Yesterday started off by watching Robert work with Bella and Jessi. Apparently Bella had just decided the day before that she didn't want to go in the wash stall. Or up to the hay barn. And that was that. Robert led her around, and she didn't get upset. Just annoyed and then resigned. Jessi thinks she'll sign Bella up for training in September. That should be fun. Robert keeps saying "I think of her as a driving horse..." and I'm a little entertained by it all.

Cari was having Pony Camp and Imp had a ground driving lesson, so I sat and watched a girl (Brianna, I think) on a giant bay jumping a figure eight and trying to get leads at the same time I was watching Imp making balanced turns. I like watching Robert longline because I'm not that great at it, and I learn very well by watching/listening (thus why, at the end of every show in high school, I could usually recite EVERY LINE).

Watching Brianna jump made me want to get on a nice horse and do the same thing, when they were done. So I put the two jumps on the lowest crossrail setting-- they were basically cavalletti, but I think the fact that the sides are somewhat higher make the horses want to jump them. I tacked up Keno (forest green is definitely his color) and oh dear god why is he so unbalanced at the canter? We could barely make twenty meter circles without falling in, counter bending, or breaking to a trot. So we worked on that for a while. Then we trotted over the jumps maybe four times, just asking for him to be relaxed afterwards. He likes jumping, but he figured out I wasn't asking for very much, and he doesn't like giving very much so it worked out well. I foresee so many more canter circles/serpentines for him it's a little disgusting.

As I was putting him away Robert came back and pulled out Dylan, so we worked him. He's doing better for harnessing and being cross-tied. He was excessively intrigued by Gabe and wanted to play Sniff the Kitty, but Gabe would have none of it. Dylan did really really well lunging-- he whoas pretty slowly, but will do it off a voice cue alone. Longlining went fine. Robert got bored and introduced the singletree to him, then hitched him to it. Dylan was uncertain but decided it was easier to go along than make a fight out of it, so the most that happened was a bit of a fast walk. What we really, really need to do is work with him on standing. In the cross ties, in the arena, whether we're doing anything with him or not. I think I'll do the same thing that I did with Nicky and work with him on the mounting block, letting me stand at his side and fiddle around. Even if we're not backing him, he needs to know the difference between following the human and letting the human mess with him. The worst part of the longlining is that he doesn't like Robert messing around with his sides so he'll step away and wiggle. Then, when I walk away from him when Robert has the reins, he'll try to follow me and get a surprise when he runs into the bit. After that he's really good.

Then it was mini-time! Mini time has gotten pretty boring. They're adorable and all, and I like working with them, but Danny was being a jerk for me. What they're working on right now is letting the minis figure out how to work together, and that's a slow process that is probably fun if you're instructing or trying to do it, but to just watch isn't very exciting.

After minis comes Sherri and Jim the rescue couple. Jim had pictures of his very cute Drum Horse foals. The problem with Sherri and Jim is that they like to talk a lot, which is well and good, but so does Robert. They often don't start the actual lesson until half an hour or forty minutes after they're supposed to. And, since Rocky is supposed to be done at 4 so he can have dinner, especially because he's got drill at 5:30. So I feel like Sherri gets cheated out of some time.

So I fed, listened to Robert and Sherri and Jim talk about wash stalls and drainage, and then went home.

Robert's going to go look at the Percheron geldings on Friday. I found a pair on Craigslist, but they were the hitch horses. I think his clients are now more interested in the pair of wheel horses, who are calmer. They'll be at the barn for a month, it will be fun times.

Saturday at the barn

I hope I'm going to be able to go more than once a week someday. This coming week its all work work work, which is fine. Things will settle down there and all will be well.

I got out to the barn early this morning. I got caught up on the news. Chuck broke some ribs being stupid and then didn't go to the doctor for two days. Apparently he's going to get away with that part because he didn't want pain meds and apparently he did a good enough job setting his own ribs back in place that he will be fine. Someone I've never heard of, or maybe I have, anyway, someone is maybe buying some haflinger geldings? Alyssa found them and she can say something about them. I wasn't really paying attention to that part because they have this little wood puzzle on their coffee table. Its like tanagrams but it only makes one shape, a T. I didn't figure it out while I was there but partially because my attention was divided. Or so I claim. Papillon is in another stall now because she broke another waterer and flooded some more stalls.

I rode Papillon first today. She clearly needed some attention. I swapped out her french link bit for a loose ring snaffle. I think it was an improvement. She did a lot of power walking around the field and was reasonably tolerant of BJ (14 2 breeding stock paint gelding) bumping into her all the time. Then she started getting really pissy. I asked her to trot to see if that would make her feel better but I think maybe the flies had started getting to her. She had certainly picked up a pretty good swarm of them. I took her back to the arena and she settled down pretty well. Every time we crossed the short side of the arena by the gate she wanted to pick up the canter. I guess I wasn't working very hard to prevent that because I only bothered to stop her about half the time. The other half I just reacted once she started cantering.

Just for fun, after rinsing her off, I turned her out in the front pasture. She did some eating and some running around. She can stop really fast when there is a fence in front of her. It was rather terrifying to watch her before I figured that out.

As I was putting her back they announced the chuck's horse Nikki was going to come out of the arena hitched to the training silky for the first time. This little mare, (POA arabian cross?) has a lot of angry in her petite little body but she did really well and they put her back.

Alyssa and I ate some food with Sam (BJ's owner/rider), trimmed the berries back from our path to the bus stop, looked at the miniature horses and donkeys, and looked at some of the morgans next door. After that I cut up some carrots for star and we went out to do some more trot poles. Star recognized the trot poles and was very happy to have something easy to do in exchange for carrots. Robert humored me and agreed that she was trotting the poles very well.

