Note to Self

Never, ever, ever over-schedule myself again.  My brain is on overload between taking Scrappy to the vet and scheduling his surgeries, having both an equine vet and an equine dentist critique each of my horse's physical health and dental health, and having my farrier critique each of my horse's hoof health.  I'm glad that I've got such a great team of equine health care providers, but if I have

Just Craziness

Here I am eating lunch at 3:45 PM, because I've been going, going, going as fast as I can in an attempt to make progress.  I keep a To Do List, and some of the tasks on it have been on it for over two years.  It's hard to believe that I couldn't find the time to do a simple task over a two year period, but that's how crazy it's been.  Every day something happens that wasn't on my agenda, and I

Leading a Horse

You may recall that I started out this winter spending a lot of time hand walking my horses on the trails and having all kinds of problems with them barging past me and pulling on the lead rope.  I tried a lot of different techniques to stop that.  Some worked, some didn't, some worked sometimes but not other times.  I honestly don't even remember what exactly changed, but my three Arabs are now

Holiday Weekends

My lousy luck still holds true for holiday weekends.  If you've been reading my blog a while, you know that I can't stand holidays.  First off, when I was working full-time, I never got holidays off anyway.  I always had to work, with made me all the more bitter toward them.  It was especially hard to take because my office was in a tourist town and I had to drive past all the people at the beach

The Herd Integration Process

The past two days have been a learning experience to say the least.  Herd dynamics are rich and complicated.  It's difficult just to observe and not interfere.  My presence has a profound effect on how the horses behave toward one another, because it is clear that all four of them consider me to be in charge.  I try to let them work our their natural rituals regarding a new horse entering an

Ouch, Ouch, Ouch

Most of the day has been spent trying to get my three Arabian horses to accept their new roommate.  With the help of my husband and P.S., we took Rock for a hand-walk out in the desert.  He has a tendency to lean on people when they lead him and to get ahead of the person, so we spent some time teaching him the proper distance with which to walk beside a person.  That horse weighs a lot, and he

Meet Rock

Do you notice anything strange about this picture?





I see Bombay.  I see Gabbrielle.  I see Lostine.  I see... another horse?  Meet Rock.



He's a grade Quarter Horse gelding.  He's only six years old, but already a pro on the trails.  Oh, and he's a dun.  See his stripe?



Remember when I said that my husband wanted a horse big enough to carry him?  We've been keeping our finger on the

A Most Efficient Horsey Day

It was forecasted to possibly reach 100 degrees F today, but there was a nice breeze bordering on a wind, so when P.S. suggested a trail ride, I jumped on the opportunity before it got too hot.  I wanted to keep up with Gabbrielle's under saddle training, but P.S. was confident that we could do both.  I rode Lostine and she rode Bombay.  Both horses were relaxed, but as we headed up the driveway,

Forward, Forward, Forward

I left off talking about how Gabbrielle reverted to backing up each time I cued her forward, and how I was making a game plan for how to correct that.  From the ground, I stood beside her and spoke the command "forward", then gave her a second or two to move forward.  If she did not, I said "forward" again and tapped her gently at the base of her tail with a dressage whip.  I continued the

Working It Out

P.S. and I spent some time today trying to work out a new system for training Gabbrielle from the ground to move forward.  It had to translate well to the saddle.  Obviously, we already have several methods that work in getting the horse to move forward from the ground, but you can't do them from her back.  We still don't know the cause of Gabbrielle's sudden regression, but considering how

Unexpected

I've been watching my horse trainer mount and ride Gabbrielle for the past couple of months, and the only problems she mentioned having with her involved getting her light on the bit, getting her to back up, and she said that Gabbrielle has some coordination issues and is a bit resistant about cantering.  So, when I rode her this morning, I expected to be able to mount, do some lateral flexation,

I Almost Forgot

I almost forgot to write about the most amazing lesson I learned yesterday.  The two ladies who have been helping me train my horses are both from natural horsemanship backgrounds, but one of them has a very subtle, gentle approach that requires a tremendous amount of time and patience while the other one is more of a rough 'em up, take charge cowgirl.  I believe there is a time and place for

A Bit Frantic, But at Least I Got to Ride

It's been projected to reach 99 degrees F today.  When I felt a nice wind around 9:00 AM, I impulsively decided to go for a trail ride, because soon I won't be able to stand outside for ten minutes none-the-less ride a horse at mid-morning.  I figured I would ride Lostine, but she ran from the halter while Bombay ran right up to me and stuck his nose in it.  I realized that he needs to be ridden.

Nuisance Drummers

My next door neighbors' dogs bark at me when I work with my horses or walk my dogs outside to do their business, but the neighbors always get control of them, recognizing that I have the right to be in my backyard without being hassled by their dogs.  I find that rather refreshing since I used to get barked at every time I went to my mailbox at my old house, and the dog owners never did anything

ShowSheen Try-Pak Try Out

This week I received the ShowSheen Try-Pak I won in Paint Girl's giveaway.



It includes a 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner, ShowRing Shine detangler, and a Stain Remover & Whitener.  I took a before picture of Gabbrielle with her saddle sweat and grungy tail...



Parelli Student and I scrubbed the shampoo/conditioner in, sprayed the whitener on her mane and tail, and then squirted her with the

Just the Two of Us

Fridays are tough, because I want to ride my horses before the neighborhood gets nutty over the weekend, but that's my husband's weekday off from work and I want to let him sleep in. He wakes up super early most mornings, so he really needs those days when he can sleep in. Our shower is just a few feet from our bed without any door between the two rooms to cut out the noise of the water running

Pause in the Journey

Today was the last day of the bi-weekly lessons I've had since January with the horse trainer.  We had planned to ride all three horses out in the desert together kind of as a last hurrah, but the Parelli Student called in sick.  So, the horse trainer rode Gabbrielle and I rode Bombay, while Lostine cried over being left alone back at the barn.  I did not anticipate any trouble, because Bombay

Let There Be Light

Many interesting things are happening with my horses now that three different people have been working with them for a while.  Factoring new people into the equation is kind of like switching from a 15 watt light bulb to a 120 watt light bulb in a small room.  You can see everything much clearer.  When it's just you working with your horses year after year, you can't quite comprehend the training

We Rode Until We Got Lost

The weather was so perfect today that I was itching for a trail ride.  I knew that Parelli Student was on her way and I had hoped to ride with her, but the wind was starting to pick up and the last time I had checked the weather forecast, it had said a rainstorm was on the way.  Wind usually precedes the rain.  When I got Lostine saddled up, I contemplated just heading out by myself and leaving a

Our Second Gila Monster Sighting

We had our second Gila Monster sighting in the year since we moved to Arizona.  My husband was taking the dogs outside off leash to do their business and quickly called them back into the house.  He told me to grab my camera.  Of course, my camera wasn't set up correctly, so the first few pictures didn't come out at all, but I managed to get a few in the seconds before it disappeared under our

Saturday Morning Trail Ride

I took Bombay out on a Saturday morning trail ride, knowing that there is a lot more activity on the trails over the weekends, and knowing that he gets uber-excited over the tiniest things, especially over seeing other horses around.  He was a bit of a handful, spooking while I was just hand-walking him around our property to tighten the cinch a little at a time, and sticking his head straight