CJ scared us on the day we hauled up. He got out of the trailer, immediately took a long piss and then he wanted to roll. At first we thought he was just itchy but soon we realized he was feeling colicky. I walked him around and rubbed on his ears which is supposed to be a LTJ trick to get horses feeling better while making sure he would stay on his feet and not just drop and roll again. After he was starting to nibble at grass and not trying to lay down I did some accu-pressure all along his midline since I don't recall what spot(s) are specific for horse stomach ache. Pretty soon his guts were gurgling and he was starting to really graze. I had given him a previcoxx in the morning with the thought that it would be good to help him from getting stiff and sore on the somewhat cramped trailer ride so I decided he was not getting any pain pills unless he was seriously hurting the rest of the trip just in case the previcoxx had upset his stomach. Last year he had a colic and liver toxicity problem and dad and sis ended up hauling him to a vet clinic in Glenwood springs to get IV fluids.
CJ was fine the rest of the season. He ate and drank a lot. I gave him the liver cleansing herbs he has been getting all year since that 2012 episode. He never acted sore in his joints. He did get sore backed on day three when he hauled 2 elk out. I did not have any horse liniment stuff along but put some witch hazel on him and then some Unkers people ointment that has menthol, camphor, pine oil and etc. and then put his blanket on him even though it was not cold enough for him to need it other than keeping his muscles warm. That did get his back happy the next day so I rode him out instead of staying in camp.
Dad did get a doe and we took an elk quarter instead of money for one elk CJ hauled out. But as usual dad's lazy, start late in the day and just pick a marginal place to wait and hope other hunters walking around push elk by resulted in not seeing many elk. I don't really care except that sis buys the $$$ out of state tag and I feel bad for her not even getting any almost shots at one. She did see an elk up close this year walking around from where we had parked one day. She was checking out a fresh track and scat pile and the elk jumped up from sleeping only 30 feet away on the other side of a brush patch.
I didn't see any elk during my walking around, I was kind of trying to circle around and maybe push some past dad and sis rather than sneak up on anything. If I got anything spooked out of a sleeping spot it either went the other way from them or sneaked past while they were napping though. We did enjoy the nice weather and the quiet campground this year.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
urggghhh, blech
main work group at job is all excited about some buzzword filled software design strategy. In fairness, the strategy probably has some good benefits and will help manage the fairly big job of getting the big stuff that needs to be done before launch ready. *IF* the team and boss twerp were approaching it with "ok, we are not swept up by the buzzwords and rah-rah bs, but this is a good overall framework that we think will help us gitRdone so we are doing it in spite of this bit that seems like stupid smoke and mirrors" I wouldn't be whinging here. But no, we are getting full buzzwords and lots of rah rah crap to kick it off and it makes me cringe.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Elvis has left the building
Hauled Mason home yesterday. WOOOHOOOO! We went for a trail ride at an open space just 5 miles from where he is boarded. He was pretty good for his 12 yr old owner. She had to use the crop a few times to get his head out of the grass after pulling over for the bicyclists but I think he was very much back to his normal of when she got him and she had a blast. On the way back when we hit trail that was not rocky she started having him wait (and eat a bit of grass which he loved) and then canter and trot to catch back up to where we were. Then she would hug him as she had him stop and eat some more. Having her enjoy riding again like she was the first year she had him at least as I was hearing via the internet made it worthwhile.
Now I cannot help snarking on what his former owner wrote.
"But he went from being worked several times a week by me,with a consistant daily routine, being moved constantly by his alpha mare to having 300 acres and no other horses to keep him in line."
Heh, I remember lots of angst posts of how she would get too busy to ride for a bit and then it was sooo hard to deal with him feeling fat, lazy and sassy.
"Consistancy will help, but Mason is looking for an alpha." (she was a sissy leader IMO and would often fold rather than getting tougher whenever he challenged her strongly)
" I never used spurs with Mason, I would ask gently with my seat, then leg, then a swift pop with a crop. He was always slow. Usually the second time we went through that he would respond with just the seat. He isn't green, he is testing her. Until R steps up and believes she is the alpha, he will continue to test her. jMHO" Yup pretty much and it does not help that he has experienced partial success with challenging human for alpha when being ridden. Although she do a great job with groundwork and would lunge him or stuff when she was nervous to ride him and that did keep him a decent horse that will be fine with a confident rider, rather than him starting down a road to becoming an outlaw that escalates resistance if the human gets after him so good on her there.
It was not hard to straighten him up when he gave me guff with a crowhop. After the first couple of rides when I was more confident that he wouldn't escalate a few tight circles while using the crop on shoulder or flank depending on whether my crop hand was to the outside or inside of the circle as the consequence for a crowhop would result in an obedient horse the rest of the ride.
I do think the 12 year old girl may find spurs a very useful aid for this horse so she doesn't have to always use the crop to say "pay attention to my seat and leg aids" and can reserve it for correcting him when he is really blowing her off because he doesn't want to get his head out of the grass or is trying to scare her.
Now I cannot help snarking on what his former owner wrote.
"But he went from being worked several times a week by me,with a consistant daily routine, being moved constantly by his alpha mare to having 300 acres and no other horses to keep him in line."
