Horsey reflections

I started looking back through my older posts of Dodge and even some of my early postings of Memphis. I LOVE reflecting on things like this because as I read back I realized how little I did know and how far I've come now. Some of the way's I did things I realize were probably not the greatest, but I know if I had never done them then I would not be who I am now. I also know that I'm still learning and I currently have a solid foundation so far of how I would continue to move forward.

With Dodge, I expected too much from her too fast. I took a horse that was neglected, skinny, and hadn't been ridden in a few years, and expected her to perform to how I thought she should right off the bat. Not taking into serious consideration of how slow I really needed to take things. Most of what I did was fine, but a lot of it was just newbie stuff. Like putting her in an O-ring and expecting her to have a woah HAHAHAHAHA

With Memphis, I have taken for granted his gentle nature and up until just this past month I finally was able to grit my teeth and get firm. Not only firm, but also take a few steps back and see I'm asking too much on a foundation that isn't built yet.

This is a learning process. I've been learning :)

I think Memphis is starting to get it

I arrived at the barn about 5:30 with a mission in my head. I slipped his halter off the stall hook and rummaged up a lead rope from one of the eye hooks attached to the wall. I looked at my halter in disgust as it is completely covered in dirt and muck, but eh, it still works. I slip it over my shoulder and then the lead rope gets coiled in my hand and I start the long walk to the back field where all the horses are.

Memphis could spot me 15 miles away (ok not that far away but close enough) and stood there completely motionless as I approached. Once I got within 10 feet of him he goes off at a full gallop trying to avoid this whole work thing. That's fine as I was prepared for that and turned my direction to match his and kept on walking towards him. He ran back and forth through the field with me never getting above a walk; I am not exactly new to this game of not wanting to be caught. So I stared at the trees, the ground, and the other horses around me as I walked him down. This didn't exactly take long and he gave up within 10 minutes.

I had a talk with him while I got everything ready. I told him quite loudly that I was tired of his crap and tonight was the night he was going to understand that. He started yelling towards his buddies in the field and I silently mumbled "that's fine". He saw the saddle and started pacing on the lead rope he was attached to but I had no time for his crap and quickly got the pad and then saddle on him. My attitude tonight was not one of sympathy that I usually have to some extent, but one of a job that needed to get done. Surprisingly, Memphis picked up on this pretty quickly. (ok, maybe not too surprising there)

I did not bridle him tonight at first, we needed to work on some lunging first. I got the lunge whip, lunge line, and took him out to the arena. From here we started standard lunging. All I asked for was a walk from him, I swear that was it. Every time I lunge though, he takes off in a rack right off the bat, so I let him do that if he wanted but he had to play my game then. This new game was called "ok" in my head and it goes something like this: the horse decides he wants to do something and I say OK and make him do it till he doesn't want to anymore and I make him continue no matter what. He quickly figured out it wasn't fun to keep up like he was and by God he walked on the lunge line like I asked him to!!!! This is a absolute FIRST.

Once he figured out I meant business I took him back to the barn and gave him a second before we started part two of my plans for him tonight. Part two was riding and so I bridled him and then walked him out to the arena again. Hopped up on him and decided to see if he would just walk out for me around the arena. HA! He thinks the gate means exit which also means barn and here is where I played the game "ok" again. I started letting him gait right next to the gate at a pretty good clip. The barrels were set up in the arena so I did huge figure eights around those all the while letting him act like a fool next to the gate.

Eventually he slowed down and started to walk and I pushed him forward into gaiting again. I told him when to walk and I chose what gait we went. We ended this when he went the speed I said when I asked.

Now, couple things that are totally different about what I've done so far. Number one was I stayed out of his mouth and let him move. I only guided him instead of being in his mouth the entire time and he was allowed to have rein the entire time to move with. Two was the fact I was unafraid of him tonight even with him moving at a super fast rack and a pace a few times. I was catching some serious air and my butt stayed glued to the saddle despite this. Three was my no bullshit attitude I wanted with him; he totally felt out that I wasn't taking his shit today and in accordance to that he did as I asked him to.

I am VERY please with this ride. I actually felt him and I formed a little bit of a closer bond than we had before.

