Lunged Magic in front of the barn. He handled the ground poles just fine. He has learned what they are and what to do. Rode him to the arena and rode the exercises. Madelyn photographed the ride with our new camera. The pictures pointed out where I can make the most improvement. Loose some weight! Magic looked good but I had several problems. I was out of balance several times. There is lots of room for improvement. We rode around the Oak pasture and crossed the spillway and the dam into the Ash pasture. The cows were resting again. I’m going to check them first from now on. We had a good ride. Magic is dependable.
Friday, June 16 2011
Lunged Magic in front of the barn. He was able to trot the three poles and adjust his stride as necessary. I rode him to the arena where we rode the exercises. Magic is doing good. Sometimes I feel he is bending right and we have good cooperation and harmony and sometimes he sticks his head to the outside and falls out at the shoulder. I am not looking at this as a problem rather that we just need to keep on working and it will get better. We started the canter down the center line. He took the left lead again. We cantered a round in the arena and a couple of rounds on the circle. On the circle the first round he needed to go wide but the second round he was able to get it together and canter an accurate circle. It felt good. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture. I asked him to cross the spillway with running water. He was hesitant at first and stopped. He recognized that I wanted him to cross although it he did not want to. Then he walked across the spillway just like the good horse he is. As we crossed the dam, I decided to dismount to avoid a potential problem. We were walking immediately next to the water lillies and willows and there are a lot of bullfrogs this year. There was the distinct possibility of a bullfrog sitting on the bank and croaking and splash, splash, splash just like the Jesus lizard except louder. We avoided that problem. We went to look at the cows but they were all laying down resting so we missed working the cows this morning. It was a good ride.
Tuesday, June 14 2011
Lunged Magic in front of the barn. He did good on the ground poles. He crossed two poles at the trot. He is not as aggressive with the ground poles as Newt but he does not have any problem with them. We rode to the arena and did the normal exercises. Magic may slowly be improving those exercises. Sometimes he seems to bend and respond like magic; Sometimes he does not seem to respond as well. I started the canter up the centerline. We started it on the right rein but he took the left lead. We cantered a full arena round and maybe two rounds of the circle. He is calm at the canter. We started to ride around the Oak pasture and I saw the gate up to Shirey Mountain was open. We rode up the road and just a little on top. Magic whinnied once showing that he was aware that we were alone. He seems very confident and passes up good chances to spook. His behavior was very good. I rode back to the barn. Magic enjoys doing new things like cow work and trail riding and I think it will give him enthusiasm. It was a good ride.
Sunday, June 12 2011
Worked Newt and Magic on the lunge with a little ground poles to negotiate. Newt was very concerned that the cows were in the back pasture. It made him very alert. He can cross two ground poles in a big trot. He paid no attention to the poles. He decided the cows were a serious threat. I did not get on his back. Magic was not concerned about the cows in the same situation and did a normal workout on the lunge with the addition of the ground poles. I rode him to the arena. We rode the needlepoint and oval exercises. He did good. He paid attention. We rode the circle at the walk and trot just so we would be in position to start the canter on the correct lead. We rode on the right rein and he took the left lead at the canter. It was a little awkward evolving our path to a left rein round in the arena but we did it. I just rode down the long side and then back to a trot. Magic has a good canter and does not get real excited because we are cantering. Initially my objective is to get him to start the canter and keep it up for a little longer each time. I want to be in a situation where it does not matter which lead he takes, just that he does transition to a canter. I am trying to teach him a cue to start the canter. Once I get that accomplished, Julian Westall suggests that I can use ground poles and a little jump will put him in the correct lead. Right now just starting the canter is not clear. To Magic, it is the same cue to trot bigger and faster and he goes into a canter because he cannot trot any faster. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture. Magic did very good. He would walk so fast that he would start to trot. He does not have a habit of going faster than I want, he just wants to go. I will be able to develop the habit of walking fast without breaking into a trot. When we got to the pond dam, I dismounted and led him across the dam. He had to cross the running spillway that was carrying enough water to make considerable noise. He had some reservation but did what I asked. Once we got past the gate and the end of the dam, I mounted. We went looking for the cows and found them. They were beside a fence. I took advantage of the fence and had Magic follow the cows along the fence line. (A fence is an advantage for starting cow work because the fence takes care of 180 degrees and the horse or dog only has to control the other 180.) Then I walked him ahead of them and turned and headed them back in the other direction. Magic pays attention to cows. We had to get pretty close to pressure them to move back in the direction they just came from. One of them made an evasive move and Magic made a very fast counter move. It looks like Magic has lots of interest in cows. That will be interesting. He seems to naturally move off of his hindquarters when he is working cows. I have trained one cow horse. We had a need for a cow horse and Lady developed into a very good cow horse. I don’t know how to train one unless it’s OJT (on job training, i.e., a job to do.) But there are some cows in the pasture and we can move them around and see what happens. It was an enjoyable ride.
Saturday, June 11 2011
I introduced Magic and Newt to ground poles today. We lunged in front of the barn. Surprisingly Newt was OK with them right away. They had the effect on Newt that they are supposed to have. I was able to get him to trot two poles with only one stride between. He did it with increased energy, lowered his head and raised his back. Magic took a little longer to walk up to the poles, smell them and step over them. Magic trotted over two poles but he was more reserved than Newt. It was interesting.
