Ahhhhh, Relief!

I took this picture last week, before the weather decided to get cold and wet again. Today the horses are locked up tight in their stalls with their blankets on while it snows outside. They were locked up all day yesterday, save half an hour when we let them out so that we could clean stalls.

Bombay and Gabbrielle went nuts as soon as they were set free. They were racing around, rearing, bucking, spinning, jumping everything they could jump including each other. It was insane. I was so sure one of them would end up with a leg injury, but they are both quite controlled, talented ballet dancers.

With the extra snow, the ski patrol is dynamiting the avalanche dangers on the mountain again, which makes my dog shake all over in fear and run around the house panting. She tries to bury herself in the cables behind my computer, which interferes with my office work. This kind of weather affects me negatively in so many different ways. I am thankful for the respite we've had over the past couple of weeks, but was hoping I wouldn't have to see any more snow until next December. I don't even want to bother taking a picture of it, because I don't want to make any of you feel cold. (Instead I'll just make you want to pee. Hee hee.)

As soon as it warms up this time of year, my husband always says, "These are our three weeks of spring. Enjoy them while you can."

What that means is that in Northern Nevada we go from snow to spring-like weather for three weeks, and then back to snow again. Some time around June, we transition from snow to 80 and 90-degree summer temperatures. Then we spend the rest of the summer in triple-digits. This year we got gypped, because we only got two weeks of spring.

I've put in for two vacation days in April and three vacation days in May, so that I'll have something to look forward to. I didn't want to take off an entire week, because I can't count on the weather being nice until June. I may go to the Arabian horse show in Santa Barbara, California in May, because I'm due to spend some time with my mother. Her osteoporosis is advancing to her hips, so I don't know how much longer we'll be able to travel together. I love their horse show facility in Santa Barbara. The stands are covered, but the arena is open to one huge sky-light, which makes for really nice photographs, unlike the indoor arenas at Scottsdale, which were completely covered and too dark for action shots, unless you have a professional camera.

There are a lot of other really interesting horse shows going on all summer at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara, including the Lipizzaner stallions over the 4th of July weekend. The one show I'd really love to see is the USEF/AVA National Championships Gymnastics on horseback. How awesome would that be to watch?

Rock Climbing

I used to pile rocks in this corner of my property, because the TV and computer cable used to run through the paddock underground and the horses (namely Bombay) would dig it up and bite into it, causing us to have to call the cable company for a new line. The last time they came out, I had them bury the cable around the outside of the chain-link fence where the horses couldn't get to it. However, the rocks are still there. Even though Bombay gets his hooves trimmed every 10 weeks, the farrier says he doesn't need it that often. I suspect it's because he wears them down with so much rock climbing.

Lining up for Treats

Seize the Day

Saturday was such a beautiful day that I had plans to ride all the horses come Sunday. However, I was having a hard time sleeping Saturday night, and ended up oversleeping into late Sunday morning as a result. (8:30 AM is late for me.)

The horses weren't done eating their breakfast until 11:00 AM. It was warm and the air was still as I cleaned the paddock while they ate. I went inside for maybe 20 minutes to rehydrate and feed myself. By the time I got back outside to ride, the wind before our next storm had kicked up 12-hours early. The tarp on the haystack was blowing violently and snapping at me as I walked past it. Ugh. So much for riding Gabbrielle. I am not getting on a green horse in a big wind.

So, I got on Bombay. Oh yes, he spooked a few times, but I couldn't blame him, because the wind really was quite unpredictable. The gusts were coming and going and changing in strength, sending things flying through the air and knocking other things down to the ground. I had hoped to trot him around the property like I did with Lostine on Saturday, but he was too nervous as was just being in the round pen. I didn't think it would be wise to ride him next to all my neighbor's tarps and loose garbage piles.

We did work on his posting trot, sitting trot, slow jog, and purposeful walk. One of the things my trainer hated was when Bombay would pussyfoot around the arena. He made me push him up to a strong, fast walk. I got to the point where I understood my trainer's frustration, because a horse that is allowed to walk with hesitation is a horse that is allowed to find things to spook at.

