In Search of Views

What a glorious day for a ride it was today in Maine! Beautiful clear blue sky, in the 40’s. light breeze and two very good friends to join Didder and I on a ride via the back roads to Sanatorium Hill.


Terry came around noon, lugging tons of clothes, saying, “I didn’t know what to wear!” So, I showed her what I was wearing, and from that she picked out her wardrobe. She very smartly had her husband Bob lug her saddle. My husband was nowhere in sight. Shucks! Bob and Terry are Allie’s ‘real’ owners. Every so often we have the opportunity to ride together, and this morning when I asked her to ride, her responding text was this – “YES!!!” We chatted while saddling up our two boys. Didder was very nosy about Terry and smelled her all over in case she had treats. Both boys were very happy about getting out. Isn’t it just so nice when your horses like to get out on a beautiful day, too?

As soon as I swung into the saddle, I called my friend Kate and reported that we were leaving the dooryard, so that she could meet us on the road. Didder was quite excited, and I swear he knew we were headed out to meet Jax.

Hebron Center Road

Jax up ahead



Soon after we met up with Kate and Jax, we turned onto Hebron Center Road, which is low traffic and pretty scenery, a really nice road to ride on when you are enjoying talking with your friends.  We rode all the way to the end, and turned right to head up the steep part of Sanatorium Hill.  Allie was a-huffin’ and a puffin’ by the time we were at the top.  

Allie coming up behind


We took a break to enjoy the views and commemorate the occasion with a timed photo.  As usual when I set the camera down on a tree branch, Ah-D thought the camera just might be a treat and I had to keep him from nosing it off of the apple tree.

Look at the view behind us three amigos!

The road leveled out and we kept going towards the second view opportunity.  We stopped and talked a bit with Mrs. Cushman and her two great-grandchildren.  Ah-D thought seven year old Jackson was extremely interesting and sniffed him top to bottom.  I don’t think Jackson had ever even been close to a horse before.  Maybe Jackson smelled like cookie

Mount Washington is right over Ah-D's right ear

We came to the cornfield and the second panoramic view. 

Two buds, Jax and Ah-D

The sky was so clear that we could see all the way to Mount Washington in New Hampshire.  We spied the clock tower of Hebron Academy nestled in the valley so we could judge how far we had come.  We gazed at Streaked Mountain and talked about how we would like to make it all the way there next summer.

Looking at Streaked

Passing the apple orchard (one of the many) on the way home

We headed back for home feeling very refreshed and happy. We took it slowly down the steep side of Sanatorium Hill. When we reached the bottom and turned on to Center Road again, Jax abruptly fell right onto his knee! He got up ok and wasn’t limping, but he did trip a few times on the way home. He was a very well behaved boy today, as were all of our ponies. My Ah-D is so blessed to have such good horsie friends, and I am blessed to have such good human friends. We all really enjoyed each other’s company on this ride.

At three hours, this was Terry’s longest ride ever. She drives her horses, and I ride mine, and we are hoping to mix that up a little come summer. I am really looking forward to it! But in the meantime, I sure am enjoying these fabulous late winter taste of spring days, riding my handsome Curly pony that I love so much.

could it be my husband is warming up to my Curly???

Terry talking to her husband Bob about the ride

trial riding part 3!

Let's try again!

we went outside again.....just a small ride, but every step counts!!!!

Peter and Woody - Riding

How wonderful. First time bitless, and first time without lounge. I am so very proud of my boys! There are simply meant to be. Enjoy!

shttp://youtu.be/xtC7x5IteOk

Pleasantly Surprised!!!

