#7 Sometimes it can be discouraging....

Quite a bit colder than we are used to... didn't get home from school till late, and only had 30 minutes of daylight by the time I got outside. Determined to get some ground work in. He really does back up well now, and the flexing seems to be better... also yielding the hindquarters. However, I can't seem to differentiate between that and the exercise to have the horse yield and give you two eyes. And..... I can't seem to get Gray to understand what yielding the forequarters is all about. That probably was the most discouraging.... I guess that is one of the reasons I am going to this clinic. Hopefully, I will be shown what I am doing wrong and what I could do better.

So.... to make the evening productive, I did get the snaffle bit on the bridle, and managed to attach the mecate reins. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be worse, so I think I will just try to get that bridle adjusted to fit Gray and also adjust the reins. I guess I need to look for one baby step at a time.

#6 Temperature muust have dropped 30 degrees....

It sure got cold today. I had to convince myself to at least do some ground work with the Gray. Turns out I am really glad that I did. He, for the first time, backed up when I tapped the stick in the direction of his nose... I was elated. Maybe we are starting to get the hang of it. He flexed better than ever, yielded his hindquarters pretty well, and then I tried just backing him up holding just below his halter. He knows how to do that, so no problem there.

You would think I would know when to quit while I am ahead. Of course not.... I had watched one of the clinic dvds and knew the next step would be to yield his forequarters. We are back to Gray not having a clue as to what I am trying to get him to do. However, I didn't get too discouraged. That seems to be our pattern. I'll study a bit more, and we'll get it tomorrow or the next day. I went back and repeated the things he had done well and turned him loose. The weather is supposed to be very cold over the next few days, so I expect that ground work is all we will get done. I'll take advantage of the bad weather and study the next steps in the ground work. Sending and lunging....

#5 Worked with Major, too.

I didn't ride today, but after I got Gray to back up, yield his hindquarters, almost got the face me with "two eyes" thing... and kind of stiffly flexed.... I decided that there was a little daylight left and that I would try the ground work with Mike's horse, Major. (Was that a run on sentence, or what?)

I started with desensitizing him with the lead rope. He didn't flinch a bit as I flung it over his back, his withers, his neck and his legs. I did the same with the stick and string.... still the same unconcerned attitude. Then I did what I call the whackity whackity thing (which really amuses Kelly and Reba) and Major could have cared less. This is when you are doing figure eights with the stick and string over the horse's head and whacking it on the ground. He even flexed his neck to the point that he almost touched his side. If he didn't scare me a little when I ride him, I would take him to the clinic. Gray is 10 years older and much more set in his ways. However, if I can get him to do what I want, I guess I really will have learned something. Neither horse likes to back... and Clinton says that is one of the keys to getting good control of your horse.

Hopefully the weather won't keep me indoors tomorrow. I plan to do the sending lesson and try lunging the Gray.

#4 He can back up!

Well, I took some encouragement from a DVD and with handy stick in hand set out to get the Gray to back up. We tried and tried..... first you are to move the stick rhythmically in front of his nose for 4 beats, then tap his lead rope lightly for 4 beats, whack the stick hard, then whack the metal clip on his halter. It took whacking the clip before he would move. At least he moved, that was a first. I persisted and tried to go lighter.... but it wasn't happening. I moved to another exercise of moving his hindquarters, which the Gray does pretty well. Then I tried another back up technique of wiggling the rope and then swinging the stick from left to right. Lo and behold, that one worked. I went back to the first method, and he went to backing up without so much force. Progress indeed. I tied him to a tree, and was going to go get Major, when I noticed that my sister, Elizabeth had called. I called her back and we did some Thanksgiving catching up. Since the days are short, I decided not to mess with Major... sent a text to Reba seeing if she was going to ride, then tried the flexing exercise with the Gray, and he was much better. I haven't heard from Reba, but I intend to ride here in a little bit either way.

(Later....) Well, Reba got home too late, so I rode off by myself. My arms are sore from swinging the stick and string. At least I am getting a workout! Gray did fine. We just rode down to the next county road. I had him stop several times because he doesn't like to. He always wants to keep moving. He relaxed more as time went on. I also bypassed our gate because he was so sure I was going to turn in. It went pretty well.

#3 Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a gorgeous day here in Texas and dinner with the family was filling and the conversation enjoyable.

I must say I am greatly impressed with the staff at Clinton Anderson's facility. Not only were they extremely helpful when I was signing up for the clinic and extremely patient when I had a myriad of questions about the tools I was ordering, but they also got it shipped out in a hurry. I ordered around 2:30 on Monday and I could not believe when the UPS truck drove up yesterday afternoon. Hardly 48 hours had passed.

I had ordered a new halter and lead, a twisted snaffle bit, some new reins and talked myself into a new saddle pad. My Christmas is covered.

I learned my lesson Tuesday.... Major did one of his running off things and took the Gray with him. I just calmly followed and followed... and followed. Major came back up to me, so I put the halter on him and then took it off. He really is easy to catch. Gray didn't give me too much more trouble, but today the two horses and Bumble (the donkey) were in the trap and all the goats weren't, so I eased in through the pasture gate shutting the other trap gate behind me. Now they were caught without a struggle!! Made things much easier.

