Winter trail ride

Sunday I picked up Steph on the way to the barn. Laurie was coming out to ride Kalani to help her decide if she was going to buy him or not. We went out a little early and I thought we'd get some photos of the horses running around in the pasture but I guess the side pasture isn't as exciting yet. I opened the gate and they all just walked out and looked for grass. Not exactly the usual crazy running around excitement. I guess I have to wait until the dead of winter when they've been cooped up in the paddock for too long.

So when Laurie arrived we groomed and tacked up Kiko, Kalani, and Axel and went out on the trail.

We don't often use the trail in the winter due to the hills and thinking it'll be too slippery but it had only just snowed so it seemed like it would probably be okay. Kalani had some issues at first, once he figured Laurie out and stopped putting his tongue over the bit then he settled right into the ride. Axel was just okay. We kept it at a walk and everyone was happy. Axel brought up the rear as usual, Kalani gets annoyed when Axel is in front and he has to walk too slow. We took the last loop and Axel stopped to relieve himself leaving the other two horses to get further in front of us. That led Axel to trot to catch up. Unfortunately that meant trotting towards the big hill on the way home. I got him into a walk right before the hill but he was pretty wound up. Very occasionally he gets worked up about the group of horses leaving him and this was apparently one of those occasions.

He could see the horses, they were only 30 feet in front of us on the way down the hill. He proceeded to start trotting down the hill, not something I tend to enjoy doing so I tried to slow him down. That just lead to bucking. Bucking down the hill on the upside of the trail in the trees. So I close my eyes as to not loose one of them on a branch, and try my darnedest to get Axel to stop. I can't really use a pulley rein, his balance isn't so great and going down hill all I could see in my head was us tumbling head over heals. I couldn't push him through the bucking as I would normally do because we were headed down hill. So instead I yelled "here we come, I'm sorry, watch out!" Luckily we caught up to the other two quickly and stopped the shenanigans.

So overall it was quite the adventure and I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle in my butt in the process. Laurie isn't sure about Kalani yet and she has another horse to look at that is a mare in foal and her husband wants a baby. So Kalani might still be in the market for a new home.

Another bareback ride

Steph and I met out at the barn and just did some bareback riding in the round pen and the pasture. Kalani has been kind of a crankypants lately so she wanted to feel him out and see what his deal was. I figured it was too cold to get on a saddle. So while she worked on Kalani in the round pen, Axel and I hung out in the pasture. Axel was not happy about Gunner who kept following us around. At one point Axel had his ears pinned back so far and was about to kick him. We didn't really work on much, Axel and I. I asked for some trotting and was met with some head tossing. I'm pretty sure his deal now is just a combination of sore leg from the ringbone, hard ground, and out of shape. But I think when I get my tax refund in the spring it'll be another round of chiropractor and dentist visits before we really get working on getting back into shape.

I have decided that when it's chilly bareback is the only way to go. Unfortunately when the snow comes riding bareback for me means lots of walking. Axel's trot gets pretty vertical when he has to pick up his feet for snow. I'll have to try riding Cody in the snow, he's usually really smooth, I wonder how his snow gait is! And of course now we're getting into the time when we can't work too hard or the horse will get sweaty and then I have to blanket them and hang out til they're dry. I should put a waterproof blanket on my Xmas list. That way I could throw the cooler on with the blanket over top and Patti can just take them off in the morning. Anyone have a suggestion for a good blanket to wear over top of a cooler?

(I apologize for the short post, I waited way too long to update and now I have four blog posts to make and can't remember back that far!)

32 Degrees isn't so bad when you ride without a saddle!

Thinking that Wednesday was going to be warmer and being that I was a bit under the weather at the beginning of the week I didn't go out to the barn until last night. The horses were in the side pasture and they all came up to the fence to see what kind of fabulous treats the yellow car might have in store. It was almost dark already and windy and gloomy and I was all on my own. I had thought maybe I'd go on the trail but without orange clothing or the blinky light I had planned to dig out of my bike bag I decided to stay up in the yard.

I grabbed both Cody and Axel and groomed them while Axel ate his bute. I decided I would work with both horses but it's too dusty in the barn so it was out to the round pen. Axel can easily occupy himself alone in the barn so Cody got to go first. We did a few rounds of the circle game and switching directions. He was a little wound up about that. His switching directions looked more like rearing but he responded instantaneously when asked so at least he was paying attention. He worked a bit at liberty as I tried to get him to use the whole round pen. We only worked at the trot and canter a very small amount. He doesn't seem to like to canter and he often disunites so we'll have to keep working on that. I wanted to jump on bareback and to spare myself the embarrassment and Cody the pain of my literally jumping, I tried to get him near the fence. That didn't work. So I tried for the barrel. He'd stand there. Then as I moved to get on he'd back up. I could get him to move back forward in place very easily but as soon as I stepped behind his eye he'd back up. So it's back to the drawing board on that one. I did eventually get on and we walked around a bit, had a wee trot, and just kind of worked on leg aids and neck reining with just the halter and lead rope. He was his usual clingy self after that work and just stood there looking at me after I took his halter off and tried to turn him out. He ended up following me back into the barn and going out the dutch doors instead where he stood with his head in the window watching.

