I am radioactive!

April 6, 2009
11:45-1:45

72 °F

Wow, what a wonderful day for a ride! I came home from college and went right out to catch Crickett and head out. Such a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and just a very light breeze to cut the heat a little.

Crickett did well, she would have done better had I put my spurs on, but I wanted to be out on the trails quick! We headed towards the river at first, but instead of keeping on the trail we struck west and headed to the first of the small canyons leading up to the Yakima canyon rim. I have never been down there before and boy how neat! Some time ago the L.T used to be a large range area and there are still remnets of the history dotted around.

Well at the point where the canyon closes in there was a small holding pen, compleate with water trough and shelter! I have never seen it before and had a great break sitting in the shade of some sagebrush and watching Crickett play in the water trough. After about 15 minutes of rest, which Crickett sorley needed, we headed out again.

We continued west and hit the bottom of Twin Canyons, and went about an eighth mile up the trail then turend back around. The weather was just soo fine that we did a bit of cantering and alot of trotting. Crickett is sure starting to look like a well bred Quarter Horse! By the time we hit home, I was starting to suspect that I had slightly more then just a hint of color to my cheeks, and boy was that true!.

I am about 7 shades of red, and I spent more then half my share of breaks at work in the walk in freezer, but today was soo worth the burn that I will be feeling for the rest of the month! Next time I will take my camera, hat and sunscreen!

March 6th Ride

A few hours of riding 

Yes I am way out of date on this, my internet is down but I will type a few things from this one ride and then tell you all about my team penning experience. 

It was pretty muddy for this ride, which I was really looking forward to riding in, truly.  We had a big snowfall the night before with palm sized flakes of snow coming out of the sky.  Crickett and I went out and stayed along the road for the most part, crossing the torrent of water comming down the road like a stream.

On the way back to the house we went off road and found that the mud was hock deep and sticky, perfect for really working the hind end.

Left to my own devices, never a good thing

2:45-3:30
Temp: 25.0 °F and breezy

I tried out the super nice copper snaffle that I found on the road yesterday today. Crickett really went well in it, lots of licking and chewing. We worked for a bit in the pasture, bending flexing and transitions, then I took the dog out for a short ride to the power lines. I am going to have to make a bell for Mojo, he is just so small and blends in well with the sagebrush that it is hard to keep track of the monster.

We had a pretty good ride all together, short but it was windy and I hate riding in the wind. Just enough to work up a bit of heat, but not an all out sweat.

Once I got home is when the trouble started, boredom struck again. With me that is never a good thing. I got to wondering if Crickettia was clipper safe, and I had no clue. Lucky for me there was an extension cord already out to her water heater, so a quick change of plug-ins and I found out that clippers do not bother her at all.

I trimmed up her head pretty well, I need to do her ears better and get some of her whiskers (the only part she really hates). I also did up her legs a bit, cleaning up the heel. Then I got bored, I have seen people make pretty patterns in their horses coats and so I wanted to try it.

Yeahno, turned out really funny, I was trying to do a checker board pattern and it looks like a two year old got a hold of her rear end. Only after I did this did I learn that the effect I wanted is gotten a whole other way. Ah well, no one but me has to see it for the next few months, and if it turns out I need to take her somewhere I can always trim it all down to the shortest length. Crickett is shedding out pretty good so I am unworried.

Much Better!

3:00-4:11 p.m
Temp: 38.2 °F

I took me a while to decided that I wanted/needed to ride today. It has been cold and cloudy, nothing like yesterday, the only thing that reminds me of the nice day is my sun burn :).

We started out exactly like yesterday, warm-up at the walk and trot, we had some good stops and backing. Crickett even did a really nice haunch turn to both sides. Her stopping is getting better and better, she is digging more in with her hind end and popping up less too. Crickett barely pinned her ears when I asked for a transition, and did not refuse a single one!

About a half hour into it Crickett had a nice balanced trot going, so I gently asked for a lope, and after a few strides she broke into a nice easy slow one. I let her go about 6 strides before I brought her back down to a trot. She was great, not a buck the entire rest of the ride!

I think that yesterday she was just not into working like this for the first time in a few months. Once I get over the first really bad day she tends to settle down just fine and really get into her old groove.

Buckin' Hell!

