First Trail Ride

I wish I had gotten pictures of Andy and I this weekend but I was out with a consignment horse and a student. The pictures I did get were of them with my cell phone. I was pretty impressed with the pictures my camera did take though.

I didn't realize that I haven't taken Andy on a trail ride before until we were getting ready to leave the property. Andy did exactly what I expected him to do. Ride true, straight, and spook in place at the DUMBEST things. HAHA It was a lot of fun and entertaining.

We cut across the road in front of the barn and went through a large field. This put us into a neighborhood and we went exploring down some of the roads that aren't developed yet. Andy spooked at one of the curbs....it looked like all the other curbs we had gone past but he decided to flinch really hard and snort. Jyll and I laughed and kept going.

Down one of the wooded roads he spooked at a log, we kept going. He got a little crooked here and we took the time to fix it. We went through another field, down beside the busy road( WAY off on the side), and then through another neighborhood. There is a lot of construction so we were careful where we stepped and in one place the ground wasn't packed and poor Andy sunk about 1' and he didn't flinch...just pulled right out of it.

We went down through another neighborhood(don't have ANY wooded trails around) and then through another 20 acre field. I would have LOVED to have gone out and loped circles but didn't want to leave the student standing on the horse she didn't know that well. I do plan on going back though!


I realized what a bad mom I was when we went to cross the road to head back to the barn. This is the first horse I have ever had with sliders on and when we stepped out onto the road his hind foot stepped on the paint, which is a little more slick, and his foot slid, not much and he didn't seem concerned but I realized how bad it could be.


I need to do some research but I'm wondering if I should trail ride him at all.....is it extra dangerous? Is it harder on him? Is it fair??

HELP!! I need a conscience!!

I was scanning craigslist today like I do everyday and I came across an interesting ad for a horse. This is a CURLY MUSTANG mare. She is coming 3 and has been ridden about 10 times. The lady is asking $500 for her....and that is negotiable.

Here is what I see:
Good conformation for a mustang
Looks sweet
Sensible under saddle
CURLY!!(always wanted one!)
kinda looks like Andy.

Be honest. What do you see in her conformation....could you see someone buying a curly...even if it was a mustang? I have nothing against them but sometimes trying to sell them is like trying to sell and arab at an AQHA show.

Back to boot camp

Let's just say that I was quite pleased when I untacked today after my lesson and had to thoroughly hose off Pro. For once (in a long time), he wasn't sweaty because he misbehaved for an hour, but sweaty because he was thoroughly using himself.

Okay, list of things I'm not allowed to do anymore...
1) I AM NOT ALLOWED TO CROSS MY OUTSIDE HAND OVER HIS WITHERS. Gayle says the horse has full permission to ignore you when you cross your outside hand over the withers. And while turning in a circle, especially a small one, your outside hand should open OUT, not even stay neutral. My brain understands a lot about riding logically, and can usually process what an instructor says during a lesson, but I have atrocious brain-body coordination and spent a large part of the lesson fumbling with this.

2) I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DROP MY HANDS. Bad things happen when I do. It moves the bit into a weird position. And according to Gayle, it really screws you over when you graduate to a double bridle.

3) I AM NOT ALLOWED TO LET PRO LEAN ON MY LEG, ESPECIALLY MY INSIDE LEG. We had some issues with this. Gayle insisted that Pro definitely knew he was not allowed, since no Western rider would've ever let him lean on their leg. So she took over my inside rein from the ground and used her hand as my inside leg to INSIST that he move over. He finally got it, though every time I tried to turn him in a small circle and not cross my outside hand over his withers he would bow out in a counter-bend and lean on my inside leg. We finally figured it out, but it wasn't easy.

4) I AM NO LONGER ALLOWED TO BOOT HIM UNLESS NECESSARY. After so much practice with literally kicking his ass, I am no longer allowed to "yell" at him unless it's for disciplinary reasons. I have to ask nicely first (and it was a bit hard to remember how to ask nicely) by giving a light tap (NOT squeeze) with my leg, then a slightly louder tap. THEN a louder tap. She said that Pro, being Arab, wants to have things light and sensitive. But it's his choice...if he chooses to be bad, I can be loud. If he chooses to be sweet, I can be soft.

5) I AM NO LONGER ALLOWED TO USE MY INSIDE REIN, UNDER THE PENALTY OF DEATH. Haha, pretty much! ;) Unless absolutely necessary, I am to resist the urge to use it, and I am to GIVE it.

And so followed a cycle of attempts at turning him off my outside aids while keeping my outside rein opening OUT instead of over his withers, using my inside leg to bend him and keep him from leaning on it, and giving forward with the inside rein. It was insanely hard but eventually we got it all coordinated together and worked for awhile with a delightfully powerful trot! Gayle was so pleased with how much he was bending his hocks underneath himself and using that butt of his. I only wish I could've had pictures!

