Another Day Another Bit

Another nice day for riding this week. Wouldn't you know, I pull into the driveway and all the horses (okay, not Gunner) are standing around lazily in the paddock. As soon as I get my stuff out of the car and get my boots on, they've all decided to walk down the hill. They must know I need the exercise. Axel did decide to stay near the barn and see what I was up to. I picked on some of his scabs for awhile, he's still got some nasty mud fever even after the wet is gone. I sprayed him with Betadine but he wasn't too happy about it so he started to head for the hills as well. I went to see how close everyone was and if I could whistle and get them to come back. Axel was maybe 10 feet from me on his way down when I whistled. He turns and looks at me, and then decides I must be whistling for him so he turns around to come back to me. Goofy horse. Of course no one else came running, probably didn't hear me, I can't whistle very well.

Tricia arrived so we went down to fetch Cody, Kiko, and Kalani. Steph made it down and manned the gates for us. We groomed and tacked and all that good stuff. It's looking like I need an additional pad for Cody. His saddle is starting to get closer and closer to his withers. Ideally I'd have a couple nice contoured wool pads but they're pretty spendy so I'll have to use what I have for now. I also got a few different bits from Steph to try on Cody. We ended up trying a low port, short shanked, aluminum bit. The last one we tried was mullen and possibly put too much pressure on his tongue. He seemed pretty okay with our newest choice but we'll see after a few tries. It seems like it might be a bit narrow but both Tricia and Steph thought it looked alright.

I might need to take some western riding classes so I can learn how to neck rein. I feel a little out of control trying to ride with a super loose rein. Overall it went well. Steph got back on Kalani and he was just fine and Kiko was a rockstar as usual. Cody was really calm for most of the ride. We walked down the big hill, Cody leading, and he went slow and even stopped at the bottom of the hill (usually he wants to run). We decided to go back up the big hill. Kalani went first. I held Cody back thinking maybe we'd run up but we didn't really have space to start. But I barely even thought about asking him to move on and he just bolted up the hill. I'm surprised I don't have a cantle shaped bruise on my rear end. After that stunt he was a little worked up. Granted we were heading back in the direction of home so that might have had more to do with it.

We stopped in the clearing to do some schooling. Cody was much better than last time. He doesn't quite understand the point of going in a circle and staying on the circle instead of cutting in to get right behind another horse. But he was doing good. And I am getting better letting him have his head and using leg to steer. We even managed some left turns away from the group and the barn (left is our bad side). I did make one mistake on the way back. I thought I'd cut through a short cut and no one followed me, Cody realized it and spun around as fast as he could (we might have to teach him spins and rollbacks!). That and the usual dance up the last hill on the way home. No worries, we'll keep working on it.

Hey! It Really is Spring!

Well I think we can finally say it is spring. Steph and I went out on Tuesday to ride. Steph decided she was ready to ride Kiko. They had all just been turned out on the hill pasture so we had to go on the hike to find them. We were greeted by a stampede of horses. We grabbed Kiko and Cody and hope the rest of the horses would follow so we could lock them up and not have "helpers" when we went to ride. Unfortunately the rest of the herd decided to stop where they were and graze some more. We groomed Kiko and Cody in the paddock where Cody proceeded to scream and cry. We had their saddles on by the time the rest of the herd finally came running up the hill to see what the fuss was about. Axel was trailing the group but cantering and looking really great. It's too bad I didn't have a video camera or something, he looked really good.

So in the end we were able to lock everyone up in the paddock so we could make an easier crossing. Gunner was the only one that decided grazing was a better idea than coming to see what Cody was going on about. So he ended up staying in the pasture. He really didn't care what we were doing so we were able to cross the bridge with no help. Once we got across the bridge and on our way Cody calmed down and was a manageable horse. He still had some issues not totally walking down the little hills but he wasn't freaking out. I went with the longest rein I could muster and I think it really helped. He still wasn't totally in tune with listening to me asking for a walk or halt. But he was a lot calmer about the whole situation without me yanking on his face.

