Updates

Aug 202009
 

The SMR business meeting held in the Long House at TDR.

The SMR business meeting held in the Long House at TDR.

Gratitude creates it’s own attitude. It can give you a new perspective, a new focus. I am going to use this day as my opportunity to see those things.

  • Well, I finally updated the Cayuse Ranch 2009 foal page. It’s been a long time coming, what with Josie’s digital camera breaking and my being busy. Between the two of us, it’s now up there. I still have to get a few photos identified by Josie, but I’m very glad to have gotten the the page up there. Take a look…. http://cayuseranch.com/
  • I also update a page on another website that I maintain, the site of my friends at Tired Dog Ranch. Some recently finished projects added to the facilities. I really think that it’s a fabulous location for retreats, workshops and other events. Check it out … http://tireddogranch.com/
  • Further I am very grateful to have an excellent weekend to look forward to. It will be a very busy one, but likely eye opening in various ways. It involves both horse events and meditation and healing.
    • Take a few minutes today to create your own Thankful Thursday.

    How:

  • Sit back and consider what you have to be thankful for. Listing three to five things is nice, but one will do.
  • Post about gratitude on your blog. If you don’t have your own blog, go ahead and write about what you are thankful for in the comments here instead.
  • If you blog, please link back here or leave a comment.
  • Feel free to tag other bloggers, if you like to do that, but it’s not necessary. This is not a meme that obligates you to do anything, but look for gratitude. Oh, and link back, and comment, that’s all I ask.
    • Visit these other blogs that often participate in Thankful Thursday:

  • Tired Dog Ranch
  • Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch
  • Earth Dancer Spanish Mustangs

    • I used to dream about this…

    Aug 142009
     

    Gurunam with Cora & Lily one of the few times we trailered over.

    Gurunam with Cora & Lily at the summit of Mt. Pisgah in 2007. This was one of the few times we trailered over. I didn't take a camera today, so this will have to do.

    I had a great two hour ride at Mt. Pisgah, alone with Paisano tonight. We rode LOTS of hills, mostly trotting. We didn’t go to the summit, as he is not really conditioned yet. He was all sweaty, poor boy! Then he still had the energy to spook at a deer and end up half off the trail down a steep hill. Goof! He was looking at everything and had a couple of milder spooks earlier in the ride. He never totally relaxed, but we he did end up with some nice, long strided walk at the end. The weather couldn’t have been nicer with temps about 65-70 and breathtaking views.


    When I moved to Eugene, during my long period of no horse activities, we used to go out to Pisgah and hike to the top. Every time, I would wistfully think about how much nicer it would be to ride, rather than walk. I had no plan to get horses. It actually seemed like rather an impossible idea at the time.

    Then when I did get horses, I didn’t board close to Pisgah and didn’t have a trailer for a few years. Then I did have a trailer, but not a horse to ride. They were either too green or bred. Now, incredibly, I have the trained horses, the trailer and I board as close to Pisgah as you can get. You would think that I would be ecstatic. I have to remind myself how lucky I am, as it already feels so familiar as to be ordinary. And that itself feels wonderful! It’s interesting how something that I wanted for so long, has taken a very short time to get entirely used to.

    Back to the pragmatic side, today was our first long ride trying out my FreeForm saddle on Paisano. It left a very nice even sweat pattern and he seemed comfortable and moved out pretty well. It stayed in place both up and down hills. I had a breastcollor on and checked regularly to see if it was really needed. It never got snug, so the saddle really did stay where it was supposed to. We went down some pretty steep hills, so it was a good test. To the point that I would have appreciated some larger thigh blocks!

    It is not my first choice though to ride Paisano in, as I feel like I am sitting on a table. On him, It is very flat side to side, without much twist. The result is that it is harder to get my leg on him. I’ll continue to use it on trails, as long as he stays comfortable. It rides better for me on Lily. With her it is my favorite saddle so far.

    Tomorrow Paisano will get something short and easy since he worked hard today. The two days after that involve other riders trying him out. Sunday, Amy Jo comes down to ride him and Monday, a trainer at my barn will try him out.

    Back with a Bang

    Aug 132009
     

    Gratitude creates it’s own attitude. It can give you a new perspective, a new focus. I am going to use this day as my opportunity to see those things.

