Oh Hell No

I've discovered a few things Peebs isn't fond of over the past couple weeks.

1) Fly Spray

Otherwise known as death spray. I don't know if it's the sound it makes, or the smell, or spray bottles that freak him out but Peebs hates getting sprayed.  As in he backs up in the cross ties, runs sideways, and tries to turn around and exit stage left when not tied.  The whites of his eyes show and he snorts at it. 

Death sprayyyyyyyyyyy

2) Mud 

I've been hand grazing him almost daily in prep for turning him out for the summer and to get to the field, we have to cross a small muddy ditch. It's maybe two feet wide by six inches deep, more of a depression than anything else. But it takes a lot of convincing to get Peebs over it and when he's forced to step on it he gives you some serious mare glare. Because while he loves to roll in his manure and urine and get crusty and filthy in his stall, God forbid his delicate little hooves get some mud on them. 

Nope, I'm good right here

3) Western Saddles

Being half QH I would have expected Peebs to be ok with a western saddle, but apparently he's not one of THOSE QHs. He is a hunter, thank you very much! He does pretty much the same thing when you bring out a western saddle as when you try to fly spray him. I did get the saddle on and rode but bubba was not pleased. His ears were back almost the whole time, he didn't soften or give to my hand, and I could tell he was close to flipping me the bird. I want to be able to trail ride in the western saddle this summer so he's going to have to get over it. I am going to try a different saddle of my BOs that has a shorter, round skirt and no flank straps to see if that helps. 

This is his not happy face

I Need Another Hole in my Head

You know the saying "I need a (fill in the blank....in this case it would be horse) like I need another hole in my head"? Well I need another hole in my head.  For the next month I'm going to be working with a friend's mare.  BB had shoulder surgery a year ago, and then again two weeks ago, and hasn't been able to work with her 6yr old QH mare much.  They were able to do some trail rides over the fall and winter but BB was pretty upset that she still can't ride.  I'm not exactly sure how it came about that I'd ride the mare, I seem to remember a BBQ and lots of wine, but it did so here we go!

Meet Dally

Dally's a well started rope and mounted shooting horse, but BB says she gets strong and needs to learn to give to the bit.  She moved in last night and I've just lunged her so far.  She seems nervous and worried, but not naughty.  Her one big quirk is that she's majorly ear shy, but we'll work on that. Since she hasn't worked much in the past year she's pretty out of shape and needs to go on a diet.

It's hare to get pics of her, she keeps following me around

I figure the plan is to start slow with some walk-trot till she gets more in shape and we get used to each other. I get the sense that she's a tryer and wants to please so hopefully once she knows me she'll relax and soften.  She's a very cute mover, lofty floaty trot that looks super smooth. Even though she's a western pony I'm pretty sure I'll have to put my jump saddle on her and see what she's like as a hunter pony. And I think she's very close to being an actual pony; she's maybe 15 hands.

She has the prettiest mane.  Blond, gray, and liver chestnut all mixed in.

Expect the Unexpected

It's been cold, cold, cold but sunny for the past few days so on Friday when I finally had time to ride McKenna I had to take advantage.  We lunged in the indoor then tacked up with the western saddle and headed outside.  She was pretty good walking around the upper half of the outdoor, a little up, but I figured it had been 5 days since she'd been ridden so it was expected.  When I decided to open up our circles and move towards the lower half of the arena all hell brook loose.  Apparently there is something incredibly scary in the bushes along the fence and we had some fun rearing/spinning/jumping backwards moments.  I got her calmed down and moved back to the other half when she started it again. 

I decided to not take any chances and went back inside and lunged again.  She really didn't run around a lot so I got back on.  She was still up, but settled into trot work nicely.  Unfortunately right when I wanted to start some canter work a bunch of people showed up, making a ton of noise, and that fried baby's brain.  She forgot how to canter to the left and was hoppy and cranky going right.  We worked through it but it was definitely not our best work.

