Good Obstacles

July 7, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

Today we rode in the tree lot again for the shade. This was my first time on Laredo out there, and things went very well. Laredo seems to be finally accepting the bit. His rooting habit is almost gone, and he's moving off pressure instead of leaning into it. He's also walking out with a lot more confidence, and when he's not sure about something he makes an effort to figure it out instead of just getting frustrated and shutting down. We started out with simple walking exercises. Laredo is a laid back horse, and he was perfectly willing to go explore areas of the pasture he'd never seen, even when Brian and Bear were nowhere nearby. He was stopping quite quickly today, which is a nice change, and several times we even managed several consecutive backwards steps without any leaning on the bit. The best part of the ride was near the end. I decided to work on some figure-eights arou...

In Other News

Robin

July 6, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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As I mentioned before, my cousin stopped in for a visit a week or two ago. He and his girlfriend are doing a 30 day road-trip across the US, and making a video blog of each day. Here's the whole project, and here's our appearance:

All Three

Robin

July 5, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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My mom is in town for a visit. Since Brian got the 4th of July off, we headed for the barn first thing in the morning with the intention of riding all three of our horses simultaneously for the first time. We rode in the tree pasture, both to take advantage of the shade and because the trees make the riding a little more dynamic. I rode Steen in the hackamore, Mom rode Bear, and Brian was aboard Laredo. Mom and I mostly rode around the perimeter of the lot, chatting and not doing anything demanding. She had a great time with Bear. He was quite polite with her, happy to walk with me and Steen or stand in the shade. We did a little bit of trotting together too. She took a little break while I worked on some focused stuff with Steen for a short period. Steen was great, again feeling more relaxed and attentive to the hackamore than he...

A Hackamore Horse?

Robin

July 2, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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We've had Martin Black's "The Hackamore" DVD sitting around for weeks, but fresh on the heels of the Buck clinic, we felt we had enough new ideas about riding in the snaffle to keep us busy for a while. I feel like when I have these intense periods of learning, I need some time to assimilate the new knowledge into my routine. However, on Sunday we finally decided we needed to watch it so we could get in back in the mail and get our next video (we subscribe to GiddyUpFlix). As usual, watching a truly accomplished equestrian work with horses is inspirational. Martin Black is so quiet and fluid in all of his handling and training. The video provided a lot of great insights into riding in the hackamore, and as does Buck does, Martin stressed the idea that riding in the hackamore will make you a better rider, and there is nothing wrong with switching between the hackamore and snaffle...

Halfway There

Robin

July 1, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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The year is half over, which is hard to believe for all sorts of reasons. So far we're on track for our 150 hours in the saddle goal. As of the end of the day today, I'm at exactly 75 hours. A couple years ago I started keeping track of my time spent riding. I wish I'd started doing this a long time ago, because it is so interesting to see how much time I'm really putting in. I use a time-tracking app to log my time and it can generate some reports. Here's what my first six months of riding looked like in 2011:

And here's 2012 so far:

Rides and Visitors and Trims

Robin

June 25, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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We've had a few interesting rides last week.

Monday

I rode Steen and Brian rode Laredo. My ride was fabulous.

Brian's was difficult.

We think Laredo was fatigued, both mentally and physically, and he was inclined towards distraction, jumping into the trot, and rooting.

Thursday

I rode Laredo in the outdoor arena. His two days off seemed to have helped him reset, and things went quite well for us. My number one goal for the ride wa...

Focus on the Positive

Robin

June 17, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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It was my turn to ride Laredo again today, and I was determined to have a better time on him. I had a few things working in my favor. For one, I got new boots!

I have strange feet. They are strange for a variety of reasons, from genetics to injuries to general conformation. The upshot of all this strangeness is it's actually impossible for me to find off-the-shelf shoes that come anywhere close to fitting. I ordered these boots a couple months ago because I got tired of the way my Ariats flopped around on my feet while I walked and flexed in the stirrup when I rode. These are semi-custom, so they actually fit my unusually narrow heel while not making life miserable for my usually wide fore...

Reset

Robin

June 17, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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It was with some relief I haltered Steen today and tacked him up. It's going to be an interesting challenge for me these next few months. Steen seems to be hitting some kind of stride lately. Every ride I think things are fantastic, and then the next ride they are better. It's a hard act for Laredo to follow. There's also such a massive personality divide between the two. Steen is flighty and sensitive. Laredo is quiet and mellow. When Steen is unsure or scared of something, he snorts and fidgets and bolts. When Laredo is unsure or scared of something, he shrinks in on himself, holds still, and shuts down. I'm way more used to dealing with Steen's personality type, which is all the more reason Laredo is a good choice for us. He'll challenge me to get to know a different kind of horse while simultaneously not being too much nervous energy for Brian to handle. Today we rode in ...

High Hopes

Robin

June 16, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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After Brian's great ride on Laredo on Tuesday, I was keen to try him out Thursday. Unfortunately, I had an irritating work week, and while I wasn't aware of being tired or short-tempered when we left for the barn, I was probably both of those things. Then there were a few things that did nothing to help me snap out of it right when we arrived. Steen decided to behave like an idiot by bursting past Brian into the stall herd lot and proceeding to gallop around like a fool for several minutes. This got Laredo somewhat bothered, and even after my dear moronic paint was contained, our youngster continued to be more fidgety and restless pre-ride than we'd ever seen. Out on the strip, things got better. Laredo and I did some groundwork and got a number of things working better than ever before. So I climbed on, and proceeded to be disappointed. I think the problem was I had gotten on expe...

Haunch Magic

Robin

June 13, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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I've decided there are three things I need to refine with Steen before we go back into the hackamore. These are:

short-serpentines
whirly-gigs
lope transitions

We've got a really good handle on the first two. In fact today we were pretty much nailing those every time I asked.

So we spent a lot of the ride working on lope transitions. Our trouble with these lies in the coming back down. Steen is usually quite good about moving into the lope, and he's good at stopping from the lope. What he's not good at doing is shifting from the lope to the trot. He stays wound up and trots around trying to jump back into the lope. It's my fault, of course. I had the habit for a long time of loping him one way, trotting him long enough to turn him around, then loping the other way.

But now we're tr...