Month: November 2011

Magic and I had a short ride today. It is still deer season so we are careful. I do enjoy riding Magic. I trust him a lot. We rode in the Ash pasture, across the dam, in the arena and around the Oak pasture. It was a good ride.

Magic and I went for a short ride today. This is the first weekend of the 3 week deer season with guns. We did not go into the woods or very far from the barn. It was very windy. Magic is a very brave horse but did spook just a little today. Well, considering that Magic so seldom spooks it was noticeable but considering how most horses react to a spook, it is almost not wort mentioning. For my needs, He is a very good horse. We rode a little in the arena and then around the Oak Pasture. We are working on bending by doing serpentines, figure eights and circles at the walk and trot. I think I will mark off the 16 and 20 meter circles with ground paint and try that again. I feel that we are progressing in general but we don’t seem to be making much progress with bending in particular.

Since the last time the farrier was here I have been cleaning Magic’s hooves thoroughly and tapping with a hammer similar to the blows necessary in shoeing. Wanda Graham suggested this when I mentioned Magic’s shoeing problem. I do it every time we ride. It does not seem like much but sometimes repetition like this solves big problems. Magic does not exhibit the bad behavior when I do it but I do it anyway. We need a solution to this problem. I need a sedative that I can give if this does not work. Tomorrow will be 6 weeks since the farrier was here.

Magic and I rode trails on the Buffalo National River today. There were 14 horses and riders. We rode up-river from Pruitt. The plan was to ride out at 9am and that is when I got there. I need to get up at 4:30 to make it to Pruitt by 8:30. It is only a 45 minute drive but there’s lots to do. Luckily there were several people later that I was. Magic loads good when I use a rump rope. He gets a little nervous when we first get there and is bad to push me with his nose. He does not do it otherwise. (I need to pay attention and confirm that.) We rode up to Blue Hole just below the Erbie campground and ate lunch on a gravel bar. It is about a 12 to 15 mile round trip, about 5 hours riding time. On some sections we were able to take different routes on the way back. There was about a mile of gravel road and the rest was back country trails. Some sections were on abandoned old wagon roads and others were just paths. There are a lot of rocks and boulders and some places it is slick bedrock. Magic and Nancy’s horse Rambler jumped one boulder filled stream bed. We crossed the river 8 or 10 times. River crossings are sometimes belly deep. At river crossings there is usually a drop of 4 to 10 feet to get down to the river bed. It might be sand or mud and there are always rocks and roots to negotiate. Several of these drops are slides going down. Once Magic and I were sliding down the bank and there was a traffic jam at the bottom. We stopped just before running into the horse ahead of us. I think the horses enjoy trail rides. They get to see other horses. It’s fun.

We rode with Ted Spears, Nancy Deisch, Evelyn Mills, Wanda and Tommy Graham, Nadine Houghton and 3 friends,  Don Penquite, Mr Howard, Sheri Ricketts and Andrew Hendirix.

 

Magic and I rode through the Ash pasture, Oak pasture, the arena and up on Shirey Mountain. He has lots of energy. It is fun to ride him. We did a little work in the arena but he was a little too fresh to get down to work.

Magic and I rode up the deer hunter’s road and up to the switchback on the trail up to Pinnacle Mountain. I am very happy with Magic. I learn from riding him because he is capable mentally and physically to do things that put me in a position to learn. He has recently shown a little more tendency to be concerned with odd things we see on our rides. He does not actually spook but just stops a looks at the object. It is hard to keep your seat in a real spook because the horse immediately lowers it’s center of gravity (spreads his feet) leaving me up in the air. And then they often move laterally very quickly. Magic has only done that once but a calf jumped up real close and actually ran towards us. That was last spring. Today he showed some concern about a trough that the hunters feed the deer in. He has walked by it previously but I did not force the situation. I have respect for a horse’s or dog’s ability to recognize things that we are unaware of. Bears often feed at the hunter’s deer feeders. So if he shows concern in a situation like that, I’m going to pay attention. We did not see a bear today but we had a very nice ride. I feel we are making progress. I’m getting better feeling with my hands. We’re getting the leg aids and lateral movements coordinated. Magic is showing a lot more “go” and often wants to break into a trot. That is good. It is not good if a horse shows reluctance. I want Magic to enjoy our rides.

I rode Magic around the Ash pasture, across the dam, in the arena, through the Oak pasture and up on Shirey Mountain. We rode serpentines in the arena and I think we are making improvements. Magic seems to pay more attention to me and is less inclined to resist my aids. The differences are slight but they are in the right direction. Now we can stop up on Shirey and Magic grazes the young oats.