Trail Competition

So this year Chief and I are planning to broaden our horizons.  Well I'm planning to broaden our horizons, Chief is just along for the ride, ready or not.  First, we got an English saddle and are working on jumping.  We are up to 18" which is kind of a big deal for me.  Now, I need to work on my seat and get myself together, because Chief is certainly able to go higher... But that's another day's blog.

Today is about competition trail riding.  As you know, Chief and I do a lot of trail riding and one of the things I love about him is his calm demeanor, even in potentially scary situations.  You encounter all sorts of spooky things on the trail, and Chief is typically more calm than me, which works out well.  I do the worrying and get us out of bad situations, and Chief trusts me to get us out of there.  We make a good team.

So this year, when a fellow barnmate suggested that we do a competition trail ride, I was all about it.  If you are unaware, competition trail rides, are rides about 6-8 miles long (untimed) and along the course are obstacles that you are judged and timed on.  These obstacles can be something simple like navigating up or down an embankment.  Or, something kind of scary like a wall of streamers.  The obstacles are meant to simulate challenges that you often encounter on a trail.  They are judged on how well you and your horse navigate the challenge.  Does your horse flip out, and not complete the challenge?  Or does he walk calmly through it?  That kind of thing.  For more info, check out the ACTHA website:  www.actha.us.  They have a complete list of obstacles, and a list of rides all over the country.

So, yesterday, we had our first practice and I'd say it went rather well.  We thankfully have the advantage of an indoor arena.  This made our practice possible with the 6"+ of snow still on the ground.  What was great about it was that there was snow melting off the roof and running down the sides which made for an added element of fun.  But, our horses being the good trail horses they are, didn't seem to mind too much.

I apologize as I didn't take pictures of our set up because I was just having too much fun.  But, we set up a wall of streamers, a rescue, a gate, pulling an object, a Spanish pole, and backing through an L.  I had done some of these challenges before, but some were also new.  Chief struggled on the streamers at first, but ended up doing that quite nicely by the end.  He is also not a fan of backing in the L.  He hates giving the hindquarters which is something I am now going to focus on.

Giving on the hindquarters means when I put pressure behind the girth on the right side, he should take his hind right foot and cross it over the left.  He should do this with little prompting, but, it usually take the crop back there to wake up that hind end.  So this move on both the left and right will be our new focus for now.  This will also set us up to learn how to do a sidepass.  A sidepass is where the horse takes both the front and back legs and crosses them over the opposite side, respectively.  It is a dressage move that will get you extra points in competition trail riding.  So, all the more reason to practice this.

If you would like to try some of these obstacles, it can be done fairly easily and cheaply.  Our wall of streamers was skinny pvc pipe as the sides, and a string at the top.  The streamers hung from the string.  And we taped the pvc pipe to two jump stanchions to hold it up right.  Pulling an item from behind, we tied a rope to a jump rail and pulled it behind us.  The rescue was a dummy made from old clothes and hay.  You simply dismount, put the dummy on the horse, remount and ride off.  I say "simply."  We made the L for the backing challenge with jump poles.  More ideas can be found on the ACTA website and of course my favorite, Pinterest.

I hope that we make it to our first trail challenge in March.  We are still working out the details.  But, should we make it, I'll be sure to give you the update.  Wish us luck!

In the meantime enjoy some pictures from our recent snowfall.

 I wanted to walk out to the VT jump, but, Chief was not a fan of the crunchy snow.  I figured it wasn't worth it.  So we walked around the pond instead.

Ain't Chief just a cutie?

Happy trails ya'll!

3 Things to Do When it's Too Cold to Ride

In case you've been living under a rock lately, I'll inform you that it's been super cold all over the country.  And when I say super cold, I'm talking single digit high's and negative double digit lows as far south as the sleepy town of Blacksburg, VA.  This is cold folks and weather this cold is quite honestly dangerous for you and your horse to ride in.

The ground is frozen, and makes for bad footing, and should they get sweaty and wet, you can increase their chances of getting too cold.  In addition, if you go out and ride in these conditions you have a chance for a case of frost bite.  I love my horse and all, but I prefer to keep all my fingers and toes.

So, what does one do when it's too cold to ride?  Here are my suggestions.

1.  Clean Tack
You are bored, take your tack inside and clean the stuff.  And as long as it is as cold as it is for as long as it is, clean ALL of your tack.  Yes, all those extra pieces of tack that you don't even use, those need to be oiled too!  I like Neatsfoot oil.  If you need to buy some, try here:  http://www.horse.com/item/lexol-nf-neatsfoot-leather-dressing/BPL07/.   But what's great about Neatsfoot oil, is that it hydrates the leather and prolongs the life of the leather.  You just poor some on a cloth and rub in.  If you have stiff leather, use this oil, and work the leather (as much as you can handle) and it will loosen up.  If it's really bad, feel free to soak your leather in oil overnight, that will also help.  If you don't like the oil, Lexol makes all kinds of great products to clean and protect your saddle, bridle, and various other pieces of tack.

