Sunday Stills- Rust

I watch a lot of the shows on TV where pickers are looking for antique treasures, and they call rust "patina". I guess my horse trailer has good patina!

My husband said to take a photo of this object which he brought back from Vancouver Island. It's used to pound into floating logs in a boom and the round hole is where they run a rope through to drag the logs in.

I think that's what patina is supposed to look like.....

There are always rusty things to be found; one thing you will always find on a farm is rusty nails. Lying in the driveway ready to give you a flat tire, or sticking out underneath a board that you grab when you climb over a fence; or in this case, in a saddle stand that I keep outdoors because there's no room for it in my tack shed, and it needs to be rebuilt.

Needs must.

Needs must be met....
Josie needs time and money spent on her this year- in training. With the state of the economy this year affecting my husband's job, and the likelihood that he will have to take one that pays far less than what he is currently doing- or was doing I should say; the company he is working for is downscaling big time- I have to make a choice with Josie. Either I have to do all her training myself, or I have to put her up for sale, as there is no way I can afford to send her out, or even put her in a clinic like I had planned.

For now. I will continue her training, which is pretty low key as she is just a 3 year old this year. I'll haul her when I take Clancy out, she can pack a saddle when I work her, and at some point this spring I will put some rides on her. I'd like her to get lots of experience of the world without having to pack my butt around, and she did really well ponying last summer. This is a growing up year for her.
That being said, if I find the right person for her, I will let her go to a new home. So technically she is for sale, with training continuing (by me).

Mo' better

Yesterday, I figured I would turn Clancy out in the round pen, if she wanted to roll or run around, she could do it on her own time. So.... guess what.... she just stood there. Sigh.

Ok Miss Clancy. I guess if you don't want to play, we'll see what you want to do.
I thought I'd send her around, but all she wanted to do was be with me. **Grin.**

That's not to say she wouldn't still leave me stranded if she got loose, but it's a step in the right direction.
Speaking of direction- there is a Cowboy Dressage instructor just about an hour and a half south of us, in Idaho, and she is holding a couple of clinics this spring. I definitely want to audit the first one and really wish I could afford to ride in the Jon Ensign one- but not with the way our dollar  is at right now.

This should give me a good understanding of the concept and the way the court is set up. THen there is this one:

This is more along the lines of the Buck Brannaman clinics and I would love to ride Clancy in this one.

Another lesson learned

Such a gorgeous day today that I knew I'd have to ride- especially since yesterday was such a dismal day; we were fogged in and it had only partially lifted by 3 PM. Different story today!

I figured it was Clancy's turn. I spent quite a bit of time saddling her- I was working on combing out her tail, so the saddle pad went on, combed a bit, saddle went on but not cinched- combed a bit more, etc. until I had her cinched up and ready. It was the first time she didn't bite the rail or bloat up her belly.
I led her out to the road to make sure the footing was good- and it was, the road is mostly slushy with bare sections. I stepped aboard- she stood still, good girl; but she started trotting her little springy jog and tossing her head; I could tell she was feeling pretty good on this first lovely day in a long time, so I stepped off and worked her on the ground until she was paying attention. Then off we went, much more relaxed.

She even walked nicely through the puddles. About 50 feet ahead of where I took this photo, I turned her into the field on the left, because a vehicle was coming and I wanted to get off the road; we had Tess with us too.
Sooooo- always listen to that little voice. I ride with a mecate set up, which is a looped rein with a tail which I call the get-down; I usually tuck a loop of this into my belt, so that if I have to step off, I have an instant lead rope without having to take the reins over her head. For some reason, I decided to loop it over my saddle horn instead. Like you would do if you were riding with a halter under your bridle and wanted to loop the lead rope over the horn. I never do this, so why I did today, ...... stupid I guess. Anyway, Clancy got in that lovely soft soggy snow- pawed it once, and dropped to roll! I had to step off on the off side as her legs were out to the left and of course, didn't have time to grab the get-down off the horn. She got up, and went down again for another roll. I tried to grab the rope, but she saw my hand coming and - yup -you guessed it- took off at a flat out gallop headed for home. Man can she run! ( I have visions of trying her on the barrels....)
I started walking back with my trusty dog who would NEVER leave my side, and the neighbour lady came to check on me, as she saw Clancy high-tailing it home without me. She very kindly drove me and Tess home. When I got there, Clancy had made her way into the pen next to Josie, where the heifers live. They only have a knee high strand of (very) hot wire to keep them contained, and she blew right through it. Fortunately, all the cows were quite happy to visit Clancy instead of exiting their pen.