Too much excitement for me!

Just a quick update about the weekend ride. Between the weather and having house guest-obligations, I didn't ride at all last week until Saturday. It was... interesting...

When I got to the barn, the barn owner was doing some small, well-controlled burns of old hay piles, etc. I was half-expecting the smoke to freak Tango out, but he ignored it as we were tacking up and warming up in the round pen. Good boy. We started off with some nice trot work in both directions, no complaints. Even got some canter work in (not especially pretty, but at least relaxed and more or less balanced).

That all changed when fire trucks came down the barn driveway! One of the burn piles had edged a little too close to the forest and some of the underbrush caught fire, so out came the fire engines. Well, between the sirens and the smoke, I completely lost Tango's attention. He wasn't spooky or scared, but he was very distracted and looky. (I was actually very impressed by his composure, I should say.) I tried working through it for another 10 minutes and managed to keep his focus on me by doing some transitions, but one particularly off-balance trot-to-canter transition resulted in a couple small bucks as he tried to re-balance himself, and once that happened the canter became a lost cause. So I switched gears and focused on re-establishing a calm balanced trot and called it a day once we got it in both directions.

Let's hope tomorrow's ride is less eventful!

Laying 11s

Whew what a weekend. I am just going to combine everything into one post.

Saturday: One of the young girls at the barn owns a rotten paint pony. Last week she bathed all 4 of my horses and hand grazed them each for 30 minutes or so. I told her that she earned a lesson so we met at the barn around lunch time.

After I got her going I grabbed Andy. I was helping her bridle her ear shy pony so I had the bridle over the horn and my rope halter on Andy. I stayed on the ground to watch her first ride with a bit on this pony and decided that Andy could use some groundwork. He is very well behaved but I need to make sure he moves the way I want on the ground and can show what I am looking for at the clinic in June.

He seemed eager to try new things and while I found a few sticky places all in all he did GREAT. He had a super relaxed posture when we were done. I think I'm going to have to start doing this a few times a week before we ride. I think he had fun.

I did learn that he is MUCH more balanced than I thought. He can canter a 25' circle without pulling on the leadrope!! That is balance.

When I got on him and started showing my student what I wanted her to work on with her pony and that got Andy nice and loose. We worked on it, mostly at the walk for about 20 minutes before I turned her loose to do her own thing. Andy and I started loping our circles. It was the first time we had REALLY REAL circles. They weren't disfigured or scary, they were nice, round, and he was staying upright. Its amazing how you don't realize how bad it was until you feel how good it can be.

When we came off our last circle to the left I asked for a stop. He really drove his hind end down and for the first time EVER I got 11s out of him. Granted it was only about 2.5' but it was something. We did a rollback and loped our right circles and got another 2' slide. I was in HEAVEN. I can't wait to get him out Monday (today) and see how our circles look.

Sunday:
I got up early to drive to Advance, NC where I worked with a 18hh percheron mare. Her owner had her in training to be a driving horse but wasn't happy that they had to drug/stock or table the mare every time they went to trim her feet. She wanted me to come out and teach the mare to calmly pick up her feet and stand for the farrier. I told her to make sure her trainer was comfortable with me coming out and training her mare while she was in his care. She assured me that he was ok but I was still nervous.

I got there and everything went smoothly. I had all 4 feet in the air and quiet in 10 minutes. The rest of the hour I spent teaching her and the trainer how to pick up this mare's feet and keep her where they wanted her. The guy was GREAT. He was an older guy but agreed with what I said and took instruction really well.

Before I left he showed me a few ponies he had for sale and asked for a stack of business cards so he could post it in his barn. He is going to talk to the driving club about having me do a clinic.

This was all great but I couldn't help over thinking it.

Are there trainers out there that don't teach basic horsemanship or don't KNOW basic horsemanship?? Are there FEI level riders out there that can't get a horse through Level 2??

When I work with a horse I work with the whole package. I don't just say ok...my goal is to get this horse to lope so ALL I am going to do is lope....

Does a dressage, driving, WP, racing, hunter, etc trainer not care what the horse does as long as their part of the training is covered? Do they not offer their clients help with problems if they come up but are outside the scope of their expertise?

Sorry for all the questions but I am just blown away that I was needed at a trainer's barn.

Playing catch-up

I swear I rode last week, I've just been too busy to get the pictures off my camera and post about it. So for now I'll post without the pictures and then maybe tonight I'll have time to get them.