I plan on riding again Saturday unless we go to the lake. So I'm a little excited. :)

Refusals, tantrums, and all out meltdowns

So last night I get to the barn and figure a short 30 minute ride of working on neck reining and leg aids again would do me good. What did I get when I got there? Oh, lets just take a look here:

1.) Acting like a damn fool for the fly spray. This is AFTER I've put way more time than needed into him with that stuff and on Saturday I sprayed him down with not even a flinch from him. Oh but last night he decides he is going to jump back and forth, try to rear back on the lead rope, and attempt to run me over. Fine. The barn owner held him while I sprayed and after 10 minutes he decides to stand still.

2.) Trying to avoid the saddle pad. This is the only part of saddling that he will flat out refuse. He knows that this part means he is about to work and he gets upset. So it's a tricky game of get the pad on. I had no time for his stupidity last night so I backed him sideways into a wall so he had nowhere to go and put the pad on him. He saddled just like normal.

3.) Once on him he pinned his ears and started swishing that tail. This more annoys me than anything as I know he only wanted to leave the arena and go back to the barn. This is a flat out just annoyance from him and you know what? I just don't care. I really don't.

4.) He would NOT stay in a flat walk and once you asked him to turn, he would immediately start to gait and turn towards the exit. Here is where I wish I had not used the bit I used on him. It was too much bit for this much of a fight with him but at that point I wasn't about to hop down and switch bridles. He was stuck with what was in his mouth.

5.) He also would start flat out refusing to move forward, again, he only wanted to turn around and run to the exit. It had nothing to do with pain, nothing to do with me, but it had all to do with it was evening. About the time food gets fed and everything winds down for the night.

6.) I eventually got a half assed flat walk that was heavy on corrections for a slow down from him. This is when I let him leave the arena and go back to the barn. Mainly because I had to leave to pick up my daughter from the sitters.

Sunday though, I'll have the time to put into him. Smaller bit, riding crop, and lots of patience. He is so screwed because I will work him down till he thinks he can't live anymore and he will do the gait I'm asking for which is only a flat walk. So I guess now, neck reining and leg aids are out. He gets to work on walking. Even if that means it will take me forever.

Trail riding

I gotten notice that my barn owner was going to ride on Saturday and she wanted to know if I wanted to go with her. She told me this on Friday... I scrambled to find childcare for Lucille so I could go. My regular weekday sitter agreed to watch her for me for a few hours on Saturday. Bless that woman's heart.

I arrived at the barn at around 10:30 after stopping to get fly spray for the barn. ( I usually buy 1-3 bottles a year that are shared. I use the barn owners when I run out) Memphis and her new horse were still up in the stalls while everyone else was turned out. I took in a good long look of all the other horses out in the field just blissfully eating; they all looked so peaceful just eating and every now and again swishing off flies.

Memphis was still eating his hay; the barn owner had fed him alfalfa this morning since he was going to do some serious work today. He was surprisingly calm for being still stuck in a stall, but I gather part of that was due to the hay in front of him and the fact he has had sooo much good turn out lately. Pulled him out of the stall about the same time the barn owner showed up and pulled her horse out. She made small talk while we groomed out horses, here and there removing any hard spots of dirt that would possible rub while riding. She went on telling me how she groomed Memphis the other day for me and how beat up her horse was. Her horse was a brand new acquisition and he had quite a few battle scars in his short 5 years of life. He was also the lowest horse on the totem pole in the barn, so he was getting beat up still but wasn't too bad off. Just a few nicks here and there, but it was all small and superficial.

I switched the curb strap onto my one ear bridle with a larger bit on it and then removed the roper reins and replaced them with a set of leather six foot split reins. I love the smell of the leather in my hands and the reins are soft from all the coconut oil I've rubbed into them over the years. Split reins are my favorite to ride with on trails as I feel they give me the best of all worlds as far as reins go, but I can see why some people don't like them. Memphis stands and takes a deep breath as we watches me hang the reins and bridle on the stall door next to him. He knows what is about to happen.

I grab the saddle blanket and toss it on up. Fiddling with it for too long, unhappy with its placement. Eventually, I give up and decide that it is where it is going to be. I grab the saddle pad and as always when Memphis knows he is about to go on a long ride, he swings wide over to the stall wall stretching out his lead rope to the end. I walk around him with the pad and give him a smack on the butt while sternly telling him "OVER". He quickly sidepasses, why he can't ever do that under saddle, and I place the pad.

