Midnight Rider

This is my first experiment with a video GIF. I've been watching GIFs for some time now and kind of have mixed emotions. Thought I would try one to see what I think. This is one of my little riders on the Shetland Pony, Midnight.

CHRISTMAS PAST

          

  This photo was taken at a Christmas Barn party several years ago and there is a story to this picture. It is of my husband, Ray, who was the Christmas Grinch.

   He would always refer to the helmets as ‘chicken hats’ and, of course, being the old cowboy (real deal believe me) he wouldn’t be caught in one of them.

  One of my students got the idea that we needed to make Ray his very own ‘chicken hat’ so we did. Spray painted a broken helmet bright pink and pasted pictures of chickens on it.

  This was wrapped very carefully and, when we had a lot of bystanders, it was presented to him.

  The old cowboy was a good sport about it and we all had a really good laugh.

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO CHALLENGE ON FACEBOOK

I was actually challenged twice. The photos are ones that I took in black and white - no  photo shopping. It was a very interesting experience to look through the lens in black and white. Since that challenge I made myself check out other settings in the camera and am having a ball. I would challenge anyone to check out what their camera has to offer and do something different. Cell phones have a wide variety of applications that make it a different photo.

BEE BATTLE AND BUTCH

I think poor Butch had enough of this human by the end of the lesson today.

A new, little, annoying bee showed up after our first cold spells. It hovers just like the bot fly but tends to cozy up to the human rather than the horse. Picky being that I am I want them out of our space.

There was one close to Butch’s head and I was focused on it as it flew between his head and the wall. I figured I could hit it with my cap and do it in if it got just a little closer to the hard surface. Conditions came together and I hit. WHACK!!!!

My strike was sudden and loud and accurate. Neither Butch nor Goober was impressed with my accuracy and let all of us know with a loud ‘snort’ and body pull back. Thankfully both horses only took one sudden step back then their attention came right back to the riders.

Well, one time to spook the horse apparently was not enough for me. We were at the arena and riding was going well when a bee started circling mom who was not riding.

Again, me to the rescue. Cap in hand I waited for the right moment. That happened just as Butch and his rider were passing about 3 feet from me. A mighty swing and - WHAP!!!! Butch sucked to the side saying, “I don’t think so”.

When I talked to the rider later I found out she was paying close attention to the environment. From across the arena she saw my body language change to ‘bee battle mode’ and had a pretty good idea of what was going on and could happen.

She was able to prepare in case something sudden happened and Butch didn’t like it. She was able to ride through the spook with no problem at all.

I have to brag on my girl because when this girl started with me she had been on a run away horse and ended her ride very scared. Today she showed huge progress. Not only did the horse spook but she was in the English saddle for the first time.

I have to brag on Butch because when he came to me if either bug swats would have happened, he would have left the barn and in the arena taken off with the rider.

SO PROUD OF BOTH OF THEM.

A NEW JOB

As the school rolls on realistically the time comes that I have to pull an old trusty horse out of service – this summer it was Drafty. By then they have such an impressive resume that when I look into my herd I don’t have a horse that can take their place. So, I begin to check out talents, and attitudes to see who needs to try what next – just like the students.

   This year I have noticed a change in Target to indicate that he is maybe maturing and just might be willing to try some different rider energies. I am always cautious when I introduce autistic and other – what I think of as broken energy – to the horses.

   Target was recently introduced to Tourette’s energy. Inside the barn during tack up he was somewhat uncomfortable with it. However, when we went to the arena, my rider did what he needed to and Target calmed down and they had a really good ride.

   When we returned to the barn, Target was in a relaxed mood and untack went without incident.  

SELF STUDY

Smudge was born here and has been very hit and miss as far as breaking/training. She has a very hot temper and gets mad quickly. We are in the ‘work on Smudge mode’ again. A volunteer has been working with her on her lunch hour to correct a problem with ‘body blocking’ that she does. She will move herself to push you out of her way and you can get hurt in the process. Meg is making progress with her on that.

   On this particular day, I decided to work on tying her up and letting her stand for a bit. In the past within about 3 minutes she is stressing, fidgeting and getting mad. On this day she surprised me and stood for 30 minutes with three 15 second demonstrations of impatience. She didn’t get mad. A lot of the time she looked like she was processing information and thinking about her situation. She never did cock a back foot and totally relax to the ‘whatever’ point but to me she looked comfortable.

