Lily update, round penning and charming.

It's been so crazy at work, this will be pretty short. (I said that, but... well, look at this. It's long!)

Lily seems to be doing better after her injection. We worked both her and Cibolo in the round pen on Monday, then again on Wednesday and she had very little discomfort. Very promising.

Monday's round penning brought out a few bucks in both Lily and Cibolo, and I was worried when with Cibolo's in particular. I guess I'm a little paranoid about bucking, because I know a horse that hasn't been worked will buck in a round pen. Neither was saddled up and it was the first real work they'd done in a week.

By the end of the session Cibolo had finished his bucking (Lily only gave one, Cibolo had more like five) and was cruising around in a semi controlled fashion. I had trouble keeping him in a canter, but after a few rounds we got there.

Wednesday the farrier came out and we got shiny new natural balance shoes on both Lily (who keeps kicking off her rear shoes) and Cibolo.

Cibolo really charmed the farrier. His demeanor and level head came across instantly and by the time the farrier finished one shoe he said "I'd work on 15 horses like this one in a week. What a great horse."

Even though I can take absolutely no credit for it, I was ridiculously proud.

Lily has been more of a puzzle for the farrier, largely because she does have pain issues. He's very patient with her, patient but firm when she acts up. But every time she does pull away, he notes that it's not misbehavior. "She's trying to tell me something." He fusses over the hoof doing something I can't see, and then she responds better.

I learned something at that moment. I had jumped to the conclusion that she was giving attitude. He said it wasn't that at all, that there was an issue he needed to puzzle out.

I need to remember that. Both with Lily and probably, with life.

That said, holding horses for 3 hours is really... rough. I think I was more sore than I have ever been riding. I don't know how you farriers do it!!

We also cleared the air about the whole farrier/vet circle I got in. (I'd called my old farrier during the last encounter with the previous vet) He was fine with it, he just wanted to stay in the loop. I told him my vet said he was ding a terrific job and all I wanted was Lily to feel better.

Then after he was done shoeing Lily she stood funny, one front foot out a bit. But it was inconsistent. He offered to pull off the shoe, but recommended we leave it on for a couple days. It could be that she's feeling better in the other hoof and is shifting weight. It's just hard to tell. Fortunately it seemed to clear up the next day.

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Trailer loading is going okay, I guess. They both will load and stand until I back them out (takes a few tries). But I'm not really making progress, since I'm alone or just with my 11 year old. I need another adult to help me get to the place where I'm putting the butt bar on and hauling down the road. I know it hasn't been long, but I'm a little discouraged because I want to go down to the lake to ride with both and I can't even imagine getting them in the trailer at this point on my own...


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Our second round penning session went better - was totally buck free.

Question for all you veterans - what do you do when your horse bucks (not under saddle, just under round pen ground work)? Is it harmless? Is it disrespect (sometimes they are 'aimed in your general direction' kind of things) and therefore require a reaction?

I generally think of a buck as deserving only of another circle until the bucks stop. I try not to have any kind of reaction at all other than urging them to keep moving forward. But I was curious what others do.

Kids, Horses, and a picture parade

Welcome to my first Picture Parade!


Here's a little of our day on Sunday...

First, we got our horses tacked up...

(HorseS! I'm still so excited to have 2.)


Sierra has really started to feel comfortable working with Lily. Because it's sort of a pain to get to the round pen at our new stables, we're just line lunging in the arena. Both are working well with that, although before we'd hit trails I'd round pen...




Mireya learns how to boss her horse around. Canyon is cooperative about moving his hindquarters. Such a good pony.




Mireya holds Canyon. She's got a whole world of confidence with him. See?



Hmm. I need to tighten that helmet strap.

Sierra has started to trot on Lily. Lily has a beautiful floating trot. It's easy to sit, although Sierra does know how to post.



And yes, I did fix those stirrups. I think they still need to go even higher, and she's riding in tennis shoes because our last trip to the boot store was a bust. My problem is that I don't really know how to deal with the fenders, which are way too long. Any suggtestions?

