New gear for Lena

One of the things we've tried to do on our trail riding adventures is make sure we can let Lena (and Doc) graze when we stop. Usually, this means we leave their halters on under the bridles, but that means a lot of gear on their heads. I don't think they mind, but simplicity is always nicer when dealing with 1,200 pounds.

Linda over at Horses and Things had a nylon halter/bridle combo in a lovely shade of red, so we thought we'd try it out to see if it would work for us for trail riding purposes, and if Lena would actually still respond to normal commands.


The bridle/halter combo is pretty simple, actually. It's almost a normal halter, though it has more of headstall arrangement than a standard halter, and then it has a couple extra brass loops on the side where the bit hooks in using what are basically nylon curb straps on clips. It's a pretty simple solution that allows us to be out on the trail with the bit in, then stop and simply unhook it so Lena can graze. Getting the bit in and out of her mouth proved relatively easy, as well.

And, a very important factor, the red looks very nice on her. She thought so, too, I swear.

Lena is fine

She's back to her ornery self, so that means she's fine.

We don't really know what happened and are getting various theories as usual. Peter thought we had run her too hard on the trail after not riding her much last week, and that she didn't get enough water. Dr. Leslie thought it was Lena's cycle causing internal discomfort. Peter didn't agree, but that would make mares different from every other female species on the planet, so who knows.

By the way, we didn't ride her very hard at all - it was only a 2-hour ride with a break in the middle - and it was only in the mid-seventies where we were in any case. We also offered all three horses water afterwards and none of them were interested in doing anything but sloshing it around and onto Katie's shirt.

All in all, there are some days I really wish horses could talk.

Not the face of an angel

You may not guess this from the sweet expression on her face, but Lena was NOT on her best behavior today. (Yes, again.) Steve's comment was that the best we could say is that she could have been worse. True, very true. It's kind of like teenagers - she pushes right up to the limit to see how far you'll let her go. With 1,200 pounds, though, it's better to push back, sometimes hard.

Part of her excess energy was was our fault - we didn't ride her enough this week. Part of was that she was in season today, too. But sometimes "challenging" is an understatement.

She didn't take off with Steve or me, but she danced up the trail most of the way to the top of the ridge and conducted herself in a most lewd way much of that time. It was almost embarrassing.

Katie D. and Bee came out with us, and Bee had a great time! He seemed really happy to be out and so did Katie. Katie is enjoying getting to ride her old friend Bee while she is in the process of finding her next show horse.



The way down was better, until Doc got in front and she decided she had to race him back to the trailer. Then we had to spin some circles and back up, then - even worse - stand still with me on her back while Bee and Doc got tied up and Katie and Steve got off.

Challenging indeed.

...

And just like that, something happens that reminds me how much I love having Lena in my life.

Peter called at about 5:30, just as the steak came off the grill. He said she was colicky, laying on the ground. We covered the meat and called the vet and by the time we got there she was up and looking for dinner.

She didn't get dinner, but as of 8:30, we haven't heard from Peter to say she's having any more problems.

Dr. Leslie said it could have been related to her cycle - hard for a mare to tell what in her abdomen is giving her problems, I guess.

I'm trying not to worry and trying to believe that if something goes wrong, we will hear about it.

Not easy, any of it.

So, ornery as she is, I love Lena tremendously and can't quite imagine what life would be like without her.

Maybe that's the lesson of the day.

New horse owie

Lena has managed to cut the back of her left front foot somehow. It's a vertical cut by the bulb of the hoof. She was probably - sorry - horsing around in her pen when she did it and keeps opening it up the same way, but I'd like for it to heal!

It's been about a week, maybe longer, and it starts to heal, but then she opens it up again.

It doesn't look fungal or anything, so I don't think it's Scratches. It's just weird. And it's in a sensitive area, so we've actually called Dr. Leslie to see if she think she should come out.

She's not limping on it or favoring it, so hopefully it's nothing serious.

