1st Ride of 2012

With unseasonably warm weather and no snow, I have hopped on Maggie a few times this winter. I am thrilled that we have had such mild weather. No ice, no snow and temps that are, well, unheard of for December and January in Montana. Last Monday was our first official ride of 2012. Quickly growing bored with riding around the pasture and arena, which was a little slippery due to the skiff of frozen rain from the night before, to do any trotting work, we ventured on up the road..the sun was shining and the mercury was pushing 46 degrees...I was feeling good and it wasn't too long that I realized Maggie was also feelling just as good. We made it about a half a mile from home and she suddenly realized "uh oh, I am out here all alone". We zigged, bobbed, and crow hopped our way up to the hill and I decided it might be a good idea to go home. Now I know what your thinking, but I didn't go home and put her up... no, no, no. We turned around and just as she thought she was off the hook, we trotted right on by our driveway and kept on truckin', right to the end of the gravel road that we live on. At the end of the road is a cul-de-sac, perfect for working a horse in a generous circle. We spent the better part of 20 minutes working at a trot in a circle, changes of directions, half circles, serpentines , spiral ins and spiral outs. Maggie has the coat of mammoth right now so when she gave me a few nice bends and leg yeilds without kicking at my stirrups, we quit. We will try to venture out alone away from home again, weather permitting. My suspicion is that I will have a few repeats of this episode but if that is what it takes, fine.
Maggie didn't see much of the trail last year. I am hoping that 2012 will be a better year and we can get back to a conditioning schedule. Our biggest challenge once again, is the distance from where I live to where any rides are held. I hope to find a way to attend atleast a couple of limited distance rides.

Short Horse Story

Here it is again, weeks and weeks with no posting. Yes, it’s ridiculous. I know. (hanging head)
Compared to last year at this time, we are enjoying a non-winter – winter (if there is such a thing) thus far!

Well,okay, not completely…
It has been cold but we have nothing more than a skiff of snow on the ground which means I have been able to ride a bit more. Maggie is quite plump. We.. I mean , I, have practicing the best technique of how to get on a round horse with a fluffy slippery coat. I swear one of the other horses has gotten a hold of my show sheen and is wiping Maggie’s back down with it when I am not home. What the hell is with her slippery coat!! (yes, it's a sign of a healthy horse I suppose but seriously??) It’s requiring some athletic capabilities on my part in order to get on without sliding the saddle over. Maggie gets pretty irritated about the whole thing and has actually walked over to the mounting block as if to say "please.. just use this .." Yes, I could always use the mounting block and some days I do but I think I just like the challenge of. I almost have it down to a science! Maybe I will do a little write up on details of the "How To's" and yes, there is actually a technique involved!

Maggie has also been perfecting her Houdini acts and has the "getting into places where she shouldn’t" be down to an art. I guess the allure of the compost heap full of rotting hay , chicken and horse manure was too much for her stomach to ignore any longer?? Sans electric fence. Getting in is one thing, the getting out she hasn’t really perfected yet, much to my fencing’s demise. When she first started her latest antics, she patiently waited until someone came home and rescued her. We would unplug the fence, un string the wire and release her from her confines. Well, the last time, it was Tom that got home first and ultimately had to deal with her. I am just guessing but I would imagine he cussed a blue streak all the way out to her and back and called her a few choice names in the process. But ever since, things went back to normal again. Maggie stayed out of the area. I figured she probably grew bored with the whole routine and realized there wasn’t anything worth eating in there anymore. Perfect! We were done with finding her stuck somewhere she shouldn’t be and I didn't have to worry about her getting into bad hay.

I am not exactly sure what happened after that because two days later, we came home to find the entire perimeter fencing of the compost heap saggingm ripped and two of the poles(cheap temporary plastic ones) broken right off and , as if to add insult to injury, Maggie and Cassidy were contently standing on top of the immaculately groomed grassy knoll that serves as Tom’s archery stop, which is also .. correction.. WAS fenced off . More wire fence busted. 12 degree weather…( I LOVE this mare, really...)

As if that weren’t quite enough, as we walked into the pasture, brother and sister took off, leaping off the mound (quite impressively I might add)and kicking up fairly large clods of sod as they went.. of which one landed at promptly at Tom’s feet.
Do you suppose they planned that part??

I didn’t want to look at Tom at that moment because he surely had to have steam rolling out of his ears by now…after a few seconds, as Maggie and Cassidy did what I presume was a Victory lap, I couldn’t help but start laughing hysterically at the whole thing. It was as if Maggie gave him the middle hoof… !!

I figure Maggie decided at some point in all this that she was pretty offended at what Tom called her just days before. I guess she got the last laugh and I will be fixing the missing hoof clumps on the arrow mound.

Bored horses… I may not have a fence left on the place by spring..

Mental Health Days

I took time off work yesterday and today just because. I needed a few days to catch up on things and just have time to myself and not worry about being somewhere at a certain time. Yesterday, I paid bills, ran errands, and got groceries. Today I went riding, a long slow 12.5 miles. A friend joined me today but in the last two weeks I have logged more miles than I have all season. I guess with no one to distract me (husband) I found that riding was as good of a distraction as any, and the weather is finally cooperating.
This past week , I managed to go out and hit the trails 3 times. That has to be some kind of record! Maggie is slowly coming back into condition but it's taking a while. Today she was tired when we finished out 12.5 miles and we didn't ride fast at all. The last few miles she started getting a bit stumbly. I'll give her a few days off, which probably works out best since driving in this valley on the Fourth of July with a horse trailer is nightmarish. People seem to come out of the woodwork.. I guess it's all the summer residents with their fancy lake homes.

I think I am starting to figure Maggie out a bit. When I ride alone, she is getting much more confident and is much more relaxed on the trail. I actually prefer , and I think she does as well, when we are alone. We can trot along the trail in a nice relaxed trot, loose rein for miles on end. It's absolutely wonderful.
Add another rider and horse, she gets competitive and racey. It's not enjoyable because I am constantly having to be on her mouth half halting and getting her to slow up. She assumes MACH CHICKEN speed most of the time and trying to find a rhythym in her trot is impossible. I just have to get in two -point and stay off her back a bit. There is NO posting to that gawd-awful pace! Today we clocked a 14 mph trot. Those are the times I think, " I should just sell her as a harness trotting horse!"

So, as long as I don't ride at any gait other than a walk when another rider and horse is along, we're fine, right? Problem solved.. BORING!!

I will say that Maggie is a total ROCKSTAR on those narrow windy trails that have tree roots and rocks. She's like a cat, and it seems the faster the trot, the better she is. She just picks her way effortlessly as we fly through the trees. I never have to worry about her taking a missed step. It's a pretty cool feeling to ride a catty little horse that handles technical terrain so well at speed.

So I guess the plan is that we'll keep working on pacing at home, and getting Maggie to listen to half halts and hope that it continues to translate to the trail when others join us, but if any of you have suggestions out there for a race brained mare, they are more than welcome here.

