Friday, February 23, 2007

Quzqo Quteness


Fri Feb 23, 2007

When I got to the barn last night, Coos was still outside in the pasture. The annoying pre-teen girl that I loathe was bringing in horses, and she came up to me all breathless to tell me that Quzqo was being naughty and he wouldn't let her catch him! LOL!

Apparently he kept the round hay bale between himself and her, and when she got around to the side he WAS on, he dashed off into the field, LOL!

So we went outside, she went to get a mare from the next pasture, I just went to the "Bad Boyz" pasture, called "Hey Coos!", and he walked right up to the gate to wait for me, LOL!

Aggravated the hell out of that kid, you bet! LOL!

My good horsie!

Somehow he cut himself across the eyebrow, not a deep cut, probably just a pokey piece of hay or something, but he had crusty dried blood dribbles and pink tears dried on his cheek. GAAAH! Yeah, he enjoyed me cleaning THAT up with warm water and a paper towel, you bet, HA! Thankfully he's a short horse (when he flings his head up as far as he can, ha)

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Latest Quzqo Tale from the same annoying pre-teen tonight: since it's COLD out (19 degrees w/gusty winds), Coos WANTED to come in, so the girl just opened the gate and let him go in on his own (a feat that still astounds Bob to no end, even though Tezlu also did it like clockwork). Coos wandered down the barn aisle and went into his stall.

BUT...there was no food contained therein! The Emperor was displeased! So, he walked right out of his stall and went back down the aisle and back outside, LOL!!!

She was able to catch him and put him back in his stall...that was pretty funny I thought.

Least his eye looks better today, and the hair is growing in nicely over all his other ouchies, and the hematoma is slowly shrinking on his shoulder. (lol, he sounds in worse shape than ME!)

I was doing fine until he swung his butt around and SMACKED me in the side with it! GAAH,the PAYYYYNE!!!! Now it hurts to breathe again, he probably cracked the remaining ribs!

Monday, February 19, 2007

Mr. Sympathetic

Mon Feb 19, 2007

LOL...told my boss about being dragged by the horse, and he says "Just shoot the damned thing and make hamburger out of it!"

Nice man.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Lessons Learned

Sun Feb 18, 2007

If you suspect you've at least cracked a rib or two being dragged by a horse, it's NOT a good idea to RIDE a horse in that condition!

Oh, man the PAIN of posting! However, it did encourage me to maintain good posture, especially at cantering, because ANY leaning forward caused severe and immediate pain.

Did not ride very long today, which is a shame, because Coos was an angel full of energy and wanting to DO stuff! Ah, well.

Like I said, lesson learned!!

I'm wearing a tight sports bra today, to bind things up, and it hurts but a good hurt. I figure if I went to the doctor, they'd just bind it up anyway. Plus it's RIGHT behind the boob, I musta landed kind of on my side with my arm outstretched...so how they gonna wrap that in tape, huh? Sports bra does the same thing, and keeps me mindful of what I might have done to my bad self!

Well, luckily I can ground-drive Quzqo for the next week or so. It took about 3 weeks for my cracked/broken tailbone to quit hurting last month, so...

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Sue Does a Face Plant

Sat Feb 17, 2007

Quzqo was fulla beans today, I couldn't ride this afternoon because Bob was tilling up the arena (about time), so I came back this evening. Coos was acting like a lunatic, so I figured I'd better lunge him. We-hell, he TORE off and jammed on the brakes, reared backwards and DRAGGED me off my feet! I flew forward and landed face-first in the dirt as the horse galloped off, dragging the lunge line behind him. I hit HARD on my left chesticles and got the wind knocked right out of me, and my glasses flew off my face, my hat flew off my head, and the lunge whip went flying off the other way! GAD what PAIN!!!!!

Had to lay there in the arena dirt, gasping for air, and moving arms and legs to make sure nothing was seriously broken. The horse stood at the rail, snorting and blowing. Eventually I managed to struggle upright, gather up my scattered belongings, and hobble over to the horse.

Ended up lunging that idjit horse for a good 20 minutes, he was a wild man, LOL!

