Slipper Feet

Shetland pony toes...

The farrier came earlier this week.  It was 102' in the shade.  The ponies were more than content to stand politely in the shade and get their feet worked on.  We were his last stop, and I'm sure he was more than glad to be done for the day and crank the AC on his two hour drive home.

We were talking about how hard the ground is - he asked if we had rocks in our pasture because Sunny's feet were so chipped up.  Nope, the ground is so dry it's like concrete, though.  They've all been wearing the edges off, and stamping flies sure doesn't help.  Taking a breather between horses, he pulled these hooves out of the truck for show & tell.  He'd trimmed the pony the night before - poor little thing was walking spraddle-legged so she wouldn't hit her belly with her feet...

He said he had to use a hacksaw to trim off her toes before he could even start to make her hooves look right, and would be making several trips back to adjust angles so that she wouldn't continue to walk on her heel bulbs.  The owner wanted to know why he couldn't make her feet pretty immediately.  Some people should NEVER own a horse of any size!!!!! 

With the new goal of riding at least one horse per evening, I rode Thunder Wednesday after work.  He's got 'whoa!' down cold, that's for sure.  I'm thinking he's going to make a great trail horse, as he seems happiest when he's exploring new territory.  I rode all over the yard and up around the tractor trail out to the cow pasture.  The other three stood at the gate, Sunny whinnying occasionally, but Thunder paid him no attention.

I wrapped up in the orchard where I could do some circles and worked on walk-trot transitions.  He wasn't real enthused, and I'm thinking I may get the bumper spurs out next time.  I need to reinforce my heel enough that he doesn't fall out of gait whenever he feels like it.

Thursday was an exceedingly long day at work.  My brain was mush, and getting focused enough to direct four additional feet just wasn't in me.  I retrieved the horses, did my chores, took a shower, spent some lap-time with Nu-nu and fell into bed.  Day two and no horse ridden.  Yeah, I'm a great goal setter, but apparently not so great in the carrying out department... sigh.

With the new gate into the pasture I've been able to go from leading all four of them at once up the road and back, to leading two at a time cross country.  (I'd take all four, but the creek bed crossing is narrow, steep, and not really safe for more than three of us to navigate simultaneously.)

While my folks were here we experimented to see what the reaction would be if I took two and left two behind, and while there was some whinnying, nobody tried to climb the fence or push the gate down, and some hollering from the ones left back has continued to be the extent of the fuss.  I expect it helps that once they have their halters and leads on, they know they're going.  Well, that and the fact that it's been too hot to want to race back and forth.  

I've been round-robining the pairings so that nobody always gets left behind and they don't have a designated "partner".  Considering that the pair leaving is completely out of sight for half the way - it takes about 5 minutes round-trip for me to get up and back - none of them have even thought about charging the gate or dragging the human on their way to catch up to the other two, I'm giving them a gold star for manners. Even Sunny.

Friday night we hit 104' again, and the fly hatch from Thursday morning's token sprinkle was vicious.  Once we'd navigated back through the herd of cows that had decided the creek pasture with it's shade trees would be a cooler option the horses headed into the barn immediately.  Between the heat and the bugs, I couldn't justify dragging any of them out to torture.  Today's supposed to be a repeat, but tomorrow's forecast is for 90's, so I'm thinking maybe I'll load up and head in to the arena in town, ride all four, and get back on track.

Dust

I asked Jennifer over at How did this happen? how she stays motivated to ride.  Even with the temps and humidity she has down there, she rides.  Regularly, and with intent.  Sigh.

And her answer makes a good point - several, in fact.  These are expensive critters, and since they're all able and so am I, they should justify their presence by more than looking pretty.  Not to mention, despite what the uninitiated may say, riding is good exercise, stress relief (mostly) and just plain makes me happy, darn it.

With all of that in mind, and cooler temps still hanging around, after supper we collected Sunny and Thunder, brushed and tacked, and hopped on.

When I really stopped to think about it, Thunder's had maybe 20-25 rides.  Eric said it took the first two weeks for him to get Thunder to the point where he'd built up some trust (strange man issues), and then I know the horses got at least two days off every week, so...   And I'm not counting my few in the pasture last year.  Last night was my second on him since we got down here, and when you consider all the riding he hasn't had in his life, he did great.

To give us something to do other than just shuffle around in the dust in circles, I set up the ground poles in a square with one extra leg, and put out two orange cones.

Mostly I wanted to work on forward, since the last time he had those balky moments.  He still had a few, but this time I was more prepared and less worried about giving him a solid bump with my heels.  And since I had to bit the bullet and leave the safety of slow sometime, we trotted, too.

