Not much to report

Yet I’m sure I’ll still be able to write a mini novel. I haven’t done much since last week. Call it burn out, call it lack of motivation, call it whatever you’d like I just haven’t had the desire to be out at the barn.

We had drill practice last night in spite of the weather (storms moving in) so I decided to only take one horse. I didn’t want to be messing with 3 horses and 3 saddles if it decided to pour down rain so I just took my steady Eddy (Max).

We are trying to practice with a team of 8 & a team of 10 and we happen to be on both teams so when we got there the team of 10 ran (walked) first. We have one member who is not very comfortable on a horse so we can’t move past a trot (if we can even move into a trot). It is very hard to remember the pattern at a walk/trot and it takes forever to get through it. Max was in a “go, go, go” mood last night and he wasn’t very patient walking.

We finally got to the team of 8 and we were able to run. Of course one horse was fresh and wanted to buck which scared one of the other member into thinking her horse was bucking (which he wasn’t) so we had to slow down. We ran the pattern twice and Max did well. I was trying to be more thoughtful about my body language while I rode and it seemed to help quite a bit.

Once we got done I decided to get on Sis. She’s been really stiff lately and the shows will be starting soon so I wanted to see how much work slowing her down we’d have. She is one of the few that flexes vertically better than laterally. She needs a LOT of work laterally. I can’t even begin to imagine how nice she’d be if she was soft laterally.

I was surprised at how quickly she came back to her WP form (so was MIL). I actually think she moved/traveled better than last year at the jog but we still need to work on her strung out lope.

Can you go any slower?

I’m going to make this entry short (for me) because I actually have work to do today.

Last night we took Abby to drill practice. She hesitated a few times before loading in the trailer but quickly decided she’d like to be in the trailer instead of outside of it so in she went and off to practice we headed. DH went along and took Max so he could ride a bit before practice started.

When we arrived at the arena we unloaded and started tacking up. Abby was great. She didn’t look around, get nervous, etc. She just stood and waited to be tacked up. DH took off into the arena while MIL and I finished up. Once Abby was ready to go we went in and walked around the arena once before I mounted up.

Once I got on her I quickly learned that we need to work on 2 things – her gas pedal and her steering (kind of important). LOL She was pretty good around the other horses. She pinned her ears a few times and humped her butt up once but she quickly relaxed.

When we started the first run (at a slow canter/trot) she gave a little kick up with her heels when I asked her to go into the lope but then she finally went into it. She was great when the other horses would come at her, behind her, etc. but man is she slow!

We only trot/cantered it once because another horse was sore and we had another new horse to work in. Then we switched to our team of 10 and walked it. The clouds were moving in so we all untacked and headed for home. She loaded up nicely but we do need to work on that some this week at home.

I need to take her over on a weekend and work on the passenger lesson and on post to post. She’s still a good pony though!

Arena work never looked better!

Yesterday a drill team member e-mailed me asking me if I’d like to go riding with her. She lives south of us about 20 miles and owns 250 acres of land. Of course I accepted! DH agreed to take Chase with him (they were working on the race car) and I took Ty. Peggy’s daughter said she’d watch Ty while we rode. Perfect!

MIL and I saddled the horses at the barn and loaded up. We got to Peggy’s at around 6:30 and headed out on the trail. LLL was a bit excited but then I just hopped on (no GW) so it was to be expected. This was her first outing with other horses on a real trail.

The first hill we went down was nice. LLL was rocking back onto her hind end and taking things slowly. I hate when horses rush down hills. Peggy was very kind asking where I wanted to go and where I didn’t (there weren’t too many places I didn’t want to go). There were a lot of trees down off of the trail path so I took LLL over to them and we walked over the logs. A bunny ran out in front of us and caught her eye but only for a moment.

We came up on a dry creek crossing and LLL hesitated. After a few circles and not allowing her to go over it she finally walked over it without trying to jump. Peggy then asked if I was ok with water. Sure I was! Lucy on the other hand – she’s not to fond of water.

I told Peggy I’d like to try but I didn’t want her to wait on me all night. The creek was very rocky and had a small drop off and Lucy didn’t like it. She was practically sitting on her butt to avoid going into the water so I got off & did some sending exercises with her (which I still need to work on at home). I stood on a rock in the middle of the creek and sent her back and forth. She jumped the creek quite a few times before she finally decided to just walk through it.

Once I got her going through it then it was a matter of getting her to slow down and watch where she was going. She was bolting across and landing on big rocks. I was glad I’d put her boots on or her legs would have probably been cut up. I sent her across to the original side and mounted back up. We walked up to the creek and I asked her to cross which she did in a very nice, calm manner.

