Little More and Magic are moving carefully, sore and tender feet. Magic is getting 1 gram of bute morning and night. Little More and Magic stop whenever they come to gravel and have to make a decision whether or not to go on. Newt is noticeably tender-footed but not so bad. I paint the soles of their feet with Venice Turpentine morning and night. The mares are out on pasture and I do not bring them up daily so I have not noticed how they are responding to the foot trimming.
Thursday, April 28 2011
It has rained a lot, 14 inches, for the past week. It seemed like it never stopped. Nice weather today with lots of mud.
Dale Moody, the farrier, came today. He put shoes on Magic and trimmed all the rest. Magic has a stone bruise, off front, and we all had trouble when Dale was putting the shoe on that foot. At one point I plainly saw Magic’s foot, with the shoe on and a nail sticking out, on Dale’s right shoulder blade. Dale was standing up at the time. Dale never quit, nobody got hurt, nobody got mad, and Magic has shoes on now. Tonight I took Magic some oats laced with bute. Hopefully the shoes will take the pressure off the bruise and in a few days he will be running and kicking. All the horses are a little tender-footed after the trim.
A stone bruise is a temporary thing. Magic will get over this. It is somewhat of a comfort to have been through this before. It take a horse quite a while to get acclimated to a new situation, particularly one that is so different from the one they are accustomed to. A barefoot, pasture life in the Ozarks is a lot different that life at the racetrack. I can see a lot of advantages but it does take some getting used to. It seems like Newt limped around for a year before his feet got to where they could take it.
Wednesday, April 20 2011
I rode Newt this morning. I walked him to the Oak pasture and arena. On the lunge we went clockwise first and he did all three gaits with control. I thought “Well, patience pays. He is very calm this morning and this is the direction he always acts up. When we went the other way, he showed me that he could buck and kick on the left rein making my discussion of the hard and soft side mere speculation. Lots of energy this morning. It was brisk for a day in April. He kept a keen eye on everything in the pasture, cattle, dogs, and some other things he said I was unaware of. I enjoy a ride when there is plenty of energy. On the trail around the pasture I played it safe and turned around earlier than last time. Honey and York were hunting in the woods and I knew this was not the morning I wanted to face the test where Honey jumps a bear and… . Newt loaded in the trailer easily and calmly this morning.
Sophie and Maggie from New York visited the ponies this afternoon. Laddie and Scottie quickly won their hearts. These girls brought
their boots, chaps, and helmets. They ride at a barn in New York and are good riders. Sophie is about 12 and Maggie is maybe 8. They came to ride. The ponies really enjoy petting and leading (the ponies lead the kids most of the time) more than riding. Treats are the best. They rode in the round pen, a good safe place. After a while I suggested Sophie ride a larger horse. I was thinking of CeCe but Glory was looking over the fence like she wanted some of the action. Sophie rides a big horse at her barn so I just got Glory. Glory is so pretty that everybody just
loves her. Sophie rode bareback and looked like she was comfortable on a big horse. I got Glory’s saddle and bridle. Sophie could control Glory’s gaits, walk and trot, and get her to start and stop. Sophie rode very good and Glory was on very good behavior. For some reason all the other horses thought this was a good time to come running. Little More was loose and ran around the round pen. Sophie and Glory took it all in stride and had no problems. I enjoyed watching. Maggie kept her mother occupied leading her around the pasture on Laddie the whole time Sophie rode Glory. (It may seem like I am careless letting little girls ride big horses but I did have enough sense to get Maggie and Laddie out of the way.) After we put Glory back in the pasture, Sophie immediately went and got Scottie to ride some more. After a
while, just to give the ponies a break, I suggested that we work the ponies together loose in the round pen. Laddie and Scottie show no reserve when they do this. They like to go fast and fight over who leads. The one in the lead play kicks and the other bites his butt. It was all fun. I finally said the ponies had enough and we put them up. Sophie and Maggie had a big time and so did the ponies. I think Glory enjoyed it too.
Tuesday, April 19 2011
Rode Magic today. We rode to the Oak pasture and in the arena. I think he is tender-footed today. He seemed OK Sunday. He has been off a little for about a week. He eats good and grazes constantly in the pasture. I notice the difference when I ride him, not at other times. I have been thinking it is his feet, hoofs with too much growth for the shoes, I took them off, now tender-footed. No obvious lameness but his trot seemed a little irregular. Dale the farrier will be here soon I expect. I need some advice. I rode the trail around the Oak pasture after cutting the arena work short. He loaded in the trailer good today.