I set up a little crossrail but it wasnt little enough. So i dropped both poles so that they were resting on the bottom of the standards and she walked over that a few times for carrots. Then I put one of the poles back in the cup. She was less pleased about that but was willing to do it for a carrot. She trotted over just the one half of the X and I didn't have enough carrots to put up the other half.

Alyssa and I both have a lot of carrots to get rid of so I have a plan. (Dont I always have a plan?) I'm going to get her trotting over a little X in exchange for carrots. We're going to keep doing the same height X in the same place for carrots for a long time. I want her to look enthusiastic about how easy it is for her to get this carrot. She was actively trying to cross those trot poles to get to the carrot she knew was waiting for her, and with practice I think she'll feel the same way about this X. I had been trying to get her to go higher and higher and higher but I think instead of building height I should just focus on building enthusiasm. It will be hard because I dont really have the patience for any one phase of a project for very long but I think that sending her over a "jump" will be suitably entertaining that I'll be able to stick with it.

We hitched Keno to a tire and made Alyssa drive him around. He pretended to be miserable and dying. She did really well driving him around and I had a nice chat with Lil. After that she and I took Reno out for a drive. Reno isnt the easiest horse in the world to drive but I guess I've gotten more comfortable in the cart because he didn't infuriate me with his personality the way he usually does. I think the arena would be different, or if I actually had something specific I wanted to do, or maybe I really have gotten more comfortable.

One nice thing about the cart is that your proximity to death doesn't really impact your physical comfort level. Riding a calm, controlled horse is very different from a panicked running away horse. Being pulled by a calm, controlled horse is pretty similar to being pulled by a panicked running away horse. At least as far as the actual ride is concerned. So when Reno spooked and bolted at the hedge trimmers next door it really was a non-event in my mind. "Oh hey, the ground is going by faster now, and Reno looks sortof upset. Huh. I guess I should slow him down." Riding a bolting horse at least part of my mind immediately starts chanting "OMG gonnna die gonna die gonna die...." So I guess I discovered that the actual bolting isnt really the scary part, which was interesting to me.

We fed and went home. I was going to ride star today, I was going to strap a western saddle on her and go out and really run, but I guess I'm going to have to claim I'm going to do that next time. Probably next time I'll just sit there sending her over an X and feeding her carrots but you know ... maybe I'll actually sit on her. ::sigh::

Well, damn.

I got Sadie out on the lunge line, she remembered what she was supposed to with minimal staring at me blankly. We managed to reverse directions, painfully, a couple times, and she understands "walk" and "trot" transitions. I took her out in the field and we walked around, she gawked but was polite about it, and went up and down the bank without any drama.

I can get Honey's nose through the halter and I can touch her anywhere on the left side of her body. I can stand to her left facing any way. She follows me whenever I walk in her pen, as does Sadie.

Around 3 o'clock, Robert comes into the barn to tell me he's going into town. Oh, and go easy on Sadie and Honey's hay tonight, he says. A gal's picking them up tonight.

Well, damn.

things sort of accomplished

Colleen, Robert's daughter, took pictures of the wedding and Robert is burning CDs of them. He added a nice touch by including a hard copy photo. Is it of the happy couple? No, of course not! It's Buddy the JRT grinning on the gazebo.

I'd been on Craigslist the night before looking at ponies and tack. I saw one titled "Hector the Hanoverian Gelding," and remembered Cari talking about a horse she used to own named Hector, so I clicked. It was the previous owner who had sold him to Cari, wondering where he was now and if she could get in contact with the current owner. So I got a name from Cari and passed it on, and that was nice.

Rode Keno, in the arena because he was tripping on the hard ground outside. He wasn't too pleased about it. Much more displeased in the same arena was Bella. She'd bucked Jessi off a couple days ago (yay for Jessi wearing the proper shoes that time!), and Jessi was still limping from it. Jessi agreed that maybe ground work was the way to go. So Robert long lined Bella, and Bella was PISSED that her normal backing up/shuffling/rear-spin wasn't working on him. Then she gave up for a bit, thinking about the next step. Keno was completely unphased by Bella. We had a somewhat productive work, I'm trying to get him to give me his head at the canter instead of resisting the bit. If he's above it, that's fine by me, and his walk and trot are getting pretty nice, but I can't stand it when he pulls on my hands. On another note, I have reevaluated wanting to ride Bella. Yeah.

While Robert and Jerry and Imp went out (Jerry is still married, I checked), I went in to play with Honey, since I had brought non-slimy carrots today. The halter is now allowed to go over her nose. Yay! I doubt what I'm doing is Approved Clicker Training, but she is pretty happy to come back to me and work, and we're making progress, so that's good enough for me. She has had a halter on before a few times, and she was pretty good the one time she got her feet done, but I think she's regressed substantially since then. My goal is to have her halterable, leadable, and feetable in two weeks, when John comes back.

Broke for lunch-- I didn't eat breakfast this morning since the kitchen sink is leaking something fierce and we're afraid to run the dishwasher, so no readily available dishes to make food in. Not that there was much to eat anyways. I got bored before Robert came back, fetched baling twine, and fixed the fence where the damn Ay-rabs had mangled it. The damn Ay-rabs were very interested in what I was doing. I had to smack Star once. She was trying to eat the baling twine.

Minis! Mini mini minis! I tacked up Pepper by myself. He was so good for it- normally he dances around, especially for the initial girth and crupper. This time I led him over to the mounting block, put his box o' harness on it, flipped his lead over his neck, and tacked him up without him moving a step. He untacked just as good and I was very pleased. His mom was pretty impressed too. He and Danny drove well after we fixed a minor harness screw up. They trotted and were very happy and tired.