In both directions.

After Sunny, who love him to death, but that doesn't fix short-coupled does not have the smoothest trot ever, Thunder's like floating.

And the ground poles phased him not at all.

Did he want to go stand by the gate to the barn lot?  And was he far more content to stand still than go?  Yes.  But he was also pretty darn calm and he listened. 

It probably also helped that we had company.

And yes, there was a LOT of dust.

So - what motivates you to get out and get on?

Pony outing - pics

Rufus & Sunny on arrival

The ground looks a lot better in the pictures!

Sunny showing off his collected walk

Time for a break

Thunder checks things out

Somebody else's cones - good idea, though

More investigation

Amyra's dust bath

Homeward bound

Pony outing

Wow, do I have some reading to catch up on!  That'll teach me to stay away from my computer - everyone has been doing interesting stuff!

Not so much here, although a lot has been getting accomplished.  But the weather finally unexpectedly took a turn for the cooler, and on Saturday evening after finally getting the last few remnants of moving stuff out of the horse trailer (ask me about the 45 minutes I spent weaving backing up the driveway - better yet, don't!) when we brought the ponies down from pasture in the evening, we popped them directly into the trailer and headed for town.

I've been wanting to take them in to the arena at the fairgrounds for a while.  They haven't been in the trailer since we got here late last fall, but all of them walked on with no hitches, and we were off.  In town, it was windy but only in the 80's.  Parked with the trailer pointed so that the two left tied to the trailer could see what was going on, we saddled Sunny and Rufus and ventured forth.

It's a big arena.  Nice fence, lots of space.  Unfortunately, while it had been disced up, the dirt looks to have a lot of clay in it, and it was left in big clods of busted up crust with pressed in tire ruts.  There is a nice soft track around on the rail where you could tell people had been riding, but most of the middle was a walk-only zone.  Not sure I'll be repeating the experience on a regular basis.  Hopefully closer to fair time they'll have it worked up better, because no way would I want to show in it in that condition.

We rode anyway since we were there - the boys were very good, and so were Amyra and Thunder, loafing at the trailer.

Nothing real enthusiastic, since changing directions involved leaving the track, but some walk, trot, and a very little canter.  Sunny's still inclined to be sticky on taking the left lead, but he's taking both easily out in the pasture so I'm hoping it's more habit than being out of adjustment again.  We had some nice stretches of collected walk, and briefer periods of collected trot.  I didn't ask him for too much - haven't ridden him enough for that to be fair, but he was willing to round up without any head-shaking or nose-poking - happiness :)

Mostly though, we just let them check everything out.  The gates at the far end were open, and Sunny was convinced he should be able to exit stage left.  No wanting to head back to the trailer and buddies for him, there was GRASS down there with his name on it. 

When we were done, I ponied Thunder around so he could get a good look at the bleachers and announcer's stand, both painted a brilliant white, the latter with bunnies under it.  My dad walked Amyra out into the middle to look around. She promptly stopped, dropped, and rolled.  I'm guessing she thought it was like turn-out time back at Eric's.

Pics later - no time to upload before work :(

Good Sunny, Bad Sunny

My nephew Z came out Friday evening with his lab Zoie.  She got to run and play in the yard and pasture until it was time to bring the horses home, then got tied up, as she's never seen a horse before.  They've seen a lot of dogs and are generally unconcerned, but I didn't want her getting kicked.  We figured an introduction on leash would go better. 

Anyway, walked over and retrieved the ponies.  Z's never been around horses - he's excited to learn, though.  He led Rufus back, and we tied Amyra and Rufus up.  I soaked Amyra's foot while my mom showed Z how to brush Rufus.  (Amyra popped a small abcess earlier in the week, and I've been soaking it nightly in warm water, epson salts & betadine.)

After Amyra was done, she went back in, and I pulled Sunny out.  Rufus thoroughly enjoys being brushed, and hadn't so much as twitched while Z brushed him.  After a quick brush-off for Sunny, we saddled them both.  I thought I'd picked a saddle that would work for Z, but realized I'd mis-judged the length of his legs pretty badly.  He's 13, but not tall - I couldn't get the stirrups high enough.  He hadn't brought any boots, either, but I did make him put a helmet on.

With my mom on Rufus to demonstrate, and me coaching he spent probably an hour walking Sunny around.  I laid the ground poles out and they walked over and around them.  Sunny was SO good. 

