So much mud!

Only two short weeks of freedom left before I start another job. Well I suppose that's a good thing but it means less barn time. Went out to visit the boys today. This warm weather and rain has left the paddock and pasture a complete muddy mess. It must be tough getting around because everyone was up hanging out by the barn today. No halters and lead ropes today, I just went around and curried all the mud off of everyone and then I did manes and tails. Raked some of the manure out from under the overhang so there's atleast once dry, clean place for everyone to stand. Played some friendly game with Axel but he didn't want to play the porcupine game. Which was fine with me since he insisted on standing in the mud. Cody and I played some other Parelli games and he did really well. Slowly we should be working up to a good relationship. It'll just take some time. Right now he certainly knows me as the girl with the treats in her pocket.

Saturday Trail Ride

I had my friend, Stephanie, the barn manager for the Minnetonka barn (for We Can Ride), out to ride with me on Saturday. We decided to go for western saddles since we wanted to go up the road a bit for some site seeing. The pasture was pretty gross to begin with and I'm tired of riding around in circles. The road was actually a good choice. It was wet but not icy and it wasn't all rocky like it is in the summer so the boys didn't have to tip-toe. We went down the dead end road until we spotted that dog that had chased me before. That was our cue to turn around and go down a different road. It's not a busy road by any means but the one SUV that did go past us (twice) didn't even bother to slow down, he just sped by waving. Some people are very rude. Cody was having some issues at that point but they weren't due to the being scared of the car. He was fussing with his bit and cranky that we weren't heading back to the barn, I wonder if maybe his bit is pinching him, it almost looks a bit too small. So we did a little dance in the ditch while the car passed. A few feet from where the pavement starts cody decided there was something scary and he wouldn't go any further. So we decided that was a good time to turn around anyways. Since the road was so nice we decided to go for a little canter on the way back. Cody was pretty excited but he collected pretty nice when I asked for it. Axel was feeling his oats and took this opportunity for a little buck. Steph said he picked up the canter right away and even went on the lead she requested, might have been a fluke but that's ok. We made it back to the barn right before it started raining and spent a little time cleaning out the barn and under the overhang. We also took Beau's rug off and brushed him a bit as well. So all in all, it was a good day.

Windy Thursday

Went out to hang with the boys a bit. It was a pretty uneventful day. Super sunny and nice out but a little windy so every once in a while everyone would take off running. Tried to work with Axel on some lunge work but I think we gotta start at the beginning. He had no idea what I wanted him to do. So we did practice some ground work, walk and halt. Couldn't quite get the trot in hand going. I let him go and went to halter Cody. Had the halter on but not buckled when the herd started running from the evil horse eating wind. Cody wanted to run with them but he stopped when he realized he had a halter on. He could have stepped away and the halter would have just fallen off at that point but he didn't so I rewarded his repsect by giving him a scratch and letting him go.

So after all the excitement of the wind died down the fun began... I think they call this, pass the stick.

Gorgeous day today

I spent most of the afternoon out at the barn with all the horses. Groomed Cody up and played a little Parelli friendly game with him. He's getting a lot more people friendly, mostly I think he's looking for treats though ;) I put Beau in the barn and took off his rug and let him roll in the dirt for a while. While he hung out in the barn and ate I groomed Axel. He must have been laying in the snow, his whole right side was soaking wet. And that combined with his black hair in the sun, you could see the steam coming off of him. I put the english saddle on him and we played around in the front pasture a little bit. I don't quite have the hang of the figure 8's yet, but I think Axel is starting to get it. The snow is pretty weird right now so we only got a little trot on the way back to the paddock. Though it was a very smooth trot. I am excited for summer to come so we can go for some real rides.

I untacked Axel and put Beau's rug back on and let him back out side with the herd. I was just kind of hanging out wasting time when Corey started following me around and wouldn't leave me alone. Tom had said to ride him whenever I want so I grabbed a bridle and took him into the round pen. I actually coudln't find his bridle so I just used one that looked like it might fit. And I just decided to ride bareback, he's close to the ground so I figured if I fell it wouldn't be too bad. I couldn't quite get him close enough to the fence to get on so I kind of had to fling myself at him. But the little goof was so good, he just stood there solid until I was on all the way. We walked around several times and he decided he was done and just stopped. Not wanting to end on that note I did get him moving again before *I* decided it was time to stop. He's a fun little guy and it'll be good to get him out on some trail rides this spring too. That way we'll have atleast 3 horses to go on rides with, Cody, Axel, and Corey. Now we just have to get Kiko and Kalani working under saddle.

Right before I left I put out the Jollyball to see if anyone wanted to play. Actually everyone took their turn carrying it around a bit. Cody seemed to like it the most this time. It's supposed to be nice again tomorrow so I'll probably go out again and see what kind of damage I can do with lunging. :>

Happy Birthday, Rusty!

Thursday, January 19, was Rusty's 25th birthday, according to the barn calendar. We didn't have a party or anything but I gave him some extra treats when I was visiting on Saturday.



It was pretty chilly out on Saturday so I just groomed the boys a bit. Cody's been hanging around a bit more than usual but I think he's just looking for some treats. He and Rusty were hanging out while I groomed Axel. Cody had his turn and got the treats he was looking for. And since it was Rusty's birthday I groomed him a bit too. Not sure if his owner made it out to visit him or not. One day I'll meet her. It was pretty chilly out so I didn't stay for very long and the front pasture was open so everyone was interested in checking out if they could find every last bit of hay out there.