Saturday I got to the barn right before a lesson was going to start and asked if it was ok if I took McKenna out during their ride.  I was hoping having another horse show her the outdoor wasn't scary would calm her down.  Nope, not even close.  Back to the rearing/spinning fun. I got off of her and ended up just hand walking her around the scary half of the arena during the whole lesson. Luckily the lesson horse, Tia, didn't care at all and barely glanced at McKenna freaking out.

I mentioned to Jen during the lesson that I was planning on jumping Buddy that day, the first time I've jumped him in a month and she asked if I wanted a lesson.  So I hurriedly put McKenna away and got Buddy ready.  I had put Bud's BoT sheet on when I had gotten to the barn and I think that helped as he was pretty loose and forward during our flat work. Usually when it's in the 30-40s he's slow and cranky to get going. 

We worked on getting Bud in front of my leg, while still packaging him and not letting him get fast and flat.  We did a line that was a forward three or a waiting four going back and forth between the two strides. He wanted the three and every time we had to wait he would fling his head and try to snatch the reins from me.  I think his leasers have let him get away with a lot, so we had a little discussion about it.  He gave in, but I could feel that he was pissed.

We then did a twisty, turny jumper course with some tight rollbacks and angled fences.  Again the point was to having him moving forward but packaged.  He was awesome and listening really well.  We were able to do all the inside turns and fit through a couple tight holes between fences.  He even got every lead over the fence or gave me a clean lead change.  I was so happy when we were done!

Nothing Much

I haven't ridden or done much of anything with the horses since Sunday. I've been working more, covering for sick/injured coworkers and have just been too exhausted to work up any enthusiasm for riding. Today I asked my boss if it was ok if I left at my normal time so I could get some sleep/pony time/time with my dad who is up here for a night for work from San Diego.  I ran off to the barn and got a quick western hack in on Buddy.  It's amazing what just a 20min ride can do! I feel so much better!

One Last Hurrah

I sent my entry in for a little schooling show next Sunday.  We're taking a couple of the little lesson girls, including Anna and Phoenix, and since there was an empty spot in the trailer and it's a cheap show I decided to take Buddy.  We're going to just do a few 2'6" classes, and while I don't feel totally prepared, I think we can pull it off. 

I jumped him on Friday and other than being a bit flat he was great.  He just wanted to get long and strung out and ended up pulling a couple rails.  We were making the strides in the lines, but I decided that waiting and adding would set him up better.  Once I got him listening and waiting his jump felt much better and we weren't landing like a freight train.  This week will probably be out last full training week together as I've decided to part lease him to Amy and another college girl this term.  Amy's going to be studying abroad next term, and obviously won't be leasing, so having the second girl lease will be great financially.  It's basically the month of November that they will both ride and I figure I can give him up for a month.

McKenna's been a bit more wild child this week.  Didn't help that with my cold and trying to catch up at work she got two days off in a row followed by a couple quick lunges. I did manage to ride her both yesterday and today.  I figured that I'd rather be safe than sorry so I put the western saddle on her.  The trainer she was with was mainly a reining trainer so I know that she's been ridden western.  She was pretty good, but is still ADD.  She is harder to steer going right, and tends to be spookier and more up with her front end as well.  Both days we did a lot of walk lateral work in between our trot work.   

Making it Hard

For the past few days, Buddy has been making life hard.  Thursday Jen used him for a beginner lesson, the girl has only ridden maybe 3 times, and he kept trotting off with her.  Jen eventually put him on the lunge line and he calmed down.

Friday I went to get him and he was minus a shoe.  The other was missing a nail and loose so I pulled it the rest of the way off.  It was the first time I've ever pulled a shoe off myself, and boy do I have more respect for my farrier!  It took me about a half hour to work it off and I was pouring sweat by the end.  Luckily Buddy was due to get redone this week anyways so he'll only have a few days barefoot.

 

I was a little worried how ouchy he'd be because Saturday we were scheduled to ride in a cutting clinic. I've been to the barn where it was held before and knew they had really nice cushy footing.  It was the walking on the gravel/hard pasture that worried me.  I gave him a little preventative bute Friday night and Saturday morning and he was fine.

