The bay mare wasn't quite what I wanted. For starters, they advertised her as being 14.3 hh but she was more like 14.1 hh. Yes she was quiet and broke, but she felt dull. She had a really sleepy eye. I want something with a bit more feel. She was also quite footsore, and I didn't want to deal with rehabbing her feet. So the search is still on.
Coulee got kicked in the ribs by a mare that is in for breeding, and it is quite a contusion and sore so I'll put off riding her for a couple of days while it heals up. Dang it all anyhow. Just when I was getting somewhere with her. Oh well, I will use the time to get her over being worried about me handling her sore spots- she is already doing better; at first she pinned her ears and wouldn't let me touch her there but I cold hosed her, then she let me put arnica gel and peppermint oil on, and even dropped her head and relaxed. Poor girl!
Well at least she can recuperate in her grass paddock that I set up with electric fence. To think that I used to mow this!
Had a great day today. I hauled Coulee up to the big local outdoor arena, I had it all to myself. My plan was to do ground work with her, then assess where she was at mentally, and ride if all seemed well. I walked her all around the perimeter and discovered a lot of wasps at one end, so we avoided that part and just worked at the other end- which had all the shade, a good thing on such a hot day.
I videoed what I could. Coulee was in a relaxed frame of mind, despite several distractions such as a tractor baling hay in the next field, and people using the park with their kids and dogs.
Here's what I am finding with this mare: She is not too inclined to trust people, although she seems to be reasonably well broke. She isn't fearful, she takes a lot of things in stride that would bother a less confidant horse. She walks over tarps, doesn't seem to be bothered by many external things- all her issues are internal. I think the key with her is to understand where she is at mentally and work from there. Sure I could override her reluctance and force obedience. but for what end? I want her to be a willing partner. I think you will see what I mean in the video, where I am working on her reluctance to go forward when I am working her from the left side. I think every time someone got after her, it was from that side which would show up as her being suspicious of anything good or gentle coming from there. So asking with a soft feel, not getting after her but waiting for the right response and rewarding it, will go a long way to building her trust and willingness.
I rode for about 10 minutes- enough to get a feel for where she is at. So light to the leg and rein, I love it! I am pretty happy with her and hope that bucking episode is behind us and that it's on and up from here. Our next work should be a lot shorter on the ground and more time in the saddle. I'm really wanting to get out and do some trails with her!
One other note on Coulee- I tried a couple of other oils with her; she wanted nothing more to do with Angelica but really loved Ylang Ylang! I've put it on her twice now. Here is what my book says about the fragrant influence of Ylang Ylang: Balances male/female energies, enhances spiritual attunement, combats anger, combats low self-esteem, increases focus of thought, filters out negative energy, restores confidence and peace. Very interesting that she chose that oil! And by chose it, here is what I mean: I take the cap off a bottle that I think might interest her, and hold it to her nostril. If she doesn't like it, her eyes get hard and she backs up about 5 steps real quick. If she likes it, she carefully sniffs it with both nostrils, her eyes get soft, and she curls her lip in the flemen pose.
Tomorrow, I am going to check out another mare, a broke mare that might work out well for me. I am thinking ahead to when Coulee and Belle have foals at side and I would need something to ride, as well as having another horse on hand for my sister to ride once we move on to their place; my sister used to own horses years ago and I'd like to get her back into riding. It would also give me a horse for the nieces and - (dreaming here) my husband to ride. Here is a little info on her:
"Grace ~ 6 yr old bay qh mare 14.3hh has had 6 months reining training on her, she is excellent on trails traffic etc. She rides english and western and has recently started western dressage. A confident beginner can ride her no problem, I have used her as a lesson horse a bit."
Since I am really interested in Cowboy Dressage, she might be a perfect fit for me. She is the same height as Coulee, which is also perfect; and I've had this feeling all year that I am going to end up with a bay mare. The only thing that bothers me is that she is linebred.
