Pony time

I had a very good friend whom I haven't seen in 2 years visit this past week.  I've been off classes on spring break, and my friend came to do horse things with me!  We had the best weather...60's and 70's (insane for March in WI!!!!).  We trail rode every day (except the 1 day out of 5 that it rained), drank wine and ate goat cheese every night.  It was great and exactly the kind of break I needed!  My friend rode Cody pretty much the whole time, except for when we brought horses into the round pen to mess around with (trying to mount from the ground bareback and cantering bareback).  I rode Catlow the first trail ride, but it quickly became apparent that she needed to rest...she has a cough that I've noticed before.  She had it last winter too, but generally not in the summer time.  I'm unsure what it is...it's some sort of chronic thing.  I will be investigating though it seems like a fairly mild sporadic, cough, unless she is worked really hard. 

We trailered my horses a few miles down the rode to a sandy county road that connects with many trails through a remote oak/pine forested area.  We rode for many hours each day, making sure that we were sore by the time we got back.  We trotted and cantered a ton!  It felt great!  Cody was extremely well behaved for my friend.  Chico was good, but we did discover some holes to work through.  He needs some more work riding at greater speeds keeping his attention on me and not the other horse.  He wanted to be in the lead, so when we were behind, he wanted to catch up and pass.  When we were in front, he was better, but the first day he was very fast and very difficult to get to respond to cues well.  By the last day of our trail riding saga, he was actually doing much much better.  I could let Cody pass us at the trot or canter without Chico even thinking about breaking from the walk.  And we could canter or trot to catch up with control.  I think he needed some reminding about how to listen to me and not his boss mare, Cody.  It was great to ride with a friend and get some training in on my horses at the same time!  And now, my horses get to recover from their week at work too.

I wish I had more photos from the past week, but we were busy riding, plus my camera batteries were low.  But enjoy the few that I have!

We encountered a boggy area and lead the horses through it.  Chico fell in a bit of a hole and splattered me with mud on his way out.

Oh, and here is a photo of goofy Kachina.  I'm not sure how she managed to get herself a hay wig, but it stayed on for quite a while.  She acted as though she was purposefully wearing it.  It didn't bother her at all.  She never shook her head to get rid of it.  It eventually blew off when they came out into a more open area with wind.

Griffin is handsome and the rest of my horses look on.

Kachina comes to the fence to visit.

The rest of the horses came too.  I think that Chico is saying Kachina looks ridiculous in her hay wig.

Belated post - Labor Day ride

This post is very belated, but I've been busy! I just now decided I needed to take a break from studying and do something "horsey" even though I'm stuck down in Madison right now. So, I found some pictures I haven't posted yet!

These pics are from a ride that my husband and I took with our neighbor's, B and J, over labor day weekend. We trailered to a nearby dirt road where we could ride someplace new and not have to hit pavement at all. My horses stood patiently at the trailer...I love that...a calm sleepy horse tied to the trailer waiting for their ride.

The road meanders through a lot of county land and is primarily wooded with a few logged areas. It is also home to a lot of wildlife. We saw wolf tracks several times along the road (I'm pretty sure they are wolf, as they are known to be in the area).

Todd rode "his" horse again.  He and Cody got along pretty well, except that at one point when we were cantering, he said she planted her front feet and gave a hop...I didn't see it happen.  But I wouldn't put it past her.  Todd isn't the most polished rider, so she could have easily been irritated by something he was doing, especially by over-cueing her to canter (which he admitted he did).  But they got along just fine...that doesn't worry him at all, which I'm pleased about.  He can handle it!

This is my favorite picture from our ride.  B and J rode ahead a bit side by side on their walkers.  They looked so cute together as they crested the hill among the trees.

My baby girl turns 1 year old this Saturday!!!!  I can't believe how fast this last year went!  I've enjoyed every minute of it and am looking forward to her ever changing future!  She is so fun right now...saying some words, super mobile, giggly, good-natured, interactive, loves being outside and her animals (which is one of the hardest things about being in Madison during the week for school - she is just so outdoorsy so she feels cooped up in the apartment pretty quick).  But she is doing super well and adjusted to the change really well too.

