First Week of May so far - Catch Up

Not lazy, just multi tasking. The longer I put these off, the farther behind I'm going to get. The farther behind I get, the more I'm going to regret not catching up sooner. So, here's the first three days after the show, in hi-speed.. Go!

5/2/11 - Romeo and I rode the Julie Goodnight Lesson #2 audio. I listened, gave commands, he obeyed. Well, mostly. All but the whole "canter on command", which became the 5/3 homework.

5/3/11 - Romeo. See above. Enter Speed Racer. I gave him a proper warmup, and his walk work was good. His trot work was good. Transition into canter? First time, squeeze. No response. Second time, kick hard and kiss. Suddenly, he was ready to obey me. We didn't canter far before I slowed to trot, and asked again. Only a squeeze and a kiss. Nice... Much better... Unfortunately, he then thought canter meant near gallop. Romeo stayed in the gait as long as I let him, but was speedily zipping around the arena. Go Speed Racer, Go!

Harley - Tacked him up dressage. He rode nicely in the tack. Very nicely. No rushing, no avoiding my seat contact, steady trot. I stayed mostly loose rein, just to encourage forward, and a nice, relaxing "uber seat contact" ride experience for him.

5/4/11 - Harley. Pretty good. Rode dressage, and asked for a little flex give to bit. Harley didn't want any part of that for the first good while, and then he suddenly remembered what he was supposed to do, and eased his neck down, poll in. Good Job!

Romeo - Less Speedy, More Responsive. He was stopping with his head in the sky, so we backed up a lot. Turn on forehand, turn on haunches, side pass. Backed circles in both direction. Back to trot, back to canter. Heading into canter was much easier, heading out he was easily slowed to a pleasure jog. Good deal.

Tonight is Harley only. Much more of the same. Perhaps very soon I'll slide my rear into my western saddle again, and get him up into cantering. I'm not in a super big hurry, but as long as he will fully trot out on a loose rein, no reason I can't start playing with his canter. Trot collected is going to take a long time, and I don't want to wait on canter until his trot is perfect.

10-16-10 Romeo Shows 'Em All

Romeo, in all his Western gear, and I headed to the arena. I saw no reason to actually change bits, or force him to "work work". The morning air was humid, but cool, and dew covered the grassy arena.

For about 45 minutes, Romeo and I romped through the arena. All three gaits, turns on both ends, backing, side passing. Gawgeous. The last ten or so, I concentrated on the walk / halt, and trot / halt. He's resorted back to stringing out, hollowing out, and halting on the forehand. The longer we did it, the better it was. He also started relaxing heading forward, lowering his head at walk and trot as well.

Fun work, and refreshing.

08/04/10 Romeo At Night

I have a dream to ride in the moonlight in my arena. Under the stars, on a clear, full mood night, at a big canter across the long side. We're not there yet, but, this is a step in the right direction.

I gathered up Mo in all his little-ness, and headed to the arena. In a recent HorseMaster episode, Julie worked with an experienced English rider who is starting a western adventure. She was learning how to teach her horse to stop in a western fashion- hips under, rear feet dragging dirt.

So I tested the lesson with Mo. Each bracey, tight stop from trot found him backing up long & hard, followed by a solid halt & wait. Each canter-halt that was bracey & on the forehand landed him in a tight trot circle on the opposite lead. After a half dozen or so of each drill, he started to get a little lighter.

Is he perfect already? Heck no! I'm no magic trainer, and I'm sure I didn't get it right every time. If he'd stop quick, but had his head in the sky, I'd back him up hard. Then, his head was level, but even that isn't enough for me. I want solid, steady, on the rear end stops.

And we'll keep working towards it. Romeo has learned quite a few lessons with me, and I bet I haven't gotten them all right. He is a well rounded critter, and will tackle almost anything if I aim him at it right.

Total lesson? About 35 minutes.

04/23/10 Both Again

Ransom and I muddled around through some hunter flat work. I was trying to settle into straight back & shoulders while maintaining the "in control" feeling in the saddle. I had a few incidents of feeling like I'd fall forward and splat. At the walk, I did a few go's of "airplane arms", and felt pretty secure. I didn't make any attempts at this at trot or canter. I also stayed pretty much out of two-point, hoping the Saturday lesson would resolve any imbalance issues.