I can overlook that if she rides the way I want though. I'm pretty excited to go ride her tomorrow! I just hope if I get her that Coulee doesn't pick on her too much.
And most surprising of all..... my husband didn't say no! (I'm still in shock).
I didn't get a lot of work done with Coulee since my last post- I now have 3 mares including Coulee that we are teasing every day, and one of them is living in the round pen.
Remember this mare, Pepsi? She and Beamer had a black tobiano colt last year.They liked him so much they want another one.
I am hoping that I have time tomorrow to haul Coulee to the outdoor arena, I think it would be good to do the ground work in a bigger area and if all goes well, I'll ride her. I think its time.
I thought Coulee was in heat, but apparently it was just a false alarm- because she is just coming in heat now. The other 2 mares are not in yet, but we tease them every day. Beamer is earning his keep! He is such a good boy.
Yeehaw! Girls!
I have some other news- it does look like we will be moving to a small acreage at some point in the not too distant future. It's bare land at the moment, and my sister and brother in law will be our landlords, so we get to set it up the way we want! We are pretty excited. They will let me set up the pens the way I need to, and I should be able to at least get the horses there before summer is over. Once the well and septic go in, they will build a small house or maybe move a mobile in temporarily. Yippee!
Yesterday's work was interesting.
Coulee was much more relaxed and we got some really nice in hand work. One thing I noticed is that she takes exception to the stick; for example when I was asking for turns on the haunches from the ground, using my hand at the shoulder and touching her with the stick at the throatlatch, she would give it the "get that d@#m thing away from me" glare, but if I asked with just my other hand there she willingly complied. So that got me to thinking about how I wasn't offering her a soft feel first. I think this mare has had people start out tough with her because of her innate bitchiness- and deservedly so sometimes! But also I need to watch for those moments when a soft feel is all she needs, because she does respond so well to it. I think she wants to be good most of the time. But she is so defensive.
She was content to just walk when I sent her around, but when I asked her to speed up, I did get a little bit of 'tude as you will see in the video. Mostly ear pinning and tail swishing- no buck. So she has a ways to go yet.
Once again it was a shorter session, to get her to the point where she would follow me. She didn't 100% join, but it was a decent effort. I introduced backing and coming to me at liberty; I started with the halter on and worked at it until I could just have the rope slack and use hand signals for come her and back up. It was kind of fun! We quit when she did that well. Then she got to wear the rope crown for being a good girl.
I'll take small improvements, because that's how you build up to the partnership and respect required to make this a safe mare to ride and handle.
Last night's body work session proved quite interesting. Dustin Hewett adjusted her poll, several ribs on both sides, relieved some tightness in her sacral area with stretches of her hind legs, and the most interesting part was her jaw area. Specifically, he said where her tongue connects was out of alignment on one side and it was putting pressure on her pituitary gland, which controls a lot of things including hormonal balance. After he adjusted her there by pulling her tongue out to the side and having her work her jaw, she released for about 5 minutes, yawning and licking and dropping her head low and relaxed.
I bet that feels much better!
I asked him about her mental/emotional state and he said that she is very guarded, not willing to let anyone in. Past issues? Most likely. We found an oil that she wanted- Angelica. I thought maybe Release but that was a definite NO! Here is what my book says about Angelica: Known as the "holy spirit" oil or the "oil of Angels" by the Europeans, angelica's healing powers were so strong that it was believed to be of divine origin.
It's uses include throat/lung infections, indigestion, menstrual problems/PMS and symptoms of dementia. It's fragrant influence assists in the release of pent up negative feelings and restores memories to the point of origin before the trauma or anger was experienced.
Very interesting that this is the oil she wanted!!! I sure hope it helps her get over what troubles her. He said to apply it 3 times a week on her neck about 4 inches behind her ears.
It is going to be very interesting to see how she does when I work her today. Can't wait!
