Please, Can I Pull?

    Our draft horse, Soot, loves pulling the extra Mercedes Benz tire around. This is our first step to teaching him to pull a wagon and, now that we're in Idaho, a sleigh. Soot loves it! He has been a little antsy the last few weeks, but does listen when we work him each time. Last weekend, we grabbed the tire and took it to the round pen to have him pull it. He was then calm when we took him in there. It was pretty interesting!

    We lunged him a little while the other one of us got the tire rigged up with the ropes. Then we put on the surcingle and lunged him for a few more minutes. He then stood calmly while we got him hooked up. Right now we are still not hooking the tire directly to the surcingle. That way we can let go and it doesn't chase him around the arena. Well, we think he's ready to go to the next step. We're excited about that!

    Our dad was trying to remove a weed from the field with his small tractor and some chains. He would back the tractor up then gas it forward to pull the dead rosebush out, but it would just stop the tractor. This was going on close to the round pen and we could almost hear Soot say, "hey, do you need some help with that?"

Night Vision

In the winter here in Idaho, we don't have many hours of light after our desk job is over for the day. We recently bought ourselves some headlamps and those are fantastic! We can even tilt them to make sure they don't shine in the horses' eyes and make sure they are tilted toward what we're doing. I tip mine out when I'm pushing the wheelbarrow, but tip them down when we're cleaning up the pens. It's really handy and we have our hands free to do the work without having to hold a flashlight. 

I recently did some research on how well horses can see in the dark. Turns out they can see better than humans because they have more cones in their eyes than us, which means they can take in more light. It's pretty cool! Just a reminder that if you do shine a light in their face, their eyes do still take time to adjust back to darkness.

Footing

You might be asking, "what kind of footing is best where I'll be working my horse." Well, a few years ago I probably would have said that level footing that doesn't have a lot of holes is the best. That way you don't twist an ankle and your horse has the ability to run and play in the round pen without having to worry about sliding. Well, I am amending that comment.

As you may know, SS Ranch 77 recently moved to Idaho where we definitely have winter weather, so we did some research on the footing we should have for our horses. I saw a video once, by one of our favorite trainers, Jonathan Fields and he was lunging his horse up and down a hill. He says that gives them experience with uneven footing, giving them more experience will make them safer to ride in more situations and who doesn't want to ride their horse anywhere that suits their fancy that day.

Our research said that adding sand to the footing in a round pen will help the water to drain away and leave the sand which can be dragged to stay more even and then much drier than if you just have the mud left over after a recent rain or snow. Well, we don't have a lot of extra money right now, so we put the round pens in place, but haven't tilled the ground at all. Well, the horses don't seem to mind. They kick around and enjoy their time in the round pen, the humans just have to keep their knees bent so we don't twist an ankle. See the horses are used to keeping their balance and they have 3 other feet at any given time that they can "fall back on" to get balanced again. The uneven ground in the round pens is made by the grass that grows in tufts, but that is quickly being flattened by the hooves. 

We are going to do some grading and adjusting to the ground in the round pens, but the horses don't seem to mind at all running around as they are now.

We do have a small sand arena, we call it the barnyard, that has good deep sand footing. The sand drains the rain/snow away and it's a good place to ride even in the weather we get here in the winter. We're excited to continue to make developments to our property that gets it more "perfect" for our horses.

Winter Has Come

Some people have asked how our horses are doing out in the snow. We truly feel they are loving it! They stand outside whenever possible and are always ready when we meet up with them for some exercise.

Remember, if you move your horses to a new home, don't expect them to immediately be great with everything like they were at their old home. Don't expect too much for the first week. Realize that as humans we have to adjust to our new surroundings too. Horses are no different.

Though our horse training has taken a few steps back, we are surprised how well the horses are doing.

Shine:
I got on him the first week here and was pleasantly surprised how well he did. He was pretty excited though, but easy to handle. After being in his new surroundings for almost 2 weeks, Shine was very good with 2 young riders. The 5 year old boy rode with me and Shine was very attentive to my cues. Then the 8 year old rode by herself with me walking beside. Shine did a great job!

Soot:
He is missing pulling something, at least it seems that way. Hopefully we can get the tire out soon. Maybe we can have him help us grade our back field! He has been loving the ability to run around and loves to jump when the English jumps are setup.

Serita:
She is becoming more consistent with her training and enjoys kicking up her heels, though she usually only does it for several minutes. She is definitely the calmest of our horses. She is becoming more consistent with leading as well as picking up and holding her feet to us to clean them or for them to be trimmed.

Fall is Coming

With November right around the corner, and the weather finally turning cooler, the horses are getting their winter coats. With the night weather still in the 40s and 50s though, we have noticed the horses' winter coats are coming in faster than normal. Is there a cold front moving in?