Anyhow...... since I had the new halter, I decided to do some of the ground work Clinton Anderson believes so strongly in. One of the things he stresses is to get the horse to flex his neck on the ground and from the saddle. He wants the horse to be able to flex his neck to the point that his nose practically touches the stirrup leather. I could never get Gray to do that before today. He flexes pretty well on one side, but has a hard time on the other. I was watching one of the DVDs and Clinton mentioned that one side will be stiffer than the other. He forewarned that the horse may back up or turn circles before he will flex.... Gray did both. I am supposed to release the pressure as soon as there is some slack in the lead rope, but I had to really look for it. He just didn't want to flex. I went back to the other side..... no problem.

By now it was twilight, but I was determined to ride. Well, lo and behold... Gray was much quieter than the day before. Tuesday he wanted to trot and lope. Yesterday he was content to ease on down the road. I only went as far a Bartis' gate since it was nearly dark. But at least I made some progress and got on the horse. One of the things I will work on next is Gray moving off when I get on. Clinton basically recommends backing him up about 50' or more from the ground or from his back, and then trying it again. Or to set him up in an arena and make him move his feet if he moves when one is trying to mount.

I didn't work with my horse today... too dark by the time I got home from the Thanksgiving gathering. I hauled my saddle up to the house. As long as I have had it I have never given it a good cleaning. I only thought I would get started, but Joseph and I watched the UT game and I cleaned every bit of it. If I don't perform that well, my tack will look good....

I also watched a segment on backing a horse from the ground. Since backing is an unnatural act for a horse.... the more you can get your horse to do it, the more control you establish over the horse. My horse just looks at me asking "You want me to do what.....?" So, I knew I needed more instruction. Backing will be my goal for tomorrow!

#2 Horse Adventures....

If you have just found my blog the first installment of this horse adventure that I am undertaking starts below. I will number them to help it make sense.

That is quite a strange look on my face.... I appear to be irritated..... but I don't think I am.

This just happened to be the best picture of my horse that I have at the moment. His name is Tabasco, but Jim has a horse with the same name, so he is due to have his name changed. At the moment we call him "The Gray"... how original is that? If someone out there can come up with a better name I am willing to consider all possibilities.

Today was a big step up for me. For probably the first time ever, I rode off on my own. I have always started with a group, or at least Mike. One time he had a problem with his horse and we got seperated and I rode home alone, but that is about the only time I have done that. So.... today I saddled, bridled and took off. My horse has been lame for more than a month and I needed to see if he was better. If not, I was going to have to start riding Major. Mike's horse is a bit feistier than my horse and I would need to get used to him before the Clinton Anderson clinic. However, the Gray showed no signs of lameness today. I only rode for a little over 30 minutes, as I didn't want to overdue it his first day out in quite awhile. We rode around 3 of our fields, managing quite a lot of trotting and a little bit of a lope. When we headed back to the barn, he wanted to speed up, but I managed to communicate with him that we were going to just take it easy. After a few corrections, he managed to chill out. I felt very good about the whole thing. I tied him up for a bit while I tended to some outside chores, then unsaddled and put him up. I even connected with my horseshoer, so I feel that I have made a few positive steps toward making the clinic a success.

I ran into Jim at the grocery store and told him of my plans. He offered his trailer with the sleeping quarters and his diesel truck, but we'll see... I just may take my old livestock trailer... I guess it depends how cold it will be to haul a horse that weekend. Maybe I ought to take him up on that offer.

#1 2009 - The Year Facing Many Fears.....

Well, this has been quite a year. In January, I went with 11 women on a 4 day cruise for my sister, Elizabeth's 50th birthday party. I had never been on the ocean, and even learned to snorkel...

In March, I dealt with my slight fear of heights and rode a mule down the Grand Canyon. Quite exhilarating and I highly recommend it, but not for the feint of heart.

In June, I went to Brazil for 10 days to Macae' where very few people spoke English. I managed to buy groceries and to order at the local McDonald's...lots of pointing. I also went on a trail ride on a small Brazilian horse! What a wonderful, memorable trip.

In July, I went with Dad and Beverly on a Canadian Expedition. I braved the North Sea in a Zodiac! Now that was scary! We traveled north around the tip of Labrador. Such an adventure and good times spent with my folks. We even saw a Polar Bear.

Just this November I walked a half marathon in San Antonio with good friends and family. The fear there was only of not finishing. We did great and finished half an hour faster than we thought we could.

Well, now I've gone and done it. Yesterday I signed up for a 3 day Clinton Anderson Horse Clinic. I only checked to see if I had moved up from 7th on the waiting list and suddenly I was offered a spot. I panicked and then said yes. The gal did ask me if I could trot and lope on a loose rein in an arena.... I told her I could....... Well, I trot all the time and occasionally lope. I will have to make good on that statement by going to Jim's arena to practice. After I called Kelly and we both screamed..... I went over to Reba's and told her. We had a celebratory toast with a bit of the "Gold".... or was it to calm my nerves? I did go home and watch the last 45 minutes of one of Clinton Anderson's "Regaining Lost Confidence" DVDs. (Not that I had any to begin with.....). Reba loaned me two sets of her DVDs, so I will immerse myself.

Since Mike will be starting his "Stardates" while moving the rig from South Africa to Barbados, I thought I would start a little horse journaling of my own. The countdown to the clinic is on... only 23 days to get my act together...

Here in a little bit I will post my adventures of this afternoon.