Tennessee aka. Bubba.

Remember that one time I picked up two stray dogs, and was stalked by a guard goat? Well, life has a funny way of coming back around, doesn't it? (Part One & Part Two of that particular story)

In January I picked up a Collie and a Mastiff X on the side of the highway, bordering on the city, I surrendered them to a pet hospital who then transfers them to the pound. I was adamant on knowing where they both ended up - so much so that I filled out forms stating I had first right of adoption if their owners didn't come pick them up. I was told that if their owners didn't claim them, I would get a call in 7 days. The next day I went to Vegas. I looked online everyday on the "impounded dogs" list, neither of them showed up. When I came home I called 311 and was told "Well, if they aren't on the website under impounded dogs, their owners must have come and got them."

Fast forward to last week (March) and an acquaintance of mine "shared" a Calgary Humane Society photo on Facebook with the caption "Look at that face." I thought, oh what a cute dog, and then took a second glance... I knew that dog...

Sure enough, there was my buddy... the Mastiff X. I looked through my photos of him and tried to compare it to the photos the Humane Society had taken of him. I emailed the Humane society and chatted back and forth with a lady who gave me some clues that indeed, this was the same dog. I decided to go see him, but wanted confirmation that I wasn't crazy and that he was the same dog - the one at the Humane Society wasn't neutered. That's a pretty good clue, and although I thought "my" dog hadn't been neutered I wasn't sure.

Fast forward to me calling the City... turns out that the person I had spoken too was just a city phone-operator, to actually get through to Animal Services you had to have a logical reason, and then they'll sneakily put you through to a number you aren't allowed to know. Stupid. Animal Services was honestly really great once I got through to them, two girls searched their files for about 20 minutes on a record of the dogs I had surrendered - they couldn't find any. Then I called the pet hospital - their records are destroyed after 2 months. Sigh.

So, I headed to the Humane Society - sure enough, it was the same dog. I was informed that out of town surrenders never actually go to the pound - they are immediately transferred to the Humane Society. Also, my name was never attached to this dog, meaning my paperwork had been lost. The Humane Society has seen him a couple times, they know his owners - who had declined to come get him this time around. 

They call him "Tennessee", his photos make him look much bigger than he is - he's probably only about 40-50 pounds. He's five, and a total love bug, and I thought for sure i'd be bringing him home.

Turns out my sweet little love bug has one little-big problem... severe separation anxiety, the most severe case that they have seen. What happens is that after a couple minutes of being alone he starts to cry, and howl - condo's and apartments are out of the question for him. Well we have a big dog with an even bigger dog bark, I thought, and very understanding, wonderful neighbors - no big deal. Turns out that separation anxiety, in dogs, is much more of a mental handicap than just an annoyance. What happens is that he literally goes into a mental breakdown state when left alone - even with another dog present, which is - of course - very unhealthy and damaging. The Humane Society has him in a pheromone collar to soothe him, but that wont "fix" his issues.

The Humane Society is being really commendable in how intensely they are screening homes for this dog. "Tennessee's" ideal home would be a stay at home mom, or someone who works at home and can be totally consistent and with him almost 24 hours a day. He shouldn't be left alone for more than 2-4 hours a day, and if it needs to be longer, they require that he goes to daycare. They claim that with consistency, and regular attention, most dogs end up getting over their separation anxiety - but they can't promise he will.

I went to visit with him and he lay forlornly on the ground as I pet him. I got up to sit on a chair and he started to whimper because he couldn't see me - it was very sad. It makes me sad to see something like this... why must humans create these types of issues? How do humans create these issues? It's just, plain, sad.

Anyways... long story short, I certainly can't own him. Who knows where I'll be in a couple years... plus, i'm definitely in a place where I have to work upwards of 8 hours a day sometimes... that just wont work for this big love bug. So that's the story of how this dog came back into my life, but can't stay. However, I am hopeful after talking to the many different, wonderful, people at the Humane Society that they will find him a good home that can work through his little issues.

Trying New Things: English Pony!

Cutie pie honey bunch!

Tuesday, Jingle and I, (and Mac and Brigitte!), tried something new - English!

I've ridden "English" before, a horse I used to ride - Harry, was ridden English, but that was a long time ago, and I think I was generally riding Western in an English saddle more than anything. A couple girls at the barn said they'd lend us their tack and give us a jumping lesson, so we went for it!

The Coaches!

