King...err - Queens of the Road (?)

"trailers for sale or rent, rooms to let $0.50, no phone, no pool, no pets. . . I'm a man of means by no means King of the Road!"

All right, so Arabee and I aren't exactly ruling the road, but we sure have been spending a lot of time walking it. Also, I hope at least some of you are humming that song to yourselves while reading this post!

On Sunday I wanted to see how far 15 minutes of handwalking got us as we traveled south. I'll check the distance with the car maybe today if I remember, but we got past B & S's house to "the roost" and then past the north side of the field about 50 feet. I know this means almost nothing to anyone reading, but in another 5 minutes of walking we'd have probably reached the barn with the arena.

Which probably means that it wouldn't be too much of an advantage to trailer Arabee over there if I am able to ride in it again. By the time I'd get the truck started, warmed up, hitched to the trailer, put the tack in the trailer, loaded her up, drove down there, unloaded her, tacked up, got in the barn, rode, got out of the barn, untacked, loaded back up, drove back home, unloaded Arabee, unloaded the tack, parked the trailer, and unhitched the truck....I think it would take about the same amount of time to just walk down there! And I am out of shape enough it will do me a lot of good to do just that!

I am unclear though about the Rules of the road when it comes to walking your horse on it. Pedestrians are supposed to walk against traffic, with the right shoulder towards the road. Bicyclists are supposed to ride with traffic, with the left shoulder towards the road. My guess is that when I'm walking Arabee, we're Pedestrians, but if I were Riding her on the road, we'd ride WITH traffic, like a Bicyclist would? Does anyone know the law on this? I want to follow the rules in case an accident would happen we'd be in the right.

There isn't much traffic on the road, really. In a little over 1/2 hour of walking, only 4 vehicles came by. The trouble is that half of the time the vehicles were noisy trucks, which are a little more scary apparantly for Arabee than SUVs or cars. Judging from her current reaction - I could ride out a passing SUV or car if it slowed down, but it'd be a little iffy if a truck passed. Right now, I make sure we keep walking, and assuming traffic is clear, we turn around and face the vehicle as it approaches. She's fine as it approaches, but once it's behind her she gets a little fast/bouncy. It's good practice for her to be on the road while I'm on the ground.

Her hooves have been improving also since I've been walking her on the road - they look nice! It's so neat to watch the way they wear on their own.

I'll post more soon about the bitless headgear. I've ordered something, and it should ship tomorrow, but I'll wait until I try it out to post more about it.

Also, on Saturday (posting this since a lot of the point of the blog is to keep a log of what we do) I tacked Arabee up - saddle, breastcollar, and crupper, just to remind her that the crupper was okay. I wasn't dressed to ride, so I just walked her down to the house where Matt was unloading a wagonload of fire wood into our woodshed. He'd just finished up, and he fired up the old JD 50 tractor to put the wagon away. Rodeo time! So we walked (me) and bounced sideways (Arabee) along while he put the wagon away, then followed him back. She finally did calm down, but it took a little bit. It took longer than it should've, I think because she was feeling good and it was fun to snort and prance, and it was cold and brisk.

Anyway, I've been having fun gradually getting back in shape, and playing around with Arabee, even if I'm too wimpy to actually get on and ride in the cold right now! We'll get there, soon enough.

Hobble Training Arabee

For Christmas I had received a gift of a set of hobbles. It was one of the things on my list, and I was very happy to get them.

Living on a 100++ year old farm like we do, you really never know for sure where there might be old fence wire half buried underground, or where a stray strand of barbed cattle wire may have long ago been knocked off the fence by a fallen tree, then left to be slowly buried by the tree as it decomposed. You never know. I mean, I know today we do the best we can to keep things neat and put up, but every now and then we find old buried junk, and what's to say there wouldn't be wire buried somewhere, as well?