12:30-2:40
Temp: 45.2 °F, Bright and Clear

What a wonderful day for a ride! So nice and warm, I even left my sweat shirt hanging on my tack shed door!

Crickett and I worked in the pasture today, I thought it was time to work on a few details. Mainly transitions and leg aids at movement. We spent the first fifteen minutes or so working at a walk and getting a good solid whoa, and seeing how little I had to move my hands to get a change of directions. It was wonderful, the mare was nice and light, stopped at the easiest shift of body weight. All I had to do to get her to turn was move my shoulders.

I then worked her up to a nice steady trot and just got a good rhythm going, which again she impressed me with how well she listened! I went through the motions of whoa and easy. Now 'easy' for us means transition slower if she is trotting I want a walk instantly, and this is something that has worked really well while we game. Again I was impressed at how well she did. Her directional movements were again just as light, but I do need to work on keeping her straight and moving off my leg like that.

Crickett has always been a tail swisher, even at the lightest cue she will swish, and today was no exception. Anytime I asked for a trot, ears back, tail swish, trot. This never fails. I do not see this as a reflection of pain, she has done this for four years, but it can get annoying. I am not sure if we would ever do well in a show ring because of this.

Once I was really comfortable at the trot transitions, I decided to toss in a few loping strides to see how well she would take it. I had given her ample time to warm up and get physically and mentally ready for it. The first few transitions to the right were great, but when I asked for a left lead transitions that is where the buckin' hell comes from.

She bucked and she bucked, but they were not very hard bucks, just sort of "I do not want to!" bucks. At first I thought they might have been 'feel good' bucks, but after about the fourth one, I knew they were not. I set a goal of three good left circles and three good right circles and lord help me she did NOT want to do any of the left lead.

I do not think it was a pain thing, I had not felt anything at a walk or trot, or on the right lead, so finally I took her into the 60' round pen my dad and I made last summer and had her run a few circuits in both directions. I could not for the life of me see any sort of lameness, and there was no heat to her legs at all. At this point I am chalking it up to spring hormones.

By the time I got off, the poor girl was dripping, I would not have worked her so hard if it had not been as nice and warm out. But we went for a cool down walk anyway to the end of the driveway and back (about a mile).

Over all it was a good ride, but tomorrow I am going to have to work her just as hard I am afraid.

I have no cruse control.

12:35-2:16 p.m
Temp: 29 ° F

I have figured out that Crickett is like my poor decrepit El Mapache a 1987 Honda Accord. I do not have any cruise control on either of them, they either stop all together or they slow down to the point of no return.

This is what I wanted to work Crickett on, as there is no help for poor El Mapache. So we set out along the fence line for a good 5 minutes, with no spooks or stop and snort sessions. I pushed her into a trot and oh my lord does she need some major work. I could not for the life of me keep her at any sort of trot for longer then a few yards. She would stop and act spooky and no amount of kissing or leg squeezes would get her moving.

I brought my quirt along because I knew this would happen, a few pops with that anytime she slowed to a walk and things started to get better. I only trotted her for maybe 14 minutes max at constant trotting, not counting her breaks and tantrums.

There is a downed power/phone line out there and it looks like someone has tried to coil it up, or maybe they are putting it up. Which ever one they are doing they need to do it faster, Crickett spooked at it and almost tossed me and got tangled up in it.

Not much happened for the rest of the ride, I went to the base of Twin Canyons and looks like they took the poor water trough out. I bet the damn thing hadn't held more then a few gallons of water at a time because there were so many bullet holes in it. Maybe tomorrow I will venture a few miles up the trail, but Crickett was pretty hot and it is a rather hard climb.

1:04-2:30

It was once again cold, but I persevered and had a good ride despite it. Patches once again went with me and seemed to have a good time. She is now zonked out behind the couch snoring her brains out.

Crickett was really good, a bit pokey on the way out (big surprise) but Patches needs the slower pace anyway. Nothing new to report really.

12:30-1:45

I went out again today, sans camera. What a warm bright beautiful day! Compared to yesterday today's rides was pretty boring. Crickett and I just soaked up the sunshine and did some hill work. When I trail ride I never purposely let a trail ride "just" be a trail ride. I want Crickett to get something out of it other then a release of energy. Today was hill work and sagebrush dodging, one of my favorite trail riding activities.

