Cattle Drive

Somehow I forgot to post about the Gary Cattle Drive. Tricia and I went out to South Dakota for the Gary Cattle Drive, unfortunately I was without a good camera and my mother-in-law's camera ran out of space so I only got a few kind of boring photos. They drive the herd right through the middle of town. We're going to try and weasel our way into the drive next year.

Love the bean field

This is Beau. Clearly he has no issues with the white fence. It's not on, but my horse, Cody, still won't go anywhere near a white line thinking it might be hot. Beau, on the other hand, has no issues with that. We gave him all sorts of hay but apparently we didn't hand pick all the best bits for him so he decided to find some for himself.

Jeff came out with me again so he could shoot his bow while I rode and Tricia wasn't able to get a truck so no Oly. But we lucked out again and they still haven't plowed the bean field by the ranch. Unfortunately it's still a slow ride to get there since Axel is the king of slowness. But once we get there we do quite alright. Tricia rode Cody bareback on a saddle blanket. Steph rode Kalani after already having worked Kiko in the field before we got there. And I rode Axel. My goal was to stop nagging and figure out how to relax my rear end. I tend to squeeze from the waist down which is not a good deal. Firstly it leaves my inner thighs killing me the next two days, it confuses the horse who thinks I'm trying to half halt, and it makes me super bouncy in the saddle.

So lesson #1 for me was to not squeeze and hold too much. Bump, click, whip. The bump isn't as easy as it sounds. I'm so used to squeezing Axel to get him to move. We'll have to keep working on that one.

Lesson #2 for me was too keep my lower back and rear end relaxed. We did a lot of bizarre posting and twisting to try and get my lower leg independent from my upper leg. Then we worked on seat bones and bending Axel in a serpentine using one seat bone at a time. I did some wiggling back and forth to try and find each hip. Axel might have thought I was nuts.

Realization #1 Axel is stiff to the right because I cannot get my right seat bone down to cue him to bend around in that direction. He does awesome with very little leg or rein and only left hip when we go that direction. But right is not so good.

We did end up cantering once or twice. I think the one time Axel finally started from his rear end (that's a good thing). I was also threatened with lunge line lessons. Luckily my horses don't lunge well yet. ;)

Saturday Ride

So prior to the annual get together at the Ranch I went out to ride Axel and groom everyone so they were semi-presentable for guests. It's time to get back to work for Axel and I don't think he's totally happy about that. The pasture is really wet so we didn't want to risk sliding around and also ripping up the grass so we went for the bean field again. Steph was riding Kalani as he needs a lot more time under saddle. The bean field is still super nice and I hope they don't plow for a long time :>

One of my goals for Axel is for me to stop nagging. Squeeze, click, crop. But some how he knows when that's my goal and goes really well on the squeeze or the squeeze, click. But hey, anything that keeps me from having to constantly kick is fine by me. Though he still requires a lot of leg to bend and all that so I'm pretty sore even today. We did some trotting in a not so nice frame. We did some walking and some figure eights in a really good frame to the left, not so much to the right. We even did some cantering. He's pretty good going right with the incorrect lead. Er I think it's going right, now I can't remember. I know it was the wrong lead but he even though about framing up for it. And we made a circle at the canter. Both of which I think are firsts. So I'll take it. We'll work on leads later. After a few times cantering he wasn't so pleased being asked to do it more so things got a little hairy at that point. Speed trotting. But we're slowing working up to a nice extended walk. Slowly, very very slowly. And we're getting pretty good at a square halt.

Kalani was having forward issues but finally worked out of it after about a half hour. He was quite a sweaty mess. Axel is at least up to being able to trot for a half hour without sweating too much. On the way back Axel and I had a couple little trots on the buckle so he can start to learn to stretch out his neck when allowed.

Another Rainy Day

So last night's riding consisted of Jeff, Andy, and I driving out to Tom's. We met Tricia and Steph there as well. Jeff and Andy went off to shoot their new fancy compound bows. Steph had already done an hour of ground work with Kalani when it started raining. We ended up standing around and chatting. I groomed Cody and Axel and combed Corey's mane a bit. We did end up feeding, I chose to not tie anyone which was interesting to say the least. I'm going to see if Tom will increase Cody, Axel, and Corey to 6 cups a day of grain. They're getting a little ribby. So anyway the photos are from Saturday which I think is the last day it didn't rain. It's supposed to be nice on Saturday and there's a party out at the barn so I think I'll head out early and ride a bit. And we still haven't done some of our vaccinations. And I still have to worm from last month. And the farrier should be out soon, as in several weeks ago would have been ideal. Everyone is trying to convince me to have the Chiropractor out this fall instead of waiting until the spring. I just have to figure out if I can afford to have both Cody and Axel adjusted right now. It's worth the cost but scraping together the money is another story.

Slacking again

Okay okay, I'm slacking on my updates. Things are still pretty busy after the wedding so that's my excuse. You can take it or leave it I suppose. Anyway, on to the important stuff.

October 10
Tricia met me out at the barn without Oly this time. I saddled up Axel and she jumped on Cody bareback and we went for the bean field. It was still not plowed and I am thankful for that. Lots of wide open space to ride in. Once again Axel and I had some nice canters. Seems like right lead only but hey, it's a start.

October 14
We decided we needed to go on another trail ride but we were getting sick of the same old trail so we packed up Axel and Oly and went down south of Red Wing to Hay Creek. I somehow forgot Axel's bridle. Luckily Tricia had an extra since Oly was using his bosel. We did remember lots of snacks and lunch and ended up staying on the trail for something like 5 hours. It's a pretty nice state park/forest with lots of trails and even some small water crossings. Unfortunately a lot of the trails were rocky and hilly. Neither of which Axel really appreciates. He tends to aim towards the cliff side of the trail and I don't quite trust his judgment or his ability to find good footing. So there was a little bit of fighting over which side of the trail to ride on. But we survived. This is not a trail for Cody unless I get him some boots. Oly did pretty well also considering he was in a bosel. He continually wanted to turn around and go with whatever group of horses happen to pass us. We usually don't see other horses on the MN Valley Trail we frequent. So seeing other horses was a nice surprise. Tricia pointed out that Oly and Axel were the two biggest horses there. Everyone else had small gaited horses and the like. All in all it was a good ride on a gorgeous fall afternoon. Luckily we both had heated seats in our cars to sooth our rears after 5 hours in a saddle!

We're High Fashion

So Axel and I are *not* slaves to fashion. In fact, we're probably quite the sight when seen walking down the road. I won this blue plaid saddle blanket on the trail ride a few weeks ago. My regular black and my white pads are both connected to my jumping saddle and I'm too lazy to swap them out. So the new pad goes on. Then the black saddle. And the brown stirrup leathers which also belong to my jumping saddle but since I haven't wanted to spring for $80+ black dressage leathers, that's what I use. I haven't conditioned my black dressage bridle yet so Axel wears a brown bridle. Yesterday he also wore his yellow halter and the blue bell boots cuz the black ones have seen better days and I can't get the mud off them. I, on the other hand, am the epitome of couture ... not. Brown paddock boots, left my half chaps in the other car, tan breeches, orange tshirt, black gloves, and a black and red vest cuz it's a little cool out. H-O-T hot, as Tricia would say (though she wears her chaps over shorts).

On to the point of this post. I couldn't wrangle anyone up for riding last night and the weather was just too nice to pass up. So I went out to the barn alone. It's been quite a while since I've done that. Glad I went out there though. Axel and I went out on the road. I was thinking we'd maybe try a canter in the wide part of the ditch but it was kind of holey so we just trotted. But! We ended up coming to the bean field on the other side. The bean field that had already been combined but not dug. And it wasn't too sloppy from the rain. So into the field we went. We were working on some trotting in a circle (which we have conveniently forgotten how to do) when a big Weimereiner came running up at a distance. He must have been scared of Axel because every step Axel made toward him, the dog backed up. When he finally decided to go home Axel and I got back to work. This time I asked for a canter. And off we went cantering in the field at a nice controlled (but not collected) canter. Not a single buck. Left lead most of the time though I thought I felt him try and switch but our stamina is not there so our bouts of cantering weren't too long. Reminded me that I need to work on my canter to trot transitions, I bounce all over. In any case it was fun and we had brakes. I could have kept going but I figured Axel needed the reward of being done so we headed for home, at an almost decent paced walk I might add.