I haven't done a lot of work with Axel and lunging so I thought we'd work on that a little. The Parelli rope is too short and I have yet to pick up the 22' rope that I want. I got on Axel bareback first with just the halter and lead and rode around a bit. Mostly at the walk. Asked for a few trots and got some cranky head toss and pinned ears and only a few strides. As I'm not an expert rider I didn't feel the need to push him until he bucked and left me on the ground. We tried to ease into some lateral work with some spirals around the barrel but bending requires a lot of warm up which we didn't have. We did make some nice figure 8s with very little rein work. When I got off I had the lunge whip out so I sent Axel out on the circle at liberty and he did amazingly well. He actually stays on the rail fairly decently. And he's not too shabby at voice cues. Surprisingly he even responded to the whip when I asked him to canter. He didn't quite get a canter out but he tried. He worked pretty well at liberty until he was bored and then he just stopped, looked at me, and came to stand next to me in the center.

So that was about it for me, it was much warmer on the horse than on the ground but without a nice fluffy layer of snow on the ground to make me feel a bit safer about falling I didn't do much riding. I passed out my pile of apples and sent everyone back out into the dark, and it was only a little after 5.

Time to find a new barn

Sooner than later my barn owner is going to be putting his place on the market which means I am going to be needing a new barn for my horses. In a perfect world I'd find a place in Farmington so I could ride more often. But I will probably have to expand my search area to include anything in the south metro area (Lakeville, Rosemount, Prior Lake, etc). There's a few places that are almost on my way home from work but so far they seem to be kind of spendy.

I've been trying to figure out what kind of barn I am interested in. Money is a big factor of course, having two horses limits my choices on what I can afford. It seems like several places have multi horse discounts so I'll have to keep my eyes open for something like that. It would cool to board them somewhere that also gave riding lessons. I'd love an indoor arena so I can ride in the winter and actually see what I'm doing. And having some non arena riding adjacent is really nice. Since I've only ever boarded at a private residence I'm not sure if I'll like boarding at a busier facility. There's obviously things about a small barn that are annoying and I imagine there are just as many annoyances at a large barn. I also need to find a barn that has pasture board but also feeds grain. I want to keep Axel on his supplement and maybe start giving Cody the same supplement in the future.

I will definitely have to tour a bunch of barns before I decide. I made the mistake once when I first started riding and didn't look at the barn/lessons ahead of time and that was a disaster. Timing will be an interesting factor, I'm not sure when the current property will sell or when it does how long I'll have to move out. There's not really anything that would stop me from moving the horses out early if I find a nice place that's closer. But you know, change is hard.

So if anyone has any barn suggestions I am open to them!

Mud and snow and darkness

Well it is quite evident after a few recent rides that Axel has settled nicely into his life as an invalid. I've only tried to school in a few times since his big ringbone lameness issue and I don't think he's too jazzed about it. Per my new regimen I grabbed Axel from the muddy paddock and gave him his snack of an apple, bute, and a bit of grain. I groomed him and then since Cody was waiting at the door I let him in and groomed him. I didn't want to waste too much time but I was partly waiting for Steph and partly waiting for the bute to kick in. I turned Cody back out after inspecting his shoes and tacked up Axel.

The road was pretty wet so that's where we went to ride. Really it's the only place left to ride this time of year. The fields are a muddy mess and the trail requires traversing a bunch of hills which don't fair well when there's snow or wet. So down the road it was. After a little warm up at the walk we went for a trot. I just wanted Axel to get out and move a bit. I think he wanted to nap. I got a decent trot but when I asked for more I got some head tossing. We did some walking between trotting since he's not been worked all summer really. When we got to the wide grassy ditch I asked for a trot, asked for a right lead canter, trot again, then left lead canter. Yay Axel! I would have gotten off there as a reward but then I would have had to walk back to the barn. So we kept going down the road. I asked for a bit more trot, tried to get more canter but only got one really heavy right lead canter on the road. We turned around and trotted some more but I think the road is really hard on his legs or else he's just a wimp. We had a few more right lead canters in the grassy ditch and then I asked for more cantering on the road. That time I ended up with something that probably resembled a Capriole. Think: leap then buck. By this time it was starting to get pretty dark. Steph had texted that she was on her way and we'd get some dinner. She came up the road and had she not known I was out there she said she would have been really confused as to what we were, it was really hard to see the black horse at dusk. Guess I better get my blinky red light and maybe some nice orange accents if I'm going to ride on the road.

Ride with Jeff

Jeff came out to the barn with me tonight to go for a little ride. Kalani has potentially found a new home so Jeff wanted to go for a ride before he left. We fetched the horses and groomed and tacked them up. Axel got his bute and a snack and we were off. Kalani wasn't in too great a mood and didn't want to stand for mounting. Not to mention he's pretty round so the saddle doesn't stay on him too well. Jeff finally got mounted and we headed up the back hill. Axel was behaving very well and Kalani was apparently picking up the slack. He was a little full of himself and wouldn't slow down. We ended up putting a bridle on him because I couldn't find the hack. That was probably a good thing in the end. We did a lap in the meadow area and then through the woods.

I of course brought the camera but didn't have a memory card in it so that was a waste. On one hand all the leaves were gone so there wasn't pretty colors to photograph. Jeff did take a photo of me with his phone. :> When we got back to the barn both horses were a little sweaty. It was over 70F today and everyone is already getting into their winter fuzz so they were a bit warm. Cody came up to visit and everyone got their official Thomson Reuters apples. The horses had the farrier out last week and Cody's still in shoes. The next visit is December 18 and I think that time I'll have him pull the shoes and see how things go.

Time for the Bean Field!

