Well, I suck

See, I have a couple of problems with this blog.

1) I find it difficult to believe that anyone really cares to read it. Partly because I'm trying to keep it fairly narrowly focused, but since the people (person) it's most targeted at talk to me often they hear it at least twice.

2) Though I can think while training or riding "ooh, this would be funny to blog about" it becomes much less funny when I try to talk about it without pictures - and it's hard to take pictures of those moments when you're actually in the middle of dealing with them. Or I have it all laid out in my head what to say and...(see #3)

3) I can't count. Oh wait, that's a different problem. This is actually the worst one. I work on a computer 8-10 hours a day at least 5 days a week (sometimes more). So much so, that my home computer (the one that's actually mine, not the 5 others that aren't) is almost never turned on. I think it may have forgotten how. I have to admit, it's hard to come home after a fun, tiring day of riding and blog about it. It's even harder to do it days later when I come home from work and still have more work to do. I know people do it, I read some really cool science blogs written by incredibly busy people.

However, that said I do have some fun little stories to share and I'll try to get back here later. Maybe I'll take a tip from one of the funniest science bloggers I read and spice it up some with silly pics. We'll see. For now, you may have to wait. I'm in the middle of yet another big grant writing push with my boss and it's really hard to want to write when I'm doing that.

Spring in the Northwest

It's here! I have bulbs coming up in my garden, my lawn already needs to be mowed, the frogs are frantically serenading each other and the weather can't decide if it wants to rain/snow/hail/be sunny. Oh, and the horses are shedding madly. Yep, it's spring alright.

Yesterday was one of the nicer days of the entire week. It rained a bit and was cloudy with some beautiful sunbreaks. Still not getting above 50, but that's better than being down in the 30's. It had rained most of the week and I didn't feel like fighting Ketah and the mud (either of which alone is bad enough) so thought I'd do some training.

I brought Sati out and brushed her. We're still working on letting me brush the backs of her hind legs but she's getting better. She's also just on grass hay now and not making such a mess of herself (despite passionate affirmations to the contrary, alfalfa is not really that great). I also picked up all four feet. She still wants to be a putz about the hind feet, but not nearly so much. It's not a fight anymore, I just pay close attention because she may decide to dance and fall down.

This day I put all of her tack on, grabbed the long lines and headed for the round pen. Aside from not making the same mistake twice, there was another horse in the arena who is poorly trained and several young girls who have gotten dragged by him before. I prefer not to take silly chances with my young one. After a few circles without lines, and some bucking and kicking I asked her to whoa. That lesson she does very well. I put the lines on her and we started doing some circles at the walk. This is all about learning how to handle the bit. I know it was confusing the first couple circles. Towards the end of the lesson she was walking the circle and changing direction relatively well. She has a tendency right now to get confused and stop when I ask her to go in a specific direction, especially if she really wanted to go the other way. Despite that we did 10 or 15 minutes of this, then I let her off the lines and reminded her of her basic manners. Which did involve a lesson in not stopping at the fence nearest Ketah or kicking in my general direction when I asked her to move...Afterwards I made her stand, tied while I worked Ketah in the arena for a bit. That drives her nuts, she was sweaty by the time we finished.

Today was threatening to storm all day. Dark clouds and wind. However, by 3:00 it still hadn't rained and I didn't feel like working anymore so I thought I could do a new lesson with the young one. A very important lesson for a would-be trail horse. Going out alone. Horses are, by nature, herd animals and they are prey as well. This means that instinctually they seek safety in other horses. One of the things we humans require of our domesticated horses, is to learn to be alone. They should depend on just themselves and their rider on the trail.

Thus far Sati has been away from the barn only when I pony her from Ketah. So she has always had a calm, older horse to make her feel safe. This time I asked her to walk by herself, on a slighty stormy looking day with quite a bit of wind (waiting for perfect weather is pointless here). We didn't get very far really. Down the long driveway and maybe two blocks through the neighborhood. Everything was a little scary, horse running at the fence to see her, a fence making noise in the wind, a car driving by. She wasn't perfect by any stretch. There was quite a bit of dancing and balking. But I remember Ketah at this age. If anything Sati was relying on me more, which is great.

