Working on Our Little Problems

I have had Cole for nearly two years, now.  When I got him, he had had a saddle on his back, but that’s as far as his training went.  We have come a long way, and he has given me much to write about.  Now that we have accomplished most everything I wanted to, I fear I am going to run out of things to write about and will start to bore my readers. …

I’m back from a 4-day weekend that was mainly for riding with my sister.  We had so much fun.  Thursday, we went on a 2-hour ride with Cole and Ranger.  We did a lot of trotting on the way out and a little on the way home.  The horses were great.  We went on a trail that neither horse has been on since last year.  It was great.  When we got back, I took Cruiser on a short ride.

We weren’t sure how they would feel on Friday, so we went on a shorter ride with a lot of trotting…

Well, we had a great time at the Bruce Springsteen concert, but then how could big fans like us not?  Three solid hours of rock and roll.  There’s nothing like one of his concerts.  I went with my boyfriend and his 2 daughters.

To keep this blog horse related, did you know that his daughter rides and shows?  This could be why some of the songs he’s written in the last few years mention horses. 

One song is titled “My silver palomino” who is “Sixteen hands from…

Had a great ride—actually 2 great rides, yesterday.  The first was on Cole with my boyfriend and Starry.  I think my boyfriend is getting a little crazy.  He always complains that his horse goes too slow, and he does.  Well, he speeds up with another horse.  We started out trotting with Starry in the lead—and I saw my boyfriend tapping him lightly with the whip every few strides.  I was hoping for a quiet trot, and he wanted just to go faster and faster.  Cole took it all in…

Good news for the horses!  Cole must of just had a stone bruise, as I was hoping.  Throughout the week, I soaked his hoof and hand walked him.  Thursday, the farrier came out and couldn’t find any trace of an abscess.  By then, he wasn’t even limping in the least.  Friday, I did my leading out on the hard and stony drive, and he was fine.  I rode him on Saturday and Sunday, and he was sound and a joy to ride—even though he had a week off.  I took him out with my sister and her horse,…

Here in Northeast Ohio

I haven’t blogged lately, because I have been overwhelmed with life.  I won’t go into it, here, but it has just been a tough time.  I don’t know if it will get better, either.

To add to my problems, over the weekend, Cole became lame.  As far as I could tell, it was either a heel bruise or an abscess in the heel area.  I have had a lot of experience with abscesses from my times with Mingo (chronic abscess for years—with 2 operations that…

I took Cole Train on another solo evening ride, and he was great—even though it was a chilly evening and I hadn’t ridden him the day before.  I think the problem has been solved.  I doubt if I will ever have a hesitation in taking him out, alone, again.  Of course, he will be 6 in a couple weeks.  I have found at the age of 6, horses grow up.  He certainly has been acting very mature. I really do feel like I bought a winning lottery ticket with him.

We did our usual short…

Cole Train only gets better.

Well, I blogged last week about Cole’s first evening solo ride of the year.  Evening rides have been his Achilles heel, for some reason.  He will do great in the morning, but the next day he’ll be a different horse in the evening.  I think we may have left that problem behind.

I graded his first solo evening ride of the year a “C.”  A couple days later, I tried it again and he got a “B-” due to some spooks, breaking into a canter a…

Cole’s First Solo Evening Ride of the Year

To give you a little background, Cole hasn’t been a very good trail horse in the evenings.  His biggest fault is trying to trot towards home instead of walking.  A few attempts is no big deal, but it would be constant with him.  Actually, this has been his main problem from the first time I took him on a walk down there.  He had long ago improved his morning rides, but the evenings just got him excited.  For some reason, all of our…

Happy Buzzards Day! Yes, this is buzzard country, and the buzzards have once again made it to Hinckley on March 15. Hinckley isn’t too far from me. I actually saw a buzzard a couple days ago in Cleveland. They are big, ugly vultures that are all over northeast Ohio in the summer. My rides yesterday went well. It was very unseasonably warm—like summer. The river was too high for Cruiser to cross. A big horse could have done it, but my horses certainly aren’t big. I rode the hill three times…

Well, last night was my after work trail ride of the year.  I rode both horses on the trail over the weekend with my sister, and they were excellent, so I wasn’t expecting much in the way of problems.  They would be by themselves, though.  The river was too high to cross, so I could only ride the hill back and forth to it—about a half mile round trip.

