Category: Magic

I rode Magic this morning. It’s been a long time. I have been on a bird hunting trip to Montana. Magic is a good horse. Even though he has not been ridden in a long time, I noticed improvement. Maybe he had a good time on the last trail ride. A specific improvement I noticed was that he left the barn willingly at a good walk and going directly where I directed him. Green horses often check with each stride to see if you might want to go back to the barn. They veer to the left, then the right and then back to the left again requiring to be checked and urged forward constantly for the first few hundred yards. We rode up to the little bench just below the Pitkin Limestone outcrop on Pinnacle Mountain, maybe a mile out and a mile back. Magic rode forward the whole way. It was a joy. We cantered through the Ash pasture on the way back.

I have been thinking about the trail ride Magic and I took with Peggy and April and Tommy and Wanda. Magic did good on his first trail ride. There were two things that I keep thinking about. Sometimes Magic followed too close and he pushed Peggy with his nose when she held him when I moved the trailer. I overlook these little rude misbehaviors when I am alone but it bothers me when it happens around other people. After thinking about it I realize that I have a problem. I allow him to push me and I just accept it but when he pushed Peggy, I found that unacceptable. He would not have pushed Peggy if I did not allow him to push me. (He was nervous but that is no excuse.) One of the reasons gentle training appeals to me is because I have undesirable results when I am strict and utilize negative discipline. A heavy hand does not work for me. I am not saying it is never effective but it is not effective for me. My relationship with the animal is diminished if I use a heavy hand. So I pick my battles carefully. I have overlooked nose pushing after a ride, moving around when I tighten the girth and moving around when I mount. Some horses stand quietly while I groom and tack up. Magic is not one of them. I have talked with Paul Roten about teaching me some of the methods he uses training horses. Paul might help me overcome this problem. A solution to this problem might give me some insight to limitations I have as a rider.

Magic and I took our first Buffalo River trail ride today. At daylight the weather was iffy, high chance of rain. But it was not raining, so we got ready. No problems loading and we actually left on time. I met Peggy and April on the way to Pruitt. We parked, unloaded and I tacked up. Magic was nervous. Probably the last time Magic went for a ride with other horses was at a race track, probably not a calming experience. The nice thing about Magic is that even if he gets nervous, he does not go to pieces. I mounted and we walked down the road a little way. Tommy and Wanda showed up about this time and we started down the trail. Tommy was on Levi, Wanda rode Rio, April was on Savannah and, of course, Peggy was on Red. About 10 minutes down the trail, we jumped a big bull elk. He was big with huge antlers about 100 yards from us. None of the horses were bothered. The elk stood in the open a look at us until Peggy got her camera out. Then he was gone. We rode about 5 miles upriver crossing the river three times. Magic was not sure what was going to happen and how he should act. He was completely controllable and did what was asked of him. He was much more inclined to jog trot than usual but he would transition to a walk and calm down when asked. We ate lunch on a gravel bar across from the bluff near Brown Cemetery. Magic was nervous when I tied him up but soon calmed down and rested. He could see all the other horses were resting and it obviously was a good idea. The return trip was uneventful, exactly what I wanted. Magic has an energetic walk with a good stride and it is a lot of fun to ride him on the return leg of a trail ride. Our first trail ride was a good experience. Now he knows what to expect and how he is expected to act. I hope he learns to enjoy trail rides. At one time I would have considered that statement unreasonable. (Why or how could a horse enjoy being ridden?) It is good to learn from your horse. I think Tut did enjoy the outings, seeing the other horses and the whole experience.

I rode Magic to the arena, around the Oak pasture and up on Shirey Mountain. When we do the oval exercise, Magic has a tendency to bend in the wrong direction. It is most notable on the first leg of the exercise. I do not have a specific plan or technique to correct this but we will keep on riding. Very nice weather and a very nice ride.

Magic and I rode up towards Pinnacle Mountain again today. The trails, actually deer hunter roads, go a long way back in there. There are some steep climbs on the trails that, I think, are a good way to condition a horse. We went further than yesterday. We climbed up to the switchback on the trail up to the bench above the Pitkin Limestone on Pinnacle. Magic does very good. A nice fast walk. He just puts one foot in front of the other. I like to stop a look around but Magic fidgets and wants to move on even after a climb. I think the best way to get him to stop and relax is by going with other horses and have a rest stop. Most people I ride with keep moving and go a long way and only stop for lunch. They tie their horses and walk off to the view or whatever to eat lunch. I was amazed that none of the horses ever cause problems while tied up. Then I figured it out. They are very tired and willing to stand still and rest. I think some of the horses, like Tut, really enjoy the trail rides, seeing other horses, and having an adventure. I just do not want to over-do it and make it a pain for the horses. It is not unusual to start at 9 and end at 4 with an hour off for lunch. It is usually around 14 miles. The time is not a problem but I would like to rest the horses more often perhaps staying out just as long but only traveling 7 miles. Anyway, today was Magic’s steepest, rockiest and longest climb. No noticeable movement of the saddle going up or down but it was not much of a test. He did good. It was an enjoyable ride. It would be a good idea to take a GPS and measure the distance, time, and rise/fall of some of these rides that I can use for conditioning.

