Questions and A Discovery

Over the last few posts I got a few questions I thought I should answer. 

First off Tom.  He is now mine and he is not Jardis, he belongs to a boarder who couldnt ride last summer so Jardi was riding him and she didnt like him so somehow now I am riding him, although rather irregularily.  The boarder does know and probly will ride him later this spring. He is for sale, so the more people who ride him, wont hurt.  He is kinda lazy and totally safe, and happy!

Then Lisa asked if I do groundwork before I get on.  Well normally not, on a young horse I may do a little bending before I get on or if I see they look off, but normally I just get on and go.  After catching and brushing and saddling and then tightening the cinch again, I usually get a pretty good feel for them and I feel safe getting on.

Then about my trip, on Friday morning me, my sister, and my mom are heading down to San Juan and going on a carribean cruise.  We will get back on the 7th of February.  We have booked this forever and I am super excited about it!  The only sad thing about it is I will miss riding Razz, but she deserves a break.

I also came to the conclusion the other day.  I was riding Razz and for so long she was pulling on the reins when I asked her to turn or turn her head, so I had been pulling her in circles and we have soved that now.  But she seems to drop her shoulder as we do corners, and I was trying to hold her up with my leg without succes, unil I finally realized I was still pulling my rein out to the side to turn her, so I lifted it a little and we had a perfect corner!  I realized I used to always hold her shoulder up like that and it works way better, I am so happy I figured that out!

Saturday In Ponoka

We headed up to Ponoka again on Saturday for the cutting show.  Jardi was judging this week so we just went along for the practice after the show was over.  As we left her house and headed down the hill onto the Drumheller valley the fog was so thick it looked like a solid wall.  Luckily it was only in town and we left the valley and the fog behind.

When we got there, we had lots of time to watch the show so I thought I would try to improve my pictures, and I think they turned out a little better than last time.

There were a lot of classes and it was kinda fun to watch as well.  I got to stand up in the judges booth and took some pictures from up there.

The mare I like, Karcy, was being shown in the novice-novice class and I got a video of them.

I do like her, I think she has too much rein, but Karcy sure looks like she is wanting to work the cow.  I never got a chance to ask more about her, but I didn't want to buy her before I go away anyways, and I want more chances to try her out as well. 

Sunday Stills

This week our Sunday Stills is a challenge.  We have to come up with something green in the middle of winter!  So I actually forgot about our challenge till we were on our way to Ponoka yesterday and then I decided I would just get stuff up there.  So first off there were these bright green buckets belonging to one of the boarders there.

While we were trying to think of green stuff, we laughed because Vics hay is so green that the horses poop is a bright green so I had to get that.  This is Royals poop as he was working as a turnback horse.  Its rather loose, but thats how he always is.

Then this morning when Neil was going out to feed, I got a picture of his green machine.

For More go to Sunday Stills.

Friday Jan 21, 2011

Thursday was an amazing day and I got so much accomplished, sometimes it scares me when things go so well!  I went early and got a bunch of things done in town before I went riding.  I got the flooring (finally!!) for the basement room, I went to the bank, the grocery store, got my pictures from Christmas printed and had lunch. 

Then I headed out to go riding.  I got on Tom first and he was pretty good.  I can't wait till Sunday if the weather stays nice we are gonna ride outside and I will take him.  He is pretty nice when he tries, which isn't unless you can convince him to which takes a lot of effort. 

Then I rode Razz with Charlene riding Ricky.  And she is always good, I even did a bunch of rollbacks on her even if I hate doing them with her.  I think it's becasue Bailey is so awesome at rollbacks and its an effort with Razz.  I also noticed she tries to leave about half way through the turn, so a few times we turned right around and she is getting better, but still not real good.

Then after that I rode Gypsy.  She neck reins so nice, I forget how to ride with one hand, so its a good refresher for me to get on her everyonce in a while a practice.  Charlene's friend was gonna come out and I was gonna get her to ride Gypsy, but she was busy, so I ended up riding her and she was really good.  I love that I can rate her speed so nice, at any gait. That is something I still struggle with with my other horses. 

