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!

Spring Cleaning!

Okay, I'm guilty, it's been nearly a month since I've written.  All I can say is I've been out on the trails!  The weather down south has been beautiful and I've been taking advantage of it.  Until Sunday anyways... I went out for a nice little ride through the cow pasture but as we came down around the tomato field, I felt like we had a flat tire.  I jumped off hoping it was just a big rock, I've had that happen at this exact spot before and this time I had a hoof pick with me.  But, as I picked up Chief's right front foot I saw the problem... we pulled a shoe.  Damnit!  We had just gone through some really thick mud and sure enough the mud pulled the shoe right off.  So we headed back to the barn.  The unfortunate part of our current location was that the shortest route back to the barn was via the gravel road... not so great for a bare foot.  So we tried to walk next to the road and headed for home.

Once I got there I decided now would be a great time to do some spring cleaning.  My husband was out riding the motorcycle so I had some time where I wouldn't be missed and after all it is spring.  I started with my locker and cleaned out EVERYTHING.  I threw away old antibiotics that expired in 2009, why do I have that?  I can't even remember giving this to Chief... And I threw away an old helmet box, and various other things that I really can't remember how I ended up with them.  I then found Chief's blanket and threw it in the back of the car, doubt we'll need this again to the winter so it needs to be washed.  And I took home a dirty fly mask in need of washing too.  Then I put everything all back together again.  I felt so much better!  Next week I'll clean tack; that is a whole other task....  On the way home I found a great laundry mat in Soddy (I live in a burb of Chattanooga called Soddy Daisy, yeah that's right).  They have drop off laundry services!  How wonderful!  Last year when I washed this blanket I used my own washer and it didn't really get clean so I dropped that off and I will get it back today, can't wait!  The point of all this is, I encourage you to clean out your tack locker/box at least once a year.  You certainly don't need antibiotics that expired three years ago.  Keep the things that are still usable but definitly purge the things that are expired or just gungky nasty looking (don't lie we all have those). 

And, since I've been out on the trails, I've taken a few pictures.  I'll post a few for your viewing pleasure.

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!

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!