Beau is a keeper

Oct 032011
 

Time for an update. I hope to keep up with my blog more this winter. I’m planning on posting horse stories here and not spend so much time on FaceBook.

I got in two short rides in before my trip, a ten minute bareback ride and another in the round pen.

Then I was off to India a few days later. I was gone for two and a half weeks. Then I was sick for another week and a half after I came back. I feel like I lost the entire month of September.

In any case, our first ride on my return was at Elijah Bristow State Park. Beau was pretty high headed for most of the ride and got a bit excited by other horses running around. It was still a great first ride together. It was really nice to know that I could take him out and just ride. I found that he loves water. He walked right in and took a nice long drink. I had to keep him moving when he started to paw, as I felt his knees start to buckle! I didn’t want to take a swim myself.

This is one of my favorite shots from the day, even though it’s not entirely in focus. My good friend, Candee, took it, along with all the other photos of me riding so far.

Right after I mounted up.

I had signed up for a Connected Riding clinic with Diane Sept months ago. It was last weekend and I decided to take Beau. Aside from some trailer loading issues, he did really well. He seemed to like being in a stall. I wasn’t sure how he would take to that. The clinic was a good opportunity to try both my saddles on him and experiment with different bits.

He definitely needs his teeth done, so I’m just riding him in what he seems most comfortable for now, which is two reins, one off the cavesson and another on a Myler, ported curb. He sees the vet for his teeth a week from Saturday. After that, it will be easier to make some decisions on bitting. In the video below, I was trying a Myler comfort snaffle and you can see that he is chewing on it pretty consistently.

I took him into the arena Sunday morning before the clinic started to get a bit of time riding alone. I am going to use this video as a baseline. It will be interesting to compare this to how he is in six months or a year. This was our first canter together as well. We rode for a few hours later in the day. We were both tired at the end of, but it was definitely worth it. I learned new things and reinforced stuff I used to know.

Needless to say, I am very happy with Beau. I look forward to working with him and seeing how he muscles up and develops. I also hope that he and Lily get along, as they will have years together. They are sharing a fenceline for now. I moved Beau to my boarding barn just last night. He is temporarily in a paddock behind Lily and Sasha. He was trying to snake the mares through the fence. Sasha was flirting with him and Lily was telling her to stay away in boss mare fashion. Lily is very good at making snarky, mare faces, which she continued for most of the time I watched them.

This evening, I put hay on both sides of the fence, so that they could spend a bit of time together. Beau reached his head over very carefully, as the top wire is hot electric. He had a bunch of hay sticking out of his mouth. I don’t think that he realized it was there. Lily was reaching towards him, but not to say “Hi”. Instead she grabbed the hay and pulled it from his mouth. Beau was startled and spun away. After than he was very deferential to Lily through the fence. I think that they’ll be okay together.

Gentleness & Discipline

Dec 152010
 

Pretty Shield (now SMR 3977) and I earlier this month


“There is a fine line between leadership and tyranny, between gentleness and cowardice, between strength and harshness, between kindness and weakness. Always finding just the right “tone” in the conversation with the horse is an art that takes a lifetime to learn and to refine. This is yet another level on which the rider constantly has to seek the optimal Balance between two extremes.”


This quote is from an article by Dr. Thomas Ritter that appeared in Flying Changes magazine. It is worth reading the entire article.

This sort of balance is something that useful in all areas of life. It’s just another reason I am glad I work with horses. They continue to push me to learn more about myself. in a couple of months, Sasha will move from her rehab time at Tired Dog Ranch to my boarding barn. I look forward to having the opportunity to learn from her.

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.

It’s Expo Week

Mar 162009
 

And Vin and I will be heading up to Albany on Thursday. There will be no time for other blog posts this week. Today, I’ll share a few photos from last Saturday. I was planning to give him a bath, so I tied him out by the hose and got all my supplies out.

