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.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
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.
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.
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