Yay for the basics. I'm excited to get back to schooling type riding. Trail riding is fun and all but I like seeing the improvements when we school.

A Few Rides

Sept. 5th
So the Wednesday before the We Can Ride trail ride fund raiser Tricia brought Oly and Cinder over along with her niece so we could all go for a ride. I rode Kiko to give her a try with a less experienced rider and Jeff rode Kalani. I think Steph rode Corey but I can't recall at this point. All was going well until we got down to the bridge. Kiko was throwing a fit because she didn't get to go over the bridge first. Lexi and Cinder rode across the bridge after Tricia. Just as Cinder got to the end of the bridge he started heading towards the edge. He misstepped off the bridge into the ditch scraping his leg on the way, Lexi bailed off, and Cinder scrambled to get up the ditch. As he scrambled he farted and scared Oly who in turn tried to kick Lexi in the head. Luckily Tricia had dismounted already and spun him out of the way and Lexi made it out unscathed but a little shook up. The rest of the ride went alright. Kalani behaved wonderfully and Kiko was just a little worked up. She's definitely a different ride than I'm used to.


Sept. 9th
So the following Sunday we all met up at the ranch to load horses and head down the road for the trail ride. We recruited Anne to ride Cinder and Jenny to ride Corey and Steph's dad to ride Axel. So it was a big group. Naturally none of the horses wanted to load and it took quite a while to get everyone situated in a trailer. When we finally got everyone in we zipped down to the trail 5 miles done the road. Everyone unloaded and Cody was left for last. I was backing him out of the trailer when one of the other horses whinnied and Cody had a fit. He decided he needed to be out of the trailer as fast as possible and took my hand with him. I almost always wear gloves but for some reason I wasn't that day. Cody ended up spraining my middle finger and ripping the fingernail nearly all the way off. I managed to keep a hold of Cody but I was bleeding all over the place. So the rest of the day I went around with my finger wrapped in blue vet wrap.

So after the excitement of ripping my finger off died down we went on our merry ways for the trail ride. We ended up in a fairly large group of horses that included ours and Tricia's friend's horses. There were some minor issues between horses but nothing we couldn't deal with and everyone settled in pretty easily. At one point Kalani decided he needed to shake and shook the saddle right off him. Tom ended up on the ground and the saddle was hanging off the side of the horse as he scurried around trying to figure out what is going on. We caught Kalani and got everyone all situated again and everything was fine. I guess that's the trouble with horses that don't have withers. Not a problem I have to deal with on Cody or Axel. We ended up riding quite a ways when Steph decided she'd head back with Kiko, Kalani, and Axel. The rest of us went for a gallop up the sand hill. Cody can really move when he's allowed. I was also surprised he didn't totally freak out about being left with just Corey and some other horses he didn't really know. I refrained from trying to get him to jump over a log, though it would have been fun. The ride back was quick as Cody wouldn't walk. He should have been exhausted at this point but he would not slow down so we let them canter for a while. When Cinder tried to get up past us I put the reins forward a bit and Cody just stretched out his canter. It was so nice. I could have let him canter the whole way back but then we would have probably had to pick him up to put him in the trailer. We had the usual loading issues on the way home, maybe slightly calmer than before but some of the horses still put up a bit of a fight. It seems like no matter how awesome they do when we practice, they decided on the trail ride to forget how to load. When I win the lottery I'm buying a nice big gooseneck trailer. Maybe they'll load into that easier!

Sept. 19th
So after the wedding Jeff and I went down to Mexico for our honeymoon. We arranged a trail ride that included riding on the beach and in the ocean. The horses were pretty old and you could pay extra to gallop on the beach but we opted to not do that. The trail ride itself was pretty spendy to begin with. My horse was named John Deere and Jeff's was Colonel Sanders. We rode through the jungle for a while and along the beach. When it was time to ride in the ocean they just untacked a couple horses and we took turns as couples riding into the ocean. They insisted upon leading the woman's horse into the water though I think the men needed more help. It was a pretty good time. Though not the same as galloping around and taking your own horse into the water.

Sept. 26th
Finally last week we stopped by WCR to take a look at the fence issue and then met Tricia out at the ranch. She had Oly there early and was working him in the round pen. He had stepped on his reins and ripped his face up and broke his bridle so he was looking pretty spiffy at that point. But he wasn't really fazed by it so I tacked up Axel and she and I headed out back for a bit while Jeff hung out and waited. We had a decent ride. Axel was his usual slow self. Though we did have a nice canter through the woods with no bucking. It started raining on the way back but even rain doesn't speed up Axel. We left Oly in the barn while we went to the bar and waited for the rain to die down. Tom was a little surprised to see an extra horse when he got home.

Trail Ride #3 - not really

We ended up being short a truck and trailer this week due to the State Fair and Tricia's husband needing the truck for goats (I say the goats have a bus why do they need a trailer - ask Tricia about the goat bus sometime). And since it had rained the past week non stop we thought maybe the back trail would be a little slick. So it was down the road for us. Tricia's niece came and rode Corey for us. I saddled up Cody. Tricia was on Kalani and Steph was on Kiko. Even though it had rained and there was barely any gravel on the dirt road Cody was tripping and limping and acting quite like a baby for the first leg of the road. I started to think he was lame until we got to some grass and then he was just fine. It might be time to invest in some boots for him. He just can't handle the rocks. And I was a little worried since I haven't had the chiropractor out again for his re-check that he might be getting sore again but he was an angel once we got out of the rocks.

The greenies had a great ride and Corey also had a good ride with his young rider. We just made a short trip down the road and headed back. When we got back we decided to work on Corey's training for therapeutic riding. Lexi kept riding and we attacked Corey with balls and hula hoops and big blue tarps. He was a champ. He side stepped once when he stepped on the hula hoop the first time. After that he only tried to get away from the hula hoop when it ended up between his back legs. And his spooks were very small, Lexi had no issues riding him at all, and it was her first time in an english saddle. He also survived the crazy jumping sidewalker test. So we'll probably play with him a few more times and then I think he's ready for his new job at WCR.

Don't forget about the We Can Ride Trail Ride Fund Raiser coming up in September!

Trail Ride #2

We know better than to think it'll actually rain when it looks like it might. Though after this week we're probably wrong. Last week we went for trail ride #2. This time Tricia brought down her trailer and two of her horses along with her niece. Kalani still needed practice so he was Steph's chosen mount, and I chose Corey who needs some attention before he goes off to his new job of therapy horse. Kalani did pretty well in the trailer this time. The ride for me was quite different than on Axel. Corey pretty much just bounces the whole time. In fact he booked along at lightning speed so much that we might have nearly doubled our ride distance from the week before. And Corey hasn't really been ridden this year yet.

On the way back it was evident that he was getting pretty tired. He was darn sweaty and kept scratching his face on his leg. At one point he stopped to scratch, at least I thought, and instead he just laid down with me on top! He's one of those horses that just buckles and bam, he's on the ground. Most horses go down front first then back end. Not Corey, so I really didn't even have a chance to pull him up or even bail before he hit the ground. So once I figured out where his legs were I bailed. I'm glad he's a short horse. He didn't roll, probably because he was saddled. So I got him back on his feet and paid very close attention the whole way back. I figured he'd be pretty sore so we gave him some aspirin with his dinner (which he didn't appreciate).

Kalani was a champ getting in the trailer this time so he's officially off the hook for this week. The plan, if it's not still raining, and the trail isn't 3 feet of mud, is to take Olly, Kiko, Corey, and Cody out. Cody will be our last challenge for trailering. He just doesn't really want to get in the trailer. Perhaps with Corey and Kiko along things might go a bit smoother. I'm giving Axel some time to rest, Steph's dad is going to ride him for our trail ride fund raiser and I guess he's a big guy. But he does like to mosey along so that will make Axel a happy camper.

