Cowgirl for a Day

Cowgirl in the rain and mud.

Junior and I went to a Ranch Riding show!  It was all very last minute, I was invited to the Saturday show on Friday around 2pm.  You know how I like to plan things WAAAY ahead of time right?  Kinda hard to do that in this situation so in very Overanxioushorseowner fashion, I spent the evening going from one minor panic to the next, reading and re-reading the showbill, the Ohio Foundation Quarter Horse Association Rule Book, checking and rechecking the weather, and trying to gather all the stuff I thought we'd need when going to a type of show we'd never been to, a fairgrounds we'd never been to, and knowing it was probably going to rain.

Did I need a full change of clothes?  Where is my rain-gear?  Will that be enough?  Are my split reins in my show bags?  Do I need cash? Food?  Water?  Should I bring my real camera or just my phone?  What should I wear?  What if Junior freaks out being in a totally new place where there are COWS?!?! What if Junior freaks out after a yet un-tested two-hour trailer ride?  Would I be DQ'd for our short mane?

I didn't sleep much.

The morning started miserably rainy and they delayed the start by over an hour. I was SOOOO tired but a good 'ol Starbucks Double-shot and a cliff bar got me through. It rained and rained, but it got lighter and lighter and by the time B did her final class (Breakaway Roping) it was sunny and warm and lovely.

Luckily we snagged the last two open stalls in the barn so the boys had a dry place to hang out between classes.

We competed in Ranch Riding Walk/Trot/Lope and got 6th out of 7.  My first green ribbon ever! It's sort of the pleasure class of the day.  I didn't think I had time to warm up in the small indoor arena so I ended up going into the class without so much as a jog-around. In true western fashion, we rode the class in enough rain to make several people's numbers fall off and for it to be hard to see at times. The arena was very very wet but the footing seemed fine.  I didn't see one horse slip all day, even in the crazy cow classes.  Junior did NOT trust the footing right away so that first class was wicked.  I was just happy we didn't DFL it.

I then took him into the small indoor and schooled him a LOT.  I had a good sized break before my next class so I sat and watched the reiners and the reined cowhorse classes.  B won her Reining class 'cause she's awesome.

Our next class was Ranch Trail.  There were 8 obstacles including a log-drag and a plastic steer-head roping, neither of which Junior & I had attempted in over a year and a half.  Nothing like going in cold AGAIN!!!  Thankfully he was more trusting of the footing and the rain had stopped.  He drug the log like a champ.  We had to do a 360 in a box at the far end of the arena where the cattle were.  He didn't seem to care they were there earlier in the day but something spooked him (again from that &*?#^% right side) and he leapt out of the box sideways so I backed him up and took him in again to do the turn.  He got over the spook quickly and stood like a champ while I awkwardly tossed a rope at the plastic steer head. Yes there's video, no I p I surprised myself by getting it around one of the horns!  All was going better than expected until the back through "L" where he wasn't having it followed immediately by "F-You I'm not side-passing over those same demon-spawn logs you tried to make me back through."  He DID it but it was a hot mess.  Thankfully we ended strong with a really smooth gate (the first narrow solid gate we've ever done!) and a perfect dismount and re-mount.  We got 5th out of 12!!! But the judge DQ's 7 entries for various reasons.  B won that class too, cause she's awesome.

Here's us in all it's fuzzy detail...


Then we did the Ranch Riding Pattern class.  THIS is the kind of pattern class we can do.  It was like a horsemanship pattern but a big one taking up the whole arena instead of just a small area.  It had walk, jog, extended jog, lope, extended lope, stop, 180, jog, lope, walk, stop, back.  I was very pleased with how Junior responded to my cues.  Certainly not a flawless performance but quite respectable.  We were 5th out of I think 7.  B took 3rd.

After the show was over and we packed up the trailer and cleaned up our stalls I took Junior over to see the calves.  I was told he'd been started on cattle back in Texas but this was the first time I'd had him around cattle.  He was interested in them but showed no signs of nervousness or fear.  He went up to the fence and grazed and when one of the calves tried to say hello....

Ohai!

He sniffed it and even let it lick his nose before he went back to grazing.  Wish I had caught that moment, too!

What a fun day playing cowgirl!

Holiday-ish Greetings!

As per usual, the blog will be rather silent while I journey to the (apparently not yet) frozen tundra of Minnesota for some much needed family time and friend time over the holidays.

My back is not improved but we now know that I have two, yes TWO bulging disks between the S1 and L5 and the L5 and L4.  Super. It seems trying to "work through" the pain wasn't the thing to do after all.  I have another appointment after the new year to see another ortho-guy and I've been ordered to take it very easy and have been given some mild pain meds/anti-inflamatory drugs so if this post makes no sense you can guess why... The Pharmacist said "yeah, people really like this stuff."

All of this time off has sort of put a snag in my plan for really getting both Junior and myself back into shape.  It's a rare occasion that my motivation outweighs my ability and it's driving me a bit nuts.  But things could be much worse so I'm trying to stay positive. We were in such good shape last May before I hurt myself, darn it!

I have some riders set up to give the Junebug some exercise so he doesn't need to spend my whole vacation idle, as much as he would probably prefer that.  And as always, BM Sarah and BO Molly will keep an extra eye on The Bug to make sure he stays out of trouble.... as if that's possible...

Thank you for all the nice compliments on my locker sign!  I also made one for someone else, but shhhh! It's a secret!  I'll post about that in January. ;)

In January I'll also be resurrecting my annual Equi-lutions, both scoring us on how we did this year and confessing my goals for 2012, which will be conservative considering my back issue.

