Day 29 – Phil’s Courage’s Journal – Show Day

We were at a local schooling show today and hauled Phil along. He did not hesitate to load in the trailer even though it was dark. Phil was shown exhibition in HUS, English Equitation,Western Equitation, Barrels, and Poles. He placed 2rd in hunter in hand and 4th in halter geldings. If we keep up this…

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Day 28 – Phil’s Courage’s Journal – First Ride

Catching your horse. Since Phil comes in to eat he comes to me and I halter, lead, and release him a minimum of twice daily. When I catch Phil I have actually taught him to catch me. The last thing I want to do is walk to the end of a 5 acre pasture to catch…

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Day 27 – Phil’s Courage’s Journal

Morning feeding: uneventful. Releasing your horse: This is a lesson I learned quite well when I was younger. First let me tackle the basics and then I’ll tell the story. Using the correct haltering and leading techniques I led Phil to his new pasture to meet his new friends. They have been nose to nose for 2…

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Day 26 – Phil’s Courage’s Journal

Morning feeding: We had a record setting low last night for this time of the year. I was expecting a lot of “freshness” from my group. As I entered Phil’s pen he started hopping up and down with all four legs off the ground at once. He was very animated. Since he was being polite and…

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Day 25 – Phil’s Courage’s Journal

Morning feeding: It was a fairly cool morning and many of the other horses were a bit rowdy, but Phil remained level headed and super polite. Still very much a colt….. I tacked Phil up. The “girthy” behavior has disappeared and bridling is a pleasure using the head down cue. I used a different bridle on…

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