You can see that the get-down is safely still looped over the horn, and that is the loop reins that are dragging on the ground, they were up near her ears so she must have had her head down once she got in the cow pen. She stood quietly while I caught her, then tied her up outside the pen so I could repair the electric fence before the cows did an escape act of their own.
Then- it was off to the round pen- can't have her thinking that running home gets her unsaddled and back in her pen!
So- what to do- I decided that since she didn't come to me after she got up from rolling, I needed to work on join up. I wanted to get her so that she would follow me anywhere; and this is going to take a few sessions and hopefully take us to a new level in our partnership.
I worked her at liberty, took the bridle off but left the saddle on. I started out making her move, then ignoring her;

 `
It took quite a while for her to stop and look at me, and more rounds before she stopped and turned to me, but didn't come to me.

I used the technique of walking back and forth in front of her that Shayla used on Josie last summer; it worked fairly well and although she didn't join up then, it did allow me to move her hind end over and move her shoulder, all without touching her. Pretty soon. I could send her out, stop her, back her, turn her both directions but still no join up. Eventually, it did happen- she came and touched me with her nose, and followed me no matter which direction I went. If I lost her for a step. all I had to do was step to her hip and move it over, then she hooked on to me again.
So that was a good way to end the day.Clancy got a good workout, and it gave me a new direction to go with her, one that I will be able to build on and eventually get that true partnership I'm looking for.

Sunday Stills- Bitter

Sunday Stills challenge today is the word, bitter.  We don't get bitter cold here in the Creston Valley- at least, not like we did back in the 70's. And I don't have any bitter disappointments or bitter people in my life. What I do have, is bitter herbs; in particular the ones I feed Beamer for his arthritis.

Every morning, I take a teaspoon of dandelion root, 

and a teaspoon of burdock root...

Combine them and add some boiled water; then I let them steep until the afternoon.

My kitchen is starting to look like an apothecary

In the large jar is stinging nettles; he gets a handful of that on top of 2 cups of alfalfa pellets; then I add the steeped herbs and 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. A bitter concoction, to be sure!

I also make myself a tea of a tsp. of dandelion and of burdock

I let it diffuse all day, and drink it in the afternoon as a cold drink that I can just chug back. I actually don't mind the taste.

A good day

Today was a good day- the sun broke through and it was above freezing- a perfect day to go for a ride.
Beamer got the call today, our usual putt around the field. He loves getting out and touring the neighbourhood.

Checking for the owl in the trees at the edge of our yard

I really enjoyed the sunshine, and my horse stepped right out, reins swinging, relaxed and taking in the scenery. Nice scenery with that li'l bit of sun.

Tess came along with us. She turned out to be not pregnant- which is ok, although I really do want another border collie. Reba is fading, and Tess is 9 now so it's time to bring on another young dog. I won't try breeding Tess again, just enjoy the next years with her as my faithful companion.

Not an exciting ride, but it was just perfect. Sunshine, a good horse and a good dog- life is good.

Sunday Stills- Solitary

Solitary.... it can mean quite a lot of things. I'll refer you to Linda's post where she gave us this challenge for today.

I do enjoy solitude, but this winter we seem to be a hub of activity here, since the landlord is now keeping his cows, heifers and steers here year round; he often comes in at 4 am to feed when he is on his way to work- so our solitude has gone! It used to be peaceful here, but- no longer.
We do, however, have a few solitary creatures around here. The owl is usually by himself, and we really enjoy that he has made our yard his home.

There are also a lot of Red Tailed Hawks that hang out in this valley bottom. They are much more wary than the owl, and I often see one sitting on the treetops that grow alongside the road. He doesn't like company and usually flies away if you stop your vehicle to take a photo; yesterday, he stayed long enough for me to capture a couple of shots.

Sorry, buddy, for disturbing your peace.

