Another Snowy Ride

Last night we got another 3-4" of snow in our parts of the state, though towns to the south and west of us got upwards of a foot.  It was that heavy snow that sticks to everything and makes the world look like a peaceful, yet cold, wonderland.  So after Saturday morning chores I layered up, grabbed Ozzy and headed to the barn.  I know it was below 32 degrees, but I was afraid to look at the temp so I drove to the barn with my nav system off so I couldn't see it lol.  

I decided to try using our Liz Graves sidepull.  It's been almost a year since we used it, but I thought he would certainly enjoy a trail ride without cold steel in his mouth.  He was super relaxed heading out, though there were a lot of slippery spots under the snow.  I was really pleased with his go forth and explore attitude.  Ozzy of course was having a blast running in the snow, he's such a great trail dog.  When we got to the field rather than temp fate with the footing we turned around.  

G pretty much forgot what pressure on his nose was all about and tried to speed up for home.  We had an interesting and lengthy non verbal conversation pretty much the whole way back to the trail head.  Once we got back to the farm, the conversation slowed down.   Needless to say when we got back to the farm, we continued to work.  I worked with the liberty ring for a bit, and just hacked around.   

One of the gals at the barn agreed to take a few pictures for me since I'm usually out on the trail with Ozzy alone.  It's nice to have pics of the three trail buddies! (thanks Sharon). 

Myles Standish State Forest Carver MA

Two weeks ago, hubby, G and I met up with Jill (Beeswood) and her horse Sprite for a weekend of horse camping at Myles Standish.  Jill and I have been internet friends for many years and have had the good fortune to meet a couple of times - once at a Liz Graves clinic and then at Equine Affaire, but this is the first time we actually got together to ride.  And to think that we only live about 3 hours from one another!  I can say it was definitely worth the wait, and I know we won't wait so long to do this again.  We all got to the camp in the noon time hour and after helping hubby set up the corral, tent and kitchen area I got G groomed and tacked up. 

By 2:00 we were in the saddle and headed out for our first adventure. 

We both came equipped with trail maps and I had a compass hanging off my saddle (which never got used btw).  There are 35 miles of marked bridle trails and they are really well marked at the majority of the intersections.  We decided to stick to the perimeter trails to start out, which were wonderful wide sandy dirt roads.  It made for riding side by side and being able to hold a conversation while riding....nice!  It also doesn't hurt that we both ride gaited horses that just love gaiting on this type of terrain.  

We rode for close to 2 hours and only covered about 6-7 miles in the lower east quadrant of the park.  By the time we got back to camp, hubby had set everything else up, the fire was going and I was ready to get dinner going and sit in front of that fire!  

Friday was a bit cooler seeing that the sun didn't make an appearance.  Jill brought over some cupcakes and meat for the grill and we got to cooking.  Oh my, these were good cupcakes.  And then she says "they're made with zuccini".  Surprisingly hubby ate a second one lol.  The man who doesn't eat veggies.  Anyway, while I was digging through our kitchen tote I came across a little bag that contained a bridle charm and a new horn bracelet/dee ring bling that I'd made for Jill.  I said "presents" and with that she said "oh I forgot" and ran across the street to her site.  I had ordered one of her beautiful hand painted browbands a couple weeks prior to our trip and said she could bring it along rather than ship it to me.  The standard browband is in mostly turquoise colors and Jill was nice enough to ask me if I wanted her to customize the colors more in line with our saddle pads.  She didn't have to ask twice and I sent her pictures of the pads.  In the meantime, I ordered a new head net for G in hunter orange since hunting season is coming up.  It was just perfect!

Isn't it gorgeous?  Jill does really wonderful work on bridles.  But the fun wasn't over, she handed a bag over to hubby and inside was a brown bridle with a v brow band and it had a rainbow trout theme for his future horse.  How cool?!?  I knew something was coming but hubby had no idea and he was floored.  I really think this helped ease the pain of him not riding with us.   So we had a little Christmas in September :)   We sat around the fire talking for awhile and before we knew it the sun was going down.  It was kind of a shock seeing how fast the sun goes down now, I think we were all tucked away for the night by 8:30 lol. 

