Bridleless: Second session

  Like the night before, I saddled up my mare. She was feeling pretty good and it took me a few minutes to get her attention on schooling. We rode large circles in the pasture out behind the house. It's a great space to drill her and gives her a change of scenery apart from the excercise pen. I started out by trotting big circles to looses her up, then loping larger circles. A rule of thumb I try to remember is, trot for stamina and lope for lungs. It's still quite hot even at 7 pm, so loping to long is not an option. After getting her attention, we began the bridleless session. She is picking it up real well. Repeating the drill of circling large circles with leg pressure both directions. I've noticed it doesn't take much effort to get her to turn around now. I squeeze once and she reponds immediately. I worked on her stop more last night. Paying close attention to where I sit in the saddle and making sure I ride her loosely to a stop. It's really hard not to tense up, but I'm trying real hard and letting my body relax into the stop. There's that muscle memory thing!

Doesn't she look pretty?

Having gotten ready for school, Makayla is looking especially tall for a 12 year old. I haven't measured her in awhile. That's going to be on my next agenda. I have the usual beginning of school things to fill. She starts at 6am in the morning. Her morning duties include:

1. Rising at 6 am.
2. Getting dressed.
3. Making her bed and picking up her room.
4. Feed her horse and dog.
5. Eating breakfast.
6. Brushing her teeth and hair.

I don't think that's to much responsibility for her at this age. After all, if she wants certain things, she has to take care of them. She's such a big help to us with other things also. Never complaining for the most part.

Video of Makayla and Mouser's

  Makayla saddled up Mouse tonight. He really needs a lot of riding. I guess tonight's as good as any to get him use to riding every day. His dang feet are so long right now, he stumbles terribly. Before we bought him, the guy had a farrier shoe him and he left the toes long. His hooves aren't in that bad a shape, they just need some better care.  The farrier who shod him really sucked. His feet aren't level and the shoes stick out to far behind the heel. I mean, come on. Since when does a farrier fit a hoof to the shoe and not fit the shoe to the foot. ffs! He could have at least rolled them in some, cut them off and rasped off the ends. I've never seen work this shotty. Not to mention, the horse is toed out to begin with. Therefore, he needs a level foot, so he can hit the ground better. Off my soap box now! lol

Bridleless Riding

  I finely made up my mind, to start bridle-less training today. I've been contemplating this for awhile now. Searching for training tips and pointers from every article I can get my hands on, I learned my riding technique sucks, "putting it bluntly". So, as head strong as I can be at times, I'm not going to let that stand in my way. Even though I try not to be heavy handed on my horses mouth, proper balance and insecurities get the best of me in the end. Therefore I get the same results every time. A half ass in-put from my horse, because of a half ass out-put from me. Reading several articles by one in particular trainer, it is time to take it to a whole new level.

  I've learned the way I sit in the saddle plays a crucial role on how my horse performs. Duh! Well, I already knew this, but my understanding was cloudy, due to my lack of understanding. So, in his words of wisdom, it hit me right down to the very core. Finally a guy who puts words where I can get a hold on them. Being able to sit correctly, hold your hands right and place your legs where they need to be, takes practice. Something that really stuck in my head, was muscle memory. Having ridden the same way for many years, it's now time to change my way of thinking first. Then I can change the way I ride.

  After dinner I saddled up Jerzey. And because I use my hands way to much, I did something out of the ordinary for me. I put a rope halter on her, snapped some split leather reins to the cheeks of the halter and off we went. Sitting deep and lumbering in the saddle, we started out with large circles in the exercise arena. I have been working on leg cues for sometime now. So, hoping it would be a little easier, since I had already done some preliminary steps to working off leg pressure. Circling with reins in hand, I lay the reins on her neck and squeezed my right leg until she turned a tight circle to the left. I did the same on the other side. We repeated these figures until I felt comfortable putting the reins down.

  Pretty soon, we were moving forward in large circles, then making the circles smaller in both directions without using my hands at all. Paying close attention to my seat, sitting loosely in the saddle with my legs hanging straight down. Never changing the way I sat or moving my legs until I asked her to do a specific maneuver. It's going to take practice at the walk, before I can step it up to a trot. I realized while working with her, her stop has a lag. I have to pick up the reins for her to come completely to a halt. When she does come to a complete stop, I squeeze my legs, pull back on the reins and she backs up great. I'm going to have to concentrate on a better stop, before I can move on.

   As we were leaving to go pick out some school shoes for Makayla, we saw this squirrel lying on the front yard. He was rolling and dusting him self with the dirt. He didn't seem to curious about us watching him.

Looking, looking, and more looking!

Found some. She has to wear black shoes on Wednesday for school service. She goes to a christian private school and they have uniforms and particualr dress codes for each grade.

Mouse hits the streets for the first time.

  I wasn't expecting Ron to initiate riding this evening. The weather was finally decent enough for him to take a short ride before bed time. Moused was already tacked up when I went out to the barn, so Makayla and I dusted off our saddles, tacked up our horses and I changed into something to ride in. As we headed out onto the street, Mouse wasn't used to riding on pavement so he had to test his footing. He seemed fine as long as we stayed on the grassy areas a long side the road. He was quiet, and patient of his passenger. Not knowing what his back ground during a outing, I was pleasantly surprised he walked on out like a seasoned trail horse.

  The only thing he needs is a better handled on him. He direct reins fine, but doesn't respond to legs aids much. Never the less, he was nice and level headed, even when it came to the usual land sharks. Nothing seemed to bother him. Dogs were investigating our party. Cars driving by, neighbors waving, and Mouse took the whole adventure in stride. We headed towards the 30 acre basin just 2 blocks from our house. The entrance was always boogery for a lot of the horses that pass through the concrete barricades. Mouse never balked or got fishy.

  Riding across the pasture, the other two horses were acting pissy. Stradegy feed, mounting up with no longing and almost a month off don't mix well. ha ha ha! Jerzey really did what Jerzey usually does. Her attention wasn't on what was going on the saddle. So, I loped her in large circles for a time. She finally calmed down to a crawl. There's nothing like an old fat woman, and a fat horse loping circles, to alter the of thinking of a pissy mare. At 17 years old, Handsome was as full of the piss and vinegar as Jerzey was. Makayla didn't do much to change his way of going.

  Having made the round over the 30 acres, and on our way back, a couple riders crashed on the scene from a distance. Handsome was jigging about, snorting and lunging forward, when all the sudden he flew into the air. He started bucking and jumping forward. I immediately hollared at Makayla to pull him into a circle so he couldn't run off with her. He bucked about 5 or 6 strides and calmed back down to a fast walk. Makayla was shell shocked for a few minutes. She stayed with him every step of the way! I was proud of the way she handled the situation.

  Having made the ride back, all of us still mounted and in one piece, I decided to ride Mouse. It's time now, that he is schooled on a daily basis. He's been here long enough to settle in. I circled him in the excersise pen for 30 minutes. Slow and easy for a few days, not asking to much of him. He needs to leg up before I get to industrious of his training. He rides great. But, he doesn't know nothing! lol

A welcomed relief in the weather...

   We finally got some rain today. The temp at 900 am was 77 and a over cast from a cloudy sky. A slow sprinkle of rain misted the area. The place looks alive again. The grass perked up, the horses are feeling frisky, hummingbirds were flocking around the pink lemonade honeysuckle growing on the trellis and the dogs were sprinting around the yard. Now, only 81 degrees at 11:15 am. A sigh of relief from every living thing on the place. Though it wont stay long, it was a nice change of pace from this drought stricken area.

Channel33 News...story of 11 horses found dead.

   Sadly, a news story alerted the N. Texas area. Eleven horses were found dead in Parker county. Animal control officers arrived on the scene, they found no resources for either food or water. There were troughs, but they were bone dry and a well that had malfunctioned. There was a gelding still alive, and had to be euthanized shortly there after from kidney and liver failure. The televised news said: A near by neighbor had commented on not seeing the horses for a couple of days or so. Saying in the past, her family took pictures of the horses and petted them over the fence on occasion.

   Now I'm not one to pass judgement on people, but how could you NOT notice something that critical living so close. Thank God!, a man doing a drive by, noticed one of the horses struggling to get up and called the authorities. The pictures of the horses had signs of malnutrition and looked as though they had been starving for food and water. Again!, how could others living in close proximity, not recognize a cry for help from the helpless horses? The owner of the horses lives in Arizona and had a care takers, supposedly tending to the animals. Good grief! Cruelty charges are being brought against the caretaker. But, what about the owner? ffs!

   No one in there right mind, would leave horses to be cared for by some one else, without monitoring them. Having ownership of animals means being good stewards. Over seeing and managing the proper care of something so valuable, as a living creature. As brutal a season as this has already been, there is no way in hell those care takers shouldn't have checked the horses water source a couple of times a day. I was sickened at the news.

   That's why my husband and I never leave our animals with any one. It's risky business. Most folks don't know the first thing about caring for livestock, the signs of stress, sickness or other wise. At least most of our circle of friends don't. I wouldn't even strap them with the responsibility. As far as I'm concerned, it's cruel and unusual punishment for both parties. Off my high horse....arg!