A Spot of Mercy

Wild Winter Ice and Snow

2012-01-25T20:20:00.000-08:00

The last week and a half has been very challenging in WA. First, some pretty crazy snow, and then a whole lot of ice via freezing rain! UGH! Besides that, the snapping tree limbs weighed down with the 1/2" coating of ice were littering the roads and downing power lines. We were out of power from Thursday around noon to Tuesday evening around 6. Needless to say, I was told to stay home from work for three days so I had a lot of time to dink around and catch up on my photography!

This was the Hawthorn tree prior to the major freezing rain:

This is the birch tree before all was said and done:

And this is the hawthorn after... of course Blogger is being silly, so I couldn't possibly put this after the first pic...:

And Chai wanted her time in the spotlight too:Ice on the 'blueberry muffin plant':

Even the baby twisted willow got it:

Love the colors on this Azalea:My poor Ginko held it's own, thank goodness:Mercy has certainly had enough of this- she was going CRAZYYY!!!This is where the electric fence use to be...Even though the ice was so devastating, it sure was pretty:Glad it's gone though! I'll have an update on Mercy soon, just have to get my thoughts together. Gotta figure out what's up with my blog view too- thath white frame cutting right through the middle just won't do! ;)

More Down Time...

2011-12-04T21:57:00.000-08:00

Time for another update, most likely the last one for the year.

Mercy is back in paddock/stall rest with regular hand walking when I'm able to. Again. I took her out to ride the day after my last blog post and found her seriously lame on her left front leg after I tacked her up. No heat, no swelling, no hoof tester sensitivity. I gave her 2 weeks off just in case there was an abscess brewing, but nothing changed. So, I had Dr. Bob out to do a full lameness work up. After blocking her leg, starting with her sole, then her whole foot, then her fetlock, and finally blocking her up to the knee, she was still lame when making tight circles. There was no lameness detected on the straight aways unless her joint was flexed (stressed).

Since the symptoms of this lameness were very similar to her previous right front leg lameness, we decided to shave the leg down any way and check her tendons and ligaments via ultrasound.

And we found nothing. Well, we saw the previous injury in her RF that has healed nicely! But nothing more...

Since we were no closer to a diagnosis after the very thorough exam, I decided to take Mercy back to the track to see Dr. Schneider. Once at the track, it became very clear that the lameness I was seeing and the lameness Dr. Schneider was finding could be two different ailments. This is because after only one low hoof block, he declared Mercy sound, which means the pain was in the hoof.

We took a few radiographs to check her lower leg and Dr. Schneider found some bony changes on the front of her short pastern bone at the coffin joint. He also found a small bone spur at the pastern joint. Although these are unlikely to cause her pain, that was the best he could find that day without doing an MRI. So- back to stall and paddock rest for 60 days (til early January) and recheck with Dr.Bob.

I'm personally not convinced that the bony changes and spur are the issues here, but I don't have anything else to go on. When I compare the new images to the old images (Aug 2010), there really isn't that much change. I guess time will tell... again...

Until then, Mercy certainly keeps herself busy by destroying my lovely Christmas decorations... lol! ;)

A Long Awaited Update

2011-10-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

*sigh* So, since my last post in April I have taken Mercy to 2 Ricky Quinn clinics, the one in April and another one in August. I will admit, I got a lot out of them but I also fell more and more discouraged about my relationship with Mercy. She *technically* does everything I ask of her, but with a nasty expression on her face and there is absolutely no 'try' anymore.

And I know it's me who made her change. I have been really frustrate with how things have gone since I started riding her again (after a 6 months lay-off period for a significant leg injury). She is naughty on the trails, still bucks almost every time I ask her to lope, and is generally uncooperative under saddle. I tried bringing her back slowly, literally starting at the basics again, but something had changed in her. So I tried challenging her by expecting her to at least know where we were before this accident happened. That's where I think I went wrong.

She isn't the same horse. Mentally or physically.

I pushed her too hard, too fast. Even though that is what I thought she needed. Now, even when I am being as light as I possibly can be with her, things quickly escalate out of hand. She tries bolting, bucking, taking the bit away, and generally tries to out think me, even when doing simple stuff like move the hindquarters.

And now winter is here. I can't get home before dark and the trails are soon going to be too slick to do anything more than a walk.

I don't really know what the next step is. I would love to talk lessons from a local trainer, but he is not very willing to do haul-in lessons. And I cannot afford full time board and training.

My plan for now is to try and haul out once or twice a week to a local indoor arena. Because if I don't keep trying nothing will get better. Ever.

Hitting The Trails Once Again, With a Twist!

2011-04-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

We rode bareback!!! LOL! Boy, do I like challenges! ;P

Mercy was still dealing with that weird armpit issue and I decided not to let that set us back completely. Riding bareback in the front pasture if fun, and 'getting something done,' but I wanted to trail ride! So, I grabbed the barrel racing bridle and jumped on for a short ride to the creek. Unfortunately for me, I had forgotten how short the reins are when I ride Mercy. Her neck is so long! Plus she holds her head down and poked out, naturally.... I really had to lean forward and still only use a few fingers to hang on! T'was fun!

We wandered slowly along the creeks bank and finally stopped for a few pictures. Mercy swore she could see some thing that she insisted on inspecting on the other side, but we stayed the course instead...

...Which really out someone into an argumentative mood! LOL!

We started home and all was going well until we got to the part of the trail that I am positive a herd of elk bed in. Both Starlett and Mercy always get really uneasy going through there and walk as fast as the can to get out. And of course me being bareback seemed to really set Mercy off. She just wanted to barge through the bit and trot through the area. Uh, no. That's obviously not ok.... so I guided Mercy back to a walk and we walked through the area a few times, back and forth, back and forth, until Mercy began to let up her guard.

Once we were back on our way home, Mercy once again picked up a trot, which was easy to correct, but it still irritates me. So guess what!? Mercy got to work her butt off doing rollbacks, serpentines, leg yields, haunches in, shoulders in, and sidepasses, all while going up and down the same track of trail, until she calmed down and walked out content.

I swear, once I get the saddle back on her, we are going to have one very long trail ride until she figures out we are NOT going back to the barn until she is smooth and responsive. I need to pick a nice day to do that. I need it to be a good experience!

Then, just the other day, we let the girls out into the big pasture for their first big romp in months. And guess what? nothing happened! I thought Mercy would have exploded with the freedom, but nope!

Oh well! LOL! This weekend is the Ricky Quinn Jr. Clinic in Buckley, WA. We are going to be busy for sure!

More Slight Set Backs

2011-04-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Figures. I get the all clear to start riding again and something else comes up to slow us down. Mercy's allergies have come on fast and furious (and really early) this year. She is itching all over and basically mutilating herself. About two weeks ago she was chewing herself so bad that she literally skinned herself. I came out to feed dinner and found her left armpit swollen, painful, and gooey.

I haltered her up and washed the area well with Betadine. She was ouchy, so I took my time and really got into the folds of swollen skin to make sure everything was clean and dry. When I checked her the next morning her armpit was still swollen and sensitive, but not as gooey or raw looking.

She slowly started improving over the next few days and now the area is just flaky from where the scabs had fallen off. Weird. Needless to say, I couldn't saddle her up with that injury so close to the where the girth would go, so I have ridden her almost daily bareback! I cannot believe how much I miss riding bareback! I have really enjoyed refining my balance and being more connected with Mercy. She can easily feel my shifts in weight and readily backs circles now. All of that leather is apparently getting in the way! LOL! We are getting more done now in our short 30 minute rides than when I saddle up and work for an hour.

Last night I was trying to re-learn how to feel when Mercy's feet leave the ground. Being able to call out when each individual foot leaves the ground is quite a skill, and since we will be heading out next Friday for another fun weekend with Ricky Quinn Jr., we need to refine our skills and re-establish those that have been lost due to injuries and time off. Mercy's injury really threw us off on our 'goal's list,' but that's the way it goes. Time to play catch up! ;P

Believe It or not, but Spring is HERE!!!

2011-04-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

The Hellebore I bought last year is in full bloom right now and might I say, what a beauty!!! I love it! Every flower is a slightly different shade of pinky-purple with random hints of lime green. The cats are doing good too! Chai has momentarily (voluntarily) taken up residence in Cuda's crate...

...and Tiki is posing for all to see!... No, really she is just getting positioned to watch the swallows better. They're back! ;D

Mercy got to ride in style to her recheck ultrasound with Dr. Schneider on Thursday. This is "Meaty," my new 2005 Ford F250! I purchased this beauty a little over a month ago, but needed to have some work done on it first before it assumed the position of "Official Hauling Vehicle." It hauls like a dream and all of the special features inside doesn't hurt either!

Mercy got a clean bill of health at our visit and Dr. Schneider said saddle up and ride! Her tendon is healed as good as it will ever get, so he said to start more trot work and add in some loping too! Well, we didn't waste time doing just that:

Someone is tired of waiting

The trails haven't changed much

It's really hard not loping up hills like we use to...

Yup, the grass tastes the same! Om Nom Nom!

The Lake is really high! The 'shoreline' is completely submerged

The creek is showing off it's white water and strong current

The ride went well considering there are a lot of new trees down. Luckily they are low enough that I can ask her to simply step over them instead of launching over them (like we usually do, heehee!). She did get a little squirrely at one spot near the lake where we usually blast up a rocky hill to the top. She was getting jiggy and kept pulling on the bit, so to work we went. Circles, serpentines, backing circles, and spins quickly knocked the jig right out of her, and once we could easily stand still on a loose rein, we headed back home the way we came.

Here is a clip from the lake. Mercy never ceases to amaze me with her pawing power! I never make it home with dry legs or boots! Even Star gets into the act! Enjoy!

Oh, by the way, the Ricky Quinn Clinic is ON for us! We will be there and hopefully we will be in the bosal! ;P

Mercy, Cuda, Chai, and Starlett Update!

2011-03-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

Mercy is doing good. The mysterious swelling in her right hind pastern is now gone. She just finished another loading series of Adequan and got all of her vaccines updated! All I am waiting for now is the all clear to start riding from Dr. Schneider, but until I can get an appointment with him I wait and continue to hand walk Mercy when I can...

Cuda is now spayed, microchipped, and vaccinated! We are still going through some interesting and difficult issue with housebreaking, but it is certainly better than the first week she was home. She goes to work with me Monday through Wednesday and gets lots of walks! Tough life for a little poo dog!

Chai, my Norwegian Forest cat did something to her right front leg when she was outside last Tuesday. She came into the house right after I got home from work and she was non-weight bearing on that leg and literally ROLLING in pain. We rushed her up to her regular vet and they ended up putting her on some antibiotics and steroids. We are also giving her a half a baby aspirin every 3 days, just in case this is a heart related condition, as the vet expects. She is responding well, but we still would like to to a cardiac work up on her, just so we know if something more serious is going on.

Starlett not only got her teeth done, she also had her stomach scoped for ulcers! She is has always been a classic cranky mare, but more recently cinching her up has become a more painful ordeal for her. Luckily for her and us, she is clean! No ulcers! She also had her vaccines updated and is good to go until fall!

BTW, the swallows have returned! Spring really is on the way! ;)

Quick Update

2011-02-17T20:17:00.000-08:00

The last month has been crazy here! I started a new part-time job with crazy hours, I got a new dog, and Mercy has a new, slightly mysterious injury.
.
First off, meet Cuda! She is a 10 month old Shiba Inu cross.
.
She has really kept us on our toes! Cuda is a very busy, high energy dog. On one of our recent hikes out on the trails we stopped by the mountain bikers obstacle we so proudly named 'Shark.' She really like it!
.
And then of course she had to meet the horses. Star could really care less about her, but Mercy really wanted to see her!
.

Both were very friendly and respectful to each other. Cuda and the cats, however, did not get along at all at first. Cuda has now learned how to 'leave it' and pretty much ignores them now. The cats still don't really like her, but they will touch noses briefly before taking their leave. *sigh* It is just going to take some time.

And Mercy. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. Her left hind pastern has been swollen for a little over a week now. I waited 5 days before having the vet out to take a look, hoping it was just an abscess and it would work it's way out. Unfortunately, the swelling never really went away and an abscess never blew. She was not limping, wasn't painful to palpate, and had no noticeable digital pulse or heat. When the vet stopped by to check her out, she was acting very bad. She was trying to kick her hoof away from him and was generally unruly for us. We ended up getting the hoof testers out and putting her in a stall to confine her. She reacted once to one particular spot, but then we couldn't get her to react again, no matter how much we poked and prodded.

We untimely decided she must have kicked a stall wall or something hard and bruised her heel bulb. Her tendons and tendon sheaths palpated normal and we couldn't figure out where an abscess would be brewing, if there was one. Instead of hot soaking her hoof, as you would do for a hoof abscess, we decided to cold hose her fetlock and pastern. We'll see if we are right soon. I hope. Until then, no riding. *sigh*

As Time Advances

2011-01-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

I have ridden Mercy four times now since the last time I blogged! We are really moving now that Mercy has shoes on! I rode last Saturday for approximately 8 minutes. It was an easy up and down the road once or twice at a walk and then jump off and we're done.
.
I got home early from work on Tuesday and once again we just walked up and down the road first, sprinkled in a few trot sessions before saddling up. Mercy was feeling a little more 'up' today and kept trying to break into a trot once I was settled and going down the road. Star was not being cooperative in staying out of my way as I was ponying her, so I ended up only riding for maybe 5 minutes and then headed back to the house. There, Mercy and I had the time to work on bending and flexing, and to reconnect my leg to her hind and front quarters. Then, we were done for the day.
.
After that last ride, which wasn't horrible by any means, but just not what I wanted to build on, I decided to take a step back and work on complete basics at the house in the front pasture. I had planned on riding for 10 minutes, but it ended up being more like 6. And that's because she was doing so well that I decided to end our 'lessons' then and there! When i asked for the hind, she gave me the hind. When I asked for the front, she gave me the front. When I asked her to back, she backed like a pro. And when I asked her to sidepass, she flawlessly maneuvered to the left and right! I was so happy and proud of her effort, I tore the saddle off right there in the middle of the pasture. I hope we can grow on that!
.
And then yesterday, my mom and I went for a short ride on the flat, easy trails out back. After grooming the girls up, we took them for their walks up and down the road first to make sure everyone was loosened up and ready to ride out! We quickly saddled up and then walked the horses out to the back gate.
.
My mom jumped up on Star, but I decided to stay on the ground with Mercy because to get to these trails we have to go up and then down a slightly rocky hill. I can't afford to let Mercy get hurt again, not now that we are almost back to full-on riding again! So, I walked her, slowly, through that part of the trail and then jumped up. She didn't take any time in noticing what had changed on the trails since the last time we were out there... 3 months ago! First of all, she noticed that our 'No Trespassing' sign had fallen down and was now leaning against the truck of the tree from which it had fallen. Then she noticed the trash just a little ways up. When she saw the tree that was leaning over the trail precariously, she slowed her walk for a minute to look at it, but then continued on.
.
She did stride out rather slow, until we turned around a few minutes later... Once she figured out we were heading home, she was doing her typical appy blast-off! She was walking so fast! I had to take hold of her and slow her down, but I couldn't release that pressure, for if I did she was off again. She was walking, not trotting, so that was great, but it was too fast and she wasn't watching where she was putting her feet anymore.
.
I know this isn't ideal but I ended up getting off and walking her home. I just can't take that risk. But that will be the first thing I work on when I get the all clear to ride her hard again. Barn sourness.... I won't allow it to get worse! ;)

Riding Into The... Rain?

2011-01-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday Mercy and I went for our first real ride in over 2 months! First, we stretched and loosened up our muscles by doing our normal walk and trot routine up and down the road. This time, however, we didn't do that for a half hour like normal. We just did about 15 minutes. On our last pass by the house we spotted three deer in the front yard ruminating! They were curiously watching as we walked up and down the street and eventually made our way back to the house to saddle up! I took my time saddling Mercy up. I knew she wouldn't forget what it was all about, but I also wanted to make sure she hadn't developed any new "sensitive" spots. I slowly cinched her up and walked her around. She could have cared less. She knew what we were up to and she was excited! In fact, she was trying to walk into the house in order to grab the bit out of my hands! LOL! She had her mouth as far open as it could go to grab the bit!

I finished tightening her cinch, walked her around one last time, and then asked her to side up to the wall of our driveway so i could get on easier. Once again, I didn't even have to ask, really! She just moved her hindquarters towards me so I could just throw a leg over!

Our ride up and down the flat, even road was short, but sweet. Mercy rode like we had not missed a day of riding ever! When I asked her to stop, she planted her butt into the ground. When I asked her to move out, she lengthened her stride. When I used my seat and legs to change direction or speed, she responded without me having to pick up the reins. When I did pick up my reins, she guided easily.

Those 5 minutes were the shortest 5 minutes of my life. We made one pass down the road and the ride was over. :'(
.

Our rides will progressively get longer from this point on. Right now i am to ride only 5 minutes a day for a week, and then slowly increase the time. And this is at a walk only. After a month or so, I can slowly add in some trot work. At that point I will get her re-evaluated by Dr. Schneider and hopefully return to trail riding and reining! *sigh* ;)

(Excuse us! We would like our granola bars now!!!)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-12T21:37:00.000-08:00

Up Above The Ground Once More!

2011-01-09T10:59:00.001-08:00

The New Year started out cold and bright at our place. The ground was super frozen and we had a decent dusting of snow that seemed to have no problem sticking around for a while.

Mercy was doing a good job handling the frozen ground with her barefeet for a while, but after a day or two I could tell she was really hurting. She wouldn't leave her stall or the covered, matted aisle way if she could help it. And if she did venture out, it was super slow and she gimped around the whole way to and from where ever it was that she was going. So she got to try on Starlett's old Easyboot Epics:

They fit quite nicely actually! It took a while for her to get use to the gaitors holding onto her pasterns, but it made getting around much easier for her once she figured it out! They were working so well for her, in fact, that we used them for our daily hand walks. She was striding out like I haven't seen her do in such a long time.

Yup, it's time to put her shoes back on. The farrier is coming out on Tuesday, so she will have front shoes back on in no time. That will make riding much easier now that I have the all clear to start riding her again! I can start at 5 minutes a day, just walking, and gradually increase to 30 minutes a day. At that point I can start to add a little jogging, but that is still a ways off.

Before I got this good news from the vet, my mom and I snuck in a quick bareback ride New Year's Day. It was a super short ride and the horses really enjoyed the freedom to move out faster than we wanted to walk when we had them in-hand.

Star took the lead for a while, at least until Mercy was done gawking...

Once Mercy had the horizon in sight, she tried multiple times to break into a jog. It was so hard not to let her go, but she needs to stay slow for now.

It was so much fun for everyone to get out and move out. I missed the view from above! Luckily, I don't have to stay down much longer.

If the rain and snow can hold off today, we have a real saddled-up ride planned. 20 minutes hand walking and 5 minutes in the saddle. Should be fun!

Looking Forward

2010-12-30T20:16:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update! Mercy is still on stall and paddock rest, however, I have introduced trotting into our semi-daily walks! She enjoys getting out and moving out, lol! Her barefoot hooves have finally started to harden up and she is striding out much more fluidly now. She will still land wrong on a rock or soft spot in the gravel road and act ouchy, but it doesn't slow her down any.

