Heat again

We are headed back to the high temperatures, over 100 for tomorrow (38 C ) and for the next week at least.
Clancy is nearly ready for riding, or at least I can do some ground work with her- but not in this heat.
There is a fire on the mountain south of us, it's actually about 5 miles into Idaho, so over 10 miles from us but looks closer.

It just started this afternoon, I hope they get it out soon because the bush is tinder dry here.

I mostly leave the girls in their pen- I have very little pasture, and their pen is over 100ft long so they have lots of room, just very boring for them. They got a little turnout yesterday, I put their fly masks on for turnout because the flies bug them there, but don't seem to pester them as much in their dry lot.

Bff's

I have my winter hay paid for- actually, I feed hay all year round, so I plan for bales to last right up to first cut next year. I have 16 big square bales coming , at 3 weeks per bale that will get me through 48 weeks, plus I have 80 small square bales. I'm set, just waiting for the equipment to get the bales delivered.

Josie is really growing and filling out... maybe a little too much, she looks kind of fluffy! Really excited to start working her, was hoping for this weekend but that's not going to happen; way too hot. Think we'll go to the lake with the dogs tomorrow.

On to the next project

Wanting to utilize all the things I learned at the Buck Brannaman clinic, it was high time to reassemble my round pen- remember, I had to take it down to use as a fence line thanks to my landlord changing things on us. Only problem is, where to put it? Space is limited here now that I have no pasture, so it was a choice between sacrificing room in the mare's pen, or in one of their turn out pastures.
Final decision- put it in the pasture by the road, (Crystal, this is the pen where we put Razz) which grows more clover and thistle than I like.
Once I got my Facebook friends to figure out what size circle I needed, (40 ft) for the amount of panels I have, I did the layout and sweetly asked Ted to work up the ground. Since that meant getting some tractor time in- it got started today! Yay!

Our tractor is a 1942 Ford 8 N - just putts along and gets the job done! The idea is to strip the sod off the top, then we will get some sand hauled in (maybe Friday) before we put up the panels. That gives Ted time to build the 10 ft panel with a gate in it that he has been promising me.

Once it is ready, it will be time to put Josie in kindergarten- I'm pretty excited about working with her! I bought Buck's book on groundwork, which is the stuff to teach before doing the things I learned in our Foundation class at the clinic. So I have lots of things to work on this summer.
I am seriously considering sending her to Daryl Gibb for a month or two for her first rides, I'm not keen about being the first one to ride. That will probably be next year, in the spring.

Clancy is still not sound, but she is improving.

 She seems to walk better after I give her an Apple Cider Vinegar soak with the Davis soaker boots. I also threw a willow branch in for her and Josie to chew on, for it's natural anti inflammatory and analgesic properties.

I am so looking forward to riding her again! I want to pony Josie from her, once they do that well I can haul Josie too when I go to the arenas and get some of that baby fat off her. She is really growing and starting to look like a horse!

Some Beamer time

My poor boy has been neglected this summer, with all the drama about mares coming and going. I've been watching him lately and since he is walking sound even with that knobby knee, I decided to take him out for a ride.
It felt sooooo good to be back on my trustworthy boy!

 The barley fields are starting to ripen. When they finally cut them, I'll be able to ride the edge of this field instead of along the gravel road.

We took the trail that goes through the fields and over by the dike. The wind was blowing lightly, it wasn't too hot, and Beamer and I were happy to just get out and relax and enjoy the beautiful day.

I never tire of this view.

Especially when it's between those cute li'l ears!
We saw a young buck whitetail deer, he was pretty sneaky, made it look like he was going down the draw ahead of us, and we rode to the edge and looked ahead, then I looked behind and he had doubled back. We watched him for a bit, and I managed to get a photo.

We also saw hawks, and some smaller birds chasing them. A coyote too, on the way back, and a turkey vulture. They were all hunting mice in the fields.
All in all, it was a wonderful ride!

Just me 'n Mr. Handsome and my good dog Tess- great afternoon.

Clinic; Monday, Day 4

Our last day.... We reviewed, got on, did serpentines and one rein stops. Doxee decided that some saddles over by the fence were horse eatin' monsters, and did the whirlaway trick that had unseated me that first time I rode her- not this time though, I had more tools in my toolbox and was ready for her! Buck did get after me for continuing to work her in the spot where she was fearful, which kind of surprised me because I was always taught to have the horse face their fears. I was working her a little farther away from the saddles, but still in her fear zone, and he had me take her right out of there and get to where I had some control over her feet and her mind. I was thankful for that, because it got Doxee back to trusting that I wasn't going to get her in trouble. I thanked Buck for helping me with that.
He also showed us a method for teaching young horses to back from the ground. Most people were geared up with a snaffle and mecate reins. Holding the slobber strap, gently tug rearwards, if the horse doesn't respond, plan B is to bump the side of the face with the ring of the snaffle, then as he steps back go back to just the gentle tug on the strap. You can also hold the strap and walk forwards.  Can also teach the horse to back in an arc doing this.
The afternoon class we watched the first hour and a half, then we had to hit the road to make the border crossing.
There were a couple of things discussed; 4 ways to move the hind quarters: 1. Bend the neck, move the hip over with a leg. 2. Stay soft, straight and centered take a soft feel, move the hip with your leg.3. Use just your leg, no hands. 4. Use just your hands, no leg.
Someone asked about the transition to the hackamore. These are the things Buck said he wants a snaffle bit horse to accomplish before moving on to a hackamore: 1. Walk, trot, or lope either on a loose rein or collected. 2. Upward transitions with a soft feel. 3. Lope small circles. 4. Move the hind quarters with all 4 methods listed above. 5. Simple lead changes. 6. Rope and work a cow. 7. Be safe enough for a kid to ride.
At one point, he brought in his bridle horse for a demo; I think the horse's name is Rebel, and he will be retiring him soon. Here are some photos- what a treat to watch this horse work.

As we left, it was over 100 degrees, and we ran into a road closure due to fire and had to detour. Fortunately we didn't have to sit still for long with a horse in the trailer, we found a detour and kept on going.
I definitely got a lot out of this clinic, and I think I'd like to audit the one coming up in High River in November; Nitro and his person will be in it so it will be a lot of fun to watch him progress.

Clinic; Sunday, Day 3

We started off the morning with Cowboy Church; one of the ladies who was in the Ranch Roping class played some good gospel tunes, and gave us a scripture passage and reflection on it; nice way to start the day.

We hung out in the shade, it was already blistering hot at 9 AM. We did our usual routine of watch, listen, and ask questions before reviewing the previous day's lesson. This day, we got on from the fence, and had the horse flex 90 degrees without moving feet, pet the face, and flex the other way etc. Then flex, move the hip over, still without asking the horse to go anywhere. After that, we moved out a little bit and worked on the one rein stop- same thing, except at a walk, and only have leg on to move the hip over and take leg off once the front feet stop going forward. All this is excellent prep for me when I start Josie later this summer. (Still have to put my round pen back up!)
Once the class was doing this smoothly we progressed to doing the one rein stop from the trot. Then on to the small serpentine. 90 degree bend, inside leg forward, outside leg back, walk a couple of steps and pick up the bend in the new direction, switching rein and legs. Set the horse in the right position before applying leg. Bend and then send.
This was similar to what they did in the next class, only they were doing large serpentines, with more detail on the soft feel, hand position and leg position. Soft feel, hands wide, vertical flexion, stay straight, soft and centered before asking for the bend. They also worked on transitions up and down using body energy, only going to plan B (using the reins) if the horse didn't take the offered energy.

One of my favourite horses in the H1 class.

The other thing they worked on was do the serpentine, then ask for the hind end over, then pick up the front end and sweep it over. It was interesting to see the different horse/people combinations and the different levels of success they had with this one. Sounds easy, but making it flow like a dance isn't so simple!

