Down to the river

Whenever I ride down to the river I always think of the song, Lets go Down to the River To Pray from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou.
Beautiful day for a ride, so I saddled up miss Clancy, spent a few minutes on teaching her to stand still for mounting, and not to move off right away, and off we went.
Its 3 miles to the river, so we did 6 miles today. I took Tess with me, because I knew she could cool off at the river and she has been longing to go with me.

That is exactly where Tess stays when she comes with me.

The road from here to the river is all gravel, and since I am transitioning Clancy to barefoot, I looked for some softer ground and found a nice dirt track alongside one of the fields, and several other fields had been hayed so we could ride on the edges of them.

Once we got to the river access, which is a boat launch area,  Clancy took a good look at the water before stepping into it.

She even took a drink of water once she got her feet in the water.

There was a fellow there who kindly threw sticks in for Tess to get a swim.

We stood quietly for a while watching the dogs and cooling off, then it was time for the ride back.

Then Clancy spotted the local bears....

Do you see them? We took a closer look.....

One of the things I really like about this mare is that she isn't spooky- she just takes a good hard look at things and moves on. Good girl Clancy!

In the left middle of the photo is our place, the big building has the overhang that houses the mares. Josie did call when she saw us coming, but Clancy didn't call back.
What I learned about my mare on this ride:
-She has a nice lope, doesn't speed up when you don't want her to- also at the trot, she pretty much stays at the speed you put her in.
-She does take bites of grass as she goes along, but only once in a while, not constantly diving for it.
-She isn't spooky, she is careful where she puts her feet, and will go where I ask without arguing.
-She is slow! I hope that when I get to riding with other people/horses she will keep pace. I'm so used to Beamer's rapid walk that this mare seems soooo slow to me!
-She doesn't speed up when she knows she is headed home.

I love my mare!

A perfect afternoon

Best afternoon in a long time! Still hot here, so I climbed in my hammock in the shade of the deck yesterday afternoon, and woke up two hours later. Around 5:30, I saddled Clancy to go for a ride. She did not want to stand still for mounting again, so this time I used my mounting step and worked on that. She moves her hip away, so I used my stock stick to reach over and tap her hip over- but I ended having to step down and move her hip from the ground a number of times, always giving her the chance first to do it from my preferred position of being on the step. She eventually got it, and then we had to work on her standing still for mounting, as she has been allowed to move off right away previous to me owning her. That only took a minute though. Over all about 10 minutes of work.

We headed down the road to the west, with fields of barley on the left, heading out nicely. There is a road- more like a dirt trail- that cuts through the middle of these fields, and we headed that way.

I was happy to find that they have extended this road, we were able to go all the way back beyond those trees and off to the right there was another big field that had been cut, so we rode the perimeter of that too.

I was pretty happy with this, our first trail ride. There was no silliness; one small moment when she saw something unexpected and her "spook" was to slam both front feet to a stop and give it a hard look- and then on we went. A group of Eurasian Collared Doves flew up within a few feet, and she just carried on.
There were times when she thought she should trot, and I tried bringing her back to a walk just using my energy, thinking downward transition, and sometimes it worked and sometimes I had to do a one rein check. When I wanted her to trot, I tried first using my energy without secondary cues, and again, sometimes it worked and sometimes I had to cluck her up. This is only the third time I have ridden her, so I think it portends well for our relationship. I can already see the areas I want to work on with her, other than mounting; I'd like her to be a little softer in the face- she does need her teeth done, and we can work on getting her using her body better for collection.
One thing I will have to do with her is some desensitizing, she has a couple of spots that she doesn't like being touched, probably cellular memory from her ribs being out. A little TTouch should help that.
Over all- I'm kinda pleased with miss Clancy!
One more thing- when I took the saddle off, I didn't find any dry pressure spots. Nice and even sweat marks so I am super happy about that as I love my old saddle. I had it custom made in 1998 and it has been on a lot of horses, and it fits Clancy just right!