He listened, turned, stopped, all with his ears pricked and without a bobble.  Towards the end, Z really wanted to try trotting, so at that point we did switch saddles to one with shorter leathers.  I clipped the longe line on Sunny and Z gave it a shot.

He actually did pretty well, and was starting to get the hang of it, but I could tell he was also starting to get a little sore - Sunny, too I think. (Sunny doesn't have the smoothest trot, and Z was doing a fair amount of bouncing.)  We called it a night, the ponies got a skiff of grain for being so good and we headed up to finish the evening with Smores.

Of course, Sunny being Sunny had to follow up his stellar evening with a morning reversion to his 2 year old days.  There were storms blowing in, and all four of them were on their toes when we went down to feed.  The other three were minding their manners, but Sunny was convinced that there was SOMETHING in the trees behind us that was going to get him, and he didn't want be last in line as we walked over to the south pasture.

By the time we got to the creekbed crossing, I was pretty sure there was no way I was navigating successfully across with two horses, and since Rufus was still behaving himself I waited until my mom and dad had Amyra and Thunder down and through, warned them, and let Rufus go to take himself over.

Which of course made Sunny even more frantic.  We spent several fraught moments going around and around in the bottom of the creekbed, me determined that he was NOT going to charge up the bank, and him just as determined that he was.  I won.  Mostly.

By this point, Sunny's twitichies had communicated themselves to Thunder who was also behaving like a twit.  My dad had Rufus and Amyra - still sane - through the gate and unhaltered by the time we had the other two idjits half the rest of the way to the gate.  Sheesh!

Once loose, they ate about two bites, then took off as if we'd lit a brush fire under their tails.  They spent the next five minutes rocketing around the big pasture as fast as they could go, bucking and kicking and caroming off one another like pinballs.   It was quite the sight to see.

The Listening Horse

We ventured out into the orchard pasture tonight - it was a beautiful evening, with just enough breeze to discourage most of the bugs.  Sunny and Amyra again.   Tonight at the trailer Amyra actually moved around - which, with most horses I wouldn't be thrilled about, but with her it's a sign that she's actually relaxing.  I can work on relaxed and standing still later.  For now I'll take not stiff.

Out in the bigger space I wasn't sure what to expect.  But right from the first her neck wasn't as knotted.  We walked big circles, played follow the leader with Sunny, and eventually I asked her to trot.

Her head popped back up and it took five minutes or so of going around in figure eights and circles before she started to relax again.  And probably that long before we managed a nice round circle.

She's so responsive that she picks up on every bump and shift I make, and she wants to do whatever you're asking her right now!  Which would be lovely, if I was actually telling her to do all of the things she thinks I am....

It's unfortunate that I'm used to Sunny who takes a LOT of leg, and doesn't concern himself overly with my sliding around.  Perhaps she'll cure me of that.  In any case, we spent a fair amount of time trotting.  If we managed a circle that felt relatively smooth, I'd asked her very softly to walk, and let her have a nice loose rein.
 

She was still very aware of where the other two horses were.  And if I'd let her she would have eased her way over to the fenceline closest to them and stayed there.  But she wasn't insistent about it. 

Back at the trailer she did her bracing thing again briefly.  But all in all a really good ride.  Not sure how much actual riding my mom did - she sure spent a lot of time taking pictures!

High on Thunder

Saturday was lovely once the clouds finally cleared and the wind slowed down.  We saddled Sunny and Thunder and did some more circles (my dad despairs of us ever leaving the lot).   But since Thunder, like Amyra, hasn't been ridden since last fall and unlike Amyra, only had the benefit of 45 days of professional anything...  I think we won't be venturing into the larger world for at least a little while.

Unlike Amyra, Thunder was not at all worried about saddling or even being ridden.  His attitude was such that I had no issues walking him out into the lot, checking the cinch, and stepping on.  He's nowhere near as responsive as Amyra is because he knows next to nothing, but he's a good sport about it.  Although we did have one minor go-round about 10 minutes in when he decided he was done.  

Which in Thunder body-language consists of planting himself and refusing to move.  When it appeared that the balking might get more assertive and turn into backing up, I got off and moved his feet on the lunge line.

 

Which at one point probably looked more like him lunging me, since he'd apparently forgotten how to go around clockwise.  If we looked half as ridiculous as I felt, it should have been pretty entertaining.

But I won and he went for a spin.  Just long enough to get his feet rehooked to his brain, and since he showed no sign of having any airs above the ground on his mind, I got back on.  And off we went.  Total work time maybe 45 minutes, but a good start.