Fool Me Once

Knowing that the good riding weather opportunities can slam shut at any given moment I spent the whole weekend riding. There was a mountain of laundry that needed washing and folded, pans to scour and vacuuming to do, but it could all wait. Weekends like this weren’t meant to be spent doing household chores. The weather was absolutely perfect and the pull of an autumn ride was tugging at me.
Maggie is finally well enough after her cold she has been battling. Since mid to Late August, she was suffering from a cough/ sneeze/snotty nose thing that just kept lingering. It never got real bad, she never spiked a temp but was lethargic and not her usual spirited self. The symptoms ebbed and flowed. She would be coughing a lot one day and the next day nothing. My vet wanted me to wait it out as these things usually take time to work through, as long as she never got any worse. For 5 weeks, I waited it. She was improving bit by bit, but still, every time she did more than a walk, the coughing fits would start. I finally decided to put her on antibiotics and within 4 days, she was already showing improvement. We are now back in business.
Saturday, I loaded Maggie up and we headed out for a ride. We’d be going it alone today, and I was actually looking forward to being on my own schedule. It was a hellacious week at work and this was a good way to put it all behind me. The sun was shining and the sky was that deep bright blue I have only ever witnessed this time of year in Montana. The trees were brilliantly lit up with the red, yellows, oranges of fall. They looked like they were glowing from within. The plan was an easy ride, maybe 6-7 miles of walking. Much of it would be hills, which is somewhat unavoidable at Herron Park. We’d take it slow. I suspected that Maggie had lost a fair amount of conditioning in the last several weeks. I took my time getting ready, enjoying the sun on my face. Herron Park was buzzing with people. Maggie was taking all the sights and sounds in. We headed out just in front of a few other riders . Maggie is still unsure about heading out alone. In time, with each new experience, she’ll gain confidence and march out onto the trail with purpose in her stride. For now, it’s often a difficult start, filled with hesitant steps, a moment to look back over her shoulder, to see if anyone else is with us, an occasional call to see if anyone will answer. But she does go on, responding to my words of encouragement and soft strokes to her neck. In time, I hope she’ll look towards me for guidance and reassurance when she isn’t sure of something. In time, I hope I can show her I am worthy of her trust.
With Maggie, this is all new to me. By the time I started riding JB, we already had a strong foundation together. Having brought him out of the wild, and gentled him over the course of many years, the trust was well established by the time I ever climbed in the saddle. With Maggie, we are still getting to know each other. We passed a few hikers and dog walkers along the way without any incident. So far so good, no cough, no sneezing. After about 2.5 miles, I noticed Maggie was beginning to sweat quite a bit and breathing fairly heavy . Her winter coat is already about half grown in and given the temps were already approaching the upper 70’s, I wasn’t surprised when she decided to take a break and catch her breath. We rested there for a few minutes, I gave her carrot snack and then carried on. Pretty soon, she stopped again. It was a bit of a long gradual uphill section of trail so I let her take another break. This went on a couple more times. After the fourth time of her doing this however, in a short distance, I started to become a bit concerned that something was amiss. After the last rest, she refused to go forward. When I nudged her sides with my legs, she pinned her ears, swished her tail and tried to cow kick my stirrup.
Uh-oh..I thought… could she be tying up?? How could that be? She isn’t on any grain other than handful of beet pulp morning and night , enough to mix her vitamins in.
I jumped off and felt her hind quarters. No tightness or spasms. She wasn’t standing funny and she didn’t look like she was in any distress. She just didn’t want to go any further.
Could it be she’s just a bit overheated?
I decided I had better play it safe. I turned her around and hand walked her for about a ½ mile. She willingly walked along just fine. Everything seemed fine. I decided to get back on and see how she did. We rode all the way back in to the “park” area of Herron Park without incident. In fact, she walked out so nicely I was really pleased with her. She even offered to pick up a trot a time or two (towards other horses of course) .
At this point; I figured if she were tying up, she definitely would not be this willing to move. I took her back to the trailer, unsaddled her and hosed her down. Normally she dislikes the hose, but this time, she just stood there and seemed to be enjoying the cool water. I thought my suspicions about getting overheated were confirmed. I supposed getting a bit too warm, combined with her lung capacity taking a toll from her cold, maybe she just wasn’t feeling great. I was glad I made the decision to listen to her and turn back. She hung out at the trailer to dry off and happily munched her hay with some hay while I visited with some people I knew who happened to be riding there as well. She seemed to be acting normal so we loaded up and headed home. Upon getting turned back out, she rolled, and frolicked and acted healthy as a horse, which I was relieved to see.

Sunday was cooler but still nice out. I decided I would take her back to Herron Park again and see how she did. Once again, we headed out, but took a different trail this time. There were fewer distractions around and she seemed more willing to focus on getting down the trail. We were on the flats and she offered to pick up a trot. We trotted along for a good mile before she wanted to stop. I could tell she was breathing quite a bit heavier than what was normal for her. Her stamina had definitely suffered with her cold. I suppose it’s just like when a person gets ill; it takes a while to get back to yourself physically. We headed up another loop trail and had to do a bit of climbing. About half way up the hill, Maggie stopped again. This time, I was less concerned about any other issues creeping up. She wasn’t sweating but I would just let her take her time. No sense over doing it. We rested, then we went on our way. Pretty soon, she stopped again. I took advantage of the stop to take off my sweatshirt and tied it on my saddle. In the process, I gave her a carrot from my packs. I climbed back on and asked her to move off. She did, but with a little hesitation and swish of her tail. Another few minutes, she stopped again. "Hmmm.. This again?"I thought.
Had I really managed to unintentionally taught her in one ride that if she keeps stopping, we’ll turn around and go back?? I encouraged her forward with my legs and she tried to cow kick me again. I asked a bit stronger, only to be greeted by her turning her head back over her shoulder to give a pinned ear mare look and another attempt at a cow kick. It’s her signature move and she usually manages to catch the bottom of my heel. (Something I know I will have to address at some point, but not this day!)
At this point, I knew my next attempt might become a bit of a battle of wills and I wanted to be prepared; or as prepared as I reasonably could. .I attached my GPS to my saddle packs so it wouldn’t go flying out of my hand. . In the process of me fiddling around, I noticed her ears suddenly perked up at the rustling of the packs and she looked at me over her shoulder as if to say…”Snack???” Talk about an Aha moment… I realized what the issue was…at least part of it anyways.
She had managed to figure out that when she stops, she often gets a carrot snack. She wasn’t getting a snack and that was why she was getting pissy and would keep trying to stop, both days. She wasn't feeling bad the day before, she wanted a carrot.. UGGH …How could I have been so dumb??? So, what else is there to do but to correct the problem I had created.
I asked her forward, with no offer of a snack. She refused, I asked with a bit more insistence with my legs and a strong verbal cue of “forward”. She shook her head, pinned her ears and half crow hopped a few steps.. ah yes, the Maggie snit fit… I asked again, this time with a stronger bump, bump with each heel. She went forward, in a sideways kind of motion and finished with a large leap crow hop forward.
"Your getting closer"….
I asked again, only softer this time, she took a step.. shaking her head in frustration. Again, a nudge, and a step. " Now you've got the right idea!"
Another squeeze, and finally she took three or four steps forward. Not happy, but forward. I'll take it...It was a place to start.
We carried on this way and went through this a couple more times before she decided she wasn’t going to get that carrot and we weren’t going to turn around and go back either.

Fool me once, but not twice... All in all, we made it 8 miles on Sunday and worked through those issues. Maggie is feeling fine. It will take her some time to get her stamina back to what it was but that will come in time. We got back to the trailer and I gave her a hay bag. I don’t know if I will continue to carry snacks with us anymore, at least not for a while. I learned a valuable lesson. I have a mare who is way smarter than I gave her credit for.

Pulling Power

As the days roll by , Maggie is slowly getting better from her recent cold, virus or whatever it was that was ailing her, thankfully. I would say by the weekend, she'd be ready for another long day. She has had over two weeks off from work now. Unfortunately, two others, Rebel and Roman, began exhibiting the cough , snotty nose, lethargic affect. So they are working through their symptoms now. It may end up hiting the rest of the herd as well but I am keeping my fingers crossed.
With Maggie on the mend, I thought maybe some easy work in the arena might be good for both of us. With endurance season coming to a close for me, I shift gears a bit this time of year. I get back into doing all the "other " stuff as far as training goes.

Maggie is a Morgan and what is a Morgan made for??? Pulling, Harness....yes pulling a rider up hill (tailing) is a good thing too, but that is not what I am talking about here. I am talking about hooking onto something with some heft and dragging it away, be it a log, a bawling calf , or whatever needs to be moved.
I started the leg work with Maggie this past spring with getting her accustomed to dragging tarps and dragging ropes. Maggie took right to it and the other night , with a short refresher course, I looped my rope around around small 8 ft wood pole and away we went, just like she'd been doing it all along. In time, we'll work towards pulling heavier and heavier objects and maybe I'll have to dust off my old harness eventually and get her hooked up to that!