Adjusted

Had  Dustin Hewitt come out and adjust Clancy today. She did need a lot of work, seemed like she was sore everywhere. Poll, wither, several ribs, hips, etc. I will give her another day off to get used to it, and hope to ride tomorrow evening. Still stupid hot here, and the horses are sweating just standing in the shade. Poor things.
In this photo, you can see the sweat

She is chowing down on her Hoffmans Minerals after being adjusted. One of the things I notice is that the low dip behind her withers is gone- here is a before pic from a few days ago:

You can see that her back slopes down to the wither and in the first pic it is more level. So I'm hoping she will be a lot happier about being saddled and will be more willing to stand still for mounting. He worked a lot on a spot about 6 inches below the end of the wither and she let him know it was sore. At the end of the treatment, she looked like she was going to fall asleep.
And then she went and rolled.....which is why all the dust is on her sweaty self in the first photo.
Now to trim those feet.....

Stupid hot.....and finally a name.

98 degrees might not be  whole lot to my friends in parts of the US, but here, combined with the humidity, puts it over 100 degrees. That of course, put an end to my riding plans for a few days, as I work in the mornings. Also, there is a fellow coming to town on Sunday who does body work so I'll wait until he has worked on my mare before I ride. Hopefully Monday morning!
Yes, I did finally name her.

This sweet girl needed a laid back kind of name.....

One that reflected her uncomplicated, country girl nature.....

So I named her Clancy.

Best buddies... already

I think the photos will tell the story here.

In this last photo, there are actually both girls there! Talk about grazing in unison!
One of the things I am looking forward to is ponying Josie from this mare... as yet unnamed!

The Journey Begins.

The journey to softness.... the journey to communication... the journey to partnership...

We are off to a good start, this mare and I.
Hauled up to an outdoor arena, and had it all to ourselves. First thing was her not wanting to stand still for mounting; but let me back up a little bit- when I saddled her at home, before loading in the trailer, I noticed that she was a little worried as I put the saddle on. I made a mental note of that, and will get body work done to rule out any physical discomfort. Another thought is that previous saddles may not have fit her well and she was anticipating pain- which may also account for not standing still for mounting.
Because she wasn't standing still for mounting, I flapped the stirrups and caused a general commotion with them, swinging them around, snapping them etc. until her feet stopped moving. I didn't start that until she moved her feet, and didn't stop that until she stopped her feet. Once each side, and by golly next thing you know, she stood perfectly still for mounting. (Grin)
Our walk work was, if anything, boring (fine with me!) She does round up with just a little leg pressure, and moves all her body parts as asked, although we need to perfect all of the pieces, they are all in place.
Trot work also went well, we will work on smoother transitions and more impulsion as our journey continues.
For the lope, I asked for it out of a rollback instead of out of a trot, and she picked up both leads nicely.
There is no charginess, no head tossing, no arguing, just a nice willing mare. If anything, a little lazy, but I think that will change once we do her body work, her teeth, and her feet, and find what interests her. I think she has had a lot of arena work and finds it boring ( Me too!)

Here she was watching some people walk by with their big fluffy white dog.
Another thing that made me happy- my saddle fits her!

I made sure to set it so that the bars are behind the shoulder blades; to a lot of people this would be too far back; but as you can see in the next photo, her back is all dry, and look where the sweat from the cinch is.

She does have a high wither and a narrower back. Eventually I will get another saddle more suitable for showing, but for now, my everyday working saddle will do the trick.

Rabicano

Lythia was asking to see the rabicano markings. Here is an explanation.
The top of her tail has white hairs:

She also has the white hairs on her sides and flanks.

Here she is!

Ted and I  (and Merle and Tess!) pulled out of here at 5 AM and were in Okotoks by noon, we had a slight detour to drop some stuff off at a friend's place and of course had to visit for a half hour.
I checked her out, rode her, asked a bunch of questions, and loaded her up and we were home by 7 PM. Long day!
The only real issue I found with her is that she needs to learn to stand still for mounting, but that's fairly easy to teach. She is responsive to leg and rein, has the basics of the spin, sidepass, etc. and a nice stop and back up. Smooth too. She does need some fine tuning, but at 7 years old and having had a year or so off to have a foal, I don't have any problem with that.
What I really like is her attitude, or should I say, sweetitude. She doesn't have perfect conformation, but a good mind can make up for a lot of flaws.
I put her and Josie together right away as I don't have an isolation pen. Josie was so happy to have a buddy!