Heh, I remember lots of angst posts of how she would get too busy to ride for a bit and then it was sooo hard to deal with him feeling fat, lazy and sassy.
"Consistancy will help, but Mason is looking for an alpha." (she was a sissy leader IMO and would often fold rather than getting tougher whenever he challenged her strongly)
" I never used spurs with Mason, I would ask gently with my seat, then leg, then a swift pop with a crop. He was always slow. Usually the second time we went through that he would respond with just the seat. He isn't green, he is testing her. Until R steps up and believes she is the alpha, he will continue to test her. jMHO" Yup pretty much and it does not help that he has experienced partial success with challenging human for alpha when being ridden. Although she do a great job with groundwork and would lunge him or stuff when she was nervous to ride him and that did keep him a decent horse that will be fine with a confident rider, rather than him starting down a road to becoming an outlaw that escalates resistance if the human gets after him so good on her there.
It was not hard to straighten him up when he gave me guff with a crowhop. After the first couple of rides when I was more confident that he wouldn't escalate a few tight circles while using the crop on shoulder or flank depending on whether my crop hand was to the outside or inside of the circle as the consequence for a crowhop would result in an obedient horse the rest of the ride.
I do think the 12 year old girl may find spurs a very useful aid for this horse so she doesn't have to always use the crop to say "pay attention to my seat and leg aids" and can reserve it for correcting him when he is really blowing her off because he doesn't want to get his head out of the grass or is trying to scare her.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Mason update
Had a nice ride on him Saturday with L and Lady. Sunday I thought the owners would come out and play with him. I had been leaving FB messages and they must be having internet issues or taking a FB break. I figured they would still plan on coming out even w/o calling me and then I let it get kind of late to call Sat evening and didn't call them before I was holding horses for my farrier Sunday morning so it was noon Sunday before I called, left a message. Get a call back and they were off volunteering on flood work. They will try to come out one morning this week now.
I'm trying not to be annoyed since I had not spelled out specific expectations but since I told them last week in a FB post and did get a like (which means they read it) that I had been confused about hunting season dates so it was for sure going to only be 2 weeks that I would keep him not 3 and the plan all along had been that R would ride him at my place to start the new "this human is also your boss that won't take any guff" relationship I had strongly expected they would make the effort to come out.
Anyway, I needed some ayrab saddle time Sunday so I rode Sadie (ah that was fun) and since I had said and thought I would long line Mason a bit I did that late afternoon on Sunday. Pout, the days are not lasting long enough anymore. This morning I rode Mason again. He did a little protest crowhop/squeal/attempt to duck for home. He got to do about 4 tight circles with me flicking the crop fairly firmly on his flank because I was annoyed rather than the least bit worried that he was going to get me off. I have not gotten brave and tried to jump because I'm worried I would over exaggerate my forward and up to get out of his way and put myself in a position to get popped off or at best he'd probably think jumping means the rider is bumping with seat and or bit and no fun to do.
After that he gave me a very nice ride but he seemed to be getting winded easily. Maybe I'm just listening more closely. He should not be losing fitness even though he doesn't have the big hills to climb up and down since I'm riding daily. I don't know that we are getting much if any weight off him but I certainly don't think we are feeding him so much he is gaining. Then I gave him a quick bath --- I like my ayrabs that don't get that hot and don't care for water. I sponge Sadie off if its warm because of her allergies and getting her used to water if we ever do some endurance at speeds to generate more body heat.
Then I cleaned some on Mason's pen. Didn't get it completely picked up, I hadn't done it since Thursday had figured owners could do it on the weekend. Silly me, they are as out of sight out of mind as I was with Lady this summer but my belief on that was that they were enjoying having her to ride. They know I'm only riding Mason because I felt it was not good for R to start back from the collarbone lay-off with a horse that had developed some bad attitude.
I'm trying not to be annoyed since I had not spelled out specific expectations but since I told them last week in a FB post and did get a like (which means they read it) that I had been confused about hunting season dates so it was for sure going to only be 2 weeks that I would keep him not 3 and the plan all along had been that R would ride him at my place to start the new "this human is also your boss that won't take any guff" relationship I had strongly expected they would make the effort to come out.
Anyway, I needed some ayrab saddle time Sunday so I rode Sadie (ah that was fun) and since I had said and thought I would long line Mason a bit I did that late afternoon on Sunday. Pout, the days are not lasting long enough anymore. This morning I rode Mason again. He did a little protest crowhop/squeal/attempt to duck for home. He got to do about 4 tight circles with me flicking the crop fairly firmly on his flank because I was annoyed rather than the least bit worried that he was going to get me off. I have not gotten brave and tried to jump because I'm worried I would over exaggerate my forward and up to get out of his way and put myself in a position to get popped off or at best he'd probably think jumping means the rider is bumping with seat and or bit and no fun to do.
After that he gave me a very nice ride but he seemed to be getting winded easily. Maybe I'm just listening more closely. He should not be losing fitness even though he doesn't have the big hills to climb up and down since I'm riding daily. I don't know that we are getting much if any weight off him but I certainly don't think we are feeding him so much he is gaining. Then I gave him a quick bath --- I like my ayrabs that don't get that hot and don't care for water. I sponge Sadie off if its warm because of her allergies and getting her used to water if we ever do some endurance at speeds to generate more body heat.
