Still Having Fun!

Things are still progressing nicely with our new attitude (whip and spurs)! Last night I had NO trouble bridling the horse (warm bit, slack in lead rope!), NO trouble getting on...okay, he did wiggle his butt a few inches to the right, and when I raised the whip up over his rump to get to the right hip to give it a tap, the poor boy flinched and tucked his butt...I gave him a fly's weight of a tap, brought him back up to the mounting block, and he stood good as gold!

Riding was wonderful, he's become SO good...I can't get over being able to just cue him with an outside leg and have him ooze into a wonderful rocking-chair canter, both directions, and he keeps going until I say slow down!! I'm afraid I sort of took advantage of that last night, because when we stopped so I could chat with a friend, my poor horse was PUFFING for breath and actually....SWEATING! LOL! For Quzqo to raise any kind of sweat is noteworthy!!

I can feel his ribs again, so he's lost all his summer flab from his 4 month vacation! Time to add the BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) to his grain, he's gonna be workin' now! Gonna EARN dem Pony Pops!

My friend with the lame Paint mare told me last night that her mare is going to a new home; a veterinarian in Kentucky, and she'll be used to teach young children to ride! That's a great arrangement for the mare...life of ease in Horse Country with un-demanding kiddies riding her. And it'll free up my friend from the guilt and stress of having to maintain a lame horse that she can't afford! Nice when things work out for the better for all parties concerned.

...And Then There's Days The Peppermints Don't Work

Rode again last night, went bitless, and that may be why the Peppermint Bribe at the mounting block didn't work; he was able to scarf down the candy and immediately swing his butt away before I got my foot in the stirrup iron!

Soooo....taking the other tack suggested on this thread, I got my 4 foot long fiberglass whip, and introduced it (gently) to Quzqo's hinder end from the ground, just moving him here, there, and the other place, and tried the mounting block. He started swinging his butt away, I tried to tap him on the off side butt with the whip, but that just succeeded him in backing up totally. We did a little more ground work and came back to the mounting block, this time I kept the whip in my left hand, but kept it down, and bless him, he stood rock solid still so I could get on!!

We had a wonderful ride, he'd tried to slow down or stop a few times on his own and got a pop with the whip for his trouble. I got him into beautiful canters both directions, even managed some 20m circles to the left...and they were ROUND, not egg-shaped, lol! Towards the end of the ride I was able to get him into a sweet canter on his "bad" lead (left) from a sitting trot with just a single application of the right heel (er...and the spur attached to it). Sweet!

Hey, guess what; riding's become FUN again!

Another Day, Another Story

I'll admit I was eager to go to the barn tonight to try out all the great suggestions given to me by friends on how to deal with my lazy horse. The horse was in the middle of his hay, and not enthused about leaving it, but instead of my usual indulgent attitude, he got a backhanded pop with the lead rope for resisting my efforts to lead him from his stall. He got the same about two more times as we walked down the aisle and he'd dive towards the tempting bales of hay.

Got him bridled with no trouble, yes, I had his lead rope tied around his barrel, but again, he accepted the bit without putting any pressure on the rope, so that's good!

I got him standing by the mounting block and rewarded him with the peppermint (so thereby reinforcing the standing still is good philosophy), he never even made a move to back up or swing his butt away. I was impressed because there was an OTTB being lunged to our left, and a 3 yr old Paint mare being lunged to the right of us, and we were sort of in the middle between two very energetic horses running in circles, lol!

Tonight I wore my spurs AND had my 4 foot long fiberglass whip. Just having the whip was enough to keep him inspired for a while, and I don't know if it was just the whip & spurs, or the change in the weather, or the energy of the other two horses in the arena, but he was a WILD MAN, yeehooo! Trotting, breaking into a canter un-asked for, just frisky as could be! I did pop him a few times (not whippings or beatings, nobody needs to call the cops on me) & kept him going, the only time we stopped was when I asked him to because I had to catch my breath, lol!

We cantered both directions many times, did some collected trotting, some extended trotting, even got him to side-pass over a pole on the ground, both directions! All in all a VERY enjoyable evening. I'll admit some of our "issues" are due to MY laziness, so I'll try now to be more proactive, riding with both the whip and spurs. Maybe in a few days I can try bridling him w/o the rope as well.

He wasn't too traumatized by this new direction, as he still managed to goober up my hair with slobber when I was untacking him, lol!

