A Bit of Thanksgiving

AJ reported that walking around at the breeding farm was a joy. Firefly was in the yearling paddock by now and had become very friendly, instead of shy or spooky. The newer foal was harder to visit around its grumpy, protective, very large and well filled out dam, who looked to be in foal again already — is that what made her such a grouch? Or was she that moody anyway? The little bay had eventually approached the human visitor and AJ was surprised to find herself thinking the equine’s coat must feel like what a fawn would feel like if one were to ever pet a baby deer.

When asked, AJ told the mounted rider it had looked to her eye like the horse was forwards enough. She said to see him bending and rounding up in his experienced way, made her very jealous. “The only thing I would suggest is that you work on keeping that frame and flow THROUGH transitions, because he did pop his head up and scramble a bit through the transitions, upwards and downwards."

Watching the head trainer ride a temporarily boarded horse was a mix of inspirational and frustrating.  Because AJ was so very far from obtaining any similar results with her current mount.  She sincerely hoped the horse would get some "real" (world class) riding lessons from Santa at Christmas.

Jill chided AJ on having her horse loose in the arena without covering the mirrors. They both knew that a horse could perceive a mirror as a opening and accidentally jump into it.  "No wonder at that place they think loaning you draw lines would be putting them in the hands of a novice!"

On recent rides AJ had been doing only short lengths of the hayfield and was constantly trying to vary the routine. She wanted to get him to pay attention to her! He was a sensitive horse, but he was only sensitive to whatever he was thinking about in a given moment, he was constantly oblivious of the fact that he even had a rider, and that they were supposed to be working as a team!!

She admitted that she missed having loaner time in the barn with just her and a horse buddy. It was one of the benefits of her history of horsemanship, but it wasn’t a part of the current deal. Not that she would ever mention it to such a lovely, helpful, pleasant human-horsey companion, but her introverted nature was well aware the barn time wasn't energizing to her.  Overall, she was extraordinarily grateful to be riding regularly a couple of times a week.  It was nice to feel safe and he was a nice horse.  She also appreciated that there was always something new set up at that farm - a new small course, or a new mounted games obstacle or flag or bridge or ditch to school -- that she didn't need to preplan or set up herself!

Jill was laughing about a mistake she'd made on hoofbeats radio -- she'd been mentioning how she wanted to start a "Riding With The Stars" segment but had actually called it a "Riding OF the stars" thing, ha. Would "Horsing Around With The Stars" make a better column/segment/show title? She would start by reaching out to Corb Lund, a known, actual horse person.

AJ was proposing a feature for the show about having an isolated horse on a property. They were herd animals of course, but could you get away with just providing a goat as a horse buddy, or maybe a llama? She recounted how she had once seen a miniature donkey line up horses for turns one at a time at their paddock's water trough. She'd also said the CEO of the Canadian Equestrian Federation's hand shook in hers when they met for the first time, because he had been reading her blog and found her to be a very compelling writer. Should she try and arrange a guest appearance?

Fall Hacks

It wasn't just the riding Jill loved, it was the opportunity to be in nature... Her roomie agreed. But added that it was even more magical on horseback. She'd had nice views, and a nice breeze and bird buddies while riding that morning. 

AJ knew that it was best to stay in the tractor tire tracks, when riding around the hayfield, because of potential ground hog holes. She’d been out around the property with the horse’s owner for the rules tour, when the grass was tall. Now that it had been cut, its true she had been making circles, and leg yielding zig zags in and out of the field along the treeline, with many other transitions, because the horse was so fresh. She could easily watch for ground hog holes to avoid. Would you consider it riding defensively? Intellectually? Pointing a horse that wants to take off in a straight line, with no exercise to think about, turned into a battle of wills pretty quickly. She wasn’t as strong as him, in fact she felt old and brittle, and at risk lol. How far would he run if he took off with her? And, how fast? They were new to each other. And, he was testing or challenging her, when they went out to the fields, that was certain. He was still slow off the leg, but extra spooky. Not too mention bucky/prancy/head shakey ha. Was it called a crow hop when they jumped into the reins?

It turned out that farmers had just drill seeded with alfalfa - “Ouch, sorry etc. As she returned to the sand ring, she explained to his owner’s mom, “I am trying to see if he will channel his energy into perky ring work.” she’d said returning to the sand paddock. ponies galloping off with friskiness in all paddocks around the outside, on and off, created some distraction also bounce bounce bounce,emergency dismount etc. Could her new accidental horse buddy be interested in setting trotting poles? She hoped so, and would look up the measurements.

On another recent trip to the farm, she had him loose in the arena, and all he did was run up to mirrors and look at himself! "Do you blame him?" AJ thought her Tuesday/Friday morning commitment was just as handsome as he did.

She brought some youngsters to the farm that day, and they made a two second hoofbeats radio report about the visit in to a portable recorder. She was also slightly offended to learn that the farm owner didn't want to loan draw lines. She said to the horse's owner's mom that she knew such reins in the novice could be very dangerous, and tried not to display her frustration. She'd thought they would be useful when riding around the crops, because he had so much forward impulsion from behind at those times, and the tack could help her round him up, while keeping control, with that forward energy directed into straightness and bending. She wasn't sure how give her mount a clue about what she wanted without them.

Jill was making a PSA at their campus radio station, to air in any future weather crises. It recommended you have at least one phone that does not require electricity to operate. Also to make sure you have battery powered smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and fire escape plans/access. The other tips included..
1) Stay away from downed power lines. Know how to report them.
2) Secure windows and outdoor equipment, park vehicles in protected areas if possible.
3) BBQS are for outdoor use only. Do not bring them inside.
4) Make sure generators are approved and has proper connection, carefully located outdoors to ensure exhaust fumes do not enter the home.
5) Use extreme caution during flood emergencies and power outages, as wet electrical equipment can be extremely dangerous.
6) Make sure stove elements and appliances are off or unplugged to prevent fires and power surges when power is restored. You could also unplug computers, televisions and such.
7) use a transistor radio check local media outlets for updates

She was also reminding AJ that they had never sent a thank you card to the guy that rescued their herd-member.