Trail Work in the Pecos with the Back Country Horsemen of New Mexico

Penny in Camp

Have Saw, Will travel.

On Saturday May 29: We rolled in at 9 ish and were supposed to be ready to ride at 9.  Oops.  Fortunately, we were tacked up and just had to load the pellets (practice packing pellets) on Risa and head out.  The weather was fantastic.  It is still early spring in the Pecos due to the elevation. (8000-10,000 ft)  The grass is not tall, the aspens still have new leaves that are a tender green while the pines and firs are darker.  In the picture, you can see how they patchwork across the mountainside. Down by the creek, the willows are leafed out and there is a sharp tangy smell.  Up on the dry hill sides, the scrub oak is just beginning to bud and the scent of the pines comes and goes.  The mountain irises are blooming in the seeps and there are red and yellow shooting stars, purple violets, and a few pink geranium types along the trails. 

Cometa (well, really Jim) ponied Risa because Cometa is experienced in the mountains and can handle being bumped without falling down the side of the mountain.  Jim is really calm and doesn't worry too much if things go wrong. Wasn't so sure Penny was up for being bumped and besides Jim's extra measure of calm doesn't hurt anything!
Cometa

Water Crossing. Our first big thing was crossing the Pecos River.  It was flowing pretty well and there was a rocky drop off of a few feet to get to the rushing water.  Everyone ahead of us made it across except Black Tie and his rider.  Penny looked, and decided:  NOT.  So, Jim held Risa close to Cometa's hip and dragged her on across.  She leapt in, and rammed Cometa, but he just kept on going. 

They left Risa and came back for Black Tie, who stuck close to Cometa and only pushed on him a little.  They left Black Tie and came back for me and Penny.  Cometa went and Penny took a huge flying leap and rammed Cometa pretty hard.  This sprayed water everywhere, but Cometa kept his composure and we all made it.

Risa needed a few reminders to stay behind and both she and Penny were balky over mud.  Risa frequently jumped, ramming Cometa, and Penny just tried to avoid, but didn't need assistance.  Near Cave Creek, we had to cross water again.  Black Tie followed his buddy across really well.  Risa rammed into Cometa on her leap across and Penny refused.  Thus, Cometa was pressed into ferry service again.  Penny jumped into Cometa and this time Cometa had had enough.  When Jim got Risa back, Cometa let her know that she needed to stay behind....OR ELSE.

Cave Creek is really cool because the stream goes INTO  the cliffside and no one knows where it comes out! Or so rumor has it...

Tree of the day

The tree at an angle in this photo was pedastalled on the aspen truck you can see between Jim (on the left and Cheryl (on the right).  The aspen was partly split.  First we threaded a lash cinch (from the Joker the mule's pack) through the split and we all pulled to break the split off.  Didn't work.  Added a wedge.  Didin't work.  Raised the lash cinch and we all pulled again and got the split off.  However, the tree remained firmly in place atop the aspen. 

To dislodge the pine, we tossed one lash cinch over at the upper end of the tree and another lash cinch over near the aspen.  Half of us pulled on one and half on the other (and Mad filmed--maybe she will put it on you tube and I will link that in....) Anyway, that worked great and the pine fell to the ground!  We cut it with the two-man saw (we were working in the wilderness so only hand tools are allowed) and pry-barred it off to clear the trail!  Very satisfying. There were a few more trees, but nothing dramatic.  The return trip mud and water crossing got progressively better until Cometa lead, Risa followed closely and Penny was right on her tail.  No jumping! We were back in camp at 6.

May was waiting! So, I saddled her up and along with Linda on her Thoroughbred, Star, we rode to the river.  May was wonderful.  She was happy and relaxed and she was even, in the dusk, able to lead some!  She looked at the river crossing, but we didn't push her.  Linda got on and rode her back to camp!  Awesome!

Cometa and Doc were in adjoning pens.  Cometa had Risa and Penny with him and Doc had Star and May.  Cometa is small and Doc is big, that did not matter to Cometa, or Doc and the two of them kept charging the fence and trying to pick fights.  So, I tied Cometa to the trailer. 

Risa started crying for Cometa (apparently she decided he was a worthy mentor after all his work as the lead horse).  He called back.  So, we moved May in with Penny and Risa, and eveyone settled down.  Cometa spend the night at the trailer.

Sunday started with Risa being pressed into service as a REAL pack horse.  She got loaded with the tools of the trail clearing trade.  In her usual photogenic way, she doesn't look thrilled.  Atually she loaded well, although we took a little extra care with the big two man saw because that worried her a little bit, so we let her follow it, smell it and then distracted her a little while it was loaded.  Richard supervised loading as I hadn't really loaded tools before.

Next up:  water crossings. They went so well at the end of yesterday, we just blithley put Cometa in, Risa ollowed and Penny......  took a giant flying leap and crashed into Risa.  I have the bruise to prove it.  That could have been prevented but I didn't expect her to  jump!
Copper the trick Pony

We cleared all the way to Horsethief Meadow (see last picture) but before we got there, there was a water crossing and Richard K. decided the horse he was riding, Copper, who was on loan for the day from the Kazmar's, could cross on the bridge instead of going through the water. Who knew that Copper was interested in being a trick horse???

Monday, Risa and Cometa got the day off and Penny did a short ride.  She did a super steep down hill and we came back up it too.  It was so steep that I did not ask her to walk it.  I asked her to GET GOING.  I felt like if she went slow, she wouldn't actually make it.  She is one good horse!

Great weekend!

Catching up!

5/26-May ride 29: Working mainly in the arena, she was soft in most everything. Got 14 soft relaxed jog steps (average 8, up from 4).  She picked up both leads, but did feel stiffed necked at the lope, yet not real rushy.  She had a great gate to finish.  I changed saddles and girths to stay off the tender girth area...(turned out to be a skin issue--maybe a fungus--- not a cinch sore...good thing I washed all my cinches)

5/27 Tabooli ride14 :  Holy Hail. The clouds were heavy, the wind was fresh, and I could see rain coming up the canyon.  But a lot of times it doesn't end up making it to me, so I saddled up.  Tabooli had been off due to his sore knee, so we did some sideways and some lunging at the trot with me on the ground.  He looked fine! 

We did a little arena work: sideways--felt good!  Trotting:  felt good!  Loping:  Steering not there yet, but felt good.  The wind was stronger and the rain was closer, but.....

what the heck, we headed up the rocky trail.  We got to the top.  It started raininig.  We kept going.  A huge bolt of lightening flashed out of the sky and the rain drops got bigger.  Thunder rolled.  The rain drops got bigger.  We turned around and I asked him to hurry it up.  Hail started to fall.  Go faster!  Trot!  Nevermind that we haven't ever trotted on the trail!  This is getting bad!  The hail started to increase and in the space of 2 minutes I was already soaked.  I got off, (why ride a green horse on a rocky down hill, while getting pelted by hail?) and started to run.  Tabooli came right with me and we ran right over the rocks, across the street, down the driveway and into the hay barn.  Ahhh. Safety! I was completely wet, water was pooling in the front of the barn, Tabooli was soaked, but he was not phased.  He started eating hay scraps and we hung out, waiting for the storm to ease....