The goal is to find the best hill of the day and get to the top but never going around the same sagebrush twice, and to use as little hand as possible on Cricketts mouth. Today it went pretty good considering that it has been a few weeks since I have done it. We stayed right around the first hill, the same guys that were out shooting yesterday were out again and I did not want to cross anywhere near them.

I think that hell froze over on this trail ride too, because my dork of a dog Patches:

The most lazy dog ever, the one that hid under my bed to avoid going on trail rides came with me happily. I about had a heart attack. She ran all over the place, sniffing dens and rolling in the dirt. I was pretty amazed. We spent about forty five minutes out there before I headed in, and let out the tiny rein of terror that is Mojo. Now I have never tried to take him on a trail ride, or even see what he would do if I let him come with me on a jaunt down the driveway.


That changed today, I brought him out and he ran around like a crazy dog trying to figure out where was the best spot to walk while I was riding. He settled down about five feet away from Crickett's shoulder, which was nice because I could still see him perfectly, but he was out of harms way. I think that tomorrow I am going to see how well he will do out in the L.T.

Mojo is now sleeping on my penguin pillow, oblivious to the WORLD.

January 25 Trail Ride (Bones Alive!)

12:56-1:56 p.m
I took Crickett out yesterday after having to set a specific time for me to ride and stick to it. This actually worked better then I thought it would. The weather was pretty cold, with a light wind that did not help at all, I had three layers of pants on and 4 top layers. I was worried about Crickett being a mit bit mareish, but other then being really pokey and lazy on the way out and a little bit hyped up on the way home we had a good ride.

I took my camera and did not take pictures of the most eye appealing things, but I did take pictures off all the bones that I saw because I thought it would be a good topic of conversation later on. So this is by far not the first set of bones I had come across while I was riding that day, but the first that I thought "Oh lets take pictures of bones!" I had seen some normal joints and vertebra and a shoulder blade that I had been tossing to my dogs the day before.

This is a horse skeleton about a half mile from the gate, I have seen it before, right after it was shot of there (Mid Fall) and I have just avoided it for the last few months because the need to see it did not ever arise. We get about one or two a year dumped out here, either trailered in, shot and left where they fell or dead ones shoved out the bed of a pickup truck.

My only problem with this is that they dump them so close to the gate and so close to the roads. When they dump them this close not only do I have limited ways around the carcass but it brings the coyotes down from the canyon rim. When the coyotes are down we usually lose a cat or two. By now I have given you ample warning but just in case you missed it....

*Graphic Dead Horse Pictures*These are the best pictures that I could get, the mare was pretty spooky around it, and I do not blame her. There was also another leg that had been detached and drug down into the small creek bed just to the left of the skelton.

I changed directions after this, as there were some guys shooting clay pigeons ahead of us and went like I was headed to the river. Somehow I discovered an access road that I have never seen, or just do not remember being there. Along the road there were some major Elk/ Big Horn Sheep markings . This is what I found along that road.


A nice little lower jaw bone from a sheep or elk, seemed a bit to small for an elk so I am going to call it a sheep one. Crickett was just fine with these bones, stood pretty still and let me get my shot off before jigging her way over a sagebrush.

I hit a trail that I recognized that led down to the river, and I know that there are some deer. sheep and elk down there but Crickett tends to act up a bit on that trail and I did not have a helmet on and was not going to risk getting bucked off on such a cold day and have to walk home. About this time I turned around and got just about the best picture of Mt. Clemmens that I have ever taken, sitting perfect between the saddle hills.

Pretty epic if you ask me!


At this point I was pretty damn cold and the wind had started up so Crickett and I headed back in. but found these little leg bones of what I am assuming was a coyote, they were to dense to be anything but. A short distance away I also found the following shoulder blade and bone.



Crickett was ready to be home and munching some hay by the time I snapped this photo so I put the camera away and let her find her own way home. Turns out she took the most direct route, straight up the hills.

Stiff Neck?

3:00-3:55 p.m

Got myself out of my funk and saddled up Crickett today, the weather was wonderful. All of our snow has melted and the flooding has resided (Not that I am affected much by either), my brother has gone off to his permanent duty station so I am no longer distracted by his x-box or the drug that is Oblivion. While it might not have been the warmest of days, it was still pretty nice once I headed out.

