Saturday and Sunday

I couldn't get out to visit the boys last week so I made up for it by visiting both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. And on top of that I have a new camera so I have a large pile of photos to choose from. I managed to catch Cody and Kalani playing their little game which I wouldn't have been able to get with my old camera (it reacts too slowly). I had picked up a pair of dairy boots last weekend and boy am I glad I did. It was mud up over my ankles. The horses were covered in it. All I did on Saturday was groom. I gave Corey and Beau their birthday treats since it was both of their birthdays this week.



The amount of mud and hair I curried off the horses was insane. I guess they roll in the mud to help the shedding hair fall off easier. I bought a shedding blade to help with that. Not a whole lot else was happening on Saturday. Most of the horses were hanging out in the paddock where the mud isn't quite as bad. I did manage to get Cody in the barn to groom him without Corey driving us nuts. And out of the mud it was easier to pick out hooves.

This morning I went out and got two new bridles from Fleet Farm. Nothing special, just brown leather english bridles with cavessons. I also stopped at Petsmart and picked up a D-ring bit for Axel. I have a loose ring snaffle from Tricia to try out on Cody.

I decided to take Beau for a little walk down the road. It's pretty tough for the horses to get around in the mud, they slip and slide all over. And Beau being as stiff as he usually is, just stands there. So we went out where there was solid footing and walked around for awhile. I think he enjoyed getting out a bit. I hope to walk him every time I go out there. My thought is that moving around like that will help loosen him up a bit so he'll be ready for a little trail ride this spring.


While we were on the road the other horses were playing in the lake in the middle of the pasture. Four of them were in the water pawing and splashing. It was pretty funny to see, too bad I didn't have my camera with me at that point. Cody was the only one not in the water. Seems like maybe he prefers to stay dry if possible. When the rest of the horses took off running through the water, he brought up the rear trotting as high as he could.

After walking Beau a bit I groomed some of the horses again. Of course as soon as I was done with Axel he rolled in the mud. I brought him into the barn and groomed him again and tacked him up. Got his new bridle on and adjusted. It's kind of stiff right now, I'll have to work on that. We just went up the road and back, probably 2 block lengths each way or a little less. Just a quick ride. It was pretty windy. Axel did well though, we even had a nice little trot, a very little trot. I think Axel has mastered the jog, too bad I had him in an english saddle and was planning to post the trot!

Axel is a Dressage Horse!

Tricia and I went out for a ride yesterday. After last weekend's ride I was a little wary on how the horses were going to act. Tricia brought her dressage saddle and bridle to try out on Axel. Mostly we just wanted to see how he'd go in a different bit. After we did our best to brush a thousand pounds of mud off them, I put my english saddle on Cody and we went out to the yard. Right from the start they were acting like dorks. It was super windy and it was supposed to rain.

We walked around to the front of the house and right as we got there Tom opened the house door. Both horses spooked. So that was a fabulous start to our ride. Tricia must have really gotten to Axel, because after that he was an angel. Cody on the other hand, was still all worked up. We got up on the road and road past the nursery. They had some piles of mulch or something covered with big white tarps that were blowing around in the wind. Neither horse really reacted until we were past. Then Cody refused to go any further. He'd back into the ditch and try and head back towards the barn. It took several tries, with Tricia ponying us, or getting off and leading us, to get Cody moving in the right direction. I finally managed to figure out what to do with him, with Tricia coaching. I guess we have two problems. One is that now that Cody is the #2 man he's even more herd bound than before. And the second issue is that he doesn't think of me as the boss. Luckily Tricia was able to get me some pointers on how to keep Cody thinking about me so that he didn't have time to think about the herd or the scary tarp. In the end we made it down the dirt road, turned around and rode back to the barn, into the wind. It was like a wind tunnel.

Cody was pretty well behaved on the way back, he was a little high strung but atleast he was moving in the right direction the whole time. Tricia gave me a different bit to try on him next time as well. Axel was a complete superstar in his dressage outfit. He loved the big and chewed on it the whole time. She said he needed a lot of leg but he moved right into the bit and was even foaming a bit. So I think we havea winning combination for Axel - a nice D ring snaffle, lots of leg, and a direct rein. Of course having a really good rider doesn't hurt ;)

Now I'll just have to figure out Cody's winning combination. Atleast when he gets high strung he doesn't bolt or runaway. He just likes to back into the ditch! Unfortunately my photos were really blurry this time. Time to get a new camera ;)

Not the best ride ever

Jeff and I went out for a ride yesterday. It was pretty windy out so maybe that was the reason all the horses were acting like goofs. Or maybe it was the warm weather, spring fever. The horses in the pasture were running through the mud puddles and bucking and kicking. As a matter of fact, so were Cody and Axel, while we were riding them!

I was in the tack room looking for the weight tape and Jeff was out in the pasture with Axel. I guess he decided to go for a little ride before we got the tack out. I came out to see him riding around on Axel bareback with no halter or bridle. We all think Axel isn't the smartest horse out there but I think maybe he's got more going on in his head than we give him credit for. He went straight for a low branched tree and brushed Jeff off his back right onto the ground. So that just started the day off on a good foot!

We groomed and saddled up and went out to the road. Axel proceeded to trot around into the ditch while Cody had his own little freak out circling around. We decided it must be the wind or something but neither horse would calm down. We just went back and forth on the road right in front of the pasture trying to calm them down. Cody kept sticking his tongue out and avoiding the bit so I finally got off and loosened his curb chain. That seemed to calm him down quite a bit but he was still a bit agitated. The rule was as soon as we walked calmly down the road and back we'd stop. Axel decided he didn't want to wait and started bucking like crazy. It was actually pretty entertaining to watch but I don't think Jeff felt the same way being the one on the horse.

We did make it down the road and back calmly after that. I'm afraid that now that Cody's moved up to #2 in the herd he's even more herd bound than before. But since all the horses were having issues it was probably just the wind.

Anyways ... after that we brought Beau in and took off his rug so he could roll. I brushed him and measured him with the weight tape. He's about 959Lbs according to the tape. Condsidering his age and all that that seems like a pretty decent weight. He's similiar to Cody and only 200Lbs lighter. Cody came up at 1111Lbs and Axel was at a whopping 1350Lbs. Without moving him to more level ground I remeasured his height, still at 16 or even 16.1hh. We wanted to confirm that since Noah at We Can Ride measures at 15.3hh and we didn't believe that Axel could be taller.