Windy Saturday

I was able to make it out to the barn again this weekend and it was really nice out today. No one was around and all the horses were standing in the paddock looking pretty bored. I brought my real camera with this time. I wasn't certain what I wanted to do so I started with grooming Axel. It was way too nice out to be in the barn and there were too many "helpers" standing around so I took Axel out to the yard. That way he was able to graze and help mow the lawn while I groomed. He's still looking pretty good. The tiniest bit tender on that back foot but walks around just fine. He's still getting scabs on his legs from the mud fever but that should start going away now that the mud is gone. He could have used a good scrubbing but I guess I'll have to do that another time. When I was done with Axel I grabbed Cody and groomed him in the same place. He's not quite as concerned with his herd when there's lush green grass in front of him. He wasn't too pleased to pick up his feet while he grazed however. I'm always wary to push my luck too far with Cody, I don't want him to shut down completely. I decided to do some ground work in the side pasture to see where he was at. We just did a few circles and he seemed pretty calm about it. We even tried the pedestal. He got right up to it but couldn't quite figure out what I wanted and ended up banging his knees on it trying to side step around it instead of taking a step up.

Since he was being pretty good I tied him up and grabbed my saddle and a mounting block. On the trail Cody can tend to be very distracted and stop paying attention to his rider completely. In the side pasture he's half distracted but will pay attention to the rider at least half the time. And when he's paying attention even just half way he's a pretty awesome horse. He's super sensitive and we were doing serpentines with just leg and seat aids. It took a little while to get him to turn both directions but he loosened up when he figured out we weren't traveling away from the herd at all, just doing circles and patterns. At the end of the ride he willingly walked to the far side of the trees where he couldn't see his herd. I dismounted and loosened the girth there as a reward.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to work on the standing still issue. I did try one trick, after riding I led him into the mounting block and asked for him to stand. I started untacking him there. As soon as he moved I put the saddle back on and walked him back to the block and asked for a halt again. This time he stood and I removed the saddle. He's good at standing for dismounting so that method of teaching him to stand still doesn't work too well, but the untacking might be a method that I can keep working on.

After that I hung around for a while and shot some photos with my camera. I let everyone into the round pen to eat the dandilions. I wasn't sure what the plan was for letting the horses in the pasture so I didn't want to step on any toes there, but I figured the round pen for a few minutes wasn't a big deal. All the horses were pretty happy about it. Axel was a bit pokey and couldn't find the door to the round pen. He ended up following me around quite a bit. I found a few itchy spots that he was more than happy to let me scratch, he was being kind of a puppy dog. It was nice spending some time with him.

Not the Cody we remember

Axel is looking pretty good these days. Not only is he almost done shedding and getting his shiny black summer coat (which will shortly be brown when he stands in the sun too long), but he is looking pretty darn sound considering. A month ago I thought we were in for a long haul with him. I expected that rest and bute wasn't going to do much and I'd have to explore injections or shoeing or something more expensive. But so far (knock on wood) the rest is doing the trick. The farrier was out on Wednesday and thinks he has a stifle locking issue but we'll give him a bit more time to start moving around more normal before we start diagnosing more issues that could just be stiffness due to favoring one leg. Anyway, he promptly trotted away from me in the pasture proving that he's feeling pretty good these days. He's been off the bute for a while and on some joint supplements for a few days. I'm giving him a week or two more of no riding and they should be on part of the hill pasture soon, that might put a bit more stress on his legs so I'm going to give him a chance to see if that will have any affect at all.

So we rearranged our riding this week to avoid rain and whatever. So Wednesday we all finally had a chance to get together and go for a ride. Tricia brought Oly over for the first time this spring. And by a twist of fate or just some communication error she ended up bringing Rocket over as well. The Pinto Creek herd was quite surprised to see a trailer pull up with more horses and it was quite the fiasco getting them past the herd out to the trail. Note to self, use the system the caretakers have set up with the rope to separate the paddock. Everyone was especially interested in Rocket. I think Kalani wanted to take him home and keep him.

