Party All Night at the Stable

The night before I work my first grave shift of the week I try to stay up as late as possible. Part of my routine has become going to the stable. It is so quiet and peaceful. The ponies all get a little extra hay and some serious beauty parlor time. Dickie has a WILD mane so I took some length off and banded it over. It sticks straight up on end even when it is long. I actually like the Trojan warrior horse look but I need to pull it and it is hard to know if it is even when it sticks straight up. Bre got some elbow grease on her coat because she is shedding a small pony worth of hair if I even touch her. My arm got tired before all the hair came out. 

Dickie still isn't in love with his bit but willingly takes it everytime because bit=hot mash. 

I found an old western bridle so he doesn't ruin my nice english one with sticky mollases and trying to rub it off on the walls. 

Somehow I don't think this qualifies as a "slow" feed. 

Josey ate her hay too fast and was sure Bre and Dickie had more.  She was NOT HAPPY that I was holding out on her. 

Supervising Bre's grooming sesssion. 

Where to Ride Dilemna

Now that I am trying to ride Dickie I realize just how distracting the open arena walls are. On one side there are a pair of mares that like to run around on the other side are two geldings. One likes to come peek in the arena and the other likes to kick up his heels. In the long run I think it will be great to have him in an environment with lots going on. If he gets used to all of that going to a show will be no problem. However, right now he has ZERO idea what to do under saddle. I need all of his little baby brain focused on my so I can get the a basic GO and STOP on him. He has been so obsessed with Bre that I feel like I lose him the second I take him out of the field to take him up. Then I head over and have the added distractions of the arena.

Sniffing noses with a pretty mare

I have been thinking that getting on him outside in the round pen might not be a bad idea. Generally mounting outside would be more distracting than an arena but he can only see two horses from the round pen. There also aren't paddocks directly around the round pen. The round pen is in the parking lot so he has to work to look for the other horses. Since it is away from the barn he can't see the horses coming in for dinner or hear them being fed. People coming and going from the three barns are distracting but they aren't running around so it is much easier to keep him focused. The biggest con of the round pen is that getting smashed against the sides make me nervous. Then again he loves to go out to the arena walls  too so I might be just as likely to be smooshed there. And our round pen is solid wood so there is no risk of putting a limb through the rails. The other minor pit fall of the round pen is rain. I don't mind a little rain as long as it isn't so wet I can't see.

Super amazing hand crafted sand round pen. 

I am also considering hopping on him occasionally at his barn. He is so relaxed there because his girls are close by. I don't like the idea of getting dumped on the gravel but I would keep my rides there to mounting manners until he is a pro at "go" and "whoa" in a controlled setting. He isn't a bolter so I don't anticipate him taking off.

What do you think? Is risking being smashed on the round pen walls worth it? Does anyone else ride in a round pen? How soon was it before you rode your babies without any fences or walls to keep you in?

Show Photos

These are kind of funky because they are photos of photos. My mom took some photos old school style and I haven't had a chance to scan them. They are from the end of the just before loading up for home. 

Ride # Five and I Officially Ride Like S*&#

The weather continues to smell of spring. Today we had rain earlier in the day but for the most part it was sunny. And of course because I wanted to ride Dickie it was WINDY. I brought the clicker to keep his attention on me rather than all the exciting things going on outside of the arena. I am realizing that open air arenas have major pitfalls when starting a baby. I love all of the light and the lack of dust but it is really hard to keep an ADHD three old's mind on me when the arena is surround by horses running in their paddocks. We lunged for awhile and he is officially in too fit for me to "wear" him out prior to a riding. I suppose I could lunge him for 45 mins or an hour but wearing those young tendons and ligaments out isn't worth it to me. He was trying to listen but would let out some bucks and scoots every time the other horses ran. I decided to get on even though he wasn't in the perfect mind set. I don't think circumstances will ever be "perfect" with the open walls and paddocks surrounding the arena. I have decided I am going to get on no matter what even if I just get him used to me mounting and dismounting.

He didn't want to stand still at the block initially. I have been revisiting getting him to move off pressure because he's been a little too pushy and he took it too far. As soon as I stood next to him he started moving away. Luckily he remembered the mounting block drill pretty quickly and went back to standing still. I have a clicker that attaches to my wrist and I planned on using it to help him understand how to move forward with a leg squeeze and "walk on". The first time I got on he started to lose his mind when horses were running behind him. He let out a tiny crow hop and wasn't paying attending to me at all. I asked him to stand still, once he did I hopped off. I got him refocused on me from the ground then mounted again. This time he seemed to remember I was up there. When I first got on he turned his neck so far sideways to look at me that I thought we were going to fall over.

