The youngsters make progress

Foal guesses are still open to those whose guess has passed! That means Linda, Kim, Sarah, Betsy, C-ingspots, Shannon and Emily- you can enter another guess! Belle still hasn't got a full bag - close to full but not bursting full yet.

It's so rewarding working with young horses. Seeing the progress, watching as they grow in confidence and understanding and seeing how they trust you- gets you in the feels!
We had lots of that the other day.
 First was a trail ride with Gussie and Ice; Shayla says Ice is now a bona fide trail horse!
We challenged her a little bit, first with a steep but short descent from the dyke, this is loose rocky ground that gives way a bit under their feet; she handled it  like a pro!

As we ended the ride, we went through the pond. The first time Ice had to do this she was quite uncertain and needed a companion horse to give her the confidence to go through the wider expanse of water; I think the reflectivity of it threw off her depth perception too. This time she got to go first; once again, she handled it like a pro!

Next is miss Mesa. Starting off with a little ground work; we skipped the ground driving because she really didn't need it. Also skipped the safety line because Shayla was confident that Mesa was going to handle things well.
Pretty proud of this little mare! Take a look:

She was light and responsive to steering and leg! With these willing babies it's hard to remember that they are just babies and to not overwork them. Mesa may get a couple more rides but that will be it- and we keep them to about 5 minutes. Just trying to set her up for her future, not ruin her body.

Then it was Drifter's turn.

First off- I had sent away his dna to get him tested for roan- and he is indeed a palomino roan! Yay!

I can't wait until he sheds out that shaggy coat! I expect him to be light through the body as the roaning shows up and darker on the legs and head.

He is so funny. He gets all happy when he gets to go out and be worked. But even though he is exuberant he still does whatever Shayla asks of him. 

This is the something new for him: Being asked to move his hip over from above. Normally he just gives his hip when she asks for a stop-and-face-up, so this was totally new and he got it right away.

They say that with the Driftwood bloodlines you show them what to do, then leave them alone and don't pick on them, because they get it- and it sure seems to be true with both Drifter and Ice (she also has Driftwood blood).

And yes, foal watch continues. 

Riding day 31

Oh hello spring!

The last couple of days have been just gorgeous and perfect for spending lots of time with the horses!
We made friends with a fellow who moved here to work on a beef ranch, and we all went for a trail ride with him on Ice, Shayla on Rose and me on Gussie. It was the first ride for Ice in the bush, her previous trail rides were on a gravel road with not too many distractions; this was a step up. We all rode down to the river and then back along the dyke and through the bush. Ice, of course was perfect!

He didn't know what to expect when he rode Ice into the river; Gussie and Rose waded right in and Ice just kinda followed. I think he thought she would paw and splash or lay down! He also complimented Shayla on what a good job she did with Ice's training; Ice was a lot more advanced than he thought a horse with only about 20 rides would be.

After a bit he and Shayla switched horses, and she was pretty happy with how Ice handled this new experience. First ride in the water including wading through the swamp.

The next day, we worked Mesa first. Ground driving time! At first she was a bit confused that someone was walking behind her as it is very different from longeing.

I had Shayla come in and walk by her head so that Mesa would follow her; that worked very well and Mesa quickly figured things out.

She is going to be so easy to ride! She also learned to back up with reins instead of just shaking the lead rope. Very nice, Mesa!

We are supposed to be in for a rainy week, but if it isn't too bad we will continue with the ground driving and then get Shayla on her guiding with the reins; I'll have a longe line on her too but we should be able to take that off fairly quickly. 

Next ride it was ponying Drifter! He still needs to learn more manners when it comes to ponying; he tried to rear once and several times he was nippy, but it's all about being vigilant with these young'uns and not letting them complete the undesirable behaviour. Over all it was a fun ride with him! He also got to go in the river for the first time.

Rose did a very good job of keeping him in line! Drifter seemed to really enjoy this new experience.

Later that day we saddled up Gussie and Ice and went back down to the river just for fun and for Ice and Shayla to have another trail ride. 

The water looked really blue in the shade! Made Ice look blue too.

There is not a lot of snow left up in the mountains and the river still is low. It will be interesting to see if it's a drought year or if we get a lot of rain to make up for it..

