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!