First Trail Ride

Well, first trail ride for Kiko and Kalani. Steph decided it was time that the greenies got a chance to ride in the trailer and go for a real trail ride. We especially wanted to test them prior to the trail ride fund raiser. The trailer loading didn't go quite as expected. We had only practice once, Kiko was a champ and Kalani had been surprisingly good as well. We put Axel on first with the intention of putting Kalani next to him. But after about 2 seconds of standing in the trailer, Axel gets bored and starts pawing and banging on the walls. Which in turn scared Kalani and he wouldn't get it. After untangling Axel and trying to convince him to get his feet under him, I unloaded him and we tried a different approach. Kalani wouldn't go in alone so we put Kiko in. Finally Kalani decided it was okay and he got in next to her. Axel squeezed himself in the back behind the middle divider and we were off.

It's a short drive down to the state trail, which is a good thing. There was a lot of stomping going on behind us. We pulled in and unloaded Axel to find Kalani had pinned Kiko in the front part of the trailer. It wasn't a cool day and Kiko was sweating bullets. Kalani was dry as a bone. We let the horses rest for a few minutes while we gathered our tack. And then we were off and running. Okay not really running. Especially me, Axel doesn't run, usually. I'm not sure how long or how far we rode. We didn't make it down to the open field for cantering nor did we make it to the picnic spot. But we were out there for quite a while. Axel was particularly annoyed that he had to walk up the sand hill, that was a bit more work than he was ready for. Kiko and Kalani did really well. They were curious and frightened of a few things but overall it was really uneventful. We had some nice trotting (the only time Axel can keep up). And Axel and I had some bucking when we tried to canter to catch up. I guess we have to put that on the list of things to work on.

We made it back to the trailer in once piece and it was still light out. The weather threatened a bit of rain but it turned out to be 2 drops. Our plan for exiting was going to be Kalani in first, then Axel. But Kalani would not go in. Steph didn't want Kiko in front because she didn't want her to get squished again. We decided that Axel wouldn't squish her (just spin around and try and stand on the wrong side of her like he tends to do) so we put Kiko in and then Axel and closed the middle divider. Wouldn't you know, even after standing exhausted by the trailer so quietly, Axel still managed to maneuver his way facing backward. I had to unclip him and just let him stand the wrong way. Luckily Kiko held her own and it ended up with Kiko facing forward but diagonal, and Axel crammed in the corner facing backwards. He, of course, deserved it.

After much fighting we finally got Kalani in the trailer in the back half and made our way home. Once again it was a bumpy ride but short. Kalani unloaded, Axel had his head stuck between the divider and the roof of the trailer, and Kiko unloaded fine. In the end we all survived and fed dinner in the dark. Cody hadn't jumped the fence and seemed fairly calm though he called to us quite a bit when we were leaving. I'm not sure the plans for next week. Tricia has a different trailer she thinks is bigger and she wants to bring Olly down for a ride. I think we're all pretty confident about Kiko so maybe it'll be a trail ride with Olly, Axel, and Kalani. Or maybe I should bring Corey instead, he needs the practice especially if he's going to be a therapy horse this fall.

Slacking

I'm slacking on updates lately. No photos from last week either. Tricia couldn't make it out and it was hotter than hot so we decided against any riding. And since we didn't have her truck to hook up to the trailer we couldn't work on trailer loading. Though in hindsight I wish I would have worked on just standing next to the trailer calmly with Cody. That would have a been a good lesson.

In any case we just gave everyone a bath. Kiko and Kalani's first bath in a long time. Kiko even got shampooed. Everyone else just got a nice hosing down. Axel enjoyed himself quite a bit. He was all crusty from dried sweat so it must have felt good to get that cleaned off. Of course the first thing all the horses did was roll. But at least they got their shower on a hot day.

It's too hot!

It was just too hot to work last night. We weighed the options of swimming, just riding, giving the horses baths, or working on trailer loading. We decided the trailer loading was our most needed lesson. Kiko was a champ, Kalani was a champ, Cody ... not so much. I got his front feet in no problem nearly every time. I got his whole body in once. After that he wanted nothing to do with it. I did some lunging and tried again. He still refused. Tricia did some lunging because he kept plowing people over, then she tried loading him. Finally after a long time of waiting and asking and waiting and asking, I got to the side of him and tapped him in the butt with a carrot stick (natural horsemanship tool like a whip but not). If he moved forward, I'd stop tapping. If he backed out, I'd tap. Nothing even close to painful, just annoying ... tap, tap, tap. Sure he was probably bored by now and just gave in. But he stayed calm and jumped right up into the trailer. We tested the process several times and each time he got in easier. So the tapping has won. We're going to try again next week instead of waiting so long between lessons.

We have a plan for the week after next, Tricia will bring Olly down and we'll load up two of our horses (probably Cody and Kiko) and make a dry run down at the state trail. Maybe we'll try Kalani the week after. I'm not sure what Cody's deal is with the trailer loading. Especially since he'll load once like a champ but then freak out in subsequent loading tries. He definitely needs a confident leader and it takes a lot of patience to gain his trust. I thought just maybe the trailer loading issue would go away now that his back seems to be feeling better, but I guess those were a little to high of hopes. Oh well, we'll work our way through it.

Next trailer lesson: getting Axel to back out, yikes!

Sticky Horses

It's been a while since I've been out to see the horses. No lesson this week, Tricia was away. So Steph and I went down the road with Kalani and Axel. Kiko's hooves are split so she won't be going on the road until we get her shod. Axel was his usual lazy slow self and Kalani wasn't much better. Well I stand corrected, Kalani isn't slow. He's sticky. He stops and will not go. When he does go he can really move out nicely but when he gets stuck it's for good. Steph finally added spurs and a crop to her person but I think he pretty much ignored the spurs. She was a little freaked out on what his reaction would be to the crop especially since we were on the road so she skipped trying that out.

It was super windy but Kalani did pretty well with that. I like riding in the wind, especially Axel. Since he goes so slow, the wind makes me feel like we're going really fast! Our future plans include some trailer loading and unloading lessons, a trip or two down to the state trail for some trial trail riding, and of course the We Can Ride trail ride fund raiser. All that and a wedding of course!

Time for a swim!

Considering it was 90F out and a billion percent humidity, when I got to the barn I thought better of doing an actual riding lesson with Axel. Steph and I decided to take Kiko, Kalani, and Axel down to the creek and go for a swim. Unfortunately Tricia had fallen asleep and forgot to show up ;) While we waited Steph got on Kalani bareback for the first time to see how he'd react. He was being quite stubborn and not wanting to move. So after she got him moving a bit she called that a lesson and moved onto Kiko. Since Tricia didn't show up we decided just to Axel and Kiko down ourselves.

I made a few feeble attempts to swing up on Axel by standing on a bit of a hill but it just didn't work. I was able to jump up on him but only after we went halfway down to the bridge and Axel stood in a big rut. Guess I have to practice that a bit more. He's a good horse to practice on, he just stands there like nothing's going on.

We decided there was no better way into the creek than where we got Axel in the other day so that's where we headed. Kiko was a little on edge having never walked around in that area before and only being her second time across the bridge mounted. We got to the edge of the creek and I decided to wade in myself to see where the best places were to stand since last time Axel took a nose dive in to a deep spot. We thought maybe I could find a better way in but I wasn't really able to find anything. Axel climbed down the bank without any issues. It took quite a while, however, to convince Kiko to climb down the bank. The water didn't scare her but instead she didn't want to take the big step down the bank. After wading around for a while Axel and I found a slightly better spot on the bank that was more of a slope than a step. After a few minutes of coaxing Kiko to step down in that stop she finally ended up in the water.

When we were done wading around we headed back up to the barn. I couldn't get back on Axel so I ended up walking up, getting my exercise at the same time. Swimming was definitely the best way to beat the heat.

Success!

I do hearby declare (and maybe regret it later) that Cody has been cured of his crankiness by one Dr. Westman, equine chiropractor and vet extraordinaire. I think I gave it enough time and testing with various variables to determine that Cody is now feeling much better than he was. He's back to his old happy self, easy to ride, and a great baby sitter. He's also very shiny. Though I didn't have many doubts I decided one more ride for he and I would be in order. Okay okay I haven't taken him out alone yet but even when he was cranky that wasn't any worse than riding him with another horse so I just haven't gotten around to testing him out like that. It was hot, and Tricia and I decided we just didn't want to think about working on the dressage yet so another trail ride was in order.