So, I have been wanting to hobble-train Arabee, so that if she ever does find herself entangled in something, she will know not to fight it, just relax and wait for help. I would hate to have ignored this relatively easy task and have it haunt me later. It was also VERY WINDY today, and I am also pretty sore and tired from the ride we did yesterday, so I decided to take the day off from riding and work on the hobbles.

For several weeks now I have been working with her in her stall with a thick cotton lead rope around one leg at time, pulling on it, moving it, picking it up; basically teaching her it was okay to have that feeling on her legs. Eventually I wrapped the rope around one leg, then loosely around the other, "hobbling" her with the rope, but it would have easily come undone if she panicked. No big deal.

Today I took her out where I normally groom and tack up, in a familiar place, and tested her first with the cotton rope, then when she was ho-hum (right away, basically) with that, I strapped the hobbles on.

I put them on the cannon bone, just above her fetlock. I've seen them put there, and on the pastern, but this spot seems sturdier, plus less likely to get muddy, so I strapped them there. I left her halter and lead rope on, and since she basically stands like a statue when I'm grooming her anyway (she ground ties VERY well) she didn't test the hobbles.

So I decided to test her. I gave her a dose of wormer (and Jack too, March 1st), which she typically doesn't enjoy, but tolerates after practicing her best giraffe impression, and dancing a bit. This time, she DIDN'T move a bit. Yeah!

Then I unbuckled one of the hobbles, and led her to the grass, and rebuckled them. You can see a picture here:
She didn't bother the hobbles much, just stretched her neck to get as much as possible. So I hopped the fence and wormed Jack (he hates it too, but being so old he doesn't put up a big fuss, especially if I keep him from seeing it!) which he backed up after I gave it to him and moved out of Arabee's sight. This she didn't like, and came bounding about. I said, Whoa! and she stopped, and didn't move her feet a bit after that, but kept grazing.

So I tested her some more. I found a piece of plastic, about 6"x12" - noisy enough to be startling, small enough to not be overwhelming. I sacked her out with this, which she picked up her feet, but didn't move beyond the constraint of the hobbles.

I will consider this a success. She needs more practice, but I think a great start. I also want to do this same training with the hobbles on her rear legs, but we'll keep the hobble sessions short and sweet.

I pray she never, ever has a run in with wire here or anywhere else, but if she does, I hope the hobble training will prevent a big wreck.

A Quiet, Fun Ride

Had a really good ride yesterday. It was 38 degrees, and still - perfect weather (for winter....!) but the forecast for the rest of the week is COLD, cold, cold! Like, lows in the single digits. So, I was committed to getting to ride last night.

Arabee was relaxed, we were doing great at riding on the loose rein. She's getting more comfortable in her increased territory, and over this week if it's really cold like they're saying I am hoping to take her on walks (in hand) to other new areas. I seem to stay warmer if I am walking vs. riding, probably because I feel like I can layer more clothes on, I hate trying to get on (and stay on) with a thousand layers of clothes, plus the carhartt insulated overalls I wear just are a bit too slick in the saddle! I love my suede chaps for that! Nice and "sticky" :-)

We did quite a bit of trotting, I am estimating we did a little less than 1/2 mile of trotting. From west fenceline to the road the barn lot's driveway is 1/10th of a mile, and we did that several times. Once we get a pretty large "comfort zone" we will have to work on figuring exact mileage. (thanks for the idea of using the 4-wheeler for that, Jacke!) Matt will really enjoy helping with that part! She finally got a little bit winded, but I was very pleased with her trot.

One area of concern I have: She was doing this weird hind end "tripping" thing....almost like one of her hind legs was giving out. Since I was on I couldn't see what she was doing, but it was like she maybe wasn't picking her hind legs up high enough and was scuffing them on the gravel? Is this what it feels like when a horse interferes? It was dark by the time we were finished, so I will check her legs very closely for scratches or nicks in the hair, but I could tell she wasn't bleeding at least last night. Maybe she was tired from the increased trotting....but I will keep a close watch and hope it goes away! Maybe a good thing for the cold weather to give her a couple of days off. She did have Sunday off though, so it's not been constant training for her, and really most all of our training is at a walk, we're just starting to add the trot.