After the second mount I started putting some leg on him and asked him to move forward. Initially I got some movement only backwards and at turb speed. I am not sure if he understood the prompt of my leg but he started moving forward. At that point I lost his attention to running horses again. I hopped off and gave him tons of scratches then asked him to do a few things with the clicker. He refocused so quickly that I decided one more mounting was in order. This time we got much more forward steps. We only made about a half lap of a 20 meter circle but it was forward and he let me steer him away from the other horses and the pile of jumps in the corner (loves to sniff the jumps).

Romeo was my next victim. His Girl couldn't make it out today and he has seemed a little more tense lately so I wanted to see how he felt. I have to say I am very disappointed in my riding. I have finally been more consistent in my riding the last few weeks. My lack of muscle is glaringly obvious. My mind knows what to do but I can't back it up. The last two years I haven't ridden much at all. For the previous five years I only owned a close contact saddle and spent all my time trotting and galloping in two point. I can't sit up straight now if my life depended on it. As soon as I stop concentrating I got right into half seat. It is very frustrating. It isn't like I need a lesson or to see myself on video. At this point I can feel exactly what I am doing wrong. I know the only fix is riding more often but I want to be back to my normal self NOW!!!  I also need to actually do yoga or pilates. I always say I am going to do it but never keep it up. An old hip injury is keeping me from lowering my stirrups to a reasonable length which doesn't make being effective in a dressage saddle or western saddle any easier. Some core exercises at home will help with that.

Romeo was a bit spazzy and I think his back needs adjusted. I might start riding him weekly when his Girl can't make it in. It will be nice for my position to get on a trained horse and he needs some fine tuning and conditioning. It is so hard to put my parts in the correct place when trying to train a horse.

ARGH!!! I hope I can get myself together in time to be a decent rider for Dickie......

KIll All the Horses?

YES!!!!

The first day of spring isn't until next month but the horses are sure acting like it is here. Bre is supposed to be injured but she is snorting around like she is the three year old. Dickie is so smart that he has figured out how to do everything I am asking but still gawk around like a space case, buck, and rear. Even Josey has decided she wants to be a prancy fancy pants. She is being all pissified at Bre and takes off after her teeth bared or ass first when the mood strikes. 

Saturday we rode the horses after watching Romeo's Girl compete. I had the brilliant plan of walking Bre and Dickie together. I want to find a faster way to get horses to the main barn. Now I have three horses on the pasture who are full of energy and desperately need to be worked. Walking through the muddy gate of doom (I will devote a blog post to the gate soon) three times is too much for me. Bre and Dickie lead together great. Bre tells Dickie what is up and he walks like an old dog. Things were marvelous until we got over there and I separated them. I put Bre in a stall and she cried like I took her baby away. This is the mare who can be left alone when Romeo shows, will go in front or in back on a trail ride, and hasn't been herd bound a second in the 13 years I have known her. I had grand plans of riding Dickie but he was NOT focused on me at all. He is crazy smart so he can now lunge off voice command and still not focus on me. I don't want to lunge or round pen a baby to death so if I can't get him focused on me fast enough I have to pass on riding. We did end on a great note just not good enough to risk having a bad riding experience. 

Then it was Bre's turn. She was so full of snorts and spaz. She normally stands in the cross ties like a champ. You could forget about her. She was worried about what Dickie was up to and all over the place. She even decided it was appropriate to paw and she knows that makes me equicidal. The whole time we rode I could see Dickie (the arena has open walls) running like in the paddock. The horse next to him was full of crazy too and Dickie was happy to oblige by running with him. Bre was all prancy but she is too well trained to be crazy under saddle. Getting her untacked was exhausting though and by the time I got them both back to the barn I wanted to kill them. 

