General -- 12/28/08

Welcome to Winter and a boring blog. There will not be much training going on for the next couple of months thanks to the weather and lack of daylight. And the fact that we have not yet won the lottery, so don't have an indoor riding ring. But rest assured that we'll be back in the saddle soon.

Spring Agenda

Jewel will start serious training and I'll be keeping you up to date on her progress -- as long as she doesn't break too many of my bones.

Gentry's soundness will be assessed and if Doc gives the OK he'll be started on a light work regimen to get him back in shape and ready for adoption.

Tabby and Classy will be polished off before going to their new homes.

Megalia will be broke to saddle and spend some time leisurely wondering down the trails before she is put up for adoption.

Radar will receive some serious ground work in an attempt to turn him into a little gentleman before saddle breaking next Fall.

And last, but not least, Quest will start his dressage training.

Have a great Winter and try to stay warm!

Hunter -- General

Now that I learned the kids are reading this blog, I must put in a forgotten activity. Nephew Jessie occasionally has been mounting Hunter by this means: He holds the mane and swings up the leg letting momentum carry him onto the horse's back. What do you call that anyway? Jessie will eventually be a trick rider, I am sure, the athletic rascal. Nice rescue lady predicts that Lacy and Hunter will be trick riders in a few years. So, why not teach Hunter to do it? God knows I will never EVER be a trick rider and train it to a horse. Anyway, Hunter was surprised at first, but as usual, took it in stride later. We are not going to do a lot of this, just enough to make sure that Hunter is not shocked in his future. We also plan to do other things such as emergency dismounts and offside mounting, but I am sure nothing will ever faze him, really.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 11/16/08

Hunter rode on his 2nd real trail ride again today. I rode Evil Keisha down the road a half mile to join my brother's kids. Kayla rode Mandy, who until I got there refused to take a bit into her mouth. Good! The kids still need me. Because I secretly need them but don't anyone tell them or they will get swell headed. Hunter, as usual, was fascinated by the goings on and was ready for whatever we were going to do.

So off we went. Me on Evil K, the most experienced trail horse I have right now, Kayla on Mandolin, and Jessie on Hunter wearing my English saddle and a halter with dog leashes attached for reins. Now before you knock dog leashes, know this: Hunter does not like the bit at all, but I want him ready for steering/stopping sooner than later for Lacy's sake. He responds well enough with the pressure on his halter to get saddle experience. Dog leashes are nylon, cheap and have snaps on the ends convenient to hook into the halter. Still, I better get him more conditioned to the bit.

We did a warm up by walking for a while up the trail. Then we trotted. Hunter is getting the hang of this trotting on command by watching the lead horse and then responding to the rider cues, but I am not sure he would do it all alone just yet. Have to try it soon. Today Hunter would not take the lead, but willingly followed anybody. When I took the rear I had the chance to observe. I am not feeling that Hunter is as smooth as I first thought, but Jessie says he is. However, our two boys were more than willing to trot with each other happily. Then I lead and cantered. Mandy broke into what I like to call the quarter horse shuffle. She looked classic. It seems like she has been trained to the show ring. Neato. Hunter cantered, too, easily. He seems effortless in this. He looks very collected and his legs are nicely under him. How do I know? I had to turn around and watch while I was cantering. I prefer not to, but Keisha has so improved this year that she was able to do it. HHH, I made this effort for you! It will be one of the few overtly altruistic acts you will observe from me. But back to Hunter. He went at his various gaits and barely broke a sweat. It was maybe 2 to 4 miles we went. Hard to tell out on the trails. Other than not wanting to take the lead, he was darling. Jessie keeps practicing on steering and whoaing and going with him and the boys had themselves a ball. How do I know? They both were grinning ....yah, both. I swear Hunter smiles.

Hunter -- General

I am behind on posts- it is a tough time of year for me workwise. So I am going to glom together some things Hunter has been doing.

He has been ridden by my friend Ann's 2 grade school kids - well, led about really by volunteer Jamie. Although he is always interested in kids riding, this is nothing to him anymore. I am lucky to have so many kids around to do this with Hunter. He will be the best babysitter pony ever.

Tori, my friend Jess' fearless 11 year old rode him - really rode him - in our field. She was bareback with a halter and rigged reins. We worked on whoa and go and steering. I would get Hunter stopped and she would hold him there. Then I would walk off some distance - like 20 yards -while she kept him still. On command she would get him to ride to me and stop. We also played a game where they had to follow in my footsteps as I jogged (OMG did I really jog at my age?) about the field. This fierce little girl was determined to make that pony work with a capitol W. It was neat. It was like they were both learning some hard subject in school, but getting great satisfaction in the mastery of it.