Here is an excellent article from Eclectic Horseman. https://eclectic-horseman.com/clearing-out-the-front-quarters/ With pictures!
Buck Brannaman teaching a very basic thing, getting your horse to go around you in a circle. Coulee is very not good at this. Her first instinct is to be suspicious and back up. Today when I work her I will be trying to perfect this. We had it going not bad a couple of weeks ago, but then she fell apart- perhaps from coming into heat? Who knows, but to me that's no excuse.
**** Just came in from working her. Much better day today. Although- in the pen at feeding time this morning she was as crabby as usual. However, in hand work was much better. I worked on the exercises in the above link, and it was helpful to have those images in mind. She actually did quite well.
I was able to also get one good liberty turn on the haunches to the right but as soon as I went to her right side and asked for the turn she got all crabby, so then I sent her around the pen.This time only about 10 minutes before she started join up- much better than yesterday!
Better expression and a more willing attitude. She was also more inclined to walk when I asked her instead of just loping off like yesterday.
She is definitely in heat, so I had a discussion with my husband today about her future. He is adamant that he does not want me to ride her- although I think she will be fine to ride once we get on the same page with the ground work. I trust his intuition- he is rarely wrong when it comes to animals. His idea is that we should breed her- and as a side note here, after talking to the lady that bred her, this crabby attitude is not evident in any of her sisters, so I'm not too concerned about passing it on to her offspring. As well, Beamer has an exemplary disposition that so far has passed on to all his foals.
Once she foals, he wants me to sell her. I will continue the ground work with the goal of making her as safe as possible to handle. I am really hoping that being in foal will help to turn her around- it's been known to happen with crabby mares that after pregnancy they mellow out. We can only hope.
This could be interesting because I've wanted to try liberty work for a while now and what better chance than this.
I have the body work guy coming this afternoon, and he does kinesiology as well so I'll ask him a few questions about her. It would be lovely if all this crabby stuff had a physical source that could be dealt with. Because when she is good, she is very good but when she is bad she is nasty. And no curl on the middle of her forehead! (For those who remember the old nursery rhyme.) Actually, her curl (swirl) is off center to her left and high up. Remind me never to buy a horse with an off center swirl again.
I took a big risk when I bought Coulee, without trying her out and only seeing her ridden in videos. Her personality is the problem for me. To put it bluntly, she is a bitchy mare. Pinny ears, hard eyes, tight mouth. And that's before I even ask for anything.
Shayla came over yesterday and worked with Coulee. Right off the bat she was crabby- threatening to kick, refusing to move her hip over, basically trying to dominate. And that was just taking her off the hitching rail. So- off to the round pen and some in hand work- tail swishing, glaring, not wanting to whoa, you name it she threw it all in there. Saddled her up, and took the halter off to work her at liberty...... she spent the next 10 minutes galloping around the pen bucking. Not scared bucking- mad bucking. She doesn't buck hard, just hogs around but any buck at a gallop would unseat me. Shayla worked her until she stopped bucking, worked a lot on changes of direction, trying for inside turns (lots of outside turns was what Coulee preferred) and whoa. Took a long time and lots of sweat before she lowered her head and licked her lips and joined up with Shayla. Brave girl- she got on and rode after that, and the riding isn't really an issue with Coulee- which agrees with what I was told about her when I bought her. Shayla pressured her up a bit to see what she would do and she took it all quite well. She quit when she got a really nice whoa.
Today I worked her in the round pen at liberty- no bucking today but lots of attitude.
It took her nearly an hour before she even gave me a few following steps. When I went to rub her forehead she would turn her head away- so got sent out again. Lots of turns into the fence....
at speed..... this is a 50 ft. round pan and this mare has no trouble keeping her footing at a gallop. Future barrel horse? Maybe?
Cutting across the middle of the pen- at least it was an inside turn! Look at that crabby face.
