"Better take along some glue..."

I haven't ridden English all summer, but now that fall has arrived, my calendar has opened up, and show season is over - which means the trainer's calendar has cleared some, as well.  I'll be starting lessons again soon, so I've been meaning to put on some riding time in breeches.  Ordinarily I'd just switch to English tack half the time on the trail, but with Thunder along.... I feel a bit safer ponying him from the security of a western saddle where I can dally if I need to.

Anyway, I decided tonight was going to be and English night.  T and J were packing up shotguns to go dove hunting, and I didn't want to waste such a beautiful evening on housecleaning.  I'd originally intended to just hook up the trailer, since everything I needed was in it, but J blocked the hitch when he pulled in, and I hated to make him go back and move it - it wasn't that much trouble to transfer my saddle, Sunny's bridle and a couple of brushes to the truck, after all.

"Better take some glue along!" was J's comment, seeing me in breeches.  Ha, ha... Funny!

Little did he or I know exactly how prophetic that comment was going to turn out to be.

I collected the boys, set them to guarding posts, and commenced brushing.  Sunny untied himself as soon as I bent over to brush Thunder's belly.  I retrieved him and retied him, regretting the fact that I'd neglected to bring along the Tabasco sauce for his leadrope.  And realized I'd forgotten the fly spray in the truck.  Went back after it, and returned to find Sunny wandering off again. 

Wound his lead around the post without knotting it - sometimes that fools him for a while - got them both fly sprayed and feet cleaned out.  Then back to the truck for the saddle and bridle.  Hauled it all down to where the horses were (still!) tied.  And discovered that I'd forgotten one very critical piece of gear... the girth.  Ooops... Guess I should have brought along that glue - LOL!

I swear by this point Sunny was laughing at me.

I did remember the bridle, though, so on it went, and I wriggled my way on.  Thank goodness for short horses!  But as I've learned the hard way in the past that breeches are much slipperier than jeans, the circle loping I'd planned was right out.  For the first 15 or so minutes I concentrated on getting a good working walk, being very deliberate about corners.  I pretended the tall weeds were cones to circle and weave through, and focused on looking ahead and hitting the marks I'd set.  When he was responding nicely at a walk I picked up a jog-trot and did some big to little to big circles.  Then it was back to the walk and some counter-bend reverses to both sides.  Going clockwise round into a counter-bend to the left and reverse to counter-clockwise is coming along prettily.  He's really starting to step under and yield his shoulder - at least from on top it feels good.  

Counter-clockwise circle into a counter-bend to the right, reverse to clockwise circle needs work.  So we did.    He's stepping over, he's just not flexing /bending/yielding through the neck, shoulder and back.  Hmmm....Possibly related to his lack of interest in picking up the left lead?  I think it will be easier to reinforce the bend with a saddle, where I can really open my left leg and use my right side more effectively. 

All told, about 45 minutes of work. Not nearly as long as we've been riding, but more intentional than just pointing him down the road, especially without Thunder attached.  Next time though?  I'll be sure to double-check for ALL the necessary bits and pieces!

When leaves attack

Clean!

It wasn't the only thing I accomplished yesterday, but it was the one thing I was happiest to have done.  T got the garden tilled for fall and I hosed off the trailer mats and rinsed the walls down.  I stick a couple of buckets under the low edge at the back to catch the run-off, and pour it on the flowerbeds - I figure it's good fertilizer, and better than letting all that water just run down the street.

92' here yesterday.  And no breeze to speak of.  The cold water felt fantastic, although I needed a real shower by the time I got done.It's not pristine, but it's clean enough for now.  I'll do a more thorough job when winter's a bit closer.

T had stuff he wanted to finish up, but J and I rode.  It was too late to monkey with Sunny and Thunder by the time we got started, so since T wasn't going, I just rode Rufus.  Rufus needs a trim and set - we rode the dead mile, and his shoes are worn enough that he was finding the grassy footing a lot slicker than either of us liked. 

Had to laugh at him, though - he didn't like the long weeds catching at his tail much, and at one point he tucked his butt way under and sort of scooted forward like something was after him.  I thought he'd picked up a dead stick or rattly weed, but when I turned to check it was only a fist-sized dead leaf sitting on his hind end.  So silly.  Good thing we weren't riding today - the way the wind is blowing he'd be inundated with leafy attackers.

Rufus is fun to ride occasionally, but I wouldn't trade Sunny for him on a regular basis.  He isn't as careful about where he puts his feet for one thing, and he's not as sure-footed, either. Old shoes don't help of course, but even when he's newly shod he doesn't pay as much attention to where his feet are going, and when he gets distracted, he trips over things.

On the plus side, though, Rufus has lovely walk-lope and trot/lope transitions, and riding him more is helping me figure out where I'm going wrong with Sunny.  Sunny prefers the right lead, and will pick it up nine times out of ten no matter what I think I'm asking for.  And I'm figuring out that's not all his fault.