  Notice the lead line across the top of her neck. When she raised her head and it tightened, she took her time and moved it off her neck rather than fighting it.

   

Midnight is back in action with small riders. He has mellowed so he can work sooner with a beginner rider. The little ones love it because they don’t have to use a stool for most of their prep work.

Drafty says Happy Thanksgiving from the barn.

This rider is autistic and his skills and ability are coming along nicely. I decided to introduce Butch to his energy and see how things worked. Both had a very successful ride.

BUTCH -SOMETHING NEW

This rider is autistic and his skills and ability are coming along nicely. I decided to introduce Butch to his energy and see how things worked. Both had a very successful ride.

I LIKE SUNSETS 11-25-14

This time of year we have pretty sunsets.

I really enjoy my sunset photos with horses in the foreground.

Each night the colors are different.

OCTOBER WAS PEANUT FESTIVAL 2014

Once again we furnished our pony rides for the annual Peanut Festival. This year we were inside the event center and in an area that afforded a resting place for the ponies away from the main crowd. It had rained early that morning so we arrived with wet ones. They did dry out before we needed to saddle up. All of them did their jobs of giving the little ones rides very well. 

After the Snow 11-17-14

When I did chores today I noticed these snow lines in the arena. When I looked I realized that apparently the shade from the fence rails kept the snow from melting.

Long view of the 'snow rails'.

Lil thought we had enough cold and snow so this was how she spent some of her time in the warmer afternoon.

The temperatures got above freezing for a few hours so horse 'maintenance' was not too bad.

FIRE BREATHING DRAGON sort of

I was taking pictures and realized it was really cold as I looked through the view finder. I wasn't sure that horse breath would show up but it does. Check out my short video here -  Fire Breathing Dragon

OUR HIGH WAS FREEZING TODAY

On cold days we stay in if possible. The ‘boys’ are in direct line with the heater. Notice – Taz doesn’t want his picture taken. Behind him, Drifter has staked out ‘his’ chair.

 

These were outside in the box on the ATV. The one on the left was frozen and the one on the right wasn’t. 

I had to psych myself up to go out to do chores. By the time I did the sun had come out and it looks like Midnight found a warm spot for a nap.

And, since digesting food keeps them warm the rest of the ponies were chowing down ….

Yup – there was ice again. Butch was glad to see me.


I love this shovel. Instead of water running down my arms it drains out. The ice was fairly thin when I tackled it however; I think tomorrow morning will be a different story since it was freezing over an hour after I lifted it out of the tanks. Tiffany made sure all the tanks were topped off yesterday and that makes a difference in the first freeze.

  Some of the horses will make their own sippy holes during the day. Teefa is not one of them. Notice, she started to drink even before I took the ice out.

Are you bringing more food? You don’t want us to freeze or starve do you?

 

In case you need to know mittens are really warm. If you have spare time it is possible to tie hay string into a knot. It is possible to open and close gate snaps but be prepared to pull mitten out of snap. Warmth or speed?

NEW EXPERIENCES

The Shoe

Recently a friend told me that she and her husband were purchasing a cabin and she thought a horse shoe from my place would be a good addition. She follows the school page on Facebook and told me she likes the stories - so she now becomes one of them.

I found a shoe – used – that came off a very special horse. Her name was Ms. CC Fork – a Pitchfork mare - that was my show horse for several years. Later in her life, at about age 18 she became the ‘founding horse’ for Abrazos Adventure.

Not only did she have a successful show career she was a fun horse to pleasure ride or take to parades. When grandkids came along she carried them to horse show wins just as she did me.

Over the years she was in the school, I don’t know how many people rode her and fell in love with her although she had an edge and attitude and kept us all on our toes.

After age 20 she developed Cushing’s disease and chronic lameness. During the course of treatment she was in special shoes to help with recovery. It was one of those shoes that I was able to send to my friend who is pictured here hanging it over their cabin door. It gave me a good feeling not to send just any old shoe but one full of sweet memories to help someone on their way to their own special times and memories.

And, to the unasked question – no, CC is not still with us. I had to have her put to sleep several years ago.

