Conquering trepidation

Not me- Gussie!
The other day (ride 88) I had a really nice ride on Gussie, and coming home I had someone waiting for me, so I took the shortcut across the neighbour's yard, which gave me the opportunity to take Gussie across the bridge the guys built earlier in the year. It's 4 ft wide and about 6 or 7 ft. long, very sturdy, it goes across the seasonal creek that flows through our yards.
Well now.....
Gussie was having none of that!!!!
A few years ago I had tried her on a teeter totter bridge for cowboy challenge and she hated it- it MOVED!!!! Very very scary! So this was the first time I had asked her to try a bridge since then- apparently she has an excellent memory.
I dismounted, and with much coaxing , she went across.... all in a rush and I had to get the heck out of the way in a hurry. I took her back across, again, she rushed, very anxious about it. After that, she.was.done. No more going across, thank you very much.
 So yesterday, I did a really nice bareback ride on her. Originally I planned to try loping bareback as I have been really enjoying her rocking horse lope, but I decided to start with the ... big scary bridge!
 Well....

Talk about an anticlimax! So I got on and figured I would ride her across.....

No problem, I got this!

After that, we went down to have a second look at the Christmas tree I have picked out.

Yup I think it will do just fine! The plan is to go get it tomorrow. 

We continued our  ride, looking at the ice beginning to form on the river.

Then we came to Gussie's other nemesis, the dreaded concrete blocks. 

Well... maybe not so dreaded now, but worthy of a bit of cautious side eye!

I was so happy with her!

Riding day 89

This too shall pass

We are in trying times here. The fire season rages on, and there are evacuation alerts and evacuation orders within an hour of us, the closest being about 45 minutes drive from here. I have listed my availability to haul or house horses, dogs and cats with the local evacuation pages on Facebook. My friend Janice is very close to a fire that has both an alert and an order in areas close to her. There is an evacuation order between here and Cranbrook, the nearest large city to us, and I sure hope they don't shut the highway down through there; so that people from there can come south to safety if needed.

Meanwhile, life goes on here, I got all my winter hay in and now I am hoping like crazy that the fires won't hit this area.

That is a well house just behind the bales, if I had to I'd soak the ground around them, as well as everything within reach. I do have an evacuation plan in place if need be, but living this close to town and between 2 very good fire departments I think our area is in good hands. We also have an airport and the huge Kootenay lake for air support.

The foals are getting along well, Mesa doesn't seem to miss her mama at all.

Look how big Pistol is, he is 2 months younger than Mesa and he is at least as tall as her already. I think he will finish out around 15.2 hh (or more) like Belle's other colts. Mesa will likely be around 14.2 or 14.3 hh. The perfect size for me!
I heard back from Coulee's new owner, she is quite happy with her.
Once the weather settles down here, I will start riding Rosalee again, and I want to teach Mesa to pony, which I'll do within the paddock. Just short sessions at first. She already leads well and is buddies with Rosalee so I think it will go well.

Pistol has mellowed out quite a bit, I can catch him easily now anywhere and he isn't as bitey/flighty/strikey as he used to be.

He is very helpful too!

Anyway, we are trying to keep alert and ready here, and our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Texas and Louisiana for the devastation from Hurricane Harvey. Some of the heroic stories coming out of there show just how strong and resilient people are in the face of disaster. There is one cowboy on Facebook, Chance Ward- if you are on FB check him out, he and his family and friends are riding and swimming their horses through the flood to rescue horses and cattle. And there are so many images of people of all kinds helping each other. There is no division, no hatred, no politics, just people helping people to survive this disaster. The way it should be- the goodness of heart triumphing.
Also the fires in the northern States are so similar to what is happening here, but not as present to the media as the hurricane is. It would take the evacuation of a major city for the media to even care about the devastation caused by the raging fires that are destroying rangeland, livestock, lives, homes and livelihoods. Over a half million acres in Montana alone.
This has been a terrible year for natural disasters, one after another relentlessly. On the other side of the world, monsoon season is taking many lives too.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. God bless us all and I for one am not afraid to pray for Divine intervention. Because it really does feel like a chastisement this year.

Facing fear

Not my fear- miss Delia's fear. Of cattle.
Today I took her out of the pen and did a walkabout with her, started off with an in hand session of moving her feet and body until she was nice and light and paying attention. Then over to the cows.....
I did a bit of the advance and retreat, she was blowing and snorting and dancing, jumping away and trying to leave- but I was ready for all that; I'm a big girl and she couldn't budge me when she hit the end of the slack in the lead rope.

 Every time she tried, I'd bring her back, wait til she stood still, then back her off circle around and come right back. We eventually got within 5 feet of the very curious cows, who are accustomed to my horses over the fence from them.

Once we were that close and she stood quietly for a minute and licked her lips, we left- but she was in a hurry to leave so we had to make that a schooling opportunity too; walk away 10 ft., turn and walk back; away 15 ft. turn and walk back etc.
After that we went to the hitching rail and I tried my Wade saddle on her- it seems to fit well so I'll use it on her at first until I can determine if it is truly a good fit by the sweat marks.
Back in the shelter, I tried to trim her other front foot- it was a bit of a struggle because THE COWS WERE WATCHING!!!!!  She kept trying to turn into me, only there always seemed to be an elbow or a rasp handle in the way... funny how that works....  I did have to move her out and let her know that I could still control her feet by moving them and finally did get a rudimentary trim done- backed the heels and brought the toe back but until I have someone here to hold her that will have to do.

So what this session has determined is that until I have her full attention on the ground, and she trusts me to keep her safe even around those aliens from outer space cows and stops trying to push through me, riding will be put on hold. You ride the horse you lead, and without respect on the ground you darn sure won't have it in the saddle. The Buck Brannaman clinic is going to be really good for me and her. Since she has led such a sheltered life, it will be good to take her to the indoor arena and let her have a look around there, with some work in the round pen.