Sunday (over a week ago now) Kate and I tag teamed so she could show me what she and Gayle had worked on. Some of it I was proud of myself for having already been doing, which was focusing on getting him to soften/yield his neck and have his nose follow my inside rein as the #1 step. Then once he's doing that reliably we check that he's on the outside aides by doing spiral in/out. She relayed Gayle's comment that people typically brace with the leg they're yielding towards. By softening my inside (or outside) leg Pro was able to step under and over much easier and there was a lot less resistance. Kate tried to have me do the pause at the halt where just relaxing sends him forward, but I failed at it. But in general he was pretty good. Kate was going to not ride since he was being so good, but I convinced her to do the trot work in the other direction. She demonstrated the halt pauses and they worked for her.

Tuesday (? It could have been Thurs, I forget what days I rode ;)) I pushed the limits some and expected him to stay soft and yielding in his neck during our spirals in and out. The spiraling went ok, but he really did not want to stay soft and supple during the turns on the haunches. I tried the pausing-halts some more and figured out that the key thing I'd been missing was maintaining contact. On Sunday when I'd halt I would relax my reins and then he'd sit there relaxed and stopped all day. But if I kept a feel of the reins, then he would stay 'alive' at the end of them and walk forward when I softened my seat. He was doing so well that we worked on cantering some and even did some flying lead changes on the figure-8. He didn't always get the cleanest changes (he's not as balanced yet at the canter so he's on his forehand a lot of the time) but he stayed calm and I was VERY proud of him that even after doing 7 or 8 changes in the center I could just use my seat to bring him down to the trot for a simple change.

Friday we were supposed to have a lesson, but Gayle was detained by a sick horse at the vet school, so I just rode on my own for awhile. He was pretty stiff and resistant in his neck so there was a lot more work getting him to yield reliably. He was going fairly well towards the end, but I didn't push it with any canter work.

Pics will be up soon hopefully! For the next two weeks Kate and I are holding down the fort while the barn manager is at the World Cup and then Rolex, so we'll see how much riding gets done after feeding, cleaning stalls, etc.

What A Day!

Last Friday was quite an experience.  I took Jay to Rocking B in Hillsborough for his saddle fitting, and took Deuce along to meet his new owner there and save her 1.5 hours one way (3 total) off her trip.  We met at 12:00, and my saddle fitting was at 1:00.  I thought they would have Deuce loaded up and be gone by 1:00.  Well, Deuce had other ideas, like NOT getting on their little 2h QH size trailer!  I never dreamed he would be a problem because he has always loaded easily, BUT I have never tried to load him in anything but my trailer!  We ended up taking Jay over to their trailer (as they still half heartedly tried to load Deuce) to do the saddle fitting.  The appointment after me came early and he did them first while I was trying to help with Deuce, so that put us even later...I knew at this point that John and I were taking a trip to Halifax, NC, which is northeast of Rocky Mount!  I felt bad, because if I had even thought that would happen we would have just delivered Deuce, and wouldn't have dragged Jay all that way!

The bad news continued as I found out that the saddle I have been using on Jay doesn't fit him all that well, and Dennis Brooks HATES working on that brand of saddle (Kieffer).  So it would be $400+ to fix it!  It doesn't work that well for me, either, because when I was learning to jump in it on Sam I would hit the pommel on a regular basis, which is a major ouch!  It has only happened with Jay once so far, but I know if I keep jumping it is coming.  Dennis pointed out that the anticipation of hitting the pommel would cause me to shift my weight back to the cantle more, and make that saddle even worse for Jay.  It looks like I am going to need to get a new saddle since it would cost so much to fix the Kieffer for Jay, and it doesn't always work so well for me.  I wasn't planning on having to do that!

My Germania is WAY too wide for Jay, which I knew.  He checked my Wintec, and the tree in it is cracked in three places!  The person who installed the last gullet plate for me didn't do it correctly (and I had someone else do it because I didn't trust myself!)  I bought that saddle new at Triangle Horse Sports, and Dennis said I would need to get them to send it back for the repair/replacement.  So, since we were now going to be going through Raleigh to deliver Deuce I called THS and let them know what was going on so they could get with Gilles and make sure that he could/would send it back since I don't have the receipt.  (Why Dennis wouldn't do it, I don't know, as Gilles at THS said that he had sent them back for people who didn't buy from him.  I wondered the same thing, actually.) 

We finally got on the road to Halifax at around 3:00, I think.  My head was spinning so much from everything that I really am not sure.  The good news is that Deuce's new owners are really nice people, and he has a great home with them.  They even bought him a new halter at Rocking B!  At least I got to see their place this way, and see their other horse.  Deuce is going to be fine.  Jay was not happy when Deuce got off the trailer without him.  So we hit the road back and didn't hang around too long.  At this point I was much more concerned about Jay than Deuce, especially since I couldn't get Jay to drink any water.  

