Another lesson for Rio today, and it was one step back; I really thought he'd be better today, but the little rascal had other ideas. Not very cooperative, he tested pretty hard- but no squealing! So he got the next step in teaching; how to go forward with a tap on the butt. I took him away from the hitching rail, and asked him to go forward in a circle around me. When he didn't, he got a tap on the butt with my stick, and once I knew that he had that figured out, he got tied up again. This time when he set back, he got the tap, which sent him forward, and he tested a couple of times (gotta make sure that I really meant it, I guess!) Then he stood like a good boy. By the way, when he's pulling all his silly stunts, mama just stands there and ignores him. So then I took him for a little walk, over to visit his daddy. Beamer was quite interested, but when Rio did the little baby mouthing thing, he lost interest.
I got to ride Gussie today, and teach Chickory her first lesson in ponying. I took them in the round pen for this, as Gussie has never ponied another horse before, and I wasn't sure what to expect. They both did quite well, I didn't manage a trot, but there were no real issues. Rode out after that and over to the cows. I'll see if I can get a photo of the bull tomorrow, he's quite a good looking fellow. Then on down the road, lots of trotting and some loping. Gussie picks up both leads easily.
I've done some soul searching lately about my horses. I'm getting to the age where I don't really need to be doing all the things I used to do, and I don't ride as much as I used to, although a lot of that is circumstantial; I don't have anyone to ride with, and don't really want to trail ride by myself. The things I really want to do, like work cattle, I can't do here because there isn't a supply of cattle in the area. And people don't work their cows from horseback here. There is a roping club, but I don't really want to do that either. So the upshot of all this is that I have decided to put Chickory up for sale, and keep Gussie to ride. If any of you are interested in Chickory, let me know. I have her advertised on Kijiji right now, and we'll see how that goes.
7 comments:
i find that things change for me too. i used to be interested in many things, but well, not what i used to. i think as one gets older, life just turns a different way. perhaps its just the way it was meant to be? i don't know. but, best of luck on sale of chickory. :)
It's hard to be riding multiple horses and do other stuff too...even in the middle of cattle country, I can't get cows to practice on...it's frustrating when you want to do something and can't get it done. I'm sure you'll find the perfect home for Chickory.
It's funny how life changes that way, maybe you're just in a little slump right now. I would enjoy being your riding partner any day!
Change, not always easy but frequently for the best. Wish we lived closer, I would love to trail ride with you!
It's really tough when you don't don't have someone to do some of the riding with. I really want to do a good bit of trail riding, but there isn't enough people to spend horse time with.
It gets discouraging.
I don't know how much riding I'd do if we didn't have cows and I had no one to ride with either. I hope you find a good place for Chickory.
I somehow missed this post .Too bad, but you can only ride one at a time, I am sure she will make someone very happy
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