Friday, June 10 2011
Worked Magic in the round pen. His limp is improving. He just bobs his head a little at a trot. He lost a shoe last Saturday, was shod Tuesday and, if he keeps on improving, should be OK to ride sometime next week. He lost the off front and that is the foot / leg that he seems to favor. Dale said the foot was not as sensitive to hammering as it was last time and that he thought it might be sensitive to lifting that leg too high during shoeing. My view is that he lost the shoe and each day w / o the shoe he got more lame on that foot.
Tuesday, June 7 2011
I rode Newt to the Oak pasture. Lunged walk, trot and canter in both directions. He was calm at the canter until his foot slipped (dew on the grass). Then he must have been embarrassed for slipping so he bucked a little. Whenever they slip or stumble, they do not like it. I would like to find out what is the best footing. I am riding Newt barefoot with no problems and I want footing that will allow barefoot. I expect shoes would help his traction but then he gets tender-footed when the shoes come off. We rode the needlepoint, oval and circle. He did the exercises better today. He did two good canter circles. The next time he got to the “barn draw” area, he started drifting that way, I applied corrective aids and, whoops, that was too much so he did a little bucking. (obviously not hard bucking or I would not have stayed on) That was clockwise. On the other rein he slipped on the canter depart and did a little more bucking. We are making improvements. We rode the trail all the way to the west end of the pasture.
Magic’s problem with tender feet or whatever gets worse each day since he lost the shoe, off front. He went six weeks and one day before he lost a shoe. I need to get him some boots for a situation like this. I hauled Magic to Sherri Ricketts and Dale put on new shoes. This time he got eight nails in each shoe and Dale liked the results much better. The sore foot did not seem to be sensitive to hammering and only one sore foot. So this time was better. Dale thought the leg was sensitive to lifting up and suggested that we do that foot last next time. This was Magic’s first haul since he got here. Loading at my barn was no problem. No problems while hauling like last time between Diamond T and Conway. He was reluctant to load at Sherri’s. He would not respond to the target or the treats. Response to asking for a step forward with the lunge whip was not good either. He did respond to a rump rope. I make a big loop tied with a bowline, slip it over his rump and pull from the front where I also have the lead rope. It worked. He loaded in about 20 minutes. I was happy to see him respond to pressure. If he does not respond to the clicker target or the treats and does not respond to pressure, then he will not load. I had plenty of that in February. I expect that after a few days, I will be able to ride him again. I hope so.
Saturday, June 4 2011
Worked Magic on the lunge in the round pen. I rode him to the arena. We rode the oval and needlepoint exercises. He did good. We started the canter on the circle, left lead, and I rode him for a complete round of the arena. We were not able to get the right lead. What I did not know was that he had lost the right front shoe. I think he lost it while I was riding him. I did not notice it missing when I groomed and tacked. I did not clean his hooves and Mara was there so it is possible that I might not notice a missing shoe. I did notice it when I got off. It is hard to miss since the outside hoof wall is broken about 1/2 inch up from the bottom. Most horses would not break the hoof wall that quickly. While I was riding I did notice that something was a little off on the right front. It was just barley noticeable and he did not noticeably limp after the ride. I would like to get him shod before he bruises the sole. When he was shod 6 weeks and one day ago he had tender feet and was difficult to shoe. Dale only put 3 nails on a side and he usually puts 4.
Tuesday, June 1 2011
Lunged Magic in the round pen. Actually today I “lunged” him loose without the lunge line. When I first got him he was accustomed to the lunge line and working him in the round pen without the line excited him. It worked good today. The footing is much better and we cantered a round in each direction. I rode him to the arena. We rode the needlepoint and the oval exercises. We did a lot better today than day before yesterday when we tried these exercises the first time. We rode the 20 meter circle at the walk, trot and canter. It was our first canter. He took the correct lead the first time, counter clockwise, left lead. He took the wrong lead going the other way. I just let him canter down the arena. He has a good canter and it did not seem to excite him too much. I bush hogged some trails going up and down the Oak pasture. Magic and I rode one going up. It is not a good idea as there is too much sticks, stickers and stobs. That will improve with time but it does not work good now. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture and back to the barn. It was a very good ride. We are improving.
Sunday, May 30 2011
Mara was here today and we went to see the chickens and the horses. Mara and I were able to pet the chickens. I put the horses in their stalls and let the ponies out. Of course Laddie and Scottie were wonderful. We brushed them and I put the western saddle on Laddie. Mara rode all the way to the house with me leading and Carole holding her on. I encouraged her to hold on to the horn. I also told her she would not hear those words come out of my mouth very often, just for the next few months maybe. Mara would reach out and pet Laddie on the neck. She really likes animals. She was having a good time. Her father said she would probably be riding next summer. I agreed with him. I also said “Next summer starts June 22.” I expect it will happen pretty quick. Mara just needs to get in several sessions like today.
It was windy today and I thought it best to wait for calm weather to ride Newt in the arena. I lunged and rode Magic in the round pen. Then we rode to the arena. I just got Jec Aristotle Ballou’s book “101 Dressage Exercises”. I have been riding the 20 meter circle repeatedly and I am very happy to have some new options. I got the 20 meter circle exercise from Lynn Palm. It is good but I just do not think repetition is good for training. My experience is that my horse and I can, and often do, get into a rut doing the same thing over and over. I feel blessed that I have so much space and riding options. The horses I am riding are green and we are not yet doing a lot of trail riding variety. We will in the future. I tried “needlepoint” but a bull courting a heifer kept getting in out path. Then we rode the “oval” exercise. Well, we tried. It may be some time before we ride the exercises well but it is something to look forward to. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture. Magic’s front shoes are clicking and I will tighten them to see how that works.