We ran into all the rain and storms before we even got halfway home.  That made for a rough return trip.  Plus, it hit me about halfway home that Deuce was gone, so I was crying and driving through the rain.  It was scary at one point when I hit a puddle of standing water that I could not see, and almost hydroplaned!  Thankfully we were almost home at that point.  We had left at 10:00 that morning, and got home at 11:10pm!  We then stayed at the barn another hour with Jay, because I wanted to be as sure as I could that HE was going to be OK.  What a long day!

I have already listed my Germania saddle and a bunch of pads, like Supracor's, that Dennis was equally unimpressed with, on eBay.  Dennis did approve of my Thinline pad, and kept it to trim it some to work better for Jay.  I have two Thinline inserts, and he will be using both for right now.  Hopefully everything will sell well on eBay, and I will be listing more at some point, so that I can get something better for Jay soon!  I am not listing my Kieffer quite yet since it the only thing I can ride Jay in.  It isn't great for him, but it has been working since last November, and it won't be too much longer, I hope.  

Whew!  Sorry I wrote another book!  I am still very stressed about all of this, but at least Deuce has a good home, and Jay has settled in just fine.  I think a couple of mares in the adjoining pasture aren't too happy that Deuce is gone, though!  LOL!  To top all of this off, I discovered the next day that my trailer had leaked, and the carpet and everything in the front of my dressing room was soaked.  I am not sure where it leaked, but I think it must have been around the windows.  I haven't hauled much in the rain in the 10 years that I have had the trailer.  I was thrilled to find that out, and I still need to call Gore about it to see if it is a known problem, and if they can/will do anything about it.  I still have to put the dressing room back together, too!

I heard from Deuce's new owner Monday morning, and he and his new buddy Dusty did well over the weekend. Deuce decided he liked Dusty's stall better than the one that was intended for him, so he got to switch.  That is SO Deuce.  By Sunday afternoon they were more interested in grazing than anything else.  I think Deuce was actually more interested in grazing all along!  

Forward and Stop...

Last week I didn't get to ride as much as I wanted. I had scheduling conflicts and was trying to get ready to be gone for 3 days. I did get to hop on Andy Thursday evening though. Since I didn't have a ton of time and still needed to pack I brushed him, threw on his bridle and jumped on bareback. I haven't ridden him bareback yet and it was different...

I decided to start out our ride by taking a stroll around the property. When I left the cutting last Saturday Jim and I were talking and reflecting about our rides. I told him that I thought I needed to get Andy forward. That when he got upset he would get stuck(not know which way to go or be able to move freely) and that if I could get him out of that I think we would have a much better handle on the cow. He said I have it backwards. That I need to get him on his back end more and get him stopping harder, turning over his hocks, and really jamming down in order to get a better handle on my cow. I didn't respond because he has been doing it longer and I'm always ready to learn.

I was thinking about this as I was walking Andy. I think we are both right. Andy is like no horse I have ever ridden. I can hop on Apple or almost any other horse and feel completely at home bareback....Andy doesn't feel right. He is jittery with his muscles and OVER reactive to cues. I had him side passing and spinning with squeezing my butt muscles.... I thought it was cool until he got nervous about something and my squeeze to get him to step up got him moving but he was wiggly. I clenched to hold him where I wanted him and that made it worse. He uses his back like no other horse I have ever ridden. He didn't do anything bad but was lacking confidence and FORWARD.

We headed to the arena to work on it some more. I got him into a jog and could feel the subtle crookedness in him. He was forward but forward to the side a little...kind of like when your car needs an alignment. He was much better tracking left but tracking right he was almost completely counter bent. While it was much easier to fix bareback I wonder if it was a reaction to how I was sitting or if I am missing it THAT much when we ride with a saddle.

I was thinking about the conversation Jim and I had while fixing my crooked horse... When I said forward I think Jim heard go....To me they are different things. Forward is go with purpose and push and go is just that...go. A lot of horses go but aren't actually forward. In order to get him over his hocks and stopping and turning the way he should he has to be FORWARD. He has to step forward into his turns, he has to push off those feet, and he has to trust his rider.

I think Andy and Jim have given me a lot to think about. I already know where some of our mistakes are and where to start fixing them. I think MOST of the time Andy is really forward and with me but we need to transfer that over to when he gets upset.

Of course then I go off on...well how can I get him upset without taking him to Jim's and embarrassing myself?? I need to figure out if what I am working on is working or how to tweak it without an audience. I wish you could RENT a cow! LOL

What do you think forward is? Can you tell when your horse is going vs. being forward?

Hopefully I will have pictures for you tomorrow!

Tango's spring break...

...has come to an end. Up until last Tuesday, he had over a week off while I tackled a crazy work schedule and his owner was laid up with an injury. Since then, I have worked with him a couple times in the round pen. My overall plan for the next several weeks is to stay in the round pen, making sure I end each ride with a wet saddle pad! For the moment, the focus is on concepts such as bending, suppling, tackling the false frame issues, and "forward does not = rush" -- ultimately I'm hoping he will get more balanced and less one-sided. Also a chance for me to pay close attention to my aids, which is always good in this lesson vacuum I've been in lately.