Riding day 29 & 30

Working them all

Foal watch continues...
Linda and Nat D  feel free to enter another guess as yours are past. Look on my sidebar for a look at the other guesses.

What a wonderful day I had yesterday!
First off, I took a ride on Beamer, just bareback down around the pond to see if there was any water in it (there is!) and to get him out of his pen for a change.

When Shayla got here she worked Drifter while I rode Beamer, then we saddled up the redheads, Gussie and Rose and went meandering through the bush and down to the river.

Pretty sure we both had big smiles going on! The river is starting to rise with the warmer temperatures and sunshine melting the snowpack. We even had a warm breeze for the first time this spring.



After that Shayla rode Ice (both Rose and Ice are back here) and had a really good ride on her, the first time she has ridden her here other than in the pen. Lots of distractions like dogs barking , equipment working, kids playing etc. but she handled it well- one little spook where she grabbed her butt and scooted forward, but got over it very quickly.
Then it was miss Mesa's turn!
Off to the round pen we went, it is the first time she has been worked under saddle for a while, and of course she was a rock star!

Since she was being so good, it was time for her to learn to carry a rider under saddle.

Preparatory step #1 went well!

as did step #2...

and step # 3

Then up and over!

Pretty happy with li'l Mesa.

Riding  day 28

Another 360 degree vista

For Ice's second trail ride we chose to go down another quiet back road. This one is closer to Kootenay Lake and provided another grand vista of the Creston Valley.

Both mares were a little edgy at first, Gussie was being pushy and rude and Ice was being fidgety and looky. We got that sorted out and off we went.
Ice did her first spook- which was more of a startle than a spook; just slammed to a stop and turned less than a quarter of a turn while being all looky at whoknowswhat. Easy to handle! And good to know that she doesn't make huge spooks.

There were cattle along the road, tractors parked that we rode by, horses in the distance and geese in the fields. All new things for Ice and she handled everything very well after the initial spook.

We both agreed that Gussie is a great companion for young horses on their first outings, she doesn't spook or flee, just carefully looks things over and then carries on.

I think Gussie likes mentoring! It's equine nature to like having another horse with them so this works out perfectly, both we and the mares get to go out and enjoy these beautiful spring days- life is good when you Ride A Good Horse!

The view:

Riding day 26

Gussie remembers

As I mentioned in my last post, Shayla and I headed down to the River Road, where I used to live. It was a good place to give Ice her first trail ride, as there is very little traffic on that road,and it's mostly farmland on each side , basically a nice safe outing. We drove past our old place about a kilometer and parked. I was wondering if Gussie would remember the area... I'll get back to that in a bit.
Ice did really well! Just strolled along, calm as could be, you'd never know she is a 3 year old with only 14 rides on her.

And then there is the view- I miss that 360 degree view!

When we got to the river there was a boat thinking of pulling in - the road ends at the boat launch- but they kindly pulled back out and headed upstream. 

I think once we got to the river, Gussie really clicked with where we were. It has been 6 years since she was there. On the way back she started walking really fast- striding right out , ears up and alert, all business. Ice had to trot a few times to keep up. Gussie wasn't doing her nervous jig at all; I could feel that she was really thinking and memories were coming back.

Once we got past the corner in the above photo, she started looking towards where our place used to be, and whinnying - she never does that! I'm sure she was calling out to see if any of the horses were there. I found her reaction quite interesting. Remember, that is where she was living when I sold her the final time.

When we got back home, I think she was quite relieved to be back with her herd. She found a sunny spot by the shelter and slept. Normally she would have been busy eating the hay left from the morning feeding as that's what the other horses were doing, and she is all about her hay!

I hope she feels secure now.

Riding day 24

Making progress

We had 3 more schooling rides with Gussie and Ice. Ice is really progressing, she is  loping well under saddle, holding the lope and always picking up the correct lead. Gussie we are still working on her holding her hind lead to the right. She gets a little frustrated and starts bulling into pressure instead of moving away from it, so it's a work in progress.
Yesterday I hauled Mesa with Gussie, it was her first trailer ride and she did just awesome! I loaded Gussie first and closed the divider, then Mesa and she pretty much hopped right in once she checked it out. It's only a few minutes to haul to the local arena so that was a good first experience. Once there she unloaded well, we backed her out and this is where those lessons as a baby on trailer loading came in handy, she had no problem with backing out.
Shayla saddled up Rose and we went down the road to my sister's property and rode through that,

then back  down the road to the arena where Shayla ponied her around for her first time in an arena.