Then today I went and rode Razz again and she finally got 3!!! steps of counterbending the way we have been having trouble with forever!  I was pretty excited about it and after that we quit, it took us like 20 tries today, but we got a start, hopefully tommorow won't take so many tries!  Then I rode Tom again cause Jardi made me, lol.  He is getting better but two days in a row was like a workout for me!

We are heading up to Ponoka again for tomorrow and just doing practice cattle afterwards and maybe I will get a chance to ride Karcy again.  I really would like to try her on cattle and I have a few more questions about her before I make and decisions, but so far she a like:)

Snowy Days

It has been so snowy this week, I thought I should share some of the photos I got of it all.  We have finally warmed up enough that I got to go ride my Razz yesterday and she is still awesome.  Her blanket sure seems to keep her even cleaner than the snow did before.  And I think she is liking living in the corrals, cause yesterday Jardi turned them out on the pasture and all the mares just stood at the gate waiting to be let back in to eat, lol.  It was funny.  Spoiled little pony :)

The rest of my round pen:

Neil plowing snow:

The smokestack at Sheerness Power Plant:

The roads on the way to Hanna:

Belle in the snowstorm:

My Woodshop:

Our Front step:

And the trailers.

Well at least we are warming up a little bit, the snow isn't so bad when its not so cold out.

Bull Fighting

With the bulls we have at our house, sometimes they think thye need to fight for one reason or another.  Sometimes its just boredom, sometimes its over food, sometimes there is no water, and sometimes I dont know what sets them off. 

This morning the waterers were frozen and so Neil was driving out to the well pit to see what was going on, he left the gate open to the bull field, and of course being bulls they walked out the gate and ino the yard.  Can't really blame them when the gate is left wide open.

So Neil gets up to go outside again and has to chase the bulls accross the yard back to where they go, no wonder I want a fence around my yard, I am sick of having big footsteps in the yard.

On the way back in the two older  ones decided they needed to fight on the way in and I got some pictures the way in.

Neil looked funny out there with his heater and water jug chasing fighting bulls in.  I almost felt guilty for him and went to help but luckily by then he had them in.

He finally got them in and got the waterer fixed.

He came in and said it was a lot of work walking through the snow, even though yesterday he had drove the tractor out there it had blown in.

Hopefully the waterers stay working for the rest of winter.

Sunday Stills--Macro Shots

This week our Sunday Stills is all about Macro shots.  Mine are not as close as I would like cause even if I use the macro button, it seems to come out fuzzy if I get too close, so this is what I came up with this week.  First off the sugary fruit on a candle holder.

Then I came up with a cross stitch I finished a few years ago.

And my cool cutting board.

And lastly two shots of the peacock feather pen we used for our wedding.

For more, check out Sunday Stills.

Winter (Boring) Time

Well It has been winter here for way too long.  I don't mind the snow (really...really I don't!)  its mostly the cold weather I dislike.  It makes it way to cold to go outside for any amount of time, and so that means I can't do anything with my babies, or even ride it is just too cold. 

All it means is I am bored.  I hate being cooped up inside. It has only been a few days since I got home Monday and then Wednesday I went to Hanna for a haircut, the chiro (who made me feel like Rice Krispies) and the doctor.  Oh he told me I tore the quadratic muscle in my arm and I should let it rest for a few weeks and if not better, he will see to doing something more about it like MRI because it should be better.  It is a weird thing he has never seen before, but from the area it is sore, he cant imagine it would be anything else.  The way he described it sounds like it makes total sense.  But saying that, I am not entirely sure it wasn't broken to start with either, but that should be mostly healed by now.  The muscle is the one between the two bones in my forearm that are responsible for twisting it to palm up and palm down.  He wants me to keep it still with the palm down and not move it.

It kinda sucks cause I can't even do anything to entertain myself, I have read a book a day and tried to cross-stitch, but I think that's too hard on the arm, exercising is out cause its hard to not move the arm unless its like sit ups or stretching.so besides hanging around on the computer its boring.