5/28-May ride 30: May is heading to the Pecos with Linda and Vicki today and Jim and I will go up with our 3 horses on Saturday.  So, I rode May out at 8 am this morning. Have been just getting on and riding. My plan was to ride around the neighborhood.  She started out tense.  Surpisingly tense. maybe it was the early ride since I usually ride in her in the afternoon. Her neck was stiff and she wanted to trot rather than walk.  Up over the hill, turned, went by the dogs and out on to a field.  Then she began to relax and drop her head.  All through the field she got more and more confident, and then we hit the dirt road.  We walked up a hill and came to the.....

DOGS....  Not mean dogs, but BIG dogs.  Two Great Danes have a pig pasture (with a horse) and the fence is close to the road.  Furthermore, that side of the pasture is very steep, so the dogs just suddenly "appeared" at the fence.  Then May noticed the giant rock with a name and address on the other side and THEN the horse appeared with the Great Danes.  That was the end.  She began to back and I asked her to go forward...yes...no...yes...NO....she backed more.  I stopped her and here is what I thought: 

"May is 3.  May is a horse who needs to have a her confidence built up and she generally gains confidence gradually with through lots of gentle reinforcement.  She doesn't usually "work through" things and end up exhaling with a big "I get it" on the other side. She holds on to her nerves a bit.  My goal is to help her gain confidence and gradually is ok", so....

I got off. Her front legs were trembling (which I couldn't feel from on top because her whole self was quite tight).  I petted her, talked to her and walked her home. As we walked, she relaxed, her neck softened and she breathed a sigh of relief--she was happy to follow me.  I was glad I decided to walk.

In the early afternoon I rode Tabooli (ride 15):  I saddled up and leaned forward to adjust his bridle and this scared the tar out of him for some unknown reason, so, we left, rapidly.  This is annoying, because one minute he feels like warm putty and the next minute he is gone.  Not that predictable...unless you consider that a horse wth 15 rides is inherently unpredictable.....

I told him he was ok (he needs that reassurance) and very shortly, he was back to his ho hum state.  At least he recovers quickly! It is funny to feel him physically deflate. That is a good thing--now we just need to stop the random ramp ups!  Just time.  Just more time.

Loping complete circuits.  He was able to lope complete circles in the arena and then we rode out a bit.  Linda and Vicki came to pick up May and as they walked her by him (30 feet) he got very loud and excited.  He got in trouble, but in this case I don't think I was hard enough on him because although he stayed with me in body, I don't really feel that he was there in mind.  Tied him to the trailer far away from May and he did that fine.  May loaded up and went to the Pecos!

Packin' Risa

5/23/2010.  GPS ride.

Stove pellets make a nice practice load for the novice pack horse.  (Thanks for the tip Peter!).  They are in bags, they are heavy, but not too heavy (40 lbs/ bag) and it is easy to balance the load, so we loaded Risa up with 2 bags of stove pellets.

Here is what Risa had to say:  "what am i wearing?  what is she going to make me do now? why am i carrying wood stove pellets?  it is may. where is the stove? your fly mask is ratty. hmpff."

Note I did a box hitch!  And it held.  So proud!

While Risa pondered these and other questions, we figured out the GPS.  That was not that easy.  You have to actually read the directions.  We entered a bunch of points (finally!), strung them together and formed a "route" (this was a GPS practice ride).  We ended up here: the Pecos mountains (next week's destination) are in the distance, but you can't see them well.

That's me with my really fashionable hat under the helmet look

--hey my hat never falls off!

Penny ponied Risa on the way out and Cometa ponied her on the way back.  Penny had a few melt downs when she got stressed due to a) things she made up in her head; b) other horses being nervous and affecting her, c) Risa ramming her with the stove pellets.  I think Penny thought I was doing that to her and she was VERY offended. Fortunately, these events were short lived and for most of the 8 miles, she was charming.

The load stayed in the middle!  My box hitch held and my lash cinch wasn't too floppy! And other than the ears of one pannier jumping off the Decker bars of the pack saddle (so I tied them on) there were no equiptment failures even when going up and down steep stuff and one instance of horsey panic.

Got back at home 4:30, took a break, planted the garden, planted the bedding plants, planted some stuff in the sun room and rode May.

May ride 27: The sun was dipping over the Sandias by the time I was ready to go, but there is a long dusk this time of year.  I love this time of year. 

May was soft in the arena and we worked on the slow trot:  Asked her to trot, she did and then would gain speed, so we did circles, smaller and smaller or we halted backed and tried again.  I want her to carry herself; I do not want to have to remind her continually, so by making it harder when she speeds up, eventually she will hold a speed on her own.  She is just starting to figure this out.

Loping is getting smoother.  We did 5 or more laps each way. She still needs help to pick up her leads (hip inside, head out side--wrong bend, but gets her hip in and allows her to pick up the lead).  She doesn't have a slow lope, but it is not fast either and is starting to feel relaxed.

Dusk is lovely in the spring and the wind had finally died down.  Rode out about 1.5 miles and just had a very nice relaxing time. May  really seemed to enjoy herself and I am happy that she is continuing to get her "trail feet"; more and more she is understanding that she can control where her feet go and this makes negotiating rocky stretches, as well as any up and down, easier.  Also, she needs to WALK up and WALK down, no matter how steep and she is doing well.  This requires patience and confidence in the horse. She is gettng there! Pet peeve:  horses that rush the ups and downs. It was near dark when we returned, so we skipped the rope gate today!  Fun ride, fun day!

5/24/2010 May ride 28.
Cinch sores. That is over stating it, but May has a hot spot  that will lead to a cinch sore if I don't make some changes.  I can't figure how/why this is occurring--the saddle tree fits great--have perfectly even sweat marks--no dry spots.  The cinch is centered. The saddle doesn't move around on her....I use a felt cinch normally (it was a dirty so have cleaned it), tightened to snug but not too tight; switched to an clean air-ride type... but that didn't help.  Will switch to mohair on weds.  Might get a fleece too. I use the same saddle on multiple horses--Penny yesterday for 8 miles (and Risa) and have no issues.  Have been riding May for well, 27 rides, most in this rig, and only developed this issue yesterday. Perhaps she just has sensitive skin?  Maybe there was another irriation there first?  The last time I caused cinch sore on a horse was in the summer of 1980 when I didn't realize the cinch had to be centered and I was saddling a lot of horses for a summer camp.....!

Out there on the trail, May is making good progress on relaxation   Still improving in the foot coordination arena, a little each day, and she is able to trot some on the suitable streches.  Much of this short trail is just too rocky and/ or steep for trotting. (But is great for teaching them to watch where they are going.)

Miracle Whip (the white horse in the header photo) was out with me in the Manzano Mountains in 2008 or was it early 2009? and while he wasn't spooky, his foot placement was scary  In the tricky one-mis-step-and-you-are-off-the-cliff places, I just got off.  "You wanna fall off the cliff?  Go with out me!".  I started riding him on the rocky trail every day, which resulted in him being a really fine mountain horse, and did wonders for his show ring trail classes--he went from crashing the logs or performing "leap overs"  instead of lope overs, to a winner under all 4 judges in jr. trail at his only sanctioned Appy show.  So, I am a big fan of the rocky trail!

Got 12 steps (in the arena) of a relaxed jog-type trot with May before a correction was needed. Four steps was the average.  Corrections:  Shoulder in, leg yield, stop and back, circles.  Overall, I used circles the most.  I found it a little frustrating that she didn't make more progress on this.  But it is just time time time, and each horse is different. No loping today, but did finsh with a good gate--she's got that one figured out.