So dusty! Through the whole experience of loading, hauling and seeing new places, Mesa did super! I'm pretty proud of this filly, and her new owner is too!

We have also been taking Drifter out on walks. He has to learn some manners, and taking him for walks is a good way to work on keeping him focused on his handler and not having the distraction of the mare herd. Because he is so easy going it is important to not get slack in assuming he will always be good- it's almost spring and those boy hormones will kick in! I'm happy to say he takes correction well and learns quickly. Because he is already a big boy!

Riding day 17,18,19,&20

Some arena time

The cold weather and nippy winds made these last few days the perfect time to haul to the little indoor arena. We hauled Gussie and Ice, as both girls needed some schooling time. Ice is doing really well, and her calm disposition really shines through as she progresses in her training.
Gussie was used on the first session as a comfort companion as Ice got ridden for the first time in an indoor, just travelling around the arena with her at first and then parking in the corner as Ice was worked.

Shayla did a schooling ride on Gussie next, reviewing where she is at with her softness and lead departures. It took a bit for Gussie to get back in the groove, she has been only on easy going trail rides for the last few months with only a few schooling rides so it's understandable!

We hauled again the next day, and both mares showed improvement. Shayla loped on Ice, and Gussie nailed her lead departures and Shayla has been working on the fundamentals of the cow turn (as compared to the reining spin, different deal but both are turns on the haunches) with her. 

Looks like I have ridden her enough to keep her in a bit of shape over the winter. 

Today we are hauling again, the plan is to ride several times a week at this indoor to get the girls in shape- spring is coming! Supposed to get really nice spring weather in about 2 weeks .

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

Drifter is very itchy with all that hair, I think he was looking for a good scratch as he was being so very helpful as I cleaned his pen.

Riding day 15 & 16

Snow much fun!

Well my o my did we get snow! In the course of 12 hours we got about 20 inches. Lots of shovelling!

Fortunately it wasn't too cold to go with all that white stuff.  Beamer was hiding out...

and the mares were frolicking!

 Drifter was covered in snow, but dry underneath all that thick fur. 

I think Ice was tasting snowflakes ! 

The next day it was beautiful sunshine! All the horses were snoozing in the sunshine, and the icicles had melted off their fur.

Even the cats decided that the pathways that I shovelled were worth venturing out on. 

Today was gorgeous, nice and warm. 

Beamer agreed.... 

Shayla and I went for a ride on Rose and Gussie. Little Goose came along too.

I'm sure it was a workout for that little dog bounding through all  that snow but it sure didn't tire her out! Both mares behaved themselves and we had a thoroughly enjoyable ride. 

I sure hope we can ride again tomorrow, it was so much fun today! At the end of the ride, Shayla and Rose did some snow writing. 

Riding day 11

Working the young 'uns

A cold and windy day didn't mean school was out, yesterday!

Mesa did really well, considering how blustery it was. Because the footing got icy with the temperature drop, Shayla kept the work to a walk, as you can see in the video, when Mesa wanted to go faster she was asked to yield and back. Pretty happy with this filly!

 Ice, Shayla's 3 yr. old is also going back into training now. Big dreams for this daughter of Sherry Cervi's famous stallion, Dinero!

Drifter got his first real lesson with Shayla today too. He learns quickly; look how soft he is in this photo after just a few minutes of working with him.

If you look on my sidebar, my blog list has Shayla's blog, she posted her recent lesson with Sandy Collier, and hopefully will continue to post!

Awesome day for the youngsters

Our morning routine is jelling. After feeding we work the youngsters, Mesa got worked first today.
First thing was have her pack the saddle, uncinched, to the round pen , which meant down the hill, squeeze between the fence and the trailer that is parked in the lane, past daddy Beamer's pen and on to the round pen. We started with rope work again, that is, Shayla did while I videoed.

As you can see we got a little more thorough, moving the rope to 3 different positions including flanking her. I guess she will never make it as a rodeo bucking horse! What a good li'l filly.