I also am missing out this weekend on my chance to go ride Karcy again because the weather is so awful we don't want to drive up there.  I guess its probly for the better, I don't need to be impatient and I should take my time deciding if I will get her.  I even figured I can probly afford her if I don't get a new saddle this year without selling any horses,  not that I shouldn't sell any horses, but if they dont sell, I will  still be okay.  I really want a new saddle, and I should probly get a cutting one (rather than my ranch one, lol) but until I do, I know I can always borrow one of Jardis.

I did get a couple pics of the colts before the storm and afterwards, they are so sweet, i sure enjoy having them around, even if I don't do that much with them yet, they will get thier turn.  They are really starting to enjoy themselves out there, they used to just eat and sleep, now I catch them running around and playing, but they always stop as soon as they notice me.  I even hear one whinnying to me, but Im not sure which one it is yet, cause they stop as soon as they see me,  its pretty cute and kinda funny cause they don't whinny to Neil.

Finally Home

Well we got up Sunday morning and it wasnt any better, the rain of Friday night made ice on the road underneath about 6-8 inches of snow.  It was not a fun day to drive, so we stayed a while and waited.  In the middle, we rode again.  I rode Razz on the flag in the morning and she is improving amazingly, but I think I need to wear spurs on her just to get more specific movement.  After we were done, our horses were tired and sweaty, so we hosed them off, Razz has never been hosed off cause i have only rode her in the winter, but she didnt even move the whole time, I was pretty proud of her.

After lunch we wanted to ride again, but our horses were tired, so Vic said we could use some of his.  I rode Twister, Charlene rode Smartie (a 17 year old gelding who has cut his whole life, anyone can get on him and get a score) and Maddie rode Karcy.  After a  turn on the flag, me and Char traded and I rode Smartie on the flag.  He was pretty fun, but I liked Twister better.  I phoned home to see what the weather was like at home and Neil told me not to come home.  I sure dont hear that very often thankfully!!  But he meant I wouldnt make it in the yard for snow.

It was still icky out, so we stayed over and Monday morning we rode our horses early on the flag, taking a pretty easy ride cause we figured we were gonna go home that afternoon.  We took a quick break and rode Vics horses again, this time Maddie on Twister, Char on Smartie (we were entertaining thoughts of buying him to learn off of) and I rode Karcy.  I wasnt overly enthused about her cause I seen Vic ride her one time and Maddie the day before and she looked ok, but nothing special, but I sure liked her when I got on her.  I was having a blast just riding then we turned on the flag, and she was so there!  It was amazing riding ahorse that is so interested in what you are doing and still listening to the riders body.  I rode her one handed on the flag and when I stopped she stopped and it was awesome. 

I sure could have taken her home.  I am still thinking about her now.  I am gonna go up one other time and try her on cows a few times and then make a decision.  I will have to sell one or two of mine to do this, but I am already trying to sell Gypsy and I could sell Dinero for her I think. 

We got to Jardis and decided to leave the horses in the barn with blankets on because after 4 days in a heated barn it was a little cold outside.  I told Jardi I never had a blanket on Razz before but she should be fine cause she had had lots of coolers on before.  The snow at our house was crazy! I couldnt believe how much it had drifted in the yard.

Cutting Show

We went into Ponoka for supper on Friday night and on the way home, it was raining, this we knew was a bad idea since we knew snow was forcasted.  We got home and when we got up Saturday morning it looked not too bad, so we went over to the barn and we werent sure if the show was a go cause in front of the cow guys trailer was a 4 foot drift.  But he made it and the show was a go.  I was warming up one of Vics horses he was gonna use as a turnback horse and after that I got to watch most of the show. 

They do the regular cutting classes first, which is where the horse does all the work and your hand is down on thier neck, its pretty cool, but the horse has to be well trained.  After that is the ranch cutting classes which are where you can still hold on to the reins and direct the horse.  This is where the horse is still learning.  This is where I would have competed.  Also where Jardi competed with Avril in th Open class, and Maddie in the youth class.  I believe they are ACHA shows (alberta cutting horse association)  but not totally sure.  They call it Rimcuts, which used to be held in Rimby but has been moved to Ponoka.