I had time for one and a half trail rides.  Cruiser was the first horse.  He was supposed to be the easy one.  At nearly 25…

What Daylight Savings Means to Me

This weekend is Daylight Savings. What does that mean? (Other than losing an hour of sleep?) It means it is the official opening of trail riding for me. Sure, I can get out a little on the weekends, but now I will be able to go on a trail ride after work. It usually coincides with a dramatic improvement of the weather, too.

My plans are to ride my Cruiser on the trail for every ride between now and November. No more schooling in the arena for…

A Clicker Convert?

I was riding Cole Train in the arena, when one of the boarders that I haven’t seen for a while showed up.  She has been working different hours than she used to and was coming out to the barn when I wasn’t there.  Consequently, she hadn’t seen Cole’s new dance steps.  I showed them to her—how he can do them in the saddle or on the ground, and she just laughed and laughed.  He is even learning to cross his leg over when I cross my leg over—and of course he…

A funny thing happened at the barn last night.  I brought Cole into the arena to ride with a big TB.  This was only the second time the TB has been ridden since his operation for a cyst in his sinus.  The vet told the owner she could resume riding at 6 weeks.

A few minutes into the ride, she noticed he was doing a strange step every now and then when they were trotting.  I didn’t see it.  He wasn’t lame, though.  She said he would put his foot down hard, and he jut started…

I had a great weekend with the horses.  On Friday evening and Saturday morning, I managed to get Cole to canter some more in the arena.  That makes three arena rides in a row.  He still doesn’t get too far before he stops on his own, but I’m sure that will come in time.  I will try again, tonight, if I have the arena to myself.  On Saturday, after our schooling session, I rode him down to the river (which was too high) and back.  He was flawless.

Sunday, I skipped the arena…

I had a great weekend with the horses.  On Friday evening and Saturday morning, I managed to get Cole to canter some more in the arena.  That makes three arena rides in a row.  He still doesn’t get too far before he stops on his own, but I’m sure that will come in time.  I will try again, tonight, if I have the arena to myself.  On Saturday, after our schooling session, I rode him down to the river (which was too high) and back.  He was flawless.

Sunday, I skipped the arena…

I have had trouble cantering Cole in the arena, and have only done it sporadically.  Usually when I make the request, he doesn’t trot faster, but bigger, deeper and more powerful.  He gets so locked into the trot, but I can’t get him out.  If I push too hard, I get bucking.  I pretty much had given up because I didn’t want to keep practicing the wrong thing.

I have cantered him quite a bit on the trail, but we haven’t transferred the skill to the arena.

And…

Ready for Spring

Last night, I was riding in the indoor arena.  The weather has been mild enough that I could have gone on the trail, but it was dark.  Until the time changes, I really don’t have enough daylight to ride on the trail after work.  I am glad I have the indoor arena.  It allows me to ride all winter long.  Years ago, when we were at a barn without one, my riding was very sporadic in the winter.  Between bad weather and bad footing, sometimes I couldn’t ride for a…

Hurray!!  I got on trail this weekend!!  Saturday, the river was still too high from the melting snow, so we just did 3 trips on the hill.  I took Cole out with my sister on Ranger.  I did lounge him, beforehand, but that didn’t keep him from acting up in excitement.  Sigh.  He is still a young horse, after all.  He just kept having these little outbursts where he would try to surge forward past Ranger—and he was rushing on the way home.  When I got back, I worked him 10 minutes in the…

My boyfriend was away this weekend, so we had his horse to take care of.  I asked my horse-loving niece.  We haven’t had her out in a couple of months because we haven’t been trail riding regularly.   She was thrilled.  I battled a snow storm to pick her up and then get her to the stables.  By the time we got there, my sister had the stalls cleaned.  She just had to dump a wheelbarrow.  We sent my niece out in the snow storm to push it way, way back to the manure pile.  She had to earn her…