~Arabee in Motion~

Today I rode Arabee again. Matt and Cora came along, with Cora in the Ergo baby carrier on Matt's back. She loves riding in that thing. I asked Matt if he would take some pictures, and he surprised me by ALSO taking some video! It's not the greatest quality, kinda choppy since it's video from the camera, but it works. (actually, it may not work...never tried posting a video clip before!)

We started walking, me riding, the rest of the family on foot, and headed across the road. We had just moved some goats though at the fenceline that runs by the road, and Brody the Great White Pyrenees (big livestock guardian dog, he lives with the goats to protect them from coyotes, etc.) was having fun running about. Until this morning, Arabee had LIVED with Brody, but yet she was all "up" Ears up, neck up, head up, tail up...the whole deal. So, I got off and walked her up behind the corn crib, and I was glad I did, she was pretty stiff. I just haven't mastered being able to calm myself when my horse is tense. Must work on this!

Got back on, walked her around, finally got her to relax (after Matt took this picture! she's still pretty tense then)

When we got back to familiar territory, we trotted a bit. No breaking into a canter and bucking this time, either! Arabee seemed to really enjoy finally getting the freedom to trot, but she didn't abuse it and get faster than I asked her to.

Looking forward to many more fun times and good rides!

Also, thanks to Tamara and Jacke for the tips on tacking up faster! It seemed to help, although I didn't time myself this time.

Time!

Yesterday I left the house at 4:42, dressed, helmet and boots already on. I jogged to the corn crib/tack room, grabbed Arabee's halter, quick-brushed her (it's frozen so she wasn't muddy, yay!) Applied tiny no-slip saddle pad, saddle, girth, fastened the crupper, one hole tighter on the girth, breastcollar, one more hole tighter on girth, picked up front legs to smooth out skin under girth, one hole tighter on girth, rhythm beads, picked left side hooves, one hole tighter on girth, right side hooves, put on the dr. cooks bridle. Now it is 4:56pm. This is taking me too long!

Matt had somewhere to be last night that he had to leave the house at 5:45, so I figured if I got off at 5:30 I'd have time to untack and jog back home in perfect timing. Or, that was the goal anyway.

I finally swung my leg over her back, adjusted the stirrups, and took a lap around the barn lot, walking very nicely. The girth was a little loose yet, so I decided to tighten it another notch. Another lap around the barn lot, and we ventured out across the road!

You would have thought we were playing spy or something! Arabee was tippy toeing and rubber necking the whole way, we walked the 75 ft of road, turned into the other driveway (we keep a feedlot of beef cattle at the barn, it was in the family way back) and walked that way. She was nervous as a tick. I found it kind of funny when she wasn't jumping back and forth on me!

We made it there and back mostly at a walk, she only broke gait a little bit, and was pretty good. It didn't kill her, and I'm hoping that built her confidence in me some. Overall a success.

I figured it was time to trot, (we really need to get that started!) so once back in the barn lot we trotted west, which went great. I brought her down to a walk to turn the corner around the big tool shed, then clucked her back into a trot. That is when she threw in a canter stride or two, and at that point, the crupper must have tickled her funny, and she started bucking and cantering the whole length of the tool shed, as we rounded the corner I thought "I am going to come off this horse!" then remembered the magic word. I commanded "WHOA" and she stopped, just like that! Too bad I didn't think of it sooner~

She calmed down faster than I did, so we walked a bit. 5:26 pm. One last thing I was going to have her walk through what was once a puddle, now a thinly frozen sheet of ice, then we'd head back and be done. 10 minutes later this mare still wasn't going to walk through that puddle, and I was supposed to have been done 6 minutes ago! I finally had to get off and lead her through by hand. It wasn't the ending I would have chosen, but at least I got her to go through it. Next ride I'll make sure she rides through, just to prove the point.

