Bonita has gone home

Jul 012009
 



Bonita did very well at the SMR meeting and is now home with Chuck and Kay Day in Camas, Washington. I enjoyed working with her and thank Kay for letting me take her on as a my first outside training project.

During the week before the SMR meeting, I showed Kay the ground work that I had done with her. We went on a few rides through the woods on narrow, very new trails. Since we had just scoped these out and barely started to use them, there were a few iffy areas, which Bonita handled very well. She is quite happy to lead and went most anywhere I asked her to. She will follow too, but it is not her preference.

Our longest ride was four and a half hours. Much of that was stopping and cutting out downed trees and brush. I did some, but mostly it was Kay doing the hard work. Bonita stood well, but wasn’t too interested in being close to the other horses. She likes her space. There was some nice grass up there in the woods, so all three horses enjoyed the stops.

The one real obstacle for her was a narrow part of the trail next to the creek with water flowing over and through some larger rocks. She had just stepped into a soft spot before we got there and I think that she was none too sure of the footing. Eventually she did follow the others over. Going back, it was no problem at all.

Bonita is fun to ride with nice smooth gaits. We did mostly walk-trot, though I did try a short canter out on another Forest Service trail on Friday. That was her second canter under saddle, the first being a few strides in the meadow earlier. She came down from it nicely and it was no big deal.

Kay will continue to ride her, with the addition of maybe one 4-H’er. I believe that she is still for sale. Please contact Kay Day for more information.

Bonita at Tired Dog Ranch

Jun 072009
 

Bonita’s time with me is coming to a close. Yesterday, I trailered her up to Tired Dog Ranch for a ride. I tried out their new round pen, made from found materials. It works well! When the grass inside is eaten down, it will be a good area to work loose in. We will take care of that the week before the SMR meeting.

Here are a few photos from yesterday. Amy Jo took the ones of me and Bonita and I took the rest. Go here to see larger images.




After trying out the round pen, I rode Bonita in the meadow and we had a first few canter strides under saddle. She is VERY smooth! I did get a few little rocking bucks at one point, but she gave it up quickly and never offered any of that again. I continued to ride her around the meadow with Amy Jo on Larry following along. I wasn’t too sure about going out on a trail ride, but after a little more riding, we decided to go for it.

We went through a gate and into the forest. Bonita didn’t like it when Larry got too close or when Bob (dog) was right behind her. Other than that, she was great. She led the entire way, stopping when we had to wait for Larry, responsive and happy to explore.

We looped through the woods, ending on the gravel road past their property. Then we went down the forest service road a ways. She was sound on the gravel. Bonita could have gone a lot farther. She didn’t even begin to sweat and we were out for about an hour. She was okay going around several turns of the road alone without Larry too. Someone needs to take this mare home from the meeting and keep working with her. She’ll be a great, willing partner for somebody.

Bonita did well enough with Five O’Clock Charlie and Wonderful, that I left her there for the week. I’ll be back on Saturday with Paisano and will stay though the SMR meeting June 19-21. I hope to get in more rides on Bonita with Kay, her owner along. After the meeting, Bonita goes home with Kay to Day’s End Ranch in Camas, WA.

Bonita riding out

Jun 042009
 

I didn’t intend to ride tonight. I went to check on Bonita and clean her stall. We have been having huge thunder and lightning storms the last few days. Bonita was kept in for a couple of days this week. Not because of the storms. She had figured out the she could crawl under the field fence into the paddock next to hers. The grass is up to her eyeballs. Needless to say, what girl could resist the temptation? she ended up with a good scratch across her rump parallel to her dorsal stripe. I wanted it to stay clean, so she stayed in. She will only get turnout in the indoor arena until we go to Tired Dog Ranch. The cut has scabbed over nicely and is not in the saddle area. So I saddled up and we rode.

This was out fifteenth ride. We worked in the indoor for about fifteen minutes. Bonita is in season and showed me so by complaining a little bit at my leg on her asking her to trot. She balled up and got a tag ‘light in the front’ as they say. A good Eeehh, Ehhhh! and growl and she gave it up.

I’ve been practicing making right angle turns across the arena and after a bit of that, I got off. Then it was outside to the front of the barn. I haven’t ridden her out there yet. I mounted up in the parking area and we rode into the grass outdoor arena. It has been mowed recently. Part is still tall grass, most is in rows with areas of grass sticking up like a punk rocker’s spiked mohawk. And a small area is mown evenly. We walked around both ways for a while. Bonita was alert, but didn’t spook. She just watched very carefully. Cars went by. Birds moved in the hedge and she was fine.

I went on to trotting, practicing spiralling circles and lots of transitions. Trot six strides or so, walk, whoa, walk six strides, trot, walk, trot and on. She has a nice little trot that’s easy to sit when she relaxes. I also let her move out to see what her bigger trot is like. It’s really quite nice! I love that she moves out with just a small squeeze or vibration of my calf. No hesitation, she happily moves out and happily comes back down to walk and whoa.

