Reunion Part 2

Tuesday proved to be a bad weather day. I couldn't leave my homestead due to high running creek. Spent the day keeping debris from clogging up the drains so we wouldn't have our own disastrous flood into the horse stall area and garage. The ranch itself had high water. Weather looked good for the following day.

Wednesday and Thursday were absolutely gorgeous Spring days! They've been few and far between in the month of April this year.I was excited to go back over to the ranch and work with my old horse buddies. I honestly hadn't been this excited about horse related activities in quite some time.

The two afternoons were spent with groundwork, leading and riding. These horses hardly ever get beyond a trot in the riding lessons. My philosophy was always, work with them like they'll be worked with during the programs. Besides, I was only there this week so in my mind my focus was simply on exercise. If they'd developed too many problems since the four years I'd been absent, I wasn't going to have the chance to work correcting too many bad habits in two afternoons.I worked with four horses, and Lori worked with four others.

On Wednesday I worked with Dani and a horse the barn calls Dinky but I refer to as DeeDee. I never liked the name Dinky when I met her four years ago. She was newly brought in just before I resigned so I'd never worked with her much. I was told DeeDee was former barrel racer mare. Both Dani and DeeDee did fine with my leading and ground work. They both tacked up nicely. DeeDee did have a cinching issue so I slowed the process down even more. She wanted to anticipate being cinched up tight, quickly, but I showed her I wasn't going that route. Now, just because I do it that way doesn't mean the next person won't come in and do it the way DeeDee anticipates. Dani,a Halflinger/Icelandic from appearances, was always a solid ride. She does have a "go" issue sometimes. But, if the rider remains consistent and firm, Dani will engage. Dani just needs to know the person up there means what they're "saying". She will test the rider. It's something she's always done. She actually does better with adults. More than one lesson rider became frustrated with Dani. DeeDee did like to surge ahead quickly with an easy "kiss" and not even a leg squeeze. I worked with her a little on that and when she smoothed out she was a very nice ride. I can understand the startle factor though, for a new rider who might get that surge. The only thing I could do would be to explain my findings on my review. Whether the staff paid attention or tried my suggestions, I knew that was completely out of my control.

Thursday brought another fine Spring day. Warm, sunny, cool. Lori and I had two hours, four horses to work and the barn to ourselves. Seemed almost like old times without having to worry about stall cleaning.

My first pick of the day was a horse named Sissy. I have never worked with Sissy, she was a newly, donated horse to the riding facility. She is a nicely built, about 15 h QH mare who had also come from a barrel racing background. She is a people pleaser for the most part. She was very good with grooming, tacking and the necessities. Her main quirk is apparently being herd bound. She goes a little spastic when she's in the arena alone. I was able to keep her mind on what I was doing with her and over a period of about 20 minutes she settled and didn't worry so much about being the only one out there. Sissy seems like she would be one of the better schooling horses although she had an instantaneous get-up-and-go with the gentlest of urging. Didn't take much. I wondered how the current staff would work on that. Hopefully, they'd read my evaluation and take my suggestions to heart. Speckles, one of my past favorites, a little Appaloosa pony-size fella who is way too smart for his own good was my last "student".

When we'd worked with Speckles in the past his issues were based on who was working with him. If he thought he could get away with a little nip, he tried. One time, as I was cleaning a front foot, the little bugger reached around and got hold of my upper arm with his teeth, to which my response was to put my body weight into him and he fell into the wall. I'm not a huge woman, but I have some weight on me. I recall he looked at me with a rather puzzled look, ears moving back and forth. I honestly never had that kind of problem with him again. This day he seemed eager to get out and do something which worked in my favor. I tied him, leaving a length of lead rope hang to the ground. Went to get his tack and saddle. When I walked back toward the arena, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Speckles standing there twirling the lead rope like a lasso. Yes, we'd allowed him to do that and he'd remembered. We realized he liked to twirl the lead rope so we had encouraged it. At the end of our programs we'd give him the lead rope and he would twirl it around just like he knew what he was doing. The girls would laugh and applaud. Speckles always enjoyed the attention. I'd forgotten he could do that little trick. However, obviously the new staff group didn't find it as cute or entertaining because they said he had a habit of grabbing the lead rope. Oh well. I would leave a note letting them know it was something we'd taught him a few years ago. At least they'd know what it was all about when he did it. From then on Speckles complied nicely. Rode nicely and listened fine. I had no complaints and couldn't see much of a problem. Maybe Specks just needed to get out and go, period. 

The afternoon ended much too quickly. We wrote up our evaluations and hoped we'd helped out. We laughed about the fact that at first we thought we were getting into some kind of wild horse mess from the information we'd been given. We decided the horses just needed handling and riding after being idle since October. Maybe the staff just wasn't use to all the horses. Hopefully they'd see our suggestions as helpful. OR, they'll read them and say we were a couple of crazy old ladies who didn't know what the heck we were talking about! Whatever the outcome, it was an enjoyable week and renewed my confidence. Now if the rain would just stop so I can work with my own horses!

The only thing I heard later was that the programs went well and that Lori and I were appreciated for coming to the rescue that week. We were rewarded with boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. Honestly, Lori and I both agreed, our payment was simply spending time with some of our old horse friends and that had been enough reward.

Reunion-Day 1

April has not been a pleasant weather month. There were a couple of pleasant days last week, amid the storms. During those two gorgeous days, I was invited to help with some old equine friends at the riding stable I'd worked at for three years. I hadn't been back or seen the horses in four years. It was a happy reunion for me and I wondered if some of them actually remembered me. 