They've finally taken the beans out of the field near the ranch. I am pretty sure that as I was leaving last week they had the combine out and ready to go. Just bad timing on my part. Anyway we were finally able to ride in the field. First we started by testing Kalani with some scary items in the round pen. He's potentially going to go to one of the We Can Ride barns to be a trail horse for the owner as well as a therapy horse. We've done a lot of desensitizing type work with all the horses but it had been a while so we thought we better check it out and make sure he's sense was still intact. He did pretty good. His reaction to anything scary is to freeze. Which is a much better reaction for a therapy horse than to bolt. But he wasn't really scared of too much. We had hula hoops, pool noodles, balls, and the big blue tarp.

When that was all said and done we tacked up Axel and Kalani and went out to work in the bean field. I buted Axel again before we went, I think that will be habit as long as his foot is so swelled up. He was perfectly sound but there's no reason I shouldn't do everything in my power to keep him that way. We started the ride in the field with some serpentines. I still tend to exaggerate my seat cues but it's good to see how just those seat cues cause Axel to pay attention and switch the direction he's bending. Then we went for a canter on a straight line. Axel had a really nice vertical right lead canter. Not collected but very light which is rare for the big lazy guy. No bucking or flinging his head down to the ground.

Kalani was quite riled up though after not having been schooled in so long. Axel wasn't terribly happy with any ideas to trot much. We did a little but going to the left he was quite unhappy about. Partly sore I'm sure and partly just cranky that he hasn't had to work in so long and now he's out of shape. Bending to the left is not our strong suit and I couldn't get a big enough circle to make him happy he just wanted to veer off and canter home. I even got a few pretty impressive bucks out of him when asking for a trot. Several times he offered up a canter but we were going left and he likes the right lead so that never works out too well. Near the end of our schooling we went for a trot on a straight line which he was perfectly willing and happy to do. Then a canter in which I asked for the left lead, got the left lead quite easily, then got a bit of the head diving but was able to pull that up (should have squeezed him through it a bit more but Kalani was behind us thinking we were leaving and having a bit of a fit). So overall I rated it 1.5 good canters for the evening. Really the fact that he picked up that left lead on a straight line is pretty impressive for Axel. He's no dummy when it comes to cues and what they mean, he would just prefer to go about his own business.

Cody lucked out and didn't have to do any work but I think Andrea rode this past weekend. The weird part is that I can tell when he gets ridden. When he hasn't been ridden in a while he'll walk away from me when I go out to see or get him. When he's been ridden he comes up to me to say hi and visit.

A ride and a little round pen work

Tuesday I made another trip to the barn by myself. I was happy to see everyone inside the fence when I arrived. I watched for a few minutes as Axel got chased around and then chased some other horses around, looking quite sound the whole time. So I grabbed his halter and went to fetch him. I wanted to see if the other side of the paddock/pasture was dry enough to ride in so we walked around a bit down there. As soon as Axel got a whiff of my plans to do some schooling type work he decided he was slightly lame again. I noted his mellow dramatic act and went to groom and tack him up anyway. I threw a gram of bute in a bucket with a scoop of feed and grabbed an apple. I figured even if he's faking it some bute will do him some good after the ride. He actually ate the powdered bute like a champ and licked his bucket clean. I decided instead to ride down the road again. The beans are still not out of the nearby fields so we were stuck on the gravel. We only took a short trip and had one little spot of trotting. He was sound the whole time of course. It was quite a big trot on Axel's standards I was surprised he had so much energy for once.

When I returned I decided that Cody needed some work in the round pen. I ended up starting at liberty with a whip to try and work in keeping him on the outside of the circle and not cutting in. He does pretty well without a lunge line but likes to forget that he needs to turn to the inside and not the outside. We worked a little on the canter as he's been disuniting a lot. I made some feeble attempts at lateral work but I just haven't found something to click with on that task. Cody's shining moment was lunging at liberty, I asked him to halt and then back up, all of which he did on the rail with me in the center and only giving him verbal cues. He really is a smart cookie I just have to figure out how to tap into that.

Back in the saddle!

So Axel is back to his antics again: escaping the pasture. The past two weeks I've gotten reports that when the caretakers arrive home from work Axel is standing in the front yard waiting for them. The real kicker is that some of these times (I think) he's somehow gotten out of an electrified pasture.

When I arrived last night I called for the horses and was greeted by the usual stampede. Everyone except Gunner and Axel. I wasn't too concerned since Gunner never joins the stampede and I figured if Axel was still sore he would just take his time. Pretty soon Gunner came running and still no Axel. The horses were confined to the south side of the hill pasture so I walked down the hill through the woods to look for the missing horse. No luck so I started calling for Axel. Pretty soon I see him trotting up from the north side of the hill pasture to greet me at the new stretchy gate on the wrong side of the fence. Now I'm not too concerned at his escaping in this instance as the fence isn't hot down there and the portion of the fence next to the gate seemed awfully loose. Probably quite easy for a grazing horse to not notice it or for an easy escape if someone was chasing him. Though I might have to start seriously thinking about a microchip, quick release halter, and an ID tag for my horse that thinks he's a dog.

The good part of all this was that Axel was sound and trotting and not on Bute. So I haltered him and we walked up to the barn. I decided we'd just do a nice walk down the road, nothing spectacular just a nice fall ride. Axel was a bit preoccupied with trying to aim for the ditch. I let him choose his path for a while but the ditch is so full of gopher holes I didn't want him stepping in one and hurting himself even more. He's pretty amusing if you let him just wander where he chooses, he gets distracted very easily and starts wandering in whatever direction the next interesting thing is in even when heading back to the barn.

