Giveaway time!

I haven't done a giveaway contest in a long time! Lately I have been making a lot of custom halters, thanks to an ad I posted on Facebook. So I figured since you, my faithful readers, most likely own horses or are friends with someone who does own a horse or 2, why not do a giveaway in time for Christmas giving?
The halter up for grabs is a horse sized halter made of 1/4 " polypropylene rope; it's black with a lime green/black blend parachute cord noseband.

 Here is a close up of the noseband:

All it takes to enter is to leave a comment. I will ship anywhere in the world! So that it can reach said "anywhere" in time for Christmas, I will close the contest at 9 AM Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, December 3rd. I will do a random draw, so check back on that day so that the winner can get me their mailing address (email me) and I'll get it in the mail on Friday.
Thanks to all of you who have stuck with me for so many years- and welcome to new readers and the "lurkers" who read but don't leave comments- you might want to, this time!

Winter is on its way

As the days draw shorter, and the skies grey up, the start of our winter is upon us. Yesterday I took down all my electric fence paddocks, storing it all away for next season when the grass once again sprouts green and fresh. As I was gathering it all up, I had that feeling of being watched, and sure enough, Mr. Owl was perched above me, and stayed there all the time I took fence down and gathered broken branches from the last wind storm to place in the burn pile.

As I was nearly done, another owl flew into  another one of the trees that ring my yard. This one looks slightly different- a female perhaps?

I did some riding last week, as well as in hand work with both Josie and Clancy. Josie is on her winter break, but I'll be keeping up with some of the ground exercises I learned in the Buck clinic. All the work Shayla did on her (25 ground work sessions) has really paid off; Josie was light as a feather on the lead line as I asked her to follow the soft feel. The only place she got a little stuck was backing the circle, but it is a new thing for her and won't take long for her to pick it up.

I'm really working on my timing with Clancy- with her, if my timing is off just a little, she gets heavy on the forehand. Lots of work to do with her and me!

I rode Beamer the other day- a lovely evening ride on my boy. This is the hawk's nest just west of us.

And what's a blog post without a horse photo?

The half moon, centered between Beamer's ears faintly visible as the setting sun lights up the Skimmerhorns.

Today, it's snowing, but there's sun in the forecast so more riding this week!

Another Buck clinic

Just got back from auditing a Buck Brannaman clinic in Alberta. We had  good trip as far as travelling went, the timing couldn't have been better; the day before there were high winds, and we saw 4 big trailers in the ditch, flipped on their sides; one was a Fed Ex truck, bet those parcels got delayed!.  The day after we got home we woke up to a couple of inches of heavy wet snow.
 Anyway, I brought Tess with me, because she had a date with Gus, and pups are expected in mid January- right about on my birthday! Should be exciting. This will be her last litter, and I really hope she caught this time. I'm keeping a female if she did catch.

I'm glad I audited this time, I think I got more out of it than when I rode in the Ellensburg clinic- it helped to put things in order, and watching everybody try so hard and being able to identify with issues my horses might be having was very helpful.
I really enjoyed watching Nitro in the clinic, what a beauty he is, and Kevin is doing a really nice job with him.

That crooked blaze makes him look like he has a big nose in this photo, but it actually looks like this:

I took lots of photos of them! Crappy indoor arena light so the photos aren't very crisp.
I really like Buck's program and I'm looking forward to implementing the things I learned when I ride Clancy. Lots of ground work exercises that will help and they translate to under saddle work. The thing that I got the most out of this clinic was the timing in connecting the rein to the reaching foot for lateral work, and the timing in when to cue for different movements according to where the important foot is- and which foot to be connected with.
I liked this demo Buck did:

He would apply pressure to the rope as the guy's foot was leaving the ground, and he was able to step smoothly in the direction of the pull. When he did that as the foot was about to land on the ground (past the arc of the step)the guy would about trip and stumble. And when he pulled when the foot was on the ground, it had no results at all. Timing your rein cue with the reaching foot became very clear!