Risa:  Rode to neighbors and played the Who is More Important, Me or ? Game.  Correct answer:  ME.  She was wound a little tight today, so head UP, neck STIFF, that's SCARY.  So whenever any of those occurred, we did disengage the hind end, and I mean NOW to make her think about what she would rather be doing:  Having her brain flying around the universe, or having her brain trained on me.  The teachable moments increased.  Yeah.  Her lope is improving and I must remember that she is kind of claustrophobic so despite her tendency to lose control of her thoughts, she does much better on a very loose rein.  Not all horses are like that....

Penny:  Working on neck reining and she is getting it.  Lope is still too rushy and too down on the front end for the show ring (and I am not going for the crooked crippled super duper slow mo look but an even 3-beat, relaxed, cadenced, yes slow, but correct and free lope).  With repetition and lots of sideways and pivot around the front end work, it is improving. Her lope overs are good.  Her western jog is also getting more steady and longer.  Her reining spins are showing more reach (not much speed--working up to that really slowly).  She feels like she is getting ready to be able to learn lead changes--I can feel her want to switch if we counter canter. 

Tabooli is having a few days off to see how his sore-going-sideways leg does.  He feels apple flavored bute is Poison.  Even with Molasses.  Not interested.  NO THANKS.  Fortunately, he does not seem to be in pain just walking and he is not one to expend whole lot of extra energy in his pen even though it is large enough to run in.

Cows on weds!

It's all about consistency

May 21 and 22.                                                                   Horse training is a lot about repetition, and May is reaching the point where she has a lot of the basics needed for her trail riding career, but we need to polish them up some.  So, we are going to be doing a lot of the same things each day, and hoping to see improvement (mostly incremental) in some of the areas. Since May will be out in the mountains and not in a ring in front of a judge, she does not need a particular show ring frame and she can hold her head and neck in a position that is comfortable for her.  She has a nice natural head carriage, so there is nothing that needs to be corrected with that.  HOWEVER:  She must stay light, so that's where the repetition comes in.  Here are more specific areas for improvement She transitions from a walk to a trot nicely, but she tends to speed up rather than remain steady. She moves off my leg well, but she is stiffer when moving right. She is loping and picking up both leads on a circle, but she gets stiff necked at the lope and stiff bodied too.  This makes her lope feel choppy. She halts on "ho", but not quite as directly as she should She backs but is not always light. She rides on the trail but is still tense and I would like to see her be more relaxed more of the time. That is where we are headed!             Ride 25. May is to the point where once I put the halter on, she is pretty much with me. At first she was easily distracted and upset by....you name it and it got her attention.  She didn't trust me, she didn't know any one and the whole program was new!  She is over all that now (well, ok, most days)! So, because I don't need to do anything special to get her to focus on me, most days, I don't spend much time doing ground work any more. Brushed, gooped up her feet with pine tar and neats foot oil, saddled, got out the bridle and realized I needed to change the reins.  I was using clip on roping reins for convenience, but they were too short for Linda, so I switched to a pair of 7 foot 5/8 in. split reins made by a friend.  They tie on to the bit, which makes them harder to change but easier to fix if they break! Hi ho Silver! Mounted up and rode out (at a walk despite my tantalizing subtitle!) Up the steep rocky hill we went..  She is still working on her footing up that and still hasn't quite got the idea that foot placement need not be random.  The difficulty of this stretch still is making her nervous and she remained tense the whole ride and even spooked once and she is not particularly spooky.  The tricky ditch was tricky again and she backed and thought about it and approached and backed until I got on her verbally and with my legs and she finally gave it a try and hopped it.  I did not have to dismount!! She was not as light as yesterday as a result of her uptight mein.  She had really fantastic lightness in the round pen where she is so comfortable.  She also wanted to trot some but was ok when I asked her to come back to the walk. She didn't argue or jig. Back in the arena we did slow trotting and lots of turning, lookng for light and smooth plus cadenced  and consistent rather than increasing speed.  Bending her down to a slower speed helps lightness, flexibility, and the smaller the circle the slower they usually go.... Loped both directions and finshed with a  good gate! (15 rides ago she melted down on the gate--forget about how I helped her acheive that lofty melt down goal....) now she is working the gate pretty consistently. Tabooli ride 12.  He is a much quieter personality than May, so he hasn't needed as much time to work around his emotions and begin to learn.  But she is a lot lighter naturally than he is, so the challenges are a little different.  I am able to just get on and ride, and we went up the road to the neighbor's arena.  All they way up there he was fine.  The garbage cans, dogs, tractor, cars...all fine.  But at the arena, he spotted the other horses (Dartagnon and his buddies).  Tabooli never met Dart.  When Dart left and T. arrived.  This unfenced arena is above the road and below Dart's pen and there is an arroyo on one side.  All three of these sides may be hazardous at one time another, according to my 4 legged informants.  Tabooli's bugaboo today was mainly the other horses, so we made a few turns around the interior area and headed out.  We didn't ride the road back. Instead we went down the arroyo.   I was very impressed because he did not hesitate at any obstacle--and there were steep banks into a wash, shale stair steps, logs, and a steep step up to get up to the barn.  Love a horse that will bushwhack! We rode in arena at walk and trot to finish and he had a few awkward steps that I attribited to a sore foot....but it was his right leg and the left is the one that lost the shoe..hmmm.  We did a little loping but that needs a lot more work on departing, steering and continuing! .  Good gate!  All in one try. Will do more finesse stuff work (turning, sideways, move hip, and shouder) but want to keep taking him out since that's what he's going to be doing.  5/22/2010. I went on a flower walk at Elena Gallegos park http://www.cabq.gov/openspace/elenagallegos.html this morning and here are ae the cool things I learned: Chocolate flowers (I have some in my yard and I didn't know this) SMELL LIKE CHOCOLATE! There are three species of evening primrose in the area and the one in the picture on this blog is prarie evening primrose (Oenothera albicaulis).  Salsify is also known as the oyster plant and you can eat it's root.  I thought it was poisonous to horses....but a quick search of the internet only talks about its edibleness to humans.  Guess I will not spend so much time trying to eliminate it from my property anymore!!!

May ride 26.  Ride 26?!  Time flies when you are having fun!  Got on and rode to the arena.  She was stiff necked and not as light as I would like so we did circles, sideways (better to right, but improving to the left) and stopping with two reins, a little backing and although she went where and did all I asked, she still was not that supple. 

Linda arrived to drop off some hay, so she got to see a lot of the arena work


Slow trotting:  Not got that yet but it seemed like there were more controlled steps today. She picked up both leads well and loped better than ever. It felt longer and with better drive.  Not as choppy!  Hopefully this means she is learning to balance better with me on top and the sideways stuff is helping her over all body control.

We did a little showing off at the gate--REALLY nice gate--last time I tried to show off to Linda vis a vis the gate, it was NOT pretty.  Redemption! We also did the bridge--with 2.5 feet and then with all 4.  Not bad.