2. Do some research
We all like to ride and we can all benefit from learning more about riding.  No one knows everything about horses, and there isn't one magical solution for creating the perfect horse.  One of my favorite publications is Equus  (http://www.equisearch.com/magazines/equus/).  They have good all around information about horse health and riding tips.  I also like Horse & Rider which is a little more Western geared (http://www.equisearch.com/magazines/horse-and-rider/).  Check out this website for all kinds of great information on horses:  http://www.discoverhorses.com/.

4. Go to a clinic
Since you can't ride, go watch someone else do the riding and training.  One of my favorite trainers is Clinton Anderson.  He is very pragmatic and easy to follow (http://www.downunderhorsemanship.com/).  If he is coming to your area soon, you can even submit your horse to be a demo horse.  Great way to get a day or two of training!

There are also often smaller named trainers all over the country, seek them out and see what winter clinics they may be offering and go watch.  It is always great to see another perspective on problem areas that we all experience.  Chase Dodd used to be in my area, but there are others out there like him.  If you happen to be in TN/GA/AL, check him out:  http://www.chasedodd.com/

3. Plan a horsey trip
I often get the winter time blues, so I have found that if I have something to look forward to, my current condition doesn't seem so bad.  Since Chief and I mostly do trail riding, check out http://www.equitrekkingtravel.com/deals.  They have all kinds of suggestions of where you can take your own horse, or travel to other places and ride their horses.

So, best of luck to you in the frigid temperatures.  Take care of yourself and your horse and make the best out of this cold season.  Remember there are just 49 days until spring!

Chief and I snuck a little trail ride in the other day... the ground was a mess... but this was one of the better spots!


 

Welcome Back!

So, you may have noticed I've been on hiatus.  I know, I'm a bad blogger... But, my excuse is that I moved to Virginia.  So I moved 8 months ago, who's counting?  What can I say, I got out of the habit of blogging and sure enough, it took me awhile to pick it back up.  

So, we moved to Blacksburg, VA which is in southwest Virginia for those of you who are unfamiliar.  It also happens to be home of the Virginia Tech Hokies, my alma mater.  So it is kind of like moving home, just not back in with the parents.  Chief of course came with me.  Luckily for me, I paid my rent in college by working at a horse barn.  Therefore, it was really easy to find a place to keep Chief.  He is now at Paris Mountain Stables which has a nice big arena, indoor arena, and of course plenty of trails.  

So while I have not been blogging, I have been riding as much as possible with all the rain we've had this summer.  So, without going on about all of the details, I figure I'll fill you in with pictures.  I've also discovered Instagram in this time, so you can search my pictures there with #happytrails.  American Paint Horse Association has also started a hashtag if you will and I've also been using their's, #aphaview.

Check it out!

Seriously?

So trail riding folks I've been cheating on you... that's right, I've been riding English.  I know, I know, I can't believe it either but I have this dream of turning Chief into an Eventer.  No he doesn't like stadium jumping or dressage, but he could be good at cross country.  One out of three ain't bad right?

Well my foray into jumping has been a bumpy ride.  My In-Laws have an old English saddle that they've let me take over because no one has ridden in it except for me in the past 10 years or so.  But since no one has been in it, the leather is a bit warped and was painful to ride in.  So I worked out the leather with Neastfoot Oil and made it slightly more comfortable and with a pair of chaps, it's not so bad.  But then my stirrup leathers were too long so I got the hubs to put another hole in them and now they fit right.  So I thought on Monday when I went up to ride that I was finally set in my English saddle.

It started out good enough we spent some time in the arena working on transitions and leads.  And the leads are getting better, I am happy to report.  Then we went down to the lower arena because some jumps were set up and we went over a couple of those cleanly (maybe not pretty) but clean.  I felt Chief getting tired so I took him around the pastures.  As we were headed for home, I signaled for the right lead and he picked up the left so I pulled back on the reins to slow him down.  We were headed for home so it was a little tougher to slow him down than normal, when all of a sudden my left foot fell right out from underneath me.  Now this could have been catastrophic but I was able to grab my seat easy enough.  I looked down at my stirrup and most of it was gone.  That's right gone.  Seriously?  Did the stirrup iron just break?  I looked down again to double check.  The stirrups are breakaway stirrups so I thought maybe the rubber band just broke, but no it was the iron itself that had snapped in two.  So we retraced our steps and I was able to find the stirrup so I jumped off, which was a sight without the left stirrup, and picked it up.  Of course there was no riding back since my left stirrup was gone but it was a short walk back to the barn.  When I got back, I took this picture.

So yes, this can happen and apparently it happens to me.  I think someone might be trying to tell me something but I'm going to ignore it and go get a new set of stirrup irons.  The moral of the story folks is learn to ride without being dependent on your stirrups, you never know when you might loose one...

Happy Trails!