It's very odd riding him after riding Amyra.  Neither of them feel bucky.  They both listen.  But he just feels steady, even though he has very little clue what anything means.  Amyra waits anxiously for any kind of communication that makes sense.  When she does eventually relax she's really responsive, but she sure doesn't give off the calm vibe he does.  On the plus side, they both stop very well.

We'd planned to ride all four of them today, but an auction and evening company waylaid us.  The auction had continuous fence panels, gate panels, a bale fork and a couple of fork-lift attachments advertised.  

I came home with a saddle yeah, yeah, I know - like I need another one of those and two emergency battery power packs.

The saddle will, I hope, fit short-backed, round bodied horses.  It's definitely an older model and it's seen better days, but it's solid.  Pictures to follow at some point when I haven't had too much sun and several hours of company.   Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Amyra rides again

Wind finally died to a reasonable level last night, so we saddled Amyra and Sunny again and rode for a while as the thunderheads stacked up across the horizon.  One really rumbly growl of thunder had me thinking maybe we should pull the saddles off again, but one long roll was all she wrote for that particular storm.  Everything stayed south and east - which was too bad for the rain quota, but good for our ride.

Amyra was less glassy this time, but still anxious.   She makes me want to dig out the bungy trailer tie.  I actually untied her while I saddled her, because she does this thing where she kind of eases back until the lead is not quite taut, and then sort of sinks onto her back end.  I start having visions of her sitting down.  She does it being unsaddled, too.  She doesn't act like anything in particular is bothering her once the saddle is on, so....  Will have to study on that particular quirk for a while.

She relaxed much more quickly, and we're figuring out a shared vocabulary.  I've gotten sloppy again poking around on Sunny and slipped back into bad habits, but I can sure tell when I manage to communicate something clearly.

At the very end of our ride I asked her to walk out the open gate and venture into the "yard" for want of a better word.  Holy Hannah!  You'd have thought I was asking her to step onto ground glass with a coating of grease. 

She walks out that gate every day.  But not by herself.  With encouragement she managed about 10 feet before we stopped to look around.  I stepped off, then back on, and with some additional coaxing we made it up to the granary door where my day was watching us from the bench.  He had a treat, which she graciously stre-e-etched her neck out to accept. 

No confidence in her rider yet, that's for sure.  But, although she was anxious and hesitant, at no point was she spin-around-and-run-away feeling.  Just trepeditious.  Which spell check is telling me is not a word, but anyway.

Mom and Sunny had another nice ride.  I despaired often when he was a youngster that he'd ever settle that much!

Ponies are 75' of the way to having a gate at the north end of the pasture!  The gate posts are set - two former telephone poles (shortened).  And there's additional electric run.  All of which happened while I was at work yesterday and therefore did nothing to assist with.  I owe a couple of parental units BIG!

Amyra under saddle - Pics

Thinking hard - both of us

These should have loaded with my post from yesterday, but for whatever reason...  Pictures are a bit blurry - it was easing into evening, and I had the flash setting off.

Okay, Amyra. Just relax.

 

Not the rider she's used to

You want me to do what?

Starting to have a 2-way conversation

Sunny, happy to walk, being a good example

Relaxing more - both of us

Not so horrible after all

I can handle this.

Ending on a good note

Amyra under saddle

Thankfully, the storms that blew through Kansas and Oklahoma this past week missed us.  And this morning it looks as if Nebraska is having a turn.  Hope everyone is keeping safe!

Weather here was decent, albeit with wind, until yesterday.  Now it's sticky.  Not hot yet, but the humidity and the temperature match and it feels like storm.

Not sure what's on tap for the weekend, but there will be riding!  Weather permitting.  Thursday evening was gorgeous and after supper I neglected the mowing (it's sad when the pasture's mowed, but the lawn is knee high) and we saddled Sunny and Amyra.  Sunny just looked resigned.  Amyra looked stiff.

I should note here, I actually have pictures - I just can't get them to upload. 
Maybe later.

When the stiff look to her eye didn't go away after a bit of a walk-around, I clipped on the lunge line and sent her out in circles for a few minutes.  No hunch, but lots of anxiety.  She spent about a year and a half with Eric, but T was only home to ride her a couple of times, and I'll admit I was less than enthusiastic.  She and I have never quite clicked.

Circles in both directions were uneventful, so I slipped the bridle on over her halter and my dad stood at her head while I stepped on. You've probably heard that old saying about many horses making a rider, but one rider makes a horse? Eric's a very still, efficient rider.  And of course, he's also a lot better than I have a prayer of ever getting. 

