Here are a couple of pictures from an event that my ETI Corral (Corral 10) put on last Sunday. Max learned to chase a giant rubber ball and I taught him to stand on a tree stump with his front feet.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
On the Trail (And No Rain!)
In contrast to yesterday, today was relatively clear, sunny and a bit breezy.
Today, a bunch of us decided to hit the trails (the ones we're still allowed on) and head up to the Sheep Pens (about the only area we'e legally able to ride in, thanks to the Station Fire last year). Lately, Max has been acting a bit full of himself on the trail, especially coming back to the stables (no surprise) so this gave me an opportunity to work on this some.
Today, all the horses (and one Mule) were pretty "goey" so Max was constantly being left towards the rear so I'd have to continually trot him out to catch up. Some of the people I ride with have horses with a pretty long stride and most of the time Max doesn't have an issue with it but today was somewhat different. Also, the Mule is pretty long-strided and this didn't help (plus the Mule has a bad habit of pushing himself forward past other horses if he feels he's going too slow- definitely a rider issue there that needs to be addressed).
The only way I can really manage it and have a somewhat pleasant ride (not a great ride) is to let Max trot forward periodically and use half-halts while walking and try to maintain as light contact on the mouth as possible. Also, sometimes when he gets to a gully or hill, he gets excited and likes to run so I have to check him sharply in these areas.
Everything went pretty well although I think Max was having trouble with the pace- he has problems with an extended walk ("power walk", as I term it) and we weren't trotting so he's kind of stuck. Every so often, he'd get himself bound up where he's almost self-collecting so I'd have to bump him into a trot to get him to extend his body and loosen him muscles. I'd then pull him back.
Of course the moment we started to head for home, Max then picked up his pace and wanted to move as quickly as possible- which I prevented. Just to work him a bit, I blocked every effort he'd make to trot with a half-halt. He didn't like it but he complied.
When we got back to the gate leading towards the stables, I purposely made Max stand and wait until the riders had gone up the ramp and disappeared from view. Max definitely didn't like that but I made him stand. After about 5 minutes, I then made him walk up the ramp.
Pretty mundane stuff here, I'll admit, but the issues I have with Max fit a lot of horses when they go out on the trail. One of the biggest problems on the trail is when the gaits of the horses are mismatched- the most extreme example being a Tennessee Walker with a group of ungaited horses. While you're going to have issues such as in the case of gaited vs nongaited hores, in many cases it's a matter of the horse not being trained and/or the rider either not paying attention or allowing the horse to act up. I've been guilty of this in the past and as a courtesy to my fellow trail riders, I try to keep Max in check and if it's really bad, I'll opt out of the ride.
Anyway, I strive to constantly work with Max to make him a good trail horse and while it doesn't always work out, most of the time it does. Happy trails!
Today, a bunch of us decided to hit the trails (the ones we're still allowed on) and head up to the Sheep Pens (about the only area we'e legally able to ride in, thanks to the Station Fire last year). Lately, Max has been acting a bit full of himself on the trail, especially coming back to the stables (no surprise) so this gave me an opportunity to work on this some.
Today, all the horses (and one Mule) were pretty "goey" so Max was constantly being left towards the rear so I'd have to continually trot him out to catch up. Some of the people I ride with have horses with a pretty long stride and most of the time Max doesn't have an issue with it but today was somewhat different. Also, the Mule is pretty long-strided and this didn't help (plus the Mule has a bad habit of pushing himself forward past other horses if he feels he's going too slow- definitely a rider issue there that needs to be addressed).
The only way I can really manage it and have a somewhat pleasant ride (not a great ride) is to let Max trot forward periodically and use half-halts while walking and try to maintain as light contact on the mouth as possible. Also, sometimes when he gets to a gully or hill, he gets excited and likes to run so I have to check him sharply in these areas.
Everything went pretty well although I think Max was having trouble with the pace- he has problems with an extended walk ("power walk", as I term it) and we weren't trotting so he's kind of stuck. Every so often, he'd get himself bound up where he's almost self-collecting so I'd have to bump him into a trot to get him to extend his body and loosen him muscles. I'd then pull him back.
Of course the moment we started to head for home, Max then picked up his pace and wanted to move as quickly as possible- which I prevented. Just to work him a bit, I blocked every effort he'd make to trot with a half-halt. He didn't like it but he complied.
When we got back to the gate leading towards the stables, I purposely made Max stand and wait until the riders had gone up the ramp and disappeared from view. Max definitely didn't like that but I made him stand. After about 5 minutes, I then made him walk up the ramp.
Pretty mundane stuff here, I'll admit, but the issues I have with Max fit a lot of horses when they go out on the trail. One of the biggest problems on the trail is when the gaits of the horses are mismatched- the most extreme example being a Tennessee Walker with a group of ungaited horses. While you're going to have issues such as in the case of gaited vs nongaited hores, in many cases it's a matter of the horse not being trained and/or the rider either not paying attention or allowing the horse to act up. I've been guilty of this in the past and as a courtesy to my fellow trail riders, I try to keep Max in check and if it's really bad, I'll opt out of the ride.