So, last Tuesday... because the ground was soggy and Tango was new to the round pen, I started off just hand-walking him in both directions so that I could get a feel for the footing and he could get the looky-lookiness out of his system. (In theory, anyway.) Then I hopped on and asked for several laps of nice forward walk and then trot with loopy reins in both directions to warm up his back and get the motor running. Then we began to work on suppling at the trot, which is where we tend to run into his false frame junk -- I'd ask for him to bend and give at the poll, and as soon as he responded correctly I'd give on the inside rein and send him forward from the leg. Ask, give, go. Ask, give, go. At the beginning of the ride he needed constant loud reminders, but as time went on I was able to use smaller and smaller corrections to keep him moving forward into contact. Both directions! I was so proud. We even did some canter work, and oh wow we both need lessons to help us there, but it was fun. Good Tango.

Saturday's ride was not quite so hot. He gave me a similar nice performance to the left, but tracking right he was a major drama llama. I actually had to halt for a moment to check my frustration. So we spent the majority of the ride "discussing" suppling to the right. And once I finally got him cooperating again, it was time to put this nice movement to work by asking him to give me transitions without falling apart. (He tends to treat a downward transition like an excuse to lose all energy, and the upward transitions like an excuse to get hollow.) But once I focused on asking him to really work through a transition between walk and trot, he picked up on it very quickly. I also played around with "cliff halts" -- neat idea, Kate!

Unfortunately I don't know when I'll get back out there this week, between rain and other plans. But I'm happy with our first 2 round pen efforts!

Skate was Full of Badness Last Week!

He was such a bad pony every day I rode! Its like he had totally forgotten everything we had learned over the past few months. He was SO concerned with everything outside the ring and it was all I could do to get him focused. I admit, I reverted to using force....I did small figured 8s at the sitting trot and severely overbent him to the inside to get him to quit trying to look at everything. It would work for a few strides and something else would catch his attention. I was so frustrated.

On Saturday morning, I pulled him out of the pasture and he seemed like he was going to be cooperative. Until! he got saddled up and taken into the arena, where he decided to begin the stupid's all over again. I pulled out my Clinton Anderson moves and got his looky butt moving around me with intent. Backing, circling, reversing. Whatever it took to focus him. Its a good thing I didn't have that long plastic stick CA uses or I would have beaten Skate I was so peeved. I then lunged him until he was begging for mercy. Only then did I hop on and the ride turned out to be pretty good, probably because he was exhausted.

I think he just needs his little butt worked harder. He'd been doing so well that I was letting him get away with a minimal workout...No MORE. Skate is back in boot camp. Tonight I have a lesson to continue his butt-kicking. Time for him to learn that I am in charge - not him or the other horses. I hate having to go back to these basics, but something has caused him to lose focus and forget to pay attention to only me. Weather? Mares in heat? Who cares ...

Busy Week!

I'll actually start with the end of last week.  I went and watched the Pony Club/Horsemasters XC Clinic at Hillcrest Farms.  It was fun, and the instructor was good.  I found myself wanting to do it again, too.  I turned in my paperwork to join the group, so hopefully Jay and I will be able to take advantage of some great training opportunities!  

Sunday Jay and I met Gabby and Skate at Tanglewood for a trail ride.  We discussed doing the Yadkin Valley Hounds Hunter Pace, but I'll say we both decided it might be best to start with something a little more tame, especially with all of the recent rain.  I was taking a horse who had just had two weeks off and a feed increase, too!  When I was tacking Jay up, he started pawing.  He normally does not do that.  He will paw sometimes when he is impatient, usually at feeding time or in the trailer when we pull back in at home, but not tacking up like that.  I will admit that I did get a little nervous at that point.

We mounted up and headed out and put Jay in the lead.  We even did some trotting through the woods.  I could feel Jay sucking back at times, but I just added a little leg and he went on.  We had a nice, pleasant, leisurely ride.  It is true that he did eyeball all of the logs, though!  It was so good for me to be out front on Jay like that, and now I know that he is as good as always even with two weeks off and a feed increase!  Both horses did very well, and Skate handled the mud and muck like a pro, too!

Yesterday I took Jay out to another place that has a great deal.  For $50 you can become a "member" and ride there 4 times a month. The facility is fabulous:  a huge ring with beautiful jumps, a new wooden round pen, and a large dressage arena that is in the final stages of completion.  There are also beautiful trails out along the Yadkin River that even go out to some vineyards.  I was told you could ride out at least three hours one way.

