Day seventeen
25 February 2009 03:27![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glenatronThe first session today was carnage!
For some reason, maybe the slightly windy weather, maybe the fact that most horses were fresh after a couple of days off, maybe the fact we were working on our lope, the first session seemed a bit full of springs. I was riding Socks again and we had quite a few of the slightly rowdy residents of pen one out to play in the big round-pen. The aim was to get them doing a bit of gentle loping around the pen, getting them used to having a rider and to cantering without having to worry about steering too much as it's a big circle and they can just amble around in a bunch.
Catherine and little Gunner, Kay on New Chex- both of those horses went back to their owners today. They were nice little guys.
The only problem was that they really were a bit fresh- my horse had a few little bucks not far after we went in, although I held it together, as did several other people. A few minutes later Pierre was going out the front door ( after two years of starting colts without getting bucked off, Pierre has now been dumped twice in a week ) and after we were mostly ready to stop Fred got thrown after his horse decided to cut across the middle of the pen and then the dry brush there tickled him a bit. Fred was bounced up the neck and had a nasty head-down landing as a result, which was a real shame. His back is pretty badly bruised. Martin rode Fred's horse a little and a couple of others while the rest of us waited around and watched. Suddenly Jake's horse, Joe, sprang off from the side of the pen into a big bucking fit. Jake stayed with him for a few big bucks then they parted company as Joe went broncing off around the pen. It was the kind of bucking session that nobody could sit through.
Well, I say "nobody", but...
... Martin got on him ...
... and the rumour is that there was a time Martin was looking good for being national Saddle-bronc champion.
The problem, that Martin identified was that Joe wasn't pivoting around his inside front foot, so although he was giving his hindquarters he was not disengaging them and was still able to drive through with them, giving him enough power for some dramatic antics. Joe is a big horse with a matching attitude ( I think he was a stallion until very recently and hasn't really figured out the difference ) and sometimes he does like to pull tricks like this out of the hat.
The second set we rode was a lot more mellow, I was sitting on Pirate, a horse made out of various parts of other horses welded together in a slightly ramshackle way:
He's a really nice horse but he does have a funny action, his walk feels a lot like I imagine a camel would feel to ride, his trot is very elastic and long but quite comfortable, perhaps somewhat bigger than he is, and his lope is also very bouncy, so I needed to have a few departures before I could stay balanced with him and needed to calm him down a few times after he got a little anxious and set to run off or hump his back a little.
With some help from Martin we got going a bit more consistently. One of the first things that happened was that my hat blew off. My hat is quite a good fit, but on windy days I sometimes forget to pull it down when it is loosening and we are riding more briskly. This may be the first time I have actually ridden bareheaded, although of course a cowboy hat is effectively bareheaded from a safety perspective...
Pirate is a nice horse, considering his cut-and-shut appearance.
Pictures of me courtesy of Fred who was sitting out this set.
After lunch we went and got the third set of horses and got them tacked up while Martin and Jake worked the black horse who came in the other day. This horse has done a lot of groundwork where they put pressure on him until he was running around the pen, so he thinks running around the pen is what he is supposed to do. Martin used his rope to make it more difficult to run around and to help him think of other things to do instead.
After that we were riding a set of colts where I was on the little Roan mare who came in during our first week. She's still very herdbound to her paint friend and part of the exercise for me was to make sure they never got any rest time near to each other. At one point Jake, working in the round pen, managed to make a massive racket with his rope and send his horse scattering round, which took me across the arena ( the indoor arena is a medium-sized square space around a small round-pen ) at full buck. Amazingly I stayed on again and got things back under control. Actually, given the work we were doing,the space we were in, the wind blowing through and the number of horses we had it was a pretty high-energy session, but everyone survived fine.
We ended the day doing some roping off some of the more steady horses, which was interesting and fun for me. I even managed to avoid knocking my own hat off, although if I use a loop beyond about half the size Martin has I quickly rope either myself or my horse.
One mark of progress for me was that in the three rides on colts I had things happen that I think would have resulted in falling off when I came here and that I survived today. We'll see how tomorrow goes though- we're out on the trails and I'm riding the horse that bucked Fred off today first and then Pirate.
For some reason, maybe the slightly windy weather, maybe the fact that most horses were fresh after a couple of days off, maybe the fact we were working on our lope, the first session seemed a bit full of springs. I was riding Socks again and we had quite a few of the slightly rowdy residents of pen one out to play in the big round-pen. The aim was to get them doing a bit of gentle loping around the pen, getting them used to having a rider and to cantering without having to worry about steering too much as it's a big circle and they can just amble around in a bunch.