  • I am grateful that I have a daughter who likes music. Granted, I don’t care for techno much, but she has added some other great artists to my playlist. Without her, I might not know of Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, Amos Lee, The All-American Rejects, Elliot Smith, Interpol, Sara Bareilles, The Shins, The Vines, and more. Then again, I introduced her to my favorites from the late ’70′s and early ’80′s. I stopped listening to popular music around 1984. She has brought me up to speed.
  • I am happy that my blog block has broken. It’s much more fun to be putting up posts, than just sitting here looking at it… I hope to continue in this vein for some time.
  • And last today … I am grateful that I happened to be driving home from the barn at just the right time to see the sunset. It was expansive, the sort that a camera cannot capture, not even wide angle. The clouds were a landscape, so tangible that it seemed solid in it’s luminous colors. It was the sort that you just drink in. Thank you for that….
    • Take a few minutes today to create your own Thankful Thursday.

    How:

  • Sit back and consider what you have to be thankful for. Listing three to five things is nice, but one will do.
  • Post about gratitude on your blog. If you don’t have your own blog, go ahead and write about what you are thankful for in the comments here instead.
  • If you blog, please link back here or leave a comment.
  • Feel free to tag other bloggers, if you like to do that, but it’s not necessary. This is not a meme that obligates you to do anything, but look for gratitude. Oh, and link back, and comment, that’s all I ask.
    • Visit these other blogs that often participate in Thankful Thursday:

  • Tired Dog Ranch
  • Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch
  • Earth Dancer Spanish Mustangs

    • Bridleless Practice

    Aug 112009
     


    Full size video here on youtube.


    Last weekend, Pam came out and taped Paisano and I. It was meant to be a basaeline sort of video to record where he is at in his development and training. I rode him with a bridle first, then tried this. I don’t think that I ever rode him bridleless when he was a stallion. That makes this maybe our third or forth try. The previous times were in the round pen at Tired Dog Ranch, so a much smaller and more contained space. I was very happy with how he did. There were a few times where I had to put the rope up near his throatlatch to turn him and he really wanted to go hang out in the sunny far corner. Needless to say, those were outtakes. ;)

    He was good on basic walk, trot, canter, turn and stop cues. We have to work more on things like turn on the forehand and haunches and leg yield. Those are a bit harder to do without rein cues. I didn’t get more than a couple of steps before he moved forward. That can come with time. It’s a bit harder when there are no reins to restrict forward movement. In retrospect, I should have started this against the wall. Another step will be riding with another horse in the arena.

    Watching the video, I realized that some of his apparent resistances may have been due to the fact that he had fly bites right where the rope crosses his chest. Pressure probably felt good! No wonder he leaned into it a few times, instead of backing off. I might post another clip of scratching him afterwards. It’s pretty cute. Pam pointed out that he was so relaxed that his lower lip was flapping the entire time.

    Two of my favorite stills from the video…

    090802-3


    090802-7

    The music is Corazon by Mirabai Ceiba, available from Spirit Voyage

    Do you blog about horses?

    Aug 112009
     


    Carnival of the Horses is coming to Akal Ranch

    Image courtesy of Claire Bow, burdyboo @ Flickr

    Image courtesy of Claire Bow, burdyboo @ Flickr

    I am happy to announce that I will be hosting Carnival of the Horses for September. It is a blog carnival maintained by Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch. The official description “A collection of blog entries about horses, life with horses, horse breeds, horse care, horse stories, why we love them, and anything else equine.” Sounds good to me!

    And if you are wondering how blog carnivals work (I know I was!), EHTT asks other bloggers like me to host a list of horse related blogs each month. The host blog rotates month to month. Bloggers submit posts through a central blog carnival site. As the host, I get an email for each submission. Of course there are some that are spam and some that are not quite what we are looking for. I decide what to include and what to leave out. The goal is to broaden our reading list of horse blogs. And to help good blogs get more exposure.

    Consider submitting a favorite post from your blog. I look forward to reading! Be sure to check back on September 1st and join me for a great selection of horse blogs.

    Submission Form


    And if you are interested in some good blog reading right now, check out the August Carnival of the Horses here.

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