Since that went so well we moved on to saddling her. We just threw the saddle on and cinched it up, including the back cinch. Snug enough to keep it in place if she did get to bucking and not so tight as to constrict her breathing or worry her. The back cinch was done up snug against her belly. 

The aim was to make it a good experience, keep her happy and that's pretty much how it went.

She has been wearing that saddle every day at feeding time for a couple of weeks now, so it is familiar to her. And all the sacking out I did last fall and winter paid off. 

She did get a little looky on the right side, trying to inspect that thing attached to her. But pretty much the whole session was relaxed and on a loose leadline.

Love the way her forelock hairs look like an upside down heart 

After we were done we uncinched her and had her carry the saddle back up to the hill to the barn. 

Then it was time to do something with Ice, and Shayla decided that she would saddle her up and pony her from Rose and we would introduce her to the river. This would be her first real trail ride saddled up.

Once again, things went really well.

She did super, the only thing that surprised her was when she was led into the river, she jumped a couple of strides and then went across like an ole broke horse.

She took her back across a deeper part that was up to her stirrups and she was very good. What a cool li'l 2 yr old!

On the way back we went the route that took us through the big cement barriers that Gussie had her little wreck at. She did get amped up and worried, so I got off and led her slowly through and then used the blocks to climb up on to get back in the saddle, trying to make it all a good experience for the silly red mare.

There is a video of Ice's day, but since Shayla said she is going to fire up her blog again I'll leave it for her to show, and I'll post a link to it once she has it up.

All in all, a pretty rewarding day! 

Riding day 65

Ridin' and round pennin'

Kinda happy to have my riding partner back in town!
Yesterday we hauled Gussie and Rose up to Canyon Arena for a refresher, both mares were in need of it.

Rose is getting legged up for her winter in California, and showing.
Gussie needed some reminders- she has a diva attitude going on so she had to protest a bit but she did pretty good too.

She sure looks good under saddle! That's a reining saddle we are trying out on her, I'm having a lot of issues trying to find the perfect saddle /pad combination for her.
 This morning it was Mesa's turn. Every day when I take her into the barn to eat her ration, I set the pad and saddle on her, no cinch. Today, after eating I had her carry the saddle to the round pen. I want to soon be able to pony her saddled up so she needed to first learn about being cinched. Just out of curiosity, and because she is so calm about wearing the saddle, we tried pretend cinching and leading her; Shayla held the latigo so that she could feel the cinch but it wasn't done up, while I led her, but she jumped a bit and the saddle came off. Sure enough, she needed rope work.
So, rope work she got!

She did pretty good! Another day of that and we will try the saddle again.  I got her to pack the saddle back to the barn.

Ice was next up. She is a 2 yr. old and is still going through basic training. Shayla worked her free longeing  for a bit and then she rode while I had her on the longe line so that she could have her first time being ridden at a trot under saddle. It went well!

She's a pretty cool li'l horse. Very good minded and easy to get along with. She is going to be fun! We have plans to pony her and Mesa tomorrow, using Rose and Gussie. Let them get out and explore the trails here- speaking of which, we took Gussie and Sassy along the trails and across the river and up the steep trail to the hayfields, with the idea of checking saddle fit on Sassy. The saddle that's on Gussie in the photo above and on Ice in the video is getting tried out on all the mares to see who it fits best.

It was a pretty nice day for riding. The river is still low and crossing was easy...... except for Goose who had to fight the current!

The hill is pretty steep, but so nice for the view.

Sassy is starting to get her baby belly, and she hasn't been worked much lately  so this was a bit of a challenge for her, but she has a lot of heart and just chugs along.

The view at the top was lovely too. Made me wish that we could just keep riding up there , but we don't have permission to cross the hayfields, so we headed back down.

All in all it was a good day, about 4 hours spent doing horse stuff (grin). More tomorrow!

Riding day 63 & 64

New girl in town

Meet MP Dirty Dinero, aka Ice

This is Shayla's 2 yr old.She will be wintering here. She is a daughter of Shery Cervi's great stallion, Dinero. 

She is Sassy's friend, and eventually she will be integrated into the mare herd for the winter.

She's a pocket pony! Very friendly and curious. 

We are working to put some weight on her as she lost a bit over the summer. She just turned 2 and has lots of growing to do! I love her build.