Tricia opted for bareback on Axel and I stick with the dressage saddle on Cody for our trail rides. The possible path to the creek was still a bit muddy though we tried it again. Turns out what Tricia had seen as a possible way into the creek was in fact a big cliff not something we could pass. So that was out. So it was back up the hill as usual only this time we ventured off the trail. Into the woods. Did I mention, no trail? Axel stomped over trees, Cody waited until Axel picked the worst possible route and then we'd go around a different way. Luckily I was wearing pants and had a saddle. Tricia, on the other hand, was not so lucky riding bareback with shorts and no shoes (hey she had her helmet on, we're a poster for safety these days). We ended up going nowhere and having to turn around and go back. Somehow we came out of the woods in a different place than we went in. Needless to say it was interesting. I think under normal circumstances Cody probably wouldn't have enjoyed our trek through the woods but stepping over all those trees and branches was probably scratching the bugs away quite nicely. Unfortunately the photos I took don't do the woods justice. It was a lot more crowded in there than it looks. The rest of the ride was just some meandering around as usual. No major work, just walking and sweating and staying on the trail. At the end of the ride it was thundering and the clouds started looking pretty ominous. We made it back to the barn, untacked, fed everyone, and got to the bar before it started hailing. We have great timing, I tell ya!

Test #3 for Cody

The bugs are getting bad again. Luckily this time I remembered to buy some fly spray. Who knows if it'll work. It's a good placebo at least. Steph was on her way to Colorado this week so it was just Tricia and I, a good time to test out Cody's attitude without Kiko or Kalani. I'll remind you that prior to the chiropractor visit, Cody would constantly try and turn around and go back to the barn when we rode him. It was a struggle just to keep him going in the right direction. The past two rides were great but we also had multiple variables. Kiko and Kalani were finally ready for the trail. Being near the top of the herd I couldn't confirm that it was the chiropractor that changed his attitude or if it was the fact he got to ride out with a couple more of his herd than usual (though we had issues when we'd ride with Corey).

So this week (we've moved our lessons to Wednesday so we can partake in Ladies' night at the bar afterwards) we headed back out to the trails. I picked up an English breast collar to try with Cody. You generally wouldn't put a breast collar on a dressage saddle but since we were trail riding and that saddle slips so bad on Cody I figured it was worth the $10 at the tack sale.

Cody was feeling a little slower than the past two rides. Granted it was over 80F. But even with his laziness/tiredness/slowness he never once tried to spin and run for home. At one point Tricia was trying to get Axel to canter and ended up cantering off to where Cody couldn't see, he just looked up for a second and went back to munching on grass. He even refrained from calling back to the herd when they called to him. He felt a little off so we didn't work him much. We did the usual trail through the woods. He still wants to canter down and up those little hills but I can keep him at a controlled trot now at least.

When we came back down the main hill we ventured off to another trail we hadn't been on yet this year. I'm on a quest to find a way into the creek and Tricia thought she saw one. Unfortunately it was swamp on the way there. Axel froze, and Cody tried to high tail it out of there (he doesn't care for mud too much). So that plan was foiled. We did find a short drop off on the opposite side of the bridge that Tricia managed to get Axel in. Cody didn't really want any part in that adventure so we sat and watched. Our little creek gets a lot deeper than anyone though. Axel ended up to his belly at one point. In an attempt to turn around and come back and avoid the deep spot they ended up going for a bit of a swim. Axel's front end went off a ledge and he dunked himself head first into the creek, butt in the air. He didn't look entirely pleased with it and Tricia managed to contain herself until he was back to ankle deep water. Then we burst out laughing, I wish I would have gotten that on film. Poor Axel, his forelock was all wet and he looked pretty pathetic. But I bet the cool water felt good. He just didn't appreciate getting water in his ears. I had a video of him all wet getting out of the creek but that's another video that keeps failing when I try and upload it for whatever reason.

So all we're left with is a video of Axel trotting around with Tricia. Unfortunately YouTube compresses the heck out of the video and it ends up looking pretty bad. I should see if they look any better on other services or if I can just put them on my own server.


The final consensus is that Cody is feeling better thanks to the Chiropractor and his attitude has improved significantly making him much more fun to ride. I'll have the chiropractor out again in a couple weeks and see how he's doing and have a follow up adjustment.

Cody's Second Test

I didn't want to get too excited last week when I rode Cody along with Jeff on Axel and Steph on Kiko. I was optimistic that the chiropractic adjustment would help Cody feel better and would change his attitude, but with Kiko along it was hard to tell which factored into his mood. He was really great but I didn't want to jinx it. So this week Steph decided it was time to try and take Kalani on the trail. Tricia came along and rode Axel and I rode Cody. I'm still hesitant to say Cody's attitude change is just from the Chiropractor, but dang! He did so well once again - and no Kiko this time!

Kalani was quite a bit more hesitant than Kiko had been on her first ride. He was pretty sticky too. He'd stop and then refuse to move any more. But we made it through the meadow and through the woods and back without any major drama. Cody was an angel, I rode on a loose rein (proof in the photo) and he even almost walked down his favorite hill to run on. He seemed a little annoyed at Kalani if he got too close but I know they're buddies so I wasn't too concerned. He was probably just demonstrating his authority since Kalani hadn't been on the trail before.

So after a couple laps on top the hill we did a lap in the bottom of the hill pasture. Trotted over the log a few times. Cody did it once and then decided we had teased him long enough and it was time to go home. But he was still pretty well behaved. Axel tried his hand at jumping the log as well. I made a little video, but once again I will have to upload it later. Our next test will be just Cody and Axel on the trail, and perhaps just Cody on the trail. I should probably ride Cody a time or two more in lessons before switching back to Axel, just to build a better understanding of what Cody is looking for from me and what I'm trying to tell him.

Okay for some reason this particular video keeps failing when I try and upload it.

Kiko's First Trail Ride

We didn't have a lesson this week on Tuesday because we were getting ready for our tack sale at WCR. So last night I convinced Jeff to come out to the barn with me and go for a ride. Steph decided to head out there as well and work with Kiko and Kalani since she had missed Tuesday also. Jeff likes to go out to the pasture and find Axel and just get on him, bareback with no reins or anything. That usually doesn't go real well but he managed to stay on until Axel went for a skinny path between the electric fence and the round pen, so Jeff bailed. Stephanie got Kalani ready pretty quick and went out to make up for his last lesson where he was a total spazz. Jeff and I stayed back to groom Cody, Axel, and Kiko. We convinced Steph it was time to take Kiko on the trail. Meanwhile she and Kalani had a pretty good lesson. His first lesson with the hackamore last week did not go well. It was too windy and he was just freaking out. Luckily this week it was nice and calm and he did just fine in the hack (yay I get my D-ring bit back). He was kind of sore (probably from their farrier visit on Wednesday) so she ended the lesson early and on a good note.

We finished getting the other horses ready and covered in fly spray. I picked a wood tick off Axel's sheath, not exactly the best place to have a tick I would think. Both my horses were pretty beat up from bugs, hopefully the Wipe will last a few days. I've gotta pick up some actual fly spray this weekend. Any recommendations?

For some reason this week, Axel was just pissed about his skid boots. Jumped around like a fool, untied himself, and ran off up to the overhang of the barn. Then when Jeff went to lead him to the gate he was just angry and planted his feet. I'm not sure he'll ever get used to those boots, but I guess him being pissed off is better than him kicking himself bloody. So we mounted up on the other side of the gate from the rest of the horses and headed off in to the sunset. Okay well just headed off down the hill. This was Kiko's first trail ride, and probably her first time carrying a rider up and down hills. I don't want to put all the credit on the chiropractor because I'm sure Kiko's presence helped, but Cody was absolutely awesome. Calm, forward, and happy. I'm sure feeling better after the adjustment played a large role in that. We'll see next time we ride without Kiko.

We made it across the bridge and up the hill, through the woods, and out into the meadow. We even had a little trot and Kiko was a saint. I think she startled twice, but her version of startling includes planting her feet, that's the kind of spooking we'll take. We stopped for a photo since I made Jeff carry his new camera and then we went back down the hill. This time Kiko went across the bridge while being ridden, Cody had to lead though. And when Cody and Axel made their way around some trees and Kiko couldn't see them, she didn't mind one bit.

