Dale Moody the farrier came today. He put shoes on Magic and trimmed the other horses. This is the first time we have gotten Magic’s feet taken care of before he lost a shoe or something that caused tender feet. Magic has a problem with shoeing. He has acted up before and I attributed the misbehavior to hammering a sore foot. No excuses today. He just acted up. Once he pulled his foot away from Dale and the nail was exposed to the maximum. The nail ripped and hung in Dales paints. Dale was able to stop the foot before it cut his leg. I have never had a horse that is bad to shoe before. I appreciate Dale’s patience and determination to get the job done. I hope our calmness and persistence convinces Magic to improve his behavior. It was hot. Dale was dripping. The other horses were well behaved. It has been 7 weeks since the last shoeing.
Sunday, July 24 2011
Magic and I rode around the Divide pasture and up the deer hunters road to the spring. We returned by the low road going through the springfield and the pond. We rode down Pinnacle Mountain Road in the narrow lane by the Sycamore pasture where the mares are. Magic noticed that we were going by some horses, probably recognized the mares, but was very interested turning his head to view them straight on and nickering occasionally. I mention this not because it was a problem but that this situation evoked the biggest “reaction” Magic has shown riding new trails and new territory for the past few rides. It was hot, but not as hot as the past few days. Another enjoyable ride.
Wednesday, July 20 2011
Very hot this morning. Magic and I rode to the Divide pasture. We left the Divide pasture and went up the deer hunter’s road. At the deer hunter’s gate I directed Magic into the woods to go around the gate. It soon became obvious that it was too thick with broken limbs and trees from the ice storm. As we backed up to turn Magic’s feed and legs got tangled up in some limbs. This can be a bad situation. I jumped off to reassure Magic because horses often panic when they get tangled up. Magic’s level headed nature is a blessing for trail riding. He just calmed down, I moved some branches, we backed out and went through the gate. This was not a long ride but all of this country was new to Magic. He has “the confidence of a Christian with 4 aces.” We made a little circle and came in the back of the Ash pasture. It was a very nice ride.
Sunday, July 17 2011
Today I rode Magic and moved the cows from the Ash pasture to the Oak pasture. We moved them along the fence and then along the lake so we had 180 degrees taken care of. The cows cooperated. It was good for Magic because we were successful. It was good, and fun, for me because we were successful. One little calf gave me a scare but Magic was cool. The calf, the one that was born just the other day, was behind the herd. He did not know to move away from the horse and kept getting right in front of us. I figured he would follow the cows anyway so I just passed him and let him tag along. York was following us and the calf probably tried to make friends. York has a loud booming bark and he probably ran at the calf and barked. I figured all this out the moment I heard the bark. There was no time for me to prepare but I grabbed for mane anyway. The calf balled and all the cows turned around. Then the calf comes running right by us almost under Magic. The calf ran towards Magic! My prediction would be that Magic would bolt and jump the cows leaving me behind. He never broke his stride. He just kept on working cows. I was thankful, petted his neck and told him what a good horse he is.
Wednesday, July 13 2011
Rode Magic into the Ash pasture to check a cow that was off by herself. The cow, in fact, did have a new calf as might be expected from a cow that was off by herself. Magic and I rode by about 10 feet away so not to disturb mother and calf. We went across the dam into the Oak pasture and rode in the arena. Maybe I am more aware of the bending and the lack of it. We are working on it. Then we rode around the Oak pasture going to the gate to Shirey Mountain. In the far corner of the pasture we jumped a bobcat. He must have been crouched waiting on something. We did not see him until he bolted. He was about 15 feet away. It startled both me and Magic. Magic reacted so little that he did not even change his pace. Wildcats do not scare Magic! When we were on the trail up to the top of Shirey, we jumped a deer. The first thing we noticed was the deer coming out of the brush and crossing the road about 75 feet ahead. This startled Magic more than the bobcat. (It still was what I would call a very mild spook.) I have a theory about what and how a horse is spooked. Something jumps up. The first thing the horse, or human, or whatever, must do is determine if “it’s coming at ya'” or moving away. If it is running away, that is good. If it is coming at ya’, the natural reaction is to flee, run! My dogs have caused me to get dumped more than anything else. In the past the grass would grow tall around the arena. When the dogs would come in to check on us, the horse would spook, often dumping me. I did not understand, it was our dogs! It puzzled me when I was riding and jumped a deer 10 feet away, the horse did not spook as bad, even in tall grass. I learned to watch the dogs carefully when riding the arena and realized that the horse became aware that something was in the grass and it was coming towards us. Bingo! Big spook. John’s on the ground. The only time Magic spooked seriously was when a calf felt cornered in a nook in the log pile and bolted towards us so it could escape. I hit the ground. Magic felt sorry for me but he was in the clear about 20 feet away watching the calf run off. This theory is about horses that are not bad to spook. All bets are off with a spooky horse. Newt threw me hard and quick and I never figured out what spooked him. Anyway, I rode Magic, the brave horse, up on Shirey, around the Shirey trail and back to the barn. It was a good ride.
