Cow Lesson and New Home

On Saturday I took Jessie back to Doug's and Char had a lesson on Dude if Doug was around.   He was so she worked cows and he worked the best for her he has in a long time.  She was pretty happy since Doug hadn't been riding him since she rode on Thursday.  I rode as well and wasn't planning on a lesson but he said it was probly a good idea and he thought she looked in better shape (which made me feel better cause I hadn't been riding very hard)

 So before I started he made me lope more, then back up and turn her.  I was having lots of trouble, she would back up no problem but then when I put my leg on to turn she just walked sideways and backwards.  Frustrating!!!  Then he said I didn't have my hand up her neck far enough, so sure enough I move my hand farther up and voila!  no problems in turning either way.  So then off to the cows.  And he asked me to make sure she stops when the cow stops.  And most of the time she does, but especially when we first start, she gets a little excited and needs to be reminded and I am not very good at that.  I almost got yelled at for not picking up on the reins hard enough.  And afterwards he said something about it and I told him I am not sure my timing is right and by the time I think of it she is already stopping.  And he said to do it anyways cause she is not stopping as hard as she should be and I won't wreck her by asking that. So that was good to know as well and now I have to remember that next time.

(the colt, he's supposed to grow to 16.2!)

We got a calf that was kinda quick and kept trying to push us into the herd but we kept it and I was pretty happy with that.  It went real fast and made some fast turns of which I am not very coordinated with yet but getting better at only using my legs and making sure to keep pressing her off the cow and go in a straight line.  Its so fun when it finally goes right.  But my legs were sure sore yesterday, thought I was working out but apparently not hard enough.

Afterwards we loaded up and headed down to Theresa's where we are gonna keep them for a while and Jessie and Dude get their own pen to share and a round bale all the time (which Jessie doesn't really need, but it will be OK)  They are next to a gelding and a young stud which worried me a little but the gelding won't let the colt anywhere near the adjoining fence (its kinda funny)  And so far so good they settled in just fine, checked out the place then went straight to eating.  Whew.  I know if you trailer horses together and get out at a strange place they are usually OK, but I don't really know Jessie that well so that was a relief they got along.

Then yesterday I went out and rode again in the arena down there.  Met the girl who owns the colt and she is a jumper.  The colt is an Oldenburg and he is getting gelded this month sometime.  I was glad to hear that.  She said she has no patience for a stud and no facility to keep him.  His one foot was a little turned out but he passed inspection as a foal just waiting to see how it grew up, but she isn't even gonna worry about it.  The gelding belongs to Lu and she was down there riding when we dropped them off so that was nice to see her out again. 

We had a pretty good ride, don't think Jessie is used to much straight riding cause at the lope if I try to push her back towards the wall with my inside leg she changes leads.  I figured out after like 5 tries that if I put both legs on but more on inside then she stays in lead and moves over.  So much to learn about the cues she knows that are different than my other horses. 
They were out shooting coyotes when I got there and the palomino and grey were bucking and playing and Jessie had her nose stuck in the bale, not a spooky one there, lol.  But after the ride when we turned them out, she was prancing around  and throwing her head like she wanted to just tear up the place but never did, just lots of rolling and prancing (all without my camera of course)

(Jessie :)

Oh and we were talking to Doug about his training one day and he said he rides out at least once a week, especially the young ones, gives them a break and they seem to come back better.  And if they don't make a cutter they are easier to sell later.  And they are all quiet well broke in the face cause its so much easier to get them working correctly.  We musta said or done something cause he said its changed a lot, he said no one ever touched the faces before, but that doesn't work as well now, so that was interesting to know as well.  Always hear so much and never really know what is true or not but he will pretty much tell us his opinion on anything we ask about.  Which I appreciate (mostly)