Big Scary Bridge!!

Since my laptop died on me 2 weeks ago and I didn’t have access to my pictures/video – the updates I wanted to post got delayed! Of course, now, it’s been weeks since those rides so I’m just going to post a couple pictures and the video’s and call it good!!

Becky and I took Zandy and Louie up to the Wildlands to spend a GORGEOUS afternoon on the trail! We explored a road we hadn’t yet been down and came upon this new, big, VERY scary bridge! Louie was very forward and walked right out onto the bridge – I was a wreck but he couldn’t have cared less until Zandy thumped her big feet on the bridge behind him!! He flinched a little but kept on going! Zandy and Becky made it across and we had a gorgeous ride!!

B and I both loved this rock. If you look closely you can see the rather TALL tree growing ON TOP of the rock – you can see the roots coming down the back side. There are several smaller trees up there too – we were both fascinated with this rock!

B and Zandy looking happy – this picture was actually supposed to be of the tree that B is looking at. Looks like a Porcupine has been chewing on the bark – but Louie was moving and I got B and Zandy which is a good thing because the next picture I took was supposed to be of the two of them and yet B’s eyes were closed and Zandy was looking away and unimpressed!!!

The scary bridge on our way back. It’s a very nice bridge and I am actually excited to go back and ride over it again – probably sounds silly but once my irrational “oh god we’re going over the edge” thoughts disappeared it was FUN!!

Video’s of the two brave ponies. Zandy was pretty insistent that she needed to walk down the MIDDLE of the bridge where there is only one layer of planks.

Ride Catch Up!

Wow!  Ok so I’m sure that you guys are getting sick of my “ride updates” but it helps me to “get them on paper” so I can go over it all whenever I want to and try to keep track of what we’re doing well with and what needs work!!  Of course, that means that I have 5 decent rides to share and a clinic too!!  I promise to try not to be too boring and I won’t force them all into this one blog!!

The day after Louie and I did our solo ride at the Wildlands, a good friend of mine who has a young horse wanted to go – so we did!  We did quite a bit of trotting and cantering – basically staying on the main road that runs thru.  It was fun watching my friends young mare who’d never been on more than a short little loop trail.  She wasn’t spooky or twitchy about anything and seemed quite happy to be out and about.  Except for the dreaded little water falls that come down off the side of the mountain and make splashing noises in the ditches!!  And the road barriers – for some reason those piles of wood are always “scary”.  We survived and had a great time!  I don’t have any pictures to share, we were  having too much fun!!

The very next day, Meg and I got to explore some new trails!  It was a blast although we learned not to ask her Dad the trail conditions hahaha!  He said there was very little water, just a small stream…..uh huh.  We didn’t take into account the nearly 3 inches of rain that we’d gotten the weekend before!!  I hauled Zandy and Louie to her dads place in Frankfort and we left from his place going a ways down the road to start of the trail.  It was a gorgeous trail, a nice wide leaf covered trail.  We just walked since we were chatting about various things and it would be our last ride before Meg headed back to PA so we were just enjoying it.  When we came to our first “obstacle”.  The stream that was only supposed to be about a foot wide was closer to 3 feet wide and the water was running thru it – I’ve learned with Louie that still water, while he doesn’t WANT to he WILL step into it.  Running water though….. nope.  nu uh. no way!  At least not with me on his back.  So, since Zandy balked at the water too – the blond headed twit, I decided I’d just get off and make my way across and he’d follow – which he did.  Course he tried to hop on top of me but we survived and I got right back on easily.  So on we went.  When we happened upon another “Caution” sign….uh oh what now?  This one though was just for some big boulders that were sticking up out of the ground on the trail – we picked our way over/around and kept on truckin’!  And then it happened.  We came upon this 
mess here.  That water was BLACK and there was no way even if Louie didn’t have water issues was I going to head across it.  I did that once with my boy Buck when Sammii and I were on a trail ride and he “disappeared” from under me…..talk about scary!  But that’s a story for another time!!  You can see on the right side of this picture that the ATV’s have made a go around but that was just as wet.  If you look really closely there’s a “blue spot” in the middle of the top of the picture – that’s Meg.  She got off while I held Zandy and scouted a way to get around.  We still had to get muddy and sank some but we made it around.  Once we got around and were remounted, Meg noticed that Zandy had picked up an extra decoration on our excursion thru the brush.  That stick stayed in her browband for the majority of our ride!  She didn’t care.  So on again we went!  It was nice, kind of an overcast day and a little chilly but it was a nice day.  We started playing in the mud puddles, trying to get Louie to go THRU them instead of tip-toeing around the edges!  We were successful for the most part!!  He’s such a good boy – even if he is a tester!  And then, as we were riding along enjoying the trail and the leaves and visiting and just having a good time….we came to this.  It’s fairly hard to tell from this picture, but the banks on this side were fairly steep.  The water on the left side was shallow and you could see it had a nice gravel base BUT *gasp* the water was MOVING!!  Oh no!  Zandy of course, went right down the bank and up the other side like it was nothing.  Louie though.  Louie said “NO”.  He was NOT going to go down there with that scary running water!  No way!  Meg ended up ponying us across and after a scary moment where he started to spaz we came out the other side like it was nothing.  That scary moving water didn’t eat him after all!  The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful and the trip back was nice and easy too.  At this spot, he hesitated a minute and then walked right on thru like it was nothing.  We played the puddle game back thru too and when we got back to the boggy ATV trail we stayed on and just let the horses pick their footing thru the muddy part.  At the stream I stayed on too.  He stepped a toe in the water and then LEAPT over.  Jumping is not in our future but it got us over the water that day!! 