Romeo, R, and I headed to the arena. Mo had one thing on his cute little mind when I jumped in the saddle - RUN! And we did. That little fart can FLY when he is encouraged. The new large arena is just right to get a long gallop going down the long sides, and still stay decent on the wider short sides. R was scouring the arena for wire, glass, and other assorted "arena digging prizes", and we met up again at the mounting block.

I let Romeo catch his breath, because while he is out of shape, his recovery after a run like that is amazing. Two minutes or less, and he's right back to normal, standing there calm and quiet. I hopped down to grab a drink, and said to R, "So, wanna take him for a spin? Let him run like a madman with you?!" He actually took me up on the offer, and swung up in the saddle.

And Romeo 100% switched gears. He became the perfect prince, walking, and at any shift in body weight, or balance change, he'd slam on the brakes. R gave him a few hard leg nudges to get him walking, and I had to caution him, "Watch how much leg you use, or he will take you seriously." I only made one habit change in the saddle - Hold the reins, don't just carry them. He had his thumb & fingers barely holding, and all the other fingers all sprawled out like he was holding a china tea cup. "Hold the reins tight, so he doesn't pull them out of your hand." I also taught him that "Whoa" means stop now, and showed him where the "Emergency Brake" is. (That's something I ought to get video of, because it's pretty frigging cool. If you reach forward and rest your hand on his mane just in front of the saddle pad, and tell him, "Whoa", he'll stop - no bit pressure required. At the faster gaits he'll break gait but not necessarily stop. At the walk, it's automatic.)

Including his walking & babysitting, Romeo had about an hour of work. I rode him for about 25 minutes, and R for another 25. He was happy as a drunk punch bowl when we got done, licking & chewing in satisfaction. "How'd I do, Mom? How'd I do?"

It's Coming! It's Coming!

Horsemaster is coming! ACK! Oh wait, I volunteered for thsi chaos. Well, Friday after work, I decided to begin tackling the list.

I washed polos
and pads
and slinkies
and fleece layers

I loaded the trailer
with washed goods
and two saddles
(which got wiped down first)
and all the goods I could carry

I got the oil changed in the truck
made a tire rotating appointment
went to TSC for a new poop fork
and Home Depot for new big buckets

Almost delirious, and just this side of crazy, R drug me back to town half awake to refuel for supper. That didn't last. I was out like a dead rock by 9:40pm. No turning back, either. I remember moving once or twice, but not being awake while I did it.

Saturday I got up early, well, slept in compared to my Monday to Friday job, but it was early for a Saturday
Truck tires rotated & balanced & pressure checked OK
Truck washed
new wiper blades
groceries bought

bridles cleaned
and bits washed
hung neatly in the trailer
with all the other things I crammed in there

grain bagged
supplements bagged
and also stuffed in the trailer

new stall card made
4x6 still shots from Ransom's recent history, just in case the crew needs 'em
*Thank you sweetie!*

I lunged Ransom
(a nut over poles, and otherwise, good. side reins on, french link bit, he was a true gentleman, except for a bit of "I don't wanna do poles at the trot" protesting. total about 35 minutes, but decently hard work)
I rode Romeo bareback
(because everybody needs a stoopid pony day where ya do nothin' but goof off. Mo did just that. We did a bit of arguing "No, dork. I wanna go THAT way over THERE!" I also ridiculously lost my balance on more than one occasion, and shouted "Whoa" without thinking. Mo met me in the middle, slamming on the brakes and nearly unseating me.)

With everything packed I could think to pack, everything washed I can think to wash, the chaos of organization was shifted to the house. Vaccuuming, laundry, bed washed, bathroom cleaned. CHECK!

A day early at that! I can rest a little tomorrow. Oh! And ride Ransom a while, and ride Romeo a while, too. That sounds restful! Two good solid rides.. Yup. Restful. NOT! *giggle*

So progress is being made. I'm running out of things to forget to pack. Tomorrow, truck & trailer will get connected (following a full tank of gas and one more TSC trip, I think, for trailer shavings), hay will be loaded, and I'll have it all under control but bathing Ransom-monster and going.

*sigh* Now, 'tis time to refuel my body, and my mind. A little easy dinner, and some serious relaxin' is in order. G'night, ya'll.

11/24/09 Ransom on the Line

His first day back on the job, Ransom enjoyed a solid lunging for about 40 minutes. Focused mostly on giving to the bit.