Nitro again, I think they were working on transitions using the life in your body.

Buck was using a borrowed horse- too much trouble to bring one of his own across the border. Here he is demonstrating how to switch your hands with the leading rope and the flag after yielding the hind quarters to step the front across and change directions.

Random Nitro photo, I always like to take shots of the gear people use- like this one of Buck:

I have the opportunity to audit another clinic next year in Kalispell (3 hours away) at the end of July. Anyone want to join me? Tickets are at buckbrannamankalispell.com

Back up.

My horse trailer is more of a stock trailer (it used to be a 4 horse straight  haul and we converted it to wide open inside). Normally, I have the horses come out head first as they haul with their heads angled to the rear. Easy peasy. Since we are planning a show career for Josie, there will come a time when she will have to haul in a different trailer where she will have to back out, so yesterday, I backed her out. It was the usual story, she got quite concerned about where the ground was and it took a few minutes but we got it done without incident.
So, her lesson today started off with work backing up. A review of over the tarp work, then asking her to back off the tarp. Shayla soon figured that the issue was the poles that were holding the tarp down, so she worked her on a single pole, going over it and then backing over it. It was pretty funny when she did this:

Yep, Josie toes on top of the pole! She did end up backing nicely though.
I rode Clancy while Josie was being worked. I started off with ground work and flagging was fun because Clancy did get a bit reactive at first, but she is much to lazy to stay worked up when she figured out that her reaction caused me to get even bigger with the flag, and her feet stopping equalled the flag stopping. (Grin). I also did the half circle exercise from Buck's clinic dvd, it was a lot of fun. I need to work on my timing and finesse for that but Clancy did quite well.
After that I was just riding circles, trying to get Clancy to round up and carry herself in better frame; she tends to be heavy on the forehand and doesn't use her hind end well. Anyway, she tripped over her own feet and went down on her knees, pitched me forward but not off, and bless that mare she just stayed down on her knees while I righted myself and then got up. I love that mare! Shayla gave me a lesson on how to get her working better, using her shoulders properly instead of evading with them and diving into the bit instead of giving true collection, so that will be my focus for riding today. As Shayla was riding her I could see the difference when she started moving correctly, it was a pretty picture. I should have videoed it!
Then it was off to the teeter totter bridge. Clancy has no trouble going over it, even steps on from the high end and walks calmly across. Josie was not so keen on the bridge work, she wanted to pop off the side, or jump off before it teetered. Of course, that just created more work for her until she did it right.

That big saddle horn on my Wade saddle is just perfect for leaning on! Isn't that a lovely view?

Josie day 23

We are getting close to giving Josie the winter off; Shayla and I are going to audit a Buck Brannaman clinic November 14-16, so after that I'd like for Shayla to practice some of what she learns on Josie for a few days before we shut the lessons down for the winter. We are pretty much on track, I wanted to get 30 days of groundwork on her before winter.
Today Josie got introduced to the tarp box; a square of tarp held down by 4 poles. She was right in there being nosy as we laid it out, and walked right over it but the sound and feel of it surprised her and made her wary of going back on it, Shayla did a nice job of schooling her through it.



The funky noise is the autofocus on my camera, I haven't figured out how to get rid of it.
After that, more sacking out with the flag, which Josie wasn't too thrilled about.

She worked through it, and it was fun to watch all the other horses who were paying close attention to just what the heck Shayla was doing with that flag!

Tonka, Rhea and Visa, all Morgans, not quite sure they want any part of that flag!

Rhea giving the flag a raspberry

This was about the point where Josie started to soften- after a half hour of work! 

It was interesting when Shayla put the stick and flag on the ground in front of her and slowly drew it back and forth. As it went under her neck in her blind spot, she tilted her head so that she could keep an eye on it until it had cleared the blind spot and appeared in her eye on the other side. 

After that, a little crossing of the bridge and we called it a day. 

