I wonder about people

So 3 of us are riding back home on a single track trail, winding down a hill, when we meet another rider.  Zoe is in the lead.  She stops, then realizes it's just another horse.  We pull to the side to let her go by when she announces that she has a dog with her, just behind her….somewhere.  Somewhere but not to be seen…way back there-in the direction I'm headed.  She says we can go ahead because her dog is fine with horses.  We just stand as she is calling her dog.  I wonder about people.  Finally the dog shows up and freezes because now we find out he's scared of horses, he won't do anything but run from them or try to walk way around them.  "Fine with horses".  Humpf.  Her comment to go on ahead was strange too.  Yes her dog might be fine with horses but is my horse fine with her dog showing up randomly somewhere up ahead on the trial?  How does she know that my horse will be okay with this?  Hmmmm.  When the dog showed up we had moved a few steps ahead but I knew that the dog would be a trail obstacle.  Hoping that we would not repeat the squirrel episode of the previous weekend I was ready for anything.  Zoe saw the dog and froze again.  Stopped to stare but no turning and loping away.  That was good.  Once she figured out it was just a dog she was fine.  The dog wouldn't take the trail to get to it's owner.  It skirted the trail and our horses, traveling way up the hillside and down again to get to it's owner.   I don't have a problem with loose dogs on the trail as long as they are somewhere close to their owners and aren't aggressive.   I just wonder about people sometimes….

Dentals

Dental time of the year is here.  This week Sky and Zoe had their teeth done.  Skippy had hers done last March when she had her fillings.  I was describing the dental process to my brother over the Christmas holiday.  He was amazed so I took pictures, mostly for his benefit but decided to post them here too.  These pictures are of Sky.  I could have taken pictures of Zoe but pictures of a dark colored horse in a dark place usually don't turn out so well.  Hence I took pictures of Sky.

He had some points that needed to come off.  He had chipped his upper back molar on his left side-probably on a rock but it wasn't a problem 

Such a happy pony 

He also chipped his front teeth-also not a problem.  Hopefully if won't become a problem. 

Very sleepy horse.  He stood like this for 1/2 hour!

Zoe's teeth had no problems.  Her infindibulums were not very deep-hence no cavities to be filled.  She did have a diastima-space between teeth that food can get packed into.  It was not a problem now just something to watch.  Zoe was sleepy for a while too.  Now she can be a more efficient eating machine-great….my "fluffy" horse can now get fatter.  More exercise and less food for her.  

Those Squirrels...

Last Sunday Jim and I went for a ride on Skippy and Zoe.  We went on the canal trail.  Jim had not been on that trail in a long time-this ride we had the time to do it and Jim's knee wasn't bothering him…so we went.  Jim and I took turns leading down to the canal trail.  On the trail Skippy took the lead and trotted out-not her fastest (which most horses have to lope to keep up with) but a nice medium trot-for Skippy.  Anyway Zoe had to practice following a faster horse and having manners.  Which Zoe did pretty well.

After the aquaduct we took the cutoff back home-it goes up a hill for a ways.  Zoe was in the lead.  The trail has logs crossing it…like large stair steps.  After that it narrows.  The whole trail going up the hill is a single track trail with just a few wider spots.  There is a definite uphill slope to the left and a down hill slope to the right.  It was on this trail in one of the narrow spots, after the "stair steps" that Zoe saw a squirrel.  Now Zoe has seen a bizillion squirrels.  This squirrel was pulling on a pine cone.  Maybe it was the combo-squirrel and pine cone- that spooked Zoe, maybe the squirrel had a mean look on it's face because the pine cone was pretty big compared to the squirrel and it was having a hard time moving it.  At any rate Zoe did a 180-turning front end over the downhill portion of the hill- and proceeded to lope down the trail.  (Side note- amazing that horses can turn in such tight spots-on a dime) Skippy said "if she's going to run, I'm out of here too" and Skippy did a 180 and loped down the trail-everybody going downhill at a lope, now Skippy is in front.  Jim comes to a wider spot and does an emergency brake and it works for him.  I'm not sure there is enough room there for me to do the same so we blow past Jim/Skippy.  Zoe is now headed for the stair steps and I have to stop her and there is now no wide spots left on the trail.  She notices that Skippy is not following her and starts to slow and I finish it off a loud "whoa" and a pull on the reins to stop the horse.  It didn't take much to stop her, phew.  It was all over in just a few seconds but still heart stopping all the same.  Glad we didn't lope all the way down the trial.  Afterwards we put Zoe back in front and later on she saw another squirrel…this time she gave it "the ear" and that was all.