Falling in to Winter

This week in east Tennessee was a warm one.  Today's high was around 68 degrees which is pretty darn warm even for this area.  In fact, today was our local Christmas parade and I can remember every other year I've been here it has been bitterly cold and I've not wanted to go.  I didn't realize the parade was today otherwise I might have gone, but then I would have missed excellent riding weather.  And one can't miss excellent riding weather this time of year.  The fall is coming to a close and we are headed in to winter.  We've been blessed with mild temperatures so far but everyone is calling for a cold winter this year because last year was mild.  So, I'm going to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.

Earlier this week Chief and I hit the trails on our own.  We took the Creek trail to connect up to Pumpkin Patch Hill.  Chief was being lazy on the uphill per usual and I kept having to urge him on.  But as we made it to the top of the hill we then cut across to Rocky Top trail.  There is a nice flat spot for cantering through the first part so I took the opportunity to try out asking for the right lead.  Yes, we are still working on leads and though Chief has gotten much better, he still isn't consistent.  I'm also trying to make my signals less obvious. Right now I am holding his head to the left hard and using the inside right leg hard to signal a right lead and while it is effective, if I were in a show ring it would be pretty ugly.  So, we are working on consistency and being a little more subtle.  Midway through the Rocky Top trail you have to cross the gravel road which gives you a nice view of the area.  The picture below is of the little pond and in the distance is a little white building.  That building is a church that you pass on the drive up to the barn.  This time of year with the leaves all down, you really can see for some distance.

   From there we headed back down towards the Submarine trail.  There are some nice flat spots to canter here as well.  But we had to stop and take in the view of the creek as it really was a nice afternoon.

There are a lot of new trees down, luckily most of them have fallen away from the trail rather than on it.  But you can see this tree has made it into the creek.  I guess we've had our share of inclement weather recently which brings the trees down.  From the Submarine trail Chief and I headed up the short route home towards the other ponds rather than the Creek trail.  Prior to hitting the trail, we had spent a little time in the arena so I knew Chief was getting a bit tired.  So I thought the short route home would be a good idea.  It was a nice little ride and we added some time to the log book.

Til next time, happy trails!

3 Alternate Uses For Your Riding Crop

People ask me why I carry a crop when I go trail riding.  Aside from the obvious answer, I have a lazy horse that often needs encouragement to go faster, there are a couple of other reasons I take the crop along.

Use 1:  Fly Swatter
In the summer time, the flies and gnats can be really annoying for both Chief and me so I carry a crop as a fly swatter.  For me, when the gnats keep flying around my face, I swish it around my shoulders, bouncing from one shoulder to the other and back.  This keeps those little buggers from buzzing around my ears.  Also, Chief is plagued by those sweat flies that like to attack his ears.  I put plenty of bug spray on but he sweats and then its all over, enter the flies.  So, I use the crop to brush the flies off of his ears so he doesn't have to shake his head so much.  WARNING:  Be sure to desensitize your horse to the crop so you don't spook him by touching his ears on a ride.  As I get close to the barn, while we are cooling off after a long ride, I do weird stuff while in the saddle to try and throw Chief off.  Since he's tired this a great time to do funky stuff like run the crop over his hind end, over his ears, shift around a lot in the saddle, etc.  This gets your horse used to you not sitting prim and proper so if something spooks him or you, he won't be thrown off by you wiggling around.  It's also good in case kids ever ride your horse, gets them used to the unexpected.

Use 2:  Trail Clearer
Trails are always a work in progress in that there are often trees across the trail or bushes grow and enter the trail space.  These branches and bushes are sometimes hard to grab while riding so I use a crop to push the branches out of my way.  This can be helpful especially while going faster than a trot and keeps you from getting scraped up.

Use 3:  Brier Remover
Just like bushes and trees, briers often take over the trail especially in the summer.  Since chaps aren't a possibility in the summer, (just because its too hot) getting briers off the trail before they get to you can be a big deal.  Those briers hurt and typically will go through a pair of jeans so having a crop on the trail to push those aside keeps you from getting scraped up.

So, on your next trail ride take a crop along and have it handy for multiple uses. The crop you choose to use is also important.  I have a red one so in case I drop it, it is easy to find.  Those English black ones blend in to the scenery so having one a different color like red will stand out if you drop it.  Of course use the little wrist let on the end, but crazy things happen sometimes.

Happy Trails!

3 Baby Products to Use On Your Horse

After working at a dude ranch, a boarding barn, and now being a horse owner, I've come across some products that you may have in your home that can be used around the barn too.  Turns out a few baby products are very useful in the horse world.

Product 1:  Baby powder
Got a creaky saddle?  Put baby powder under the skirt of your western saddle to eliminate that creaky noise.  Its a very simple technique, all you have to do is apply liberally.  This works for several months at a time.  If the noise comes back, just reapply.

Product 2:  Desitin
Desitin is used to eliminate diaper rash most commonly, but it has another use for pink nosed horses.  Horses like Chief that have a pink nose often suffer from sunburn in the summer.  Get a tube of Desitin and apply liberally to the nose.  This product is packed with zinc so it soothes sores that occur from sunburn.  And the zinc also acts as as sunscreen to product the skin from further damage.  The smell isn't fun for the horse, but they get over it just like using any other product on them.