Anyway, I strive to constantly work with Max to make him a good trail horse and while it doesn't always work out, most of the time it does. Happy trails!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
I Hate The Rain!!
It seems that I just can't gauge it right these days when it comes to rain...
Naturally, it had been clear for the entire week until Friday when the clouds started moving in. Saturday morning rolled around and while it looked a bit dark and cloudy from my house, there were also some clear spots...
So off to the stables!
I dressed for rain but as I tacked up Max, I decided that maybe it won't really rain, just maybe drizzle a little talk about being overly optimistic) so I decided to not bother tying my rain parka on my cantle pack (it's a pain to secure and tends to get in the way). So off I rode to Warhorse practice...
I was the first one there and managed to work Max for about 45 minutes before anyone else showed up and soon Max was warmed up pretty well. There was only six of us so we focused on some basic formations and drills; Max quickly fell into the synch with the rest of herd.
While it was getting pretty dark and overcast, still no rain so I thought we'd dodged the bullet...until about an hour into the practice when it began to drizzle a bit. I pretty much shrugged it off until the drizzle turned into a light rain. At that point we decided to stop practice.
So you would have thought we would have headed home? Naw! We decided to check out the river crossing. We rode through a low-lying set of woods which were pretty much now a swamp due to the recent rains but the footing was still pretty sound. By the time we started to cross the river, the rain was pouring down and I was beginning to get soaked, to say the least. But I sucked it up...
After another 15 minutes of riding we all pretty much conceeded that we'd had enough so it was time to head home. I then split off from the party and headed back to the stables by way of the Equestrian Center. Along the way, I stopped to take a break underneath the 210 freeway where I tried to dry off a little bit. Max proceeded to graze on some conveniently located grass and didn't seem to mind being completely soaked.
Finally I decided that the rain wasn't going to stop so gritting my teeth, I rode on for home.
Upon return to the stables, I managed to scrounge up a couple of beach towels and made a half-assed attempt to dry him off. When I took the saddle off, you would see the steam coming off his back- amazing! Max was very happy to stand underneath the shelter in his stall and eat alfalfa.
After making sure he was allright, I fed Max his bucket and then focused on getting myself dry- I'd left my gortex rain parka in the tack sheed along with a vest so after putting them on, I managed to warm up a bit and not feel quite so soggy.
While I've had my share of dealing with wet weather, the older I get, the less fun it gets and the longer it takes for me to warm up. When I got home, I immediately got some dry clothes, downed two shots of Port and curled up in front of the TV.
And that was my Saturday...
Naturally, it had been clear for the entire week until Friday when the clouds started moving in. Saturday morning rolled around and while it looked a bit dark and cloudy from my house, there were also some clear spots...
So off to the stables!
I dressed for rain but as I tacked up Max, I decided that maybe it won't really rain, just maybe drizzle a little talk about being overly optimistic) so I decided to not bother tying my rain parka on my cantle pack (it's a pain to secure and tends to get in the way). So off I rode to Warhorse practice...
I was the first one there and managed to work Max for about 45 minutes before anyone else showed up and soon Max was warmed up pretty well. There was only six of us so we focused on some basic formations and drills; Max quickly fell into the synch with the rest of herd.
While it was getting pretty dark and overcast, still no rain so I thought we'd dodged the bullet...until about an hour into the practice when it began to drizzle a bit. I pretty much shrugged it off until the drizzle turned into a light rain. At that point we decided to stop practice.
So you would have thought we would have headed home? Naw! We decided to check out the river crossing. We rode through a low-lying set of woods which were pretty much now a swamp due to the recent rains but the footing was still pretty sound. By the time we started to cross the river, the rain was pouring down and I was beginning to get soaked, to say the least. But I sucked it up...
After another 15 minutes of riding we all pretty much conceeded that we'd had enough so it was time to head home. I then split off from the party and headed back to the stables by way of the Equestrian Center. Along the way, I stopped to take a break underneath the 210 freeway where I tried to dry off a little bit. Max proceeded to graze on some conveniently located grass and didn't seem to mind being completely soaked.
Finally I decided that the rain wasn't going to stop so gritting my teeth, I rode on for home.
Upon return to the stables, I managed to scrounge up a couple of beach towels and made a half-assed attempt to dry him off. When I took the saddle off, you would see the steam coming off his back- amazing! Max was very happy to stand underneath the shelter in his stall and eat alfalfa.
After making sure he was allright, I fed Max his bucket and then focused on getting myself dry- I'd left my gortex rain parka in the tack sheed along with a vest so after putting them on, I managed to warm up a bit and not feel quite so soggy.
While I've had my share of dealing with wet weather, the older I get, the less fun it gets and the longer it takes for me to warm up. When I got home, I immediately got some dry clothes, downed two shots of Port and curled up in front of the TV.
And that was my Saturday...
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