Robert and Sherri the rescue lady went out with Rocky. She says she doesn't think that Alicia is at the A&W anymore. So I went to work with Sadie, who was happy to see me. She haltered and led nicely and gave little more than a suspicious glare at the gazebo. Unlike Star, she is also perfectly willing to step over the crossrail. We also lunged, sort of. I conveyed the idea to her that I wanted her away from me and moving. She walked around once. Then she took off, kicking and bucking. She didn't pull especially hard, and she didn't seem panicked. It was more just letting go of some of her energy. I wonder if she does lunge and all it was used for in her past was running her out. Her pattern seemed to be to slow down when she was going around the half of the circle next to the open side, and speed up on the closed, whether the gaits were canter-gallop, trot-canter, or walk-trot. She was VERY distracted by Rocky and outdoors in general, so she would stop, I would pull her head towards me and ask her to walk on, and she would do so, then stop again to stare. Once she got the idea that I didn't really care what she was staring at, she walked very calmly around and around and around. And around. And ignored my "whooooaaaaa"s. We may work on that in hand. Very happy with her though, she seems to like me or at least what I mean. We'll see what she thinks about ground driving and riding.

I could skip to riding with her, but I'd like to see more of her personality. So far she seems very calm and not mareish at all but she could also be shy. Also, Robert would love to make a driving horse out of her, and for that she'll need to know voice commands as well as someone working behind her. Good stuff.

Additional good Craigslist deed: there are a pair of percheron geldings for $5000 together, broke to drive single or pair. Robert has a couple of clients looking for a pair of drafts to use for weddings, farm events, etc. I forwarded the ad to them; I'm sort of jealous. I want drafty horses. Sigh.

5 horses and 2 humans hitched, 0 fatalities

Thats right you heard it here first, (unless you didn't) Jerry and Linda are officially hitched! I feel like I should knock down some more obvious jokes while I'm feeling shameless here. Their career driving as a pair started off with Jerry doing all the work and Linda telling him how to do it. Ba dam! Ummm, actually OK I'm out. For now. And actually, even that one is really a joke about a joke that robert tells which is comparing horses to people in a marriage so I'm not sure how that works out.

I'm tired.

Yesterday I went to the barn and was in a fabulously bad mood. I got there much later than I wanted for a variety of reasons, some of them arguably (but arguably not) trimet's fault. Plus I was just generally on edge. Alyssa was running around doing absolutely everything that needed to be doing. She passed like a blur in my slowed down consciousness. She tolerated me and my uselessness with her usual, unreasonable, patience.

I tried to get star to walk over the X I had set up before. Sometimes she did it, sometimes she balked for a long time. I've decided that she really doesnt like it when I lead her over things because she's not supposed to go ahead of me, not supposed to lag behind me, not supposed to step on met, and doesn't want to knock over the jump. The last couple of times we went over, when I had started really pressing the issue, she walked up to the jump and a few feet out she shot ahead of me and went over it and furiously ate grass. I finally got the message and we're going to lunge over it or at least she'll go over and I'll stand to one side and watch like a normal human.

I also showed Star all the wedding preparations. She was... fascinated. In a lets-get-out-of-here kind of way. She eventually decided that she was willing to touch just about anything there in exchange for grass. She really didn't like the golf cart coming and going.

I really didn't like watching comet being led around with the golf cart. Later I'm told this escalated to comet being tied to the golf cart. Clearly others do not posses my ability to envision, all at once, several dozen horrible accident scenarios in almost any situation. For those of you wondering what I do all day with Star, given this superpower, I'll tell you. This mechanism just completely shorts out with mares I personally will be handling. I still have the same basic sensibilities that you mortals have, but without the dozen plus scary things flashing through my mind, it all seems pretty tame.

My main contribution to the day was helping with feeding, but it was good that I went because it got me into thinking about the wedding. I drove Imp again to see how he'd be (he was great) I also clarified some things with Linda about the wedding. When we were done feeding and everyone was gone I was suddenly in a much better mood which was nice.

The day of the wedding I was woken up by Jesse telling me that Alyssa was downstairs. I looked at the clock and it was 10:40 or so. I was shocked because I didn't think she and Ian would manage to leave the house much before 11 at the earliest. I thought I would prepare stuff, and do stuff before they got here. Instead I rushed out of the house with my little black vest, to match the wedding dress code suggestions.

We rinsed horses and talked to people. Although she had been shooed into the house, told to get ready to get married and told not to come out and do horse stuff, there was Linda in her bright pink straw hat. I like that hat, and not just because it makes her really easy to spot from across the property. Anyway, she wanted to know what was happening now that Yankee was lame and we were using Rocky instead. She wanted to know which cart was Sophie pulling and which was Rocky pulling. I wanted to know why she was out here and what use that information was to her anyway. I told her that Sophie would pull the flower children, that everything would be fine, and that she had better get back in the house and see to it that she doesnt get married in a T-Shirt!

I found out later that Robert had asked her what was happening with the carts and thats why she went to ask me. Robert was duly chastised for inciting bad behavior. She actually stayed in the house after that.

In the hour leading up to the wedding it was all pretty quiet. Too quiet. At 2:30 Gaynelle got Sophie going and Russel was trying to hitch up Rocky. He asked me if I was sure this harness was fitted to him correctly. I knew Alyssa had been dealing with harnesses already so I assured him that it should all be ready to go. Then my eyes adjusted to the dark in the aisle of the barn and my brain actually started processing the information I was receiving. thats when I noticed that Rocky was wearing Reno's harness. It would be more accurate to say that the harness was draped over him with some of the buckles fastened to him. Russel had gotten extra suspicious when he went to put the headstall on.