Finally made progress and decided against riding her- I wanted to but my husband says no. Next I worked on some liberty moves, getting her to do a correct turn on the haunches. Hand pressure where the leg would go, and held the butt of the stick at her jaw as needed to encourage her to move her front end over. This is a big thing with her because she always wants to keep turning to face you. She also would reach behind instead of across the front of her other leg. We did some hip over/shoulder over combos and called it a day when she got it right.
So the thing about Coulee is her ground manners. Now, horses don't understand the word manners- they just do what horses do which is take care of their personal space. She obviously learned a long time ago that being aggressive gave her what she wanted, both with other horses and with humans. I don't think her previous people did a lot of ground work with her, probably because of her crabbiness. So she is going to learn that people have rules about their personal space too.
Now, I really dislike crabby horses. They can be dangerous to people (especially kids), dogs, and other horses. I am willing to work with this mare on the ground for as long as I own her, which may or may not be a while. I sure hope I can turn her around because she really is a beautiful mare. It is also hard to sell a horse that is such a bitch.
I know of other horses that are like this and have heard it said that they are the best working horses out there. Remember the Hell Bitch from Lonesome Dove? Same idea.
I do have my body work guy coming out tomorrow to work on her and on Beamer, it will be interesting to see what he has to say about her. If all is well, I may send her out for barrel horse training.
Also will find out within a week if she caught when I bred her to Beamer at the end of May. Have to decide what to do if she is open. Do I put her in training and try to get her sold or breed her back? My concern is how she will get along with Coyote Belle, who is way more important to me than Coulee. And if she is already in foal, that may or may not help as far as finding her a new home. I guess it's wait and see.
What do you think I should do? Keep up on the ground work and hope it will help with her attitude? Sell her open, or bred? Put her in training and then sell?
Thea has really strong working instinct. It is hard to balance keeping her out of trouble with not wanting to stifle her natural inclination to work.
Most of the time I can quietly call her off- but sometimes she gets in trouble for not listening to me.
When the cows come up to the fence her hackles go up and she barks at the, going up and down the fence. Then it's really hard to get her to come back to me; I have to use my growl voice.
Overall I'm really happy with her; she is a people lover and it's a work in progress to get her to not jump on people. Fortunately most of the people who come here get it and don't pet her when she jumps up.
She loves to play ball and is always stealing the ball from Tess; her nickname is Thiefa.
Poor long-suffering Tess! Thea uses her for a chew toy sometimes, but Reba doesn't allow that. Thea gets rapidly put in her place when she messes with Reba!
Tess has been a really good role model for Thea. Tess stays on the deck even though there is a place that they could easily jump down and off, Thea doesn't because Tess doesn't, so I can safely leave all the dogs on the deck when I go to work. That way they do double duty as guard dogs.
My last post was all about the two younger dogs- this one is about Reba. She is Tess's mama and is the matriarch of several of my friends dogs, who have daughters, sons and grandpups of Reba.
She is less than 3 months away from her 15th birthday. Her days are spent sleeping soundly, and laying in the pasture keeping an eye on Beamer. But every once in a while, she gets the urge to play ball with the other 2 hooligans.
Her hind end doesn't work too well anymore, so I have to help her up and down stairs, and help her to stand up if she is on a slick surface. Sometimes she just gives up and waits for me to come and help her up, like at the end if the video above. She is also about 90% deaf; her hearing started to go when she was 12.
She is a happy dog, and I love her to bits.
I must confess that I do enjoy making deals.
Especially horse deals.
Drum roll..............
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Coyote Belle will be coming home once she weans her current foal. The Ranch owner is downsizing his mare herd (and he has some great mares) due to 2 years of drought affecting his pasture. I mentioned that I thought Coyote Belle had earned herself a permanent place in the harem of the silver bay stud- but he right away asked if I'd like to buy her back.
Yes sir, I would.
