Trotting in the Trees

August 19, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

Brian had a late morning on Thursday so we planned a morning ride. But then we both slept poorly plus it was raining when we got up and so we didn't get out there quite as early as we might have liked. Still, it was a beautiful morning and our horses were happy to see us. The herd was in the second pasture but the tree lot was empty so we tacked up and headed over there.

We started out walking the perimeter. Steen was in 'snorty' mode. He was looking at everything and breathing through his nostrils constantly, but he wasn't actually spooky. It may have been the cooler weather, or just high spirits, but he was ready to go. Nevertheless he was good about staying at the walk until I asked him to do otherwise.

After warming up we played follow the leader for about twenty minutes. Both the horses started out excited, but after a few switches in position they'd settled...

A Bit About Bits

Robin

August 15, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Although Steen's behavior has been excellent lately, I've been feeling for some time that his bit doesn't fit him quite as well as I would like. He doesn't fight it, or toss his head, or refuse to take it or anything major like that, but it does shift around in his mouth more than I'd like. When I got Steen, he was completely traumatized about bits. I thought this was because he'd been ridden in one that was too narrow and pinched the sides of his mouth. But as time has gone on I think it was more that he had only been ridden a little and always very poorly, with the assumption that he knew more than he did. In such a setting, he was bound to be uncomfortable no matter what tack he was wearing. These days Steen literally takes the bit. I remove his halter and he bends down and puts his head in the headstall for me. But there are times, particularly when I ride with more contact tha...

Two Good Horses

Robin

August 14, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Yesterday I made the comment that Brian and I never seem to both have good horses on the same day. Today our fellas proved me wrong.

Of course, Brian went out with a plan, prepared to be firm with Bear and with a simple strategy to work on during the ride. After Bear's mini-buck last ride Brian did some hard groundwork with Bear, after which we traded horses and Brian rode Steen for a little while and I did more very demanding groundwork with Bear and also rode him around a little. So I think Bear already knew he screwed up. Today he seemed contrite from the very beginning.

We got them tacked and out to the second pasture with ease. My goal for the day was to move through all three gaits three times, spending a significant chunk of time at each gait each time. So we started out walking around the pasture and Steen was awesome. Then we trotted around for quite a w...

Playing Catch-Up

Robin

August 13, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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I've fallen rather behind on my blogging. I don't even have a good excuse. Steen's actually been extremely well-behaved lately, and I guess that makes my rides a bit less bloggable. :) But, to sum up: 8/6: We rode in the tree pasture again for the shade. Steen was great. We played follow-the-leader, changing positions every few minutes. Both Bear and Steen were good for this. We also worked on taking them around independently of each other. I had some really nice trotting on Steen, who was paying attention quite well and only got excited on a few occasions when he thought I was going to ask him to lope. We worked on the routine a bit too, and they did pretty well in the irregular space. Ride Time: 0:40 8/7: Duke came out to give the boys a much-needed trim. Conditions must have been just right for hoof growth because everyone was long in the toe. Bran and I...

Three Bay Geldings

Robin

July 31, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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This morning our friend Gay was out tacking up Doc at the same time we were getting our boys ready. It was already hot and extremely humid, so Brian and I had decided to ride in the stall horse pasture with all the big shade-creating trees. We invited Gay to ride with us.

We led our three mounts out to the pasture. They are all bay Quarter Horse geldings. (Except Steen is half white and he's technically a Paint, not a Quarter Horse) which was kind of funny. The pasture is pretty good sized, so we walked the perimeter a few times, then decided to play follow the leader. I started out in the lead and Steen was very willing to trot along and go where I pointed him. Then I rolled back and Gay led for a while. Steen got a big more excited following, but was good about not running up on Doc's heels or anything. Finally Bear took his turn in the lead, and his trot is fas...

Loping on a Loose Rein

Robin

July 31, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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We've had heat, but today Brian and I managed to get up and to the barn early enough to have a nice ride. Steen was an absolute model citizen all day. I don't know if he was just happy to see me after a few days off or what, but he was a total doll. After I got his saddle on he was so eager to get the bridle on that he was trying to shove his face into the headstall before I could put his halter down.

Out on the strip, he stood while I mounted and had a slightly difficult time picking up my right stirrup. We walked up and down the strip a few times and then Brian and I decided to warm up with the routine. We went through it a few times and Steen was pretty much perfect. He was willing to trot faster or slower when I asked (to keep pace with Bear), and he was quite calm about the whole thing.

We worked on the routine for about half an hour, then called it quits. B...

Stormy Ride

Robin

July 24, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Brian and I have a real knack for utterly miscalculating the weather on the weekends and heading to the barn at precisely the wrong time. Today was no exception.

We found ourselves with two mostly tacked up horses and a storm that rolled in and started dumping rain. We went inside and dawdled, hoping it would blow over quickly and we could get our planned ride in. The clouds lingered, dropping loads and loads of water. Eventually we conceded that even if it did pass the grass would be so slippery and the ground so mushy that riding outside wouldn't be a great idea anyway. So we climbed on indoors. I hadn't ridden in the indoor arena in quite a while, and Steen had regained his fear of the tractor, but I just let him cruis...

Swung

Robin

July 23, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Last week I finished my 30 days of 100 swings a day. On my last day I did all 100 with the 53lb kettlebell. That was hard, but it seemed like a good way to finish up the exercise.

I really enjoyed my 30 days of swinging. I'm significantly stronger than when I started and it was sort of nice just to have my one thing to do each day. But I will admit after the first couple of weeks it stopped being quite the level of workout I expected. Even when I was using the 53 for the majority of my swings, I just wasn't all that fatigued.

So, I think I'm going to take a week of working on some of the other stuff I like to do with the weights, then for August I'm going to do 200 swings a day. I'll probably have to downgrade to the lighter bells, but I'll be curious to see where that takes me.

A Few Good Rides

Robin

July 20, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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It's been hot, but my sister has been visiting and that has provided extra motivation to get out to the barn even on days I would not normally go. She arrived on Saturday, and we headed out in the afternoon. She rode both horses and they both gave her a bit of a hard time at first. Bear tried all his normal rather passive, grouchy games and it took Meryl a good 30 minutes, but she worked on him until he simply gave up and turned into angel Bear. In the meantime, I had a pretty good ride on Steen. He was a bit excitable, but we got some good trotting and loping in.

When Meryl was done on Bear, she hopped on Steen, who immediately picked up the lope and ran down the strip. I'm not su...

Best Ever?

Robin

July 14, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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It is possible that today I had the best ride on Steen I've ever had. I took my own ThinLine pad to the barn today. It's a western cut instead of english, so it fit a bit better with my tack from the start. We tacked up and I led Steen to the strip, where we did a bit more work on side-passing before I mounted. I climbed on and Steen was wonderful from the start. The first five minutes, in fact, I got a glimpse of what it must be like to ride a truly well-trained horse. Steen was walking on a loose rein and he was completely attentive. I turned him in circles by thinking about turning - not by even going to far as using my hands or legs. All it took was a little shifting in my sit bones and shoulders.

We changed directions and distractions interfered and Steen's behavior devolved from perfect to really good. We worked on trotting figure-eights and circles, and Steen was tro...