Hunter has been quite the Hoodini and getting out a lot. It was because he is short enough to get through this one spot by walking under the top rail and over the bottom one. It was an odd spot because it was at a creek crossing and the elevations changed funnily. Well, before I figured out where the spot was and after I was exhausted from 5 times in one day of putting him back in, I finally drove the garden tractor and led him while I drove on that. It could be classified as bombproofing training. Yup, it ain't ridin', but it shore is learnin'.

Hunter also got moved down to my brother's pasture to be a companion for my niece Kayla's new horse, Lady's Mandolin, who was adopted from HHH. Niece Kasey walked him a half mile down the road while her dad followed in the truck. Kasey even jogged Hunter for a while on this adventure. First time Hunter ever jogged in hand. Wow. He is happily flirting with Mandy until he goes to his new home at Lacy's. Mandy would have been ok by herself, we think, but it is good for Hunter to get experience with changes in surroundings and companions. The grand nephews are now getting pony rides on him. I miss seeing him on a daily basis, but Kayla, Pat, Jessie and the rest of the crowd are taking great care of him.

Oh, and Jessie says I should write in this blog that Hunter is mean, and bucks, and rears and bites. I asked him why should I write that and he answered, "So no one else will want him and I can have him." Hunter and Lacy are are still on. No can do. Don't worry, Jessie-boy. The nice rescue lady is looking for your perfect forever horse.

-- Anastasia

Meghan -- 11/14/08

At this point Meghan's training is simply physical training to get some of that humongous belly off. I like horses with a little extra going into winter, but Meghan has a little too much fat. When the vet looks at her and thinks she's about ready to pop out a foal then it's too much!

So this past Friday when we took a long trail ride on the North Bend Trail I asked Anne to ride Meghan. I'm usually the only one riding the rescues when they are here on the farm so it's nice to get someone else on them as often as possible. And since Anne doesn't care one way or the other as long as she's riding someone, she's often my stand in. :)

The North Bend Trail used to be a railroad so of course there are bridges and tunnels. The three tunnels we went through were between 333 and 377 feet long and had a slight curve to them. Once you're in the middle of the tunnel it's pitch black and even the horses are unsure where the ground is in front of them. Did this stop Meghan from following Willow into the tunnel? Nope! She marched right in like a trooper and it didn't even seem to make her nervous. Same with the bridges. Anne rode her in a halter and had no trouble with trotting and cantering.

Dare I say it, but she actually looks a little lighter today.

Radar - 11/12/08

Today was Radar's first real training session. I spent the first 20 minutes trying to teach him what a circle is and how to stay more than five inches away from me when on the lunge line. Radar is the same age as Hunter, but not nearly as intelligent or laid back. The main reason I was trying to teach him to lunge is because he's terrible about having his feet picked up.

Make sense?

I'm all about making the thing I want easy and the bad behavior hard. Whenever I try to pick up Radar's feet he backs away and yanks his leg out of my hand before I even get my hand to his knee. Meghan was the same way when she got here and Jewel still does the same thing. I had great success with Meghan using this method and just haven't tried it with Jewel yet.

Once Radar had the lunging thing down well enough to stay out of my personal space and do a halfway decent circle I tried picking up the inside front foot. As soon as he'd back away or yank his leg out of my hand I'd send him back out on the circle at a trot. Don't want to do as I ask? Then go back to work! I only make him trot around the circle twice before asking for a whoa and trying to pick up his foot again. It only took Meghan about five minutes to figure out that standing there and letting me handle her foot was a lot easier than trotting around in a circle. It took Radar 20 minutes. That was just for the right foot. Like I said, not the brightest bulb in the pack.

As soon as Radar let me pick up the right foot and hold it a few seconds without yanking or pulling away I put it down and let him stop for the night. Tomorrow we'll work on the left foot. The good news is that by the time he lets me pick up all four feet he'll be a pro at lunging!

Megalia -- 11/12/08

Meg's soundness issue in the left hind is only on the lunge line going to the left, which makes me believe even more that it's a mechanical lameness. I'll have Doc look at her again next time he comes out to confirm. If it is, then she should be fine for light riding duties, such as trail riding.

So instead of lunging I did some line driving with Meg. Like Tabby, she didn't care about the saddle and just gave a big sigh as I tightened up the girth. I have always loved training the old broodmares -- they're so EASY!

Meg also has a good handle on WHOA and turning with the bit. What we did today was really a big waste of time and I should have just gotten on her. Maybe tomorrow!