I left for the same old trail and May did the herky jerky up the drive way, but once she hit the rocks, she has a few more good strong, I AM lookng where I am going and I CAN push up this hill, steps.  (not enough, just more!).  At the top of the first climb (remember this is short (50? ft)), she suddenely got very light and remained light for most of the ride.  The evil ditch caused her to pause and....cross (with tension, but little arguing) and the second ditch that we have been taking a detour through the tree/ in the tree, caused her to barely pause and pick her way over--no alternate route needed!  Apparently, today's progess was increased relaxation on the trail...hopefully that was not just due to arena work first. 

Tabooli ride 14. This boy is relaxed.  He put his chin on my shoulder and sighed as I scratched his neck.  Got his saddle out and tossed it up.  No flinching or shying anymore! Got on.  Saddle felt loose.  Got off.  Tightened it. Got on other side.  Ho hum.  Walked around the arena and he felt off.  Then he felt fine.  We trotted.  He felt fine.  He felt off.  I got off and went for a hoof pick.  There was some dirt in there but nothing else, and he walked fine over the gravel.  Hmmm.

Back in the arena.  Felt good.  Did a little sideways left and that was really nice.  Sideways right and he was really off.  Ok, for sure somthing hurts.  It is the right leg.  He pulled the left shoe last week, apparently by catching it and apparent fell on his right (skinned) knee.   The shoe has been replaced and besides teh sore leg is not the leg that lost the shoe...instead it's the one he skinned.   I cannot feel it at the walk very much, but can at the trot...sometimes.  As I watched him in his pen later, I could not see it when he walked up hill in his pen, but I could see it when he walked down.  Oh serious bummer.

Called his owner.....I hate having to do that.  Gave Tabooli bute (but he didn't eat it--will try with molasses next).  Might send him home for a few weeks to recover if that's what he needs, but rats.  We were just at the point where we can start having some real fun!

Risa and Penny 5/21 (didn't get to them 5/22....but the garden is ready to be planted!)
Rode Penny in a Mylar Level 2 snaffle.  It was fine, nothing earth shaking.  Used a romel rein...because I got one when a client cleaned out and because it had clips on.  It is a nice (and heavy) set of reins and I need to get it back in the house and clean it up.  Just worked on working on a loose rein and some neck reining (really riding with my leg and the rein just supports) Need to be working on that along with her WP lope and english trot.

Risa--rode her in a german martingale--it allows her head up but I can ask for some down.  It has a really naroow copper bit (severe, yes, if you yank on it), but for whatever reason she seemed to carry it well, and was very light.  Bushwhacked big time on her down an old over grown trail--through dead pinon, over scrub oak, across rock.  Really nice.  Also loped circles in a slanted meadow, avoiding prickly pear and gopher holes...took her a few rounds to understand how to lope with me up there while moving down hill. 

Linda Rides May!

Linda rides May! 5/20/2010 Ride 24.

A bit hectic because Linda was waiting at 4 pm when I got back with Tabooli and Tabooli's farrier was there to tack on the pulled shoe AND I had another lesson coming at 5:30 pm.....Tabooli got his shoe on, May got her saddle on (oh boy this Larry Trocha versatility ranch horse saddle made by Jim Taylor fits her better than any of my own horses...finally a comfortable saddle that fits...!) and off Linda and I went to the round pen.

A bit of ground work, a bit of warm up riding by me and then Linda got on and....guess what?  May just stood there!  No fidgetting at all.  Of course when Linda asked her to walk off, she went sideways but that was just due to an uneven rein and leg pressure.

Walking and then trotting! We talked about how light May is and Linda worked with using her rein and leg aids to help May go in the drection Linda wanted.   It took a few minutes to coordinate the idea that leg pressure can change depending on the position of the horse.  For example: turning right and using the right rein to direct as well as the left leg to push to the horse right, but then the horse turns too sharply right and maybe even drops her shoulder. One solution: decreasing right rein pressure and using the LEFT leg to sort of hold the horse up and straighten her out. Since May is light, figuring out the degree of pressure change needed is the key.  Worked out well! Yeah! 

May Ride 23 5/18/2010. Just got on and rode. She was tense but we walked on out of the property and into her first real ride "in the neighborhood". Took her to the arena up the road and was expecting to walk, trot, and lope there, but instead we trotted some and walked a lot because she was not comfortable in this strange location! Yikes--and Dartganon was up there too.  Very distracting for May. So, we walked and when she trottend we played a faster veriosn of the stand still game--bent her to a walk instead of a stop and go on.  This was interspersed with stopping and backing if she broke into a trot.  Finally she relaxed enough to just walk around on a loose rein. I was happy to see her ratchet down, so I got off and walked her home.

Ride 11 Tabooli.  He got a boot, so I put it on his shoeless foot and took off.  It is a rubber sole and velcros on so was easy to put on.  It seemed pretty large for his foot, even thought the measurements were not too far off....  No ground work.  I rode him up  the driveway and out into the street, where I did a 180 back into the driveway since a  red mini van car was coming over the hill.  I wanted him to have enough room to move if he needed to. He needed....a little but not a lot. 

Headed up the steep trail which he found hard--no suprise, steep grade (short), lots of rocks and for a  horse with 11 rides on even ground it was a lot of change.  He handled it very well.  We rounded the corner up top and there was the old dead culvert abandoned by the side of the road.  No an issue.  There was the old dead grader. Not an issue! Boot fell off. Grr.

Replacing the boot...he wanted to eat and move..the reins were too short (but duh they are clipped on to the bit, so I could have unsnapped one side...didn't), so it took a little manuevering to get the boot on.  Got back on  and ee rode really well.  Nice foward walk, not nervous, and very willing. I talked on the phone a bit to the farrier and to his owner, but the boot pulled off again.  It is just too big I think, although I can't see the smaller size staying on that much better because the velcro fastener part around his pastern was pretty much as snug as possible but still pulled over his hoof....


Tabooli Ride 10. 5/ 18/ 2010 arena work at walk--looking for moving off my leg, soft in face. He showed progress so then we rode around the property. He was breathing heavy due to nerves but he went everywhere I pointed him. Came back and rode in the arena a little more at walk and trot, emphasis on steering and lighter. Stopped well and backed well. Rode out behind the house on the frost heave so it was soft, but his foot was still tender if he hit a rock. He also wanted to eat everything in sight but seemed to be getting the idea that that "isn't done"!  Rode to where the trail is cut off and he spooked at the no trespassing sign,--as well he should --those folks ae scary--but he did manage to face up to the sign while hiding behind a bush for protection. He actually got behind a bush to look!  Did a little more arena work which included loping and he got a little farther around the arena and picked up the lope a little quicker. Did the bridge-point, let him look and over we went. Finished with the gate--all in one go--not smooth, but no rope dropping!

Risa and Penny:
Risa has her head in the sky at the lope, but she is getting lighter and more cadenced. Also, she can easliy pick up both leads from a walk.The upward rein helps her stay lighter and though it is not doing much for her head position at the lope, it is allowing her to start to relax.  Increased relaxation = more natural head position, so there is hope. 

Penny's slow lope is getting more cadenced.  We're doing a lot of lateral work and pivots and this is helping.  Her reining spins are feeling more energetic and smooth.  They are not fast and are not even always correct (pivoting on the wrong foot sometimes) but she is pretty flat and is reaching a across with her front feet pretty well.

