Color Guard Duty With Max

Yesterday, as part of a equestrian program for the disabled, some friends and I acted as a color guard for the opening ceremonies. This was an interesting operations for several reasons. First, this is the first public event Max has been to since the somewhat disastrous experiences at teh Huntington Beach and Santa Barbara Parades so I was a bit nervious about bringing him out. Also, while the event was held at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center and I could have ridden over, I decided to use the opportunity to practice my trailering.

It was an early day, especially since I had to arrive at the stables early enough to hitch up the trailer and load Max. I'd loaded my saddle and tack onto the trailer the night before so that was all ready. The hitching up process took less time than I expected so I wound up arriving at the Equestrian Center a bit early. I proceeded to unload Max (that's interesting doing that alone and a bit nerve-racking), tie him to the trailer and begin to groom him.

I groomed and tacked up Max and then dressed myself- the theme was the usual American Revolutionary theme. It seems to work. Just as I started to mount, my compadres showed up (they rode directly from home). The weather in the morning was perfect- cool with some mist (believe it or not!).

We proceeded to work the horses in a vacant arena and I have to say that was a pleasure to ride on an well-groomed surface. We cantered and and trotted and performed a number of manuevers. Not that any of this would be used for the opening ceremonies but we felt it would be good to get the horses loosened up and relieve all the tensions from waiting. Wow! Max certainly loved that and he was definately ready to work.

Although the opening ceremony was supposed to occur at 8 am, it was delayed and didn't get going until about 8:30. Max patiently waited with the other horses and we posed for many pictures. When we finally did go on, Max seemed to handle it well and the ceremony went off perfectly. It also helped that there was plenty of space around us and not a lot of people or noise. The audience was definately well-behaved.

Afterwards, we hung around for some more pictures and ate some breakfast. Max was mostly patient and stood with the other horses with no issues although towards the end, he was getting a bit impatient to go. Finally, I walked Max to the trailer and proceeded to get ready to leave. Loading Max up to go went with no problems and we then travelled home- a 10 minute drive. The only part I have to be cautious about is when unloading him when we get home- he tends to get impatient and there's the possibility of him pulling back. Fortunately, nothing happened.

Overall, it was good experience and it combined a lot of different, and somewhat new, things and while I didn't drive a long distance, it was still good practice.

The three of us ready to go...

Here I am...not too bad for a period I don't normally recreate.

Waiting...

Getting Out Again...

With a busy class schedule that keeps me occupied three nights a week, I'm only able to ride Max on Thursday nights and weekends (and occassionally on Friday). I hadn't ridden in three days so it was great to get back on Max. Also, while I think Max doesn't mind the time off (I KNOW he doesn't mind the time off!), I think he was glad to see me.

With the days now growing shorter again, I'm going to find myself riding more and more in the dark around the track and less and less going out on the trail. Yes, I've ridden the trails at night but it's not my favorite thing to do unless I'm with people- too much weirdness out there. I usually do laps around the track and work on various things in the arena, which has lighting.

Last night, we worked on increasing responsiveness to the leg (squeezing the legs as opposed to jamming spurs or kicking) and maintaining whatever pace/gait I want. Max has always been a bit of a lazy horse and I have often have to kick him hard or tap him whith the crop to get him to go with any sort of forward motion (hustle as I call it). Now we're focusing on training Max to be more sensitive to the leg rather than simply nagging him.

The key, at first, is to squeeze with the legs and see he responds. If not, they you have to either kick him three or so times or smack him with the crop hard and then back off. For example, if you're walking and you want him to transition into a forward walk, you squeeze you legs. If he responds with a faster walk, great. If not or he responds slowly, then you have to back off and either kick or smack with the crop sharply- not a lot but you're impressing into him that you mean business. It sounds brutal but it's not (Note: in none of this is the horse in any danger of injury!). Basically it's like a drillp sergeant.

Once you've disciplined him, then try again. After two or three times, he should get the idea. In Max's case, he picked up pretty fast that I would seriously get on his case if he didn't pick up the pace and by the end of our riding session, he was a lot more sensitive with the leg aid and pretty much was doing what he was supposed to be doing. The trick is to impress him that he's to maintain a desired pace rather than slow down again.

Of course, if Max was a hot horse, then you'd have to adopt another tack. The basic idea is not to be "peddling your horse" where you are literally having to kick him every step (I've had to do that and it's no fun, trust me!). Basically, you don't want to reserve your kicking/spurring and using the crop for when you really need it and basically you're telling the horse "you better get going or things are going to get worse!".

We have a long way to go but essentially I'm making Max responsible for maintaining the pace rather than me having to constantly nag him. One more thing on the road to good riding.

RE: Lock-n-Load Film Shoot

Back in August, I helped a friend out with a shoot for the series "Lock-n-Load" hosted by R. Lee Ermey (aka the Gunny) (for those of you who may remember, he played the drill sergeant in the movie "Full Metal Jacket"). Working with the Gunny was a trip and he's easy to work with. The premise for this episode is the use of the lance on horseback and my compadre supplied the horse and the lance. The plan was for my friend to demonstrate and if everything went OK, then the Gunny would do it.

We filmed out at Lake Piru and it was HOT and we were lucky to have shade for ourselves and the horses so it was bit more bearable. My job was to basically take care of the horses and make sure they had enough food and water. When we weren't actually shooting, I would tie the horses under the tree and keep an eye on them.