It's been six months since Bud's been on cows, so I figured he'd be pretty excited.  Wrong.  He perked up a bit when he first saw the cows but then promptly lost interest.  We started by practice moving the herd and then being "herd holders" for the person cutting.  Basically the herd holders keep the group of cows back while the cutter cuts their cow out and works it.  There are two herd holders, one in each corner of the short end of the arena.  Buddy and I were actually pretty good at holding the herd, we got compliments and didn't get yelled at as much as some of the real cow horse people.

At least he's cute, right?

Unfortunately Buddy's lack of interest in the cows killed us when it was our turn to cut.  He wouldn't focus on a cow and was dead to my leg.  We couldn't keep a cow separated from the herd and it was pretty frustrating.  The clinician called me off and said that Buddy was loosing confidence because he couldn't get a cow. He then said to go somewhere else and work with just one cow till we could get it. In the moment I was pretty hurt, no one likes being told their horse is loosing confidence and to be called out like that in front of the group was pretty humiliating.  I walked Bud around for a few minutes, then got off and went back to the trailer.

By this point I was trying my hardest to hold back the tears.  My barn owner who had come to watch came out to talk to me and said the clinician was wrong, that Buddy was just being incredibly lazy and wasn't loosing confidence.  He just couldn't be bothered to care. She also offered me her spurs that she had in the truck if I wanted to get back on him. I thought about it as I untacked and groomed him and she was right.  Buddy normally locks on to his cow and is pretty enthusiastic about moving them.  He just didn't care and wasn't paying attention.

One of the clinic organizers came out and talked to me saying they were sorry I had a bad go and offered to have me work one on one with a cow. She said she'd been in my place and she knows how hard it is to be called out in a group setting. I stared getting teary eyed again and that set her off and the two of hugged and cried it out.  I got Bud tacked up again, put on the spurs, and headed back to the arena. 

There were only two cows in the arena this time and we worked on just following one and moving with it.  Buddy woke up after a couple jabs with the spurs and was his normal cowy self.  He was locking onto the cow and moving with it.  The clinician was having me go slow and emphasize moving Buddy's shoulders when the cow moved.  At one point he told me to move Bud's shoulders away from the cow, and thanks to the spurs, Buddy did almost a 180 spin.  That got everyone laughing and saying that when he wakes up he could move.  It ended on a good note, I felt that I had redeemed us, and that Buddy at least remembered how to work cow.

Trail Adventures

I hauled out with my barn owners and K and A this morning to the western trainer's place about 30 mins from us to go trail riding.  The trainer has access to 200+ acres in the Cascade foothills and does a lot of trail riding.  Everyone else has gone before, but it never worked for me to take Bud till today. I wisely decided it would be more comfy to take the western saddle and boy was I glad!

They have this really nice little carry bags to put over your saddle horn to carry water.

We started off on a gravel road going up, up, up. Buddy was pretty forward and wanted to be in the lead the whole way.  Normally he tends to be the slow poke in the back of the group.  I was fine with leading, other than not knowing where we were going.

 

 Sandy, the trainer, has made little detours off the road to practice going up and down banks and over logs so we did some of that.  Buddy was too interested in everything but his feet and after a couple stumbles we had a little discussion about slowing down and paying attention.  He got better as we went along, probably because everything kept getting steeper and steeper and he was getting tired.

 

We came to one section where we veered off the road and went up this incredibly steep hill.  The path was like a goat track, along the rock, straight up the hill.  I put Bud in the middle of the pack, gave him his head, and grabbed the saddle horn.  I think I remembered saying "Oh, shit" about half way up when I felt Bud slip a bit and gave him a big kick. He powered up the rest of it and was breathing hard when we got to the top.  Both him and I didn't expect that much hard work today! There was no way I could have made it up that hill in my jump saddle.