I had planned on doing a loop that she's been on with Ketah before. But with her being slightly freaked out and this being her first time, we turned around and went back. Dancing and balking the whole way. But she was trying very hard to listen to me. She gets lots of points for that.

Still here

But not much to tell. I just spent the last two weeks in frantic grant writing mode. This is good for me to learn...but hard to do so quickly. We finished last Thursday and I rode last Friday, which was the only sunny day we have had in the last 7 days now. Ketah and I had a great time! I decided not to take Sati, I know Ketah gets sick of her and I thought a real ride would be best for us both. I was right. We spent about 3 or 4 hours riding, found some new trails, got lost, and still managed to get home.

I was relaxed enough after that to work Sati too. This was mostly in the nature of reminding her of what she already knew. So I put on all the gear and we started doing a little bit of ground driving in the newly fenced arena. I probably shouldn't have done that, I was just a little too excited. I think the arena was too big for her, though we did manage to walk around a bit. But she also managed to get scared and bolt. I got her back under control and decided the round pen was a better idea. Rather than stress her out further I just put her in the round pen and asked her to do a few circles (no long lines) and then quit. For all of that, she was still pretty calm and happy afterwards.

Maybe this weekend we can do some more. We'll see though, between crazy spring weather and a paper I should've written two months ago we may not get a chance.

Smart horses rock!

Let me start by saying that this was a pretty awful weekend for all sorts of reasons. Thursday my boss very energetically (he does everything as if he's had 10 cups of coffee and that's probably not far off) declared that we were going to drop everything to write a 30 page grant in 2 weeks! While 30 pages is not much for a grant (especially for the money we hope to get out of it) 2 weeks is crazy short time to do it in. And of course while it's nice to assume we can drop everything...I can't. There's a meeting I must host starting Thursday through Saturday, interviewees coming that I can't just put off (how rude would that be??) and we started a new employee today. It's crazy.

So my poor horses are going to get the short end of the stick (along with my SO of course, but he's more understanding). I decided that this weekend I *must* work with them because next weekend might be out.

Saturday
It's cloudy and cool. Sati hasn't been worked in over a week, that's my bad, and Ketah is uninterested in me. Figured the young one needed the work more and boy did she. First we had apparently reverted about leading nicely. She was jumping and balking and threatening to rear. My answer is to make her do circles which helps to a point.

I finally get her tied up and I'm cleaning her and she hasn't calmed down at all. She wants to dance and swing at the end of the rope. As usual the backs of her hind legs are dirty and I'm working towards them. She's all twitchy and as soon as I hit some of the dried stuff stuck to her hair she kicks.

This is bad behavior. She's about 750 pounds after all.

I go back to working over her entire body and approach her legs again and now she wants to swing her butt in my direction and kick out. At this point she hasn't actually tried to point and kick, instead she's sort of body checking me. However...

This is very bad behavior and we have to correct it.

So for the next 30 minutes we go rounds with no clear winner. For future reference you should never do this. I was already in a poor mood when we started and you really can't win a fight like this with a horse but I got myself into it and I had to get out without losing fully.

Lucky for me my sister called and we talked for a while. Good for me, you should really step away from these sorts of situations when you can't deal with them. Good for Sati because I made Sati stand tied up by herself the entire time. This is also good for her as she hates being without Ketah. When I got off the phone I started working her on the line in circles. We had to have a few reminders about “whoa” and not trying to run over the top of me, but she remembered pretty quick. After that I brushed her and put her back in her pen.

Sunday
I had decided that I really needed to go for a trail ride today. Sati was to go with Ketah and I because I finally had a pair of boots for her front feet. I started cleaning her up and she stood quietly if a little twitchy even while I brushed the backs of her legs and picked her feet. Score 1 for smart horses! Once she was cleaned up I saddled Ketah and got ready to head out. Unfortunately for me the day was shaping up to be stormy.