Monday, April 18 2011
I rode Newt today. We walked to the arena and lunged and then rode in the arena. He now has a tendency to canter on the lunge. That is OK with me except that it excites him. Today he wanted to go faster and faster. I had to hold the lunge line tight until I got him to slow down. He did slow down and we ended the lunge session with several rounds at a walk. He showed the most excitement and bucking when he was going clockwise. I have not previously noticed whether or not Newt has a hard and a soft side. Today I got to thinking about it since there is more inclination to get excited and go fast lunging clockwise. When I rode it seemed like clockwise, the right rein, is his soft side, or at least he goes better in that direction. Newt is very enjoyable for me to ride now. He does a good job and has enough energy. I do not canter yet as that seems to excite him. I’ll wait until he canters calmly on the lunge. We rode all the way to the west end of the Oak pasture. (about 100 feet further than last time.) I am taking it easy with Newt’s training. He is doing good and if he spooks hard and throws me, it may have a bad influence on his confidence. At this point I am considering Newt the turn around horse. He is going in the right direction now and we just need to keep it up.
I have been taking Newt to the trailer since it helped Magic so much. He got in the trailer today. He was very calm. That may be the biggest advantage of the routine. If you wait until you are going someplace, it puts raised expectations on loading. And I’m usually in a hurry which does not help.
Sunday, April 17 2011
Rode Magic today. I removed his shoes Friday. It seemed to me that recently he has not been as active under saddle as he was 6 weeks ago. The shoes were loose and I thought they might be putting pressure on the wrong part of his heels. We did have a little better ride today. Magic may need his shoes reset every 6 weeks rather than 8 weeks as my farrier has me scheduled now. I have 8 horses so there are a lot of trims and not so many to shoe. The farrier bill is considerable, possibly my biggest horse expense. The geology on this farm produces big rocks and barefoot is OK here but if I go anywhere we need shoes.
Magic was a little more inclined to spook today than he has been normally. I expect that is a consequence of the big spook from the calf the last time I rode Magic. I like to avoid bad experiences because I think they have a carryover effect. I think it takes a year or more for a horse and rider to build confidence in each other enough to handle difficult situations. Magic is a brave horse and he has exhibited confidence in spooky situations. My riding environment has every spook imaginable. Magic will get to where he can handle them all.
Magic loaded in the trailer today. He was very relaxed about it. We will start loading and driving around a little bit. (Of course, we need shoes if we go anywhere. As Gilda says, it’s always something. I wonder if she had horses.)
Wednesday, April 13 2011
Led Newt to the Oak pasture. We lunged and rode in the arena. He seems to have an inclination to canter on the lunge. Today he maintained a good balanced canter counter clockwise. Going clockwise he would get excited and buck and kick (not malicious). I do not know if it is his hard and soft side or what. I cannot see that it is more difficult clockwise. I’ll watch more carefully. We rode the circle and around the arena. Newt did good. I did not think of trying the loose rein circle like we did the other day. That is probably a sign that it did not feel as good today. Nor did I try cantering after the excitement on the lunge. I am happy with our progress and I can wait until the time is right. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is so appropriate for training. We rode about 100 feet further than the other day on the path around the pasture. Newt did seem more relaxed and I did not feel it necessary to keep him busy navigating a serpentine around grass clumps. When we got near the gate, remembering yesterday, I dismounted in case there was a calf explosion that might spook Newt. And there were about 4 unseen calves laying behind the log pile so it probably was a good idea. The calves kept their place and chewed their cuds. Once through the gate I mounted and rode to the barn. Unbuckling the girth, I noticed one of the billets had broken. They were old billets that looked good until I used them a while. I re-rigged an old western saddle with bucking swells to handle English girths. I will re-do it western style because I might need those swells some day soon. Newt is turning into a nice horse and it would be good to keep my seat if he tests our togetherness.
The ponies are requiring more care these days. Laddie recovered from a founder after I put them in dry lot. I had moved them up to grazing half a day in a grazed pasture. Four or five days ago I started leaving them on pasture all the time. In about 2 days Laddie had sore feet. I have dry lotted them for half day for three days and Laddie is much better tonight. They are sweet ponies and deserve good care. Mara will be here this weekend. They will be thrilled.