So after the holidaitus I will be back with bells on, I promise.

Happy Christmas!  Happy New Year! Happy Everyone!!!

I thought I'd to a Christmas Video this year instead of just the card:

Cowboy Challenge #2

The equine gods were smiling on us Sunday and B and I were able to head up to the Cowboy Challenge at the Knox County Horse Park.  We had some trouble getting him into the trailer again, but I managed to stay calm and intent enough on getting him in so we managed.  It was a gorgeous day, weather could not have been better.  You may remember that we went to our first challenge last year at this time and we had so much fun.  We failed a few of the obstacles and Junior got about 3 feet into the little wooded part and spun around and ran out and I could not get him back in.  I was pleased with that first time but made it one of my Equilutions to place in a Cowboy Challenge...

This time we were able to enter a Novice division so there were only 7 competing as opposed to the 25 that were entered into the open division.  The course was the same.  

Junior was a such a good boy.  We had some issues getting lined up for the gate and he wasn't sure he wanted to stand still by the barrel with the water bucket when he could see his two favorite girls and his buddy Zip up in the arena.  We're still working on the separation anxiety, but he was great on the course.  He was calm and brave and I got lots of compliments on the ride and on how pretty he is.

After we competed we went on a nice trail at the Park.  Junior was really awesome.  He took the hills and the tight spaces and the deer all in stride.  Who knew he'd turn into a decent trail mount??!?

One of our friends won the Open on her mare, Rio, who Junior is very much in love with.  Ivy, a new red roan in the barn was there too and he couldn't decide who he was more in love with.  Adorable.

JR: "Hey, how YOU doin?"
Rio: "Whatever."

Rather than give a play by play I'll just show you.  It's a big course so it's hard to get a clear shot of it all, especially the parts behind the trees.  Back there we had to stop at a mailbox and raise and lower the mail flag, then we had to go through a round-bale feeder that's on it's side and buried.  It's a tight squeeze for us so it's a good thing he's not at all worried about it.

You can watch the video with the sound ON if you want to hear the wind, the commentator, and B and B.  I captioned the obstacles so you can watch in silence if you want.  Ignore the camera shaking due to Zip, the video I took of B and Zip while sitting on Junior was way worse.

And the outcome?  We got a 106 out of 120 and placed second!  He went right into the trailer for the way home so maybe we crossed back into the dimension where my horse trailers like a good boy and not like an idiot.  We shall see because...

The best part is that we get to do it again next week because it's a makeup date for the one in May that was rained out!  It's only Open, though so we have to compete with the big boys and girls, but it'll still be fun!

Your Anniversary Giveaways are FINALLY in the mail and on their way to you.  Thanks for entering!!!

Shenanigans.

Shenanigans. They just never stop when you own a horse like Junior.

This morning was my first Monday morning as feeder at the barn. I've been doing Sundays for a few weeks and it just so happened my schedule allowed me to do Mondays, too. Yay for board discount and more pony time!

It was pouring down rain so instead of turning the horses out to the fields, I rotated them through 20 minute sessions in small groups in the indoor arena. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the fact that my horse will get out of his stall and socialize EVERY SINGLE DAY no matter what?!?!

Junior goes out with his mini-friend Apples and Max, who does everything by the book. He is one of the most polite and well behaved horses I've ever met. He does not break rules. As you know, MY horse is not that kid. I am aware that Junior and Apples often go under the rope gate and hang out on the other side, just for fun. I blame Apples since he's small enough to walk under both the rope gate and the board, and since Junior loooooves his widdle Applywapply soooo much he figured out a way to follow. We put up chairs along the gate in a (clearly worthless) attempt to convince them it's a solid wall. The wash rack is over there, but there isn't anything obviously dangerous over there, and come on, what sort of mischief can a horse get into in 20 minutes.... oh wait... this is MY horse...

It seems today there was a random bale of shavings over there...

Those are not Apples sized hoofprints. Of course when I came to retrieve them to take them back to their stalls they were both on the correct side of the gate as if they heard me coming. As if I wouldn't think they were responsible. Max was waiting by the door to the barn with a look of "You KNOW I didn't do it." But Junior's nose was all muddy from nosing around the wash rack floor.

"See, Mohm, I canot fit unner dis bord so der is no way I was rerspunsable! It mustabeen Apples! See how small he is back there? Yah. Onlee Apples kin fit. I dinindo it."

See, he KNOWS he's not supposed to be over there...

Not Broken!

I'm happy to report that my pony is not broken after all. Two weeks ago I posted that Junior was having issues with weight and balance. Though the issues are not completely resolved, he is very much on the road to better times. He is showing improvement all over and increasing muscle in his hind end. I did increase both his grain and his hay rations but I won't get into the details just now. The biggest steps have actually been in the way we've been working. I've been riding more frequently, and have switched back to my english saddle and a snaffle bit. We've been trotting for 25-35 minutes every other day and have been working on keeping his back up and increasing impulsion. I don't suppose that sounds like much, but remember how lazy I am and how it's winter and how f*ing busy I am with work right now - it's my busiest time of year. But improvement is visible and palpable.



We had a session with an equine chiropractor/massage therapist on Friday morning. We'd been trying to get her and she happened to have a cancellation. I can clearly understand why she's in such high demand. She spent over an hour with us. He was "out" in his poll, neck, both shoulders, a couple of ribs, and his pelvis was twisted. Though she said none of that was "scary". She attributed most of his left hind issue to his pelvis. When she was done working on him he was incredibly calm. He even stood by his open stall door while I put his blanket back on and didn't move an inch even though there was a pile of lovely hay in his stall. He was super chill. She also took a gander at my training saddle which I've always questioned whether or not it fits him. She said it seems fine, but that the skirt is too long for him considering how far back his shoulder slopes. So my hunt for a new saddle has a somewhat limiting new factor. I WILL do a post on that eventually, I promise.