It was actually super fun - as you guys know, i've been taking it pretty slow with 'ol Jingle Jangle. He was feeling pretty fresh, giving it his all at the extended trot, at one point one of my "coaches" said "Well.. Jingle doesn't really need to be pushed up anymore than he is", haha, nope.. he never does.

After our warmup they asked us to canter-up... on our right lead... my stomach twisted a bit. Here I was, in this teeny tiny saddle, and I haven't really cantered my horse in three weeks and our right lead is not our best... ugh. But, hey!, this is for fun - what could happen, I had my helmet on. Low and behold - my horse surprised me, sure it wasn't the nicest, softest, slowest canter but he also wasn't galloping like a mad man around the arena AND he consistently picked up his lead - even when he dropped into a trot. Proud of my crazy horse.

They had set up some ground-poles to help us with our "stride", over one ground poles, one stride, over the next. They said that Jingle was doing really well, awesome.. because I was pretty much along for the ride just trying to figure out my position and what not. I worked on holding him steady, and he seemed to figure it out.

Then after some of that, we jumped a little line at the trot! It was just one little cross rail, two ground poles, and a second cross rail. The first time Jingle completely balked, which really surprised me, generally he pops over every little thing I point him towards, but the girls mentioned that the standards and the complete set up is a whole lot different than a log on a trail, or a cavaletti on the rail. I let him go around and they told me that they'd rather me walk calmly and centered over everything then let him deek out, because if I let him do that, he might one day do that on a course at the canter.. and nobody wants that.

Sitting a little western in this one... haha.

So, round two, calm and centered I worked on getting him straight and nicely through the line... the first crossrail he over-jumped and I was pleased that I actually stayed in my itty bitty english saddle. From then on in, he went over the jumps and I just had to work on keeping my legs on him, and getting him straight. Also, I was being reminded to keep my reins short... I kept thinking, "this short?! really?! no, this is SO short?!" Alright Louisa, welcome to English. So I worked on shortening my reins but also staying off his face. He pretty regularly knocked down the last crossrail, but he's figuring this out and so was I - we were having fun, that's all that matters!

We had a lot of fun, and I was pretty proud of him. He looks pretty cute in English tack if I do say so myself! I woke up this morning with little bruises on my shins where my cowboy boots have dug in - huh - would ya look at that. Anyways, it was an awesome night, everyone was just having fun and being positive, and Jingle was really listening to me. We had a couple teeny tiny pissy hiccups along the way, but we got through them all pretty pleasantly. Good Boy!

Afterwards Brigitte and I were feeling a little hungry... so we headed to our favourite late-night Denny's and consumed, respectively, a grand slam (bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, 4 pancakes), eggs benny and then shared onion rings, fries and mozza sticks, 4 different types of dips and then each had a drink and a milkshake... felt a bit sick afterwards, I will admit.

"Intensive" cont.

Monday - Do werk. Pissy Horse. Regain Brain.

I had a cutting lesson in the early afternoon and then headed out to the barn to see King of the Pissy Pants, Jingle-Bell-Rock.

Generally I also have a lesson on him on Mondays but my trainer was stuck in Montana due to aforementioned snow storm. I thought it would be a good idea to run through a "lesson" to see how my horse responded.

I set up some serious ground-poles, some barrels, and got to work.

Jingle was forward, very forward. Aint no slowin' this Mack truck down! Ugh. I worked a shit-ton on the wither stop, on trotting the ground poles, on jogging, on walking, on jogging again. Jingle has decided he will drag his nose on the ground during jogging - a girl in the arena the other day commented "he actually looks really cute when he's going nicely" - ahem... you mean when he isn't using his ab muscles in anyway and is instead just stretching away from everything I throw at him? Also, he looks cute ALL.THE.TIME. -disgruntled mother over here-

He was working pretty well, I turned him in figure 8's around two barrels every so often and he was turning really.really.well. Barrel horse prospect? Just saying. When he really wants to that horse can whip around a barrel like no other. Of course, we haven't tried this at a lope, but maybe one day! haha.

I was attempting to diverge his forward motion by constantly making him work and turn his hip, speed up - turn, speed up - turn, go steady - stay straight, etc. It seemed to be working, but he was definitely in a pissy mood for most of the ride. I was happy that he was actually working with me though, instead of during into an absolute nightmare like his ears kept threatening to do.

Finally, we attempted the lope, it was scattered and messy - way.too.fast, I decided to let him run like a strung out mess for a bit and then asked him for more turns, big circles, little circles, but it was getting me nowhere - so, thus, we must again say goodbye to loping and go back to the slow stuff. His stop is getting better and better, so now we can slightly shift focus to lessening that bullet-out-of-a-gun forward motion.