Monday was more of the same. I took them separately thinking that would help but they were each still full of prance. Luckily Dickie has learned some manners so my toes are safe and he listens when I tell him "AHHHH." I did get on and off of him yesterday (probably wasn't a wise choice but I am alive). I had hoped to walk around a little but his gaze was off in to the distance not at me. He even offered a little buck and I don't want to start picking fights with him under saddle just yet. I decided that rather than working on moving forward off my leg we would just work on mounting and dismounting. That went great. I also moved my legs against his side for the first time. I have been careful not to put any leg on him until now. I want to introduce one variable at a time and dealing with weight on his back seemed like enough. So even though it was a five min ride it wasn't a loss. I am so ready to get his focused mind back though. Were did you go? I think the clicker needs to be involved with riding. He can't resist paying attention to mom when she is a treat machine.

Bre made Dickie look like an angel when I led her over. She was snorting and bumping into me and stepping on my feet. Dealing with Bre when she is acting like a nut can be complicated. She was mistreated by a former trainer so I can't be too firm or she will be super crazy. The best way to deal with Bre when she is like that is just to get on and work her. I did just that and she gave me goose bumps. You wouldn't know she has been out of training for years. She was so good. I just put some leg on her and let her move. She put the hind end in gear and lifted her back up. I am so out of shape that I had a hard time keeping my position when she was in power pony mode. She was so happy and relaxed at the end. I hope she is as good under saddle for the high schooler tonight. And I hope maybe she isn't quite so annoying on the ground.

Bre Does it Again

I haven't been blogging long enough for you to know Bre's most annoying little habit, slicing herself up. Bre runs everywhere. Her motto in life is "why walk when you can run?" She also thinks nothing of crashing through bushes or over logs. She takes the shortest path from point A to B regardless of what gets in her way. This isn't necessarily the problem. It makes her a great trail horse. She is bold and coordinated when it counts. However, the problem comes when she has no regard for her physical safety in the pasture. The result is yearly gashes, abscesses from running everywhere despite rocks in her shoes, and  mysterious sprains and strains from galloping through slippery mud.

Last year we got off fairly easy with just her regular spring abscess. The year before she let herself out of the pasture and filleted a palm sized piece of skin off her groin. Last week she decided to get herself into something. I have no idea what. We do have blackberries and trees to get caught up on but we walk the pasture regularly to find anything major. There is also more than enough open pasture to keep herself OUT of dangerous stuff. All the areas where the ponies hang out in a group and might scuffle are clear of anything to cut themselves on. Bre would have to go out of her way to find something to cut herself on. But cut herself she did. It started out small but a little proud flesh took over and the cut got bigger over the week. It looks MUCH better today than when this picture was taken. And the picture is a little deceiving. The tissue swells out of the cut and it doesn't go into muscle.

It is a little amusing that I have had a wild goofy two year old on the property for six months and there isn't a scratch on him. He is always crashing through bushes and eating the blackberries but somehow the 16 year old is the one who gets cut.

It's on the outside of her left hind just below her hock. 

I have been out there twice daily and I think she is happy to have the extra attention. In the morning I wash and put a new dressing on. At night she gets standing wraps to keep the swelling down. The wound is healing well but I am still bandaging it to keep pressure on the proud flesh. It isn't getting any bigger but I think she will heal up with a little lump. She is getting antibiotics twice a day because I wasn't sure what she cut herself on and the cut was so close to a joint. The plus side is she has been 100% sound through all of it. I even rode her Saturday and she moved like a dream.

Silly pony........

High School Equestrian

I had yet another marathon weekend. I am so over graveyards. I got off work on Thursday at 730am, changed Bre's dressing, gave her antibiotics, then attempted to nap for a few hours. Romeo and his Girl were supposed to show at 230pm. I made the hour long trek to the show grounds only to find out there were postponed by two hours. An extra two hours of sleep would have been amazing. 

As it turned out it wasn't a wasted two hours. Our Girl was nervous and needed help getting her pattern down. Romeo's mane was also a hot mess and I took a few inches off. In the end they looked fantastic. They also did great on all the patterns we had actually practiced. They didn't bring home any ribbons but the classes had 30-40 kids and many were seniors. I wanted to see her score in the top/middle of the pack and they did exactly that when the patterns were correct. The complicated patterns that we hadn't practiced were a disaster. I was happy with the results though. She was so calm on focused throughout. It just showed us we need to practice more at home. 

Tuesday we are planning a "trail" night. We are setting up poles so we can actually practice the patterns. There is a girl who might take Bre to the next event so I will bring the red mare over. I plan on taking Josey too.