By out I mean, trying and failing to get the Mare to go into her pasture so that we could really work on some circles. It was far to late to go out on the trails and I did not want to be to far out of sight of the house just in case Crickett showed her devil side. So instead of going into the pasture, we did 15 foot circles in the drive way until she decided it would be ok to go down the driveway a bit.

After a few stop, stare and snort sessions, which I remedied by getting her to flex to each side. That did the trick most of the time, until we got to the new scary neighbor who was building fences. That took a minute or two to work out of, and kind of emabrassing for me. But all was ok. Crickett did pretty good considering that she has not been ridden for a few weeks and quite fresh from good hay.

I got home just in time to cool her off and take care of her mane and tail before I had to rush inside and resue the beef barly soup that I had been making (and convenintly forgetting about) for the last three hours.

Fresh snow, fresh pony!

3:00-3:50

Alright so the snow was not so fresh, a few days old and slightly crusty, but it was still pretty fun to ride in. Crickett was sure fresh, she has gained some weight (good) so I had to re adjust all my tack. After the few weeks of non-riding I have done, it was harder then I thought to swing her saddle up on her.

Of course she takes off before I am fully on, and once I got my foot in the stirrup she broke into a trot. In the opposite direction that I wanted her to, onto the icy driveway to the other pasture where her boyfriend was excitedly pacing the fence. She threw a fit in the middle of the driveway, spinning and trying to get to her boy, but after a moments battle she let me move her to her own pasture to ride.

I do not think that I have ever ridden a more stiff horse then her! Goodness gracious, her neck was like an iron bar, and did not want to flex or give to the bit at all. We worked a bit on that, but before I could really get into the problems Crickett EXPLODED, bucking rearing and just going at it. It did not seem live a vicious kind of explosion, just a small "I don 't wanna" type of explosion. With the snow as deep as it was, she did not last long and was quite happy to be done with it.

That was pretty much all the excitement of the day and I do not really have much to add to that, other then it was fun.

Rest Easy Sweet Girl

I have not updated for a few reasons, first and fore most my family decided that it was time to eauth. our fourteen year old Pesky dog and we said goodbye to her yesterday the 19th. She was an awesome dog, but it was her time to go and she was ready.

As I picked her out of the wiggling mass of black and brown bodies, she came right up to me and knocked me in the mud, while my five year old self was wearing her favorite shorts! She earned her name right then and there. Pesky.

While we lived in Idaho, she became an escape artist, not that I remember much except we always joked about her being a farm dog, it seemed that we could always find her down the road with the sheep herd. On that small urban lot we had a lot of fruit trees and in the fall it was my brother's and mine job to pick up the fallen fruit and place it in five gallon buckets. Pesky was soon doing the same.

Once we moved out to the country Pesky was very happy, she ended up with an Opps litter of fourteen puppies, of which we kept the one lug known as Patches. When we got horses, there was no keeping her home if we were out on the trial, and the last ride she went on was up Twin Canyons for a moonlight ride.

I know that one day she, Frosty and I will one day roam through the sage again and spend an endless day by the banks of the river. We will swim, sleep and never hurt again, I look forward to that day even more knowing that she is full and once again young in body as well as her mind.

Rest Easy Sweet Girl

December 10th 2008

I finally got my butt out of the house to work the mare today, I did not ride but we got a better understanding of what exactly Crickett is supposed to do when I go out to catch her.

Crickett has always been easy to catch whistle her over and slip the halter on her, but not today. Today she thought that it might be fun to avoid me and swing her but at me. I popped her on the butt with my lead rope and of course she trotted off to the end of the field so I whistle her back in and the shit does it again. This went on for a few minutes before I threw the lead rope around her neck and got her caught.

We then spent an hour learning how to be haltered and how to keep her big butt out of my face. At the end of our workout she was spinning pretty fast to keep her front end facing me. Hopefully it sticks and I do not have to worry about her trying to kick out at me.

Christmas Parade.

December 7, 2008.

Last night was the Yakima Lighted Parade, and I of course went with the 4-H group I have been involved with for the past 9 years. What a blast. I of course did not haul myself, I got picked up by Les, who grew up in the group and who's parents are still involved in the program. We loaded Crickett up in his 4 horse slant with his three charges for that night.

