Judi Daly's Blog – December 2011 Archive (10)

Melt Down

It was really chilly last night.  The temperature in the indoor arena was below freezing.  Of course, that is not too cold to ride, but last year, I would have had to lounge Cole before riding on a night like last night.  He would have been awful, too, with much rearing and bucking.  I decided to just ride him and see how he did.

 

I am happy to report that he behaved beautifully.  There was no spooking, bucking or bolting.  Yes, we have come a long way.  He didn’t perform very…

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Added by Judi Daly on December 29, 2011 at 11:10am — No Comments

Last Great Ride of the Year

Last Great Ride of the Year

 

I had the Monday after Christmas off from work.  The weather gods were looking down kindly at us, and furnished the best sort of weather for a winter ride.  It was sunny and about 40 degrees F.  Bliss…  We had ridden the last 3 days on the hill because the river was too high, but even that cooperated with us and was low enough by Monday.  We were going on a Christmas trail ride.

 

Unfortunately, my sister had to go into work.  She…

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Added by Judi Daly on December 27, 2011 at 2:59pm — No Comments

Cruiser is Who He was Meant to Be

Cruiser is Who He was Meant to Be

 

Way back when I bought Cruiser, I was given his papers.  He is not registered as a Morab, but as a Half Arabian.  I don’t even have proof that his mother was a Morgan.  I just took the word of his previous owners.  Quite honestly, they could have told me he was half St. Bernard, and I wouldn’t of cared.  I fell in love with him, so none of it…

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Added by Judi Daly on December 23, 2011 at 3:00pm — 1 Comment

Posting gone wrong, but feedback loop gone right

I found out that I can’t post Cole at all in the arena.  I tried and tried.  I felt like I never did it in my life.  I would go a couple strides and fall into the saddle with a boom.  Poor Cole would immediately halt in confusion.  I had to give up because I felt I was torturing him.

 

So, then I tried it with Cruiser.  He simply didn’t give me enough oompf to get off the saddle.  I gave up with him, too.

 

I post both horses all the time on the trail quite…

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Added by Judi Daly on December 22, 2011 at 10:53am — No Comments

Musings on Arena Riding

Sorry everyone.  I haven’t been blogging because I have been busy.  Not with riding, but with work.  Hopefully, we are finally breaking out of this bad economy.  I am a printing estimator, and in the world of printing, if the estimators get busy, everyone else will be getting busy in a few weeks.

  

Of course, I am still riding.  The weather has been strangely good in the last few weeks.  Sure, we have had rain, and that’s never any fun, but we haven’t had that much snow at…

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Added by Judi Daly on December 21, 2011 at 4:23pm — No Comments

My rides this week

I’ve been doing a lot of riding in the last week.  I had a 4-day weekend—just using up my sick days since I was quite healthy this year.  Usually the weather is crummy in Cleveland in December, but I was really lucky.  We had dry and sunny days.  I couldn’t cross the high river on Saturday and Sunday, but that was all right.  I got to ride with my sister in the arena and we rode on the hill to the river a few times, too.  Monday, I took Cole on a trail ride with my boyfriend and his horse,…

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Added by Judi Daly on December 15, 2011 at 11:55am — No Comments

One step closer

I am determined to improve my riding in the arena, this winter, so I got out my old Mary Wanless book.  I am reviewing chapter by chapter.  I got to the chapter on breathing and bearing down—and I realized I wasn’t doing it right anymore.  Somewhere during trail riding and breaking in a new horse, I lost it.  I practiced all day at work to prepare for my rides.

 

I started out with Cruiser, my older horse that I am starting anew.  Guess what—he had his best day of the winter. …

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Added by Judi Daly on December 8, 2011 at 4:02pm — No Comments

Ranger Tests Us

Ranger Tests Us

 

It’s not often I mention that Ranger is having a problem, and that’s because he is a fairly consistent horse.  Every now and then, he throws in something to keep my sister, Ellen, on her toes.  Well, he did it, again.

 

One day, back in November, he acted very strange during tacking up.  We…

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Added by Judi Daly on December 6, 2011 at 3:17pm — No Comments

A Small and Unexpected Miracle

A Small and Unexpected Miracle

 

Years ago, I’m not even sure when, I found a lump in Cruiser’s throatlatch area.  It didn’t seem to hurt him, so I waited until the next time the vet came out to ask her what it was.  She said it was a tumor on his thyroid, that there was nothing we could do about it and it wouldn’t do any harm.

 …

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Added by Judi Daly on December 5, 2011 at 10:52am — 2 Comments

Working in the arena

It was a chilly night—right around freezing—perfect for riding horses with winter coats.

 

I rode both horses in the arena last night.  My ride with Cole wasn’t consistent, and I just couldn’t seem to get my body in sync with his at the trot.  Remember, he has a huge and impulsive trot which can be tough to sit and I consider impossible to post.  I have found that you need to plug into the side-to-side motion while keeping the movement slightly forward, too.  This gets the best…

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Added by Judi Daly on December 1, 2011 at 11:51am — No Comments

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