What to do with Lena

We get this question a lot, along with suggestions, comments, and advice: "Why don't you train her to do [Fill-in-the-blank]?" Or, "She'd be a perfect [Fill-in-the-blank] horse!" Really, I don't think we want to do just one thing with her, but here's a bit more thought on where we are currently at with her and her training.

Lena was bred to be a cutting horse and is very cow-y. However, she's a little tall and leggy to be a cutting horse in real life. She also loves to run barrels and poles, and just plain run. (And run, and run, and run.)



She would probably be a great endurance horse, but I'm not sure any of us our are sturdy enough to be endurance horse riders. 25-50 miles seems like a really long time to be in a saddle and I worry about it being a hard discipline for her, too. I really want to keep her around, sound, and healthy for a long, long time. Katie was actually researching endurance racing, thinking she might be the one to ride Lena in them, but we'll see how far that goes when and if Katie starts putting in the time to train Lena the way she would need to be trained.

There is also the issue of going to the shows and hanging out all day. Maybe if we were all more social, it would be a different thing, but we aren't.



For now, I think the combination of arena work and trail riding will be a good balance. The arena work is good for discipline and just general strength and flexibility work. It's also good for the rider because there is a lot more balance and rider input needed than when we're all relaxing under the big open sky on a trail. But the trail helps her get more settled and calm, more able to accept and deal with new things and reminds the riders about why we are involved in this crazy hobby, anyway.

And of course finding new and interesting opportunities for her and for us to learn from and enjoy remains a top priority in our horse experience.

Video!

Just last week I was wishing Blogger had the option to post video, and now they do!

Here is a video of Steve and Lena from last week.

Tack junkies

One of the obsessions that seems to come with owning a horse is trying tack, finding new tack, finding the right tack for what you're doing, and - of course - caring for the tack.

We are currently looking around at other saddles that are more lightweight and comfortable for long trail rides. Of course, the ones we really like soon climb up into the $1,500+ range.

One option is an Australian-style saddle, like these. We both like the simplicity of the engineering and design, as well as the lighter weight and the support of a higher back cantle. Well, we like the way that higher cantle looks and feels, but have only sat in one on a wooden stand, not on a wild and wiggly spotty horse.

Part of the joy of tack is the workmanship, the way good quality tack looks and feels. Our Crates saddle is a great all-around saddle, good for both arena work and trail. But the other week, when we unwrapped our cutting saddle, the difference in craftsmanship was like night and day. I couldn't help but run my hand over the leather of the cutting saddle, feel it warm up under my hand, and admire the hand-stamped design on the skirt.

It's like art work, only I almost have more appreciation for it than a painting that's only use is to hang on the wall - the saddle has a job that it does well, all while looking like someone poured a little piece of themselves into it when they built it.

Guess that makes me less of an art aficionado and more of a cowboy.

Back in the saddle again!

Despite the expression on Lena's face, we are all excited that Steve is back riding again.

Here is Steve riding, yay!


We rode in the arena yesterday and then went out today for a short trail ride. (Only two hours instead of our normal three.) Unfortunately, I left the camera at the barn so didn't document Steve's successful return to the trail.

Actually, it may be better that I didn't because Lena was not on her best behavior today. She was in one of her flighty moods and took off on Steve twice - once we think because his sweatshirt came loose and slid over her butt and once because he picked up his sweatshirt from where someone had nicely hung it on the sign by the parking area. I think it goes back to the blanket trauma, but it was unacceptable nonetheless. I guess we have more horse therapy in the near future.

Doc was on his best behavior, however, so that helped some. It's definitely better to have another horse there, particularly one who is generally calmer and more steady than Lena.

Steve thinks that she also just wanted to run, but of course that's still no excuse for bad behavior.

Luckily, Steve was able to stay with her and didn't re-injure himself. I think she looked a little embarrassed when I put the sweatshirt on Doc, then on me, and neither one of us got eaten, but I'm probably reading too much into her expression. Ha!