After the whole "HEY MA LOOK I CAN GALLOP" schtick, Jingle spiraled right into his pissy-horse routine... maybe my horse doesn't like mondays? haha. We walked for a really long time, and then I asked for a trot again and we worked on stopping, at first he wanted to be a complete dick, but after some transitioning from walk-trot-walk-jog-trot-jog-walk etc, he started listening to me again and stopping nicely (after some disgusting stops haha). I was happy with that - he had gone into his pissy realm of hatred, and had come back out of it. We quit. 

I put away my "do werk" aids - ground poles and barrels - and he followed behind me and did what he does best - roll for as long as possible so that all his white splotches look like they were eaten by mud-monsters. haha. good boy.

Werkin' it out in the arena...

Tuesday - Slow & Steady wins the race

With yet another mugwump article in my mind, I went to work trying to slow down my too-fast horse. We walked, the entire time. The only time we jogged or trotted was when he broke out into one of those gaits, I would just keep turning him right, left, circles, serpentines, until he slowed down, and then I'd let him walk straight for awhile. If he sped up again, away we'd go. He seemed to pick up on it, and I worked on stops for awhile.

Then, as a test, I tried to communicate speeding and slowing at the walk. When I wanted him to slow down i'd sit back, relax, and ask him to walk slow, when I wanted him more forward I'd sit up, forward and add more contact with my legs. He seemed a little confused, but by the end starting figuring out what I was asking him to do and we transitioned through a walk from fast-slow and in-between for awhile.

He's still not slowing down, but I think he's figuring out the concept.

Before I rode, I went out and took some photos of Jingle and his girlfriend, Quiz. :) Quiz was the horse I rode for the better part of last year (better being literally and figuratively haha), so it's pretty good that two of my favourite ponies have buddied up. They are pretty inseparable, it's adorable.

Cutest couple of the year award!

Echo REALLY wanted me to take photos of her - get outttta the way!

Wednesday - Snow Day aka Ditch Horse & Hang out with Puppy

It snowed again on Wednesday and I was sleepy, so instead of heading out to the barn I hung out with my dog - Moose! Pretty awesome animal to hang out with too, if I do say so myself.

Love-muffin.

Making tracks in fresh snow

Thursday - Jingle, meet "Equine Practitioner"

On Thursday I brought a Massage/Chiro out to the barn to look at Jingle, and a few other horses. At first Jingle was giving her the wide-eyed crazy look, as per usual. She was asking me about him, and his variety of ailments and issues, and then said "Are you planning on flipping him or keeping him?" I wild-eyed her right beside him, "keeping him. forever. and ever." She laughed. Okay, I am a bit of a defensive horse-mom, I know.

She worked a lot on breaking down some scar tissue around his jaw from his previous injury, and also said there was a ton of tension and strain in his neck and through to his shoulders. She said this was due to the old jaw injury, but unfortunately when the head/neck/shoulders are all out of whack and twisted, it turns the entire body into an out of whack, twisted mess. I wasn't really that surprised. She said that Jingle's neck/shoulders were out to the right (which makes sense, because he's better on his left side), and then his hips were out to the left... my horse is quasi-modo. 

She said his withers were slightly out, but that most horses have their withers slightly out due to being ridden. This was good because I was worried all the saddle fitting issues we've been having lately we're going to really affect his withers. She also said that his back and shoulders are slightly titled to the left due to over-muscling from being so "left-handed"... so all this titling and shifting i've been feeling with all these saddles isn't me being an unbalanced wreck - nice to know.

She said he had a nice strong back, which was good to hear, but then when she got to his right hip she said he was quite a bit out. She popped it back in and all of a sudden his hip bone emerged where previous too it had looked like a large area of even muscle... it was gross, fascinating and pretty cool. It made me into a believer for sure. haha.

She said that he'd be pretty sore for a couple of days, and then be pretty firey after because he'd be feeling so good, but also feeling so different. She commented that after a large adjustment such as that, a lot of horses can feel "off" because they are learning to travel different.

Overall I think he did really well, and I'm happy I had her out. I've done my far share of extensive physio, so I know how much it can hurt in the "feels so good" way.