Tuesday, April 12 2011
Groomed and rode Magic today. We rode to the Oak pasture and worked in the arena. We did about the same thing we have been doing. Magic did not seem to have as much enthusiasm for the work as he usually does. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture with a little deviation, just for variety, directly up to the far corner gate and around a brush pile to reconnect to the normal trail. We did a few stop / start transitions along the way. The cows were grazing around the gate just like they were when we entered the pasture. I thought that since Magic and the cows have accepted each other, I would just let him walk up to the gate and not do anything special. As we were passing a pile of logs (I plan to get a portable sawmill to come and make some home grown lumber, cherry, walnut, cedar, etc.) there was a little calf scratching himself on a log near us. The same calf had been in the same place when we came in the pasture. I paid no attention to the calf. Magic paid no attention to the calf. Then the calf noticed us and thought “OMG, a huge tall monster is about to get me.” and bolted off. This was too much for Magic and he moved quickly out of the way by jumping 12 feet to the right. I do not know if it is possible to keep your seat under these circumstances, but I was not surprised when I hit the ground. I did not want to let go of the reins cause I wanted to assure Magic that everything was OK and he did not need to run through the fence to the barn. The reins were about 30 years old and broke easily so Magic did not hurt his mouth. The good thing is that I was able to get up, Magic waited and stood as I walked up to catch him, we got through the gate, I was able to mount and ride Magic back to the barn. All’s well that ends well.
Magic loaded in the trailer this morning.
Sunday, April 10 2011
Groomed and rode Newt. I trimmed his bridal path and Newt had no concern about the clippers at all. I led Newt to the arena. Madelyn was working in the garden and had a black rubber mat laid out near our path. It was no problem for Newt. The cows were at the gate as we went through. It seems the concern for cows and horses is all over now. They pay no attention to each other. Newt wanted to canter on the lunge. He was able to canter and keep his balance on the lunge circle in both directions. The lunge circle is almost as big as the inside of the circle I ride. I need to measure my circle as I have just guessed 20 meters. We rode one round at a walk, then trot for one round and change directions by riding, still at the trot, through the center then trot the same circle, inner, middle or outer, in the other direction then walk one round. Then repeat for each size circle. We cantered for about 4 strides and then back down to a trot. This was a first for us and I found Newt has a nice canter. It excited him, was different, more speed, and I thought the 5 stride might be a buck. When we finished the circle, I let Newt walk on a loose rein. It occurred to me that it would be very interesting to ride the circle on a loose rein. I achieved some success but would often need to resort to slightly taking up the rein slack in one rein in order to communicate exactly where I wanted to be. We rode the rectangle maybe 2 or 3 rounds in both directions, mostly at a trot.
We rode about 400 feet down the trail around the Oak Pasture. Newt has an unusual behavior when he is not comfortable doing something. Most horses start showing some nervousness at the first uncomfortable feeling but Newt just keeps on going until he just cannot stand it and then has a violent reaction. Hopefully I can instill confidence and we can get past something like that. We are much further along than when we did it two years ago. I had set a goal to reach on the trail and I think Newt was thinking hard when we turned around. I don’t want him to think too much in these situations so I navigate by this clump of grass and between two other clumps, anything to keep him busy. We had no problems and got back to the gate and went to the barn. It was 80 today and Newt had a little sweat on the sides of his neck when we finished.
Saturday, April 9 2011
Groomed and rode Magic. He is not shedding as much as Newt and Little More is not shedding much either. They are just short haired. Magic is insistent that he wants to keep his Mohawk look and the clippers are an instrument of the devil. His bridal path was obviously clipped in November or December. I’ll try some other way than electric clippers. We rode out to the Oak pasture. The cows were there but Magic paid them no mind and none of them came running up behind us today. We rode the circle and I actually forgot to do any other arena exercises. Magic was very good when we rode around the Oak pasture. He had a little start when York (a lab) dove into the pond right beside us. That has spooked lots of horses. I remember Tut in particular. I am developing confidence in Magic’s coolness in situations that might spook other horses. When we got to the gate the cows were hanging around. I took the opportunity to drive them away with Magic. I expect TB’s have the same level of “cow sense” as Quarter Horses. I think it is a horse thing not a breed thing. I had several Quarter Horses that showed no interest in working cattle and the best cow horse I ever had was Lady, a gaited horse. Lynn, the black man that was my mentor in everything about horses, called a gaited horse a “saddle horse” and when they were gaiting he would say they were “saddlin”.
Magic got in the trailer today quickly and calmly.