And I know it looks like I've wrapped Lily in a spider web, but because she's in a tom thumb (which is what she's used to, but I'm not sure about) I've got sierra reining in just a halter. Sierra's still perfecting her release. She tends to keep the brakes on and until she's got that down I don't want her working that bit in Lily's mouth. But I wanted to make sure Lily is still good taking a bit. It was nothing. She's a terrific horse (except for the left rear hoof thing).

Best of all, Sierra is so excited about horses again.


Mireya is too. In fact after this ride she decided she wanted to learn how to untack her horse. She did great.




Sierra got Lily to get right on top of a wood platform. No problem anymore! Even Lily seems to be saying, "hey, I was fine, I thought YOU were going to fall."




Mireya is still happy just with lead line riding. I'd like her to take a camp, but she's a bit velcro these days, and I don't think I could get her to actually break free for it.

See those clouds in the background? Right after we untacked the sky opened up and kicked down a bucket of rain. Which is good, because we really need it.


Look at that belly on my boy. I've got to cut his hay intake. Or better yet, RIDE MORE!!!!

Sigh. It was a great day. Someday we'll have our own place and can do this every morning if we want to...

Sometimes he's hard to love

(sure he looks all sweaty like some sort of horse that was actually cooperative or something. but it's all an illusion)

Trust me, there was very little to love about Canyon today.

You know those ads that say you can have the horse turned out in the pasture for months then come out for a ride and it'll be the same as if you were riding 'em every day?

That's not my horse.

I went out to the stables tonight. It was a beautiful late afternoon, the sky a perfect azure with a scattering of clouds hinting at more rain. It was cool but not windy, quiet but not eerily still.

It was perfect.



Apparently I was alone in this assessment.



I knew I was in trouble when we stepped in the round pen. There it was. The buck.

I know, I know, people say a buck in the round pen when you're just getting started is no big deal. But I know this horse. A buck means it's going to be one of those "let's re-establish this whole herd thing for the next three hours" thing.

So that's what we did. I rode down the road and he was blowing sideways at the reflector. Which apparently has recently become threatening. It went down hill from there.

Sensing his insanity, I got off just past the gate and started to line lunge him because he was just too distracted and nothing was working in the saddle. He was so freaked out he ran nearly sideways in the circle, even did a little tiny rear at one point.

We kept walking, stopping to lunge and work on ground manners, try to maintain a tiny bit of focus. I think I brought him down from a 9.9 to a 9.8 or 9.875.

Crazy. On the way back I got back on and he was jigging like a maniac. I had to turn him so much I briefly wondered if I'd be better off on a merry go round horse.

(Canyon with his "you're not the boss of me" face on.)

Then back in the round pen for a work out and some side pass work. I'm trying to teach him to side pass and had some new techniques to try. We had a millimeter of success.

By the end of our round pen session and during our walk back, he was down to a manageable level. 9.7 at least.

Just kidding.

And, to add insult to ... well, insult, since there was no injury, he knocked me on the head. Not that hard, really, but clearly he was crowding me.

That was it. I backed him hard, "bit" him, and then moved him around. He snapped a bit back into place.

Then he got a bath and a nice long lesson in patience.

I know how we got here. I haven't been able to ride and it's much too long between our sessions. This is what happens with him. I wish I could maintain leadership, but I guess the lack of consistency is really problematic.

There is good news: In my experience the next ride after one like this is usually great.


We'll see. Humph. Dumb ol' horse.

Round pen video

I decided to take a video of some of my round pen work with Canyon. Any and all observations are welcome.

Here are my caveats:

1. he had just ate so I chose not to canter him.
2. we are new to this "turn your back and have him approach" thing during round penning (which is how Marvin Walker describes it). So I cut him some slack and turned to call him in.
3. he's never good at coming up to me. He won't leave, he'll drop his head, but he stands there the first time. suggestions?
4. I'm working on keeping my balance at the trot. I'm sure that's obvious.
   

Okay, enough excuses. check it out...