Axel meets his match

I had Tricia out for a ride after conditioning Saturday afternoon. It was nice and sunny out and a great day to ride. Tricia rode Axel bareback and I put the english saddle on Cody. Tricia began the ride by vaulting up on Axel. Then she took him around a couple trees in figure 8s until she got him to bend with the turns, something he usually just doesn't do. She said he was a completely different horse than he was the first time she rode way back in the beginning. Cody couldn't figure out the reasoning behind doing figure 8s, when we'd get half way around a tree he could see Axel coming around the other side so he'd take the easy way around. I think he thought the point was to keep his eye on Axel the whole time. I probably should have pushed Cody a little harder to listen to me but just staying out in the pasture and not trying to get back to his herd was some good practice for us. We took a few laps around the front pasture in both directions. Tricia kept fighting with Axel when we'd pass the one corner that would take them back to the paddock until he finally gave in and would listen to her. She had him do some trotting circles in the middle of the pasture as well and he really started to collect. He's got a really smooth trot, but of course she could probably sit even the bumpiest trot. So Tricia thinks if we keep working on Axel he could make a pretty darn nice horse. Maybe it's not so far fetched that some day we'll get Axel to jump or something. She's probably going to come out every other Saturday after conditioning the therapeutic horses with me.

A weekday visit

Went out for a little visit today. The plan was to do a little Parelli with Cody and Axel. I brought out the rope halter that I had made and Corey was following me around practically putting his head in the halter. So I figured I'd practice on him. He was a pretty good boy, but he's had quite a bit of handling and whatnot in his life. After that I tried to work with Cody a bit. My rope halter doesn't really work very well, it's all crooked and doesn't fit right so I think I'll have to break down and buy one sometime. Mostly with Cody I just worked on the "friendly game" and getting him to pay attention to me and not the other horses in the pasture. We stood in the paddock and faced different directions and I petted him. He'd start pulling his head and nodding up and down towards his friends so I'd slowly pull the lead until he'd face his head to me then I'd pet him some more. We didn't have any breakthroughs but we'll keep working.

My intention was to work on the "porcupine game" with Axel but the rope halter just wasn't working on him and he was a little confused about it. So we ended up not really playing our games. After that I just kind of hung out for a while and tried to clean up the paddock a bit. Cody spent some time with Koko the cat at the water trough. He kept trying to smell Koko but the cat would step away from him. They are cute little friends.

A winter ride

Jeff and I went out to the barn on Saturday to do a little riding. It was actually pretty sunny and nice out for once. We put Beau in the barn for his little personal hay buffet and we took off his rug and brushed him a bit. He's looking pretty good as far as I can tell, I don't think he's lost any weight. We left Beau in the barn and groomed Cody and Axel. The boys are getting very good at picking up their feet for me, I'm so happy about that. I imagine the farrier will be happy as well. We decided to just go for a bareback ride in the front pasture. Getting on Cody bareback is quite a bit easier than getting on Axel. I looked away for one second and Jeff was already on Axel. I think he got on from the fence, which I always have trouble doing because he swings his rear end out. It looked like he stood pretty good and didn't walk away. I used the mounting block and hopped up on Cody and we were off into the pasture. Cody was still pretty reluctant as none of the other horses were coming with us. We made it around the pasture twice, only a little discussion about who was the boss. Atleast I know one way of keeping Jeff and Axel at the walk, take away their saddle! Hopefully I can get Cody out a couple times a month for the rest of the winter so he stays sound for some spring riding and learns that even if he leaves the group for a little ride they will be there when he gets back.

It's supposed to be pretty warm tomorrow so I will go out again and visit the boys and maybe work on some Parelli or something with them. Tonight I have my first Teaching Assistant class for WCR. My own riding lessons tomorrow night. Horse training on Thursday, and winter conditioning on Saturday. I'm also thinking of signing up for this workshop that the U of MN is offering in February on various topics for horse owners.

Where is the sun?

Since I am once again unemployed, I went out to visit the boys today, on a Thursday. I put Beau in the barn with some hay so he could have some peace and quite and a little lunch while I was there. I haven't taken off his blanket yet but felt around under it and he almost feels like he's gaining weight. If I can get someone to help me on Saturday I'll take off his blanket and see what's going on under there and maybe brush him a bit. So while he was munching away I went and groomed Axel. He was very good about his feet this time. Picked them all up pretty easy, only a little trouble with his left rear but not nearly as much trouble as it usually is. His head is still scabbed over so I can't really tell what's going on with his wound. I figure when it's healed up he'll start scratching his head on trees and the scab will fall off on it's own.

Cody came over to see what was going on so I groomed him next. He was such a good boy. I picked up both his front feet from the left side. I went to both sides for the back feet because all the other horses were crowding around and I didn't want him to loose his balance. I brushed the other horses a bit because they were hanging around. And everyone got some apple treats. Cody was being quite friendly today and following me around and just kind of hanging out with me. That was a nice change, usually he's off being a horse with the rest of the herd.

When I was done grooming I decided to jump on Axel for a quick spin around the pasture. He tries to pretend he doesn't see me coming with his bridle but I know better. It took us a couple tries to stand still well enough for me to mount from the block. Part of the problem was Corey trying to get Axel to move away, once Corey got bored of that then things went ok. Axel wasn't completely into the ride but we made it around the pasture in once piece. He's so funny, I cue him for a turn and he turns 90 degrees. He doesn't quite bend, he just stops and turns. Silly boy. Hopefully Tricia will come out and ride with me on Sunday morning and maybe she can offer some tips to get him to move a little more smoothly.