Wet saddle pads..a good sign after our short ride down to the Lake

Dunkin Donuts Cowgirl

wearing my Gus hat and new jacket

round pen and riding today on a beautiful day

 Roundnpen work with both horses then we saddled up for a ride down by the lake and back. Lots of things going on. Dogs barking and loose, met new neighbor horses. Woody and General Lee and goat,some trucks and 4 wheelers and no problems. Lady was a bit antsy but lots of flexes n one reins etc helped . Cody led most of the time and took turns with Lady on the way back. .

All in all we did great with all the things going on. Lady being gaited of course wants to move on out and it takes a bit to keep her slow. On the way out she did real good listening to me and paying attention. I had on problem at the T's drive way as I pulled in to let her rest. She thought Cody was leaving her behind...she had been leading and she3 kept wanting to jump the ditch and catch him plus backing up. so I had to do some flexing and one reins and moving around till she let me tell her what to do. She then walked out onto the driveway and followed Cody by the dogs and horses on the curve then we let her walk out leaving Cody in the dust so to speak. At the corner a truck was pulling out and she nicely pulled up for me and let him go and we proceeded down the road to home. She paid attention to me all the way home. I didn't think I'd be able to get off alone as my legs were shaking by now so Jim got off and moved her to the block and I surprised myself with a one sweep of the leg over and onto the block. Got on almost the same...with long jeans on yeah!
Anyway we loosened their saddles took them for a drink , tied them and gave them a treat and will go our in a bit. I think we spent 45 mins or so in the ring and an hour riding. real proud of them. LOL Cody was falling asleep and tripped over his own feet. Lady though was wide awake and very alert. Jim had Cody in a slow jog in the grass on the side of the rode coming home.

http://s151.photobucket.com/user/beachnut999/library/horses?sort=3&page=1

is the link that I hope works so that you can see the video's from this year of our ongoing training. I think so far I just have 1 under the sub file started as a few are upside down as we try to cope with taking them with the phone so they aren't posted.

Whenever the coral is dry Jim and I go out and practice. I am still fighting to get my confidence back but it's getting better and better each time I get on. I have switched to a Bozal or quick stop on Lady's bridle and she seems to be responding better. I am also still exaggerating my rein ques till we get used to it so that I do not hurt her nose.

There is no way I will ride in the mud for quite a time since it was MUD that sent me on my quick dismount,  Maybe when I am confident I will again. Lady being her marish self has persisted with refusing to turn on command which I found out from Amanda was my own fault as I was panicking and giving in teaching her to go ahead and do what she wanted. After we put the Bozal on everything changed....I didn't give up the pressure till she did what I wanted then immediately  gave her release.  It is getting better and better by the day.

Last night after it cooled down Jim and I went out again to the coral. He video taped me upside down...lol proving I can stay in my saddle. Lady seemed very happy to be out again and still testy but this time I kept correcting her and didn't do my "Oh Oh Oh I'm getting off" thingy. I breathed deep and kept on following Amanda's instructions, When she was near the fence and wouldn't move I gave her her cue and also a tap with my rein end which startled her and she turned away and picked up her feet. walking right out. I didn't panic but encouraged her this time which surprised her. I know they are bored in the coral but it has to be for a bit more then when I feel safe we will take them out and down the road. The goal is to be able to have them and me safe for the kids and maybe camping or at least a trail ride away from home.  They love to be out.

Practice, Practice, Practice

After suffering from back problems since January from a fall in the pasture and ongoing Spinal Stenosis I am finally free from pain...not that I do not ache and hurt  BUT it is not the constant burning pain that I had. It took about 6 weeks of therapy and ongoing therapy myself at home.

We had a mild Winter and lots of rain causing Dry Creek to be Wet Creek or Muddy Creek...take your choice. In March we went out and bought about 11 more round pen panels and added them to what we had making the West pasture into a riding coral. What is needed now are a few tons of sand similar to beach sand but sadly it has to wait till funds miraculously appear. This should solve the riding problem as even in Winter the sand will not turn to mud. At least that is the hope and dream.

Lat year was supposed to be my year for riding but it never happened and my courage and confidence went further South. When the pain set in so did depression and the thoughts of giving up. But I did rally bought a new saddle which has a higher pommel that kind of encloses me and a higher cantle which intimidates me LOL. It leaves the problem of throwing the leg over it.  Jim has rallied and made me a portable mounting block to take IF we camp or trail ride....big IF. Anyway I now have this miracle block in the coral allowing me to get on there instead of outside the fenced area by the barn then fighting her to get her in. It works wonders and by the time I get where I need to be I am not a nervous wreck. I mount, flex my horse and que her on. Yeah! AND I have had three sessions....successful ones now so about 3 hours under saddle this May. And oh how she has given her best to discourage me under saddle. On ground work I win and she does just what I want and seems to like it but once in the saddle it is like her saying" OK these are my feet and we go where I want".. The first two secessions she had me a nervous wreck fighting all left turns , wanting to stay with Cody or stay at the gate. I was begining to think it was her bit till friend and trainer Amanda Tidwell told me I was training her to do it by releasing the pressure on her.  Horses learn  from the release of pressure not the pressure itself ...so every time I gave in to her she figured that was what she should do...refuse. On the third day I put her in what is called a Bozal....no bit similar to the way an Indian would ride. Knowing this also could break her nose with bad pressure I have to exaggerate my turning and whoa till both of us are used to it. So there is no hard pull going on but to her surprise when she refused to turn left I held the pressure the same as when she refused to go right or turn away from Cody...thus by the end of the session she was turning and doing what I wanted not what she wanted.