I'd call her first trail ride a success. Sheesh, I totally forgot to post this video, just another of the horses running up the hill. You get to see a little bit of Cody cantering, which he rarely did before the chiropractor (coincidence or not). They just had their feet done so everyone is a bit off.

Tack Sale Fundraiser

I'm just trying to get the word out about our fundraiser. We Can Ride is having a tack sale fundraiser on Saturday, June 9, at 10a.m. in Eden Prairie. We have all sorts of tack from western and english saddles, to breeches, chaps, boots, and horse blankets. You name it, we probably have it! We have great prices and it's for a great cause! Help raise money for therapeutic riding! If you want more information you can email me or go to the We Can Ride website at: www.wecanride.org

Chiropractor for Cody

Cody had his first visit from the Chiropractor on Thursday. Yes, you read that right, the horse chiropractor. In general Cody seems quite unhappy under saddle (spins in circles, herd bound, doesn't stand still, evades the bit). Before I start trying to teach him to tolerate me riding, I figured I better get him all fixed up to make sure none of his behavior is related to pain. His teeth were pretty bad so now that those are all fixed the next step was to make sure his back was feeling okay. Tricia had noticed he tenses up when saddled which is a sign of discomfort.

I snuck out of work a few minutes early and headed out to the barn. It had been raining all day and was raining most of my way there. But as I pulled into Chaska things started clearing up and even showed some blue sky and sun. This was a relief because Cody doesn't do well locked in the barn by himself. I can only imagine how hard it would be to adjust a horse while he's pacing and pawing. I opened up the barn and Beau was there to greet me. He was left in the barn to hide from the rain and hopefully avoid making his rain rot any worse. Tom had opened the bottom pasture so no one else was to be found. I ended up opening up the whole barn and using the stretchy gates to block the entrances. It was pretty muddy in the paddock so I thought we might have to resort to working in the barn. Maybe with the doors wide open Cody would feel better if he could see his herd.

I headed for the pasture to find the horses. I can't whistle so I just started yelling for them. Amazingly enough I saw a few heads pop up from the bottom of the hill. A few seconds later there was a herd of horses standing half way up the hill wondering what all the noise was. With a little more coaxing the stampede started. I managed to get a little video of the running (which I'll post when I get it uploaded). I shut the gate to the pasture once everyone was up by the barn and fetched up Cody.

He wasn't too dirty because he refrains from rolling in the mud, so grooming him was a quick job. He was fine for the most part while in the barn because everyone else was looking through the door at the stretchy gate. But as they got bored and moved off, Cody got more agitated so I turned him out into the paddock with Axel.

When the Chiropractor arrived we decided to work in the paddock under the overhang where it wasn't muddy and was almost level. Cody stood fairly patiently, always keeping his eye on the herd, and only having to turn around once when the horses moved to the other side of the paddock. Axel stayed out of the way most of the time but did drop in a few times to visit and get in the way. I was surprised how well Cody tolerated the adjustments. He's not overly cuddly and I figured being poked and prodded like that might not be his cup of tea. After several adjustments he started licking and relaxing a bit. He even got a little bit of acupuncture. The whole thing took maybe 45 minutes or so. The Dr. said that most horses have 1, maybe 2 ribs out. Cody had 2 on one side (I think), and 4 on the other side. His withers were out, and he did a lot of adjustments on his back as well. He checked out Cody's sore shoulder and discovered it was quite stiff so he stretched that out a bit as well - another surprising sight to see Cody tolerate having his leg swung all around.

He definitely didn't lean into it and savor the adjusting like some horses do, but he stood very nicely considering he was separated from the group. Dr's orders are to not ride for a few days while he recuperates and to have him adjusted again in a month.

Musical Horses

Tuesday Tricia came down with pink eye so she thought it would be better if she didn't come over to teach my riding lesson. Earlier I had taken some volunteer time from work and helped Stephanie clear the trails at the home school. She was going to work with Kiko and Kalani as usual so I decided to ride Cody again. Cody was still kind of ornery with me and he definitely didn't listen to me as good as he did when Tricia was there. I chalk that up to me not doing things properly with out being observed. He kept cutting corners to follow Kiko and really got in her way while we cantered. A crazy counter-canter, which made it impossible for him to make a sharp left instead of barreling up towards the barn. The good news is that we were able to do some bending at the halt better than we had done before. But the ride was kind of a bust overall.

When Steph switched to work with Kalani I decided to ride Corey for a while. The wind was pretty crazy and Kalani didn't know what to do with himself so that ride was a bit trying as well. Top that off with Steph trying to ride the horses in hacks for the first time. Kiko was brilliant in the hack. Kalani, not so much. Corey enjoyed himself, just wandering around in circles watching Kalani freak out at the wind. I tried to trot him around a barrel, he's supposedly a barrel horse, but it didn't go very well. I'm no expert on neck reining and I think I was confusing him. Steph got up when she was done fighting with Kalani and cantered him a bit and tried a barrel at a slow lope but he lost his footing and nearly ended up on his nose. So I guess it's back to basics for Mr. Corey. He was pretty cute though, lots of suspension and a super cute little Arab canter.

Saturday Afternoon

It was supposed to storm today so I sat around the house until 1pm. It just didn't drop an ounce of rain so I went out to the barn. Things were pretty mellow. I was surprised to find everyone up in the paddock just hanging out. I figured they'd all be grazing in the pasture. I groomed Cody and Axel a bit, mostly just to scratch all those itches the stable flies have caused. I decided not to ride but instead take Corey out for a walk. He's maybe going to be a therapy horse this fall so he needs a little practice. Some people walk their dogs down the road, I walked a horse. Corey did really well, he was excited to look around and see all the sights but he didn't spook at all. And he followed directions pretty well. Walk on, walk up, trot, easy, and whoa. He's got a pretty vertical trot so that will be interesting to lead. Shouldn't be anything different than Ruger already at WCR.

After our walk I picked up the tack room. One of the saddle racks fell off the wall again. So I put that stuff away and then I just hung out for a while. I didn't take too many photos, just a couple including this one of Axel. His winter coat is almost gone and he's getting black again. Who knows how long that'll last though.

I've got an appointment for the chiropractor to come out on Thursday and see Cody. He says it'll just take a half hour so hopefully I can get up to WCR in time. I just hope Cody does well with the adjustment. I'm going to have to make sure the rest of the herd is up in the paddock so he doesn't get all worked up. That won't help anything. I hope the adjustment helps him out too, he still tenses up when I saddle him along with his left shoulder being sore.

Cody's First Dressage Lesson

I really need to get the camera or video camera out to the barn soon. This week was Cody's first "dressage" lesson. I suppose technically it wasn't a dressage lesson, it was just a lesson. But the same could go for Axel. We're just trying to teach them to carry themselves correctly and in the end I'd like to do a Dressage Show with Axel. In any case, I decided for the next few weeks I would ride Cody because so far we haven't had much luck together. I had Tricia ride Axel during the lesson so he doesn't get out of shape.

First things first, I could just pay Tricia to ride Axel and watch. He looked so good I could not believe it. He looked like a pro! It was awesome!

Item number two: I am way too timid/wishy-washy. After being told under no certain circumstances (which was still probably too wishy-washy) was he to act like an idiot, Cody shaped up really nicely.

We had our first discussion right out of the gate when he didn't want to go down to the end of the pasture where we intended to ride. But after we got over that he was really well behaved. Stephanie was using my extra D-Ring on Kiko and Kalani so I found a big O-Ring with a curved mouth piece and some small copper inlays. That seemed to work out well for Cody so we might stick with that one for a while. We did the basic walk and trot stuff. Trying to stay on the rail and bend around my leg. Cody's a bit more responsive than Axel but he still needed quite a bit of leg to figure out what it was I wanted him to do. Things were a little more difficult on his left side since his shoulder is sore. I've got to get my fiances in order and see if I have enough to get the chiropractor out for him next month. Unlike Axel in the beginning, Cody will trot around the "arena" almost as many times as you want without having to be prodded to keep going. His trot is a lot smoother and easier to sit though it does pick up a bit when he gets going. We had one very minor issue in the middle of the lesson when he wanted to head back to the barn but it was very minor and we worked through it. The rest of the time he was darn well behaved. I think riding him for several weeks in a row is really going to help. Mostly I think it'll just help me figure out what cues I need to be giving Cody to keep him paying attention. It won't hurt him to get a little exercise and face time with me either.