So there’s 2 rides down only 3 and a clinic to go!!  I’ll try to get those ones done later today –  I actually have to be productive this morning!!

Solo Trip to the Wildlands

After my last ride with Meg in the Wildlands I was itching to ride some more!!  I had made plans to ride with a friend on 10/25/09 but at the last minute some stuff came up and I wasn’t able to make the trip to her house which is about an hour away.  I tried to find someone to ride with me but no one was available!  I was pretty bummed, but then decided to put my big girl boots on and take Louie to the Wildlands myself!  My dad telling me over and over to be careful did nothing for my jitters and when he asked when I’d be back “so we know when to start lookin’ for ya in the ditch” almost made me change my mind!  I love my dad and know he worries about me a lot since my fall but sometimes he lacks tact! 

Louie is really getting good about just hopping right onto the trailer and is standing like a pro instead of the “in, get jittery, back out” routine we had going on last spring, so he hopped right on the trailer and away we went. 

I’ve been leary about tying him because somewhere along the way I got it in my head that he pulls back.  I don’t know if, like everything else, now that he’s got a job he’s just content to stand most anywhere or if I had made up this pulling issue but he will stand quietly tied to the side of the trailer with no issues.  So I unloaded him, tied him to the side of the trailer and quickly ran a brush over him and then saddled him up.  My jitters started in – is this really a wise idea?  To ride up here all by myself – am I crazy? 

I walked him to the gate, took a deep breath and swung my leg over.  He was a little more “up” then I would have liked but away we went!  He was forward but not naughty in any way.  We went at a nice, brisk walk and a little trotting.  We followed the Hothole Pond Trail and got in a nice canter.  We’d gotten a bit of rain the day before and there was a puddle that stretched across the road.  I was afraid he was going to be a jerk about it but to my surprise (and delight!) he not only got his toes wet, he drank from the puddle!!  We continued on down the trail until we got to the pond – where the new rock was put in, the water was rushing out of the pond over the rock and Louie

wasn’t impressed!  He wasn’t naughty, he just didn’t want to get anywhere near that noise!  I did finally get him up to the pond and he took a drink and then we headed back the way we came.  Save the big fights for another day!

We did more trotting and cantering until we reached the puddle again and then I decided to tackle the “noooo I don’t wanna get my toes wet” thing we had going on!  It only took a couple minutes and he was standing fetlock deep in water and not objecting.  When we got to the end of the road, he started to fuss about going to the right which would take us away from the trailer.  I don’t want him to get into the habit of picking our direction – before long we wouldn’t be leaving the barn/trailer!  So I decided to force the issue.  There wasn’t too much fighting about it honestly!  When I insisted we were going on instead of heading home he decided I meant it and on we went.  We didn’t go far, just around the corner but far enough that I felt ok about turning him back towards the trailer. 

The day after our solo ride, we went riding with another friend and her horse who has basically no trail miles on her.  Both horses were wonderful and I can’t wait to ride with them again!!

I’m feeling very good about the direction Louie and I are heading in and we’re even starting to set some goals for next year!

Don’t Skip A Beat, Fear, and more riding!

Don’t Skip A Beat, AKA Louie is a very good boy.  A very gorgeous boy.  He is also the source of a lot of frustration for me.  I have touched on this before I’m pretty sure, but Louie came to me on a trial lease in March, and he is the half brother to my little brat Rowdy.  It was my understanding that Louie was a solid trail horse and that he’d had 6 months of Dressage training.  When I went to pick him up, little things came up like he doesn’t load easily in the horse trailer, his training wasn’t a steady 6 months it was more sporadic and the big one for me, he doesn’t stand to be mounted.  I could feel my anxiety right off going thru the roof but I wasn’t going to back out.  Me and my stubbornness. 

So our first few rides were good.  Louie is different then Buddy.  Buddy walks along head down, rarely snorts or spooks at anything Louie has a higher head carriage and gets snorty and excited at the drop of a hat.  We rode with Sharon at the wildlands and that went well although we were both exhausted when we were done.  My breaking point came when I took him on a ride over to the dam intending to make a loop. 

In retrospect, there were several factors this day that were working against us, Louie hadn’t been ridden in a few days, it was a crisp breezy day, we were using a different “bit” (I’d been riding him in a snaffle and had a hackamore on him this day) and there was a pinto eating rooster in the woods.  When that rooster crowed, Louie’s head came up and he started dancing and I got scared and started messing with his face and we started fighting and I got even more scared and ……do you see where this is going?  Well I did what I swore not to, I gave in and we headed back to the house.  Great, right?  Well, yeah except that we were on the road, in my very unfavorite place and there was a car coming and there were kids yelling and the leaves were blowing and someone was using a lawn mower and I completely self destructed.  I jumped off and Louie walked me home.  This all happened in May and I haven’t ridden Lou but a handful of times since. 