So we looked at our options and thought maybe it would be best if Steph rode Cody. He has his moments but they are usually pretty mellow and Kiko and Kalani are still pretty unpredictable. So I was going to ride Kalani for the first time. Before Tricia arrived we had Cody and Kalani in the barn for grooming and Cody was being pretty decent. Only a few attempts to dig a hole under the barn wall. But things changed when Oly and Rocket arrived and then never really calmed down. By the end of the ride Cody was a sweaty mess. Our plan was to try Cody out with a shanked bit and neck rein since he was so responsive in the round pen over the weekend. But it's really hard to judge how that went since he was having a heart attack over Oly and Rocket instead. In all reality he did okay. Very prancy but never dangerous. Kalani was great. A little fast actually which was the opposite of what I expected as they told me he tends to just stop and refuse to move. Somehow I feel less in control with a hack, and a bit like I have no idea what I'm doing. I also felt a little heavy handed with him. He does move out more than either of my horses so I have a hard time telling if we're just walking normal but fast or if he's going to break into a trot. Thus the heavy hand.

After all the excitement, the ride was acceptable, we did a little schooling in the meadow. Kalani was not interested and wants to just follow someone else. Not something I feel like trying to break him of, so that'll just have to go on the trainer's schedule (Steph). Since Cody was so worked up we decided this was not the best choice to work on trailer loading. Turns out little Rocket had only been in a trail 4 times and he tends to leap into the trailer at that. So loading him took a few minutes but he really was good about it. He got both front feet in nice and quiet and then jumped in with both back feet at once. I guess when they got home he wouldn't get out of the trailer.

I'm hoping to get out there this weekend once or twice even and might just do some riding on Cody in the pasture. If the herd is out on the back hill it might be a tough ride since he'll be concerned that they aren't around. But it must be done. We'll see what happens, plans tend to change pretty easily.

Raining Saturday

I was on my own on Saturday so I ran out to the barn and tried to beat the rain. I actually ended up driving through it on the way down there but it was light and it was intermittent. I still would have preferred a day like Sunday but I guess I'll take what I can get. I groomed Axel first since he was nearest and looked interested in some attention. He's walking really well now. Just the tiniest bit tender but I watched him canter away from someone and came out of it no lamer than before so that's a good sign. And I hear he's been off the bute for a week now, another good sign that he's on the mend. My main purpose for heading over there this weekend was to drop off Axel's super huge bucket of joint supplements. It'll probably be a few weeks before we see any results from them, but I'm looking forward to it. Axel is almost back to his nice sleek black color. Which will of course turn brown again when he gets out in the sun.

I ended up having to chase Cody around the pasture for a while. His usual method is to walk away from me for 10 feet or so and then stop and let me catch him. Well he decided he wasn't going to be caught. So shooed him away with the lead rope several times around the pasture, in and out of the paddock. He finally ended up in the paddock alone so I locked the gate. He ran up and down the fence line for a while trying to figure out what to do while I watched. He finally stopped and walked toward me when he got tired of pacing. I really have to lay out a plan for working him through this herd bound issue. I groom him in the barn away from the other horses. He's not terrible but after a few minutes he tries to dig a hole under the barn wall. I finished grooming him and the rain had let up, at least for a moment so I saddled him up and went out into the round pen. My other idea for getting him through his issues is to do more work near his herd where he can be calm and listen to me. It's not fool proof but we'll keep working on it. He was fairly attentive in the round pen. And I did discover he's a lot more willing with neck reining and leg than direct reining. I'm not sure if that will translate to the trail when he's ticked off about not being back at the barn, but I'll give it a try. That also means I might have to pick up a new shanked bit if that's what he'd prefer to listen to. We worked a little on bending to a stop as well, but that didn't go quite as smoothly. And we're still having troubles standing for mounting. The trick to work on standing while dismounting isn't going to work for him since he stands well for that. I'll have to dig around and see what other techniques I can find for working on that issue.