Wordless Wednesday

Lesson weekend

Shayla and I hauled up to Janice's with Josie, Clancy and a gelding called Tonka that Shayla is working with. We had a 2 hour lesson from Bruce Koch with the mares, working on basic ground work moves with the goal of improving our horsemanship and timing. I find that I really need to improve my timing and improve how I use my energy. Clancy got quite bored, you know how when you have to repeat something you give a heavy sigh and roll your eyes- well if she could have rolled her eyes, she would have. But I got the help I needed. Shayla had an interesting work with the gelding, but that's her story to tell.
Janice's mare Jazz is half sister to Josie, both of them are Beamer daughters  and they sure show it!

Jazz is 6 years old now, and Josie is a long 2 year old.

This next photo is my favourite:

Josie did well at the clinic, her quality shines through, and the good work that Shayla has put into her really showed. We came away from it with some things to work on, and some ideas for what to do next.

Josie day 20, and second ride

Another Josie day- ground driving went really well....

The stirrup hobble came undone so we just left it; no issues.

Then she got head'n'tailed, to help her to figure out how to follow the leading rein. Only 5-10 minutes each side, until she figured out to give to the bit. This is something we'll work on every session until she gets really light right away.
 And then....

it was time for ride # 2!

Here's a rare photo of me, I only included it because it shows how tickled I am with this filly! (Knew I shouldn't have forgotten to wear my hat!)

So there you have it, the first Josie ear cam pics! I led her around for a bit, then sent her around in a small circle both ways. Shayla felt her tighten a bit when she changed directions once but she relaxed right away. She's like her brothers, likes to be ridden; I think she prefers it to ground work. But she has a lot more ground work to go before she will be ridden regularly! The plan is to continue groundwork into next month, then give her time off to grow up and start working her again after her 3rd birthday in March.

Thankful Thursday

My Thankful Thursday: Just a trail ride today, Shayla brought her saddle down and she rode Beamer, I rode Clancy and ponied Josie. Beautiful afternoon with good horses, good friend and a good dog. What more can a person ask.

A good day!

Another great fall day today that still has me grinning.
After a good day at work, I loaded up Josie and Clancy and headed up to Shayla's.

Such a lovely place!

 I did a little work with Clancy on finding the feel for the reaching foot, and steering serpentines with just my legs while Shayla worked with her Rose mare on the teeter totter bridge.
Then we decided that that would be a good place to start Josie's lesson today. She did really well!

Proud of that little mare! I worked Clancy on the bridge too, she did super- a few times of leading her over and then I rode her over. One of the goals for her is competing in Cowboy Challenge so this is a good start.

After that, Josie had a ground driving lesson.....



Then we went for a bit of a trail ride, I ponied Josie and Shayla rode her Allie mare bareback.


I'm really happy with Josie's progress, but I'm even happier with how well I am getting along with Clancy. She is just right for me, a nice sensible mare that I know I'm going to have a lot of fun with.

Just stuff going on

It has sure been beautiful weather here this last week; sure can't complain waking up to mornings like this:

We had a wee visitor the other day. There is a dairy farm the next quarter over, and one of the little calves got loose from there and wandered over to visit my landlords calves. It was across the fence from them, which is hot wire, and they were concerned that it would break the fence and then all the other calves would get out, so we chased it into the pen with the mares. Who of course, thought they needed to boss it around...

 Poor li'l thing had been out all night and was thirsty.

I ended up having to lock up the mares who pestered her a little too much, then we loaded her in my stock trailer and hauled her back to the dairy farm. But not before Josie showed me some working cowhorse moves! Clancy wanted to work her too.

Today Josie had a lesson in ground driving; it went really well.

She sure is looking good. I will be hauling her and Shayla and me and Clancy to a Bruce Koch lesson on Sunday up at Janice's place, I've got some things I'd like to work on with Clancy, getting her to use her body more efficiently, which of course means that I have to improve what I am doing to help her and it will be good to see where he thinks I need to improve.