Saturday Ride

This photo is from several weeks ago but it kind of goes with today anyways.

It was a gorgeous morning so I made my way out to the barn. Tricia was going to meet me there after she finished doing some ground work with her crazy horse. While I waited I groomed Beau for a while and gave him a Betadine bath. He doesn't roll so he was still full of winter hair. I used the shedding blade on him as much as I could and the hair just came off in carpets. He still looks a bit worse for wear even after the bath, but he's better than before. He wasn't terribly excited with the hose, I suppose it was still a bit chilly. But he did keep himself occupied by eating the dandelions out of the yard. In the meantime Tom turned he herd out into the top half of the back pasture. There was a bit of bucking and running by Kalani. Cody trotted along behind and Axel brought up the rear and stopped as soon as he found a blade of grass. In hindsight we should have waited to turn them out until after our trail ride but what was done was done.

Tricia arrived and we went to retrieve Cody and Axel. Cody was all worked up having to be tied in the paddock while the rest of the herd was out grazing. Nothing I wasn't expecting of course. Then he got Axel worked up though, so they were both pawing and pacing and acting like general fools. It made Tricia feel better about her crazy horse though ;) We managed to groom and tack them up and walk them down past the first gate. I switched Cody back to a regular D ring snaffle. I just can't neck rein and if he's not going to listen to me in the first place I want to be able to direct rein and get some action in his mouth with both sides of the snaffle. At least that's the plan. After some discussion on which side of the hill Cody was going to stand on so I could mount, I ended up mounting on the off side just to make everyone's life easier. After we made it up the hill it looked like his saddle had slipped back pretty far, however, it was just at the edge of his shoulders. I reasoned that Cody doesn't even seem to notice that I'm riding him enough to notice his saddle wasn't quite right. Though any further up and it would have probably interfered with his shoulders so who knows, just an observation I made.

We made our way through the woods and managed to walk down the hills (using Axel's rear end as a wall). We did gallop up the one hill to the lookout point. One thing Cody is good at, walk to gallop transition. After a minor discussion on our way out of the woods we made our way back around the meadow at a nice canter. Well nice canter for Tricia and Axel, kind of an uncollected canter for me and Cody. On our way back around it started thundering and then raining. It wouldn't have been such a big deal but Tricia had left her trunk open with her computer and camera in it. We walked across the bridge and shut the gate. Normally we'd make sure to walk back up to the barn but we threw caution to the wind and "let'er buck" as it were. Cody quickly passed up Axel and galloped up the first part of the hill, topping it off with a few little bucks. He evened out and galloped the rest of the way with Axel behind. The next gate was shut so that was the end of our little run.

We dismounted and walked the rest of the way back to the barn being followed quickly by the rest of the herd. We untacked in the barn and gave the boys a couple apples. And by the time we were done with all that the rain had stopped. Tom had shut Tricia's trunk so we didn't have to rush back after all. Oh well. Any longer of a ride and Cody would have been beside him self with anxiety. I'm hoping that riding him for the next several weeks we'll work out a few issues. That will remain to be seen. It'll be fun seeing someone else ride Axel though, he looks so pretty these days.

Ick, Stable Flies, and Dressage Lesson #33

The new fencer did the trick and Axel is safe and sound in the pasture he belongs in. When I drove up last night everyone was standing in the paddock near the barn. The gate to the side pasture was open and no one was grazing. I should have known something was up. "What was up?" you might ask. Stable Flies. That is what was up. And on, and under, and all over the place. Axel was covered in them. Granted flies and gnats are annoying but mostly they just buzz around and mind their own business. Stable flies bite and suck blood. Like giant mosquitoes. And they don't scare easily. You pretty much have to pick them off to get rid of them. Cody's nose was speckled with bloody dots from being bitten. Axel had them on his neck, face, sheath, rear, legs, and girth area. The other horses had them as well. Everyone seemed pretty miserable with it all. I wiped Axel down with the wipe on fly spray I have. I think that did help in the end. Cody had run off and wouldn't stand still so he didn't get the full treatment. Unfortunately after riding Axel had probably sweated most of the fly spray off.

Despite the annoying flies the lesson actually went fairly well. It was a lot warmer than I expected and I tired out easily. My position didn't fall apart nearly as much as it had in the previous lesson. Axel bent around my leg more often and even made it full circles of our "arena" in a fairly proper manner. I managed to not yank the heck of his face and I didn't even have to carry my whip. At the end of the lesson we attempted to get a canter. Naturally this scares me, I can hardly keep him on the circle in the trot, how the heck am I going to hold him in place at the canter! Hurdle number 1 was two-point position in a dressage saddle - not an easy feat. I gave up and just posted and intended to post the canter if it came down to it. We made several attempts to get a canter and most just got confusion and attempts on the wrong lead. At least we think they were attempts, either that or they were really wimpy bucks. We switched sides a few times to try and find his favorite direction but both ways he wanted to pick up the wrong lead. Finally, tracking left, we got a half hearted, wrong lead canter so we stopped him and that was the end of the lesson. Hopefully he'll chew on that and remember that was what we were looking for, well the canter part, not the wrong lead part. Just to round out the lesson, I walked Axel by hand and somehow he stepped on the reins and broke them. Granted they were only like $15 at fleet farm and I do have another set. I'm going to have to be more careful when/if I ever get my dressage bridle!

Latest Adventures

So rumor has it (okay, Tom actually told me) that Axel went on some sight seeing adventures last week. Wednesday night he found Axel across the road, I assume in the ditch of the Nursery, grazing away. Thursday morning Axel was in the yard. Upon further inspection Tom discovered that the fencer wasn't working. Axel must have also made this discovery and made a break for greener pastures. Or well, any pasture as they're still in the "dry" lot. Poor Axel had to be locked in the paddock until he could get a new fencer. Sounds like he got one on Friday and everything has been hunky dory since.

Lesson with Cody

Tricia was busy this week so instead of a dressage lesson I decided it was time to start working with Cody. Stephanie was out working with Kiko and Kalani so I got Cody ready and we went out to follow them around. I haven't figured Cody out yet. One moment he's freaking out, trying to get back to the barn even though we're only 50 feet away from it and his girl friend is right in front of us working. The next minute he's making serpentines at the request of a light neck rein. It kind of went like that for the whole 2 hours. Freak out, behave, freak out, behave. We practiced standing still for a bit while Steph switched out horses. Cody's not the best at just standing when asked, he inches forward. He never really gave into me, would never bend while standing. He was quite responsive to neck rein and leg pressure when he wanted to be. Eventually it seemed as if he almost just gave up and he'd plod along behind Kalani. His left shoulder seemed off and he spent the last several minutes limping around at the trot. It's hard to judge just how well that lesson went, part of it was really good, part of it was really bad. I really need more time to ride him on a regular basis. Maybe I should think about paying Tricia to ride Axel while I follow with Cody for a few lessons. Axel doesn't really need time off and I can't really come up with more than one day a week right now to go out there and riding Cody alone usually just frustrates me.

First Trail Ride

My weekend was booked with Horse Expo and bridesmaid dress shopping but I still wante to get out to the barn. It was supposed to be super nice all weekend and I didn't want to miss out on it. After work on Friday I braved the traffic and went out to the barn for a quick ride. Axel and I decided to head up the back hill and check out the trail and make sure no trees had fallen. The first trail ride in the spring is always quite a bit faster than subsequent ones. Axel was quite excited and clipped along at a nice working walk. I had already opened all the gates so we didn't have to stop for any of that. We cruised through the woods and back out only running into a few small trees, nearly branches, that had fallen on the path. Nothing we couldn't step over.

I wanted to do some cantering in the meadow area and some nice trotting. We set off in a canter but it was quite bumpy. Axel must have been using his rear end for once. After the first canter he was a little worked up and ready to head back to the barn. I wanted some nice trotting, Axel decided bucking was a better idea. We made a few more passes and tried to work on some trotting in a circle but it wasn't happening quite as I had planned. We ended up doing some serpentines at the walk which were very bendy and nice. After such good bending I got off and let him graze a bit while I took a few photos.