Right now I'm in a fair bit of pain, it hurts to breath or cough...probably bruised some ribs at the least. Gads. Bet I'll feel wonderful in the morning, HA!

At least the arena dirt was softer than yesterday...not by much!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Back to School

Sat Feb 10, 2007

Driving School! For Quzqo!

Yep, poor lad went behind the blinders again this afternoon, after being ridden, being jumped over jumps, and being ridden bridleless, making sure he was sufficiently tuckered out!

Got my clipper blades back from the sharpening place (found them online, $6/set of blades, w/postage included!), so I clipped the horse's bridlepath down as far as I could go, and then trimmed under his jaw, a bit off the sides, and trimmed the guard hairs from around his eyes. I'd also punched some more holes in the harness bridle, and huzzah, today it FIT! He was a lot less annoyed by the blinders, probably because those hairs were gone.

He did VERY well this time, we didn't run into/over anything, and he was much calmer and more confident. After about ten minutes we stopped and I tied the traces together, snapped the lead rope onto the end, and tied the rope around my waist (Doesn't that sound foolhardy and dangerous as heck, eh?). Then I got him going again, and every 10 feet or so, I'd lean back against the rope, and he'd pull me along, LOL! Oh, for a skateboard or skis! He did VERY very VERY well!!! But believe you me, we're going to do a LOT more of this sort of thing before the cart comes in to play!!

LOL...this middle-aged fat guy was at the barn, picking up his kid I guess, and was wandering around. Our conversation kind of went like this:

"Is that an Appaloosa?"

"No, he's an Arabian"

"How can you tell the difference?"

BWAHAHAHAA! I didn't get into it in great detail. He seemed amazed that at one time my horse was brown and now he's white with speckles though.

I'm still amused at that. Poor Coos, nobody EVER comes up and says "What a beautiful fleabitten grey Arabian gelding!!" He's either an Appaloosa, a Pony, or a Mare!

More driving tomorrow! Might introduce the check rein and breeching!

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Bridleless

Wed Feb 7, 2007

Rode Coos last night, and ended up unsnapping the reins from the (bitless) bridle, looping them around his neck, and rode him bridle-less for a good 15 minutes! Even CANTERING! What an amazing horse!!! We had a little issue with the steering once we got away from the rail, but he went over low jumps and stopped on a dime, all I had to do was drop my weight in the saddle and exhale, BAM, stopped!

He also did some AWESOME turns on the haunches, just with the rein around the neck and some well-placed leg pressure.

Maybe at the shows this summer, I can drop the reins before asking him to back or turn, LOL!

One of the older teen girls was lunging the grulla mare the other evening, and she was INSANE! Gads, crazy-ass horse just galloping and bucking and snorting...but she IS young, and full of energy. Heck, maybe Quzqo was like that in his "younger days" which is why nobody rode him, ha!

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Learning to Pull

Sun Feb 4, 2007

The saga continues!!

Yesterday, in the lovely 22 degree barn (it was 9 degrees outside, with 15-20 mph winds)(which translates to around -10 wind chill), Quzqo donned his harness saddle, crupper, and I added in the breastcollar and traces!

He was fine with all that, I ground-drove him a bit, when my friend, Sandy, showed up. Once she got her mare situated in her stall, I employed her to act as a "load" for Quzqo to haul! (This is from a book on training to drive, so I had confidence it'd work, heh heh). I tied the traces together at the ends, and hooked a lead rope to them, and gave it to her to hold. She was to walk behind us, and put pressure on the rope/tugs/breastplate, offering up some resistance, to help teach Quzqo to pull against a weight!

Well, he didn't understand at first at all, bless his little horsey heart, poor guy sort of stood there, tried backing, tried going side-to-side, but mean ole Sue kept slapping him on the butt with the reins (not hard, just so he knew what I wanted), and against his instincts, he leaned into the breastplate and started forward. Took a few tries before he figured it out, and he would go for a few yards, pulling Sandy along, then he'd stop and protest, going side-to-side, or turning around totally, LOL...kept us hoppin' to stay behind him!

