Cell Phone Scenes from horsetime

Hanging out at the salad bar

Note to self: Stunning sunsets do not get captured by cell phones.
Blissful horses, however...

Soft, listening, willing. I must remind myself of this.

I ain't scerd of no shower curtain thingy.

Riding without a bit and pictures from the trail

Today I decided it was time to start introducing Lily to the concept of work. The Paddock Princess, I decided, simply was exploring her options. I didn't want to go through a bunch of bit drama, didn't really have time, but after considering the options I thought I'd just ride her in the halter.

Basically have a positive ride, let her get out and realize that bit or no bit, work goes on.

I had ridden Smokey earlier in the day and got a rare second trip back to the barn. We saddled up - Lily is very cinchy and oddly, kept running into my elbow. After the second one of those, I petted her like mad, as if I was completely misinterpreting her intention. She got disgusted and stopped pinning and giving me the look.

I put the reins over her saddle and led her to the round pen to see how we were doing. Minor issues while leading - too close, not stopping crisply. We worked through it. In the round pen it was all but one inside turn. Good. I didn't canter her, because it was ridiculously hot. I wanted to keep the energy low and she didn't seem to have any nonsense she needed to work out.

Then I clipped the reins on the halter and got on. I wish I had a picture of the look on her face. She looked so surprised.

She was ultra sensitive to leg pressure and neck reined like a champ. It was like driving a car with new brakes and power steering. We practiced stopping, since the halter is not the best with her brakes, but it was all good. So, cautiously optimistic, we hit the trail with Sierra. Other than one brief "I think I'll go back to the barn now" she did very well. She settled in after 10 minutes. The tenseness in her muzzle was gone.

I still sensed attitude, but it was back down to a 5 or 4 level. When I rinsed her off and fed her, she was compliant. And when I tossed on some fly spray she didn't act as if I was possessed or something (she's been quite the drama queen lately).

So the good news is I think we are getting the old Lily back. Of course I didn't bit her, but my goal today was to show her that wasn't a way to get out of riding. I also didn't have the time to do it right, so there was little point to doing it at all. Instead, I wanted us to have a good ride, end on a positive note.

And we did. Good enough.

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On another note, here are some cool pictures from the trail ride - my favorite one of me and Smokey is here, the one with his brother is here. Here's a great one of Cloud, aka "the horse that will not load in that tiny trailer."

There are so many good ones, Debbie does a great job - she took all of these from horseback! I'll be ordering at least two...

More on Bitting and Picture Palooza

I appreciate the feed back on bitting Miss Lily.

Everyone raised very valid points. Here's a few thoughts.

She probably doesn't want metal in her mouth (although she has had it for 16 years, so one has to wonder why now).

She definitely needs more consistent ground work, but what's a little weird is that we have been working more not less, so that this would come up now seems odd.

I have my suspicions about an emotional reason that's possible, but I may be projecting, so I'm going to mull that over a bit before trotting it out here.

The axis was an interesting suggestion - we have begun carrot stretches and they are very hard for her. I wonder if in one of those stretches she made herself sore, or out of whack. That really feels like a possibility.

I'm going to ride her tomorrow in the halter, she can definitely go bitless, but her brakes are not that great. Lots of go in that girl.

I'm also going to do some bit sweetening just to get it in to see how it sits in her mouth. Lily is a bit of a princess, and can become very stubborn given too much time off. So I can go back to square one. But if she's not going to be ridden, I'm not sure what to do with her. The not riding is definitely making her unhappy.

Fortunately the MSM seems to be helping too. When I was working her in my attempt to get an attitude adjustment, she was sound. So there's one bit of good news (pun intended).

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Sierra and I had a terrific trail ride Saturday morning. I can't get over how far Smokey and I have come. We worked our circle under the power pole with no problem, we hit all the odd spots in the trail, came down hill in control, not in a "OMG, I'm Gonna Trot And Get This Over With" and we went across the ditch repeatedly without jumping it as if we were on some hunter jumper course.

It was like I was riding a grown up horse or something.

Sierra rode Cody, giving him her signature forelock look.

And since Smokey has shed out I thought it would be fun to do some shots - cuz the buckskin is back!




Smokey: Do I have to stand here?

Me: Just for a minute.

Smokey: Okay, but my nose itches.

