Month: January 2012

Magic and I rode with Don and Carol on the Buffalo National River today. We started at Steel Creek at 10 am. We went downstream to Beech Creek and followed it up to the dirt road that goes down the Steel Creek Beech Creek divide. We followed the road south until we could take the trail that goes around the Batesville sandstone bench to the Slatey place. We ate lunch at the Slatey place. Carol’s goal was to see the big landslide but we ran out of time and had to start heading back. We ran into ice storm damage about two miles before we got to the Slatey place. Most of the Buffalo country escaped the ice storm damage due to the influence of the river and the valley. There is a huge difference in the forest that escaped damage and the forest that was damaged. There was only a degree or two difference in the temperatures but that is all it takes in an ice storm. From the Slatey place we went down an old road about two miles to the river. That trial should be named “horse hell trail”. It has washed bad, all the dirt is gone and all that is left is rough, angular rocks about suitcase size. Once we got to the river, it was about 8 miles upriver to Steel Creek. We met three girls with four horses going downstream. Magic does very good on the trails. I rode in the lead for a while on the way back. A horse has to have confidence to lead and Magic can handle it. Magic finished the ride in good condition.

I must admit that there were times that I thought the ride was too long, too steep, too rough and too fast. This is not the first ride that I have thought those thoughts. There are many kind people that have led me on Buffalo trail rides. Ted Spears, Carol Chaney, Peggy Thompson and others have been very generous to share their knowledge of the trails. I am going to go on rides that start later, go slower, and have more rest stops.

Magic and I took the same ride today as we did Tuesday. We looked hard but found no sheds today. I did notice (perceive?) that we might be improving just a little bit. I hope. At least that is what I felt today. Like we might be making slow improvement. All we have to do is keep it up for a long, long time and we will be very good. We are working on bending his neck, giving me his head when I ask for it. Clinton Anderson does it a lot, too much I think sometimes. (Maybe that is because he can do it and I cannot.) Magic will give his head but is very persistent about moving his feet. I don’t like to keep trying something without improvement so I switched it up a little bit today. I asked him to bend his head, just a little, while we walked straight ahead. True to previous experiences he is more inclined to bend to the left than to the right. But he did do it, just a little.

Tomorrow we are off to ride the Buffalo. We will ride with Don and Carol Miller starting at Steel Creek.

It was cold, 21 degrees, but not windy this morning. Magic and I rode in the Oak pasture, up on Shirey and in the arena. He was well behaved but the frost put a keen edge on his attitude. Magic does test the situation occasionally. His rebellion is most often balking. I just wait and give him some time. With his good nature, his decision has always been to go ahead. He does it less now than at first so it is not a problem. It is just part of the process of becoming a good horse. We had not been up on Shirey for some time. The deer hunters have a huge very tall “blind” out in the middle of the field. It does not bother Magic but he did give it the eye. The oats we planted for the deer are thick and tall. I let Magic graze a bit. Riding around the perimeter, I spotted a shed. (A shed is an antler voluntarily relinquished by a male deer. They shed antlers every year.)  Then we went down to the arena to do some exercises. There I spotted another shed. This one was a spike, more difficult to find because it is considerably smaller. I left the shed on the ground planning to come back and pick it up after the ride. York was following along behind us and when he passed the shed, he noticed it. I jumped off Magic and encouraged York to pick up the antler and bring it to me. And he did! I like to end on a good note so we all went back to the barn. The ground was frozen and Magic’s footsteps were louder than normal. It was a good ride. The sun was shining.

Magic and I rode again today. It was very windy but Magic is level headed. One day I had parked the four wheeler in the lane so the horses had to pass it. It was windy that day also. The other horse snorted and squeezed past on the other side of the lane as far from the booger as possible. Magic walked between the booger and the fence on the close side and never gave it a second look. We are making improvement with the flexing. We rode in the Ash pasture again.

We have high hopes for improvement this year. I hope to learn a lot from Paul Roten. Magic and I have made enough progress with the basics (trail riding, loading, trust, etc.) that we are in a good situation to learn.

Magic and I rode today. Very nice weather. I have not ridden much recently because of the holidays and cold weather. Magic was very good. We just rode in the Ash pasture. Glory and the girls are in the Oak pasture which means we would have to open and close two gates and worry about Glory’s very infrequent but very powerful horse kicking. I will fix a ride around for that soon because the grazing in the pasture is valuable and I like to ride up on Shirey.

I have had some thoughts about Magic’s disrespectful pushing. Recently he nipped me when I walked past his stall. My memory of how Magic acted when he first got here last February does not include this behavior. I have noticed the past month or so Magic has started being more assertive in the herd. At first he was very passive and enjoyed Little More because Little More is even more passive than Magic. Now they both are being more assertive getting in tight spots with Newt and nipping him and trusting that it is play and they won’t get killed. It was so serious at first with Little More that he would plead with me to let him stay in the barn lot and not have to go into the pasture with the crowd. I just left him loose and he never caused any problem unless the ponies were out with him. They led him down the driveway and down the road one day. A neighbor saw them and came to tell me. I was not here but it worked out anyway because they all followed him to the house. Now some days I will leave Little More in the barn hallway and take the others to the pasture. I shut the gate and meet Little More coming to be with his buddies. It took Little More four years to get this much confidence. Little More, Magic and Newt are all Thoroughbreds off the track. TB’s have a nice childhood with their moms in a pasture but that is the end of normal horse life. They stay in a stall except when they go to the track to exercise or race. Little More ran 54 races in 6 years. He had no experience with mature horses in a social setting in a pasture. I think it takes lots of time for them to “settle in”, even years. I think Magic’s learning how to get along and not be so passive in the herd led him to try the same thing with me. I do not have a strict, follow the rules relationship with animals. My dogs go to work with me and everywhere without a leash. I do my job and they do theirs which is mostly sleeping and greeting the rare visitor. But we do not have a routine where I say “sit” and they sit down and do not move until I say so. (That’s boring, especially when somebody is showing me how obedient their dog is.)  Anyway, that is why I think this behavior showed up in Magic at this time. I do understand that it is unacceptable behavior and we will get past it.