Today we had a lesson with Monet. Yet again my mind is completely blown. She says our biggest issues are increasing straightness and impulsion. Which in a way means that we don't know jack sh*t because straightness and impulsion are kindergarten. But I'm okay with that. In the 17+ years I've been riding I've had to accept that I will probably always be in kindergarten. I'm very comfortable with our reality. I didn't think that way when I was about 17 and thought I was the queen of the ring, but we all thought ridiculous things when we were teenagers, right? But I digress. The lesson was great and exhausting for both me and Junebug. But he was such a champ. I did feel his LH go ONCE but it was when I brought him to a walk improperly because I needed to take a break from all of that standing and pushing and releasing and swinging and half halting and whatever other 200 things I was trying to do all at the same time. And I learned today that he DOESN'T lose the LH when he's USING his LH, only when he's NOT using it. So I have to keep him using it. Kindergarten again.

Here's two clips from today. The first is Monet riding him. She mentioned that he feels much better to her now than the first time she was on him back in late summer. Then it's some of the last 10 minutes of our lesson when I finally started putting things together and he (because Monet had been on him) had started to figure out what on earth all my in-saddle shenanigans were all about. You'll notice I look completely ridiculous and flappy. Snicker away. I sure did when I watched it! But just like teaching a horse to steer, you have to exaggerate in the beginning. Don't watch me, just watch him MOVE!




I do love him.

Weight and Balance

In some ways I hesitate to post what I'm about to post. Though I know that you, my loyal readers, will only have constructive comments and suggestions, but being the "Overanxious" person that I am, I dream up all sorts of horrible things in my head like someone telling me that I'm doing something so obviously cruel that I should be ashamed to call myself a horse owner or that I've ruined my horse beyond repair.

So please be kind and be assured that as we speak I'm already soliciting answers from professionals. I'm just sharing the case study with you. For those of you who have not followed this blog from the beginning I have some history re-caps:

First a little history re-cap about "Balance": In the beginning I used to call him "The Eight Legged Moose" or say that he had "four left feet." I also said he had ADD because several of the incidents included him looking off to the side quickly when he saw another horse. For a long while he was stumbling in the front end at the canter. Often. We actually dropped to his knees on at least two occasions. There was a time early on that I worried about cantering him at all, convinced we were going to go ass over tea kettle like I did once with Banee. These are the only two I have on film: the first in a lesson during our first few months (Nov. '08), and the second at the last show we were in (June '10).

THESE seemed to be front-end related, only at the canter, and the one in June was the last time he's done it... knock on wood. I had him checked by Chiro #1 shortly after that and his only response was that he was "stiffer in the neck than I expected" which doesn't make me feel like I got my money's worth. Then he was tight in the right shoulder and I started doing the Alpha-Stim and stretches, which I've not done much of since he shoulder got better. Possibly related or unrelated is this other issue: every so often and with increasing regularity in the last few weeks an issue seems to be expressing itself in his left hind. I know this has happened on and off for a long time. If I can describe what it feels like during the ride, it feels like he forgets the foot behind himself. It hesitates to come forward. This is mostly happening at the trot, more so the more I ask him to extend and hardy at all when we are jogging. He happily exhibited it to Monet who gave me some homework to do to help it, which I promptly forgot and therefore didn't really follow through with. When I had my jumping lesson on Nov. 21, she told me the bumps on his neck were evidence of vertebra out and she adjusted him. Fast forward to now: he's still got the bumps and that left hind is very frequently "catching". This is from today. You can see it if you stare at his left hind. I slowed it down a few clicks so that it's easier to see. It feels bigger than it looks:

History re-cap on Weight: Bought him in early September '08 and he was underweight. Not dangerously so, but thin. This is him that first month:

I'd say he was a 3-4 on the BCS scale. He proceeded to gain WAY too much weight and he yo-yo'd for a good while. In the fall of '09 my friend TJ used Junior as her project horse in her college Equine Nutrition class and in January of 2010 I changed his grain and started measuring and bagging his meals since I couldn't rely on the barn feeders to get it right. Further history in the Topics tab under "Equine Nutrition." When TJ did the project we palpated him at an 8.5 on the BCS scale and looked like this:

Now he looks like this and I think he's at a 4 (BTW you really have to FEEL a horse to estimate accurately, pictures are far less accurate):

If you compare the rear shots, he not only is more triangular, on the topline, the top of the hips is narrower than the bottom, which looks disproportional.

And ribs, even visible through the fuzz. :( Only positive thing is that his tail is much fuller and longer than it was even a year ago. But that's just cosmetic of course. :( Nobody cares about the paint job if the engine is broken.

You can look at his full profile in the Christmas pictures, but we'd been outside for a bit and his hair had fluffed up. He's just been unblanketed in the three that are here.

What was most upsetting to me today as I compared these images, is that even though his side view from 9/08 is similar to now, the rear profile is much flatter in todays images. This leads me to think that he's lost more than fat: he's lost muscle and that's not a good thing.

Is the muscle loss the cause or the effect? Or are we looking at two different things?