A Josie day

Such a beautiful day today! The snow is melting, the sun poked out, and I decided to work Josie again.
After reading an article on Facebook about the dangers of saddling a young horse when they are tied to a hitching rail- (duh, I knew this but forgot- and that's what can get you in trouble)- I am saddling her in hand now. She did really well. Off to the round pen, where we started with sacking out with the flag. She took it quite well, not perfect but pretty good.

 After that, I went back to those scary jugs. She did get a little nervous about them- but I'm not babying her, just expect her to step it up and get with the program, while at the same time I'm not forcing her; just increasing my expectations. After I took this video, I worked her more with the jugs, I needed both hands so I could take her to the familiar territory of moving her hip over and sweeping her front end across, which put her in the right frame of mind to work and not just get ramped up about those plastic passengers bouncing around on her neck. What I like about her is that she has absolutely no buck, although she does have a strong flight instinct. So working on her to build her trust and my leadership to override that flight instinct.

When we got to where she was relaxed, I moved on to what I call side reining- that's where I walk beside her and rein her as if I was riding. I'm tall enough to reach over the saddle to do this, so it works quite well. She did awesome; nice and supple, giving me both sides as you'll see in the next video.

 Then I walked around with her, reining her around the pen, with both directions as well as whoa and back up. She is getting close to ready to ride, I just want to get her over more of that flight instinct. I would really like her first rides to be ponied rides, especially since she did so well being ponied last summer and fall; it's something she is familiar with. One of the options I am considering is taking a Daryl Gibb colt starting clinic with her this spring. His system is very similar to my old mentor, Walt Vermadahl, who used to pony us on our first rides. I kind of wanted to take her to a Buck Brannaman trainer in Kalispell, but with the exchange on the dollar being so outrageous right now, I am checking out other options. Daryl is about 5 hours from here, and I could probably leave her there for a couple of weeks after the clinic and one of his ranch hands would put some ranch miles on her- I'll have to check out the cost of that. There are a few other options I am considering for advancing her training, as I know a few trainers; it will come down to price and opportunity. I know that I am capable of doing it myself, but my heart isn't in it anymore. I'd rather ride a good steady horse that I feel comfortable on; I guess that's the privilege of age!

Saddle time

My saddle got it's annual winter clean and condition. I use Lexol leather conditioner- it's all I've ever used on this saddle and on my Wade.

All cleaned up and ready to go back to work! So today I started with Josie. She hasn't been worked since November 4th, other than me just giving her a few minutes in hand work in her pen a couple of times. I took her out to the hitching rail, threw the saddle on her like an ole broke horse, and took her to the round pen. The footing there is pretty good, with loose snow and no ice. We spent a few minutes working on moving her feet- hip over, shoulder over and change direction, back up, come forward etc. Then some stick and string work, flipping it around her and whirling it overhead- all good. After that, some sacking out. I happened to have the jugs and bag set up at the round pen, so that's what I used.

 They are frozen so they are nice and noisy. As I was shaking them, standing on her left side, she turned her head so that she could see them out of her right eye (more on that in a bit) and got bonked by a jug so blew back a bit; I upped the ante by shaking them more vigorously until her feet stopped moving- and kept working her with them. As you will see in the video below, she likes to keep worrisome things in her right eye; every time I'm on her right side she is relaxed, and when I move to the left side, she tips her head so she can see the jugs out of her right eye, which drops her shoulder in towards me.
After videoing I did some more work because it was a bit  much trying to handle the leadrope and the camera and get her correct in her movement. We stopped on a really good note, when she was nice and relaxed on both sides. Not a bad session considering she hasn't worked for over 2 months.  I was hoping to pony her from Clancy today, but decided that wasn't a good idea; the driveway and road are slick with compact snow; I fell in the driveway leading Clancy so I just took Clancy and headed out to the field.

Other than putting the kids on her a couple of weeks ago, it's been a while since I've ridden her, so I wasn't asking too much of her- just wanted her to take it easy because of the conditions. She walked out nice for me, and on he way back I did ask her for some lateral moves when we were still in the field where the footing was good. She had her little "I don't wanna work" moment, which is  left turn, up with the head, and a sideways step- so silly! Of course that meant she had to work more than I was planning on......
Overall it was a really nice way to spend the afternoon. I really really need to get these girls to an indoor arena but just can't make it happen for a while. Oh well, just have to make do for the time being.

