Savannahs first trail ride

Saturday, July 10, 2010



After having Savannah, my 4 year old TWH, for 2 weeks, and getting along pretty well, I needed to get my new girl on the trails to see what she would do. She has been ridden mainly in the NW Iowa hills, so I knew she has seen a lot of terrain. Being a little
goosey about rustling noises, I took time to desensitize her and for us to get to know each other.

In the outdoor arena, I rustled the trees as I rode by them. We rode over the logs, both at the walk and the trot. We worked on the gate.

I wanted to go somewhere close, with only another rider or 2. I met up with Sandy at Br Oak this morning. My friend Dianna was going to meet us with her gaited horse but couldn't get there as early as we wanted to ride. We rode for 3 hours, and over 10 miles, I think. My GPS shut off at one point and I missed 20 min. After only a few jumps, we did great! Even at a walk we were covering ground, and after a while the walk seemed slow. It was fun to go gaited, as we went from one end of the lake to the other in 2 hours, and rode back out for another hour. 3 hours went by very fast. Sandy said it was because we were moving faster. :-)))

Sandy, (on a different horse than what she rode on Saturday).


I am really pleased about how well she rode and how well she led. We will need to work on the lope, which is now a run. Branched Oak lake has great wide mowed paths, besides many small trails among the trees. We decided to lope the wide paths. I had Sandy lope first and get a little in front of me, since Savannah doesn’t easily want to go into the lope. She started off very fast, and I slowed her down to a walk, after she threw in a kick after about a minute of loping the first time. We started loping again, and she threw in another kick after loping over some small sticks laying in the path. This wasn’t because the horse was too far in front of her. We were actually within 20 or 30” of the other horse. We walked some more, and loped 1 more time. This time I kept more contact on the reins and asked for a slower loped, even if it caused her to break to a gaited trot. I think she just needs to lope a little slower and more collective than strung out. We’ll get there.

(Hubby Tom just got home and I need to power wash and clean out my trailer and pack with tack and clothing to take to Grand Island. I'll have a vendor booth set up out there Mon-Wed noon for the State 4-H Horse Show. Even if you don't have kids showing, come over and see me. You might have to park at the far end of the arena barn and walk up to where the vendors are).

(I’m back. I sitting outside by my trailer at Grand Island. That is amazing that I can sit outside, as each year, it is standard and expected for temps to be in the high 90’s here. I’m not even sure it’s 85. It’s beautiful in the shade, and the breeze is actually cool. It’s making me want to nap. I’ve just sat out a few tack items in case people want to shop. I’m being lazy today, since I’m here for 3 days. It will take me an hour or longer to set out each morning, and that long to tear down each evening. I don’t have a sales trailer, just my horse trailer converted to hauling tack. Usually with the heat, I’m exhausted after 2 days. )

Anyways, back to Savannah and our ride. Actually, to some training that we needed to do at the end of the ride. I needed to have a trailer loading session with Savannah. She loaded reluctantly at home, with Tom's help, then needed "help" after our trail ride. A little bit of lunging then I asked her to go in. Finally she did. Well...once I got home, that big girl went to work. I unloaded, and because of her loading issues today and because she started backing out sooner than I wanted her to, we went back to loading up again. After about 5 minutes of lunging and asking, and lunging and asking, etc, she went in. Left her stand, petted her, backed her out, then asked right away to go back in. She refused, so back to lunging and asking, etc. This took only 2 or 3 times. Petted her some, then backed out, and once again, I asked to go right back in. She did without hesitating, and went so far in, her chest was rubbing the manger. lol

They say to work things in 3's, and it worked with her.

I guess we better be working on this before the next trail ride.

Come ride with me, gaited or stock horse, I can go either way now!

Embrace the Journey!

Changing Routine

Earlier this week, on my Horses Are Our Lives chat group, I started the discussion of changing routines. As you ride, continue to change the routine so that you and your horse do not get bored with your ride or your workout.

If you have to ride in an indoor arena, try to keep changing direction to keep the horse thinking and paying attention to you. If you ride in an outdoor arena, ride towards a spooky corner or site for all directions. Let the horse see something from all angles. If you ride the roads, try to weave down the road if you can see what is coming from all directions. Add some leg yields to keep the horse moving forward, but listening to your cues.

Sometimes, I'll do certain maneuvers on different days, that way I'm not always
working on everything all the time. I may do the gate one day, work more on side passing logs another day, trot more logs the 3rd day, and so on. I'll still work these maneuvers every day, but not as much. I'll concentrate on 1 obstacle each day.

I still work on some of the same maneuvers every day, but not as much. I may do a lot of 2 tracking (half passes) one day. Other days, I’ll work on the side pass. Another day, I’ll work on pivots.

Outside of the arena, how do we change routine? Go on a trail ride. Work in the outdoor arena. Take a trip down the road.

Personally, I do not like to road ride, every since the day a neighbor lady almost ran us off the road. I was riding with my 3 children, not even ¼ mile from home. My youngest son was riding in the saddle in front of me on my horse, and my other 2 children were on their horses. I think they were probably 8 and 10. The neighbor lady didn’t think we should be riding our horses on the side of the road. She passed us, turned around, and came back toward us. She didn’t move over, and was only about 1 foot from the back legs of my son’s horse. His horse started backing up and I thought she was going to hit them. I was furious. My husband wouldn’t let me go over and face her. The chicken. Did I say how furious I was? What an old biddie (sp). She never waved at us or ever talked to us, for 15 years!!!

The other main way that I break up my routine is to ride in the fields as often as possible after harvest. I love field riding. Now I can ride the waterways. I can also ride the CPR land. I need to do that more now, as I’m preparing for a horse camping trip to SD, and also for some fall CTR’s.

What other ideas do you have to break up your riding routine?

Soft Eyes and Breathing

First, I’d like to say Happy Birthday to my friend Gretchen. I hope you had a fantastic horsey day with Rainbow and Tootsie.

Let's work on Soft Eyes and Breathing. Even though this seems really easy to do, once we start concentrating, we move into hard eyes and quit breathing. We start to stare at 1 spot. We start to hold our breath. We tense. And our horse tenses as well. We forget about the world around us, but our horse hasn’t. Feeling the tension, our horse starts to tighten his muscles, he lifts his head, and may start to be skittish.

As we tense, we tighten up. Our shoulders get stiff. Our hands tighten on the reins. Our arms quit moving with the motion of the horse. We lose our center and our seat. We tip forward or backward. Our thighs tighten, and we start to grip without knees and calves. We lose our weight in the stirrups and the grounded feeling.

Now take a deep breath, then take another deep breath, and let in sink into your center. Take another deep breath, and let it settle and sink down into your seat. The 3rd deep breath should sink down into your feet.

Now take a moment and see everything that is around you. Open your eyes, while looking straight ahead, still see what is around you. Breathe deeply. Now see the same view, use your peripheral vision. How much more can you see? As you breathe deeply, how much more relaxed do you feel?

Begin to walk your horse. Breathing deeply through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth, feel how much more relaxed you and your horse is. Breathing deeply, realize how much more you can see. Pay attention to nothing. Ride anywhere, allowing your horse to relax and drop his neck.

As your horse relaxes, you as the rider, relaxes. The horse begins to move freely, and you as the rider, begin to move more freely. As you move, the tension leaves the moving parts. Therefore, you can’t be tense and move. As you look around, you breathe easier. You aren’t concentrating on 1 thing, but you are taking in everything.

Before, we were spiraling downward, as hard eyes and holding our breath was causing tense muscles and a tense horse. The tenser we got, the tenser the horse got. We caused the tension with the hard eyes and lack of deep breathing.

Now, we are spiraling upward. As we soften our eyes and breathe deeply, our horse relaxes. We feel the horse moving freely and we relax. The more relaxed we became, the more relaxed the horse became. It is easier to see everything. It is easier to breathe deep. Our limbs move, our joints are relaxed, and we’re riding the horse without tension. The horse moves out freely. His movement becomes deeper. The tension leaves our body and we move freely also.

I'll chat more about this topic on my chat Horses Are Our Lives, at
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/horsesareourlives

Come join in on the discussion, and the journey!

Embrace the Journal!

Happy July 4th 2010!

July 4, 2010

Happy 4th of July! I am thankful that I live in a country of freedoms.

The day started out laying in bed, listening to the rain. It is raining outside. We are wet, very wet. Over 3” of rain is causing my bottom horse lot to be ½ covered with water.

But it’s not a bad way to start a holiday. Hubby cooked breakfast. After chores, and a breakfast of egg and cheese omelet, sausage patties and toast, we could relax. It was too wet to do anything outside.

I was obviously on the computer. Hubby read the Sunday paper and watched tv. I have gotten back to taking a lot of pictures. Sunday Stills is a photography blog that has inspired me. We have a challenge a week, and we post photos based on the specific challenge for that week. I try to see what everyone else posts for photos. 2 reasons: to see what they post and to comment on their posts, and to learn.

I want to learn to take better photos. Maybe I’ll take a photography class this winter. I know I want a better camera. I would love to zoom in and take better macro shots.

It is nice to be able to sleep in and relax for a day. I feel revived a little. I know Hubby has caught up on his sleep a little. Tomorrow is still a vacation day. I plan on having Hubby catch up on more sleep. But tv is staying off until we get a few things done inside.

Holidays are for Remembrance. And to be thankful. But they are also for family and for relaxing.

I hope you enjoy the fireworks, picnics, family, and relaxing this weekend.

Golden Oldies Ride

July 3, 2010


First, isn’t it amazing that our weather, even though it is hot and humid at times, isn’t so hot that we can’t ride. This year may be one of the coolest starts to July. We are only in the low 80’s today. It was suppose to be near 90’s, but the clouds rolled in. It’s suppose to storm tonight. Maybe that is why we have cloud cover early.

A few friends and I met at Branched Oak Lake and took 7 horses, who were 14 years and older, for a "slow" trail ride. It wasn't all that slow, as some of those horses still moved out! We had 1 14 yr old, 3 16's, 2 early 20's, 1 late 20's and he was a good old guy!



It's good to know that we can keep riding our horses as they age. We give them the special care they need, and they can ride the trails forever.

And this relates to what this group is all about - riding well to take care of our horses. Keeping us and our horse's bodies in shape through Centered Riding, and other, exercises. Asking questions and sharing knowledge about training, riding, nutrition, overall health of the horse, and more.

Today we rode for fun. Without a purpose or set schedule or any set direction. I think the horses relished the freedom of a plan, and traveled easily together. I think sometime we need to remember to ride like this, no set agenda and no training in mind. Let the horse relax and enjoy their job! Because when we do something we enjoy, it's no longer a job, but a joy!

Come and join our chat group at:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/horsesareourlives/

On the chat group, start your own photo folder. Post your pics in your own folder, and put one of you and your horse in the Horses Are Our Life folder.