Catherine and little Gunner, Kay on New Chex- both of those horses went back to their owners today. They were nice little guys.
The only problem was that they really were a bit fresh- my horse had a few little bucks not far after we went in, although I held it together, as did several other people. A few minutes later Pierre was going out the front door ( after two years of starting colts without getting bucked off, Pierre has now been dumped twice in a week ) and after we were mostly ready to stop Fred got thrown after his horse decided to cut across the middle of the pen and then the dry brush there tickled him a bit. Fred was bounced up the neck and had a nasty head-down landing as a result, which was a real shame. His back is pretty badly bruised. Martin rode Fred's horse a little and a couple of others while the rest of us waited around and watched. Suddenly Jake's horse, Joe, sprang off from the side of the pen into a big bucking fit. Jake stayed with him for a few big bucks then they parted company as Joe went broncing off around the pen. It was the kind of bucking session that nobody could sit through.
Well, I say "nobody", but...
... Martin got on him ...
... and the rumour is that there was a time Martin was looking good for being national Saddle-bronc champion.
The problem, that Martin identified was that Joe wasn't pivoting around his inside front foot, so although he was giving his hindquarters he was not disengaging them and was still able to drive through with them, giving him enough power for some dramatic antics. Joe is a big horse with a matching attitude ( I think he was a stallion until very recently and hasn't really figured out the difference ) and sometimes he does like to pull tricks like this out of the hat.
The second set we rode was a lot more mellow, I was sitting on Pirate, a horse made out of various parts of other horses welded together in a slightly ramshackle way:
He's a really nice horse but he does have a funny action, his walk feels a lot like I imagine a camel would feel to ride, his trot is very elastic and long but quite comfortable, perhaps somewhat bigger than he is, and his lope is also very bouncy, so I needed to have a few departures before I could stay balanced with him and needed to calm him down a few times after he got a little anxious and set to run off or hump his back a little.
With some help from Martin we got going a bit more consistently. One of the first things that happened was that my hat blew off. My hat is quite a good fit, but on windy days I sometimes forget to pull it down when it is loosening and we are riding more briskly. This may be the first time I have actually ridden bareheaded, although of course a cowboy hat is effectively bareheaded from a safety perspective...
Pirate is a nice horse, considering his cut-and-shut appearance.
Pictures of me courtesy of Fred who was sitting out this set.
After lunch we went and got the third set of horses and got them tacked up while Martin and Jake worked the black horse who came in the other day. This horse has done a lot of groundwork where they put pressure on him until he was running around the pen, so he thinks running around the pen is what he is supposed to do. Martin used his rope to make it more difficult to run around and to help him think of other things to do instead.
After that we were riding a set of colts where I was on the little Roan mare who came in during our first week. She's still very herdbound to her paint friend and part of the exercise for me was to make sure they never got any rest time near to each other. At one point Jake, working in the round pen, managed to make a massive racket with his rope and send his horse scattering round, which took me across the arena ( the indoor arena is a medium-sized square space around a small round-pen ) at full buck. Amazingly I stayed on again and got things back under control. Actually, given the work we were doing,the space we were in, the wind blowing through and the number of horses we had it was a pretty high-energy session, but everyone survived fine.
We ended the day doing some roping off some of the more steady horses, which was interesting and fun for me. I even managed to avoid knocking my own hat off, although if I use a loop beyond about half the size Martin has I quickly rope either myself or my horse.
One mark of progress for me was that in the three rides on colts I had things happen that I think would have resulted in falling off when I came here and that I survived today. We'll see how tomorrow goes though- we're out on the trails and I'm riding the horse that bucked Fred off today first and then Pirate.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 24 Feb 2009 08:28 (UTC)But great to see some pics of you in action!
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Date: 24 Feb 2009 10:31 (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Feb 2009 14:45 (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Feb 2009 18:21 (UTC);)
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Date: 25 Feb 2009 02:53 (UTC)512-269-6309
skyeds@tex1.net
no subject
Date: 25 Feb 2009 03:11 (UTC)I take it hardhats are just...not used there, even while starting colts on windy days?
Does Martin have any words of wisdom about safety equipment? Always interesting to hear what experienced horsemen (especially of his age and experience) have to say about that...