And three uh four, more things.  Today was a really great day and here are the reasons:
1.  Ani the Fjord (doesn't live here, I ride her once/ week) had the lightest, softest, most fantastic cantering in big and small circles. Her owner had tears in her eyes.  This from a horse that I swear hated me for at least 3 months.  If I asked her to canter she would stop dead and no amount of increased pressure would cause her to budge.  From there to today has been an amazing transformation!
2.  Linda rode May!
3. The youth rider's lesson was the BEST EVER and she did the gate completely for the first time!  Twice! A right hand push and then a right hand pull! 
4.  I got a picture of 2 snakes.
.

Got fired by the farrier! (Not really)

5/17/2010
I have been trying to keep Risa and Penny bare foot and have been working with two women from the Sound Equine Initiative here in NM.  I really like their work on the horses and how empathetic they are, too!  However, I ride a lot and the horses are always out.  Thus, their feet are really not holding enough hoof to work with. Today we agreed that I should hire a farrier who will put on shoes.  He is coming on Friday and I am a little nervous because Risa is opinionated and she just doesn't like everyone...Hope it all works out! I sure appreciated their willingness to do what was best for the horse, even though that means we won't be working with them!

5/14-5/16 I was in Lubbock.  Tabooli got shoes on 5/15 when I was in Lubbock watching my daughter graduate from Texas Tech!  Whoop (wait that is Tx A&M--but hey I went there so it's ok.)  Unfortunately, one shoe fell off today. I think he got it hung on a tree root as the shoe was off, and bent, near the tree root AND his other knee was skinned.  So, compiling all the forensic evidence...I think he caught it and fell.

5/17 again. Rode Tabooli in the sand. (ride 9) His shoeless foot was sore on gravel, so even though I wanted to take him on his first trip out, we stayed in the arena.  He spooked hard once, but other than that he was pretty darn good.

Move off my leg! Follow the reins! Relax your tongue! Basically, we are talking steering here.  He is a bit heavy on the bit and he is the type that wants to put his head down with pressure on the bit.  Those seem to occur about every 1 in 7 or so (not that I was counting or anything...) The (French) upward rein pressure seems to help him come up some and loosen up his poll and neck (even though the book says we are trying to loosen the tongue).  He is improving on moving sideways when I bend his head left and apply my left leg either through his shoulder or his ribs, but he is not yet consistent! (Right is working, too.)

Leg yield, shoulder in, turn. All of these are variations on the theme of yielding to leg and rein pressure, and working him against the fence while maintaining some forward motion is helping.  In addition to the leg work, we did a little loping--not all the way around as there is no fence on the N end and his steering isn't quite there. To lope off from a trot, I bent his head to the fence and used my fence side leg to push his hip inside. It is the wrong bend direction, but it does help him get his hind end driving without adding too much speed, and into the lope he goes.

Stop and back. Apparently he forgot how to stop and back.  So, we trotted 5 steps, stopped and backed a few steps.  We repeated this until he was stopping on my voice and weight and backing semi light.  It took about 20 repeats. Finished with the gate, which took awhile to complete.  Guess he forgot about that too!

May. Ride 22.  I was going to get on and take off, but first Risa and Penny were with the farrier, then I rode Penny and ponied Risa a mile over to feed the neighbor's horses (and back).  Cometa was out with May, but for whatever reason, he just doesn't count as a companion for anybody...maybe because he is often in is own pen and is very bossy.  Still, he misses them when they go.  Ok, so the upshot of all that Penny Risa activity was that May was pacing and not that relaxed.

I am ALMOST as good as Risa. When I haltered up May (she hasn't tried to avoid this in about 3 tries!) and brought her in to saddle, she settled down a whole lot.  I am almost as good as Risa as a companion!  I feel so important (in my own little world) when the horses start to see me that way. Nevertheless, I figured I better do a little ground and a little arena work to off set the layoff and stressful activity.

Not perfect.  Not consistent, but she light a lot of the time and holds her head in a nice natural way.  We just did more of the usual: move off leg in various ways, stop (and we played NO stand still game--she is just standing still now!), back (a little heavy and needed to repeat a lot until she got a step, release, repeat--always looking for a light soft response and trying to release on that...easier said than done sometimes!), trot, and LOPE.  I know we have loped but now she can lope around the unfenced arena, both directions and not be in a hurry. PLUS, when I am ready to end to a stop, she can stand still.

The trail is full of boogey men in the form of dry erosion spots that have made ditches that we must walk over.  I ended up dismouting and walking May over one particular ditch 5 times--actually she jumped the first 3 times and then was able to sneak down in and cross over.  Got on an rode her over.  Sounds simple, but it was not.  She has decided that backing is a good way to avoid.  I used my legs and the end of the lead rope on her hip to discourage backward avoidance.  She is sensitive so I am not talking whacking her, but more flagging her hip with the lead rope.  Finally she gave it a try and we went back and forth 4 times, better each time.

BIKES and SCOOTERS. The neighbor kids are just really nice.  They were riding their bike and scooter down the big paved hill by the house and so I talked to them so they would talk back so May would think "oh people on wheelie things" rather than "AHHH horse eating aliens from Roswell!" They were super and actually talked to MAY, telling her how well she was doing.

Finshed by riding up the road.  No cars today so didn't deal with that.

Ride 21 and Ride 8.  (5/12) For both I rode in the round pen.  Tabooli loped there for the first time (no wild behavior) and showed a bit of understanding of "move off the leg".  May was relaxed and loped easily.  She is moving a bit stiffly.  I think it is a combo of her club foot and shoulder injury (where she got a 6 in x 6in T torn in her hide by a pit bull last year). She was better when she first got shoes.... Will keep an eye on it.

Botanizing on Horseback

5/12/2010
I had a pony (13.2 hands, cost 175 bucks) named Indy from 1998-2001 (she died or I would stillhave her) and I rode her all over the place.   I collected over 160 plants (and pressed them and identified them to species and put them in 3 books, and made a list....ok, so I'm a biologist by training and my mom put me up to it).  I still recognize most of the plants but I cannot tell you their scientific names anymore....but recently D. moved in and she likes plants (and birds and horses) so my interest has been rekindled!

So, today, we botanized on horseback.  I rode Risa and she rode Duncan.  We took the rocky trail and checked out the plants.  That  penstemon I mentioned the other day is now blooming (there are 3 or 4 species locally and I don't recall this being the first usually....) This one is a bit more delicate looking than the others and has a purple/ pink flower that is kind of irridescent. I just looked and yep I have it pressed...maybe I should now start taking pictures and add those to the book. ....Maybe I am a touch obsessive compulsive?  I think the scientific name is: Penstemon inflatus. (Note the italics and the capitalization of the first name--the Genus-- and lower case for the species name? Your scientific nomenclature lesson of the day. Try not to throw up.)

Red with a strong dollop of orange is the shade of the barrel cactus flowers I usually see, but today, we spied a tiny cactus with a yellow bloom bigger than the plant itself.  I don't recall ever seeing that one before and we saw two! D. took home a sprig of a vetch (Astragalus missouriensis???-related to loco weed!) to ID but I forgot that you often need the seed pods to tell the vetch or vetch-like things apart.  I was out on S 14 and saw Astragalus spectabalis??? I am making that name up ...but it is a big white one.... AND we saw a small white flowered 5- petalled delicate plant related to carnations (Family: Caryophyllaceae).

Horsewise, Risa led and Duncan (the lipizanner, white!  big brown eyes! 19!) came along behind, a bit slowly.  He was trying really hard to do everything just right...because yesterday he got in trouble for hand galloping.....away! Now granted, every time I see Duncan he looks amazing and soft and correct, but apparenlty he does have his moments.