Riding with friends

School is looming and this week has been busy with getting ready for that, so I've not ridden horse since the weekend.  But this last weekend, I spent some time riding with my neighbors.  Their daughter was visiting and they wanted to show her some of the trails and they asked me to come along!  I rode Chico on one of the days, and Catlow on the other.

Remember I've mentioned that my neighbor has all dark horses?  Technically, a few are dark bay, and smokey black, but from afar, it is difficult to tell the difference between them!  And it is difficult to tell even when I'm riding with them!  I always have to ask, because when they switch tack around, it makes the horses look so different! 

These horses are Shady, Belle, and Honey Doll.  Belle and Honey Doll are the two that B and J have been riding most often this summer.

The previous picture was taken from the point of a ridge that over looks our houses!  You can see both my house and B and J's barn and shed.  In the lowest shed belongs with the cranberry marsh visible on the left side of the photo.

We saw a turkey vulture in a dead tree alongside the trail.

The next day, their daughter rode Shadow (gelding) instead of Shady (mare).  Shadow, even though he's a sibling of Shady's, is quite a bit flashier of a horse.  He holds his head and his tail high and has a very swingy walk.

The three of them followed me up "Buck Pond Valley" to check out how much water was in the little pond (there was none - it's been dry).

There was, however, water in my parent's pond, so we all crossed on our way back.  Belle (in the lead) and Honey Doll have been crossing the pond regularily this summer, but Shadow has only done it a few times and it is still new to him...you can tell by his expression (Shadow is far left).

But he went in sticking close to Honey Doll for some confidence.

And then he pawed the water.

I've had fun riding with my neighbors.  It's crazy that this is the first year ever (in my whole life), that I've had a pretty large group of people nearby to consistently ride with.  I grew up riding alone, rode alone most of the time out in Idaho, and even my first couple years back here.  So I've really appreciated the company, but I still like heading out alone, just a horse and maybe a dog or two!

Riding with the hubby

Sunday, I convinced my husband to come for a ride with me.

Afterall, part of the goal with sending Cody to a trainer last year was getting her tuned-up and been-there-done-that enough for me to not worry about her with my husband or anyone else.

Cody has been doing very well with her new bit. She is quite responsive and she really is a good girl. She does, however, test her new riders...and because of that she probably will never be a complete beginners horse. She's not naughty, she just tries stuff (always does, even with me) and if she gets away with it, she'll keep doing it. Just little things, like walking really slow, turning back toward home, pretending she doesn't really know what you mean when you ask her to turn and it is away from home, eating grass, trotting when she wasn't asked. She always tries these little things with me too, but simple quick corrections discourage her and she won't try them further. Part of the pretending she doesn't really know what you mean when you are turning her, could also be conflicting cues given by a rider that she's not accustomed to. But she does try it a bit with me when we are still at home in the yard and heading out.

Other than that, she is great. She's responsive...a simple squeeze will send her up into the next gait and another little squeeze will up it again. Todd had her cantering at one point when he squeezed too hard, but she's not naughty and they enjoyed a nice canter before he asked her to walk again. She was walking a bit slow for him though, and that's because he is not accustomed to "riding" his horse. He hasn't really ridden in over 20 years, he said. He grew up riding horses a lot, but they didn't ride with seat and legs...they rode with a lot of whoa and go using reins and kicking. In fact, they used to put bucking straps on their horses just to get them to buck! Crazy kids. Anyway, when I told him how to get Cody to walk faster by riding her faster, it took some practice for him, but he was pleased when he could get her to walk faster by using his seat and legs to push her a bit more. But she'd drop back to her slow pace when he quit. He's used to just sitting on a horse like it's a lounge chair. Most people like a nice slow horse, but Todd is a bit hyperactive himself...he likes that all business, quick pace.

I think it was good for him to just relax with Cody and let go of that. He said he had a lot of fun riding with me and he wouldn't mind doing it once a week...but I know that won't happen! I'll be lucky if I get him out once a month! He's got a lot to do and riding does take a lot of time out of that! But I'm glad he finally did it with me and saw what it was like so that next time I ask, he'll have that fun previous experience to draw on.