I had the most wonderful ride with Shya and Pickles today!  Instead of the normal: Mark on Pickles and me on Shya,, it was me on Pickles and my friend, Lara, on Shya.  Neither one of our girls has been ridden by anyone other than us since we have had them.  I have only ridden Pickles maybe 3 times and Mark has ridden Shya once; so I was a bit leery about shaking things up.  We arrived at the parking area, tacked the girls up and hopped on.  To my amazement, neither girl seemed to even notice that they had different riders.  I figured Pickles would be fine, Shya was the one I worried about.  I glanced over at Lara and Shya and could not believe it.  Shya was totally relaxed, ears forward and moving off without a problem.  She was acting as if I was on her back, not someone new.  Lara asked her to trot and Shya did so without any hesitation.  Wow, amazed!  When we first got Shya she was deathly afraid to ride next to any horse, especially Pickles (Pickles is in charge in the pasture and will go off on Shya at the drop of a hat).  I have slowly worked with her on this and now we can ride next to other horses, but always by my demand, never on her own.  To my surprise, she walked next to Pickles for the majority of the ride today, all on her own!  They even trotted side by side without any problem.  Pickles was wonderful.  I didn't push her real hard but she did her smooth lope for me a couple of times.  She had a hard head when we first got her so I was surprised to learn that she gives to pressure now.  Good job Mark!  I am totally amazed how far both of these girls have come.  What a pleasant surprise!

Sharing our adopted BLM Curly Mustang Stallion - O'Sparky

O'Sparky, aka Black Rock's Golden Firefly was one of fourteen gathered in Winnemucca Herd Management Area, NV in 2009. As he and his herd were on BLM's online adoption site the last day he had no bids. Not needing another horse I could not see him getting lost in the adoption maze so I place a bid in the last hours. I will always be rewarded for giving him a home....consider adoption for your forever friend. 

http://youtu.be/cCH_pFxLhXY

Angie Gaines
Golden Curls Ranch

Bridge work and Practicing dressage

                   My home made "bridge" produces the echo it produces is enough to help train for the real thing.

                         Making the corner.......we still need to straighten out to center on the bridge.

Today was a splendid drive.....I set up the fake bridge in my arena so I could practice the "thump, thump" of crossing an actual wooden bridge. Legacy has no issues with the bridge..I will be confident to cross an actual bridge! 
After yesterday's drive I had a thought..I need to be practicing an even pace. In dressage, an even pace is one of the first things you need to establish. I had been a bit lax and let Legacy speed up a bit when we make 10m turns,  so, today, we practiced keeping an even speed. For a horse to keep an even speed, even through the corners, they must remain balanced in their body.  Today's drive was splendid!  a nice even pace, with a balanced horse in front of me was a pleasure.....We drove for about 1/2 hr....and did alot of trot work. One of our neighbors shot at a coyote while we were working...Legacy had a bit of a startle,  but she handled it well. We continued walking to help relax her. She is such a sweet heart...I love her dearly!

Not much going on here - we got 8 inches of snow! We did hook up the team to feed (they aren't curlies though). I did take some photos of Ace a few days ago. I did get him in a do some groundwork also. It's been cold and snowy here - really looking forward to spring! I also need to find someone willing to work the camera for me while I do stuff with Ace!

just walking...the dog???or....

Just wanted to show a verry nice picture...almost like walking the dog....

is that why people look strange???

So you think Linus is curious?

The water to the horse end of the farm freezes over winter so we bring it over using the tractor bucket. It doesn't take long - in fact it's less time than running a hose over every day.
Our herd bull is on the other side of the horse corral so I was bringing his water to him when I turned and found Linus inspecting the loader! Not just a nosing as usual but both his front feet are IN the bucket!! What a guy!! So, those of you that think he is curious - bang on!
I went over and rubbed some favourite places for him and then put my hand down and said "bow". He tucked his head down to my hands! Yay!! I didn't have treats on me so he got some more good scratches.
Not much more than that happened today. In with a cow waiting for her to calve so that's the extent of horse-play today! Just had to share those pics! : )
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Three Robins and a Chipmunk

~Susan and Ah-D in Maine~

I was late getting out of church on Sunday because we had a Bible-thumping Southern Baptist guest preacher who preaches longer (and louder) than our northern free Baptist pastor (not complaining, sometimes it's a good thing to experience something different and I even asked him to lay his hands on me - so, halleluiah to this northern girl!), and my riding buddy Kate was at the barn door with Jax before I was even saddled up.  Ah-D was very happy to see Jax at his door, and even tried to walk outside when Jax meandered around the corner to say hello to Allie.  Ah-D didn't want to be out of his sight.

