Time with the Kid

November 12, 2013

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Since Brian has mostly taken over riding Zoey lately, I've been spending lots of time with Laredo. And it's been neat in a number of ways. Since we got him a year and a half ago, Brian and I have switched back and forth working with Laredo consistently, usually alternating rides. While this is great in some respects (helps him be more versatile, gives us the ability to have in depth conversations about his progress) the downside is you don't get quite the same emotional attachment on either side, or quite the same level of individuation in terms of his understanding of subtler cues. Lately, I've been riding Laredo in my new roo-hide hackamore. It fits him nicely, and it's interesting to see the different way he responds to its feel. Since it's so much smoother and softer over the nose, I feel like it's great for working on holding collection more. My other hackamore can get kind of...

First Ride in the Two-Rein

Robin

November 3, 2013

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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Today (after an excellent ride on Laredo) I rode Steen in the two-rein for the first time. It was definitely interesting. Steen took the spade willingly enough, but once he had it in his mouth he spit it out. I gave him a moment and put it in again, holding it in place gently with my hands while he explored it, then slipping the headstall on when he didn't try to jettison it again. I let him stand there for a while. I wish I'd thought to take a picture of those first few minutes. He was making some funny faces, though he was clearly not upset, scared, or in any discomfort. After a little while, he settled down and started rolling the cricket and looking more like his usual self. Hearing the cricket made me happy, because that's a sign the horse is relaxed enough to work their mouth, and is at least on the right track towards accepting the bit.

Getting to 200

Robin

November 3, 2013

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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At the end of 2012, when Brian and I talked about our riding goal for the next year, we picked something that would be difficult. We agreed 200 hours would be a stretch. Of course, we're aware some people ride 200+ hours in a week, but considering we both have full time jobs that don't have anything to do with horses, 200 hours on horseback is a lot for us to fit in. (OK, maybe 200 in a week is impossible, but you get the idea). Brian is on track with the goal, but I am a little behind. At the start of November I had 165 hours. In the true winter (once we're confined to the indoor arena) it is harder to really rack up the time, so my goal is to make the most of any remaining good weather we have. I'm hoping to get down to the single digits by the time December rolls around. This might mean riding every day, or close to it. But November is my birthday month, so I figure I deserve al...

Slimming Down

Robin

October 15, 2013

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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The title is not actually referencing me, or any of our horses. (Most of them are putting their winter 'padding' on, so are doing rather the opposite.) No, I'm actually talking about a bosal. Brian and I got our first hackamore two years ago. Brian gave it to me for my birthday, and neither of us had ever seen a bosal in person (much less ridden in one) so it was a bit of a crapshoot in terms of knowing what to get. While it's a nice bosal, over time I have come slowly to understand it is not a great fit for Steen -- physically, or in terms of how it communicates. To sum up, it gaps at the edges of his nose, and it's stiff for him. I've known this, but I haven't precisely known what to do about it. Lately, though, Brian and I have been talking about moving Steen into the two-r...

Two Interrupted Rides

Robin

October 7, 2013

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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We got a fair bit of rain last week, and there were some storms forecast the weekend as well. The farrier was out on Thursday, and all four of our horses got their feet trimmed. Zoey is healing slowly. Brian rode her briefly last Sunday, but she was favoring her injured leg a tad at the trot, so he got off as soon as we saw that. We figured we'd give her another week before giving riding a go again. So Saturday we just took Steen and Bear out, thinking we'd have a nice fun ride in the newly mowed soybean field. The ride started out great. Brian and I trotted out from the barn, up one drainage, then over to the soybean field. We loped up to the top of the hill together, then split up to work on various things independently. A newly mowed soybean field that's recently been rained on is fabulous footing, so Steen and I worked on trotting and loping circles, going up and down the hi...

Lessons and Visitors

Robin

October 3, 2013

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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I have apparently not quite settled back into consistent blogging mode, so another catch-up post it is. The end of September was busy. I had some sort of strange illness that mostly amounted to me feeling kind of bad but not horrible unless I tried to do something physically taxing, at which point I would spike a fever and need to lie down. I kicked this just in time for a visit from Brian's parents. We took them to the barn on Friday, and had a great ride with them and our three geldings in the tree lot. One thing I have perhaps not mentioned is we got a third McCall a few weeks ago. It's a used Wade Trail, similar to mine. We found it on ebay for a shockingly good price and just couldn't pass it up. We picked it up for two reasons. One, we want three good saddles that fit all our horses, and two, Brian has been thinking he might be more comfortable in a saddle with a smaller a...

Laredo Weekend

Robin

September 22, 2013

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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With Zoey out of commission, we were down to three horses for the weekend. We decided to focus on getting Laredo out and covering some ground. His tight hocks seem better, and he's actually getting a tad chunky. Yesterday Brian rode Laredo and I rode Steen and we were out for over two hours. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, in the 70s, and the grass has rebounded thanks to a few good rains. The crops are coming down but the landscape is otherwise green. We rode out as far as we could in one direction, turned around, did the same thing going another way, and finally headed home.

Steen was actually a tad keyed up on the trail, and every time we reached a spot where he knew which way led to home, he had a bit more of an opinion on which ...

Three Great Rides on Steen

Robin

September 21, 2013

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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I had a little phase where my rides on Steen weren't going so great. He caught a little cold that was going around the pasture, and had a cough, but his cough seemed better the more I rode him so that made me feel like I shouldn't just give him some time off. Still, he didn't seem to enjoy being ridden all that much. He was distracted and buddy sour and barn sour. While I can look back at what 'barn sour' and 'buddy sour' used to mean for this particular horse and recognize that what I was experiencing lately was not even dramatic enough to be a 'problem', and while I can definitely understand that a horse can't perform at the same level when they're not feeling well, these rides were a tad frustrating. Life has thrown a few other things into the bucket as well. I seem to have hit my fall Brown Wing Studio ...

Zoey Update

Robin

September 20, 2013

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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In some ways, our summer with Zoey hasn't gone at all as planned. After a trim a few weeks ago, she was a bit footsore. We gave her some time off. When she got over that, she had a strained stifle or hock. We gave her some more time off. As soon as that cleared up, she got a puncture in her shoulder that left her lame again. So, at the moment we're waiting for her to heal so we can get back to riding her. Brian and I have talked it over and decided that what we agreed on in the spring (we would sell this horse before winter, no matter what) isn't going to work for us. Basically, we're going to keep Zoey until we can find her a good home with people who are right for her. It's not exactly how one is supposed to 'flip' a horse. But you know? You get attached. It's easy to sell the hypothetical horse you don't own yet. It's hard to sell the sweet, living, breathing mare who has mad...

The Teeth of a Four-Year-Old

Robin

September 11, 2013

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

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As is quite obvious, my blog has languished this summer. For the first time since I got Steen in 2008, I have utterly fallen out of the habit of posting about my rides. But I don't want to let this blog die, and catching up feels daunting, so I'm going to just jump right back in. Obviously I have not written about quite a few important events and epiphanies, but I'm going to try to just bring those up as backstory where they fit in with current events. So, yesterday it was hot. Really hot. It's been a brutal summer, with crazy amounts of sun and no rain. No rain. At all. For weeks now. And this is Iowa. The horses hardly got any time out on the grass, because the grass barely grew this year. I try not to worry about things beyond my control, but still I can't help but fear for what this winter will bring in terms of hay shortages. Anyway, Brian and I decided to ride in spite ...