We brought two horses out to the shoot, one as the actual horse to be used and the second as a back-up. Also the second horse was meant to be there as comfort for the first, since they live together and they would steady each other. Finally, if something went wrong, the second horse would act as a homing beacon for the first- when horses are upset, they tend to seek company with their own kind and especially they're herdmates.

I'll have more later.

Hanging out on set...

My compadres and the Gunny...

Running at the quintain at full speed.


Setting up the shot- like most shoots, there's more waiting than anything else.







Out in the sun...waiting...



Rest break...

We Have Achieved Trailer (Finally)!

A lot's been going on lately but the best thing is that I was able to purchase a used 2004 Ford F-250 Diesel Pickup Truck for about $17,000 and while the fuel consumption is not the best, I can now tow trailers (and one day larger stock trailers with a gooseneck hitch) and that means Max and I can go on the road anytime we want. For now, I'll have to borrow the trailer but that's OK. After buying the truck, I had to drop an additional $680 having a new heavy duty trailer hitch installed along with the ball, slider et al. and a trailer brake controller. So while it was a lot of money, I'm now pretty much good to go for anything up to about 10000 pounds or so. Basically I bought more than what I'll immediately need but I don't want to have to deal with this in the future.

Yesterday, I was able to start practicing on my trailer driving and especially backing up- it's not easy as it looks! Here's some pictures of the experience:

Truck hooked up to the trailer. Not the prettiest trailer but it will do for now.

Max tied up to the trailer. He's also learning to wear his shipping boots.

Yeah, and now I can do it for myself! It's been a long time coming! :-)

It's Been Awhile...

Due to real life issues, I haven't been as active here as I'd like to be. Hopefully that will change soon. Stay tuned...

Max the Performing Horse

This weekend was a busy one for both Max and I to include Max and I performing with the Warhorse Foundation at a fund-raising event for charity at Moonshadow Ranch in Shadow Hills. This was a "debut" of sorts for Max and I in that while we'd practiced off and on the musical ride program that the group uses, it had been quite awhile since we'd done so and I was COMPLETELY rusty at it.

Additonally, because of scheduling issues, the group hadn't practiced the standard musical ride routine so early Saturday morning found us practicing over at Gabriellano Park in the arena (I almost live there, it seems). While Max and I did all the basic moves pretty decently, we were completely messing up on the actually routine (turning the wrong way, mis-judging distances, etc). It also didn't help that Saturday was the real first "hot" day of summer and it was getting miserable by the time we ended practice (after two hours).

Then, there was the issue of logistics. It seems that for every hour actually performing or "doing something", there's three hours preparation. We were scheduled to perform at about 7:30 and were supposed to be at Moonshadow Ranch by 4:30 and we were going to ride over...well, that was the plan anyway.

Due to a number of snafus, it turned out that we were going to trailer the horses over and we didn't actually get on the road until 5 PM. Then there was the task of finding a place to park. There's not a lot of room at Moonshadow Ranch so we wound up parking on a side street behind the ranch and tying up the horses and prepping them on the street (which for a dead-end street was like a major freeway! Go figure...). After having to constantly stop and move the horses to allow cars and trucks to pass, we finally were ready and we rode about two blocks to the entrance. We then had to wait additional time until we were "on".

This was an interesting exercise for Max because our assembly area was basically in the main driveway leading into the ranch and that driveway was pretty narrow so there were people walking past us on both sides and naturally, many wanted to pet Max. Max pretty much tolerated the people (it was a good crowd and many are horse people) and Max seemed to do his best to act charming, hoping to score a carrot or two (what a pimp!). The ladies seemed to especially like him...go figure!

Finally it was our time to go on and we had to make our way down the narrow driveway and then through a crowd to the arena entrance.

We managed to form up properly, just as we'd rehearsed. Unfortunately, the one horse next to Max decided to act up and was completely disagreeable- guess he was excited by the whole thing. This kicked in just as we were starting so while the other rider did her best to keep things under control, I now had to to keep an eye on that situation, while at the same time looking for all my cues and to hit my mark on time.

For the most part, I was able to execute the routine with little problem and while I did make some mistakes, they were not major. It also didn't help having to deal with the disagreeable horse who wouldn't keep his place in line and one other rider who was dragging along at a slow pace, thereby messing up my spacing. Oh well- just goes to show the need for PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!

At several points we had to canter and Max especially liked this part- he was completely "on" and it he seemed to almost be projecting himself, saying "I'm so cool!" to the crowd. The crowd didn't seem to affect him any and he didn't mind riding up close to them at the rail.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post soon but overall it was an excellent experience and hopefully will lead to more and better things.

Now to collect up all my tack that seemed to have gotten scattered about. :-)

Anyone Know a Billionaire Arab Sheik?

Here's an amazing news item:

Billionaire To Fly Cavalry To Abu Dhabi
by Deidre Woollard May 14th 2009 at 7:01PM
England's Household Cavalry Musical Ride display impressed a billionaire Arab sheik that he will be flying 30 horses and riders to Abu Dhabi. The Daily Mail reports that Sheik Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, part of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, has arranged for a specially adapted Boeing 747 jet for the horses to travel in. The riders will travel on business class flights and stay in top hotels and grooms and a vet will also be along for the ride. The trip is estimated to cost £250,000. This will be the first time the unit has traveled outside Europe.

Here's some incredible pictures of the Household Cavalry Performing:

Wow! I wish I could teach Max to do some of this...well at least the lying down. I'm not quite ready to Roman ride yet! :-)