After the show was over, we used thier used cattle to practice on again and I still have trouble getting a cow out of the herd, but I can scoop one off the front.  After that we had a few more awesome turns and we had to quit.  But before we left the arena we stood in the corners while Bill Speight worked a 3 year old, that was pretty cool to watch him work with that colt and he sure improved.

The weather looked bad, so we thought we would stay overnight and go home Sunday afternoon.  I had learned so much, I just wanted to ride more, but I knew our horses were done.

The first two are Matt, a high school rodeo kid I was practicing on, and the second twoa are Jardi and Avril.  I still got to practice my timing cause its not quite right, but I think I will have lots of chances in the next few weeks.

Weekend Away

On Friday afternoon, we headed up to Ponoka to work some cattle before the show on Saturday and then again after the show we were gonna work cows again and come home.  We got there on Friday and got out chance with cows and I was having an awesome time with Razz, I am glad Jardi was there to tell us when to stop, cause it was so fun when she did it right that I did not want to stop.  But because she was just learning, we want to give her a break when she does it correctly.  She was really watching the cow and stopping and turning with them, it was sooo cool.  I was pretty proud of myself as well, as I am always afraid of the wall and I made myself run right up to the wall and we stopped the cow from going back to the herd!  That was totally against my liking but I did it anyways.

That evening, there was a cattle sorting and Vic asked if we wanted to participate since lots of people cancelled because of the weather so we thought we would try.  Me and Charlene went together and Jardi and Vic went as a team and Maddie and Matt were a third team.  The cows all have numbers on them and the announcer gives each team a number.  I guess the idea is one person sits in the gate and the other goes and gets a cow whose number was called and moves it through the gate.  Then the next cow in order goes until all 10 are through the gate in order. Its a lot harder than it seems.  The pens are two circles with one panel open in the middle.  For the first round me and Razz were in the gate and Charlene and Ricky went and got the cow and we got two through in time.  The second round, Char was in the gate, we got three in and we were pretty proud of ourselves.  For the third round, I was in the gate again and it was a wreck, we got the wrong cow through and it was all over.  They only give one minute to get all 10 cows through and it is quite quickly to get them all through.  The winning team got 8 through in time!  It was amazing to watch.  All our teams got a blowout so we were all out, but it was lots of fun.

We stayed over at Vics that night and it was a long weekend, will need to post more tomorrow. Cause I got to figure out the picture thing so I can get some show pics up.

Okay so I'm still working on the photo thingy.  I have started a flickr account, but haven't figured out how to get them from there to here so I will keep trying to fix that since it doesn't want to upload from my computer, so maybe it will work from there.

I have been feeling kinda bad that I haven't done much with my colts, but yesterday when I was out there, both Jazz and Jamaica walked right up to me and stood there the whole time I was out there, so I guess just being out there semi regularily is helping.  I'm pretty sure if my hands weren't full Jamaica woulda let me scatch him.  He has always stayed just far enough away but he right beside me, so maybe today I will be more prepared for that.

I rode Razz on the flag again and Charlene asked Jardi to ride Ricky on it the last time and Ricky was being bad, so I wondered about Razz and she got on her and said she was doing really well!  I was pretty happy about that, since I don't really know much about cutting and neither did Razz.  Afterwards Jardi made us ride her horses and I rode Twister who was a lot of fun, she turns with the flag and it is so different holding her away from it rather than holding Razz towards it.  She turns so quick and hardly needs any direction at all, now I know what me and Razz are aiming towards.

Today we are heading up to Ponoka again and will practice tonight and then tomorrow is the show and Jardi is competing with Avril and Maddie with Bailey, so Im hoping to get pics of them and then we are gonna practice again with the used cattle.  Should be fun and will be kinda nice to watch a cutting show before competing in one I guess, lol.

Calculations

I have been doing some calculating on riding.  Last year I spent 129 days riding. Month with least amount of hours were April (when I sold Princess, Bailey was sore, and Razz was pregnant), June and July.  Not sure why so many less hours in June and July, but those are pretty busy monthes here.  The months with the most hours were January, November and December.  I see november and December, but I was suprised about January last year till I looked and the temperatures were warm and I actually rode out lots.

On those 129 days I rode 44.5 hours on Bailey and 135.5 hours on other horses.  That sure sounds like a lot of hours but its less than 1.5 hours a day.  That makes a total of 180 hours riding this year.  In 2009 I had 153 hours, and 2008 only 107.  So slowly but steadily moving up.  This year I plan on even more and so far so good as long as the weather stays nice. 
I have enjoyed being able to ride so much as well as having so much fun.

Tonight I rode Razz and Charlene rode Ricki and after  we had rode about 45 minutes, we traded.  That was kinda interesting as we ride way different and our horses are at different stages.  It was kinda fun to see what the other was talking about and maybe we now can help each other a little more.

Monday January 2, 2011

Well I have made a few decisions.  First off Shirley asked if I am taking Razz in the cutting show.  And yes she is the one I decided to take, but we are not going to compete this weekend cause we haven't had enough practice getting a cow out of the herd.  We are going up on Friday to practice and after the show Saturday we will practice again.  Then in two weeks is another show and we will probly compete then.  Jardi figures the cutting part is good, but we don't have enough cows to practice the herd, and its hard to cut if you can't get a cow out of the herd.

So with that decided, I feel like I can relax again for a few days.  I have also decided Gypsy is not a horse I want to ride, although I rode her today and she was awesome.  I rode in a curb bit ans we did circles and rollbacks and figure eights at a walk and trot and she was amazing, I forget how nice she can be.  If I just wanted a horse to ride, she would be it, especially on the trails cause you can just relax on her and she will just wander along.  So I thought I would list her for sale again and already a friend's friend is interested, so we will see.

I also rode Tom and he has a pretty good bite mark on his back so I didn't ask much, but he was pretty good for Tom.  He acts like a colt with a couple rides on him until you catch him off guard and then he is really nice, so I just been asking without prepping and he's a little better.  I sure would like to try him on the flag, cause apperently Jardi said his dad (Annies Cat) scored a 77 while she was watching, she said it was pretty good, one of the better gos.  I guess the top score possible is 80, so 77 is  pretty decent. 

This is the message I get whe I go to upload pics, I may have to break down and buy the storage I guess.

Loading...Whoops! You're out of space. Purchase more storage.


Photos are stored in your Picasa Web Albums account and are included in your 1 GB free quota for photos. Additional storage you purchase is shared between Gmail, Picasa Web Albums, and Google Docs, and is in addition to your free quota
 
GRRR... blogger.

Sunday

This week I tried to work on Sunday stills, but I had 4 pictures loaded and blogger said I reached my storage limit. I'm not sure what that means, but it wouldn't let me load anymore pictures, which is kinda irritating cause I know I have had more than 4 pictures at a time on one post.  So I am not submitting it, just thought I would try again tonight and see cause I only got to March with these 4 pics so far.  This may be more than one post long.

Betty-Sue and Lady In January.

Belle and Dinero in January under a sunrise.

Razz in fog in March.

Razz with her fat belly in April.

That's all it will let me post without purchasing more storage and I am not going to do that, so that's all the pictures I have today.

This weekend we have spent lots of time riding.  We rode the flag yesterday, which she is way improved and still a little scared of it, but not so much that she didn't want to work it.

Today we worked the flag in the morning and she is getting better and better, we got to work on rollbacks more.  Afterwards Jardi got us all to try a spin which I have never really done with Razz and going right wasn't very good, but she got a couple steps, but going left she was awesome, we got a whole turn!  That is the way I have been practicing the counter bend, so she moves off the left leg really well and I was pretty happy with her.  Then we took about a 2 hour break and went over to the neighbors arena and worked on lead changes.  I didn't do very well cause it still hurts to lope to the left, but Razz did pretty good, I think she would have done better if I hadn't quit riding after the change cause it hurt.  We also did a mirroring game where one rider is the cow and the other is the horse and its a lot harder than I thought.  We have to keep up with the cow and turn and catch up before they get away.  Sure makes the horse watch though.  It was fun, we might do it again just for practicing.