A few days ago, before the recent snow hit the ground, I was driving home and saw my mom riding Starlett and ponying Mercy for their daily walks. I just couldn't resist not joining in! I quickly parked my car and jumped on Mercy bareback! ARGH! Am I crazy or what!? It was super windy, Mercy only had a halter and lead rope on, and I haven't ridden her for over two months! And I jumped on without a saddle!

Well, she was excited to be free of Starlett! She was walking out so fast; it was quite exciting to really let her go. I was just along for the ride. This was her walk.

Today will be 4 months since the accident that caused her lameness and injury. I will be able to start riding her soon and hopefully before spring I will be able to hit the trails once again!

I really can't wait!

;)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

Lasers all Around Us!!!!

2010-12-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on Miss Cedes. She is actually doing quite well on her stall and paddock rest. She happy enough being fed plenty of high fiber local hay to keep her busy and she is really enjoying her walks around the neighborhood, by hand, for some exercise and mental stimulation. We are walking 30 minutes a day MAX. and only when I get home from work and it's not raining/snowing/blowing sideways, or when my mom is working from home and can help me out a bit so I don't have to walk the girls in the dark. Of course on the weekend she is walked both days too!

On days when I can't get her out for a walk, I make sure to spend a little extra time with her out at the barn before dinner. I might take some extra time on her feet and apply some Keratex Hoof Hardener to her toes and sole (We pulled Mercy's shoes November 17th and she's a little ouchie- obviously) or ask her to move a hoof here or there in order to maintain our light feel and accuracy skills. Anything to make her think or feel challenged. It really does keep her happy!

In this picture you can see her shoeless hooves and if you look at the top of her legs you can see where she was shaved down for the ultrasound, lol!

.
Starlett enjoys our walks too. I think that she feels like she has a purpose: She is watching out for Mercy. Star takes her job seriously, but she also really likes the exercise too. Her arthritic knees seem less painful and more fluid in motion since we started these more routine walks.

Mercy, on the other hand, mainly sees these walks as an excuse to eat grass... it's pretty much a battle from start to finish to just 'keep walkin.'

Here she is eyeing a delicious fern... ewww.

back when we had all of that snow, our walks became even more non-existent because of all of the ice underneath the snow. the last thing I needed to happen to Mercy was to have her fall down after hitting a slick spot. Most of the snow did eventually melt off, except for some stubborn patches, which immediately froze again each night. We did venture forth on our walks again once most of it was gone, but Mercy was still able to not only find some slick, slushy spot, but also made sure to walk on them and freak me out!

Yesterday Dr. Bob stopped out to start laser therapy on Mercy's leg. It's an exciting new procedure in which we run a medical laser up and down the injured leg, right above and below her knee, for three days straight and then twice a week for two weeks. This should expedite the healing process by exciting the cells of the tendon, which will speed up repair of the tendon fibers! today was day two and Mercy seems to really enjoy the therapeutic heat the laser gives off! I am REALLY excited to see how she feels after the final laser treatment. Anything I can do to help her heal more quickly will help us both be able to fly again sooner!

Snow Day!!!!

2010-11-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

It snowed hard enough earlier this week that after making it in for only a few hours on Monday, I was told not to come into work for the rest of the week. YAY! I drive a 1995 Ford Mustang... not the best snow vehicle, but we managed for 4 years in Pullman, so we know how to handle it well enough if we have too.

With so much time on my hands, I really didn't know what to do first! I decided that Mercy really needed to get out for a walk. It was really icy on the road, so I didn't want to walk her there. And, I can't take her on the trails, which would have been too icy too. So, I led both of the girls over to my neighbor's pasture for a little walk-about.

I let Starlett loose so she could dink around on her own, but Mercy needs to be kept under control. A controlled walk. Period.

Here's how it went.... :

"OMG! What is that!?!?!?" *snort*
"Can I stare it down?! Maybe? No, no I don't think it's working! What is it?!"

"Maybe I could just get close enough to touch it!?"

"Oh.... ok.... it's just nommy snow on a branch!"

"What?... It WAS going to get me! I have no doubt! Seriously!"

*Rolls Eyes*

After all of that craziness, she decided that tree snow wasn't that good after all. She decided that real grass was! Mercy actually had a lot of fun digging out the snow to get to the grass. She tunneled around for a while, looking for the longest, tastiest grass.

Soon Starlett wandered over and started digging for grass too. She didn't want to be left out of the fun!

Both girls rolled in the snow while we were wandering around. Mercy got concerned, because of the lead rope attached to her halter, and decided to get up rather quickly. Star, however, really dug in and enjoyed her roll!

After they had had some fun, I put them away and went for a walk out back. I can't ride Mercy, and we don't ride Star when it's icy because of her likeliness to fall, but that doesn't mean I can't go out an enjoy the snow scenery!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

;)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-24T16:20:00.001-08:00

All Strung Out

2010-11-22T15:15:00.000-08:00

Lame, lame, lame. Mercy is still lame. It is ever so slight, but she is lame.
.
And I needed to know why.
.
That's why she was trailered down to Emerald Downs to visit Dr. Schneider. She loaded like a pro and we were on the road extra early. I had been to Emerald Downs many times, but only for the races, not to get a horse looked at and I wanted to make sure I got there in plenty of time. The drive was uneventful and we pulled in a good 30-40 minutes before my appointment.
.
I climbed out of the truck once we pulled into the parking area and I went into the building to check us in. Of course, I got lost. Kinda. I couldn't find any sort of 'check-in' room or desk, and of course who sees me all confused?! Dr. Schneider! He helped point me in the right direction and I soon got us checked in. They were running behind, so they asked me to keep Mercy in the trailer until the came out to get us. No problem.
.
I started looking around this end of the property. I could still see the grandstands! Amazing! And the lines and lines of barns were spectacular amoungst the fall colors!
.

Then I went to check in on Mercy. *sigh* Can you see what she did to her eye?
.

She appearantly got a woody piece of hay jammed into her lower eye lid. It swelled up a little and was a little sensitive, but once I got the piece out and wiped the wound clean, it looked much better. Mare... We came for a lameness exam and ultrasound, not for an eye problem! >:(

It was a half hour over my appointment time, which I know happens when horses are involved, and we started hearing a loud noise approaching. Suddenly we could see what was coming. Hundreds, if not thousands, of geese flying over head!!!

They made so many "V's" and lines that it looked like lace! I couldn't believe how long we sat there watching and listening to them pass.

Then, we heard another noise approaching from the other direction- a train! Yay!... :/

The tracks are literally across the street from where we were parked, so it was loud and the vibrations were crazy! Thank goodness Mercy really doesn't care. She could see the containers moving past, so it wasn't such a big deal for her.

We finally were called over shortly thereafter, so I unloaded Mercy and followed the assistant in through the side gate. After another short wait, Dr. Schneider came out to meet us and briefly go over Mercy's history. He had his assistant take Mercy through a whole range of lameness exams. They manipulated her tendons and joints, did a hoof test, flexion tests, trotted her up and down the road over and over while Dr. Schneider watched from the side and behind. He concluded that she was slightly off on the right front, just as I thought. He couldn't, however, tell where she was hurting. He had poked and prodded her tendons, ligaments, and joints and got no reaction what so ever.

Here are the options he gave me:

1) Do nothing more but take her back home and continue stall rest for a few more months

2) Block her leg starting from the ground up

3) Ultrasound the leg to look for soft tissue damage

I brought Mercy all that way knowing we were going to be doing an ultrasound, so that's what we did. Another assistant asked me to move Mercy closer to the building where Mercy got her legs shaved down along the back of the leg. She was quite uncooperative for that part. Another horse had just been taken out and she wanted to follow. It took a while to get her head back to what was going on here and what was expected of her. Then Dr. Schneider came over with a light sedative. She needed to be very still for the ultrasound to come out correctly.

After she started to relax and droop her lower lip a little, his assistant had me maneuver Mercy into the building and onto a stall mat, where he applied gel to the back of her leg and called over Dr. Schneider. I was still holding Mercy while he looked at her tendons and had a quick look at things. I had one of his assistants come over and hold Mercy (like anyone needed to do that lol!) while I moved over to watch the ultrasound screen. As soon as I got a good view, Dr. Schneider exclaimed he knew what was going on!

In the area that I had showed him during the lameness exam where the immediate swelling occur ed after the fall, behind and directly below the knee, had a massive tear. Her superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) had a spotting look to it, showing where the muscle fibers were no longer whole. He compared it to the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) which is located right next to it for me to get a visual. The DDFT was pure white, showing the solid and complete muscle fibers. It isn't a bow, but *simply* a tear.

The image was amazing to see and became even more incredible as he slowly moved the ultrasound head further down the leg. As he slowly moved the head down the ligament, away from the knee, you could see the muscle fibers becoming more normal- indicating a high tear. he also took a quick look at her left front leg to compare too. I wish I had asked him for copies of those images. Maybe when I see him for a recheck in the future...

Dr. Schneider gave Mercy a good prognosis: a 70% chance of healing and returning to work without further injury. Dr. DeWard, my regular equine vet, says this is pretty conservative. It's most likely more like 80-90%, but only time will tell.

Mercy's rehabilitation began the day she was injured. She was on stall and paddock rest for weeks, iced and cold hosed daily (if not multiple times a day) for the first week, and slowly introduced back to walk/trot trail rides. But she was still lame- so she was on and off stall resting until we saw Dr. Schneider almost 2 months from the day of the injury.

Since we have already started the rehab program, Dr. Schneider recommended we customize his rehab program to fit what we have already done. He agreed that stall rest at this point was, well, pointless. She has a small stall and a 30'x45' paddock that she lives in, unless she is healthy and turned out to pasture for a few hours a day and being ridden. He thought the paddock was a little big, he would prefer a 30'x30' area, but I fear that making it smaller will actually make Mercy more hyper. Dr. DeWard agreed, as long as she doesn't get running around.

Additionally, we are hand walking for up to 30 minutes a day. I try to get 20 minutes a day, but the weather is not cooperating, nor is my work schedule. I just do what I can. Dr. DeWard also asked me to gently stretch her leg out, as far as it would comfortably go, once a day. This is to apply a little stress to the leg so that as it heals it doesn't bind up. It should still be flexible and maintain a range of motion. I definitely have to be careful when I do that. She is much more sore and stiff on that leg than on her left front. In about another month or so, I should be able to start jogging her a few minutes a day, and slowly increase the time up to 20 minutes a day. That's the point at which I will be looking for some boarding. There is no where for me to safely trot her at my home. I need somewhere that is indoors, flat, and soft.

After two or so months after we start jogging, we can then begin riding at a walk and trot. I still will not be able to trail ride what so ever... That's where that boarding facility is going to be most sweet! If she is sound at six months, I can begin riding her as usual, slowly building up to her previous athletic abilities. Dr. Schneider asked that I bring her back at six months out to perform another ultrasound to recheck the progress. I can't wait!

Now We Know

2010-11-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

Mercy tore her superficial digital flexor tendon right below her right knee. That is the official verdict from Dr. Schneider, who performed an ultrasound on Mercy's leg at Emerald Downs this past Thursday. He performed a full lameness exam and then completed the ultrasound, which ultimately proved our suspicions. Mercy has had two months of on and off stall/paddock rest already, with some light riding, so we are to continue that, without the riding, for another 2-3 months. We can slowly introduce hand walking into the mix once that is done and then haul down for a recheck ultrasound to make sure things are healing up.

I should get the official report from Dr. Schneider soon, at which time I will write up a much more interesting and in depth post. Just needed to get something up.

A (Kinda) Lazy Ride Along the River

2010-10-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

I have been babying Mercy along for a while now since her injury in August. Taking it slow when I ride at home and no sudden maneuvers or speed. Ever. A couple of weekends ago I just couldn't take it any more! It was pretty wet out, but there was a break in the system so my mom and I loaded up the girls and headed out for some trails less traveled- by us at least, lol! I drove us over to the Cedar River Trail System, a great public trail that is straight and flat. Perfect for us to slowly make our way back into riding shape!

When we arrived at the parking area there were only 2 or 3 other cars there, so we had plenty of room to park. We saddled up quickly and headed out into the heavy mist.

The trail was covered in fall leaves and the ditches were full of water. I only wanted to ride for about 45 minutes total, so we didn't meet many people along the way. The only couple we came across had a very scary umbrella, apparently... Mercy got over it quickly considering she hasn't been "out" for a long time and was pretty on edge.

She was also quite concerned with a house that is very close to the trail. She really wanted to go see it once we passed though, so it really couldn't have been that bad... silly horse.

Before we hit the first bridge we turned around. Once we did Mercy decided it was really time to head back, NOW, so she walked as fast as she could! LOL! It was hilarious, she was gliding along- I am pretty sure that is what they call the Indian shuffle, but I don't really know. Anyway, she was feeling good and I couldn't detect and lameness!

The rest of the trail ride was very pretty and very uneventful! Thank goodness! We were gone for about an hour and the weather held out for us. I couldn't wait to ride her in about another week in an indoor area where i could really judge how she was recovering. ;)

Injury Update

2010-10-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I had Dr. Bob out again to recheck Mercy's lameness. It was dark by the time he got out to our place, so we were pretty limited on what we could ask Mercy to do. He started out by palpating her legs, where he couldn't really find anything- no heat or soreness. Then, he asked me to trot Mercy in large circles both directions, where we discovered that she is now favoring her left front leg ever so slightly... He watched her for quite a while trot in circles, then asked to see her move in a straight line. Even thought it was dark out, the barn light hitting her shiny white hooves was just enough for him to be able to evaluate her movement.

Dr. Bob had suggested ultra sounding her leg when she was first injured, but he now thinks it is better if I take her over to Emerald Downs to be seen by Dr. Schneider. He has more high tech equipment that would more likely find the problem. She could have a bone bruise or a super small tear in her suspensery ligament, but either way I have got to get this figured out! It has been over a month of stall/paddock rest and even though she has improved, it is still not gone. And we don't know what "it" is!

I have been able to ride her bareback in the pasture a couple times during the week. She has really lost a lot of muscle along her back and shoulders. Dang. Oh well, it's almost winter anyway.

Looking for Improvement

2010-09-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

It's been three weeks since Mercy got hurt after being chased down by Starlett. The swelling in her leg is most likely gone, but every now and then I think I can still feel some there. She has been trotting sound in straight lines, but ask her for any lateral maneuvers and she gets a slight head bob going. This past week I was directed to try riding her at a walk for up to 20 minutes. I got a few rides in, but we mostly just moved from grass patch to grass patch. I am going to have the vet out again this coming week to see if we can pinpoint the location that is causing the most problems for her and to discuss some possible rehab options.

Until then, we are trying to stay out of the rain and trying to stay positive.

Decision Time

2010-09-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

August 15th had arrived. Actually, I had forgotten about this show until 2 or 3 days before it was scheduled! I missed the pre-registration deadline so I had to just show up a little early and register at the show. The show started at 7Am... they pushed the start time up because at their last show they had so many participants that it didn't end until 9PM!
.
I actually almost decided not to go. The weather was suppose to be near 100* that day and the venue, Bridle Trails State Park, was located close to 2 hours north of us. This meant we needed to leave by 4:30AM at the latest to make it there in time to pre-register and have time for warm up. Plus, we had never been to this facility! We wanted extra time, just in case. I also hadn't practiced reining at all since our last reining show last May!!! Between work, injuries, truck issues, and the lack of a decent arena, we hadn't done much other than spins in the pasture.
.
Anyway, I decided to go. This was the show that would decide if Mercy and I were going to continue reining. If she was absolutely not going to have any of it, and if it was no longer fun for me, then I would never ask her to do it again. I decided that this show was going to be the one to decided it all the day our vet came out and did the x-rays. Reining is hard on horses, both beautifully conformed and not, and if Mercy was ouchy or not having fun like I did, then I was not going to push it ever again. She could just trail ride.
.
Luckily, Mercy loaded right up and we were on the road on time. We were worried about parking because it has always been said that that facility had little of it. In fact, the reining club had parking attendants there at 6AM to make sure every one's rig fit. We had no problem finding BT and there was plenty of parking, at least at that time in the morning.
.
I jumped out and quickly unloaded Mercy while my mom headed over to the show office to turn in my papers and check. I didn't bathe Mercy the night before (again) because she sleeps in sawdust, which sticks to her no matter what. So why? I groomed her really good, tacked up, and headed over to the warm up pen to get a closer look at the grounds.
.
After walking through the trail that leads from the parking area to the riding arenas, I saw that there were actually three arenas. There were two warm up arenas and the main arena. I climbed aboard Mercy and headed into the warm up arena attached to the main arena. I took my time asking her to bend and flex, maintaining a calm mind and attitude. After trotting a few circles of various sizes, I noticed that the main arena was open to the riders to warm up. Bonus!

We were able to carry that light feel into the arena even though giant umbrellas, banners, and announcers systems were all going up and causing lots of distraction. Mercy was easily able to pick up her leads and not once did she threaten to buck. That nice calm warm up really does prepare Mercy to lope off smooth and easy.

We loped to the left for a while and then switched to the right. We completed maybe 2 full circles and then all of a sudden there must have been 20+ riders in the arena! I am so glad to have a horses that can be loping circles in one direction and not even blink an eye when someone loping in the other direction basically rubs stirrups with us as we pass each other. We switched to the left one more time to check out our lead changes and then took a break in the center of that circle. I spun Mercy each way a few times once she aired up and then guided Mercy out of the arena. It was almost time to show and I need to change clothes still! Mercy was sporting her new red and tan zig-zag saddle pad:

They packed in the trailers like sardines, but no one had an issue with it. I just tied Mercy up to the end of the trailer so she had plenty of room to maneuver, if necessary.

The show started at 8AM sharp. And it was already almost 80*. We were draw 4 in our first class- Beginner A. I didn't practice much before the class. I wanted to take this class slow and just use it as a schooling class, taking it seriously but if she needed to spook at something or act up then it was fine to break pattern to fix it while it wasn't a real pattern. Here's how it the modified pattern went:

Left spins : -1/2

Right spins: -1/2

Left circles: -1/2

Lead change: 0 and penalty: -1

Right circles: 0

Stop: -1/2

Back: -1/2

Our score was a 67.5! She did great actually. We had no reason to break pattern so I made the effort to improve upon certain maneuvers throughout the run. I wanted to make our large, fast circles just that. Large and fast. Same with our small, slows. Mercy was actually pretty lazy and getting her to move out was a challenge. We got the penalty on the lead change because she didn't change. I had a hard time getting her to trot and try the lead again, so by the time we got the correct lead we were already almost all the way around the first circle...

