Camping

This year we went to Skillman for horse camping.  The trip there was easy on the truck as we were only 3700 feet.  Last year the trip to Wrights Lake was too much for our truck-almost didn't make it.  This year the trip was shorter and the uphill grade was not so steep and long.  The smoke from the American Fire wasn't bad.  It was very slight in the morning and then it blew away during the day.

In my last blog I wrote about ponying horses and the problems/resolutions that came up.  The first day we went on a short ride on trails around camp.  I ponyed Sky off of Zoe.  The combination worked fine.  The trail we chose had alot of hairpin turns in it, but we did ok.  The next morning we went for another ride.  This one wasn't as fun.  We took our dog camping.  In the past we always had 2 dogs at horse camping and we left them back at camp and they were fine.   Last November we had to put one of our dogs down leaving just one for this trip.  We didn't want to leave just one dog back at camp by herself.  So we took her.  The first day she was fine.  The second day she caused some problems.  The dog is 1/2 healer so she liked to stay behind the string of horses.  On the second day she must have done something to spook Sky.  We were on a narrow trail.  Sky starting running up on Zoe and spinning (as I'm holding on to his rope).  Because Sky was spinning, Zoe thought it would be a good idea to do the same.  Now I'm riding/ponying 2 spinning horses at the same time.  All I could do was hold on and yell at them.  They all stopped, I got everyone turned around and we continued on.  Not fun.  Then Zoe and Sky decided it was time to eat.  Every 20 steps or so one or the other would stop and eat.  It's not easy for me to control that behavior with 2 horses at the same time.  So we got off the narrow trail and that took care of the eating problems.  At that point we stayed on a wide road and went back to camp.  So the ponying combination went fine, I just didn't plan on the dog causing problems.

Once the 3rd rider showed up I no longer had to pony a horse.  When Zoe was little I would pony her everywhere and as time went on I got tired of it.  Ponying horses is something I can do but it isn't my favorite thing to do.

We went on a nice long ride that afternoon.  We took the Hallelujah Trail out from camp, met up with the Pioneer Trail by Hwy 20 and rode back to camp.  Zoe was in the lead on the Hallelujah Trail.  She did pretty good leading on a trail she had never been on before.  There were alot of hairpin turns on this trail and it was no problem for her.  We mostly walked and did very little trotting.  All the horses were excited when we first started and it took quite a while for them to settle down so walking seemed the best choice.  But after a while they calmed down and trotting was ok.  We almost took the wrong trail to get back home.  I was glad I had the map with us.  It was a pretty good map-for those 2 trails.  Not sure about the other trails.  Those were the only 2 trails we traveled on the whole time we were there.

The next day we went on a short ride in the morning as we had family visiting later that day.  It was good to see everyone again.  No one wanted to ride and we were having too much fun visiting.  The next day was our go home day.  A short ride in the morning was all we had time for.

 Site 15 had 2 corrals so we highlined a horse.  It worked out just fine.

 Mom, I'm busy eating!

 Skippy doesn't even bother to look up.

 Sky did great on his high line.

 Relaxing

 Relaxing

 Skippy

He was only there for a few minutes and the dirt just jumped on him!

Mares

Most days I like my mares.  There can be a few days during the month that I like them less.  Two Saturdays ago one of my mares was on my "bad" list - Zoe.  She was in heat.  That usually means that I don't have her full attention when I'm working with her.  If I had been paying more attention I would have put some clues together that would have helped me out more that day.  It usually works that way-hindsight is awesome.

The Wednesday before she gave me some clues that this heat was more intense than normal.  That Wednesday while I was getting her ready for a solo trail ride she urinated twice.  She never goes pee while I'm brushing her.  There were no other horses around for her to "impress" with her activity.  I remember thinking that I hoped she was okay to go on a ride-that she was okay.  The ride turned out okay and I thought nothing more of the situation.

Fast forward to the next Saturday.  It was 1 week before horse camping.  As usual the first day of camping I have 3 horses and only 2 riders.  So I usually pony one of the horses.  I've done this before.  The last few times I ponyed Skippy off of Zoe with no problems.  (Skippy is Zoe's mom and also her pasture mate)  So this day I saddle up Zoe with my western saddle.  She hasn't had this one on for about a year.  I ride a few laps around the arena and Zoe doesn't seem to mind the saddle.  So now I'm going to pony Skippy off of Zoe.  Only it didn't work out like I planned.  I had a friend bring Skippy into the arena.  I was not quite in the shady corner of the arena but close to it.  No sooner than my friend got the gate closed from coming into the arena, Zoe started the snorting she does when in heat and before I knew it-I was up in the air.  Yup, Zoe reared.  Twice.  Not so much energy went into the second rear-so it wasn't as high as the first.  I had 2 people watching me.  Both were holding their breaths.  I stayed on.  Both times.  A long time ago I read an article on how to ride a rear.  I guess some of the information stuck in my head.  Now I'm mad.  Once we had all 4 feet on the ground we were doing circles, small circles.  Funny thing about a rear-once I notice that she is too light in the front end and she could be rearing-we are in the air.  I guess I would need more practice riding rearing horses to feel that better-but not so sure that I want to practice riding alot of rearing horses.  In retrospect I should have abandoned the ponying idea and circled towards the inside of the arena and worked her hard. Sweaty hard.  But I didn't.  Once things calmed down I attempted ponying, but I never had 100% of Zoe's attention.  Her ears gave her away.  This day-I didn't trust her.  After a few trys I decided that this activity would be better for another day.  Once she was back in her paddock she still had attitude so I turned her paddock into a round pen and we finished out the day with some round pen work.  Hard work.  Attitude was much better when we finished.  I was mad enough to keep going but thought I'd better quit while I had her in a better frame of mind.  Yes I was mad at her but I was also mad at myself.  I had clues that told me I might have problems.  I should have worked her hard right after the rear.  I should have been in the center of the arena at the start - it would have been safer for me and easier to move her forward to keep her from rearing.  Maybe it was the saddle that caused part of the problem - it does have a back cinch and considering her "condition" it could have irritated her.  Alot of "what ifs".  I might never know but I'll be paying better attention next heat cycle.