Product 3:  Baby Oil
This one is one of my favorites.  For those of us with gelding horses, sheath cleaning is a chore that we don't really like all that much.  So to lengthen the time between sheath cleanings, when your horse is "hanging out" squirt some baby oil on his manly part.  The oil lubricates the area and helps to keep it clean thereby lengthening the time between cleanings.  I do this every couple of months or when I happen to notice Chief is hanging out.  Every horse is different in the frequency of sheath cleanings.  I've known some horse owners to clean once a month and others once a year.  Chief usually avoids any problems with a cleaning twice a year with baby oil in between cleanings.  Try it out and see what works for you.

Got any other products that we use in our daily lives that gets taken to the barn?  Feel free to share.

Fall Trails

Well today was a most beautiful day in south east Tennessee so Chief and I decided to hit the trails.  The sun was shining, it was kind of cool but mostly warm, and the leaves were changing.

We started off on the Creeks trail and headed up Pumpkin Patch hill were I took this shot just looking straight up.  Chief had gotten tired of walking up the hill and took a little break.  I thought he was stopping to poo as he often does, but he was up to his trickery and was just pausing for a short little rest.  As long as he was resting, I figured I could take advantage of it.
As we headed up the hill, we then stopped at a little spot on the trail I call Inspiration Point.  There is a short trail that leads to the top of a rock outcropping and its got a nice little view.

The leaves looked amazing with the sun shining down on them.  So since Chief was being lazy, we hung out there for a minute.  Then it was on to the Big Pond.   I love the big pond this time of year.  The quickest way to the pond via trail (not gravel road) has a big tree across it so its impassable, so we took the long way.  The long way consists of going down the hill to go back up and around down to the pond.  I discovered today, this way has a few trees across it too.  I honestly haven't been on that part of the trail for a long time, but we made it around none the less.  As we went down to the pond it was apparent no one else had used this trail in awhile as it was hard to make it onto the pond trail for all of the briars.  But, we four wheeled our way through.  The Big Pond trail is nice and flat and clear so we took a nice little gallop around the pond.  I might add here that Chief is doing excellent in picking up the correct leads.  For those working on correct leads, all I can say is you must be consistent and keep at it, they will eventually come around.

We stopped to take a good picture at the pond.  Chief was looking back at me like "Can't we go already?"  Silly horse...
From here we cut across the Strawberry Fields devoid of strawberries this time of year and ended up on the Rocky Top trail.  We then cut down to the Creeks Trail which I had planned to take us home.  However, there was a large black snake that disagreed with this route.  He was about 4 feet long and was across the trail.  While he was just a black snake, I really didn't want Chief to be bitten by a snake and then forever be scared of every stick that looks like a snake.  So, we turned around and took the trail between the little ponds home.  As most of you know, black snakes are good snakes, they are non-poisonous and they eat other snakes.  Anything that gets rid of snakes, even if it is a snake, is a good creature in my mind.  So I thought it best to let him be.  We could have tried to sneak by him, but he really was pretty much the width of the trail and I saw no reason to chance getting bitten.  Chief is appreciative I'm sure.  Although I'm pretty sure he thought that snake was just a stick...

So it was an eventful ride, but it was a pretty one, and we had a nice day.  After the ride, I decided Chief needed a bath and since this is liable to be one of the last pretty days of the year I decided to take advantage of it and give him a bath.  It was a spa day for him as he also got his toes painted and mane and tail combed.  Ahhh to be a horse...

Til next time!

Happy Trails Photos

Great news!  A couple of the photos from this blog made the poster and calendar for the American Paint Horse Association.  How cool is that?  Chief is now famous!  Chief made the insert in the month of July

He's down at the bottom corner there.  And then he also made the poster.

He is right under the "2013 APHA Calendar," its another ear shot from the trail. If you want to get a copy of this gorgeous calendar, you can do so by checking out APHA's website:  http://store.apha.com/search?q=calendar.

Til next time!

I'm back!

So I took a little hiatus from blogging, not to say I wasn't loving what I was doing, just that I had to focus on finishing school.  Between work, a social life, 2 classes, and of course the horse, something had to give and it was the blog.  So please accept my apologies and rejoice in the fact that I am back at it!

So Chief and I went out for a nice 2 hour long ride today.  It was an awesome day, nice and overcast with a great breeze so it wasn't heinously hot.  This is very uncharacteristic for Tennessee in August, but I'm certainly not complaining.  Chief and I started out on the new trail which goes through the woods so we were nice and shaded.  We've also had quite a bit of rain recently and with the heat there were mushrooms all over the place.  There were so many different varieties but this one was a brilliant red so I thought I'd share it.

 Chief was feeling awful frisky at this point in the trail so I thought we better make it a long ride today to wear him out.  So we made it back to the creek trail and took the hill up to what is normally the pumpkin patch.  So imagine my surprise when we saw all the corn.  It was as tall as we were!

