Improvement

Banico was much better today. I didnt get down there yesterday because of late clinical but got down there today after classes. I lunged him first in the covered arena. He was good and we did a lot of transitions to make sure he was listening.

I then let him off the lunge line to roll which he enjoyed. He at first just looked at me and didn't realize he was free so I chased him off. He then went and stood in the corner for a few minutes looking slightly offended and then realized he was free to roll.

I then took him back to the barn and tacked him up. He was much better today. He is still very distracted and looking at everything but there was no spooking. We did do some very nice almost flying lead changes at the end and. He is slowly getting better and I know it will come eventually.

And because Dad requested it here are some picts of Banico eating his dinner:

Wild

Banico was a wild one yesterday. The BO kid was out driving her toy car around on the gravel and Banico kept spooking at it. Normally he wouldn't have even blinked at it but he hasn't been getting the same type of turn out he was getting in CA so he has a bunch of excess energy that has to go somewhere.  I had lunged him the day before and he was OK for my ride so I will probably go back to that. I have not had to do that for a few years now but when he was a baby (3-4) I had to lunge him before my rides so he would be nice for me. He has been on restricted turn out here because he is not use to the grass so hopefully when he goes out more he will get his brain back. He was doing so well back in CA and it is a bit frustrating to have the 4 year old back (that was a crazy year for him). But we have had some decent rides so there is hope. I am a bit concerned about him because he lost some weight, no ribs but his back bone is prominent. He also seems like he hasn't laid down to sleep at all sense he got here because he is still very clean. I think in time he will adjust and calm down it is just frustrating.

WEG endurance

I went to WEG today. I originally didn't have any tickets at all this weekend but they were letting students in for free so I took advantage of it. I got there about 1 so missed all the reining but watched some of the endurance and wandered around looking at everything. I took a bunch of pictures of the endurance.
The first few are riders coming in from the loop.

And these were riders going out. 

I took about 200 pictures so if anyone would like to see more just leave a comment.

Friends and ground driving

Yesterday one of my friends come out and saw Banico. She brought him a bunch of carrots and preceded to spoil him. But who can resist this face:

He knows how to beg and most of the time gets something.  I then rode him and he is still very distracted at everything especially when someone turned one of the ponies out and it ran around screaming for a few minuets. He did finally get better but it will be awhile before he is back to the horse I had in CA. I then let my friend ride him. She has ridden a lot before but hasn't ridden in the last 5 years. Banico was good for her he mostly just followed me around. Didn't do anything stupid but didn't do much else. He just looks at me whit a look that says what am I suppose to do mom? I kept trying to get him to go out and walk on his own but he kept gravitating toward me. He spent most of the ride with his nose near my shoulder and just followed me around. Got to love him. I would much rather have him do that then take advantage of anyone. He did the same thing when my mom rode him. When the he doesn't know what the rider wants he looks at me for direction. After my friend rode him we hosed him off and gave him more carrots. I then went over to her apartment and had dinner and hung out.
     Today I decided to ground drive him. He was a complete idiot the first half of the work out: wouldn't stand still for me to adjust anything and just wasn't listening. He even gave me a little kick out at me when I corrected him for something so he got to do lots of little canter circles until he listened properly. It is amazing what he can do if so inspired to do. And me chasing him is apparently quite inspiring because they were very nice small circles. I did finally get his brain back and he was very nice for the last part of the work out. We did a lot of transitions and had some very nice stops. I think I got as much of a work out as he did. He is getting better but it is going to take awhile.

Banico has arrived

Banico got to KY Thursday night at about 8 PM. Banico was staring out of the trailer probably thinking were am I now. We first unloaded my tack trunk and other stuff dad sent along. The very heavy tack truck was about 6 feet in the air over the goose neck of the trailer which made it interesting to get down. I still don't know how Dad and the shipper got it up there. The shipper then had to unload a very cute little hunter pony from the trailer to get to Banico's stall. The BO wanted to take the pony home until it came leaping down the ramp. Banico came down the ramp nicely and was looking at everything and trying to snatch grass. He went up to the barn and went into his stall. He was pacing a bunch so we went for a long walk and explored a bit. He didn't really settle down for a few days but he is fine now. I rode him on Friday and he wasn't that great. he was looking around a lot and spooked some. But he had been shipped across the country so it was kind of understandable. Each day I have rode him he has gotten so much better and tonight he felt like his old self. He did lose a bunch of weight on the trip but he was fat so now he is at a very nice weight.
Here are some picts from Friday.

This week has been absolutely crazy but I am glad Banico is here safely.

Banico is headed out to KY!

My dad got a call from the shipper today and he is coming to pick up Banico tomorrow afternoon and then heading to AZ for a day and then on to KY.  He will be here early next week hopefully not right during classes but who knows.  It will be so nice to have him here.

Midnight Lace

     Lacey was my first horse. She was a Morgan mare and her registered name was EVF Midnight Lace. She was owned by my aunt Julie before Julie gave her to me. Julie had owned her sense she was a 6 month old little bugeyed filly. She was about 17 when I got her. The first time I ever saw her was when my aunt brought her and her daughter, Sable, up to my grandparent's beach house for a weekend. I was the only one of my cousins who wanted to ride her.

(thank you Julie for this picture)
      I then went down to my aunts house to visit a few times and was able to drive and ride her and Sable. The first time my mom and I went down to Julie's there was a huge lighting and thunder storm and we ended up on the side of the road with a flat tire. We got a tow truck to come out and change the tire and soon were on our way. Soon before we got to Julie's a very large lighting bolt hit and turned the entire sky iridescent green. We had a great time down there and I was got to drive Lacey with Julie and ride Sable on the lunge line.
     The second or third time I went to Julie's I had progressed to riding Lacey on my own. Julie had a large colt named Bart who liked to drag water barrels around in the arena. I was cantering Lacey around the arena focusing on staying on more that where the horse was going. We came around the corner and one of the half barrel water barrels was right in front of us. She started to stop and felt me go forward and jumped the barrel. It was about 2 1/2 feet hight and she cleared it by quiet a bit. We landed safely on the other side. Both my mom and Julie were speechless for quite awhile.

Last CA ride

Here are some pictures from my last ride before I left for KY. I had a nice ride earlier and was going to take him back to the pasture but wanted to get a few pics of us. 

Had the sprinklers on. Banico was not particularly enjoying going through them but it was hot.

He has come so far since I got him as a yearling.

And just because here is a pic of the cutest ranch dog, Lily: