Horse Training – Page 3 – The Hermits' Rest

Take Away My Horse Owner License

Sure, today was both a packed work day and a day of dealing with those anxiety symptoms I abhor, but the horses didn’t do anything to deserve neglect.

It turns out that when the farrier left yesterday, he turned all the horses out of the pens, then like a good rancher, he shut the gate he let them out of, because he’d found it shut. I didn’t figure that out until late afternoon today, which was really not good on my part.

You see, I fed and watered them in the morning, so I just visually checked on them yesterday afternoon, when they were all happily eating the hay in their round bale.

Same thing happened this morning; they were way out in the pasture and looked fine. I never checked the pens other than to note what species of dove was on the upper poles (European Collared Doves).

I intended to feed both them and the chickens early in the afternoon, but as soon as I walked out the door, I had to go back in and help someone. The second time I walked out, I was distracted by a huge tree stump that was headed for the burn pile, but did get the chickens fed before another call.

Huge (already dead and a danger in town)

By the time I finally got out to turn the water off and feed horses, I was confused to see them standing around outside the pens. Then I realized what happened. Poor horses! Luckily it didn’t rain or storm today and they have a water trough outside the pens. So, they were fine.

Dusty plodded right over to his spot and indicated he was ready for his senior feed.

Tuesday is always hard because I start work early and end late, so there was no exercise time, but I did check all their feet and was happy to see Apache’s eye looked good. He’d gotten a piece of hay in it and I’d been treating it.

Being horses, they weren’t upset with me, just happy for food and bur removal. They always cheer me up.

Dusty has to be sure he gets all his “gravy.” He’s a wet chewer.

I think I got more non-spam calls today than I usually get in a month, but I enjoyed helping folks at work, and was happy to get calls from my doctor’s office about getting something to help with these blasted chest pains.

Looking at these guys helps, but I need meds. Do notice Spice’s tail. She’s an active swisher.

Let’s hope tomorrow is nice and calm, with happy pills and maybe some rain!

I’ll be sitting right here in the morning, unless it’s raining hard!

Happy to Stay Right Here

How much would you pay to go to the moon?

Nah. I have no need to go to the moon. I like it where it is and me where I am. All the lunar romance, metaphor, and legend falls away when you view the moon as a large cratered hunk of rock. I do think it’s amazing that our moon is the exact right size to create eclipses, though. That is one thing that makes me wonder if there’s an intelligent designer of the universe. Maybe the only thing…

…meanwhile, back in my little spot on Gaia, Mother Nature has taken on a benevolent aspect, at least for a time, and graced us with rain not just one, but two nights in a row! Yesterday’s total was over two inches, and tonight it’s rained hard for quite a while. There was a little water in the creek today. I look forward to seeing how our tanks look tomorrow.

But during the day, it was pleasant, which enabled me to get my eyes examined right in Cameron, Texas (what a luxury), which included interesting conversations on current events where I just listened. I rewarded myself with a visit to the bakery for a nice sticky bun. Mmm.

No photo of a bun, but here’s a Great Egret in a tree.

I’d thought my next task, getting Apache ready for a lesson, would be quick and easy. I was mistaken. I now have all dark gray horses, the exact color of our dirt. Apache had really been getting into his mud spa treatment and was concentrating particularly on his mane. He was encrusted. I regret not photographing it, but was pressed for time.

He looked like me, only bigger and more horse shaped.

I did my best in the limited time I had to wash him off, but it was not successful. At least he was clean enough to put a saddle on and did well even with the distractions of gunshots and frolicking foals. He’s sure come a long way.

I’m sure he will enjoy the mud these clouds have created.

That’s about all I have to write about today, because rather than contemplating wasting my money going to visit a cratered rock, I spent the rest of the day contemplating the value of life, the importance of friendship, and how we need to enjoy every moment we have on this planet, even when things are more than a little wonky.

I enjoyed the moment I saw this Nuptial Scorpionfly today!

Please know that if you’re my friend, you matter to me very much. And even if I don’t know you, I wish you a good life.

Much to Be Happy About

Where to start? The day started out good and kept getting better. Look at this sunrise!

And I was happy to see yesterday’s new calf and mama cow looked much perkier this morning and nursing was going well. I think they’re fine.

I also felt better today, after a slow start. Maybe my head is healing. I’m at least able to do complicated tasks at work.

After work came the best part of the day, very healing and gratifying. Jackie came to do bodywork on Apache, and I decided to see if she could maybe help out Drew, too. He’d been pretty good recently.

After grooming my sweaty Paint boy, I brought Drew out and proceeded to groom him. He was fine. So, as we waited for Jackie, I got to work on his tail, which, sigh, was full of burs, thanks to the horses grazing in the only spot that still has them (I couldn’t even see them when I called them in to eat; I just heard thundering hooves until they came around the pond). With no trouble at all, I got that tail all smooth and shiny.

After Jackie arrived and started working on Apache, who she says is doing very well, I bravely approached his mane, sprayed detangler, and started brushing. There weren’t too many burs, but they came out with no issues. THEN he let me get burs out of his forelock! And asked to have his head rubbed!! What the heck?

That was the start of a wonderful afternoon with Droodles. Perhaps the Adequin (or however you spell it) really kicked in and he feels better. But we had a nice bit of exercise in which he walked, trotted, and cantered pretty calmly, followed by some hand grazing and bonding. I could stroke him, rub his head, let him nuzzle my hand…no scary biting or kicking! Wow!

And he did a good job with the bodywork. When he wanted to say he was uncomfortable, he did, but Jackie could calm him right back down so he could stretch or whatever she asked him for.

This is Drew all relaxed getting worked on.

Afterwards, she showed me how she used calming breaths and distraction, while keeping herself safe. My mind was blown. I can do that! And it’s more how I’d like to work with him. This information was invaluable and encouraging.

Stretching exercise. She let him move around until he was able to bend. That must have felt nice.

We also had a great talk about how long it takes to create a great partnership and a great horse. Her story of Jambo, her horse who just retired, has inspired me. Maybe I can keep going slowly with Drew, work on the ground some more, make sure his pain is managed, and we can go forward.

Look at us all happy. He is not biting me.

I just have to get both horses to the vet to get assessed. Now that I feel less head pain, I will get to work. And maybe I can go back to enjoying both horses. It was SO nice to have a good day with Drew.

And one final good part of the day: IT RAINED. I think it was enough to measure, and will know more tomorrow. It was so exciting that Kathleen and I ran out to check for raindrops in the pool. We hope more substantial rain comes tomorrow, since it’s badly needed.

Ranch Life, Surprises Are All Good

Ya know, these days not much fazes me around here. As long as there’s no gushing blood on humans or livestock, it’s all fine.

I’ve got Penney and her pals watching out for me.

Today was typical. I enjoyed my morning birding—I really missed it last week, and I took Penney out for a tromp through the front field while I took pictures for yet another BioBlitz, for the Native Plant Society. So idyllic!

I settled in at my desk to do meetings and a big task, with my coffee in my hand and headphones over my ears. However, near the end of the second meeting I heard Lee exclaim that the horses were out. Oops! Someone (me) didn’t shut the big gate well and the wind blew it open.

They sure looked happy in the driveway circle, where Lee had accidentally left the water on the little tree for too long. I’m just glad it is not fresh and juicy enough to mess with Apache.

Lee and I decided to let them hang out in the open area for the day, and bungee-corded the front gate shut. I think they had a good day finding pockets of grass that’s not all dried up. I also noticed a lot of rubbing itchy areas on pieces of equipment.

They went right back to their pens for feeding time with just a little encouragement, so it’s all just fine. The afternoon ended with more birding and pleasant sitting by the pool as a family.

I gazed at the birding station from the pool patio. They’ll get back to it soon!

Heck, the only negative stuff for today was an outage of our phone service (worse for others than for me, because it didn’t stop me from working) and frustration with getting logged in to the correct streaming service for football. I’m sure it’s easier for the young folks. Just too many passwords on annoying interfaces!

So I just breathe and look at grass. Aah.

When you don’t let surprises bug you, it’s way easier to deal with the little things, and that’s today’s takeaway.

I couldn’t identify this by sight, but iNaturalist says it’s very dry prairie tea (*Croton monanthogynus)*

Trying Is So Vital

It very well could be that some of you are sick of me going on and on about learning to canter on horseback. After all, little kids just jump on horses and take off, flying like the wind—how hard can it be?

Looks so easy, huh? Not for me and my horse buddy. Photo from Pexels.

Hmph. I was told recently that it’s also hard for many young people to learn. So there. And I think many young people feel braver because they haven’t developed a fear of a crippling injury like, say, blue-haired women over 65.

I’m gonna share old photos of me and Apache. I was only 56 here in 2014, doing groundwork.

Me and Apache following Sara and Spice in 2018.

I started lessons on Apache because I felt incompetent and was worried I’d hurt myself in a fall when riding alone. I was ok walking, but I didn’t like going fast, even trotting. But I wanted to try to conquer my fears.

Me trying not to be afraid, 2016, Anita on dear Pardner

I lucked out and found a trainer who understands both horses and people, and doesn’t force either to do things they aren’t ready for. So we walked a lot at first. And I found out it wasn’t just me who needed help, Apache had to un-learn some unhelpful patterns and have his health issues addressed.