Why dogs *really* love trucks

It's not the dog-sized back-seat or the open windows, or even the low-stress-about-dirt environment. Nope. It's really the cup-holders.


This is Jake, Katie's dog. He was thirsty; we had water and nice, deep cup-holders. It was all good.

Time with Lena

Katie and I spent the afternoon with Lena yesterday, complete with goofy Lena faces.

Lena was pretty feisty, and we did lots of running and circles and lead changes. I tried to ride her as fast as Steve does, but I can't tell if I succeeded. The dust makes it look like I got close.



Lena has gotten much better at walking over things since we started trail riding with her, and she will even go over the low jump, now. Sometimes she goes over it faster than other times, and sometimes she will step calmly over it. It kind of depends on her mood and where we are in the workout.



She also goes over the poles on the ground, which is good for her back and abdominal muscles.



And, yes, Katie and I did manage to match - totally by accident, I promise. Katie is the one with the helmet, much to her dismay.

One more silly Lena face.



I was rubbing Lena's neck when Katie took these pictures and apparently it felt good. Must have hit a spot that needed some attention.

Actual horse-related injury

It's amazing how fast it can happen, actually. One minute you're riding along like normal, the next you're hoping you can stay in the saddle long enough - and well enough - to get back to the trailer.

Steve and I went out yesterday and had a great ride. We went on a steady uphill trail that really worked the horses, then stopped to have some lunch. Doc and Lena were enjoying the workout and each other, and - since it had been over two weeks for both of them - just being out.



Then we went up the trail a little more to explore, dead-ended at a fallen tree and turned around. I was up in front on Lena when I realized I didn't hear Steve and Doc behind us and I turned back.

Steve was hunched over the saddle horn and in obvious pain, though he really wasn't sure what had happened. Doc had lost his footing a little and Steve says he felt something 'pop' in his hip joint as they both caught their balance. We were at least an hour away from the trailer still, so Steve got off and walked a little, then got back in the saddle and rode pretty silently all the way back to the trailer.

It's a good thing Steve is as healthy and fit as he is, or it would have been a lot harder for him to stay in the saddle on the way back. He had to ride in the way that makes your knees sore, to brace pressure up and off the hip joint. I used to ride that way and my knees would ache for days, but I know it was the lesser of evils in this case.

Today, there is swelling and a considerable amount of pain, but he's keeping it stretched and moving. We've even been into town to get grain, cookware, and have lunch - plus taken a deposit for the van, no less.

It looks like I'm in charge of horse riding for at least a little while. How boring for poor Lena to have only one rider!

Two Truck Family

Howdy, Sports Fans.

I'm back from OSCON and Steve is back from his backpacking trip. Both were good trips, though in very different ways.

Steve decided two things on his trip: He needed a new camping vehicle and he'd rather have a horse do the heavy hauling.

Steve has had a 1991 Previa van since 1993. It has served him - and me on occasions where the Volvo failed - very well. It has traveled up the Continental Divide and hauled more lumber than any of the fancy trucks I see on a a daily basis. It holds lots and lots of camping gear, and 7 passengers if we ever really needed it to. Vanzo, as he came to be known (sorry, Grandpa, it just fit - Vanzo the Van,) is up on Craig's list, now, because Steve's long awaited small pick-up has finally made his debut.


Gus is still the towing machine - and no worries, folks, the Mustang will never leave the family - but the new pickup could come in handy in a pinch for towing, and is certainly a more nimble and powerful backpacking and camping vehicle for Steve alone, and for Steve and me. The most likely name is currently "Sam." Gus is much wider than Sam is.


And he's very fun to drive. I actually squealed tires, though I didn't spin him around the way I did Wanda the first time I drove her.

As to the horse doing the heavy work, we may actually get around to horse number two in the next year or so, which is very exciting. I do of course promise to keep you posted.

Happy Horse-Owning Anniversary to Us!

Today marks two years since Lena officially came into our lives. Well, okay, technically she entered before that but today is the two-year anniversary of when she came into our care.