Sunday Silence

Josie day 17- was a very good day

After 5 days off, yesterday's session started with saddling at the hitching rail (just like an ole broke horse now!) then sending her at liberty around our round pen, she's really wanting to hook on right away now. Have a look at this next video, you will see that Josie has a distance limit to where she will hook on. If Shayla is more than 12 ft. away, Josie loses the hook.
I'm not too concerned about that, after a few more sessions I think she will be connected at more distance.
She did fairly well at liberty sacking out; one spot where Shayla got in her blind spot and Josie got a bit worried, but she is much improved.


Next up was putting a bridle on and teaching her to give to the rein, just sending her around and maintaining a soft bend.



Once she had that figured, it was time for the rein around exercise, again, she handled it well; this is the same thing I have done with the halter and lead rope with her ever since she was a foal, so she understood the concept and it didn't take much to translate to giving to the bridle rein.



After that, Shayla walked beside her and prompted her to go forward, and did some steering exercises.


Next up was stirrup driving; getting her used to the bump of the stirrup as if she was using her legs and bumping as well as getting her used to the flapping of the stirrup leathers.


That was a pretty good session, and by the end of it Josie was giving Shayla lots of snuggles .

It's interesting to see the layers of reactivity and resistance just fade away with this filly. She gets softer and lighter with each session. Can't wait to see her work today! Something new- ground driving.

From dust to dusk

I had planned to haul to Canyon arena today, to work Clancy and pony Josie. It was such a beautiful afternoon that I decided to forego that dusty arena and just trail ride Clancy at home instead. I waited until the late afternoon, and it was an absolutely beautiful ride.

Heading west out onto the fields. They plowed under this field after taking the barley off.

So peaceful, not a breath of wind, I could hear the geese overhead and the seagulls in the plowed field.

Not many geese moving yet, another couple of weeks before we start getting lots of them.

The long evening shadows, creeping towards the Skimerhorns.
I worked Clancy a bit out in the fields, she is getting handier all the time. Nice to see improvement in her every time I ride. Love that mare! And what a great way to end the day, watching the sun go down from the back of a good horse.....

and accompanied by a good dog.

Only thing missing was good friends!

Sunday Silence

Around the pen and down the trail

The first session in the round pen took quite a while, while Josie processed what was required of her. Youngsters like to test the boundaries and will give a few wrong answers but with consistently rewarding the correct behaviour they soon come around.
This video was taken near the end of the first session, and you can see her giving some wrong answers (trying to stop and turn into the fence and change directions).
Check out Shayla's explanation of her round pen work 



Yesterday took a lot less time; I think less than 5 minutes and Josie was soft from the start, wanting to come in and hook up right off the bat. It was also the first time for sacking out at liberty (Thanks for the tip, Tara!)



Her reward was getting to go out on the trails for over an hour, with Clancy and me, and Shayla on Allie this time.

Allie is a really good mare to pony from on the narrow trails that we took, as we found out- the rope got under her tail a couple of times and she didn't care at all- good girl Allie!

Notice Shayla has the reins dropped on Allie's neck

There was one instance where some grouse burst into flight as we went by- all 3 horses just kind of had a little startle, like a spook-in-place, but when Shilo the dog jumped into the bush after them Josie did scoot forward in alarm, but not too bad, just jumped so she was beside Allie. I think it's great that she gets to experience the trails with two such calm horses, it helps keep her relaxed and helps her learn to handle different situations without stressing or panicking. 

Photo credit Shayla

Such a beautiful place to ride! On the way back we had to travel along the road- it's a paved backroad. We encountered a few vehicles and I'm happy to say the Josie handled it just as well as the other 2 horses. She also wasn't concerned about the dog that came out barking or the activities of people in their yards.

Side note- all the horses are barefoot, and Clancy has completed the transition to barefoot- she can walk on gravel now without being ouchy. (big grin).