Drove through Yakima and ended up parking on a hill above my moms work, I helped the other kids get ready, chatted with the Barrel Racers club (and the girl who beat me out of a rodeo queen, because she was riding a judges horse) then ended up having to scramble to get Crickett ready to go.

I am sorry but I do not have any good pictures, but I attached battery Christmas lights to Crickett's bridle, breast collar, along the top of her mane, draped around her hind end and tinsel every where and had sleigh bells one about every limb. (I told the judge from the Queen competition that it looked like they needed more bling, (the supposed reason I lost the queen LOL). They were a little put off but I made them laugh so it was all good.

In the 4-H club there were six of us riding, Les and his daughter Kay, who rides a cute grumpy appaloosa that looks and acts exactly like Frosty, Les's ex-step daughter Ser who's birthday was yesterday, Les had this huge TWH/Paint/Arab gorgous hunk of bay goodness. Our leaders young daugther and her mom's walkaloosa, then our leaders boss.

We waited for about a half hour before the parade was supposed to start on the door step of my mothers work (Sorry for the yellow stains Mom!) right along side of a Coca-Cola truck, a hand full of carolers, three big floats and a tractor that had an air horn. All the horses were great, not one of them were spooked by anything.

I was pretty surprised with Crickett, this was only her third parade and first one at night and she was awesome, even the sleigh bells on her legs were perfectly fine and the blaring lights wrapped around her head. The parade finally stated and we had to fight our way into our spot and then deal with a couple of antsy horses who were ready to get going.

Kays poor old appy did not want to go, so I ended up having to pretty much lead her by her headstall and get her going every few steps. Finally I switched with Les who was leading our leaders daughter so he could lead his daughter.

This whole entire time Crickett is just fine and dandy, she has a low head set perked ears and just happy as a clam. I was so proud of her, no a single spook at all, with the kids coming up to pet her on the sidewalks, and the occasional candy that hit her nose she was PERFECT.

I really think that parades are now her thing that she just loves, it was so amazing I have never seen her so well adjusted to her surroundings. This was not a short parade, defiantly the longest and loudest we have gone through.

We got to the trailers that had been parked at the bus station and I again helped all the kids get un-tacked and ready to load. Being as were were at a bus station a lot of the homeless people were there to spend the night and Crickett just lapped up all the attention she could get, I let all the little boys and girls sit on her, every one petted her.

The last people to come up to see her was a little boy in a wheel chair and his mom. The boy was probably around 5, and it was evident that he had some sort of severe health issues I want to say cancer but I am not sure. The mom was really polite and asked if Crickett would spook at the wheel chair and I said no (she had been dealing with strollers all night). So she wheels him right up, and Crickett just sticks her head into his lap, like nose between his legs and just stood there while he played with her ears. Finally the boy leans forward and started to whisper in her ear real quiet , and for 10 minutes Crickett just stood and listened to him, not moving an inch

When the boy was done, the mom had tears in her eyes and they left. I have no idea what he said, what the boy had or anything, but Crickett knew. It was just so amazing to see a horse that I knew to be a bit of a hellion do something like this. It was a prefect end to a wonderful night.

Les then took us all out for dinner, for his fathers birthday, and I of course heard the story of the wagon train yahoo's running out of camp in 110 degree weather for the 20th time, but that was just fine with me because Les Sr. is just one awesome cowpoke.

Yarg

12:20-1:12 p.m

Not the best short ride I have ever done on Crickett, we worked in the pasture and had some attitude issues. She was just reverting to a stubborn self that I have not seen for a while and it was somewhat frustrating on both of our accounts.

I wanted to really work on bending and flexing and getting her up and downward transitions down, but she was having very little of that at all. So I moved on to getting her sidepassing and other smaller cues to be quick and precise.

Crickett did really well on those and I am glad that I ended on that note, she was very light to the forequarter cue as well as the sidepassing. He haunch turns have always been really good. I think my next step with those is going to be perfecting my rollbacks and getting her to really push herself with her hind.

Why is it gray on days I am home and sunny on days that I am busy?

It is really not fair at all, yesterday I had to run around town all day and did not get to ride at all, I did not even see my ponies in the daylight. It was a gorgeous day to, no wind, bright and sunny, but today when I am home and have nothing to do it is gray and just plain cold?

