Another beautiful day to go riding. Keith was working overtime again and had the car, so Sam came to pick up me and V so that I could go ride Dollar and V could spend some time with Poppa.
The Old Man showing off his 'hawk.
Got to the house, dropped V off inside and then went to go ride the Old Man. I realized that I had forgotten my saddle pad at home so I just grabbed one of the Western pads for today. Brushed Dollar up as best I could, but he’s starting to shed like a mad man. Which is a good thing, but he’s got a lot of hair! Got him tacked up while Sam was tacking up Buster, Natalie’s new horse. He’s quite good looking, just needs a lot of ground work done and today would be his first day out on the road to see how he does. Sam had a couple issues with getting him ready because he wasn’t trained to stand tied, but once he got over that, we mounted up and went on our way down the road. Luckily this time there were no kids asking to pet the horses, so we didn’t have to stop and go.
Buster hadn’t been near cars at all, so we stopped when the first couple passed us just in case he freaked out. But as our ride progressed, he got better with each passing car. Except for one truck that zoomed past us and made Buster jump to the side, but otherwise he was well behaved. We even got both of them jogging for a ½ mile. Dollar thought I was trying to kill him. He was wheezing again, but he had an energetic trot, so I know he has energy and it was just the damn heaves acting up. We ended up doing a lot of walking, but it was good for both horses.
Proof I rode :)
Sam on Buster.
Once we were back home, I worked Dollar for a couple minutes in the coral before untacking him and putting him away.
Seeing as it’s totally GORGEOUS outside, I decided that Dollar (and myself) would benefit from going on a good ride. I had talked to my Dad earlier in the week to make sure that someone was home to watch V while I was out riding and he said that he’d watch her. Yeah!
I got there around 4 so that I could feed V and get Dollar ready to ride. Well once V was fed and sleeping (hopefully), I made my way outside to get Dollar groomed and tacked up so that when my Dad got home, I’d be able to go ride right away. Dollar was more than happy to see me and managed to get him out of the holding pen without letting Mars loose. And boy, was my horse a mess! And he’s pretty good at deceiving me as to how dirty her is. His left side was pretty clean, except for the odd mud patch, but his entire right side was covered in mud. Agh! Horse! I cleaned him up and then noticed that he had torn a huge chunk of mane out, and so I decided that his entire mane was coming off. So I grabbed my scissors and proceeded to chop it all off. And yes, I was giggling the entire time. And the thing is, it actually looks good on him. Yeah! Then I proceeded to clean up his tail (which wasn’t too bad) and trim the bottom off. And was excited to find out that his tail had grown out!
Mane here....
Mane gone....
Once he was all cleaned up, I tacked him up and then went inside to check on V (who was still sleeping) and kill some time until Sam and my Dad showed up. Dad had Brody with him, so he was going to watch both kids while me and Sam took a 2-mile ride. Sam got Mars ready while I put Dollar’s bridle on and then we went on the road. And had to laugh at Mars for freaking out at the For Sale sign, while Dollar totally ignored it. Lol.
The only thing I have about riding on the road is the amount of kids that come up to us (sometimes yelling), going “Horse! Horse!” And then the asking to pet them and ask a million questions. I don’t mind the timid kids because they’re usually unsure about the horses and Dollar’s good for kids like that. But it’s the ones who are extremely loud and don’t even ask before petting him. Those ones irk me. And we ran into the second group. Oh grr me. I was nice and let them pet Dollar, but after a while Mars was getting impatient, so we told the kids goodbye and went on our way. But of course, kids have to be kids and ride their bikes right behind and beside the horse, Sam got after them for that and then they left. Sheesh.
Once the bikes were cleared, we got both the Old Guys trotting (more like prancing for Mars) for a mile. I was quite impressed with Dollar as he wasn’t wheezing much and had some get up and go. While we were trotting, I had Dollar working on his collection and stretching out his head. Of course he was more than willing to and stretched his head as far down as possible and just kept going. Silly horse. We ended up walking that last half mile home so that Mars could calm down and Dollar could get his breath back.
