It was her turn to bring something, the kids get a chance once every few weeks to bring something for show and tell. I asked my daughter what she wanted to bring and she said the horse painting. I had no idea what she was talking about, we don’t have much for horse art in the house.
She was disgusted with me as usual, the one your friend sent you, that her horse painted. Duh. Of course silly me, the horse painting. That was well in advance, I was excited but sure that her mind would change before the time came. I didn’t want to force my likes upon her, I asked again as the day grew nearer. Was she sure that was what she wanted? Was there anything else she would like to take? She still wanted the horse painting. I was ecstatic.
We went along to carry it and to bring it home afterwards. I cherish my horse painting and didn’t want anything to happen to it. My youngest played in the sand box while they did, whatever it was that they were doing. Discussing things and coming up with rhymes, until it was finally time for show and tell.
We had talked about Australia on the way in, that it’s on the other side of the world, that our friend is just waking up as my daughter is getting on the bus to come home from school. Maybe not exactly but close enough.
She stood up and proudly held the pictures so that she could see them. I tried to stay back and not interfere. The teachers got the pictures facing the right way and the children pondered how in the world a horse could hold a paintbrush?! She told them that the painting came from Hawaii? Oh yeah, Australia! I carefully keep the pictures of Monty and Ineke with their painting, and she showed them around the room. I did join in a little to point out that in the picture with the Monty’s paintings on the beach, there are crocodiles in the water and you can’t swim.
There was lots of discussion and some decided that if they were holding a paintbrush in their teeth they’d hold the side with paint in their mouth. Everyone giggled a lot. I wished that they were old enough that I could bring up positive reinforcement. And that it was any of my business to do so. All in all it was a resounding success.
Heavy Training
One of the first things Rusty and I did together was to take long walks down the driveway. He spent most of the time crashing into me and hitting the end of the lead rope as he tried to run off. I nearly gave up on him. By the next winter he was walking down the driveway loose at my shoulder practicing tricks and whoa as we walked. Today we walked again, as we often do. Not down the driveway but through the scary trees of the tree row.
It is slick and icy and warm and I didn’t have time to ride even if the slick didn’t make it so dangerous. My daughter and I tried a quick ride Friday and the horses nearly did the splits a couple of times. I wasn’t going to try it today, even had I had time enough. I had been more than a little grouchy all day and was hesitant to even get Rusty out, afraid that my uncertain temper would rear its ugly head with him. Instead the opposite happened. I calmed down and cheered up. I think I had been without my horse fix for too long and was going into withdrawals.
We skipped halters and leadropes entirely for the day. I joined a new group, Obstacal challenges for equine clicker trainers, by Hearths James, it’s been great fun in the very sort amount of time we’ve been in It never ceases to amaze me the amount of really good free, or cheap, clicker training help is out there. A popular Natural Horsemanship trainer might charge hundreds, or thousands, of dollars for a set of DVDs or a membership. So many excellent clicker trainers offer lots of free training advice and reasonable costs on what they charge for. I’ve spent time watching her videos and studying. We took advantage of a day without riding to practice.
Walking up into the trees was scary. Scary places are perfect for slow easy work such as targeting with his chin. Then his cheek, fun simple, lots of rewarding. A great way to make a scary place fun. There are also lots of dead tree stumps. We used them to work on February’s challenge. Sending the horse out, away from you, around an object then back to you. As we worked it occurred to me that Rusty had already learned how to do this around the wing fence in their pen. We just needed to generalize, not as easy as it sounds.
By the time we finished we were calm and relaxed enough to give a good bow in a very scary place and still without any physical means of control. He thought about leaving a few times when it got to be overwhelming. I called him and he stopped, thought about it and came back to me.
And finishing with some random Rusty pictures I hadn’t used anywhere yet.
A Day Of Firsts!
I got to haul Rusty over and ride with a friend at an indoor arena. It’s only a few miles away and we are lucky to have, nearly, an open invitation to come ride, so why don’t we ever go? Good question, we’re going to start. Not having a trailer of our own and the whole kid thing are little impediments but surely we can work around that. The day had started out warm but was cooling quickly in preparation for our blizzard that is blowing in. We pulled in to mud, lots of mud, and had to park far away to unload horses and children. It was a mad rush to get saddled and inside where it was warmer. The kids went up on the horses to get to the arena. Paula took them and I led a crazed Rusty and carried arm fulls of stuff.
We made it to the arena without anyone dyeing. Always a plus. Rusty was still crazed, all the more so I should say. Paula took the kids, got them helmeted and in the arena on their horses. Rusty pawed and swung around and stirred up dust. Paula lead Coyote around and kept taking care of the kids, Rusty looked at things, snorted, spooked and bounced off the end of the rope. Paula turned Gus loose and cleaned up some things in the arena while the kids did an amazing job of not getting killed. I am very proud of my fearless son and the job he did riding Coyote around all by himself! What very good boys they are. The girls were a bit whiny and clingy, one was whiny because the other was clingy. She didn’t want to have to steer her own horse, she couldn’t get her to leave me, and so on. They did good for the most part though, when she could get Onna to follow Coyote and her three year old brother who could steer his own horse. Rusty calmed down enough to do some tricks.