I'd forgotten how much I love camping.  Being all snugged in a double wide sleeping bag with the cool coming in the window, snuggling with hubby.  It just makes for perfect sleeping.  Well, that is when your head isn't 10' away from your horse corral.  Hubby can sleep through just about anything.  Me?  I heard him munching hay, heard him sigh, heard him drink, heard Sprite whinny "hey where is everyone?" and G hollering back "I'm over here in the dark!"  I think Sprite whinnied once an hour and G answered every other time lol.  I know I fell into a deep sleep at one point and when I woke up it was absolutely silent.  I laid there quietly waiting for G to move or munch or something, but nothing.  I lept out of bed, out the tent and look over and there's G standing with head over the rail looking toward Sprites site across the way.  He nickered, I threw a couple more flakes of hay and went back to bed.  When I opened my eyes next the tent was getting lighter and the birds were just starting to stir.  We opened up the back window of the tent and laid there watching and listening as a flock of Chicadees invaded our campsite.  It was so cool especially since they're my favorite birds.  By 6:30 I was up and feeding G and by 7:30 I began breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and home fries.  We invited Jill to join us but she had already had her breakfast.  So she came over and hung out as we ate and we talked about where we wanted to go today.  We decided to head out of one of the trails between #33 & 34 and head north to another section of the trail.  

G patiently waiting to head out

As you can see G & Sprite were happy to see one another nose to nose.

 

Jill looking quite happy being out on the trails.  They are a neat partnership.  And having G and Sprite hit it off right off the bat was really great.  They were well matched in gait as well.   Friday night I added a teaspoon of lite salt to G's dinner as he usually won't drink on the trail.  I was hoping it would work, and not only did he drink a bucket of water overnight, when Sprite stopped at a puddle and started "slurping" G lowered his head and did the same.  This is a horse that rarely drinks from a stream or pond, yet here he is drinking out of a puddle.  Granted the puddles were fresh from the rain the day before, but the tadpoles were already in residence.  Jill said "Sprite likes his water with a tadpole chaser" this made us both giggle.  Wouldn't you know that G stopped at every puddle after that to take a drink (lite salt works great!)  Without further ado, the puddle sippers....

 
 

 

Just me & G

 Along the trails we kept seeing small what appeared to be hiking trails scattered here and there.  Since they weren't marked on the map as bridle trails we past them by.  Though we did discuss trying one out.  At one point we weren't quite sure which direction to take and wouldn't you know one of those trails just happened to be at that junction?  :0) so we took it.  It turned out to the the "heart healthy" trail that looped through the woods along the reservoir.  We never saw any hikers, just a couple of people in kayaks on the pond.  It was a nice little side trip! 

We rode between 4-5 hours and to say it was grand was an understatement.  We really enjoyed riding with Jill and Sprite.  Jill has a similar mindset when it comes to riding and trail etiquette.  It was a really good day on the trail.  On the way home we past the Host Camp sites and our weekend hosts, Bob, Pat & Laurie were pretty much set up.  They spend every weekend at the camp from May to Columbus Day and pretty much make sure things run smoothly and they take out groups on Sunday mornings to show riders the unmarked trails.  They seemed like really nice folks and we agreed to meet up with them at 9:30 in the morning.  One day tripper was coming in for the ride.  Hubby had the fire going when we got back after a nice afternoon nap in the hammock (he went hiking in the am).

My sister Susie and brother in law Phil, were camping in the "people" campground just down the road from us so we planned on doing Saturday night dinner with everyone bringing steak for the grill.  Jill brought redskin potatoes in olive oil wrapped in foil; with another pouch of peppers and and of onions in foil.  I did grilled asparagus and rice pilaf, and Susie brought desert, which consisted of a variety of square cakes.  Chocolate and pumpkin spice, very yummy.  Dinner was awesome I didn't burn anyone's steaks and we all ended up with full bellys. (this pic was before dinner and the table was covered with food).

