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Rode Magic today. I removed his shoes Friday. It seemed to me that recently he has not been as active under saddle as he was 6 weeks ago. The shoes were loose and I thought they might be putting pressure on the wrong part of his heels. We did have a little better ride today. Magic may need his shoes reset every 6 weeks rather than 8 weeks as my farrier has me scheduled now. I have 8 horses so there are a lot of trims and not so many to shoe. The farrier bill is considerable, possibly my biggest horse expense. The geology on this farm produces big rocks and barefoot is OK here but if I go anywhere we need shoes.

Magic was a little more inclined to spook today than he has been normally. I expect that is a consequence of the big spook from the calf the last time I rode Magic. I like to avoid bad experiences because I think they have a carryover effect. I think it takes a year or more for a horse and rider to build confidence in each other enough to handle difficult situations. Magic is a brave horse and he has exhibited confidence in spooky situations. My riding environment has every spook imaginable. Magic will get to where he can handle them all.

Magic loaded in the trailer today. He was very relaxed about it. We will start loading and driving around a little bit. (Of course, we need shoes if we go anywhere. As Gilda says, it’s always something. I wonder if she had horses.)

Groomed and rode Magic today. We rode to the Oak pasture and worked in the arena. We did about the same thing we have been doing. Magic did not seem to have as much enthusiasm for the work as he usually does. We rode the trail around the Oak pasture with a little deviation, just for variety, directly up to the far corner gate and around a brush pile to reconnect to the normal trail. We did a few stop / start transitions along the way. The cows were grazing around the gate just like they were when we entered the pasture. I thought that since Magic and the cows have accepted each other, I would just let him walk up to the gate and not do anything special. As we were passing a pile of logs (I plan to get a portable sawmill to come and make some home grown lumber, cherry, walnut, cedar, etc.) there was a little calf scratching himself on a log near us. The same calf had been in the same place when we came in the pasture. I paid no attention to the calf. Magic paid no attention to the calf. Then the calf noticed us and thought “OMG, a huge tall monster is about to get me.” and bolted off. This was too much for Magic and he moved quickly out of the way by jumping 12 feet to the right. I do not know if it is possible to keep your seat under these circumstances, but I was not surprised when I hit the ground. I did not want to let go of the reins cause I wanted to assure Magic that everything was OK and he did not need to run through the fence to the barn. The reins were about 30 years old and broke easily so Magic did not hurt his mouth. The good thing is that I was able to get up, Magic waited and stood as I walked up to catch him, we got through the gate, I was able to mount and ride Magic back to the barn. All’s well that ends well.

Magic loaded in the trailer this morning.

Groomed and rode Magic. He is not shedding as much as Newt and Little More is not shedding much either. They are just short haired. Magic is insistent that he wants to keep his Mohawk look and the clippers are an instrument of the devil. His bridal path was obviously clipped in November or December. I’ll try some other way than electric clippers. We rode out to the Oak pasture. The cows were there but Magic paid them no mind and none of them came running up behind us today. We rode the circle and I actually forgot to do any other arena exercises. Magic was very good when we rode around the Oak pasture. He had a little start when York (a lab) dove into the pond right beside us. That has spooked lots of horses. I remember Tut in particular. I am developing confidence in Magic’s coolness in situations that might spook other horses. When we got to the gate the cows were hanging around. I took the opportunity to drive them away with Magic. I expect TB’s have the same level of “cow sense” as Quarter Horses. I think it is a horse thing not a breed thing. I had several Quarter Horses that showed no interest in working cattle and the best cow horse I ever had was Lady, a gaited horse. Lynn, the black man that was my mentor in everything about horses, called a gaited horse a “saddle horse” and when they were gaiting he would say they were “saddlin”.

Magic got in the trailer today quickly and calmly.

Groomed and rode Magic in the arena. We rode to the Oak pasture gate and I had to get off to open the gate now that the cows are in the pasture. This was Magic’s first time in the pasture with the cows. And he was paying attention. I thought it best to lead him up to the cows. They are pretty tame cows as there are two very nice little girls that provide a lot of the care giving. I see them out all hours of the day and night taking feed to the cows on the four wheeler. These are young girls, maybe 6 and 8. When the daddy cannot get the calves to load, he waits until the girls get home from school, and, if I understood correctly, the smallest one gets the calves up and makes them go into the cattle trailer. Anyway the cows are tame but I am somewhat of a stranger. And Magic was a stranger for sure. I walked straight towards the nearest cow knowing they cannot stand this and will, sooner or later, turn and move away. Being tame, she waited a little too long and that put me too close when she figured out that she was going to have to move. She stood her ground until we were maybe 10 feet away then she spun around and bolted off. The quick movement gave Magic a start, but the cow moved in the correct direction (away) and he liked that. He puffed himself up and had a really nice spring in his trot. After a while he and the cows quit paying attention to each other and started grazing. I got on and we started riding the 20 meter circle. We had gone around a couple of times. I pay close attention to what we are doing because that is what it takes to ride a good circle. I did not know it but about this time, one of the heifers, decided she wanted to see what would happen if she ran towards the horse. So I’m looking ahead and a 600 pound red heifer is running up on us from behind. I was unaware but Magic knew what was going on. It was every horse’s horror story come true. It was “coming at ya”. My only memory of the movements were “oops, I lost my seat, I’m still on, but my center of gravity is somewhere below me.” All I know is there were some very vigorous movements, I was hanging on to Magic’s neck, and he stopped in a position facing the heifer. I did not fall off, regained my seat, and realized we had all the cows attention and they were coming to see if they could help. I thought it best if I stepped off while we taught these cows to keep their distance.  They moved back and everybody started grazing again and Magic and I left. I mounted after I closed the gate and we returned to the barn without incident.

This is speculation: I think Magic took care of me. He was jumping around and realized “oops, Dumbo’s lost his seat. I’ll stop and maybe he won’t fall off.” I’ve been in that same situation before when the horse thought “when I get him off my back, I’m flying out of here if I have to go through the barbed wire fence.” I like Magic’s attitude. My obligation is to make sure I do not put us in any bad situation.

Magic got in the trailer today.

I had to go into work early today. Well, early for me, I do take time to do horse stuff most every morning. I did not ride. Magic and I went a looked at the trailer. He stepped up with his front feet but did not go all the way in. I used the whip and asked him to step forward at times and he made the correct response. At first the whip would cause him to stand his ground or step back. So I was happy that he moved forward in response to the whip. (Explanation: The use of the whip does not mean thrashing or whipping but rather as an extension of the reach of the handler and a cue to do something.) My goal with this “step forward” approach is to have Magic load as a response to my request / command. When we did this today, we were several steps from the trailer. He had backed up and I asked him to step forward. He did. I was satisfied. If I had asked him to take another step, then another, I would have pushed him to a point where he might refuse. I like to avoid refusals because I think when you get to that point, the horse may “learn” the wrong thing. Magic and I have been there at the Saline County Fairgrounds. Magic and I will get to a point where, if necessary, I can apply pressure and expect him to respond like I need. Right now we are building trust and taking one step at a time.

Very windy today. I did not ride. I have a big day of fencing. Magic and I went by the trailer and he got in. I find that the most common time to have trouble loading is when you actually have somewhere to go and you are running a little bit late.