Since Kate was already at my house,  we were no longer meeting on the way to Sanatorium Hill, and because Kate and I are pretty agreeable and had no set expectations of where to ride, Jax chose the way.  We started out towards our original destination, but then Jax turned right off onto Back Street, and we let him.  It was comical.  Ah-D was agreeable to anything Jax wanted to do, too, so we were a happy bunch.

 

When we got to the big field with the beautiful views, Jax decided we were going to walk around the field, and even strode right over a pretty big snow bank to get there! So, we did get a beautiful view after all, just not the one we had originally planned. 

I took their picture by the big rock.  If I wasn't looking at the rock, the expanse of snow was so white I had to squint to see anything and felt kind of dizzy, which is called snow blindness for those of you who have never experienced it.  It's the same kind of feeling you get when you are in the surf of the ocean.  You can't get your bearings and figure out which way is which. I was glad Ah-D didn't seem to be experiencing snow blindness.

A big expanse of snow

Whew, out of the drifted snow!

We were kind of surprised that the snow in the field was not as deep as we thought it would be.  Guess the wind sweeps right through there.  I mentioned to Kate that we could get to The Secret Garden from the big field and she was game, so the people took over deciding where to go.  Big mistake.  Both people were numbing it!! (and hubby Dana was only too quick to point that out later)  As we headed down over the hill towards the edge of the woods and the Secret Garden, we found out where all the snow went.  All of the sudden, Jax was up to his chest in snow and headed downhill to boot.  He was struggling but calm, and Kate was upset because she thought Jax might break a leg.  I encouraged her to just try to turn him around and not dismount and get swallowed up in all that snow, but it was too much for Jax.  So, she got off and luckily had reins that were just clipped onto the bit.  I suggested she unclip one side and use the long rein for a lead rope so she could stay out of Jax's way while he careened uphill behind her out of that heavy, deep snow.  Whew!  All's well that ends well.  We stuck to Back Street after that, and then we saw our two signs of spring!

Contented horses and riders

As we passed a house, we saw a little striped brown and white head peeking out of the middle of a snowdrift on the front lawn.  Wow, was that chipmunk ever cute!  His head popped in and out several times.  He was checking us out the same as we were checking him out.  Apparently, he didn't think we were as adorable as we thought he was, and the head disappeared into the hole in the snow for good. Shortly after that, I spied a flash of red in a tree...could it be?  We investigated, and sure enough, three robins flew off into the woods!  Spring WILL be here.  There will be a lot more signs by the end of this month.

Not a speck of ice to be seen

There was no ice on the road, and in fact there were puddles.  Ah-D took a drink out of one of them.  We saw many places where deer had crossed the road. Ah-D spied a suspicious snow bank covered in sand and stood stock still checking it out.  A mile or so later, Jax was frightened of a mailbox and Ah-D decided that if Jax was frightened, then so was he.   We also spied a horse-eating popsicle wrapper that got Jax into a tizzy.  Other than all of those extremely remarkable and potentially dangerous objects, we made it all the way to the end of Back Street and back safely and in one piece.

Jax is clearly the boss horse over Ah-D and likes being out front, while Ah-D is very content to walk three steps behind Jax like some Oriental woman from a century ago.  It is nice to ride side by side though because it makes talking easier, so I had to continually urge Ah-D to stay abreast of Jax.  Jax would have none of it, though.  Here is evidence. 

"Don't you even THINK of walking ahead of me!"

Still, my wishes trump Jax's, so I made Ah-D do it anyway, and Kate kept Jax from nipping Ah-D.  All this horse talk didn't bother Kate and I one whit.  We were riding!!!!  Need I say more?

It was so nice to be out in the fresh air on the back of my Curly.  Once in a while we would catch a glimpse of sun, but it was a tease.  There was a chilly, damp breeze blowing, and I was glad that I had donned an additional vest before I left the house.  My toes were cold, but there was the scent of horse sweat in the air surrounding us, so the breeze was good for our horses with their thick winter coats.

