11-20-10 Romeo Throws a Fit

He tried to, at least. I grabbed Mo, saddled him up Western saddle, English French link bit, grabbed the side reins and lunge line, and headed to the arena. See, earlier the previous week, I longed him very briefly in the sideyard, short rope and a halter. Romeo thought it'd be funny to play kick towards me twice that evening. I settled for respect that night, but knew it was time to remind him he CAN have a job if he acts like that.

I longed him only briefly in just his halter, before the sillies started coming back. Stuffed the bit in his mouth, and held his head where I wanted it with side reins. Ran the line through the bridle. whee! There he goes! Romeo fought it for quite a while, gnawing hard on the bit in sheer disbelief. His eyes called out, "You're kidding me, right? I haven't had to do more than work on a loose rein in, um, over two months! Not a chance, lady! I ... can .. fight ... this .. oh , well, maybe they won't loosen up if I keep bracing." Finally, after fifteen minutes, Mo settled down, and dropped his head.

With my creature's attention again, I took off the line and side reins, and hopped on. Again, Mo thought work hard was over. Nope, not a chance, son. I pushed him only at walk and trot, but insisted on short reins, and a little collective work. Romeo was quite ticked off, obvious by his swishing tail. The only time he was allowed to relax, was when he stretched into a free walk. As soon as he popped his head up again, I shortened the reins, and put him right back to work. After another twenty minutes, I let him wander aimlessly on a loose rein. He let out a heavy sigh, pleased that the torture was over.

So I wonder if Romeo has some "work" in him, again. This has been a debate in my mind for almost two years, as long as Ransom's been around. Can Romeo keep himself together long enough to train in low-dressage, or will he completely go bonkers like he did in the hunter three-month series, determined to kill us both by the end? I'm debating putting up a video of his movement for ya'll to tear apart.. I'm also debating hauling his lazy arse to the vet, and asking Dr. Sam to give him a look-see and evaluate if he's got a future showing..

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.

10/1/10 Romeo In the Arena

Go Pony Go Pony Go! I called out to Romeo on the lunge line, tail flung out, prancing about on the lunge line warmup. A complete and total ham.

Romeo sensed at this point in my day, as pony #3, I was getting a little slap happy. From being under water so much I couldn't justify grooming a horse, to a weather day encouraging me to ride all day long, Romeo knew I was happy to be in the tack.

With his western saddle, English bit and running martingale, off we went. He'd tossed his head quite a bit the day before, and I was curious if I could fix it (again).

He was great. He fought the martingale a while, before realizing it wasn't going to give, and then settled. His trots in and out of canter were nicer, smoother. A few disagreements about leads, but also corrected in the ride.

A very nice 45 minutes, serpentines, circles, direction changes, all trotting. Finally, I pushed him into his nice gallop down the arena long sides. Get it! WoooWhee that little guy can go fastfast when encouraged.

All three ponies, and exhausted me, settled in for a long night's rest . We all three were tired, but pleased with ourselves, and our weather.

09/30/10 A Needed Distraction

Wednesday, no horses. Stress. Lots of stress. More stress than I have had outside of my 9hr work day, in, um, a few years. I was nervous, I was uncomfortable, wait.. who am I kidding.. I was scared spitless. Let's not color this as a calm moment filled with silly girl scares. I was scared, and for good reason. I didn't sleep well, and my nerves were still fried. Thursday evening, on the way home from work, I was scared, again. Even moreso, because my Wednesday evening plan couldn't be continued on Thursday after work, for various reasons.

So Thursday, when I got home, I decided to not work Ransom, or Harley. It was the perfect day to just goof off with Romeo. And that's exactly what we did. Harley was owed another day off, and while Ransom could have worked, my mind wasn't in "work", even on horseback. My mind needed to relax. And, well, test some new equipment, which I did successfully.

Anyway, back to the horses. I caught Mo, dressed him in all his Western gear, made a few changes to my things, and off we went. Straight to his pasture. Rode all three gaits, focused on rhythm and direction. I didn't force him to be collected, though in canter he couldn't have his head up in the sky. He did very well - well behaved, well relaxed, and still alert to all going around us. Why? A little more "up" than normal? Romeo could feel my tension, he could feel my heartrate, and he knew I wasn't happy or comfortable in my situation.

A solid 30 minutes, and I was done for. Wore out, had enough. Mo was a good babysitter, took my mind to other places, even for a short time. Exactly what I needed for the moment.

09/03/10 Romeo Functioning

Romeo and I, gathered up in our western gear, headed to the arena. We opened and closed gates, rode all three gaits, and just got focused on canter/halts..

When the skies opened up
And it poured
Poured!
Rained a downpour, right on my saddle.
By then, I'd given up, seeing the lighter rain,
And started back towards the barn.

We hurried to his stall, where I undressed him, apologized for the shorter ride, explained, "I don't do downpours, or thunderstorms", and we had both. The stupid weather shortened a planned 45 minute ride right down to about 25 minutes.

08/31/10 I Didn't Lose It

R was out shredding the pasture, and lost an item while sitting aboard the tractor. When I got home, he had a metal detector in-hand, and began walking pasture bit by bit. I knew I could try to help, but had a better idea than just looking by foot.

Romeo!! Hey Romeo! You wanna be a big boy & help Momma out? Good! Get your rump over here, and wear this saddle. It's time to be a working pony!! Romeo, his western saddle & western bit, and I, started walking.

And we walked.
And we looked.
And we walked.
And we looked.