They finally got tired of riding and wanted off. We tied the very well behave Onna, who can stand tied by herself, at the hitching post and left Coyote in the arena. The kids climbed hay bales and I got on Rusty. Paula got on Coyote. She filmed a little. We trotted circles until Rusty stopped with the head tossing and tiny attempts at bucking. We even loped our first actual circles!! It’s amazing what you can do on good footing. Once he stopped with his silly attempts at bucking he did very nicely. I kept it short because someone was terrorizing her red heeler, seriously not a good idea, rotten kid. The dog refrained from biting and we stopped so I could do some yelling.
Then we discussed training practices. She offered some really good ideas and pointers and even refrained from saying anything mean about me and my weird clicker training. Instead of criticizing it she told me when I ought to click and when I should wait. Like the time I clicked him mid buck as we came out of a rollback. Yeah, I’d say she was right about that one. She pointed out that I need to sit deeper and push more with my seat as I ask him to rollback into the fence. I thought about it as we practiced it again later, after the poor horse had caught his breath from trotting two circles. Then I sat and used my outside leg more, I realized I had mostly been letting it hang. It was great to have someone to ride with besides children.
In way to short of time the kids were wore out and ready to go. We repeated the same mad rush back to the pickup and trailer where the horses happily leapt in. It was incredibly nice of Paula to let us come ride with her and to help us so much when she didn’t even ride, her own horse that is. For some reason she said she had fun, such good manners, I don’t see how she could have, and she even asked us to come do it again. I can’t wait until we are able to!
The kids doing a wonderful job of riding!
Rusty being very Rotten and so good all at the same time
With Bells On
This is a quick compilation of our final videos for the International Horse Bell Choir. Not the final for the choir, just the ones of us that I’m going to use when we get to the final video with everyone else. Now I really can’t wait to work on putting the real one together.
Little Horsemen
I love to ride, obviously, but I always worry that my kids wont. My daughter is a bit of a princess, she likes pink and ruffles. my son loves forming and tractors like his daddy. I jump on any chance to get them out and riding. So when my daughter got off the bus on a recent warm day and wanted to go ride I was more than happy to oblige.
It was late though and cooling down quickly so we decided to skip the saddles. It would get them on faster and keep them warmer. We’ve talked a lot about why I ride bareback, on good old Coyote if not Rusty so much, and why she has to wear a saddle if I don’t. I keep telling her that she can ride bareback whenever she wants, as long as we are just going around the yard. It teaches such good balance, but I’m not willing to let her go out across the pasture without a saddle just yet. It’s hard enough learning to steer without having to try to stay on too. As for him, he can’t reach the short kid stirrups yet anyway. Might as well skip the saddle.
I lead Coyote but Princess Onna is Ok off the lead, she wont wander far even if her little person might not be doing the best job steering. We meandered about the yard, spent lots of time eating, and even trotted a little. I’m so proud of how good both of them are doing riding, and staying on, bareback!
Cow Horse Wannabe
I rode Rusty today!! It’s been a rare occurrence. The weather has been cold and icy or warm and muddy. The kids have been sick, I’ve been sick. We’ve been busy. Today I was not going to miss out on the warm weather. The snow on the ground hid the ice underneath. If I can’t see it I don’t have to worry about it 🙂
We did a lot of ground work. Walked out through the corrals, did some more ground work, then opened the gate into the bulls pen. First we looked at the bulls. Rusty did some visiting. I’m not sure who won that one but it was fun.
Then we made use of their big pen to work on transitions. We trotted some big circles. He does great to the right. Not so good to the left. Did some figure eights, the change of bend was new and a little difficult for him. It was so fun feeling him bend and flex to my legs and to guide him with the outer rein. You read about the importance of it all the time but last time I tried he wasn’t far enough along to know what I was talking about, and maybe our circles were guided more by the confines of the arena than my legs and reins.
I could feel him want to break into a canter so I sat and pushed. He leaped into the canter and bounded along for a couple of strides. I clicked and rewarded him. We did it again the other direction, same over enthusiastic results. We walked, trotted, walked again. Then we did it again. We meandered, we side passed, we went up and down some hills, otherwise known as manure piles. Then we cantered again.
He leaped and bounded. I didn’t stop and reward him for the transition, I sat and pulled up on the reins. I pushed him forward maintaining the canter while staying on and pushing him through the bucking. It was great. It was awesome. He’s such a fun horse to ride. I sat and said whoa once we had a couple of canter like strides. He slammed on the breaks and stopped. My knee was cramping. We had survived. It was probably time to call it good. We had a great ride and I hope we can do it again sooner rather than later.
Hot and Cold
Yesterday it was in the forties. Today the highest I saw was three degrees. Yesterday I got to go out and give Rusty a good workout. We worked a long time. went clear out around the yard and got to see many different things, work with different stimuli. Today we did a short workout in the arena. As soon as I got Rusty out the small children who had been off doing their own thing, happily unbothered by me suddenly turned into needy clingy little monsters, determined to be underfoot.
I want then to be far away when I work with Rusty. He is a very good boy but they’re so tiny. I’ve seen him go after calves, goats, and dogs, it’s worrisome when he looks at a child with great interest. Especially when he is in one of his fierce moods.
Yesterday we walked out around the yard, we practiced walking next to me. When did that become difficult? We went into the bulls pen and worked on sitting on the large piles of manure that got pushed up but not hauled out. All the directions say to use haybales but, I say make do with what’s at hand. We ran up and down the hills, piles?, and worked on standing still, everything I could think of to make it not all the hard sitting work, but fun too. I ran up the steep walls of manure and he followed. We stood still on top to practice. We ran down and went to the next pile. I enjoyed it and got my exercise if nothing else. The sitting is coming slowly. Maybe. He is squatting a little behind if not sitting yet. We walked back and I got on in the arena rode him around for just a couple of minutes bareback.
It’s fun to sit directly on his back and feel the muscles move beneath me. I can feel his back lift when he does a Spanish walk. He doesn’t know what to do with me up there flopping around. I ride Coyote bareback all the time. He’s like sitting on a big cushy couch and easy to stay on. Rusty in lean and taunt and terrifying. The more I worry about staying on the harder it is to do so. Rusty is so responsive that I drive him insane with my inefficient cues making him more tense, making me more nervous. It’s a viscous cycle. If we don’t try it we will never master it though, and putting a saddle on is way to much work, completely out of the question for these short little rides, so we persevere.
The whole thing was awesome and left me floating with joy and satisfaction.
Today we were playing outside in the cold and snow, the children and I that is. They were off climbing and digging and whatever else children do in the snow. I foolishly thought that it would be a good time to play with my pony. A silly thing to think. I got a bucket of cake for the other two, a little something extra in the cold weather, and pulled Rusty out of the pen. As soon as he was loose in the yard the littlest of the children showed up and wanted to play. I ordered him back to play with his sister. And led Rusty off the other direction trying to escape. I was tense and getting grouchy. He was overly arched, lips curled back and teeth bared. Fierce.
Rusty is a double whorl. For those non whorl reading people, he has two whorls/swirls/cowlicks high on his forehead. Double whorls mean that a horse will display two personalities and switch back and forth between the two. Also that they will mirror their riders mood, capabilities, and temper. I know that in a scholarly sort of way. Thinking back after we finished what was a fairly good if not fun and relaxing session I pondered the differences in the days. The main thing that popped out was the difference in my mind set. I was relaxed and having a blast one day. Tense and worried about the kids the next. Rusty was enthusiastic and playing one day. Fierce and ferocious the next. Was it a symptom of his whorls? A natural occurrence for any horse responding to his handler?
The first day, relaxed and playing:
The second day, imagine him as the sorrel minus the headstall and doing this at liberty. Silly pony
A Different Sort Of Proud Parent Moment
Have I mentioned lately how proud I am of Rusty? In the last couple of months he’s turned into a grown up horse. He went from prancing and wanting to bolt when we left the arena to a very confident horse who is scared of very little and really wants to go out and do stuff, explore the country.
Today is supposed to be the last nice day for a week. Snow is expected tonight through Monday. The clouds are rolling in, the barometer has to be dropping like crazy. All things that usually make a horse slightly mad. To top it off Rusty hasn’t been ridden for a week or so. The footing is still ice covered mud. AND the guy is here to grind hay today. For anyone who hasn’t seen a hay grinder, the big kind, I did not take a picture. I didn’t seem prudent. But this is what we’re talking about…
So, since I had a minute, we went for a ride 🙂
Rusty was practically leaping away from my leg when I asked and wanted to strike out at a trot when we left the arena. Unfortunately I had to ask for a walk. With all the above mentioned factors in play I didn’t think it wise. Plus it was a good time to work on transitions. We rode past the guys with the payloaders and the grinder and rode to the bull pen.
Inside we quietly followed a bull or two around. I’ve seen Rusty circle and turn the goat when they are in the pen together, it didn’t take Rusty long to figure out that this was the same thing. I had to keep him held back, both to a walk, so we weren’t running the bulls or running ourselves on the slick ground, and to keep him from biting them. One even walked back and forth so we could practice working him nicely. We trotted a couple of big badly shaped circles on what dry ground we could find. Then I got off and we worked some more on sitting. The big pile of manure pushed up in there, I’m hoping, will make a good spot to train on.