See, if I cue properly, Rufus will take the correct lead - i.e. the one I've asked for - every time.  But the more I ride him, the more I'm realizing I have a tendency to muddle my left lead cues.  When I get it wrong with Rufus he crossfires, scrambles into a sprawled out trot, or does his letter U imitation to the left.  He's trying to do whatever it is he thinks I'm wanting him to do, which in his mind, isn't lope.  So... if I practice on Rufus until I can get him to step into the left lead as automatically and sweetly as he does the right, then I'll know I'm at least being as consistent with Sunny.  And that, combined with lots of left-lead circles will hopefully be a step in the right - or left - direction.

We covered about 6 miles.  It was still warm enough when we left that the horses got a bit sweaty the first couple of miles, but even though we kept them at a pretty steady jog most of the way, it had cooled off enough that they were dry by the time we got home.  Finishing a good ride on a beautiful fall day just fading into a spectacular sunset has to be one of the very best things ever.

On the road again

BIG rusty nail - not in a good spot, either

The guys at Graham Tire patched it for us, but had us bring the spare in and swapped out the tires/rims.  They said it would be okay for a spare, but not for regular use since the puncture was so close to the sidewall.  Sigh...   

He makes it look so easy

In the time it took me to haul the spare out of the back of the truck, roll it around, hoist it up onto the holder and re-secure it, he had the tire back on.

The boys contribution was standing at the fence whinnying at us.  Apparently they thought the trailer was getting more than its fair share of attention.  Sorry boys, no ride tonight - maybe tomorrow.

Dead Mile Ride

We logged 10 miles last night - C was home from college for the SDBRA finals this weekend. She ran decent times in 1D and 3D and brought home a new headstall for running two identical times with Lightbulb. 15.621 - down to the thousandth of a second - what are the odds on that, I wonder?

Anyway, we rode most of the usual loop, but added on what's known as a "dead" mile - basically, it's where a mile road should be, but isn't.  The state owns the right-of-way, but there's no actual road.  It's fenced on both sides, but what's in between is generally just a track, at best. It was only one mile out of the ten, but a lot of fun, nevertheless.

I ponied Thunder again, so I didn't have a hand free to take pictures - too bad, because it was gorgeous.  The leaves are starting to change, but there are still butterflies flitting around.  We navigated a couple of downed trees and a couple of washes, tall grass and low hanging branches.  Uneven footing galore.  Can I just say for the record how much I love riding a sure-footed horse!

Thunder only hesitated once, at the first low limb - not low enough to hang up in, just low enough that I needed to lean down to get under it.  The downed trees I just tossed the lead back over the saddle and let him follow Sunny through single file.  Sunny minds his feet and picks his way through carefully, and Thunder stepped along behind him pretty as you please.

T took him for a bit after we got to the gravel so that I could lope ahead.

Love those ears!

He really needs a rider

Stopping to check out some scary equipment - rubber teeth, who knew!

I wanted to get some nice group pictures, since C won't be back home again until Thanksgiving, and T will be gone soon, too - but every time I pointed the camera at anyone head on, they ducked and I ended up with blur.  Grrr!

Backsides - no faces :(

J took a turn with Thunder, as well.  He's such a died in the wool QH man, but I think he's coming around.  

It was a beautiful evening - we even encountered a couple out for a romantic sunset ride on a pair of well-matched palaminos.  They were holding hands - the people, not the horses - it was really cute.

We got back to J's just as it was getting dark, unsaddled, brushed the horses down, picked out feet and loaded up with a minimum of fuss.  I love having lights in the trailer!  The only fly in the ointment?  Arriving back at the farm and stepping out of the truck to a loud hissing noise... an old rusty fencing staple in one of the trailer tires.  Phooey!

Luckily T had met me out at J's with his truck and followed me back over to help unload, so we could leave the whole works there for the night.  Much easier to change it in the daylight!

Catting around

Hung out at J's for a while last night.  The boys made new friends.

Hey!  Keep your nose to yourself, buddy.

Eeeuw!  Horse cooties!

I'm just going to ignore you now.

It's touching me....  Remove it, please.

T worked on the trailer lights/brakes issue - the wiring harness on the truck needed a new connector clip thingy and a bit of soldering.  I made myself "useful" by supervising which I'm sure he appreciated - LOL  The test run was a success, so hopefully they'll be good to go now.

I've been walking pastures looking for something that Thunder could have done this on.   

 

He has some scratches and some hide missing on his knees and over one eye, as well, but it's all surface.  No blood, and nothing's puffy or sore.  It looks like he tangled in some wire, but I haven't been able to find anything so far. (They're turned out in a different field until I figure out what he managed to wind himself up in.)

It's an ongoing project.  The horses, cows and sheep rotate between pastures.  The sheep eat the weeds the horses and cows won't touch, which is great.  But they're hard on the fencing, and the cows - especially the calves - are worse.  The horses aren't too bad, but if the electric is off for some reason, Sunny and Thunder will both fence crawl because the grass is always greener...  So once I finish where they were supposed to be, I'll tackle where they weren't supposed to be.  Sigh...