Once we were across Peggy showed us this beautiful rock hill! I wish I had taken my camera. We turned around and crossed the creek and headed off in a different direction. I put LLL up in the lead and we headed up a steep hill. I started chanting “I think I can, I think I can” as we went up the hill because LLL was starting to loose momentum. We made it and joked that I was going to give her a heart attack. For as much as she does she sure is out of shape!

We rode up and down more hills and over more creeks. Lucy was great! She would stop to paw in a few of the creeks but beyond that there was no more hesitation to go over them. I even asked her to cross a downed tree that was about as wide as she was tall (at the belly) and she managed to stumble across it.

When we got to the bottom of one hill we hit an open field and as we rode across it Lucy was acting weird. I thought maybe she was bothered by the old dead weeds hitting her belly but then MIL yelled “she’s trying to lie down” at which time my crop swiftly made contact with her butt and we moved her feet! She only did that one more time before she decided it was better to just keep going.

We headed back up the hill (chanting again) and finally back to the barn. When we got to the trailer Lucy tried to walk in like “I’m done! Let’s go home!”. LOL

Last night was so good for her! MIL and I joked and said that a few more rides like that and she’d be begging me to do arena work instead. LOL

Here are a few pics of the tired pony from last night.





If the rain holds off tonight Abby will have her debut with the drill team.

Greene County Horse Fair

Saturday we had 2 performances at the Greene County Horse Fair. When we got there the arena had standing water in some places and it was cold! We saddled up and went in to see how bad the arena was. It was bad!

There were chunks of metal, broken glass, etc. in the arena and there were holes! You’d be loping around and all of the sudden your horse would drop down in a hole. No one was happy with the conditions but we decided to perform anyways.

The first run went fairly well. We had to push the horses through the deep footing but we managed to get through it and make it look smooth. I had a few issues with Max’s brakes but then I knew that was an issue before I went.

In between runs the boys “roped” off of a stimulated roping horse and then entered a stick horse contest. Chase won 2 prizes for his stick horse in barrels and the pick up race. He was pretty excited about that.

After that we ran one more time. The second run………….it wasn’t quite so pretty. The horses were exhausted and footing like this just takes everything out of them. I had given my spurs to another member so I didn’t have any and we don’t have poppers on our reins so I had nothing to “whack” with. There were a few times when I thought Max was going to just stop and say “I’m done & there is nothing you can do about it”. Luckily we made it though the performance but it wasn’t pretty.

We loaded up and headed home. DH thinks that Max has a swollen pastern but I think it’s just irritated from his bell boots so we are going to give him some due time off.

DH had to work Sunday so the boys and I went over to MIL’s & spent the night so I could work with Cat in the morning. She’s been giving MIL some grief so I told her I’d help her.

Sunday we got up and I went out to work Cat. She was full of beans! I think she’s just going through one of those “typical” stages but we worked through it anyways. During LFR stage 1 she wanted to bolt, run, stop, rear, back up, etc. Quite a few times I had to run towards her to get her to go forward. She finally got gave up her card when she got tired.

She’s really starting to turn a copper color under all of the blonde hair. I can’t wait until she’s all shed out. Here are a few pictures (not the best but they’ll do).



Look at that butt!



She has her mama’s chest



I think she has Tuffy’s head too.



Playing



In “her” barn at MIL’s




After that I took MIL over to a mutual friends house to see her new filly & her other horses. Then we went back and cleaned out the barn and unloaded all of the tack from Sat. We’ve all decided we need a new trailer with a tack room because we are tired of hauling tack back and forth from the barn to the trailer.

Our next performance is in 5 weeks. I’m going to try to work Abby into the routine to see how she does. We are supposed to have a fun show this weekend for the kids but it is supposed to rain almost all week so I’m sure it will be cancelled.

I Found Lucy’s Buttons!

Last night Chase and I went out to work with the horses. He’s had a few minor problems with Abby the last couple of rides that I thought I’d work through. I saddled up Sis, Abby and Lucy. I tied LLL to the patience pole and put Chase on Sis & I work on some LFR with Abby. We worked in the RP and I had Chase work on ORS only. Wow was Sis stiff! Abby and I need to work a bit more on the ground work but to her defense I haven’t done anything with her since we got her. After some light ground work I got on.

Abby is awesome! I told Chase I might steal her from him (he of course wasn’t very happy with that). She’s such a smart pony and she’s no smaller (she actually feels bigger) than LLL. She immediately picked up on the flexing. I picked up the rein and her head was at my foot. We had a few “drags” going to the right but she picked up. Then we started on the ORS. She had a harder time with that because she wanted to continue to go in a circle but she picked it up fast enough.

