From the past few months, we have had glue on shoe on Prince to help him grow more sole and improve his soundness. Last week our farrier Daphne came and looked at his hoof health and said that we could once again try him without shoes. He was sound and his hooves are looking great. Lori will continue to ride him and get him out on the trails as much as possible. Hopefully his right match comes along soon and this fun boy can have a family of his own. He is ready to be a carefree trail horse!

Lori had this to say about Prince in the recent Joel Conner clinic:

I took Prince into the afternoon riding portion of the clinic. Once again, so proud of this boy. He has been on a light duty workout and he did everything that was asked if him. We stuck to the walk and trot only. He preformed his yielding of the hindquarters and forequarters like a pro. We worked on getting a soft feel and for once it didn’t seem like a struggle. He gave nicely to my hands and would go around holding his head position. What a good boy.

Lori had this to say about her work with Prince in the clinic:

I entered Prince into the riding portion of the Joel Conner clinic on March 18th and 19th. Prince is new to some of the tasks that were asked of him. He performed the yielding the hindquarters and forequarters under saddle extremely well. We worked on getting him to feel me through my seat. Asking him to slow and pick up speed through my feel. This is something new to him and we will continue to work on. Prince would try to pay attention and learn this new skill. He just needs more practice but I have no doubt that he will master this soon. We worked on exercises of getting close to other horses both front and hind ends. This is no problem for Prince. He is very comfortable in close quarters with other horses. We worked on getting a soft feel through the bit. Prince is usually very good at this and we will continue to work on this skill. Prince has plenty of go when asked. One thing we will be working on is slowing his gaits down to a comfortable and relaxing speed. Using the one rein stop to achieve this proved to work well for him. I have never felt that Prince would run off. I just want him to slow and relax. Prince has a very enjoyable and smooth lope. He tries hard and has a very pleasant attitude when working with him. Never has he shown any sour behavior. He is very kind and sweet. He will make someone a wonderful trail riding partner.

SAFE’s volunteer riders and their horses spent last weekend working with Joel Conner. Here’s a report from Lori about her sessions with Prince:

Prince and Lori

Prince and I entered the Saturday groundwork class. Prince started out being extremely herd bound and more focused on his buddies rather then on the tasks at hand. He would try to push over you instead of moving away. He was pretty worked up and a bit stressed. Prince has a great heart. He did not know about personal space and how to keep a safe distance. After working a while with Joel he started to get these manners down. The more we worked on the method the less he was looking to his buddies and the more he was looking to me for security and guidance. He soon learned how to yield his hind quarters and forequarters. He learned how to move out of my space when I would approach. Prince also learned quickly how to give when I would pick up on the lead to bend him. Bending to the right is his tightest side.

The afternoon we entered the riding portion of the clinic. Prince is more comfortable with you on top then on the ground. I spent a great deal of time bending him from side to side. He would relax for a bit and then have to move again making me put him into another bend until he would stand and relax. He was able to yield both his hind quarters and forequarters. I worked on getting a soft feel off the bit and teaching him to drop off. He excelled at this. I chose to keep him at the walk this afternoon since he was so eager to move. Teaching him to relax and be quiet was my focus.

Sunday morning we participated in the second half of the ground work. Prince was so much better this morning. Much quieter and moved out of my space with more enthusiasm. Only needed a few corrections to remind him not to crowd my space. His backing with the halter got to barely touching him with a finger and he was matching my speed when leading and stopping. Much improved. What a nice boy he is becoming with his new found manners. 
More photos of Prince at the clinic: