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!