May says: "The stud colt makes me nervous" and other quirks.

4/28/2010: I looked for the Mexican Gilia today, but it is not there.  I did,  however, find the Short Stemmed Lupine (Lupinus brevicaulis).  It is one of my favorites.  It is 2 inches tall, dark green with some red, hairy, and has a small group of purple flowers.  It is not yet blooming, but spring is really here!

We had a visit from DuncanHorse (http://networkedblogs.com/3gCI3) (his mom is a book author so her blogs are pretty fun to read!) I ride alone most of the time, so it is nice to have "strangers" come to give the youngsters some experience.  I thought Duncan might make her nervous but this is what actually happened:

I was inside eating plain yogurt to which I had added instant coffee, brown sugar, and mixed nuts (from Costco).  The caffeine is necessary in the late afternoon and the sugar vs the salty crunchy nuts makes a nice culinary contrast.  As I was savoring this and reading the Economist, DuncanHorse rode down the driveway.  I was expecting them, but had recently driven on the very road by which they were coming and they were not yet en route, so I erroneously thought they would be a little later. 

I brought Risa and May in to the tackroom area.  Risa is in season, so I kicked her back out back.  Tabooli was already amping up because I had the audacity to MOVE horses (with out his express permission?)  He is actually not very bossy, but he does know the difference between a boy and a girl and he is still a little unsettled in general, having only been her since Saturday. I tied May.

May was focus-less! Tabooli seems to make her extremely nervous.  Too many hormones wafting about and oohh (picture a hanky held to her forehead) "i just can't take it any more!" He IS a golden boy and he has a big mouth.  He makes her weak in the knees and prone to squishing me in the corner.  I had to keep talking to her and holding my space so I could saddle her up and get out of there to the arena.

I had expected May to be further discombulated by DuncanHorse.  She didn't know him, after all. But I think after "escaping from the clutches" (says May, breathlessly) of Mr. Hormone (never nearer than 30 feet and 2 electric fences), DuncanHorse seemed like a cloud of calm.  She rode at the walk and trot, was fiddling a lot with her head and bit, and the logs kept running into her feet--how rude of them!-- but she was pretty soft, and was giving me her shoulders. She stood with all 4 feet quiet for  progressively longer periods (not very long still) and after a bit we attempted to show off at the gate.

How about the west side? "Noooo, i can't do it" said May, so I pretended I didn't care and guided her to the east side, where she lined up not very close, but close enough.  I opened the gate.  I eased her though (slowly--I CAN learn).  We stopped.  We got all the way through (this is where things usually go bad) and I felt her weight change.  I asked her to hold up and move sideways toward the gate, very very softly.  She did!  I hooked the rope.  I practically vaulted out of the saddle and petted her nose. Well done!

If the gate success were not enough, I took a chance and rode her down the road (until a car came and I got off) with DuncanHorse.  She was very very good! I hand walked her home.

Risa's lope is coming along.  She gave me two hard stops with no rein, just voice and weight. Her spins have great potential but I need to keep working on techniques to teach that better.

I am figuring out who should be where, when, to best manage the emotions of all the youngsters.  Cometa, the old man at 12, thinks he should be allowed to go mano a mano with Tabooli, just to prove that he still has it (he was herd boss of the gelding group on 8000 acres when he was 3) but other than, he's cool!  Whatever!

Tabooli is working on trailer loading, ground manners (he is very respectful in hand) and being saddled and mounted.  He got scared (perhaps of the howling wind? which seems like should be a character in today's adventures, but really wasn't SO bad, if you don't mind grit in your teeth and ears deliverd by the occasional dust devil) and hustled backward and bucked as I put my foot in the stirrup.  Got over it.  But not enough to convince me to mount up!  Will do rope and tarp work in the round pen tomorrow with the girls all tied up.  No round pen company for Tabooli!

Ran out of time for Penny as my head stall cleaner has to work for a living and is at a workshop, so I had to clean! The horror!