Prior to hitting the trail, Risa did a little arena work and her lope was actually pretty relaxed, but when we got back, she was much more in a hurry.  She is still trying to figure out how to work her whole body with me on top, and we are working a number of exercises to help her (like I mentioned last time, briefly).  But,  I will say this for her: She can bury her butt in the dirt when her timing is right, she can back fast and she has the makings of a nice reining spin.  And yeah I train and I get paid, but I never want to stop learning, so I plan to get down to Dolly Wallace next week (I hope) and pick her brain on spinning exercises.  Sometimes it is so helpful to get an outside opinion and I tell you what, every time I go to Dolly I get some shining gem of information.  Add all those gems up, and you can put together a pretty nice horse if you work at it. 

Pretty Penny was next and she had some nice moments and some ok moments.  I really need to work on her english trot and her western lope.  Oh that's a nice combo--longer and faster (the trot) and slower and slower (the lope).  The long trot does help her use her body better.  The slow lope feels a bit too short-strided to me, and while her neck is positioned ok, a lot of the time, but I feel overall she is too stiff.  So we have to keep working lateral bending (neck and poll relaxation) while moving, sideways, shoulder freedom, haunches in, until all her parts are relaxed, under control and in synchrony. Not happening over night.

All around. I am not one to produce the 30 day wonder horse. Penny at 3 is doing english and western and trail, but by 5 or 6 I hope she can do virtually all events reasonably well. So, taking the long view, I am not going to have a perfect western pleasure horse at 3 because of our all around goal later in life and besides I want her to stay fresh (oh and she will go out in the back country, too...)

Simple, safe and fun. That's what I want for my horses and riders....note I didn't say "easy".  Today, if you were to ask Penny, "fun" might have been lacking.  Nothing was terrible, but maybe a bit too much drill and not enough reward.

I gave a lesson later in the day and it was amazing to see how the upward hand position (very French says my friend) is so amazing.  Yeah, I just said amazing twice in one sentence.  I am not fixing it. Go Donati and Kathleen!


What about May?? 5/11/2010. Ride 20
May is aMAYzing.  I could not resist. I saddled up (no fidgetting, no pawing) got on and rode off over the ridge. She was balky in a few spots but if I kept her straight with my reins and legs and urged her forward with my legs and voice, she listened, decided I would not steer her into trouble, and went. We just had a blast trail riding at nice forward walk. 

The twisted culvert, laying on the side of the road, has its large black mouth facing north, and on the way home, May needed a moment to analyze that.  Once she had a look, she was able to go on by with out a fuss.

Trust. One of the things I find the most rewarding about starting horses is when the horse starts to trust me.  Then, even when they aren't sure, they fall back to the trust thing and try to do what I ask!  It was like that with May this ride.

Tabooli.
Ride 7.  Trailer loading went really well!  He stepped in and can easily get out backwards now, so, in he went,  and out he went,  and in he went until he figured out it was easier to stay in.  Since he goes in nicely, it was easy.

The wind was the worst in a long time, so that's saying something. Used my spurs and my rope on him today and got more out of him, without scaring him. He is still heavy off my leg, so working against the fence to get him to move laterally--not fully sidways, but some cross over with the shoulder and the hind end, is helping. He is ready to lope but I didn't push him too hard due to the hideous wind, and just got a nice fast trot. I wanted to ride him out today but I was on him for over an hour and I hadn't realized how long it had been. So, we did the bridge (set him up, let him look and he did it) and almost had the gate. He totally gets that the gate = end of the day. Two more tries and the gate will be ours!

What a fine Mother’s day!

At 9:24 am we finally headed out to Cerillos—finally! (MY fault and we were late, but our friends, Jim and Terri, were expecting us to be late, so it was ok....? Hmm. It is probably not good if your friends expect you to be late). I had put the pack saddle on Risa and was not satisfied with the fit (even though we did fitting yesterday, today it seemed too tight), so I poked a few new holes and got it looking somewhat better, thus we were late.

Cerillos is a State Park http://www.cerrilloshills.org/ near the town of…drum roll…Cerillos! South of Santa Fe. It is a badlands-type setting and had hundreds of active mining claims (copper, silver, galena, turquoise) on it in the late 1800’s. It now has a nice set of trails for horses, people and bikes, along with interpretive signs and some interesting views of the some of the mines.

The wild flowers were out (April and May showers did bring what they promised) and we saw arrangements of purple verbena, red Indian paint brush and white apache plume together. There were yellow chocolate flowers with dark centers and bright yellow perky sue’s. The yellow wild zinnias hug the ground in little clumps while the striking white and pinkish easter daisies are low growing but seem to prefer the solitary existence. The thistles were just about to open up. The bloomers there are just a little ahead of the flora in my neighborhood. It is more open and maybe just a little lower in elevation.

The temperature was in the 70’s and there was a pleasant breeze. I wore a long-sleeved shirt (as always—my fight against future skin cancer—but what about my vitamin D levels??) and had Risa “pack” my jacket on the Decker. I never needed the jacket. (I left off the panniers for today’s training ride). Penny led both the group and Risa.  Risa ponied behind—sort of behind. As the day progressed, we switched from Risa behind Penny to Risa behind Cometa and back again.

Except for the one stretch where Risa decided the cinch ring was REALLY annoying and she was trying to bite it, kick it and get the whole rig off by rubbing on the 4-wing salt bushes along the trail, she was calm and stayed in line. The cinch ring problem was that she started to get a little sweaty and things were itching. Fortunately, after I checked everything and saw that nothing was pinching, she recovered her composure!

It was a fine ride and great company with Jim and Terri.

Jim and I  stopped for an ice cream treat.  We ate that when we got home, and watched a movie on TV. Then I went out to ride May and Tabooli......

May was first and I saddled up and got on. No ground work at all. My plan was to just head out on the trail, but then I thought I should do a little arena work. She did well, but is still a little fussy with the bit and not consistently light and responsive. Not that she should be perfect at this point, but still something to keep focused on improving.
She was pretty easy under me and when that is the case, riding is like a Zen thing and not really work.

We did the usual basics with lots of cue and release on the turns to work on lightness. I have been using a more upward pressure on the bit (lift up with my hands instead of sideways or down) after reading through some info from a clinic my friend Kathleen went to, and I am very happy with the lighter feel for most of the horses. It is not my goal to build a horse with an elevated head carriage, but this method, which can build to that, does not seem to be causing that at all in the youngsters. In fact, it seems to be helping them find and hold their natural head carriage.

We went out on the trail. The rocky uphill stretch (100 feet/ 50 feet? ...short) is hard for May. The work is hard, the footing is tricky and thus it is mentally challenging. She didn’t want to go at first. We rode a little loop and I checked out the wild flowers.

Perky sue, verbena, Fendler bush which has big 4-petalled white flowers, some penstemons just getting close to blooming, a yellow low growing mustard, lots of non-native weedy mustards in yellow, white and purple. The purple has a sharp smell that I find hard to describe. And the lovely primroses that look like some much toilet paper strewn all over the fields—big white flowers!

