"It is the difficult horse that have the most to give you, and that you can get the most out of."

(-Lendon Gray)

Ace is one of the most difficult horses I have ever worked with, but he is also the most rewarding.

I've worked with hundreds of horses before Ace. I've started young horses, I've re-trained abused horses, I've worked with reactive horses, I've turned show horses into trail horses. But I have never felt the sense of accomplishment that I feel with Ace. I have never been so proud of a horse or of my abilities as a trainer.

I wrote in my bio for this blog that, "Ace will be the horse that makes or breaks me."

Today I believe that he is going to be the horse that makes me.

If success is a journey and not a destination, than I am succeeding. Ace is proving that I am succeeding as a horse trainer. Our journey is beautiful and full of learning and for all that he improves, I improve ten times more.

Since I bought him, Ace has never lunged under saddle. He would refuse to leave me until I finally drove him away, and then he would go tearing around me with his head in the air in panicked circles bucking and snorting and carrying on like the saddle was eating him. He would lunge without one, and you could ride him, but there was no way he was lunging in a rider-less saddle.

Today, the lightbulb went off. We joined up, and I saddled him in the middle of the roundpen. No halter, no lead rope, no hitching post. He stood quietly while I flung the saddle pad all over him, tacked him up, and tightened the girth.

Then, I sent him back out. He walked calmly around, one ear cocked on me. So, I asked for a trot. And he trotted. He did snort at first, raise his head (and tail) high in the air- but, then he relaxed. He dropped his head. He stretched his legs. He floated around me as if he had been lunged in a saddle his whole life. He GOT it! He FINALLY realized that maybe if I wasn't concerned about that saddle, he shouldn't be either. I lunged him in one direction, then the other, asked for a walk, trot, and halt. He was perfect.

Ace calmly proceeding around the round pen tacked up.

He had a calm, floating trot, even under saddle. Which for Ace is a BIG DEAL.

Of course, Ace did so well that I had to ride him. He had such a nice mindset today. So, I mounted- no major issues there. We walked around the round pen- he was perfect. I trotted him around the round pen- he dropped his head and trotted on. I had yet to ride him at the new house, but he was doing so beautifully that I took him out of the round pen and we walked and trotted around the pasture. He was perfect. Today was one of those days when everything went like it was supposed to, and it was wonderful.

Calmly making our way around the round-pen. Note his lovely relaxed headset!
Exploring the pasture. How relaxed he was today gave me so much hope for him!

Today didn't just give me hope for Ace's future. It made me sure that he has a future. He is awesome, and someday we're going to be able to prove that to the world.

We're Back!

For the last month (or two) we have been moving! So, I've been on a forced hiatus from blogging.

But, Derek and I (and the dogs, and cat) are all settled into our new little house, and the horses are all settled into their new barn and pasture so it's time to get into the swing of things again!

I've been working more consistently with Ace doing his stretches and lunging him in the round pen. He's been moving much better since all the work that the chiropractor did.

I finally got around to unpacking the box that had the camera in it and snapped a few pictures yesterday!

Ace in his "new" (or at least newly located) round-pen!

I know that I've explained the join-up method before and mentioned that it was going to be the base of all the training that I do with Ace.

Well, now that I have a round pen set up, he and I have been working on that and he is responding beautifully.

And, I finally managed to get a video of the end result yesterday!
(You will have to forgive my poor video shooting abilities. I shot just the end of the process where I turn and he walks up to me, so I shot nearly the entire thing over my shoulder just hoping he was in the frame. It's not fantastic, but it's certainly enough to give you a general idea.)

What you don't see is me lunging Ace for about ten minutes in both directions, waiting for him to "ask" to come in. Once he finally gave me that cue (a chewing motion and a dropped head) I allowed him to come in to me. After the join-up I rubbed the lunge line all over him and we did a little desensitizing work.