Training has continued to move forward with each equine:

Soot loves the extra attention he gets during this time of year. His feathers need to be brushed out as they have a tendency to trap mud. We also think he rolls on purpose so we have to spend more time brushing him. We have recently added back in some jumping, which he super enjoys. I laid the poles out and he started trotting toward them almost before I was out of the way. He clears them by a mile!

Shine loves to get out and run around, especially in the cooler weather when he has more energy. We use that to our advantage when training him. We have been working on smoother transitions between gaits and encouraging him to have his body aligned correctly for going around barrels. He is finally getting more consistent with the quick turns and dropping his weight back so he can pivot.

Serita is getting more consistent with leading and giving to pressure in other ways as well. She is still not afraid of practically anything, but I recently pulled the truck up near her pen and that woke her up and got her to move her feet. It's so interesting how the horses can be so different from each other.

Where our Love for Ranch Life Grew

When we were 11 or 12 years old, we took lessons at a local lesson program. We have always loved horses and we loved taking lessons. Before long, we started helping around the barn as well as taking lessons. We helped get horses ready for other lessons and started learning the ropes and more "behind-the scenes" of how to take care of the animals. Those were some really great years and played a major role in us wanting to train horses and teach lessons.

One thing we take away from that time is...don't just pick up a water bottle and take a swig. It might just be infested with ants. Yes, that did happen to someone when we were working there. Keep your water bottle screwed or clipped closed and water is probably the best drink. It's clear so you can see if you have any unwanted friends inside and it is less likely to attract them in the first place.

Another thing...if you catch colic early enough, you might have a chance to save your horse. Being observant every day you are at the barn will help with this. You spend the most time with your horse, so you are likely the first person who will notice something amiss. If one of your horses is acting weird and you can't find the cause, vets have an emergency number and can possibly ask you a few questions to better help you decide what to do. An emergency call visit charge could save you time, energy, emotions, and money in the long run. One rainy day, I was helping to lead a horse around who was suspected to have a mild case of colic, basically he had a compaction of his food that would not pass through. It was quite slippery that afternoon as I remember and I was helping to keep the horse of his feet. He did collapse at least once, but we were able to get him back on his feet. I am pretty sure that horse did survive.

A funny thing I remember is working with an older horse. He was a joy and taught me a lot. He actually inspired my "Harry" poem (see http://mysteryofm.blogspot.com for the poem). He was a lesson horse in the program so I wasn't the only person who rode him. On several occasions he came up lame when it was someone else's lesson time. For my lesson, or when I turned him out to get a little exercise, he wasn't lame at all. What can I say, I think he loved me. I think it also might have something to do with the fact that he had quite pronounced withers so there was a special pad the lessons girls were supposed to use on him. I always used it, but the other girls didn't. Without it, he was probably getting pain along his spine.

Working at the ranch made us realize that good and bad things can happen to the horses and to the humans who spend time around them. For us, it makes us want to own our own Slice Of Ranch (http://sliceofranch.blogspot.com) that much more.

Update on our Equines

Training horses during the week, limits the time we have available to spend with each one. We have found it better to work them each a little every day than take turns on who we work which days. So, on Saturday we set aside the whole morning and part of the afternoon to work with each horse for as long as they each need.

With Soot we spent time to enjoy working on techniques while he pulls the tire. The single tire might be heavy for us to carry, but easy for him to pull even as it fills with dirt. He can sure pull it with ease. We still aren't riding him, till April 2021, but we'd like his legs to continue to bulk up and get stronger. Another stride forward with him is his improvement while being led. He listens and walks slower when we ask him to walk slower, We have even worked in the round pen to have him back up next to us when we back up. He's not completely consistent with that yet, but we think he's understanding the idea.

With Shine, we finally had the availability to ride in the arena. During the week, we don't always have an arena that is available to work in. Saturday we mounted up and headed into the arena. With Shine, I am working on him having the correct body curve. While going right (center to the left), he much more easily keeps his head toward the center while staying on the railing or following the line I have asked him to stay on. Am I asking him to go that way more often because it's easier? To the left (center to the right), he tends to turn away from the railing so he keeps the opposite body curve. I feel we are improving though. We rode in the roping arena too, and I worked at the far end by the shoots. At first he wasn't listening to me, startling at an open gate at that end. After a few repetitions, he was listening and keeping the correct body curve when I asked him to go to that end from either direction. Because the arena was empty, I also got to ride him at a fast canter, that was super enjoyable for both of us.

With Serita, she is still only 7 months old, so we are working mostly on teaching her to lead and let her energy out when we get to the round pen. We are also trying to get her food portions right as right now she is a little overweight. When we get her down to the correct weight we are sure she will have all the energy she needs. And did I mention she isn't afraid of anything? From the lunge crop to a loud plastic shavings bag. She is fine with anything around her back and legs.