Week one: Here is Lena learning how to lunge. Little did she know how very little we would bother two years later.


Week two: Right after the nasty colic incident. She was still not allowed to eat and thought that was quite unreasonable on our part. The other thing I notice in this picture is that her mane has completely switched sides.


A year ago, we had been at Peter's for about 9 months and were even taking lessons off and on. We didn't have the trailer, so we were in the arena all the time, sometimes frightening other folks. Oh, well. Lena's weight was (finally) getting where it needed to be. This picture is her very sexy Mick Jagger imitation.


Fast-forward to now, two years after she climbed out of Ike and Cheri's trailer and sniffed the air of her new home - though our time at that barn was short-lived. We have:

• bought a trailer
  
• taken her to the beach
  
• barrel raced
  
• taken her for a cutting lesson
  
• bought saddles and bits and wormers and fly sprays
  
• had the dentist out
  

I've taken farrier science and massage classes, but avoided nutrition classes, lest I get even more obsessive. Her coat has become more roan-y, her mane and tail are sun-kissed and long, and she grew a little more just in the last year. We think she's finally stopped growing up, though, and now we have to keep her from growing out any more. We all continue to grow and learn in any case.

She's beautiful and we love her - even when she's being ornery. Happy anniversary to us!

National Day of the Cowboy

So I'm up in Portland at our Open Source Conference, and lo and behold, I find out that this coming Saturday is National Day of the Cowboy.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in parallel universes. Geeks by day and horses by night. Or something like that.

One of the cool things that's happening - both from a horse and parental standpoint - while I'm away is that Katie is going to come up and tend to Lena since Steve and I are both running around elsewhere. This may seem logical on the surface, but it's not just because she's my daughter and is now mobile. It's that there are only a few people I trust to handle Lena the way we think she needs to be handled and Katie is in that (very) small handful. I'm so proud to know a young person who has such a good head on her shoulders, and really glad she's my daughter.

Learning with Lena

Riding Lena is a constant learning experience. Constant. I just read a short blurb in Western Horseman magazine from Linda Parelli where she talks about ways they've altered their training methodologies a little in regards to softening the face. It was heartening to read an expert saying that sometimes you have to change things up a little as you learn.

We are definitely learning. I like what Parelli says about using your butt and legs first - though I think she said it nicer - and hands/reins as the last resort. Both Steve and I have been doing that with Lena already, mostly because it seems to work better with her. The more you pull on her face, the more she wants to fight you. And that's just not a battle to get into with 1,200 pounds of stubborn, opinionated, muscle. Well, you can try, but nobody will win.

Pictures and video can help, too. Like this one of me, where I'm sitting up straight but my feet are somewhere up north - using Lena's head as North, of course - of where they should be. Not to mention my toes, which are pointed northeast and northwest.

At least my heels are down! I also don't look particularly relaxed, though I do look balanced. I'd like to work on softening my hips, getting a little more movement and roll in my pelvis, with less stiffness in the leg.

It's like learning to dance with a whole new partner. In this case, though, it's okay for me to lead.

Afternoon ride and driving lessons

Katie and I went out on a ride Thursday afternoon and learned lots of things. We learned that sometimes off road trail riding can be a little hazardous to one's skin - branches can scrape, don't you know - and that there are rude drivers out there that really don't understand at all what it's like to haul a trailer, let alone a trailer with friends in it.

We started out up a trail at one of our favorite places, and a place that Doc has been many times before, so when he started off on a side trail, I thought he knew a new way to go. It was new, and it was a trail, but it wasn't quite clear enough for those of us whose butts were 14 and 15+ hands in the air. There was a lot of ducking and laughing as we went along, and I even got off and moved a small tree to one side. Unfortunately, it dead-ended at a creek with no way up and over - at least not on horseback - but it was beautiful and peaceful and funny nonetheless. Katie hasn't quite forgiven me for accidentally sending a thorny tendril back into her face. Oops.