Fits and Starts

In response to a few of your concerns, no I haven’t gotten lost in the wilderness, eaten by a grizzly bear or abducted by mountain goats. Yes, I have been a bit absent, I’ll admit. So what’s been going on?

In early August, for the first time in a long time, I had no desire to climb on a horse. I had no motivation to do much of anything. I fell of my normal exercise and eating routine and felt even worse, but I couldn’t seem to get myself to straighten up and fly right. I think it was a compilation of the stress at work, caring and rehabbing JB, and balancing a couple of other stressful personal situations that have come up this summer. Basically, I hit a wall and started experiencing bad Ju Ju… (or at least that is what a friend called it, whatever Ju Ju is…)

So I took a much needed vacation. 14 days days of R&R to be exact. I wasn’t productive at all, I didn’t really go anywhere special, and I only climbed on a horse once. Since, I have slowly managed to regain some traction in the motivation department. I am back in the saddle and have resumed some sort of conditioning routine with Maggie. I decided that for the fall season,(however long it may last before the weather turns too bad) I would focus on building Maggie’s stamina on the hill work. Long ,slow hill work. It’s her weak spot.

During my funk, Maggie ended up getting about 3 weeks off by the time I pulled myself back together. So we lost some ground in the fitness area but I am happy to report with things getting back to a normal routine, Maggie was making some good gains on her endurance on the uphill climbs. Things were humming right along until about two weeks ago.

Two things have reared their ugly heads in an attempt to derail us. The first thing is that it appears I am having some saddle fitting issue now with Maggie. She has already started getting her winter coat (ughh) The first time I went to put a saddle back on her after her long hiatus, I noticed white hairs on her back, right where the bars of the saddle lay. Not only that, but the hair coming in had arippled looked to it.. definitely a problem. The worst of it is towards the front and while there are more white hairs on the right side, they are present on both sides. I was shocked... really. My saddle does actually does fit her quite well, even had it checked, and approved, by a professional saddle fitter this past spring. Her back hasn’t changed all that much, atleast not to the naked eye. I have been using the same pad situation all summer. The sweat patterns always looked even. So why/how did the white hairs appear now? Why would they show up during a time when she wasn’t being ridden at all? I have consistently checked her for soreness in her back and she has never once shown any soreness, even after the 35 mile ride in July.
I have had poor fitting saddles before but never had an issue where white hairs showed up.

......................So what am I missing!? !

So here is where you readers come in.... help please...

How long does it/can it take from the time the saddle starts putting pressure to the time when the white hairs show up? Could it be that the saddle has been putting pressure on her all summer and the hairs are just now showing up because her winter coat is coming in??

Or could she really have developed them from one or two rides where the saddle wasn’t riding right? Can white hairs appear that fast?? Still, wouldn’t she exhibit back soreness?

I did remember that one of the last times I rode in the saddle, prior to her hiatus, the saddle seemed to be creaking more than I recalled it ever doing. I remember thinking that was odd and chekcing out the saddle but everything seemed in check. I didn’t give it much more thought. Maybe the saddle is needing reflocked?? I guess I also need to check the tree, make sure that something hasn’t happened there. I thought I would also try riding my older gelding in it and see if it creeks with him. If it doesn't, maybe that indicates it really doesn't fit her anymore??? I'll report back on that.

So for now, until I can figure this out, I am riding her in my Western wade, which is working well as far as fit.. for her. It’s just a bit heavier than I prefer and isn’t real comfortable for me for long hours…. But I’ll deal with it I suppose.

The second issue that has creeped up on us is that Maggie started coughing during a conditioning ride about a week and a half ago. At first I thought it was due to dryness of everything. It had been very dusty. Last weekend, I hadn’t heard her cough in a couple days and thought it was resolving. She wasn’t exhibiting any other symptoms to indicate she was ill. No snotty nose, no wheezing, no temp, eating drinking, etc. So, chalking it up to the dryness, I opted to head out for a 4 hr ride last Sunday. She seemed fine for the first several miles, but I noticed she seemed a bit lethargic. About half way through the ride, the coughing started whenever we would do more than a walk. I also noticed she was showing some discharge from her nose but it wasn’t yellow, more of a grayish/whitish color. So we finished our ride short and headed home. I took her temp which was well within normal range. I watched her for the rest of the weekend closely. In an hour of being within earshot of her, I heard her cough three times. Not a lot and not consistent but she did continue to act lethargic , even out in pasture. By Monday afternoon , her nasal discharge was bit more on the yellow side but then later her nose was dry, with a little clear fluid. It seems maybe she is fighting something off and I would imagine if it were serious she would have shown more in the way of symptoms. None of the other horses are exhibiting any symptoms either, which is good. So, for now the vet says to let her rest for a week and see how she does. If she gets worse, I'll probably have to take her into the clinic. I am hoping she just has a little cold due to the extreme weather change we had. 80’s to low 60’s and wet … certainly makes me want to cough and go hide under a blanket.

Getting on my big girl pants...

Still playing with this heart rate monitor thing and last night. I took Maggie out for a 2 hour solo ride last night and noticed some interesting things.

Up to this point, I have always had someone along with me while riding her. While I can’t use the excuse that Maggie is still new to me, I still don’t feel like I have all her buttons figured out and we are far from “gellin” yet. Her reactions to things are not always consistent. Until we get all that figured out, I prefer to have someone along with out on the trail , but last night, it just didn’t work out and.. well…she needed to get ridden… besides, it was time to take a step forward in our relationship, maybe try to put a little trust in her and officially put on my big girl pants...

Maggie was feeling rather “fresh” so I decided it would be a good night for the loop with more elevation challenges, in the hopes to channel that energy appropriately.

We headed out and took the left onto the trail I was after. Right away, while traveling at a walk , still on relatively flat ground, I noticed her heart rate was higher than what it had been running the last few times I have had the monitor on her. Of course, this is all still new so I have no idea if I really have a true baseline yet. All I can say is that in the last 5 times I have used the monitor she had been running anywhere between 88 and 94 while we walk and the ground is relatively level. Last night she was hanging out about 108-109. I thought maybe it was that she might be a bit nervous being alone and all. She was definitely much more on alert to every squirrel, bird or any other noise that was made.

During the climbing sessions, she jumped up to 155 once, we stopped and she came down to 105 within a couple seconds so I wasn’t alarmed. I noticed on the next hill, she went up to 143 for just a few strides and then seemed to level off at 136 , and stayed there until we reached the top. Not bad?? I am honestly not sure since I don't know what she should be at for climbing a hill.

As we got further into the ride, she did seem to relax and she leveled off, thus staying about 90 on the flat ground. I finally got into some area where we could do some trotting and work on pacing. I thought it would present the perfect time and would be easy without any other horse to compete against. Boy was I ever wrong! She must have known we were sort of headed in the direction of the trailer, (but still several miles away) because she was pulling very hard, very speedy. Normally at a trot, when I can settle her into a reasonable pace, she has been running about 117-118 . This time, having to holding her up quite a bit , she kept spiking up to 136-144. Way to high for a trot! That much I knew.... Clearly, she was using more energy to fight me. I asked her to walk again for a while to settle down a bit. When we got to a long section of flat open dirt track. I asked for the trot again but this time, I let her pick the pace. I wanted to see what would happen with her heart rate because I know that every horse varies on what speed they are most efficient at. It was a stretch of trail of maybe a ½ mile. Ofcourse, Maggie chose a big fast trot. Her heart rate spiked at first to 144, then to my surprise, it back off to 123 and that is where it remained for the entire ½ mile.

So what does this mean? Does it mean she has to travel at that fast pace to be efficient ? I would think that I should be able to teach her to relax enough so she can travel at a slower pace and still be efficient. ( I hope so cuz I can’t ride that trot for 25 miles!!)

What about her heart rate during climbing? If she is recovering within a few seconds to a better rate, should I be concerned that she is jumping up to 155 ? Or do I just have to be patient as this will just improve over time as her condition improves?
I am beginning to see some changes in her from even two weeks ago; a two hour ride used to wipe her out for the next two days. In the last two weeks, I am seeing that 2 hours is no longer much of a challenge anymore for her. I think we are making progess in her conditioning but I would love to get any feedback anyone with more experience than I with heart rate monitors.

After Market Withers Would be nice....

Still battered and bruised from my weekend “event” with Maggie, I managed to load her up again last night for another round…

(I’ll get back to that in a moment)

Believe me; going riding was the last thing I felt like doing with how I was feeling but… Tuesday would be the only decent day before the weekend and…if I am going to ask Maggie to complete a 25 mile limited distance on July 17th, it’s time to start putting more time and mileage on the clock.

So, after icing my ankle and neck for 20 minutes, popping a few ibuprofen, I loaded up and headed out to the state land for a 2 hour ride. The weather was beautiful. For the first time in weeks I didn’t get rained on while riding. I even managed to find a way to place my rate monitor Maggie where it didn’t bother her. It proved to give me some good insight into her level of condition, which I hope to track over the coming weeks.

Last night's ride was going to be a faster paced excurion but Maggie was either a bit tired still from Sunday’s long day, or possibly the fact that she was in heat was affecting her energy level. Needless to say, she seemed a bit lethargic. After a couple miles, she did perk up a bit. She even decided that she wanted to travel at a nice easy trot. As long as she didn’t get too speedy, I let her decide what pace we traveled at. When she offered to trot, we trotted, when she wanted to walk, we walked. This was kind of a huge revelation for her because normally, she wants to just go, go, and go. We did have to climb a few hills and her heart rate would jump a little higher than I would have liked to see, 145-155 range, during the climbs. I would stop her at these points and let her recover before continuing on. She did manage to recover to below 130 within a short amount of time which I was glad to see however, I can see, her fitness level is lacking in hills. On the long and flat areas where we trotted she seemed to maintain at about 117-120 range. I thought that was decent. We probably managed to cover at least 10 miles, several of which was alot of up and down. I won’t ride her again until Friday or Saturday so she should have time to recover well.

Now, back to last Sunday....

Let's just start by saying, I haven't been bucked off a horse in a very very long time. I have had horses trip and go down with me but actually getting bucked off just hasn't happened for several years. Maybe I was due and as it turns out Maggie was just fit for the job I guess.

Yep, she unloaded me pretty hard last Sunday and I am still working through various injuries, mostly minor but still painful... I was thankful I had my helmet on as I took a good bump to the head, which caused me to have a bit of a sprained neck, a sore shoulder and a swollen and painful ankle , probably sprained as well.

Anyways, we were out marking trail for the upcoming endurance ride here. We all rode out in teams of two, with our maps in hand. The goal was to start placing flags lightly to mark the assigned trail. There were 4 teams of two riders. Steph and I were a team and going along enjoying our route. We had already ridden about 6 miles and were supposed to turn back at the creek and mark the trail as an out and back. As it turned out, we were surprised to meet up with another team, who weren’t supposed to be where they were based on where they rode out from. Of course at that point, we all got curious and thought there must be a way to loop this trail (it’s all new territory) . We decided to see if we could figure it out. We rode for quite some time before we popped out onto a nice two track grassy road and decided we could make up some time and do some trotting out. The other team was out in front, then me and my co captain Steph. One of the other riders had a dog with , which wasn’t any bother to any of the horses, including Maggie. Mostly... The dog at one point, decided to pass Maggie and I on the right hand side, which just happened to be a steep uphill bank. There wasn't much room between the hillside and where we were. The dog, realizing it was harder to run along on the side of the hill decided to jump down....right in front of Maggie. She tried to avoid him but couldn't and as he yipped away, out of harm, she startled. She let out buck and a huge (or what felt like a huge) jump. I think the dog startled her to be honest because he appeared out of no where from her line of vision. Unfortunately, when she jumped, she slammed into Steph and her horse to my left, practically landing on them and in the collision, I lost my right rein... which was completely stupid... I have no idea how I lost my rein. As I scrambled to try to regain the rein, she continued to buck but added a little twist, what I prefer to call a sunfish maneuver. Now, remember we were traveling at a fairly fast trot when this all started, so we have a good amount of momentum built up. At this point, my saddle is starting to slide and Maggie is still trying to climb all over Steph’s horse. I suppose it had something to do with the fact that I have no right rein, and cannot steer her off to the right. As I am struggling to grasp at the rein and managing to only find air, Steph is now asking me in a somewhat panicked voice “What is she doing? Get her off?” Being a little pre occupied to answer Steph’s question, my saddle is now starting to roll to the left. Maggie has the withers of a 50 gallon whisky barrel so there is nothing to stop the saddle at this point. I am already unbalanced, yet still … trying to get that rein!!At this point, Maggie decided to end the whole thing and put me out of my misery…and lets out yet another hard buck, I imagine at frustration. I remember thinking during this entire thing, "I'm not coming off, I'm not coming off, I've almost... got....it...." atleast until that final buck when I finally thought to myself..... “Oh the hell with it”…
...and there I went… off the left side.
I landed on my left shoulder and somehow ended up rolling onto my back (the momentum I imagine) and hitting my head on the ground. I remember looking up and cringing as I thought Maggie was going to step on me but she managed to avoid me, thank god….

Everyone got stopped and I got up, mostly unharmed. The headache set in right away from hitting my head. (yes, I had my helmet on) I was fairly sure it wasn’t hard enough to get a concussion but I knew I needed to pay attention to see if I started feeling worse… I readjusted my saddle and climbed back on. We still had a ways to go to get back. The good news is that we did manage to find a connecting loop for that trail. The bad news is that it poured the rest of the way back.

By the time we arrived back to the horse trailer, I was feeling the soreness set in and while my head hurt, my symptoms weren’t getting any worse. I figured I was mostly okay and likely to not lapse into a coma or anything. My right ankle was giving me more grief than my head, which was odd because I didn’t remember hitting it . Nonetheless it was quite painful when I got out of the saddle and it was certainly swelling up. I think Maggie was as happy to see the trailer as I was as she announced our arrival. Two other riders were already back. That made two more riders still out.

I unsaddled Maggie. She was tired but happily munched away at her hay bag. I took advantage of the time to rest while we waited for the other riders to get in. My head was throbbing by this point. It turns out that two other riders also had “incidents” but nothing serious. Guess it was just one of those days.

I was not looking forward to the drive home, and wishing Steph knew how to drive a truck and trailer since she was riding with me. Unfortunately, luck was not with me that day and my co pilot, only nineteen years old had had no experience driving a trailer. Now certainly wasn’t the time to learn.

After resting for about 45 minutes, it was time to load up and get us all home. The drive went without incident but by the time I pulled in to my driveway I was ready to be done…

So, ice and anti-inflammatory meds are my close friends this week. My sprained neck is improving but the ankle is being a bit less cooperative. I think it’s just a soft tissue thing because I can bear full weight on it. Like I told Tom, now JB and I both have a bum right ankle!

Afterthoughts:
I couldn’t help but think with this incident that I really have been rather spoiled with JB. Had I been riding him, things probably would have looked a little different. He would have simply taken care of the situation, struck at the dog to get him to move out of the way, and carried on just as though nothing had happened. I guess I have a few things to learn yet about Maggie.

I just wish I could have a set of aftermarket withers installed on her...

Moving Ahead with other Plans

I was going to wait to write this, but I was itching to post about something a little on the lighter side, some good news. Afterall ; it's been like living on pins and needles here these days....

While JB recovers, there is another little horse that needs my time and even through all of this over the last several weeks, I have managed to continue to ride Maggie. Every Saturday and Sunday, I have been taking her on 2-3 hour rides. We have managed to make some great strides in the last few weeks together.

We have passed through knee deep snow, waded in deep water, chased mountain bikers (only the rude ones!) and even crossed paths with a black bear. We have passed hikers, marked trail for a poker ride and even managed to keep our wits about us when another horse blew up in front of us.

Yesterday, we rode up into new country. A trail called Wild Bill trail ( how appropriate..)was the intended location. We climbed to about 5000 feet in elevation, taking various trails only to find outselves hitting dead ends. For the first hour and a half, we were lost for 80% of the time but having fun nonetheless. Pretty soon, the snow starting to come down which then turned to hail, which proceeded to come down very hard and fast. The visability was horrible and I could barely make out Maggie's ear's. I wasn't too concerned as I knew it was a passing squall but it was certainly taking it's time to pass. We rode along, (still happy since we were riding !) wet and covered in ice pellets , several of which had made their way down my back by now when finally, we discovered the trail we had just spent the last 2 hours looking for. YIPPEE!! In the midst of all this excitement, we turned a corner, only to find a large bull moose standing right in front of us. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME SINCE I WAS IN THE LEAD! (thus the reason for being lost most likely) He couldn't have been more than 20 yards away. With the snow and wind, he must not have heard us (my friend and I weren't exactly being quiet either complaining about the snow storm we were in) but there he was, in all his glory,standing taller than what a 16.2 hand horse would be. Maggie, as surprised as I was, just stood and stared. There wasn't an ounce of fear in her. Luckily, the moose decided two of us was more than he really wanted to deal with and dashed off through the woods. Phew......We turned back and headed the way we came , partly because he headed in the direction we needed to go and partly because in order to continue down our newly discovered trail , we were going to have to cross chest high water. We decided to loop back (we were scouting new trails and doing alot of back tracking) and found another trail , only to find ourselves back in the same place we had just left... and wouldn't you know it, there was Mr Moose again !! This time he was a bit futher off thankfully. Maggie seemed fascinated by him. I was just counting my blessings that it was a bull and not a protective a cow with her new calf. We would have been in more trouble if it were. We turned back around for the last time of the day and headed back to the trailer, about 4 miles down a forest service road.

So, Maggie has picked up where JB left off and we are logging a few LSD miles with good success. She has even taken to drinking out of puddles along the way as she sees fit. She takes good care of herself. I really like that about her. She's unsure about alot of things at this point, but for less than a year's worth of riding, I think she is doing quite well. Confidence will come in time.

More wet saddle blankets... please.

Who's on First?

Two and a half more weeks .. before school is done..
Then maybe I can get back to posting something worthwhile on this blog.
I have been riding a couple times during the week, just at home in the arena. Sometimes I can only sneak in a half hour, other times, its over an hour. JB has been laid up, as I mentioned in an earlier post but there is good news. I’ll get to that in a moment.

While JB has been off, I had to shift gears a bit about who would be my mount for the ride in July. Initially I hadn’t planned on riding Maggie for that . I didn’t think I could have her ready and still don’t, but with this recent development with JB, I had to at least work toward that as a goal. I still have faith that JB will be fine but in case he’s not….

I rode her three times last week at home and last Saturday, I made a fast dash with Maggie to Herron Park for a quick 5.5 mile loop. Yes, I drove 16 miles one way for a very short ride but I needed a study break and it did us both a world of good. This was only her second time out on a “real” trail and she did beautifully. She was tired and sweaty since it was all uphill on the way out, but she did learn that trotting uphill might not be such a good idea after all…she also started to really figure out how to travel downhill without crabbing.

Sadly, for safety reasons, I have had to stop riding on the dirt roads near my house for conditioning. After another recent close call of nearly being run into (what appeared to be on purpose by a crazy neighbor who hates the world), I decided enough was enough. I am tired of fighting crazy drivers; I am tired of my quiet horses being given reasons to be scared of traffic. I am tired of assholes… to be perfectly honest. Trying to ride on the roads around here is just creating anxiety in my horses.. and me , for that matter. I can’t say I blame the horses, when trucks and cars come whizzing by at 55mph , kicking up gravel and stones and dust. Anyways, I digress…

Without the use of dirt roads for conditioning, that only leaves me the arena, pasture and my dead end half mile cul de sac for riding during the week, but at least my horse and I are safe. In a couple more weeks, after school is out, I’ll be able to get home a bit earlier in order to load up and get to a trail head at least once during the work week. That combined with long days in the saddle on weekends will have to suffice for conditioning.

On to JB. JB has maintained a level of fitness from last year so even at this point, so even with this setback, I could still have him ready for July assuming this issue clears up. At the same time, I also realize the window of opportunity is closing in on me for that. I’ll only be doing the limited distance but I had really hoped to ride him both days for the limited distance. The ride is less than 11 weeks away, considering I wouldn’t ride the week before. I am trying to stay positive and flexible at this point.

The good news is that the lameness is improving and I would consider it a low grade at this point. The chiropractic/body work lady came out on Tuesday. By then, JB was already making some improvements and moving about 65% better than he was even 3 days prior. I had thought initially it was front left, where he had been kicked but it was a bit hard to tell because to me, he felt off in the front and the back. When she worked on him and watched him move, she felt his soreness was on his front right. My first thought was .. “Oh no, not again”. Of course, JB’s issue 2 years ago was a sole bruise on his front right. I know that he hasn’t bruised anything because he is only ever ridden in boots and none of our paddocks have rocks since it’s old river bottom. Given that, I knew I could rule out another bruise as a potential issue this time. It could also be compensation, for his front left. It’s really hard to tell. Long story short??? I have no idea at this point what I am dealing with. The good news is that everyday he is showing improvement. There continues to be no heat, no swelling, no odd bumps, etc. The chiropractor felt he was certainly sound enough that I should start riding him again. Light riding, of course, no tight circles, or anything like that and see how he does for the next few days. I don’t think I am ready to take him into the vet for a lameness exam quite yet. I know it will end up in doing nerve blocks to identify the area of lameness and that gets extremely expensive.

So last night, for the first time in over 2 weeks, we saddled up and took a spin. He actually did pretty well. He didn’t feel obviously off like he had 2 weeks ago but at the same time, he definitely didn’t have the “gusto” in his trot I would like to see. He didn't do the stumbling thing like he was two weeks ago when I discovered the issue. We worked for about 20 minutes and I put him up. We’ll do the same thing tonight. Keep your fingers crossed that he continues to show positive changes.

With no tests to study for, I’ll be in the saddle most of the daylight hours this weekend.

So many horses to ride, so little time....

Weekend Horse stuff...

This was the first weekend in some time that I was able to focus almost entirely on horses and horse related tasks. Let me say this...it felt good. No errands, no family obligations, no other things to I must do. I forgot just how good it feels to just say no to all the other demands on my time .
It started out with JB getting his scheduled trim. His feet continue to be doing very well. I curried, curried and pretty soon had another layer of his winter coat off of him and onto me. I booted him, saddled him, and off we went. It was a bit chilly so we started out slow, doing lots of bending, leg yields, circles, etc at a walk. I had decided to work him in his bitless bridle Tom recently made for me (another post maybe) and this was only the second time I had ridden him in it. He was responding nicely, much better than the first time I put him in it. I decided to ask for a trot after about 15 minutes of warm up work. He hesitated.. "well, it has been a while and it has been cold..." , I thought to myself. I asked again , this time a little more insistent... He picked up the trot, although he pinned his ears a bit . He offered three or four strides and then he was back to a walk. I thought that was odd but since Tom had just left with his gelding maybe he was being a bit barn sour. I gave him the cue to trot again, and he obliged , but clearly wasn't happy about it. The trot he gave me was choppy, slow and then he started stumbling all over the palce. Then I knew something was definitely wrong. When he had foot trouble 2 seasons ago, that was one of the most noticeable symptoms, he stumbled over nothing. I got off him, pulled his saddle and bridle off, and made him move at liberty in the arena. There is was, a definite front left gimp. Tom came back out about then and asked what was goin on. He watched him too, definitely front left. His previous foot issue was his front right and was due to a stone buise of the sole. His soles have thickened and he also had his boots and comfort pads. Besides, his trim was only a small amount of rasping. No sole was taken and JB hasn't even sluffed his winter sole yet. So I knew whatever this lameness was , it was unlikely that it was foot related. I caught him up again, ran my hands down both front legs, no swelling, no bumps, no heat, no nothing. I pulled the boots, no soreness in the heel bulbs, no rubs, no nothing.