Nice weather. I just got back from a road trip to a family wedding in Jacksonville FL. I rode Magic this morning. It has been some time since we rode much due to the hot weather. The cows are back. They were not invited but they came anyway. The owner wanted them to go down the road past my place but they remembered the road to my place and just swarmed up it and he could not get them to leave. They really like the grass up here. So we did not ride in the arena. We went up towards Pinnacle Mountain. The deer hunters planted some oats in the springfield and I wanted to see it. We went up the lower road a little ways past the spring and came back on the upper road. The deer hunters have corn feeders to attract the deer. (That was once called baiting and considered very unsportsmanlike. The hunters buy lots of corn and the merchants like that. They are going to kill them anyway so I see the feeding as an advantage to the does and little bucks that don’t get killed.) The hunters also have motion activated cameras that get a picture when something comes to the feeder. This year they have lots of pictures of a bear that steals the corn. (The hunters really don’t mind. They want to kill the bear too.) So Magic and I kept a keen eye for a little black bear. Magic is so calm about wildlife that I am curious about what he will do if we do see a bear. We did jump a deer. A faun hidden in a down cedar jumped up about 75 feet ahead of us in a field. Magic’s only reaction was to perk up his ears. He never even broke his stride. I enjoyed the ride. Magic is a very nice horse. He has a nice fast, eager walk. We are ready to go ride the Buffalo River trails. I will arrange a small group and a short ride for his first trip.

Magic and I had a short ride this morning. I have plowed the top of Shirey Mountain and planted oats up there. It looks a lot different and Magic takes a bite of the dirt each time he goes up there. We did a little riding in the arena. He was a little more supple than the other day. Then we went up on Shirey. Beautiful view and a wonderful ride. Magic and I are developing a lot of trust.

Magic and I went on a cattle drive today. Well, it was short, we went about a half a mile, but it was a cattle drive! James Brady, who rents my pasture, rode up on his four wheeler while I was waiting for Magic to finish eating. He told me this is the morning we are moving the cows. I told him if he would wait until I saddled up, I would help. He really did need some help. His girls, Callie and Cammie, were stationed at the turnoffs along the road where the cows could take a wrong turn. He was going to open the gate and toll the cows down the road. His cows do not toll very good. I thought it would be helpful if Magic and I brought up the rear. I bit off more than I should have but Magic is a good horse and I trust him not to loose his cool. He has never been on a cattle drive. He has never been on a gravel road. He has never met a car on a gravel road. He was familiar with the cows which was helpful when the new calf decided the best place to be was under Magic’s belly. Topsie and York came with us and, surprisingly, they were helpful. The cows are pretty tame and do not move off very good. I kept on wanting Magic to reach out and bit one so they would show some respect! York and Topsie would move the cows on in these situations and refrained from the temptation to continue the chase once they started moving away. I know Magic was proud of himself walking down the new strange road behind the cows. But he thought I must have lost my mind when they left the road and I asked him to follow and head them off. There is not much level ground in this country and there’s lots of rocks. Along the road, the rocks that are too big (like soccer ball size) are pushed off the lower side. So I’m asking Magic to step off the road down about 3 feet onto what looks like a pile of jagged soccer balls. He did it but I expect that is when he started thinking that what I say might ought to be taken with a pinch of salt. But Cammie was behind me and just stepped past Magic and pushed the cows back up on the road. A spooky, ill tempered horse would have been a problem in that situation but Magic just slowed down. He did get nervous. We did OK. The cows got where they needed to be. We met the cars on the way home. Just as we got to the driveway, a big four-wheeler came around the curve. I’d jumped off and gestured for the four-wheeler to stop. The driver, a bearded dude in a hard hat (like me), did stop. I was in the driveway by then. That’s when we all noticed there was a great big dog curled up in the front basked on the four-wheeler. About that time York smelled the dog’s tail, then bit it. York is a nice dog but that was just too much temptation. The guy figured out that this situation was going to get bad fast unless he got going, which he did. It must have been a really nice big dog not to have piled out of the basket and whip those rude local dogs. I was happy not to have to choose between holding Magic or breaking up a dog fight. We got back to the barn with no injury to body or mind. It was not too hot but I was sweating a lot. Must have been an exciting ride. It was fun.

Magic and I rode out through the Ash Pasture, up to the spring, down the deer hunter’s road, across Pinnacle Mountain Road, through the Divide pasture and back to the barn. He was forward moving and track-able. It was a good ride. There was a wind when we rode this morning. It got up to 107 this afternoon.