Ronin loving life

Ronin, being a 17h TB is often seen by other people as a giant horse. I have had him mistaken as a warmblood several times because, let's face it, he is quite big and has a big chest.  There is no narrow, scrawny TB in him.  For me being 5'10" and mostly riding warmbloods when growing up (I rode mostly TB's to start, but when switching to equitation, WB's were mostly ridden), I fit the beefier WB's better than the TB's.  But with Ronin, my leg fits quite well and there is no problem.

The last few weeks, Ronin has been feeling great.  We have been riding quite a bit and lots of grooming.  It is starting to get cold again and his coat is starting to grow.  So the vacuum has come out again to help get him a little cleaner.  Let's just say, I LOVE the vacuum.  I curried him last Sunday then pulled out the vacuum.  I just use a shopvac that my mom bought for me at Walmart and I just purchased the metal attachment.  The metal horse attachment works so much better than the little plastic one it comes with!

A few weeks ago, we had the Bernie Traurig clinic and Bernie suggested that I ride him in a tom thumb (small shank) rubber pelham once or twice to school him over fences.  Ronin gets a little excited to jump and will rush through the corner causing our lead change to be late behind.  If he stays straight and balanced, he has a great change.  So we worked on that.

After my ride, I let one of his favorite kids get on to walk him out.  Ronin loves this kid.  She says hello to him every day, loves on him, grooms him (even picks his feet!), and gives him treats.  Ronin has always loved small children despite his size.  He is especially gentle and careful around them.   Here are some pics of him with the kid:

Sunday cool out with the kid

Kid having a bad day and just wants a hug

He has a few other kids at the barn (kids of moms who ride) who also love on him.  He is such a lucky boy for having so many of them to love!

He also did a show back in July and there were therapy classes going on.  They needed horses to be donated, but I thought that he might be too large and difficult to get on.  One of the horses they were going to use would not stand at the mounting block (which is a large metal ramp) so they couldn't use him.  I had just finished hacking him and said that they could give him a try.  Ronin stood perfectly still while the program manager got on him side saddle and laid on top of him to make sure her student could get on.  His rider has cerebral palsy and has very limited use of his legs and uses both leg braces and forearm crutches.

Ronin had the time of his life.  He loved it!  The man riding him was the nicest person I have ever met.  He loved Ronin and kept complimenting him and saying that he felt like the horse knew him.  Ronin walked around for the rail class, played red light green light, and did the trail class which consisted of walking through a shoot of poles, weaving in and out of cones, walking over a pole, halting and backing.  The man was so thankful that I let him ride Ronin and he took pictures after his ride with his ribbons.  Here is a shot of us walking in the warm up arena so that he could get used to making Ronin walk, turn right and left, halt and back up: