A Family Affair

Monday MIL came over for a ride after work. We’ve had lovely weather and with daylight savings time who could pass up o the opportunity?

I decided to ride Abby one last time to see how she was going to do for Chase and MIL was going to ride Black. To my surprise she decided to ride her bareback (good for her). We headed down the road with Abby being a bit reluctant. I don’t think she’s very fond of being the lead horse. MIL asked Black to trot to catch up and you could just hear the joy coming out of her in laughter. Black has a big, floaty trot & it is a lot of fun to sit.

I had Abby in her new bit and wow can she turn (neck rein)! When I’d set the rein on her neck she would put her head to my leg (as if she was flexing) and turn quickly. Almost too quickly! Turning right wasn’t quite as good as turning left but she is a very athletic pony. She’d make some little girl (or boy) one heck of a barrel horse the way she can turn. Needless to say she was full of it. Fat, lazy, athletic pony + spring time ride = a lot of work! Meanwhile MIL sat back on Black enjoying her ride.

When we got close to home I asked Abby to stop and let MIL and Black continue on towards the house (Abby had separation issues last year on the trail). After she stood still for 30 seconds I got off and backed her all of the way to the house. She wasn’t thrilled. Back at the house we did some LFR stage 1 and then when she was nice and tired I tied her up in the corer of the barn and left her to think about it.

Yesterday we went out as a family. DH on Max, Chase on Abby and Ty and I on Black. I had asked DH to do some GW w/Abby before leaving but when I got there Chase was riding her. I did some GW but not as much as I had wanted to since we were running out of daylight.

She did very well for Chase (she wasn’t the lead horse). Ty had a blast! He loved trotting and he loved the baby “moo-s”. He liked the baby “moo-s” so much that he had a mild hissy fit when we left the moo-s. He picked up the reins a few times and tried to get Black to go but thankfully he didn’t make contact with her mouth.

When we got home I told Chase we weren’t done. I put Abby’s butt to work and told him that when I was done he was going to get on, ride her down the road, stick his hand in her mane and let her go where she wanted. If she turned for home I’d take over.

Chase hopped on after I did some LFR with her (which by the way I’m noticing huge attitude improvements with her at the lope) and headed down the road. She tried turning for home but he stopped her (he wasn’t supposed to) so I had him get off and I backed her all of the way home and did some LFR again. He got on again and this time she didn’t even think of going back home. She stopped once on him and looked back. I told him to just squeeze her and see where she went. She decided to keep going down the road like planned so right before we hit the neighbors drive I let Chase stop her and let her rest.

He stayed there for a good 3-4 minutes before I had him dismount and we let her walk home behind the four wheeler. At home I backed her up to the barn and was in the process of backing her into the barn when DH and I got into a small tiff so I ended up leading her in and tying her up. I think she got the gist of the exercise.

Here are a few pics of Chase (not the best I know).

Natural Rider?

Last night I had a few appointments after work so I didn’t get out to the barn until later. When I got there I found that my sister had been kind enough to clean the stalls for me and sweep the alley (they’d been in the night before due to a storm).

I realize this sounds like a nice, sweet, gesture but it is actually much more. You see sis is scared of the horses. She typically won’t even set foot in the pasture if I’m there and heaven forbid there is a horse anywhere close to the barn. We all grew up with horses (from age 8 up) so I’m not sure where her deep seated fear of horses comes from but it’s real and it’s there so I won’t ignore it.

I know the last show we went to she rode and actually enjoyed herself (at least I think she did). She has asked me to teach her how to ride so she can help her kids more since she knows that for at least one of them (Shari) this passion of horses isn’t going away anytime soon.

My sister has become comfortable with Nikki but it’s hard not to be comfortable around her. Besides being a hair taller than a lab, she’s cute as a button too. I’m trying to get her confidence transferred over to the big horses but that’s posing to be a real challenge.

Last night we (I) saddled up Sis and we went to the RP. I put my sister on and taught her how to flex (although Sis isn’t the best on to show that on since she’s stiffer than a cob) and explained the ORS. While she got comfortable with that I jumped on Max.

She seems to be ok at the walk or the canter (in a small pen or arena) but she is scared to death of the trot! I tried to teach her how to trot & post last night but she wasn’t comfortable giving me the control. When she finally did I was amazed! She is such a natural rider. Her legs are where they need to be, here seat is where it needs to be and beside needing to learn to “feel” the horse a little more she was in cadence with Sis most of the night.

I was pretty ticked! (sarcastic smiley here) I’ve ridden my entire life (well most of it) and I have to work to ride well yet my sister who is afraid of horses has such a natural seat. How does this work again?

I’m proud of her. She’s trying to overcome a fear and I really do think she enjoys the horses. I just think she “thinks” she would enjoy the smaller ones (Nikki, Abby) more but I’ll bet she’s riding the big ones in no time at all!

We Don't See Eye to Eye!

My DH and I grew up in separate areas of the equine world. He grew up riding "cowboy" horses and I grew up showing so needless to say we don't ride the same.