I wish I knew the answer. I know the possibilities: sore back? sore hip? hock? caused by what? bad tack? does he have a mild injury somewhere? Does he need more chiro? Certainly not from Chiro#1, but we're trying to get Chiro#2 scheduled. More massage? A supplement? More Alpha-Stim? Where do I do the Stim? Stim is difficult in the winter because the horse has to be wet. Though well insulated, the barn is not heated. Should I lunge him instead of ride him? But I can't get him to extend a trot on the lunge line so that won't work him very deeply.

I did some sensitivity tests, running my comb down his back from withers to spine but didn't get much reaction so maybe his back/loins are fine and the issue is in his hip? He was doing this before Chiro #1 saw him, but like I said, I didn't get much information out of that guy.

I know I NEED to get that muscle back, but I need to ask for some professional opinions on how that should be accomplished. I want a better diagnosis that what I have so far and I don't want to do any more damage. He seems perfectly willing to work, just not as willing to extend as he should be because clearly that's difficult/painful. He's not fighting me, I just need to keep pushing him and if I let up at all he drops right down to a slower jog.

All of the preceding questions were rhetorical, of course. I'm afraid no one can really answer those from watching a video or looking at pictures. If that were the case Vet's wouldn't need to make farm calls. So we've got some work to do.... just not sure what it is just yet.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Jumping

I. Am. Exhausted. I am embarrassingly out of shape. I may be very very painful tomorrow. Not only did I clean 5 stalls but we had our first jumping lesson today. That's how out of shape I am. It was pretty sweet, though. He was a superstar. He just took in all in stride. He never spooked or got hot. He was willing to go and willing to stop. She had me do a gymnastics line over and over and adjusted as we went. Each time she had me finish the line by stopping at the wall to teach him to listen and be calm after jumps. He certainly bumped a number of rails (mostly with his rear feet) and knocked several down, but how could he not with an unbalanced blob on his back?!? I was such hard work trying to stay in the right balance. I was smacked in the ass with the cantle a good number of times. But you have to start somewhere, right? Monet was very pleased with him, gushed about how perfect he is for me and how much she likes him even though he's not a warmblood. :)

I couldn't help thinking about how surprised I am that I'm doing this. Where did this set of cajones come from? Now, I know that to the few of you who jump normal grown-up fences know that this is kiddie stuff, but it has been about 10 years since I jumped and you know I lost my nerve somewhere in there! I jumped as a kid and wasn't afraid of it, but just the thought of jumping has freaked me out until very recently. It wasn't so long ago that I was nervous to canter him by myself. Loping over ground poles would terrify me 6 months ago. Granted he used to trip in the front a lot, and he hasn't done that since we moved barns.Doing the obstacles and going out on the trails across the creeks and over logs and down the steep hills has been good for us. He's finding his feet a lot better I guess, and I'm not interfering as much. I was all over him while jumping, of course, but I'll get better. There is work to be done!

At this point on the whirlwind tour of "What to do with a Western Pleasure Reject" we have done Trail Riding, Cowboy Challenge, Dressage, and Jumping. (If only we had a cart!) Is it okay if we like it ALL?!

A Tarp? I'm over it.

*Disclaimer: This is NOT the safest nor smartest way to introduce your horse to anything as potentially terrifying as a tarp. I know this. I knew the entire time that something could have gone dreadfully wrong. Do not try this at home, kids. Or, if you must, do it in a much safer manner such as in a roundpen or with a rope halter and lead, NOT in a snaffle bridle and reins, while recording it at arms-lengh with your iphone....

A Tarp. I have a tarp. Ever since Junior refused to go near the scary cornfield in our 2nd fall, I've been meaning to try desensitization techniques with the tarp. I finally got around to taking it to the barn today. I wasn't sure how I should do it, if I should put it in the roundpen and just let him discover it? When I got to the barn I set the folded tarp in the arena on a chair. And then I forgot about it. I groomed him ground tied in the aisle and he was an angel. I tacked him up and brought him out to the arena. Oh yeah... the tarp. So I led him over to it and picked it up. He didn't care. I began to unfold it and it made noise. He didn't care. I unfurled it. He didn't move. I lay it on the ground and he walked right over it. I backed him over it. I picked it up and shook it. He practically yawned. I threw it over him. He reached back and tried to chew on it. I pulled it off, threw it back over his face so he couldn't see. He backed up slowly while I pulled it off. I threw it back on and made him walk around until it fell off. He didn't care about it at all. I then left it in a heap in the arena, mounted and rode around and over it several times at a walk. I guess the obstacles and trail rides we've done have helped? Or maybe he'd been tarped before? He sure didn't give me that impression when we first encountered the rustling corn, or the small tarp blowing in the wind at one horse show.

After the tarp fun, we spent about 10 minutes trotting in 2 point and posting and I had to quit. I am embarrassingly out of shape. Tomorrow I have my 2nd lesson with Monet and I think we're starting the jumping process... not sure if that means we'll actually go over small cross rails or what. I've never taught a horse to jump, I'm not sure how slowly and carefully it needs to be done, but that's why I hire professionals. SHE intends to turn us into eventers, but I'm fairly certain if 10 minutes of trotting is tough on us, we are certainly not athletically inclined enough for eventing.... oh, and by WE I mean ME.

Dust Bath

It was 68 degrees today and we had a nice ride through the woods with NOT ONE SPOOK! He's getting better all the time. Still doesn't want to stop and stand for more than a few seconds so we're still working on that, but I'm surprised that he's less snorty and less tense than he used to be. Then we did a little gallop through the empty bean field. Yes an actual gallop. It was FUN! Still have visions of him tripping and falling, but still fun. It took him a few crossings of canter before he got into the gallop, but once he figured out what I wanted we got a nice gallop.