So where is Rocky's harness? Alyssa would know. Where is Alyssa? Shouting didn't work. Shouting more still didn't work. My memory is still a little fuzzy on how all the harnesses got to the right horses. Alyssa and Robert did it, thats all I know. We were hitching up horses left and right. Literally. We had opened up the other end of the barn so we could process horses even faster. At one point we had three horses being tacked up at once. I brought comet up to the hay barn. He was the last to be tacked up and I left and went to the arena to talk to people there. Alyssa joined me shortly thereafter. We really wanted someone to coordinate the horses. I had penciled Lil into that job, but only in my head. In reality there was no one central authority to coordinate these horses. Alyssa and I both needed to be at the gazebo. Robert needed to leave and pick up Linda.

We talked with everyone about the order and the importance of leaving lots and lots of room for the person in front of you. Unloading children and arthritic people is kinda slow, it turns out. Then there was nothing left to do but walk away from the arena and leave everything to the drivers. I told Lewis that things were going to happen basically now. We rounded up some other grown ups that were going to be helping with the ceremony but most of them were already in position. It was a nice surprise to see how tight things were running on the other side of the stream.

I dont know if a signal was given or anything. For all I know Jerry and Imp just decided that it was time. In any case a very flashy red pony came across the creek with Jerry, his best man and his ring bearer. They got out, I got in. Imp and I walked off and meandered around the dressage arena while the rest of the ceremony proceeded. From where I was it looked good. Everyone filed in and filed out. Then came the bride.

It really looked great. Linda had this lovely lovely straw hat which was not pink but still very dramatic. There will be pictures so I wont worry to much about describing it but she and Robert and Reno just looked amazing. Reno was very happy to have everyone staring at him with proper reverence and awe. He was prancing but in a controlled and attractive way. Imp was absolutely fixated on them. I dont know if it was Robert, Linda, Reno or the fact that everyone else was staring but Imp just couldn't tear his eyes away. (I could tear them away but it took work.)

After Linda was dropped off I saw Reno departing at a canter. A very attractive canter, one that made me quite nervous but I trusted that Robert either had it under control and was doing something stupid, or that he would get it under control and that Reno was doing something stupid. Imp and i walked around. I asked him to trot a little because I thought it would help dislodge the bee that had landed on him. No dice. But then it moved to where I could get it with the reins (I decided the whip wasn't an option.) Later Alyssa and Chuck helped change the sign on the cart from whatever it was before to "Just married." And before anyone thinks, "Oh, they should have gotten one that says 'just hitched' tee hee hee" they looked for that but couldn't find one.

I gave the reins to Jerry at the end of the ceremony and the happy couple drove away from the crowd so that they could see the sign. Then Jerry decided to show off his pony by trotting him down towards the creek and then crossing the service bridge that Imp had crossed only once before. I watched and smiled and then ran for the barn to help deal with the cart. More pictures were taken. The happy couple was dropped off at the reception (after driving to the hay barn and then agreeing that it would be best to drive to the reception instead, executing a very tight, gillian-assisted turn to get back onto the road, and making me very nervous.) Alyssa drove Imp back after they took lots of pictures.

Mission accomplished.

Really, I'm alive

So my computer and the Internet had an argument and aren't talking to each other. I need to take it into CUS to get it fixed, but who knows when that will happen?

I was at the barn on Wednesday and Thursday (today). Wednesday, the morning consisted of me holding horses for John, the farrier. Necessary and fun, he's an interesting guy to talk to, but it takes a while between each horse because John smokes a cigarette or two. I find it entertaining to hang out with Robert and John because they occasionally forget I'm there and the results are hilarious, like this gem from last time:
(there's a quirt on the trash can)
Robert: What's that doing there? Being thrown away?
John: Why would someone throw it away?
Robert: Maybe a girl was tired of her boyfriend hitting her with it.
John: Or maybe he *wasn't* hitting her with it.
[then the oh-crap-teenage-girl-is-present awkward moment of silence]
Robert: Uh... sorry Alyssa, forgot you were there.

Robert mentioned that we needed to start working with Honey, the pinto weanling, because she's gotten pretty wild. You can touch her face and her neck with some work, but she's not halterable anymore etc. I had about an hour, and some of that needed to include food, so I figured I'd go in and see how she was doing. Clever me, I remembered that horses like food, and tried doing some clicker training with her.

Honey approves of carrots. Very much. She also approves of targeting objects for carrots. She does not approve of me when she says she touched the target and I say she didn't. At the end of the session, I think she was getting tired of me (I need to remember that the longest a session should be is 20 minutes, she doesn't really have the attention span for longer and she doesn't need to at this age), but she would target a tupperware top regardless of where I was holding it, or on the ground. Star, on the other hand, was not pleased with Honey's clicker training. I'd shut Rocky in and worked with her out in their run, and Star spent the entire time resting her head on the fence with her ears back. She knew there were treats and they were NOT going to her.

Then I had a few more minutes so I pulled out Sadie, Honey's mom. She's a little spooky in her stall but mostly sensible. She caught on pretty fast to how I wanted her to lead.

We worked Dylan, he was pretty hyped up but has figured out what longlining is. It was good. No crosstie freak outs, just impatience and a little pulling.

Then, since we'd cleared out the wisteria and discovered the fence to the hay barn was unplugged, Robert had us go in and clear the wire of plants. Not very far in I realized I should have brought gloves to throw the thistles and blackberries onto the other side of the fence, but I still didn't go get them. It was good though, when we were in Sadie's run she was following me around more or less politely. Turned the electricity on, fed, went home.

Thursday I woke up ten minutes before I wanted to leave, so I opted to take the later bus.