MOM - I CAN DO IT

YOU NEVER KNOW UNTIL YOU TRY

I think Butch is beginning to trust us some. He is not as flighty about being caught, he settles quicker in the barn and is looking relaxed by the time he is pre-ride walked. He is now walking off with the riders, coming down from the trot to the walk quickly and relaxing in the trot as well as offering a much softer trot (so I am told). I haven’t tried him. To this point, he has only had adults on him with very similar energy and skills.

Recently a rider (adult) asked if she could ride Butch bareback. As we talked, the conditions were supportive of trying; the weather was a little cool but reasonably calm. Of course, by the time we got to the arena, it changed. It got so bad it looked like a lengthy sand storm was going to ensue. No one had gotten on yet so I sent them back to the barn. Within about two minutes, it all subsided – no sand on the horizon. The riders agreed that they were here, ready to go and willing to try.

We did experience some pretty nasty times in the arena due to heavy gusts of wind which picked up dirt and dropping temperatures. (This was the Sunday just prior to the snowstorm coming in.) Butch was willing to put some trust in the rider. I didn’t see him grab and jump one time with her. All they did was walk but he was willing to keep walking and every time I looked, he appeared relaxed. I am so proud of  my rider. She still gets a bit anxious but is getting herself under control so the horse can be comfortable. I love it.

A week later I decided to try one of my kids on Butch. This boy has his energy in the right place and is following instructions. It was a cool morning but nice. My rider did everything he was supposed to and was talking to Butch as I wanted him to. He was a little slower than the others in prepping so was the last one to the arena. After giving my rider the list of dos and don’ts he mounted. He started off fairly well. In a little bit Butch began trotting with him when he wasn’t asked so we worked on shutting him down.

As my rider came through the instructor’s corner (also known as the quit corner), both his mom and another parent yelled at him about keeping his legs off the horse. I saw him raise both his legs straight out to the side. When he did this, I think Butch thought he was going to wham him with the legs so he bolted to the trot. Of course this made the rider bounce which didn’t help Butch’s frame of mind. It finally got to the point that Butch wouldn’t walk. I crossed the arena and was able to intercept them and get Butch to focus on me and my body language message and we got him stopped.

As antsy as he was, I had to be careful since I was on his right side (he is still much  more reactive on this side). I carefully walked to the left and got a hand on the reins then talked to my rider. Bless him, he was in tears. I talked him through and told him I was not at all disappointed in him. Their energies just weren’t meshing today not his fault and not Butch’s fault. I led them to the quit corner and had the rider dismount and we talked some more.

When we went into the barn, my rider started humming to Butch and both of them got to a relaxed state. When he was brushing him out on the right side I was looking elsewhere. All of a sudden, I became aware of Butch jumping to t he side. My rider was on the floor in tears saying’ “It was an accident”. I asked if he was okay and then what happened. Apparently when he went to step down off the stool he stepped wrong and fell. That spooked Butch and my rider both. I told him everything was all right and he finished putting him up.

As he was putting his things away he commented that he had a rough morning. I agreed.

When we talked about his ride he made a very insightful comment about Butch, which was that he didn’t think Butch could help the way he was acting. I agree – the sensory stimulus was more than Butch could overcome and my rider wasn’t able to be the leader he needed.

My take away on Butch was that, although he is coming along, he couldn’t handle the sensation of someone bouncing in the saddle. His rider needs to be able to sit quietly down in the saddle for him to feel confident. The good news is that he didn’t take off trotting as vigorously as he did when he first arrived and I saw him looking for leadership. He is still a rough ride although the regular riders say he is getting better. The roughness will make it tougher for the kids though.

This is on the same day. A week earlier another rider and I had talked about riding Butch this week for her first time. After the early ride, my thought process bounced back and forth between ‘should I let her ride him or not’. This was to be her first ride on him and there have been confidence issues with this person. I decided there was enough break between this morning and her ride for Butch to totally reset his mind. We gave it a go and she did really well on him – Butch walked and trotted at her request.

She came in to have me check the saddle and I found the cinch about an inch and a half loose. She had been trotting and done just fine. Obviously her balance is getting good. I also believe it is easier for a rider with some weight on the bones to keep their rear end in the saddle where the kids are light weight and sometimes tend to become a little air borne.

NRG CAN CHANGE WHAT YOU THINK