From there we headed down to the big pond to work on leads.  Yes, Chief and I are still struggling with the left and right leads.  I say struggling because he often picks up the incorrect lead, but overall, I would say he is getting better at it.  He strongly favors that left lead so when it doubt that is what he picks up.  But, I keep working on him to get more comfortable on the right side.  So every time he picks up the incorrect lead, I bring him back to the trot and ask again.  I repeat this process until he finally picks up the correct lead.  Of course being on the trails we sometimes have to take a break while we navigate a hill or rocky spot so I think this slows the learning process down.  I personally don't mind this because trail riding is way more interesting than the ring.  So if we are slow learners then so be it.  At least we have great scenery.  Once we took a lap around the pond, we went over to Big'ens to ride around in the nice open field again to work on leads.

For those of you unaware, the Eastern time zone meets the Central time zone on the eastern side of Tennessee where Chief just so happens to live.  This makes things confusing when you check your cell phone because it often pings off the Central towers so its helpful to have a watch or set the phone so it doesn't automatically change.  But this cute little sign its right at Big'ens place.  Big'en has a brother who is called Little'en.  Rightly so, the bigger of the two is Little'en...

Overall it was a beautiful day, the weather was warm but not too hot, and the creeks were full.  Chief was a good boy and wasn't too bad with his leads.  I couldn't ask for much more on an August trail ride!

Strawberry Fields

Last week Chief and I went all over the farm.  The weather was pretty perfect so we took a good two hour trail ride.  Chief is a registered Paint Horse so we are members of the APHA and we participate in the Ride America program.  Since we started in 2008 (I think) we've got somewhere around 200 total hours.  So far this year with last week's ride we have 17 hours and 15 minutes.  That isn't too bad considering I work full time and also have school part time...  But I always want more time, maybe come July when I am done with school the hours will start racking up...  

This week we started out on the cow pasture trail.

This was the same trail we lost a shoe on, but there hasn't been much rain so it was less muddy and we made it out with all 4 shoes!  We continued on the cow pasture trail and Chief was feeling spunky.  There are some great places to canter on this trail, so we were letting loose.  As we came around a turn, I saw a new limb that was hanging over the side of the trail.  We were going pretty fast and I thought we could make it under and to the side of it... we didn't...  I clipped my knee on the branch that really didn't give.  Ouch!!  I said a few loud obscenities, but no one was around to hear.  I could feel my knee had been scraped up and I could tell it was going to bruise.  No need to roll up my jeans and inspect, just another war wound of being a rider.  We then headed back towards the creek trail but rather than go left we went right toward the Submarine trail.  I was just thinking about how lately Chief and I hadn't had any moments of where he refused to go forward.  I also realized it was because we hadn't taken a long trail in awhile.  So as we started to take the long way Chief began to refuse, but with a little encouragement from the whip, he walked right on.  Whew, no major fight today.  We then headed up the hill to the strawberry fields.  It is a little early in the season, but I thought it would be fun to go check them out and see how they are coming along.

Good news, the strawberries are coming in just fine.  I may have had to sample the product just to be sure :).  I can't wait for the Hughes family to start selling the big bushels of strawberries.  I love this time of year, fresh fruit and a little bit later fresh vegetables.  It is so much fun to buy your food right from the farmers that grew it.  I always buy from their stand right off of Highway 111.  But if you are in the area, the Hughes family is always at the Chattanooga Market on Sundays, go see them!  And the market starts tomorrow!

From here, we went down to the big pond.  I love that big pond.

It is so pretty down here and its nice and flat so there are a lot of great places to run.  So, we took a tour around the pond.

We then headed back up the hill towards the strawberry fields but took the Pumpkin Patch hill trail home.  Chief was tired at the end, but it was a great ride.  

Til next time!

The Right Lead!

Have I mentioned how much I love Daylight Savings Time?  No, well let me tell you, I freaking LOVE Daylight Savings Time!  Tonight Chief and I went for a nice 30 minute ride and it didn't even start to get real dark until 8:00 pm, that's right folks 8:00 pm.  Its just wonderful, I don't even have to sneak out of work early to catch the daylight.

So tonight Chief and I started on the new, new trail but instead of going left towards the jumps, we went right to shorten the ride.  Once Chief realized we were taking the short route, he got fired up.  It had been unseasonably warm (not that I'm complaining) and was starting to cool off, and on top of that, it was nearly feeding time.  So Chief thought he'd be a spicy meatball.  We starting tearing up the hills, and holding him back hard down the hills.  But since he was feeling so good, I decided to try and signal him for the right lead.