 Oh- and that tail up.... yeah, she's in heat.....

No Beamer! You can't have her for a couple of years yet!!!!

The two girls get along well even at the feeder! With two sorrels I'm going to have to look twice to see which one is which if I can't see the white back stockings.

Josie has more of a flaxen mane, and the new mare is a rabicano. Her registered name is DD Cats Hot Sauce  so I will be looking for a barn name for her- I'm open to suggestions!

Beamer's boy

Went to visit Beamer's newest son today. Oh goodness, he is just perfect! He is about 28 hours old in these photos, so he hasn't really found out that he can run and play, and it was a hot day so he was pretty laid back. All I could say was, he's perfect!

He looks so much like his daddy! That Beamer head and hip!

He's sweet too! Lets us handle him all over, even picked up his feet for me.

His mama has a hissy fit when the other mare comes to the fence, but apparently donkeys are allowed to introduce themselves to her prized son.

He is a bit small, which isn't surprising since he is the first foal on a mare that just turned 13. He can walk right under this part of mama.

All together now, awwwww!

Looking for that perfect spot for a snooze....

and that was it! Nap time!

It's a filly! (Or is it?)

Some of you may remember that Beamer was bred to a Paint mare last year.... they have a daughter!  son!  Just got an update- apparently it is a colt! The mare owner was away when this little one was foaled, and she now says it's a colt- I'll know for sure when I go visit tomorrow!

I'm going to go see her  him tomorrow so I'll take lots of photos for everyone!

Maybe.... just maybe.....

Well! I finally found a mare worth trying out. She is the right size, age, breeding, and I just got off the phone with the guy who rides her and I think she will work well for me. Here is a link to her pedigree.  She is not a laid back horse, so working with the children might take a lot of supervision, but in the end I'm the one who will be riding her most. She has worked buffalo and been on the trails, has had one foal and is currently being ridden.  This is a pic of her with her foal (the other pics sent were crappy).

If all goes well, I'll do a road trip on the 21st and if I like her, she will be coming home with me.
Talked to a local gal who has a pony that needs ridden; I think the nieces would have a lot of fun on the pony so we might try that next time they are here.

My ad

Here is the text of the ad I put on Facebook.




I think all the good broke mares are either in the show ring, or retired to broods- because I just can't find one. I do have criteria- MUST be a registered Quarter horse, must be a mare- NO geldings. I'm picky about bloodlines, disposition and age. I live in southeastern BC, so I'd like find a horse within a 5 hour drive, so northern Alberta doesn't work. I like the cow bloodlines and if there is some run in there that's ok too- but no Hancock, Two Eyed Jack or Impressive please (just my personal preference). Ages 4 to 12 preferred. My budget will depend on the quality of the horse, which will be used for Cowboy Dressage, Cowboy Challenge, and trail riding in the mountains. I don't need fancy, I need sweet and kind, as I am also teaching my 3 nieces to ride. That being said, I am not looking for a kid's horse, per se, just one kind enough to help them learn to ride. PM me if you think you might have that perfect horse for me.


Of all the replies I got, there were 8 green horses, 11 horses that were out of budget (to be fair, I didn't put the dollar figure in there because then you get people trying to sell you their junk horses for your max budget), 2 horses that were too young, 3 horses that were too old, 3 Two Eyed Jack horses, 2 Hancock horses, 3 Impressive horses, 2 Appaloosas, 2 Paints, 2 that were too far away so I didn't ask for more info, and 4 that were unsuitable for various other reasons (dispostition, unregistered, etc.) I have messaged 2 people for more info on their horses and haven't heard back (including the bay mare in the previous post).


Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the other breeds or those bloodlines- but they are not what I want. I am a little bit spoiled because of how sweet Beamer is, and I want a stellar disposition like his.

I can wait for the right horse. It just means I won't have a horse to ride this year, and that is kinda sad! There is one more horse I am considering, she belongs to the daughter of Tracey Westbury of Mustang Diaries blog. She's a very cute little bay mare called Doxee. Only thing is, she is under 14 hh, but I have been following her on FB and know that I would like her. I hope to see her and try her out at the Buck Brannaman clinic next month, as she is close enough that they would haul her over for me.

