The good and the bad

Lets start with the bad, you know we always like to finish on a good note!

My favourite saddle is kaput. Done. It has a ralide tree and yes I could get the tree replaced- but why bother as it doesn't fit my horse and I may as well use that money to buy one that fits my current needs. Besides which, the saddle maker that made it is getting pretty old and the quality of his work has really gone downhill in the last 5 years as his body shuts down on him.
So- I'm on the hunt for a used versatility type saddle, that will fit Gussie. She has a steeper angle to her back than a lot of quarter horses, and a fairly high wither. My Wade saddle also doesn't fit her, it's too wide at the front. I'm thinking semi quarterhorse bars should be good.

Right side

Left side 

The whole back tail of the bars on both sides is broken. I have had a good run with this saddle, I thinks it's 20 years old. I can use it for first saddling for the young 'uns but it's life as a trail and performance saddle is done.

And so.. the search begins for a replacement!

And now the good news....

The last 2 rides on Gussie were really nice . She is getting softer, and getting much better with her leads and not sticking her body out in all the wrong places. Rode her at home the other day, just a schooling ride, Shayla rode first and then me. I can really feel the difference in her, especially after today's ride. When I first started working her months ago, and asked for a lope she would rush into it , diving into the bridle, leaning on the bit and not bending to the right.  I didn't even want to lope her until all that got fixed... and she is well on the way to being fixed. When I rode her today she just felt right; she wasn't perfect but she felt really good. I'm so happy! 

Shayla got some nice softening in the bridle...

She feels strong to me in the lope, but with more work I think that she will relax more. 

The hard part is done, now we have to work on consistency and getting her to stay in the gear we put her in. She's pretty sensitive and if you even think of stopping riding she just stops. All good, especially if you get off balance or something. But she really anticipates, so that's what we have to fix next. I tell ya, my legs are getting a workout! I really need to work on my coordination for feel and release. 

Good girl, Gussie!

Riding days 46 & 47

A Good Horse

One of the things I love most about horses is the joy they give people. The title of this blog, Ride A Good Horse, is what I strive for in my horses and Gussie stepped up yesterday to be that good horse. My youngest sister is visiting, and she wanted to ride. So I saddled Gussie and Beamer and we went for a short but lovely trail ride. It was my sister's first real ride in 41 years!

After a quick refresher on handling the reins and steering, off we went. I was super impressed with how Gussie took care of her!

I stayed out in front with Beamer as he was a bit vocal when he got close to Gussie; he still thinks it's breeding season as Rosalee is in heat right now. But he did well, and he is walking good at the moment. He was really happy to get out!

Gussie was very careful, stayed well back of Beamer, and never put a foot wrong. She didn't go too fast and was just a nice steady ride.

I was super happy with Gussie! How I love that redhead! I'm so glad she is back in my life.

Have a wonderful week everyone- and may you all, Ride A Good Horse.

Riding day 45

Trails new and old

Yesterday's trail ride was a place we hadn't been before. We looked over maps of the area and thought this one would be a good place for a shorter ride, as I had to be home no later than 1 PM.
The place we chose to park was the right place, but the road divided there and we headed up the mountain first. It was a steep forest service road that gave the horses a pretty good work out! This photo shows how steep it was:

Shayla and her Arab/QH cross, Rose

We explored a little side trail that led to a creek crossing where we had to turn back, no way to get across that was safe.

Hey, Gussie, ain't no way we are gonna cross that!

We headed on and up, but realised that it wasn't the trail that we really wanted to go on so we stopped at a switchback for a look at the view before heading back down.

Love how the horses were looking where  I was looking!

That bank was a heck of a way down, kind of hard to tell in the photo. On the way down we chose to walk and lead the horses, until we came to a spot where Shayla heard something in the bush, so we rode a ways. The dog and horses alerted too, and we heard a branch snap, but that was it, we never did get a glimpse of whatever it was.

Back at the truck, we headed down the low road which was a much nicer ride.

There were several level spots that looked to have hunting camps, 

and we found this spot that looked nice for photos.... only to find that people had used it for a spot to dump garbage. Jerks!

We explored another little faded sideroad...

but ran out of time and had to head back. I'd really like to follow that one to it's end.

There are supposed to be 4 trails on that mountain that go to and along the top, so another trip up there is definitely called for!

Today's ride was much simpler and along the well known (to us) airport trails. We had 2 other ladies join us, and it was an enjoyable morning ride along some pretty trails.

Gussie and Sassy were outpaced by the other two horses, a purebred Morgan and a part bred Morgan- but that was ok because it worked out for pairing up.

Part of the ride back was along the edge of an alfalfa field and Gussie showed great restraint in not trying to chow down on it- it smelled just heavenly as it's in full bloom.