We headed back down the hill and made our un-graceful attempt to close the bridge gate without dismounting. We did it, it wasn't pretty, but we managed. I decided to take a walk down by the swampy area and try to jump over the old log that's down there. We trotted over it the first time. Cantered, bucked, and nearly ended up in the fence the second time. And finally just walked over it the third time. In the end I think I picked 4 wood ticks out of Axel's boots when we were done. Must have been the tall grass in the meadow area.

Dressage Lesson #32

Axel has learned his stuff pretty well. He knows how to use his rear end and bend around my leg. Unfortunately for me, he will only do it if I am riding in the utmost perfect way. Something I am not prone to do more times than not. So I fight and fight to try and get in the right place and put my leg in the right position and hold the reins correctly just to get him to start moving around correctly, and then I instantly loose it. It's been two days since my last lesson and my inner thighs are still killing me.

We tried his new boots this time. He hates them, just like he hated the other support boots we tried. I'm not sure if he'll get used to them or not. Unlike the bell boots or polo wraps which he clomps around in for a while lifting his feet up pretty high, in the combo/skid boots he raised his one back leg all the way up to his belly and then hopped around on the other back leg. The last trim didn't actually help his habit of kicking himself, he did plenty of that this week. Every time we'd stop he try and kick the boots off. I think we'll give them a few more tries before switching back to the bell boots though. I attempted to wear spurs this week as well. I didn't really notice any big difference, maybe if I get the hang of it so I know more when I'm using them and when I'm not. At this point I'm a little worried about our schooling show in August but that could all change. I think we need a few rides where we just stretch out and get a really bit trot, get our riding legs back or something. We'll have to take a ride up the back hill and trot around for a while. Maybe if I can find some time this weekend.

April Showers, Finally

Poor Axel, standing out in the rain.

It wasn't raining when I left the house but the trouble with living 45 minutes from where the horses are, is that the weather can change by the time I get there. I did know it was supposed to rain but I thought maybe it would hold off. Tom opened up the side pasture so all the horses were out grazing on what little grass there is all while getting rained on. I hung around for a while and Beau came up to visit me so I let him in the barn. The last thing he needs is to stand out in the rain and get more rain rot. Axel made his way up to barn so I groomed him a bit, as much as one can while he's soaking wet. Cody hung around for a while as well and let me brush him a bit before wandering back out to the pasture. The rain finally let up so I decided to work with Axel a bit in the round pen. I'd like to teach him how to lunge so we can work a bit on impulsion from the ground. He wasn't quite getting it at the walk, he just kept spinning around. We worked a bit on walk-halt-walk-trot on the lead and he did really well. I actually got him to trot on the lead which doesn't usually happen. And of course Axel's best gait is "whoa." At one point we did get a trot in a real lunge circle but of course at that point it started pouring again.

I let Axel go and ran back to the barn where all the other horses were standing under the overhang. Axel followed be, but of course he didn't go under the overhang. He's so darn timid, I dunno if he thought there wasn't enough room or if he thought the other horses were going to chase him away. I stood there for a while trying to convince him to join the rest of the herd but he wouldn't budge so I got a rope and led him under the overhang. Luckily none of the other horses chased him away and he actually stood there, so I don't think he wanted to stand out in the rain alone. Maybe he went back out there after I left but he was still there before then.

Saturday Tricia and I ran out to the CSDEA tack sale. I picked up a pair of skid/combo boots for Axel and another pair of bell boots. I also got a pair of English style spurs with tiny rowels. We'll give them a try and see if that gets any more energy out of Axel. Hopefully I can use the properly. As of right now it looks like it's supposed to rain again on Tuesday so another day of riding might be postponed.

Just a ride down the road

It was one of those days. Tricia arrived and we decided neither of us was in the mood to really "work" so we decided on a ride down the road. She and I haven't had many rides this past winter like we did the winter before. Just too much going on this year. The horses are still working on shedding their winter coats so after a little bit of grooming we saddled up and headed out. Tricia gave Cody another try and I followed along on Axel. Getting his teeth floated did not affect Axel's speed at all. Nor did the nice weather or "spring fever" or me kicking him in the ribs. Good ole Axel. Cody did his usual routine of trying to turn around to head home, but Tricia's able to nip that in the bud pretty quickly. And I think he actually relaxed a bit when he figured out he couldn't get away with anything. It seems like he'd do pretty well if I had a change to really ride him more often, he catches on quickly. It's too bad I wasn't able to get that gal to lease him this past fall. That would have really helped to have someone ride on a more regular basis.

In any case, we rode down towards the dead end where Axel and I had our little run in with the dog in the past. Very uneventful this time. It looks like the people at the end of the road have moved and taken their poor lonely horse with them. That road turns to a private road a bit further down so we turned around and headed back to the main dirt road. Much to Cody's dismay we didn't head right back to the barn but continued on away from the herd. Axel and I clearly need to work on lateral moves and general moving away from leg pressure. He insists on walking in the ditch even when the ditch is too small, and I have a heck of a time keeping him on a straight line on the edge of the road. Some of that might just be my fault of course. Poor Axel, slow as ever, he's going to cause me to borrow some spurs and try to learn to ride wearing those. At the very least I'm going to have to carry my whip even on trail rides.

When we got to the end of the gravel we turned around and headed for home. Cody managed to keep all his feet on the ground and not bounce home. He even tolerated being told to walk a few steps past the driveway instead of turning in right away. All in all it was a nice evening for a little jaunt down the road. Next "trail ride" we'll have to head up the back hill and see how things stand out there this spring. The ground is finally solid and we won't tear up the grass walking on it. Now if we can just resist the urge to put the horses out to pasture before May, we'll be all the better off.

Let's go to the dentist!

Okay, the dentist actually came to us. While waiting for the farrier and the dentist to arrive yesterday I took a few photos and videos. We have a big race car tire in the pasture that's been mostly neglected (as far as I can tell). I wandered out there and re-inflated it (okay well I just popped out the sides so it was it's full size) and all of a sudden this was the best toy in the universe.

Let's play with the tire!


Kalani bonks Cody with the tire:


Then the dentist arrived and the fun had to stop. I didn't get any good photos because there really wasn't anything to see. The vet works mostly by feel. Both Cody and Axel hadn't ever had their teeth done. After fixing some horrible caudal hooks and some wavemouth, they were good as new, but still dopey. The farrier got a break and was able to trim both my horses while they were still drugged. :) Cody wasn't terribly thrilled with this whole ordeal. He had to be drugged twice.

I can't wait to see if there's an attitude changes after all this. The insides of Cody's cheeks were all callused and his gums were abscessed a bit. No wonder he doesn't appreciate being bridled.

A few wrapped in one

I haven't actually been out to the barn to ride lately (I'm sure you can hear the horses cheering in the background). Last Tuesday we ran out to the barn to feed since Tom was out of town. Everyone got groomed but my two horses were acting quite stupid. It was super windy out so we brought them in the barn two at a time. I'm going with the assumption that it was the wind that had Cody and Axel wound up. Axel's legs were covered in mud so I couldn't completely see if he had any scabs yet but it didn't look like it.

Silly me for thinking now that it's spring I can have the vet/dentist out to float their teeth. It's supposed to snow tomorrow! Hopefully it'll be in the 40s like the weather bug says. We'll probably have to work in the barn so Brad can have power, I'll have to borrow some shop lights from Jeff or something so we can see what we're doing. On top of that the Farrier will also be out tomorrow. So it'll be a fun filled afternoon for the horses. Hopefully I can take some photos.

Dressage Lesson #31

The rain held off enough to have a lesson last night. Though I'm completely exhausted from being stretched thin the past 2 weeks. I had time to groom Cody first and then work on Axel. It's mud and shedding season, ick. I warmed Axel up before Tricia arrived and he was doing pretty well at the walk. We did okay at the trot at first but it kind of fell apart. Too much yanking with my inside rein, so we worked on some long rein exercises. I could blame it on all sorts of things, not having a flat arena area to work, Axel not being able to do more than one thing at a time, I'm still horribly insecure and that affects my ability to ride, I hunch over, stick out my toes, and don't sit properly. Urg, kind of frustrating.