When we returned to the barn Patti was getting Daley ready for a ride and asked if I wanted to join them. So I grabbed Cody, who apparently has found himself a skunk friend and is quite smelly now. We tacked up and then went down to the back hill. He was his usual slow self not wanting to lead going away from the barn, but once we got moving and up on the top of the hill he was resolved that the ride was happening and was fine leading. I think he's finally realized that he can eat a lot easier in the rope hackamore than he can in a bit. I spent a lot of time trying to get his head out of the grass and it was quite annoying. Despite the slowness and eating grass he was much better than the last ride. We still didn't quite walk down and up the little hill in the woods (our arch nemesis) but he didn't totally spaz over it so I let it go. We even cantered up the really big hill with no bucking (how any horse has the energy to buck up that hill I don't know but Axel seems to do it every time lately).

On the way back I had to grab Jeff's archery target which was a lot heavier than I had remembered it to be. Luckily it had a handle and I was able to carry it while riding Cody even as awkward as it was Cody did fine. I think it might have weighed him down a bit because he wasn't eager to bolt up the last hill to the barn and walked with very little convincing.

With Axel back in riding condition (knock on wood) I should see if Tricia wants to go for a ride this weekend. Of course it's always a pain to come down my way when the cool trails are up where she lives and without an attachment for Jeff's truck and the trailer lights I don't think I'm ready for my first foray into trailer driving. Perhaps I will ride one of her horses or convince her we should go south somewhere. We shall see.

Too good to not repost

A letter from your horse ...original version and the real story ...

When you are tense, let me teach you to relax.
When you are short tempered, let me teach you to be patient.
When you are short sighted, let me teach you to see.
When you are quick to react, let me teach you to be thoughtful.
When you are angry, let me teach you to be serene.
When you feel superior, let me teach you to be respectful.
When you are self absorbed, let me teach you to think of greater things.
When you are arrogant, let me teach you humility.
When you are lonely, let me be your companion.
When you are tired, let me carry the load.
When you need to learn, let me teach you. After all, I am your horse.

And now, the REAL story.....

When you are tense, let me teach you that there are lions in them thar woods, and we need to leave NOW!
When you are short tempered, let me teach you to slog around the pasture for an hour before you can catch me.
When you are short sighted, let me teach you to figure out where, exactly, in the 40 acres I am hiding.
When you are quick to react, let me teach you that herbivores kick much faster (harder) than omnivores.
When you are angry, let me teach you how well I can stand on my hind feet because I don't feel like cantering on my right lead today.
When you are worried, let me entertain you with my mystery lameness.
When you feel superior, let me teach you that, mostly, you are the maid service.
When you are self absorbed, let me teach you to PAY ATTENTION. Remember? I told you about those lions in them thar woods?
When you are arrogant, let me teach you what 1200 lbs. Of "YAHOO LETS GO!" can do when suitably inspired.
When you are lonely, let me be your companion. Let's do lunch. Also, breakfast and dinner.
When you are tired, don't forget the 600lbs. Of grain that needs to be unloaded.
When you are feeling financially secure, let me teach you the meaning of "Veterinary Services".
When you need to learn, hang around, bud. I'll learn ya.

Long Time No See

It's only been over a week since I've been out to see Cody and Axel and in that time Axel has turned black once again as his winter coat is starting to grow in. Cody is getting all the white fuzz on his belly and between his back legs. Winter is almost here! When I was in Maine last week I got an email from Patti stating that Axel was sore again and lumpy. He's always been lumpy from what I can tell so I wasn't too concerned. Last night he was still a bit sore but in retrospect I think he was stiff from not moving. And he was lumpy or his existing lumps were swollen. I cold hosed his foot for awhile to see if I could get the swelling down any. Axel enjoyed a snack in the lawn while holding his left rear foot high in the air to try and avoid the hose. When I was done he actually walked pretty well. I chose not to ride him and we're giving him 1g of bute for the next week to try and get the swelling down. Hopefully he'll be back to himself next week (and hopefully the beans will be out of the field so we can go for a canter).

Much to Cody's dismay I chose to ride him. I don't think Andrea has been out to ride in a while so I think he thinks he's on vacation. I decided I wasn't ready for a fight on the road if he was feeling ornery and I wasn't in the mood to mount and dismount a million times to move manure since one nasty neighbor has decided that manure doesn't belong on country dirt roads. So we went down the back hill instead. I mounted at the middle of the hill by the first stretchy gate. We got to where the trees start on the sandy part of the hill and began our circles. Cody didn't want to go in my direction and I didn't want to go back to the barn. After several circles and a couple failed attempts to go down the other hill we finally made it down to the bridge (all in the rope hackamore). We crossed the bridge and only had to do one or two circles on that side to get the right momentum to go up the hill. We trotted part way up the hill and then walked the rest. We had what was supposed to be a trot but turned into a canter in the meadow on the top of the hill. He wasn't totally with me as far as downward transitions up there so we did another loop and tried again and got a nice trot.

We did a few more various loops around that area and worked on "stand" near the hill to go home. That might have been a futile lesson. Down the hill went fine, crossed the bridge, went in the other direction back to the barn. But as soon as we got to the first part of the hill between the trees there was no walking to be had. We did one circle but it didn't really make a difference, Cody was in his "you think I'm walking but really it's a trot" gait. When we got to the last stretch of hill and he still wouldn't walk I thought "fine we'll trot up and then turn around and do it over and over until he walks." Well he thought "I'll canter gallop and buck and maybe she'll get off." (First time he's ever bucked with me on I might add). I did get off, and we did more circles at the top of the hill and changed directions over and over. Then we walked back down the hill where I remounted (shoulda done it at the top I suppose) and then we walked back up the hill.

