Today the weather was very mixed, it had rained the last few days and there were reports of thunder storms to the west of us. All of our snow has melted, and these big yellow-dark clouds threatened hail! But, in between there were breaks of sunshine that warmed us. My helper and I were busy mucking out stalls, and chatting, and afterwards we warmed up with a tea, I said, let's go ride. I wanted to get Diamond going again. I rode her the other day without a saddle, as that is how she was trained, but it was time to really get her going again. So, we started brushing. The horses had rolled in the mud, and there was dry dust flying in big thick puffs everywhere. The Curlies have started to really shed now, and so piles of fluffly hair were forming with flying waifs all around. The weather was cold enough that we shouldn't bath, so we settled for getting the dried mud off, and combing out the loose hair. They looked rather good.
Saddling the mares, we headed for the roundpen, it was not at its driest but we really needed to warm the ladies up and lunge them before mounting. I double lunge horses all the time, sometime even three at a time, to warm them up, let them settle especially after a long winter, or when they've been in the box. So, we started to lunge (saddled and bridled) boy were the girls full of vinegar! A few bucks there, a challenge here, it was like watching rodeo horses! Well, their getting enough nutrients. Diamond, who is kept in the mare herd, calmed right down, however Lark who is kept in the box and gets turn out every day really had some power, it took her a few more rounds to settle.
We left the roundpen to mount. I first rode Lark to see that she was really settled down, and she was, and so my helper was up in a flash, and I mounted Diamond. Diamond has an interesting history, she was trained only with a rope halter and it was said she couldn't be ridden with a bit. Now, I believe in bits, as it was told me that once Diamond took off with a rider at one point. Diamond you see was bred at our farm, and is a fantastic horse. She wasn't trained though by us, and so we are working on certain parts, filling out Diamond's training, and one of those is to use a bit. She's been with us for a while now, and has really gotten settled with the bridle and bit.
We started with lunging her with a bridle and bit without reins last year. And, I started riding her initially with the rope halter and lead line as control while she got used to no pressure at all on the bridle and bit. Over time, a four rein system (like with a borsal where one uses the borsal and a bit to get the horse used to the feel) helped Diamond to understand what was being asked of her. She's much better now, and so today we restarted where we left off, light flexions to the right, to the left, giving by flexing in briefly, each time my hands offering a release within a second of her responding. Work in the walk and then the trot. It went well, and she was very concentrated on the work. Diamond is a bit of comic so she can often get distracted, so I was really proud of her. This is the first time in several months that she had been ridden except for a couple f rounds in the roundpen at the walk a few days before. Last year, we worked with her all summer to get her trail riding. I'm very happy with the results. My helper also did a great job riding Lark, she has spent a time away from riding, and is now really getting the hang of it again. We finished up just as it was getting dark!
Sadly, we forgot the camera :( I'll try to remember next time, it is just things happen so fast here, that sometimes I don't know that I'm going to ride until the last minute when the weather says, go for it!
We received about a foot of snow earlier in the week, so the stone walls were mostly hidden.