And Sassy... well.....

she got to have a few bites!

We had to ride on the road for a short way, and Shayla picks her little border collie up and puts her on the horse. That's pretty good for a 4 year old horse!

 I was happy that the smoke in the valley blew away overnight. I'm sure there will be more, but I want to get as many riding days in as I can before we get too much smoke.
Riding day 43 & 44

T'weed update

Tumbleweed is two months old now. Time to start a few more training things on him. I took him in the barn with Mesa the other day but he was quite upset and wanted his mama! So next time I brought mama in with him- that worked much better. I did tie him with a slip knot, and held the end to do a quick release if necessary  but it was not.

Rosalee was happy to munch on the alfalfa hay in the manger while he ate his ration. The people interested in her cancelled yet again so she is still up for sale.
On the way out, I let him visit with papa.

Beamer can get loud!

We went on another trail ride today, but I'll save that for tomorrow's post.

Getting those leads

After that wonderful trail ride, Gussie's schooling continued. The time off and the trail ride must have relaxed her mind a bit, because it didn't take as long to get the desired results. That's not to say she was easy, just that she figured it out quicker.

In this next video, you can see how she gets all out of shape when Shayla is asking her to pick up her left lead.

However, it didn't take nearly as long for her to get with the program.....

After that I rode her around the arena, just working on keeping her soft in the face and when she was right, asking for a nice collected stop.

Here I had just asked her to soften so she is a bit behind the vertical but carrying herself nicely.

Going really nicely in this photo. I was pretty happy with her.

Going nicely on a loose rein here. 

You all may not think this is such a big deal, and on a normal quiet horse, it wouldn't be. Gussie, however, tends to hold anxiety and it shows in her tense movement and the bracing we had to deal with. So getting her to relax downward instead of being ramped upward is helping her frame of mind, as well as body. She is starting to develop a nice topline on her neck, before it just looked like an upside down neck; carrying it level instead of up is strengthening her top muscles and also helping to strengthen her in her loin. 

So- yesterday at the arena, I rode her first, and she was much better at holding that softness for more than a stride or two, and I was getting some nice trot work too. The true test was the lope; and I was really hoping that she would just pick it up without a struggle. 

Well.... I guess she had to hold out a little bit!

And that's all the loping she did. She got it right both ways so it was a good place to stop. 

Today's session was in my round pen. Gussie got bitted up and Shayla worked her until she went around with softness in her forward movement and made her turns on her haunches instead of flopping her hind end out. Hopefully next time she will get it in 5 minutes and not 15! But it's all progress. 

Tomorrow morning we are heading out on a trail ride, a place new to both of us. Trying to beat the heat so it will be an early start!

Riding day 41 & 42

R&R Ride

Man it has been hot here! But I'm sure it's that way for most of the country. Due to the heat we have had to reschedule our riding plans. As of tomorrow arena time will be 8 am, but today we went for a fun trail ride mid morning. Gussie had 2 days off, so today we opted for a river ride. Shayla came along and rode Sassy, and we headed for a spot where I knew the rocks along the dyke were optimum for going over the bank and down to the river.

I don't know about this Sassy! Looks treacherussss!

At the river, Gussie got anxious and started trembling a bit, so I got off and led her to the water's edge. As I was doing that, Sassy, who has never been ridden into water, decided to check out the river.

Oh Gussie, you have just been shown up by a 4 yr old cutting horse!

Once Gussie decided that the river wasn't going to swallow Sassy up so it must be okay, she was all cool about it. (Silly girl!)

I was checking out the passage through the rocks. Both mares handled the footing of the crossing just fine.

This video is the approach to the river and the crossing.

Once we got to the other side we explored the very steep trail that was over there. Another first for Sassy, she has never climbed a hill before- she did awesome, took it all in stride, and Gussie was relaxed and enjoying herself too.

This was the view from partway up the hill. That raw spot in the bank in the distance is above our place.

It's a long way down to the river, steeper than it looks.
Steep going up too!



Gussie wanted to power up the last little bit of the hill at a trot. Normally I don't do that but it seemed to be easy for her so I let her.



The trail topped out at a hay field with a nice view.

We didn't venture any further as it was private property, but it was sure nice seeing what was up there.
We weren't sure how Sassy would handle going down the hill, but as usual, she was pretty chill about it. Both these mares are barefoot and it was a rocky ride but they handled it really well.

We headed back across the same spot. Poor little Goose had to deal with the current, and I think the last time we went across the pond was her first swim, so she did really, really well today.

This was such an awesome fun ride and it was just what Gussie needed. And definitely going to have to do that again!