Friday - The Dentist & The Jingle

Waaaay, waaay back... aka September I wrote this post about Jingle visiting the dentist. After he was looked at I drove into town, pulled over at a gas station, and broke down into a crying episode for about 20 minutes... it was wonderful. haha. I just didn't want my horse to be in pain and felt like he was always going to be some pyschologically messed up, semi-in pain horse due to all his jaw problems. As you guys know, 6 months later, Jingle is bitless, Jingle is way more relaxed and Jingle is well... doing well! haha, He's on herbal supplements that target his jaw - specifically bone and tendons... his herbal supplements look like tea & chalk... I am eternally made fun of at the barn. The Massage/Chiro said he's tight, but otherwise okay. My Dentist said his TMJ is fine - aka, probably no headaches. So... we're doing good.

Also, I just really love my dentist, he is an awesome guy. If your in Southern Alberta and are looking for one - drop me a line and i'll pass along his contact info, he is highly accredited, and again... really wonderful.

Anyyyywaaaays, I'm rambling. My Dentist said that he's happy with where Jingle is at 6 months later, he still had a top erupted tooth and the bottom was uneven, but he said that over time a... levelling of sorts will occur and that with work we can have some more consistency and go longer and longer without having such a large impaction/eruption cycle occuring. I am happy with that - much better, and more positive prognosis than last time, where I think my dentist was a little shocked at how bad the original break, and subsequent natural resetting of his jaw had been.

Love Fergus comics; sidenote - Jingle, fortunately, does not act like this. However, he isn't easily sedated and the entire time stares at me with this "WHY GOD WHY?" look in his crazy eyes.

Saturday & Sunday - Days Off!


Monday - Where we are Now...

Running with his best bro... sigh.. he'll never get that neck low, will he?

My Massage girl (I can never figure out a good name for her on this blog) had said that Jingle might be feeling pretty fresh after getting worked on, and then having a couple days off, and indeed... fresh he was. Once again I tried to focus on just regaining some of his attention and working on slow stuff, repeatedly turning him and attempting to stay off his face to slow him down. The massage had mentioned that he needs lots of long, low, and straight trot work, so I also attempted to get my horse to move in a straight line... guess he's lost that particular ability since learning to go in an arena. Perhaps Jingle has become more of a rail user and abuser than I thought. Good to know!

We did a whooooooole lot at the extended trot because he was just being too much of a piss pot when I attempted to just do walk stuff. He zoomed around and I let him, as long as he didn't break into a canter, when he slowed down and regained some composure I kept him at that pace for a couple steps longer then let him walk. If he wanted to zoom off again, we'd go back to work. He's starting to figure it out. We're getting somewhere with these gaits and our "need for speed" problem, I think.

You can't seeeee us!

So?

Well... the "Intensive" is over, haha. I was only really calling it that half-jokingly, but it was a way to remind myself to ride more, and overthink less. I'm going to really try get out to the barn  more than I was last month, but the end of March/April signals term papers and final exams... so Jingle might get some more time off than he really needs. Then, as soon as I know it, Spring will have arrived and we'll be heading outside to do lots of long-trotting up and down the fenceline. My horse needs to travel straight and build top line, and we both need to get outside.

Jingle has done really well the last two weeks, I see the potential in him everytime I ride him, but it's his attitude that really jars the both of us sometime. I think, my horse and I, are a little toooo alike sometimes. haha. It's not even the real "training" we need to figure out, it's the harnessing of energy and working towards "training" that is really where we're at right now, (if that makes sense) and I think we're getting closer and closer to being there. 

"Intensive"

Introduction to Intensive....

So, I decided to attempt what I semi-jokingly called "an Intensive" (as in, what yogis do, when they do sit-ins and meditate for days upon days with no words, and just try to find their inner focus) with Jingle. I wanted to find his stop, I wanted to slow him down, and I wanted to just generally slow us down... two full weeks later, and we've gotten somewhere, but we gotta start at the beginning...

Monday (the 25th) - Ride from Hell

Read all about that... Here.

Tuesday - Wither stop introduction

I had read on the Mugwump Chronicles about the Monte Foreman Wither Stop, Mugs claimed that she could get the most unstoppable horse to stop using this technique. Pretty much with my hands in the air, and my eyes on the ground, I grumbled "fuck, might as well try this." I'd link to what she actually said, but i've long ago lost it - however in 2009... i think.. she did a series on stopping.

The jist of the stop is that, at a posting trot, as you rise out of the saddle, push down on your horses withers, and then pull them down into a stop. No woah. nothing but push, sit, pull back. Continue this until the horse learns that the "push" is a cue to stop. Once the horse has this down pat, you can add the woah. Go from there, same concept at lope, but push as the horses lead leg comes forward, "woah" as it hits the ground.

