The Risks of Getting an New Horse

Choosing a new horse, whether you buy him or he is given to you, is a very risky endeavor. All the riskier when you are like us, and plan to get a horse for keeps. Ellen and I are just not the kind of people who can pass our animals on to an unknown future. It doesn’t take very long, and we are so attached to our animals that we can’t let them go down an uncertain path. So, when we choose, we choose carefully.

Who am I kidding. We were all…

A Free Horse

Now, just because a horse is free, doesn’t mean taking him is a smart thing. I've done this free horse thing before. My first horse, a Morgan named Brandy, was given to me by my aunt. I had ridden him a number of times when I was a kid--mostly in the arena, and I thought I knew what I was getting into. My aunt sure knew what I was getting into, but she wanted to get rid of an expense.

He was way, way too much horse for someone of my little experience for trail…

Things on my mind          

This year has been a tough one for me, medically.   Don’t worry, yet, there may be nothing wrong with me.  No reason to panic until it is time to panic.  I just had a medical screening test that had positive results, and there have been complications with getting to the bottom of it.

I know that I shouldn’t get too worked up about it, and most of the time, I was doing fine—but I am still human.  My imagination sometimes gets the…

A New Adventure Begins I have been looking for a new horse since last spring when Cruiser flew off to greener pastures. I would have liked another Morab, since Cruiser and Cole turned out to be such wonderful horses, but that didn’t seem possible. The Great Recession seemed to have wiped out the Morab breeders. I found plenty of older Morabs from before the recession, but I didn’t want in older horse. My second choice was a Morgan. It was a close second. After experiencing Cole who is mostly…

A Perfect Night

Like much of the country, we have been getting lousy weather.  What can we expect for winter in Cleveland?  Most days have been cold—very, very cold.  We have had plenty of nights on either side of zero—and that is…

Final January Update on Ground Work

Alas, I have gotten lazy.  In the last week or so, I haven’t done much ground work.  After I ride for a while in the arena, I am taking him right outside to ride in the snow—and skipping the ground work.  The weather is going to get very cold, again, so…

Weekend Update                           

I decided to give Cole a break on Friday and ride Dante in the arena instead; since Ellen wasn’t able to ride him on Thursday.  Wow, was he a nice horse to ride—smooth—responsive and fun. …

More Ground Work with Cole

Cole and I have been working on our ground work every time I see him.  He is now doing all the simple exercises very easily.  It was time to move on a challenging exercise—shoulder-in.…

Ground Work Lesson Day 4:

I rode Cole in the indoor arena for a half hour.  The thermometer said it was only 20 degrees—which isn’t bad for me, but it turned Cole into a frisky colt.  He was like riding a stick of TNT—very volatile.  We…

Ground Work Lessons 1, 2   & 3

For those who have not been following my adventures with Cole Train from the beginning, let me bring you up to date.  When I got Cole, he was an untrained 4-year-old.  He was halter broken,…

Trying to work in the Arena

Since Ellen and I took so much vacation time in November and December, combined with conquering the loop in the back of the property, I have never ridden so little in an indoor arena since the years when we didn’t have one.  This is a good thing—and a bad thing.  It’s good that I have been able to ride…

Dante’s Dark Side

Ellen was working Sunday, and I thought I would take advantage of the great weather and ride Dante on the trail. I knew I couldn’t cross the river because I already rode down there with Cole Train.  We would have to do the hill multiple times.

The hill can be a tricky place to work a…

Ranger’s Issues

Ranger, my sister’s horse of nearly 20 years, has developed breathing issues.  It was something that occurred gradually over the last year or so, but this fall, it got pretty bad.  He wasn’t coughing uncontrollably like Cruiser was, but…

The Loop

Last year at this time, I tried riding Cole out on the loop—a small track that is about a quarter mile long that is behind the barn—and it was a disaster.  I ended up riding him in the arena when it got too dark in the evenings to go on the trail.  This year, I decided to try it again.…

Old Poke Meets Mr. Smooth

Oh, what a long weekend we had.  It was 4 consecutive, sunny October days—perfect for riding.  Of course, we had our usual vacation disaster, but this time, it had nothing to do with the weather or a high river.…

Making Lemonade

My sister and I take our vacation days together so we can go riding. We have to pick our days weeks ahead of time because if the way her employer’s system works. It’s not like we can look at the forecast and pick the days with the best weather. Instead, we just guess.

Our vacations are notorious for having bad weather and high rivers.…

The Goldenrod Ride

My sister and I love to ride up to the show ring trails all the time—but particularly when the goldenrod is blooming. Sunday was a chilly, sunny morning—a perfect day to see the goldenrod. Instead of Dante, Ellen took Ranger. Ranger loves…

Struggling with My First Arena Ride of the Season

It was rainy, cold and dark.  It was time to try the indoor arena.

Just a reminder for my readers—I had issues with Cole in the arena in the…