At that point I decided the barn needed to be not such a nice place so we went out to the side pasture next to the barn and next to the rest of the herd and we rode out there. We trotted for a while, did some serpentines at the walk, tried at the trot but it was a little spastic. We even had some slightly faster than collected canters (no bucking). One of the canters he might have been disuniting which we noticed on the lunge last time so I stopped that. I dismounted away from the barn, led him around for a while to cool off, loosened his girth away from the barn, did some backing up through two bushes, and finally brought him back to the barn.

Will any of that stick? Probably not, but oh well. He was pretty good in the rope hack. He's very responsive to neck reining just also very stubborn to get back to the barn in the process. I don't think the ride would have been any better (or worse) with a bit and I don't think he would have listened to me any more with a bit. I think maybe the benefit of the rope hack with Cody is that now he doesn't have that bit or shank to pay attention to or try to eat constantly. So I'm hoping now he will listen to his rider more. Wishful thinking right?

A Good Ride

After Sunday's wet trail ride we had left all the blankets and whatnot laying around the barn to dry. So when I got there last night I got everything put away and discovered that some of the lead ropes were still wet and my grooming box was still damp and had water in the bottom of it.

The horses have decided to see if they can find any grass in the one clump of trees in the pasture. The clump of trees that is not cleared out at all. So when I went to fetch Axel, he along with part of Kalani, Papillon, and Daley were hiding in the trees. That's the first time I've seen anyone in there, it's pretty thick and hard to get around. It was reported that the horses were quite cranky yesterday after the trail ride on Sunday but Axel seemed to be in an acceptable mood and followed me willingly back to the barn. No one else followed us though.

After I groomed Axel and scratched some of his bug bites we went out in the yard where he helped mow the lawn while I cleaned out my grooming box. He was not pleased when I was done and wanted him to go back into the barn. I finally got around to switching back to my regular dressage blanket instead of the nice white one and I re-situated the therapy pad under the saddle so everything is all ship shape now. Axel has apparently grown into his dressage bridle. Originally we thought it was way too small but now it seems to fit alright. I doubt it would fit with the flash but I haven't found any reason to use a flash so it's probably lost in my tack trunk anyway.

When we got out to the pasture to school Steph arrived to work on some lunging with Kalani in the same pasture. I let Axel have several slow paced warm up laps at the walk. I worked on not nagging him so much if he was going in the right direction. He was tending towards the gate though so our mosey had to come to an end. We had our usual disjointed and random trotting. The pasture is just enough bumpy that Axel can't keep a good steady pace and kind of stumbles all over instead of trotting nicely. After a bit of that I asked for a canter on a long stretch. Axel gave me the canter, didn't protest and it went quite nicely. I asked for a canter a second time. This time I was pretty sure I even got the other lead (albeit the wrong one). Because I wasn't totally sure I asked one more time, I got the left lead in the correct direction. I switched directions, asked again, this time I got the right lead. Yipee! I just about flew off his back when dismounting. Two canters on each lead with no bucking or putting his head between his legs, that's a winner in my book. So Axel got un-tacked and left to graze right then and there.

Steph was still working Kalani who was doing a fabulous Saddlebred interpretation with his tail so I got Cody out to do a little ground work. I don't think we've done anything since Andrea started riding. He was a little wound up about it and not terribly calm. He also was having issues going to the left. Speeding around and when I asked for a canter he'd disunite after the first stride. He was looking slightly off so I think part of it was just sore from the trail ride and getting reshod the day before. Once he gave me a real canter we stopped that and worked on just a little bit of backing up and standing still. And then he got to graze a bit too.

Mud Everywhere!

Where to even start? As usual we did our best to meet at the barn and get everything loaded up on time if not early and I think we actually succeeded this time. However it was raining and so we probably stood around a bit longer hoping it would stop. When it didn't really, we hooked up the trailer and loaded horses and were on the road about 10 minutes after we planned to actually be at the park. For this trip we went with Cody and Axel in the front and Kiko and Kalani in the back. Cody got in with a little help from the tapping stick, no big deal. Axel is always a champ and jumps right in. Kiko and Kalani had a bit of trouble but nothing major. I just managed to get stepped on by Kalani as he decided to exit prematurely. Ended up with a bruise on my thigh that you can't actually see.

At some point the rain let up, the horses were tied to the trailer at the park happily munching away at some hay. We were all getting our paperwork turned in and having some lunch when it started raining for real. And it rained and rained and didn't show any signs of letting up. Though once we finally gave in and went to tack horses it did let up for a while. We managed to make most of the ride either under the trees out of the rain or with just minor sprinkling. We didn't, however, miss out on any of the mud. At one point we came to a spot in the trail that was mud all the way across. A really wide part of the trail too. Anne and Cinder tried to make a new trail through the trees but ended up in some low area and Cinder went up to his chest in mud, Anne bailed and they both decided that was not the place to cross. We finally managed to get everyone across the mud on the opposite side. The trip back Kiko decided to jump over the mud which was an interesting feat to say the least.

