Great day at the Tumbleweed, if a little broken up. We worked Sugar this morning, still working on getting on her in saddle and getting off without her being ready to explode. Then I had an exam in History...ACK! Came back out and we took Sticks and Billy to the trail, had a very good ride, working leg cues with Sticks sidepassing along the trail. Then I ran into town for my fit test for the equestrian team. Back out to the barn, rode Gus in the arena. I'm always amazed at how smooth he is. He's a little squirrelly in his reining, mainly because he'd rather go talk to the other horses than do what I ask, but we can work through that. It's only the third time he's been ridden since we got him, so still a lot for us to learn about each other. But it's nice to have a stud that is as easy to handle as he is. Not to mention a looker!! Pics below... ignore my bad hair day...we've taken to jokingly calling Gus 'Fabio' because his long forelock is always swept across his eye and he tosses his head like a model to move them. Then we worked at grooming the horses, especially combing out manes and tails, getting Billy and Sticks a little better about the Show Sheen spray bottle. Then Luc and Eric took Rowdy and Seven down the trail and worked in the arena some. Everyone is moving along quite nicely. I expect Rowdy will go home around the middle of the month, and Sticks is being moved into boarder status for October. So with that, the Tumbleweed has several openings coming up. Now that the cooler months are soon to be upon us, let us work your horses so they are ready to go when the weather warms up and you are ready to hit the trails or the arena with them! Horse training always slows down in the winter. It seems like when people don't ride their horse when it gets cooler, they don't think about it needing training, but the winter is a great time to send your horse in for a tune up or get that colt started right so it will be ready to go when you are! Had a really nice, busy day at the barn today. Luc and Sticks worked the trail, Les came and trimmed Sugar's feet. Billy got some good work, including a lot of trotting and loping, in the arena. It's always a bit of a challenge to get the notion of speed combined with direction control when we first start picking up lopes. Rowdy and Seven took the trail with Luc and Brittany, then Rowdy got some good arena walk/trot/lope work in. I worked Catori in the round pen and in the arena without much trouble, but she wasn't quite ready when we went to go do the trail. But she's only been worked recently for two days, so she's in good shape for the shape she's in. Les will be back out around the third week of October. If you'd like to bring your horses over for trims, shoes, or dental work, call or text me to schedule it. He will be here trimming two of the horses and doing dental on three. It would be a good convenient time to come check out the facilities, and get your horse cared for. Next week, weather permitting, we will start opening up one afternoon/evening a week to bring your horses out to use the facilities. You will have access to the round pen, arena, and trail, as well as the staff being on hand to offer advice if you'd like. We will set up a couple of patterns in the arena. I will post more as we get closer, with more details, but I expect it would be from 4-8 pm one evening, likely about $10/horse. Horses will need to have a current Coggins, and riders will need to fill out a liability release. No studs, please. If we have enough RSVP, I would expect we could have pizza, water, tea, and sodas available. Yay for new happenings!
It's been a really wet couple of weeks at the barn. The challenges of having the horses in stalls with half of the stall out of the shed have been interesting to deal with. There have been a few days nice enough to work in spread through. Rowdy is riding off, trotting, loping, and riding the trail with Seven and by himself. Lil has gone home, our part in his story done, although he is welcome back anytime for a refresher. Billy and Sticks are working the trail and getting miles on, Sticks is working some of the more advanced rein work, since he was already started. Sugar is in her baby steps. We've got her working decently bareback, but she is still pretty wide-eyed when you add a saddle to the equation, so we are doing foundation work there until she finds out that having a rider in the saddle isn't a big deal. Seven's leg is continuing to heal, and it has been nice to have her back for help working some of these colts. We even put a little work in on Catori, Brittany's horse, who seems to have some pretty decent manners under all the pushy hard headedness. She just needs to know you are the leader first. And she challenges it fairly regularly. The joys of working a boss mare... Kind of funny to have three of them in the barn right now. They make nice horses once you establish your ranking.
It's been a really great couple of days at the Tumbleweed. We are so grateful for the rain. The horses are really coming along, especially this week. Lil goes home this weekend, we are going to miss him, he's really been a sweetheart. Going to post some pics and videos of him loping. Rowdy, Sticks, Billy, and Lil are all working the arena and trail both, calmly and dependable. Sugar is starting to understand that she will enjoy it more if she listens instead of doing things her way. We've got some saddle racks built in and we've made a lot of headway on getting the place cleaned up! Phil took a lesson on Seven and Abby has been out twice this week for lessons. It's amazing how much progress she's made since her first lesson. I'm so sorry I haven't been better about keeping up with posting. Headed to class now but had a GREAT morning with Rowdy and Seven on the trail. He's moving out great, picking up the walk/trot/stop transitions, walking across the grass without a fuss 'most' of the time. He would really like to stop and eat but he's getting over it. Not bad for the lazy, sticky guy he has been the past couple of weeks. Class til 1:00 then back out to work. It's been a busy first week at the new location. We are really enjoying the convenience of it, but there are still a few things to be worked on, so in addition to working the horses, we are still working maintenance on the property as well. Abby got a lesson yesterday, and is doing very well at her walk and trot and at one point Seven broke into a few strides of lope and she handled it like a champ. Yay for Abby's confidence and for Seven's leg feeling well enough to lope! Lil will go home on the 12th, we will be sad to see him go. He's a sweet little guy. Billy had to backtrack yesterday but by the time we were done working him in the round pen to remind him of the lesson he forgot, he's back on track. Rowdy is moving out nicely and even rode with another horse in the arena with him! I was a little worried about his aggressiveness towards other horses and being ridden together but he did alright. Sugar is doing pony rides, and coming along. She had been broke to ride, but either forgot a lot of stuff while not using it, or was taught the crash course. We will get her done right, all the while desensitizing her to all the things little girls make their ponies suffer through. Sticks is moving out very nicely, learning that it is not ok to eat while working and that he doesn't have to goose out from under people with a little leg pressure. I rode him during Abby's lesson, and Luc and Ashley rode him in the arena with Rowdy, and he did great. He's a really nice little horse. Some of you may remember Brittany, she's boarding her horses at the barn also. For those of you that will be in town this weekend, go check out the Cowboy Symposium at the Civic Center. Check out cowboy.org for a full lineup of the events.
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March 2015
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