I'm glad I was able to sit the spin and stay on and stop.  Just can't be a passenger on any ride, you never know what a horse is going to do…

Maybe we will call it "Squirrel Hill"

Ice

Last week was frozen.  And I wanted to lunge my horse but the arena was being used.  So I went to the round pen.  There are puddles in the round pen that were ice, hard ice.  Zoe and I went in and I just let her wander around to check it out.  She sniffed at the ice but stayed off of it.  And she noticed that if she stayed on the fence line she could stay off of the ice.  So she started trotting…after all we are in there to work.  So I said fine, trot.  I asked for changes of direction by turning into the rail and sometimes away from the rail.  She was doing good, listening and staying off the ice.  So I was surprised at one of the turns she headed straight for the ice.  My heart stopped.  I saw her trot on to it, realize it was slippery, tried to stop, saw her hind end get very squirrely, and she managed to stop on the ice.  I was worried that she would pull her suspensory ligament again.  She sniffed the ice and walked off of it and trotted on.  She was moving fine so I let her continue…she was the one who wanted to trot at this moment.  So I put her back to work.  Again at another turn she went towards the ice.  This time I stopped all movement with my body and before I could get a sound out of my mouth, her front feet were on the ice but she managed to stop herself with her hind end-that was not on the ice yet.  I thought it was very interesting.  She is a lazy horse and will usually stop on her front end.  But doing that this time wouldn't have worked-it would have caused her to continue sliding forward and all her feet would have been on the ice.  So she used her hind end to stop and I've never seen her do it so well.  It made me laugh.  The next day she was fine-no problems with any pulled suspensory ligaments.    And she learned a valuable lesson-stay off the ice.

Should haves

Today I should have lunged my horse before I rode her out on the trail.  I felt like I was riding a wound up rubber band.  She was trying to be good and she was good for the most part.  But it was a day when I had to be careful with my boundries.  For example if I starting trotting, I think I would have been sorry.  We would have had bucks, spins, more "woo hoo" moments than I would have cared for-especially with the trail conditions.  It was a very cold day and the trail was not good for trotting.  If it wasn't wet and slippery, it was very hard-like walking on icy ground.  So walking was appropriate.  So when we got back, the arena was good for going fast.  So we unsaddled and lunged the horse after I went on the trail.  Now she was having a good time:  trotting, loping, bucking, spinning.  Thanks go to my trail partners for the day that understood that walking was about all we could do safely-for Zoe's mindset, and for all of the horses for the trail conditions.  When we were coming back from the trail and we got back to Lomida, I got off and walked because my left foot was asleep.  I was thinking that if Zoe did something that required me to use my left foot, it wouldn't work-the foot was useless.  I should have rode for a bit with my foot out of the stirrup that way it wouldn't have been such "dead weight".  And I didn't realize it but my right hand was so cold that it couldn't hold onto anything.  Should have used my gloves or switched hands around, because my left hand was fine.  I guess some "pre-focusing" would have been appropriate.

Focus

Thursday I chose to ride in the arena even tho it was in the middle of the day.  Time was short so I wanted to ride and be able to accomplish things in a short amount of time.  My horse would rather have me space out, try something for just a minute or one time around the arena then stop or poke around the arena with no plan in mind.   I have found that riding in the arena takes focus.  Especially when you are short on time.  For example - can I trot around the arena collected and side pass on and off the rail on the long sides?   Not at first.  It seems so simple but not today.  I found that focusing on what I wanted to do, focusing on where I wanted to go (not just 5 feet in front of me) focusing on my seat, focusing on my feet, focusing on my cues, focusing on the position of my hands-sounds like work.  And it was.  But I found when I really paid attention to what I was doing, my horse did much better.  Most of my rides in the arena are short-Monday before work, Tuesday before work and sometimes on Friday before I leave to pick up Zeke.  So I have learned how to focus.  It has really helped my riding.  In other areas of my life I can use that ability to focus to block other things out and focus on the task at hand with the tools I have to accomplish that task.  I do have a choice, to focus or not to focus...