It was a beautiful afternoon, totally quiet and Katie and I didn't run into anyone else out there. Doc and Lena got a great workout racing each other up the hills - he does a good job of keeping up with Leggy Lena. Actually, the two horses have a funny pattern. Usually when we start out, Doc is the confident, calm one. Then at the end, Lena will relax and get up ahead of Doc, her head up, those big ears pointed ahead of her. He'll get worried if he can't see her and will trot to catch up if we get too far behind. Of course, sometimes Lena will get nervous about something and stop to wait for him to catch up. Like the scary fawn that leaped out at her. You would have thought it had fangs by the degree of spin that occurred. After that, Lena stuck closer to Doc and me.


I had an awesome parental moment watching my daughter and my horse drift in and out from behind redwood trees, soaking up the solitude of the afternoon and the gentle rhythm of the world around us.

Then there was the drive home. Katie wants to learn to pull the trailer, so I let her drive. She's a relatively new driver in any case and it was her first time pulling the trailer loaded with horses, so she was being very cautious and driving a bit below the speed limit. She said she was chanting "eggshells" to herself the whole time.


Someone got behind us and didn't like how slow we were going and decided that tailgating and then honking every time we got to a place he/she thought we could pull over was a good thing to do. We even moved over in an area where we could get over and they could pass and they didn't, so the honking was really, really uncalled for.

Now I understand getting stuck behind a trailer can be irritating, and if you're in a hurry, even more irritating. But it does no good to act that way. It is not easy to pull any trailer, let alone one with live creatures in it. You can't stop fast, you can't maneuver quickly, and you can't pull over any old place on the side of the road. There has to be a lot of planning involved in any maneuver, especially for someone learning.

We did finally pull over and Katie was so angry I almost had to switch with her and drive the rest of the way back to the barn myself. As wrong, rude, and inconsiderate as that jerk was, getting mad at him/her instead of getting the horses back safely is not where her energy needed to be focused. It was a good lesson for her - there are always jerks out there and people who think they are more entitled to be on the road than you are. It's best just to let it go.

I admit it did make me wish for my poo flinger, though.

Cutting practice

Steve, Katie and I took Lena up to Healdsburg for some cutting practice today. See? She's wearing her cutting saddle again. :-)

She - again - loaded fine and we let her ride in the back part of the trailer today since it was just her. It was a balmy 102 degrees when we got to Healdsburg, so it's good it's a short trip!

We unloaded and she checked things out as we led her into the barn to tack up. Mostly - except for a little chewing on the wall in front of her - she was pretty calm. Must have been all the correctly-sized horses she saw. (i.e. cutting sized.)

We warmed up in the outdoor arena, full sun of course, and across from the Dun stallion on the property. Initially, Lena ignored the Dun but finally noticed him when he whinnied at her while I was doing circles on her at his end of the arena. The first horse she really noticed was a Friesian gelding, Mister tall-dark-and-handsome-with-great-hair. Below is her noticing him. There was also a Friesian stallion there and both Katie and Steve introduced themselves to him. I'm not sure the world is ready for a spotty Friesian, but Katie and Steve already dubbed it "Legs." Sheesh.



Meghan - the woman I coordinated with and pictured below - has a beautiful palomino gelding named Hollywood. We worked with a trainer up there named Rob Ringrose who was riding a nice little sorrel mare he called "Shorty."


Lena was definitely the moose on the block, but she did an awesome job after a little initial trepidation about the flag. It flapped, don't you know. She moves so fast and she's so aggressive that even when she would get beat on turns - mostly rider error - she could catch up.



Most of my cutting pictures are of Steve and are dark and crooked - as is often the case indoors and with me shooting. The one above is the clearest, but I'll work on the others and post them later. We all got at least one try with Lena - Steve and I got two - and Katie got to try Hollywood and I got to try Shorty, too.

It was a blast. And Lena enjoyed it, too, which is always cool to experience. It was was the first time in a long time that I've seen Katie enjoy riding, which was also pretty cool.

