Thanksgiving Rides

One of my best friends came up on Tuesday before Thanksgiving to take my daughter to Oklahoma. Her youngest daughter got SICK (yuck) during the night so instead of Oklahoma, they hung out at our house until little girl felt better then went home. The older daughter and I went for a ride on our horses. We have ridden together before. She has a paint gelding that she has trained (She's 15 and amazing) to be a true western pleasure horse. Then of course there's my Arab speed walker/crazy mare. My kid was going to go on the old mare that we used to have that came to visit us for the day. She managed to find her out when the stirrup broke.

So the older girl and I left the house down the dirt road. We crossed a wooden bridge and about in the middle of the bridge, a bird flew out from under the bridge. My horse went about a foot sideways before settling down again. We decided to go to a friend's house that is just past the end of my road on the local highway. Between my road and the friends house, we found a lonely horse we thought was going to jump the fence to be with us, so we crossed to the other side of the hwy and continued on. Well, the friend was not home and it was time for my husband to start home so we turned around to head back.

The problems started. My mare already walks fast. On the way home she wants to run. She also forgets to listen to my "whoa" and "easy" commands. I have to one-reign stop her to get her to stop. I asked my riding partner if we could go a different route home to confuse the mare, and she agreed. This route goes all the way to the end of the local highway to a major highway. The major highway has half the road shut down for construction and would be safe to ride on. So here we go. We trot/walk to the dirt road turn off, with me getting off her back before she turns stupid. Then, she struggles for a while to figure out what I mean by not going home. I get back on the girl and she still wants to run out of my stops. We went for about a mile before I found a pasture to teach her that I really mean for her to stop. At the end of the pasture, there was a horse and very vocal dog. We skipped back to the other side of the higway only to find 2 more horses. Here's where my horse acts right and the gelding turns stupid. He forgot that he's NOT a stud. She had to remind him and then we were off again. There weren't any more crazy incidences, just silly, after that.

We got on the new section of the main highway and continued to head home. My horse all the while is looking at those orange barrels like they might attack her. There was a pile of asphalt rock left on the side of the road that was also very menacing. Both horses walked past it with their eye focused completely on that pile.

Of course for most of the trip, my speed walker was in front. I would stop her and wait for the other horse to catch up, then continue. On the highway, I actually turned her around, went behind the other horse and looped back. Both horses thought the world was going to end because the gelding was in front.

All in all, a 3 hour ride that was very exciting, fun, and educational.

I did not ride this Sunday, due to the need to get the prodigal daughter.

Weekly rides

I have been trying to figure out a way to get more riding in without making my husband sit around for an hour doing nothing. Our church solved the problem for me. The church has an arena. That was the first thing they built after raising the tent. I have used the arena a couple of times but feel weird going by myself or making my husband go. So today at church, the pastor announced that at 1 pm on Sundays, there would be guitar lessons. My husband plays the guitar some but wants to learn more. I want time to ride my horse there. Voila, I now have 1 hour horse ride built in every week. I rode around and around the arena, around barrels, in and out of the roping setup (you know, where the horses wait for the cattle to be released).

My pastor informed me from the pulpit that I needed to spend more time on my horse. When your pastor says to do something (as long as it's not against God's Word) you do it. Thanks Pastor Terry. :)

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.