 

We rode around the top of the hill a bit, then came down a different path that wasn't nearly as steep. It still had me leaning way back, and grabbing the back of my saddle with one hand though! We had been riding for about an hour at this point and Buddy was still going strong and had figured out we were headed back "home".  He got way out in front of the group so we stopped a couple times to let them catch up.  He got pissed about waiting so we did some leg yielding and turn on the haunches to work some energy out.

Going in

When we got back to the main road we turned the opposite direction of the barn and went towards the Santiam River.  Buddy took a look at it, sniffed the water, then marched right in.  We mostly walked along the shallow bank, but also went into some pretty deep water.  It was up to his belly, and the bottom of my boots were getting wet.  Bud was having a blast and I was pretty much letting him go wherever.  I guess there's a spot a little further up that the horses can actually swim in, so next time we're going to try that.

 

Of course going back from the river, the trainer wanted up to go up one last pretty steep hill instead of the easy slope we rode down on.  To me it looked like a giant wall of grass, but again there was a small path up. Buddy made it half way up then decided it was too much work and cantered the rest of the way.  Again, I gave him his head and grabbed the saddle horn. We rode for about two hours in total, and both Bud and I were exhausted when we got back to trainer's barn.

A and her pony up the last hill

 

Almost Wordless Western Wednesday

This:

lead to this:

The grass almost came up to his head in a couple spots

Cow Pony

Last night my friend L and I took Buddy and her mare Dar to a 3 man ranch sorting.  For $20 we rode for 3hrs and were able to get 5 runs in with the cows and a wonderful home cooked meal!  We partnered up with two different women for our runs and managed to do pretty well.  The goal was the move the 10 cows in order from one pen to another in less than 2 and a half minutes. The 90x200 arena was divided into thirds; the far end and the middle were the two pens for the cows and the last third was where everyone waited to go.

When we first got there, we had about 10mins to warm up while the cows roamed around the arena.  Buddy immediately perked up and wanted to see the cows, but we were able to have a decent warm up with a little w-t-c each way. We watched a few other groups go and when we went in for our turn Buddy took off trotting down towards the end and the cows.  He was amped!  The first few runs went ok. Bud was pretty excited and wanted to keep chasing the cows so we had to have a discussion about what it means when I asked him to stop.  L's mare hasn't been on cows much but she's starting to figure out how to chase them and cut them out of the herd.

We took a break for dinner and let the horses rest for bit.  Dinner was pulled pork sandwiches, pasta salad, and an awesome blackberry cobbler. Seriously I would pay $20 just for the food!

When we got back on, the managers had put up a heater where everyone was waiting. It was hovering around 30* and it was very appreciated.  All the horses didn't seem to care about it and L's mare really loved standing next to it.  When we went back for our final couple rounds Dar didn't want to walk away from the heater. 



Pic of the heater shamelessly stolen from the farm's FB page.  The paint in the background is L's mare Dar.


Our final couple rounds went really well.  Buddy started really listening to me, and would lock on to the cow I wanted.  He was flying down the arena, but was tired enough at this point to stop when I asked.  I still think that next time I'll use a bigger bit.  I usually use a short shanked plain snaffle, and since I'm not real familiar with Western bits I'll ask Connie what she thinks would be good for him. I think they are doing cows almost every Friday and I would love to be able to go once a month.



Back to Work

I got back from San Diego on Saturday and went immediately to the barn.  To be fair it's on my way home and I only live 8mins from the barn.  I checked on all the ponies and gave all 3 treats.  Sunday I free lunged Zoe and planned to do a light hack with Bud. 

Jen was giving lessons and I rode around the other girls.  They were doing a a little course and she told me to join in.  We only worked on a couple fences, as I didn't want to interrupt the lessons and since Bud hadn't been ridden in a week.  We did a single diagonal fence, right to left, then a fairly snug rollback to a single on the outside going downhill.  I was holding Buddy a bit too much to the first fence, trying to keep him packed so we could make the turn and Jen got after me about it.  Once I let go and moved him up a bit it flowed much better and we were able to get a better turn. I think my biggest goal right now should be to stop picking at my horse and learn to ride the more forward pace.