Rain is uncomfortable, but we can deal with it. Wind however...In Colorado it's annoying and sometimes impossible to ride in. Here high wind can be very dangerous because the trees are all very close, very tall and don't have very deep roots. Branches and whole trees come down very quickly and easily. By the time the wind had died down it was sprinkling. I headed out and hoped it would stop raining. We hadn't made it 30 minutes out (just past the trail head really) and we were all soaked. Ketah was being a total pain, but I think Sati was having a lot of fun. She was thinking her way through all of the obstacles very carefully. Better than Ketah in fact. We went over some sandbags (Ketah jumped, Sati stepped over), around a large log and through a narrow gate.

I asked Ketah to trot then canter. Sati kept up the whole time in a trot! That girl has legs! Finally tired of dealing with Ketah's stubborness we turned to go back. Back at the barn Sati continued to stand (mostly) quietly at the tie rail and let me brush her all over again. So on the balance, I'd say the weekend was a good one for training! Sati is going to be a great trail horse. She likes to think her way through things instead of running away.

I really can't wait to ride her.

Birthday gift

This post is specifically for you mom!  In case anyone else is looking and doesn't know what it is, for my birthday mom sent me an Arabian show halter.  Usually the horse is well groomed, trimmed and not in their full winter coat when being photographed with these on, but I didn't want to wait for summer.  I promise prettier pictures come summer (she won't look like such a goat in a few months).  Maybe then I'll learn how to make her stretch out like all those Arabians in the magazines :)

Teaching herself

Last weekend we took the next big steps to riding.

Lately I have made a point of completely tacking up Sati for work. It makes her slow down and think (which is great when she's in a crazy mood). She has absolutely no problem with the saddle, though neither of my saddles or girths fit her. She is getting used to the bridle still. The last few times I've worked with her I put the saddle and bridle (with reins) on and ask her to move in circles on a free longe around me. She's great. We don't quite have walk/trot on command but she stops and reverses on command even when she starts getting a little nutty.
Since Sati seems to have quit worrying at the bit quite so much (she's holding it in her mouth on her own) I decided last weekend we would add a new dimension. Saturday I tacked her up and asked her to move out. Then I stopped her and added side reins! Before you ask, no I did not put them on in an effort to "set her head" she'll get that idea later. I put them on, fairly loose, so that she could get the feel of some pressure on the bit when she's moving. An unanticipated benefit is that she bumped her mouth when she tossed her head and she did it only twice. Again I asked her to move around me, with side reins, on a free longe. Again, she did great. At first she held her head high as she has been. But within a few minutes she started dropping it down as that is clearly more comfortable (and that is the point) even with loose side reins. By the end she put her nose to the ground.  She'll have a beautiful topline when she starts collecting.

On Sunday we did the same thing again. This time after doing a few circles with side reins I moved them up a notch (this is still really loose, they would be far too loose on Ketah for instance who is bigger but knows how to carry herself). Sati had no issues, not even chewing the bit she moved out, no head tossing and even started dropping her head to bring her poll almost level with her back. Even better she started stretching out underneath herself. I think she was figuring out how to engage her hindquarters herself! Yay!!

So I decided to give ground driving a short try. I took the side reins off and put the long lines on. We just did a couple of circles at the walk but it was enough for her to get the idea. As usual with her, give her something to think about and she's all business. It seems to be only at the tie rail that we have arguments, I'm waiting for her to grow out of that.

To keep her engaged and thinking we've also started other ground work.  I've started asking her to step over and around obstacles.  The first one was three railroad ties laid in a row about a horse length apart.  She had to stop and look at them once and then I could lead and  her over them with very little issue.  Of course, having done it a couple of times she became secure enough to start being silly about it.  Jumping, rushing and avoiding just because.  But she's doing it and that's the important part.  After all, she will be a trail horse and you need to know how to do this sort of thing!