My good friend, Lori, called me and said she'd been contacted by the camp manager, who knew we'd worked with those horses in the past. Seems the ranch horses (it's a Girl Scout camp with a year around riding facility) were wired up, and acting up, needing some handling and riding before the Spring programs were starting the following week. Lori had worked at the facility a year longer, but she left about six months after my departure. We both had the intentions of devoting more time to our own horses. 

The facility is under a new equine manager who was on maternity leave. The three other staff members seemed to be at a loss as what to do with the horses, and one of the older staff women was on vacation, from what Lori understood. Lori was told the horses had problems from bucking, bolting, resisting leading, rearing...sounded like a wild bunch of untrained horses.During our phone conversation, we both wondered what we might be getting ourselves into, yet we knew most of those horses and couldn't believe they had become that bad. We wanted to find out for ourselves.


Monday evening it was threatening rain again, and had been raining off and on all day. We've been in a terrible rain/storm pattern since the beginning of April. When I pulled into the ranch driveway Lori was out in the field trying to see who would come to her. I got out of my truck and walked over the the gate. My first impression was how fat the horses all looked. Guess they'd been eating well all winter.I grabbed the halter and lead Lori had left outside the gate for me and walked into the field. 

The Fat and Sassy bunch were hanging around the hay feeder. I think both of us wanted to see if the any of them remembered us. Trimmer, Kleo, Ginger, Dusty and Dani were in this field. All horses we had worked with in the past. Lori haltered Dani. Ginger walked over to me and I let her study me a moment, to see if I could tell if she remembered. Well, she didn't seem interested after the initial sniff. I was just getting ready to halter her when she turned and walked away. At that moment, Trimmer makes a big run and all the girls, except for Dani, took off with him to the far side of the field. Well, fine. I sure wasn't going to chase them. Lori and I walked Dani out and figured we'd grab one of the horses over in the other field. Just as we were out the gate, here they come galloping back up the field right to us. We figure they must have had a little conversation and said "OH, now we know who they are..." I know, that's far fetched. But fun to think anyway. Ginger stood at the gate so I slipped inside again and put her halter on. We quietly walked back out while the other horses turned away again. Hay being more interesting at that point evidently.


There was suppose to be a list of the horses and their current problems, we didn't want to waste time on the ones who didn't really need too much handling or riding. We looked around the office but didn't find much in the way of a list. We did find some written pages from the staff over the past week. Reading over it we were wondering what was going on with this bunch. Surely, only Spring fever? The horses were always full of themselves in the Spring. Maybe that's what the staff were seeing. Maybe they weren't quite in tune with the horses yet since they were all new to the facility. In all honesty, Lori and I were both going to be very cautious until we figured out what was going on with the horses.


I'd put Ginger in her stall for a few minutes so I could gather her grooming supplies. When I walked into her stall she eyed me quietly but didn't move back or turn around. I took her out into the arena. Fortunately, they have an indoor arena because the rain started pouring on the roof about that time. Ginger's eyes got wide but I just kept walking her around the arena. The wind was blowing too. But Ginger and I had a history. I knew her quirks. She'd been my project horse. I knew if she gets her mind on the person handling her or riding her, she focuses. After about fifteen minutes she calmed down. I don't do lunging. I just don't. I don't see a point to it. I prefer close handling, walking and in hand training. Lori likes to lunge with long line and at liberty. To each her own is my view.


After our initial getting acquainted again, I tied Ginger, let her stand there with the loud noise of the rain pounding on the roof. She moved around a little but nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. I only remember one time when she pulled back and broke a halter. It was during a very windy day too.I watched and she seemed to be soothing herself. The first change I made was her saddle. The saddle Ginger had been assigned was one I hated for her 5 years ago. I tried it on her because I didn't want to seem like someone trying to tell the new manager what she should do. That saddle would have dug into Ginger's shoulders had anyone got on her with it. I pulled out a Wintec I knew I had used in the past. Fit Ginger beautifully. I did suggest on my evaluation that I thought the assigned saddle was too tight and maybe that caused some of Ginger's riding issues.


Ginger was fine with tacking up. No bridling issues. I walked her around with the saddle on. Tightened the girth three different times like I always do. No problems. She did have a problem standing to be mounted. This disappointed me because it had been one of her issues I had finely worked through with her. We spent about 15 minutes on that until she finely stood quietly. I use a mounting block. I'm also fatter and sassier than I was five years ago and felt no need to be pulling on her back. I'm also out of mounting practice. Our initial ride was just as I remembered Ginger could be. Light and responsive. Good stopping and going cues. When I urged her into a trot she did throw her head up,which was one of her habits in the past. I'd checked her bridle before riding and it seemed in a good place. But, after a few more stops and starts into the trot, Ginger's head tossing ceases. Always that initial "I don't wanna..." for Ginger but I can see how that would frighten a young girl never having ridden before. Most of the programs are only geared for beginners anyway and they don't often go beyond a walk and steering.


I rode Ginger for about 30 minutes trying to recreate what I remembered we did with the girls during the riding programs. Ginger showed no resistance and was fine with everything I asked of her. Dani had been a not issue so Lori was working with one of the new horses,one we had never worked with. Maxi supposedly reared up at a gate, bolted, and wouldn't listen to her rider. Lori said Maxi lacked some confidence but showed no signs of reacting anywhere near the wild thing we'd read about even with that loud rain still pounding down on the arena roof. Lori has been riding much longer than I have and is much more attuned to that part of horsemanship. I still consider myself and OK rider, I listen to the horses and use my own sense with them.


We finished up that evening by writing out our evaluations on the horses we'd worked. I was pleased with Ginger. I was completely relieved she wasn't as bad as what I had been carefully anticipating. Then again, when I was with Ginger I had my expectations from when I had worked with her in the past so I think that worked favorably on my part.


We decided we'd meet back on Tuesday evening for Part 2 of our reunion.