When we got back home, I untacked Dollar and Sam kicked Dollar and Mars back into the holding pen while I went inside to check on V. She was crying a bit when I walked in, but Dad said she just started that, otherwise she was fine.
Hoping for nice weather to keep on coming so that I can ride!!
Finally got out to ride again today! Seeing as Keith was at work in the evening, I packed up V around 4 and headed down to my parents place so that my Mom could watch her while I rode.
Once I made sure that V was content with Grandma, I grabbed my bridle and new saddle pad from the car and headed to the back. Dollar's all by himself in the holding pen now as Dad's new horse Jack is at a barn for training, Sam's horses are at her new place and Natalie's horse is at a different barn for training. So needless to say Dollar was pretty happy to see me as you can see in the video..
Once I got him out of the holding pen, I brought him up to the barn and got him quickly tacked up. I threw away my old saddle pad (the one that mice had gotten into) and put my new saddle pad on him. Yup, purple still looks good.
The old saddle pad that mice had gotten into
Dollar showing off his new saddle pad
Once we were all ready to go, I had to climb the fence in order to hop on to him. I still hurt if I stretch too much and I don't have a mounting block, so the fence comes in handy. He behaved like the perfect gentleman he is and stood completely still while I mounted. Whew.
We went to the far end of the arena again, set our circle and got to work. My goal was to work his walking and jogging as cantering is out of the question because of all the snow and I don't want to risk slipping on ice hiding under the snow. Oh, and I also remembered to grab my crop this time. It came in handy.
As we worked the walking and trotting, he did pretty good. He did realize that I had my crop, so he was a little more energetic in his movements, which is good for him. But then we ran into an issue. I had asked him to move into a trot again from a walk and he was being lazy about it. So I asked him again, a little more firmer. Nothing. So I swatted him with my crop. Next thing I know, his head goes down, and his butt goes up, snorting while doing so, and then moves into a trot, not looking very pleased.
And this is my brain: C'mon, move Old Man *swat*......HEY, YOU BUCKED ON ME!!!
Luckily it wasn't anything big, and he just kept moseying on afterwards. And nothing happened to me (lucky). I had barely became unseated, so I just hunkered my butt down, gave him a scolding (and laughing in my head) and went about our business. Guess he just wanted to show me that he still had spunk left.
After that little incident, I set him to work, doing quite a bit of trotting and working our halts, reverse and turns. This is where he was just showing off for me, probably just sucking up. Lol.
I ended the ride after about 30 minutes of working and he wasn't even sweating yet. But then again, it's been really beautiful here right now. Barely any snow for middle of February in Central Canada. But it does work well for riding right now.
And I'm still surprised as to what my Old Man can pull off. He'll be 20 this summer and still manages to act like he's 5 some days. Oh well, that's why I love him.
A little bit of a busy day today, but I can finally get my Christmas present today!
Started off with watching Brody and Madison while Mom went to counselling around 10 and once Mom was done there, she picked us up and headed to the city so that I could get my Christmas present. Luckily I already knew what I wanted/needed and that was a new saddle pad as mice had gotten into my other one at the barn.
Stopped by Greenhawk so that I could get my saddle pad. I was thinking about getting a Shedrow Quilted Cotton Pad, but I didn’t find it, so I got a Shedrow Vividus Pad in PURPLE!!! Woot! I was also looking at getting a Waffle Pad, but didn’t have enough money to cover it. Next time!
After we were done there, we headed to St. Vital mall to do some bumming around and I had to pick up a storage container and let the kids play in the play-ground there. V behaved herself like a little princess. All in all, not a bad day.
Busy day today. Got up around 10:30 and did some stuff around the house and then went for lunch at Lee’s with the guys. Lunch went pretty good and we went home shortly after to feed V as she was getting hungry and cranky.
Once V was all fed and put to bed for nap, I got my stuff ready to go ride Dollar. Headed down to my parents place and got there close to 3. Met up with my Dad in the back and he showed me where it was safe to ride, as some parts of the arena still had some ice underneath all the snow.