Today she is signed and sealed, my mare again, but won't be coming home until the fall. Part of the deal was that she would come bred to one of his stallions. Originally we settled on Rollin in My Dually which would have been a nice cross- but today I got to meet Dun It Ok and fell in love with him. He really reminds me of Beamer. Same head, short and chunky like I like them and really sweet. So a deal was struck, and Belle will be AI'd to him this month. Here is a link to his website . He is on his way to Alberta as I write, where he will be living at Fleetwood Farms.
I'm guaranteed a black based dun foal- most likely a grulla as both parents are homozygous for black. The stallion is homozygous for dun. However- they both carry one copy of the cream dilute gene so there are several possibilities of what colour of dun I will get.
Am I excited? You bet! Can't wait to get my girl home!
Some news for you- first of all, Rio and his girl just competed in 4H on Parade and took home overall Reserve Champion! I am so proud of that pair!
Doesn't he look fabulous! R. really has put the work into him and got him in lovely show shape.
The fellow who has Coyote Belle managed to get a video of her foaling the other day- she was bred to a silver bay stallion and threw him a silver bay colt. https://www.facebook.com/ryansmithfromchampionalberta/videos/10156912925680307/
He's a looker- big like Rio, with the same hind stockings but more white on his face.
If it can go wrong it will. I have been wanting to get to riding Coulee but every time I make plans to ride something throws a wrench into the works. Yesterday, I trimmed her front feet, today I trimmed the hinds. I was pretty ticked off when she was not cooperating and squealed and kicked, sending me flying. For a horse that was previously owned by a farrier, I wasn't expecting that. So I had a little discussion with her- no, not a physical one, just a verbal one in an unmistakeable tone. I think she got the message. However, I decided that discretion is the better part of valour and used a cotton rope to pick her foot up after that. I did get her trimmed, and she didn't kick out again. However- she is tender on her front feet, so I have to wait a couple of days- again- to ride.
And there is another thunderstorm.
So- maybe next week I will get to ride! Sheesh! I'm starting to think I need 2 riding horses just so I don't forget how to ride!
No Coulee, I am not impressed with you.
Just went out for the evening feed and went to pick up a front foot- another squeal and she pulled away and took off. Very not impressed with her. I'm getting too old for that crap, so she may end up being for sale, no matter how nice she rides- if I ever get around to riding her to find out. EDITED: Ok I'm over being mad at her. I had a chat last night with the lady that bred her and she used to give her a shot to keep her from being in heat. This is the first mare I have owned who is so... marish. That being said- well..... I did breed her to Beamer last week- and maybe that is just what she needs. I sure hope it helps to settle her. I wasn't going to breed her this year, but my gut instinct was telling me to breed her. So we shall see!
Kind of busy around here, we got the trailer to the point where I can now use it, still need to paint and line the divider and install the puckboard but I can haul with it until Ted gets back. It's safe and sound now!
Beamer has been a busy boy, much to his delight. He had a girlfriend from Alberta come over and both her and Coulee were in full standing heat at the same time, poor guy didn't know which one to talk to! The Alberta mare belongs to the good folks who already own 4 of his babies and they are pretty excited at the chance to raise one of their own. She will be heading home today.
It took a while for Coulee and Chino to buddy up
Then next week the paint mare comes back- remember her? She foaled a perfect black and white stud colt last year.
We had a heck of a rain storm here yesterday- sure hope it hits all the areas that are tinder dry and/or burning.
Raining so hard you can't see past the paddock fence.
I got a parcel in the mail today; I wasn't expecting anything so it surprised me. A good surprise! It's from Aurora over at Equine Expressions blog- it felt just like Christmas as I excitedly ripped off the wrapping.....
and I am super pleased to get THIS!
I have always wanted to read Mark Rashid's books but never got around to buying one. I'm going to bury my nose in this one!
Thanks, Aurora for picking me to win the giveaway that went away! Loved the note card and letter too.
Removing the rusted rail where the divider pin goes.