Tuesday, July 12 2011
Rode Magic to and around the Divide pasture. It was a short ride but a completely new one for Magic. We left the barn in a different direction and had to open a gate before we were in the Divide pasture. We jumped four buck deer at the pond. They were some distance away, not underfoot, and Magic looked at them but didn’t even slow down. Magic made that ride like he had made it many times before, not like it was the first time. He has a lot of confidence. I did not notice the stumbling so much today. It was a good ride.
Sunday, June 10 2011
Mara spent the weekend with us. She rode Laddie this morning.
Mara likes dogs, cats and horses. She will walk around the barn hallway and go to each stall, look at each horse hanging their head over the stall door and say “Hi” and sometimes wave. She sincerely tries to communicate with each animal and I am certain they understand her. A few weekends ago Mara rode without an adult holding her on. I just set her on Laddie and took my hands away. Then I had Laddie step forward. She adapted to his movement and that was that. I did not know how I was going to get her to make that step, but it just happened. I just kept on leading Laddie all the way from the barn to the house and Mara never had any problem.
She has a little black Sears and Robuck western saddle just like I had as a kid. I told her to hold on to the horn. Then I told her that she would not hear me say that very often. I just want her to ride the horse and be comfortable. We have to get her a helmet. Today we rode in the round pen. My plan is to get her used to riding by herself (w/o holding adult) which I think we can consider accomplished. The only problem I noticed today is that if her seat slips to one side (always to the right) she adapts her body to the offset rather than scoot her seat back to the center. My inclination is that she needs to learn to scoot her seat back to the center and keep it that way.
Or does she need stirrups to accomplish this? She seems to have good riding posture in the saddle. When she rode bareback yesterday, her inclination was to squeeze with her knees which caused her legs to bend and her knees to move up towards the withers. Today in the saddle, her legs are under her. My next step is to have the pony move in a circle on the lunge line. I can control the move forward and stop so Mara can work on her seat. The next step is to have Mara start controlling the go and stop. Once she learns that, we can ride the Buffalo River Trails… I would appreciate suggestions. Are there any books on “How to teach a child to ride a horse”?
Saturday, July 9 2011
I rode Magic today. It was very hot. We rode the arena exercises and up on Shirey. The limitations we have in the arena are mostly mine not Magic’s. We are having good rides just not great progress. Magic is a joy to ride on the trail. He seems to trust me, does not spook and hopefully enjoys the ride. On this ride and the last one, he has tripped or stumbled on his front feet. It is not something that I have ever noticed before. Maybe his feet are too long. I need to check how long since the last shoeing. Four and a half weeks since June 7 shoeing so that should not be it. It is hot and that makes a horse less active. I just do not know.
Tuesday, July 5 2011
Rode Magic today. He did good in the arena, making improvements every day. Our limitation now is I can only get the left lead for the canter. Rode in the pony pasture, around the Oak pasture and up on Shirey Mountain. Every once in a while he might see something that makes him look twice. He does not have a knee jerk reaction. He does focus his eyes and head on the thing but it is not a start or jolt. It is actually smooth in comparison to other horses “alerting”. I enjoyed the ride.
It has been Newt’s turn to ride for the past few days but I have put it off. It is very hot but there is something else. I am exhilaration after a good ride and that has not happened with Newt lately. I am not making the progress I want with Newt. It is my limitation not Newt’s. I do not know what else to try that will not be too much for the limited attention I get from Newt. My feeling is that if we are not making progress, it can get boring and we might end up going in the wrong direction. So I am not going to ride Newt for a while. Sometimes it is best to do nothing and be thought a fool than to jump in and remove all doubt.
Friday, July 1 2011
I rode Magic today. The first thing we did was go out and look at the cows. We tried to bunch 4 together and move them. We had a fence holding one side but the cows did not bunch. They would just move off in 4 different directions. We did not make a good drive but Magic is interested. Then we rode to the arena and did the exercises. Magic’s bending is improving little by little. Maybe it is just not getting worse. We cantered but only on the left lead. The flies were bothersome today. We rode around the Oak pasture and up on Shirey Mountain. Magic is very good on the trails.