Choosing a Bit

It's been a difficult couple of weeks to spend with the horses. After the snow and ice we had several days of heavy rain leading to flooding. Thankfully the property the girls are on didn't flood much, but it hasn't made for very nice riding weather. Despite that I haven't been idle. I've made sure that Sati didn't forget how to be polite though she would like to argue that point. She still doesn't like having her hind feet picked up, but we understand each other better now and when I reprimand her she doesn't throw a fit. She also moves nicely in a circle (most of the time) in both directions, stops on a dime (that will be fun in the saddle) and changes direction well.

She's had a saddle on her back several times now, and she doesn't much care. The next step then is a bit! I can't start ground driving her until she's taking a bit. So I did a lot of homework. After all, it's been many years since I picked out bits for Ketah and I'm not sure I knew much about it then either. I've also changed some of my preconceptions about bits. Curbs aren't as severe as I thought and snaffles aren't necessarily as nice either.

It's best with a young horse to start with a very mild bit and as Sati has shown herself to be fairly sensitive it's even more important not to shock or hurt her. I was going to start with a basic snaffle bit. Maybe an eggbutt. Until I started doing more research. The basics are simple enough, a bit works either by direct pressure (the rider has constant contact with the horse's mouth) or via leverage (all shanked bits work this way). There is more though, a bit puts pressure on the lips, tongue and bars as well.


The snaffle bit that I always think of is the single-jointed snaffle. It's a relatively mild bit in that there are no twisted wires or protruding parts that could injure a horse's mouth. It works by applying pressure to the tongue, lips, and bars with a "nutcracker" action. Turns out this is not the most mild snaffle for starting a young horse. Considering that Ketah has probably taught me to have "heavy" hands and I'm going to need to retrain myself while Sati learns I wanted to start even milder.

Most people rate a bit called a "mullen mouth" as the mildest bit. Usually it's made of rubber or a half-moon of metal. It places even pressure across the bars, tongue and lips. However, I haven't used a bit that wasn't jointed in many years and since I do eventually want her to go in a snaffle I decided against the mullen mouth.


I finally decided to use a double-jointed snaffle. Not exactly a French Link (very mild) because it looks too much like a very severe bit called a Dr.Bristol and I can't identify it by sight so I can't be sure of what I'm buying despite it's labeling. Instead I bought an oval link snaffle. It's a double jointed bit so the "nutcracker" action of the single jointed snaffle on the tongue is significantly less and it's fatter than my basic loose ring snaffle making it milder than the basic snaffle.



Two days ago I put this bit in her mouth for the first time. She was so easy! I put some molasses on it because unlike my other mare she loves sweet foods. Initially I tied it to her halter and let her mouth it for a while. After I was pretty sure she'd sucked all the molasses off I attached it to her bridle, added more molasses and bridled her. Then I turned her loose in the round pen. She was mouthing it lots, but she didn't get her tongue over the bit. She had this look of "what the hell" and kept coming to me to take it off. I let her do that for about 10 minutes and then I took it off.

Today I took it one step further. Again, using molasses, I bridled her. This time I put the bridle on over her rope halter. I let her mouth it for a few minutes, then I took her out the to arena and asked her to move in circles around me as I usually would. I could tell she was paying more attention to me than to the hunk of metal in her mouth when she would quit mouthing the bit to do what I asked. We did just a few circles to make her think about it and then I took it off. She was more than willing to play with it even after that though. That's got to be a good sign!

The step after this will be ground driving. I have to teach myself how to do that though. Lucky for me I have an old mare who will forgive my mistakes. I ground drove Ketah for a few minutes today to get the hang of it. I'll want to do that a few more times before I try to start Sati, but Ketah was great. After driving for a bit we did some arena work and she was happy and collected and moving out...She looks like a young horse when she does that. I think we'll have a good summer!