Hmmmm. Maybe he just strained himself playing with Brego.


Right about then, Tom said..

"Didn't you say the other day that you noticed he had some hid missing on his shoulder?" "Which side was that?"

It was true. He did have a good sized scrape and indeed it was his front left shoulder. Initially I assumed it was a bite when I first saw it because he and Brego are constantly playing and biting one another. I looked at it again, it could easily be a scrape from a hoof, without a doubt. So,JB is mildy to moderatly lame.

My plan? Give him a week with some slow easy walking work and see if it goes away. If not, called the chiropractor , if still no improvement, off to the vet for a lameness exam. Initially at the discovery of this, my stomach flipped as I envisioned my already short season being ripped away from me. Howevewr, I was encouraged when I turned him back out to his pen when he was rather playful and willing to jump around. At the very same moment, I decided it was time to separate him from Brego for the time being. He is now in with just Rebel. They don't play and JB usually bosses Rebel. His chances of getting injured further would be far less.

As for Maggie, well.. Maggie and I are at a bit of an impass. Maggie is learning that she can go as fast as she wants to and I will still be there. Here's the thing, Maggie gets anxious and travels around tense and thinks that if she just goes, faster things will be better. That combined with that fact that she is terribly herd bound. Fighting her with half halts isn't working, its just frustrating her more. She's too strong willed. Maggie needs to learn to let go of that anxiety and if she needs to move her feet to do so,then that is what we will do. Think about it, have you ever tried to run a mile holding every muscle in your body tense?? How tiring is that???? Could you travel 25 or 50 miles like that? Maybe but not without a high likelihood of injury at some point.

So, today, we started out slow and as predicted she wanted to go faster. I let her and pretty soon we were moving around the arena (and eventually the pasture) at a big trot or a canter if she felt the need. As a disclaimer, I should mention that while we are moving at a quick pace, she isn't in runaway mode. So I let her go, while directing her a bit with circles and changes of direction. Then, every so often, I offer her a good deal, asking her if she would like to maybe slow down a bit, using my seat and reins, If she responds, we slow up a bit. If not, we kept on moving at the speed she feels the need to move at. sometimes it was a canter and sometimes it was a big fast trot. We continued this pattern for some time. Pretty soon, when I suggested she slow up, Maggie listens and her pace slows, maybe just a bit, but that's a try, and that's something... Pretty soon, Maggie is trotting quietly around and eventually she slowed to a walk. several times, this walk only lasted for a few minutes before she decided that she needed to go quickly again. We repeated this process and I rode her for quite a long time. At the end of it, she had made some progress. We could trot a lap or two around the arena at an easy pace with out her trying to hurry. Better yet, I could ask her to slow to a walk and she willingly walked and stayed in a walk. I ended the lesson at that point.

Some might read this and say, sure, you just tired her out.. and I would say that that is a wrong assessment. Believe me, this mare was far from tired. It's crucial that Maggie learns that she doesn't need to travel so fast and tense. I can see that I am not going to be able to make any training progress on anything until she lets go of this anxiety and tenseness and I refuse to be in a horses mouth constantly to get them to slow up. In order to do that, I need to put her in a physical bind to get a mental change. Remember , I didn't ask her to move quickly or choose the pace we traveled at. I let her decide and continually suggested..... "We can slow down now if you would like" . When she did , I rewared her, and let her slow down. When she left quickly ,I let her but directed her feet. I am a strong believer in presenting things and then letting a horse work through all the possible options. Eventually she'll figure out that she doesn't need to work so hard. I know this process will need to be repeated several times before we get it perfect but it's a good start to a long road ahead.

1st Ride Away from Home

Yesterday there was achange in my schedule and I had an unexpected , but welcome gap of time available. So, when given the choice of what to do with a free afternoon, what would one trying to condition two horses for endurance do??? Boogie home, change and halter up Maggie for a ride, but ofcourse!
She was not expecting to see me and I interupted her afternoon nap. I don't think she was all too pleased about it either. I had to halter her while she was laying down and it took some coaxing to convince her to get up. Eventually she groaned, stood up and looked at me as if to say.."thanks alot"
I decided that I would put the saddle on her today and see about actually making her carry me for today's ride. I hand walked her until I got to the gravel road, about a 1/8 of a mile, tightened the girth and proceeded to try to climb on. Maggie decided right about then that maybe it was time we turn back to the calling companions we had just left. As I was in mid swing with my right leg, she did a nice quick turn and pivot. I managed to land fairly squarely in the saddle, keep myself from plunking down, and got her stopped and turned back , all in one not so graceful motion. My saddle was also turned.
........... "All I need now is someone to come by with a truck and scare her" I thought to myself.
I got everything situated, took a deep breath and we set off at a brisk walk, pondering how it would be riding this mare over distance. She has absolutely NO withers. She's as table backed, mutton withered as they can come.. Getting on her without twisting the saddle is nearly impossible, even with an athletic leap to launch myself, and a good handful of mane.. the darn thing still comes over. "Deal with it...."
Up ahead was our first obstacle to get through. A truck with a flatbed trailer parked in the middle of the road. Its occupants were mulling back and forth, trying to fix something on the trailer.
.................Walk, stop, look, head up like a Giraffe, step, step.. stop...look... blow....
This is how we proceeded towards this horse eating monster, while I tried to gently talk to her , encouraging her it was okay. As we got closer, I decided, based on the tension rippling through every muscle in her body, and remembering the saddle rolling issue, it might be best if I just hopped off and led her through this. I didn't have much room to squeeze by them and the last thing I wanted was for her to decide to stop and spin and potentially running into the truck or trailer. Ofcourse, I had to really think twice; was it worse to get off and have to fight the saddle again or take my chances I could get us both through this while staying mounted. The logical side of my brain won out, wanting to make sure I do everything I can to build her confidence in sticky situations. I reluctantly hopped off and we walked by, said hello and made it through with no incident. I've learned that pride will often get a person hurt.
Shortly thereafter, I did the mounting dance once again, using a snow bank as an assist. As we made our way down the road, she began to settle in a bit and I took a deep sigh, which in fact prompted her to stop holding her breath as well. (funny how that works). This was our first ride away from home afterall. So I was a bit tense.. ok I admit it...
We got to a long straight stretch of road and I asked her up into a trot. What started out as a nice quiet easy jog started to build into a bigger, more impulsive, famous Morgan road trot.
......."damn hard wired genetics..." I was really hoping she would be reluctant to get into that big trot that is so bred into her, atleast for a little while!
As much as I was enjoying the impulsion and burst of effortless speed, I realize this mare needs to be contained a bit. She needs more encouragement to stay quiet and relaxed at this point. Forward is NOT a problem with her, the total opposite of JB. She can tend to get "caught up" and has way more go than I need or want with her at this point. I must say though, I think I'm in love!!!

The rest of the ride went fairly well. There was one other point in the ride that I opted to hop off again, as we were passing a narrow section of woods , woods that were making crunching sounds, which were apparently alarming. Nevertheless, she is much more brave and confident when I am out in front and I have no problem letting that be the case for now.

We managed to go four miles and she had adequate (ok more than adequate) energy at the end of it. She got warm but did not sweat, which was good since it was only 32 degrees out and she has a coat like a big brown bear! She got a good rub down, a mud removal scrub and a couple carrots.

Mission successfully accomplished.

Test Drive

You met Maggie last June. I did this post when she arrived ( previously known as April) arrived at Acer Farm. She was here strictly for one reason; , that was to be bred toJB. The breeding never occurred because an unexpected offer lay on the table ; April's owner at the time, due to health issues, said he would like me to have her, but if I couldn't take her, she was headed to Oregon, with what sounded like a questionable future. And so, over dinner, we made the deal and the Doe eyed Diva stayed put. I had no idea , really , at the time if she would really do much in the way of endurance but something about her peaked my curiousity..... The first order of business however, was to get her dry lotted. She was terribly overweight and on the verge of founder. She was herd bound with her damn, who she arrived with. She was all attitude... and I liked it....

Over the next several months, we got to know each other during round pen or arena sessions, working on the basics. We made leaps and bounds in the bonding process because she hated being confined to her pen and seemed to looked forward to the distraction of our sessions.

So, 8 months later I am seeing a slimmer, more mannerly version of the same horse out in the pasture and we have started some very initial spring training. In the last week or so I have pulled her out of the pasture, done a cursory brushing, slapped on JB’s older Epics and took her along with me and my dog for a walk. May as well kill two birds with one stone, right?

Normally, my preferred choice of getting a colt out and about is to pony them, but I am a total chicken about the footing right now. It’s still slick in many areas along the roads I use for conditioning. No sense putting me and two horses at risk. So we walk and sometimes we stop, we look, we carry on..

Hand walking certainly has it’s benefits. It's like a test drive, get a feel for things and play it on the safe side. Since I only got the chance to take her out on the trail once last summer and she had a buddy along, I wasn't sure how she would handle leaving the herd, deal with passing vehicles, any of the other distractions we might happen upon. I wanted to set things up so Maggie could begin to look to me for confidence. Hand walking seems to be a great way to do that.

It also gives me opportunity to work with her on leading, manners on the lead and getting her to respond to voice cues. We pass the miles , when we are n't stopping to gawk at something, working on whoa, walk, walk up, trot. It's a good thing she doesn't have to chew gum and walk at the same time because she doesn't seem to be able to multi task yet!

The trotting in hand sessions have been kind of entertaining. She has a nice little jog that I can easily keep up with for some time on my own two legs, a job that I can picture riding along to for miles on end; but she tends to get caught up in the moment and shifts down a gear , or two , and gets into her big Morgan road trot(that thankfully isn’t totally developed). I have to stop her because I can’t keep up. Obvioulsy Stupidly, I have tried, atleast given it my best shot but the short legs don't stand a chance. She just kicks it down again and goes faster... (I think she likes to race!) Not sure where her final gear might be, but I suspect as she gets in better shape, she might find a few more... good for later, bad for now...

On our last walkabout, during one of these trotting sessions, it hit me like wall. I suddenly realized what it was.... the thing that I saw in her early on.. but couldn't quite put my finger on...her power. It resonates off of her, travels down the lead line and hits me like a bolt of lightening. This I think , will make a fine endurance mount.

As for JB, no I haven't forgotten him. His turn will be this weekend.. He's healthy, strong and has been vibrating for weeks. It's time to rechannel that energy into something productive. If he comes out of spring at all like he did last year, I might need to find my Hi Ho Silver Costume first.

It's Done

It's that time of year again, renewal time for AERC. It was easy last year. JB was the designated horse for the sport. I signed us up and all I had to do was focus on him.

This year, as you all know, Maggie appeared on the scene and was given a free pass to stay on at Acer Farm. My decision to keep her was based on the simple first hand knowledge that the breeding lines that this mare was from produced exeptionally tough horses. That was all the potential I needed at the time. (oh, and the big doe eyes played a part in the decision as well)Maggie arrived, on the verge of founder with one more glance at green grass and went immediately onto a new feeding program. It involved many months of being dry lotted with very small amounts of grass hay through out the day, a program that made her sour and unhappy about life in general, having been used to running on over 20 irrigated acres of lush pasture. Seeing her so unhappy, I began the process of getting acquainted with her by taking her out for walks or short excercise periods in the round pen. We spent many hours working on basic ground manners, something she was lacking. As time slowly passed, her body condition went from a high 7 to a low 6 in 3 months. She proved to be an athletic , strong mare, despite her weight and build. Explosive power when she is motivated. Getting to know Maggie was an interesting journey. For the last several years, my main focus had been JB. While I own and ride several of the other horses here at Acer Farm, they are mostly well trained or much older and I don't spend alot of concerted "training" time with them. Maggie was the second addition to my training program. I quickly found out that she is nothing that JB is and everything that JB is not. There could not be two more polar opposite personalities than Maggie and JB.

Since June, the weight has continued to come off and she was beginning to get a little bit better conditioned with her sessions in the round pen. I got about 20 rides on her by late summer and she was beginning to show me more of her personality, as she felt better and better. Today, she is about at a weight that is as close to ideal as I can get her without alot of conditioning but she remains a large , round barreled, flat back horse. It's her conformation and there isn't much more to be done about that. She can probably still lose about 50 pounds and with additional condition , she will develop more muscle, but her build will remain similar to what it is now.

I have labored over whether my initial hopes of making her an endurance prospect were realistic . Is endurance really the right path for her, given her build? It's a frequent topic of conversation with my husband, since he was the one who bred, raised and trained these Lippitt Morgans for years. He surely has the experience with what they can and cannot do. We both agree that this mare will certainly endure the mental and physical toughness that the endurance sprot demands, however he does not share my concern in her ability to cool properly and recover quickly enough. Tom has always used a Lippitt Morgan as his riding horse, whether it was his journey on horseback from New Mexico to Montana, long days of helping with working cattle, or the miles he has ridden in the backcountry. He is drawing his sentiment of the ability of these horses directly from his experiences of these horses. But still, it wasn't usually at speed so I am left to wonder.

Concerns aside, I decided that there is truly only one way to find out. That is to begin , as initially planned last June, conditioning Maggie for the sport this spring. I will monitor and track her recoveries closely and see what she has to tell me. A horse that is fit to continue is different than a horse that will simply continue regardless of whether they are fit or not...Time and miles will be our guide.

So , with my decision made, a heart rate monitor on the Christmas wish list, I added "Z Halcyon April" to the renewal application for AERC. It's signed ,sealed and delivered. Maggie will officially join the AERC crowd.

We'll see what Morgan has to show me.

Maggie Takes to the Trail

Yesterday was a big day for Maggie and I. I took her off the farm for the first time and hauled over to Herron Park . It would be a safe location for our first outing away from home, where we wouldn’t have to deal with motorized vehicles of any kind but still have plenty of things to expose her to, including cross country jumps, dogs, hikers and bikers and ofcourse , trails. It was the first time I have trailered her anywhere, first time wearing easy boots (luckily JB’s fit her!) and her first time on the trail, so it was alot of first on many levels.
She patiently stood while I wrestled the boots on , she loaded up like a champ and she seemed very interested on getting down the trail. She was definitely on high alert at all the new sights and smells. We took our time and walked around to take a good look at everything. After about a half hour, she settled in so I headed up the trail with her. We only went a couple miles and went very slowly since it was all uphill. She seemed to pay close attention to where she was putting her feet and was quiet, when we had to let two other horseback riders by. Despite her huffing and puffing (as a result of her being horribly out of shape) she definitely has some willingness to move out. We had to stop a few times so she could catch her breath. I exposed her to hills, both going up and down hills. She did not like going down at all but I expected that to be the case with a youngster, at least until she learns how to carry herself. I plan to spend some time ponying her on the trail to allow her to sort out hills with the added burden of a rider. I find that really helps a young horse sort hills out. Overall, our first outing together went better than expected and I am looking forward to more time on the trail with her.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Let's face it, when you have even a small dot on the map and have horses to ride, property and a home to maintain for said horses, and have to work fulltime, it can get pretty chaotic. Below is a picture of our Hay Barn that we FINALLY got a start on. It's been a long time coming and as you can see we have a ways to go before completion but our plan is to have it mostly completed before winter. For the past several years, we have managed to get by with round bales because without a barn to store them in , it's been our experience that the rounds do much better at "shedding" moisture and are overall a bit more resistant to the sometimes harsh conditions we see here . We tarp two bales to a tarp and rest each bale on on individual pallets. But there is a huge downfall. Since we fork off the feed to the horses morning and night , it makes a mess, especially in the wind. By Spring each year, we end up having large amounts of hay that has blown into our yard and we spend alot of time cleaning that up. I am looking forward to not having to deal with tarps anymore andnot having that mess next spring!