I brought the horses in, Crickett got her tail re-done (Braided) and groomed up while Diamond who has gone back to his easy to catch self got groomed and ridden around the round pen bareback and halter.

Yeah exciting day I know. It just seems hard to get motivated when the weather is crappy.

The Big D

Took me another hour to catch Diamond today, I have no clue what his problem is right now, but you can be sure I am going to work it out of him by the end of the week. This has got to stop I am not going to spend an hour running around the pasture to get him caught and ride able.

I worked him hard in the round pen because he did not come willingly to me after I caught him, I hope to have him associate coming right away to me with not having to work extra hard, but when I have to chase him he is going to have to work. We shall see.

So anyway I caught him and worked him then I practiced my bareback mounting, of course I did not even put his halter on, just tied the lead rope around his neck and flopped on his back over and over. Not once did he move, such a good boy once he is caught.

For some reason I get on better on the right side of him then the left even though I am left handed, wonder why this is? I am working up to the swing mounting, so far I am at the flop on back and stay balanced state.

Black Friday

Instead of going out to brave the crazies of black Friday, my Dad and I decided that a ride would be a much better day to spend it then trying to fight the crowds. I think that we have a new tradition! Dad had talked with the man who had given me Frosty, and he gave us the o.k to ride on his land (3 sections). Needless to say Dad and I jumped on the chance to get out into some trees and see some wildlife.

So we started out in the morning and it took us and hour, an hour to catch my Dad's mustang gelding Diamond. He (Diamond) has been doing great all year about letting us catch him, but yesterday he reverted back to his old nature. The poop finally let me up to him once he was sick of the game. By the time we catch him it is starting to drizzle, it had been gray and gloomy all day, not the best day to go for a ride but I was not going to let a chance of Dad and I going out go by.

We got up to the property and I have all these memories of Frosty coming back at me, this is where we loaded her up, I rode her bareback to the trailer from there, this is the last time I saw her. It took a bit of power to keep from tearing up. So we go and see the property owner and talk with him a bit and he gives us some good trail ideas and also the key to the back sections and any other gate we may come upon.

I drove us to the end of his runway and parked, and in no time we were out and riding, the mare did not want me to mount up from the trailer, even though my pants were to bulky to get me up from the ground LOL.

Off we went through the main gate which is super cool old looking, the property was a huge sheep company that the man's family has owned for generations. In fact we have a road named after his property. Right off the bat we see some bones, it was hard not to think that they might have been my mares, but there was no skull left only the back bone and some ribs so I am not sure if it was an elk or what.

The ground was pretty muddy and slick in some places so when we went down a slope the horses really had to dig in and work at not sliding, something that is very good for Crickett, someday she will be as good as a trail mount as Diamond.

Dad and I wandered this way then that way then this way again, he asked me if I wanted to go in circles now or later, I told him we might as well get it over with early so we don't have to worry about it later when we get lost. I gave him a hint that I would really like a GPS for Christmas to track my trail rides and see how ADD or "Directionally Challenged" I really am. Here is to hoping

We came upon a green dot road that just had a ton of Elk track on it, deep and clear, and after a mile of going down the road we found a recent elk camp, both Dad and I were surprised at how clean it was. Stopping for a moment we let the horses catch their breath and I tried no to show how cold my fingers or toes were getting, it was nice to be out riding with my dad and I wanted it to last as long as we could.

Setting off again we made another large circle and decided that it was getting kind of dark and I might have been a good idea to start heading back to the truck and trailer. Fortunately our plans were foiled by two or thee very large elk cows. The horses saw them first and stopped and snorted at them for a moment before they took off.

Dad and I thought it might have been a good idea to circle around them and see if they had just crested the hill or had gone down the slope to the valley. They hadn't, or if they had we did not see them again. It was pretty dusky by the time we loaded up and started down the driveway. Stopped back at the house to deposit the key and thank them for letting us ride. We have been invited back so hopefully come spring we will go up there a bit more.

I got to drive all the way home which was only 20 miles or so, but probably the most I have been allowed to haul ever. It was a pretty easy drive the speed limit is only 40 but there are some tricky spots along the lake and down the grade. It was fun though.