Dad got Dollar out of the holding pen for me and then I brought him up front to tack him up. He was pretty clean, so I gave him a quick brush down and then went to grab my saddle. Well, when I took it off of the saddle rack (way high up and I have to use a chair to grab said saddle), I noticed that there was yellow fuzzies all around my saddle and pad. Thinking (in a somewhat horrified way) that mice had gotten into my saddle and taken stuffing out, I quickly checked to see where it was coming from. A sigh of relief soon followed when I found that the mice had been taking stuffing from my saddle pad and not the saddle. Whew! Actually not really, as this is my only (and good) saddle pad, so I guess a trip into the city will be in order shortly to get a new saddle pad.
After that little ordeal, I finished tacking Dollar up, led him to the fence to hop on and went to work. Seeing as we’ve both been out of “work” for almost a year, my plan was just to take it slow with him and just keep him to walking and jogging. We got to the one end of the arena where there was no ice, set our circle and got to work. We started off at the walk just so that he could stretch his legs out and get used to working again. I decided to leave his head alone, as he’s pretty good (aka: awesome) with leaving it be and I didn’t want to throw too much at him after all his time off.
All ready to go.
Once we were warmed up at the walk, I actually managed to get him jogging. I had to kick him good and use the end of my reins as a reminder as to what my cues meant, but once he picked it up, it was as though he hasn’t been out of work. It was perfectly sit-able and he just kept going, with odd reminders from me.
And then I heard him starting to wheeze. Damn heaves. Have to ruin my ride every single time. But we kept on going because I know with him working like this, it will help his breathing more, and especially since it’s cold out, there’s more oxygen for him to intake as we work. Luckily, it wasn’t loud wheezing, so I knew that we were on the safe side.
Once we had jogged a couple of rounds, I tested his brakes in the middle of our circle. And he nailed them. J
He even got the automatic back-up going as well. And then just for shits ‘n’ giggles, I tested the steering. Turns out that we still remember how to plant the back feet at spin. Way to go Old Man. J
Did the same stuff going the other direction and he still did awesome. A little rusty with cues, but can’t really blame him.
After we were done with our work-out (around 45 minutes worth), I called it a day and put him away. Considering that he’s been off of work for almost a year, he did quite good today. Just hoping that the weather continues to co-operate so that I can get out more to ride.
Well....I CAN FINALLY RIDE!! WOOT!!!
Yup, we've reached the 8-week healing mark from the C-Section that I had, and now I have permission from both doctor and hubby to ride! Yeah!
We went down to my parents place today for Christmas Eve and since we were the first ones there and V was content, I decided to quickly head to the back and hop on Dollar for a short ride.
Got to the back and realized that I didn't bring my bridle with me. Ooops. Left it at home. So I just grabbed a pair of barrel reins and went out to the holding pen. Dollar and Echo were both laying down, but as soon as I started approaching them, Echo got up. I went up to Dollar to take some pictures of him and realized that he had ripped out almost all of his mane!! Shxt!! I grabbed some pictures of him, clipped the reins to his halter and got him out of the holding pen. Echo wasn't too happy with this though. Lol.
I got Dollar up to the front rails, clipped the other side of the reins to his halter, climbed up on the rails and hopped on. He just stood there like a gentleman and waited for me to tell him to start walking. Once we got walking he was pretty good. A little on the lazy side, but you can't blame him, he's been off since April! We walked a couple rounds around the arena and tested the brakes, reverse and steering, which were all still installed. Yeah!
After spending about 10-15 minutes riding, I called it a day, hopped off and put him back into the holding pen with his girlfriend. It was nice to be able to ride again.
Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I haven't been out to see my Old Man for a while, but as of October 21, he now has a new charge and job waiting for him come spring-time.
What new charge you ask?
My baby girl V (no, I'm not posting her full name on blogs)
So come spring-time, she'll be going for her first ride.
I'm hoping to be riding by Christmas time, as we had to go through a C-Section and I've got to wait about 8 weeks before I can ride. Sigh.
The Old Man is enjoying his time off though. He's escaped his fence quite a few times and is now in the holding pen at home with Sue, where we can make sure that he's not going to escape again.