Watching Amyra under Eric was a treat - soft, flowy, willing horse working easily.  Unfortunately, it was obvious that T, who is not (yet) a still efficient rider, freaked her out some.  Not what she was accustomed to.  And she's a horse that gets worried quick.

So stepping on last night I reminded myself to breathe and think happy thoughts.  Rubbed her neck a bit and asked her to walk off, focusing on keeping myself relaxed and centered and not stiff.  Or floppy.  Arms in, legs around her gently, hands quiet as I could keep them.  Her neck was stiff in front of me, and when I could see her eye it had that glassy, brittle look it gets when she's worried.

It was pretty clear she didn't like this.  And she was very focused on where Rufus and Thunder watched us through the gate bars by the barn.  Her brakes worked extra-special good right there - lol!

I talked to her, talked to my folks, and walked circles.  Circle left, circle right, wound a serpentine down the lot and back... Gradually I could feel her relax underneath me and begin to walk out.  Eric had warned me that "whoa" was a word to be thought.  Softly.  And even at a walk, that's true.  (He admitted, he enjoyed working with her enough that he'd probably put too much handle on her.  Truthfully, I think he was very hopeful that we'd let him show her.  He had her starting to slide and spin, but I wasn't that excited about riding her.  Doing hunt seat with Buddy was more appealing.)

After a few minutes when I'd decided I really wasn't going to die my mom joined us with Sunny.  Amyra relaxed even more with equine company.  She would have been content to walk around with Sunny, but to her chagrin we kept doing circles.  Big, little, spirals in and out, counter bend reverses.  By the time we finished, never having left a walk, she was relaxed and her eye was soft.  After the last whoa she cocked a hip and stood calmly waiting for me to dismount.

Oddly, I realized as we took saddles off and her eyes got slightly worried again that getting saddled and unsaddled at the trailer was a new experience for her too.  Just never occurred to me.  But Eric does everything at the cross ties in the barn, and before that saddling always happened at whatever fence post was handy.    It was only after she was already at his place that we started leaving the trailer out at the farm.  

My mom, meanwhile, was working on getting Sunny to "whoa" nicely for her.  My lazy, increasingly round guy is perfectly content to walk along with her wherever she points him - but for some reason he's equally content to poke his nose out and just keep walking, even when she'd like him to stop.  It's mildly entertaining, but only in the sense that I usually have to work to keep him moving, and she's having the opposite problem.

On the plus side, they were perfectly relaxed - lol!

Best Evening!

No long ride yesterday, but in the evening we fooled around bareback in the pasture for a while.

It was a gorgeous evening - sunny, crisp with the scent of dust and fallen leaves hanging in the air.  With me on him, Sunny was - as usual - unconcerned about where Rufus was.  We wove around the pastures side-by-side and played follow the leader, taking turns leading. 

Nothing particularly fancy, but the first time we've ridden together since T's been home.

Bareback on a Saturday

Horse time has been mostly a daily check-in for fly spray and nose patting lately.  I spent a few hours on Tuesday helping Eric and company get ready to leave for the Iowa Gold Star show (and avoiding my housework), but on Saturday I met E over at Eric's for some riding time.

I pulled in around 9 a.m. and took my time getting hooves picked out and both boys brushed off while I waited for E.  We hadn't set a definite time, and she has a lot further to drive then I do, so when I was done I went ahead and wrapped Sunny's legs and tacked him up.  I figured since it'd been a few weeks since I'd ridden, I'd let him blow off some steam on the longe line if he wanted to.

He bounced off at a perky trot, but it didn't take him long to wind down.  I did ask him to canter in both directions.  He looked stiff and flat to the left, and more than once he took the wrong lead first and then switched.  Right was better, as has been usual lately.  His toes are on the long side, too... all things considered, if I'd been planning for a lesson I'd have canceled, and if I'd planned for a stiff work session I'd have bagged it, but since neither of those things was on the agenda, I decided I wasn't going to feel guilty for riding him.

I'd just gotten on when E pulled in, and while I waited for her to get Mac collected and ready, I worked Sunny through some spirals and body part isolation exercises.  I didn't ask him for much collection - mainly just walking and a few rounds at a trot until he was soft and reaching down for the bit and stepping under and over when I asked.   

Once E came out - and hopped on bareback - I pulled Sunny's saddle off and joined her.  We spent an hour or better just moseying around the arena chatting and laughing at the antics of the one lone chicken that decided to join us.  She kept strutting and scratching and flopping down to take dust baths in random spots, generally right in front of an on-coming hoof.  Miraculously, she didn't get stepped on, but due more to the horses than any concern she exhibited.

