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Yes I am way out of date on this, my internet is down but I will type a few things from this one ride and then tell you all about my team penning experience.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