I also continued with turns on the forehand. We are up to about a quarter turn, then she goes into sidepass. She is a bit stiffer from the right leg, but improving. When we were all done, she enjoyed some grazing on that grass that is so green from the recent rains.

The rain has been invigorating. It is a bit cooler, yet humid as well. It’s not our normal weather. We are usually going into straight, sunny weeks by now. I feel for anyone who has hay cut or baled out in the field. A lot of the uncut grass is laying over flat from the downpours. I do hope that it lets up in a couple of weeks for the SMR meeting.

For a day when I didn’t plan to ride, it certainly turned out well.

Fly season

May 312009
 

This week I didn’t ride so much, but went back to work on a hole in her training that I knew was there. When I first brought out a bottle of fly spray, Bonita got all white eyed and backed into the corner of her stall, entirely freaked. I had left that all alone, while working on other things, figuring that I would return to work on it later. Now that flies (and more common at this barn, mosquitos) are here, that time has come.

I’ve never been much of a fly spray gal. None of my horses cared too much the few times that I did spray them, so I didn’t have much experience in training a horse to tolerate this. I brought out a spray bottle filled with water, haltered Bonita and worked the stall. My first goal was to spray her until she stopped moving, then praise her. After the first couple of spritzes, she decided that she had had enough and reverted to pushing her shoulder into me and trying to pin my against the wall. This is what she used to do when anything scared her. I went back to what I used to deal with this before.

I hold the cheekpiece of her halter, bring her head towards me and down a bit. Then I ask her to step her shoulder away from me. This worked and calmed her somewhat. I then continued on with spraying her. I kept ahold of her halter and moved with her as she turned circles in the stall. I did not try to stop her and just kept spraying her. If her feet stopped, I stoppeds spraying immediately, praised and stroked her.

By the end of the first session, she had done a number of circles in the stall, but would stop after just a couple of sprays. The second session was much shorter and she calmed down and stood much more quickly. Now I can spray her in the barn ailse. She does back away from me a few steps, but will then stand. She’s not yet totally okay with it. I will continue until she is. My goal is for her to stand ground tied while being sprayed.

Saturday night, I added a ride … after the fly spray. I did two turns each way on the lunge first to test the waters. Then rode two reined for a while. I unclipped the cavesson reins and we finished our ride on the snaffle only. We rode into the evening under lights. She did well, even in the dark, spooky corners, just looking a little more carefully.

I rode again Sunday morning. I didn’t bother to lunge this time, instead doing a short bit of in hand work to focus her. We had a good ride in the arena working on transitions. I also started working on large, loose serpentines at the walk, getting her used to the idea of bending and turning off the outside leg and supporting outside rein. I rode through the pattern for the Intro A test a couple of times too.

I also took my jacket off while mounted and rode over to the fence with it over her withers. She was just fine with that and didn’t even jump when I tossed it on the ground. After that, I opened the gate and we had our first ride out of the arena. We went down the path to the turnouts and rode around the last one, repeating our practice of serpentines and bending. She was more looky, but didn’t spook or have any issues going out alone. What a good girl!

She trots…

May 262009
 

Motoring along on a loose rein

Motoring along on a loose rein

… and she likes it!


On Saturday, Amy Jo came down to help me feed and turn in. Then she met Bonita and took some photos while we rode outside for the second time. I replace the regular cavesson with one with side rings. I wanted to ride two reined, one on the snaffle and the other on the cavesson. The last time I rode her with just the snaffle, she pulled and started to get hard in the mouth. I want her to stay light, while she is learning how to respond. This works quite well for that, as it is a slow transition from what she knows (cavesson/sidepull) to what is new (snaffle).

This shows the two rein setup

This shows the two rein setup

All the photos here are from Saturday. Today, Tuesday, I took her out before everyone else was turned in for dinner. We lunged quite a bit in the outdoor arena, as it was a distraction to have all of her friends going in to eat. Horrors! What torture! Well, she did survive, though there were a few good backing sessions to get her attention back on me. I don’t like to have her neighing for her buddies, while we are working.


Nice relaxed walk

Nice relaxed walk

After everyone was in, I mounted up and we rode quite a while. She had already just started to break a sweat, so this was our first sweaty ride. We also had our first spook. She did a bit of a feint and spin. I was in my Stonewall saddle and had no problem staying with her. She had caught a glimpse of someone cleaning stalls through the window. Later Staci came out and we chatted for 10-15 minutes, while Bonita stood quietly, with her hind foot cocked. She practically fell asleep. And then moved off nicely when it was time to wake up.


So today was a little bit of a challenge, but a very good under saddle session. She does fall in on her shoulder going to the right, so that’s something to work on. I started asking her to yield her hind end from leg cues. She got a step on each side, so that’s a beginning. I also spent some time riding on the buckle and on a loose rein at the trot. She is nicely forward in both gaits, which is very refreshing. And she still stops dead on a breath out or Whoa. Not a bad eleventh ride!


Thank you, Amy Jo, for taking such nice photos.

Thank you, Amy Jo, for taking such nice photos.

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