Then I cleaned some on Mason's pen. Didn't get it completely picked up, I hadn't done it since Thursday had figured owners could do it on the weekend. Silly me, they are as out of sight out of mind as I was with Lady this summer but my belief on that was that they were enjoying having her to ride. They know I'm only riding Mason because I felt it was not good for R to start back from the collarbone lay-off with a horse that had developed some bad attitude.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Ready to send the big guy home and go back to my ayrabs already
He's a decent horse but just not my style having to work so hard to get the ride started. He does at least warm up and move out with only a few 'maybe I could stop for a snack or slow walk here' but its worse than when mine are like "I'm starving, can't we just eat more." I guess I should set up some jumps or something and see about making him work at home but I don't know if I'll get there. Supposed to be cold and wet starting sometime tonight and through saturday morning. If its not wet perhaps I'll try to longe or long-line him tomorrow but not bother riding but I'm thinking it will be a good day to skip any horse working.
Today I was working on his hind foot. He has a crack and had some weed stalk of some sort stuck in the foot. I wanted to rasp the flair and crack edges to take pressure off so the crack would not get worse and found the weed stalk so was messing around getting that out and trying to get the soft yucky spots around it off etc. Mason was not cooperating with leaving his foot on my hoof-jack and after a bit was not even picking up the foot. I could never be a farrier but if I were I'd have to refuse to work on drafts.
He had no concerns about the road grader though. I did think 'if he was not so hard to get on I'd probably get off just in case but its a royal PITA to get mounted and surely an easy going draft isn't going to get worked up about barely moving grader anyway.' My ditch is not deep/steep enough, the saddle slips to the side .... He is good about moving up next to a fence so I've resorted to climbing on the 2-board sort of fence/driveway wings the last two times and if that was not working I'd have to drag the mounting block out to ride him as the fences are pretty much just wire. Mia is enjoying the fall mornings and not going in the house anymore where I could just leave the gate open. The driveway gate is the cheap galvanized tin and not sturdy enough to climb on.
Today I was working on his hind foot. He has a crack and had some weed stalk of some sort stuck in the foot. I wanted to rasp the flair and crack edges to take pressure off so the crack would not get worse and found the weed stalk so was messing around getting that out and trying to get the soft yucky spots around it off etc. Mason was not cooperating with leaving his foot on my hoof-jack and after a bit was not even picking up the foot. I could never be a farrier but if I were I'd have to refuse to work on drafts.
He had no concerns about the road grader though. I did think 'if he was not so hard to get on I'd probably get off just in case but its a royal PITA to get mounted and surely an easy going draft isn't going to get worked up about barely moving grader anyway.' My ditch is not deep/steep enough, the saddle slips to the side .... He is good about moving up next to a fence so I've resorted to climbing on the 2-board sort of fence/driveway wings the last two times and if that was not working I'd have to drag the mounting block out to ride him as the fences are pretty much just wire. Mia is enjoying the fall mornings and not going in the house anymore where I could just leave the gate open. The driveway gate is the cheap galvanized tin and not sturdy enough to climb on.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Riding the big guy: day 2
Here is a pic that gives some sense of scale. Mason makes the full size english saddle look like a tiny child's saddle. He was a bit grumpy this morning going out with Lady. I don't know if he figured her being along too meant he'd be going farther for sure or what. He didn't try to kick her but I was fairly careful, mostly kept him behind her until Ole got in a mode of wanting to come right up behind the horse. With his conehead, which was making Mason act a bit nervous and I'm still not comfortable with the 'what might this horse do if he did decide he was truly scared of something' So I made L take Lady behind for a bit. Dumb Ole did run his cone right into Lady's back leg. Lady gets a gold star for only doing one two legged kick/buck in response to that. All I knew of that was L giving a squeal when it happened.
I had forgotten to grab my crop again and had so much *fun* getting on him that I asked L to run and fetch it for me. I did need it this time as Mason was testing me more to see if he really was going to have to go out and work again. He was not bad again but I just needed to tap firmly with the crop that yes we are heading out to ride, not just standing in the ditch and maybe letting you eat more.
He did try to duck for home as we were going out and had gone a few hundred yards, found out that when T wasn't paying attention and you get a turn started she just makes you do a 360. He was crow-hopping a bit as we were heading down my oil pipeline graded area but also not wanting to go so I was pulling his head and twisting my body just enough to dis-engage his hq so he couldn't buck and then making him continue or resume trotting. NO, big guy we don't pull you down to a walking tight circle if T thinks you just want to walk anyway and doesn't need the circle to recover her balance or control.
On the way home he got fairly strong (pulling on the bit) so I played with quick releases and retaking tension from my clinic (I'm not good at it yet) and also did lots of bending serpentines so I was only having tension on one rein and then the other and nothing for him to start bracing and pulling against. I refuse to let even my almost pony size ayrabs pull on me anymore and I'm for darn sure not letting a big ole draft cross tug on my arms all the way home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)