Replaced with brand new steel tubing, although they had to cut off the old pin bracket and weld it onto this new rail.
This is the trailer when we first brought it home- see those rust pock marks on the panel in front of the wheels? That is from a horse inside pawing as there was no kick boards, just the steel panel. So of course, Ted replaced it....
Old panel removed; they had to cut the square tube support and it is being replaced too-
Fitting the new piece in and getting ready to weld it.
We will be lining the inside of the trailer with puck board, 4 ft. up to protect horse legs and the steel panels. Today Ted welds the new sheet metal in place and replaces the rub rail on that side of the trailer. They are also sand blasting the old paint off the divider. My job is to paint all the interior up to the 4 ft. level prior to installing the puck board. Ted has to leave for work tomorrow so we will likely just get the puck board done on this side where the front feet go; the other 3 sheets are on order and won't be in in time. But at least the trailer will be usable- yay!
My wonderful husband is rebuilding the horse trailer we just bought. Went through it, tore the floor out and is replacing all the boards as well as some of the metal that is not up to par.
Using the jack to get a tight fit and keep everything straight
This spot for some reason didn't have angle iron and it's right where the horse's front feet would go- so he welded another piece in there.
I don't know why there was no angle iron there- I had visions of a pawing horse getting it;'s foot stuck between the frame and the sheet metal of the wall. You can see that a pawing horse has battered the metal of the wall; there are no kick boards anywhere on the interior of this trailer so Ted is putting puck board around on the inside.
There are a couple more fixes to do, like the square tubing along the sides where the divider attaches that need to be replaced but they can wait until next time as he is heading out for another 2 week tour of work.
Yesterday I did a photo shoot of a lovely little 3 day old filly, a perfect little black darling with a future as a barrel horse.
I had to clean Beamer up for his date with Chino yesterday so I also hopped on him bareback and rode for a few minutes. Gotta love a stallion that you can do that when he hasn't been ridden for ages. Since there was no traffic on our road, I decided to see how Thea would do following along. I took her mentor Tess with us and we went for a very short little ride.
As you can see, she did quite well, but it will be a while before I trust that she will be ok on a real road, but I think she'll be okay on bush rides.
Beamer's girlfriend arrived last night, we teased her today and she is pretty close, maybe tomorrow.
Beamer is a funny boy. Even though I made his pen 4 times bigger, he still prefers to hang out in the original part. One quirk this guy has is that he actually likes small spaces. Go figure!
Hanging with the guys. Never mind the dirty face.
Some good news for him- he will be getting a girlfriend today! A mare is coming from Alberta and should be here for around a week. Thanks to her getting an ultrasound, we know that she will be ready to breed for the next 3 or 4 days, so it's perfect timing. I hope he remembers his manners! Cause if he doesn't, he will get reminded!
We are hosting a big birthday party for Ted this weekend, his birthday is actually in the middle of the week, but a long weekend is the perfect time to have a party. Especially since we are getting rain, so what else is there to do?
My Martin Frobisher rose is 9 ft. tall and in full bloom.
I spent the last week beautifying the yard and doing my spring cleaning. Gotta look good for the party!
Part of the reason I didn't get much time to ride is that I have been setting up the electric fence lines for the grazing paddocks. I built one for Coulee that is in the area where the round pen is, and I hooked it into the landlord's powerful cattle fencer.
The other pen is larger and it basically is a 30 ft. border on two sides of our lawn, kind of an L shape that connects to Beamer's pen. I had to get a little creative for some of the posts as well as buying 15 more step in posts to finish it- but I finally did and turned him out in it for the first time today.
At first, he didn't wander far past the original boundary of his grass paddock.
Then he spotted the opening.... but didn't quite get all the way to the end. There's one place that is a bit of a bottleneck so I grabbed his halter and lead him through there. Then he could see Coulee in her pen, and they both got to calling each other for a few minutes before settling down to some serious grazing.