Anyway, we ended up tying for 3rd out of 7 exhibitors! What a great start! We headed back to the trailers to get some water and take a break. Our next class was more than an hour away. I tied Mercy up, gave her the last of her hay, and headed back to the arena to go watch the other exhibitors. On my way there I took some pictures of the grounds. Here's leaving the parking area to the arenas, the log you have to cross, and the trail:

Here's the first warm up arena looking out to the main arena, grand stand, and club house:

To the left is the other arena we used for warm up and some used for lunging:

Here's the seating area and club house:

After taking a few pictures of the other riders, I headed back to the trailer. The morning light was still low and glowing, so I snapped a pic or two of our saddle. It seems way to simple, but I love it:

Since our first class went to well, I made the mistake of not taking the time to warm Mercy up for our second class- Beginner B. I honestly thought we would just go into the arena and do our thing the best we could. Well, Mercy had other ideas. Those two or three lope laps around the warm up didn't do much for her. I will let our score speak for itself:
.
Left spins: -1/2

Right spins: -1/2

Right circles: 0 and penalty: 2 1/2

Left circles: 0 and penalty: 4

Left rollback: -1

Right rollback: -1

Stop and back: -1

With a total of 59.5. Ouch. I honestly don't know why I got so many penalty points on our circles, but we did. My mom recorded the whole run and I just don't know enough about the scoring to comment anymore on it. I do know what happened on our rollbacks though! Mercy forgot how to stop! LOL! It didn't help that we were pointed toward the arena gates when we needed to stop, but that's not a good enough excuse. Then, she refused to do a rollback. It was more of a walk in a large circle, then eventually trot into a trot. Argh! Mare! We ended up with 8th place out of 16, so we didn't come in dead last, but it sure felt like it.

So, instead of going back to the trailer for another break, she got to work for her break. The warm up arena not attached to the main arena was empty so we headed over there and worked on our stops and rollbacks. First I just worked on getting her to stop without me having to rip her head off. once she could stop off my voice and seat pressure, we took a short rest in the arena. When I asked her once again to stop after our break, and she did, I added in the rollback. And guess what? She was right with me. We didn't have to work on that very long and she got the hint that we not here to goof around.

By the time we were done in the arena, it was almost time for us to go into our next class- Beg. horse/ Non-pro rider. We were draw 6 and had to quickly do a few practice spins because we were up next. Good thing I wasn't too worried about that maneuver. Here's how we did:

Right spins: -1/2

Left spins: -1 and penalty: 1/2

Left circles: -1/2

Right circles: -1/2 and penalty -6

Right rollback: -1/2

Left rollback: -1/2

Stop and back: -1/2

And another score of 59.5. I still don't know what happened on the right circles to rack up that many penalty points. Some day I will have to show the video to someone who understands this more than I do. Her stops and rollbacks felt amazing though! I was so pleased with her change! I even lost my hat during the run and she could have cared less. Thank goodness!

After grabbing a hot dog for lunch, at 11 AM, we packed up and headed out. One hour south of BT it was over 95*! I am so glad I ride the morning classes! The rest of the riders and workers were real troopers!

So, except for my first class, our scores were not very good compared to our May show. Well, at least there wasn't any improvement in our training. Oh well. I knew that already. Mercy never really acted out at the show, so unless I get absolutely zero riding time this winter and spring, I plan on reining in the future with Mercy. I will keep you updated on her injury progress and future fun!

Another Delay...

2010-09-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

I honestly have no motivation to blog right now because Mercy got hurt two weekends ago, but I thought I would write a quick update. Basically Star attacked Mercy while they were in the pasture and in the process of her trying to get away, Mercy fell. When she got up she was lame on her front right leg. It swelled up pretty good and was obviously painful. It has now been 10 days and she is still on paddock rest, but she is no longer getting bute daily or having to be cold hosed. Those are great signs.

Anyway, I will get around to writing up about the reining show from last month and should have it up this weekend.

I'll keep you updated.

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!

One Goal at a Time

2010-08-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

The title of this post says it all. Focus on one thing at a time to improve upon instead of nitpicking at every little thing. All of the parts will become whole, eventually.
.
This was my motivation while attending the SAFE show with Mercy on August 7th.
.
We headed out alone early in the morning, arriving just in time to get groomed and dresses in preparation for our halter and showmanship classes. My family was up in Alaska, so I had to do things myself, which wasn't hard, but much more time consuming then I remember it ever being. This is what Mercy looked like straight out of the trailer:

It was misting heavily and she didn't get a bath the night before. This show was just a fun, schooling-type fundraiser for the rescue, so I wasn't too concerned about pulling out all of the stops for a few classes. She was actively shedding her summer coat and covered in a very fine dusting of sawdust, which, when mixed with the mist, made grooming very challenging. I curried her for quite some time and just started brushing her out when the first call for the first class was called. I finished grooming her by combing out her tail, soft brushing her coat, and wiping out her nostrils. Even though it wasn't sunny out, she glowed so bright when I was done:

I quickly cleaned up myself, threw on my exhibitor number, grabbed Mercy's show halter, and sprinted to the arena, where my class was checking in and lining up.
.
First up was stock-type halter. I have seen halter lots of times but had never participated. The judge knew this show was for all levels of equestrians so she took her time explaining what was expected of us once the class started. When it was our turn we walked to the judge until she moved out of our way and then trotted straight ahead, turning left around a cone and continuing to the ring steward who instructed us to stand head to tail with the other exhibitors. Mercy decided during our trot that she didn't like the lead chain under her chin and threw her head in the air, even though no pressure was being applied. Shame on me for not putting it over her nose like I always have... I guess I just forgot. Oops.
.
She set up nice and stood still during the line up. The judge looked over everyone once more and then made her placings. This class is based on a horses conformation and movement, both of which Mercy has faults in. I was surprised to hear when our names were called for third place! :)

.
Next was our showmanship 18 and over class. The pattern was not that difficult: when instructed to begin, pick up the trot and weave between some cones, at the last cone break to a walk and circle the cone to the left, when lined up with the judge pick up the trot again and stop in front of the judge, set up for inspection, when excused back up a horse length and execute a 90* haunch turn, walk into line. Sounds like a lot, but really it's pretty basic.
.
I practiced outside of the arena for a while, focusing on the weaving at the trot. When it was time to get started, of course we were placed next to the crazy draft cross that kept rearing and trying to lope out of the arena... Mercy handled it well, however, and eventually the draftX left the arena.
.
It was soon time for us to set up at the start of the pattern. When acknowledged by the judge, I asked Mercy to trot off with me. She was really with me mentally, so it was no big deal there... until we needed to swerve for the cone. *sigh* She landed right on my foot at the peak of our turn. I don't know if she saw something and over stepped or what, but she came flying at me and my foot took the whole impact. I instinctively lifted my right arm to block her from coming further into my space, at which she threw her head and nearly knocked off my hat.
.
My foot was throbbing already and it was killing me to "trot" the rest of the pattern. We rounded the cone at the walk and picked up the trot at a limp. I sure didn't care about a happy face anymore. I just wanted to be done with the pattern so I could get my foot out of my boot before it swelled itself in. Luckily Mercy had the same idea and set up perfectly. When the judge excused us she backed up feather light and pivoted like a pro. I was so glad to just stand in line waiting for everyone else to finish up.
.
But oh no! That wasn't it! The main grounds speaker decided to blow as loud as it could from directly behind us and that's where Mercy had had enough. Someone finally started talking in the speaker, but that didn't calm her any. She didn't dance around or anything, she just wouldn't stand the right way, with her butt away from the judge... When it was all done she was still just not having any of it, and neither was I, so I chained her pretty hard and she quit squirreling around. She was still alert and looking around, but her feet were still.
.
I didn't think we would place at all. The class had over 10 exhibitors and they only placed to 5th. But, then I heard our names called for fourth! I guess that we were just the best of the worst, since most of the people were off pattern or touched their horses during the back or pivot. After picking up our ribbon we slowly made our way back to the trailer. I used Mercy for support and we made it out there just in time to hear the announcement that the riding classes would begin soon. Great...
.
I wasn't sure how my foot would look, or feel, so I took my time getting Mercy saddled. Here's what my boot looked like before I took it off:

My pinky toe was swelling already and turning very interesting shades of blue and purple. It hurt like hell, but I put my boot back on; not much I could do if it's broken.

The following pictures were taken by my friend A. She brought me some Starbucks and some moral support for the rest of the wet morning. My next class was walk/jog western equitation. I didn't have much time to get ready and warm Mercy up, so it was a "whatever" kind of class. Of course Mercy knew this too and for most of the class she had her head looking everywhere and held high. Luckily, A is a great photographer and caught many of the good moments. Plus eq. is based mostly on the rider, not the horse. So as long as I held it together, we should place.
I really like this first picture, and yet, it's so revealingly sad. Both of us are momentarily at ease, just plodding along in the arena. And then you see how she is taking that step with her left front. That right there is why she has bone spurs. With every single step she takes, she places all of the force and weight of her motion on the lateral side of her hoof, and thus her joints. The repetitive strain of those motions are what are crippling her so young. Dang.
.
The judge had us walk and jog both ways, and then line up. I took my time getting to line so I could avoid some of the more *ahem* special horses and their riders...

Guess what?! We won! LOL! I thought we had a good chance of winning, but still. It's always nice to bring home that blue ribbon!

After this class we headed over to the indoor arena to get out of the drizzle and chat. I'm glad they decided to have the show in the outdoor arenas, because Mercy's shows better in them, but with the rain it would have been nice to not worry about your clothes, equiptment, and horse. Right before our walk/jog 18 and over western pleasure class we finished our coffees and headed down to the arena.

Mercy responded better than in the last class to my cues for her to lower her head and round her back. I thought we looked good cause we sure felt good!

Unfortunatly, the judge didn't think so. Both Mercy and I, and another gal and her paint, which were in my opinion, the most pleasurable horses out there, both didn't place. At all. But that's the way horse shows are. Each judge has an opinion and it's not always what the "judging standard" is or what we think is right either.

Before she announced the class placings, the judge explained the reasons for her placings. She said she had a hard time with this class because she would know her placings and then someone would break gait, and she would have to start over again. Then another horse would do something to make her rethink her placings.

I know we didn't break gait. Not even once, so if that was her major consideration while judging, then I don't know what happened. She also mentioned that she was looking at the riders to see how much they were having to cue their horses; claiming that that made for an unpleasureable ride. True. I was having to cue Mercy multiple times throughout the class, but I wasn't constantly pulling or poking her. I don't know what she saw, but I wish she could have talked to each of us. Oh well. Wish they could have posted the judge's comments too, but they didn't. :/

With four classes out of the way, and two more to go, it became time to get serious. My one and only goal for this show was to enter a walk/jog/lope class and survive. I really didn't care if I placed or not. I just didn't want to have a bronc go across the arena and casue trouble for the other riders or handlers. So we headed over to the warm up pen. Good thing we had some time...

As soon as Mercy and I walked into the warm up arena... buck buck buck buck... *deep breath in and out* The Appitude came roaring in with all it's glory! I couldn't get her to walk. As soon as she eralized she was in the arena she just got all flustered and couldn't walk. Not slow, not fast, not in a straight line. Nothing. I let her jog out as long as it didn't get too fast because that's when she wants to break into a lope. And then buck, buck, buck... after a few laps around the very large arena at a jog, she let down and asked to stop. Great! That's just what we did. In the middle and out of everyone's way.

Now with her feeling more comfortable and confident in the arena, I did some bending exercises, making sure I had her hind and front quarters. Then it was time to ask her to lope again. We started to the left, because that is both of our favorite way to go. We are both just so balanced and in sync to the left. It gives her confidence and me a chance to collect my thoughts about my next move with her.

It started out rocky. There were no bucks, but she just wanted to race around. I kept her in a circle, not letting her on the rail, and out of the way of everyone else in the warm up. After a few minutes she relaxed into a nice little lope. She was easy to transition down to a jog and back up to a lope. We circled for a little longer then I let her onto the rail. She did fine. We manuvered between riders and handlers/trainers and found the rail again with little problem.

Coming back down to a jog I went back to the center of the arena to circle, but this time to the right. We started at a jog, striving to be round and fluid. When we got that, I asked her to lope. At the same time, another rider with her paint strung down in draw reins, cut in front of us and we missed the lead. Thankfully Mercy didn't seems phased and we tried again, this time it making it. we loped as big a circle at I could and really tried to hold my balance. Mercy flt really good actually. She was still a little off, not wanting to bring her head into the track we were following, but rather looking out.

Of course, as soon as she get's it, my hat comes flying off. The rain had finally loosened the grips of the hairspray on my head. She held that track until I asked her to stop in front of my hat. A great place to call it quits!

She just really wanted to touch it!

"Hey! Has that always been where you keep that straw contraption?!? I wasn't done with it!"

A and I waited around and watched the other competitors for a little while and then it was "now or never" time for us. Our class, 18 and over walk/jog/lope equitation, was entering the arena. I was so excited that we started to the left, Mercy's good side! We walked one lap around the arena and then the judge asked us to drop our stirrups and pick up the jog! I was a little nervous because Mercy is quite sensitive to pressure on her sides and with my feet out of the stirrups I have to grip a little harder than normal. Bah, no big deal! She just kept jogging her normal speed. After having us pick up our stirrups, the judge asked for the lope. Lucky us we were on a corner and Mercy picked up the lead with no problems! Not only that, she was being quite lazy and I actually had to keep asking her to move out and not break gait!

A lap or two around and the jog was called out. She had us reverse at the jog and we made it only half way around the arena this time before she asked for the lope... after we had passed the corners and Mercy decided to notice something outside the arena. We totally missed the lead. Not only that, I couldn't get her to stop loping. She loped on the wrong lead the entire long side of the fence. We were doomed. I had no doubt. It was a battle to get her to jog, but luckily we were on a corner once she did and she picked up the lope. I continued to show as if nothing happened because that was all I could do really!

And, we won!! I know! No way! The judge didn't see our mistake! The whole length of the arena and she didn't look at us during that time! Score! It's great being able to go to a show and win equitation classes. it means I am doing something right, even if my horse isn't.

Of course all of the spectators saw what happened, and probably most of the exhibitors in that class, so I got some flack from random people I didn't know. Well guess what guys, the judge didn't see it so it didn't happen! That's the other problem with only having one judge, they can't see what's going on 360* around them! Even if she saw the break, I would take a guess and say we still would have won, so what did it matter? It's happened to me too in classes, so whatever. Plus, really. It's just a fun show! ;)

All that was left to do was to go to the trail course. Here's the pattern: walk through the 'L,' back through the 'L' until until you get to the flat board on your left and side pass over the board, pick up the trot and cover the ground poles, break to a walk and weave through the poles, walk over the bridge, go through the gate, carry a cone past a stuffed bear in a chair, walk over a tarp, walk under the 'waterfall', and finish by opening up the mailbox and showing the mail to the judge.

Our trip started out smooth enough. The 'L' was quiite wide, so going in and backing out was no biggy. I wasn't sure about the side pass though. We have sidepassed over the length of many poles, but never sidepassed literally OVER the pole. Well I had little to worry about. Mercy didn't touch it. At all. :)

Jogging over the poles, however, didn't go great. She didn't obliterate the poles, but she wanted to scramble over them once she hit the first pole. I probably should have let her go, but her stride is so long that if I had she would have cleared one and a half at a time. We finally broke to the walk after that was completed and weaved the poles, which were really tight actually.

The bridge was, let's put it nicely, homemade and humble. It was maybe 2 feet wide and a couple feet long. Mercy put one foot on it and jumped the rest. I think that's what she thought she was suppose to do with something that little. I could have left it at that, but I wanted her to do it right, so we circled back and completed the obstical.

The gate, was, well... even more humble. It was a huge heavy steel gate held up with a few 2 by 4's. We opened it with no problem, even though the gate drug on the ground, but closing it was more challenging. When I tried swinging the gate closed the wood holding up the gate would sway and bend, making the gate really unstable. I had to let go to reposition my hand (to support the frickin' mess) but I doubt the judge saw that. I roped the gate shut and gladly moved away from that obstical.

Next was the giant bear in the chair. The judge was lazy and didn't reset the course after the last exhibitor, so I got to go past the bear three times instead of once. Once to get past it and retrieve the cone off the pole, again to walk the cone to the original pole, and again to get to the next obstical. I hope she was impressed that Mercy didn't even look at the bear... three times! >:(

Mercy smelled the tarp and procceded to walk accross it. She willing walks accross the tarps at home covering the compost piles, so this was really no big deal. Of all of the obsticals on the course, I thought the 'waterfall.' seen below, would be our biggest challenge. I guessed wrong.

The streamers meant nothing to Mercy. She was more interested in the pole holding the ribbons, LMAO! She walked straight through. And lastly, the mailbox, a no-brainer for Mercy.

And then we were done! I got to go home around 1pm and nurse my (most likely) broken toe. It was a great day! A little wet, but very nice. A great show, a great venue, and a GREAT cause!

Would I Ever Had Known?

2010-08-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

Without those digital X-rays taken well over a month ago, I don't think I would have ever suspected that something was wrong with Mercy's joints. She had never taken a bad step, limped, or refused work. I most likely would have barrel raced and reined her until she broke for good, never realizing that something was wrong until it was too late. And at such a young age... But now I have a chance to keep her as healthy as possible, for as long as possible.

We took over 20 pictures of various angles of her hocks, knees, and front pasterns. Her knees are by far the worst of her joints. On the images below, you can see the sharp little points on the first articulating section of the joint.

You can also see how her knee joint does not "stack up" in a straight line. It deviates to one side or the other. This is what is most likely causing the strain on her legs, thus causing the bone spurs' growth.

In some of the other shots you can actually see some cartilage damage represented in lines and waves, where the image should be smooth. Unfortunately, those images don't show up without some digital editing, which I don't have right now.

Anyway, the game plan is to just assume she is an arthritic horse in order to prevent any further damage to her joints. The more quiet, low key rides we can go on, the more flexible she will stay and the stronger her hind end and back will get. Before and after any strenuous rides I am to bute her to prevent inflammation. It was also advised that I use liniments on her joints after longer rides to keep any swelling down and keep the joints flexible.

Also, after a lot of consideration, I decided to start Mercy on Adequan. It will help maintain the state of her joints as they are currently, as well as help them heal a little. We have had such great results with Star, who is also on it, so why not!? I did decide to try using it a different way thought. Instead of the usual 7 doses every 4 days, and then one injection every 30 days as a maintenance dose, I am going to do 2 loading doses a year; once in the fall and once in spring. This way, I can build her joints up before show season, and then I can help her repair any damage taken during the shows before heading into winter. Thank goodness she is so good with shots! It took me a while to get comfortable giving them, but now it's no biggie.

She still doesn't feel any different. As smooth as ever, really. I guess we will know if it's working if in a few years I get another set of X-rays for comparison, or if she happens to get a bone chip... :/ For now, I am doing what I can for now, short of not riding at all. Which we all know isn't going to happen, lol!

I did, however, get the approval of my vet to continue reining with Mercy. At low level shows, at least, where sliding stops and fast spins don't guarantee a win for anyone. Reining is a great sport to perfect cues and really build a partnership with your horse. So, as long as Mercy doesn't start resenting work or acting out in pain, we will continue to go to a show or two a year. In fact, we have another show tomorrow- the last reining show of the year for us, at least. It's going to be a hot one, but the show starts at 7AM, so it shouldn't be too bad by the time my classes are done. We'll see...

An Update's Coming

2010-08-05T07:52:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, sorry about that long break. And thanks for the kind words. My computer broke and had to be shipped out if I ever wanted ALL of my pictures back... I now have a external hard drive and all of my pictures back! The joint x-rays will be downloaded soon and after a few classes at a schooling show on Saturday, I should be able to get up a new post.

:)

I Won't Be Buying a New Barrel Saddle After All...

2010-07-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

I had my vet come out on Saturday to take some x-rays of Mercy's legs. She wasn't lame, but she does have some funky conformation in her front legs. They were just to have as a "baseline," should anything go wrong in the future with reining and gaming injuries. The vet, myself, and the guy from Emerald Downs met at my barn at 1pm. The guy from ED has digital x-ray equipment, and since I has having multiple joints done, I wanted the best images I could get.
.
I am going to get right to the point with this post, because I am still devastated by the very unexpected findings: Mercy has bone spurs and cartilage damage in most of her joints. At 7 years old.
.
Of course some are worse than others and although she is not lame, she must be treated like she is an arthritic horse.
.
When I get the x-rays loaded onto my computer, I will right a more lengthy post. But I just can't right now.
.
I hope you all had a fantastic 4th of July!
;)

NWRA Arlington Reining Show (May 16, 2010)

2010-06-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

It was way too early in the morning. So early that it wasn't even light out. The sun's light was not even peeking over the mountains to the east. Fun.
.
I had never asked Mercy to load in the dark, so I really didn't know what to expect. On a normal day, she can be difficult to load when I haul her alone. It can be done easily, but sometimes she just has to make sure that's really what I want, lol! So, I woke up extra early so I could make sure we hit the road on time. It was 4:30AM. And guess what... she loaded right up. I don't know if she was just really in a good mood or just happy to eat some hay, but she loaded up with ease once we had the trailer and truck all packed.
.
According to MapQuest, it was going to take us approximately 2 and a half hours to get there. Anyone who drives a horse trailer knows, however, that it takes longer when you're hauling live weight. I added another half hour to our drive time to give us plenty of driving time. The show started at 8AM and since this was our first show with this organization, I didn't know how smoothly it was run normally. I wanted to get there with plenty of time to warm up my sometimes crazy mare if need be!
.
Well, let's put it this way, my mom, Mercy, and I arrived at the showgrounds before 6:30. We were the first people to arrive. Of course, I pull the truck and trailer into the wrong area and am finally able to wave down the resident farmhand for help. He shows me where I can park, which is out front or out back in the field. I chose the field. Big mistake. I take one step out into the tall grass after getting the rig arranged next to an over-nighter and my boot is instantly soaked with the morning dew. It is cold out and now my feet are wet. And it's only 6:30 in the morning...
.
I grab what little warm clothes I brought and threw those on before going to unload Mercy. I hung up a hay bag for her and offered her some water. Once I knew she was well taken care of I waddled my way back to the barn to see if there was anyone around. The office wasn't open yet and there was no one to ask. No breakfast, no potty, no help. It was only 6:45...
.
With no luck there, I headed back to the trailer. My socks are soggy already, so I don't walk as carefully through the tall grass. Mercy hears me coming and nickers softly as I approach. The warm up arena was perfectly groomed and waiting for us, so I saddled her up and walked her over to the show area. I tighten her cinch, climb aboard, and take a deep breath.

It was still very cool. The sun was still not up. Dang it. The horses boarded there weren't even fed. Think we got there earlier enough?! Lol! I still wasn't convinced that there was even going to be a show there that day. No one was around and it was 7AM! Since I had the arena to myself I let Mercy just cruise around on a loose rein for a while. She walked over to see the boarded horses and then tried to stop and nibble the grass on the side of the giant arena. Once I was convinced she was bored I asked her to get to work... any work... of any kind... but first at a trot.

We took a few laps around the arena in both directions. She was getting less and less interested with the other horses and grass and more focused on me. For this show, I had already decided that I wasn't going to ask her to 'frame up' at all. I just wanted to survive the show and have some fun. It will be a long time before we ever get serious about this sport or competing. If we could get through this show without getting a zero, I would be more than thrilled!

I tried asking her to trot some really big circles, but she was getting confused and jazzed up, so I brought her back to the rail and continued loosening her up there. Once she was feeling more prepared, I just asked her to lope as we came off the rail and into a large circle. It felt great!

I tried really hard to just relax into the saddle and give her the reins. We were working on our circles, but she was allowed to stray a little as long as she would easily return. We worked to the left first, our easy way. I wanted to boost both of our confidences before plowing the other direction. As you can see, she is very relaxed and moving out well. She carries her head and neck higher than a pleasure horse (obviously) but it is still lower and comfortable. Also notice the wet jeans in most of these warm up photos... *rolls eyes and shakes head in disbelief* :/

She really surprised me when we switched to the right circles. She was easy to maneuver and she held a constant speed. There was no fighting between the two of us and there was no panic. It was just another enjoyable ride!

Eventually the office crew arrived and more trailers pulled in. I few other riders joined us in the arena so it was good practice sharing the space. Once we had our large circles going for us I practiced breaking her down into a smaller, slower circle. She has a long stride, so I discovered that I need to ask her to start slowing down way before we actually need to.

Our spins were still not quite all together yet, so I really didn't want to practice that and confuse her more right before her first show. I just had her pivot both ways 360* and stop. When that was solid I returned to the circles and practiced a few simple lead changes. We had been practicing these at a friend's place and were having great success, but that morning she really didn't want to change from a right to a left lead. I never did get it before calling it quits. I still needed to get ready and checked in!

On our way back to the trailer I noticed there were other people riding in the indoor show arena. I thought we weren't allowed to go in there, but it was only 7:30, so in we went. I just wanted her to be able to look around and get her spooks out now. We were done working, it was time to cool off and relax. After walking the rail a few times each way we moved up into a trot and did a few circles amongst the other riders. Once we could complete a circle without freaking out at the judge's chair, or the blue mounting block in the corner of the arena, I dismounted and loosened Mercy's cinch. She did good.

After dropping Mercy off at the trailer to water up and continue stuffing her face full of hay, I headed back to the arena to visit the office. Mercy received a permanent NWRA number and I was cleared to show. The gal informed me they were running a little behind (noooo, really!?!?) and that the warm up class only had a few participants, so be prepared for class #2.

Back at the trailer I quickly re-tacked Mercy up, this time with her show pad, attached her number to the pad, and got myself together. I needed to change into my western show shirt and slick back my hair. Next, I hair sprayed my head and my hat heavily. It was NOT going to come off! After a few minutes it felt secure (and crunchy...) enough to get Mercy's bridle and head back to the warm up arena.

Our first class was class #2- Beginner Horse and Rider A. This is a pattern that was modified from one of the original NRHA patterns to give Beginner horses and riders a chance to learn. Here was the pattern: Begin facing the judge in the center of the arena, one left spin, one right spin, two large then one small circle to the left, simple lead change, two large then one small circle to the right, stop at the center of the arena, and back 5 feet. No penalties were received for simple lead changes or a correct 'walk around' spin.

When I figure out how to get video on here I will post it, but until then here are my scores:
Left spin-0

Right spin-0

Left circles: -1/2 and penalty: -1/2

Lead Change: -1/2

Right circles: -1

Stop: -1

Back:0

For a total of 66 1/2 points out of 70!!! Neat! We didn't zero out or go off pattern! On our left circles, Mercy just wanted to bolt for the gate, so she would shoulder in and instead of a nice circle, we made a "D"... completely flat on one side and then she would find our path again, lol! The lead change penalty was understandable because she not only took forever to get loping, we also almost plowed the judge over because I couldn't get her to go to the right! That dang shoulder was leaning to the left! I finally puled her head over and she got it, but still! :/

I don't really know what was wrong with the right circles, but oh well. Our stop was way to late and once again we were close to clobbering the judge. Thank goodness she backed right up. In the end, I earned a 2nd place ribbon out of 4 contestants. Fine with me! I was still in disbelief that we had actually competed in our first reining show class! :)

Class #3 was Beginner Horse and Rider B, another modified pattern but this time it was a REAL NRHA pattern (#8). There was once again no penalties for simples or smooth "spins," and the only modification was that instead of 4 spins in each direction, you had to complete only 2.

Here's how we scored:

Left spins: -1/2
Right spins: 0

Right circles: -1/2 and penalty: 2

Left circles: -1/2

Left roll back: -1 and penalty: 1/2

Right roll back: -1 1/2 and penalty : 1/2

Stop and Back: -1

Our total: 62. Yup, things sure did get much more challenging! This is the class where certain 'behavioral patterns' started to appear. For example, Mercy decided that spinning to the left meant physically moving her whole body to the left... toward the gate. In those 2 spins, we had moved a good 10 feet to our left. And now we were nowhere near the center of the arena. Oh well. I spun Mercy to the right right where we were. This actually worked in our favor because then it gave us lots of room to pick up the right lead. Plus she was already thinking 'right!' Unfortunately, once we got into the circles she was once again trying to shove her shoulder around. That got us 2 penalty points! Boo!

We don't slide yet, so our rollback scores were low. Not only that, but as I guided Mercy to the second and then the third stop, she got harder and harder to stop. She just wanted to keep loping around! And since we were just there for the experience, I grabbed hold of the reins and hauled back after giving her plenty of cues to slow down and stop. That got her attention! Just because we are showing doesn't mean I won't correct you when you take it too far Missy!!!!

After laughing myself out the gate to the bit inspection area, my sister showed up with breakfast. I ate quickly, but there was really no rush. There were at least 10 riders in this class and each run takes about 4-5 minutes. So after walking around for a while I got back on and we headed back to the outdoor warm up arena. I have no doubt that if they held the show outside in the outdoor arena, we would have had fewer issues. She just doesn't like it in there as much. She tolerates it, but that's about it.

I loped her around for quite a while to get her to respond better to my 'whoa' cues. I didn't want to tire her out, I just wanted her to want to find or hunt for the release, and ultimately the stop. It worked. We loped circles for some time before she was slowing down and trying to stop on her own. I asked her to keep going. Just a little longer. And then I asked her to stop with my weight in the saddle and a deep, long 'whoa.' She slammed on the brakes! No reins necessary. Perfect. A good long rest in the middle of the arena, a few 180* spins in both directions and we were done. I got off and walked over to see my draw for class #5- Beginner Horse/Non-Pro Rider. We were draw number 2 of 8.

This ride felt a lot more solid than the second one. It was a pretty difficult pattern, especially since we had just recently figured out simple lead changes. NRHA pattern #5 involves what is basically a figure eight. This is because you stop in the center of the arena between circles, so it becomes necessary to add the figure eight to show lead changes. This class does have penalties for simples; one point each. Ouch! Here's how we did:

Left circles: -1/2
Left spins: -0

Right circles: -1 and penalty: -2

Right spins: 0

Lead changes: -1/2 and penalty: -1, -1

Right Rollback: -1/2

Left Rollback: -1

Stop and back: -1

.
Our final score for the day was 61 1/2! The 2 penalties for the lead changes were no big deal for us. I knew we would get them because we don't know how to do flys yet! I don't know what was up with the right circles, but I do know that we completed every lead change! They may have been late, early, or prolonged, but Mercy never missed a lead change. That was WAY more than I expected because remember way earlier in this post I was describing how I ended up having to quit working on those during our warm up? I never thought she would get them in the indoor arena. She does surprise me every time I ride her! We ended up with a 6th place in this class, but considering the high score was only 66 1/2, we weren't doing too bad. Also considering our last 'schooling show' score (and our first ever scored run) was a 55 1/2, I am very pleased. If we can just keep competing and gaining experience, I know we will be competitive some day. Whenever that may be.

We were contemplating staying for the working halter class, but I was mentally done and ready to go home. I think it was only around 9 or 9:30AM. Three classes all in one morning is a lot to ask a young, inexperienced horse. She physically could have kept going, but that last run felt amazing and I was perfectly content on calling it a day. A successful day.

We quickly loaded everything up, let Mercy have a good graze in the pasture parking area, picked up my 2nd place ribbon, and headed back on the road. It took longer to get home because of course in was the middle of the morning on a Sunday. There was an accident on the northbound lanes so the southbound lanes were moving pretty slow for a while. We pulled in around noon. Whoa, what a morning.

That whole experience was about as perfect as it gets. We had no major issues in the warm up arena, no one got bucked off, Mercy seemed happy and content the whole day, we completed and scored in ALL of our classes , and got GREAT scores for our first show. Considering we both have no professional training and I am the one who has taught Mercy the specific reining maneuvers required, I think we held our own in the show ring. Can't wait for the next one!

;)

Life...

2010-06-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I am working on my next post, about our reining show from May, but it will be a while before I finish it. This is because I finally have a full time job. Over a year after graduating from college, I scored a great job as a vet assistant at an animal hospital just down the road from where I live. Now I have 40+ hour work weeks and I am still trying to adjust to it. I am going to try posting once a week so I keep up with all of my stories, but no promises at this point.
.
Dang, I finally cherish and completely comprehend TGIF! Can't wait for the weekend!

:)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-02T15:09:00.001-07:00

Ricky Quinn Clinic~ Day 4

2010-05-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

When I got to the boarding facility on the last day of the clinic it was threatening to rain... more. It had sprinkled a little overnight and I was glad that I had a light stall sheet on Mercy because what once was her wonderful skylight was now a leaking hole into her stall. Not big time, but it had a good drip in one spot. Oh well, she was dry! And ready for grain (supplements...)!!!!

Throughout the whole clinic she was very tidy in her stall. She generally peed while she was looking out her door, so at least it was all in one spot. And she pooed everywhere, but she was pretty careful not to stir it in. For being in this stall for four days, minus the few hours we rode or did groundwork, it really wasn't too bad! If I remember correctly, I think I only put 2 bags of pellets in her stall too. That was OK with me; I wanted her as comfy as she could be. She's not use to being a 'stalled' horse, although I don't think anyone would have guessed otherwise- she was so good!

Anyway, time to head over to the arena! When I went in to sit down for a bit before the colt starting started, I found the grey arab and his owner were doing some groundwork to prepare for their first ride. She wanted to make sure her arab was hooked on and paying full attention to her. And only her.

When she asked him to face up, he compied. What had taken Ricky over an hour to do the day before, the owher had within minutes. The arab still wasn't 100% 'there' with her (notice the ear facing backwards...) but it was a VAST inprovement from a day or two before! What a soft eye:

Ricky sat in the audience for a while answering our questions and sharing stories while we watched her work the arab. Finally he got up and we got started. He tacked up the arab and quickly checked him out. Then it was time to ride! The owner climbed up and was told to just enjoy the ride for a while. She held onto the night latch once Ricky started maneuvering the arab around, just in case anyone got off balanced. Ricky asked the arab to give his hindquarters...

...and then his fronts. This allowed the owner to feel what needs to be accomplished in the saddle once they are really riding.

The continued this for a while and then Ricky handed her the lead rope. He instructed her to just move the horse out. He has to be moving in order to ask him to stop. The arab was taking this all in stride. His face remained relaxed and his ears were focused on his rider. Perfect!

Once she had him moving out, she reached down the lead and asked for a one rein stop.

They did this to both sides quite a few times. They were doing amazing work! It was soft and smooth, like they had been doing it forever! This was the point where Ricky asked her to trot. It took a bit to get the horse moving, but once he did it was all business again.

They worked once again on breaking the hindquarters over and getting the feet to stop but from the trot, not the walk. Then they were done. Their first ride was a great success! What a great way for them both to end the colt starting clinic! Congratulations guys!

After a quick lunch, I grabbed Mercy and headed to the arena to practice hobbling before our last ride. As you can see, she was so thrilled! ;)

I put the hobbles on and off three times, all in different parts of the arena, and she next tested them. Yes! She was thoroughly bored with the whole hobbling business, but she participated like a champ! I can't wait to pick up a pair of hobbles soon so we can continue this training.

Once we were done with that, the round pen opened up for us to use. Mercy really hadn't had a chance to move around since being at the clinic, so I let her loose and asked her to trot or lope around for a while. Of course all she wants to do is hook on and stop. Normally that's great, but not when I want her to move! I kept it interesting by asking her to change directions and changing her speed. I finally asked her to hook on (no problem, lol!) and then I discovered an interesting issue. No matter what way she is going in the round pen, when she stops she always places me on her left side. If I tried to walk around to her right side, she would move her whole body to the right to keep me on her left. Hmmmm.

So, I sent her out again and asked her to stop. The same thing. I worked her for a little to see if I could do something to help her, but I ran out of time. Ricky and the other participants were gathering and we needed to get going. I finished up by asking her to follow me and then breaking her over her hindquarters... all without her lead rope. She's so good with that.

We all rode out into the arena and gathered around Ricky, ready to start. We all thought we would jump right back into our exercises and maybe do some more drill, but since there were only three or four of us left (it was Monday and most had to bail because of work, boo...) he said we could work on more individual issues for each of our horses. Each of the participants were going to get some one-on-one time with Ricky to work on what every we wanted. Here is what Mercy and I did with our personal 'Ricky time' the last day of the clinic:

He asked me what I wanted to work on, individually, and I replied loping. So he sent Mercy and I into the round pen. I had been having issues with bucking (way in the past, but it comes up every now and then, briefly) and loping in general still isn't great... Mercy is VERY unbalanced loping to the right and sometimes it takes quite a bit from me to get her going. Once going she tends to take charge and not listen to me when I ask for speed changes or directional changes. Ricky told me to just make trotting uncomfortable for her; that eventually she would break into a lope... making it HER idea. I was not to guide her in any way at first, only hold on to the night latch and give her her reins. I would ask her to trot by leaning forward slightly and gently kick/urge her forward into a trot. Then I would ask her to speed up by gradually increasing my leg actions, making them faster and bumping harder as she got faster and faster into a trot. The second she took a lope stride I was to quit everything and pet, pet, pet her, all the way to the stop. Then keep petting. Ideally she would find the middle of the round pen- this could be one of her 'quiet' places. There we would sit for a while.

Additionally, Mercy was having issues going from a standstill to just moving straight forward, even at a walk. She would immediately want to step to the left or the right when I urged her forward. I have no doubt this is from our reining training. She always thinks we are going to spin from the standstill, so she takes control and doesn't listen to my cues. This exercise helped her find the 'track' on the outside of the round pen. I worked going to the right, correcting her direction only if necessary but otherwise never directing her intentionally. Over and over we found the lope and the track. For over an hour, I urged her forward and pet her the moment she loped. She not only loped out with little effort from me by the end, she also felt incredibly balanced and round! That's where he had us quit for a short break.

While we were taking a break, Ricky had me to maneuver Mercy around so he could evaluate her a little better. We did hind quarters, moving the front left and right, side passing, backing straight, backing circles, etc. I had never asked her to back circles before so she was pretty confused, but otherwise she was solid (to my surprise too!). He said next spring when he comes back to bring a bosal to fit her into! WHAT?! How cool! I thought she would be in a snaffle forever! I never imagined he would say something like that- at least not while I owned her. How neat! I can't wait until next year!

When Ricky asked us to return to the round pen I made the mistake of assuming we would be right where we were when we left the round pen... so I asked her to lope with too much energy at first. She got really pissy and made it clear it was too much too fast- we were still just 'getting it.' After realizing I needed to start over, I asked very softly and again gradually increased the pressure. It only took maybe 5 minutes for us to be right back to where we were the first round pen session, both going to the left and right. That's where Ricky had us quit for good. My take-away message from this whole thing is that I was constantly picking on Mercy's face and never letting her 'just go!' She needs to realize that now I will not always pick up on her, she can move! Just go for the ride!

What an amazing experience at the right time! I highly recommend going to watch or participate at any of his clinics, if you can. I will have Mercy ready to go for next year's clinic for sure! I can't wait!

Is That a Break in The Clouds?!?

2010-05-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

Nope, just a brief break in the rain... maybe. Dang. And it really doesn't matter, Mercy has an abscess brewing in her right hind hoof. Luckily it doesn't seem very painful for her. Hopefully it will stay that way. Guess it will be Star's time for a ride if the weather give us even an hour or two.

BTW, I only have one more clinic post and then I will write up a post on our reining show From a few weekends ago! I was trying to wait so I could figure out how to get my video on the computer, but I give up for now. I have pictures at least!

Hope you are all having a great Memorial Weekend!

:)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

Ricky Quinn Clinic~ Day 3

2010-05-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

Ricky got started with the day by working with the grey arab. He was still waiting to see a dramatic change in his expression and concentration when someone works with him. The arab was still looking all over the place, even as he correctly went through the motions Ricky was asking for. He needed to put a little more effort into the relationship.

Just like the previous day, Ricky would release all pressure when the arab stopped away from the gate or looked in his direction. Otherwise Ricky was asking him to move out , applying pressure until he got an appropriate reaction from the arab. While this was going on, Ricky's friend Joel was working his paint colt in the arena. This little gelding is very sensitive and Ricky wanted Joel to rope him everywhere before getting on. Here, Joel had the colt roped by the flank. When he bucked Joel held the rope tight. The instant he just moved out flat and quiet, Joel would release the pressure in the rope and allow the colt to stop.

Over and over again, going both directions Joel continued to work with the paint until the rope meant nothing to him. Meanwhile, Ricky worked with the arab for a good 2 hours. He would offer to let the horse stop and when he did, would try to coax him off of the roundpen track, into the middle of the pen. The little gelding would a least face Ricky now and maybe offer a step or two into the pen, but would never fully commit.

Of course, the pony was paying attention! He was pretty patient waiting for his turn.

After a while you could notice the arab's attention slowly turning more toward Ricky than the outside of the pen. Notice how his ears are more alert toward Ricky than previously:

Ricky walked slowly, but deliberately, toward the arab's hip to try and entice him to turn toward his handler, thus moving toward the center of the pen. Ricky got a good try here:

Time was running out, so Ricky got a good enough try from the arab and called it good. He saddled up and jumped on. After checking him out, Ricky invited the pony and his owner into the pen to join them.

The pony's owner climbed aboard the pony and Ricky, still riding the arab, flagged them around. This allowed the little pony to carry his rider around without having to worry about being pulled on or banged around. She was just there for the ride. Ricky got them moving into many different gaits, focusing on transitions and then eventually the one rein stop. I was video taping for her, so no pics, but they did awesome!

Once they both dismounted and the horses left the arena, Ricky turned his attention to Joel. Ricky had Joel climb up and ride while he directed the horse from the ground. Joel just held on as Ricky asked for the hind quarters and then the front, waiting for the horse to face him.

The colt had quite a difficult time crossing over the hind when traveling to the right. He would start to cross over and then just stop. He got stuck.

Even when Ricky used quite a bit of lead pressure to help the horse move, it didn't really get it. After working at it for a few minutes. Ricky asked Joel a serious question, "Do you trust me?"

Ricky had a brilliant idea that would help Joel's horse understand pressure without using the lead. Use flags! I think Joel was quite nervous because Ricky was going to have him ride the horse loose in the pen while carrying two flags!

Using the flags he could direct the horse without adding any unnecessary pressure. Allowing his horse to move out freely and feel the rider's weight, while being directed by the flags, seems much less threatening to an already sensitive horse. Ricky stayed in the pen for support, but did very little to help.

Joel rode the colt around until he really let down... he was licking and chewing and looking to stop working. That was a great 'breakthrough' ride!

The afternoon horsemanship class started with very little ground work. I actually got into the arena earlier then we needed to because I wanted to hobble Mercy a couple more times before we started. I quickly roped her feet and slapped the hobbles on. It was quite windy that day and the siding on the arena slapped the framing pretty hard every now and then. Only once did it startle Mercy enough that she felt the need to move. Of course the hobbles grabbed hold and Mercy needed to figure it out. Her answer to the hobbles was to rear straight up, come straight down, and then stand. That's ok with me! At least she didn't try running off; I really didn't want her to fall down. I pet her once she calmed back down and stood there for 5 minutes or so. I took them off, did a little flag work with her and then put them back on. This time she stood stock still for a good 5 minutes, so I took them off and let her chill while we waited for the rest of the class to make it into the arena.

Ricky had us review our front/hind quarters and drifting to get started. Then he added something new: pushing the front quarters away after getting the hind, instead of facing up. This maneuver used to be so hard for me to even conceptualize. Now I get it and am not afraid to make a mistake trying to figure it out. Anyway, we didn't spend much time on that; Ricky just wanted to get going on the riding! :)

We bent our horses heads around at a stand still, then added circles and asked for the hind quarters. After we were all going well enough, he had us go to the rail of the arena and walk to the left. As we past in front of him we were to call out "now" as the left hind hoof left the ground. It took me one lap to get coordinated enough to even see it by looking down and feeling her hip move under my hand, but after another lap I could just sit there in the saddle and feel the movement of her hooves through my seat. Then he asked us to feel for the left front foot leaving the ground. I got that one right away because I can feel her shoulder move much easier than her hip through the saddle. My "now, now, nows" were met with "yes, yes, yes" by Ricky. Then we switched directions and did the same thing to the right for both hooves.

Not everyone 'got it' right away, but everyone did give it their all to learn. We were instructed to go back into our individual circles and now apply what we just learned (calling out each hoof) to our drifting exercises from the ground. In order to properly disengage the hindquarters, we were to press our leg on the inside of the circle to our horse's hip as there hind hoof was leaving the ground... all while reaching down the rein and bring the head around. We practiced this for probably close to an hour when we were told to take a break while he explained the next exercises we were going to do to finish off the day. Drill! :)

LMAO! I never saw that coming, even though I should have. When I rode Starlett at Ricky's last clinic here years ago, we did some drill type exercises to put our newly learned maneuvers to the test. The 'drill' we did this time was a little different from then. First we practiced maneuvering our horses in a figure eight using one hand and our seat and leg pressures by holding hands with a partner. I was paired up with a gal and her cute bay mare. Her mare was quite uncomfortable being so close to Mercy, so it was difficult holding hands. We also had issues going the same speed. When I would speed up to match her's, her horse would slow way down. Eventually all of his shifting in speed and direction was too much for Mercy and she kicked out at the bay mare. The bay mare was now afraid of Mercy, so we both just rode side by side with both hands on our reins. I thought that was a good compromise; everyone stayed in control and we were still participating in the drill and learning. Ricky did mention that I need to REALLY get after her if and when she misbehaves towards another horse again. I agree. It just took me by surprise this time. *sigh* Mares... sometimes... :/

Once everyone had had enough of the figure eights, Ricky had half of us start walking around the arena, a little off the rail, to the left. The other group was to weave between the 'circlers' while walking to the right. And both groups needed to keep their spacing, obviously! At first the 'weavers' didn't quite have the spacing down very well. I had to stop or speed up to coordinate with the other riders. We did this for a few laps and then Ricky had us all trot. This made the 'weavers' concentrate on getting to the hind, drifting around the 'circlers' and still maintaining a decent distant between the rider in front and behind themselves. I would be lying if I said it went perfectly. It was chaotic to say the least!

We began to run out of time, so he had the 'weavers' switch to 'circlers' and the 'circlers' switch to 'weavers.' Because the 'weavers' had witnessed the other group, we had a better idea of how to get things done quickly. We walked and trotted the weave for a few minutes and Ricky called us in for questions. What a way to end the day!

Ricky Quinn Clinic~ Day 2

2010-05-14T09:44:00.001-07:00

Good Morning Mercedes!!! Wake up and eat some hay!

"Oh! What's going on over there?!? Grain?!?!"

I walked over to the arena to sit down and wait for the colt starting to begin and the little guy was tied up in there getting some chill time.

First up was the grey arab. Ricky quickly reviewed yesterday's lessons about hind and front quarters and the jumped up into the saddle. Here Ricky is just asking the arab to move; it didn't matter where, he just needed to move out.

Then Ricky spent more than an hour trying to get the arab's attention off of the outside of the arena and on the inside. The arab wanted to stop next to the panel closest to the area entrance. Ricky made it difficult for him by asking him to move out every time he slowed down there or turned his head in that direction. He made it easy for the arab to slow down on the other side of the roundpen. Here is where Ricky would pet him and slow down his body movements. Once the arab slowed down and stopped in the 'quiet spot,' Ricky got off and called it a day.

Pony was next. He was saddled up right away and Ricky got to working him on his hind and front quarters. Here's the hind....

...And here's after getting the front!

Once Ricky added some speed to get him moving out and practicing transitions. There was a little crow hopping, but nothing serious and he figure it out rather quickly.

After checking the cinch one last time...

...It's time to step up into the saddle!

All aboard! Ricky checked out his hind/front again and then asked him to move out on a loose lead.

While working in the roundpen, Ricky's blue roan mare was poking around. Ricky was saying that she sometimes doesn't like things coming between her and a fence... so what a great opportunity to practice that! The pony felt the squeeze too, but both horses held it together.

Then, once she was out of the way, she found a flag along the roundpen rail. For any ordinary horse who has been flagged many times, this wouldn't be any issue, But she's different. She's been bitten by a rattle snake, on the nose. Because of this she is very nervous about things that move quickly, especially around her face. It could be another snake!

Well, she had a very brave moment. She reached out for the flag! And when it shook after she breathed on it, she didn't freak out. In fact, she went to investigate again!

After the pony put on a good ride he was let out and the paint came in. He was flagged again and as you can see, he was a little stiff. He didn't want to reach under himself very well.

Using the flag, Ricky is able to help the paint to drive deeper underneath himself...

...And bring his front around a little more freely.

Saddling this guy was easy. Wanting to she us something new, Ricky showed us how to get a horse to lead up to the fence for mounting. By bumping up on the lead until the horse swings his hips left, toward the panel, and releasing when he does, a horse learns to associate the bump with 'move over here for me.' The still kind of stiff paint took a while to get the idea, but in the end getting on was easy and he got the point.

When all was good at the fence, Ricky got on and started immediately bending his head around and asking for the hind. A nice first ride. He is so good that Ricky suggests his owner ride in the afternoon class instead of the colt starting class, starting that day!

After our lunch break and getting saddled up (we were promised some ridding time today!) everyone met in the arena. We started with ground work from the previous day right away. Once Ricky had worked with his horse for a while he gathered everyone into the center of the arena and asked if we had any questions. After questions time he asked me to bring my rope and Mercy into the middle of the circle, where he took over. He showed us how to rope a horse's front feet in order to prepare them for hobbling. We were to hold the rope tight around their pastures until they picked them up and allowed you to place them where you wanted without a struggle, then release the pressure of the rope by giving it some slack. If the horse objected, you held on until it tried. If your horse moved, you had your lead rope in your other hand and you simply broke them over their hindquarters, then start again. After demonstrating how to rope their front feet, he sent us out to practice. Mercy has been roped before, so she got it. I just quickly 'walked' her with the rope and waited for our next instructions.

I borrowed a friend's leather hobbles for the next part. Ricky showed us how to put them on and then instructed me to just hold the lead a distance away and let her figure it out, if she had too. After a minute of standing still we were to take off the hobbles and wander around or do something else. When they stand still and don't struggle, the get released sooner. Mercy and I stood there for our minute or so and I took them off, praising her. They went back on after a short break, like instructed. This time she tried to follow me as I backed away and the hobbles tightened around her pasterns. She shuffled her front feet in order to get away, but quickly and quietly figured it out and settled down. I took them off and praised her yet again once she was completely calm. One more time I slapped on the hobbles and this time Mercy remained quiet. What a good girl! Such a quick learner... when she wants to be... :)

Once everyone got a chance to try the rope and hobbles, we started right back into groundwork. We revisited the front and hind quarter work and then Ricky asked us to take it a step further. We were to 'drift' the hinds, without changing directions. Using our leading hand, we needed to bring the lead across our chests toward their hips. This would ask the horse to move the hind quarters faster than the front quarters, as well as drive deeper underneath themselves. Again, this is something that Mercy and I have done. She showed her displeasure some much (facially) that Ricky actually rode over asked about it. He agreed that she was just bored beyond all reason. I asked if there was something I could do to turn her angry faces around and his reply was to give her a job and it will straighten right out. I couldn't agree more. These 'drills' are great, but she's ready to move on, now. I continued to try other exercises with her as the other participants practiced the drift to try and get her entertained... it wasn't working.

Once everyone appeared to get it, Ricky showed us how to properly bridle a horse while haltered. After the horse is bridled, you can easily slip the halter through their mouths and behind the bit to get the halter off. Then it was time to ride!

We only had about a half an hour left until it was time to quit for the day, so we just worked on applying our new (or refreshed) skills from the ground to the saddle. First we started by bending our horses' neck back and forth at a standstill to check out how resistant they were in the snaffles. They should become lighter and lighter the more bends you do. Mercy was quite heavy to the left, but to the right I BARELY had to lift my hand and her head came flying to her side. I know what I need to work on the most now!

After we had checked our horses out at a standstill, it was time to move. Moving in a circle, we would reach down the rein, take hold, and bring the rein to our hip to bend the head and disengage the hind quarters. Eventually, once everyone got that part situated, we were to add a slight kick to the hip as we reached down the rein. This is the cue for the hinds to move over. After we had done quite a few of those, in both directions, we were done for the day.

Ricky told us that the next day would be half groundwork and half riding, so come ready! Yes!

Ricky Quinn Clinic~ Day 1

2010-05-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

Ricky Quinn came to Washington April 9-12 for an intense 4 day colt starting and horsemanship clinic. I rode Starlett during his previous clinic in Washington about 5 or 6 years ago, and it was quite the experience then. I was still new to the Vaquero style of natural horsemanship and attending his clinic was a great opportunity to dip in further. This time I learned a lot more because I knew what to look for while watching not only him, but the other participants and their horses. The subtleties in their cues and releases were much easier to notice now that I have had years to study other clinicians and horsemen.

Day 1 started with Ricky warming up his blue roan mare While checking her out, he introduced himself and answered any questions that anyone had for him. Then he got to work with the colts.

A cute little sorrel pony was up first. He was let loose in the arena and Ricky worked with him a bit and finally roping him.

The first task was to check out the little guy's hind quarters; making sure he can crossover behind nice and deep.

After getting both the hind and front quarters on his mare, Ricky dismounted and made sure he could get it from down below too. Once that checked out he saddles the pony up and moved him out a bit; changing gaits, speed, and direction in order to get him to let down.

After finding a good spot to stop, Ricky kicked the pony out of the roundpen and into the arena and in came the next colt, a beautiful grey Arabian. This guy had no interest what-so-ever in Ricky; he just wanted out of the arena. You can see that his mind is everywhere else but with Ricky, even once roped.

While Ricky worked on getting hind and front quarters for the arab, the pony had other ideas...

... *sigh* Ponies...

Anyway, in order to try and get a little more on the handler and not on everything else going on, Ricky worked the arab along the panels by asking him to squeeze through himself and the rails. With respect for space, of course. That took a while because he kept wanting to push his shoulder in toward Ricky. After figuring out that wasn't the answer he straightened out and worked hard to move his hind and front feet WHEN ASKED! He gave a nice try here, look at that stretch on the loose lead!

The arab gave Ricky some decent effort by the end so he was saddled up, moved out, and then kicked out with the pony into the arena. A nice looking sorrel paint was next into the roundpen. Ricky just checked him out, saddled him up, and kicked him out too. The paint was respectful, considerate, and did everything Ricky asked of him.

Once everyone was in the arena, Ricky remounted the roan mare and flagged the group until they sought Ricky out as a group. Then everyone was caught and released back to their owners for a well deserved rest.

For lunch Subway was calling my name. After filling my belly, I headed back to the clinic facility and readied Mercy for the afternoon class. A good groom, some finally saddle adjustments, and we were on our way over to the arena. After everyone introduced themselves and got situated, we were all asked what we would like to work on during the clinic or what we were specifically having issues with that needed help. My issues were getting the lope figured out and getting Mercy hobble trained. Ricky seemed very excited to help everyone and most were looking forward to the hobbling lesson to come the following day.

It was time to get to work. Ricky showed us how to get the horse's hind and front quarters while walking around us in a circle. Mercy and I have done lots of this, so we were really bored. It was good to revisit the basics, but we were ready to move on to new things. Every now and then I would let her take a break and just relax, or I asked her to do some other, more advanced maneuvers to change things up a bit. She let me know what she thought about the whole ordeal- ears pinned, moving as slow as she could, glaring at me, and wrinkling her lips... oh mare.

I don't blame her. That is pretty much what we did the rest of the afternoon. We stayed back in a corner and while 'resting' we watched Ricky help the other participants with their horses. Some of the common issues were having too short of a lead, allowing the horse to crowd you, and/or allowing the horse to get sloppy when changing directions and not really getting to the hind. It was interesting watching and observing the other participants as they 'got it.' Way to go guys!

And that was the first day! No riding and all groundwork. And that was just fine. No point jumping into the saddle until you know the basics on the ground. I was sure excited to start again the next day, and hopefully try some new exercises!

New Gear!

2010-05-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

I was just been surfing around on craigslist last week and I found this nice set. As you will learn once I get my clinic posts up (which are in the works, should have one up tonight or tomorrow AM), it was recommended that I pick up a bosal for next years clinic! Mercy and I are moving on, finally!

Anyway, I was going to save up some money and buy a custom bosal from a well known rawhide braider in WY, but I saw this and it is exactly what I wanted. The bosal is dark, flexible, and seems nicely balanced. The mecate is mane hair, although I can't really determine what the core is, whether mane or tail hair, and the colors of light and dark sorrel actually work with Mercy's coat perfectly! I was not too thrilled with the white specks, but they really don't take anything away from Mercy's masterpiece- her booty!

I need to break all of the pieces down and inspect them closer now. I'm not sure how long the mecate is, but if it's shorter than 23-24' I will most likely need to get a new one. Mercy's neck and gait are too long to have to bend over to accommodate the shorter reins. I also need to get a new bosal hanger. I would prefer one without a metal buckle. Especially after this Monday's ride where Mercy stepped on the reins (my fault, kinda) and broke my expensive headstall. Luckily, Mike's Western Suppliers was able to fix it up enough to last a little longer! Thanks guys!

That was a horrible way to end a good ride. We worked on simple lead changes and getting a lope after only a few walk strides in preparation for our reining show this weekend. Oh my.

BTW, I picked up some rawhide cream to use on the bosal (as was suggested by Ricky) but I also know I need a bosal shaper. Does anyone know if I use one before the other or use the cream and the shaper at the same time? Any advice is most appreciated!

Have a great weekend!

Odds and Ends

2010-05-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

This is the last post of my 'catching up' series. I will start working on my Ricky Quinn Clinic posts soon!

I finally broke down and bought a new bit for Mercy. It's the Myler comfort snaffle on a loose ring. It was pricey, very pricey, but I couldn't find a used one (go figure) and it is a bit that I will never let go of either. I bought it for Mercy because I believe she has a low palate. A single jointed bit, whether a loose ring, eggbutt, or D-ring, seemed to cause her a lot of pain in her mouth. I know many trainers and riders would say, "So what? Let them figure it out." Well, now I would talk right back to them and say "I have been using a single jointed bit on her for over 3 years and she isn't getting better. In fact, now I think she is afraid when I pick up on the reins, so no. I will do what I can to make riding enjoyable for her too."

So far she seems to really like it. It took her a few rides to relax with it, but now, even if I need to get serious with her, she accepts the pressure a little easier. She gaps her mouth less and it is much easier for her to give to the bit when I ask for collection.

A few weeks after purchasing the new bit for Mercy, my sister and I headed out to some local trails for a quick ride. It was sunny out, but there was a slight breeze and it wasn't really that warm. We headed up into the hills instead of riding the pipeline this time. We meandered past the Jr. High school and came out on an old logging road that goes up a hill at a pretty good incline. It had been quite a while since we had run the girls, and going uphill made it less likely that we would have any troubles. So away we went!

Neither of us really let the horses gallop, but they were going along at a pretty good clip. At the top we broke back down to a walk and waded our way over a VERY muddy trail and into a deeper forest trail.

Since we didn't have a map, we just took a whole bunch of switchbacks. Some trails we know (from boarding out in that area years ago) but there are many new ones now. We got turned around a few times, but no worries. We had time to kill. When we were making our way back to the trails we know well, Kimberly suggested we go visit the miner's memorial. We hadn't been there for probably well over 8 years, if not more. And wouldn't you know it, we look up ahead and a sign on a tree said it was up ahead.

4 miners lost their lives when the mine collapsed way back in this area's early history. A memorial has been created where once there were only 4 wooden crosses. It's nice to see the dedication other's have for this area and it's history. Next time, when there aren't bugs attacking us and the horses, I will get the date and names of the mine victims.

1000 feet to the north is the caved in mine. There are danger signs all over the place and in order to continue on the trails you actually have to cross the cave-in on a narrow section of earth still holding. Definitely not for the light of heart.

Oh Deer...

2010-04-25T17:42:00.001-07:00

"Oh man, I'm tired. That reining show kicked my butt this morning... or maybe I did it to myself... nah."
"OH! What's that!?!"

"Hey, Hey Star! Come here and look at these!"

"No? OK, I'll go check it out!"

"Oh no, it saw me! Act occupied... Umm. Oh! Look at this little blade of grass here!" Nom.

"Nice! I tricked it! Now what?"

"Wish I could herd them around or cut them down the fence..." *sigh*

"Another time maybe. For now, I'll just eat some spring grass too."

March Reining Show

2010-04-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

At 8:30AM, my friend M pulled up to my house with his 4 horse gooseneck. I had all of my tack ready to load and just had to grab Mercy away from her breakfast. Star had been dosed with a little Quietex, so she wasn't as on edge as she usually is when I take 'her' horse away from her.

Mercy only took a minute or two to get loaded and we were on our way to the Tacoma Unit for a full day of reining! Last time we tried going to the reining show M and A got a late start and we didn't make it there early enough to give the horses enough warm up time. Not this time! We got there plenty early.

When we arrived we headed straight over to the show office to register for our classes. I wasn't sure I was even going to make it into the arena, so I only entered one class: green horse. Once saddled up, M headed into the indoor 'show' arena to warm up and I chose to ride Mercy in the covered warm up pen since that is where, during our last show, we didn't have such a good time.

What a surprise it was that Mercy behaved herself when we entered the ring. We were able to immediately lope both directions, weaving in and out of other horses, right away! No kicking, squealing, bolting, or bucking. We worked on speed control and eventually stopped in the middle of the circle to practice our spins. They weren't so great...

The show was about to start so they kicked people warming up in the indoor arena out, so M was able to join me and help us out with our spins. And right as the show was about to begin, the cattle truck pulled up... The truck, which usually is there and gone by the time the first truck and trailer show up in the morning, was running late and needed to unload before we could start. The next day was cutting and sorting, so the steers need off now. And of course they had to unload into the covered arena, where we were riding...

It would be a major understatement to say that Mercy doesn't like diesel trucks, of any kind. Semis, RVs, and even 1-ton pickups will make her freak out. Tractors don't, but who knows?! Anyway, everyone backed up along the rail and they trucker unloaded the cattle. Once Mercy figured out that the truck wasn't coming any closer she was able to relax a little and just stand there, watching as the cattle unloaded and wandered into their pens. *sigh*

One more freak out as the trailer left and then it was back to work. There must have been 50 riders in the first class, so it took hours until it was our turn. I took it easy with her, just loping every now and then and spinning when she looked asleep. We practiced some rollbacks one the warm up arena cleared out a little. It was close to 1PM by the time my class started.

They didn't have any draw sheets up, so I just had to listen for my name. And I wasn't hearing it. I was still just standing around on Mercy when I heard something: Haggie. That is how they were pronouncing my name... My name does have an 'a' and an 'i' in it, but that's it. It doesn't have a 'h,' 'e,' or 'g' and it certainly doesn't start with a 'h.' Apparently that is too hard to comprehend. I even wrote it out VERY clearly on the sign up sheets... How they got Haggie from MY name, I will never know.

Panic set in, but I tried to keep it down because now I only had about 3-5 minutes to warm up again. I was the next draw. Both M and I hadn't picked up on the announcer's mistake. Mercy wasn't fooled by my attempt to stay calm. When I asked her to just trot out and round up, she started to crow hop and in general be really bad. I couldn't stop her, back her, move her hind or front quarters at ALL, she was completely uncooperative. Oh shit.

Then I heard Haggie again. I was up and they were waiting for me. M was trying to help me get Mercy focused again and didn't understand why I was leaving already, lol! It was time to show!

The gate was open. I took a deep breath and (somehow) walked Mercy into the arena. Our pattern is AQHA Reining Pattern 6, a pattern where you start in the dead center of the arena. Usually competitors walk all the way around the outside of the first large, fast circle to make it to the middle. I wasn't their to waste any one's time, so I just walked straight to it from the gate.

The lady judge was sitting right in front of us in the arena, along the rail. I looked at her, took another deep breath, and cued Mercy to spin to the right.

What was I thinking...

We spun right... all the way to the left, toward the gate. After our four spins were complete we had moved to the left and had stopped in the middle of our soon to be large circle. :/

Ok, well that 's what it is. Now to spin to the left. I was going to attempt to spin her back toward the middle of the arena, even if it meant taking a penalty hit. She cannot decide where we go. It kinda worked. We didn't make it quite back to dead center, but it was not in the middle of our circle either. Since we had just been spinning left, thinking left, it was easy for Mercy to pick up her left lead as we took off on our large, fast circles.

As we made it around back toward the middle of the arena, Mercy suddenly noticed the dark lit bleachers and the people sitting there. Luckily she just looked and continued to lope. I actually had to push her to lope fast, and once we lapped another time coming down to a slow, small circle was easy.

In order to make a lead change in the middle of the arena, I asked Mercy to slow down to a trot 3/4 around the slow. small. She did break down and when I asked her for the right lead she basically said no. She pushed her shoulder to the left and at the last second, right before running over the judge, she corrected herself and took the right lead. We are nowhere near being ready to complete flying lead changes so simples are the best there are right now.

Once loping to the right, it took little time for her to notice the cook shack in the corner of the arena and panic slightly. Our right circles were just going to be smaller than our left ones were, and we were loping still so I didn't push that issue. Another large, fast and a small, slow and it was time to change leads again. This time she didn't get the left lead as we headed into the circle to the left for our rundown and "slide." I had to break her down to the trot once more. Luckily she picked up the lead easily once corrected and right on time! It was time to stop!

Normally, you ask the horse to speed up during the straight away and then ask for a sliding stop. For us, I was just going to be happy to stop. So I loped her down and simply asked her to stop. It was square and prompt. Perfect. We rolled back to the right and got the right lead. Around the end of the arena and back down the arena rail for our second stop. It wasn't as good as the first one, but it was as solid as I would expect at this time. She took a long time to get the left lead once we rolled back, so I knew we would get a hefty trot penalty. Oh well.

We rounded the corner for the last stop and made it count. Instead of rolling back this time we were to back up 5 feet. No problem for Mercy, she was all about the back up! I barely picked up the rein and she was flying backwards. And we were done!

Mercy could care less that the spectators were clapping, she wanted out of the arena. We walked out and met M at the warm up. He had watched my run, but needed to warm up too because he was up soon too. I jumped off, loosened Mercy's cinch and walked her around for a while. She wasn't breathing hard or sweaty, but I needed to get out of the saddle and think about our run.

Our run was everything I could ask for really. She went into the arena calm and collected after a horrible warm up. She loped and didn't buck. She didn't spook or bolt. We stopped and backed and completed the run. We didn't get a 0 for our first show!

I couldn't have been more thrilled with Mercy or our run. She isn't reining trained yet, and we managed to survive. Before heading home, M and I went to the show office to pay up. I checked the score sheet for my class and we scored a 55 1/2. That score is not great, in fact, it sucks. But it's a score and it's a place to start. I can now base my future shows of off a number. I now have a place to make goals for future shows.

I wish I had written down where I was marked for penalties, but we had to get going. M had to be home by 3PM and it was already 2PM. I know our spins were horrific, our circles weren't even in size, we trotted our transitions, and we had a wrong lead in there too. I guess it can only get better from there!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Of Barrel Saddles and Warm-Up Pens

2010-04-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

Earlier in February I borrowed my friend's barrel saddle to try on Mercy. Mine, a Big Horn brand barrel saddle, does not fit Mercy at all! It's too narrow and rides right on her shoulders... not good. Plus, quite honestly, it doesn't fit me either. I bought the 15" while in 4H; I just needed something to get going in. But really I need a 14 or 14.5" to stay in the saddle better. The saddle I borrowed is a Rico brand and it was supposedly a full QH bar. I compared the two, measurement wise, and they were the same... hummm. Well, I finally got it on and slapped on the breast collar. This is what it looked like:

The saddle pad is a full sized saddle pad, so it looks huge. I see a saddle that still isn't quite perfect. It isn't resting on her shoulders as severely as my Big Horn, but it still pops up in the back. I should try it again without the breast collar some time, maybe that would make a difference. I think I might have to just take her into the local saddle place if I choose to pursue this further. But first I have to sell my saddle. Boo.

Fast forward a month and we found ourselves at Donida Farm to practice or warm-up etiquette. There was a schooling show taking place this day so it was a perfect chance to figure out why we were having issues in the warm-up arena and how to fix them.

We got there around 9 or 10 in the morning and there was almost no one there! Maybe ten participants, if that! This was nice because then I have more room to work Mercy, but we came here to work on high pressure situations. OK...

As soon as I got Mercy saddled and into the arena she immediately tried taking off into a lope. Umm... no, that's not acceptable. I took hold and worked her into tight circles at the trot until she cooled down. It took quite a while, but she finally let up, for a while.

I finally got her to collect a little bit and asked her for the lope going to the left. Her circles got continually larger and larger. And when we got to one side of the arena she would shoulder out and ram toward the fence. I was finally able to realize that she needed more direction BEFORE the issue showed itself. So a couple of strides before that one sticky spot I made a point to direct her into the circle and voila! She didn't shoulder out! And she smoothed out:

She wasn't collected, but I wasn't worried about that because she wasn't fighting me, kicking out at other horses riding by, or trying to run off.

Better yet, when I asked her to reverse and some back to a jog, this was the result:

Dang she looks good when she gets it together! After a few laps jogging out I stopped her for a break (for me, lol!). I really haven't had good ground to practice spins in for a while so I took the opportunity to while I was there. It didn't go too well...

She was super touchy and she let me know it with her awful facial expressions. But as soon as I just let her rest again she was fine. I think she just wasn't ready to get back to work again:

After the good long break, I asked Mercy to lope again to the left. She took off at more of a gallop. I truly think she is race bred; this pic proves it to me:

She eventually found the nice controlled lope and we moved off to the other end of the arena to lope the other direction. The right lead is her worst. She is so incredibly unbalanced and feels the need to rush through every corner. Fortunately it didn't take too long for her to find a groove.

It still wasn't as nice as the left lead, but we found some balance and even though we were moving a lot faster than I would have preferred, I found a good place to stop her and call it good for the day. She ultimately did exactly what our goal for the day was: to enter the warm-up pen and behave around other riders! After walking a few laps around the super large arena to cool off, we headed home.

Happy Birthday Mercy!

2010-04-15T19:54:00.001-07:00

Mercedes is 'unofficially' 7 today! I say unofficially because as many of you know I don't have papers for her. I was told by her previous owner that she was born in April, but the exact date was not known. Since 15 is my favorite number, that's her 'new' birth date!

7 is not old for a horse by any means, and sometimes I get discouraged about our progress, but what I have to remember is that not only did she come to me with 'baggage,' I was also in school across the state for over a year before I could really work with her like she should have been. So really, at 7 she is right where she should be. And that's fine with me!

Enjoy your birthday mash, sweetie!

:)

A Short Vacation From Blogger

2010-04-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

I was almost caught up on all of my big riding stories... and now I am going to take another break. We have had a lot going on, from hitting up some local schooling shows to making it to our first reining show to getting ready for a horsemanship clinic with Ricky Quinn! Mercy and I will be heading out Friday morning and will be riding, riding, riding until late Monday. I promise a great write up and hopefully a whole bunch of pictures when I return next week!

Wish us luck! :)

Catching Up: Water Works

2010-03-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

It was the last day of February and even though the air was brisk, the horses were looking for a little fun. We headed over to the lake to let them splash around. And splash around they did! Even Starlett, who doesn't like the water that much, got in on the fun!

Mercy pretty much dove into the lake! She couldn't get wet fast enough. Look at the water fly!

And then she dunks her whole head into the water, all the way up to her eyes! She often submerges her whole head and then blows bubbles. Someday I will get a video of it! It's just too funny! Here she is coming up from her first round of bubble blowing:

And then she drip dries while figuring out a way to trick me into going closer to the grass...

Starlett knows her game and doesn't approve, so Mercy gets a wet muzzle bump on the butt to remind her who's boss.

After all of that hard work playing in the lake, a good roll on the spring grass is called for!

Oh that must feel so good! :)

Catching Up: Moving Logs and Trees

2010-03-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

It was a couple of days before Valentine's, so I really wanted to stay out of the woods. The salal hunters would most likely be out there, wandering around picking salal for floral bouquets still

So Starlett, Mercedes, and I headed out toward the creek trails. There is very little salal that grows there so seeing anyone pop out from the underbrush would be very unlikely.

Little did it know at the time, but that tiny sapling on the right of the mossy log would soon be 'laid down' by Mercy's antics...

Right after taking this picture...

... Star decided to move forward to grab at a delicious looking fern, dragging Mercy forward too. Unfortunately, her lead rope got hooked around the end of that moss covered fallen log. And instead of waiting for me to fix the situation she decided to take matters into her own... er, hooves?...

She wasn't bad. she just didn't give the the pressure of the rope around the tree right away. instead of just standing still she drove forward, dragging the log with her. The log then hit the sapling and simply mowed it over! When the sapling was bending over it swapped Star and I until Mercy decided to stand still. *sigh*

I jumped off of Star and went over to help Mercy out. I actually had her help move the log back by asking her to back while I used the lead rope to pull the log back into it's original place. This released the sapling and it sprang back into place. Here's the aftermath:

You can see where the sapling rubbed the moss and lichen off the log when the log ran over it. You can also see the bark that fell off the log as the lead rope pulled taught around it.

Then, I took a closer look at the log Mercy had just pulled several feet out of it's resting place. This log is at least 30 feet long and is partially submerged in the creek! OMG! I know Mercy is strong, but wow!

After all of the exciting stuff, I jumped back on Star and we continued down the creek trail and headed home. On 'Our Trail,' I saw some more signs of winter coming to and end... and allergies.

All of that excitement sure made the girls hungry...

...so we stopped for some sweet grass.

Starlett's Barbie doll mane was looking particularly shiny this day too.

And these pictures are just a visual for their body score coming out of winter. Star's looking much better since being on the timothy. That's just the hay for her.

And Mercy's top line is looking a little stronger from a few weeks ago. Just a little, but that's OK with me. Any muscle will help her long back!

Yup, looking good on that sunny day!

Catching Up: Rollbacks and Circles

2010-03-07T16:51:00.001-08:00

January 17:

We're back at those circles again! Actually, we started out just flexing and relaxing. She has gotten into a habit of moving immediately when I pick up the reins. I need her to flex at the poll, round her back, and wait for me to tell her to move. When she was 'released' she liked to stretch her neck and back; must have felt good to flex and relax over and over!

After our warm up it was time to get to work.Since we have the most problems loping to the right, I thought I would try loping her to the left first, to try and increase her confidence at the lope before we moved to her 'bad' side.

One thing I noted on this ride is that she is now reliably picking up her leads, whether starting from a stand still and moving out straight or staring already in our circle. I have also tried to really keep my body relaxed as I ride. I focus on keeping my hands low, my eyes up, my legs quiet, and my upper body leaned more back than forward. By the end of our left circles she was offering some nice collection and speed control depending on how my body was positioned!

After an amazingly square stop, we took a break... and I got the camera!

Star still wasn't 100% on her left hind, so we worked on bending again and kept it real low key. BTW, those new stirrups are much better than those thin, metal ones. A great purchase for sure!

Then it was time to try the right circles. After checking that we still had flexion and could stand still until told...

... we were off! She felt much more balanced than the last time we had ridden here. But, I still wasn't quite right. I know I put more weight in the left leg than my right. I fix it when I recognize it, but that's usually after the saddle starts to roll... :/ You can see how I am a little unbalanced here, but you can also see that Mercy isn't leaning in or leading with her shoulder!

Once we both got settled into a nice rhythm, I lead her out of the circle to practice rollbacks. Her stops were decently square and it only took a time or two to get an amazing rollback...

...with a lope departure! Awesome job Mercy!

After this photo was taken I got off and TrailridinRN climbed on to cool her out for me while I jumped on Starlett. To be honest, it's weird seeing someone else on my horse, and to be seeing her from a perspective other than riding her myself, lol!

What a cool horse.

Catching Up: Return of The Salal Man??!?!?

2010-03-06T16:50:00.000-08:00

January 10:

Hmmm... Why does this look so familiar?!

Looks mighty suspicious...

After breaking into the clearing and getting past the loose and scattered salal, we worked our way down to the creek. Riding past the lake was fun, but it was cold and TrailridinRN and I were looking for a short ride. Mercy really wanted to go in the water at the creek, so I let her. Big mistake.

She went in quite deep and pawed and pawed.

Even Star got int the near freezing water and splashed around while Mercy dove her head in and snorkeled around for a while. And resumed pawing...

Of course, that didn't stay fun forever... her splashes grew increasingly larger and eventually she was spraying water up onto me! My right leg got completely soaked up to and past my knee! not to mention the saddle, cinches, and reins were completely covered in now freezing water.

Needless to say, we wasted no time getting home. I was chilled to the bone and still needed to clean stalls. Thanks Mercy...

January 13:

I had a few hours to spare and a break in the weather so I saddled up Mercy and ponied Starlett out to the creek for another short ride. Little did I know when we headed out that we would *almost* have an encounter with a wild animal!

I knew something was up as we approached the creek because Mercy was on full alert. Something was up ahead. She kept stopping and sniffing the air. A few words of encouragement was all it took to get her moving again. The next time she stopped I looked down. Oh... I see...

We were following an elk! We never got to see it because we took the turn it didn't. Mercy needed a little convincing, with the help of my boot, to let go of the scent and follow my lead, down the new trail. Once she believed me that we weren't going to follow the elk, we were good.

January 16:

TrailridinRN finally bought new new stirrups for her saddle. The super thin medal stirrups that came with the saddle just weren't doing it for us any more. They provided little foot and leg support and had no weight to them. using money from Christmas, she bought a pair of Crates stirrups that matched the saddle. Now it was time to give them a test run!

We rode out to the trails in the woods and guess what!? We found more proof... of the Salal Men!

They had obviously been out there recently and had left bundles of salal everywhere.

These neat little bundles of salal were no doubt headed to local nurseries for Valentine's day floral arrangements. I'm just glad we didn't actually meet the salal collectors this year; just they're left over bundles. *HUGE sigh*

'Til next year salal man... 'til next year...

Catching Up: Good Times in The Wind and Indoor Arena

2010-03-05T13:27:00.000-08:00

Early January:

We noticed that Starlett was starting to look less 'filled in.' Her hindquarters were lack some serious muscling and her top line, oh her top line. It was just pitiful looking. She turned 21 Jan. 28, but she just isn't that old! For a mare that gains weight on air, we knew something was up. As you probably know we feed local hay to our girls so that they can get more throughout the day and munch pretty much continually without getting obese. Unfortunately, some of the hay we bought this year wasn't as great as we first thought. When there is nothing else for them to eat the girls will eat it, but otherwise they won't even sniff it. Since we have already decided to quit buying local hay (at least in bulk), we picked up a bale or two of timothy, which we used to feed Star all the time, to see if it made a difference. While transitioning hays, I cleaned up the feed room and rearranged the 4 different types of hay we had!

Alfalfa, timothy, good local, and bad local, along with the two different grains (LMF, not really grain), treats, first aid kits, supplements, hay pellets, and pellet bedding... argh that was a job.

January 6: A few days before my good friend headed out of state for a job in Wisconsin, we hooked up for one last trail ride for who knows how long. I drove over to the landsburg trails, which she lives on (jealous), and tacked both girls up. I wasn't sure which one I wanted to ride even after they were tacked up, lol!

The wind this day was atrocious! It was a constant 35 mph with much higher gusts. And, it was still cold. We got there REALLY early, so once they were tacked up we stood around for a good 25 minutes in the wind. Good times... Star could care less, I think.

Mercy, the oh-so-impatient one did, however. She went from this happy face...

... to grinding her teeth and chewing on her rope. At least she wasn't pawing and moving around.

My friend finally rode up to the trailer. We applied our hand and toe warmers and I jumped on Starlett. I decided to ride her because it's easier riding the slower horse in this particular group. Mercy had to figure out the going faster was only going to get her to the pali-butt in front of her, no where else. And if she got too pushy, well, let's say that Star isn't afraid to aim a hoof at her.

Since my friend had to be home in two hours, we just rode the pipeline loop. This is the ride that my mom and I like a lot. We get some time in the woods and also some time on the gravel pipeline, a great place to really move the horses out. We kept it at a walk, because I was ponying and my friend's mare is still young and silly.

Our ride was really quite uneventful. The only interesting part was when we were on the pipeline and Mercy decided that she didn't like Luna, my friend's mare. She would swing her hind end toward her and threaten to kick. This was easily fixed by dallying her lead rope off onto Star's saddle and pulling Mercy off balance when she did this. It only took a few times for her to figure this out and she quit... for now... grrr. :/

When we got back to the trailer we said quick goodbyes and both headed home. The wind and cold had really taken a toll, but it was well worth it. I don't know when I will see my good friend again; soon, I hope! The girls were worn out too- both quickly found places to nap for a while.

January 8:

We need to get out again. The cold was still miserable and riding on the trails was not an option. So we hauled the girls out to our friend's indoor arena! Mercy and I needed to continue working on loping circles. Of course, taking pictures in an indoor arena is a pure challenge, as most horse people know. Most didn't turn out, so bear with me on this post.

Our circles to the left are much better than going to the right. The right circles are super unbalanced and downright ugly. I am having trouble deciding if it is me and how I sit her lope, or if she is just unbalanced, throwing me off. Either way, we needed to just ride.

Breaks are looked forward to by everyone- me included!

While taking a break from circles I watched and helped my mom get Star to flex and relax into a smoothish jog. The cold weather really made Star stiff and we just needed to get her loosened up.

After TrailridinRN was done riding Starlett, Taylor jumped up for a quick ride! Taylor had used Starlett for gaming in 4H a few years ago and still enjoys riding her when we come over.

Ears up and big smile!

After another round of circles, we get another break! YEAH!

Thanks for letting us use your beautiful facility Taylor! See ya at the barn again soon!

Later January:

We were sick of the joint supplements. They weren't doing anything for Star and they were getting ridiculously expensive, so we finally did it. We started Star on Adequan injections. After the loading dose (one injection every 4 days for 5 injections), we only have to maintain with one injection a month. This combined with the knee injections we did a few months back, we hope to make Star more comfortable in all of her joints. I'll update you later on her progress!

BTW...

*Does 100th post dance!* ;)

Still Catching Up: New Year's Pasture Rodeo

2010-02-23T13:00:00.000-08:00

When I turned the girls out next door for some exercise and good rolling, they exploded! It gave me a great opportunity to try out my new camera! Funny, this is how they ride too... Star collected and 'up' and Mercy low and long...

Short break...

Shoulders up!...

Please don't try this with me on you. Please...

Digging to China...

Star didn't like that idea...

But got spooked and flew back to the front of the pasture...

Even Star got some good air time...

Still not done...

Nope. Not yet...

Ya, not so sure about the camera yet. I still have a few settings to try, but it's just not fast enough for some of the sports action and it seems kinda grainy. And the biggest issue I have with it is that it doesn't recover fast enough after I've taken a shot. I don't want to see the picture I just took for 5 seconds after! I have more to shoot! I'll get it figured out eventually.

Still Catching Up: Cow, Bird, and Cat Herding?

2010-02-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

Two days before Christmas I decided to try out one of my gifts from last year! Finally! My sister got me one of those neat steer heads so I could practice my rope tossing. For whatever reason, it took me a long time to get a bale bag and actually haul out the rope. I decided to introduce Mercy (and Star, kinda) to the sound of the rope hitting the plastic and canvas. I have thrown a rope off of Mercy before, while on and off her, but never at anything. Of course she could care less and just wanted to touch the steer head and continue eating her hay.

So I pulled on the rope and moved it in her direction. She stood her ground and seems very interested. Star, on the other hand, well, you can see her reaction... right before she bolted out of her stall and into her run.

I pulled it a little closer...

I hauled her out of her stall, de-cloaked her, groomed her up, and headed up to the trailer to saddle up. When I was warming her up and checking her responses to aids while neck reining, Chai decided to come say hi.

I actually thought she might have jumped up into the saddle with me she was that excited to see me! Could have been an interesting deal if Mercy wasn't OK with that...

No cat herding today. Only cows and birds for now, lol! Although, Chai does kind of look like a cow now that I think about it. Same blotchy black and white markings and those little devil horns I can see on her most days. Yup. Definitely part cow. *shrugs*

After that diversion, we got back to work. I practiced throwing the rope away from us, at nothing in particular, just to make sure we were still good with the basics. Then I moved on to twirling the rope over my head and Mercy. Again nothing. So I let it slip a few times and let it smack her in the face, on the rump, under her tail, to see if I could get a reaction. Nope. Nothing. We were still at a stand still, but every little experience counts, so it was a great start.

When I felt we were good enough to catch something, I positioned her behind the steer. Again, at a stand still. I took one shot and missed. She yawned. Thanks Mercy. I coiled my rope back up and tried again. This time I got one horn. Perfect! I got it tight, held on to the rope and asked Mercy to back a step. She complied and the steer moved to the right a little bit as we backed. And then the rope slipped off and we came to a stop ourselves. Perfect.

Still looking bored, I made Mercy move off to the left as we dragged the rope. I coiled it up as we made our way back to the steer. This time I *actually* made a full shot and got the whole head. Fine with me! I once again asked her to back and she got a little antsy and jigged sideways into the rope. I corrected her quickly and again asked her to back, which she did. That's where I dropped the rope in the ground, dismounted, and loosened her cinch. I would call that a great introduction to roping.

Unfortunately, I don't know that much about roping, so that is where I will probably leave it until I can get some pro help. I also decided that day that I don't know if roping is going to ever be my thing. I like working cows, not roping them. But I won't give up training Mercy the basics. I will continue tossing the rope and maybe one day I will find an old tire along the road and ask her to drag it. Maybe that will lead to me dallying off on my saddle. Who knows?!

Still Catching Up: A Christmas-y Themed Ride

2010-02-19T17:37:00.000-08:00

December 17th rolled around and it was time for another ride. I grabbed the girls right before their 'lunch time,' so they weren't that pleased to see me walking out to the barn. Star more so than Mercy:

Good thing I chose to ride Mercy that day! It wasn't long after we had hit the trail that Mercy spotted something 'not right' up ahead. What could it be?!

A tree! LOL! We had had a few breezy days and this tree obviously didn't make it. Yeah! A new jump!

Mercy decided to take a bite of the bark and slowly walk over it instead. Guess she wasn't warmed up yet. (And no, my jeans are not white, don't know why they look that light lol!)

Star was still looking quite irritated with the whole ordeal. How dare I take her away from her hay! Ugh!

Anyway, once we really started moving I noticed that the forest was full of Christmas colors and natural decorations!

These bushes were candy cane red and white, just not twisted:

And the Douglas Firs were all decked out in cone ornaments:

Even the 'naked' trees were getting into the holiday spirit with their moss garlands:

We only rode the short loop that day. Star's feet were a little ouchy on the hard ground and I didn't want to ride that long anyway- too much Christmas shopping left to do!

When I let the girls out next door they put on quite a show:

Mercy's done...

Star still rolling...

After checking out the back fence Mercy noticed I was still standing in their pasture...

Then decided to go past me instead and show off with some head flinging...

Finally Star got up... ewww...

Ummm... palomino what?...

*sigh*

Guess I deserved that Star, fair enough! :)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-03T09:21:00.000-08:00

Taking Advantage of The Situation

2010-01-29T12:43:00.001-08:00

Of the snow situation that is! The day after the snow lightly covered the ground, I had had enough of the whole not riding thing. I was going to go! I will admit that I was a little nervous, it was still very slick and super frozen. I decided to ride Star and pony Mercy even though Star was the one most likely to have a misstep- I just wasn't comfortable riding Mercy on her first even snow ride all by myself. We started down the trail and it wasn't too bad at all:

I steered Star to the lake for our quick winter ride. We rode around almost to the 'new' city park and stopped to let them eat some frozen grass while I took some pictures. The lake was frozen solid in this little inlet. I'm sure it wouldn't be strong enough to walk on, but it was pretty impressive to see it this covered over.

After watching the birds wander around the lake's edge and letting the girls grab a few more bites, we headed back home. I loved seeing all of the people and animal tracks in the snow:

We followed the creek from the lake until we got to the 'pond.' The water was really running fast and high, so no swimming today. Plus, with the snow to it's edge, no thanks, too cold!

Where's Mercy?!:

It's a good thing I didn't lose her that day. Her camo is too good- I don't think I would have ever been able to see her, lol!

Coming out of the tall trees the snow was quite a bit heavier on the trail. I made Star move really slow and watch her feet.

Here's that refrozen mud I described in an earlier post:

You can really see how the horses would just fall through for an inch or two. Luckily I was able to get them to walk to the side where it was more grassy and solid.

Of course Star was looking too cute against the harsh winter backdrop not to snap this pic:

More mud cave-ins:

We all got back in one piece and chilled to the bone. The snow at our place had melted away with a brief sun break so the girls got turned out for a good roll naked. I regretted that later. Oh well.

It was a super fun ride. Wish TrailridinRN could have come too. I still hope we get one more snow spat before winter's officially over. I haven't had the chance to wear my new snow boots! ;)

Well It's Been Cold Enough!

2010-01-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

On December 13th we finally got snow! Here's proof!:

OK, well, it probably wasn't snow technically, but it was frozen precipitation! Java, our 8 year old Boxer, LOVES the snow! I think he would have been much happier if he had been born a Huskie.

He has quite a bit of arthritis in his hips and hind legs, plus an old knee injury, so to keep him from getting too stiff we 'blanket' him when he goes out in the cold. While we were trying to find a new coat for him he got to wear his old show cooler. (But come on, we all know it's really a cape!) It kept him drier at least:

The horses got their winter blankets on so they could go out to the snow covered pasture. I really like to keep them clean and dry, just in case I get a chance to ride.

Java and I walked back and forth from the house hauling hot water out to the barn. The ice breakering and hauling out water had become a daily (or twice daily) chore. Our water lines out to the barn had long been frozen at this point. While walking back to the house for the last time I snapped this pic of Java, one of the few I think I will ever get of him in 'action!'

Notice the WSU Cougar collar, that's right!

Of course he has to stop and eat some snow on the way back out to the barn...

When I was done cleaning Java helped me bring the girls back to the barn. Mercy, the darling, doesn'y really like Java's cape. She follows him around trying to touch him, and unfortunately I have no doubt she would go after him. That thing on him is so threatening! *snort* She is WAY to suspisious for her own good...

After Java noticed that she was basically on top of him, he ran behind me and stayed by my side. Good boy! I protected him from the Spotted One until we left the barn. I threw the girls a little hay and back inside to the fireplace Java and I went.

Mercy must have wanted to come in too, because she was standing outside in the snow while Star at all the hay. *sigh*

Silly girl. :)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-20T08:37:00.000-08:00

Trailering Out Into The Cold

2010-01-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

Three days after our last ride, my mom and I decided to venture back into the cold for another trail ride. We decided to trailer out to the Landsburg trails, hoping they were less frozen. Plus, riding down to the pipeline would mean flat, open, and easy-to-ride areas. And, if we got lucky, we might get a peak of SUN!

We tacked up quickly after arriving at the trail head and stuffed our socks and gloves with hand and toe warmers. I think both girls were as eager as us to get out and stretch their legs.

We rode down to the pipeline where the sun welcomed us to ride further. The shadowed areas were still frosty and completely uninviting. Needless to say, we stayed on the side with the sun.

Stopped for a quick photo in the sun (Wow Starlett's clean!):

Mercy was more interested in the dry, crunchy grass...

After crossing a road and riding through a few gates, we continued on. This blueish building has been here on the side of the trail forever. Star and I used to ride past it all of the time when we boarded out here a long time ago. Back then it didn't have a fence around it... so of course it is much scarier now. Go figure. Usually nervous around it, Mercy could care less this time.

We meandered down the road until the taller trees prevented the sun's rays from reaching us, so we turned around and headed back the way we came. We found a trail that neither of us could remember was there before, so we took it. I knew it would hook up with the 'Putman trail' but didn't really know where. It was nice in the trees and hearing the Cedar River down below. The trail looped back around to the pipeline at the scary blue building after maybe a quarter mile. We were glad to reemerge on the pipeline, it was getting mighty chilly!

After crossing the road and going through the gates again, we took a trail into the hills to make our way back to the trailer. It was a short ride, especially for all the 'trouble' of hauling out, but it was very cold and we were all happy to get home. All I have left to say about this ride is thank goodness for toe and hand warmers! They really do make outdoor activities in the winter a pleasure again!

Everything's Frozen... Still

2010-01-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

December 9th was more frigid than the day before. Yes there was sun gloriously peaking out, but oh it was still so bitterly cold. My girls needed to get out; the ground was so frozen at our place that they were not getting much turnout. I did not need someone going lame because they twisted a fetlock... or something...

Our ride was slow and short, only traveling to the lake and back. The trails we ride on are almost always in the shadows of the trees. Between the crazy cold temperatures and never seeing a glimpse of sun, the trails were solid ice and crunchy, mud ice crystals. This makes for some interesting trail conditions. As you can kinda see in these photos, the ground had thawed, frozen, and re thawed so many times that the usually wet areas had become cavities in the ground.

The horses would step on the crystals and their hooves would fall down and inch or two until they hit solid ice. This make for some slow moving...

Neither horse panicked and we made it to the lake all in one piece. There were no other people or animals in the area, so it was quite unusually peaceful.

Then I took a look out past the shoreline. The little cove had frozen almost completely over! I have never seen this happen since I have lived here.

After taking in the beautiful sight, we moved a little ways off to the grassy slope. While waiting for the girls to get their fill of frozen grass I took some shadow pictures. This is the only one that turned out...never knew a horse could move so much while standing still...

On our way home I was able to get some good pictures of the frozen vegetation throughout the forest. Again, the sun never reaches this area because of the gigantic Douglas Firs and Cedars.

Sure made the rest of the ride look a whole lot warmer once we broke into the sun's rays once again. Although short, the ride was relaxing and inviting. I couldn't wait for the next one.

A Quick, Frosty Winter Ride

2010-01-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

On December 2nd, Mercy, Starlett and I headed out into the subfreezing weather to stretch your legs. It wasn't bad out, besides the cold. No wind, rain, or snow. Just some overcast skies and the frozen ground.I decided to ride Mercy and pony Star on our ride, hoping that Star would actually move out a little faster to keep up with Mercy's mega fast walk. Well, the trails were iced over, so Mercy was kept at a slow walk. She really didn't appreciate that. We had to stop often to reinforce that freaking out and pulling through the bit was going to get her nowhere. Here is her 'can we go now?' look:

And then 'Oh! What is that?!'... and looses what we had just worked on... standing still until I say so...

*sigh* We ended up just doing the short loop, a 30 minute ride at most. That was just fine with me; Star really has a hard time on ice, especially when she hasn't been out very much and her arthritis is acting up. I didn't want to risk her getting hurt.

As the sun was getting lower in the afternoon sky we made our way back home. Right as we broke into the clearing before our house, 'our' three deer looked up at us. Not even caring about our sudden appearance, they returned to grazing a few feet away from us.

I said hello to them and we finished the trail home.

Riding up a Mountain

2010-01-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

My mom and I took the big plunge a few days after Thanksgiving; we rode the horses up Taylor Mountain. We have lived in the area for well over fifteen years, but I guess we have never felt a need or reason to ride these trails. Well, my friend had ridden these trails for quite a few years and had brought me along on a ride this fall. What wonderful trails! They are very well kept by members of the Backcounrty Horseman chapters in the area, so I thought we should take advantage of them.

We loaded up the trailer on that cold Sunday afternoon. I think it may have gotten to 32* by the time we reached the parking area. After saddling up the girls and activating our toe and hand warmers we headed off. We entered a wet forested area that slowly started heading up the hillside. The ground is very clay based on this mountain, making the trail slick with all of the recent rain and snow. I think I had just got done telling my mom I hope we didn't meet anyone coming down the hill when a group came around the corner. It took a few minutes to get our girls turned around and back down the slick hillside to a safe place to turn off the trail and let the other riders pass.

I was still working with Mercy on her speed control, and this included going up steep hills. I really wanted her to walk up the slick hill, but at some point I realized we just needed to get up the hill to firmer ground or the horses were going to loose their momentum and have a hard time getting the rest of the way up. So we trotted. And this was the view from the first rest stop to let the girls air up:

We zigzagged across the mountain making our way to the first 'peak.' The ground was still a little shifty, but not too bad. At this point we kept things at a walk. A few parts of the trail were pretty steep and I didn't feel like making my way back down the hill doing back flips... Mercy responded well when I practiced placing her feet around soft spots or rocks on the trail. Star was doing pretty good for being out of shape; she kept up with Mercy-the-speed-walker for the most part.