It seemed stupidly simple when I first read it - no, no, no my horse has "issues" with stopping, this wont work - well, I can't for the life of me remember who, but someone once told me... when it comes to horses, keep.it.simple... stupid.

So, Jingle and I started attempting the wither stop, and by golly - it worked. It's actually a pretty wonderful concept... you "push" on their withers which is a physical cue that something is coming, it also forces the rider to place their hands on their horses neck... which means my reins are nice and loose. Then, when the horse doesn't listen to this physical cue, they are immediately shut down into a stop. Soon, Jingle was listening and attentive, the second he felt my hands come onto his neck, he was shutting down into a nice stop.

Now - it still, by far, wasn't perfect, I was having issues getting my hands on his neck at a rise from a posting trot and not throwing myself off balance and totally forward onto his neck. I was also starting to push to quick, and ask for the stop too quick, I needed to constantly remind myself to slow down the process. Slow down my posting, push deep until he notices, say woah nice and slow, and then shut him down. But, it was working.

Wednesday - Day Off


Thursday - More Wither Stop & Jingle plays with his Big Buddy

Thursday was a continuance of the wither stop technique, as well as I added a lot more backing, turn on the forehand, roll backs, turn-arounds, etc. All of this at the walk/trot or jog. 

Jingle rarely got pissing, but his roll-backs certainly need some work. However, his turn on the forehand is really nice, and he's really starting to understand how to pivot.

Here is a video of Jingle & Jager playing :) We joke that Jingle is the pony-horse to Jager's racehorse due to their size difference. Sorry about the video quality... guess i'm not the best videographer.. but it sure it cute how they run around and play together.

Friday - Outdoor Arena

I had my cutting lesson and headed out to see my boy with the thoughts of fluidity and relaxed riding in my mind.

Friday was absolutely beautiful so we rode outside in the outdoor arena. How could I pass that up? It was a pretty chill ride since the slush had some ice lurking underneath it. We worked on jogging a bit, a couple stops, and then I just had him turn and do figure 8's around barrels and poles that were set up. We did a lot of stopping, backing up, backing at an arc, turning, shoulder-in, etc at the walk.

You know what's nice about slush? You can see perfectly where your horses tracks are. WAY better than thousand dollar, perfectly harrowed, top of the line arena dirt. ;)

Outside in March - aint no big deal!

Taking pictures with the wildie

Pretty cute face, if you ask me

All braided up, and ready for bed!

Saturday - Slow Stuff

Saturday was a plod along kind of day, I probably should have ramped up the work-out a little bit, but we mostly meandered and practiced "standing still". My legs and arms were on fyaaaaah from my cutting lesson - ouchie ouchie oweeee. Jingle loves to leak out of his stops, and loves to jig around when asked to stand - so after every stop, I asked him to stand and we just hung out on a loose rein. At one point another girl that was riding in her horse in the arena stopped and asked me "is everything okay?", I gave her my "one-eyebrow raised" look, doesn't she know we're in a slow-work intensive?!

I loped him on his right lead, he picked it up but was a speedy gonzalaz, back to slow-stuff.

Brigitte & Mac showed up!

Sunday - Snow Day

I had planned to ride Sunday, but between 5 am - 9 am Calgary experienced around 15 cm of snow and blowing winds - we were advised to stay indoors, it was nasty out, and I decided to not make the trek to see my horse. Instead I worked, and then passed out in my street clothes from 6 pm - 10 am... guess I was tired.

The Intensive will continue into the next post!

Storytime: The Wagon Incident

At the ranch camp I worked at, a traditional Saturday was spent taking kids to and from a mud pit, so that they could indulge in the most kid-centric activity of all - a mud fight! I have many years of photos of myself, dripping in mud, and grass, (sometimes blood), smiling at a camera with mud caked teeth. Gross, but so fulfilling as a kid. (and, okay, once or twice as a teenager and adult haha) As a riding leader, you drove the flat bed wagons out, we had two teams - John and Luke, two big belgians, and two percherons, Charlie and Billy.

Charlie and Billy were my favourite, Billy - big, white, strong, and had the biggest most beautiful doe eyes you've ever seen. He had a long tangled mess of a forelock that he would peek out behind of. Charlie was big, black, and slightly nutso. However, I have a soft spot for percherons, I just adore them, and so I was pretty smitten with the two.