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I'm bitchy and that I'm a control freak when it comes to the horses. I don't let a lot of people ride my horses. It's not that I don't trust my horses, I typically don't trust the riders. DH is no exception and that doesn't sit well with him.

One of the reasons we got Max was because Tuff developed bursitis in her knee and I was unable to ride her as hard as I wanted to. DH didn't ride enough to justify buy a horse for him and a horse for me and selling Tuff so we could both have a horse wasn't an option. We got Max and within a week we were riding out on the roads and he was doing great.

Every once in a while DH would get a wild hair and would want to "work" his horse. I'd comment on what he was doing wrong and he'd get mad. I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Let's skip forward to the present. DH, Chase and I went out for a ride yesterday. DH has been riding Max a lot more lately and I think that's wonderful since he is his horse. I've been riding LLL and loving every minute of having a horse all to my own again.

Abby has recently decided to try to turn for home when we go out so Chase has been a bit frustrated the last few times we've ridden out on the road. Plus she thinks she's starving since she has a muzzle on while in the pasture so when she sees that fresh green grass on the side of the road she tries for a bite. It takes all of Chase's strength to try to keep her head up.

I had finally had enough this weekend and I walked up behind her with LLL and whacked her on the butt as hard as I could with the crop! She jumped about a mile and took off trotting down the road. We caught up and went on our way. A little while later she started again so I nailed her again! BAM! She took off again. I think LLL was actually enjoying this.

We road North of the house and then down "roller coaster" road. I love this road because of the hills. It really helps get the horses in shape. Max and DH were hanging back. Max knows he walks fast so when he catches up he stops and waits. When we got to the big hill I told Chase to see if he could get Abby into a lope. He asked for a trot and then asked for a lope and to my surprise she went into one. I stepped LLL up into a lope behind him and I think Abby thought she was going to get whacked because she picked up the pace. I didn't know that pony could run that fast.

On one hill I tried to "kick" LLL up into full throttle but her fast is slow! We turned around and headed home. We encountered one deadly mud puddle that LLL thought she could go around. After a quick meeting she decided to go through it. The entire time the cows were watching to see what that "crazy" horse was doing.

We trotted to catch up with the boys and once we did I found DH trying to back Max but not using the cues that I had used to teach him. I made a comment and well I'll bet you can guess how well it was received. That last 1/4 of a mile was a long ride! We got back and I untacked LLL, stretched her legs, brushed her up and turned her out. Abby was so happy to be home and Sis (who I had left timed to the patience pole) was still bouncing around.

The weather is supposed to be nice the first part of this week so I hope to get back out. Tuesday night I have drill practice and Saturday we have a performance at the Greene County Horse Fair in Jefferson. We have one practice to learn the routine with 8 riders instead of 10 due to the accident at the Horse Fair a few weeks ago. I know it sounds easy but that moves positions quite a bit.

I'm going to try to start working LLL in so that I don't have to use Max anymore. Since the chiro appointment she's been working a lot better and when I do get "tude" I think it stems from memory of pain more than anything else.

Introductions

Hello

As far as I know anyone reading this blog should know me but just in case we haven't talked in a while I'll introduce my "herd".

My name is Courtney and I am married to a sometimes wonderful husband and two lovely boys.

We have one dog (Cy) and one cat (Bang). We also have 4 horses.



Little Dry Step - Barn Name: Lucy and often referred to as LLL (Little Lu Lu) is a 3 yr. old AQHA mare. She is here on loan from a friend in AZ. Lucy came from Green Valley Reining and had 30 rides there before she went to Jaimee. She came to me Thanksgiving of 2007 where she was given some due time off to just be a horse.



Max - Barn Name: Max is my DH's 8 yr. old APHA/Arab mix. I found Max when he was 4. He had been given 30 days training by a JL trainer when he was 2 but then got to large and learned to push his owner around. She had a muscle disorder and he was too much for her so by luck he came home with me. DH fell in love with him at first site. I've been using him as a trail horse and currently as a drill horse but DH would eventually like to rope off of him.



Abby - Barn Name: Abby is my DS's 7 yr. old grade POA sized pony. We purchased her last October as a birthday present for Chase as he needed something with a little more size and spunk. Unfortunately she doesn't have much spunk but so far she's been worth her weight & then some in gold.



Reg. Name Pending - Barn Name: Cat (Clinton Anderson Trained) is my yearling FQH filly. She is out of my mare Tuff who is currently residing in AZ.

That is it for my herd but let me also introduce you to:



Nikki - Barn Name: Nikki. Nikki belongs to my parents but we used her before Abby came along. Chase still enjoys riding her and I'm sure Ty will ride her when his time comes. We do all of the work with Nikki so sometimes she gets included in our head count. We believe Nikki is IR so you may see me refer to that in some post. This picture was taken at a show last year before Abby came along.



Baby Dollz Sissy - Barn Name: Sis (sometimes also known as Psycho Sissy) is my mother-in-law's (MIL's) 8 yr. old solid colored APHA mare. Sis is also out of Tuff and was given to MIL as a Mother's day present 8 years ago. This is a picture of her taking Chase on a very, very, slow pole pattern.