This turned out to be a sad thing. 18 year old shirtless country boys were stacking the hay in the barn (GOOD). Unfortunately, they'd just about finished when I arrived (BAD). But they loitered around the hose while I tacked up horses nearby (GOOD), and surreptitious glances sufficed. Too bad it'll be creepy for me to do that in another couple months.

Jerry and Imp had a lesson, and I wanted to drive Comet, so we snuck in on their lesson. I don't know that we learned anything, but it was fun! Comet is an adorable little white Section A Welsh. As in, if you took a unicorn, amputated its horn, and shrunk it down to be an 11hh pony, this would be Comet. So cute. Also has major Short Man Syndrome and powerwalks everywhere to show the world that even if he has little legs, he can keep up with anyone he wants to! We did pretty well in the arena, his mouth is really sensitive and it's work to keep my hands light enough. Then we went outside and trotted most of the way around the field. He was definitely okay with that. There were a few strides of canter at the beginning, but I think we made an agreement that as long as he sticks to the gait I ask for, I leave his mouth alone as much as possible. We did the twisty part of the trail and that was a lot of fun, though not nearly as scary as it is with a "big" horse like Reno. We'll probably do a couple laps tomorrow and Saturday, partially to get his energy out and partially because we both really enjoy it; I don't think Linda has nearly as big a place and Comet seems to like striding out for the long sides.

Then came more work with Honey and Sadie. Honey will target the halter pretty happily, and will almost stick her nose in through it. I wish my computer wouldn't have died just now, because I really don't entirely know what I'm doing with the clicker training. I think I might need three hands, one to hold the target and clicker, and two to hold the halter out so she can stick her nose through it to touch the target. Maybe? I'm sure Gillian will have ideas for me, since she's the one who's really researched it.

Sadie also did very well. Nowhere near the hesitance of yesterday, picked up front feet easily, stood very still to be curried and followed me around, led very well, did fine out of her stall. Robert says the woman who brought her here was riding her around, so I'll speed her up a little bit. I don't know her background pretty much at all, and I don't know how trained she is, so I just want to make sure if there are major holes in her training, I'll be aware of them. Her feet smelled pretty bad, but I wasn't sure if it was just because they hadn't been picked out since the farrier was there or if there was thrush. I was very pleased with her when Robert and I came in to check, he asked if we needed a halter and I said no, she'll be fine. She only moved so far as she backs up a step to give you her hoof. She did spook at someone opening a door and ran out of her stall, but she clearly didn't want to run us over.

Minis are really adorable. Dylan did really well with his longlining today, not near the attitude of yesterday. He's really a boy who needs to get out every day.

Robert and I sat for a while and talked about genetics? I'm not good at explaining without being able to write it down and edit for clarity. He wanted to know what Luca could produce. Buckskin is confusing to him. I think I explained it all very poorly, and the probabilities that he carries chestnut is confusing to someone who doesn't know a lot about genetics.

Fed horses, went home. Found out! That Luca's 2003 full sister is a chestnut. So there's a 50% chance he carries the chestnut gene, or rather the red-coat gene-- both his mother and his father had one. Robert will be very pleased about this. I don't know when the Texas A&M studies will get back to him, but at least this'll make him happy. Thanks, CLRC!

I hope to remedy my not-being-on-a-horse-for-several-days tomorrow, but I sort of doubt it. Maybe I'll take Papillon out, or something.

Went off without a hitch

Actually, it didn't quite go that way. I had fun saying it though. I got to the barn a little late but in time for the wedding rehearsal at 1:00. Its all starting to come together now as far as the horses are concerned. Tomorrow I'm going to simplify my overly elaborate schedule of events. Then I'm going to make it complicated again by going into gory detail on how the procession of carts needs to go. Driving Imp is going to be interesting. He's a good horse but very green. His favorite way of expressing his displeasure is backing up. In the hierarchy of defiant behavior backing up ranks pretty low. But... it tends to be a gateway behavior to rearing up, which at or near the top of the hierarchy, depending on who you ask. I dont think it will be a problem but with an unfamiliar horse backing up needs to put you on high alert. Compared to Reno he really is a lot of fun to drive. I had forgotten that driving can be fun, so that was nice. Driving around amongst the hay bales was interesting too. Fortunately Imp has a very nice fan turn on him so when we got into a tight spot he was able to get us out of it. Sophie and Comet were pretty amped up and were being kept busy being driven around.

When all was said and done it was around 3:20 which meant that we didn't have much time before feeding. I got star out and decided that I'd try introducing her to cross rails. Previously I had managed to get her jumping an 18 inch vertical, but even a much lower crossrail was really scary. Star doesn't like poles to be next to each other, so thats where we started, trying to cross two poles.

She's really pretty good about one pole, but two with a space was just not OK. I pushed the poles together and with a little coaxing I got her across. I had been clicker training her so I offered her a carrot but she decided that whithered up grass would be better. Go figure. We worked our way up until we were crossing about a 5 inch cross rail and then it was time to go feed. Really I should be doing trot poles with her but I didn't feel like it. I have this fantasy that during the course of being trained to jump she will magically decide that she wants to keep her center of gravity over her feet at all times. (see pictures in previous post) I'll do trot poles next time. Really I will.

Still barely riding, still planning wedding

I'm taking a break from wedding planning to write a post about thursday. I've got pictures. I took lady out and rode her in her over fleeced bridle. I decided I'm not riding her until she stops limping. No matter how much she likes going out. The problem is that when she acts up I dont know whether its because she's a horse or because she's in pain. So there you have it.

Jerry was having a lesson with Robert and Imp. He needs all the practice he can get before the wedding.