I actually rode on Monday at WCR and that was a big workout. We worked on the pattern for the Instructor Certification and I was beat. It was hot and we had walked 2.5 miles at work on a break and I couldn't catch my breath. So I'm sure that didn't lend well to my lesson last night. It's surprisingly difficult to keep riding a pattern, even a short one, and we were in the big outdoor arena. I wonder how the schooling show is going to go in August. Axel's never worked in a large flat area or in a sand arena. It'll sure be interesting, that's for sure.

I'm slowly trying to change to black tack for Axel. There's a dressage bridle on sale at Dover that I think I'll buy as well as a black dressage girth. I'll just be down to needing black stirrup leathers. I've also got to switch to a white dressage blanket, that fuzzy one does not go with the dressage saddle, it makes the saddle look like it's up over Axel's neck.

Double Update

The last two times I went out to the barn I didn't actually ride. Last Tuesday (March 20) I showed up and Stephanie was out grooming Kiko and Kalani with intensions to work with them again. It was super windy and all the horses were worked up. The pasture was still a mess and the round pen wasn't any better. Of course the road had dried so it was rocky and hard. I made the executive decision to cancel the lesson and go to the bar instead. I don't think there was any complaining on part of the horses. I did groom up both Cody and Axel and Steph and I fed everyone before we left. I also snuck Cody and Axel's wormer in their feed buckets so it was a relief to get that all taken care of for the spring.

Saturday, after Barn Cleanup for WCR, Steph and I went out to see the horses again. We just planned on more grooming and this time we remembered to bring the clipperss. Kiko and Kalani were going to get their bridle paths clipped and Axel needed is ankles clipped. I groomed Cody again and then groomed Corey a bit since he was standing there. Steph chased Kiko around after Kalani decided the clippers was too scary. Because Kiko refused to be caught, Cody joined in on the chasing and they were both a muddy mess by the time it was over. Steph did finally catch Kiko and introduced her to the clippers but didn't actually do any cutting. Axel stood like a champ (or maybe he was napping) while Steph clipped both his back feet. We're trying a preemptive strike against the mud fever this year. With his hair clipped off around his legs I can see better and keep his feet cleaner. Hopefully that will work. Basically she just clipped off his white socks in the back.

Of course it rained this weekend but it's supposed to be 75F today. I'm hoping that will dry everything out before my lesson tomorrow. It'll be nice to have some room to ride again instead of crammed in the round pen.

Dressage Lesson #30

The round pen is a swimming pool and the pasture is a lake, so we were left with only one option for my riding lesson, ride on the dirt road. I think the good footing combined with spring fever left Axel a bit excitable (within reason of course). We worked on some trotting but the turns were pretty sharp so Axel was a little annoyed at me. I kept collapsing at the hip which, surprisingly, makes a big difference in the way Axel listens to me. He actually took off at a canter a few times, I think only once on the correct lead though. One instance he tried to bolt down the drive way toward home and another time he tripped and almost fell into the ditch. Once I started sitting properly it was a lot easier to keep him around the corners. Our location wasn't ideal but it worked better than nothing. Jeff had come out with me and took a few photos. Some of which will make a cool animation if I can figure out a way to do it. It'll be funny to see the one where Axel is trying to buck me off. As usual there are a bunch more photos here.

Dressage Lesson #29 - Riding in 3 feet of snow!

Axel got to try on his new fleece cooler. Well, it's not just his, but he'll be the more likely canidate for wearing it. Even after our tough lesson he didn't even need it last night. There was probably 3 feet of snow in the round pen but that didn't deter us. I was able to sneak a saddle on Axel before Tricia arrived, otherwise it would have been quite an interesting bareback lesson. Let me tell you, I have never ridden a trot so big on any horse in my life. Axel was bouncing around higher than ever just to get his feet out of the snow. Too bad he doesn't move like that when there's no snow! We basically just worked on big trotting and trying to add some collection and bending in at the same time. He did pretty well and didn't get cranky at all. Once he got the circle packed down it got slippery so we had to stop working. I guess Tricia had contemplated working on the canter last night but we went with the trot instead. Maybe we'll canter next time. That'll be something new, I've cantered him a few times on the straightaway and he's offered a canter a few times in lessons but he always picks up the wrong lead. So a canter lesson is going to be an interesting one, that's for sure.

Dressage Lesson #28

If you take a few weeks off because of weather or illness or whatever the reason, don't expect to have your trainer go easy on you. After trying to ride the other weekend and Axel being wound up, I was a little worried about my lesson last night. Luckily, Axel was over his spring fever, or the fever took a break. Tricia said "no" to the saddle and tossed me up on Axel bareback. The snow was deep and crunchy in the round pen so he had to actually pick up his feet. This is good for the horse, and good for my seat so I can learn to sit a bumpier trot. Axel's normal trot is pretty smooth, he doesn't pick up his feet much, which in turn means he trips a lot. He's been doing a lot better this past fall, but I think we tired him out last night.

We worked on some sitting trot just around the circle and then tried to work on some turning. We started out trying to make a "Z" pattern but the turns were too sharp so we changed it to a triangle. Axel and I don't do patterns all that well. Our triangle probably looked more like an ameoba. We finished up by working on some posting trot. Yes, posting trot without a saddle. I will be feeling that for a few weeks.

Despite the pain, it was an okay lesson. It was light out! Yipee, I love riding when I can see where I'm going! And with Daylight Saving happening early, it'll be really light out for my lessons soon.

Spring Fever

It was 30F+ out on Monday and I had the day off because of President's day. So it was out to the barn. Tricia couldn't make it to ride so I was just going to head down the road with Axel for a bit. Axel had other plans. He jumped, bucked, snorted, farted, and was generally ornery. I couldn't find any physical pain so I'm guessing it was just spring fever. In any case it cut our ride quite short. I made it down to the nursery mail box before going a few more strides, stopping for a few seconds while he was calm, and then turning back. Even on the way back he was still acting up so after I was able to get him to stand almost calmly, I got off. The road was still a bit slippery and I didn't want him falling with me on top. So I walked back and he did his best impression of an Arabian horse and bounced the whole way back. He was very light on his feet for a big guy. We got into the yard and he really wanted to trot so I ran along side and he trotted in the deep snow, and then started bucking and snorting again. Atleast we ruled out physical pain from having a rider on his back! I made him stand in the barn tied while he "thought about what he did." When he calmed down and i had the tack put away I turned him out into the paddock.

None of the horses had been in the side pasture since summer and the snow was untouched, so I opened the gate and prepared my camera for some general craziness. Unfortunately I had my old camera so I wasn't able to catch all the action as well as I could have. But I got a few decent action photos. Of course I didn't remember I had a movie option until everyone had stopped running around. I did get this video of Cody and Kalani playing a little bit.

Long Time No See

Man it feels like ages since I've been out to the barn. It's been a few weeks at least. It's amazing how much manure piles up when the horses are confined to the small pasture and paddock instead of the summer when they can go in the bigger pastures. Someone give us a mini tractor, please! Hehe.

I had a WCR meeting this afternoon so as long as I was sort of near the area I swung by the barn to visit the horses and deliver my collection of apples. Since I hadn't been to the barn in ages I had a pile of apples, I don't think the horses minded. I let Beau in the barn so he could hang out, his favorite place to be.

I was going to halter up Cody and Axel but I decided to just groom them out in the pasture. Everyone always looks so bored in the winter, just standing around doing nothing, trying to soak up the sun. Luckily both Cody and Axel didn't have big wind knots in their manes so they were easy to groom. It didn't seem like either of them had been laying in the snow recently either. So I just ran a brush over them and picked out their feet. I hung around for a little while but the wind was pretty chilly. It's supposed to be in the 30's on Monday and I have the day off of work. I'll probably meet Tricia and go for a ride. We might have to goof around in one of the fields near by, the road is still really icy and/or rocky. I'm looking forward to spring, at least the sun is finally out past 4pm. I won't have to do my dressage lessons in the dark any more.

-14F

It's -14F today where the horses are. -26F where I live this morning. Here's hoping Corey hasn't kicked everyone out of the barn. Though, knowing the horses, they're out laying in the snow like it was the middle of summer. Needless to say I haven't been out there to ride in a while and probably won't be out there yet this week either. I miss my fuzzy horsies!