For those unfamiliar with the gaits of horses, there are essentially 3 gates, walk, trot, canter.  When a horse canters, they will lead with either the left or right front leg.  And in the show world, you always have a horse lead with the inside leg.  So this is a big deal if you show, not so much if you trail ride.  However, a horse can over develop the muscles on one side or the other if you only cater on one lead.  So, it is best to have your horse canter on both the right and left leads.  Just like people, horses can be right or left handed if you will and they will favor one side over the other.  Chief is left handed.  So left handed in fact, it is really hard to get him to canter on the right side.  We have been working on this for years...  We have worked in the ring, we tried what Clinton Anderson told us, we tried it all.  Ultimately, my training method was to let him pick which lead he wanted (usually the left) and signal him with that lead (right leg behind the girth, left leg at the girth).  On occasion, when his left side would get tired, he'll pick up the right lead and that is when I would signal to him the right lead (left leg behind the girth, right leg at the girth).  This truly has never worked until today.  Chief is a smart horse, and also a lazy horse.  So while he knows what to do, he's too lazy to use the right lead.  Or at least I was never sure if he knew the difference between right and left leads.  But today, since Chief was all sorts of spicy, he was more willing to pick up the right lead.  So I signaled for the right lead 3 times and sure enough, all 3 times, he picked it up!  This deserved lots of verbal praise and lots of patting on the neck.  I was so proud!  I then signaled a left lead and mixed it up with the right lead and he was picking them up right every time.  So, now that he knows the difference, and I know, he knows the difference, he's going to have to do this every time.  From now on, if he picks up the wrong lead, I'll bring him down to a trot and then back up to the canter until he picks up the correct lead.  Now the hard part for me will be to consistent with this.  But that is the only way he'll get better.  Reminder to self...

So we finished up the ride by taking the Creek Trail back up to the barn.  We finished up just before the sun started to go down.

It was a great evening and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  Chief even got an extra treat, not that he needed it... but he was a good boy today so he deserved it.

By the way, should you have suggestions about any training topics, feel free to comment on what has worked for you.  I'm always open to good ideas!

Weeknight Rides

So it is staying light enough just late enough that I can squeeze in an evening ride.  So tonight, Chief and I went for a short trail ride.  He was a ball of fire this afternoon.  I'm not sure if he knew it was almost feeding time or if the Vet gave him some extra good shots today, but Chief was a big old ball of energy.  I had to hold him back quite a bit, but we did lots of cantering and had a good old time.

The Vet came up to the barn today and Chief got his yearly shots.  You know the normal rabies, west nile, Coggins, and the like.  For those of you that show and or travel a bit with your horse, you know that a Coggins test is a must every year.  It was also time for teeth floating.  For those unaware, every so often, horses need to have their teeth floated to grind down sharp points on their teeth.  Of course this must be done by a Vet and they have to be sedated slightly to have it done.  But it had been about 4 years since the last time Chief had this done, so he was a little overdue.  If you don't float your horses teeth as needed, it will become painful to chew and your horse will often loose more gain than he gets.  Or, if it becomes bad enough he won't eat enough or at all.  So be sure to have that done every couple of years.  It depends on the horse how often this should be done, but consult your Vet if you're unsure.

And did you know that this Sunday the time changes?  I'm so excited I can barely contain myself!  Some people don't like that we loose an hour of sleep, but I love it because we gain an hour of day light.  That leaves plenty of time in the evening to take a decent trail ride.  So I'm looking forward to more evenings on the trail!  Spring is on its way!

Runaway Horse Part II

So our last ride was another run away ride.  We went out again with T., double trouble A. and A. and with Chase Dodd our resident trainer and ferrier.  Chief was following again and well he was rather bad... But I kept to my guns keeping him back which led to lots of bucking but I held on and we made it through the ride.  I got to take a few pointers by observation from Chase.  He was on a two year old (who behaved better than Chief) that wanted to run up behind the horse in front of her too.  Chase kept side passing her whenever she wanted to take off.  What a great idea!  He kept her feet moving and kept her mind off of the horse in front of her. It worked really well for him.  Now, if only Chief and I could side pass... Something to work on right?  So every time Chief saw the horses take off in front of him, I would hold him back and he would buck.  And he was a bit more ripe than usual.  But the good news was that you knew what to expect and when to expect it making it easier to hang on.  By the end of the ride he had calmed down pretty well.  Thankfully as I've mentioned before Chief lacks stamina.  But it shouldn't have to be that in order to get a well behaved horse, you have to wear them out.  So, next time I decide to do some training, we'll work on side passing.  I can get him to cross over nicely in front, but not the back.  I'll have to get Chase to show me how to teach Chief how to do that.

Chase Dodd is the mastermind behind SOS Horsemanship, check out his website:  http://www.Soshorsemanship.com.  So for those that have a trouble horse, young horse, or are interested in clinics, you'll have to check him out.  He is also a great ferrier!

So sorry there are no pictures from this ride, my hands were rather busy the whole time.  I plan to go out tomorrow though and I'll take some pictures for you then.  It should be good weather!

The Black Coyote

Well folks, I have to apologize I've been slacking on the blog posts.  What can I say, is I've been busy.  And busy does include riding which is always a good thing.  Chief and I ventured out a couple of weeks ago on our own.  After our recent "I don't like to follow" episode it was a nice relaxing ride.  As we were leaving the barn there was some chatter about a black coyote.  Most everyone had seen this coyote except for me.  Well that is just no fun!  So as I headed out, I hope I would see this elusive coyote.