Two of the horses we enjoyed watching; the Hafflinger and a nice Quarter Horse that looks running bred.

During the Ranch Roping class, they brought in cattle that needed doctoring and had the ropers practice their swings, then actually rope and doctor (pink eye). 

There were several proficient ropers that handled the head shot, while the remainder worked the heels. At no point were the cattle overworked or stressed out (except for it being so dang hot!)

Buck had the heel shot on this one. It was interesting to see how the ground crew worked, and what they had to do to stay safe. Position is everything!

I think what I picked up most on this day, was prepare, position, feel and follow through.

Clinic; Saturday, Day 2

Another hot and dusty day dawned, and our routine was to get up and go feed the horses, then come back, have breakfast then go get the horses and head to the arena for warm up.

Crystal was kind enough to warm Doxee up by ponying her for a few minutes each day; her horse Razz is a pretty nice mare, and little Doxee had to move out pretty good to keep up with her even at the walk. I figured ponying was a safer option for warm up rather than have to deal with fear issues on a horse I barely know.
Each day would start with Buck's demo. For our class, he rode a 3 year old mare who had only 3 weeks of training. Nice big mare, and it was interesting to see her progression as the clinic went along.

With Buck being on the road most of the year, he takes his training horses along and works them at the clinics. For the Horsemanship 1 class, he rode his roan stallion Guapo, and then a sorrel mare who I think is a half sister to the stud.
After the question session, we reviewed the previous day's lessons, and then he showed us how he wanted us to teach the horse to position for mounting off the fence. As this is a Foundation class, he wanted us to learn things we would do with a green horse, even if we were riding broke horses.
This exercise will really help with Clancy, who was never taught to stand still for mounting.
We also worked on moving the shoulder over to cross over in front, then stop and "teeter back " (another Buckism). I actually saw someone wearing a t shirt that said, Teeter Back.
 Anyway, this was part of what we did for teaching mounting from the fence. Pretty much the same as Parelli teaches in his squeeze game; send the horse between you and the fence, move the hip over just as it is passing you the horse faces up and you teeter him back. Once the horse was comfortable with that, we climbed on the fence and worked on positioning the horse. No getting on in that session. We were encouraged to do everything but get on - rub with the flag, toss the lead rope, pet the off side, swing offside stirrup leather etc. the same as we would do with a green colt.
Things of note:
Every turn begins with a reach.
Be in time with your horse's feet.
Reach for your horse, of your horse, and reach together with your horse.

The afternoon class was interesting; he had them do open serpentines, using correct hand position and soft feel. Emphasis was on flexion and foot being connected, the helping rein being in time with the reaching foot.  Also used the one rein stop. He got after the students lots on correct hand position, especially if they weren't going wide and low. This class is also for fairly green horses.

Someone getting help with hand position

It was interesting to see all the different horses; there were the usual quarter horses as well as a Tenessee Walker, a Hafflinger, Appaloosa, Missouri Fox Trotter, Icelandic, Rocky Mountain Horse, and just about every colour there is. Was also interesting to see so many Wade saddles, but there were also English saddles, treeless saddles, and other trail type saddles. 

And lots of Aramita chinks!