So work is one thing and will always be there. Riding is another. This past week I rode all but two nights. Friday evening I took JB up the road for a change of scenery. For the last several weeks, we have mostly been in the arena. We are both growing bored with it. Tom came along as well with his gelding Cassidy. JB moved out very well. He was very forward and free. Since Tom was along with Cassidy , JB had his work cut out for him to try to keep up with the Morgan Road Trot. Ofcourse, poor JB has to canter to keep up with Cassidy when Tom gets him into that gait but JB can definitely move when motivated! It seems as though for now we have the right things in place for JB. Between a good fitting saddle (the Duett I purchased from Mel over at Boots and Saddles, well padded easy boots and the gelding life, he is starting to feel much better it seems. Here he is pictured below pre ride Friday evening. We did 4 miles of mostly trotting. He wasn't really interested in giving me his best look and he appears a little irritable in the photo. I think he was just having a pouting moment because I had just squirted him down with lots of bug repellant.

And then there is Maggie. She is a fun horse to be around and I think she looks forward to our sessions. She seems to be a horse that does better with a lot of interaction from people. She is very personable. I have been riding her 2-3 times a week and we have moved past several of her "snit fits" as I call them. As you can see from the photo below , she isn't afraid to try new things. Tom snapped a couple photos of us working on the pedestal. This was the first time she got up with all 4 feet. The problem was getting her back off. She seemed to like it so well that everytime I got her to step off, she tried to get right back on. As i said, girls just wanna have fun I guess....

Peanut and MM

The last two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind and it's probably high time I gave an update. Believe it or not, I have been riding, in fact, quite a bit. Beginning the 4th of July weekend, I was on "staycation" and had family visiting from the east coast, cousins I haven't seen in over 15 years. We had an absolutely fabulous time . In between the boating, hiking, swimming and sightseeing, I did manage to stay disciplined enough to get up early and get my riding done first thing, leaving me the rest of the day to enjoy family time.

So here is the run down. I purchased a Duett saddle from another endurance rider and blogger and it has worked out to be quite a good fit for JB. Surprisingly enough the saddle also does ok on Maggie Mae (previously known as April), So with the new saddle, I have been putting quite a bit of time on Peanut (JB). As a side note, JB was gelded a little over a month ago now and is enjoying his new life as a gelding, getting to have pasture mates now regularly, although he often chooses to be a loner. Gedlinghood has changed a few things for him in training as well. Suddenly , all the arena work and excercises that I had been working on for the last several months are all coming together. When I ask him to travel long and low and stretch his back at a trot, he no longer fights it, now he welcomes it. His canter transitions are improving in leaps and bounds and he is jumping 2' now with ease and some pretty darn cute form too!

What about endurance you say?

All in good time....

No, I haven't forgotten , nor do I plan to. I decided that , in JB's best interest, we needed to just put endurance on the back burner until next season. I am seeing now that it was definitely the right decision. His hoof issues seem to be resolving. I have had him on Farriers's Formula for 5 months now and it is really helping. I never work him without his Easyboot Epics and pads, even if it's in the roundpen that has absolutely no rocks. He has to have the boots on. Otherwise, he starts short stepping. We think alot of it might be memory from the pain he went through last year with the heel/sole bruises because he hoof tests out just fine. there is no more actual detectable soreness. As long as the boots are on, he seems to finally be able to reach with his front and moves much better. A few weeks ago, we had a minor setback , but realized right away what the problem was. His feet had grown (imagine that!) and the size 0 boots were squeezing his feet just a bit more than he was comfortable with, so we went back into the 1's and now he is moving better again. I am really enjoying our time together and he seems to be much happier as well. Now that he is a gelding there is alot less mental energy exterted in his surroundings. As a stud, every other horse, bug, piece of dust, blade of grass or whatever else happened to fly by his sight was a total distraction for him. As a result, he is "talking "less and listening more. That has allowed our arena time to be much more productive.

As for M&M ( MaggieMae), well , all I can say is, wow, she has been a trip. She is the total opposite of JB. I spent a solid three weeks of round pen work only to establish some sort of relationship and give her some excercise with the added burden of rider. She was quite overweight. The time we spent getting to know each other in the round pen ?? My gosh, she is a quick study. She listens so well and is moving nicely up and down through her gaits with only a slight shift in my body position and a verbal cue. She has lost about a 1oo lbs and is feeling much better as well.

In the beginning, she would get very agitated with the feeling of any pressure at her side and would literally squeel and wheel even if I touched her there while on the ground. I got her to a point where she accepted in on the ground and would step her hind quarters over nicely but while I was in the saddle she hated the feeling of any pressure against her side. I had never experienced that with a horse before. Eventually with more work from the ground and in the saddle, we got past that. However, right about then, she decided to pull out her next trick. We would be trotting along and all of sudden , she would slam on the brakes, literally stop dead . And mover her forward??? forget it. .. She planted her feet and there was no moving her. She would turn and back up and maybe go foward a step or two but then she would pin her ears and kick at your foot in the stirrup when you would encourage her forward with your leg. Each time she would do this, we would go through the same thing. She would throw what appeared to be a temper tantrum and I would pateintly ask forward or ask her to take a step to the side , hoping tounlock her feet . We would do this and each time, she would eventually get out of her snit and then just walk forward like nothing happened. However, each time she did this, I was noticing she was "upping the anty" a bit more. I realized that I had better get an upper hand on the situation, as it seemed to be becoming a bad and dangerous habit because she was beginning to throw her head and offer to rear. About a week ago, I strapped my helmet on extra tight and went to work. As predicted, she did her slam on the brakes maneuver and I thought, well, here we go, not really know how she was going to react to what I would do. When she stopped, I asked her to move forward with my leg, her response was throw her head and kick at my foot in the stirrup. At that moment, I had an extra long rein and I had the extra length ready. When she kicked at my foot, she caught the end of my leather rein on her heiny. She jumped sideways and kicked out again. I offered her to move off my leg forward, again, she kicked at my foot in the stirrup, so again I caught her with the end of the rein. Now she was beginning to realize I might be serious because when I asked a third time with my leg to move forward, she moved forward. Wow, did we move forward. She trotted out a ways and then she tried to stop and kick at my again. This time, when I asked with my leg, she opted to listen to that cue and she moved off, quietly and without kicking at me, throwing her head or any of that other nonsense. I am pleased to say we haven't had an issue since. She moves off leg pressure now and there have been no other temper tantrums. Now that she is a bit lighter and feeling better, she will occasionally kick out as she moves up into a canter but it's not anything to be concerned about. It's almost more of a playful thing from what I can tell. I am seeing that Maggie likes to go and go fast.
Very much unlike JB, my focus with her will be speed control right out of the gate. This weekend we started introducing the half halt and she is picking it up quickly. She will be a tough little mare and I hope to ride her next season in her first limited distance.

So, that's the news with us and the horses these days. I have been busy riding two horses, both at totally different points in their training. This coming week, we begin a big project with putting up a 24x32 haybarn. Yay... I can hardly wait...