Riding day 40

Finding the holes in training

The last 3 days we have hauled up to Canyon arena to school our red heads. All the issues I have been having with Gussie became really obvious in the arena /schooling format- leaning on the bit, not being soft in the face (even though she looks soft), dropping her shoulder in the right circle and not bending in a nice arc on the left circle. Also being too mentally anxious, rushing the lope and not stopping on her hind end. That's a lot!

Shayla really helped out, watched me ride her and then got on and checked her out and came up with several things we can do to help Gussie.

The second session she was a bit better but still rushing and heavy but carrying herself somewhat better. I think we have to retrain her to give each part of her body; to move her hip over each way, to bend through her body, to move her shoulders over, and to soften instead of bracing all the time- she is very bracy!
The third session, all she was asked for was transitions and picking up the correct lead. Sounds simple, right?
It was a progression. The first day it was some trot work and getting her to give her body parts, and then asking her to pick up the correct lead,

as well as not rushing into the lope departure and carrying herself into a stop that wasn't bracing on her front end.

The next day was more about being correct at the lope. In this next video you can see how bracy she is (had to switch to my cell phone for videos as my camera battery went dead).

There was progress, although I wouldn't say Gussie was relaxed about it all.

The third day was trot to canter transitions  and making sure she was on the right lead. That meant a lot of work for Shayla!

Every time there is a brace coming , up goes Gussie's head and you can hear her grunting.

Finally.... she gets it.

That was a good place to stop. Today she gets a day off, maybe a little trail ride in the cool of the evening. She's not off the hook yet though, there will be more schooling next week and I'm really hoping a couple days off will have given her time to let things sink in and that she will move that hip over when asked, and pick up the leads without fussing about it. It really is a mental game with her!

We did do a little cool down trail ride at the end, except the third day it was just a cool down in the arena.

Riding days 37, 38, 39

The red heads

I hauled Gussie to the arena a few days ago. It's nice to have one so close, I could actually ride there  if I didn't have to worry about traffic on this road; some folks do ride down the road but I prefer not to if I can avoid it.
Anyway, it was interesting because I got to find a few more holes in her training that I need to fix. She really leans on the bit in the lope, so that means she is travelling heavy on her front end, and she also has a terrible front end stop so that is the same issue; I need to get her working off her hind end for balance and impulsion. I did some fencing to help her with that (ride straight to the fence and stop without using the reins, let the fence and your body language be her incentive to stop.)
I also got to start patterning her on the barrels- I haven't done that for..... well..... lets just say back in the era of big hair!. We have a good little jackpot barrel club here and it will be fun to get her going and enter up just for the sake of having a goal to work towards.

I think Gussie liked it and they must have done a little bit of barrels with her as she wanted to speed up in between the barrels.
The other red head here, Sassy, is now bred to Beamer, hopefully she caught and if so she will be due mid June. Pretty excited for that foal! Shayla is back for a while, and since Sassy's wound is almost all healed we went for a bareback ride down along the dyke. Now, Sassy is a trained cutting horse who has never been out on a ride like this, it was all new to her. So of course, we waded across the pond....

which is only about knee deep now. Shayla's little border collie came along and it was her first time swimming. Sassy did really well, just followed Gussie across like an ole trail horse. I think having a young horse go out with a seasoned horse is the best way to make them confidant.

Flowing water was also an eye opener for Sassy, she sure checked it out!

The two mares got along quite well riding side by side. Red heads rule!

Gussie is a strawberry roan and Sassy is more of a chestnut roan.

Today we are hauling them up to a bigger arena to work on some of the things that need attention, and to do more barrel work. I'm really enjoying having someone to ride with, it gives me the motivation I need to just do it!

Riding day 35 & 36

Water Baby

It's been a while since I had Tumbleweed out, I have been kind of busy so he got put on the back burner this last week.
But- we made up for that today. Linda and some of her relatives came to visit him ( and thanks Linda, that huckleberry scone was delicious!)
The mares didn't make it easy to catch him, they kept herding him down the fence.

But persistence paid off! and

he decided that he liked all the attention being on just him.
 I caught Rosalee and we went for a walk down to the pond, his first time out that far, but with mama there he was quite willing.
Rosalee was happy to wade right in and munch on those juicy swamp grasses.

T'weed was a little more cautious.

but discovered that yummy grass too. Mama's willingness to go in the water helped him to be brave enough to try something new- getting his feet wet!

We spent quite a while there, letting him just enjoy the new experience. 

Look at that hip! The black spot is where he rubbed the hair off, not sure on what. The hair is growing back and it will be fun to see what the colour looks like.

Sure was a beautiful day to be playing in the water!

After that there was some hand grazing to do, very important! Then before putting him back in the herd, he got some very relaxing brushing, which he thoroughly enjoyed!

The next couple of weeks will see more new experiences for him, as we want to load  him with his mama to haul to a local arena (about a 3 minute drive) so mama can go back in training, as she is still for sale.