You know that icky grime horses get over the winter when it's been too cold to bathe but you work them hard enough to get a bit of a sweat once in a while? He got sweaty under the saddle pad and all I could think of was that winter grime and how one less layer of sweat would help. So I hosed him off, scraped him off, gave him an apple in his feed pan and let him hand graze in the lawn for a while before letting him back out to the field. Much to my displeasure, he thanked me for the hosing by rolling in the dustiest dust you've ever seen. Rolled thoroughly on both sides. It took me the whole first side to get my phone out an onto the camera setting. That'll be fun to clean off later, but dirt is still better than sweat. :)

Timing or "Round Pen 101"

1. Everything happens for a reason.
2. Moderation in all things...including moderation.
3. If it's not fun anymore you should stop doing it.

Those three phrases have become my mantras for various situations in life. I use them to remind myself to accept things as they are, to be careful and yet live a little, and to really asses my goals and make sure I'm doing what genuinely makes me happy. Lately in my equine journey they have all three of these phrases have come to the surface. A few posts ago I mentioned my tour of "What to do With a Western Pleasure Reject". Sunday was our third stop on that tour: Round Pen Communication.

Now, I must first say that I get a sour taste in my mouth when I say "Natural Horsemanship." I DO STRONGLY believe that there is no ONE RIGHT WAY to do anything, be it horse training, washing windows, or skinning a cat. I am a strong believer in the liberal arts education. To me, in the equine world this translates to exactly what I've been doing as of late, and one of the biggest reasons I was excited about this barn we're boarding at. Where else do you get to do on-site trail riding, obstacle training, dressage, and equine behavior training?!?! That being said, I've never really put too much stock in the roundpen freaks like the Parellis. I think that world is highly glamorized and dramatized and aimed at the female baby-boomers who always wanted to play cowboys as kids and think they're living out their mustang fantasy because (though their horse isn't rideable yet) the horse sniffed me! He loves me! We've bonded! Whatever. Maybe because I'm not in that demographic their snake oil hasn't worked on me. And come on, anybody who says "The reason you do not see our people wearing helmets is because we try to teach people that rather than be brave because they are wearing a a helmet to protect them, they would be better off not riding until their horse is behaving safely." should be slapped. It's true that unsafe horses shouldn't be ridden and that a helmet will not save you from every injury, but at which Parelli level do you learn to defy gravity? Accidents happen and any horse professional should encourage novices to wear helmets. Sorry, done with the rant. Moving on.

So needless to say I wasn't exactly jumping up and down when my BO's suggestion was "Maybe you should try some roundpen work" to help solve Junior's pushy behavior. BUT after this weekend that is exactly what I'm going to do. He's a smart horse and a very active minded creature and our first little session into it was very interesting and successful. I am now looking at roundpen work as similar to what I've noticed happening in showmanship practice. It's all about body language and establishing yourself as Alpha and honoring the horses's willingness to cooperate. Just like how showmanship has greatly improved his mouthiness and attentiveness, round pen work will improve that attentiveness and it should be another step to increasing our bond.

I spent a lot of time talking to Clinician Dawn Hurlburt of Equuspeak.com about Juniors issues. She specializes in the behavior of therapy horses. She listened very carefully and after working with him in the pen reinforced my assumption that it's mostly a bad habit of being able to bully people during unsupervised grooming and tacking. (He has never been allowed to bully under saddle, as either me, Max's Girls, or KAT was supervising the riding.) He uses that situation to try to get out of work and possibly because he might be anticipating the uncomfortable Newbie riders. Dawn assessed (though she is not a vet) by observing him for a few hours that he is highly unlikely to be experiencing ulcers. I told her how I dealt with the kick on Thursday and how I deal with him when he's super bad on the cross ties and she said I was doing the right thing. She confirmed my belief that whenever a horse does something that could endanger the handler (biting or kicking) the horse must be punished in the same way that another horse would react. Though people get bent out of shape about striking horses, when it's done fairly and at the right moment and intensity it is within their realm of understanding. Horses don't understand time outs.

So what about timing? Could round pen work have helped us earlier in our relationship? I don't know, but NOW is when it has entered our life. When I think back, it took at least 6 months for him to even notice my presence. It was a long time before he seemed to look to me for any sort of guidance or support. He "liked" me, but he wasn't seeing me as Alpha. We're still not there yet, but I feel a huge improvement in that department has occurred in the few months since our move. The trails and his uneasiness but willingness, the crazy obstacles and his generally blind faith in my guidance, and the whole experience of the Cowboy Challenge (totally new place, no lunging, wacky obstacles he'd never seen, tying to the trailer for hours, etc.) have been tests of our bond and status. Now that I see how far we've come I am hopeful and excited to see how far we can get.

I remember a long long time ago when I was showing Banee in a trail class at a 4-H horse show. Trail was different back then. There were usually only a few areas of poles, not the crazy grids they use now. One of the obstacles was a line of three barrels. The task was to walk past the barrels and then back a serpentine between the barrels and all the way back to the start. Dear old Banee wasn't the calmest horse and though she'd zoom back and do an "L" between poles, backing around something she was used to doing a turn n' burn around was not in her radar. My teen self was angry that such a ridiculous task was required. The judge explained to us all that the task was about having a horse that would place each foot at the discretion of the rider. I though she was nuts. But now I understand. And now I'm ready for that kind of refinement. It seems a lot less about drilling maneuvers as it is about creating a horse that listens and obeys each little cue. A horse that's highly attentive and willing to do what you ask. I think Junior is the kind of horse who will be awesome at this. I'm excited to see what we can do together.