May didn’t like the For Sale sign, but she had no problem with the old culvert or the big bulldozer. She didn’t cry once and seemed to enjoy the trail. She also, on cue, went up to a telephone pole and let me tear off a sign for a lost dog. (The dog was reunited with her owner). She finished with the gate and did that in one squiggly swoop—we never lost the rope but it could have been a bit smoother.

Tabooli. Highlights! I rode in the arena and he put his head way down in the sand, suggesting that he was either going to roll or fling it up and have a bucking spree. (ok ok so he hasn’t had any bucking sprees..I am still cautious). So, I asked him to bring up his head. No response. I pulled. No response. I pulled hard and tapped him with my legs. HUGE response. Oops. He popped up, bucked twice (little bucks) and ran off. I asked him to turn and not much seemed to be registering, so I figured we were just going to go on a bit of an adventure. He actually only went about 40 feet (by now you know my estimation abilities are suspect)—but really he didn’t go far. He didn’t leave the arena area, if you include the parking area as part of the arena area. (There are fences on 2 sides and a embankment on one side. The other side is open). He has a really smooth lope, too.

Insight: He is not a bad or mean horse at all, so he actually was not in trouble. He wants to cooperate, but his threshold for panic is funny. He will have little reaction to many things, but every once in a while, he overreacts. It is spontaneous, not planned, and his breathing gets jerky, so it is clear he just lost it for a minute. I believe the key will be, of course repetition, and NOT over reacting myself. Pushing him toward his limits while providing reassurance that he is really going to be safe with me, not get in big trouble, as long as he is trying.

We went right back to the arena and kept on riding. Walk, trot etc. Finished with the …gate! Opened, dropped, went through, worked to get back and closed it.


5/10-the wind is HOWLING outside and as I write this I am watching the driveway periodically get up and blow away. Unless that is the arena blowing up here….could be both. Not sure I want to go out there and ride. Seems like a round pen day to me.

Wind died down and I rode all four in the round pen where it is somewhat sheltered. Of note:
May (ride 19) loped and was very relaxed (stood still when ever I asked! ) and light in everything.

Penny’s western pleasure lope is improving and her head set is more natural. Her reining spins are slow but light.

Risa’s lope is super sucky and needs a ton of work—she falls on her forehand and then is all out of whack. More sideways, and leg yielding and pivots and stop and back and try agains helped.

And Tabooli (ride 6) didn’t seem to have enough gas in the tank to manage a lope, so I guess I will have to light the fumes tomorrow to spark him up! But he is setting his butt down when I say “ho” with almost no rein pressure at all. Can we say “not in a hurry”?

Risa packed up and May went out

May went out.
5/7/2010. Ride 17. Out on the trail. We loped yesterday, so, time for more trail work today.  I took her to the arena and got on.  We walked and trotted a little bit in the arena and she felt pretty solid, so we headed up the drive and across the street where the little hidden trail heads up the rocky slope--the one we rode the other day.  Today she did not wish to go through the branches that "guard" the trail. I told her she had to and used a little leg, so she agreed. 

Where do my feet go? She cannot quite figure out her feet on the slope and the rocks so she has trouble maintaining an even pace up the hill, but that is one reason to ride this trail.  Up in the mountains we will see this sort of thing and it will be nice when she is able to confidently negotiate the rocks, while staying on the trail with her rider on top (as opposed to off the cliff!).  This is hard work both physically and mentally and she was tense!

Not spooky though! Despite being tense she did not go spooky at any boogey men. She did have some trouble crossing some little ditches--the sand was a different color! We took some alternate routes with lesser drop offs (not that any of them were very far--1 foot max) so she didn't have to step down as far.  She offered (requested? was on her own trajectory?) to trot a few times, but I asked her to walk. We came home and ended with the gate!

Burro again. Then, I took her to Mark Bohannon's, and turned her loose in the arena with Risa while I worked the burro, with Penny. Penny showed good interest and Mark was happy with her.  Risa tracked the burro across the fence every time we came by and really wanted to get after him (must be the cutting blood).  May was kind of indifferent.  However, she trailered much better than last time (not much pawing) and tied well at the trailer while I was getting things in order.

Rode Tabooli in the arena because I was lazy. I brought him to the trailer (which has newly adjusted brakes--thanks Sandia Trailer!) to saddle him.  He is comfortable there.  If I had taken him over to the round pen, I would have had to tie up all the girls, so since he was so quiet on 5/6, I figured I'd give him a go in the arena.

He moved a little when I got on but then held still. He was more forward and I didn't have to use my "git along over and under rope" much. We walked and trotted and did lots of turning. He was quiet most of the time but got a little more animated and had to talk to the girls (who were far away) at one point. I didn't get him in big trouble because I still don't have a good feel for how far I can push him, but I did speak to him sternly! He quit. He can feel very tense, but so far (and like a relative of his I worked with last year) he doesn't seem to translate the tense into BLOW. Still holding judgement back on that though. He is backing a few soft steps on request and is getting the idea to move off my leg sideways.

To finish, we approached the gate (with the usual first time gate phobia but less drama than May.) Opened the gate and he backed away from the string.  I dropped it. We went through and then closed it! 



Risa Packed Up.
5/8/2010 Back Country Horseman Pecos Chapter Packing Clinic.
Karen and Daryle and I took Penny and Risa to the BCH packing clinic.  Penny was the baby sitter and Risa was the "subject".  They spent the morning munching grass out of hay bags and we spend the morning listening to Tom, Mary and Steve explain some in's and out's of packing. Awesome! We practiced our box hitch on the iron mule (a barrel with legs and a bung hole so you can tell which end is the "head"...)

Packing up! After lunch we went out and put all the gear on Risa.  She was wearing a decker pack saddle with a 40 inch pad felt pad plus a fleece pad, a breast collar, britchin, all in dark leather.  In addition, to complete her ensemble, she wore a canvas half-breed and two small white canvas panniers, buckled together.  She did not wear the lash cinch today.  (Maybe tomorrow).  She did have to disrobe for a pack tree fitting check.  The tree was a good fit. All of the gear was lent to us by Peter, Tabooli's owner. Now we just have to practice putting it all on!

Walk, trot, LOPE!

5/3/2010 May and bike with a buggy.
This is ride fifteen! I lunged her a bit, but other than that did no ground work. I got up and immediately we needed to do a fair amount of the "stand still game".  She moves, I bend her until she stops. She moves, repeat.   After she could stand, we walked and trotted with lots of turning, sideways and keeping her under me.  Mainly I am  trying to keep her soft and relaxed. Got pretty nice.

We left the arena.  I took her around the property and we started to head out, but I saw a bike with a buggy coimng down the hill.  I turned around and got down the driveway as far as I could without rushing her and turned her to face it.  We were pretty far away--50 feet?  She got wide-eyed and jumped sideways.  I urged her forward up onto the road so she could  "chase" it down the street. She seemed to get a kick out of that!

We left the property. We got across the street and I headed her the steep trail.  She had a bit of time getting her butt in gear to push herself up!  I only took her to the top of the  hill.  Then we came back down (nice body control on the steep!).  We went into the arena and did the gate SO WELL! Did the bridge, too! Great way to end!

Tabooli didn't buck at all.
We did the compulsory trailer loading and he was in and out easily.  In the roumd pen I tied the tarp on him but it fell off and dragged.  His reponse:  he didn't like it so he loped casaully around while dragging it. It fell off and he stopped. His lope was so slow and candenced it was not entirely clear he was bugged, but I think he was.