It was an overcast day but rather warm if I remember correctly (this is the problem with not blogging often enough).  I hadn't been out to the big pond in quite some time so I decided to go out that way.  I took the creek trail up to pumpkin patch hill to the pumpkin patch.  But instead of going straight through there is a little unnamed side trail that is nice and flat and fun to cater on.  So we took it and then went to the pumpkin patch.  Of course this time of year the fields are clear but I can't wait until the spring when the strawberries will start to come in at the adjacent field.  We then took the gravel road down to the pond.

It was awful wet through here, but we kept going around the pond nonetheless.

You can tell the sun kept trying to peek out.  And it was so warm and nice in that sunshine.  But when the clouds came through and the wind blew, there was just a touch of cold.  I imagine Chief was loving the breeze because he was getting hot with all his winter fur.  We kept on around the pond and stirred up a little duck.  Scared us both to death.  But good 'ol Chief he jumped sideways but then kept on.  Hey, I jumped too, can't blame the horse!

As you head up the hill toward the barn, Chief likes to go into an all out gallop, so we hauled A up the hill toward the peach trees.  We then took the Rocky Top trail that connects to the Submarine trail.  As we were heading down the Rocky Top Trail just before you get to Bowater, there he was... The black coyote.  He was running away from us and I just caught a glimpse of him.  But speak of the devil there he was.  I definitely wasn't quick enough to take a picture of him, but that would have been great!  So as I calmed down from my excitement, we kept on the trail to the Submarine trail.  This area affords for some great cantering as well.  Now, is a great time to mention too that Chief is getting much better about picking up the right lead.  That has been something I've been half working on for some time, and we are just now getting better at it.  It would help if I worked on it harder but I am out there for fun you know...

After the Submarine trail, we crossed the gravel road to the creek trail and played in them for just a bit.  Chief was rather sweaty.  As we meandered down, we ran into A. and A. as they were headed out.  We said our hellos and headed back toward the barn.  All in all it was a great ride.  Til next time!

Runaway Horse!

So last weekend, Chief and I hit the trails with Double Trouble A. and A. and another cohort T.  So we had a nice little group.  Chief is often extra excitable when we ride with so many horses but this day he was super excited.  Not only were we out with his arch competitor Dandy, but we also hadn't ridden in two weeks.  Remember how I said I wasn't going to do that again?  Well life happens, what can you do? 

It was a super foggy, gray, chilly day, but it was warm enough to ride so we went out.  We all like the new, new trail so we decided to do that one again.  I was in the back which is good for Chief, he needs to learn how to follow.  He's a great leader, but great leaders need to be good followers too!  Right away Chief wanted to stay on the behind of Kris.  I find this bad manners so I kept asking him to slow down but Chief wasn't up much for listening.  There's all these horses and we haven't been out in awhile and it's all so exciting!!  At least for Chief...  You'll notice there are no pictures from this trip.  Well folks, my hands were full of reins so I wasn't able to get any shots so you'll have to excuse this post. 

I tried lots of different things to absolve this situation.  It is very helpful that while Chief will come out of the gate strong, he lacks in stamina.  So after a couple of big hills, Chief was much easier to keep off of Kris's rear.  But, I kept thinking "What would Clinton Anderson do?"  Clinton has a lot of great sayings like "Move Your Feet" and "Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard."  So I kept repeating these in my head.  So, first I tried pulling back on the reins and when Chief would give in the mouth and slow even a tiny bit, I would release the pressure.  Of course as soon as I released the pressure, he would speed up again.  So when my arms started getting tired, I decided to serpentine him whenever the trail was flat enough.  At this point I was thinking, "move your feet."  He was sooo excited so if I directed his feet where to go, I thought maybe he would slow down.  That didn't work so well.... So next I tried make the wrong thing hard, so every time we got too close to Kris, I would do tight circles, this is also good for "move your feet."  That seemed to help the most.  So the plan became, ask him nicely with the reins to slow down.  If he didn't listen after three tries, do two circles.  And repeat, and repeat, and repeat.  Most importantly, I added lots of praise when Chief was doing good and keeping his distance.  Also, if he automatically slowed down when Kris did, he got event more praise.  That is what a good follower does.  He sees the horse in front of him slow down so he does too, rather than running up on his butt.  Yeah, that's a dangerous situation...  Thank you to Kris for being a good boy and not kicking the snot out of Chief (though he deserved it).

By the end of the ride, I felt like we were doing pretty good, keeping a decent amount of distance betwen Chief and Kris.  So persistance pays off folks!  If you've never heard of Clinton Anderson and are interested in natural ways to train your horse, I suggest you check out his website http://www.downunderhorsemanship.com/.  He does clinics throughout the year all over the country and of course has tons of DVD's for purchase.  All in all, it was a good ride with good friends.  Whenever we can hit the trails its a good day!

downunderhorsemanship.com

Want to hear a dirty joke?

Want to hear a dirty joke?  My mostly white horse rolled in chicken poop!  