Neither horses nor chicken appeared at all concerned, although I initially had visions of puffed up dustmop trying to fly up Sunny's left nostril... and eventually she wandered off to sun herself elsewhere.

When E and I finished, I saddled Thunder and longed him - his first time in the arena.  He tracked around like the trooper he usually is, wide-eyed but listening.  Afterward I rode him through and over the ground poles and then we explored the arena for a while.  Although he's been hauled over there quite a few times, he's always spent his time guarding the trailer.  He checked things out, but didn't seem to concerned about anything - including the rest of the chickens that were clucking and flapping around across the fence from us. 

All in all it was a lovely way to spend the morning, and I feel better for the riding time.  The farrier's coming this week to do feet, and it looks as if the weather may cooperate by cooling off.  I sure hope so!

Tuck and Roll

"Wow!  His neck's gotten even better!"  Eric hollered to me as Sunny and I worked out way down the long side of the arena.  He was retrieving another pair of horses for the farrier working in the barn.  I hopped aboard at 10 AM, with my lesson on Buddy scheduled for 11.  Well, at least the ride started on an up note.

Sunny was snorty, rolling his eyes at the sound of the sprinkler flicking off the greenhouse, and bouncing sideways at the familiar yellow flags flapping in the pasture across the rail.  I did my best to put that energy to work, asking him to really stride up and stretch.   Big circles, small circles, counter-bend reverses... I was curious to see if I could get Sunny stepping under himself as precisely as Trinity had for C.  It felt good, but who knows.

When he was soft and a bit less inclined to gawp and swerve, I clucked him up to sitting trot and repeated the exercise.  Some head flipping and some lugging, but for the most part not too bad.  Working trot, ditto.  When he was willing to carry himself for stretches at a time without hanging on me, I pushed his hip over, squeezed and kissed him up into a right lead canter.

My goal was to work on rate - I wanted to see if I could rate him back to a steady, slow canter without breaking.  It was actually working pretty well.  I was using the center of the arena, not the ends because one end hasn't been worked recently and has some crust issues, and the other end has ground poles laid out. 

We were on the top end of the arena on the edge of the crusty stuff when... well, I'm actually not completely sure what happened, but one minute we were moving around at a nice easy pace and the next he was flailing around and tipping over.  It felt like he tripped, and then when he tried to recover couldn't get traction behind or his feet back underneath him in front.   I was no help, since the saddle - and my weight - was in the process of sliding forward over his shoulders - round horses don't have withers to hold the saddle when things go south nose-first.  

An eye-blink later, I somehow had my feet out of the stirrups, and when he started to tip right, I just let myself roll left over his shoulder in the opposite direction.  When I hit dirt, I just kept rolling, making sure I didn't end up under his feet.  We both stood up at the same time.  Sunny shook himself off, and nickered at me. I told him "whoa" and he stood there quietly while I checked him over and brushed the sand off of the two of us (well, except for the coating that ended up plastered to the mix of sweat and sunblock I had smeared on anything not covered, and the handful that came home in my bra...). 

Once I had the saddle loosened and repositioned, I walked and trotted him - no apparent hitches in his giddy-up, so I got back on.  We walked some until I was sure he was four-square under my weight.  He seemed fine, so I cued for a lope again.  Two easy rounds, staying well off the spot that tripped us up, then down to the trot and some nice serpentines and figure eights with Sunny still moving well and freely.

Wrap-up for the ride was walking the ground poles and some slow motion "spins" - basically, just asking him to yield his shoulder so that he's pivoting around one step at a time without moving his back end.  He's starting to really get the hang of it.

When he was untacked and snoozing at the trailer, I took a minute or two to stretch, swig some water, and breathe a deep sigh of relief.  Okay, maybe more than one. 

A few hours later, I can safely say that I'll more than likely feel the left side of my back tomorrow, but other than that and a spot on the back side of my upper arm/shoulder that feels a bit sunburned - I think the sunblock rubbed off when I landed and then brushed the dirt off - nothing feels off.  I'll head out and check Sunny later to see if he's stiffened up anywhere. 

Details of my lesson on Buddy later - it wasn't nearly so exciting, thank goodness!

Sunny Pre-Lesson Ride

No complaints about the weather on Friday - a few fluffy clouds, temp in the upper 70's, a light breeze to keep the bugs away... if only all my riding days were so lovely! 

A slight change of plans resulted in Sunny and I having the arena to ourselves for an hour before my lesson.  No complaints about that either - although Sunny may have expressed some if I'd asked him, LOL!