Overall the ride went well. Cody managed to walk most of the trail with only a few minor bouts of needing to trot in place, and it was the first time Andrea rode him in the rope hack and the first time he was ridden in the rope hack with all sorts of unknown horses around. Axel found his soul mate when it comes to trail rides, Alissa's horse Pacman is just Axel's speed. Darrel might have been pushing Axel a bit to walk up but I think if he was given a choice Axel would have hung back with Pacman all day. Kiko was her normal sane self and didn't even bat an eye when other mares joined our group. Kalani had a few issues just with the new horses and not knowing them and wanting to check everyone out. Other than that everyone survived (and there was not spastic cantering for me yipee). It would have been nice if the weather was better and perhaps more people would have made it out but we did raise over our targeted amount for We Can Ride so that was great! And we found a nice new leg of the trail. We usually head East on that trail so this time we opted for West. From that particular parking lot to the end of the trail to the West is about 3.5 miles. So it was a nice short little round trip (7 miles total). The East leg of the trail from the main parking/camping area to the highway is about 6.5 miles so that's a lot longer and, as we found out, a lot sandier. The West leg is wide grassy trail which is a nice change of pace. Had it not been raining there would have been a lot of nice spots for trotting or cantering.

So when all was said and done we packed all our stuff back up and decided to put Cody and Kalani in the front this time. We thought Kalani was just too long for the back of the trailer. Turns out Axel is also too long for the back of the trailer but he did fine and it was a short trip. Another discovery was that Cody is quite calm when asked to back out of the trailer "lead rope over his back" style. In fact he backed halfway through the trailer by himself and then stopped and looked around for a person to guide him the rest of the way out. Axel still insists on turning around to get out. That one might take a while to get figured out.

A lot of luck

It is a great surprise that I don't hurt more than I do today. Last night's ride was quite the interesting one. It started out innocent enough. I brought in Axel and Kalani after watching them run up the hill to the barn. Axel has some how gotten himself a weird scab under his chest right where those two muscles line up to a "V" right behind the girth. Presumably he scraped himself with his foot getting up from laying down. In any case it apparently really itches and he really enjoyed me rubbing on it.

Tricia brought Oly over and we decided, since it's getting dark at 8pm now, going to the trail would be more hassle than it's worth. We tacked everyone up, did our best to get past the rest of the heard with Oly, and went down the back hill to ride in the meadow. Steph wanted to school Kalani at the canter and Axel needed a bit of that as well. The circle we ended up making was a little less than ideal, there was a pile of branches we had to jump over with each circle. It wasn't really big enough to have to jump but Axel must have thought that was good fun. More than once we jumped it and cantered out of it. He actually offered up the canter himself quite a few times. I still have a hard time riding his trot in a field like that, I never know where his feet are going (nor does he) and his strides are all uneven and bumpy but we managed alright. I think Steph even got at least one canter out of Kalani after a series of his cow kicking.

As we were schooling on top the hill Patti showed up on Daley for a ride so we decided to follow her through the woods and whatnot. She took the short cut down the hill and was going to go up the big hill. She asked what we wanted to do and everyone thought cantering was fine. Axel has been know to buck up that hill this year so supposedly I was ready for it. Well he bucked, and bucked, and bucked. And usually he gets tired and stops midway through the hill. Right about the time I expected him to get tired, I lost my stirrup and my balance and started falling forward. He kept going and I ended up staying on but had a huge pile of mane in my hand by the time I regained control. How I stayed on I'm not quite sure. I recall yelling, "I'm good I'm good" as I probably looked like I was about to end up on the ground.

After that portion of the ride Oly started acting the fool trying to scratch on the trees (turned out he had an itch under his saddle). He ended up acting like an idiot until we got back down across the bridge. Prior to that we went for a canter in the meadow on the straightaway. I figured after the hill bucking I needed to get some sort of good canter out of Axel. Daley lead and Axel followed close behind and it was a really nice calm canter. Right as I was pulling Axel up beside Daley so we could stop before the ground dipped, Daley spooked and jumped sideways towards us so Axel jumped sideways as well, he kept cantering and almost lost me a second time. Patti and I both managed to stay on even after loosing our stirrups and probably looking quite ridiculous. Steph lost her sunglasses while cantering and Oly tried to jump over them. So all in all it was probably quite the site. I decided that after 2 saves like that my luck may have run out and I needed to head back to the barn just in case.

After removing Oly's saddle twice on the way back down he finally started acting like a normal horse, we still aren't sure what his deal was there was nothing on him but he apparently itched like mad. I decided we needed one more canter up the sand hill so Axel cantered up, really well I might add and then Steph and Kalani followed. Tricia and Patti went around the opposite way and we met up at the middle of the hill. So 2 almost falls, 1 horrible bucking fit, and 2 good canters. We're hoping the trail ride on Sunday goes a lot better.

Guests

Yesterday since Loni was in town with Damin for the bachelor party we decided to go out and ride a bit while the boys were partying. I had debated on if I should put Loni on Cody or Axel. Usually I would put guests on Axel but since he's been a bit troublesome lately I thought maybe Cody would be a better choice for an inexperienced rider. So Loni and I fetched the horses from the pasture and got them both groomed up. We opted for western saddle and rope hack on Cody and dressage saddle on Axel (thank goodness for mounting blocks in the pasture). We started just in the side pasture to get the feel for things and see how it went. We walked and trotted a bit and everyone seemed well behaved and calm so we decided to venture out on the trail.

