Another Try

Robin

June 24, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Today Brian and I headed to the barn armed with yet another saddle:

This is a Cashel trail saddle. It's build on an axis tree that has a reputation for leaving a horse free at the shoulders and fitting a pretty wide variety of backs. Plus it's just a pretty saddle. :) It was a rather cool day here in Iowa, and we found the horses both inclined to fidget and be restless during grooming. Steen was actually pretty horrible about standing for the first time in months, until I finally got annoyed and got on his case a little. Then, apparently taking the reprimand to heart, he was content to doze while I finished grooming and tacking. We've also had a lot of rain, so the ground is ...

100 for 30

Robin

June 22, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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I declared a while ago that I was going to expand this blog to encompass overall fitness as well as horseback riding --- and I've not mentioned working out since. This isn't because I haven't been doing anything. It's because I haven't been doing anything in a very focused manner. The result is I've lost a lot of strength and my workouts have been highly inconsistent.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to get back on track with the kettlebells, but I was finding it difficult to get very excited about the stuff I was doing. My favorite exercises (turkish get-ups, swings, and presses) are feeling a bit boring to me lately, and since I've lost strength I've been getting frustrated when I have to use the lighter bells. My typical workout would pretty much consist of wandering down to the basement, st...

Good Sweat

Robin

June 19, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Although groundwork used to be a regular part of what I did with Steen, in the last six months or so as he has mellowed significantly and his ground manners have become excellent, I have been pretty much skipping groundwork so I can ride more. I've also gotten pretty lazy with suppling exercises while mounted and the last few times I've ridden and have been trying to work on getting Steen to bend through the turns, he's felt a bit hard in the mouth to me from time to time. Over the last few rides I've been asking for more flexes and have noticed Steen will either give to the bit perfectly just like he is supposed to, or he will ignore me completely because there is something more interesting going on over yonder.

So today when Brian and I went to the strip, Steen was wearing only his rope halter. I had him on the long rope and I had my stick in hand, and...

Slick Grass

Robin

June 19, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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I had a bit of trouble motivating to go to the barn this afternoon, but Brian wanted to go with or without me, and when it came down to it I couldn't resist heading out with him. I was glad I went. The weather was perfect and Steen was happy to see me. He almost always comes to me in the pasture these days.

I went bareback and we walked and trotted around the strip. Steen was decently well behaved, and I was concentrating on staying relaxed and enjoying myself. Brian was having some trouble with a rather uppity Bear, so I was sometimes stopping and watching the two of them and offering suggestions. Eventually Brian decided to get off and do some groundwork. Bear started loping around on the mecate and got a bit too enthusiastic about digging into the corners. The grass was a tad slick and Bear's feet slipped out from under him and he fell down on his side.

He was...

Mixing it Up

Robin

June 17, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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I hadn't been out to the barn in almost a week. There were a few factors involved in my absence. First, we were out of town all weekend and half of Monday. Second, I'm just really bummed about the whole saddle situation. Third, work came out of its early summer slump and I've got all sorts of projects to keep me busy.

But today it was time to get out there again. It was good to see Steen, but the moment I got on he started seeming restless and distracted. In my time off I've been thinking about how I need to find more ways to challenge Steen while I ride bareback, so today when he was seeming like he didn't want to focus on me, I started asking him to disengage his forequarters. I've done this tons from the ground, but never from his back. At first he didn't get it at all, but we worked on it over the course of the ride and he started to get it. We also did a lot of flexing...

Borrowing the Bear Trap

Robin

June 11, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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The whole saddle debacle has taken the wind out of my sails a bit, but yesterday Brian came home from work and coaxed me out to the barn. He wanted to spend a day working on groundwork anyway, due to Bear's swollen ankles, so he offered me a the use of his saddle. I've only ridden Steen in the bear trap twice before, and he did really well both times, but in neither instance did I ride him hard enough to get a real sweat pattern to look at. Since we're now back to saddle shopping, a logical place to start seemed to try to determine if the bear trap fits Steen or not. So we headed out and tacked up. Steen was not at all worried about the different saddle on his back.

Massive Disappointment

Robin

June 9, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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I have rarely been so impatient for something to come in the mail as I was on Tuesday. UPS didn't show up until after 6:00, but when they did they delivered a large box containing my new Bob Marshal Endurance saddle.

It was too late to go out to the barn for a ride, but we unpacked the saddle and looked it over. It is nicely made of good quality leather, and I was keen to give it a try. Finally after Brian got home from work yesterday, we headed out, tacked up and I mounted, fully expecting to have an awesome ride. And I have to say, I have rarely been so disappointed as I became over the next half hour. I did like that I could feel the saddle re-conform slightly when Steen sighed. But to be perfectly honest that was the only thing I liked. From my perspective there are four major issues with the sa...

Steen the Sluggish

Robin

June 5, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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It's been hot. It's definitely been having an effect on every body's energy level. We went out today to find the pasture herd just hanging out by the water, We tacked up in the barn aisle to get out of the sun for a bit, then headed out to the pasture. Things started off poorly with Steen. He was distracted and inclined to try to choose his own direction. He was also super sluggish, and just not interested in putting much energy into the ride. Still, we trotted around for a while. Steen was paying so little attention to where he was putting his feet that he kept tripping, then getting upset about having tripped. He also had a pretty noticeable Bear magnet effect going on. Any time we turned away from Bear, his hindquarters would trail out behind him. Any time we turned towards Bear, he'd turn sharply.

June Showers

Robin

June 4, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Today there was a small chance of storms in the afternoon, so we went to the barn in the morning. This decision back-fired a bit though. We'd just gotten out to the pasture and mounted when it started to rain. The sun was out, and the sky was by no means dark, so we decided to just wait it out. We let the horses stand with their butts to the wind, and got rather wet. The shower only lasted a few minutes, and afterwards we were all a bit wet and sticky, but tried to get our ride underway in spite of this. Steen was actually pretty great today. He was much less opinionated about where he did or did not want to go. Brian mentioned a tip he read recently in a Julie Goodnight article. She suggests Read more

New Headgear

Robin

June 3, 2011

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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It's been hot, and the flies are out in earnest now. There were a few rides last summer when the flies on his face got Steen pretty riled up and irritated. The last time I rode part of Steen's distraction seemed due to flies. I ordered him a fly mask that attaches to his headstall a few weeks ago, but today I finally put it on..

I'll be the first to admit it makes him look pretty funny. However, it definitely seemed to do the trick. He spent a lot less time shaking his head. He was much better behaved in general today. We rode in the pasture again, and I was again staying focused on using one-rein stops and flexing to the bit to soften him up. He showed a marked decrease in his desire...