Wet Saddle Pads

It was beautiful out last night.  A little warmer and more humid then it has been but it was still very nice weather so I headed out to the barn to play with Cat.  Once saddled we did some groundwork.  She has a very good departure on her LFR.  She's already picked up when I'm preparing to do a change of direction during LFR stage II so I spent some extra time just moving the stick to my hand and then moving it back without changing her direction.  She wastes no energy running to me when I yield her hindquarters.  I'm waiting for the day when she knocks me over because she runs up and puts her forehead on my chest as if she's saying in a wheezing voice "please let me stay here, I promise I will be good".

After doing some LFR stage I & II I worked on my desensitizing.  I think this was the first time she didn't flinch when I slapped the ground with the stick/string.  She was tired and just wanted to stand still.  She didn't care what I did as long as I didn't ask her to move.  Next we worked on some YFQ and YHQ and then I backed her up to the yard and worked on sending her into and out of the ditch.  I even managed to back her up out of the ditch (the same ditch MIL said was too steep to back Sis out of).  She was so hot and tired! 

I decided since she was already hot and tired this would be a perfect opportunity to ride out (off property) alone.  We headed down the road and about half way between the farm and the neighbors she spooked when some birds flew out of the ditch grass.  It was a nice jump to the side and stand still spook.  I prefer those over the jump to the side, buck and then bolt spooks.  Getting back in gear we headed towards the farmers path.  The cattle across the street caught her eye but she continued to move on willingly.

With the rain there was a pretty good sized puddle in the middle of the path.  I asked her to go through it and without much hesitation she did.  I love how willing she is.  Moving on down the "trail" we crossed a few more small water run offs.  Around the bend Cat and I noticed 3 raccoons scatter into the trees.  She really didn't care about them but the deer on the hill caught her attention.  She caught theirs too but instead of running away they started to come towards us.  I'll admit - that made me a little uneasy.  I had visions of Cat spooking and me hitting the ground.  Luckily for me as we continued to approach them they finally turned and ran.

We headed down the hill, over the creek and up to the top of the hill to be greeted by a few more deer.  To my surprise the farmers hadn't planted the back field so I took the opportunity at hand and worked on my ORS and passenger lesson.  The magnet to the field entrance was pretty strong so it wasn't as easy as I had anticipated but I managed to make some progress with her.  I was wishing I had John's I-pod loaded w/"Jessie's music" while I was cantering.  Cat was just hoping I'd let her stop.  I finally let her stop and air up facing away from the house/trail before heading back.

On the way back we visited the big scary tarp.  She could have cared less and has already learned if she touches it I will leave her alone.  A tree stump caught her attention before turning the bend so we touched it too.  Once we hit the dirt path I bumped her back up to do some more ORS at the trot.  I can feel her starting to think about stopping from my seat, she just isn't there yet.  The ride home was pretty uneventful.  We visited the cows and then rode down past the drive to visit with the neighbor (Cat doesn't like her dogs).  It was 9:30 before I got her back into the barn to unsaddle her and she was exhausted!  I'll admit, I'm a bit sore today too!

I was very pleased with how well she did on her solo ride.  Not a single nicker and just one small mild spook.  I think she's going to be a very level headed, willing to please horse.

Ride #24

Ride 21, 22 & 23

Nothing too exciting but I want to blog to keep track for myself.

Ride 21

Last Tues. MIL came over to ride since her drill practice was cancelled. I was going to clean stalls while she rode with the kids but she nagged me until I finally decided to get on. I couldn’t find my bridle so I put the bosal on Cat and jumped on bareback. I didn’t do any groundwork with her but she started out ok. She was a little nervous when one of the kids would come by (they scare me too) but what really got her was the neighbor, her gator and her dogs. They’ve been in Texas for 6 months and now they are back.

After a few attempts to spook, I finally decided I’d better get on the ground before she put me there. If she would have been saddled I would have ridden it out however my balance isn’t that good bareback so I opted not to try. I hopped off and did some groundwork with her until I got her focus on me. Even though I didn’t get to ride for an extended amount of time, I still had a good ride.

Ride 22

Thursday I decided to join MIL at drill practice. When we arrived I did a little bit of groundwork in the arena and then decided to hop on. I grabbed the mounting block and ended up finding a spooky horse. For some reason she was determined the mounting block was going to eat her so we worked on a bit of desensitizing. Looking back I’m not so sure she was afraid of the mounting block as much as I think she thought I was trying to yield her hindquarters. Heck maybe it was a bit of both.