And we keep calling Cody 'his' horse, and he uses 'his' saddle on her, so that will probably help him too. He did tell me that he'd be more willing to ride with me if he doesn't have to do all the messing around with them before and after (which is the part I like to do anyway). I can tack up (which I want to do because I'm kind of particular about it when it's my horses) and call him when they are all ready to go and then he'll ride with me! Sounds like a good deal to me!

And the horses got to enjoy a nice roll in the sand when we got back! Cody accidently kicked Chico in the jaw in her exuberence with getting sand in all her cracks.

Pumpkin's moment in the spotlight

Saturday morning I rode again. I actually thought I would trim both Chico and Cody instead of ride, but Cody's hooves were not long enough to trim...to trim them would have just made them too short to ride on gravel roads. So instead, I decided to ride Cody again and take Pumpkin out to pony her along.

Pumpkin has been the topic of conversation lately as I try to convince D that maybe she needs a little pony mule to cart train instead of her paint mare (she's been working with her to pull a surrey). D expressed interest in her but both parties at her house need to be on board for that, and so far we are mostly just joking about Pumpkin being her future pony mule. But it did get me thinking, so today I rode down to D's house with Pumpkin in tow just to say hi, then continued on some trails before we went home and rode through the pond. Pumpkin was quite a good little girl. She is pretty fearless. We rode along the gravel highway with dumptrucks and a surprising amount of traffic today. Her only vices so far are just her inability to stand still (she wants to get into everything) and related to that, when we are standing still, she often tries to duck under Cody's head. I keep a tight hold on her, but she is so short that the rope needed to keep her head at a comfortable level is long enough to let her try to duck under Cody's head. Thankfully, she is very good when we are walking/trotting, for the most part keeping up with Cody well and staying at our side. And when she does get a bit too far ahead or behind, she responds well to a little tug on the leadrope. I was pleased with her.

Pumpkin is 5 years old this year. She is only halter-broke as far as I know, but I figure if I often take her out with me like this, and perhaps find a pony saddle for her, by the time Wren is old enough to ride, Pumpkin will be a seasoned leadline pony. And I do have neices and nephews that would probably like to ride her and play with her too. She just loves attention. She's always the first animal to greet you at the gate. She follows me around when she sees me with the fly spray bottle and I don't even have to catch her to spray her from tips of her ears to her fetlocks. She stand quite still for grooming because she loves it so much. She is pretty good about her feet, but she does think that she can walk away while you are trimming unless she is tied up pretty snug. She annoys me sometimes because she is so in-your-face, but she is very personable. She also gets along with the big horses really well. She knows how to interact and she also stands up for herself.

Big trail ride

This morning, I met up with D riding her sorrel paint mare, Bailey. D lives about 3/4 of a mile from our house. She brought along her next door neighbor C riding Jack, a sorrel morgan with a flaxen mane and tail. We also met up with B and J riding their Tennessee walkers Belle and Honey Doll down by the pond on my parent's land. Belle was enamored with C's gelding, Jack.

Look at those beautiful doe-eyes she kept making at him! Jack paid no attention and the 5 of us took off for a trail ride.

We rode a different way than we usually do, taking some trails on another property where I had permission to ride. We had to ride the road for just a short ways to get there.

The owner had just mowed the trails so they were wonderful to ride on. The main trail goes along a ridge-top where we had some beautiful views.

I bet you didn't picture this when you think of Wisconsin, eh? Shhh! It's the best kept secret! WI is absolutely beautiful where we live, but I definitely am not in love with the southern part of the state (flat, lots of ag, and too many people).

On the way back, we went back to the pond on my parent's land to see if the horses wanted to get their feet wet.

Bailey decided not so much.

The pond was where we ended our ride and I headed home. On my way back, I ran into Wren and her two grandmas! My mom was watching Wren while I rode, and Todd's mom stopped by to visit!

It was a really nice ride, and now I think the people I rode with are going to try to get in touch with the landowner to get permission to ride there themselves.