Friday, October 28, 2011

Frisby!

Since Lisa said I can come any time to ride or play with Frisby, I took the chance again on Sunday when Chris said he takes the kids to the Grandparents! So on a whim I drove down to Elizabeth (that's the town called) and visited my Fussel!

The hooves need to be done on both horses but overall Frisby looks very good! Lisa said she rode him the day before and that he should just be ok with me today!

Lisa, besides having some company at her house, came out and we chatted a little and she took some pictures of me and Frisby. I did not play with him that much since I wanted to let Lisa take a look at my saddle that I brought with me. I wanted her ok for using it on Frisby. But she said, too, that the saddle - i used on Vanna - fits Frisby quite well.


I taked him up with my bridle, too and not to my surprise the headstall fits him the way I buckled it for Vanna. I did not need to change one hole on it! Amazing, what big full-sized head the little 13 hands Fjord mare has if the same headstall fits Frisby who is 16 hands tall...

Oh yes, and Frisby did not change one little bit in all those 6 years I don't own him any more. See this exiting look on his face?

'My' horse all geared up. The only thing I needed to buy for this big guy was a longer dressage girth. I made a fantastic deal on Craigslist in getting this Ovation girth for $15. This girth was just used once and it retails new for over $40! I have the exact same one for Vanna, just in the shortest version there is of 22", this one for Frisby is now 32" long.


Frisby was slow as always, that was the exact reason I sold him because riding was no fun any more for me. I don't know what made him going so VERY slow once you climb up...first he jiggs (not walking, not trotting, I need to admit a very comfortable walk/trot, jigging) but when you ask for more pace and kick him with your legs, he just freezes and bucks. Lisa needed to go back inside and tend to her potato salad for her family and friends so she could not snap any more pictures. I rode Frisby here in his pen with Dusty, his horsy friend, just being there, too. He never was once in the way, we could ride circles around him or he would just graze at the fence.
Frisby did as well this hopping, what he as well always did with me in the end. When you ask him to go forward he throws his head up in the air and as well the front end, like he wants to canter but does not. So he 'hops' (I called it a Trahopsel, as in trot-hopping). Drives me nuts! But after 10-15 minutes we cantered right and left and it was so much joy to feel his big stride and a nice big circle (soo different from Vanna where canter is so much more work). Frisby's head was down, his back all rounded, he was snorting with every step and everything just felt wonderful! Now his trot had far more forward motion, too! Just my slightest outside leg made Frisby canter, SOOO much fun!

I tried to trot behind his stall (the corral is a big circle and inside the corral there's a fenced in shed where the horses are kept in during the night or when Lisa is at work - since Frisby demolishs the outside white fence quite often - you can still walk behind the fence and neighoring hay shelter and you are still in between the white fence, think of it as a circle within a circle). He does not want to go there at all and was backing up and stepping sideways. When I tried again after cantering, he surprisingly did go behind the shed, not super willing but he did. I let him rest there and catch some air just like Clinton Anderson says to do.

We had so much fun that I could not stop riding Frisby this day!
Poor guy was really sweaty afterwards, but he had foam between his butt cheecks, the girth area was all white and he chewed the entire time nicely on the bit. There were quite a few times where I had no connection to his bit but he was holding his head nicely in position. I was so proud of him (and me for this matter in not falling off of a 'tall' horse)!


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