I mounted up and we headed into the arena. Even though we haven’t been there a lot she has already learned how to open the gate for me with her nose. Tuff used to do that so it made me smile to see Cat following in her mom’s hoof steps. To my surprise there were a lot of horses there. Cat was pretty worried about where Sis was so I tried to keep her away from Sis. As soon as practice started Cat and I moved to the outside of the arena. I took this as an opportunity to get her focused back on me. Anytime she would nicker I would do LFR Stage 2. It didn’t take her long to figure it out and rest quietly by me.

We were able to get in the arena and w/t/c during their breaks. The arena has what is called the “crows nest”. It is a small two story building used by the announcer during the shows. It has stairs going to the second level and a window on the first level. She is a bit nervous around the crows nest (as most horses are) but when a young boy ran up to it and then up the stairs it gave her quite a fright. I think she’s telling me I need to work more on my desensitizing.

All-in-all she was very well behaved. I was happy to be able to move her in and out of the other horses with ease and to be able to have them come at her from different directions without making her nervous.

Here is my tired little girl at the end of the night.

Ride 23

Saturday the weatherman forecasted rain so DH and I decided to try to clean out the barn. MIL took the boys with her for the afternoon so I got started on stalls. Cat was a mess! She had rolled what looked like 20 times in the mud and was covered from head to tail in mud. The weather was wonderful though so I decided to forget cleaning and go for a ride. After spending 20 minutes trying to clean Cat off I decided to just EzAll her and then go for lunch while she dried.

After lunch DH and I saddled up to hit the road. I used one of the shavings bags to desensitize her with but it didn’t faze her. Beyond that, I didn’t do any groundwork with her knowing we were in for a long ride. She was goofy before we even left the driveway. Again, something at the neighbors had her attention and “Brave Bell” was not going to be the leader of the pack. I finally got Cat out of the drive and down the road. As we approached the neighbor’s house I noticed a woodchuck in the field. Shortly after I noticed it Cat noticed it too. She was sure it was going to kill her and of course a car was approaching. I pulled her to the side and waited for the car to pass and then moved on with “Brave Bell” following behind.

When we got to rollercoaster road I decided to lope the hill to get some excess energy out of Cat. I heard Bell nicker and looked back but didn’t see her. Did she pick up a stone? Did something happen? Why wasn’t DH loping behind us? He was! She was just that slow. At the top of the hill we gave the horses (Bell) a bit of a break. I didn’t let the break last too long because I didn’t need Cat catching a second wind.

From the hill on out Cat and I worked on ORS at the trot. She is starting to think about stopping on my sit but she just isn’t there yet. She is going to be a stopper! I had no problems navigating her though the puddles on the side of the road and for the most part after the hills she was a good, quite little pony until……………………the dreaded dog! Luckily the dreaded dog was tethered but it sure did have Cat on high alert. We did some more ORS at the trot and then had a nice section of open road to canter on.

About a mile from home Bell decided to finally pick up the lead. Along the way there were a few spooky things (cattle, deer, horses, etc) but Cat was too tired to care and with Bell in the lead her confidence went up a bit.

My tired little girl when we got back. You can see the dirt I didn’t wash off on her face.

I had hoped to get her out into some trees before this weekend but I don’t think that is going to happen.

Bareback Flip Flop Ride

It was 92* and humid yesterday and I was beginning to wonder if I was still living in Iowa. MIL was planning on meeting me at the barn after work and I figured with the temps it was the perfect opportunity to give Cat an EzAll bath. I grabbed my flip flops and headed out the door.

When I got to the barn MIL was there and was ready for a ride. A ride? I didn’t plan on a ride. I didn’t have on jeans and I didn’t have any boots with me. What was I going to do? Duh! Ride anyways (ride #20).

I pulled Cat over to the concrete wall and jumped on. I’ve never gotten on her that way before so it did come as a bit of a surprise but she did pretty well. I had on slick exercise pants so adding that to my already poor balance and I knew I was going to be hurting tomorrow.

A gentleman just finished tearing out the dead and little trees in the timber so MIL and I headed down there. Cat isn’t used to riding in trees since we don’t have any in the pasture so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to get her used to them. She was pretty nervous when we got down there but so was I! Every time we’d go up an incline I thought I was going to slide off of her butt!

After a while I got so sore I decided to dismount but I wasn’t done by any means. The footing in the trees is wonderful! If I had a round pen or if I could put an arena back there I would. So I seized the opportunity and did some LFR stage 1 and 2. That was boring though so I decided to see if I could get her to go down the bank and into the creek. She ran between me and the creek a few times and I reminded her if she took my toe off she was going to die so the next time to my surprise she jumped the creek. When she did – she landed in mud clear up to her hocks! I was getting ready for her to panic and fly out of there but she kept her cool. When I asked her to come back to me she slowly worked her way out of the mud and back across the creek.