It was much more windy yesterday afternoon than I expected, and by the time I was tacked up to ride it was feeding time...and the owner was feeding the pasture horses near the ring.  Jay was again not bothered in the least, and was even in what I will now call "away mode" since he doesn't just do it at shows!  What a nice ride!  I even cantered quite a bit, and I am definitely feeling better about it.  I couldn't have found a better horse, that is for sure.

I am also happy to report that Jay is already starting to pick up some weight.  He goes to the vet tomorrow, and I will still talk to her about it and probably run blood work and do a fecal, but I am relieved to know we are headed in the right direction.  Thursday the farrier comes out, and I am planning to put hind shoes on Jay.  He is doing OK with only front shoes, but since we are starting to do more riding, and more variety, I think he will do better to add hind shoes too.  He also makes it clear that he doesn't like to walk on gravel, smart boy, he pulls over to the side to get onto the grass (which was a big no-no at that fancy barn yesterday!)

Our busy week continues Friday when I am taking Jay over to Rocking B for a saddle fitting.  Deuce is coming along for the ride, too.  His new Mom will be meeting us there.  I have found Deuce a wonderful home as a companion to an Appaloosa mare.  His new owner doesn't have children, so her animals are her children.  She does dog rescue, and has also rescued some horses in the past.  I certainly got a glowing report when I called her vet for a referral!  Her 20 something year old TB passed away last fall, and her App is not happy being there all alone.  The woman has a back injury that prevents her from riding, but she likes having the horses.  So all in all, I think it will be the perfect situation for Deuce, and he will have a forever home there.  She keeps all of her horses for life,  but is willing to give me first refusal just in case something changes in the future.  I will miss Deuce, I have had him for three years now, but I think it is the best decision for a number of reasons. I just hope Jay will adjust happily to being in the pasture alone, but having other horses nearby.  

Skate and Jay have an adventure

Not that big of an adventure, but big enough for me! Christie and I met up at Tanglewood Park this past Sunday for a trail ride. There was a Yadkin Valley Hounds Hunter Pace going on the same day that we grappled with going....but I wimped out. Those rides can be tough! Since Skate and I haven't been off the farm for trailriding, I needed to start low-key to see how he would be.

He did NOT like trailering alone and hated getting off the trailer in a new place all alone even less. The screaming began : ) Luckily, even though he screams a lot, he doesn't really do anything else other than get tense. He still listens and stands still for me to tack up. Once I hopped on, he was fine.

Jay was the trusty lead horse for this trip...I figured he's the eventer, he can lead us across mud and muck, right? Yep...he handled that well and Skate was just fine, too. Now, stumps and logs, on the other hand, were apparently not Jay's favorite. He gave every one a hairy eyeball, which I think just meant he really wanted to jump them! Overall, it was a highly successful ride. Everyone was sane and well-behaved, with only one spook at the Pirahna Frog jumping into the river. No biggie.

Here are the trusty steeds:

Mooooooo!

Wow what a weekend! Saturday morning I went kayaking for 3hrs to start my day. I am trying to find something to do for upper body strength and I think I found it.

After kayaking I call Jim to see if they are still working cows that day. He says they are getting ready to head over and for me to go get my horse and come on! So I run home change, go hook up the horse trailer, load all my stuff, and get Andy. As we were walking to the trailer I feel Andy pause and I realize I have never hauled this horse or seen him hauled. He came in a 24' stock trailer and that is a lot different than the 2 horse that I am getting ready to put him in. He wasn't having it. He was nervous and then hard headed and didn't want to get in. It only took about 5 minutes and he jumped in but wasn't comfortable. So another 5 minutes of in and out and he was much better. I can't wait until I can afford my own trailer!!

We pull into the farm and park. I get my sweaty hairy horse off the trailer to see their sleek(under the lights), sparkly clean, pleasure looking horses. I think "oh great, now here come me and my shaggy sweaty dirty pony!". They were all really nice but they all knew each other. I got tacked up before anyone else and was standing by the arena waiting for everyone when I heard them yelling for me. Andy and I walked over to find they were having trouble getting the cows in the arena. They told me to ride out and bring the cows up along the fence and into the arena. I opened my mouth to tell them that I had NEVER been around cows before but they were all fussing about who messed up. So by now Andy has seen the cows and is like a border collie on a herd of sheep. He is FOCUSED!! I hop on and we go jogging down this pasture to collect the 15 or so cows.

Cow lesson #1: Cows are dumb! They don't move unless you make a LOT of noise or literally push them with your horse.

We get them all into the arena except for one that broke of and bolted at the last second. Andy saw her before I did and jumped sideways to get in front of her. I stuck it but was surprised and just how QUICK my little guy is. We chased her down to the bottom and then tried to drive her back up towards the arena. She wasn't having it and jumped a fence and ran into the woods. Thankfully she was in another pasture.