We jog in hand back to the corn crib, I whip off her tack, lead her into the paddock with the dr. cooks, take it off and rub her head (a reward for job well done) which she LOVES, and is a good way for me to sneak in touches on her ears, she's very ear-shy, but has improved since I've had her. Matt calls...."are you done yet??" I run out, shut the gate, and am back just in time for him to leave.

Mostly a good ride, but I really need to work on streamlining my tacking up routine!! A good 20-25 minutes out of my riding time is spent doing just that, not to mention getting myself dressed for the cold.

Any hints on faster tacking up??

Sleet and Wind and a rough ride

Yesterday was pretty nasty out here - we had sleet and a sharp wind, and it was cold! But, as soon as my husband got home I headed outside to ride! How crazy is this?? Our daughter was napping, so Matt got to do some stuff he had wanted to do while I rode, then after she woke up I fixed dinner while Matt worked in the garage. Making a committment to training for endurance riding is tricky, since I can't just ignore my family's needs!

I had planned on riding in unknown territory (for Arabee) to broaden our horizons. It has been getting a little boring riding around in the barn lot. This would have involved riding on the road for about 50 -100 feet then turning and riding around the field there, down the lane and around. There's a lot of potential for good riding areas where I live, but I will have to ride on the road for short distances (as short as just directly across the road, to as much as 1/2 mile) to get to these woodsy farm lanes. I am blessed, I have access to "trails," water crossings, hills, quiet country roads all within riding distance from home!

Anyway, with the way the wind was whipping around, throwing that stinging sleet, Arabee was feeling mighty fresh! So, I decided (or arabee did) that we were going to practice single-rein-stops and keeping at a walk near the grain bins, since they were making scary noises in the wind. It wasn't the most pleasant ride, but I felt proud of myself for riding anyway, and it helped build my confidence (I was scared at times but didn't fall off!).

Hopefully today if the wind is a bit quieter I can get across the road a bit, and even do a minute or two of trotting! It is time to start building my mare's endurance!

(this photo from 2005 shows the barn lot and where I've been riding the past couple months. To the right side of the picture is the road, on the other side of the trees in the field I was talking about trying to ride in yesterday.)

History

The day before St. Patricks Day, in 1995, I anxiously awaited for the truck and trailer to pull up the drive. The stalls had just been finished, we hadn’t yet hung the gate to the paddock. I was in fifth grade, MW Jack Daniels (b1980), called by Jack, mostly, was fifteen. He’s a gray Arabian, experienced in the show arena, and he was my First horse. I paid half for him; on his papers is both my name and my mother’s name. He and I enjoyed several 4-H shows, starting in western, going on to English and western, and even versatility! We had a hard time getting ribbons at first, both due to my inexperience and being and Arabian in a QH world. Then we started qualifying to go to the state fair, and did okay. Then it was time to try the Arabian class A shows. We did allright, and I also showed my mom’s Arabian, Midas, sometimes. I really loved showing, worked all summer long through high school driving horsedrawn carriage tours through downtown (the best job I could have EVER had!) to afford it, but it was so much fun. I never got nervous, just went out there and showed my horses.

My dream was to have an Arabian horse farm, a boarding and training facility, and I was coached by someone I really look up to in the industry that it was time for me to get a horse that was younger that could compete at a higher level. By then, Jack was getting quite old, and at 14-2 hands, isn’t a big horse. I’m 5’8”. His arthritis was also beginning to bother him, and he’s been retired from riding for several years now.

In 2000 I bought RM Arabee (b1997), at three years old, and mostly halter broken. She has perfect ground manners, and once we achieved that I started working towards getting in the saddle – by the time she was 5 years old, this filly was broke to ride by me! We showed both 4-H and class A Arabian shows and I was (am) very proud of this mare. Then I graduated high school in 2002 and went off to college. Came home one weekend and mom and I went trail riding on a beautiful September day. This was Arabee’s first trail ride, and she did very well! She was calm, crossed the water and logs very well. We stopped and got out the map to see how far we’d come, and the wind caught it. Before I know it, I’m on the ground and trying to figure out how I got there. Turns out I had received a compression fracture in my spine, which still bothers my from time to time, but not regularly. After that I’m told to stay off the horses or any compression activity (running, etc) for several weeks, and the pretty mare sits in the paddock waiting.