I saddled him western, and after a couple trips back to the trailer to retrieve my spurs and apply more fly spray, started warming him up.  A series of medium circles in both directions, first asking him to shoulder-in and then for haunches-in, and then some half-passing.  When he was striding well under in back and I'd gotten good bend in both directions, we moved on to collected walk on a larger circle.

I focused on looking out and ahead, staying rocked back on my seatbones, trying to really feel each hoof land and his barrel up and round under me without looking down at his head.  Not sure how successful I was, but at least I was thinking about it.

I went right first - his good direction.  When I cued trot, his head popped up.  Not surprising given the dearth of riding time he's had lately, so I spent the next umpteen laps working on getting him to roll over and round up and commit to carrying himself.  Eventually we managed a full round in fairly nice form, so I gave him a breather to air up and stretch.  Then it was on to canter.

He took the correct lead when I asked him - not a surprise to the right, though.  Was it pretty?  Eh...  Canter is improving incrementally.  He's still dropping his inside shoulder, and he's definitely not collected by any stretch of the imagination.  But... rate is getting better, and he's staying in gait better, too.  There were a few moments of definite roundness, and at no point did he stick his nose way out and fling his head, so... progress.  Downward transitions are still heavy in front, but that's as much me as it is him.  Overall, I'd say it was satisfactory.

After another walk-break I reversed and we went to work on left.  Walk was good.  Softness and collection at the trot was steps above where he was going right.  Canter?  Pffft.  No dice.  He was back to flinging his nose up and throwing that outside shoulder forward into the wrong lead.  It didn't seem to matter how far over I'd put his hip, he was bound and determined to take the right lead, not the left.

He may very well need to be adjusted again.  Maybe it's a saddle issue. As round as he is, I don't have a single saddle that fits him well at present.... Or possibly he's just anticipating something is going to hurt, even if it doesn't.  He certainly doesn't seem sore anywhere, and running my thumbs down his back and pressing post-ride didn't prompt any reaction.    At any rate, it's a problem to be solved before we can move forward.

Rather than push the issue - but not wanting to reward him for refusing to take that lead by stopping - I finished with some serpentines at a working trot using the whole arena, and then cooled out with spiral circles at the walk and some backing using the pole-defined L someone had left set up.  Altogether about 45 minutes of solid work.

Thunder

Melissa of Melissa Lynn D Art (go check out her stuff - it's neat!) commented a couple of posts ago on how nicely Thunder is coming along.  Thanks, Melissa!  Her compliment actually made me chuckle - given that he's eight, it's only taken me five years to get to a point it would have taken a good trainer about a week to achieve...

(Riding pics from the last day my folks were here.)

Thinking and listening

The short story is, Thunder isn't actually mine.  The long story?  Thunder belongs to the farm owner, (who's also the one who bred Sunny and who I bought him from).  She doesn't ride, and hasn't been very interested in having him started.  She's stopped breeding and he's the last horse of her horses, so she's reluctant to see him go even though she's not really doing the horse thing any longer.

Last year, when we took Amyra for training that left just Sunny and Thunder at the farm. I was doing a lot of trail riding at the time, and not being keen on leaving one frantic horse behind fences that are electric, but wouldn't stop anything really determined to get out, I started hauling Thunder with me to lessons, trail rides, etc.  He'd never really been off the place before, but with big brother - did I mention, he's Sunny's half-brother? - beside him, he took to all the strangeness with only a snort or two.

Since that went so well, and I was ponying him beside Sunny on rides anyway, I figured he might as well go saddled.  We tried that out at home first with no fireworks, and other than some crowhopping the first time he actually loped alongside, he's never show any desire to buck. 

I'm no trainer, but Thunder's been handled lots, it lovely to work with on the ground, and his behavior out in public has been impressive given his previous lack of exposure.  Since I've almost given up on the farm owner providing him with a real trainer, I decided to see how far I can get.  So, we're taking baby steps.

Itchy ears - Darn bugs!

Tonight we practiced steering around trees along the driveway.  It was shady and there was a nice breeze, and after some initial trepidation at passing the camper he was great.  We wove in and out, back and forth through the knee deep grass, stepping over the occasional fallen limb.  

I pushed him a couple of times and managed a few steps of jog.  He's not quite sure what I want yet, but he was willing to listen and try.  That's one of the things I really like about him: he's a thoughtful horse  His ears aren't constantly pointed forward scanning, they're usually tilted back toward me waiting to see what I'm wanting him to do.  He pays no attention to Sunny, who fusses and hollers whenever we move out of sight.  He doesn't get sulky or obstinate.  He's just a nice, nice boy. 