The morning of the wagon ride we would have to chase the "heavies" in from the field that they resided in through the week. This would, on paper, look like a seemingly easy ride. Push them out their field, past a small cattle guard and then straight up the road, through the river, and into the open corrals at the barn. In theory, it should take 5 minutes tops. However, the boys always had better ideas - and when I say the boys, I mean Charlie.

Charlie would generally circle around his field for ten to twenty minutes, at a full gallop, with me in hot pursuit, trying to deek and dive my way around him and push him out the gate so that he would join back up with his three bigger buddies. When he finally did, he would zoom off, generally charging past whoever was suppose to be helping me, and zip his big bum straight up a large hill that bordered the road. Generally one, or two, of the heavies would follow him, leaving one bewildered big horse confused and alone with us. Sigh.

It was at this point in the game that the "pursuit" would happen - I don't know how many times I've galloped screaming obscenities at that big black horse, but i'll tell you - you coulda sworn he smiled as you came wooshing after him. One of us would go up the hill after them, and the other would stay on the road and wait. On the top of the hill you would be lead through a forest, circle after circle, until Charlie decided where to go down - this was usually straight down a large rocky incline. From the road you would watch as two to three large draft horses barreled with all their might down a rocky cliff, one rider right behind them. All before your morning coffee.

From there Charlie would inevitably head for the "junk yard", an assortment of old cars and dishwashers, fool around in there for awhile, whilst I would be screaming and nervously keeping an eye out for any scrap metal that may impale me, or my horse. Then, Charlie would take his band of brothers through the river, the 3 - Luke, John and Billy would amicably saunter into the yard, while Charlie would try one more time to deek past you and fling himself back towards his field. Again, the whole time with a big, goofy, grin. I swear it.

For all the craziness, and swearing, that ensued during those chases, they are some of my most fondest memories. At one point the Rancher brought his Quad, and asked me to ride, while another guy was on his bike - he thought the odd menagerie of "vehicles" would freak Charlie out. Instead Charlie took it as a challenge - nearly trampling the man on the bike, and circling merrily at a full clip around the Rancher as he almost flipped his quad. It was laughable, it was erratic, and often, after all the swearing had died down, it was hilarious.

For all the insanity that was Charlie, Charlie and Billy were actually the most steadfast team we had, quiet, and easy-going, they knew their job and rarely strayed from their path, or even needed assistance. When I drove, the Rancher would plop himself beside me on the straw-bale captain's chair and soak up the sun, and chat with those on the wagon and we walked along the road. Being the youngest (very much the youngest), blondest, girl of the group I was always teased, and rarely trusted with the teams. "You're driving like a drunken sailor", "Look how far apart your legs are when you drive - you look like a.. well, I won't say it.. but...", I laughed it off - I liked the teams, I liked Billy and Charlie and I enjoyed spending time with the Rancher as he taught me how to harness and drive teams.
One day we headed out to the mud-hole as we would have any other day, Billy and Charlie ambled along - Charlie, always the lazier of the two, making Billy work more for both of their suppers. "C'mon Charlie, pick it up a bit" I'd call and he'd take a few quicker steps and then go back to his slow, meandering ways. This, the horse I had only a few hours earlier witnessed galloping like a freight train down a rock-cliff. Once at the mud-hole, the kids played and splashed, every so often we would have to call out "Hey! No running around the horses!" and they'd stop dead in their tracks, stare at the big boys, and pivot around and run the other way. You want a bombproof team? Screw parades - put them in the centre of a giant kid-filled mud-slingin' mess.

The kids headed down to the river to wash up and I rolled the wagon closer so that their towels and clothes were near-by. The river was freezing cold, and you could hear their anguished screams as they were forced to wash all the mud off their little bodies. A few kids had opted out of the mud-fight, and stayed back on the wagon with us - two older girls were suntanning, and a younger kid was hanging out near them reading a book.

I made a joking motion as if I was going to race the teams chariot style, and as soon as I touched the lines, I felt the wagon lurch forward. "Woah boys" I called out as I turned my attention back on Billy and Charlie, it was too late, all of a sudden my team was galloping like bats out of hell (there is no better description) making massive circles around the field. The Rancher started to yell "WOAH" and grabbed the lines, I still had the lines aswell, we were both hauling back and yelling as hard as we could - it washed out the screams of the kids still on the wagon. Thankfully, those older girls had some sense and grabbed the younger one and placed her inbetween the two of them. They got themselves right in the centre of the wagon and wrapped their arms over her and around eachother. I was pretty impressed.