After about 10 minutes or so he was walking straight lines in the direction I wanted him to go, leaning forward and pulling Sandy along (she wasn't like a dead weight, just offering some resistance)!!

That's a BIG milestone, obviously!

Today I'll put the driving bridle on him! BLINKERS! What will he think of those! Tezlu was NOT fond of them, heh heh.

Hm, might not need a rototiller for the garden this spring, might just get me a plow! Convert myself to the Amish lifestyle!

Naw, I'm too big a fan of buttons.

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Today, never mind it was TWO friggin' degrees out, I went out to the barn again. Thank God they kept the horses INside! Of course that also meant Coos was crazy as an outhouse rat from being stuck in his stall, LOL! What a goon!

Lunged him for about 20 minutes (He has got a gorgeous floating trot...when he wants to!), then straight to harness! Too cold to ride!! There's a substantial wind chill when you're riding a horse you know.

I'd put the harness up in the viewing room, so it was nice and warm and supple, unlike when it was FROZEN down in the tack room (it was so cold, Quzqo drool and slobber actually FROZE on my coat!!). Today he got to wear everything except the breeching and the check rein. Yep, today he wore the BRIDLE!!!

Man, they must have pretty weird-shaped Cobs in India, because the bridle BARELY fits his head!! Everything else is BIG on him (luckily it's very adjustable), but the bridle, yeesh! With some tricky adjustments I got the noseband buckled on the very first hole (barely), and there was NO way I could get the throatlatch buckled!! Of course I suspect it'll fit in the summer, when he loses his ridiculously thick winter fur, and if I'd trim his bridlepath (that added about 1/4" there). I think if I punch a couple of holes in the throatlatch, it'll buckle. If not, maybe I can cobble something up, or maybe the eBay seller will sell me one.

He did VERY well with the blinders!! Better than poor Tezlu did, LOL! Tez kept spooking if I touched him or made a noise behind him, since he couldn't see (but did he look sharp!). Coos didn't seem to mind, he was perfectly comfortable. Although when I was leading him to the arena, he kept balking and trying to see, LOL! He almost walked into a post! I know they can't see directly in front...I suspect the blinders need to be shaped a bit as well!

Took him a minute or two to get used to being driven with the blinders, he kept trying to walk into things, I had to remember I'm supposed to STEER him as well, ha! One of the young girls was lunging her pony, and Coos didn't know or care...blinders DO work!

My friend came in just as I'd finished tying the tugs together, and was going to try the pulling again, so I drafted her to be the "load" again! He did sort of okay, I think she was pulling TOO hard, because he kept stopping, and trying to back up. More resistance than a cart would have I'm sure. Poor horse got flustered, but we managed half a circuit of the arena in a calm and civilized manner, and that was enough.

I'll give him a break from driving for a few days I think. He was getting frustrated, I could tell. That'll give me time to punch more holes in his bridle, and maybe get the weather to warm up!

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Quzqo Passes the Crupper Test!

Thu Feb 1, 2007

Tonight Quzqo was introduced to The Crupper! I warmed it for him first (it was only 33 degrees in the barn, after all), and he did VERY well...once I got it in place, he sort of raised his tail and flicked it, like he was adjusting everything, then he cocked his leg and yawned, ha!

So, now he can wear the harness saddle/circingle and crupper! Walked him around a bit, he didn't seem to mind or care that a leather thing was encircling his tail! Good Boy!!!

That young boarder girl was riding tonight, with a young friend on another of Bob's horses, so my friend with the Paint got to fuss and fume and nag the kids, which provided MY entertainment in watching her, BWAHAHAH! They were doing all manner of incredibly stupid things (without helmets), but nobody got hurt, durn it. I think Quzqo was channeling my feelings, because every time we came near the girl on her horse, he'd PIN his ears flat against his skull at them, LOL! Good horsie!!

(I was riding him, then, not ground-driving, so no worry about flying hooves if he kicked out...which probably isn't a good thing for a harness horse to do I suppose)

Next, we move on to the breastplate and tugs! Then the bridle (with blinkers)...and the overcheck! And finally...the CART!

My little boy is growing up SO fast!