I upped the ante just a tad, and lunged off of my knotted rope halter. In his normal work on the bit & side reins, Ransom did rather well. In the cool-down, I took the side reins off, and worked only on down transitions.

He did NOT want to go from walk to halt without fuss. I said "whoa", stepped in front of his general motion, and then gave the knotted halter a huge TUG. A good dozen of those each way, and I finally got a halt with just "whoa".

Mission accomplished. And the beginning of a 5 Day Vacation!

11/5/09 Ransom & The Deer

I couldn't decide how hard Ransom and I were going to ride, so when I caught him, I only got ready enough to work hard if we had to, but not planned on it.

Warmed him up kind of quick, and while he was trotting along the wooded side of the arena, a deer squirted out of the trees & brush, running around the outside of the arena. Ransom certainly spooked, but heck, it startled me! He relaxed again pretty quickly.

I hopped on, did lots of collected & free walk warm-up before pushing into a trot. He tried to avoid working walk with collection a few times by springing into a jog, but I didn't let him get away with it. When we did go into trot, he tried giving me a strung out lazy trot, and again, I had to work hard, but pushed him into a pretty good trot forward with collection.

He tried breaking to canter every time I sat the trot, so I did lots of down to walk transitions until he quit thinking he knew what was coming next. As we were trotting back towards the barn, I saw three deer about 20 ft from the short side. I started talking to them, so they'd see me and hopefully get lost. One by one, they acknowledged the human on the horse, and sprinted around the long side, to the back of the arena corner. I told Ransom, "They're not getting the hint. Let's trot back there and get rid of them, so nobody gets startled."

Ransom seemed into this little game, and I went on really light contact, and trotted him very forward back to the corner. Squirt! There go the deer!

With the distractions gone, I pushed him into canter-right. EW! Head popping transitions. EW EW EW. Yeah, I'm not having any of that. Until he tucked his head for a transition to canter, I didn't let him have more than a stride or three of canter. When he finally dropped his noggin for the transition, I let him canter a few circles. Repeated this a few times, until I had a handful of pretty transitions.

Went left, and he started anticipating the left-canter again. Back to walk, sitting trot, walk, sitting trot, posting trot, sitting trot, walk. Ooooh.. one unhappy horse, tossing his head just a bit, pinning his ears. He was NOT happy with my not allowing him to canter. After he finally settled down, we cantered left a bit. Transitions weren't all that bad heading left. He was lazy into one of them, and quickly was shut down to trot before I let him canter up again. Then, the up transition was much better.

I rode for about 45 minutes before dark settled in. Given his irratic laziness, ugly transitions, and the deer sprinting all over the place, screaming neighbor kids, I stayed in the arena. Before the show on the 15th we need at least one goof off walking in the pasture day....

10/30/09 Romeo

Romeo got pulled out of his pasture for the first time in a couple of weeks. When I walked by his stall when I turned Ransom out, he was nickering at me, ears pricked towards me. His little face looked so darn eager to play, I couldn't resist.

I brushed, groomed, combed mane & tail, cleaned feet (hooves look awesome, by the way), scraped off the bot eggs (yuk), grabbed his western bit,
and hopped on bareback.

I rode him for about 25 minutes, walk, collected walk, and trot. Only serious focus was on verbal "Whoa" means to stop NOW, and a solid back-up for those that I felt were late. None of it was pretty, but it was serene. He seemed awfully happy to be out & playing.

Nothing beautiful, nothing serious, just fun chillin'. He was licking & chewing when I turned him out afterwards - I think pony for "Thank You."

10/23/09 The Last Lesson

I have discovered lately that my favorite blogs are the ones that end in mild suspense. What will happen next? How will the show go? How does the horse place? Is she going to get better quickly? So, in that frame of mind, I'm going to be a turkey, and spread out the show schooling & classes over the next few days. We both did well, and Ransom and I have discussed the issue - we both need a few days off. He'll get grooming, cookies, and some stretches, but nothing serious for at least the next few days. Please enjoy my long drawn-out re-telling of the events.

I saddled up for a last-review lesson before the show weekend. As Jen arrived, we were nearly done with our lunging side rein warm-up. Ransom had settled in, loose side reins, moving along at an ambling trot & canter. His "whoa" on the line was decent, though nothing to praise him for.