Parental milestones

My darling daughter has her first car and I had the odd experience today of meeting her at home after she drove up here from her dad's.

Weird. And terrifying.

Mountain Bikes and Horses

Let me just say that I am all for multi-use trails. I think we can all learn a lot from each other and that there is a lot of open space out there we can share IF we can all respect each other.

I understand the thrill of mountain bike riding, maneuvering your bike on hard-to-traverse trails and the thrill of controlling your speed - just barely - as you fly down a trail.

I'm also a horseback rider and one of my biggest trail fears is a bike rider coming up behind Lena too fast and ending up kicked from here to eternity. And then some.

The thing that I'd like to impart to bike riders is that we can't control this animal 100% of the time. They are prey animals and they react to a threat in a strictly fight-or-flight way. And here's the thing - it is all over long, long before human neurons can begin to fire and direct the situation. And if she doesn't hear you until it's too late, there's no way I'll have heard you before then. No way at all. Her ears are much, much better than mine are.

The thing I'd like to impart to horseback riders is that the bike riders really enjoy their riding as much as we do and most of them really are decent humans who don't want to scare you, your horse, nor do they want to get hurt themselves.

So how can we work together, folks?

Trail ride with friends

On Sunday, Katie D., Karen and I went out on a trail ride. This involved not only coordination between the three of us but me taking my first solo journey with Lena and the trailer!

Exciting stuff!

I got to the barn ahead of Steve and even managed to hook up the trailer all by myself. It just takes a little longer and a bit more patience - and a lot more getting in and out to see where your hitch is positioned.

Lena loaded fine, though she really - really - doesn't like the front compartment. Too narrow, though it's not really. We immediately found out what it was that would make the trailer rock so much when we put her there in the beginning. It wasn't tricky, just the natural physics around 1,200 pounds of horse slamming back and forth between the front wall of the trailer and the divider. But, since I was picking up Karen and her horse, she had to be in front because I was *not* unloading her and reloading her at a strange barn.

So I drove through Sebastopol, out Highway 12 and onto 101 South all the way to Petaluma without running myself - or any of the other idiot drivers out there - off the road. Why people getting on the freeway dawdle is beyond me. No, I'm not hitting the brakes with 1,200 irritable pounds of animal behind me, so GO for crying out loud!

Anyway.


Karen's horse Bobby is an ex-racehorse and so much like Lena it's a little scary. I took one look at his head and realized why people don't think Lena has any quarter horse in her. Because she looks like a spotted thoroughbred, of course. There were some definite dominance squabbles between them that are not quite ironed out, even though she thinks he's totally adorable and wonders why he doesn't want to nuzzle after she struck at him. Nothing like a horse playing hard to get. Especially when you're between them. Oops. No major injuries, thank goodness.



Above is a picture of her peeking around the back of the trailer at him - since we couldn't actually tie them up next to each other or anything silly like that.



Katie brought Bee and he had a blast. He had gotten relegated to second horse status when she had Fenway, but since she is between show horses at the moment (a story for her to tell), Bee got to go out and be an only horse. He loved it. Lena always loves only-horse status, and is not very good at sharing her carrot-and-butt-rub-giving mom. (Me, that is.)

It was a great day for all of us and I felt really good that I could haul the trailer - and Lena - on my own. Including having to pull into a driveway and turn around on the tiny, windy road Karen's barn is on after I drove past her barn on my way there. Without dumping either Gus or the trailer (and Lena) in a ditch, no less. Not to mention avoiding running over any of the Sebastopol pedestrians who decided to meander across my path on my way home. Silly people.

I do have to note that every time we went past a cow pasture, I could look in my rear view mirror and see that spotty nose poking out the screen. We're going to do some cutting practice on Thursday, so I'm excited to see how she does - even if there are no cows.

And here is the obligatory over-the-ear photo, with no one in front because Lena got to blaze the trail this time. Check out those ears, folks. :-)