The arena is divided in half with coral panels so you can ride and warm up on one side and the cows are on the other. You always split it so the cows can't get THAT far from you and you can have other riders working horses away from the cows so they don't get worked up.

We are pretty warm from chasing those cows so we work on loping. Loping is REALLY important in cow work. It gets them forward, takes the edge off, and gets them balanced and ready for work. You want to stop hard and move their shoulders to change direction. We worked for a hard 20minutes and Andy was nice and warm. He was being really good and really focused on what I was asking him to do....then we rode into the side with the cows.

Within the walk from the side without the cows to the corner where we would be working turn back Andy was SOAKED. He was so worked up. He was hot and impatient and over excited. He would paw and shake. I couldn't believe that he was HOT. He has been mellow and calm the entire time I have owned him. I was so happy. We would spin and spin and then stand. It was hard to help with the cows but we did our best.

When it was our turn we went in a little too excited the first time. We pulled our cow but did push him out far enough and he was able to dive around us. Andy was fighting me and when I would ask him for speed he would get more upset and it just wasn't pretty. After this round we went to the other side and loped another 10min. I loped him until he was REALLY hunting for that whoa. Then I loped some more. When we went back to the cow side he was much better. We worked the outer turn back and got 3-4 more tries and the cows. All in all it was a GREAT day and I learned so much.

I learned that Andy and I have some stuff to work on.

I learned that Andy sucks back when he gets excited and that is where our issues were coming from. He couldn't get forward to execute the moves I wanted.

I learned that he has a MUCH bigger motor than I could have ever expected and we will be riding much harder from here on out.

I learned that 4hrs in the saddle hurts me more than my horse. He could have kept going.

I learned that no matter how pissed, upset, and excited that horse gets.....he wont' hurt me. He never ONCE moved my seat. He danced, pawed, kicked out once or twice, shook his head, tried to bite a cow that wouldn't move, shook, etc Never once did he move my seat. He was rock solid.

I learned that when you feel less because other people have prettier, cleaner, shinier horses and then you hear the stories about them bucking, or see they can't get their horse to move the way they want, or are asking horses to do things they weren't made for.....you can relax and pat your shaggy, dirty cow pony and grin on the inside. It may not look the best but dammit....we get the job done!

We have a lot to work on before the end of the month. They are having a team penning. I may not show but we are going to go there and work on quiet and controlled around cows.



Sorry to go on and on but I wanted to give as many details as I could since I don't have pictures.

Tuesday and Wednesday Rides

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I rode alone on Tuesday and yesterday everyone was riding so there wasn't anyone to take pics. I have thought about getting one of those deer/wildlife cameras that are motion activated. It would take my pic when I rode by......lol

Tuesday:
This was our first ride on his new shoes! He was FRISKY. It was warm and the air was thick and humid but the breeze was cool and crisp. Perfect colic weather if you ask me! He wanted to PLAY. He was good during warm up but once I picked up my reins he wanted to go. We did lots and lots and lots and lots of trotting. I wanted to work on me some so we did some trotting without stirrups. He wasn't too thrilled about the stirrups banging around on his sides but he held it together.

When we picked up the lope is when he decided it was his turn to play. I could feel him trying to twist up his back and I knew he wanted to jump around. I didn't let him so he rocked back at was slapping his front legs on the ground. He never broke gait or really moved my seat so I let him. I was laughing!

He was still really up when it was time to cool down and he decided he didn't want to be on the rail so we had to have a LONG discussion about staying in between my aids and how much work it would be for him to leave me. I would put him on the rail and when he would veer off he was gently reminded with an inside leg. If he ignored it or overreacted and picked up a trot then we would spin, back up, sidepass, etc quickly and then get back on the rail with loose reins. He got the message pretty quickly but wasn't happy about it.

It was a good ride though. I learned how much I could get after him and what he did when he was really pissed.

The farrier commented Monday that he didn't have much growth on his hind feet and didn't take anything off. I'm wondering if he wasn't a hair bit sore and now that he has shoes he is more himself.

Wednesday:
I was so happy to get to ride. It had rained a good amount all day but it was clear and thankfully the arena dries up REALLY fast. I was riding Andy and I had one of my teenagers on Tulsa. Andy was much better about staying with me and not being such an idiot. He and I really got a good workout. Tuesday's ride was more about trotting and staying with me. Wednesday's ride was about rating the lope. When he should speed up, when he shouldn't, and staying at the speed I choose on loose reins.

Once he was doing really good and was super focused I started having him lope near things. We would take a circle off the rail and go near a barrel or pole. He wasn't too thrilled about this at first. He wasn't spooky but he would throw his shoulders ALL over the place. It was kind of funny. Its amazing how agile he is.