Help! My Horse Is Too Smart For Me!

I realized tonight that Quzqo has me perfectly trained! I'm still having "issues" with bridling him...you may recall last winter I had problems with him tossing his head whenever I brought the bit near his mouth (he's fine with his halter or bitless bridle though), and I had to literally tie his head down (ran the lead rope between his forelegs and around his barrel, so if he flung his head up he'd goose himself in the armpits). Tonight I did that and he totally fooled me by keeping his head down (with slack in the lead rope!) and accepting the (warmed) bit like a perfect gentleman.

BUT...as I was preparing to get on, and was climbing up on my chair (the ole' broken leg is still giving me grief), the little bugger swung his butt away and I could almost hear him sniggering at me! I got back down, lead him back to the chair, got him in position, he raised his head in preparation to back up and swing his butt away, when I produced his Beloved....a Starlight Mint!

He greedily snarfed it up and stood quiet as a rock while he concentrated on maneuvering the mint up over the mouthpiece of the snaffle back to his molars, giving me ample time to get my crippled ole' self up on his back!

Once on board, he decided he didn't really WANT to give me a ride, and kept stopping at every opportunity! I did have my spurs on, but he can ignore those readily enough. We'd trot maybe 2/3 around the arena before he'd stop. And it'd be w/o warning! If I felt him slowing I could urge him up again, but as soon as my mind wandered, BAM, back down to a halt!

A couple of times he stopped, and parked out, like he had to pee! I dutifully stood up in the stirrups, ignoring the pain in my ankle, because what's more important...the 8 metal screws embedded in my leg bones, or my horse's comfort as he tinkles? We stood there for about 30 seconds, and I didn't hear any waterworks! Was he faking? Was he colicing? I got him moving again, he sidled to the middle of the arena and stopped and parked out again and raised his tail! Again I stood up and forward in the stirrups and waited...his tail went back down and he stood there happily smacking his lips and drooling. FAKE again!

I got off and put him in his stall, he stood by the bars and nickered at me. I gave him five whole minutes in there and there was NO piddling, so I got him back out, back to the arena, and back to the mounting block! (not the chair this time). The bugger again SWINGS his butt away from me! I walk to the gate, with Quzqo tagging along at my elbow, and duck into the tack room to get more bribes...yes, more peppermints! Again back to the mounting block, I get him in position, again he hollows his back and prepares to back up and swing his butt...but lo, the beloved peppermint appears, and he accepts my bribe, and stands steady as a rock, slurping on his peppermint while I get back on board!

I did get some decent riding in tonight, it was all I could do to get that horse to trot, though we did make it 1-1/2 times around the arena without stopping! Cantering, well, that's another issue. He was just as big a slug on Saturday, but when I turned him loose in the pasture afterwards he TORE off at a gallop into the field. Yes, I'm feeling like I'm being taken advantage of!

Bronco Buster

Wed December 1, 2007

My niece has decided it'd be fun to lease a horse at the barn for a couple of months this winter so the kids could get some real riding in! I talked w/Bob, & he agreed to lease one of the lesson horses! Tack included, how nice!

So, she came out to the barn Sunday w/all her kids and one of her sister's, so we had 6 charming children underfoot! The horse Bob suggested was "Leo", a FAT old QH gelding, very pretty red roan & I'd certainly seen enough tiny children bopping around on him to know he'd probably be a good choice!

The older kids walked out to the pasture with me to get him, hiking through the foot-deep wet snow (thankfully it was "warm" out, i.e. 35 degrees). Leo seemed like a sweetie, very QH-like! Got him haltered, & the kids wanted to go visit Tezlu's grave which was in the same pasture, so we did that. LOL...the other niece's girl wanted to dig him up. Er...no, I don't think we'll do that. Come back in 20 years, it might be safe, but not now, especially with a foot of snow on top.

The kids and my niece brushed ole' fat Leo, lol, he didn't budge one inch while being brushed, just stood still as a statue with his ears slightly back. Quite a contrast from Coos! Leo is about 16 hands too, a BIG boy...my niece wasn't real sure about that, she'd been too used to Quzqo's 14.2 hands, and heck, Tezlu was 15.2.

