Learning To Side-Pass

Fri Sep 9, 2005

We've begun our training! By next Spring Quzqo will be able to side pass so sweet, we'll be able to do trail classes!!!

Started Wednesday, but I didn't have any carrots for clicker-treats, so I pretty much just annoyed him by pushing my hand into his side and trying to make him move, LOL! Got a few sideways steps (both front and back at the same time) and made sure to praise him to the moon for it!

Today I had carrots for clicker treats, and he LOVES clicker-training (treats!)...we did one session before I rode him and got a few good side-steps (I was happy if he just took ONE step)...he caught on quicker with the clicker I think!

Nice uneventful trail ride around the property with BillyBob the Corgi...LOL, we got trotting Quzqo 's usual trot along the fenceline...and Billy was AHEAD of us!!!! Quzqo can be outrun by a CORGI! What does THAT tell ya???? Jeeze Louise!

Once we got back to the barn and untacked, we tried side-passing again, and dayum if he didn't step sideways SO sweet with minimal pressure from my hand!!!! Both directions!!! Oh, you bet we're going to work on this for a week or two...I'm so pleased with Himself! He was pleased with the carrots, LOL!

The Chic of Araby

Sun Sep 4, 2005

A good California friend was so good as to let me borrow one of her real genuine Arabian halters for Himself to wear to the horse show this weekend!! It made quite a splash, and he got a LOT of complements with it!! It also had the added benefit of occupying Him before the class as he tried to eat the tassels.


Ain't he PURDY!!!????

He showed VERY well for me with it today (Sunday) (I chickened out yesterday and used his American halter), and the judges even gave me some pointers on how to pose him (I had been posing him with his one hind leg too far back, which made his hips uneven...never noticed that!)

It was a fun show...not a Fun Show, but a fun show...held at the barn where I board. And like last month (well, late July) they RAN OUT OF ROSETTES!! And gave out the colored squares of cardboard that you could exchange for tack/etc. RRRGH!

I did manage to get ONE red rosette to commemorate Quzqo's 2nd placing in his Saturday halter class...we were again beaten by that Paint/Shire cross at the barn. There was another LOVELY chestnut Arabian in our class with a beautiful neck (but not as purdy a head as Coos)...after judging, one judge walked up to the woman and said "I've got some bad news for you..." and proceeded to inform her that her short-sleeved shirt was not allowed in a halter class, and therefore she'd been disqualified from the class!!! Whaaaa??? She argued that it's allowed at Arabian Shows (it is??? News to ME), but the judges weren't buying it and she was FUBAR.

So, I will never know if Quzqo truly would have placed 2nd out of 3, or would have been 3rd out of 3. But since that woman had also shaved off the horse's EYELASHES...I've no sympathy for her.

That woman brought a couple of Arabians to show, she had a VERY nice gelding she showed in the English classes...Huntseat, complete with French Braid and braided tail, and little diamonds combed into the horse's butt (I used to do checkerboards on Tezlu's butt...can't do that stuff with Quzqo...it doesn't show!)...and she did quite well, placing in all her classes. We talked a little bit later as I was waiting for a class, and she expressed sadistic glee in the fact she was able to BEAT those professional trainers on their stock horses, LOL. But considering she shows at Class "A" Arabian shows...not that much of an achievement. Now if *I* was able to beat them...that'd be something.

No, I almost changed Quzqo's name to Ibn Ben Lastplace...we showed Novice, and placed 3rd out of 3 in Equitation (I must suck as a rider!), we didn't place at all in the Novice Step-Up (cantering...which he had a lot of trouble doing, which is why we didn't place...7th out of 7!) And 3rd out of 3 in Huntseat Pleasure. GRRRGH! Only bright spot of the day was the wonderful steak BBQ after the show!

I was so discouraged after yesterday that today I decided to take it easy, and just do the halter, then go for a trail ride! As it turned out, I got 3 other people to come along on the ride...one teenage girl was SO burnt out from showing (her gelding, too), she jumped at the chance for a relaxing ride! The other two ladies were showing Western, but they had about 2-3 hours to kill while the English and trail classes went on, and rather than trot their horses in circles in the back field trying to warm them up...they agreed a 90-minute trail ride might be more fun! And it was...perfectly peaceful and uneventful ride, and more fun for me than doing those nasty English Pleasure classes again! (and cheaper, at $8/class!!!!)(double-judged).

And...as you can see by the 2nd picture...GRAND CHAMPION PLEASURE TYPE HALTER!!! WHOOOOHOOOOO!!!


Okay...he was the only one entered today in the whole show. LOL! Yesterday there were 8 horses/ponies in the Pleasure Division, today, just Himself (the Paint/Shire cross stayed in his stall). But hey, we don't need to broadcast that fact. The showholder even gave me a blue rosette because she figured he also deserved Reserve Grand, "because we like you" LOL! (and two stoopid cardboard squares). Okay, she's also the barn owner's wife, but still, ha!