 I was completely content with this late winter ride and not wishing it away wishing for spring (mud and black fly swarms) or summer (sweltering heat and deer fly swarms) riding. I am so thankful that I live in a place where I can get out year round to ride, and I am especially thankful that I have such a wonderful Curly partner like Ah-D  and a friend like Kate with whom to enjoy winter riding. :)

Some Catching Up!!!

I know i have not been on to blog for sometime but the last few weeks have been very busy and the weather has been in the way of safe riding for the most part. I also got sick for about a week and that just made me want to curl up inside where it was warm!
A few weeks ago I had some opportunities to ride and spend time with my horses. I even managed to have a few days decent enough to give some lessons. I'm hoping that they will pick up again once the weather warms up in the coming weeks. Chuck helped me give a lesson to one of my older teen students, Mia. It was her first time riding Chuck and found him to be a bit lazier than our mare Stella, who is much more forward. I also think he was testing her for this first ride. The following week we did another lesson where Mia rode another horse and i rode Chuck. He was very good and moved out for me. More evidence in my mind that he was just being stubborn and testing Mia's mettle the week before. ;)

Mia and Chuck

We got an opportunity to share info about our farm and wonderful curly horses at the Lititz Fire and Ice Festival in mid-February. I had a booth at the festival selling my handmade horse hair jewelry. People were drawn to the framed photos of our curlys and asked many questions. I think i talked more about the horses than i did jewelry! It was also a good opportunity to inform some of the locals about our farm as they did not realize that we were close by.

Part of our booth @Fire n Ice festival, Lititz, Pa

 This past weekend I managed to ride both Sat. and Sunday. The first day i rode Chuck it was windy and he spooked at something moving in the wind behind him. Of course i stopped our work and he got a break while my heart beat recovered. He didn't do it again for the rest of the ride and he acted as if it never happened. Yesterday's ride was in the ring with a few of my boarders riding their horses too. About the same amount of time into our ride, Chuck did the same spook at the same spot. This time i circled him a few times and made him work for it and when we finally stopped in the ''Spooky spot'' he stood and looked like he was sulking. i think he expected another break like the day before. The rest of our ride was great and he was so well behaved . There was a mare in the arena too and i was so proud of Chuck as we cantered big circles around her and maneuvered around some of the other horses. I feel like he did well for the most part despite the fact that he hasn't been ridden very consistently this winter.

Remi

I have not done much saddle time at all on my gelding Remi this winter but we have done some great ground work in prep for more saddle time this spring. I can see that he is maturing mentally and handling new things well and taking them in stride. I know everyone keeps saying it but I can't wait for Spring!

Another Successful Day!

Not the best picture of Linus you've ever seen but a really good showing of him listening to me!!
We practised the head between the legs to bow again today. This time I had some baby carrots for rewards! I'm not usually a treat-giver when training but the rewards are highly recommended for helping learn tricks so I'll see how it goes. One of the first things taught in the book is manners when it comes to your horse knowing you've got treats. And that's what Linus is doing in the picture above. I made him back up and then whoa. Then I backed away from him and he had to stay put until I clucked for him to come over. If he moved, then he was put back into place. This clicked for him almost instantly and I was very proud! Especially since I didn't tie Allie up and she was standing beside me which Linus doesn't usually like. He likes to make it known that I'm his human!! : )
I'm using the word "bow" while offering a treat a few inches behind (and between) Linus' forelegs. It's a work in progress but towards the end today he was starting to catch on from the command. It could take months to do it without a treat but I'm very pleased with how it's going so far and it's definitely giving him something more to think about!!
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All Around Firsts!

Rocky on the left, Corky on the right

I bet you thought I went to a show and took all firsts, didn't you!  It's not that fancy of an accomplishment, but I was pretty proud of all of us today.  I've never ponied a horse.  Corky has never ponied a horse and Rocky has never been ponied, so it was a first for all of us and though I felt confident it would be fine, I just wasn't sure how it would go.  Some people have told me to pony a horse you need to wrap the rope about the horn, but the first time for everybody I thought it was just better if I held the rope in case things got real hairy I could just drop the rope.  I didn't think Rocky would go anywhere even if he was loose.