I took star out to do trot poles. Robert said this is a really good way to get her to develop her hind end and to help her learn to balance. Alyssa took pictures. I started her out over a single pole, then we worked up to actually trotting the poles. She did really well. Sometimes I messed her up by putting her in the wrong place over the poles. She wasn't really very pleased by that but she got over it. After doing some pole work Alyssa wanted a picture of Star doing her stuff on the lunge line. Her stuff can be pretty spectacular but not always in a good way. I dont think you will ever see a less balanced horse that hasn't toppled over yet. For the record I did nothing to provoke this except ask for a canter. She was cantering reasonably nicely but then she just turned on the gas and away she went!

Gearing up for the wedding

Just a short post because I'm working on my notes for the wedding. Robbert's two best clients are getting married, the theme of their wedding is: getting hitched. I know. They want to have the bridal party members arrive in carts. I know. Anyway, its a nightmare of a logistics problem, nothing is written down and its happening on the 20th of this month. I know. I've smelled a power/organizational vacuum and I'm going to fill it if I can.

yesterday I didn't ride a single horse but I did get a lot of important things done. Alyssa and I drove Keno around with the tire. He's getting better already. Alyssa drove him and I drove him. I had fun steering the tire in between my old tracks so that it never went along smooth surfaces. Partially it was something to do, partially it was to make keno work harder.

We talked with Linda for a long time about the wedding. Decided some things. It was good.

I did some clicker training with star. Started out with a little targeting to get her back in the groove of things. I took her to the arena and we did some more targeting. My goal with that was to have her practice putting her head down. It does seem to translate under saddle some. We walked around the arena a lot and when she put her head down low enough I did a click/treat. Eventually her head had to be low for longer and longer periods. I only got up to about 5 strides but there were the two minis in the arena with the cart and that was pretty distracting.

Alyssa went out in the cart with Robert and Luca, I was going to ride Papillon but by the time I was finished changing her to a snaffle and finding a standing martingale it was 3:30 which wouldn't leave much time to ride so I got ready to feed and to clean up the barn a little.

Robert showed us the box of horse magazines he was trying to get rid of. We picked out a lot of those. Then we fed the horses. Alyssa helped me put some PVC poles somewhere other than right in front of the tack room. I once again brought my camera but failed to take any pictures. We pointed out to one of Jessica's students that they weren't going to be able to use the arena. We went home.

Poptarts are not all purpose meal replacers

I probably knew that a poptart is not a meal, but I didn't care. Now I have a headache and I understand. I think its time for a return to trail mix, cheese and crackers. Now that I'm all employed and whatnot I can afford these things, which is neat. Anyway, today at the barn Alyssa arrived by car before I did, by bus. She helped me pick out Papillon's hooves, which were like cement. I took her out to the field and she was happy to be out but keeping to a fast walk. I was happy about that. Cari and whats-her-name (the one that rides moonbeam) were out in the field so we went and walked with them. Papillon had to slow down a lot. Papillon was not pleased by this but she walked on the bit for a while which was good for her. When they left I walked around the field one more time and decided I would humor Papillon with a little trotting, plus I wanted to work on my posting trot.

Papillon does not do just "a little" trotting. Actually if it were up to her she would not trot at all, she would gallop and probably go jump over some logs or something. If it were left up to her she would put a slow, painful end to her cushy existence by laming herself up beyond all reason. Anyway, we tro-cantered around the field a lot. Apparently the fact that when she trotted I gave her a pretty loose rein and when she cantered I tightened it significantly, was not compelling. I did practice my posting trot though, I focused mainly on sitting up as tall as I could and on keeping my feet back and underneath me. With most horses you know you're doing it right because they relax and round and become more responsive. With Papillon you know you're doing it ok if her canter transitions feel smooth. We did a lot of trot-canter transitions, lots.

We trocantered around the field 1.75 times. The last segment we walked. Then in a futile attempt to cool her off, we walked around the field again. There was going to be no cooling her off. She was going to walk very very forward. I could slow her down, but I couldn't get her to relax, so she was still hyped up by the time we got back. She was also very very sweaty by the time we got back. She made the fleece pad so disgusting that I had to take it off and switch it out. Now in civilized places you'd just do that every time, but here theres no good way to wash these pads. I guess I'll take them home and wash them, someday. Or try to get Lil to let Robert wash them in her washing machine.

I hosed her off with lukewarm water, scraped it off really well and stood around in the breeze for it to dry. Its an overcast day but its humid and fairly warm so I dont think she was especially uncomfortable. She wasn't too pleased about me washing her face. Alyssa thought it was funny, I was just trying to concentrate on the fact that I wasnt torturing an innocent animal, just a regular animal. Papillon had brought this on herself.

Alyssa had to go, and after a while sitting around talking with Robert it occurred to me to ask about keno pulling the tire. I asked if that was something Alyssa and I could do with him, and he said that it most certainly was, and that he'd show me how it was done and where the equipment is. So we hitched keno up to the tire and Robert drove him for a minute and then handed me the reins. As soon as they were in my hands he stopped, but I slapped him with the reins and he moved off. I think when Alyssa and I do this one of us should have a driving whip and we can give him a swat if he wont move. Once he was moving he was pretty good. He made a pretty big show of all his suffering but periodically he seemed to be enjoying being out and about and pricked his ears up and moved a little better.

I sat and talked with Robert for almost and hour after that, which was good. I think its important to chit chat with Robert, it keeps him in a good mood and it lets me know whats on his mind, which is helpful. Plus it is rather interesting to talk to an old, conservative guy with surprisingly progressive ideas in a lot of different areas.