I expected the same very anxious pushy canter we'd been riding all week. I thoroughly anticipated it, and even had told Jen, "I know it's last minute, but I hope he does it again so I can get some tips to share."

As I asked for the canter, imagine my surprise, when he was awesome! Little booger! Heading left, Ransom was steady and collected, only popping his head up briefly for the transitions. His trot was a little slow and short, but I got the job done.

The only piece Jen saw, was my driving hips. As it turns out, I was pushing his canter heading right, probably without realizing it. When I asked for it again later, I concentrated very hard to simply ride the stride, and not push or drive. Just let my hips move with him, rather than force it. Much better! Exactly what he needs - ask, and leave 'im alone. This is a repeating pattern with Ransom - nagging & pestering get me nowhere, pushing makes it worse. The best way to ride him, is to ask, and get outta the way.

We chose to keep the lesson ride short, since the next two days would bring many challenges. Would the drive up there be peaceful, or would I have to slam on the brakes and the horn on the state highway leading to the neighborhood the barn is in? Would Ransom remember what life was like locked in a jail cell we call stalls? And what was he going to do with all those horses around? Was he going to spook into never-never-land at the first sight of the train beside the barn? More importantly, how was I going to handle it? Romeo's last trip up there wasn't exactly worth remembering.

I got all my chores done Friday, leaving only a few last-minute tasks for Saturday. All things packed, washed, ironed, cleaned, and organized, we were ready around 1:30pm to pull out of the driveway.

Let the adventure begin!

10/20/09 The Fourth Day

Ransom was now on his fourth day of riding. I varied the saddle & all, but the work remained the same. It was time to get down to business. No more funny stuff, no more goofy bad transitions. I tolerated nothing.

Every ugly transition up resulted in an immediate transition down & a retry. Same for down transitions. We did probably four dozen or more transitions in the 45 minutes I rode. I gave him only a brief warmup. It was mild and decently warm outside, gentle winds. This and the short clip left no excuses for tense muscles or disobedience.

I didn't ride through either test in full. I rode what I believed were the sticky pieces from Tuesday. Lots of in and out of canter, and a few trots down to walk. In the walk breaks, he didn't ever get a loose rein. Transitions from collected to free walk & back.

We accomplished a lot. The longer I rode, the better the transitions got. We had some *awesome* trot to halt at X. I didn't feel like I had to hang on his face to get it, and while they weren't fantastic, they sure were a lot better than they've been.

Tonight, we rest... Countdown to Sienna, 5 days

10/19/09 A Better Focus

I was and still am in that dazed mood. It's a bit hard to concentrate on, well, just about anything. Jen has it about right here. Plenty of horrible people are left to continue on, but we've lost a great person. The hard part, is I can't stop life but to pause & pray for her family & close friends.

So, Ransom and I warmed up free lunge, a solid stretch on the line in side reins, french link bit, and off we went. He was a little chargy at the canter again, but settled down after a while. I got all three gaits relaxed & collected, asked for some more transitions, and things improved the longer I sat up there.

After a good half hour's work under saddle, I went through my two tests. Did what I could remember, and I'm pretty sure I got them right. Training 2 coming out of canter-left, heading down the long side, is by far the ugliest part of both tests. He absolutely refuses to make that pretty, and I have to tug with way too much rein to get him to ease up to a trot. I'm going to concentrate on that tonight, again. Work into a nice canter, when he settles in it, push him a bit farther, then head down the long side, and relax into a trot. Every other trot/canter/trot transition was marvelous.

In fact, these were probably his best trot/halt/salute transitions ever. It feels like he halts right of centerline, and my right leg pressure doesn't seem to be helping that. Otherwise, he's only sticking a few strides of walk in, and is keeping his head down & relaxed. *Whew* Got that monster bug worked out, I hope.

Rest of the week I'm going to work in the twisted wire full cheek or the twisted loose ring. He won't see that calm french link bit again until showday. I just can't chance it - if I ride him in something strong all week, it'll make him appreciate that lighter bit all the more.

His clipped coat looks fantastic! After not staring at it for a day, then seeing him again, it looks awesome. Better, even though he was sweating when we got done, and the easy-wick square pad was wet on top, he wasn't dripping.. His cool down was super easy - walk out the heavy breathing, and brush. No hose! Fantastic, since it dropped in the low 60s last night. Absolutely fantastic! Even with the horse hair snippets all over the front yard, and all through my clothes on Sunday, I'm glad I did it. I'm sure Ransom is, too.