I also have reserved the lope for outside the round pen, because my trainer told me that my round pen is really too small to be loping such a large horse in. I have to keep him bent to the inside which puts more pressure on his inside legs than his outside because of the tight turn. He said he'd rather see me lope him in a bigger arena or on a straight-of-way. That will have to wait until the next weekend when the weather cooperates.

This time of year you really have to seize the day when you get a good one. The weather turns to manure really fast.

I told Bombay that if he gets to the point where he can hang with me in the wind without spooking, I'll call him Wind Walker the Brave Warrior. He sighed and said he likes the name Bombay better.

Sunshine on My Shoulder...

...makes me happy. It's amazing how relaxed the horses can be on a warm day without wind. Check out Lostine relaxing next the the same tarp that freaked the horses out just last weekend.

The deer are still coming around at night. My Corgi Midge caught them in the neighbor's yard last night. I find it interesting that my dog can run at the fence barking, and the deer just stand there and look at her. However, when I moved toward the fence, the moved away. One was standing on the shoulder of the road right around a blind curve that is notorious for killing people. In fact, we almost got hit head on by a dually coming home this afternoon. The driver was too lazy to stay in his own lane when taking the curve, and he pushed us off onto the shoulder. Anyway, I brought Midge indoors, because I didn't want either of us to be responsible for pushing the deer out into the road.

This is Gabbrielle's latest injury...

I'm not sure if the deer caused it, but on the morning I found her with this gash on her face, her Arabian dish was more like a Roman nose, all swollen and bloody. I worried that she might have fractured her skull, but it doesn't look too bad now.

I decided to take Lostine for a spin, and discovered that her padded neoprene cinch had cracks all over it...

This is an argument against getting padded neoprene cinches. They split between the bulk and the elements.

I like my flat neoprene cinch better that I use with my other saddle. I knew I couldn't ride her with this cinch, because the cracks would pinch her skin. Fortunately I found a spare in my tack room.

The spare was also padded, but much better quality and crack-free. I wondered why I hadn't been using it, and then I remembered my horse trainer asking me to replace it, because it was too long.

Lostine and I had a grand old time on our ride. She was her usual pissy self at first, so I worked on trying to get her to relax. I decided a big part of her problem was that she was bored going in circles in the round pen. She remembers her side-passing lessons well, so I moved her up to the gate, leaned over, threw it open and steered her through.

Of course, by doing that, we magically passed out of her comfort zone and she locked her legs up as if she'd never seen our property outside of the round pen before. The head went up, the snorting began, and right on cue, a suburban came up the street and pulled into my neighbor's place just a few feet away from us. The door slamming commenced as I squeezed and clucked and tried everything to get my horse to move forward.

I said, "Come on, Lostine! You walk around here all day. It's not any different now with me on your back."

That must have been a good enough argument for her, because she started walking. Each time we circled a little wider, getting her closer and closer to the edges of the property. Then the suburban came back out of the driveway, stopped behind my barn, and the door slamming started up from that location. The horses went on alert and I said, "Is somebody doing a Chinese fire drill back there or what?"

Suddenly, the suburban came racing backwards up the street and into my neighbor's place with a dog chasing it. The visitor deposited the dog into my neighbor's house and made a second attempt at leaving. Once the suburban was gone, Lostine and I trotted all over the place until she was out of breath in all her winter lard. My neighbor came out of her house to walk her dog behind my barn. We trotted up to her and I asked her if she'd seen the deer that have been coming around. I was curious if they'd been eating her hay. She didn't know anything about it.

Once again I explained to her the my horses get nervous when people or animals go behind the barn while they are trapped inside. They can't see what's going on, but they can hear and smell that something is back there, and they panic because they assume it is a predator. I also told her about all the injuries I've had to nurse thanks to the deer and "other activity" behind my barn. She just nodded and smirked, as if she thought my horses getting injured is a humorous thing.