We just kept circling and circling, by this time both the Rancher and I were laid flat back on the wagon, legs on the straw bale still hauling and yelling as fast as I could. Kids were emerging from the river now, and I could see the counsellors motioning the kids quickly back into the forest. Shit. I thought. Shit Shit Shit.

"The Bridle!" The Rancher roared in my ear, "It's the goddamn bridle!"Sure enough, Charlie's bit was hanging lopsided out of his mouth - the leather had snapped. All we needed was for Billy to gain some sense and stop his out of control partner, but Billy was clearly just as nervous as we were. We were going Mach 10 right towards a treed area and then a barbed wire fence, my stomach was in a big ball and I looked back at the screaming, crying kids. Once again "Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." passed through my mind.

Finally... Finally... Billy put on the breaks right before the trees, he had, had enough of this non-sense too. "Get Off, Grab Charlie!" The Rancher yelled as he attempted to clamber up. As I jumped off the wagon I yelled at the kids to do the same. I sunk knee-deep in mud and bog-slime and rushed as fast as I could toward the boys. By this point Counsellors were running towards us, towels and other belongings were scattered throughout the large field like the aftermath of a battle. The Rancher had heart problems, I'm sure an out of control wagon is not good for one's heart.

Billy's big doe eyes were sorrowful and sorry, I couldn't help but feel bad for him. He was foam-covered and breathing heavy, he was not a happy camper. I rushed past him and got to Charlie, grabbing his thick head between both my hands. I looked him dead on, scowl on my face I grimaced, "You big idiot".

He looked right back at me, I coulda sworn he was smiling...

Charlie, Billy, Luke & John.

Riding Diary: 48 - Cutting

Time: 1 hr

Horse: John Wayne!

Ride: Was definitely itching to ride again, and he had an opening for me on Monday so I jumped at the chance!

Got to the barn and was told I could ride John Wayne again, yipeee - he has the cutest face, i'll have to snap a photo one of these days. He's also a bit of a personality - very mouthy, haha, as I was taking off his halter I had to wrestle it out of his mouth, and, it turns out, he is a bit of a pest and not too fond of other horses around him - nor were the other horses fond of him. Silly boy.

We warmed up as Coach worked a couple horses on the flag. The more lessons I get the more I can see the subtleties that go into flag work. Back in the day when I watched people work horses on the flag I couldn't really "tell" what they were doing, now I can see the bumps through turns, the back-ups, etc. Plus, Coach was riding a roan that was in for re-training, so I could really see the issues there and watch what he did to correct and try to teach the horse how to be less bracey, and to stop better. He also talked me through some of what he was doing. The horses main problem was that, when heading left up the wall, when the flag stopped he immediately tried to shoot outwards/forward - away from the flag, Coach would completely lose his left shoulder, and the horse would lose the "arc" in his body you want when your working a flag. Coach said this was because whoever had originally trained him, most likely would pull his head sharply around through turns, teaching him to brace, and run away on the stops.

He rode the horse twice on the flag, the first time the horse was exceptionally bracey and was pretty.. well... rude. haha I thought to myself, "Coach sure has a good seat". By the time the flag work was over the horse was drenched in sweat, and making the arena a foggy mess... he had only been worked on the flag for 10 minutes tops. Coach let his assistant walk him out and calm him down, she rode in just a halter, and even got off and walked him a lot until he dried - this took about a half an hour, to 45 minutes. Then Coach rode him on the flag again, he was much calmer this time, you could tell they were just working together better. The horse started to really stop and listen to what Coach was asking on a nice loose rein, it was pretty cool to see them both come together, when an hour and a half ago I had witnessed a horse definitely seeing Coach as an adversary, not a partner.

Anyways, more about "me" :)

Warm-up was good, I feel like i'm getting closer to really achieving that more relaxed position that Coach is looking for, I still need to remind myself to meld more in the saddle, and sitting such an extended trot is still a bit on the trickier side for me, but i'm figuring it out. My body doesn't hurt half as much as it has after the last two lessons so that must be a sign i'm loosening up and relaxing!