So I decided to try ponying the next 2 days.  After all camping was coming up and I needed to know how Zoe was going to act around Skippy.  As the days progressed Zoe was less in heat and that helped.  I never did use the western saddle again.  And I did this by myself in the morning before work.  I've worked these 2 horses together for years and didn't worry about being by myself.  I took many precautions tho....just having them be around each other and gauging their attitudes towards each other. I did manage to pony Skippy off of Zoe but wasn't 100% sure we were done with "heat" attitudes.  So on the 3rd day I ponyed Sky off of Zoe.  Sky is my gelding.  Zoe could have cared less.  It was easy.  So I decided during camping that I would try that combo.  I'll try the first combo again at home, probably after camping but before the next heat.   So more about camping and ponying in the next blog.

New stirrups

Last blog was about something new to Zoe.  This blog is about something new to me.  I changed my stirrups to "cheese grater" stirrups.  I decided that there was nothing wrong with getting a tool to help me keep my feet in place.  I have "tools" to help me or my horse accomplish other things, why not this?  Usually my feet slip thru the stirrups until my heel rests against them.  Then the top of my stirrups rest against the front of my ankle. So if I'm really busy riding and trying to accomplish something, I ride with my feet like that and after a while my ankle starts to hurt.  "Oh ya, my feet are in the wrong place".       Now I've tried to ride correctly-balls of my feet on the stirrups, heels down.  But for some reason I loose the right position-and I suspect it is my right foot that gives me the most problems.  

Well after getting these, I figured out a few things that I've suspected all along.  Yes it is my right foot that "fails" first.  I thought I was riding with my heels down all along but no...especially my right heel tends to come up.  When I ride with my feet and heels in the correct positions and concentrate on keeping them that way-my feet NEVER move around in the stirrups.  The "cheese grater" keeps them in place.  As long as my heel is down-my feet never move.  It's awesome.  Now you would think if I applied the same principals to my "easy ride" stirrups I would get the same results.  After all it's what every trainer says- balls of feet on stirrups and heels down.  Should work.  I think the roughness of the pads really helps to keep things in place.  Also my barn manager pointed something out to me.  On "easy ride" stirrups, the top part where it connects to the leathers, has alot of swing or movement to it.  Therefore for people who have a hard time keeping their feet in place that movement doesn't help.  These new ones-not so much movement and that helps.  They are also pretty light weight compared to regular irons.  A nice tool to help me with my dressage riding.  They are also wider than regular irons.  I like that because I have more stirrup for my foot.  I guess it's a part of the "easy ride" stirrups that I really like-the wideness is nice.  

When I did my research on these new stirrups I found many thoughts.  A few said they "chewed up" the soles of their shoes but only a few said that.  I figured if it was a really big issue many people would have said that...so I discounted that negative comment.  A few said the stirrups "chewed up" their leathers and saddles.  But some people commented back that you just had to be careful and some suggested putting socks over the stirrups when done.  Careful and socks made sense to me.  Most of the people said they really liked how they helped keep their feet in place.  A few said they didn't help at all but only a few.  So I took the plunge and decided to try them.  Glad I did.  

Ear plugs

Z-now what? 

Me- just an ear plug.

Z- a what, I can't hear you?  Wait there's something in my ear, I'll shake my head and get it out.

Shake. Shake. Shake.  Ear plug falls out, bouncing on the ground

Z- that's better!

Me- Hold still, we'll try it again.  

I cup my hand around her ear, hold close to her head and pop the plug into her ear again.  This time it stays better.  

Z- (head shaking some) I can't get the thing out of my ear.  You said there were holes and riots?  What are you talking about?  (Note to self-not only does she do strange things to me but now she's talking funny.)

Me- now that's better.  We'll take it out in a few seconds.  Good girl! 

Z- now wetter? Water in my ear?  What's Earl got to do with all this?  WHO'S EARL!!!

Me- Good girl, out it comes.  (out comes the plug)  Now we'll try the other ear.  

Z- Finally I can hear you.  My ear was plugged up.  I'm not sure I like this game.  

I put the plug in the other ear and it stays in good.  She's not too happy as you can see with her ear position, but it's something that I think she can get used to.  

Z- I hope this leads to some treats, I think treats are in order.