So yeah, this horse thing has been a slow process, but I haven’t given up, even when I’m afraid. Now I’m less afraid than uncertain about whether I can do things. But Tarrin has convinced me that I won’t know until I try. It works, and has spilled over into other areas of my life, where I have more self confidence.

2016. I was braver riding with friends !

I went from hanging on for dear life while trotting to actually having some finesse and skill with it. And Apache has learned how to do the trot more effectively, which means it’s easier on me. I like that we’re both learning in our golden years. We’ve become a team. We’re a slow team but we keep trying. And I think we both enjoy it.

So today, I was happy to see a much less crusty Apache greet me in the morning. He also seemed to feel a lot better than he did earlier in the week. We ended up having a great lesson after a slow warmup. He cantered well enough that we went into the round pen to try under saddle again.

2015, one of our first Parelli lessons. Awkward.

I’m feeling more confident just from having done the canter lessons before. I feel okay going so fast and jumping before cantering. Today we made it halfway around the circle, not just a few steps. I even sorta lost my balance and fixed it. That makes me feel better about staying on.

I know I have friends competing in dressage or roping or barrel racing for whom this seems like remedial education. But it’s where I’m at and I’m still trying. Sure, we could have gotten to this point faster if certain horses could have stayed healthier, but yay, we’re still here and having fun.

If we don’t try, we won’t get anywhere.

Sweating Like a Horse

It’s supposed to be autumn. It was even down to 61°F here this morning! But it warmed right up and by the time I stopped working on my magnificent SharePoint page and went to the horses to get ready for a rare Friday lesson, it was decidedly toasty. I don’t think I’ve sweated as much in my life as I have this year.

I did get to enjoy this young doe as I had my morning coffee.

I’m not the only one who’s been all sweaty and icky this week. Apache has been encrusted with dried sweat all week, mostly mixed with dirt. I didn’t take a picture of it because I was concerned. I’d brush it off when I groomed him, but it came right back. And he didn’t feel happy all week. He told me in no uncertain terms that he didn’t want to move faster than a walk.

So when we got to Tarrin’s, I told her he’d sweated a lot and was grumpy. She felt along his neck and got salt crystals off it. He was drenched already and he’d just ridden in the trailer for a while (it’s not bad in there when it’s only in the 80s).

See all the strips of dried sweat? That’s after I rinsed him thoroughly.

I knew she was concerned when she started looking stuff up on her phone about extra salty horses. It turns out he’s probably losing a lot of electrolytes with all that salt, which can lead to muscle cramps and stuff, just like with people. His metabolic issues aren’t helping, even though he takes his medication and is not eating the wrong kind of grass.

It’s fun to watch Tarrin research issues. By the time she was done, we had a plan to feed him extra electrolytes (I forgot I’d done that last year) and keep him exercising moderately.

Mabel has some sweat marks but nothing like these.

We are also going to take him (we is probably me and Vicki) to the vet when we reschedule Drew’s appointment just to get his hocks looked at and other stuff.

Drew really needs that vet appointment. Even the shots of Adequin aren’t helping with his hind leg. But he tried his best for Vicki today. She’s not going to lease him though, because he’s too unpredictable.

I don’t blame her at all. It’s probably not a good idea to sell him, to be honest. I’ll keep working with him after he goes to the vet and see if he ever gets better. At least he only sweated like a normal horse today.

By the way, even though I couldn’t sleep last night from making web pages in my head, I ended up doing a fine job on my work project. I really enjoy a good challenge in a supportive environment.

Drama Averted

Let’s talk about how great I am. No, that’s boring. Let’s talk about how my confidence has improved in my horsemanship. (Because there’s still some progress to be made in other areas.)

One horse accomplishment that brings joy is that the younger horses have gotten much better at coming to the pens when I call them. (Dusty sees me at a distance and ambles over to “his spot” long before anyone else arrives—slow but steady wins the race.) The photo above shows them doing their “thundering herd” imitation right after I first called them. Aww.

This is from last week but sums up today.

We’re finally going camping again tomorrow, so I wanted to be sure to get one last riding session on Apache today. He wasn’t particularly “into” working, but he did his exercises and happily walked on the trail. It felt good.

That is, until I took him down to the creepy arroyo area. I’m glad I was paying attention, because I saw the water moccasin before he did. It was just sitting there, not doing anything. So I just asked Apache to halt and then turn around. We walked safely to a higher part of the field.

I’m proud of myself for not having any stronger reaction than “better turn around.” No drama from us! I’m guessing Apache eventually realized something was amiss because he started tossing his head and then tried to eat every bunch of silver bluestem he could find. Who knows? I’m only sort of good at figuring out what he’s trying to communicate after over a decade.

It’s gotten very dry, since recently the rains are missing us. So the horses would probably all stop to eat lovely green grass like the bluestem (a native). I was relieved to hear that we will be getting some nice hay shortly. No hay drama, either!

