Wildlife on the Trail

We ride in a very urban park, and see a whole lot of people, but we still see a lot of animals, too.  The most common thing we see is the white-tailed deer.  They are all over.  Sometimes they startle the horses if they move suddenly, but usually they aren’t a problem.  Cruiser likes to chase after them.

We see the usual amount of chipmunks and squirrels.  We actually have red squirrels, fox squirrels, gray squirrels and black squirrels. …

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…