They're Alive!

The boys are both still alive and in one piece. After trying to wait out the cold weather last week and just being too lazy this weekend and N being busy the horses hadn't seen either of us in a while. But everyone was in good shape and enjoying their hay as usual.

Someone (Cody) actually made one path through the middle of the pasture to the fence line presumably to check out a couple new horses that are in the paddock across the driveway. But other than that, all signs point to very little movement away from the beloved hay bale. Man I can't wait until they can graze again.

I put Cody in the arena and grabbed Axel as well. Cody went about his usual speed inspection looking for a spot to roll, followed by the buck/fart/chase Axel routine. Cody ran Axel around the arena for a while before he finally got bored with that. I manged to brush both horses when they'd stand still for a few minutes. Looks like Axel might have found a spot to lay down outside at some point. He snorted around looking for a spot to roll in the arena; it took him a very long time between Cody chasing him off and his own reluctance to bend that knee.

So my plan was to tie up Axel, so he didn't kick down the gate or eat every rope in the arena, and bring Cody back out to the pasture. Axel decided his plan was to show me that I really need to start putting him back to work. He stood tied to the wall and bucked, and bucked, and threw a fit. For the safety of the barn itself and the horse I untied him but he was still being a spaz and I expected him to smash the gate open and gorge himself on alfalfa that was stacked in the aisle. So he won that battle and I tied up Cody instead. Cody was a little calmer and tends to opt for the side of self preservation over destruction so I figured he'd be fine tied, not to mention the fact he's been working all winter and is a little more sane. So poor Cody had to stand and wait while I put Axel out first.

Next time (dare I say tonight?) it's all Axel, ground work, lunging, and ground driving.

Always fun in the arena

How did it work out that I have today off *and* it was above 20 degrees? Good deal, I have to say. I ran out to the barn just to check on the boys and put them in the arena to stretch their legs. I'm really not doing very good in my quest to ground drive Axel all winter. I really need to get back on track with that.

Anyway, N was out to ride yesterday and said Cody wasn't interested in rolling. My guess is because Danny was in the barn aisle Cody was preoccupied with that as he's known to do. Otherwise she said he did really good and she thinks he's getting used to her and vice versa. Today both boys were covered in some ice/snow/wet since it snowed last night and was warm enough to melt on their backs so I figured if they aren't going to roll today then that's their own fault!

I put them both in the arena and actually had my Flip camera this time. Remind me not to zoom with it though. It's either the low light or the Flip doesn't have an optical zoom, either way it looks kind of crumby when I zoomed in, sorry. You can go to my YouTube page to see these in HD, I just linked a smaller size so it would fit on the page.

Cody rolled and ran and chased Axel.

And Axel did his best to fight back.

After many attempts to find a place to roll, Axel finally got down and rolled his heart out. It looked so good Cody joined in for a second roll of his own.

Just a little running around

Running Around from Elise Ferguson on Vimeo.

I had to drop off Axel's supplement last night so I put both horses in the arena for a few minutes to stretch their legs. I really wish they'd start using more of their pasture instead of just hovering over the round bale at all times. Common' horses, frolic in the snow a little, why don't ya? The boys seemed a little lazy so I brushed them down a bit, they must have been laying in the snow at some point. Cody had icicles on his tail and belly and chunks on his back. Axel was a little cleaner. For as lazy as they seemed it really only took one cluck or two from me and they were off. Cody's been trying out this new little bunny hop move that's pretty entertaining to watch. I did manage to catch some of the fun on video but as I'm standing there with my phone I realized I had the Flip in the car which would have made much better movies. Next time I will put the Flip in my jacket so I have it ready. Cuz really, you can never have too many videos of the same horses running in the same circles, right?

Oops I did it again

I made it out to the barn yesterday afternoon just to check on the boys and see if N was around and how things were going. She was just un-tacking Cody when I came in. The boy was calm and relatively sweat free. I, of course, ruined that. I grabbed Axel and we put both horses in the arena. They both laid down to roll and Cody found two spots to roll. There was a little bit of running and playing but nothing too spectacular. While N went and swept the barn aisle I grabbed a whip and encouraged the boys to get moving a bit. They did a couple laps in both directions at full speed before stopping and begging to be let out. Axel was breathing heavy and Cody was now a ball of sweat. Oops. He didn't seem interested in rolling at all so I put a blanket on him. Then of course he wanted to roll. Two blankets later he wasn't terribly dry but had stopped steaming a bit and was just making himself nervous wanting to go out so we let them be. I stayed a few extra minutes to make sure Cody wasn't getting cold but he seemed pretty okay with stuffing his face with hay.

I guess Cody was much calmer for N's ride this time than he was last week. He was a little startled by snow falling off the roof, she said but that was about it. They just did some walking around for the most part.

More Rearing

Ug I missed it again. I scrambled for my phone to try and capture Axel rearing and I missed it. Use your imagination, fat black horse up on his back legs.

Anyway I went out to the barn and really should have done a lot more than I did. It wasn't terribly cold tonight and I had a lot of time but as usual I just dinked around for a while. I groomed Axel and put him on the lunge line where he proceeded to trot like crazy several circles without me asking. Lame of course but not too bad in the grand scheme of things. I think he was tracking left/counter clockwise at the time. I can never remember which sides are my horses good sides and bad sides. Anyway, he walked when I asked and it was a really nice forward walk until I told him "good boy" and that's when he slowed down. I'm pretty sure he thinks "good boy" means "whoa." We spent a few minutes working on "whoa" and actually stopping when I said it. I had him switch directions and he set off cantering and bucking (on the right lead thank you). It took a few tries to get him back down to a walk but he's much better at stopping going to the right, he must not like that side as much. He seemed pretty alert on the lunge line so I thought maybe he'd be up for some fun with Cody.

Cody spins and rolls from Elise Ferguson on Vimeo.

I brought Cody in and turned both horses loose and that's when I tried to get to my phone in time. There was some running and bucking and rearing and I pretty much missed it all. I did manage to get a clip of Cody trotting around looking for a place to roll. He would spin and spin and spin before he finally got down to the ground. Why can't I get him to spin like that under saddle?

When the boys were done playing I thought I'd experiment and put Axel out and see if Cody had the same fit he did for N over the weekend. He did call out quite a bit while I turned Axel out and he nearly walked on top of me when I brought him to the center of the arena. I didn't have to encourage him to keep moving on the lunge line either. He was more than willing to get up and go. He was being a bit of a pill and trying to duck behind me so I wasn't in a position to drive him forward but other than that he was pretty decent. I didn't ride of course so I don't know how patient he would have been with tacking and all that. But hopefully we got a point across that it's not the end of the world. He'll probably be fine if he's first in the arena alone. I guess the alternative would be a horse you couldn't get to move.

Cody's a bit of a pill

Just heard from Cody's new rider. She made it out this afternoon for a bit of horse time. She put both boys in the arena for a bit so they could frolic and do their thing and then put Axel out so she could ride. Cody had other ideas and proceeded to freak out a bit at the thought of being alone. She did get in a ride but it sounds like it was a little bit more like prancing than walking. The old man would not calm down and kept calling for Axel. Not sure what his deal was, perhaps he's more used to me than I thought, or maybe just the slight change in routine was enough to put him off his game. Her plan for next time is to ride first and then bring Axel in last. Seems like that should do the trick. I rarely have both horses in at once and I think subconsciously I rarely leave Cody the last one in the arena. It's funny how you do things automatically without thinking. But it's a good lesson for Cody, it's not like in his 21 years of life Axel has ever left and not come back. Goofy horses.