We moved down the creek bed a little and worked on going in the creek again. This time she managed to find the green grass growing on the other side so I couldn’t get her OUT of the creek (she was standing in it eating). I finally got her out and headed out of the trees. Chase picked us up on the four-wheeler as MIL and Sis had already gone ahead. He got to going at a pretty good clip and Cat was following right behind. She wasn’t paying attention when he stopped and ran into the back of the four-wheeler. It scared Chase but I told him she’d pay attention next time.

A VERY dirty little girl.





She was also a very tired little girl



It took a LOT of jumping and waving for MIL to get her ears forward for this pic. It reminded me of Sis at the TX clinic



I wish her head would have been forward in this one because I think it would have been a good pic. Now it is just a goofy head pic.

Stepehen's Forest

Saturday MIL, Chase and I met up with some friends for a nice trail ride. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. The horses were great, the trails were pretty good and the weather was beautiful!

Here we are all gathered on the other side of the bridge. Danny’s horse didn’t want to cross the creek so Lu and I went first to give her a little more confidence.



MIL and Chase trying to cross the bridge. Black was not comfortable crossing the bridge. She got to this point and then backed off of the bridge. She was ok following but she was not ok leading.



Chase following Lu and I across.





Here is the bridge we opted NOT to cross. It didn’t look safe. The “bridge closed” sign has been washed out along with the bridge.



View from the other side.



Just plunking along.



It was hard to see the trail with all of the leaves on the ground. This trail was covered with trees and leaves so we don’t think it had been ridden much.





Such a cheesy smile.

Farm Life

I thought I’d share a few photos from the farm.

Our silver laced wyandotte chicks


The pekin ducks enjoying some time outside. They are just now turning white.


Their dirty “pool”


"In the steady gaze of the horse shines the eloquence that speaks of love, loyalty, strength and courage. It is the window that reveals to us how willing is his spirit, how generous his heart." ~ L. McGuire



Tomorrow we are going on a trail ride. Chase, MIL and I are meeting up with some friend. I can’t wait!

Our first “trail” ride!

Last night Shari came out to ride so I helped get the kids saddled up and off into the pasture. Ty has been busy with his gator now that I got him a new battery so I was free to do what I wanted. Well I wanted one more day on Cat so I saddled her up (ride #19). She was being good and the kids were getting a bit bored in the pasture (can you blame them) so I asked my dad if he would watch Ty so we could ride the “trail”.

The “trail” really isn’t a trail but it has always been a good starting point for young horses. It is the drive the farmers use to get back into their fields. Part of it is dirt, part of it is grass, there is a small creek crossing and there are a few trees. The downside is you have to ride down the road to gain access to the trail. I gathered the kids up, made the rules as clear as possible and we were off. Cat was in the lead with Sis following close behind and Black bringing up the rear.

When we got to the entry Cat was a bit nervous so I had Sis go first. Cat isn’t used to hearing the trees move in the wind since we have none in our pasture. She was fast paced but seemed to be taking things in well. I just continued to circle her to slow her down and pretty soon she was lagging behind bringing up the rear.

Shari was very nervous about crossing the creek. “I’ve never crossed a creek before” she told me. I reassured her and had Chase cross first stopping just shy of the other side to help prevent Cat from trying to jump the creek. I asked Cat to go in and she did but I could feel the tension underneath me so I backed her out. We did this around 3 or 4 times until she was all of the way in the creek and then we finally went all the way across issue free. Shari followed us across with a huge smile on her face.

Once we were past the creek we were in open fields. When we reached the top where we could see all around us I told the kids they were free to do whatever they wanted as long as they stayed in view. Chase and I decided to lope off. Shari tried to join but Black was content staying at a long trot.

The kids were very excited about all of the wildlife we saw while riding. We saw two ducks, two Canadian geese, a raccoon, and five deer. Cat was very curious about the geese as they were sitting in the field walking slowly away from us as we got closer.

As we headed back to the house Cat got a little bit slower and a little bit further behind. The giggles from the children were echoing through the open fields. It is very heartwarming to see them having so much fun together.

