Trick Training

Paul and I went on a nice little ride yesterday. Paul is quite sick and I am getting there (just a sore throat and possible sinus infection, but it does make one feel like crap) so it wasn't a long ride, but it was productive. Ashley likes to really test her rider - she was trying to eat, trying to turn off the road, changing gaits, all sorts of stuff; but Paul really stepped up and didn't let her get away with it, but he didn't loose his temper either (which is impressive because he is sick - we all know how our tempers are when we are not feeling well). Hammer was awesome - he hasn't been ridden in a couple weeks, and I could tell he REALLY wanted to let loose and GO! He gets very annoyed at Ashley's slow Quarter Horse pace :P But he held himself back. It was hard for both of us, but we did it. :P We even canter some circles, showing Paul some tricks to keep Ashley in a consistent diameter (how to make circle smaller or larger, and how to keep the horse where you put it, basically). But then Hammer calmed back down and we walked home at a mostly calm and reasonable pace! I swear, that horse MUST be gaited because he can do some sort of "walk" that feels sooo nice (not exactly smooth, but rolling) and he can do it as fast as Ashley does a working trot - that's right, WORKING trot, not collected trot or jog! Then again, Hammer can trot (definitely NOT smoothly at this speed!) as fast as Ashley canters. He's just fast at all gaits :P

Anyways, both horses got in some good training. Ashley got work with going where she's told and staying in that direction, plus keeping her mouth off the grass, and I even rode her for a minute at the corrals, showing Paul how to get her to side-pass (she doesn't do it yet very well - in fact yesterday was the first time she got a real lesson). So now he knows how to ask for it and she knows what he is asking for. Hammer got a lesson in calming down because I will let him move, I promise! He just has to chill out while we do it :D

Then later than afternoon I worked with hammer on the ground. I got him bowing a lot better - as in, he stays on the ground for more than a split millisecond :P I even got him to stay bowed while I got on, then got him to bow again with me on him. We did that a couple times, then i got off while he was bowed. Very cool :P Not yet very graceful with the dismount because the ground wasn't exactly where I thought it was, but it was still cool. Then I worked with nine on the same thing, but he isn't nearly as far along as Hammer. I got one good bow out of Nine, though. That was the first time he had gotten his knee all the way to the ground. He is starting to trust that I won't kill him while he is down :P

And today I am even more sick! So even though it is a fairly nice day, I am stuck inside resting and down (yuck) homework.

I rode Nine!

This will be short, but in a nutshell - Yesterday we ponied Nine about 9 miles, with me on him. This did wonders for my confidence! Today I rode Nine alone, in the large pen (because I don't have an arena). It was only 20 minutes or so, but it was great. I would love to say that I will ride him tomorrow outside the pen after I get out of class, but I would be lying. You see, I hopped on Hammer to chase some frisky donkeys back into the pen, and didn't realize how frisky he was himself. He tossed me, not once, but twice! Well geez, now my ankle is sprained.

Riding with Kristi

My friend Kristi spent the night Friday and we went riding Saturday. It was a little cold but we were fine and the horses fresh. It was a good time. Here are some pictures.

Catching Hammer:


Kristi on Ashley:




Me and Kristi posing with my daughter (Elayne and my mom met up with us near the end of the driveway):


By the end of the ride Kristi was feeling pretty confident! Not bad since this was her first time on a horse in several years. Good girl!

Nine

On Wednesday Paul and I went riding, but on our way out the gate we heard Nine whinnying up a storm! I felt terrible so I went back and threw a halter on him so he could come riding too! Well, we didn't make it far before he spooked at something, and I couldn't hold him and Hammer at the same time, so I let Nine go. But Paul went back and got him, and he was perfect the rest of the ride. We saw some cows, which for some odd freaked all three horses out, even though Hammer and Ashley have both worked cows before... Silly ponies! But Nine just stuck by Ashley and Paul didn't have any trouble with them (I, meanwhile, was busy trying to calm Hammer down - he was running circles so I tried to keep him away from Nine so Nine didn't start trying to bolt). But after that, everyone was calm and relaxed, and we had a really nice ride. Paul even trotted Ash and Nine, and while Hammer got over-excited, Nine did not. We plan to keep taking him with us on rides. Next time I want him saddled. Soon I hope to have a chance to take him to the cinders and put a good ride on him.

Winter Braids

My mother in law suggested (last year) that I put the horses' manes and tails into braids for the winter so they have lush, full, beautiful hair come spring. Well, I finally got around to it today. I did Nine's mane, laughed about how silly he looks, then I had to go inside to switch the laundry to the dryer, and when I came back out he was standing fine. But then my daughter and the dog spooked him. Apparently the knot was loose, because when I looked, after getting Elayne away from the horse, he had reached the end of the lead, which suddenly caught and whipped him around. His head hit the end of a pole. I put Elayne against the wall and told her not to move, and when I got to Nine he was working his jaw, which worried me a lot because I feared he had broken his jaw. Luckily he did not, but he did knock a tooth loose. I got some pliers and yanked it the rest of the way out. Nine drank some water so I didn't need to splash his mouth clean. So I took a look, and the tooth that came out was a baby tooth. The adult tooth is already through, so I don't think we have much to worry about. It looks like his mouth was open when it hit the pole and he has a cut in his gums. I will keep an eye open for infection.

Later Elayne took a nap so I went back out and did Nine's tail and Hammer's mane. Hammer did not enjoy it at all! He keeps giving me dirty looks. Nine doesn't seem to mind, even though he looks like a Rastafarian. He feelin' groovy mon.

Airs Above The Ground

Today I rode Hammer while Kate rode Ashley. Hammer was really hyper, almost as hyper as he was last time I rode him, just before we left to go to Houston for Christmas. Then he practically sprinted 4 miles and was still trying to take off on me when we got back.

Anyways, today we rode again. We thought it might be fun to rear Hammer a time or two, and as I was talking I told Kate about how, occasionally, Hammer used to hop into the air mid-rear, thus doing an air above the ground. I believe this is called a corbette. So I got Hammer to rear and gave him a squeeze as he was going up, and lo and behold, he jumped! So we worked on that for a while. It took him about 20 minutes to figure out the difference, and for me to figure out a separate cue. It was awesome! Someday I will get pictures, once we perfect this!

Update on Hammer

Hammer is back to normal - the vet suggested I put the horses on psyllium for 2 strait months. I don;t have the cash for that, but I am going to try 1 month, then regularly 1 week per month after that (I tend to slack on it). But Hammer is okay, hopefully for good. I will take it easy on him for a while.