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It was cold and overcast. Then it started to rain. I still considered it, but Vinnie convinced me otherwise.
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In the act of protesting the concept of baths in general…

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And later tied to the ‘patience wall’. He did get a good grooming and shed out quite a bit of hair. It’s still coming off in handfuls. He may end up with the blanket look of a slick body and fuzzy head and neck. I’ll put his slinky on Wednesday night to help slick down the fuzz. It is nice to actually be able to see his markings without the crust of mud that he was sporting the last few months. The new barn is quite a bit drier than the last one, a huge improvement in general cleanliness!

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I like that he is starting to look more balanced. He is in a growth spurt and has lost a little of the weight that he gained over the winter. Well, probably not the weight actually, but he’s stretched to carry it differently.

I’ve been enjoying doing some free work with Vin lately. We are working on Whoa and Stand. I ask him to trot and canter around the indoor arena. It’s basically like a large, square shaped round pen, as it’s 72 x 60 with some stuff in one end. He has picked up on the voice commands pretty well. He will stop from a trot after about a quarter round and stand still while I walk around. If he moves a foot, he is sent around again. By the second session, that happened only a couple of times. Tonight I started him with free leading. Twice he didn’t stay with me as I turned and was sent out. That’s all it took for him to stick right by my shoulder for turns and stops. His favorite reward is neck scratching, so I never had to break out the treats with him.

I will probably be very tired and get in late Sunday, so a blog update will likely be later next week. If you are local to Albany, OR, stop in and say hello at the Spanish Mustang Registry booth. Our breed demos are Friday at 6 pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm. Saturday, we are right after the Extreme Mustang Makeover auction. I will not be at all surprised if that runs late and we go after one o’clock.

In other news: I will be bringing a five year old mare home with me. She is a grulla with stockings and a blaze, a granddaughter of Comes From Dream, owned by Chuck and Kay Day. I’ll be starting her saddle training. I hope to have her going well enough by the SMR Meeting in June to do some trail riding. She is also for sale. I will be keeping a training log here. Her name is Bonita.

Training creates intelligence

Oct 202008
 

Training our horses is important. I believe that they gain intelligence with stimulation. In other words, the more you teach them, the more they are able to learn. It stimulates all those dormant brain cells. :-)

Today, I was able to take 3 yr. old Lily out trail riding with two friends. This was a first. She was the bravest of all 3 horses, taking the lead, not spooking along with the two (older) horses and going on a loose rein the whole time. In fact, most of the ride, I was able to use both hands to do other things, like take pictures and eat my snacks. :-) Oh… and the Boy Scouts had the field filled tents, teepees, 6′ slingshots and a stage with PA system. There was also a fire engine shooting water up into the tops of the trees with the sirens going! We did steer clear of them.. mostly. All through it, Lily was just great. I just need to get boots for the gravel trails. These are great horses and people are more impressed when they are doing something besides standing in a field.

A lot of it comes down to economics. And whether breeding and keeping horses is a hobby or a business to a person. As a hobby, the choices are different. You expect that your horses are an expense with no return. As a business, selling a weanling makes sense. Keeping a horse several years and putting countless hours of training into it…. well, maybe you get paid for your time, maybe you don’t. I do like the idea of more of us selling finished horses. That is what your average horse buyer is looking for. How to make that work is the question. I’ve been mulling that one over for a while now.

The whole idea of regulations and enforcement is a difficult one. I would prefer something more on the positive side. Something that would reward or recognize positive practices, rather then punish negative ones. I am not sure what form this would take though. I will have to think on it for a while. I don’t think our organization is large enough or staffed enough for enforcing much of anything. We have to remember that everyone who serves the SMR is a *volunteer* and always has been. I have to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who holds or has held a directorship or officer position!

Well… happy trails, everyone. And I’ve got to get myself a colored saddlepad, so I don’t have to wash this one so much!

Our first ride at Elijah Bristow State Park in 2004.

Our first ride at Elijah Bristow State Park in 2004.


~~Simrat :-)