What to do...

He's home... It was a long drive yesterday. When we arrived, Oakley looked really good, he is fit and trim, although I must say he is not under-nourished by any means, but he is underweight for my liking. He's looking like a nice show horse, but I like my horses with a little more bulk, so for now while he is here, I'll be working on adding a few pounds.

I was able to watch Amanda ride him and realized how eager I was to get him home and give him a try myself! Here she is on Oakley yesterday.

I did ride him yesterday for a few minutes in the driveway, he is lacking some basic skills but proficient in others. He does not have any bend/give or suppleness in his face/neck/front end etc.. He braces himself when you ask for a whoa, a basic concept he should be better at. You can certainly stop him, but he feels "green". He does know his leg aids very well and it felt good to be on him.

Derek and I talked all night about what to do, Derek feels very comfortable around Oakley, but we both realize Oakley needs some more training before he is ready for Derek. Today I decided to get on again, rode around the driveway, out in the back field working on bending and giving, backing and stopping etc. He is slowly getting better, I think Amanda probably was not firm enough and focused on other areas. Derek decided he wanted to give him a try, so he got on and walked a few circles in the driveway and felt very comfortable on him. Plus he looked good too! lol He practiced a few things he saw me doing. In reality, Derek could ride Oakley as it is now out on the trails. Oakley is far enough along for someone with basic skills to ride him, but he is stiff and down the road, its better to fix it now.

I got back on and decided to head down the road, by myself and do the loop trail in our neighborhood. I was gone about 40 minutes or so. Oakley did really good on the trail. There was one paved road/hill he was refusing to go down, but we worked through it slowly. He wanted to have a tiny attitude, but I remained calm and relaxed and therefore he did as well. He has a nice walk on him, I got him over 3 puddles with some effort, but no fighting.

I think what we are going to do is find a trainer in our area and send him off for 30 days at which point we'll return Blackie Smalls to Angela and Derek will ride Oakley. If problems arise on the trail with Oakley, I can always get on and set him straight while Derek rides Edgar. Derek doesnt really like Edgar, I think because Edgar is not personable, but he would be fine to ride him.

So there it is. We are still sligthly in limbo on the plans, but I think we'll spend the money and send him off, one month aught to do it. Here are a couple pics, one of me and one of Derek. Obviously I am too big for him, but he can handle me for now while I work on some basics with him until he goes into training or another plan emerges..