We did dry-work before flag work, working on nice stops, Coach really got me thinking about my stop. Sometimes it's hard to do nice, slow, collected stops because the horses work SO WELL off your body that the second I "sit down", I don't have a second to think before J.W. is already parking it in the dirt. We worked on backing, stopping and roll backs some more - the constant reminder was: relax. be more relaxed. relax. Thankfully, Coach is one of those guys that actually inspires relaxation. I've had trainers in the past scream "RELAX" at you and it's like, "oh, okay, let me just freak the f- out while I 'relax'"

Our flag work wasn't as harmonious and pretty as last time but that's okay because that means I get to learn how to work better, and it gets to last a bit longer :) Coach talked to me about where the flag should be, and when I should be asking J.W. to back and when he's in the right position. A couple times Coach had me bump J.W. with both my legs to help him "snap" better through the turn. Sometimes I found that J.W. was really rushing as the flag went one way. Coach said that although sometimes speed is important he would rather have his horses long trotting back and forth and not "rushing" the flag, because, when translated into actual live-cow work that can cause the cow to try to rush off and this isn't cow horse people! haha.

I had to remind myself to relax quite a few times - as did he, it's easy to get pretty amped up doing this stuff. All in all really good lesson, once again Coach told me I was doing a really good job, and I was beaming ear to ear.

For Next Time: More work on that position, reeeeeeelax, and figure out when to let the horse do his job, and when to intervene (i.e. bumping through turns, backing, slowing them down, etc.)

Riding Diary: 47 - Cutting

Time: 2 hr

Horse: John Wayne

Ride: Finally I got another lesson with the cutting horse trainer, who for the purpose of this blog, I call Coach. I forgot how much I love riding with than man haha, he is so nice, encouraging and soft spoken - I truly appreciate his training style with both horses and humans :)

When I got to the arena, he asked me if I knew "John Wayne"... Uhm, I kind of stammered, "the cowboy?". He laughed at me, the horse I was going to ride is named John Wayne. Did you guys know I dislike human names for horses? This horse has two first human names as it's name! C'mon universe!

We began to warm-up, I fell into the rhythm of sitting an extended trot a little bit better than last time but I still really need to work on relaxing and not being so rigid. I felt like I was doing better at keeping my hand on J.W.'s neck and only using my reins when I really needed to. I also made my stirrups shorter than I usually do, this way my stirrups weren't feeling jostled around as a sat such a big trot.

Coach reminded me on how he wants me to sit during these warm ups - nice and relaxed, a bit of a curve in the back, legs loose, etc. He suggested that I even look "down", as in tuck my chin, and perhaps that will help get a more curve, relaxed back. He asked me to bump J.W. to get him to extend even more and really work and then we did a bit of dry work.

The dry work consisted mostly of stops and rollbacks, he asked me to really sit down when I asked for a "woah", and only draw up my hand if I really needed to. Coach said that with his cutting horses he wants everything done slow and fluidly, so if I ask for a turn my hand should come out to the side slowly and fluidly so that they aren't jarred into a turn - same with a woah, and a back-up, everything should be calm and relaxed so that the horse isn't knocked into doing something right away. I think that's a really good foundation for horses to be started and trained with - slow, calm, steady, makes for a way less brace-y horse. I'm dealing with so many bracing problems with Jingle that I could for sure feel how fluid and easy J.W. was to ride.

From the dry work we moved onto flag work. Coach had me ride J.W. up to the flag really slow and calculated, almost a step for every deep breathe I took. Then I stopped square and we began to work the flag. It felt wicked, J.W. was where I wanted him to be every.single.time, it was honestly amazing. The only thing I really had to "do" was keep him a little straighter, and not let him drift from the flag a few times, so I kept my left leg on him as he was chasing the flag on his right side. A couple times I had to bump to assist him through a turn, but honestly, I didn't do much.

Coach told me I had done a really amazing job. He said that he has trained J.W. from a baby and has shown him pretty limited, but will be amping up his showing this year. He said that I had ridden him really well and that we both were "hooked onto eachother". Finally he finished by saying he was really impressed with my riding, and that my position on the flag was really natural, and that we looked like I was about to show J.W. tomorrow. Pretty awesome praise. His only "criticism" was that he wished I could sit the warmup like a sit during flag-work haha. I think the flag work clicks in my mind as a different kind of riding, and so I can get down and into that cutting position, where as when I'm warming up - walking, trotting, etc, my mind drifts back into "pleasure riding", and my back goes right up and back, shoulders back, heels way down, etc. etc. He wants me to be way more fluid, natural and day I say it "slumped" haha ;)

As per usual, our flag work was done way faster than I had wanted it to be, and I cooled J.W. out. Then I watched him work a couple clients horses, and his stud. Then he let me cool down his stud - a dual rey roan that is one hunk of handsome, let me tell ya. Also, he is a real sweetie.

It was awesome. awesome. awesome.

For Next Time: Keep working on that relaxed, fluid, "different" cutting position during the warm up.