In 2005 we moved Jack and Arabee to their new home after my husband and I were married. Where we live now is the ideal place to keep horses, plenty of pasture, shelter, access to beautiful places to ride. All I needed was someone to ride with me, which I didn’t have, since Arabee was really very green still, and I am a great big chicken. I rode a little, but since we live on a farm, EVERYTHING scared her, and at the time she was the kind of horse that needed to be ridden close to daily for a couple of weeks before she was fun to work with. So, Jack and Arabee enjoyed their pasturing, and got fat.

The fall/winter of 2006 I got the itch to try pleasure driving. I am always more confident on the ground (or, not in the saddle!) and Arabee was great at ground driving. I worked with her close to 5 days a week all through that winter ground driving all around our farm, and was getting close to being ready to find harness and hitch her. I wanted to “traffic-proof” her before I bought a harness, because if I couldn’t get her used to motor vehicles, she’d never make a driving horse and why waste the money. About the time I was ready to start that process in early May 2007, we found out I was pregnant! I considered trying to sell Arabee, since I knew it would be tough to have a green horse with our growing family. Well, the horse market has dropped awfully, and since we knew what we have with Arabee, and she’s a very easy keeper, she stayed. And sat in the pasture some more.

Our daughter was born in December, 2007, and I got the itch to try driving again. My husband was talking to a neighbor about this, and he said it’s a good idea to have a trustworthy, safe saddle horse before you try to hitch that horse. Well….we had some work to do. So in September I swung a leg over my little mare’s back, and rode again! This was the first time in over 2 years! It felt wonderful to be riding again. Of course, I was terribly sore, and I had only ridden for probably 10 minutes at a walk! My body was not the same after having given birth! I’ve now gotten 17 rides in on Arabee since getting “Back in the Saddle” again, and I feel much more balanced, both riding and walking. I am so glad I’ve started riding again!

Now I am hoping to complete some endurance rides on Arabee in 2009. I’d like to complete two 25 mile Limited Distance rides with her, which means I’ll need to spend a LOT of hours and miles and wet saddle blankets. I figure the more time I spend riding, the closer Arabee will get towards being that safe, trustworthy driving horse I’d love to have. If nothing else, I’ll have a great time making her a safe, trustworthy riding horse, and I think we’re very close to getting there. Still need to do the traffic proofing thing.

Beyond the fact that I get a great deal of enjoyment out of riding, I'm still trying to really look deep and decide whether this is a God-thing or a Nicole-thing. The idea of endurance is so exciting, but the amount of time it will take to do right is tough to reason around. Both my husband and my daughter need my time, it can't be spent two places at once! I guess we'll see what happens - I'll keep riding as often as I get the chance. I’ve decided that as long as my house is clean enough that I won’t be embarrassed if someone drops by, and I have a plan for supper, and my family is happy and healthy, then I’ll have some free time I can spend, and why not spend it in the saddle?

So, there’s the basic equine-related history! Of course, I left a bunch of gory details out, but I figured for a basic history basic is good enough.

First Post

Hello!

Thanks for stopping by my horse blog. I'm pretty new to blogging, in fact I have another blog, you can view it here: http://adayinthelifeofnicoleblog.blogspot.com/ I realized that if I want to write about daily homelife, great, and if I want to write about horselife, great - but it's unlikely that those interested in homelife would be wanting to read about horselife, and vice verse. Hence, the new blog.

I hope you enjoy! Some topics to be covered may include, but not limited to:

• Arabian horses (possibly other breeds)
• Bitless riding
• pleasure driving (breaking and training to do so)
• feeding
• horsekeeping
• spookproofing
• barefoot trimming
• endurance (training and competition)
• tack and equipment
• rider apparel
• sewing equine stuff
• and more!