 Saturday night we again were all tucked in before 9:00.  Something about being in the fresh air all day.  Okay and not sleeping well the night before :0 ) but I slept really really well.  Sprite was also quieter so G only whinnied twice that I know of.  All I know is it got pretty cold overnight and I wasn't so anxious to pop out of the sleeping bag and put on cold clothes.  Oh, and what did I remember when I went to bed?  The huge fruit salad I made for dinner.  So breakfast consisted of chocolate donuts and fruit, so it was a much easier breakfast and clean up (thanks hon).  Before I take a break from writing, I do want to add that I have the best most supportive husband in the world.  I'm lucky that he's a horse person and understands.  It's why I can't wait til we get to Tennessee so he can have his own horse and enjoy all of this with me. I'm a lucky lucky gal.

(Part Two - Sunday's ride to follow I need a break from typing!)

First Day of Spring, First Trail Ride of the Season 2010

What an incredible day!  The high hit 74 which meant poor G was quite sweaty by the time we got back.  But since it was our first trail ride of the season, we kept it to a walk, flat walk, and I did allow him to pace a little (just a little).  It just felt incredible, the whole ride.

Prior to heading out I asked if either horse liked to cross the bridge and they both responded that they'd get down and walk across.  I thought okay I can always let G follow them over.  But we were leading down the trail and when the cement bridge came into view G didn't hesitate and just kept on walking.  Meantime, both riders had dismounted.  Good boy G!!!  He got to hear that a lot yesterday, as he really was a good boy.  

Lots of spots are still under water due to how high the river is, so we stuck to the high roads/trails.  I didn't say the words out loud as I was afraid I would jinx us, but we didn't see one ATV or motorcycle.  It made for a really peaceful ride.   

It just felt so good to be back in the trail saddle and out in the woods again.  I know we were both getting tired of arena riding.   I thought I'd be sore today as its been awhile since I've ridden and hour and 45 five minutes, but I feel pretty good today.  Maybe its the smile that's still plastered on my face, lol.  

Since I didn't get a picture of us under saddle to share, I decided to take a little video of us b-bopping down the trail.  Enjoy the ride ~ I sure did! 

(in case the embedded video doesn't buffer right here's a direct link:  Spring Trail Ride - You Tube Video

On The Trail Again....

High 50's sunshine, how can one resist? It's November right? We headed out with our friends Brenda & Shelby again. Boy is it one muddy mess out there. I'd hoped yesterday's warmer temps and sunshine would've dried it up more, but my hopes were for naught. BUT on the positive side, there were no bugs! And once we got to the other side of the highway we knew the trails would begin to be drier.

Both horses were nice and relaxed and it was just a glorious day to be out on the back of a horse. We had been out for a little over an hour and I had just mentioned to Brenda that what always surprises me is with all the horses that are on our street (there are tons of barns) I never have run into any riders other than a couple people from our barn. So we round the corner and G comes to a dead stop high alert! And here come two dressage horses down the trail. Beautiful warmbloods, but the riders seemed so out of place in the woods. Dressed in neat jods, vests, tall shiny black boots, everything "just so" and here I am in a hunter orange helmet and vest; chinks I said to them it was funny that I was just mentioning never seeing anyone else out here, and they mentioned there was a horse trailer at the boat ramp and a few horse and riders, who were dressed like me. I wasn't quite sure what that meant, lol.

So on our merry way toward the boat ramp - the river was pretty high and the breeze was a little brisk off the water. But I was trail riding and nothing was going to ruin it for me. We got to the ramp and were standing for a minute when we saw three riders/horses come off the other trail into the clearing. They waved at us, so we waved back. Yep, they were all dressed like me. They were wearing hunter orange vests, lol. We decided to head back since we'd been out 1.5 hours already and immediately both horses went into "I'm going home mode". We both spent time trying to soften - working circles, serpentines,etc. G began to breathe, Shelby continued to jig. However, the moment we got back into the woods, she stopped and started walking along. Brenda believes that its a Thoroughbred thang....ya know, see an open space immediately want to run. I don't know if that's true of all Thoroughbreds or not, but I'd like to believe that you can change the mindset of any horse IF you find the right tools for the particular horse.
We're on the final long stretch for home when we hear quads coming up behind us. Most guys out there will turn when they see horses or shut down until we're out of sight. Well, one quad turned around and other proceeded to slowly follow us down the trail getting closer and closer. I kept turning my head and shaking it like "what gives"? Both G &  Shelby were really good and I was pleasantly surprised that neither one of them got spooky, jiggy or out of sorts. At this point they were probably just happy to be closer to home. After 5 minutes, I finally stopped G and I turned around to face the quad. It immediately stopped and the helmet came off. Here sat a 14-15 year old boy. I asked "do you know about trail etiquette in the State of Connecticut?" He shut off the quad and said "no". I explained that in Connecticut horses have the right of way on trails over quads and bikes. I went on to explain a little bit about horses being prey animals and that usually when something comes up behind them they think it's going to attack - in this case we're lucky that our horses didn't do something dangerous like rear or buck. He said "I'm so sorry". I said "no its okay, you didn't know. But going forward when you're on a trail like this and you see horses, the best thing you can do is shut down or turn around until we're clear of the trail". I went on to say that had he stopped in the beginnning I may have tried to find a spot so we could move the horses off the trail so he could slowly go by, but I had thought he was just being belligerent so I was holding my ground. He was so apologetic, so I tried my best to let him know we understood that he didn't know, but now that he does we can all share the trails. So as we gaited down the trail he sat and waited. When we got to where we go straight the other trail continues off to the right, I waved him on. I waved back, started up and we could hear him slowly come up the trail. I had expected him to open 'er up, but he was respectful. Brenda told me later I did a really nice job of handling the situation - she thought I was going to yell at him, lol.
We got back to the barn and rather than take G to the track to continue working, which is our usual routine, since he came home in a relaxed state of mind, he got to be untacked right away and turned out to graze. It was a nice trail ride and another successful day of communication with my boy.

Sunday November 8, 2009

Okay, Brenda says I need to update my blog so here goes!!

Ahhh [heavy sigh] we finally got out on the trail out behind the farm on Sunday. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, sunny and around 65 degrees....such a pleasure for November. We went out with a fellow boarder and her TB mare S, who just so happens to be one of G's fence mates and current gal pal.

When we got to the bridge G decided he wanted to back away from it. Such a surprise since the last time we went out he crossed it like it wasn't there. After several attempts and refusals, B got down off her horse and said "I'm walking across". Okay, G will follow S and we did. When B mounted back up she said that S started baulking at G's first refusal and thought that G might've been feeding off her. Maybe, but it's done so can't dwell on it.

We headed out toward the river with S in the lead and G calming walking about two horse lengths behind her. This is a far cry from the last time we went out with another horse, where he wanted to be right up behind them. His head is down, relaxed at the poll and just a nice relaxed walk. Once we got up toward the highway underpass, G and I took the lead cause its a scary place according to S. G really wanted to let S lead, but I pushed him forward until the trail widened again and then walked side by side. What a glorious day and it was so nice to ride with B again. I think the last time was close to two years ago!

When it came time to turn around they both did their usual "woohoo, let's go home - head up - high alert" mode. I simply stayed relaxed and just asked G with slight squeezes on the reins to slow his tempo. Meantime, S is jigging like crazy and B is trying to calm her down by talking. It made me think about how I used to respond to G when he got jiggy - I always thought talking would calm him. I started asking Brenda questions we started conversing again. Next thing you know S has stopped jigging and we're walking back to the barn. Ah, relaxed riders = relaxed horses. Don't get me wrong, we're walking at a nice pace...we're just not jigging; G's not losing his brains; and it felt good!

So what was different about this ride from my last ride where G wouldn't stay relaxed?