Fingers crossed I can eventually convince the farm owner to part with him...

Braid-er-iffic!

My other accomplishment tonight - a real braid in Sunny's mane.  You know, I actually think the fact that it grows on the left side of his neck (which is apparently wrong for some strange reason) makes it easier to braid.  

I rode Sunny, too - he was a bit stiff and bracy and it took him a long time to soften at the trot.  I really, really need some arena time with him on good ground with an even surface.  I hate to keep pushing when the ground is hard and the footing is uneven.   I ended up working him along the driveway in the shade as well, and that went better.  Maybe tomorrow we'll try going down the road, just for something different.

Straight lines and circles

It was 100' here at noon, 98', at 4 PM, and by 5:30 it had dropped 15'.  A stiff north wind, clear blue skies... gorgeous.  The boys had sweaty marks just from standing around, but they were loafing in the shade enjoying the breeze.  Turning up the driveway with the windows down I could see Sunny's head pop up and hear his welcoming whinny.

They met me at the gate, and as I juggled halters, leads, fence panel and electric wire I missed having my folks here all over again. 

I set up the ground poles and tacked Sunny up western.  We cruised around the field on a loose rein for a while, then walked the poles a few times before I asked him for any collection.  The breeze felt great, and he had a bit of spring in his step.  We bent, counter bent and half-passed at a walk, then picked up a trot... and up popped his nose. 

So we worked on rounding and softening at a trot for a while until he was rolling over and I could feel his back come up and stay there.  Then back to a walk and some more bending and stretching for cool down.

I was debating riding Thunder at all - the farm owner pulled out while I was pulling Sunny's saddle off, and no one else was home, and there was some random shooting going on to the north that had both of them looking - but I wanted to at least lunge him. 

I expected he'd be at least a little snorty given the wind and the gunfire (fireworks?), but he circled in both directions without expending any extra energy on nonsense, changing gaits and directions politely.  And whoever was shooting stopped.  At which point I figured what the heck and took him back to the trailer for his bridle.

One thing we haven't quite conquered yet is traveling in a straight line.  It's interesting, because he's not wobbly like a young horse learning to balance the weight of a rider.  But he does tend to want to ease his way over toward the gate and the trailer.  He'll turn on request, we're still working on where the turn stops.  Small turns are easier to do than the large arc of a circle.  Of course, thus far I've worked a lot on turns and asking him to give his face and bend, so that's probably more my fault than his.  But tonight I was very deliberate about asking for straight lines and nice wide curved turns.

I'd pick a clump of weeds, a fence post or some other target and ask him to walk straight to it and then arc around it and head for the next point.  It worked for the most part.   Still haven't been brave enough to trot, but soon.  I think just walk is getting a bit boring for both of us! 

Nothing but Sunshine

This last week, with both bathroom projects wrapped up, house painting completed, and only a few minor odds and ends of projects left to accomplish, it finally got hot.  Really hot. 

For those of you that routinely experience temps in the triple digits, I can only say... I really, REALLY don't envy you! 

I convinced my folks that since home for them was also experiencing unusual highs, and they don't have AC, they should stay a bit longer and enjoy ours.  Mornings being semi-cool were designated pony time

I rode Sunny a couple of times, but since the extra hands were available and Mom was having such a good time riding Sunny, the last few mornings I tacked up Thunder and joined her.

Waiting with my dad while I finished getting Sunny ready.

At first I think the boys were a bit in awe of all the hands brushing and petting and fussing over them.  With three of us working they got lots of attention.  Which they thoroughly enjoyed.

I initially thought that since Thunder's been ponied so many miles beside Sunny, he'd want to just fall in and walk right along with him.  Not so.  He was fine with being solo right from the start. 

 We stayed at a walk, doing lots of bending and circles.

Yesterday morning we laid out some ground poles to walk over for something new to do.  Sunny's been-there-done-that, but Thunder stepped through gingerly at first.

He's still figuring things out - which is pretty clear in most of the pictures.  But he listens and stays focused on me, chomping away at the bit and doing a lot of slobbering, which is good.  I have him in a mid-weight copper-mouth eggbutt snaffle which seems to suit him.

We did have one "interesting" moment when he swatted at a fly on his chest and managed to get one of the running martingale straps in his mouth, but neither of us panicked, he stopped and I got off and readjusted

Sunny was quite pleased to be doing big circuits of the field, and my Mom was thrilled to be back on a horse.

It's been fabulous to have them here, and I'm so glad we got to play a bit at the end of their visit.  They say you can't pick your family, but I couldn't have asked for a better one!