Our new trailer

But here is our new trailer. We bought it from someone moving to Florida. We think it was a pretty good value. It's big. It's 7'6" tall. It's the only used trailer I've actually been able to make an offer on in the last three months. All the others sold very quickly. We got it on Saturday and spent a good portion of the weekend cleaning it up and getting our old one ready to sell.

It is soooo much taller than our other trailer that we actually creased the top of it with one of the two trees we have to negotiate in our front yard. We were so focused on getting it through the gate, neither one of us looked up. We are such knuckleheads.

Anyway we will be styling it up to the Matt Sheridan clinic in June. The doctor says my problem is not cancer and won't kill me (good news), but time is the only fix. He said I could ride, so we'll see what happens. We rode three times over the long weekend. I'm a little sore. Jessie did well. Three weeks until the clinic...

Tehachapi

We went up to Tehachapi last weekend to check out Matt Sheridan's place. It's about an hour away up the mountains to the east. Matt said we could come by early afternoon. Tehachapi was hosting several horse events that weekend so we went early and stopped by the TWEA Equine Challenge. It was a low-key event where people could ride an extreme course through the mountains. People were judged on time only and the organizers give all the money to charity.

 

Obligatory lizard shot

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One of the riders

 

Backing through two panels

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's our valley way out there beyond the stop sign. It was a crappy air day.

 

The windmills that generate electricity. There is a boatload of them.

 

 

 

Matt could not have been nicer. He was clearing some weeds around his property but stopped to show us around. We discussed philosophy and he previewed some of the stuff we would be doing. It sounds like it will be a lot of one-on-one. Our class is pretty small by design. I think there are only five of us. My ability to ride is still in limbo and I offered to give my spot up. He was very cool, told me not to worry about it, and that we would have a lot of fun. He recommended a great local restaurant, we had lunch and headed back down to our 105 degree valley.

Riding With Confidence

Well, we finally got part one completed. Just not enough hours in the day. Ranae was a champ for filling in for me. She had a lot to contend with: ME directing her for the camera, ME telling her what exercises to do and how I wanted them done, JESSIE who was just a little full of herself, and all of the kids, horses, wind, traffic that was going on that day.

Enjoy!

Working on Riding W/Confidence video

Still unable to ride. Going to a specialist in Santa Barbara next week where I hope to get some answers.

So we wanted to work on the RWC Series I video. My personal goal is to video Jessie doing all the exercises in both ground series and riding series. Ranae was up to do some of the riding portions, so after a beauty treatment (Jessie's) and some groundwork, she put her saddle on Jessie and we went out back.

Now, I'm not making excuses for her (although I will take some liberties in coloring it towards my horse's favor), she hadn't been ridden for awhile and she had a different rider and saddle on her, which hasn't happened for an even longer time. So when I tell you she almost bucked Ranae off three times, it's not as bad as it sounds (really?!).

We were out back in our dirt pasture because I wanted to demonstrate how you don't need a fancy arena to train. During the "passenger-at-the-trot" exercise in the farthest corner, some kids behind Ranae made a loud crack and Jessie lunged forward and gave a little kick. But then she dropped her head and waited for another cue. Can't stop her from being scared, right? And she did what she was supposed to do.

Then a little later I suggested Ranae tap her on the butt with the mecates (She doesn't usually ride mecate reins), she tapped her like she would Dusty and Jessie took offense and again did this rocking chair motion and Ranae leaned forward to grab the one rein and Jessie tossed her over the saddle horn. Again, Jessie could have freaked out, but she just stood there as Ranae, hanging around her neck, gathered herself and slid off. The third time, Jessie was just getting pissy over having to work and gave a kick and Ranae lifted one rein and she stopped.

While challenging, it was fun to see how Jessie did with a different rider. Ranae gained some insight to some of the challenges I face riding Jessie. And, it gives me some new things to work on. Not sure how long it will take to edit the video. I'll get it up as soon as I can.

Pictures from Horseman Park

There is a park down by the river and next to it is a barn that has been repaired. It's called Horseman Park. My neighbor and I trailered our wives to to a trail about 8 or 9 miles away and we headed for the park with lunch stuff. We hung around (read, took pictures) the three hours it took for them to ride to us and made them lunch. Here are some pictures.

horsemanpark

My Little Pole Bender

The girls went up the hill to ride with some of their girlfriends and I was left home alone. I cleaned up my girl and set up the tripod to see if I could take some pictures.

I had to ground tie her while I walked over and set the camera. It only has a 10 second delay, so I was hustling pretty good.




And then she found out she could grab some grass in between takes...typical starlet!






Then we tried it under saddle. I'd side-pass to the tripod, click the delay then move out in front of the camera. She did pretty good. I kept forgetting to smile.





I had found a set of 6 mini cones at Sports Authority for nine bucks so I set them up 21 feet apart and we rode a pole bending pattern as I tested my ability to ride. She was a little stiff at first, but I think she was getting into it. I then set the cones up in a circle and we did some loping. Again, the steering was a little stiff at first and then she loosened up. We did 8 or 10 circles in each direction and then did a few other little exercises. It was a fun ride.

It's a Dance

My Dad is still pretty active for 85. He takes a line dancing class on Tuesdays that we've been going to as well. Back in March he talked us into taking a ballroom dance class. Our family doesn't have natural dancing ability and personally, I'm rhythmically challenged. The dance instructor was teaching two dances, the waltz and foxtrot. We learned the basic moves over four classes. It's been about a month since we took the class. We've practiced a couple of times, but it is amazing how fast one forgets the steps and variations.

Yesterday we were working out back and I was helping Ranae work on the bend to a stop exercise. At any gait you sit, flex, put a heel in position 3, wait for Dusty to soften and yield his hindquarters, then take the leg off and wait for the flex. She was having a problem remembering all the parts and handling her reins (she needed to smack him on the butt to quicken the yielding) and that's when I realized how much this was like dancing.

During the dance class the instructor was very firm about how we kept our "frame" because as men, we were leading and the "frame" helped us signal our intentions to change direction or do a variation. The other thing we had to work on was "leading". She constantly reminded us we had to lead and she had to also constantly remind the women to "not lead". It seems that if the men didn't show definitive leadership it was common for the women to try and lead. Sound familiar?

So, that's why it can be difficult for us new to horsemanship to train. First, we have to get all the steps done. Then we have to make sure the horse gets all the steps done. Then we have to get the signals consistent enough for the horse to link them to the steps. It can be a lot to do when you think about it and it takes a lot of repetition.