I had to hop off and mark Chase’s reins and when I did we put Ty in the saddle. Normally he’s not very thrilled to be anywhere near the horses but he loved it. He was all smiles. He even looked like a “real” cowboy when he kept spitting off to the side. When we’d stop Abby Ty would start to rock back and forth like “come on – move!”. He rode for probably 10 minutes before we finally talked him into getting off.

I jumped back on and continued with what I’d started working on before. Chase went home with DH and I had the pen all to myself. I kicked Abby up into a trot. She’s not very smooth.

Once she picked up on that we bumped up into a lope. Abby had only loped a few times since we’ve gotten her (heck she’s usually too lazy to trot) so she wasn’t thrilled that I was loping her in circles around the RP but she did as she was asked. She actually strides out very well at the lope and it’s a lot smoother than her trot. She was getting pretty tired so I pulled her into the center and flexed her some more and then hopped off.

I tied Abby to the PP, grabbed LLL and headed to the RP. By this time it was starting to get dark so I though I’d just RP Lu some and put her up. She was full of piss and vinegar! She took off around the RP bucking and farting. I actually got a chuckle out of it because she doesn’t typically play so it’s nice to see every once in a while.

I decided to get on. If nothing I’d just walk/trot/lope around a few times and get off. That was the game plan anyways. I’ve had the problem that when I put Lu on a loose rein and ask her to trot in the RP she does very small tight circles by one panel so I decided to push her through that. Once she finally stopped going over by the panel I would rest her on the opposite side of the RP. Then we kicked it up into a lope. She hesitated like normal so the crop hit her butt like normal and for the first time she popped her back end up to say “piss off lady” and I responded with “oh you liked that huh?”. Needless to say she didn’t think it was very funny. We loped around the RP for quite a while until she started to flow around better. She was booking it compared to how she normally goes.

She kept going back towards the one panel and trying to rub my leg on it (this isn’t new) but I’d had enough. When Abby did this earlier I’d immediately turn her into the fence and whack her outside shoulder so I did the same with Lucy. Holy shit! That girl can turn!

I’ve ridden a reining horse once but that was in college and while Max can turn he doesn’t even remotely compare to Lucy. Well that was fun so when she went back over we did it again (only this time I was ready).

If she could do that nice of a rollback what else could she do? She can spin! That’s what else she can do! I don’t remember how exactly I found that button but I did. I trotted her to the center of the RP, sat back on my pocket and put my leg on her and she started to go into it. I clucked and she sped up. Now don’t get me wrong this wasn’t dizzy, puking fast but it wasn’t turtle slow either.

Of course now that I figured it out I had to do it some more right? Of course I did. She’s not as quick going clockwise as she is counter clockwise but we’ll work on that later. During all of this Lucy acted like she actually had fun! OMG did she actually enjoy being worked? Could it be?

I decided I’d better quit while I was ahead (besides the fact that it was now pitch black out). Lucy is out of shape and gets hot fast and I still needed to cool her down, untack her and Abby and feed so we headed back to the barn. It is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow and I have a drill performance on Sat. so I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to hop on her again but hopefully soon!

Where Did My Brakes Go!

After having two weeks off we had practice again last night. As you may recall DH has been riding Max and we’ve had a few “discussions” about how we ride differently. Well last night I found out that Max has lost his brakes! It’s amazing how fast they loose things.

Practice was quite interesting to say the least. Going from 10 to 8 riders really changed things around and it took us a while to figure it out but we finally got it.

For the first time since we’ve started MIL enjoyed herself. I haven’t seen her act as happy as she did last night in a long time. She was hooping and hollering and just having a good old time. It’s good to see that every once in a while.

Not much else to report. The weather is lovely today so I’m hoping to get out tonight and work Abby and Lucy.

A blast from the past

I got on update on Oliver (Ace). He’s doing great and Lisa still loves him. She sent me some pictures and a video of him. You can see his progress at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/OliverPac1105


Rain is now residing with a Mary, a NWC member in VA and she is doing very well. She is in foal but that was a surprise to everyone so it will be interesting to see what she has. Mary tells me that Rain stands over 16 hands now! Can you believe it?




Tuff is with Vicki, a NWC member in AZ. Vicki tells me that Tuffy is doing great out there in the warm AZ weather. I miss her so much! I’m hoping to take a vacation to AZ next spring to see her.



As for the black mare, I haven’t heard anything about her. I’ve tried to e-mail the new owner and she hasn’t returned any of my e-mails. I’ve talked to Randy (my trimmer) who was supposed to trim for her and she’s never called to schedule and appointment with him. I can only hope that she’s doing well.

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.