Horse shopping again.....

Did I ever mention how much I hate horse shopping? I am sure nobody pays any attention to what you write in your "wanted" ad and just try to sell you whatever they have.
I posted on a FB horse sellers/buyers page, specifying age (4-12)  mare, and broke. Right away I get yearlings, green broke 3 year olds, etc. I specified the blood lines I didn't want and most of the horses had those blood lines if the owners cared to do the research.
Of over 70 comments, I narrowed it down to 2  that might be worth checking out. MIGHT be. Sigh.

I am waiting for more info on this mare. Supposed to be Smart little Lena bred. She is 8 years old, that is her only foal - an oops.

Waiting on a pic of the papers. 

Here is what they said: 

"We raised her. She was started as a three-year-old. My husband rode her quite a bit. We have used her with 4h kids, trail riding, clinics, playing horse soccer."

Sunday Silence

Tomorrow....

If all goes well, 

 Snoopy leaves for her new home on a breeding farm.

Updates on Belle and the boyz

Some updates on Mama Belle and the boys.
Belle foaled out a big bay colt yesterday, I'm waiting for more photos from the owner so I can share them.
Kai got his foot stuck in wire and required vet attention, including a cast to immobilize the foot so it could heal, and it is healing up nicely. The young lady who was riding him is taking very good care of him during his recovery.
Rio had his first show, and they took second place in Showmanship, haven't heard yet how they did in their other classes.

This next photo is from their 4H Achievement day.

They don't just ride in the arena, they hit the mountain trails too.

I hear that Nitro and Kevin are entered in the Buck Brannaman clinic in High River in November.
That should be awesome for them!
I'll post more news on Kai's recovery as I get it.

Decision made

Snoopy is officially listed for sale. With my pasture limited this year, I only have room for 3 horses, so if I want to buy a riding horse, she has to go. I'm hoping she will sell quickly as I have a couple of horses I want to check out.
I have only had her since Friday, and was away most of the weekend. What I have found with her- she is friendly, in fact I had trouble getting photos of her because she was walking right up to me. She does not like getting caught- but I worked a bit at driving her away when she did that and a couple of minutes of that was enough and I could walk up and halter her. Of course that meant an opportunity to take photos!

Sure wish this mare was broke.....

 I'll be deworming her today - that hair should be all shed out by now and she looks a trifle thin to me.

My round pen panels have been taken down and I'm just waiting a couple days for this rainy weather to clear  so I can get it set up. Then I will start ground work on both Snoopy and Josie, yay finally!

Clinic weekend

I spent the last weekend attending a Bruce Koch clinic over at Janice's. Once again, I am impressed with this instructor, and how both horses and riders make improvements every day. From bossy dominant horses who push their owners around, to nervous horses, to horses who have little hissy fits when they are pushed to not be lazy, everyone made vast improvements. Without boring you with details, I'll just say I was impressed enough to book Josie in with him for next year. She will have 2 months of basic training with him, and some light riding from me once she comes back. Here are some of my fave photos from the clinic.

This is a Beamer daughter: she went from being petrified of the flag, especially above her.....

to standing quietly right next to it, even though she didn't actually touch it. This was a huge improvement.

This 17 hh draft/thoroughbred cross complained when pushed, but her girl worked her through the issues and got some nice work done.
 Look how precise she is in foot placement:

This next horse was dominant over his owner, basically flipped her off and did what he wanted.

At this point, he had just blown out and refused what he was being asked- I believe it was something simple like moving in a circle and then yielding his hip- a very resistant horse who was used to getting his way. We weren't sure his owner would even get on him- but it all came together with consistent handling and patience on Bruce's part.

By Sunday afternoon, he was relaxed and his owner was actually enjoying riding him for the first time in a year or more.
Then there was the big blue Percheron/quarterhorse cross. He was ok until he was pushed, kind of like the paint mare but more aggressive in his resistance.

He is a powerful horse, but he didn't intimidate his rider, a young gal from Australia. She just kept on working him and did really well.

Of course, at lunch time we had a little light entertainment from Dave's golden labs, older dog Tucker and pup Gus.

I hope Janice does a post on the clinic, her blog is Own A Morgan & QH