Does everyone recognize Nitro? This was his first branding and it sure looks like he loves his job.
What a good boy! Sure am pleased with all those boys.
I finally got to ride Coulee today. I was trying all last week to find time to ride, but so many things got in the way.
She's like Geez lady, just climb aboard would ya?
Ted has to replace the floor boards in my new trailer, and we sold the old one so I just rode in the round pen for our first ride. I'm happy to say she is everything I hoped she would be. Super light to the rein and leg, nice turnaround, sidepasses, turns on the haunches and forehand, has a really nice whoa and back up. We'll see how it all holds together once we get into the big arena and out on the trails, but I don't anticipate any issues there.
She does have some holes in her training, as I expected; she is reluctant to accept the bit- probably because of her teeth not being done for so long. However, she doesn't really evade, just doesn't want to open her mouth. I just wait on her and don't make an issue of it.
She is a little jumpy with sudden movement, and again, it's just something I can work with. She's very suspicious of flags, or if I flap the stirrup leathers- so of course I do just that. :o)
Here's a little video I took, some leg yields and turns and her stop and back up, all done one handed on a loose rein.
My wonderful husband did me a big favour this week. I have been looking for a 2 horse angle haul trailer for a while now, and found an affordable one on Vancouver Island- all the way across the province. Since Ted works on Vancouver Island he went out of his way to go look at it, and gave it a thumbs up- and he and his boss, who travel down there with a pick up truck, brought it back for me. So I now have a decent trailer! It needs some minor work before I use it; 4 floor boards to be replaced and the divider needs to be taken out and rebuilt- the padding is about all gone and it needs to be painted (the divider, not the whole trailer).
It has a water tank, and a slide out saddle rack in the tack room.
Oh and a bunch of truck parts that Ted brought back for his truck . I thought he'd pack it full of way more stuff.
Anyway, I'll be travelling in style now! No more rusty old grey trailer!
It feels like August. Summer seems to have hit before spring is over. There are wildfires raging already, and as many of you know one northern Alberta town of 80,000 people was evacuated and as of this time is burning with the fire out of control. As well, 2 other fires in Alberta have evacuation alerts.
By the time I get home from work it's the hottest part of the day, and I usually wait until it's a bit cooler before working Coulee. I had her teeth done yesterday, like I figured her mouth was locked up and her poll was out as well as one vertebrae in her neck.
He took advantage of the sedative to adjust her poll and neck.
I noticed yesterday that Coulee is in heat- full squat and pee heat, so I am postponing riding for a couple of days so that I will have her full attention for our first rides. Of course, Beamer would love to spend some time with her, but he is such a good boy; he called out just a couple of times to her while I was working her.
I worked her in the round pen again today, just some basic stuff and then the flag work. I spent less than 5 minutes on that and she is so much better. Still a little feely on her right side; I am doing more right side work than left side to help get her balanced out.
This evening I talked to the girl I bought her from, just to ask a few more questions. She said she would just step on and ride, no longeing, and no silliness from the mare; that she ditch rode her and traffic or other horses in fields didn't bother her. She rode her out alone too, which is good because I do most of my riding alone.
Don't forget to watch the Kentucky Derby on Saturday! I think Gun Runner will win, but if I was going for a long shot it would be Suddenbreakngnews. I didn't like the way Nyquist finished his last race and even though he is the favourite I don't think he will win the Derby.
Saturday, I headed down to the Cowboy Dressage clinic. I could only go the one day, as I couldn't get someone to look after my dogs both days.
Jenni Grimmet was the teacher; she doesn't claim to be an expert but she is happy to share what she has learned from Eitan Beth- Halachmy . There were 10 riders in the clinic, just right so that everyone got plenty of individual attention.
