An eventful day with Hoss and Scout

My husband, Mike, and I loaded up Hoss this morning and headed out for the Equestrian Center!  Hoss was not thrilled with riding alone in the trailer--took me a few minutes to convince him to stand alone quietly in the trailer so I could tie, and he whinnied as we left the farm, but was well mannered and stood well for tacking up as he was tied to the trailer.

  

Mike and I (and I think Hoss) had a great time exploring the trail around the canal. It was hot, so we quit after a little more than an hour. Hoss actually drank from the tank while we were there, and we all relaxed together before loading him. He did not want to stand alone in the trailer (again), so we got in and out several times, and he had to circle if he didn't willingly get in. We need to trailer him a lot more in general, and a lot more on his own! The big plus was that he wasn't an anxious sweaty wreak after trailering, and he was polite and quiet!

Later I trailered Scout over for his chiropractor appointment. His back is a lot better, only minor soreness in the sacral area, and a little in the withers. Dr. Deb Schlutz has showed me a couple of stretches, one of which I knew from Kim Cavanah. Stretching the rear leg forward and holding it for up to 30  seconds, then increasing the stretch (gently) as the leg permits has helped to release the over tight right hamstring at the same time as Dr. Schlutz has worked to free the lower back where it was caught down from the extreme bucking.

Scout should be able to be ridden again this next month!  I will need to keep up on the stretches and watch the arthritis in his left hock closely. We still have a lot of ground driving over poles etc. to work in to the schedule, but I'm elated!!  : - )

Preparations for showing Mezza...and more

I woke up early today, and headed down to the Indiana Equestrian Center. It was the first Colorado Stockman's Horse Association Show of the season, (3rd Sunday each month, starting in May). I walked around as trailers pulled in and folks got busy preparing their horses.

The halter shows and the showmanship were what I really wanted to watch. Dawn and her daughter, Jennifer met me at the bleachers and we sat with a small group of people who helped fill us in on some of our questions.

The show was not crowded, and the weather was great--not too hot yet. We were surprised to see all the halter and showmanship horses had leads with chains!  Although they did not put them over the nose or through the mouth, they still ran the chains underneath and up against the chin of the horse. Almost every horse we saw was well mannered though, and I only saw 2 individuals really tug on those leads.

For Mezza to compete in halter, she will be in a class of mares 3 and under. Today there were no 3 and under, only 4 and up. The halter class is judged entirely on the horse--their conformation, how well muscled they are, and how well they present to the judge. We watched real close at how the handler moved around as the judge walked around the horse!  The horse also needs to square up, something to work on, as Mezza loves to cock a foot when she's relaxed.

Next we watched the showmanship classes. These are judged on both the handler and the horse. There is a short pattern the handler takes the horse through before stopping for the judge and letting them inspect the horse. The horse must walk, trot, back, stop and in this case pivot on the hinds for the judge.

Eves dropping and asking questions gave us some information--some of these kids were taking lessons on showing their horses in halter and for showmanship. No wonder the horses were quite calm and the youngsters did quite well.

For showing Mezza, we talked about trying the Novice category, as this was new to us all.

Then we headed out to go and collect horses. Mezza was going to be introduced to the equestrian center and actually riding in a trailer (instead of just loading) while Jennifer would enter Boo in some of the Western classes and Dawn would bring Luna, Mezza's dam along for an outing.

Things went well!!!

Mezza got a minor 'focus' workout in the round pen while Dawn and Jennifer got the trailer all hooked up. We got to practice loading and unloading Mezza and I got her brushed up while Boo got a bath. Luna got a grooming while the last tack was loaded in the trailer.

Mezza hopped in and took her place at the front (see feet beneath Boo's stomach in photo).

We wondered how Mezza would react to everything at the center--to our amazement she was quite calm, did not pull and walked around with or without the other two horses with no concern! We were happily surprised, to say the least!

Jennifer enjoyed riding Boo in a couple of classes, and took home a first and second place. She thought Boo would have appreciated running barrels over the show classes, but hey, it was a nice day for a ride anyway!

And Mezza, she enjoyed alternately standing and watching all the action, (along with getting quite a bit of attention for folks), taking walks around to see everything, and yes, of course the wonderful grass!

The entire experience can be chalked up as a "non-event" something that my Equine Studies teacher, Damian, says means that I've done my homework. I think we all got a good grade for the day!
Many thanks to Dawn Dooley for her collaboration with today's events!!

Hoss & Scout: Trailering

Today signals another step forward for me and Hoss, my husband's horse!  He loaded and traveled beautifully with Scout, my little Mustang. For me this was a great repeat of several weeks back, when Ben loaded Franky, and I loaded Hoss and took the two of them to the Indiana Equestrian Center.

Here's the video from that earlier ride:
Hoss at the Indiana Equestrian Center, April 2012

This time, however, I was on my own loading both horses and trailering over. I called my husband after Hoss loaded, delighted to tell him I was on my way with both horses, who had each loaded without hesitation!  This was terrific, as a week ago I'd easily loaded Hoss to take him to Roxboro Park, but I was so nervous about taking him alone, and driving to somewhere I was not familiar, that when I unloaded him to ride on the group ride, he was in a full sweat, very anxious, and quite a pill to tack up!  The ride went well, but I ended up with a stomach ache, and it took a good 30-45min to load him for the drive home! I learned that he will load and travel well if he can have confidence in me.

So, we've been working on the loading and standing in the trailer in the meantime, so that he will stand quietly while I tie, hook the butt rope, and close the trailer door. I got some good help from Ben once last week on communicating to him that I expect him to load, or he won't be standing outside the trailer getting rubbed--he will be working!  He isn't afraid of the trailer now, although he will feed off of my lack of confidence if I have any. Therefore I will work on trailering within my comfort range for awhile, and build up more confidence so I'm ready for the longer trips!

Enough said. We had a wonderful time and so did the horses!

OOps!!