Brandy did even better today then she did last time I took her on a trail ride, first I was gonna meet my dad and sisters up the rode a little ways, and Sam wasn’t riding with us today, so Brandy was gonna have to walk away from her herd by herself with out another horse with her. It was starting to get a little stormy but I was going to ride a little ways and hopefully we wouldn’t get wet, she walked right along like she’d been doing it all her life in the stormy weather, and without another horse around. I did turn around when it started raining though but Brandy waited until I turned her around to even go back. We waited until the rain was over and then ended up meeting my dad and sisters and started the ride. We ran quite a bit today and I found out she’s got more speed under her than I thought, she’s got a lot more endurance than she did last time I rode her out on a trail too. I’m gonna ask Sam to ride her next to see if she’s still acts good and if she does she’s a finished broken horse.

I havn’t rode Brandy for about four days just to see how good she would be without me riding her everyday when I got back on her, and to make sure she didn’t forget anything I taught her. I rode her today for a while in the pasture and she’s still doing real good with everything and acting great, I think I’m gonna wait another few days and then take her on another trail ride.

Today we went on a trail ride with my dad, sister and Sam, Sam didn’t know what to expect from Brandy, because she hadn’t ever been out of the driveway, and we didn’t know how she was gonna react about it. I could tell she was a little nervous about leaving her home, and I think she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to go, but even through that she did everything I told her to do. She was doing real good following the other horses and everything, yeah the first car that passed us she sort of just froze at, standing there until it was past, but after the first two cars she didn’t even flinch, and just kept walking with the others. He whole ride she did great, and acted perfect about everything, she kept going pretty good even when she got tired, and she enjoyed it too. It was a fun ride and she is an awesome horse, so with that and plus the nice evening, it turned out to be an awesome fun ride.

Today Brandy stood perfectly still while I saddled her up and put her bridle on, and didn’t move at all when I got on her back, I rode her down to the gate and in the field, she did perfect all day. I galloped her around the field and in through the trails in the woods, she stopped when I told her “whoa” and started walking when I barely kicked her sides, she didn’t act scared of anything, and she stood perfectly still when I got off her too. I got on and off a few times just to make sure she was gonna stay good about that, and she did perfect. She acted so good she barely even acted like a green broke horse, I’m still going to ride her around more for maybe another week just to make sure she’s completely broke of any problems, I’m gonna take her out on a trail ride next time and I’m pretty sure she’s completely ready for it.

I took Brandy out on a ride today just up the hill by herself, and she did really good except that she decided she didn’t want to go up this one little spot so I smacked her back end with the end of the reins and gently kicked her sides, and encouraged her to go forward, until she finally did. I rode for a little while until we got to the top of the hill and then got off and sat on a stump for a while, holding the reins in my hand talking to her, it was one of those summer days to remember forever, letting the wind cool us off, and just understanding each other, and while Brandy was still someone else’s horse, we got along with each other just fine. It did take a few days to get used to each other, but then again horses are just like humans in that way, she wasn’t comfortable to feel like herself around me the first couple days, then she wasn’t sure how much she liked me the next few days after that, and by me showing her that I wasn’t gonna abuse or hurt her no matter what she realized she could actually be herself, and then she started to calm down and learn new things without feeling so much pressure of not knowing what to do, to either obey me or to be stubborn and just go against everything I tried to show her, which horses will do if they don’t ever feel any kind of love, or discipline also. That’s another thing with horses is that discipline is a big thing too, cause even though loving them is the right thing to do, without discipline they’ll start to run all over you, if they know your still gonna just pet them and tell them “good boy” or “good girl,” whenever they do something wrong or mean, they’ll keep doing it all the time without even thinking about it, and never even think about it being wrong. And then when someone actually gets hurt they wanna blame the horse, when it’s the owner/rider or trainers fault, actually it’s that way with every kind of animal and humans too, and just for reference discipline can always be taught with love. But back to Brandy, with everything I taught her she knew it was better to just listen to me then to keep trying to do things her own way, kinda like the way we do with God, but then after days and days of love and discipline we start to realize how much He’s actually done for us, and how much we haven’t deserved any of it, but that He’s had patience with us when we’re being stubborn and trying to do things our own way, when all along He’s right there just showing us the better way. So yeah with God’s help and with me using what He’s given me, Brandy has come a long ways.

This morning I started riding Brandy in the front yard as usual, just because it’s safer then taking her out in the field until she’s broke enough, but today I think I’ll be able to ride her out in the pasture. She’s still acting up quiet a bit, and she still isn’t all the way broke of moving around while I’m getting on her, so I’m gonna have to work with her some more on that too. After about ten minutes of riding in the front yard, I took her out in the field, she seemed to act good enough, so I got her moving a little bit faster, she’s doing real good with turning and she stops good when I’m on her back , there’s just a few things she acts bad about still, she still gets scared about some things too though, like walking through puddles and stuff. I rode her around for a while talking to her softly every time we rode around something she acted weird about, and made her calm down and waited until she wasn’t scared of it anymore. She’s definitely learning a lot more every day and getting better too.

