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

Not all good days are sunny

There was a threat of rain yesterday, in fact it rained most of the night. I was a little reluctant to ride, because, well, maybe I might melt....  but I sucked it up and by golly it didn't rain. It was actually quite a nice day for riding!
We were accompanied by our friend Michelle on the 19 year old mare Kit; you may remember them from my posts at the swimming hole last summer.

Kit and Shayla;s mare Rose

 Same area as our last ride but a different road that took us past a channel of water.

This area, over a hundred years ago, was under water as it is the end of the Kootenay River and the beginning of Kootenay Lake. It is very flat land so I assume it was quite marshy and full of nutrient rich silt that the farmers were coveting as farmland. As system of dykes and channels allowed the drainage and development over the decades to what it is now- a lovely agricultural area where livestock, hay, tree nurseries, and many other crops grow.

(Photo by Shayla)

This view is looking north towards Kootenay Lake. Just before Kootenay Lake is a small lake called Duck Lake, in the summer it is terrible for mosquitoes there so this is a good time to ride there. The road we took skirts Duck Lake, but close to the lake the road is closed to all but foot traffic during the spring thaw. We figured that meant horses too as their hoofprints were rather deep in spots.

Mostly the footing was really good and smooth so it allowed us to do some long trotting. I got Gussie kicked into high gear again- man that is an incredible trot on her! I have said before that Gussie is the smoothest  quarter horse I have ridden - it's true, even at a long trot!

Most of our ride was much more sedate though. There were 2 incidents when birds startled the horses- one where ducks flew up right beside the road where there was a culvert with a pool of open water where the ducks were feeding, and along the channel where we were doing our first long trot; the channel had ice on it until we reached a spot of open water and a pair of swans were startled by us and flew up. The horses put on the brakes! Gussie didn't really spook as she was in the lead and the swans flew up behind her, but she stopped very quickly. Her version of spook is to stop with a brace on her front legs and just stand there and look.

We rode over 8 miles, and by the time we got back to the trailers we had some tired mares!

We have a couple more rides planned for this week, one (or maybe 2!) more in this area and one in the middle of town up the tower road overlooking the Creston valley.

Riding day 27

Long view

Today's ride was down a road across the valley- we had great views of the whole valley. The first part of the ride we went along the base of the mountain just to see where the road went- it ended at some private property right on the US border.



That power line is pretty much on the border. We turned around, not wanting to go past the posted no trespassing signs.
There were a couple of places where there were livestock guardian dogs who came to check us out- Shayla pulled Goose, her little border collie, up into the saddle with her, just in case the dogs took after her.

It sure was another beautiful spring day!

Next we went down a long straight road that was perfect for doing some long trotting. Shayla was riding Rose, her Quarab mare who has a lovely long trot. Gussie had to work at it to keep up as she kept wanting to break into a lope but I managed to find the right gear for her to stay in a trot- and what fun it was! She could really motor!

Shayla did a good job on the video as her horse was moving out pretty good too! I had to grab my hat it kept wanting to fly off.

Quite the 360 degree view. I'd like to ride down there again and take Tay with me, it would be a good place for her to really get some exercise.

 Riding day 25

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

Riding again

A couple more riding days- ponied Mesa - she was such a good girl!



She strides right out, no funny business. Gussie didn't like it when Mesa had to go right behind her on a narrow spot, but overall it was a really good ride.

Shayla saddled up Sassy, who hasn't  been ridden since October, and is due to foal in 4 months; she did great too!



The next day we took Rose and Gussie out for a ride, nothing too remarkable but we did get to do some long trotting in the snow, accompanied by the ever faithful and energetic Goose.

Although we don't have a lot of variety of places to go, as you can tell by my photos, we do have a lot of fun just getting out and enjoying the peaceful scenery. 

The other day all the horses were alerting to something in the bush, and as we rode through we spotted moose tracks. 

We took Drifter into the barn the other day, just playing around with him, and let him have a visit with Beamer, much to Beamer's delight. I should have videoed it, they had quite a conversation, and Drifter was enjoying it as much as Beamer. 

He's so cute! And such a good boy. 

Today is the day that Mesa will receive a visit from the young lady who is interested in her for a reining prospect. Stay tuned!

Riding day 12 & 13

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

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