Horse 101

 Good morning!!!!  Sipping coffee on the patio now involves a piece of paper and a pen.  It's better to have written it down twice than to have forgotten to write it down at all, meaning you completely forgot whatever it was you thought about.  When I pass on, the post-it notes are going to make a nice bon fire.

I was off early again to ride the kids.  In case you didn't know, horses become as much as part of the family as your dog, or even your husband.  To make it worse, they get priority treatment.  Taking care of them comes before almost anything.

Riding around the orchards a couple times a week is fine to keep them in shape, but if you're heading to the mountains, they need to be legged up.  Imagine you going to the high sierras and hiking several hours at altitude where there's not near as much oxygen as you require.  It's the same with horses.

Lots of trotting and loping is involved, just like when I used to run those marathons.  Both these girls could probably lose a little weight, just like me.  Legging them up helps that a lot.  There will only be walking on the trails, and of course we let them take it very slow.  When they want to stop, we stop and rest.

I think I'm going to be in the market for one of these saddles.  I can't believe I haven't gotten saddle sore and they are SO much lighter to throw on a tall horse.

On this day the critters were out in force, or at least they HAD been.  I didn't get a picture, but along one ditch bank, there were strings of water coming out and heading into the orchard.  Apparently raccoons cross the creek and come out the other side, water dripping off on the dirt, making trails into the trees.  I'm guessing they are after nuts?  There's a pretty good pack of them with as many as ten trails.  I may have to set up my game camera out here.

Round and round we went ... you could easily get lost out here ... as Mia was much more relaxed this day. It's all about the filly.  At three years old, she's only been ridden about 80 days ... meaning she's green broke and not experienced in the world at all.  She looks to my horse for support when something jumps out at us ... like that last big bird.  Scary things can result in a bucking frenzy.

It will be interesting to see how she does in the mountains.  With such a calm temperament, you are always waiting for the explosion!!  As long as the horse I'm riding keeps her head, we should be fine.  She's an old pro at this, as long as you know how to ride and stay out of her face.  That's a technical term for keep a loose rein.  

Every single horse is different, just like people.  You have to figure out what their buttons are and be sure NOT to push them so you don't end up in a wreck on the side of a mountain.  In the old days, people just forced their horses to do whatever they wanted.  Thankfully times have changed (somewhat anyway) since Tom Dorrance (the original horse whisperer) came along and showed people they could get their horses to do anything they wanted with a little common sense instead of a whip.  

Lucky for me, I got to work with Tom many times and am a much better horseman because of it.  There are even shows on the Cowboy Channel now showing trainers with much better attitudes and ways of training.  The horses are very thankful!!!

Today is packing day, figuring out what will go where in my 15 square foot apartment for the next week.  The good news is that Sandy suggested her Mom (the lovely lady I still do bookkeeping for) might take care of Jonathan.  I called and she has agreed to give it a shot.  YAY ... one less person to pack for!!