You know that saying "Grass is always greener..."

Our new baby is testing the theory. He is finding any possible way that he can use to get out of the pasture. Today, my husband came home and found him outside the fence. He put him back. I got home a little later and he was out again. I stopped on the road and called him to me but he didn't come. All he did was stand still and "Baaaaaaah" He had apparently decided that he wanted back in the fence but got stuck. I wish I had gotten pictures.

The riding

It's really weird. I completely enjoy myself most of the time when I ride my young mare. (That's not weird.) The weird part comes when it's time to ride her by myself. I get really nervous and worried that she'll freak out or that I won't be able to control her or something. I guess it doesn't help that I have occasional bad days with her.

Here's what's happened lately. I took her to our church playday. I could not ride her because she was so keyed up. She seems to have a combination of Buddy-sourness, group shyness, and being spoiled. So during the playday, I tied her to the trailer and she managed to rear up and break the lead rope. She ended up being fine and relaxing completely when I tied her to the trailer next to the other mare.

She also freaks now when I try to load her in the trailer. I think it has something to do with the fact that we carry her and the 4-wheeler in the trailer at the same time sometimes. So trailering her to the playday already had her nervous.

Any way. I finally had to submit to the financial crisis and remove a large part of my horse fee every month. I hated to do that. Our 30 yr old mare went home to her real owners. Thankfully, I think they are going to use her to give riding lessons. That eases my mind some. The problem is that she only gets her nutrients from senior feed. That gets expensive when you are having to cut unnecessary costs.

Now, my poor mare, Takoda, now is the only horse on our property. She's not alone though. She has 2 goats to keep her company. But here I am chasing rabbits and forgot the original point of the post.

Back to the weird stuff.

So I took Koda to the 4-H riding club meeting yesterday and tied her in the arena there. The leader had 4 horses there that were penned up just outside the arena. Koda stayed relaxed and calm the whole time she was tied up and then lunged perfectly and rode perfectly. We did turns, rollbacks, walking, and trotting. When it was time to go home, I rode her out of the arena, through a ditch and up a hill. We then went back down the hill, through that ditch again and then through another ditch. When we went through the second ditch, she found a natural, deeper water channel. That made her a little nervous. She went through it though. I really enjoyed the time I spent on her. I love riding.

So, again, why do I avoid riding when I enjoy it so much the times I do ride?

We have a new member at our ranch. I mentioned him earlier. His name is Bryan and he is a Nubien/Boer cross. He is 5 months old and has two jobs - become a daddy, and entertain our indoor-bound kid. (I say "indoor-bound", because the kid can't seem to find the out-of-doors) :)

I can dress them up, but...

I have no time to do ANY horse stuff. I don't know the last time I even groomed my horse. I know I have not ridden since I got the saddle back. I guess school has hit with a fury. Oh well, maybe this weekend.

Back in the saddle again!

Well, today is Labor Day and I was able to go get a saddle I had sent off for repairs. Now we can both get on a horse at the same time. Yeah!!

Helmet debat

I live in Texas where everything is bigger, and I guess that includes the vanity. So I began recently to wonder what is it about the western sports that insist that participants wear cowboy hats. I understand that people look "dorky" in helmets, and you can look at the post below and see how I look, but I think I would rather look dorky while I ride than have an accident and not be able to walk or possibly worse. So, My question again. English sports and racing require helmets, even for adults, but western events, with the speed and unpredictability of all the animals involved do not. It doesn't make sense to me. See the following youtube video to maybe get your brain working more on this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0-A6T45xB0&feature=related

For more information about my opinion read more of my posts, especially the one labeled helmet.

Parade Picture

Here's a picture from the 1st parade Koda and I were in. Notice the new blanket bought just for the parade. Isn't she purty!! No, I'm not pregnant!

Holiday Riding

Yep, Takoda's my dream horse!

I rode her three times this Saturday and Sunday, and have fallen in love. I will tell mainly about the 1st ride then skim the others. But first some background. My horse friends came up from near San Antonio and spent the weekend with us. They brought their 3 beautiful horses. Tib is an 11yr old bay and white paint gelding that a very smart 14 yr old girl rides. She is going to the state horse show on him and does well in western pleasure riding events. Chubby is a 16 yr old palomino mare that the 11 yr old sister rides in the same events and is also doing very well and going to state. The mom was riding a 4yr old buckskin mare named Demi that the family is training for a cousin of theirs. Demi is green broke and has around 6 months training. She was started when she was 2, but got hurt so was not ridden for over a year.

In addition, my Kid rode her 30 yr old horse Scarlet (the first time outside an arena since the big fall (see the helmet to the right). I rode my WONDERFUL mare Koda.

The first ride was just with the mom, Gay, and her horse. We rode out in the big pasture with the snakes, cows, and pond. Demi was trying to spoke at anything that would move, but Gay's good. She had Demi side-pass to the gate to open the gate. A side-pass is where you make the horse walk sideways instead of foward. Koda did everything that I asked her to do. I walked her behind the 4 wheeler (she hates that) and then went to the pond. There is a ravine into the pond that draws the water from the pasture. She went down the side of the ravine and to the water. She took a sniff, a drink, and then plowed through. No extra prodding needed. Then up the steep bank on the back side of the pond and a meander around to the dry creek bed. Again the sides were steep. We followed the cow trail in and up to the other side. We can't go in that pasture because of all the bugers we might find in the tall briars. Back through that creek bed and up a steeper section out. Gay and I then began searching for logs to cross. I started it with a small limb that was maybe a 3 inch diameter and we worked our way to more complex obstacles. All of this Koda just took in stride except for one limb. It was forked and she got her back legs tangled the first time she went over it. I had to work her back to that section of the limb. We quit after the logs to get the older daughter from the train station.

When we got her home from the station, we saddled all 5 horses and walked down our dirt road for about a half mile. We had to turn back because it was dark. Danged nighttime interferring with our riding! Again, Koda did everything I asked her to.

Today, we rode at the church arena after church. I go to a cowboy church and they just got the arena ready enough that people can cautiously ride. It still needs work but the church has only been open for 2 months. The kid wasn't feeling good so she just went home with her dad. I cantered (loped) on Koda for the first time today. I felt like I was going to fall of the whole time I cantered. I adjusted the stirrups and still felt like that. We do well in short distance trots but I really enjoy trail rides so I guess trot and canter are not very important right now. I guess that's something we have to work on. We did more trailriding type rides there and then came home.

Now that's a weekend like I have always wanted to have.