After I was done at the barn today, I cashed in my stoopid cardboard squares (four yellow, one red, two blue) for a stiff mud brush, a metal curry comb/shedding blade, and a mane comb. Eh, might sell 'em at my yard sale next weekend, LOL, get some of that money back!

Let's Go Berry Picking!

Sun Aug 28, 2005

BIG horseshow at the fairgrounds this weekend...we didn't go! Glad of it, too...I'm just not THAT into it. It's fun, but it's not everything. Plus the fact the horse was a filthy mess and hadn't really been ridden in days!

Instead he and I went for a trail ride! It was obvious they left him out in the pasture all night...untouched food in his stall, and he was a walking zombie-horse! (He never seems to sleep well out in the field). No complaints here, I was glad of it...didn't need to lunge him before hand!

BEAUTIFUL weather today, high in the low 70's, bright sunny sky, a good breeze to keep the flies away. And what hit me later was the fact that I was totally relaxed about the whole thing! A few weeks ago my heart would have been in my throat as we headed out, worrying he might try something. Somewhere along the way I think we have "clicked" and have finally become comfortable with each other, so that neither of us had to worry!!

Rode with the bitless bridle, which he obviously loves (compared to how he acted with the bit earlier this week)...and since we went out alone instead of with a group, I could get him into nice trotting and cantering segments without any problems (plus it seems the ladies I ride with like to WALK the whole route...no real complaints there, beats wanting to rampage like wild people, but it's hard on my butt!!). We went through the woods behind the elementary school, didn't get lost this time. Sometime in the past week and a half a strong wind came through and blew some saplings over the trail, right at horse-chest-height, so I got off and moved them, and was DEEELIGHTED that I was able to get back on FROM THE GROUND! WhooHOO (this has been a bugaboo with me for years, and now that I have a horse that's 6" shorter than the previous one, there's NO reason I shouldn't be able to do that!!). Quzqo even stood halfway still for me (he was busy defoliating a nearby maple sapling).

We even walked alongside a paved road (no traffic luckily), down a dirt road with some of the scariest poor white trash dwellings in Michigan (MAJOR scary), and then trotted and cantered down the length of the road and back again! It's nice to have a tired horse, LOL!

But the crowning achievement (in my book) came on our way back through some woods that had been logged years ago...the brambles sprang up, and at long last, this year, they bore big, fat, HUGE BLACKBERRIES! YUM! I'd been eyeing them for weeks, but didn't know how Quzqo would feel about stopping in the middle of nowhere...Tezlu used to go apeshit, and prance/dance/fuss/fidgit if I stopped to pick berries...he'd want to GoGoGoGoGO!!! But those berries were too much to resist, so we stopped, I got off, and Quzqo discovered that young blackberry leaves are edible and apparently delicous! LOL! So, while I picked berries, he picked blackberry leaves and had a grand time of it! I gave him some berries which he promptly spat out (Tezlu loved blackberries...who knew!), LOL! If I was bent down picking particularly large berries from the inner/under branches of the brambles, I'd feel this big slobbery muzzle press against my back or shoulders, like "what ARE you doing down there?" But at no time did he fuss or spook or do one single naughty thing! I ended up with about a PINT of blackberries (yeah, I brought a padded container to carry them back in), and an Angel Horse to boot!

He got a full-blown bath for his trouble when we got back (with soap and everything!), and gets to spend a relaxing and safe night in his comfy stall. See if he has any more energy tomorrow!

Yeah, I think I'll keep that horse!

A Horse With Two Behinds

Mon Aug 15, 2005

Actually, multiple horses with two assholes apiece!

Yep, survived yesterday's wild and woolly trail ride! Wasn't the usual posse (the ones on the Midnight Ride through the Woods last Wednesday), but a different circle of folks I don't usually associate with. The woman who organized it has been "off" for 8 months due to being pregnant and giving birth and recovering therefrom, so this was her and her horse's first trail ride since last Fall! The next lady in the group, I've mentioned her before: she rides a PSYCHO Arabian mare that she calls "Quzqo's Twin", which I'm beginning to be insulted by, because her mare is a total nutjob, and Quzqo's much prettier and now has GAZILLIONS more fleabites than that mare...the woman is as psycho as her horse, has no equitation skills, and enjoys riding in sandals, flip flops, or like yesterday, no-heeled slip-on loafers..

Next in our happy band of travellers is the woman who killed Tab the colicking TB, on her new fresh-off-the-track TB Mare, "Tesla"...wearing heeled street boots and no helmet, and her henpecked husband, on his retarded QH, "Ducks"...he was stylishly attired in running shoes, shorts, and no shirt. I was hoping the deer flies would be out in full force that day, heh heh. Believe me, him with no shirt was repellent enough.