November 26th workout (for me not the Mare)

1:30-2:30 p.m
So I rode the Mare Mare today, just bareback and around the pasture but it was the most work I have done bareback on her since I got Crickett three years ago last Halloween.

I used to ride my old appaloosa Frosty Moose all the time bareback, the last year I had her at my house that is all I did on her and I loved it so much. With Crickett it is a bit different because

1. She is younger
2. She is rounder
3. She had more energy
4. Her gates are not as smooth
5. She is not trained as well..yet

Recently I have been trying to get on her a bit more bareback even if it is with just a halter and lead rope. Crickett has been doing much better on listening and working of more subtle clues then she has in the past.

One of our major problems bareback is that I do not have the balance that I did when I rode all the time bareback so I think Crickett is a bit more reluctant to work for me. Today we trotted the most and longest that I have been able to. I am pretty sure she is reluctant to trot because of this balance and so we will just have to work harder on that then anything else when we are bareback. I have yet to lope her although I know that it will be easier then the trot but we are not ready in the control sense either.

I also worked on side-passing, haunch and fore quarter turns. It has been a while since I have stopped to work on these things and even today I did not go as in-depth as I probably would have had I been in a saddle. The mare did not want to do her fore-quarter turns at all, she turned and tried to bite me so she got a mouthful of boot. I worked until I got one really good move each direction then quit for the day.

I just took of the bridle in the pasture and let her follow me to the gate where we stopped and I scratched her ears for a while. Crickett does this thing where she puts her head between my knees and waits for me to massage her ears. Its pretty cute and I don't try and discourage it in anyway.

This picture is of the Hell Bitch and the Frosty Moose. Frosty came to me for a few years the went back to her original owners for the rest of her life. She died early 2008.

Why she is called The Hell Bitch

1:00-3:12 p.m

Crickett is called The Hell Bitch for more reasons then one and at the beginning of the ride she really earned that title, but she did redeem herself a bit at the end.

It is bright and mostly clear today the few clouds in the sky did not spoil the view. Crickett and I started off good, she was quiet and stood mostly still for saddling and bridling. My main mistake today was putting her into the egg butt dee ring snaffle without working her in the pasture first.
With a bit more then my typical persuasion I got her off our property and into the L.T (wildlife reserve) parking lot.

Crickett is the new In-Gate Mistress 2.0 (for all your in gate needs), only when we are headed out does she act like an ijut when I go to close the gate. Nope, can't close it Mom, home is right there. My boy is right there, I must see him. That was worked with later in the day.



I decided to go in the opposite direction then yesterday, so that would have been...south west to the small cliff like area. I had forgotten that there is an old four wheel track down to the corner of the Elk Fence.



Looked down and Crickett is trying to eat a cacti (No, not really).



We made it to the bottom of the ravine that I wanted to climb to get to the small cliffs and then Crickett started to push buttons. My main problem with trail horses is eating on the trail, its a no no but Crickett was having none of this. I pulled her head to the side and grabbed what she had wrapped around her bit. She really did not like that, turned and took a bit at my pinky which is now a lovely shade of purple.

So we ran, from the bottom of the ravine to the top of the mini cliff's, Crickett was huffing and puffing but behaved the rest of the ride. This is our view from on top of the little cliffs.



I then had to go back down the cliffs to get these pictures of them:





We still had to make this climb and by the time we reached the top Crickett was starting to sweat up and get a bit damp.



The view from the top was nice.



So I put the camera away and we made our way back down to the gate which was probably a mile away. Crickett did well, no head tossing or bitchiness to be seen, until we got to the bottom of the hill and onto the trail that leads down to the river. Crickett wanted to jig, and the only way I have found to stop her is to work on counter bending because she is to concentrated on that to jig her way down.

We made it to the gate safe and sound, Crickett even did well opening and closing it a few times. I start heading for home and then see my little neighbor (a mile up the road) walking, it would have been a two mile walk for her. I trotted up and convinced her to swing up behind me (She has her own horses, Crickett rides double) and I took her home.

It was pretty fun! Crickett did awesome just walked quietly all the way up and did not even spook at the little girls many dogs as they ran around us. I am so proud of Crickett for being so good and the pride takes a small bit of pain away from my bitten pinky.