And what of the other two mantras? Well, I'm hoping that trying lots of "disciplines" and methods will make us more well rounded without getting too bogged down into ONE WAY of doing something. We'll find things in all the experiences that work for us. And if something isn't fun anymore (like western pleasure) we'll move onto something else. :)

The video below is Dawn's first moments in the pen with Junior. What she says at the end is "I got forward movement" because the first exercise is getting the horse to move forward and then you reward by releasing the pressure. Ideally the horse stops and waits for the next set of instructions. I don't know anything more than the little things we did but I know there's a ton more to it. At the end, Dawn paid me a compliment and said that I had a natural body language and talent for the work. I don't really believe her, but I was certainly flattered. She complimented Junior right away. I couldn't help but glow. :)

Sarah and Max

First Junior and I had a very good ride yesterday. I took the curb chain off completely and hung it in my tack box. We rode during a lesson so the poles were being used and we didn't get much work over them, but we trotted a bunch, working on rhythm and trying to remember all the things Monet told us. It was hard work. I was fatigued much sooner than I had been on previous rides and Junior was much sweatier that usual. It was hot yesterday anyway and he was actually a little sweaty on his neck from turnout before we started. I didn't get any sweat out of the croup, but I did get it out of the shoulders so we're not doing too badly. Money explained that the sweat areas indicate which areas of the horse are working most and which we would like to see. She clarified that we don't need to always work a horse to a full sweat, but that sweat in the right places means the body is moving how we want it to.

He is doing what I ask him and I am really encouraged by that. It's hard work but he does it. He's such a good boy!

Below is a video with three clips from Sunday's Dressage clinic with Monet. First, Sarah riding Max at the start of the lesson. He has been so unwilling to go forward that Monet started jogging with him and using a lunge whip. Next is the end of Monet's ride, and finally, the last bit of the lesson with Sarah riding.

Please ignore the commentary from the peanut gallery. I was going to delete the sound but I wanted Monet's comments to be there. It was such a change in him. Chloe rode him last night and it was great to see that he's still doing the good work!

Obstacle Training and Trail Ride Day

I. AM. EXHAUSTED. I am also a weakling because I should NOT be this tired from 2.5 hours in the saddle.... even if it was 90 degrees outside.

It was one of those days I wished I had a personal photographer to follow me around!

Today was the monthly obstacle training and trail ride event at my barn. My BO is one of the trainers and one of the mounted sheriff/police guys is usually the other trainer but he couldn't be there today. Junior isn't afraid of "stuff" but it is always good to build trust with "no really, you can do this, it won't hurt you....see?" kind of activities and I wanted to go on the trails with the BO so she could help us negotiate the creeks. For the obstacles he was a champ with everything. He knocked over the jump we tried to walk over but that was a lack of coordination, not confidence! He even served as the leader pony for some of the other less confident horses many times. He had walked under the streamer trellis and over the bridge before but we also got to do lots of new stuff.

So today for the first time we:

• Attempted to rope the plastic steer head...my roping skills leave a lot to be desired but he did not mind the activity...
• Opened, went through, and closed the rope gate
• Went through the shredded tarp curtain
• Went through and backed through the aisle with the pool noodles sticking into the middle (maybe I should have taken pictures!)
• stuck our front feet into and walked through a truck tire
• went over and backed over a big flat wooden circle
• kept one end of a board on a barrel while holding the other end and walking around the barrel in a circle
• dragged a pole by a rope forwards and backwards
• AND PLAYED WITH BALLS!!!

This ball is not so big, it's a yoga ball like Stacy Westfall uses. Junior thought it was fun but he was bored with it by the time I took out my phone... oh, and next time I take video with my iphone I will try and remember to hold it sideways...sorry :)

THIS ball was HUGE! I was very surprised that he did not mind it at all. I even had him push it backwards.

Then we went through nearly all of the trail system included a big part we hadn't been through yet that was pretty steep and included a very scary creek crossing. The BO was impressed with his willingness to do things even when they are clearly scary to him. Now that I think about it we have come an awfully long way in two years! I'm excited to try that part of the trail again. What bothered him most was waiting for it to be our turn to cross the creek beds. He got very head tossy and agitated while in a group of 6 but later on the new part when we were only three horses he was much better. He still didn't like to wait. It seems he likes to lead more than follow, but he does like to have somebody else there.

I told the BO today that I want them separated from now on. Of course this was NOT a problem at all and tonight he'll start going out with only one other gelding, either Ranger (a sweet 1/2 Arab who JR was in the sand lots with before he was put with the full herd) or with Max. His neck looked a ton better today and was hardly swollen at all after the ride. Gunner was hurt too, after all with a big bite on his hip that made him a bit off. I talked to his owner and she and I were both happy to see them separated.

Home Again, Home Again!

Disclaimer: Those of you who have missed the kind of posts that make "overanxious" look like "bat-shit crazy" may enjoy this post.....

I headed out to the barn on Monday afternoon to see how Junebug was doing. I found him sleepily hanging his head over his door and drooling from the clover he gets to eat for 12 hours each night. Other times I've left him for weeks at a time he's seemed sulky and pouty. This time he was calm and sweet, nuzzled me all over slowly. Though it would be nice if he actually noticed I was gone, I was overjoyed that his attitude has turned around and I could easily see how happy he is at the new place.