When we were done with our ride, I decided to trim Lostine's bridle path just enough for the bridle to not get caught in her mane, but not too much because the nights are still cold.

You can see the tuft, which marks how far I trimmed her back last year.

Then I trimmed Gabbrielle's bridle path...


Then Bombay's...


I found it funny that all three horses seemed so eager to be brushed and shaved. I think they are tired of all the shedding and itching. Bombay actually walked up to my razor and started shaving his own beard by rubbing his chin on it as soon as I turned it on.

Jitter Bugs

No, Gabbrielle! You cannot drink coffee! You are hyper enough. Stay away from caffeine. It's bad for you.

I said stop it! Leave Daddy's Initech mug alone.

Oh, Bombay. Why do you always have to pick up Gabbrielle's bad habits?

A Noogie on the Noggin

Whenever I have a seat in the paddock, this is always my view...

Gabbrielle likes to rub her muzzle on the top of my head and mess up my hair...

Hair is reminiscent of hay, I guess, especially when you start getting old like me and your hair gets brittle.

I give her a kiss...

...and she kisses me back...

Then she returns to giving me a noogie on the noggin...

She rubs harder and harder until I crack a smile...

Then I start giggling, which makes her nuzzle me even more aggressively...

Soon she knocks my sunglasses off my face...

Which really cracks me up...

When all is said and done, I've got a big ole' red mark on my forehead...

...but it feels good.

Back to Bridling Basics

First off, I want to thank my husband for wandering outside right when I was doing a bridling lesson with Gabbrielle, and taking pictures so that I can share it with you.

I have to return to basics with Gabbrielle since I haven't worked with her all winter. This is really a lesson I could have been doing all winter if I weren't such a wimp about going out in the cold. The first step to teaching a horse to accept a bridle and bit is to tie it to a post, and teach it to willingly lower its head.

I place once hand over the crown of her head between her ears and the other hand underneath her chin on the lead rope. You may as well also associate a verbal command with the action by saying "Down", so that you can use it when in the saddle.

If your horse is sensitive about letting hands near its ears, you will want to make a habit of always petting it in and around its ears until it learns to relax. Since Gabbrielle had an accident last summer in which she lost the tip of her ear, she's been especially sensitive about letting anyone near her ears. So, the more she avoided being touched there, the more I petted her there until she understood that I didn't intend to snip off the tip of her ear like the vet did after her accident.

When you first press down on the poll and pull down on the rope, the horse will want to resist and press back as you can see in the picture below...

Either hold the pressure or pulsate the pressure until the horse either stops pressing back or lowers its head to move away from the pressure. As soon as you feel the horse relax or move away, let go. That's the reward.

Some trainers prefer that you pulsate the pressure instead of holding it, so that you don't give the horse something to brace against. However, you just need to find out which method works best for your horse.

Repeat the process, asking for the horse to give to the pressure and lower its head further each time.

In addition to the release of pressure as a reward, pet and praise your horse for the correct response.


Once you are satisfied that your horse is consistently lowering its head to the height you want it to be at, introduce the bridle by placing it in front of the horse's face. You will find that the horse will most likely raise its head really high to evade the bridle.

However, never fear. You just need to repeat the process of applying and releasing pressure like you did before, only this time with the bridle touching the horse's face.

However, in my case, as you can see, Gabbrielle's head was too high for me to reach her poll. So, I chose the tactic of keeping the bridle on her face and waiting for her to lower her head willingly.

The whole time I'm saying, "Down..."

"Down..."

And once she lowers her head a decent amount, I pull the bridle away from her face to take the pressure off, pet and praise her.

I encourage her to set her head where I need it to be to accept the bridle.

Then I place my arm over her poll and bring the bit up to her muzzle.

Gently slip my thumb inside the side of her mouth where there are no teeth to encourage her to open up...

And voila!

Slip the bridle up over her ears.

Once you succeed in getting the bridle on, let her chew the bit for a minute, and gently remove it as a reward. Repeat and rinse.