We got him tacked up with one of Bob's western roping saddles & Leo's customary bosel hackamores (he's so good he doesn't need a bit) & got him out in the arena. My niece got on & started walking off...she was VERY tensed up, lol, she hadn't been on a horse since Tezlu.I turned my attention to getting Coos out of his stall (I'd brought him in earlier, & he managed to suck down his 2 flakes of dinner hay in half an hour!) & got the kids brushing him (lol, poor Coos had 4 girls brushing him at once, but he was as good as gold and stood for it!). Suddenly I hear my niece yell "DID YOU SEE THAT???"

See what? "He bucked!!!" Nawwwww, not ole' Leo! So she got him walking again, and sure enough, up went his hind end in a little hop!

Seems every time she squeezed him with her legs, he'd buck his fat QH butt up in the air!!! Needless to say she got off of him post haste (which is exactly what he wanted her to do!!!). I gave her a lunge line & she tried to lunge him, thinking he was just frisky from the field (she was used to Tezlu remember). HA, he about walked right over her, and stood and looked at her like "what?". So, I got out there and gave it a go, and snapped the whip behind him and "projected forward energy" and he at least walked in a proper lunging circle. After a LOT more whip-snapping and hollering and chasing I got him into a flumpy sort of jog trot. The young lady who was finishing up the daily chores walked by and exclaimed in all her years she had NEVER seen Leo being lunged! he just never needed it! My niece told her how he bucked, and Emily said "Oh, yeah, Leo always bucks! He does that to try to get you to give up and get off of him, but after a while he gives up!" LOL...gee, nobody told US that,! She uses him for lessons and uses the bucking to help the students gain confidence by dealing with his bucking (pulling him a circle, kicking him in the side, keeping him moving, etc).

So, I got on the little darling to give it a go...after a few steps at a walk, I fell him tense up, and WHOOP up goes the back end! I quickly cranked his head to the right and gave him sharp heel jabs in his fat sides, which pissed him off, LOL! He straightened out, WHOOP up went the rear again, again I cranked his head to the side and kicked him forward, making him WORK for his trouble!

I lost count of how many times he bucked. He didn't appreciate getting heeled though, I found if I just squeezed with my upper calves he'd move forward without complaint...could be he's ticklish! He sure neck-reined like a dream, and I got him into a nice jog trot...I'll confess I can't recall ever riding a nice western-type QH before...besides being three feet wide across the back, he had a sweeeeet trot! I'm used to Arabians, LOL! And when he was trotting, he couldn't buck! I got him into a lope for a few strides after about 100 yards' of cuing, and that collapsed back down to walking... He WAS getting tuckered though, and first he'd start switching his tail, then I'd feel his back tense up...THEN I'd yank his head up and move him forward so he couldn't get a buck going, LOL! Yee gads, lazy AND ornery...you'd learn to ride or die trying!!!

By this time the kids were terrified of the horse, and my niece wanted nothing to do with him. I got off, and she tried to get the oldest boy to ride him...nope, he wouldn't go near! Eventually we ended up just giving pony rides on Leo, and I figured Leo knew he had harmless tiny humans on his back and behaved good as gold. It's only when those pushy long-legged adults get up there that he kicks up a fuss!

I got Quzqo tacked up, and I rode him a little bit (dammit, he's MY horse, I want to ride him!!!)... Coos was lazier than Leo, and I soon gave up, and started giving pony rides as well. LOL, the youngest, the 3 yr old, got to ride first, and Coos was SO lazy, I totally let go of the reins and just walked around the arena with the horse tagging behind me at my elbow, and the little boy was sitting so happily up in the saddle, riding "all by himself", LOL!

We did about 2 hours of pony rides, each kid had to ride each horse, some twice, some doubled up.. The oldest boy got to ride Quzqo by himself and got some good trotting done...he was obviously a lot more confident on Quzqo than the Feared and Hated Leo!

Bob showed up and he and my niece discussed the matter, and Bob will let them "test drive" a different horse next weekend, namely "Colby", an older grey QH gelding who, at least, has been ridden recently.

Gotta laugh...one of my niece's daughters was whining and crying while Leo was getting unsaddles, and Bob walks by and in a mock gruff voice says "Hey! There's no crying in this barn!" and she shut up instantly, BWAHAHA! Loved it!

Don't know if it was related to the bucking, or the snow shoveling, but my back was KILLING me last night, had radiating sciatica pain down my right leg My ankle wasn't happy either, from the bucking, and the walking of the pony rides! If my niece wants to try Colby, SHE can do it herself, ha!