While we didn't find what we were looking for, I learned a few things, and had a spooky fun moment.
# Romeo follows my head, and my seat, better than I ever realized. I caught us a few times, I'd turn my head, hands wouldn't move, and his head & body followed my head.
# He neckreins a whole lot better than I give him credit for. We were scouring the ground, looking all about, and a few times, I recognized that I had one hand on the reins, the other on my leg resting, and he was following every cue
# He'll go wherever I point, so watch out for low hanging limbs. *giggle* Thump!
# He still handles spooks the same as always...

Spooks! We got away from the barn, in the thick trees & brush, and wandered into a small clearing. Suddenly, Mo stopped hard with a little shake. A doe and her fawn scampered out of my pasture, into the neighbors, obviously scared. The baby ran and ran, stopped hard, looked back at Momma, and ran again. Momma, however, stood, tail flagged, and watched us. Realizing we weren't a threat, she walked off calmly. Romeo and I took a few steps down that fenceline, and I resumed my looking, cautious. Just then, the neighbor's one big dog, and two little dogs, came bursting from their yard, towards the doe, big dog leading the charge. The doe took charge. That dog wasn't getting her, or her baby. She reared up, kicking at the dog, and then chased the dog. The dogs were all barking nuts, the little ones approaching big dog in some effort to "get" the doe. That doe hasn't having any big of it. Not one little teensie tiny bit. She charged the dogs multiple times, backing them up in fear nearly to their little back yard chain link fence. Big dog finally got a little more aggressive, and chased her just a little ways across their pasture. She turned back, and charged big dog one more time, before big dog retreated, and ran back home.

During that whole event, I was up on Romeo (of course), watching. They were probably a couple hundred yards off, but with all three dogs barking hysterically, and that doe charging, Romeo never spooked, never startled. He, in fact, took a few walk-on steps, like he was annoyed I was asking him to watch the dogs. As we finally marched back on course, the doe glanced up at us, and went back to grazing quietly. The dogs found a new target to chase, Romeo. We kept on walking, they quickly realized there was a line of their owner's barbed wire fence between us, and went on back home.

Romeo is Romeo. His little tiny spook, squirting maybe 3-4", then halting, is just about my favorite thing about him. When he spooks, he doesn't run off, he squirts just a little, then stands, facing the spook, whatever it is. It's exhilirating, and comforting at the same time.

08/28/10 Romeo

Grabbed Mo and all his goodies and off to the arena we go's. Western, lunge line warmup. Mo was NONE impressed with this idea, bucking, farting, and generally trying to express his displeasure with this limited circle he was forced to cooperate in. He desperately wanted to play "catch me if you can, we're in the arena", but I wasn't up for the game.

I set up a trail pattern "L" shape with my poles, scattered the standards all about, put three cones in a line across a short side, and set two other poles in irregular locations. Romeo often thinks arena means "run, run fast, don't think", since that's been mostly what the newer, larger arena has been for him (using the trail and the road for concentrated walk/trot/halt work). To combat this, I kept his mind busy in warmups, over the poles, through the "L" at walk, and trot. Some halts in odd places, and backup through the "L". A few rollbacks to trot, a handful of trot/halt/backups. He quickly got the hint, and relaxed his body & his brain.

So, off to some canter work, big circles, back half of the arena. I swear I heard either a snake or a rat scrambling through the grass for a while. Romeo was unbothered. His canter circles started out snappy, but settled into a nice, easy, gentle gait.

After the warmup,and the serious canter circles, I scoured the property.. What can we do? What can we do? What do I have easy access to that he could benefit from? Ah yes, the gate. Let's go open the rope gate a handful of times, in, out, in, out, in, out, in. Romeo let out a HUGE sigh, questioning, "Mom, are you serious?! I get it! Work the gate! Let's move ON!" I scoured again in my eyes.. what else is there?

Oh yes, the muddy pond water. The pond was a byproduct of the larger arena and pasture work this past spring. Places had to be elevated, therefore, other places had to be lowered. The pond is a two-set hole layout of sorts, the larger, deeper of those still has about 6" of water in the lowest spot. Romeo and I walked over to it, he investigated, he sniffed, and he danced around the water perimeter, totally unpleased with the notion of walking through getting his pretty hooves wet. I finally convinced him to put his nose to it. He blew hard at it, and got splashed in the face. With a heavy sigh of recognition, he walked through the edge of the water. After much repetition, Romeo was splashing through the pond from anywhere I wanted him to go. I asked for halt twice in the middle deeper part, and he complied.

It was funny - and it's how he handles the uncertain. Look at it, approach slowly, sniff sniff, touch with the nose, see it doesn't bite back, and give in. At some point, I ought to capture a video of it on some other item he's unsure of. It's really quite funny, and since I know how he'll handle it, I know as long as it won't hurt him, it's good to push him up to whatever it is.

7/5/2010 BRM Lesson Romeo

I gathered up Romeo, his hunt saddle, french link bit, and made sure my helmet still fit. *giggle* You know that feeling of, "never ridden this horse in this place, there's a lot going on, and while he's a saint 99.9% of the time, the one time I need him to be an angel, please don't be a dorkus freakus"? I had it irking through every darn nerve of my body.

I walked Romeo into the covered arena, tossed the reins over his neck, walked around him to tighten the girth, hopped aboard, and got to riding. Barb says to me, "Ride him like you normally do, I just want to watch him go a little bit."

So I did. We walked on a loose rein, we jogged out on a loose rein, I pushed him up to a rising trot with a little bit of contact. I asked for some canter both ways. Much to my dismay, the little fart blew his right lead three times before snagging it up correctly. Doofus. He didn't blink, he didn't spook, he didn't even look hard at the arena or the surroundings.

Barb says, "I love him. He's super quiet! I like that little jog. Keep his nose out there, it's cute! Don't tighten the reins... Yup, he's out of balance. Just needs some muscle." Then, the news I was sort of hoping to hear. "You should sell him. You'd get quite a bit for him, and that can go towards a new dressage horse."

She'll be posting the ad for him soon, and I'll link it back here. As a lady in the barn asked, "Why are you selling him?" I explained.. "Romeo has served his job VERY well in my life. I was terrified to ride, and there's got to be some other little kid or small adult out there terrified like I was. It's time for him to move on, and me to upgrade to a nice dressage horse. I can't do that and keep all three at home. Somebody's got to move on, and it's Romeo's time to go."

In the meanwhile, Romeo will enjoy 4 days a week or so, alternating every other day with Ransom. Mo will get work on all three gaits, as loose a rein as possible. The whole purpose will be to refresh his mind, and get his muscles back in shape. Now, my LittleMan has a job, at least for the time being. We'll still have goof off rides down the road, and maybe go push a cow or two. I might even pop him back over a few fences, and see if the old saddle fit issues are cleared from his memory.

5/8/10 Romeo Argues, and Ransom’s Tantrum

I grabbed Romeo after a fairly stressful day, running errands, gathering grain, and even going to work. Yup, work, on the weekend. I saddled Romeo up, got him to the arena, and hopped on. Ransom found a loose spot in the arena fencing, and wandered into the arena. I hopped down off Romeo, laid the reins over the fenceline, and told him, “Whoa”. Normally, this works. (who else is laughing now, and saying to themselves “She said normally, uh oh!”) Romeo and Ransom quickly took off, at a gallop, running, bucking, farting, kicking, all around the arena. I couldn’t catch either of them.

After about ten minutes of complete chaos, I finally got Romeo’s attention with a sharp “Whoa!” I grabbed the reins, and took Romeo to his own pasture.

Romeo had plenty of git’up&go, too. For well over 45 minutes, we got walk/trot/canter, goofiness. I got some bending at trot work in, nice tight circles, a few turns, and a handful of rollbacks & side passing. I finally got the canter down to something I could easily ride & manage.

Took Romeo back to the trailer to unsaddle, and I saw Ransom pawing & laying down squirming a fit. Got Romeo to his stall, and apologized for not hosing him off. I looked across at Ransom, who was standing up, in his stall, pawing and pawing more. I quickly took Ransom to the round pen, and got him trotting & cantering. He had his tail up almost the whole time, I can hope he was passing gas. After about ten minutes of that, I started hand walking him down the road. Part way down the road, he started grazing, grabbing up huge mouthfuls of grass. I locked him up in the paddock, gave him water only, and supervised. Finally, I found a pile of pretty solid poop. His supper portion Saturday night, and breakfast Sunday morning were both reduced just in case.

What I think happened --- Ransom is used to a work schedule. He normally poops right after I turn him out after work. Without the work, he wasn’t on an exercise schedule. Without the work, he wasn’t sweating, so he wasn’t drinking as much. Change the schedule of work, and we apparently directly impact Ransom’s digestive system.

11/29/08 Playing Cow

Les delivered a handmade wooden bridge to the house, a flat one, made from an old wooden pallet. We dumped it in the side yard, and repaired a plywood stall wall that Chewie pulled off.

Then we loaded Romeo, and hauled to his house. He grabbed Amigo, we loaded up in his trailer, and off we went to the arena. We were going to play with the steers, and nobody else got called that we'd be there. This would be what the day before was supposed to.

Amigo tracks cows like a madman! He stayed right on their hip, often bounding one way or the other before the cow would move. It was hysterical fun to ride. I spent most of the time in the saddle hanging onto the horn tightly, trying really hard to keep my reins loose and my rein-hand on his neck. He galloped down the arena a few times. Les insisted "the Old Man only gave you about 10%. If you had your spurs on, he would've cut off every single one and kept them from running back to the herd." It didn't matter, I had an absolute blast, and got my cow-horse therapy in the form of outright squealing giggling aboard the OldMan.

Les rode Romeo, and said while he didn't track great, he did "lock on" to one steer, and when the steer stopped wiggling around, so did he. Les never got upset with Romeo while teaching him, and when Romeo got it right, and tracked up, Les was praising the daylights out of him. "Good boy!", patting him on the neck. Romeo's eyes looked bright, ears pricked forward. He knew he'd done good.

More work will be needed in this area if I intend on ever helping move cows out in a pasture, or the like. But a fun day overall.

10/13/08 Quick Rides for Both

I had company coming over for supper, and wanted to show the progress I've made with both horses. So right after work, I hurried to water the dogs, change shoes, and scrambled to the back yard.

Caught Romeo, saddled him up with the old western saddle. Tied him in his stall.

Caught Chewie, saddled him in the new Dakota Barrel, and scrambled to the round pen. He warmed up beautifully, with a little more effort on his own to carry his head on the inside canter-right. I crawled on, walk, trot, canter-left, about 20 more minutes. Friend pulled in the driveway, walking towards the round pen, I thought, "This'll stir him up...", and I asked Chewie to canter left. Stirrups flapping in the breeze, he picked up the wrong lead. I slowed him back to trot, and asked again, head leaning inside. He picked up the left lead, and was going going going! I didn't feel like I was bouncing too much in the saddle, so after about three circles, I "shhh"ed him to a trot, sat the trot for a few circles, and walked him out. Friend said, "Who is that lady in the saddle on that big fast horse?! That's not the lady I saw riding a few months ago!" I laughed... "I have a focus now, and it's on something other than being scared. We're all doing a little better."

Cooled Chewie down, unsaddled, hosed the mountain of frothy sweat off of him (it wasn't terribly warm, but he's terribly out of shape, I suppose), and asked Friend to hand-graze him just outside of Romeo's pasture until he dried.

Grabbed Romeo, put his martingale & bit on, and off we went into his pasture. Walk, trot, figure eights, circles, whoa's. Did a little backing up, he threw his head a bunch, so I trotted some more circles, figure eights, and the sort. Asked for a back up again, and he complied. I figured, "He's warmed up enough. Let's show Friend how hard I've been working, and how smart Romeo's gotten."
Asked for canter, purposely on the straightaway, head tilted a tad outside. I wasn't going to chance the wrong lead (again). Romeo has to have head tilted out for the correct lead, Chewie tilted inside. He picked up the left lead, and we loped and loped and loped. Romeo had about the same gas pedal rate as Chewie. I laughed, and got his attention with a light bit-check. He eased up a bit, and we did some huge circles in his pasture. Biggest ones I've done in that pasture yet. I saw Friend watching dead-stare. When I could tell he was actually paying attention, and Romeo had calmed to a nice lope, I reached for his neck, and said, "whoa". Romeo stopped on his rear end. I rubbed him "good boy", and walked him back to the trailer.
"Well, what did you think?"
Friend, again, says, "I don't know who that lady is up in that saddle, but the horse looks amazing. What a great ride. You've got both of the horses where you want them. It looks fantastic!"
Romeo's total work was about 15 minutes. He's gone over & above for me Saturday & Sunday, so I walked him to the trailer, got off & unsaddled. Hosed him off, as well. Put him in the stall still wet, and he didn't disappoint - rolled about six times, all the way over. Good Boy!

Both horses will get today & tomorrow off. Weathermen say 40% chance of rain today, 60% chance tomorrow. 40% again Thursday. We'll see... I won't hold my breath.

10/11/08 Can You Fit Any More in the Day?

Woke up wild & dark around 5:30am. Fed everybody, got cleaned up, started housework, and got nearly everything done early. Left the house, empty trailer in-tow, around 7:15. Arrived at Les's house, found him just getting ready to ride Romeo and "ride the fuzzies off". (My new favorite warm-up phrase.) He got Romeo in w/t/c , no problems, no issues. Quite satisfying to watch Romeo move around.

Switched saddles, and off I went. Rode in his front pasture, w/t/c. He kept picking up the right lead going left, so I figured might as well ride him in a figure-8, get the right lead with the right circle, and just see how good my balance really is. After some solid canter right and left (head tipped out to get that left lead), I glanced at my watch. I'd been on him about 15 minutes. I asked for a solid "whoa", he stopped on his rear, licking & chewing. I walked him back to the house, loosened my cinch, & crawled off. Pretty darn satisfied with myself. Changed into my cute little white show-shirt. I had pulled out my show pad & show shirt, and even my nifty Justin cowgirl roper boots. Figured I haven't shown Western in over a year, no sense in the tack sitting in the house collecting dust, might as well use it.

When we arrived at the school stadium field, Mr R was there, two very novice riders alongside. I was glad I loped at Les' house, because there wouldn't be much space, and I've been that "inexperienced rider trying to ride amongst all the good ones, scared outta my breeches", so I chose not to lope there. We walked & trotted, weaved in & out of the trees. I gave Romeo plenty of time to "look at the parade events", the marching band, the loud cars, wild floats, even the other horses. One fellow showed up with his mule, Maxwell. It was the funniest thing I've seen - those HUGE ears. Max was a charmer - didn't hee-haw even once, though I wanted him to. His rider had complete control. Romeo sniffed Max, realized he wasn't a threat, and didn't think much of it after. As the parade line assembled, we were set up last, seven horses total. Les ponied another horse with his grandson aboard, happy as a pig in mud. Little C had a blast! You'll see in the picture how happy that little kid was...

This picture sums up the ride, completely. There was a fire truck in front of us, and, as you see, a cop behind us. Sirens wailed, a few horns honked, kids screaming, babies crying, old people hollering "Look at that cute little boy on that horse!" I even heard a Hispanic family hollering "Caballo, Caballo! Look Momma! Caballos!!" Romeo didn't even flinch. You see his head level & relaxed - he went the whole route like that. Les's mare, Sugar, got a little flinchy, and Les used Romeo's calmness to feed Sugar & keep her calm. One horse spooked at the double yellow line on the road, another at a manhole cover... Romeo didn't even look at a single thing. At one part of the route, there were storefronts on both sides of the street. Raucus & echos, Romeo still didn't have a care in the world. Happy as the toy in a Happy Meal, Romeo & I walked the route, about an hour's ride, and as I dismounted at the ride's end, I was glowing. I could feel it.

Les and I grabbed lunch, and hauled Romeo home. We unloaded him at my house, and jumped back in his truck for a field trip. "FIELD TRIP FIELD TRIP!" We went to D&D Farm & Ranch, Seguin TX. Intent was to find a western saddle, 14.5 or 15", Semi QH bars, solid seat, suede bottom. Here's what I got. A Dakota Flex Lite Barrel saddle. I sat in probably 6 or 7 saddles, a bunch of ropers, even a Billy Cook Barrel saddle (comfy, but high dollar).

It looks about like this, the tooling on the edges is a bit less. When I sat in it, there was absolutely no question where my balance was to be. Seat went right to the spot, legs & heels the same. I immediately felt secure, and no amount of wiggling, jiggling, leaning, or twisting moved my "center". That's what I want & need - a Western saddle I can pack on trails with, that has absolutely no wiggle room except for in the center. I also picked up a girth, turned out to be too big (34"), but I think Les has a use for it. Came home, put it on Romeo, and took him for a short ride in the pasture. Even loping, with the stirrups too long (need some holes drilled to bring them up, lots of space to do it), I still felt secure.

It was the right choice saddle, for where I'm at in my riding. It's also really pretty, which might matter in a showpen or two. I won't be running barrels, but it should chase a good steer and ride a good canter circle in the pasture.

Riding With the Cowboys

I received this email this morning from Cowboy Les' wife, MG.
Hey girl,
I understand that you need to change your name to Annie Oakley instead of Calamity Jane.
Les just couldn’t stop bragging on you when he got home yesterday.
I’m really proud of you.
Have a great day.



And I am proud of me. I had a blast last night at the roping arena. Les and I had plans to trail ride around my place Sunday afternoon. Obedience training with Kenzie got cancelled, so I told him, "No need to haul up here. I'll be at the arena later this evening." I figured if I could lope my horse out in an open field, I can lope him in front of the cowboys.



When I arrived, we tacked up, and Les and I (Les on Sugar) went into the arena to warm up before penning the steers. I walked, I jogged, and I loped, nice big fast circles. Romeo was ready for action, with a nasty uncomfortable almost gallop around the lower half of the arena. Speedie little twit. I loped and loped until I was satisfied I had his attention with turns and stops. We penned up the steers, albeit a bit difficult because they weren't in the mood to be penned, and I was pushing too hard to start.



As we finished up penning, another one of the ropers arrived. Les said to me, "Go show R how to warm up that horse there." As R was bringing his three horses into the arena, I got to loping again. I caught his eye, and saw him staring from the far end of the arena. I felt myself relax a little, and, instead of bouncing like a nut, I was moving in my hips, with my horse, instead of against him. I didn't even glance to see if I had the lead, I just kept going. I got him pointed towards the out-gate, and gently said, "Whoa", and he stopped on his rear. He got a nice pat & scratch, and we walked to the roping boxes. R said to me, "Good to see you've got your finger out of your butt & you're actually going to ride that horse now. You can move the steers by yourself maybe instead of us all having to help you every time." All I could so was smile. Les was glowing, and I could tell it was a smile of "Look at that horse I trained", and "Look at that rider I'm getting confidence into."

Later in the evening, Mr W was teasing me to "ride my horse for him like I do for Les." After pushing a pen of steers back to the chute, Les said to me, "Go show Mr W how you ride that horse now." And I did.. I calmly trotted a little bit out of the little alleyway, asked him to walk, and went right into a correct-lead lope down the arena. I loped about five big, slow, circles, my toosh in the saddle, loose rein, and felt completely calm about the whole thing. I caught Mr W staring, dead square in the center of the arena, almost with a disbelief look on his face. I asked Romeo to "Whoa" (which I got without issue or complaint), and trotted over to Mr W. He said to me, "Well look at that! Let me tell you now, if you ever want to impress somebody with your riding, you just lope circles, girl. Those cowboys will be after you, if you'll just keep loping circles. You were completely stuck in that saddle, and you weren't flopping around one bit. That looked great!" Mr W is one of those older hands, that, will give you his opinion at every opportunity, will tease if he thinks it'll build up confidence, but will always be your biggest cheerleader if you just try.

So in a few hours, I went from being the wallflower rider that the cowboys protected and helped out, to the cowgirl that pushed steers independantly, and was genuinely respected. They trust me now... R even said, "You need to start tracking cows on him. He's ready, and so are you." That's the phrase that leads to "I need help moving some cows today, and I'd like your help." Around these parts, that's cowboy-speak for, "I trust your riding ability, and I think you're a helpful hand." For a cowgirl, that's not easy to earn. I'll take it however I can get it.

Whatta Whatta Weekend - Romeo's Loping

Well, it's more like a wild English canter without collection.. He's got more than enough forward energy.. =)
Here's my chaotic Sunday - the past two have been like this. So much for "resting"...

8:00am - My church, choir sang
9:40am - Conversation with random lady at Starbucks' parking lot (details to follow)
10:45am - Co-worker's church, good stuff! Much more like the one I spent my high school & college days in, and less like where I'm at. I wish it wasn't 45 minutes away from home... I'd be there all the time.
12:00pm - Lunch with Co-worker & family
2:00pm - Scrambled to Les' to change into jeans & boots, then headed to the arena
2:30 - 3:15pm - Rode Romeo (details to follow)
Drove home
4:00pm - Leashed Kenzie, and off to
4:30pm - 5:30pm - Obedience class
Got home, fed the masses, fed myself, asleep on the couch by 9:00pm, exhausted.

Now, for the details. Sometimes, I wonder why I get that occupied some weekends, while others, I am sitting at home, on the couch, eating snacks I shouldn't be, watching the same TV shows I always watch.

After the first church service, I had time to kill, and decided I'd hop over to Starbucks, fetch me a frozen skinny sugar-free latte, and ease on to the second service (45 minutes away). A lady was getting out of a little car, staring intently at my truck. I thought, "Yes, this is a big truck, driven by a little person, for the purpose of hauling horses. I know I'm poisoning the environment, but I can't afford a cheaper car too right now."

The lady said to me, "That's a dressage sticker on the back of your truck. Do you ride?"
I responded, "Yep, but that horse's on light work right now."
She said, "You're probably going to think I'm completely nuts, and a little weird, but I'm going to ask anyways... A friend and I are going trail riding this afternoon. Would you like to come with us? If you can ride like that, you're probably a pretty good rider."
Holy tar.. whatta brave lady she is!
I responded, "Wow. I'd love to, but the horse I'd bring along is in Port Lavaca in boot camp, and I've got plans to go ride him this afternoon. Thank you."
She said, "Can I give you my phone number? Would you like to come along another time? I haven't met a single other person yet that rides dressage. Well, that's not true. Do you know __?"
I said, "Yep. I met her while she was taking lessons from ___."
She said, "Yeah, I took a lesson with ___. But it ended badly, with my daughter getting a broken collar bone. Bad, bad experience for both of us. Why did you quit taking lessons from her?"
"Too intense. Way too serious for the leisure level I want to ride at. I love dressage, but I've got some fears to overcome, and she just couldn't understand why I wouldn't just get over it & ride."
"Well, here's my number. Here's some pictures of my horse, the ladies I ride with & their horses, and of the trails where we go. It's not far from here, about 20 minutes." (Really, about 15 from my house."

Wow. What a conversation. It lasted about 10 minutes, I found out she rides a 19YO OTTB mare, Molly. They trail ride, and casually ride some dressage. She refuses to ride without a helmet, and works for a local college in the arts department. I may have a trail buddy! How cool is that?! I also didn't know the state park up the street from me had riding trails. Nifty cool! Romeo will LOVE it!

The ride on Romeo. Whatta Pony Whatta Pony! Holy tarfeathers. Les has him in a TT bit, with an interesting curb chain (a small chain that came out of a hardware store... not the chains in the tack stores.. an interesting contraption, but it doesn't apply pressure unless you really pull on it). Les rode first.. I noticed right up front that Romeo canters out without much fuss. The silly "buggy trot" is almost gone. Les transitions him from walk right into canter. He doesn't have his leads just right, but I am guessing that's because no effort is put into leads right now, but more into that he's at least cantering. He rode him all on neck reining, and put his hand on Romeo's neck for a "whoa". His trot was soft, and figure-eights were pretty relaxed.

We switched saddles. I climbed on, did a little walk, a little trot, and then asked Les, "You got 9-1-1 on speed dial? Here goes nothing." Les says, "He's not going to hurt you, or I would've not let you lope him yet. Just go do it." I walked him past the roping boxes, leaned forward, squeezed with both legs, and gave him a little "kiss kiss" sound. He went from walk, about three strides of trot, and cantered away. I worked him through canter sets four times. The first three, I held onto the saddle horn with a death-grip (evidenced by the small blister on my left hand... HAH!). I went the whole rail around, as well as circles at the far end, and a few in the middle. He didn't get fast, but did try to break gait, as well as tried to ignore the neck rein. I was actually calm, didn't get nervous, and didn't have a problem adding outside leg to make him turn. The fourth canter out, I did let go of the horn, and held on to a wad of blue jeans instead (I'm sure it looked silly, but I was balanced rather than holding on.) He broke gait once, and I legged him back into it. It's fast... is all I can say. It's controlled, but fast. He tosses his head if I keep too much rein pressure, and as soon as I let slack in the reins, he slowed down a bit, and relaxed his neck.

To finish up the ride, I wanted to push the steers around the outside of the arena a bit. Les said to me, "Okay, but you must lope down to them." And I did, Holy FAST! Romeo's got cow-cow-cow in him. He cantered pretty quickly down to them. He still had brakes when we got close, but he cantered a few strides too close to them. I wrangled them all together, and trotted while moving them around. We did that for a few minutes, then I cantered him back to the "out gate".

He's got a few more weeks, so Les tells me. It's still amazing what he's picked up in two weeks of riding (with a week of Hurricane-break in the middle). He went from not cantering at all, and complete disregard for neck reining, to all cantering, and a healthy respect for the neck rein. I'm anxious to get some cows in the arena, and have the courage to lope out towards one to cut it away from the herd. He's very cow-y. Something I didn't expect when I bought him. Nifty Neat!

Romeo Training 09/21/08 WeekLong Update

I might be loping him in the arena this weekend, by the sounds of it.
Things Romeo is doing well

• No more spurs. All the energy gait changes are with leg cues only
• Loping from a walk, rather than the buggy-trot
• Loping out in a straight line

Things Romeo isn't doing well

• He's insisting on being "in front" when riding with another horse
• He still insists on going pretty fast to start out
• He tosses his head when he can't lean on the running martingale

All not so bad. Les says it's stuff that needs work, but all things that can be accomplished in the next few weeks. I'm considering delivering a jump standard pair & three rails over the weekend.. Let them chew on that for a while. I never intended them to work on jumping, but even if Romeo gets a general review cantering to a fence with a confident rider, it's better than what I could show him. I'm tickled red, white, and purple he isn't in spurs anymore... that's just awesome. I'm also happy to report he's gone from the slow twist loose ring snaffle to a Tom Thumb. The TT has a curb chain, one finger fits under the chain when it's loose. I mentioned bringing over my copper ring kimberwicke over, since that's what I can use in the hunter circuit (since a TT isn't show-legal outside of the western pleasure world). I'd love the boy to canter gently... maybe he'll get there sooner rather than later.

Sounds overall like he's doing pretty nifty-good. I figured he wasn't getting rides since I hadn't heard anything. From the phone conversation we just had, I heard about a Sunday ride, and a Monday ride. All sounds good to me.. Any hours with a confident rider is better than a ride with my scared hiney on his back.

Chewie 09/22/08

It was late in the evening, and I knew there wouldn't be much daylight. Mosquitoes and other flying pests have been yucky lately, so I wasn't very motivated to turn the lights on. I decided to catch Chewie, clean him up, and free lunge a bit.

We worked on 2-laps each gait & direction. Plenty of transitions and direction changes. I was also working on visual cues to get him to stop and come to the center of the round pen. I think he was getting it - he'd see my arm reach out when I'd exhale, and walk into the center, licking & chewing.. "scratch me, momma.. right there... thanks momma".

I grabbed my helmet, his bit, and crawled on. Rather than 15 minutes of plain regular walk, I worked on spiral in & out, plenty of direction changes, and oodles of neck reining. We'd make circles in to the center, reverse out, or complete the circle. I split the round pen into quarters, and did quarter turns. All walking, no halt-breaks. Solid walk for 15 minutes. No rein contact, all neck reining & leg cues. Spiral in & out without bit contact was funny. He was leaning on leg cues for every step. Very very neat. When I got off, he was yawning, licking & chewing, and shook all over. *giggle* Good to see he enjoyed it as much as I did.

Had a call from Cowboy Les last night... "Can Romeo wear a martingale like I am using on him when he competes jumping?" I responded, "No. That's a running martingale. No extra aids during flat classes, and standing martingale only over fences. There's no reason to even need that at the lower levels he competes at." For crying out loud... if he can't train the horse without contraptions, why did I leave him there?! His other two horses he trained, Sugar, and Blue, on the flat, when they're not on cows, work in a Tom Thumb with a small leather strap as a chin strap. If he can train them on a lousy Tom Thumb, why in the heck does Romeo need a running martingale and a twisted wire snaffle? There's no reason to add contraptions. Geez...

The rest of life, is, well, life.

Whatta Weekend ... Horse Updates x3

Friday - both boys worked. Romeo in his cowboy-borrowed bit. He did great. First time he tried a zippy trot, I applied a little bitta bit pressure, and slam! on the brakes. That'll get his attention. Good stuff! We walked around the neighborhood a bit, then went to the neighbor's yard. He was un-boarding his windows, and sat to take a break. He sat down on his little square deck in the yard, and Romeo & I walked over to it. Romeo seemed scare of the deck, so I asked him to walk up to it, so he could see it wasn't going to hurt him. He walked right up to it, and even tried to take a step up on it. Good boy!

Chewie Friday - w/t/c in side reins, 6, then 5. He was pretty good. Not very round & not giving all the time at the poll, but not taking off & fighting it, either. 25 minutes of that, then I worked him at a collected & long loose walk, alternating collection & direction for 10 minutes. Sound, and happy.

Saturday - Chewie, repeat. He was pretty darn good. Accepting of the collected walk, with a nice forward walk. Hooves look great, and I think the pulse on the left front is gone. If it's not gone, it sure is hard to feel. I'm going to look for it again tonight. Right pulse is still there, but the hoof seems to be handling the shoe job well - He isn't dragging it, and still has nice front movement at trot. About 12 minutes of bareback walk - I lost track of time, we were having fun. I also asked for turns on the forehand, and turns on the haunches, first time since July. He wasn't 100%, but gave a pretty good effort.

Romeo, Saturday. In the morning, we had a longer work session, about 45 minutes total, with much more trot. The trot work was great. Nice & easy, slow, bending on neck rein & leg. Towards the end, I collected him up, and put him in a come & go workout of trot shortening & lengthening. He got pretty firey from that, and it made me consider maybe that lengthened trot doesn't feel good for him. Not sure.

Romeo Saturday night. We loaded up grain, supplements, and the trailer, and headed out. Went to the rodeo arena to hang out with the ropers. (This was not the original plan - the initial plans were to take Romeo to Cowboy Les' house, unload his things, then go for a short trail ride before leaving him there. But, cowboys change their plans frequently, and anytime someone says, "Let's go rope", there's no stopping it.) Romeo helped pen the steers, and moved them from the end of the pen to the roping chute twice. The second time was a true adventure. There were some riders outside the alleyway, helping us move the steers along. There was also a younger high-school aged kid holding an electric shock prod. Turns out, that prod has more influence than Romeo does. Two steers flew past us as the kid stood on the fence between the arena and the alleyway. The steers spooked, split with about 6 behind the kid (on the wrong side of the chute). It was a mess. I know the kid is learning, but when everyone hollers, "Get down off the fence! You're confusing them! Get down!", why not listen? augh.. people are stupid. :)

Both boys had Sunday off. Romeo is at Cowboy Les' house, and Chewie got a break. I was busy all day, between church at 8am, a kick-off singles group meeting at noon, NFL football at 3, obedience trainingat 430pm. It amazes me that I didn't sleep very well last night. I should have, as busy as I was.

Today is another day. Chewie will get his regular work tonight, with probably 20 minutes on side reins, 20 minutes bareback walk. I *might* ask for a brief circle each way wp jog.. I'm just not sure.

Chewie 09/16/08

Tick check in the ears - all clear. I groomed him a bit, and we went to the round pen.

w/t/c 20 minutes, each direction sound. I put on my helmet, put his french link bit in, and gently hopped on bareback from an upside-down flower pot. Walked for five minutes, and I got off. He was still sound back to the barn.

I'd like to give that a "go" again tonight, if there's enough daylight. Might even toss a jacket on, and turn the round pen lights on. Mr Don farrier said I could do that for a few days consecutive, adding time slowly. I plan to keep this up through the weekend, then give him a call to see where to go from here.

Big plan tonight is Romeo again, front, side yard, and maybe a little figure-eights in his pasture. Over the weekend, he'll go back to Cowboy Les' house for some more work. I figure it'll be a few more weeks there at least.

Les thinks the bad ride over the last weekend (at my evac house) was due to stress & a new place. I'm starting to wonder if it's saddle fit. I know my western saddle isn't a great fit on either horse.. and I know I ought to be looking for a used replacement. It's too bad used saddles aren't falling out of the sky & landing cheap in my neighborhood. :)

Storm recovery continues for some of my co-workers at another site in the corporation. It's frustrating to be this geographically close, and not have any way to help. I've asked, and even made some suggestions. I don't have much desire to randomnly donate cash & water. I'd rather be helping somebody in particular that I know or have worked with. I'm hoping we'll have some plans made soon.

The Horses Remind Me...

Of the little things. They're peacefully in a paddock together now, and it looks like Chewie got his ear cut on the inside. I'll try to get closer tonight. Other than that, they've been great. They hand walk to and from stalls for their meals without incident. Many other big horses & mini horses are around, and there hasn't been a scuffle, a snort, or a fussy fight between anybody. They're eating all of every meal, and gobbling every giblit of hay I toss at them.

Rode Romeo in the arena, about 45 minutes. He's progressing, but the little turkey flies into figure eight turns right now. Darn it! :) He'll get better.

Lunged Chewie for about 20 minutes. He was going bezerk while I was riding Romeo, pretty upset about the whole thing, so I didn't lunge longer. Sound both ways, w/t/c. He loved his hose-down afterwards, yawning, licking, chewing. Cookies for all.

The clouds are rolling in, and they say the storm will hit tonight. The latest track & predictions say it will rain, and bring 40-60mph winds to my house. I sure hope the trailer house can handle that, and no tree branches swing into the windows.

All here at my home-away-from-home is good. Tranquil, peaceful. Betty the maid washed my clothes from yesterday, and brought clean towels. :) I enjoyed fresh eggs this morning for breakfast. I did get a good night's rest, and that was refreshing. Woke up hot a few times... need to ditch a blanket before I turn in tonight.

I still owe ya'll my thoughts on evacuations.. For now, I'll say this -- "If they say go, GO! You idjits! They don't say evacuate for the fun of watching you get stuck in traffic!" Too many on the Houston / Galveston coast aren't going "because it costs money". Dial 3-1-1, they'll get you FREE transportation to a FREE shelter with FREE meals! You idjits! Nobody wants to see you sitting on your roof, house flooded, saying, "I didn't know it would be this bad!" IDJITS! Just GO! =) That about covers it.

Hope to call to check on furry little ones today. I suspect they're doing great, but probably miss me. The cats & little dog Charlie here snuggle up once in a while, I think to remind me I'm still cared for.

FSSunny - Don't worry about it.. Don't feel guilty about your weather compared to mine. I went through that with Katrina. Here's how I settled it in my mind - I donated blood, and donated cash to the Red Cross after the storm. That little money I donated probably went to some clothes & hygeine supplies in a shelter. Rather than feel guilty, I did something... Maybe that will help you. Otherwise, go groom a horse, and think of me...

It's just stuff... Yeah, it's my stuff, but that's all it is. Sitting & worrying about it getting damaged won't bring it back after the storm. There's nothing there I can't replace. I guess I've lived too many places to be worried about the structure. A part of me hopes it goes - I'd love a newer place, even if just a trailer house again. =)

Romeo Training 09/07/08 Ride 4

Les invited me to the town youth rodeo arena, and said Romeo was saddled & ready for me.

I changed clothes swiftly after MacKenzie's training class, and headed there. I arrived to a handful of trailers, and a handful of riders. There were four seasoned team ropers there, one of which was Les. There was one guy there I'd not seen before, a younger fellow, obviously not well seasoned, because he sure didn't catch much. There was also a younger guy there - a rider I've seen before, and don't like very much. As I put it to one of the older seasoned cowboys, "I don't show much attention to guys that beat their horses. He treats his horses like tar, they're skinny, the spurs aren't necessary, and he can't ride worth a flip." The old hand laughed, and said to me, "Well, now I know I better not beat my horses!" =) Smart man! Finally, the last rider was a young boy... on an adorable Appaloosa gelding. Every time the Appy stepped off at a walk, the boy's spurs would poke into him. But the Appy didn't flinch. Out of the header box, the Appy loped out calmly, stayed right with the steer, and carried that boy safely. Les laughed, "That old horse won't be able to catch the fast steers." I said, "Maybe... but that little horse won't let anything happen to that kid, and that matters more than fast steers."

During the evening, I stayed aboard Romeo, walking, trotting... figure eights, circles. All near the top of the roping boxes, watching the action. Romeo didn't overreact, and calmly took care of me, working on his reining in other distractions. The seasoned ropers all know me from previous interactions, and we talked in between their runs. The guy that I don't appreciate how he treats his horses tried to strike up a conversation.. "He's a nice sized horse, with a nice head... Where'd you find him?" I politely answered, and rode off. Twice, Les and I pushed the steers back to the top of the arena, Romeo leading the way. The first time, I calmly pushed them. The second time, I was a bit more aggressive, having found my balance in the oversized saddle. Romeo kept his mind on the steers without getting ugly. He pushed them well.. I was happy. Even with some ruckus going on around him, he stayed calm.

A lady that Les knows arrived at the arena, and sat up in the bleachers. Les said, "You wanna make her day? Ask her if she wants to ride your horse." So I did. She sprung out of her seat, and quickly came into the arena. It was a bit hilarious to watch her try to get on. Romeo's just barely 15H on a tall-day, but she could barely get into the stirrup (that was about 3 holes too long for her legs), and swinging the other leg over was even more amusing. Romeo didn't flinch, or even look back at her. I almost heard him snicker under his breath. He was absolutely, 100%, an angel. She walked him up & down the arena, and he turned when he needed to, stopped when he should, and even made a few decisions for her. At one point, one of the roping runs came right up against her. The header wasn't watching where he was going, and almost ran into her. With the heeler close behind, a horse behind, and in front of her, I carefully watched Romeo and his uneducated passenger. Romeo stopped, stood calm, and watched the commotion. The header moved on, heeler headed up the center, and when the horse in front of Romeo walked on, so did he. It was as if the whole thing didn't happen right beside him. He stayed incredibly quiet. Good Good Pony!

My ride, combined with the other lady's ride, Romeo was under saddle for nearly three hours, mostly at the walk.