Cheerful Moments

Ok! Cute things here we come! This morning I found where all the false foxgloves were hiding this year? And they were right next to a hawthorn tree with lots of fruit.

No matter how well I think I know the woods at the ranch, I keep finding new things. I ventured around to see what else I could find. There were many spiders!

After all that nature stuff it was time for our horse lessons. Both horses did their best. So did I, with much practice at riding with the reins in one hand and cantering. I have stopped gripping the saddle horn with a death grip. Progress.

You did good. So did you. Mmm, Apache, that diaper cream on your nose smells great.

Vicki and Drew definitely had their best lesson so far. Drew showed some of his good side, even with the precious foals racing around and distracting him.

The best thing was that Droodles walked around the round pen with very little drama. It shows he’s gaining confidence in Vicki! I’m very proud of their progress.

After I got home we had a lovely green chile stew made by my friend Martha. She, Mike, Lee and I had a wonderful conversation on the porch as the sun set.

Nothing but goodness.

Stay Tuned

I just finished reading the wonderful book, Braiding Sweetgrass, which somehow I hadn’t managed to read yet. No doubt there was a good reason I didn’t read it when I bought it, but of course I loved it, since it’s a Suna kind of book. I’ll write more about it later.

I wonder if there’s any Native American use for this? I don’t think so. Poor Santa Maria Feverfew is basically noxious and invasive, though native here.

I haven’t been feeling well today, just digestive issues, which are boring to anyone not living in my current household, where such things are favorite conversation topics. THIS is how I know we are no longer young, I think.

I tried to avoid noxious weeds today. But this aggressive vine does have pretty flowers and seed pods (balloon vine).

Much of the day was spent reading Robert Reich’s new memoir, which also doesn’t help my stomach (too many details on why the US is going to hell in a hand basket), though I do like him as a person. I also napped, listened to bluebirds, and watched a little college football. I favor no team, so I just watch young men run around and I then enjoy insurance commercials.

Another sport I enjoy is flower diving, which many bumblebees did this morning.

I did take a good walk and did a lot with Apache, who kept me on my toes. He loves to act like he doesn’t want to be caught so I have to practice my catching methods, but eventually he just stands there and puts his head in the halter. Maybe he thinks I need more exercise, not him. Hmph.

He did get a lot of exercise, including lots of muscle-building cantering, then we rode out to the round pen. I was proud of him for not having an issue walking by an unfamiliar truck and people messing with the garbage dumpster on his way to the round pen.

I was less proud trying to go on our trail when the truck started up and made a weird noise. He really wanted to make a run for the barn, throw me off, or otherwise embarrass us both in front of someone who doesn’t think much of our horsemanship. But, by golly, I let him cool off once I could get him to stop, and we were able to go on the paths and walk calmly.

I was even able to spot our first aster blossoms of the year, proof autumn is coming.

I was proud of me, then, because other than a brief moment of worry, I took the incident as a chance to practice all my Apache calming techniques. So much to learn, but we have come far enough that I’m satisfied.

Even though days are growing shorter, we still have swallows. Dozens of Cave Swallows today.

Let’s see if the rain avoids us again tomorrow for lessons…

Do I Have the Blues?

It looks like I do. I made a drink from one of Kathleen’s little flavor packets and ended up with the blues: blue drink, nails, hair, and glasses. I will point out that I had a brown shirt (with a blue Roadrunner on it).

Good thing the light washed out my hair.

On a more serious note, I shared this story on Facebook this morning:

What a morning at my birding platform. First, I was just sitting here, watching Baltimore Orioles flying around, when I heard a Green Heron. Then I saw it, flying toward me, aiming directly over my head. I thought how pretty it was, but wondered what would happen if it pooped. Then a big white glob came down! Thankfully it landed just inches off my concrete pad. My blue hair is safe!

Then, after measuring yesterday’s .02” of rain, I gazed over at the fence. Oh my gosh, something was hanging from one of the chrysalises I’d been watching! It was a fresh, new Gulf Fritillary. It’s our most common large butterfly, since we have lots of sorrel vines that they love. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a butterfly emerging in the wild. What a privilege!

The humor and beauty carried me through an intense work day just fine! A meeting ended early, too, so I had time to give Vicki some slightly old frozen meat to make into dog food and exercise the horses. Neither horse was into it. I think I should have let them rest.

They were peaceful on our evening stroll, though. It’s hard to get them all in one photo.

Just a little relaxation with the animals prevents the psychological blues from coming over me, though. Watching the dogs play in the long grass at sunset was a great way for me and Lee to wind down. They don’t get out much, but for once they stayed with us and didn’t run off to roll in poop.

I’m thinking about so many of you all, dealing with what comes your way as best you can. We are in this together. As my friend Kathy just reminded me, we’re all under the same moon!