Funny ride moment - we had just gotten a really nice warm up canter left, and I was finally enjoying having his attention. I asked him to ease into a trot, which he did, keeping collected, and forward. I settled more into a collected walk, and again he complied with grace. I let the reins ease out into a free walk, and just as I reached forward to pat his neck, give him scritches and a huge "Atta boy Good Job!" a doe squirted out of the trees about 10 ft from us. Ransom tossed his head up, and for a brief 3 seconds, we both said "Oh crap! What's that?!" When the critter spook was identified, he went right back to work, in a huge free walk, dropping his head looking for the bit. Fantastic and Funny!!

Countdown to Sienna . . . 6 days

10/18/09 It's Only a Quick Work

I told Ransom, "Listen, dude. Quick ride in the western garb in the arena. Show me you'll be as good as you've been the past few days, and we'll go walk & goof off."

Yeah.. I need to quit telling him ahead of time on goof-off days. He was a complete, total, DORK!

I argued with him for nearly 25 minutes at the transitions. Just getting into a collected walk was a fight. His mind was everywhere but on me, sweat running down his legs, he was stomping & arguing with it. Rubbing his face on his legs in the walk around circles.

When I finally did get some good walk work and good trots in, we rode a bit of canter, staying in each direction solid at the canter until he'd slow down, collect, and pay attention. I did far end circles, middle circles, low end circles, all the way around. Both directions, in random orders, to keep him thinking "Where are we going? I should Momma tell me where we're going." At one point, we argued for nearly ten minutes JUST from halt to collection to walk forward. He kept wanting to toss his head up into the walk. "No Sir!"

After almost 45 minutes, I finally got his attention, and got solid work in at all three gaits in both directions, with some quite awesome trots to halt. No spurs, and no "goof off walk", either. As it turns out, my one neighbor had their tractor going & stopping, and somebody had a rifle out, hunting something. The second time that #$&*^ gun went off, I hollered... then the tractor got quiet, the gun didn't go off again, and it was peaceful. Too bad it didn't start out that way.

Unsaddled, gave Ransom a bath, and let him dry with some munching hay. Organized my clippers, sprays, brushes, extension cords, a good spot with a gentle breeze, all my things set out on the front porch. Let him dry while I organized... The clippers threatening me with pointy teeth.

10/14/09 Ransom

I romped to Ransom in a tee shirt & blue jeans. Long sleeve shirt coated in bug repellent. Pesky mosquitoes! Ransom was all ears up heading to the trailer.

I had all intentions on only lunging him. Yeah, right! I took one look at his soft eyes, lowered head, and grabbed my hunt saddle.

Let him goof off just a few minutes, and with that nasty winter coat he's growing and the high heat weather, he was tired quick. So I bridled him & hopped on.

We worked on bending inside the circle, counter bending, walk to halt, trot to walk, trot to halt. Trot to halt was u-g-l-y. I let him pick up canter right, stretch his brain a little bit. Transition down to trot, then straight to halt. A bit better, not so giraffe-headed. Turned to the left, he was antici----pating the canter, so I rode rising trot to sitting trot to walk. When he settled in to the unexpected, I let him canter. Nice & easy, but a bit harder to keep my leg off enough that he didn't read it as a cue to move out more. Back down to trot, straight to halt. Again, a little better.

Rode for about 40 minutes including a lot of walk to free walk to halts and collected walk to halt. Each one was a bit better than the last.

Lesson tonight! Yippee yahoo!

10/8/09 Rans-eo?

I got home after work. Changed clothes, watered the dogs, ate most of an apple, and went Ransom hunting. Found him, gave him the rest of the apple, and took him to saddle up.

I brushed him off, and prepared to clean hooves. CRAP! Shoe missing, right front. Dang-It! I gave him a cookie, apologized, and turned him loose.

Grabbed Romeo, said, "Sorry buddy. It ain't your day off, after all." Saddled Western, french link bit. We got right to business in the arena.

Played for about 40 minutes, walk, trot, canter. Worked on a handful of transitions. I found him to be antsy after the canter warm-ups. All he wanted to do was run, run, run. He would either stiffen his whole body and refuse to walk on, or try to pick up a speedy trot. Better yet if I'd just let him canter.