I was not as happy when I saw how beat up he's become (this is the overanxious part). It's all superficial hair loss scrapes, some may have had a little blood when they were fresh, but he looks like he was in a bar fight. I was told right away that he and another horse, Gunner, were playing rough and that they both showed big bite marks. I was NOT prepared for what I saw though. He is absolutely covered on his left side with marks! From his withers to his hips and down his barrel. He was also filthy with poo all over and his stockings were brownish yellow so I kind of went into a protective-mom panic. Luckily nobody was there so I was able to suffer needlessly in silence until I got over it. I went right to work giving him a full bath. It's nice to have a wash area with cross ties, but he moves around so much it was still a rodeo. The dirt was just pouring off of him with the first rinse. I even went so far as to use the Show Clean whitener on his socks, even though we have no plans for any more shows this year. Though he did not appreciate the bathing I felt much better being able to see all of the wounds clearly and I was mollified. Only one big one on his side does not show hair growth yet, which freaks me out a bit. The rest are all in various stages of healing and hair re-growth. After the bath I put Tri-Care on everything I could find and combed his mane back to one side. While he was quickly drying in the 91 degree heat, I took him into the trail just outside the barn. He was VERY snorty about it which amuses me greatly. He spent a lot of time just staring off down the trail. I was so worried that he was going to bolt, though, that I limited our first adventure. Plus the biggest horsefly I have EVER SEEN started trying to land on his back so I got us out of the woods quickly. The thing was the size of a small hummingbird! I knew it'd be bad news if that bit him... how would I ever convince him the woods DON'T bite!?!

Though I freaked out about the wounds he seems SOOOO happy there. I'd rather have a happy horse with scars than an unhappy one without, so I'll have to get over it. So far he's never had a wound that didn't grow back roan so I'm crossing my fingers. My least favorite part about roans is how they tend to grow back solid hair when they get hurt. Unique battle scars, but I just don't like them. I don't think I could take him to a show like this though, and I'm not convinced it's okay to saddle him like this, so I'll look at that today.

The other fun thing I discovered was THIS:

Yummy yummy mildew! I know it's a sign of "healthy" leather (though how can dead tissue be healthy?) to have mildew so I guess my reins are not as healthy as my headstall.

I took all the mildewed pieces home and cleaned and oiled them. My english bridle was fine so I'm not sure if that's unhealthy, or just didn't get mildewed because Max's girls used it while I was gone. The mildewed pieces were in less ventilated areas of the box while the bridle was exposed to more air. Ventilation is good for horses AND tack!

We've Moved!

We moved on Friday evening. The new BO was able to come a day early and I jumped at the chance. The faster he can get acclimated the better. The hauling went smoothly. I was relieved that he loaded into the 2-horse straight trailer just as easily as he's learned to get into the big 6-horse slant he's been to shows in. He unloaded fine but he was shaky and snorty and more nervous than I'd seen him in 21 months. UNlike 21 months ago, *I* was not nervous and I'm sure that was helpful for him. Though he was snorty and nervous he never really spooked. We walked through to the barn and I took him down the aisle that leads to Max's stall. All the horses can look out over their doors so Max became very excited but it took Junior a while to realize he was there. I took him to his stall and he rolled right away and drank some water and proceeded to flirt with Nike, the huge mare in the next stall, who then proceeded to flirt right back, much to Junior's delight. On his other side is an adorable little Mini named Red Apples. (the picture @ right shows his Bettie Page I gave him)He was given some lovely hay while the other horses were fed their dinner and he was content to watch them all very curiously when they went out to the fields for the night. He didn't fuss much, to my relief.
He's on quarantine for a few days so he was turned out alone for the morning in one of the sand lots and came in at noon. All of the fields and sand lots have shelters and automatic waterers and they look very well maintained.

I arrived in the afternoon today to find him looking adorably cheerful, hanging his head out of his clean stall and nickering to me. I spent some time cleaning out our tack area with Max's girls. We chose to go in the uncovered room closer to our stalls rather than the closed tack rooms that you have to walk through the arena to get to. It's not a very busy place so it wouldn't be a big deal, but it's also nice to have a TON of room all to ourselves. Other than some rarely used bins and trunks, we have a 12'x16' (or so) room to ourselves. The most immediate downside is that it is open to the indoor round pen and therefore has a nice coating of dust, but the area that Max's girls swept when they arrived 2 months ago is not bad at all yet so I think if we just keep up with it it'll be fine. When my tack-box-to-be is finished all of my stuff will be covered. I can always move to the other rooms later if I choose to. The area had been built as a farrier's area, but the farriers hate it so it has just been storage. The white squares are lights, but they're not functional at the moment.


After he ate his lunch hay (that's right, they get lunch hay!) I took him out for a walk into the outdoor arena and he snorted at things but walked up to and touched everything and walked right over the bridge so I thought he did really well. I let him eat some lawn for a while but it was so hot in the sun so I took him back to his cool fan and he drank water right away.

Then I went for a walk with Max and two of his girls along two of the trails. (That's Max on the right.) I cannot wait until Junior and I can explore them. He's not the keenest on trees (must be a Texan thing) so I'll be hand walking him through to start and we might not get that far before I head to MN/WI for my summer vacation month. I just want him to relax and take it slow. He was still showing some disgruntled school horse behavior before the move so I'd like to give him a chance to forget all those bouncy pokey yanky college kids and get back to the attention-whore horse that loves everyone and everyone loves. I still put a NO TREATS sign on his stall.

I asked Junior if he approved of his new surroundings and he replied .....

And Then There Was Grace...