Louie is now mine, well, we’re awaiting the official transfer paperwork but it’s in the works.  About a month ago, I bought a side pull, I bought it to work with Rowdy but I decided to try it on Louie.  He is a completely different horse under saddle in that side pull.  We’ve ridden in my small ring a few times walk and trot and he’s had his moments, being the smart boy that he is, he figured out that when he has a tantrum I’ll get down so he’d work nicely for a couple laps and then have a tantrum only I stopped getting down and giving him his way.  I dug down deep I guess and found comfort in the safety of my ring and just kept at him and it seems to have worked. 

About a month ago I got him out and decided to trim his feet.  He was fantastic which I hate to admit it but it surprised me tremendously!!  After I successfully did all 4 feet I gave him a good grooming and then he and I went for a walk.  He was fantastic.

So with that in mind, I decided to get on him last week.  I saddled him up and climbed on and walked out into the back pasture.  He was snorty and spooky and I was a little nervous but I refused to give in.  I got him settled in one direction and then we went the opposite direction.  We got around that way once and about halfway around again it was tantrum time.  He sat on his haunches, launched himself into the air and then started towards the barn.  It took me a minute to get myself together and I turned him away from the house.  I got him bending and yielding his haunches and we did some figure eights and serpentines and he settled down and seemed pretty happy to be working.  We rode for about a half hour and then I headed out to the driveway to see if the kids were home from the neighbors yet, they weren’t so I headed back towards the field, I figured he’d have a fit but he didn’t he settled right back into work and we had a decent ride! 

On Tuesday Meg and I made plans to ride on Wednesday and since they are logging on one of the trails we can ride to from here we decided to head to the safety of the wildlands.  Tuesday evening I hitched up the trailer and then decided to see how Louie would be about loading on the trailer.  Given the issues from the past, I figured he’d be a brat about it – much to my surprise and delight, he sniffed the ramp and walked right on.  And there he stood quietly!!!  We very quietly backed off the trailer pausing a couple of times and then loaded up again.  We did this several times and then I put him up for the night!  YAY!  The divider has to be open but so what??  And really I think now he’d probably load with it “closed” but who cares honestly?  He walks right onto the trailer without hesitation now and that’s all I care about!! 

Wednesday was a BEAUTIFUL day!!  The sun was out and it was just gorgeous!!  Meg got here and we got the tack loaded and then grabbed the horses.  Louie again walked right onto the trailer and Zandy of course walked right on too – that mare is fantastic!!

When we got to the North Gate we parked and unloaded the horses.  Meg tied Z to the gate and I tied Louie to the trailer.  Now tying was another issue that I was having with Louie – when he first got here he’d pull when he was tied so I was pretty nervous about him being tied to the trailer and next to the road but he was perfectly fine!! 

We got tacked up and both of us mounted without incident.  Once I was in the saddle, I was a little nervous simply because riding him out of the safety of our ring.  We headed off at a nice brisk walk and were enjoying the colors and the the beautiful day.  We took Hothole Pond Trail and met a porcupine.  Those little creatures are adorable!!  He waddled off down the trail ahead of us and then off into the brush.  We got down to the water but Louie wouldn’t get his tootsies wet.  Zandy of course waded out as far as she could go and pawed and splashed and had a grand time! 

On our way back out of this trail we stopped for some pictures and then crossed back over the rocky part of the trail and decided “what the heck” and Meg urged me to canter!  Wahoo!  Louie has a HUGE stride and is very comfortable – however, he doesn’t have balance for corners yet and we’d get going at a canter and come to a curve in the road and Lou would keep on straight!  It was quite funny!!  We loped quite a bit of this trail on the way out and then headed towards the southgate again.  When we crossed the meadow where the life flight helicopter can land (yes I’m weird but those signs always make me smile – knowing that when I am on the ground and in need of emergency care they can get lifeflight in there!)  Anyway!  We took Great Meadow Trail – it was beautiful.  The coloration of the leaves along Great Pond Mountain was just gorgeous there was a distinct line across it where the ever greens up top met with the beautiful leaves/colors of the trees lower on the mountain.  We had a great time over all and I can’t wait to get Vince out there when he gets home!!  Meg will only be here for one more week and I’m not sure that we’ll get to ride again but the couple times we’ve been able to so far have been wonderful!  Louie is doing great and I really think that I’m moving past my fears. I have felt like a failure for being so scared since my fall but I’m realizing that a bit of fear is healthy, when we let fear overtake us, that is when there are problems. 

I don’t expect all wine and roses with Louie, we have a lot of work to do, but with the more time I’ve put into him lately, the better he’s gotten.  He’s stopped fighting/testing me at every turn and in general he and I are just getting along much better.  I’m very excited for what our future holds – I have big plans for this big goofy boy!!  Stay tuned!!