We rode through dressage tests Intro B, and Training 1. I think I did both in the opposite "order" though, starting out heading right instead of left, or left instead of right. I got a good giggle out when we came from trot to walk at "A" one time - I let out a little too much air in my transition, and he halted solid & square. I squeezed him back to a walk, and he let out a huge sigh. Goober.

Romeo was covered in white frothy sweat after our ride, so I walked him out until he wasn't puffing hard, and hosed him down. Gave him a handful of cookies as payment for his last-minute service request, and turned him out for supper.

It was an incredibly warm, windy, humid evening. There's a cold front coming on Friday, and usually for the first few of the fall season, the wind whips hard out of the south trying to fight it. Makes for sweltering conditions. Mucho Yucko!

10/06/09 Ransom

I tossed my work things in the kitchen, let the dogs run & potty, and changed into a tank top and my western boots. Ransom needed a solid lunging, so there was no point in dressing to ride. If I stayed outta my paddocks & breeches, left my saddle in the laundry room, I woudn't be tempted.

Fit Ransom up with his surcingle, side reins, twisted loose ring bit, polos up front, grabbed the lunge line, and offs we went. Got to the arena, lunged him first off the halter only. Put the bit and side reins on, but kept the halter over top. Lunged him for 25 minutes off of his halter, but with the side reins. We did a good dozen direction changes, and a zillion transitions. I kept no gait for any more than two circles before changing. Canter for only a circle at a time, as this is what will be expected in TL1&2. The side reins were tighter than normal, as I didn't run them through the lowest surcingle loop, but up one. They weren't flapping loose, but I did see some relaxing through his neck and back. It took the full 25 minutes of hard work before he was attentive and working hard. He did a lot of huffing and puffing, but remained rather cheerful.

I took the surcingle off. I took the halter off, I took the side reins off, I took a long hard breath, and I mounted up. I tried not to think through all the bad things that could happen. I didn't once consider "Holy crap he might not have done this before, he might spook, I might fall, holy crap!" Ransom didn't walk off as soon as my weight reached his back. He stood there pretty still, and with some leg pressure, moved off at a walk. I only let him walk forward about five steps before testing his brakes. "Whoa!" I said sharply, squeezing the reins and my knees. He stopped, and dropped his head, with a very big sigh. Knowing this was going to be just fabulous, I moved him off at a walk.

I worked on staying relaxed, and feeling every leg move. I kept him collected, with a few releases for a long free walk. I went on a loose rein just for a bit, to again test the brakes. "Whoa", I told him more softly, with a squeeze of the knees. He stopped again with a heavy sigh.

We focused on the low circle for the ride. I got into a corner, collected again, half-halt, and added calf pressure. He dropped his nose, and sprung into a trot. As I asked, for a brief second I thought, "Well, if I lose my balance, he's got plenty of mane, and I know how to hop off without breaking anything." Our trot work was more than fabulous. I can't say it was a strong working trot, tracking under, but he was collected. The moment he'd lose it, I could feel my balance shift, and the sit hard to keep. When he was collected up, though, magical is the only way to describe it. I rode trot in both directions, with a few changes and plenty of transitions. I experimented with a forward/backward hip movement, and a left/right hip movement, and found the forward/backward a little easier to sit with him. Anytime I moved left/right, I felt my balance slipping away. Never once did I grab that wad of mane, never once did I tense up & holler "whoa", afraid I was heading to the dirt.

I rode for nearly twenty more minutes before calling him "done". He was sweaty, and tired. We'd worked for nearly 45 minutes, after three wet rainy days off. We are back in action, and I accomplished a goal I didn't see coming for at least another year - I rode Ransom bareback, walk and trot, in the arena.

10/4/09 So Here it is Sunday

And church was over. I went on home, grabbed a snack I called "lunch", and changed clothes.
Jeans that were too long, teeshirt, and my rubber boots. There were (and still are) puddles all over my place. This was the perfect time to fetch my little trail-horse, and get in the goof-off session we were so needing.

Saddled him up Western, then grabbed his french link bit, figuring if I needed any emergency stops, he'd be a little less unhappy with a loose ring bit.