I got on--no biggie. We sat there. I got off. Got on. Sat there, asked him to bend his head and he did, after a bit, of ask, wait, ask wait, more pressure, oh a give!  Less pressure.  Then, he then he walked off and was mainly really calm.  One time he tried to turn back, and he was darn quick, but I stopped him and that was fine. He stopped on my voice!

5/4 and 5/5.
Drove to Lubbock! My daughter had an awards banquet for soccer and as she is a senior in college and will graduate next weekend, I went! It was really fun! Then I drove back and went to a back country horseman's meeting.  Packing clinic coming up on Saturday!

5/6/2010 Trottin' Tabooli. That sort of sounds like a problem a tourist might have....!  No trailer loading because the trailer is getting its brakes adjusted and its bearings repacked (along with a 17 point saftey inspection.... all for only 19.99 and you get a free set of ginzu knvies--just kidding on the 19.99 and the knives part--200 + dollars)  So, I tied him to the arena fence and tossed up the pad.  Tossed up the saddle and ...he pulled back and jumped sideways! I asked him what he thought he was doing and he said "I dunno" and looked kind of sheepish. We rearranged the whole kit and started again.  This time he was fine!

I asked him to run around the round pen, which was evidently too much effort for this warm and windy day.  I had to step up and TELL him!  I did a bit more move the body parts stuff and then prepared and got on.  He was completely at ease.  He bent his head for me and then just stood there! No stand still games needed for him. Instead I had to get off and go get a rope so I could flop it over and and back on his withers to get him to move at all!  At the same time I was clucking and bumping with my legs. 

Finally got some movement! and I worked some to keep him going.  He turned decently, stopped decently, bent him to a stop by bending his head in towards my feet and pushing his hind quarters away.  That all went so well, might as well trot.  I stepped it up with the rope on him and finally go ol lard ass to get a move on! Got him into a trot!  Smooth and easy!

Maybelle lopes!
I was gettng short of time--had to head out to work with a Navajo pony and help my friend with her Fjord, so decided to stay in the round pen with the idea of working on the lope today. May is very comfortable in the round pen and didn't fuss with her head or the bit. We had to do a little stand still work, but not much. We then walked and bent and stopped and trotted both slow and more forward.

She worked on giving her head and neck and shoulders with leg yeilds and lateral neck bending.  Pretty soft.  We then did a leg yeild with her head to the outside and hip to the inside and I asked her to lope using my legs and voice.  I kept her head outside and hip inside and she broke into a nice lope--for 2 steps!  We worked on some other body control things and then headed the other way and got the lope there, too.

She managed to lope both directions on the correct lead, quietly, for about 1.5 laps each way.  We finished by opening the round pen gate....which we could not shut until the 3rd try.  But we got it!  Yeah!

Eating Carne Adovada Inside is Better than Riding in the Rainy Snow

5/1/2010. May ride 14. Linda came over to see how May was doing. We rode in the arena and she lunged well and picked up both leads really nicely. Under saddle she demonstrated her walk, stop, trot, sideways, walking on the bridge, clonking into the logs and sometimes clearing them. She also demonstrated how she would NOT approach the gate! Drat. So much for a show-off repeat! Hmmf. After 10 tries, we got there, opened the gate, went through, slowly, eased into postion and then she ....left. I dropped the rope. It did not take too long to go back into position and close the gate. Overall Linda was pleased! Yeah!



Tabooli.
Trailer loading went well and he is backing out better every day! On the way to round pen, we passed Risa, May and Cometa, all tied to trees. Penny had had her legs bathed (love her dun coat--can get away without bathing her whole self--a bennie when it is snowing intermittently) and was in the "show stall"--really the ONLY stall, with a door. Tabooli just had to talk to them. He got in trouble (snap! snap! with the lead rope on the rope halter--no chains needed) and then Cometa, just had to taunt him, even though he was tied up!

(Pony) ride 1. His ground work was good, so I stood in the stirrups (both sides) and he was quiet. So, I settled on. He got really tense, so I hopped off, which think upset him more than me up there. Repeat. Ok, that wasn't working to my satisfaction, so I got Jim to hold him . I  had seen Tabooli tense up and buck teh other day, and I although I usually stay on, I try hard not to cause bucking if I can avoid it. I was worried he was going to repeat that, so I took it out on Jim. Nice. I apologized and he accepted, or at least didn't quit me! (Thanks!) Jim started out leading me around and Tabooli felt very tight but he didn't spook or flinch at all.


Later, Jim walked and Tabooli followed. I was pretty much a passenger, but Tabooli was comfortable. We also worked on bending his head. Then I had Jim walk toward Tabooli's butt while I bent his head. Tabooli, responding to Jim, disengaged his hind end. Tricky of me!

2 May 2010.  Buckskin show.
No Halter. I decided not to show in halter as Penny, although very balanced, does not have sufficient body mass to be competitive, plus I don't find it fun.  So, we left here at 7 am (So civilized. Much nicer than 5:30 am) and got to Bosque Farms at 8 am.  I figured we'd have plenty of time to la de da, get saddled, sign up , warm up, ride Risa for a bit and generally mosey along.  Not!  The judges were not messing around.  They were moving the horses in and moving them out!  Halter was done by 9!

Jim lunged Risa (little Miss Firecracker) and I lunged Penny who wasn't going to go at all until I flicked her with the end of the whip and she went in three directions at once.  Bit of an over reaction I thought! Kept her lunging until she could do trot to canter transitions with out bucking.  Maybe 10 minutes.  Maybe shorter.... Risa kept going and going for a good 20+ minutes.

Only little bucking under saddle in the warm up in the arena, and then Penny settled down. I rode her in first in hunter under saddle walk-trot, and since we had to enter at the trot (which I knew), this was a mistake (which I also suspected it would be) because she didn't quite have her rythm (is that  spelled right or is it rthym?)  as we entered.  This could not have made the best impression on the judge.  She got better and was in the upper third of the class. In all breed walk, trot, canter, she was the only entry and performed well.  In buckskin jr horse hunter under saddle, she was steady and I was very pleased although she did trip once. Jim watched and said all three entries performed really well and he thought any one of the three could get top honors.

Risa provided some rodeo entertainment! Little Miss Firecracker is not as laid back as her mate Penny.  She had a hard time settling down when I rode her during the lunch break.  Probably should have lunged her again in the big arena.... She spooked hard at some dangerous monster and bucked and spun for quite a distance.   I bent her left and took a  good grip on the horn. I'm not proud.  I was hoping to be able to lope big circles, but settled for trotting. She is tremendous athlete, but I sure don't enjoy that skittishness!

Rain.  Lots of Rain. By the time we got to all breed walk trot western pleasure, it was raining and blowing.  Some people were showing in slickers.  (Glad I wasn't on Risa!) Penny had some excellent movement with a level and not droopy head and neck (worked on bringing her head up a little this week after seeing last weeks photos).  She felt slow footed and long strided under the crows nest...but on the other side of the arena in front of the other judge, the rain was pelting her in the head and she put it up, down and all around.  See my chin?  I don't wanna win! Result 5th out of 10? ( was happy to hear our name!)  and WOW!! First!  (we know which judge placed her each way!).  We scratched her remaining western pleasure classes and then the show as a whole was called.

Had that carne adovado burrito when we got home!