Picking up the saddle and making sure the latigo is not bunched up under the saddle, I gently place it on his back and check its placement. I fiddle with the pad and saddle while he chews on his lead rope. I attach his girth to the billet and then walk around to the other side and get him cinched up. Start to put his bridle on and woops, I put the curb strap on too tight. Takes me 5 minutes to get it all readjusted correctly. We are now ready to go! Find my pink bucket to mount with and up I go.

We decided not to trailer the horses anywhere but walk them to the trails. Its a 30 minute ride there on the roadways but its totally worth it. Memphis did a small spook at a loud truck and was really untrusting of some people cutting limbs but other than that it was an uneventful ride to the part.

Once on the trails Memphis did what he does best, be a AWESOME trail horse. The trail system is being reworked so we had to kinda wing it. We spent a total of 3 hours in the woods. I got some really good gaiting out of Memphis but I did hold him back somewhat. The new trails are CURVY with sheer dropoffs so I was a little nervous about really opening him up. He wanted to go go go but I didn't know the trails well enough to feel comfortable with that.

Near the end I was finally able to relax and drop the reins on the horn of the saddle. Memphis and I started to meld into one unit and he was listening to me without much guidance with the reins. That is what I was waiting for the entire time. I don't know if he was so tired that he just gave into me (probably it) or if we finally started to click, but I truly loved the last 2 hours of that ride.

When we got back to the barn I let him go out in the pasture with a sweaty back. He ran over to his friends, drank some water, and happily rolled in the dirt. I knew he'd roll, but I didn't care. He earned it. I really do love this horse.

Thanks Memphis.

The Barn

I arrived at the barn at around 5:45. Memphis had not eaten and was a little perturbed about the entire fiasco of his stable mates eating away and him being left in the stall. My barn owner left his ration of grain on top of his grooming tub for me to give him whenever I was finished. Nice lady she is remembered that I was coming out tonight and asked her not to feed him since I knew he was about to work.

I pulled his halter off his stall door and clicked open the latch. He waited for me right at the door. As always, I had to look at the halter to make sure that I had it facing the correct way and I was ready to put it on his head. I always think to myself that I should know by now how to put a halter on a horse, but I digress.

For the first time in a long time I never questioned what I was about to do. I snapped him to the lead rope attached to the outside of his stall and did a quick groom over him. I patted his neck and scratched his happy spot on his face. I contemplated pulling his halter off and bridling him that way, but thought better of it since he was already upset he was still not eating.

Sprayed him down with fly spray and then put his saddle pad on. He wasn't happy, but in the end I won. Then goes on the saddle and then attaching the girth to the off billet. Around to the other side. Adjust the pad, smooth down the hair underneath the pad, and then move the saddle up a little bit. As always, cinch up the girth with the latigo questioning my method of tie. I always second guess myself when I get ready to tie it off, why? I have no idea.

Then its the fingers under the girth to make sure it's tightened enough. Yep, two fingers can barely fit. Ok lets move onto the next things...

Find a bucket to help myself mount up on and then place it in the arena while unlatching the gate. Memphis watches me with a curious look from the barn doors. As he sighs, I untie the lead rope and start leading him to the arena. Couple sharp corrections for trying to outwalk me while leading later, we are standing at the front of the arena. I resnap the chain to keep him from thinking of leaving. I then guide him to the bucket and unsnap the lead rope tying it around the cantle of the saddle.

I hop onto my boy and just sit there. I stroke his mane and then scratching his favorite areas while trying to let him know it's ok.

Fast forward to 20 minutes in and I finally feel confident enough to ask him to go. There is a reason I bought this horse.. a huge reason..

I give him a slight nudge with my calf and a slight kiss while moving my hips a little forward in the saddle. He responds like a dream. I gather up the reins and put them up near his neck while sitting up straight and making sure my legs are in alignment with my body. I then enjoy the ride.

HOLY HELL... THIS is why I bought this horse. THIS is what I wanted out of a Walker. THIS is what I forgot about since I gave birth.

He was collected. I was still. We both kinda melted together.

I let him go about 3 bouts around the arena and then I let him flat walk.

I can't wait for Lucy to try this...