Clinic, Friday; Day 1

There were a couple of things Buck emphasised right at the start. First is to always start with a soft feel; if it gets ignored you go to plan B which is to drive. For example, offer a direction with the lead rope, and his feet should start to move. If they don't, then use your flag or the tail of your lead rope to drive; not frantically, just with as much energy as it takes to create movement of the feet. Getting to the horse's feet is the key to getting to his mind. His phrase is "offer a good deal;" if the horse doesn't take it then go to plan B. This is for all aspects of ground work or riding.
The other thing he was serious about was always keeping the horse's mind with you. My horse, for example would look at things going on, or would creep too close to me or to another horse while we were standing there listening to Buck. He showed us to do little things to keep the horse with us; maybe ask for a step back or sideways, or ask for a step over with the hip, etc. At the beginning of the clinic, several people had horses that were pushy and disrespectful with their humans, they were controlling the feet of their handlers instead of the other way around and by the end of the clinic, their handlers had much quieter, respectful horses. But it meant that you had to be aware of what your horse was doing at all times; you had to be with the horse at the level that you want him to be with you.
Buck does not tolerate a couple of things; one is violence or abuse of the horse, and the other is students who disregard what he is teaching. The first we all get; but there were little things that he corrected, such as frantic use of the flag creating fear in the horse instead of using it just enough to get the horse to do what we were looking for; timing the release.
As for the second part, he did say a couple of times that if students were just doing their own thing, they would be politely excused from the class, and may or may not be allowed back. I understand that he spends the majority of his year on the road teaching, and if people aren't there to learn then don't waste his time, he'll work with the ones that are there to truly learn. I get that. He gives us things to work on during the class and expects us to try; we may not get it right at first, but we do have to try. I actually like this style of clinic because it puts the onus on us to apply ourselves instead of just being babysat.
We worked a progression of exercises; moving out on the soft feel, moving the hip over, backing, circling with the front and hind united and then asking for a hind end step over and then back united; change of direction by moving the hip over then asking for the front shoulder to come across in the new direction. For all of these things, we were to time our ask with the reaching of the appropriate foot. This really got me paying attention to what the feet were doing and what it felt like when the ask was out of time with the feet, and how smoothly it worked when the ask was in time with the reaching foot. All of which translates to work under saddle. There were lots more details with each element we worked on, this is just to give you the basics of the first session.
Just as he started each class with a question session, he ended them the same way; if anyone was confused about something or needed help, this was the time to get individual help.

We were not allowed to video, and I was not comfortable with taking photos during the class but I did sneak this one in of Doxee. She was paying attention to me!

During the afternoon, we watched the horsemanship class, and could see how what we were doing in ground work in our class would progress to the exercises they started out doing. I won't go into detail on what their exercises were, but I could see that the same principles applied; soft feel first; bend and then send; stay in time with the feet.

Getting some help with handling the reins on a two rein horse 

The evening class was ranch roping, and Buck wanted them to put their horsemanship first, and learn to rope and work cattle with that as the first consideration.

The Buck clinic

What a weekend!
Thursday, Crystal and I headed south, I was pulling the camper trailer and she had her mare Razz in the horse trailer. Remember, I was borrowing a horse for the clinic because of Clancy being lame.
On the way down, we stopped to meet up with blogger Nikki and her oh so cute son Kase.

Kase was pretty quiet with us until we showed him Crystal's horse!

I made the mistake of believing my fuel gauge which apparently has a bigger upper half a tank than bottom half a tank, and very nearly ran out of fuel, but made it to Moses Lake just as the truck was sputtering. That was a tense 50 miles until I found a gas station!

Once we got to Ellensburg, Tracy Westbury very kindly lent me her mare Doxee for the clinic, and they were waiting for us when we arrived. And another surprise, blogger Karen Jackson Simmons was there too, she was bringing a rescue dog up for Tracy!

Left to right: Crystal, Tracy with George the dog, Karen, Doxee and me.

It was awesome to meet people that you have "known" for years but never met. Like meeting old friends. Totally cool!
I did ride Doxee after that , just to get to know her a bit before the clinic started the next morning..... thought I was getting along good, but she made a dirt dart out of me! She went west, I went east.... Very quick little mare,  former turn back horse in the cutting pen. Tracey rode her after that and she was much more relaxed. Too much new and different at once I think, new place, long trip, new rider and those horse eating white letters painted on a brown background on the arena walls. The nice thing- it was only about 2 feet to fall! Gotta love little horses!

 Me and Doxee once we got to know each other a little better. I normally ride with a longer stirrup than that! Now I know why cutters ride with short stirrups.

Anyway, the next day- and all the following days- it was scorching hot. We were really glad that our class was from 9 AM to noon.  Buck was out there all day, an hour break for him at noon, and a half hour break at 4 PM and then he was out there till 7:30. Don't know how he handled it, cowboy tough I guess.