Finally, a sane person, my friend with the Paint mare, she'd officially left the barn last week, but trailered in for the day just for this trail ride, she was bored riding by herself at her house, LOL!

Started out okay, I rode Quzqo with his bitless bridle (just gotta tempt Fate I think). Was pretty uneventful for the first hour or so, we even did some trotting and cantering on a nice wide dirt road. The Psycho Arabian ("Chickadee") was WAAAAY ahead of us...reminded me so much of Tezlu, but Tez wasn't THAT crazy, even on a bad day...head high, back hollowed, tail wringing, cantering in place while her idiot rider sawed on the reins and rode English with her feet sticking out in FRONT of her...have never seen an English seat quite like that, maybe it was the no-heeled slip-on loafers that did it. The Husband on the QH, with his heavy-handed horsemanship, had HIS horse all wound up into a ball about to explode, every hundred yards or so they'd have a "disagreement" (Ducks would decide we'd gone far enough and try to turn back), which involved rearing, spinning, and usually being cantered in circles all over the road. Tesla the TB would also have occasional issues, kicking at anything that got too close to her rear, and her murderous rider would spin her in circles, or go cantering or galloping off ahead of the pack without warning.

Making it more interesting, the ex-pregnant lady's horse, "Leroy" was in love with "Chickadee", so when Chickadee went tearing off ahead of the pack, Leroy would pitch a fit, which included prancing in place, ducking his head, spinning, and trying to buck...his rider was TERRIFIED out of her gourd, and through the whole ride Sandy (the woman with the paint) and I pretty much baby-sat her, telling her when to turn Leroy into a circle to get him moving so he couldn't start to pitch a fit...she had a curb bit on him, and was using both hands to pull...which didn't help the situation any...add into that she'd continuously hunch forward in fear AND was wearing running shoes...ARRRRGH! (she DID have a helmet on...I'll give her that much). We were all aware she had a newborn baby at home and couldn't afford to get herself injured...part of the problem was Chickadee's rider who would keep tearing off ahead of the group, which would get Leroy upset, being separated from his love interest, and then he'd pitch his fits...couldn't get it through Chick's rider that she should TRY to stay near for Leroy's benefit (and his rider). Nope...talkin' self-centered jerks here.

The married couple pretty much were on their own personal trail ride, for all the consideration they didn't show...just suddenly TEARING off down the road, which of course upsets the other horses, who also want to tear off with them, then they'd come TEARING back (remember how the woman TORE around the indoor arena with Tab just minutes before his fatal colic attack?). The husband would start to smoke these small CIGARS on the trail...AAGH! The stink was obnoxious enough, we won't even get into the FIRE DANGER, Hellooooo??? Yeah, I love going out into the forests to smell stinky cigars! Wear a shirt next time if you don't want to get bug bites (he said the cigar was his mosquito repellent...yeah, right)

The consensus among us three poky folks was that we didn't care to ever go riding with that couple again...when we finally turned back, they rode on ahead at a fast canter/hand gallop, went over a hill, and haven't seen them since! When we finally got back to the barn, their horses were turned out, had NOT been hosed off or washed down...u-huh...tells me a lot right there.

Fortunately nobody got hurt, nobody got dumped, the ex-pregnant lady is now very shaken up by her horse's bad behavior (er, could we have maybe LUNGED the beast before riding him??), the broad with the Crazy Ayrab was totally oblivious to how her behavior had possibly endangered her friend...the ex-pregnant lady thanked Sandy and myself for sticking with her and helping her out, she was truly terrified near to tears at a couple of points there, poor thing. Been there, done that!

For the record, once again, Quzqo was the BEST-behaved horse on the ride!! Even the Paint mare had a major spook-fit when a little birdie flew out of a tree, lol, but Quzqo was golden! We had a couple of disagreements about whether he should be allowed to run to catch up to the crowd after he stopped for a pee-break (I won the argument, for the record), only after he settled down to a petulant walk, did I get him into a trot, we trotted the 1/4 mile or so to catch up, he started slowing, so I spurred him and MADE him trot right on past and waaaay up the road, even making him canter, not what he expected...he wanted to trot, catch up, then dawdle along behind the Paint until he lagged behind and had to trot to catch up again. Got a lot of complements on how well he behaved, even a resentment-filled comment from the nut on the Crazy Ayrab. IMO, it's not the horse's fault most times, it's the loose nut behind the wheel.

Quzqo Dumps a Rider

Sat Aug 13, 2005

This afternoon my niece brought out her SIX children for Pony Rides...okay, the one boy is only a year old, so he didn't get a ride, but the other FIVE did. Hey, Quzqo got an entire bag of peeled and washed baby carrots for his trouble, he wasn't suffering, LOL!