I gave Papillon some bute, which I had been meaning to do for a while. Then I got star out to ride in the arena, and I put the running martingale on her, intending to do some trot work. In the arena there were, as always, scary things in view. She didn't like the hay bales in general but there seemed to be one bale in particular that she kept looking at and shying away from. Maybe it was my imagination. She actually had one pretty serious bucking fit. Usually when she bucks its really smooth and oddly comfortable to ride. This was not like that, this was a throw you in the air, pull you out of your seat kind of bucking. I pulled her head around with one rein and with the other hand I grabbed a handful of mane. There were a couple of tense moments but between all the other stuff and keeping my legs nice and long around her I stayed on her, and eventually she stopped fussing. She did this again but I was more prepared for it that time, and she had a lower expectation of seeing results so it wasn't quite as bad.

After about 15 minutes she was mostly OK with the hay bales but I didn't feel like pushing my luck with a trot, so we did some circling and changing directions. I did one exercise which I really like, I picked out the amount of bend I wanted, fixed my inside rein there. Actually I just rested my hand on my leg. So we went around until she wasn't pulling on that rein. We also fixed that bend and then I pushed her with my inside leg so she was walking along the rail. I think it was a sort of shoulders in deal but its hard for me to tell with her. She was pissed about the circles. She hates circles but she started getting used to them after a while, then she got fed up with them again. Sigh.

I fed and then I got Lady out to show Sam how Lady pulls her back hooves in and in front of her other back leg when she picks up a hoof. She is all kinds of broken. She was sound on a straight line so I rode her. Even though I had already changed into my denim capris, even though all the other reasons it wasnt a great idea.

I was going to ride her in the outdoor arena but we were walking up to the mounting block and all of the sudden she threw a huge buck/kick in Sam's direction. I decided that was a bad omen and took her into the arena to ride. She was worried about the hay bales, spooked at them but nothing major, just her little drop-down-a-few-inches type spook. I even let her trot a little on the long sides of the arena, and down the center line. She was off, not horrible but not subtle either. She was sweating a little when I got off her, more than a horse doing as little as she had ought to be sweating. I want to write about my thoughts on her current state but I think I'll save that for another post.

I dropped in briefly (about an hour) because Ian wanted to build a goat pen. Sam was there, so she hung out with me as I tacked up Reno. Suddenly, from the far barn, the goats spilled out. They ran around a little anxiously and headed to the back of the barn. Ian came out, lead ropes in hand, to follow.

"Should we help him?" asked Sam.

"Nah," I replied. "I'm gonna sit here and enjoy this for a while."

Reno was okay, we need to find a saddle that doesn't pinch his shoulders so badly.

Then I made up feed for Robert. I wonder what he'll think about that. I don't think he knew we were there. I'm debating sending him an email so he doesn't think he's going crazy, or just let him think he is.

I tried a new bus route! The 10 up to the 71 to the 31. The connection between 10 and 71 is slightly unnerving tight. Oh well.

I got Keno out first. We had a discussion on his saddling issues. He said, Oh. Fine. He stood still for the mounting block, twice-- I'd put my helmet on, ready to get on, realized he hadn't had his hooves picked out, took it off, did his hooves, undid his halter, got on the horse. Kept him from moving off. I sat there for a minute. Something was off. I thought about it. My head was cooler than it should have been. Oh, right. Helmet. I thought about keeping it off, but I was thinking about going into the field, so I wanted it. Rode in the arena with Shana. Keno wanted to go slow. He said it was too hot. I told him, too bad. I'll give you breaks as long as you earn them. Robert spent most of Shana's lesson pointing out what I was doing on Keno. It was a little weird. They followed us around the arena at a walk and a trot, establishing a good rhythm. Robert is always telling Shana to speed Jade up. So we led the way, they were supposed to keep a certain distance, and we moseyed along. He was resistant during the canter, pulling my hands and breaking into a trot. I cantered him around the arena once without his head in the air and called it good.

Ever since Xsarena met him and thought he was cute, he thinks he's hot stuff. There were four mares in the aisle when I put him back and he kept looking at them. Hey, it's me! The Pretty Palomino! I told him he didn't have the right parts anymore.

Jerry and Imp were going to solo for the first time, so Robert harnessed up Reno for a pas-de-deux in the arena, and I was requested to compress potential wounds. Everything went okay, Imp was delighted to follow Reno and got a little too close, but nothing bad happened. Dylan's people came and watched, as did Linda.

I felt I needed to do more productive things. Robert had promised me we were going to work Dylan later today, so I didn't want to do that. Which left me with Star, Lady, Papillon, and Colonel. Right.

So I longlined Star, partially to remind her about her head/neck positioning and partially to have fun throwing her off balance. She did really well trotting through her turns and staying pretty upright, I was impressed. I was less impressed with her crabbing around her left circles. She's too flexible. Growl. I am entertained by her and the crupper. She clamped her tail a little bit, and I was worried about getting hair under it. But, really, she lifts her tail so much when she's doing anything, I doubt any hair could actually stay unless it was about six inches long or more.

Put her back, pulled out Lady to determine lameness level and groom her because she makes the best faces. I think the cutest part was when she started rubbing back and forth against the currycomb, all the while flopping her ears and twitching her lips and snapping her teeth. I commented on her back hurting to Robert, who said she was pretty thin-skinned. Thought, what the hell, I'll saddle her up and lunge her. Really girthy for the initial saddling, stood still for the actual tightening. She was moderately sound at the trot, until I asked for a little more movement and she took off bucking. Then she was lame. Fabulous. Thanks, Lady.

But! She was saddled. And I was curious about this back thing. So I took a page from Ian's book and did Annoying, Idiotic Thing #36. Pulled her stirrups down, led her to the mounting block, put weight on her back. No response. Leaned harder. No response. Put a foot in a stirrup and leaned. No response, except eventually she started moving her haunches. No upsetness, just impatience. What the hell, why wasn't I riding her yet? Led her back, said a brief prayer, pulled her head towards me with the lunge line, hopped on. She said yes! Finally! and moved very purposefully towards the door, I hopped off, said fine, you like getting ridden, I will walk you around in the arena. With reins. And a helmet. And the gate closed. I'm a wimp.