We did the usual trail loop minus the big hill (we took the short cut to the small overlook) and everyone was calm as could be. They both even walked down and up the little dip that they are notorious for trying to run. We even had a trot in the meadow near the end of the ride. Cody might have spent an inordinate amount of time with his head lower than usual. I'm not sure if he was trying to eat or trying to figure out the horse hair tassel on his mecate (I might have to retie that so it doesn't tickle him in the chin). And the more I think about it Axel had his head on the ground a lot too and not for eating. He kept smelling things that weren't visible at least to my eyes. There was one point when Cody tripped a bit and caught himself but scared Loni a bit. And on the way back I decided I wanted to canter Axel up the smallish hill between the woods to see if he'd do it without bucking. I told Loni I thought Cody would just trot to keep up but I guess I was wrong. He went right from a walk into a canter and gave her another little scare but it wasn't too major and he stopped right away.

We had a minor scare when we got back to the barn. Cody didn't see the horses on the way up and started freaking out once we dismounted. He actually ended up leading Loni back down to the pasture to find the rest of the herd. They were actually over in the new part of the pasture behind the house and he couldn't see them. All I could think was that the horses had gotten out again but I couldn't figure out how that was possible since we shut all the gates. Luckily Cody helped us find them.

When we got him back up to the barn and untacked we had brought some beer and apples as treats. I thought maybe the horse would like some Guiness but Cody and Axel turned up their noses and waited for the apples instead. We brought the bucket of beer out to the pasture to see if anyone else would enjoy some. In the end Papillon was the only one that drank any beer. Kalani and Kiko put their noses in it, Gunner put his nose in it and promptly backed away with the "smells bad" face, Poppy made the same "smells bad" face and Daley didn't care or grace us with his presence. So either my horses want ligher beer or they just don't like beer at all. I was kind of disappointed.

Axel's not so evil twin

It was cloudy and raining and not so great on Tuesday so I decided not to go to the barn, no one else was going to make it out anyways. So I made it out on Wednesday instead, and alone this time as well. The mecate reins I ordered had arrives so I wanted to try them out on Cody's rope halter ala "natural hackamore" style. Bosal's are pretty spendy and I'm not sure what size to get for Cody yet so I figured I'd try out the rope halter as a hack. The reins I bought are really inexpensive and really stiff. They might just have to be that way for a while, I was thinking of washing them to soften them up but since they are nylon I'm afraid they will actually get stiffer or just icky to touch. Guess that's what I get for going the cheap route! If this works out well for Cody I might upgrade to a sampson rope mecate if I can find one that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

So I hopped on Cody bareback and we just went for a quick spin around the side pasture. He was great. Very sensitive to leg and rein cues as well as each individually. He seemed pretty happy with the lack of bit as well. Despite his obvious want to go hang out at the gate with his friends he followed my instructions willingly. So I called the experiment a success and hopped off.

I gathered Axel and got him ready for some schooling work as well. As I was about to mount up Andrea and Patti arrived and sat on the step of the house chatting while I rode. We did some really nice free walk and a bit of trotting on a loose rein trying to get him moving freely. He has such a hard time finding where to put his feet, he's very unsure of himself and trips a lot. It might be time to start trotting over poles. When we had done some good trotting and worked on some collecting and figure 8s I started asking for a canter just going in a big loop around the pasture. Nothing too serious, no sharp turns or anything that should make things more difficult for him. He tried and was slightly annoyed mostly when passing the gate to the barn. I switched directions and got the same sort of annoyed response. Usually followed by 1 maybe 2 strides of canter. Finally I think on our third time in the original direction I got at least 4 nice canter strides, asked him to stop, and nearly jumped off him as a reward. We'll have to keep working on it, I think he just isn't sure of himself but who knows. At least there was no bucking or throwing his head down (sadly it might have to do with the fact he didn't have to catch up to anyone).

When I was done Andrea and Patti went to get Cody and Daley and were on their way for a little bareback ride on the trail. From the sounds of it Cody stood by quite patiently while Andrea experimented with methods for mounting bareback. I guess he was a very good boy.

Finally a trail ride/Ouch

We finally made it down to the MN Valley trail near the barn. Nathan had fixed the trailer brakes so Tricia was able to use the trailer and bring Oly and Cinder (Dusty/Dirt had thrown a shoe). So she and Lexi came down and picked up Axel and the three of us went to the trail. Lexi and I hung out with the horses while Tricia took the trailer back to get Kalani and Cody. 4 horse trailer and 5 horses doesn't work out quite so good so we made 2 trips. Luckily the trail is only 5 miles from the barn.

From the sounds of it Cody loaded really well. It looked like he unloaded just about as good. Just a minor increase in speed right at the end of the trailer but nothing major. He started out on the trail pretty calm. Got worked up a little ways in but as soon as he was in front of the pack he was once again calm as could be.

Axel was moving out a little more than normal, still slow but he did his best. It wasn't until we started cantering where I ran into trouble. The first short canter Axel plunged his head down between his front legs. I was able to pull him up and push him forward but it wasn't the best ride ever. Later on in the ride everyone decided to do another canter, this time they just kept going a lot further than I was prepared to sit. Axel continued to canter with his head between his front legs and no amount of me yanking on one rein would get his head up and I wasn't in the best position to force him forward more. I did my best but it was not pretty and I am pretty sure he was disjointed on top of it all. The third time I said "no thanks" no cantering for us. So somehow in everyone else's mind cantering away from Axel and I was a good plan. Axel proceeded to have a fit. I tried to get him to just walk or trot behind them but that turned into our spastic head between the legs canter again. This time I could not pull him up at all. The reins on my dressage bridle are so short I only had one had on the reins and I was fighting with all my might to either pull him up or push him forward but I was not winning the battle. When Axel finally gave in I got off to wait. He proceeded to call to them and run around me in a circle freaking out. To say the least it was not fun.