Monday I was motivated after work so I rode both Zoe and Bud.  I haven't ridden Z in almost 3 wks, so I lunged her before getting on.  She was surprisingly good, both on the lunge and under saddle.  She had a couple little fits where she would put her head down and shake it while doing a mini crow hop, but after the first time I was prepared and it amused me more than annoyed.  We just worked on going forward and being straight at the canter and didn't do a whole lot since she's been out of work. 

I put the western saddle on Bud and channeled my inner reiner.  We worked on transitions and his stops.  There is something so fun about cantering down the long side as fast as you can and then sitting deep and saying whoa and having them stop.  Buddy doesn't have a sliding stop, but  he can stop pretty quick when he wants to.  We also did some lead changes and I rode most of the time with only one hand (a big step for me). 

Yesterday I gave Bud the day off and rode Zoe again, with the plan to pop her over a couple fences.  She warmed up well, and didn't have any tantrums.  I had just started going back and forth over a cross rail when I head a loud pop coming from the field behind the barn.  It's goose hunting season and there was someone shooting in the far field. I rode for another few minutes, but every time I heard a shot go off it freaked me out till I finally quit.  Zoe couldn't have cared less, but I had the willies.  The few jumps we did were good and I got a nice lead change out of her so at least we ended on a good note.

Ranch Sorting

I took Buddy to a ranch sorting practice last night.  Another woman from the barn was going, and I thought it would be a good change for Bud.  I've never sorted before, but when Connie had Bud she did a lot of it with him.

Ranch sorting is basically taking a group of cows, one at a time, from one pen to another.  There are two round pens set next to each other with the middle panel taken out; the opening is called the hole.  One rider blocks the hole while the other gets the cow and runs it towards the hole.  The riders then switch and go back and forth every other cow.  There are a dozen cows and ten of them are numbered 0-9.  You have to go in numerical order and leave the two unnumbered or "dirty" cows in the first pen.  And you have to do this all in 60secs.

Bud was pretty tired from his workout on Thursday, so we did a light warm up when we got there.  Once they had the cows set up, he perked up a bit but was still pretty laid back.  Which was a good thing since Dar, the mare who came with us, had never been around cows before and was nervous.  Laura, her owner, and I walked around together and let Bud show Dar that the cows were nothing to be afraid of. 

There were about 20 people, and we wanted to watch the others go so we waited awhile till our go.  The man running it was very nice, and gave us about 5 minutes just getting Dar used to sorting the cows out.  We didnt' worry about getting them in the correct order, just moving them from one pen to the other.  Dar did pretty well, but Buddy got a little hot and bit one of the cows when it wouldn't move.  Bad Buddy!

The cows, and part of Dar's head.  You can see the while numbers on their sides

While we waited around for our second attempt, the barn hosting it opened up their kitchen and gave us free dinner!  There was a big pot of spaghetti, salad, and cake.  I held the horses while Laura grabbed a bite then she held when I went to eat.  Apparently they host the ranch sortings about once a month and always serve dinner. The food was good, and I thought it was awesome that they feed everyone who comes.

Our second and third tries were much better.  We were still slow, and didn't always get the correct cow in the correct order.  Dar gained more confidence and only had a couple little spooks.  Buddy didn't try to eat any other cows, and I was able to work on getting him to focus on a particular cow and move it where I wanted.  It was a lot of fun and we'll defiantly go back!

Weekend Fun

When I went out to the barn last night, one of the western trainers that comes out, Sandy, was there doing lessons.  Connie was going to ride, but had to go out of town for work, and by the time she got back she was too tired so I took her lesson. She started out by asking me what I and Buddy had done, and what I wanted to work on.  I told her that Bud had been a western horse, but I has having problems slowing his canter down and riding one handed. 

She had me start out by really exaggerating moving my hips to Bud's walk rhythm.  He didn't had a great rhythm to start, but after a few minutes we had a nice rolling forward walk.  Sandy also had me work on using my seat to turn and stop.  We did some nice walk/halt transitions where Buddy was really sitting back on his hind end. 

