Groomed and worked Newt in the arena. Newt enjoys being groomed. When I brush his tail, he will back up, just to be a little closer. Today I started requesting him to stand in the isle for grooming without being tied. He had the initial tendency to move forward so he could graze but seemed to respect my request to stand still. I certainly would not say he is trained to stand for grooming, but it seems like that will work with Newt if I am insistent with my request. Something like this takes time. They do not instantly become trained but gradually get accustomed to doing it the same way all the time. I walked Newt to the arena knowing that today would include some surprises for Newt. Newt accepted the cattle with a little more confidence than Magic did. I expect Newt has had a little more bovine exposure than Magic. When one came up behind Newt, Newt showed her how he could kick if she got too close. They seemed to understand each other. When we lunged, all 18 of the cattle stood in a circle watching. I guess they don’t have much entertainment in the Oak pasture. Newt put on a show with a little bucking and kicking but mainly he showed them his beautiful extended trot. He was not disobedient, just showing off for the the audience. I do enjoy watching a horse get puffed up and showing off. Acknowledging that Fate needs no temptation, I did not ride in this environment.
Wednesday, April 6 2011
Groomed and rode Magic in the arena. We rode to the Oak pasture gate and I had to get off to open the gate now that the cows are in the pasture. This was Magic’s first time in the pasture with the cows. And he was paying attention. I thought it best to lead him up to the cows. They are pretty tame cows as there are two very nice little girls that provide a lot of the care giving. I see them out all hours of the day and night taking feed to the cows on the four wheeler. These are young girls, maybe 6 and 8. When the daddy cannot get the calves to load, he waits until the girls get home from school, and, if I understood correctly, the smallest one gets the calves up and makes them go into the cattle trailer. Anyway the cows are tame but I am somewhat of a stranger. And Magic was a stranger for sure. I walked straight towards the nearest cow knowing they cannot stand this and will, sooner or later, turn and move away. Being tame, she waited a little too long and that put me too close when she figured out that she was going to have to move. She stood her ground until we were maybe 10 feet away then she spun around and bolted off. The quick movement gave Magic a start, but the cow moved in the correct direction (away) and he liked that. He puffed himself up and had a really nice spring in his trot. After a while he and the cows quit paying attention to each other and started grazing. I got on and we started riding the 20 meter circle. We had gone around a couple of times. I pay close attention to what we are doing because that is what it takes to ride a good circle. I did not know it but about this time, one of the heifers, decided she wanted to see what would happen if she ran towards the horse. So I’m looking ahead and a 600 pound red heifer is running up on us from behind. I was unaware but Magic knew what was going on. It was every horse’s horror story come true. It was “coming at ya”. My only memory of the movements were “oops, I lost my seat, I’m still on, but my center of gravity is somewhere below me.” All I know is there were some very vigorous movements, I was hanging on to Magic’s neck, and he stopped in a position facing the heifer. I did not fall off, regained my seat, and realized we had all the cows attention and they were coming to see if they could help. I thought it best if I stepped off while we taught these cows to keep their distance. They moved back and everybody started grazing again and Magic and I left. I mounted after I closed the gate and we returned to the barn without incident.
This is speculation: I think Magic took care of me. He was jumping around and realized “oops, Dumbo’s lost his seat. I’ll stop and maybe he won’t fall off.” I’ve been in that same situation before when the horse thought “when I get him off my back, I’m flying out of here if I have to go through the barbed wire fence.” I like Magic’s attitude. My obligation is to make sure I do not put us in any bad situation.
Magic got in the trailer today.
Tuesday, April 5 2011
I had to go into work early today. Well, early for me, I do take time to do horse stuff most every morning. I did not ride. Magic and I went a looked at the trailer. He stepped up with his front feet but did not go all the way in. I used the whip and asked him to step forward at times and he made the correct response. At first the whip would cause him to stand his ground or step back. So I was happy that he moved forward in response to the whip. (Explanation: The use of the whip does not mean thrashing or whipping but rather as an extension of the reach of the handler and a cue to do something.) My goal with this “step forward” approach is to have Magic load as a response to my request / command. When we did this today, we were several steps from the trailer. He had backed up and I asked him to step forward. He did. I was satisfied. If I had asked him to take another step, then another, I would have pushed him to a point where he might refuse. I like to avoid refusals because I think when you get to that point, the horse may “learn” the wrong thing. Magic and I have been there at the Saline County Fairgrounds. Magic and I will get to a point where, if necessary, I can apply pressure and expect him to respond like I need. Right now we are building trust and taking one step at a time.