Sadly it rained off and on making it to muddy to ride off and on now for the weekend so she has gotten three days of rest. I need to get back on and continue my confidence course.

We also took landscape ties and cones and set up obstacle courses in the coral which I have found she loves to do and Jim worked Cody and I worked Lady at the same time. Thus she has to keep her attention on me not him which she did. Yeah! I figure if I can get at least two weeks doing this I might feel confident to jog then lope. Jim took her one of the days she was giving me greif to see if it was her or me. She gave him trouble but he stayed on and kept up the pressure then he went into a jog and kissed and a lope it was awesome she was so very smooth and he hardly ever left the saddle, so I am looking forward to that experience.

Goal is to get them ready and me ready LOL so that the kids can ride them in the coral this Summer when they visit. Also it would be cool to go camping with them. I think the horses will love the experience as both love trail riding.

Cathing up

Ok OK I know it was November 2012 for my last post. No Excuse except I just forget to post.  Then Winter on the ranch can be very boring. Not that we do not have work we have lots of it and this year lots of cold, lots of rain and lots and lots of mud. I think this has been the worst for mud.

We pulled the shoes off the kids in December and just now had the farrier out. Ricky came out last Friday and trimmed and rolled Lady's hooves..hoofs whatever LOL. We'll be back on 6-8 weeks now and probably put shoes on "once" the mud goes away.

Lets see what is new here. Jim had his second knee replaced on Feb. 4th and is now doing great. Five days in the hospital and a week in the Rehab hospital and is now going to outpatient rehab three times a week. Like the last one he is recuperating nicely.

I took over AM and PM feedings and we now have hay feeders and heated water buckets in the barn which means they hang in the barn more and means I also have to muck out the barn two to three times a day, plus haul 2 5 gal buckets of water to the barn. Lots and lots of work but I like it better knowing they will pretty much stay in the barn during real bad weather. They seem to appreciate the work their Dad did building it.

He did get a little more done upstairs at least framed and two walls are covered with plywood and Tyvec and hopefully in a few weeks the other will have plywood and Tyvec and the back wall just Tyvec..this is because it will eventually be the entrance to the other room which comes when we do the second have of the barn....which I hope is this Spring. I can't wait to have it completed. I love barns.

I opened the other pasture for a few hours the other day to let them have some grass and dry land to walk on. The were so happy each one took time to roll  and take a nap and while they did I opened the shuttered windows in the barn to air out and I completely mucked out all three stalls. Cut sown their nite feed to a handful since they had grass well I wouldn't call it grass more forage as it hasn't grown much over the winter..but it's green tufts and a change for them. They are only getting a tiny time their for now.

Christmas was pretty nice this year we did exchange a few gifts..we usually do not as we have everything LOL. I had my friend Amanda who works at the coop come out with two saddles to try on Lady and bought one for Christmas for myself. Lady has a very small back, is gaited (when she wants) and is a hard fit. Settled on a beauty two toned gaited saddle with a big pommel and higher cantle. It will be a challenge for me to get up into it but it is comfortable and I think I will have more confidence with the close contact of that pommel. It fits her too which was a big plus. She was so good when we tried them on her over and over ...like us trying on shoes LOLIf I didn't know better I'd say she was enjoying every minute and loved her new saddle.

I had one bad episode just before Jim went to the hospital. I was in the pasture trying to break up a tree limb when suddenly I found myself flat on my back . Somehow slipped I guess and wnet flat on my back hitting my head really bad. I was dizzy and had a headache for a few days so I went to the ER for a Catscan and x-rays. I was afraid of fluid on the brain..even though I wasn't sure I had a brain. Good news no injury and  I do have a brain. I was so worried of the head that I didn't pay any attention to the rest of my body and it was less than a week I realized.  that I was having trouble in my left side leg and hip area that is still continuing so when Jim goes in for his next check I have an appointment to have an xray as I am thinking it could be another replacement needed this time on my left side.

The end of next week we are going to have our grandson (Jims) come for a visit and to help Jim. He's one kid I do not mind coming as he really is a pleasure and help. So we are both looking forward to the visit and hope he comes again for a bit this summer. I hope to have the kids ready to ride too.