Cat walking in the open field

Here first water crossing

The kids headed back to the house

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Last Friday night MIL came over and we went for a ride. I saddled up the old lady and she saddled up Sis. We rode down behind the house where the fields are open and unplanted and just let loose. It was such a wonderful feeling for both of us to just let go and run. I’m not so sure the horses would agree however Black wasn’t too fond of letting Sis get in front of her. We rode into the timber and stopped for a brief moment to check for mushrooms. I found a few but the horses found a swarm of mosquitoes so we decided to head back.

Sunday my father, BIL, nephew, Chase and I went mushroom hunting. My Father, BIL and nephew rode down on the four-wheeler so Chase and I doubled up on Sis. Chase and I had a good time but he doesn’t think it is very comfortable to ride behind the saddle. I’m not sure if Sis has ever ridden double before but she did a great job.

Monday night I decided to get Miss Cat out. We did some LFR Stage 1, LFR Stage 2, the outback exercise, yhq stage 1, yfq, circle driving and some desensitizing. She very much wants to please but I find we end up fighting a lot. I’m sure it is me so I’m trying to “chill” and just go with it. During LFR she has an energetic departure but she also has a lot of draw when I yield her hq. Where our first argument comes into play is during the outback exercise when I try to back her back to the outside of the circle. She tries to take off vs. backing which usually gets a “fight” (for a lack of better words) started between the two of us.

LFR Stage 2 she is doing awesome. She was starting to get nervous when I would move the stick and speed up but she was also anticipating so I spent some time just moving the stick back and forth until she relaxed a bit. She really didn’t relax a lot but she did relax some.

During the desensitizing w/the stick/string she is getting much better. She usually flinches once or twice when I whack the ground but she doesn’t move. By the time I go to the other side she’s standing quietly.

YHQ Stage 1 she is doing very well. I just need to refine it a bit and get her to plant her foot more. I didn’t push it as she does have yet another injury on her front left leg.

YFQ was very ugly and I’m glad no one was around to see it. I’m hoping it is a bit better tonight when I try again.

Circle driving made her nervous. She was afraid she was going to get whacked with the stick so I changed things up and put the string on my stick and “flogged her with kindness” as she went around the circle until she relaxed.

I ended the night by clipping her. She HATES the clippers so I’ve decided to clip a bit each night after working her when she’s dog tired. It seemed to work well as I was able to clip a bridle path, her jaw line and muzzle, the exterior of her ears and part of her legs.

Last night I rode over to drill practice with MIL. I wasn’t sure if I would ride since my last ride on Cat was 03/16 but took my saddle so I could at least work her in it. I saddled her up as soon as we got there and headed to the arena to do some LFR. I didn’t stay on stage 1 very long as I didn’t want to “fight” the backing with an arena full of horses. The sand was nice and deep so she had to work twice as hard. Her turns weren’t quite as precise as I would have liked but she was listening to me and trying. I can barely move in the arena so I decided to cut her some slack.

I’m not sure how long I did LFR Stage 2 but it was long enough to make her want to die. She was pretty warm and when I drew her into me I don’t think she could have run fast enough. We left the arena so the drill team could run their routine.

I took her behind the trailers and did some desensitizing with the stick/string and then flapped the stirrups. She was good as gold so I decided to go ahead and mount up (ride #18). I rode her in small circles around the parking lot until I felt comfortable and then we ventured off. We went out of the arena grounds and onto the road. She was a bit nervous but not bad. I had forgotten how fast the cars drive on that road so I was thankful she didn’t mind them. She called a few times for Sis but she did keep moving. When we got to the end of the road I turned her around and headed back. The team was still practicing so I dismounted and let her eat grass.

During their break I mounted back up and went into the arena. To my surprise Cat is ok with me opening the gate while mounted. We went into the arena and trotted a bit but we weren’t able to stay in long before the team ran again. I decided this time to stay on her and just “sit”. I don’t do that often so it was good for her. It took her a little adjusting to figure out how to maintain her balance while just standing. She tried for grass once but once she was told no she left it.

When the team was finally finished we went back into the arena. The sun was quickly disappearing but I wanted to lope her before leaving. She did pin her ears at a few horses but I’m going to ignore that for now. I think if I start to pick on everything I will create more issues. If she still pins after she’s been ridden around other horses consistently then I will get after her but I don’t think she will.

Once the arena was free I asked her to lope. I didn’t do a bunch of ORS but I did temporarily shut her down after a few strides the first two times and then I let her go. She was literally running circles around Sis. She broke a few times and once or twice I had to whack her. Each whack was followed with a small kick up. Once she was loping out freely and away from Sis I shut her down and dismounted. She really wasn’t arguing about that.

Our high today is 67* but it won’t be raining so I’m hoping to get just one more day in on her tonight so I can get my three days in a row.