Today I got Brandy out in the field, and saddled her up and stuff, and Sam held her still while I put the saddle and bridle in her, because she’s been moving around too much every time I put her tack on. She was going really good with just the regular stuff I’ve been teaching her, but she had a attitude with me getting on and off today, so I decided to work with her on that. Actually it turned out to be like the toughest day of working with her, I worked with her for hours on that just trying to get her to stand still, but every time I tried she would bolt forward as soon as she felt my weight whenever I was getting on her, and whenever I tried to get off she would dance around and try to keep me from getting off. But I kept working with her slowly and patiently, by getting on and off, over and over again, and she slowly started to realize that I loved her enough to not get mad at her and that I was gonna just wait until she decided to give in and let me win, and from there we could work together as a team. Sam watched while I kept working with Brandy and afterwards told me “I had the patience of a saint,” but I’ve always realized while working with horses you have to have patience to teach them, or else you never get anywhere.

DAY 3

This morning I went to get Brandy out in the pasture, and she walked up to me, looking forward to more attention. I saddled her up and got on, and as soon as she felt my weight she started bucking hard, fortunately I stayed on and calmed her down. I had no idea what on earth her problem was, but I figured out that horses are just like people and it takes a few days for them to get used to people they’ve never known, and she was finally starting to feel like herself around me, ya know? And plus she was trying me out to see how much gut I had in me and how much I really wanted to stay the boss. I rode her around in the yard for nearly ten minutes, then decided to take her out in the pasture to ride around, today was the first day in the pasture so yeah I was extremely cautious of what her reactions might be. She worked up a big sweat, but it was good for her because she needs to work up endurance and stamina, that’s one of the ways her stubborn personality comes in good at though. She’s still doing really good for only her third day, but she still has a long ways to go, but she’s getting there, and I’m happy with the way she learns. I always treat her with a handful of grain every time she figures something new out, as a way of rewarding her, and she’s also learning how to respect more everyday.

DAY TWO

Today I started working with Brandy like yesterday, except not so amateurish and just a little more advanced. She’s done really well so far, so I’m pretty proud of her, yesterday I had her walking around the yard in a circle, and she was learning how to turn, stop and walk pretty well by the end of the training session. Today I’m teaching her how to walk backwards, by holding the reins down low and even, and pulling back pretty tight, and at the same time saying "back" over and over again, until she learned to walk backwards good, she already started walking backwards by herself, so I figured I’d teach her it at the same time. One of the best things I’ve learned with horses is that when you start training them from on their back, you just go with the flow of what they are already doing, (if it’s safe) because then if your telling them the same thing they are already doing, then they learn how to work together with you and eventually let you do the deciding, of what to do and where to go. And also I’m teaching her not to be afraid of walking through trees, with noisy branches overhead, by walking her along the edge of the woods, and touching the branches, making noise with one hand, and keeping a firm grip on the reins and the saddle horn with my other hand, and talking to her softly telling her that nothing’s gonna hurt her. So yeah after couple hours she was pretty good in both of those areas, and she trusted me even more.

DAY 1

Today I started training a horse named Brandy, she’s a beautiful bay and her breed is half Quarter and half Percheron, she has a sweet personality about her, but she’s stubborn at the same time. I talked to the owner (Sam) yesterday about her, who said she’s halter broke and has had a saddle on before, but if you even think about trying to put a bridle on her, she freaks out and has a fit, and throws herself on the ground. So yeah I figured this was gonna be a tough one, after talking to Sam some more I walked up to Brandy, and started rubbing her gently with my hands and talking to her. She seemed to like me so I went ahead, after about five minutes and started putting a saddle on her; usually I wait longer than that especially when they are a hyper more wild kind of horse, because they need more time to get used to me, and their environment. But I was training Brandy at Sam’s house because it was right down the road, so she was already used to her environment, which made things go smoother. She moved around a little, but for the most part she was pretty good about letting me get the saddle on her. Then after that I started with the bridle, expecting to have a hard time, but she surprised me, and let me slip it right on. Horses can tell though when somebody knows what they are doing or not, and it usually all boils down to the fact, if the horse feels love coming from the person that’s working with them or not. And they will always react a million times better whenever the trainer has love towards them. After that I led her around the yard for about another five minutes, then slowly got on her back after letting her feel my weight first, she started walking at a fast pace, and every step further realizing I had control. After a few minutes she dead stopped, and decided she wasn’t going any further, I tried getting her to walk by tapping my heels on her side, and gently slapping her rump with the ends of my reins, but she still wouldn’t budge. I got off her back and started leading her, so she knew that I wanted her to go, after a couple minutes I got back on and then she started walking that time, then of course she stopped again, but then I knew what to do, after a few rounds of this she figured out who was the boss, and started behaving better. After a couple hours I took her tack off, let her know how good she did, and brought my saddle and put it in car, and then walked back up to the fence, and stood there talking to Sam for a few minutes, Brandy saw me standing there and walked up to me, and rubbed her soft nose on my face, I patted her neck, and told her I’d be back tomorrow.