But there were Scary Things happening by the hay barn. Her solution to this was to stand there facing them and snort. Then, when I asked her to turn around and walk out the door, she tried to race past me. I had a hand on the closest rein. No pulling, just didn't move. She was unhappy. We repeated this a few times. I think my favorite part was when she swung her butt into the wall and was severely displeased. And proceeded to do it again. Eventually she remembered, oh right. You're in charge. And I'm making my own life unpleasant. I said yes! You're correct. Also you are slightly sweaty now, but to hell with it, you have your bridle on and I have my helmet on.

Massively Fleecy Mare did stand totally still for mounting and until I asked her to move off. There was minimal jigging. I did one arena circuit on her better direction and hopped off. She was okay with it all, I think, though less happy about the minor hosing that followed. It was good.

At some point I tried to teach Dylan about water. It didn't work very well. He started stepping into my space and stepped on my toe at one point. It ended poorly for him. We stopped midway through and went outside for a little leading lesson. We ended by leading him back into the wash stall and standing. Just standing. His front legs got wet again, but I think he kind of lost it when it started touching his barrel. Maybe sponging is an intermediate step, less with the hissing and pressure, and more with the grooming type action. If wet is the main problem, that will help. I think he will need it when we start actually working him. My goal for this boy is to have him be a solid equine citizen-- clips, ties, trailers, bathes. He ties more or less. He trailers, or at least he's been shoved into one before. He lunges and he's a sweet boy.

Out of our horses, Reno, Keno, Imp, Dylan, Star, and Lady got worked today. I call that good.

Riding Jade on Saturday, probably. Also asked Robert what he thought about me/us riding Bella. I see impending doom for Jessi and Bella. Green, stubborn horse + green, gentle rider, possibly unpleasant combination.

My skin is about two to three shades darker than it should be. I need to shower, because those shades consist of dirt. Also, I left the barn at 5:20. I got home at 7:30. The half hour trip to Clackamas Town Center took fifty minutes. I got on the 71 at 6:30. I waited. And waited. And waited for the 10. It took marginally less time than walking home, but I was tired.

I think the low/high point of the day was when I walked into Keno's run, haltered him, wanted to check out the hole in his hoof, and dug in the horse-dirt in his hoof with my fingers, because I didn't have a hoof pick. Sigh. I am a horse-girl.

Been reading a lot of Mugwump Chronicles lately. This style of writing is the result. Oops.

Went back to the barn after having about a week and a half off, with my shoulder mostly recovered. Pony Club was still going on to a much lesser degree. I have to say that Cari's mentality bothers me. Avalon, her daughter, is really sweet, but Cari mostly ignores her. Since she owns a pony who stays at her house, she doesn't get to ride very much when other people are there. I hope she rides a lot at home, but I don't know. I think the part which weirds me out so much is how she treats her horses. Xsarena gets loved on and spoiled rotten, but when she's lame Cari basically butes her up and rides some more. She'll spend an hour currying her to see where she's sore and to massage, but for Moonbeam? She's chronically lame. They bute her every single day, and yet she's still lame half the time or more. I can see her being a walk/trot horse, but she really shouldn't be cantering or jumping with the way she's been moving since she came here. It's not awful for a 22 year old, but I think the most important part of riding is doing it within the horse's limits, and they're exceeding hers. BUT, Cari knows far more about riding and horses than I ever will, so I will keep my mouth shut. She's competitive and I'm not, so it doesn't matter nearly as much to me what a horse can do, or rather, what I can make it do.

Rode Keno, he had a big rock in his foot that left an equally big dent in it. He was off, though improved. Worked him pretty lightly, in the arena, because the footing is so much better. He was happy about being out, since it had been a while, and was willing to do what I asked him but obviously wasn't happy about it, so we sort of just moseyed around and left it at that.

I lunged Gillian on Star and I think it went pretty well, though Star was obviously confused. I think maybe next time I'll ask her to do transitions, halt/walk/trot, without reins. Yay? I hopped on Star and walked and did a little trot, but the campers were barrel racing the ancient horses and were sort of in the way for any really constructive work. Besides that, the saddle kept finding air pockets and releasing then refilling. It was distressing for me, I don't know that Star noticed.

I tacked Dylan up and lunged him, then Robert put the long-lines on. Dylan was displeased by the bit actually DOING something in his mouth, but basically figured it out. He still walked right up to me and followed me around when I was trying to fix the fence in his run, so it's not like he could have been that upset.

I have apparently scored a ride on Xsarena. Cari insists that Xsarena is a one-person horse. I pointed out that it seems most of her riders are beginners, and Cari is fairly advanced, and it's possible Xsarena just hates crappy riders. I was trying to point this out without trying to ride her, because I don't really care that much, but I'm a solid intermediate rider. I don't kick horses as a first resort, I'm pretty subtle and light, which I think you need to be to be a top rider (though Ian may mess my case up). Most of Cari's riders don't seem to be that, and I don't know if it's her teaching ability or the fact that they're pretty young (which is likely a big part of it). But in my aversion to saying "someone around my level might do better, because they're not a beginner rider," she told me I could ride her sometime to see. Damn. I just wanted to define whether it was proven she was a one-person horse, or if she just hadn't been exposed to any decent riders besides Cari. And the evidence Cari provided suggests that Cari is an excellent rider, Xsarena is used to excellent riding, and she prefers not to perform for shitty riding. She will perform on an equal level to the riding put out, within her limits. I guess me riding her will test the theory out, but really I just want to get on the Fjords and jump.... ::blush::