The locals

I'm hoping to get some riding time in this weekend- I'm feeling much better, but I thought I'd show a few of the other critters here.
Our bird feeder is usually commandeered by Goldfinches. One brave Redpoll managed to sneak in.

These birds have been challenging for the feed lately. I'm not sure what they are, they don't fit the description of any of the blackbirds around here and I don't think they are starlings. UPDATE My bird lady confirmed that they are juvenile red winged blackbirds.

This one looks to be the female counterpart.

Once the flocks are gone for the day, the Downy Woodpecker comes for some chow.

Of course, there is the owl- it makes me happy that it seems to have decided that it lives here. I'm hoping it will take over the ravens nest; the owl mating season is about to begin.

Then there are the cows; this curious critter is one of the heifers who are penned next to the mares.

We don't get a lot of wildlife here other than birds, with the exception of those travelling grizzly bears that Tess put the run on last year. I've never seen deer in the yard but I did see some elk tracks last summer before we had the round pen up- just after we laid the sand down, there were a perfect set of tracks where one had come through the yard.
But- these are the  most important creatures to me! And this one in particular!

First ride

The weather finally turned warm enough for me to get out and ride; I love those clear bright winter days but even though things look beautiful like this:

it was too cold for me to get out there- I've been battling a cold for the last week. But today was much milder, so I chose to ride Beamer for my first ride of the year- ole faithful, he never gives me any trouble and I knew I could just relax and enjoy his company. I rode bareback on his broad warm back and we headed out to the big field.

Looking south to Idaho

There was a little bit of fresh snow; just enough to cover slippery spots, and at one point Beamer told me it was icy and he wasn't walking on it, so we headed across the field instead of following the little road.

Looking west

We rode over to the trees and checked out the hawk's nests- I had seen bald eagles a month ago and was wondering if they are still hanging around, but all we saw was one hawk that went winging off before we got too close. 

My faithful dog Tess accompanied us, and it was a nice peaceful ride. The nice thing about no saddle is how quiet everything is- no squeaking!

It's back to work for me tomorrow, my mini vacation is over (not that I went anywhere, but it was nice having time off over Christmas).

Sunday Stills- goals

I'm not calling them resolutions or intentions, goals works better for me.
First of all- more time with my butt in this:

Looking at the world through these ears:

Well- also with my butt in this saddle:

and spending more time on the back of this redhead!

Easy enough? Well perhaps, but it involves time management, overcoming ennui after work, and managing my money because riding here involves hauling, unless I just want to tool around in the round pen or ride down the gravel road to the one field that I am allowed to ride around. So it requires planning and dedication to fulfil that goal.
The next and only other goal I have: take advantage of rainy days by doing more of this:

 That should keep me busy for most of the year when you add in work, gardening and all the chores!

A visit from the minions

Over the week between Christmas and New Year's, my 3 nieces (The Minions) visited for a couple of days. They were excited to meet and ride Clancy, and of course their favourite, Beamer.

 I haven't ridden Clancy bareback, although Shayla did, once, but the girls were happy to climb on and get led around on her. She actually stood pretty good for them in their awkward scrambles to get on board.

Such a good girl Clancy!
The next day I saddled her, and the girls rode her in the round pen (on a long line). The 2 older girls wanted to trot and were happy to find that Clancy's trot is much smoother than Beamer's.

This is the youngest- just walking was fine with her!
This is the oldest one, she just wanted to keep trotting! I plan on giving her lessons on Clancy and hope they get on well enough that she can show her in the little local shows this summer.

Beamer got his minion time too!

They all 3 rode him and he lapped up the attention.

Reba also benefited from some special attention. Poor old dog, her hind end is giving out on her. I have to help her up the stairs to the deck most days, and she has trouble getting up if she lays on the laminate floor, can't get enough traction to push herself up so I have a blanket spread on the living room floor - and everywhere else she hangs out- for her. Sometimes I have to pick her up and hold her while she gets her feet under her. Hope she makes it through the winter.

Welcome, 2016!

Well, the old year is behind us now, and it's up to us to make the most of this fresh new year. To all my blog readers, I hope you all have a great year, and thanks for hanging in there with me all these years I've been blogging.
I do have some plans for this year, including learning Cowboy Dressage, auditing a Buck Brannaman clinic in Kalispell Montana, and breeding Clancy to Beamer.
Happy New Year, everyone!