1. We were with another horse - even if she was jigging and nervous (why G didn't feed off this surprised me as nervous horses usually cause him to react)
2. G was in his Rockin' S Raised snaffle bit
3. I was riding with reins crossed in one hand with consistent contact the whole ride
4. When he did get keyed up I asked him to lower his head and walk
5. I didn't try to calm him with words, I stayed relaxed and focused on talking to B

Mark Rashid said, when I begin to ride G as consistently as I work with him on the ground, then I will begin to have a different horse. So what did I do consistently this ride that I haven't in the past? I rode him with one hand the whole ride. I didn't switch from neck reining to direct reining; and I didn't change the amount of contact. I kept a nice steady feel with his mouth.
In watching the boring video of me walking G around the arena while talking to Mark about me & G, I noticed that everytime I put the reins in one hand so I could "talk" with the other, G would immediately relax at the poll and lower his head. Not rooting or pulling at the bit, but seeking the contact. Wow, after all this time of trying to find the right contact; the right bit; was it so simple that G was simply trying to tell me that he didn't like direct contact with two hands? Cause anytime someone rode him with two hands, he would fight contact. He'd be on again off again, head up head down. Didn't matter whose hands - Claudia, Deb, Lisa, me.
My conclusion is that its a combination of the bit which is more comfortable in his mouth and allows him to relax at the poll and riding with one hand. For now, this is how we will ride. Dressage lessons are pretty much now on permanent hold and will be replaced with doing more work in hand. How can one be consistent if they are continually switching from riding western to english? Direct reining to neck reining?
So as far as under saddle goes, this will be the one way we ride going forward.

It's Spring...Trail Riding at last!!

Yesterday was just a perfect weather day, especially seeing that its March. By noontime the sun was out and temps were hitting 62. I loaded up my western tack and headed to the barn.

I double checked saddle fit first; something I like to do every spring "just in case". Good to go! I just recently trimmed G and trimmed a hair too short, so I put on his front hoof boots, tacked him up and off we went.

The dreaded bridge...what bridge? G didn't even hesitate for a moment. Good Boy!! We did have a few moments of "hey mom lets turn around here", but I simply did a turn on the forehand and headed back out toward the river. Did I say how I love dressage? It certainly has given me an arsenal of tools! We did encounter one quad and small bike and I asked G to stand off in the woods while they passed and he did his imitation of a piafe, lol.

I could hear more atv's out along the river so I decided to cut down a trail that I haven't been on since the first year I was there. It's usually flooded over at the end hence the reason I don't follow it. So we're following the trail and it kinda disappears. I wasn't sure which direction to take and because of the way the marsh floods I hesitated to go toward the river. I looked to the left and saw the corn fields up above, but we'd have to cross a little stream. Hey no biggie right?

Well, we descend and suddenly G goes from ankle deep water to chest high water. I'm thinking the stream bottom is not sand but mud. I encourage him onto the bank. Next thing I know his left leg is over his knee in mud. At this point I have to say I'm so proud of myself. Instead of panicking, I gave G his head held onto his mane and just let him do his thing. He worked himself out and up the bank to the field. I'm really proud of him, as I'm thinking he's going to buck when he gets himself out of this mess. Nope. BUT he was extremely tense. Since there was no grass to be found I decided to just let him keep moving. Once we got through this field we found that they had let the next corn field go to grass so I steered him over and gave him his head....yum yum yum. He spent about 10 minutes grazing and I asked him to move on. He was now much calmer. Still a little high headed since he knew we were headed home, but at least we weren't jigging anymore!

When we got back to the barn I took him up to the track to work another 20 minutes. It's our routine. Go home, get to work some more. He was gaiting so well, and we had more lift in the canter which was sooo nice. While I was untacking G, the owner who was sitting at the end of the barn yelled over "what do you have on his feet, bell boots?". I told her they were his hoof boots. Then she asked if I had ridden him on the track with them. I said yeah why? She said that he had more animation and looked smoother than she'd ever seen him. It was nice to have confirmation of what I was feeling! I think I'm going to continue to ride him in the boots...cause the canter was awesome. Did I say how much I love spring, oh wait that was dressage? lol.