The morning session was groundwork, getting your horse to be with you and using your energy to do transitions, not relying on your cues; cue, then use your energy- or focus, if that makes more sense. Her saying is: "Thou shalt not dwell on rein or leg" . Ask with an aid if you need to, but don't keep applying the aid. Ask, then use your energy, if he doesn't get it then ask again. Also, punishing the horse is out of the question; if he doesn't get it, don't get after him, just find a way to make it easy for him to understand.
Since CD is all about soft feel and the connection with your horse, it makes sense that you have to start on the ground- just as you do with any discipline. So- no dragging your horse along with the leadline, or pulling him into a stop. So, for example, if you stop, and you prepare your horse for the stop with your body slowing and an exhaled breath, your horse should stop with you. If he doesn't, you don't move your feet; you stay stopped and use your lead line or stick to reposition his body to where he should have stopped- right beside you with your shoulder between his jaw and withers. It took some of the horses a few tries, but most of them had it figured fairly quickly once their handlers realized that they actually could reposition them without moving their feet!
Sounds like pretty simple stuff and pretty much in line with all the natural horsemanship gurus out there.
Jenni demonstration leading with a soft feel and using energy to speed up the horse
When it was riding time, that's when the holes in the ground work show up. So if a particular horse was lagging behind during the ground work, sure enough he was pokey and disinterested under saddle. Or a horse that was too forward on the ground was too forward under saddle. It was interesting to see how Jenni worked with each person to get them through each issue and by the end of the day, there was lots of improvement.
This horse was really interesting- he is gaited, kind of a singlefoot gait when he speeds up, although he does trot too. Here you can see the rider with her energy up- but a tight rein.
And here, she has exhaled, and dropped her energy level - and loosened the rein- and the horse just relaxed down with her.
The Cowboy Dressage Court is perfect for helping a rider focus on where and when to do a transition- much like a traditional dressage court but with a few more elements like the octagon in the middle, and ground poles at certain points. It is 20 meters wide and 60 meters long. Here is a link to their Rules and Guidelines.
This clinic only scratched the surface of what I have yet to learn about this discipline. Wish I could have gone back for the second day as they covered working over the ground poles and riding a test. But- she only lives an hour and a half away, so I could get my paperwork in order and haul down there a few times this summer for instruction.
I did come home with some things to work on with Coulee. I did the basic leading, and there are plenty of holes in that! She tends to walk with her shoulder at my shoulder- kind of taking charge. Then she also tends to lag behind if she isn't sure of where I am going, so we worked on her position today. Also worked on her stopping square with me; I only had to fix that twice. Coulee hasn't been out of her pen for a few days, so I figured she would be a little wound up. I did some in hand bending work, (stuff from the clinic) and she is starting to loosen up much better in the neck, flexing both ways. I took her halter off and sent her out; we were in the round pen, moving her out at the trot and lope. as I figured, there was a little bit of bucking as she broke into a lope- nothing serious, more like she was flipping me the bird for not having taken her out of her dry pen for 3 days. She settled in after a round or two.
After that, I did some flag work with her. I had previously seen that she was nervous about the flag;sure would like to know more about her past training. I think they did a lot of free longeing because she is good at that but not much in hand work.
Anyway, she was giving it the hairy eyeball when I picked up the flag, so I just led her around as per our earlier lesson only this time I was taking the flag out in front of me, swishing it back and forth on the ground. Horses will be more curious than afraid if it's something they are following rather than something that is coming at them. Then I picked it up and walked with it in the air- and it was interesting to see where her comfort level was with that. At or above eye level was better than below eye level. I did several other things to get her to look with curiosity rather than fear, and my goal was to be able to rub it on her neck while she stood still. As you watch this video, notice how she is more comfortable with the flag at eye level. See how much she backs up as I hold it just below eye level, and how she stops and accept it when she can see all of it? Just as I was shutting the camera off, she was licking and chewing. I think she will be better with it tomorrow.
It's also interesting that she is more reluctant on her right side, that is also the side she is the stiffest on. Teeth being done on Tuesday- should make a difference and I am finally going to get on her this week!