After reaching the 'peak,' we headed down into another forested section of the trail that had been recently renovated by the BCH. Gravel was hauled in to make the hill stable. As we made our down we had to dodge massive old growth trees hanging over the trail. At the bottom is a creek that, I have been told, runs even during the hottest of summers, making it a great place to rest up and water the horses. Mercy wasn't impressed:

Star seemed a little more interested, at least giving the water a quick sniff:

A little way up the trail we met a couple who had been hiker and taking scenic pictures. Mercy could not let the cameras out of her sight. She REALLY wanted to see them. I had to insist quick roughly that we move on, but she continued to look back until she could no longer hear them. We took one more switchback up the mountain. Almost at the top we met a nice man and his dogs taking a rest on the side if the trail. After exchanging greetings we finished climbing the mountain. Proof:

Both horses enjoyed gazing off into the distance, looking for their barn no doubt... My mom and I remarked that it would have been smart to bring the binoculars. Oh well, next time. We could only speculate where our house was, along with the surrounding towns. If the now sprinkling clouds weren't there, we could have seen Seattle and Bellevue. Again, next time...

On our decent down the mountain we decided to take a switch back that takes us to the gravel service road, which leads us back to the trailer area. It was a quicker route down and at that point in the ride we wanted to make going down easy on the girls. Neither my mom nor I was looking forward to riding the slick clay trail back down, so the road it was. Once we got there, we met a few other riders and chitchatted a little. We headed down and let me tell you, Star was hiding a little something in the back burner. She was walking out so fast that Mercy couldn't keep up! What?! This never happens, ever. Until then. She knew the trailer was up ahead:

We were all really worn out by the time we returned to the trailer. Both horses stood like statues to be unsaddled and brushed. Starlett got here new pink cooler thrown on her and into the trailer they went, happy for some hay and happy to be heading home.

What a ride. For all of us.

New Computer: Check!

2010-01-04T16:54:00.000-08:00

I have finally bought a new computer! It's a super simple and small Acer laptop, good enough for the stuff I do: go online and load pictures from my camera(s). I am thrilled with it so far and can't wait to get back into the blogging scene! I have a LOT to share, so it will take me a while to get my typing skills back up to par. Here is a quick teaser pic:

It's Starting to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

2009-12-09T16:45:00.000-08:00

... but I have no way to show you! LOL! My computer crashed again. And I am officially done with it. Thank goodness this is a great time of the year to buy a new computer; there are some awesome deals going on right now. Anyway, once I have a new set up, I will post some mega long posts that have had to be put off for weeks.

Until I sign in again, have a great week and a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Best Mash Ever

2009-11-26T22:06:00.000-08:00

At least, I thought so! I wanted to share the holiday spirit with the girls, so I made up some delicious timothy pellet mashes for dinner! Of course there were carrots and mini candy canes added too! Mercy takes no time diving in and picking out the goodies:

Star, however, is not always so sure about the whole ordeal. Until we got Mercy, we really never fed her mashes of any kind. She takes a while to get her lips icky, but once she gets past that part, it's gone.

Mercy was having such a fun time eating her num nums that she forgot to keep it in the bowl! Silly mare! I'll remember to buy the deeper ones next time...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

Farting is NOT Allowed! (Part 2: Solo Ride)

2009-11-18T19:37:00.000-08:00

After a long morning of work at a friend's place, I was invited to go on a trail ride on one of her horses at Taylor Mt. that afternoon. This was very exciting because I have never had the opportunity to ride there, even though I live 10 minutes away. I just don't like exploring unfamiliar trails that can be ridden across state- too many places and turns to get lost in. I had a great ride! It was sunny out and after making it to the top of the mountain, I remembered that I had left my camera in the trailer. Boo.

Coming down from the top was a little challenging. My friend has reiners, still in slid plates, and the ground was rain soaked clay. We slipped and slid all the way down. Thank goodness I trust the gelding I was riding. He is such a fun ride!

I got home with just enough daylight to jump on Mercy for a short ride. I grabbed Star on the way out and we headed out for the short loop. It was kinda windy, so we took it easy walking through the clear-cut, but we managed to stay spook free.

The next morning it was brisk and clear. A storm was just off the WA coast and steaming our way quickly, so I wanted to head out for another ride as soon as possible. I wanted to really ride Mercy, so Star got left at home. I headed off to the left and up the rocky hill. I should have know this was going to be another challenging ride because when she climbed the hill, she loped. As you probably remember I have been having issues getting Mercy to move out on the trail recently. Nope. Not now. She blasted off up the hill! Usually at the top she walks really slow. Nope Not now. She continued to lope down the trail. I let her keep going for a ways before I asked her to slow.

Then, to my shock and amazement, she willingly turned and carried on down the hill once in the woods. This NEVER happens. She hates going down this trail because once you start down, you can hear people on the trails above us. She has to see who's up there, always. Nope. Not today. We got to the bottom in record time. We stopped by the apple tree, where the last apple was still hanging. I grabbed the trunk and shook it. The apple dropped to the ground and rolled a ways off, so I had to help Mercy find it.

After Mercy's tasty snack, we headed for the train track. This is where all hell *almost* broke loose. Mercy took off without me being ready. Well, I was ready for her to lope, but she lunged at the hill. I lost my seat and couldn't gather my reins quick enough, and Mercy knew it. She hadn't even finished the turn on the hill when she took off bucking. It wasn't a really serious bucking fit, more of a 'it feels cold out and I feel frisky,' but it wasn't acceptable. Once she hit the flat, straight track I had time to regain my seat and suck the reins back up to stop her. Even once she was stopped, she felt like she could shoot off again. I insisted she walk straight and brisk. When she wigged out, we backed up on a loose rein, then continued. Grrr...

From that moment on, I insisted she control her own speed or pace. If she took off without me cuing her, I hauled her ass down. Then we started over again. If she stopped without me sitting or reining her down, she got her sides kicked into a new gear. I had finally come to the realization that allowing her to choose her own pace was the worst thing I could let her do. She is the kind of horse that will take advantage of anything, any mistake or unseen opportunity. I have to control every movement she makes. If she doesn't listen, there will be consequences, no exception.

For the remainder of the ride I practiced my new epiphany. Guess what? By the end of the ride (which was just taking switchbacks home, at a walk) she was listening and reacting to every cue I made. She no longer took off at the bottom of a hill, assuming we lope on every hill. She also waited until I decided which trail to follow. It is no longer her idea.

Even with the rough start, I am glad it happened. I finally figured something else out about Mercy. I NEED to be her leader. She needs to rely on me for everything. I can't wait to see how this translates to the show ring.

Farting is NOT Allowed! (Part 1: Our First Reining Show)

2009-11-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Mercy and I were invited to the reining schooling show at the Tacoma Unit in Spanaway, WA by some close friends. Since I don't have a haul-worthy vehicle right now, they volunteered to pick us up so we could get a good ride in, and maybe enter a schooling class or two! Of course I said I would come! It was an awful rainy, windy day complete with thunder and lightening and I am glad for any chance to ride in a covered or indoor arena.

The only thing I was nervous about with this whole adventure was loading Mercy into their trailer. Their trailer is a massive 4horse with a monster sized tack room up front and a rear tack room in back gooseneck... with a ramp. That's the part I was nervous about. She loads in any trailer with other horses and hay, but I have never squeezed her into that narrow of an opening after climbing a ramp. Plus it had been months since I'd loaded her. Hmmm....

Well, my good friends got to my place around 12:30 and pulled up in front of my house. We loaded Mercy's tack up and then I went to grab Mercy. I quickly brushed her down while my mom grabbed her cooler (just in case) and we headed up to the house. Mercy took some very slow steps toward the trailer, but she never stopped moving forward. I lined her up with the ramp and trailer stall and walked in in front of her. She took one big step onto the ramp, paused, and then came forward easily . She wanted to smell the horse in the 3rd stall, but that's not allowed! No touching of the other horses! LOL! When I told her 'no' she backed out slowly, starting to get a little nervous. I asked her to come in again, which she did, and showed her the hay in the hay bag. Oh! She liked that. she reached forward and took a nibble, then backed out. One of my neighbors had been patiently waiting in their car to drive by so I took Mercy off the ramp and let him pass. After the very short break I tried driving Mercy into the trailer instead of leading her in. Voila! It worked! She climbed in and dove into the hay while I closed the butt bar and tied her in. We were off!

She hauled great and when we got to Spanaway she unloaded like a pro. I tied and tacked her up quickly. We were running late, the show had already begun! Not only that, but this was the largest showing of participants this show had ever had- a new record for them! This meant that I had no time to ride in the indoor arena and every rider was working or waiting in the smaller covered arena. No big deal right? Wrong.

That was a horrible shot. Her ears look as long as her head, Ugh. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to take many pics and most of them were in REALLY low light, so ya...

A little better, kinda. This time it's her suspicious/evil eye going on. I should have known this was to be a challenging day...

We walked over to the arena, where the steers used for sorting and cutting were mulling around in their pens, and mounted up. Mercy was very calm and taking everything in stride while I walked her around the other horses and equipment on that side of the arena. The other side of the arena was the 'active' side; riders were loping and jogging their horses in preparation for their runs. After I checked Mercy's 'whoa' and bending, I aimed her toward the rail to join the start our warm up.

Mercy basically bolted down the rail all the while trying to kick the horses working around us. I couldn't believe it. I had zero control of my horse. I was finally able to gather my reins, but Mercy was already way too flustered to calm her down quickly. We had bolted back to the 'calm' side, so I worked on bending her head around and getting her mind back with me. We progressed into walking and then trotting small circles around the other groups of horses that were 'resting.'

She had relaxed so much that I thought we would try going to the other side again. I asked her to walk a few steps at a time into the chaos, then stop and stand there. We almost got half way around the circle when it became too much and she bolted again. She would swing her butt out and back into other horses to kick them. Talk about some serious confidence issues...

We went back to the calm side and I worked her butt doing small circles and backing. Then I took a break for myself. I had no idea what to do. I wanted to be able to work on this issue, but it was also my number one priority to keep everyone else in the arena safe from my poorly acting mare. We worked on spins for a while and then I just parked her over by the cows. After about a half an hour, my friend came over and suggested I let Mercy walk with her horse into the active side, which was far less busy now that the show was almost halfway through. I took the rail and my friend and her gelding took the inside track. I just forced Mercy to stay by his side, no falling behind and no blowing ahead. When she was calm, she got a loose rein. When she got bothered I took ahold and corrected her, then released to see if she would stay with me. After maybe 3 times around the circle, we switched directions and we took the inside track. My friend suggested that I let her trot as long as she stayed in control, so I asked her forward and away we went.

She got a little bothered with the speed and tried taking off, throwing in a little buck and fart. My friend suggested I try getting her to relax her neck and poll by massaging her mouth with her bit- basically squeezing each rein alternating left then right and so on, but without steering her off the circle. It worked! Mercy finally relaxed into the bit and soon we were changing from a slow jog to an extended jog back to a walk, all without issues. And while other horses had joined the circle again. After another 45 minutes of this, changing directions, speeds, and gaits, we took a break in the middle of the circle. She had relaxed so much that she had come off the bit, lifted her back, and collected her whole body, so her break was well deserved. *sigh*

From that moment on I was able to ride anywhere in the arena and feel confident that she wouldn't bolt, buck, kick, and carry on in any way. I pretty much spent the next hour or so jogging circles and practicing our stops. We had made a major break through for the day, so I didn't want to push her anymore. While waiting for my friends' classes, I took her to the trailer and untacked her. She wasn't sweaty, but I threw her cooler on anyway since it was really cold, wet, and dark. I walked her back to the arena where the cows had just been fed. They were really hungry and in their frenzy to eat they had pushed most of the hay through the fence. Mercy really wanted the alfalfa, so I had to hand her off to my friend while I pushed the hay back in.

Mercy wasn't real happy about this so she had to stare down the cows after I took control of her again, tee hee!

We hung out until the show was over, at about 6:30, and walked into the indoor arena so she could look around. Maybe next time we will get there earlier so I can ride in a larger area. And maybe *gasp!* we could actually enter a schooling class! That was the goal for today before this whole Mercy-acting-like-a-stubborn-appy thing happened. Just one class, that's all I was looking for. Oh well.

She loaded like a pro heading home and boy was Star happy to see her. Mercy just wanted her hay, some water, and a good place to sleep. She make life way too difficult lol!

Ripples and Rays

2009-11-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

Mercy was really interested in the tasty leaves this past Sunday. It's pretty challenging to get going on our rides this time of the year because we all know those leaves are so irrasistably crunchy, right!? Well, atleast Mercy thinks so...

It was a beautifully sunny day for a ride. I was still feeling a little 'weird.' so we took it slow to start and took one trail at a time. After getting past the crunchy leaves, we headed out toward the creek. The surroundings were certainly looking a little less colorful then even just a week ago.

We picked our way through the rocks and logs and finally reached the creek. Lately Mercy hasn't shown any interest in going into the water, but on this ride she insisted that we go down there. I'm pretty much a push over, so down we headed while Star and mom stayed on the trail to wait. She took a good drink, looked around for something to eat, and stared in the direction her trail mates were waiting.

When Mercy had finally decided to leave the water we headed up the service road and took the first trail to our left. Usually we ride this trail the other direction, but it was time to try something new. As we rode along Mercy and I started hearing other people on an adjacent trail. I ignored it for the time being and continued on behind Star. We ran up the hill at full speed and when we hit the top we ran into the gals I had heard, on horses! Cool!

We often see trailers parked near the 'public' trail head, but never seem to catch the riders. Well, Mercy came undone a little and pranced in place until we went our separate ways. And she continued to really move out (at the walk) until we reached the tracks and out of hearing range of the other riders. She doesn't often meet other riders and their horses on our trails. How dare they ride there too! ;)

All the maple leaves on the track are down now. From the weather being difficult to me being sick, we didn't get to ride there during the peak leaf fall-out. The year's best pictures come during this time. Oh well, next year.

When we rode off the track trail we stopped by the apple tree to steal a couple apples for the girls. Just as we reached it the other riders came down the trail ahead of us. After saying hi again and making Mercy stand still and mind her manners, we all carried on our way. Coming down the rocky hill we met two bikers. They pulled off to the side so we could pass and continue on our way home.

It was such a nice day, so when we got home we let the girls out back to graze a little. Mercy was looking really pretty being outlined by the sun-kissed trees.

Star, not so much. Sorry girl...

Chai couldn't be outdone so she came out to help us clean the paddocks.

She was watching something amongst these sunlit maples...

On Tuesday, both my mom and I were both home so we headed out for a quick ride. We rode out to the lake and then followed the creek trail back home. It was really weird being on that trail after more than a week. The leaves are ALL down and the creek is really visible and loud because of it. The sun is easily able to filter through the saplings now, highlighting neat branches and stumps.

We rode while it was pretty windy, but the girls remained calm and as a reward we let them haul up the hill leading home. I love Mercy's explosive power when I let her loose!

With a fast approaching storm predicted for the early afternoon, I took the girls out for a quick ride this morning before the rains hit. It was already pretty windy so I knew it would be a short ride. I didn't really want to take Star with me, but she has been stocking up pretty good lately, so I took pity on her and brought her along. Any movement is better than none.

Of course, as soon as we headed out it started to sprinkle. The wind was howling too, so I asked Mercy to move out to hasten this ride even further. Star had a hard time keeping up so I brought Mercy to a more even pace. We rode the 'short loop' and headed home, a ride less than 20 mins long. It was sprinkling pretty good at one point, but by the time I got home it had quit. *sigh* At least we got out and they got to stretch their legs. Good thing we had some great rides earlier this week.

When H1N1 Interferes...

2009-11-01T11:08:00.000-08:00

It has been over a week since I have ridden thanks to what I presume was swine flu. I never went in to get tested, but I can't think of anything else it could have been. I started feeling 'weird' on Monday and on Tuesday I started getting a sore throat. By Wednesday I was on the couch. There I stayed, drugged up on cough medicine and painkillers until yesterday. I will spare you the major details, but it was not fun. Obviously.

I was able to get out of the house yesterday. I was feeling good enough to get dressed and go to the feed store with my mom to pick up some stall pellets. I made sure I stayed away from people and cough in my tissues. I also didn't touch anything around me.

I am still not feeling great, but I can move around now without body aches and sneezing boogers on everything. And the biggest thing for me, I can sleep! Those first two nights I didn't sleep. And I am not one who naps easily. Thermaflu finally helped that.

Now that I am feeling kinda human again, we are going to try going for a ride today. I'm trying to wait and see how the Seahawks game will go, but it's sunny outside and I don't want to wait too long. I will say that I am interested to see how Mercy rides today. We recently bought some nice alfalfa to see if the girls just need a little more protein. I haven't ridden since starting their 2-3lbs a day alfalfa treat. I'll let you know how I survive!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-28T11:55:00.001-07:00

A Spot of Mercy

Wild Winter Ice and Snow

More Down Time...

A Long Awaited Update

Hitting The Trails Once Again, With a Twist!

More *Slight* Set Backs

Believe It or not, but Spring is HERE!!!

Mercy, Cuda, Chai, and Starlett Update!

Quick Update

As Time Advances

Riding Into The... Rain?

Wordless Wednesday

Up Above The Ground Once More!

Looking Forward

Wordless Wednesday

Lasers all Around Us!!!!

Snow Day!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

All Strung Out

Now We Know

A (Kinda) Lazy Ride Along the River

Injury Update

Looking for Improvement

Decision Time

Another Delay...

One Goal at a Time

Would I Ever Had Known?

An Update's Coming

I Won't Be Buying a New Barrel Saddle After All...

NWRA Arlington Reining Show (May 16, 2010)

Life...

Wordless Wednesday

Ricky Quinn Clinic~ Day 4

Is That a Break in The Clouds?!?

Wordless Wednesday

Ricky Quinn Clinic~ Day 3

Ricky Quinn Clinic~ Day 2

Ricky Quinn Clinic~ Day 1

New Gear!

Odds and Ends

Oh Deer...

March Reining Show

Wordless Wednesday

Of Barrel Saddles and Warm-Up Pens

Happy Birthday Mercy!

A Short Vacation From Blogger

Catching Up: Water Works

Catching Up: Moving Logs and Trees

Catching Up: Rollbacks and Circles

Catching Up: Return of The Salal Man??!?!?

Catching Up: Good Times in The Wind and Indoor Arena

Still Catching Up: New Year's Pasture Rodeo

Still Catching Up: Cow, Bird, and Cat Herding?

Still Catching Up: A Christmas-y Themed Ride

Wordless Wednesday

Taking Advantage of The Situation

Well It's Been Cold Enough!

Wordless Wednesday

Trailering Out Into The Cold

Everything's Frozen... Still

A Quick, Frosty Winter Ride

Riding up a Mountain

New Computer: Check!

It's Starting to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Best Mash Ever

Wordless Wednesday

Farting is NOT Allowed! (Part 2: Solo Ride)

Farting is NOT Allowed! (Part 1: Our First Reining Show)

Ripples and Rays

When H1N1 Interferes...

Wordless Wednesday

More Slight Set Backs