Then we started working Tulsa. Tulsa is a trail horse and only a trail horse so we put him on Andy's butt and were playing follow the leader in the arena. Then we took it outside. Andy was sweaty but still not that tired apparently. He still wanted to play and work. He was pretending to see things go booger at. He doesn't spook but he'll jerk his head and shoulders without coming off track. Its funny. He would almost warn me. He would get tight and look in the direction and then jerk a little. What a goober!

I'm really thinking that I was a bad mom for not having shoes on his back feet. I think he is feeling a lot better. Hopefully his new diet will encourage some new hoof growth.

A new starting point

I was SO worried that the rain was going to ruin everything today...but it held off!!! Thank goodness. I really needed a lesson.

Pro's general attitude was clear when he swished his tail after I asked him to pick up his feet before I tacked him up. Gayle had pointed out awhile ago that it was a sign of disrespect, so I whacked him for it and he was mortified. However, Gayle fed him her apple core when she got there just before I got on, and I think that helped his mood.

As soon as I asked him to walk off, he threw up his head and it was like he was saying, "I'M GOING TO SPOOK AT THE POLES WAY DOWN THERE, JUST YOU WAIT, ONCE I GET DOWN THERE I'M GOING TO BE SCARED OF THEM." Gayle said absolutely not, of course, and I took my inside rein OUT and moved him in a small circle off my outside leg until he relaxed. Gayle made it clear that when I get on, every step belongs to me. There are no wasted steps in this arena. There will not be a single step looking like a giraffe. Once this was clear to him, we worked on unkinking his neck. Establishing/dictating rhythm with my seatbones, pointing my steatbones straight down, letting my shoulderblades melt down my back. So the purpose of my inside rein is threefold: (1) passive/giving, (2) opening to the inside to get him to unkink, and (3) STRONG pull to the inside to get him to HEY, PAY ATTENTION.

Today when I opened it, he remembered what he was supposed to do, and he started chewing and stretching. I know this is going to sound awful, but I admitted to Gayle that it was actually hard to say "good boy" when I was supposed to praise him because I am not much liking him these days. :( So I let Gayle say a lot of the "good boy" and I stuck to rubbing his neck with my inside hand when he released. He had a minor spook at a bird that flew by, and Gayle reminded me that I MUST give toward him and use my leg to get him out of the spook, rather than pull back. Well I'd been told this all my life, but she finally explained why. When a horse spooks, they suck/pull back. If we pull back, it's like we're validating the spook. By kicking them on, we're countering their pulling back and saying no, it's not okay to spook. Finally, an explanation!

We did some REALLY neat walk-halt-walk transitions that I didn't even know we were capable of. Just playing around, I closed my hip motion and he halted. Okay, I was only looking for a half halt but still good! From there, we talked about the halt as just an energy pause, not an energy stop. And Gayle said just to relax my hips. So I halted, waited, and relaxed my hips. Pro walked off!!!! No push from my hips, no give of my hands, NO leg. I just "breathed through my pelvis", my hips relaxed, and he walked off. I did it a few more times, and it was cooler each time. I told Gayle that I KNOW this horse has talent in him if he can be that responsive to the seat without any leg or hand - she agreed! She pointed out that he loses the bend when I go from halt to walk, and that I need to be attentive to that.

Finally, on to the trot! Posting up and over the saddle, landing lightly, closing my outside rein softly in a gentle half-halt every time I came down from the post. Using my inside rein to "follow my hand" with his nose, and getting him to unkink. Gayle then explained that with Pro, everything is slow. Slow, slow, slow. Chasing him forward is a BIG no-no, probably his biggest no-no, because he runs himself out of balance, panics, and then gets mad and blames us...evolving into a fight. It's counter-intuitive, but submission and proper balance MUST come before forward with Pro, she said. And as we worked on unkinking him at the trot, I was slowly able to add more impulsion in line with how balanced he was, and he was fine. But she said to never, never add the "go" before he was balanced.

When he was giving all he had, Gayle had me end it before he got too fatigued by carrying himself properly and fell into unbalance again. We stretched out at the walk and she showed me how to tell if his back is up - his belly tucks up, his butt tucks under, he stops rooting at the rein, he reaches on the end of the rein, etc. After I got off she showed me how to "bounce" the spot on his neck, plus she unkinked his trochanter joint - it was loose on the left and tight on his right. He liked it!!

So as for diet, in addition to adding more hay, Gayle told me to take him off the rice bran and the BOSS, and add in a better source of "cool" calories like Ultimate Finish or Envision. His weight is better, but still not perfect yet. She also told me to forget the past few months and think of today as our new starting point. The good news is that we started today's lesson like when she first met us...but we ended it MUCH farther along than the end of the first lesson we had with her. So he's going to re-gain progress quickly since it's a "no excuses, you KNOW what these rein aids mean!" type deal. He just needs to rebuild that strength and be strongly reminded of what the rein aids mean...but not fully re-taught.