is awkward for him and I think after a week or two more of conditioning, he should be able to lope without a problem. Every relationship seems to go through an "arguing" stage and I feel that was our arguing stage. He resented me and I resented him, but I knew we had to move past it, and keep going. We both spent a lot of time together not working and shooting videos, and I think we are starting to work things out and regain our friendship. I haven't been able to ride the past week because we are experiencing freezing weather and rain, and I probably won't be able to ride for the next week for the same reason. We will still do ground work as much as possible despite the road block. One thing that stood out to me though about this month was actually today when I turned him loose in the round pen, and he followed me around for a short time. He used to just go to the opposite side and stand there, but now he is becoming willing and I feel that is a big milestone for our relationship. Next month I hope to see an improvement in coat as he is in a blanket right now and muscle development. Hopefully next month I can send a video to y'all of us tracking a roping dummy but we will see!

This month has been overall crazy. Weather down south has been absolutely miserable, which has set us back quite a bit. Over this month I noticed Boone get much more comfortable with his pasture mates and to my surprise is now the alpha of them all. He has really come out of his shell to me and now has built some trust for me. The beginning of the month was our first ride which went absolutely amazing. He definitely needs help with sensitivity to cues and reins. I absolutely love his independent yet willing personality. He is definitely going to be bombproof by the time we part ways. The middle of the month was absolutely crazy with Christmas and I also had a close relative go through a major emergency surgery separating me from all my horses for a whole week. This last week however I have worked very consistently with Boone and we even had our first ride out of the round pen this last Monday. This night we had a special moment as when I put him up to feed, he just laid his head on my chest wanting to be pet. I also hopped on him bareback and laid on him while he ate and brushed him and I feel like these little things are going to shoot us straight to the best relationship we can have. Later tonight I pulled out the calf dummy and roped next to his pen . He seemed quite scared of it at first but after about ten minutes, he adjusted and relaxed fully which then I stopped. Next month I hope to start working on him tracking a calf dummy in motion and desynthesize to me roping off him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC-qCeG43oY

https://youtu.be/dK49e_6pzoE

https://youtu.be/DvaDIjtq8mg

our insta is kaleighnewman.7

When we first arrived home, we got Boone settled into our biggest pen and kept him in the pen for about 2 weeks to adjust to our previous horses safely over a fence. Over these two weeks however, Boone managed to escape the pen twice with the help of another horse breaking the latch both times. The first time it happened it took me only one try to calmly walk up to him in a 30 acre pasture and halter him. This was very big. We put extra reinforcements on the gate, but it wasn't enough… Boone escaped again and came back with minor scrapes that took about 1 ½ weeks to heal. Over the course of the first three weeks I work solely on synthezation, and building a relationship with this little pony. I have learned just how smart and willing this little horse is. He is very slow to trust, but I feel like once I gain his trust and he gains mine, we can do some amazing things! I plan on increasing his cardio by quite a bit this next week in the round pen and also saddling him and round penning him with the saddle. If all of this goes well, I plan on working him in the round pen horse back for most of the next month while also creating new scenarios for him to explore. I want him to start trusting me more and realize that I am not putting him in any dangerous scenarios and the less he reacts out of fear the better.

Hello! My name is Kaleigh Newman. I am a freshman and I have been paired with Boone. Boone is a 12 year old pinto pony gelding. He is slower to trust, but he has come a long way in a month and I can't wait to see what's to come!