In the trot, she had me start two handed and we worked mostly on my equitation...trying to keep my legs forward, with my heels down and toes turned out and sitting very deep, on the pockets of my jeans.  It felt so weird!  Again, we worked on trot/walk and trot/halt transitions using my seat.  Once we were warmed up, she had me go one handed, then do more transitions. My balance was defiantly off with my right arm down by my side.  Our transitions were not nearly as nice one handed, but they got better as I figured out my new balance points.

I went back to two hands for the canter.  It was ugly.  Sandy had to keep that deep seat with my legs forward.  It felt like I was water skiing. I was to keep my legs off him, and only give a slight squeeze as I half halted him to keep him going.  Buddy was pretty strung out and unbalanced, and I really wanted to pick up my reins and balance him off the bit but Sandy kept telling me to leave my reins long and just keep half halting him.  By the end he was starting to get it, but it was really hard.  We definitely need to work on that.

Today at the barn, Anna rode Phoenix western for her 4H lesson.  I only saw the very end, but they looked good.  Phoenix seemed fine having a shanked bit in his mouth, but was a little confused when Anna tried to neck rein. 

Anna is also working with a mini that's at the barn, Rosy.  She's been ground driving her and today a friend of Connie's brought a cart over for Anna to try.  Rosy did great!  She hasn't been driven in over 9yrs, and after a little attitude at first, she acted like she's done it yesterday.  A few of us got to practice driving, and it was SO.MUCH.FUN!

Western Monday

I jumped Buddy a little on Saturday, and he was great.  There were a couple other girls riding western in the ring while we were jumping, so it was hard to put fences together so we just worked over a couple single fences. 

After my ride Rick brought out a western saddle that a friend of his is selling and that Rick is doing some repair work on.  It's an old Crate roping saddle, and while it does need some work, it's very well made and should clean up nicely.  They are asking $500 for it, and if they would take payments I might be able to afford it.  It fit Buddy well, and while I don't ride western that often, I would like to have my own saddle instead of having to borrow one.

In that vein, I put Connie's saddle on Bud today and we played around.  He was pretty good, we had a nice little jog.  After we finished in the arena, we walked down the road to see how the grass fields were drying out.  I can't wait till we can go gallop and jump in the grass again!!

Same old, same old

Not much new to report.  Nik's ridden Buddy twice in the past week, and moved back to the English saddle.  Last Sunday she and my barn owner's 9yr old granddaughter, Anna, had a lesson together.  Anna's been taking lessons for a little over a year, so she's a bit more advanced than Nik but the two of them did great together. Nik's been able to get Bud to trot by herself now, and is doing a much better job of steering.

There's a ABRA (Buckskin) show in town this weekend and last night a couple of us from the barn went to watch.  They have Buckskin and Open classes in reining, working cow, English pleasure, and western.  Last night was reining and working cow.  Every time I watch, I want to do reining!  Buddy knows how to do everything they ask.  Today I borrowed Connie's saddle again and we attempted to do the pattern at home.  Our spins need work, and he won't slide because A) he's lazy, and B)I'm not putting sliders on him.  I'm getting more comfortable riding one handed, but I had to two hand him to ask for the lead changes.  But on the plus side, he gave me both of them pretty nicely!

Isn't he cute?!

Western weekend

I was feeling lazy yesterday and decided to ride Bud western. For some reason riding western seems easier than English to me. I guess it's because we just go along and I usually don't have big goals when we go western.

I borrowed Connie's saddle and a bit. I have a head stall and reins, but never got around to getting a western bit. The one I use on him is a plain snaffle mouth piece with shanks. No big port for Buddy!!

We just jogged along, not working on much. Mostly I try to relax and work on riding one handed. It's hard to let go and not have contact with their mouth.

I'm going out of town next week to help take care of my dad who had surgery. Bud will have the week off, and Nik might ride.