Sunday, April 3 2011
Very windy today. I did not ride. I have a big day of fencing. Magic and I went by the trailer and he got in. I find that the most common time to have trouble loading is when you actually have somewhere to go and you are running a little bit late.
Saturday, April 2 2011
Groomed and rode Newt out on the arena. I led him out there. I graze some cows for my neighbor and they came yesterday afternoon. I was concerned how they might react to each other but the cows were so happy and content to be on good pasture that they never got up. And they were a ways off so I don’t know that Newt was aware that they were in the pasture. I rode Tut over to JD Adam’s pasture one day. JD has lots of Scissortail Flycatchers. Tut was hot blooded and full of himself when 50 black cows came over the hill. Tut had never been in the pasture with that many cows and they had never had a horse in the pasture. All 51 of them stuck their tails straight up in the air and snorted at each other. The cows thought the best thing to do was to run flat out and circle me and Tut. Tut thought the best thing to do was fly out of there. But he listened to me and we came out of that pasture at a reasonable speed. Tut showed better behavior than I did judgement that day. I do not trust Newt that much yet but we are building trust. Newt did good in the arena. He was so relaxed that he even seemed a little bored. I like a horse to pay attention and be eager to go. I will probably start him on riding the trails to see if that will stir up his interest. After I opened and shut the gate, I rode Newt back to the barn. First time. He did good. Even a little too relaxed.
Glory was like that at one time in her training. Bored. She got over it and is a pretty lively ride. I would be riding her also except she is too wide for my comfort.
Magic showed some hesitation at the trailer. I encouraged him a little and he loaded. We’re getting there.
Friday, April 1 2011
Groomed and rode Magic. He does not enjoy the brush. I did not even think of using the shedding blade on him. The little rubber gripper mitt worked good though. He does not like it either, but to a lesser degree. I thought about trimming his bridal path and he thought about having a fit. He is OK with the mane and tail brushing. I’ll live with those shortcomings since he is so nice to ride. We rode in the arena just a little more and with some variation in the way we did Wednesday. The unusual thing about today was that I let the ponies out thinking they would just graze around the barn. They were no bother when I was grooming and tacking. Matter of fact, they were not even there. When Magic and I were riding to the arena I noticed the ponies were past the house and Scottie was in the Oak pasture. Magic took everything in stride and just walked past Laddie. When we got to the arena, both ponies showed up curious about what we were doing. The would almost follow us around the 20 meter circle but then they would get busy grazing. The best thing was that Magic paid them no mind. If they got in the way he just went around them. Magic did real good at the training ride today. Then we started to ride around the Oak pasture. That looked good to the ponies and they came along. I told Magic that we would make pony pack saddles and they could carry the hay and oats and stuff. After following a while, Scottie thought it would be more fun to lead. Then Laddie joined him and they were both ahead. We came to a fork in the trail and they took the high road. The high road went up on Shirey Mountain. I like to go up there but thought it best if Magic had a few more miles before we went up there. But the redbuds are in bloom and we just decided to follow the ponies. The ponies led all the way to the top, increasing speed of course where it got steep. Magic thought we should also speed up but listened when I requested a more modest pace. Now horses give each other confidence on an adventure like this but it crossed my mind that I did not know what the ponies might do in a stressful situation. If they spooked, Magic would have to make a decision, spook or no? They never spooked and they have a lot of confidence. When we got to the top, I decided Magic and I needed to take the lead and went on a different path than the ponies. They saw we were going the other way and came with us. We rode down the redbud lane I have been cultivating and up to the top of the mountain. I circled back to the path we came up. The ponies kept up with us and we went back down the mountain, through the Oak pasture and back to the barn. Magic never took a bad step on the whole ride. A very nice ride.
Magic got in the trailer even before I could get my clicker ready. He was relaxed as we turned around and stopped and stood patiently before we stepped off.