Used my trail saddle and the bitless bridle, my niece was VERY worried about THAT...she's used to dealing with Tezlu (he threw her into a fence once, sent her to the hospital), but I rode Quzqo first, and put on a demonstration for her on how nice he is with it. Truth be told, that's the first time I've cantered him with the bitless bridle, LOL, I'm happy to report he did GREAT (phew!). Then she allowed the oldest kid, a boy, around 8, to ride. Of course he didn't want to be lead around like a little kid, and since he's ridden both Quzqo AND Tezlu before, we just let him go. He did okay for a boy, Quzqo pretty much ignored him, LOL...he had big fat sneakers on (do they still call them sneakers? probably not) so Quzqo could ignore any kicks to his side. But they did okay once the boy got the hang of it, even did a little trotting (what little he could get Quzqo to DO, heh heh). Kid rides like a sack of potatoes, but he had fun, and wasn't as enthused about "going fast" after he trotted Quzqo a few minutes. Quzqo is VERY bouncy, and when you're a kid who can't even reach the stirrups....not real comfortable, heh heh.

Then the oldest daughter (6) rode, she's a little pro, sits a horse like she'd been doing it forever, VERY confident and doesn't take crap from any ole Horse, she had Quzqo dancing to her tune pretty quickly, even with the reins hanging and uneven lengths ...she even got him to go across the ground poles and through the (empty) water obstacle. She tried a little trotting but he wouldn't move for her, so we put him on a lunge line (so she wouldn't have to worry about steering)...she got him into a trot, and was bouncing around like a ball on his back, when suddenly she just bounced right off his right side to the ground! Very slow-motion, he was stopped before she hit the (very soft sandy) ground! His forehoof landed nearly ON her little leg (I'm sure it was within an inch or two!), phew, but she was totally unscathed, and nope, no crying or hysterics, in fact she jumped up with a grin on her face and said "I'm gettin' back on!!" And she did!

Her mom and dad about died of heart failure, but they survived as well. AND she was wearing a helmet...gotta add that!

Then it was pretty much the other tiny tots who got led around, and my niece took a turn...I felt bad for Quzqo...she'd gained a bit since she got married, and she barely fit in the saddle, but he even trotted for her...she tried posting and got the right diagonal, not bad for not having done it in 10 years or so! But he wore her right out within 5 minutes. We couldn't get her husband to ride, he's afraid of horses, even little short slow ones that a 6 year old can bully, ha!

So, we've got our Lead Line crew lined up for the barn show on Labor Day weekend, we figured maybe the 6 yr old could even go into the "Walk Only" class, and put the 4 yr old into Lead Line! If I can get him to the fun show Wednesday night, we'll do leadline then as well.

Tomorrow another group of wild middle-aged ladies are heading out on a trail ride, but we're leaving at Noon. Should be interesting... Quzqo's older twin, "Chickadee" (fleabit Arabian mare who acts more like Tezlu than Tezlu ever did) will be along. I'm sure I'll have an interesting report then...one way or another!

Separated at Birth??

Thu Aug 11, 2005

Went to the county fair tonight, and I found Quzqo's twin!!!!




In case anybody wondered why I named him after a Llama, BWAHAHA!!!

A Trail Ride By Moonlight

Thu Aug 11, 2005

Went out on a trail ride last night with three other middle-aged ladies from the barn, and SOMEhow we ended up way out in the woods at sunset...anybody realize how friggin' DARK it gets IN the woods? All those leaves blocking any light left in the sky? Couldn't see the damned trail, could barely see the TREES, could barely see the woman in front of me on a dark TWH...I just say thank God for horses' superior night vision, because Quzqo performed like a trooper, in fact, he tripped less in the dark than in the light, probably because he knew he HAD to look where he was going, LOL!

Did not appreciate it when the woman leading the ride took off at a trot, which of course meant the other horses also had to run...nothing QUITE like the feeling of riding a crazy animal through the woods in the DARK! Arrrgh! Thankfully no low branches took me out!

Saw lots of deer (before it got too dark to see anything), and it was amazing how QUIET the woods are at that hour...no car noises, no birds, no wind, just total silence...spooky!

By the time we got back to the hayfields behind the barn it was 9:45, the moon was high in the sky, and the car headlights on the road below were actually kind of pretty. Quzqo behaved perfectly wonderful, not a spook or misstep the whole time! Was quite pleasant, that final few hundred yards back to the barn, out under the stars and the moon and all, the dark shapes of horses in the pastures whuffling at us as we went by...

Might have to do that again soon...er, without the trotting through the woods part of course!

That bitless bridle works pretty good!