We took off down the road to the right, and as I approached the mailboxes, I said to him, "Well, buddy, where do you want to go? Left or right?" He meandered towards the right, so we kept on walking. This is the farthest I've gone to the right away from home down the paved road on my own. We rode past two pastures of horses, one "spooky spot", and as we approached a cow pasture with a whirring windmill well, Romeo's ears perked up. He paused, pooped, took about another four feet work of walking steps, and paused again. I looked at my watch. 40 minutes already?! Seriously?! Goodness,, I need to get him back home, or we'll both be too tired to cross the water-ditches getting home.

He went through the water ditches, through muddy puddles (depth unknown to him until he realized he was in it over his ankles), passed other horses, a few yarping dogs, over the gravel road, on the asphalt (after being reminded on foot that black asphalt hole-patch does NOT eat ponies LOL), through some tree-limb cluttered pathways, and for nearly an hour. No hard warmup, just a brief lunge at trot to tighten up the saddle girth. One spooky spot that was almost nothing (caught me off guard in fact).

When I got all his tack off, I turned him loose with cookies & praise. Later I remembered we had walked on a lot of gravel, barefoot. I grabbed my hoofpick and went a pickin'. Imagine my surprsie when I found his frogs longer than the rest of his hoof. The shoe-nails from his last shoe job have led to hoof wall being all tore up & chipped. As it turns out, there was only one ittie bittie rock to remove, which I took care of. I was a bit surprised to see that, on each step he took, his frog hit first. I ran my brain on wondering if there was something I should do for him. Should I call Mr Dale to come fix? Should I switch him & Ransom, move dirt around in Ransom's stall, wrap Romeo's hooves & let him stand in the driest spots I have? Should I grab my two hoof boots & force those on? So, I did the next best thing. I called Mrs. Mom, in a bit of a panic. Um, I know it's Sunday afternoon, but can you help me?! I'm a little bit worried I just put Romeo through a mess and might've hurt him. She quickly reassured me that, if he hadn't been taking lame steps, despite the terrain we worked over, he was fine. No need to call Mr Dale out, nothing needs doing at all.

So I will keep a watchful eye on him for a few days, try to find a decently dry spot to work on a brief lunge before supper every day and watch for signs of sore feets. He's a steady boy, and I'd hate for him to be uncomfortable. Otherwise, talk about super hooves! That hard work, on frogs and heels, and he was incredibly sound the entire ride. Good Boy!

10/2/09 Ransom's Second Chance

The weather is exquisite here today. Moderate temperatures, low humidity. Might have something to do with that mild cold front that wiggled in here early this morning. No mind, it's beautiful weather. It seems my latest round of rides has brought about a sore lower back, and a slightly bruised tailbone (I think I have Romeo to thank for this "blessing"), but that just wasn't going to stop me. I was determined to enjoy the weather.

And so we did. Ransom reconsidered his goofy speedy spell from Thursday night, and had his mind back on me. Worked out long sets of canter, mostly because I noticed on the lunge warm-up, he kept breaking to trot. Anytime he did this on his own notion at canter today, I pushed him through it. Stayed off the short circles, working only on canter all the way around the arena. Again, forcing him to keep going when he didn't want to. In the canters, he only got to relax back to a trot if he got collected and kept it a while. He tried giraffe-head for a while, and after some bickering with me, I believe gained an appreciation for what "break" meant.

We played this time for nearly an hour, including warmup. In his cool down, I made a good effort to try "long & low" at the trot. If I spread my hands out, he'd drop his cute little head and neck, and keep up at a nice controlled speed. I thought this a good time to try the loose reins again, and see if he'd just run of like a booger. No such luck today. Either tired, or happy about the weather, Ransom gave out a very nice steady trot whether on collection, on a long rein, or on a loose rein.

Must be the weather. Hoping to sneak a short run on Romeo tonight before sunset. However, here it is, 2:15, I haven't had lunch, I need to pick trailer mats at TSC, install them, and mow the grass.. Uh Oh... Might not be Romeo's day.

Forecasters are calling for quite the fantastic rain storm tomorrow. Must plan accordingly. Where did I leave my galoshes....swish swish swish

09/30/09 Romeo's Second Round

How absolutely fun! I had chores to do after work, errands that needed running, and I blew off all adult-like responsiblity. Changed my shirt, slid into my boots, and grabbed my little pony.