Me: *skritch, skritch*

Smokey: I think we're suppose to be smiling at her.

Me: Oh, that's right.

*grin*

And a hug for the photographer!

Clinic Photos - Found at last

Finally I found my pictures - and Lisa, from Laughing Orca Ranch, sent me several (they must have gotten trapped in some sort of internet trap and I missed them earlier. All the good ones are from her in this post). So here's a bunch with semi amusing and/or informative captions.

Mark's horse: Surely we aren't going to stand here all day.

See those reins? They weren't broken in and it
was like riding with chopsticks. So I soaked them
in peanut oil for three days. Now they're soft but
smell like a jar of stale JIF.

Smokey: Yes, I can move sideways without even LOOKING!
Eat your heart out Fred Astaire!

Smokey: Hmm. Is that alfalfa there on the ground?

Me: Good boy, keeping his head down.
Mark: Goofball

You know, my horse and Mark's are the same color. In August.

Me and Val (this time I had my eyes open)

Me and Lisa

K and her gelding and Mark counting the collected strides.

K and her sorrels' apparently underdeveloped hindquarter.

K and her gelding (and that dreaded stereo/static generator)

Mark's horse: We're never moving, are we? How come
all the other horses get to go around? Seriously.

Mark's horse: Do you think he'll notice if I move my hoof just a smidge?

Thanks again to Lisa for these photos (there are several more wonderful ones on her blog) and Val for the ones I used earlier (she posted some to) and for Trail Rider's (I used his in the beginning) and for everyone's tremendous moral support. Thank you for being part of my journey.

Ride on.

A Visit with Cibolo - Picture Parade

(in the spirit of positive thinking, I've added spring to my blog. Hope it helps)

I'm still sick. But I really, really wanted to see my horse.

So on Sunday the kids went to Grammy's and I bundled up, chopped some carrots and my wonderful husband took me over to the barn.

Cibolo left his hay and his BFF and came over to greet me. We walked out into the alley way.

I love that my horse will leave his buddies. It feels like a big deal.

I gave him a carrot slice and we headed over to the arena to hang out.




Next to arena are the BO's horses. Shanti has the most fuzzy ears of any horse I've ever seen. She's retired because she has Cushings.



This is Treasure, the lesson horse. She was in the parade. She's the alpha of the herd.



She does not suffer fools (or really large white horses like Cloud) AT ALL. He was two millimeters too close to her hay. Oh yeah. He's leaving.




I proceeded to examine my horse. He's gotten very fuzzy. His brand is tough to read here.


I'm increasingly concerned about this patch on his back. It's been flaking and the skin underneath almost looks like fish skin, shiny and gray. I can't figure out where it's come from. It doesn't look like a bite. And I've never seen a bite get ashen like this.




We got onto some targeting, but mostly I was just looking for an excuse to hang out. He did fine, I was too tired to do anything complicated, we just did a few clicks. Touch the barrel. Touch the bag. Touch your side. Now the other side.




His arrow points to his favorite scritching spot. And there's his double swirlly.




I got worn out pretty quickly and I remember the old training saw: always leave them wanting more.

I love horse noses...




Then it was time to visit Lily. I'm trying to get her to come with me too. You gotta earn your carrots around here. She started fishing, but I backed her up.


She's got the cutest ears.



And then, I passed out. Well, not right THERE. I mean when I got home. Darn cold.

It feels like I'm not getting better AT ALL. Ah well. At least I got to pet some horses.

I ordered a book written by Kathleen Lindley on her time with Mark Rashid. I have so much to do to get ready! April will be here quick!

I can't wait to ride again.

A Parade and a Miracle

It was not the best day for a parade. Not the worst, but not the best. Cold, with a misting rain.

Of course given the conditions in other areas I feel silly whining about 50 degrees.

Here at the lake there are three little towns surrounding the lake. Sattler, Startzville and Canyon Lake. Fourth of July parade is in Startzville, Christmas is in Sattler.

In the last two years a 'lake only' high school opened up and now we have a marching band and drill team for our parade. Almost as cool as when we got a second traffic light in Startzville.

But I've always loved seeing the horses in the parade the most. And this time I was part of the crew. No riding, though. I was riding in the back of our truck as poop patrol.

I wasn't riding Lily because we had two elves in the back of the truck and someone had to make sure they didn't fall. Sierra, in the meantime, was on the Girl Scout float (which was quite a production in itself).