Vicki and Jake
Me and Freedom
Look at all those long white fences
Back in 2008 when my son, Eric, was 14 years old he decided that he wanted to start riding horse with us, so I threw him up on my QH, Jake, and off he went. He was one of those naturals that just hops on and seems to know exactly what to do. Case in point; he asked me how to post the trot and I explained it to him, telling him not to get discouraged because sometimes it took people quite a while to figure it out. We took off at a trot and he said "Is this how you are supposed to do it?". I couldn't believe my eyes, he was posting!!! I can't tell you how long it took me to figure out, I had to do the "1,2,1,2,1,2" in order to get the beat, lol! Anyhow, he decided he wanted to continue to ride so we bought me another horse, Shya, and I gave him Jake. We rode as a team on Competitive Mounted Orienteering that entire season. At the end of the season he stated "I don't want to ride horse anymore", and he stuck by it and refused to ride. Now I had three horses and two riders, teenagers!!! Jake was in his mid to late twenties and it hurt my body to ride him so he became a pasture pet. It has bothered me to have him in the pasture not being ridden because he is an amazing horse but Shya is just sooooo much smoother (and for a horse now in his early 30's he is in amazing shape). I have asked Eric time and time again if he would ride with me and he has refused every time. Until this week. I asked him if he would ride with me over Spring Break and he said YES! I hooked the trailer up yesterday morning with high expectations of driving an hour away, riding in the mountains, then picketing and enjoying a picnic lunch while we enjoyed the bluff view. Didn't happen, he wouldn't get out of bed. By 11 am my hopes were dashed. I figured he was blowing me off when he jumped out of bed and said "Let's go". Luckily we have some trails only 5 miles away from our house. They are logging trails that are no more than an hour and a half long, I wasn't going to get my picnic lunch but at least I would be riding. When we got there he helped me tack up the horses, and he remembered everything. Shya can be a bit of a handful so I put him on my husband's curly, Pickles. We took off and Eric asked why her ears were back. I looked at her and could tell she was trying to figure out who was up there. It was so funny. After a bit her ears came forward and she was fine (Pickles has mostly been ridden by my husband since we got her, with an occasional ride from me). Both girls were taking it really easy, as if they knew he hadn't ridden in a while. Shortly into the ride, Eric was ready to move out faster. Neither one of the girls is a leader so it was a bit of a work out on our parts. Shya kept slowing down in an attempt to let Pickles pass her so she wouldn't have to lead. Pickles would slow down so that she wouldn't have to pass Shya and take the lead. The same thing happened when we put Pickles in front. Our curly girls are NOT the most motivated when it is just the two of them so this was really good for them. It gave me a training opportunity for both the girls, which I love. I finally got Shya to be willingly in the lead and loping. I looked back at Eric and saw a big smile on his face as Pickles broke into her rocking horse lope. Tears of joy came to my eyes, I was riding horse with my son! How wonderful that I got to share this special day with him and our Curly girls. It is one I will always remember. Oh, and at the end we came across a few hikers who asked about our horses and I was able to pass on the word about our special horses with their hypo-allergenic qualities!
I jokingly posted on Facebook that this weekend would be a great weekend for camping since it would be in the 60's. My friend, Lara, commented back that it sounded like a good idea, maybe we should camp Saturday nite. She asked her husband, who immediately said yes, and I asked mine, who said he thought we were crazy, but agreed to go. I packed up Saturday morning and waited for Mark to get home from work at 1:30 pm. After he got home, we loaded up the girls and headed to Catoosa Ridge; which is about and hour away from us. When we got there our friends had our campsite all picked out and had a nice warm campfire going. We put the horses in the stalls and gave them food and water. We backed the trailer into the campsite and settled in next to the fire. We woke up the next morning, ate breakfast and hit the trails. In the past Shya spooked at the manure pit, the gazebo and the mounting block but this time she didn't seem to notice them. We were riding in the back of the line but Shya was fine with it because I have worked with her on being in different places in line. The problem arose when we missed a turn-off and I asked her to turn around and become the leader. She tried her famous "act like you are going to attack the horse next to you act" on poor Vegas. In the past I would be so worried about her hurting the other horse that I would just move her out of the way and let the other horse lead. But since I have my strength back I have not been allowing her to get away with it. My friend moved her horse out of the way and I made Shya lead. She was not happy, but she did it. She tried to move off the trail a few times, but I urged her forward. Then I asked her for a trot, which she did reluctantly. A few times she stopped and tried to let Pickles pass her, but Mark just stopped Pickles and I urged Shya on. She did try to ditch sideways into a tree at one point, but once again I urged her on. When she relaxed and accepted leading, I turned her to the side and allowed the others to pass and took the pressure off from her. I like it when I am trail riding and a learning opportunity arises. The rest of the trail ride was without event and we just got to enjoy each other. She just gets better and better with each ride and I love that I have friends that I ride with that are willing to let me work with her.