Buck and his young stallion Guapo during one of the demonstrations

Our Thursday session was all ground work, Friday too. We were entered in the Foundation class. We did get to ride Saturday and Sunday. The clinic format was this: we would go to the arena and warm up our horses in whatever way suited us, then Buck would come in and do a demonstration while we watched. Then he would ask, "Any questions?" and there would be about half an hour of that, then he would give us what we were to work on, and while we went to work he would watch, advise where needed, and demonstrate as needed, and at the end of the session he would give us homework. Also, he expected us to watch  the other classes during the day, because everything ties in together.
The thing he emphasises most is getting the horse to follow a soft feel. Always offer first with softness, as subtle as possible, then if the horse doesn't respond, drive. There were several different ways of doing that, depending on what you were asking the horse to do, and he showed us first in the demo, then broke it down in detail, and then had us try.

The question and answer session during the afternoon  Horsemanship class

If you were really paying attention, you would see that during the demonstration ride he did before each class, he was showing us the elements we would be working on- and then a bit extra, what it would look like when we progressed from those elements.

Sunday afternoon, we were blessed to meet up with two more blog friends, Jennie (Paint Girl) and her sister Michelle (Ranch Girl Diaries)

Michelle, Jennie and Crystal

The pink thing Crystal has on her shoulders is like a shammie, you get it wet and it keeps you cool as long as it stays wet, which is a few hours. There were several ladies wearing vests, which we thought was totally nuts, until we found out that they worked on the same principle; get them wet and they keep you cool for hours. HyperKewl cooling vests, they are called.

Considering the temps were from 95 - 100 F, they must have worked very well! I think I want one. They make horse gear too!

There is lots more to post on, this just gives an overview; tomorrow I'll show some of the interesting and colourful horses and gear, as well as talk about some of the things we worked on.

Trouble, and trust

Over the last few days. Clancy has been lame on her right front. There were no apparent causes; I thought she might be a bit foot sore from our ride to the river, but she was good for 2 days after that. So I think it is an abscess working it's way out. It seems to happen, when you are transitioning a horse to barefoot and you clean up the overlaid bar that once things start working internally the way they should, that they can abscess. After about 4 days of lameness,  (no heat anywhere and no tender spots on sole, heels or coronet band) a slight swelling developed just above the fetlock. So I really think an abscess is brewing, and have been treating her accordingly. It will pass, eventually...... but. But! The Buck Brannaman clinic is this week. I spent all that money on getting her international papers and now this. Sigh. So what I have done, is decided to leave her at home, and borrow a horse from Tracey Westbury (Mustang Diaries blog)- and that horse is Doxie, the little bay mare  that I was thinking of buying before I found Clancy. I am happy that Tracey will trust me with this lovely mare for the 4 days of the clinic.

Tracey lives about 3 and a half hours from where the clinic will be held, so she is bringing her over - and I am excited to finally get to meet Tracey and her daughter, Katie, as I have been following them on blogs and Facebook for years. There are also going to be 3 other blog friends coming to visit for the clinic, so it should be a lot of fun. I will be taking photos, and making notes, but probably won't blog about it until I get back, as I won't have anything but my phone, and no data plan to blog with. We leave on Thursday, and come home Monday night.

DMSO

Here is a link to a very good article about DMSO. This will be a pinned post on my sidebar for future reference.
http://equusmagazine.com/article/harnessing-the-power-of-dmso

Smoke everywhere

Not about the horses- but this weather sure does affect them. This is what I woke up to this morning.

The thunderstorms we had during the night must have pushed the smoke filled air in - there are fires everywhere but up until today no smoke in the valley.

Clancy doesn't care as long as I fill up her feeder!
There is an old cow in the next pen, she is 12 years old this year and has been such a good producing cow for her owners that they didn't have the heart to ship her. For her swan song, she produced twins this year, nice healthy ones too. They keep her separate from the herd. Look at all the smoke in the air behind her.