Once done there we went back out and rode over to the stack yard, where they were grinding hay. And there right next to the grinder we worked until Rusty settled down. he did wonderfully. First the airplane now the grinder, our next big step is to haul off the place a few times and make sure he still does alright. Not as easily done as one might think.
Proud Parent Moments
It ranks right up there with taking their first steps. I am so excited that I was able to get it on video! My daughter opened her first gate horseback! She had been watching us, Coyote and I, do it and we had talked about how she would be able to someday. Today she did it!
We had gotten to go sort the bulls out of the cows. My daughter on her good little mare Princess Onna and me on Coyote. Rusty was screaming and having a fit about being left in their pen alone, but he’s not quite ready for this.  Princess Onna always got overly excited when she and Tanna moved cows together so I was hesitant to let them try it on there own at first. But I’ve lead her a couple of time on the lead and they’ve been fine, not near as excited, so they got to go on their own today.
We were sorting out of those same cows Rusty and I have been enjoying riding through. Special note was taken of the bull that was nursing but hard to say if he will be going anywhere. My daughter was good help, some of the time, just happening to be in the right place at the right time. Not near as difficult to work with loose as she is on the lead. Onna was ok walking along by herself and I could duck back and forth behind her to get the job done. They stood quietly behind us once as Coyote got down and did a wonderful job cutting the bull who didn’t want to go out the gate. Of course the reason we were having trouble at all was because she and Princess Onna had gone ahead of us earlier to stand IN the gate we were trying to go out. Oh well, it takes time to learn.
I am very proud of how good she is getting at steering and getting Onna to go where she wants. It’s good for now that Onna will stay right next to me, I don’t want them going off too far on their own. The little bit that they do go off away from us they do a good job.
After doing a wonderful job of helping she wanted to go for a ride. We went back up the lane to go out in the pasture. She walked ahead of us to the gate declaring her intent. We had ridden through this gate yesterday and I told her it was an easy one to unlatch, in one way, and really hard too because it’s in a corner though. I was thrilled to let her try and hurried to get my camera ready. It took a few tries to get lined up and bent into that corner but she stuck with it and together they managed to get it! What very good girls, the both of them.
Broke
I don’t believe I can even begin to tell you how thrilled I am with Rusty right now! Ever since our ride out with Tanna how ever long ago that was he has turned a corner. Before that he was nervous about leaving our “arena”. Now he trots out wanting to go explore, and eat in, new places. He is my fearless charger, fierce in conquering his surroundings. He’s riding almost like a broke horse!
The tree row that terrifies Coyote? Not a problem, he wants to walk alongside it. Slick footing, all mud and ice? He is happy to slip and slide across it in search of new things. Walk out through the cattle pens with calves or cows moving all around him in tight slippery quarters? He just wants to eat the cows. Cold windy days? He is happy zip through them. Not that he doesn’t try to buck and act like a young horse is supposed to during them but he’s not good at bucking and doesn’t try very often. And he doesn’t spook just gets all big and looky. He’s a typical Morgan, he acts spooky and wants to go fast and lots but is so very trustworthy.
Last time I wrote here I think I had tried some gate work with him. Coming away from it I had realized all the things I hadn’t worked on with him yet. Usually, way back when, side passing and turns on both quarters would have been worked on pretty early on. And we have, he does a pretty good turn around the front or the back. Not a drop of lateral work though. He will give to the outside on a circle but I hadn’t taken it any further. He had no clue what I wanted when we got to a gate. Not just the sideways, it was hard for him to figure out standing next to it and the holding still part.
I did what I should have done in the first place and went back to the basics. We started learning to sidepass. It was slightly tricky at first. There are no good fences and it’s slippery along the ones there are. He is a smart boy though who has learned all about moving away from pressure and being able to click and reward him so he knows exactly what he did right works wonders. He is sidepassing, and leg yielding!, nicely now. And now we have the gate thing kind of figured out. Again the clicking worked its wonders. I feel much more like we are where we should be!
Riding out into the cows has been fun. He really wants to chase them. I wont let him. It’s not good manners. I will let him chose one cow and follow her at a WALK. He has trouble remembering the walk part but comes back down nicely. Mostly I’m taking advantage of the new place and commotion to make sure he’s willing to listen with everything going on around us. And he is. It’s going to take some time for him to listen as good as he does in our calm quiet arena but he’s well on his way. At this rate we might survive some little rodeos this summer and maybe even the big Morgan horse ride at Fort Robinson this fall. Gulp. I might be the one who’s not ready for that one.
And when we were out riding through the cows we found this naughty guy getting himself a drink. Don’t let anyone tell you that cows milk is only for calves 😉
