Trot Time

July 28, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

Yesterday our pasture herd got a new member. A 3 year old solid Paint gelding named Tate arrived, and he and Laredo hit it off immediately. Today they were hanging out when we got to the barn, and Tate was pretty inclined to follow us out of the pasture. We persuaded him to stay behind. It was my day for Laredo, and I was pleased he was considerably less fidgety at the hitching post than last time. He was so quiet during tacking and grooming, in fact, that I decided to try to slip the bridle on the "right" way, rather than unbuckle it like we have been doing. He took the bit just fine, in spite of the altered position of my hands. Then when I went to ease his ear forward and through the headstall, he pulled away. I gave him a minute and tried again, but by then he was looking at me with some alarm, so I decided to save that victory for another day. I unbuckled the bridle and rebuck...

A Friday Ride

Robin

July 27, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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This week I'm finally starting to feel caught up with work. We've been making a few adjustments to the way we are running my business, including that Brian is now going to handle all billing and invoicing, plus some of the correspondence with potential new clients. This only amounts to a few hours of work a week, but for me it feels like a huge relief. We've also decided to cut a few things from our services offering, so I can continue to specialize. These things combined into a far more sane work week than I've had in a while. The weather even cooperated and we had a cooler day today, so we were keen to celebrate the end of the week with a nice ride. We rode on the strip. I rode Steen in the hackamore. I was hoping we'd have another awesome ride, but it didn't quite work out that way. It wasn't a bad ride, bu...

Mood Swings

Robin

July 25, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Today Brian and headed out first thing. We took our coffee with us. We were at the barn by 7:00. I think I must be getting old or something. I used to wake up, roll out of bed, and hit the trails without food or drink or anything. Getting out there early felt a bit hard today. We're always up and going by 6:30 at the latest. We're just not usually driving anywhere. But it was a good thing we got out there early. By the time we left the barn, it was 90°. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I rode Laredo today. He's been fidgety at the hitching post lately, which is new for him, so I made sure I took my time with tacking, spending a lot of time petting him between things he might find stressful. When he did fidget, I'd come back and move him around a fair bit before leaving him to stand again. I wasn't sure what to expect on our ride today. I hadn't ridden him in a week, and he di...

The Third Ride

Robin

July 23, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Brian has spend several more hours in the saddle than me this year, and he's on better track for our riding goal too, so I need to catch up a little. Plus, I rode Steen on Saturday and Sunday, and I wanted to ride him again today. It seems to me working a horse three days in a row does something in terms of momentum. It just gets them going in a way they don't seem to if they get a day off after one or two rides. With the way Brian and I have been trading off on Laredo, I haven't had a chance to ride Steen three days in a row in quite some time. So today I decided to hit the barn alone. When Brian went to work, I went off for a ride.

Sunday on the Trails

Robin

July 22, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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We met Kat at the barn today again, and also invited our friend Gay. Megan couldn't make it, so we were four when we hit the trails again. The day was actually coolish, and it felt glorious heading out. We started with a modification of our previous route in mind, but we'd never done the exact circuit we had in mind, so weren't 100% it would all string together the way we hoped. But it did, and it was awesome. We were on gravel only a small amount, and the rest of the ride was either on dirt or grass.

It's part out and back, part loop, and it's a neat ride with several long, open dirt section with trees lining the path.Read more

No Hands

Robin

July 21, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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I have been focusing for months on trying to use my hands less and my legs more. However when I try to steer just with my legs, we pretty much instantly run into problems. It is so strange to me that Steen can walk a perfect figure-eight with almost no input from the reins, but if I set the reins down entirely I'm lucky to get a shallow bend when I ask him to turn. One of the prerequisites for making a bridle horse is the ability to steer a horse accurately with just your legs. On Sunday, Brian was getting some great hands-free circles out of Bear. Better than I can get on Steen... So today I decided I'm going to work on this first thing every ride until I've got it down. I think doing it first will be good calibration for both ...

Early Morning Heat

Robin

July 18, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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The heat has been so oppressive, we decided the only way we were going to get a ride in was to adjust. So on Wednesday, we moved our schedules around to free up time in the morning, and out we went. We found Laredo has a fairly large chip in one of his front feet. (You'd have thought he was the one that spend 45 minutes on gravel a few days before.) I don't think it's anything to be concerned about. I am sure he's still adjusting to the new angle of his feet since we got his long toes trimmed down. He's got a similar crack starting in the other hoof. He wasn't sore on it and his sole is intact and in good shape, so we concluded light riding is probably ok. But geez it was hot. We rode in the outdoor arena for a change of pace, but the sun was unrelenting and it was humid besides. We started out well though. Laredo has really hit a phase where he's learning fast. It's neat to fee...

Hitting the Trails

Robin

July 15, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Today we met up with Kat, the owner of two Icelandic horses at our barn, and her friend Megan. We decided to go trail-blazing, and check out some areas we hadn't explored before. We got a pretty early start, but the day was already warm as we made our way off Cathi's property. Steen was mellow starting out, and happy to lead the way until we got to the scary section between the corn and the drainage, at which point he hung back and let Kafteinn catch up.

We continued out the gate and onto an easement that led away into uncharted territory. We had a nice long trot before we turned onto a meandering double-track.

Getting Soft

Robin

July 15, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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We've had Laredo two months now, and he's settling in quite nicely. He walks up to meet us in the pasture. He's accepting of most touching on the ears and head. Getting the fly mask on and off is no problem, and Brian has been slipping the bridle off after riding. Laredo's also really changing under saddle. I have logged just over 10 hours on his back, and Brian is just a little behind me, so together we're almost to 20. You can tell he's learning his job. He doesn't root or lean on the bit anymore. He's both livelier and more responsive. It's a remarkable change for so little time. In the tree pasture he tends to be good near the center and distracted near the edges, when he can see the cattle off on the other side of the driveway, or the fields on the other side of the road. When Laredo sees something new and different, his inclination is to walk straight up and investigate. W...

More Rides with Mom

Robin

July 11, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Monday and Tuesday we had two more rides in the tree lot. On Monday Mom, Brian and I all rode together again and managed to get this shot via the tried and true fencepost method. The light's not great but it's fun to see all our three horses with riders.

During the ride Steen was ok. I was paying more attention to Mom on Bear than my own riding, and after a while this was having a dulling effect on Steen. When I got around to some more focused work with him later in the ride, he was distracted and inclined to be sloppy. So when Mom and I went out again on Tuesday, I was careful to ride a little better, asking for the soft feel and intermittent collection even as we mostly meandered around and...