Such a sweet old cow!

Down to the river

Whenever I ride down to the river I always think of the song, Lets go Down to the River To Pray from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou.
Beautiful day for a ride, so I saddled up miss Clancy, spent a few minutes on teaching her to stand still for mounting, and not to move off right away, and off we went.
Its 3 miles to the river, so we did 6 miles today. I took Tess with me, because I knew she could cool off at the river and she has been longing to go with me.

That is exactly where Tess stays when she comes with me.

The road from here to the river is all gravel, and since I am transitioning Clancy to barefoot, I looked for some softer ground and found a nice dirt track alongside one of the fields, and several other fields had been hayed so we could ride on the edges of them.

Once we got to the river access, which is a boat launch area,  Clancy took a good look at the water before stepping into it.

She even took a drink of water once she got her feet in the water.

There was a fellow there who kindly threw sticks in for Tess to get a swim.

We stood quietly for a while watching the dogs and cooling off, then it was time for the ride back.

Then Clancy spotted the local bears....

Do you see them? We took a closer look.....

One of the things I really like about this mare is that she isn't spooky- she just takes a good hard look at things and moves on. Good girl Clancy!

In the left middle of the photo is our place, the big building has the overhang that houses the mares. Josie did call when she saw us coming, but Clancy didn't call back.
What I learned about my mare on this ride:
-She has a nice lope, doesn't speed up when you don't want her to- also at the trot, she pretty much stays at the speed you put her in.
-She does take bites of grass as she goes along, but only once in a while, not constantly diving for it.
-She isn't spooky, she is careful where she puts her feet, and will go where I ask without arguing.
-She is slow! I hope that when I get to riding with other people/horses she will keep pace. I'm so used to Beamer's rapid walk that this mare seems soooo slow to me!
-She doesn't speed up when she knows she is headed home.

I love my mare!

A perfect afternoon

Best afternoon in a long time! Still hot here, so I climbed in my hammock in the shade of the deck yesterday afternoon, and woke up two hours later. Around 5:30, I saddled Clancy to go for a ride. She did not want to stand still for mounting again, so this time I used my mounting step and worked on that. She moves her hip away, so I used my stock stick to reach over and tap her hip over- but I ended having to step down and move her hip from the ground a number of times, always giving her the chance first to do it from my preferred position of being on the step. She eventually got it, and then we had to work on her standing still for mounting, as she has been allowed to move off right away previous to me owning her. That only took a minute though. Over all about 10 minutes of work.

We headed down the road to the west, with fields of barley on the left, heading out nicely. There is a road- more like a dirt trail- that cuts through the middle of these fields, and we headed that way.

I was happy to find that they have extended this road, we were able to go all the way back beyond those trees and off to the right there was another big field that had been cut, so we rode the perimeter of that too.

I was pretty happy with this, our first trail ride. There was no silliness; one small moment when she saw something unexpected and her "spook" was to slam both front feet to a stop and give it a hard look- and then on we went. A group of Eurasian Collared Doves flew up within a few feet, and she just carried on.
There were times when she thought she should trot, and I tried bringing her back to a walk just using my energy, thinking downward transition, and sometimes it worked and sometimes I had to do a one rein check. When I wanted her to trot, I tried first using my energy without secondary cues, and again, sometimes it worked and sometimes I had to cluck her up. This is only the third time I have ridden her, so I think it portends well for our relationship. I can already see the areas I want to work on with her, other than mounting; I'd like her to be a little softer in the face- she does need her teeth done, and we can work on getting her using her body better for collection.
One thing I will have to do with her is some desensitizing, she has a couple of spots that she doesn't like being touched, probably cellular memory from her ribs being out. A little TTouch should help that.
Over all- I'm kinda pleased with miss Clancy!
One more thing- when I took the saddle off, I didn't find any dry pressure spots. Nice and even sweat marks so I am super happy about that as I love my old saddle. I had it custom made in 1998 and it has been on a lot of horses, and it fits Clancy just right!