I have a dread of taking green horses to shows. I was VERY nervous about taking Junebug to his first one and he really didn't do anything crazy and gets better every time. Before Junior I had taken three different horses to their first (or first in a LOOOONG time) shows and all three acted like crazy idiots. Lots of factors are involved in this, but the biggest factors can be classified as 1) mileage (lack of) on the horse and 2) the fear or anxiety (in abundance) of the rider/handler. The first was Gigi who tried to beat me up at the county fair in halter class so I didn't show her in anything else and have only ridden her a few times since. I've spoken of Sonny before. The third was Grace. She was a gorgeous arab filly and sweet as pie. She became my lesson horse during the short time I was at an Arab barn in MN before moving to Ohio. The boss asked if I'd take her to a small open show and I was thrilled. She was fine to load, fine to unload, fine to warm up, fine to braid, fine fine fine. As soon as I remounted to head to our class she started gettin' uppity. We even needed the boss to lead us through the in gate... and then....

Here is the link if you'd rather watch it directly from YouTube.

I still get a little twitchy when I watch that video. She did have some lovely moments but I edited them out for time and because the crazy stuff is much more interesting. Did you notice all those nice paints and QHs we keep passing at warp speed? Yeah... and you wonder why I went and got myself one of those nice calm stock horses?

Grace went on that same summer to win something big at the MN 4-H horse show with a 16 year old kid and is now owned by a kid who takes lessons and shows. She really was a nice mare, we just had a bad, bad ride.

Showmanship!

We've had two SMS lessons now. I like to have video of my training sessions for two reasons: 1) I suck at judging things like speed and angles while I'm mounted/leading and 2)I like to have a record of where we've been and possible progress. It's only our 3rd time doing it and our first time doing it without KAT there.

This was our worst of the 3, and our best is still a very long way from ring ready, even for the little shows we go to. Remember, when I did showmanship it was simpler and easier. So far we've been working on teaching him the body language cues of HALT, Squareup, pivot, walk, and jog off, and back. He doesn't really like to stand still and he gets bored and tries to nibble everything in sight. Our sets are not perfect. Right now "close" is good enough. We'll start asking for better and better sets. KAT says you don't want to demand perfection yet because if you shift them constantly the horses get really unsure of their feet and end up sort of dancing around.

So the following video is full of mistakes. I was dismayed to realize our "backs" drift to my left. In an attempt to keep his body aligned by pushing his face away from me (he tends to swing his rump out) I've been pushing his whole body left. Ooops. He's definitely "getting it" but we have a LOT of work to do. Hopefully someday I'll be able to do a comparison video and we will notice some improvement!

New Toy - with Update

Enjoy a moment of Junior's new toy, a rope bone/giant tennis ball combination. He took to it right away, smacking himself on the face with the ball a few times, even going to investigate it after I tossed it back into his stall. We'll see how long he stays this interested....

UPDATE - I went to ride tonight and didn't see his toy anywhere on the floor of his stall. Then I found it.... it his water bucket. I took it out and he came right over and took it away from me and put it back in his bucket. While I had him tied to groom/tack I pulled it out and set it on the ledge. After the ride when I untacked him he grabbed the rope again and put it back in his bucket.... oooooookaaaaaaaay. So I guess he still likes it. Puppypony.

Bit of Video

I know I promised (myself) not to take the time to do this, but here's one of the more interesting moments of last weekend's show. Totally unedited. I had my "show mom" take small clips to make it easier to upload and this is just one of those. This is the last few minutes of the Horsemanship class that I got 2nd in. This is the footage of our 2nd lope where he broke down to a trot without enough warning for me to prevent it (usually if he's going to break I can feel it but I was probably thinking about one of the many other things one thinks about in a class, most likely the position of my off hand) so I had to correct it, which he wasn't great about. But it's right after that you can see two other horses having issues and the judge was looking at them. I don't know what happened, I just got his lope back, looked up and saw a mess in the corner and steered around it.

I left the sound on, sorry about the windy audio. You can hear KAT's coaching, too. Obviously we still have work to do, but you can see a few moments of good stuff. I do think the smartcalm is helping.

I washed his fungus areas yesterday with Aloedine and will do it again today after a ride. Yesterday we needed to have a strong conversation about standing still for hosing. He's not great about hosing off, unless he's super hot, then he'll stand like he enjoys it, but usually we have a bit of dancing to get the job done, especially if I need to spray his rump. We don't have a tie post option. Yesterday just ended up being the straw that broke the camel's back I took him back into the barn, put a chain over his nose and reminded him that he is not in charge. It was a simple issue of respect and it's a conversation we needed to have a while ago. Once he stood perfectly still at the end of the lead while I hosed all around him, including his tail and up between his rear legs, I stopped the hose and petted him and scraped him off, then let him eat his hay while I cleaned his stall and kept him from rolling until his was mostly dry and had clean bedding. He continues to test me and I just hope I'm passing.

Another new (old) video!

I've figured out that I can use my digital camera to record my analog tapes by setting the camera on the tripod and simply recording the TV! The quality is rather poor, but it's not all that bad. The latest is a video of a lesson in November. He was having really good moments at that time but consistency was poor and his speed was still too fast. I think it's easy to see here how little attention he was paying to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoIizPTc9Fo

Enjoy!

New Video!

New Video!

I finally got my latest video uploaded to YouTube. He's doing even better than this video shows. This was after KAT had done 7 rides on him while I was out of state for the Holidays, but before I had gotten a chance to really work with her on how to handle him in the new shanked bit. Because of this (I have to blame it on something, right?) he is a bit behind the vertical and a little too arched. He's consistent in that position, though and he's currently really consistent in a better headset, flatter, more stretched out and down. As soon as I have proof to share I'll upload it.

Note how long his mane is and how much weight he's gained. Time sure flies.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfjWPdnOvpY