Riding and riding

We have attended 3 riding lessons. The first, I have already discussed. The second lesson was a bit different since there was no riding. We got there and it was raining. Instead of riding, we worked on horse care and grooming. We learned a while back that Scarlet, our mare, had a fungus on her legs. We thought it was gone, but discovered that it is still as strong as ever. We shaved her legs up to her knees and the next day I started to apply generic Listerine to each leg. It's looking better now but I have to continue until they are all good.
This week we rode again and worked on trotting and "half-halting." This is where you slow your horse down but it stays in the same gait. For example, going from a fast trot to a slow trot.

Today, we went to the stables to work. We cleaned some of the stalls, pulled carrots from the garden, and helped bring in horses. We also got a chance to ride. The riding instructor, Lisa, has many beautiful Arabian horses. Some so light grey that they are white. Some are bay, sorrel, and black. She has one poor bay-colored baby that has pneumonia. It is so sick and looks really bad. She has so many doctors working on this one horse that you'd almost think it would get well by osmosis.

Meanwhile, poor Tonto is still up for sale and is being practically neglected. I feed him and groom him as often as possible, but I don't know what to do with him for training. And I do not want to get on him because I can't afford to get hurt. He is right now a very spirited pasture ornament.

Sunday, we went to my dad's house to visit. You would not believe the work that this entailed. We decided to go ride horse and ATV's at his house. Here's how it went. We started getting ready around noon. First, we had to groom the horse and hook the trailer to the truck. We have a 3-horse slant trailer with a tackroom. We had decided that the 4-wheeler should be in the front of the trailer in case there was a problem and we needed to unload the horse quickly. We ran the 4-wheeler up into the trailer and tried to close the front slant gate. It didn't fit. We removed that gate (they come out fairly easily) and closed the other gate.

We then had to find our tie-down straps, tie down the 4-wheeler, and bring the horse around. We had locked Tonto and June in the pasture. Scarlet is very finicky about getting in the trailer. We finally loaded her and I was tying her to the trailer when I heard June (remember, the goat) outside the trailer. She had escaped the pasture - again. We (the husband) wrangled her back in the pasture and we had to tie her up to keep her in the pasture. We made sure all the tack was loaded and almost left the bridle in the house. Then had to load our house horses, the dogs, into the back of the truck. We needed their obedience collars and their leashes.


We finally got to my dad's house and had to unload it all. dogs go first so they don't hurt the horse. Then the horse and tie her just outside the trailer's tackroom. Then the 4-wheeler. Had to re-groom the horse and tack her up. By the time we did all this I was hungry, so it was inside for a quick sandwich. Dad and husband stayed at the house to put together a seeder/spreader. Sis, kid and I went off into the pasture. Sis and kid on the ATV and me on the horse. Woo Hoo!!

I started to follow the 4-wheeler but Scarlet wanted to run after it so I turned her away and went towards the back of the pasture. My dad's cows followed us around for a little while. We went all over his pastures. Through ravines and over logs. Well the 4-wheeler went over less and smaller logs. I had a blast. Scarlet went everywhere I wanted her to go without complaint except into the stock tank my dad has close to his house. I think that the mud was too muddy for Scarlet to follow my instructions into. After instructing her for about 10 minutes to go in various places in the pond, I finally decided that the horse may know something about the mud that I don't and walked her away. We trotted a little in some places that we had already walked across. I was really concerned about animal burrows and other various holes, but when I found a track of land that was solid, flat, and free of holes, I allowed her to trot. She did this willingly enough.

I am learning that Scarlet likes to neck reign better than direct reign and I switched her bit to a ring-snaffle bit. The ring with a bending post through the mouth. We had a shank-snaffle on her, but our riding instructor recommended the ring-snaffle. I guess that I have the names correct.

Official and Professional and everything

Yesterday, the kid and I went to our first professional riding lesson. We had to be there at 7:00pm and there was so much we needed to learn and discuss. We didn't leave until 10:00. First, I learned the proper way to hold a hoof-pick so that it's comfortable to go from the back of the hoof to the toe. Then I discovered that Scarlet will neck reign very well. She will trot, but not over pipe obstacles. I found out that you have to do "The Twist" when trotting for more comfort for the horse and myself. In other words, keep the shoulders still while twisting your tail. Of course, I can't quite get it, yet. But I'm practicing.

The stables where we are taking our lessons have several beautiful Arabians. Their website is: http://rlarabians.com/index.html. She offers Western and basic English lessons, as well as bareback.

I think we're going to have fun.