So, shovel in hand, we prepared for the parade.

If you've ever been in a parade you know there's a lot of waiting around. And in the foggy morning behind the school, with horses covered in tinsel and bows, I was given a tiny little miracle.


Here's the whole crew:

Davy and Kelly on Amigo and Chico.
You could set a firework off under
Chico and that horse would
not spook.

Our Barn Owner and Endurance rider
Donna on her lesson mare, Treasure.

Anisha on Diego.
Diego is a great horse
even if he hates getting
in a trailer.

Lucinda on Cody,
another old reliable gelding.
And my miracle horse.

Nancy on Shiloh.
Shiloh is a 26 year old
gelding. We worry about him,
he is so hard to keep weight on.

Then, suddenly our elves decided to venture out
and see the horses. Mireya hasn't wanted to
be anywhere near a horse since her fall from
Canyon. She hasn't been willing to even
pet a horse since that day. The two
times I took her to the stables she
stayed in the car.



I've been despondent about it. There
didn't seem to be anyway to get her
through this, even though her own
drawings sometimes show her
riding a horse.

Specifically Canyon.

But she was with her best friend.
Sometimes we are brave with our
friends, certainly braver than with
our mom.

Then there they were, petting Treasure on the shoulder.

Then they went over to meet Cody. Cody
is DEAD broke. An incredible old
gelding.

And apparently, a miracle worker.

Because after petting Cody, Lucinda offered
to let Mireya's friend sit in the saddle.

Then...

Mireya got ON Cody.

She got on a horse.

And I have hope.

Horses don't have to be her thing.
But I don't want her scared of them.

Maybe we're going to get there...

When you are IN the parade, your view is
a little different.

It was wonderful to shout Merry Christmas to all our
friends and neighbors who turned out in the
lousy weather, to wave to the kids, see Santa
and cheer for the pooper scoopers...

We offered everyone free fertilizer, but
no one took us up on it. Odd.


The fog had only partly risen from the hills...

Our parade was done. And the streets of
Sattler remained clean.

:)

Note: Mireya posted about her accomplishment on her blog. :)

In the trailer (and on the trail, and in the hill).

On the ride. Relaxed.

The view of the lake. We live on the other side.
Waay over there. Past the trees.
LOL

Proof.
I love seeing him calm in the trailer.
And I love drama free loading.

Next? Let's go somewhere!

Head in the clouds

I've been flying a lot lately instead of riding. Which is why I saw this guy.




Who reminded me of this guy.



But I digress.

I fly Southwest Airlines, which I love, because they have open seating. It means if you know the system, you can sit where ever you want.

I always opt for seat in front of the wings by the window. Sometimes I don't look out the window, usually because I love reading the airline magazine, Spirit (where one of my essays ran), sometimes because I have chatty seat companions (which I enjoy too, because it's a great bit of randomness that helps me as a writer - beware, if you sit next to me you could be in my next novel), or because I have to work like a dog before my one hour flight is up.


But lately I've flown so often that I've read the whole magazine, had silent people in the row, and been done with work.

So I've been looking out the window...




Friday we were flying back at the best time of the day. The sun was hitting every patch of water and making it look like shiny pennies had been dropped by a careless giant.





Then, as we got closer to the Hill Country, lakes lit up like molten gold.




There were dragons, golden and shimmering in the late afternoon of summer,




Spikey in places, smooth in the middle, golden everywhere.




Fat golden geckos, maybe horn toads, sunned themselves under us.




Cloud islands filtered the sunlight down, but in the distance was another golden lake. These pictures from my phone don't capture how bright the gold was - as bright as your child's smile, as luminescent as a lovers gaze. Gold at the end of the rainbow would be dull by comparison.



It was a game, after a while, trying to find the moment when the gold made the most interesting leaps across the water,






Tangles of river catching the light and tossing it back into the sky, beauty unseen most of the time,





because most people are chatting, reading books, working, sitting on the other side of the plane, missing this incredible dance of light on water, gold spilled, there for the taking.




Then, we got here. This is the lake where I live. We fly over it on the way home sometimes, not every time. But I've never seen it golden like this.




(this post was inspired by Lisa's cloud pictures and Carmon's roses.)

Next post: A letter to Leslie.