Posts Tagged ‘horse
Lazy Summer Days at the Farm
Taking a rest on Minnow
So I fully intended to ride Boomerang yesterday….I really did – I swear. My engine just sort of died when I got to the barn. Sometimes I wonder how I fit everything I do into a day. Its difficult to balance all of it. I’m barely getting much sleep lately – thanks to a cranky dachshund who can’t understand why I’m sleeping on the floor and he’s locked behind a doggie gate, I balance a full time job running a business – make that 3 businesses (Green Horse Studios, Pony Paintings, Studio 3), I then feed and care for 7 horses (which includes mucking stalls and daily feedings and turnout), I try to ride/train my horses 5 days a week, and then there is the house remodeling, not to mention having time to make dinner/spend time with the husband. I just made myself tired typing this list.
But honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m extremely happy (even if I’m sort of exhausted lately) and I enjoy having lots of projects to work on. I’m not one who enjoys “being bored”.
Boomerang
So that being said – yesterday I just didn’t have to energy to ride. I feel kind of bad about it actually – considering I have another competition coming up in 2 weeks and Minnow is set to perform again in a week. Ah – I need to get on the ball again!
Anyway, so instead yesterday, I enjoyed some time with my favorite Chincoteague Ponies. I discovered an apple tree in the back yard of my new house – and of course any loving horse owner like myself would bag up as many as they could carry and bring them to the barn for their horses. My ponies better love me after that.
Blitz
So there you have it….a very rare lazy summer day for me and the trick ponies (and the dachshund too).
The Bronco takes to the Open Land
The Dachshund and I are exhausted after a long day
So my weekend was filled with heavy lifting due to moving all of my personal belongings into my new house. Lets hope I never have to do that again. I can’t name a muscle that isn’t sore right now. And while we are officially moved into our first home – we’re still sleeping on a mattress on the floor and living out of boxes in the basement. Hopefully this is only temporary as we plan to finish our hardwood floors in the next 2 weeks. The dachshund is utterly thrilled that we are sleeping on his level. He has been using our mattress as a wrestling ring with my parent’s dog, Trooper.
And while things are finally starting to settle down in regards to home life – I was actually able to get my first ride in over a week on Boomerang. On Monday my plan was to go on a nice quiet trail ride with Boomer while my mom rode Blitz. Now Blitz has turned into an exception trail horse (we all fight over who gets to ride him). He goes the pace you want, doesn’t try to grab grass, and is relatively non-spooky. Thanks to clicker training him to “touch the goblins”. Boomer on the other hand isn’t the dream trail horse. At 6 years old I think he still has a lot of growing up and maturing to do, I’ve been told that Chincoteague Ponies actually mature later than most horses. I’m hoping this is the case for Boomer anyway.
I’ve never been big on trail riding – mostly because I love to “fine tune” my skills in the ring. My mom loves to – so I mostly go for her sake and for my horses mind. They can’t be expected to do ring work all of the time. So that being said – lately Boomer has been making me despise it even more. When trail riding him, I admit he tends to push my buttons – my normal calm level headed personality gets pushed to the breaking point a bit. Let me explain.
Boomer the bronco
Usually our trail rides start off with a bit of stop and go. Boomer puts on the breaks and refuses to move his feet. He doesn’t call back to the barn or act frantic about leaving home – he’s very calm about the whole thing. He just doesn’t want to do it. So we have a little battle – me asking him to go forward, him refusing (until we get the clicker dialogue going). Finally I get him moving and now he takes off in little spurts. He’ll be walking – then pow- we’re at a gallop and I can’t stop. He does a lot of tossing his head into my lap to evade the bitless bridle as I try to muscle him to a stop (mostly because my whoas and seat position have no effect on him when he’s like this). I finally get him settled and working on a pace I want. When he’s going along at a clam and relaxed walk I click and reward him. Now he starts trying to grab grass. He makes me feel like a little kid sometimes. My stubborn pony darts for grass while I try as hard as I can to pull his head up and keep him moving. And I’m telling you if he gets his head down – no amount of my muscle can get his head back up. I’m tempted to start using grass reins until I can nix this behavior. So now I’m riding with the reins braced in my hands – ready for the moment he tries to make a go for the grass again.
Don't let the innocent face fool you!
Once Boomer realizes his grass attempts are futile – then the bucking starts. Its usually only brought on when we start to move. And I don’t think they are angry bucks, I think they are yippee this is fun bucks. But either way a buck is a buck – and its unwelcome. Now Boomer doesn’t have an ordinary buck. Blitz has an ordinary buck, a little protest with the hop of his back feet – or a tiny jump for joy. No I wish Boomer had a buck like this. Instead I ride a bronco. Looking at him you would never guess that he could jump that high – even from a standstill. And the way he contorts his body – ow, it hurts me just thinking about it. I probably look like a rag doll bouncing around on his back. My mom’s jaw drops everytime she sees him do it.
Yesterday’s buck was exceptionally bad. Somehow Boomer managed to buck while we were crossing a big ditch. It was so powerful that he snapped my neck back (which cracked so loudly I think the neighbors could hear it). Needless to say I can barely turn my head today. I’m lucky he has NEVER (knock on wood) dumped me. I’m not really sure how or why he hasn’t – maybe its my long legs that can easily wrap around his sides. I think if he ever figured out he could dump me I’d be in really big trouble. Lets just hope that day never comes.
So by the end of this horrible trail ride I’m usually fuming (quietly to myself as I’m not one to show too much emotion). The trail rides are supposed to be relaxing and something enjoyable for both of us. Instead they end up being a battle of whits and skill. And I’m really not sure who is wining in the end – but I have a feeling its Boomer. Back at the barn I hose off and take care of my pony – making sure I mention to him that he is not getting rewarded for his bad behavior. After no treat he gets turned out to ponder why no jackpot at the end of the trail ride arrived. Or so I choose to believe….who knows if he understands why he’s not getting his special treat when we are done.
It seems to me as if the clicker and rewards are becoming no match for Boomer’s want for grass. I think all of the issues are revolving around him wanting to eat grass and being frustrated when I don’t allow him to. I’m thinking about trying to reward him with grass (from my pouch and not the ground). I’m not sure where to start with him and this trail riding business – but I do know that something needs to be done about it before I really lose my temper (something that rarely happens to me, especially when dealing with my animals). But we’re all human (or alive for that matter) and sometimes our emotions get the best of his. Boomer gets emotional about wanting grass – I get emotional when he wants that grass. Hopefully we can find a happy medium where neither one of us loses our temper.
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
Hot Dog in a Tent
So during our camping excursion in New Jersey last weekend I had my special little buddy tag along for the adventure. Ammo, my Dachshund, is what I call my “tag along” dog. He’s easy to tote around anywhere and pretty much adapts to any situation. But being 10 months old, Ammo was about to go on his first camping trip. I knew Ammo would be fine with the horses, he LOVES all of the ponies (especially Minnow) and as we take daily trips to the barn he has become quite the farm dog. I still get laughs when people pull up to the farm and see this squaty little dachshund waddle over to say hello instead of the typical lab or jack russell. I have to say I don’t think I’ve seen a dachshund at anyone else’s farm. But infact he is an excellent farm dog. He keeps his distance from the horses (except for his occasionally playdate with Minnow) and when I ride he sits quietly in the barn and out of the way. If I need to tie him up for any reason he stays in his spot without so much as a peep.
So being toted around and tied up while I rode was a non-issue for Ammo. But camping was different. How would he do in a tent, on an air mattress? After I read the Mattress & Sleep Product Reviews – Cosy Sleephttps://cosysleep.co.uk/ advice, Ammo was no longer allowed to sleep on my bed with me – as he likes to be VERY close to the ones he loves and I end up with a dachshund scarf. So for sake of getting my full 8 hours I request that Ammo sleep on his little bed on the couch.
I think Ammo thoroughly enjoyed getting to sleep in the tent with me – this time I had a Dachshund belt – very stylish. But being a small dog who thinks he’s the big guy, with every nightime noise Ammo felt as if he had to protect me. He’d let out these tiny barks and at one point in the night he some how got stuck in between the window screen and the flap that closes it up. (don’t worry I rescued him). So the first night of tent camping was a bit unrestful as I dealt with my guard dog dachshund. But by night #2 Ammo was utterly exhausted from the day’s activities that he pretty much slept all through the night.
Aside from tent camping, Ammo had lots of fun meeting all the fun dogs that came to the event. His favorite playmate is a friend’s Australian Shepherd/Corgi mix puppy named Spencer. Spencer and Ammo could wrestle for hours on end. Ammo even picked up a new girlfriend in the form of a female Jack Russell named Roxie. I think he was sad she couldn’t come home with us.
Ammo curled up at home in a pile of clean laundry
At the end of our adventure Ammo was happy to go home. He had a LONG weekend and was all too thrilled when a pile of clean laundry was waiting for him at home. I can’t wait for our next camping adventure together!
Spills and Thrills
As promised I have some videos to share from our competition this past weekend. So here you go!
The crying hyena in the background is actually my parents australian shepherd/lab mix who is DYING to herd all of the ponies together.
You can’t quite tell from these videos, but both my mom and I are riding Blitz and Boomer with our clickers. After each race, as long as our ponies didn’t buck or do anything unrequested, then they received a click and a reward after the race. It has added benefits in that the horses are right there to put on the brakes after they cross the line (which is helpful if there is a missed handoff that has to be grabbed quickly). It also helps in getting the horse to move quicker through the race. Our ponies know that usually at the end of the race they will be getting a reward – so in their minds the faster they go the sooner they will get to that reward.
I forgot to mention yesterday, that my mom actually took a spill off of Blitz during our first session on Saturday. It was mostly an accident, but Blitz began swerving as he was approaching the finish line for a handoff to me – and in doing so he tripped and fell to his knees. My mom naturally went flying and landed on her back. She ended up being fine – and I grabbed the handoff from her and ended up wining the race anyway. I guess it was inevitable – after this time last year Blitz had bucked me off during the first race.
Tomorrow I’ll talk about how my little Dachshund survived his first camping trip!
Weekend Camping Re-cap
I’m back from my mounted games competition in Mullica Hill, NJ. It was a great trip, as I knew it would be, and despite the heat I had a blast camping and hanging out with the ponies all weekend. My team brought home first place in our division with a score of 61 points (second place scored 52 points). I was especially proud of Boomerang, who performed like he had been doing it all of his life. He’s such an easy pony to travel with, infact all of the Chincoteagues are. I look around at some of the wild eyed/crazed ponies that are really upset to be away from home and I’m glad that my boys are so quiet and well behaved. It makes me really appreciate the Chincoteague Pony Breed.
So for today’s post I thought I would share with you some photos from the weekend. And the rest of the week I have videos of the competition, details on how Ammo my dachshund fared on his first camping trip and overnight horse show, and even some training talk as I discuss how I trained while I rode during competition. So be sure to keep checking in the rest of the week!
Chesapeake Boomerang
Ball and Cone Race
Completeing a Flying Dismount
3 Leg Race with my mom and Blitz