So those of you who are unfamiliar, chicken manure makes a great fertilizer.  Lucky for Triple H, they are a true working farm and they have chickens.  Lots and lots of chickens that make lots and lots of poop.  So for great spring grass they spread chicken manure on the fields a couple of weeks ago and Chief loved it.  He loved it so much, he rolled and rolled in it.  And chicken poop is sticky, so its not so easy to just brush off.  So after about 10-15 minutes of brushing, I was finally able to get saddled up.  I was thankful that this day was decidedly overcast and would most likely rain later.  The rain will clean him up!

This day Chief and I had some welcome company.  Double trouble A. and A. went riding with us on their horses Dandy and Kris.  I decided to show them my new version of the new trail.  Has it now become the new new trail?  Either way it was a good ride.  We did a little jumping, a little cantering, and a little jogging.

This is A. taking a cross country jump.  Though we ride western it is lots of fun to pretend to be cross country riders.  Pandora our other four legged trail mate joined us for this ride.  We took the short way home this day as we were short on time.  But it was a fun little ride.

Dandy is also a paint horse as you can tell from the picture and he and Chief have a little rivalry.  In the beginning, Dandy and Chief were pasture mates and they were forever picking on one another.  Every time I came up to see Chief he had a new bite or kick mark on him.  This is to be expected when new horses are finding their pecking order, but usually they settle it pretty quick.  Well Dandy and Chief could not settle their differences even after several months.  I like to think its because they fight over who's prettier.  So, I separated them.  Chief didn't need to be in the grain pasture anyways, he was getting awful fat.  So they were separated for some time but whenever we rode together they would always race one another up hills and what not.  One day, Chief was getting skinny so I had to put him back in the grain pasture.  I was so nervous to put them back together but this time around, they got along just fine.  I guess they just needed some time apart.  But this day on the trail was no different from other rides.  Chief couldn't let Dandy get too far ahead of him and vice versa.  This is kind of fun for me at least because there is always a little extra hop in Chief's step.  This also leads to dirt clods in the face while we race after one another.  But who cares, its lots of fun!  Til next time!

 

New Year's Eve Ride

In case you missed it there was a most glorious warm front that came into the south on New Year's Eve day.  I decided I must take advantage of such spectacular weather and hit the trails.  There was literally not a cloud in the sky.

I was feeling adventurous so I decided to take a new route.  With the recent logging on the New Trail, we've been unable to use most of it.  Since I found out exactly where the logging is going on, I now knew how to navigate the trail.  Instead of going down the hill and to the right, you now go straight, crossing the creek and going up the hill.  Then you go left at the fork which leads into some nice flat spots on the New Trail, so now you are headed backwards on the New Trail.  Before you get to the next creek crossing you turn right and head up the hill on to Bowater.  For those of you not from the area, Bowater is a paper plant that owns land all over the area.  They of course grow trees on it so that they can cut those trees down every so often.  So there are plenty of logging roads all over their property.  Now I'm not certain of the requirements of a person to be on their land, but we've pretty much got free rein.  So once you hit Bowater you can go left up to the tomato field or right back towards the New Trail.  I went right just because that tomato field is a long ways away...  You then look for the purple dot on the tree and then head back on to Hughes land.  Yes, one of our boarders that often, self admittedly, gets lost, spray painted a large purple dot on a tree so they'd know when to turn back on to Hughes land.  I personally love it because it helps me remember where to go too.  This trail then winds itself back across the creek where you can hit multiple trails.  This day I decided to head up what I call Pumpkin Patch Hill because this leads you to the Rocky Top Trail which has a great straight flat spot to canter through.  Rocky Top Trail is designated as such because of all the great rock outcroppings.

This trail crosses the gravel road and winds its way back to the Submarine Trail (also greater for cantering) and then to the Creek Trail.  All said and done it was a solid two hours on the trail.  Chief was dripping wet!  It was a warm 60 degrees and sunny with not a cloud in the sky and with all his heavy winter fur he was hot.  There is that old saying about riding a horse hard and putting him up wet.  I'm not sure where that came from but that is pretty much what I did.  Now, I did brush him down good and made sure he cooled off all the way before putting him up which is just the safe thing to do.  Darn finicky horse stomachs can get upset if they eat too much or drink too much cold water immediately after working out.  So be sure to let your horse at least cool off before putting him up.  A good test of this is to touch his chest, if its hot, then he's still hot and needs to cool down more.  If its just warm, or normal body temperature, he's good to put up.

Since my buddy Chief is a registered Paint horse, I am a member of the American Paint Horse Association.  They have a great program called Ride America.  It's for us paint owners that aren't in to showing but want to be a part of something.  Its really simple, you keep a log of the hours you ride and send it in at the end of each year.  If you ride in national parks its worth double the hours.  At certain mile stones there are prizes and what not.  I've reached 100 hours so I got my 100 hours patch and a coffee mug.  Prizes get better as you go.  I'll let you know when I reach the next milestone at 500 hours.  But this program is free to all registered members so I play along.  This year I was able to log 86 1/2 hours of total trail time.  Not bad for a person that works full time and is also in school!  I think this will put me overall somewhere around 300 hours since I started which was in 2008.  Maybe after graduation in August, I'll be able to start logging more hours.  So maybe my New Year's resolution will be to ride more often...

Happy New Year!