I did decide it would have been better if Corky was better trained, especially neck reined trained, because it's hard to steer Corky with one hand when he's used to plow reining, so we'll have to work on that!  Rocky stayed in his place following Corky and Corky was a perfect gentleman trying to understand what this was all about.  Rocky enjoyed himself and got a little bit more exercise today too!  I did find it interesting that I actually had to slow Corky down because Rocky wasn't keeping up and Rocky, as you can see, has much longer legs.  But it was a good day!

Heading out.

Trial Ryding.......

After two weeks have been unable to ride because lack of time and bad weather today was finally a good day to go!!..again!
The weather is beautiful, it was no longer that cold so we could go to practice my goal ... riding out side!
My goal I wanted to reach in this contest was to buy a new pony for the children (which I have) and relaxed ryding outdoors!
Today I came to the stables and there were a couple of friends riding in the arena.
So we join them, Cinderella is always bit grumpy when there ride more horses  I do not understand why. Should it just be fun???
Because I did not dare to ride outside with Cinderella one off the girls asked me to join her (thank Sylvana) for a ride outside, I went along with her on a trip...
We did it! .... it was not very long but it was our first real official trail ride!

Cinderella was very excited and wanted to go backt to the stables a few times.
I found it myself very well, and I was not that nervous as I thought I would be,
(because I had someone to join together to ride.)

We are one step closer to our goal!

After riding we put Cinderella and Bucky together in the arena for the first time together
 .... Bucky wanted to meet Cinderella and play with her but dared not,
and Cinderella behaved like an old granny!!!!

I am happy they did't put up a fight, they just walked around eath other.

Tomorrow we go to practice and hopefully we will end up with a nice and safe trail ride with beautifull sunshine!

Step 1 and Promoting!

I was not able to get any new pictures so I added one of my son and Linus from this winter - it's just too cute not to share. Linus adores kids! He even tried to climb a snowhill to play with them last weekend!
A local horseman (QH) stopped by the Post Office the other day while I was loading my car. I had on my RAC Jacket and he asked me what I had on it and what it was all about. He didn't realise Linus was a Curly! He thought Linus was a QH. So I told him about the RAC and what we do and he was pretty impressed by it all. I had a similar situation a few weeks prior when delivering a package to a woman who does dressage. She thought it was a very neat way for a horse community to connect and keep motivated. Go RAC!
I've said before Linus is a horse who gets bored easily. He loves doing games and seeing new things. So I now have a trick training book and we have chosen "bow" as our first trick. This was inspired by my difficulty mounting with the bareback pad - he's just too darn tall!!
So yesterday I went in and we did some liberty work - no halter etc. I tried join-up and in about 30 seconds he said "let's work, you don't need to run me around!" It was funny! I love how he'd rather get down to it. We started with backing and quarter yielding. I hadn't expected to try Step 1 with him so I didn't have any treats with me but he is curious enough that I didn't need any. I will stock up for next time!
Step 1 is to get your horse to reach his head back between his legs. The book suggests a carrot to teach him and use of the cue word (whatever you want it to be - we are using "bow") I slapped my work glove fingers together to get his attention and draw his head down. He was so awesome and followed my hand right between his forelegs! We did it about 3 times! I can use this step to now go to either the 2 legged bow (plie) or 1 legged. They say some horses find one easier than the other so we will just see which Linus prefers to do.
What a fun way to still spend time with Linus when we don't have the footing to do much riding!
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Another ride on Woody today

Peter was taking another ride on Woody today. We practiced in the round pen, both hands, walk and stand. Woody did awesome (Peter as well!), please find enclosed a picture of Champagne (left), Peter and Woody :)

Busy, Beautiful Saturday!

Yesterday the sun came out for the first time since I last posted a ride on Lark (a month ago?) My helper, Christine and I have got everything caught up and husband was out repairing the stall (which Quigley demolished over the last week or so).