The return trip Axel would even throw his head down in a small trot. Punishment for that was circling. I think I only had to circle two times before he stopped with the head deal. Then he decided that Oly and Cinder and even Kalani were evil beings and if they got within 10 feet or so behind him he'd try and kick at them. Cinder actually got Axel moving out quite a bit for most of the ride. When that finally wore off he was still pretty fiesty. We had some interesting "collected" trots and even popped over a log.

We'll just say I've had better rides. There are not many parts of my body that don't hurt today. We decided to load our three horses first this time so Cinder and Oly didn't have to load and unload. So Cody went first, he needed a minor amount of convincing but got in pretty effortlessly. Axel jumped right in as usual. And Kalani just needed a little coaxing as well. The unloading was a bit different. In all reality it didn't go that poorly it just sounded like it. When we pulled up Cody turned on the volume and the welcoming committee and he traded cries as loud as possible. When he finally shut up Axel decided he had enough of the trailer and started shifting his weight back and forth squishing Cody in the process. Andrea was able to back Cody partway until Axel squished her against the wall and stepped on her foot. Cody flung his head up in the air and hit it on the trailer roof. Believe it or not, he then proceeded to back calmly the rest of the way out of the trailer. Axel can't figure out the backing deal so he walked out forwards but calmly and in control.

I just hope Axel is a little better behaved for Steph's dad on the WCR Trail Ride Fund Raiser. He should be fine, Steph's dad usually just walks and he's a horseman so he should be able to put the fear of god in the horse if he misbehaves. We're still not sure what other horses we'll have. With Kalani and Kiko for sale and Andrea maybe riding Cody, who knows. She can maybe ride Papillon if needbe. Time will tell. I ordered mecate reins partly for the trail ride as I don't have any long western reins any more and eventually I'd like to try Cody in a bosal. I might start with just the rope halter and mecate reins and see how that goes before I buy a bosal.

Cody the Wonderhorse

From Cody's rider:
"That boy just keeps getting better and better, I can’t help but brag to you about it all :>"

"So, yesterday was a good day for Cody. After work, I set up some ground poles in the round pen, groomed up Cody, and took him in there for some practice. He tends not to use the entire round pen anyway (likes to cut corners, and the un-impressive length of a carriage whip doesn’t help), so the poles were easy to avoid at first. It took some coaxing, some discouraging, and some urging, but after a few attempts, he was willingly going over them at the walk and trot, in both directions! He’s very smart, and figured out what he was being asked only after one or two growls from me :)"

"We then went out on the trail for a while, and again, only one sad whinny a few paces in, otherwise he made no protest. Walked the trails, cantered a bit, trotted some, and then creeked-it for a while. He walked right in! I think that tree that we squished by the first time has moved in further, so we couldn’t get past it, but we did head down the other way for a while and managed to get pretty deep in the water (like, my feet were dipped in!). Cody was a pro, though, and calmly navigated everything."

"Best of all: no prancing going back home. Fast walking, yes, but no prancing."

Cody gets more gold stars

Andrea had Cody out on Monday night riding in the dry lot area. I guess he did really well again but he keeps putting his tongue over the bit. So we're playing musical bits right now to find one that he will tolerate and not fight. If he was more consistent with his behavior I would consider switching to a bosal. Maybe it's worth a try anyway if I can find one and some mecate reins for inexpensive.

So last night Tricia and I went out and met Andrea at the barn for a ride. Tricia rode Kiko, I rode Axel, and Andrea rode Cody. We tried Corey's old bridle this time, it's a heavier bit, medium port, slightly longer shanks. Over all it went fine with that particular bit but it'll take a few more rides to really evaluate it. Axel was decent, still wants to eat constantly. Kiko was a bit on edge and I guess kind of jumpy. It didn't really show with Tricia riding but that's the report I got. We rode around the back hill as usual and in the creek a bit. Axel managed a nice walk the second time we went through the little dip in the woods. He once again made some feeble attempts to buck running up the one hill. Cody walked up and down all the hills like a gentleman. We tried some cantering in the meadow area and I got a sort of buck sort of canter. Trotted on the circle and asked for a canter there and was just met with attitude. I have yet to try a gallop or canter on the trail this year with Axel and I probably won't (we'll see). It's not the end of the world if he doesn't canter but it would be nice to make sure we had both our leads. We might need some lunge line work.

We messed around in the creek again on our way back. Kiko actually got in while mounted this time. We managed to get a bit further than normal. The water was super low so it wasn't much of a swim. And it's still really less than ideal with all the rocks. On the way back Cody only had to be asked to circle once and walked the rest of the way. When we got back to the barn we gave the three a shower with the hose which they followed up with a nice roll in the dirt.

The Cody Report

Cody's rider is house sitting at the ranch so she'll be seeing him daily for two weeks. Her report from Sunday:

"CODY! We went for a ride this afternoon for quite some time. Through the woods, in the creek, down hills, up hills--and he was great! There was only one sad whinny looking for everyone else, otherwise he started out really well. When we first went into the woods, he tried to wheel around and go back, but was coaxed otherwise. Other than that, he pranced a bit at the end, of which several "re-do's" eventually cured (although I think he was more dizzy and annoyed with me than convinced to stop and walk). He was great, really. I'm excited to be able to spend more time out here and work with him. I'll be watching for any soreness, will know more tomorrow during the aftermath, but so far, so good! We were gone for about an hour, so I felt pretty awesome about that."