Yeah, grabbed. How about ten minutes of watching him run around like a three-year-old, goofing off bucking, farting, and galloping out of reach. He and Ransom both did the run-around, and when I finally realized he was tired, I told Romeo, "Whoa", and started walking towards him. He tossed his head up in defiance, so I turned my back & took one step away. I noticed he was walking towards me, so I turned back around, and asked him, "Are you done yet, booger?" He dropped his head, took a heavy sigh, and let me halter him.

Saddled up in the western bit, and western saddle. Offs we go! I let him go the arena at a trot just a bit, checking for happy-feet. He was great, so I jumped on.

I rode for about a half hour, mostly canter. He gave me one full go around really fast, to which I laughed. "You won't do that for long, little fart. I know this." When he slowed down, I did some refresher "quick stop brakes" and trot reminders. When the walk, trot, and whoa were all solid, I slid him back into the canter with a little "coming & going." I made the long sides of canter quick, and tried shortening his stride in the short sides. It didn't go perfectly, but his ears were up & forward, and his mind was on me.

Our total ride was about 35 minutes, so including his pre-warmup nit-fit, about 45 minutes of work. He was slathered up in sweat when I got him back to the trailer, and was more than happy to have his face and whole body hosed off.

Grown up responsibility set in around 6:00, so I hurried through the shower, fed the kids, inhaled cereal for supper, and made it to choir by 7:05. Pretty impressive, if you ask me, considering choir is 20 minutes from home. Yay me!

Plenty to catch up on tonight before I grab Ransom. I will be riding him tonight, weather-pending.

09/28/09 Romeo

I grabbed my full chaps, slid 'em over my breeches, grabbed Romeo and his English bit, and offs we went.

Walk, trot, whoa, backup, and his turns, all bareback, between the side yard, front yard, and his pasture. Working out a good extended trot in the pasture - flat fun! With everything shredded down short, he did very well. Not bad for about a month off. A neighbor fellow went scooting down the road on his bicycle. Romeo planted all four feet & stared at the bike in sheer amazement. I got a good giggle out of it.

After a good half hour of flat goofing off, I called it quits. He did great, for the time he's had off. Need to saddle him up Western sometime this week, stick him in his Western bit, and check his neck reining & remind him of his instant-brakes a bit more.

09/24/09 Regroup & Back to Training

With the show cancelled, I could've done more pouting and fussing, or I could get my saddle back up & get to work. Ain't no reason why I can't make those transitions even better over the next month, right?

So, I had Jen come over & meet Ransom and I in the arena for a dressage lesson. The weather was just about perfect for riding - low 70s temperature, light winds, overcast skies. The back half of the arena was still a bit too mushy for real work, so we stuck to the low circle.

Ransom lunged out in side reins beautifully. No goofy fits, no stiff transitions. He actually was slowing down on my body language and a subtle "shhhhh" verbal cue. Very sweet! I was about done lunging as Jen arrived at the arena. Mucho perfecto timing!

As I was warming up, Ransom showed us what we would work on for the day. I got my canter-left in, and as I turned him around, he got a bit antsy at the trot-right, in AnTiCi...Pation of the canter-right. I let him canter right, just as Jen said, "Okay, let him walk." She suggested I needed to start mixing up my canters, not put them one right after the other, and work on a lot of different things in between, so he'd never know when his canter-fun would commence.

And we did. Worked on circles of posting trot, sitting trot, walk to halt, back to posting & sitting, a few figure 8s in the circle-space, and then some canter mingled in. Also worked on keeping my legs on and him collected up on the bit for transitions. I was happy to say most of them were pretty darn good. Ransom got a little fussy on the shoulders, sticking whatever shoulder out that was on the outside of the circle, in an effort to avoid work. I'll fix that! Work at walk and trot with his head bent in and then out of the circle. Bent-in at the walk, on the circle, rough stuff! Bent-out, at walk and trot, not so difficult. At least not difficult for me to control. Now, for my Ransom to hold it, funnie! He'll try to duck that head out in working trot, I forced him out in an exaggerated bend, for a circle or two, then let him go back to 'normal', and wow did he look good then!

Even with the weather-related two days off, Ransom was phenominal! We had an awesome ride, and in fact I lost track of time. He had a 20 minute warm up, and an hour ride! A whole hour! Got to love the weather, when I wasn't sweaty, wasn't feeling exhausted, and my horse still felt awesome. Forward-going, and light on my hands. Very Very sweet!!!