First, over the course of several weeks, he had put himself through one of the doors separating him and Rocky (the door was hung about him and we had to disassemble it to get him out!) Then, he hung out the door between Rocky and Billy Jack to produce a run stall (we have BIG boxes) for all three of them (Billy Jack, Rocky and Quigley). Because of course he had created an indoor run for the three, they in turn started to disassemble the door frames between each stall and the wooden flooring, and finally we had to hang them on over night after Quigley destroyed the door that keeps their boxes closed on one end. Of course, Quigley found a way to get himself over the wall, which meant we had to disassemble the final door frame so he could get himself off the half wall. With all that done, I finally got the renovating I wanted done yesterday! As hubby rebuilt all the door frames, reinstalled the doors, and did the floor boarding in the stallion boxes! Yeah!

While that was going on, my students (older folks) showed up on such a nice day to visit the horses. A great opportunity to get them back in the saddle, and Christine too! So, we worked three horses yesterday as the snow was melting. The roundpen held up though, and Lark gave two riding lessons, and I was up too! I also got Diamond Rain riding again (bareback, she was great and relaxed having been outside in the mare herd in the Open Stall with the others) and we started Quigley working under saddle again. He was happy to work, and is like the Energizer Bunny. He even let me do some mounting work and a bit of a walk in the saddle.

With a sunburn and a bit overworked, it was time to crash!

Heavy Snow

That last snowstorm we had in Maine deposited some very wet and heavy snow, much different than the blizzard snow, which was light and fluffy.  The weatherman said it was the third snowiest February on record, and I believe it, but now it is March!!!!!! and onward towards spring, I say!
Nevertheless, it was tough going out on the trails.  Ah-D had to pick his feet up high with every step. He stopped quite often and rested, which made Allie very happy.  Kate and I were jabbering on about this and that anyway, and we were getting a kick out of our "old plugs."  I could even bang my legs against Ah-D's sides on occasion, and he still wouldn't go forward!  Kate and I were giggling about it like two schoolgirls.  I really don't know who has more fun than us.  Kate brought treats for Ah-D and Allie and they were very appreciative.  She even brought seven treats for the six Labs (one extra in case of a whoopsie, Kate is so smart!) and every girl got one.  They were happy campers, too.  They worked REALLY hard in the snow.  We didn't stay out too long because we didn't want to overwork anyone.  We had tons of fun and enjoyed the peaks of sunshine Mother Nature offered us now and then. (Snowing out again now).

Not alot of snow underneath this big spruce, so we used it as one of our resting spots.

We have already made plans to ride tomorrow up the road to Sanitorium Hill, which should be a good long ride with some nice views.

Conditioning plans and another driving horse

 After a very emotionally challenging/distracting Jan and Feb I am back to driving on a regular basis. I don't have any new "Legacy" photos to share, so thought I would share one from my file, and dream about summer weather.  Right now, my driving goal is all about conditioning. Legacy needs to get fit and strong, and driving daily with a couple days off a week will accomplish that goal.  To add  interest, I set up a couple pieces of plywood in our arena to drive over. At one the driving events we go too, there is a wooden bridge that goes "clunk, clunk" when you drive over it. I did not have enough confidence in myself to drive Legacy over the bridge last year. The bridge opens up to the main county road about 20ft after the bridge....Someone more experienced could have driven Legacy over,  but I was playing it safe...now..I practice at home, and will have plenty of confidence to drive the bridge. It is also rather time consuming to groom right now. The curls are just peeling off Legacy, as she sheds from winter to summer coat. I have to be super careful about hair, as curly hair can hide things Mike is allergic too...dust, hay and other allergens can really hide....so, we groom and groom and groom. It is, however, a superb bonding experience, and just good for my soul...there are healing powers to grooming a horse...we all know that.

Summer dreams ...no shedding hair !

*Winsome Lady ....starting her driving career!

And....in the last few weeks I had the chance to head to our harness trainer and check on the progress of *Winsome Lady...my potential 2nd driving horse. Lady has been with my harness trainer and is now making progress in great strides. I also took my cart to the trainer, and hopefully the next pics of Lady I have, will be of Lady, with ME driving in our own harness and cart.  I really appreciate RAC...even if I have no time in my day, I can always sneak at peek at the RAC blog and see what others are up too....go RAC'ers!