Chars Lesson

On Tuesday night we went back to Doug's and Char had another lesson on Dude.  She is taking him home at the end of the month and so wants as many lessons on him to get him correct before that happens.  She was struggling with him stopping on the ends before turning and she is way better now, she is riding him better and he is responding really well.  And since I wasn't riding, I got to take some pictures of them.

She walked outside to put her saddle in the truck and he just watched her the whole time.  I think he likes her :)

Razz and Kali

On Friday I went over to the neighbors arena and rode Razz with Charlene cause we had planned a lesson with Doug for Saturday and I wanted to ride before the lesson.  I hadn't rode in almost 3 weeks and I felt so good to be back riding again.

In the arena was a heel o matic and Razz thought that was the scariest thing ever!!!  She wanted no part of it, but the problem was after we were in the arena is was right by the gate, lol so she had to.  I just ignored it and made her work and she sorta got over it. 

On Saturday we had our lesson on cows and I rode Razz firsta  and she was pretty good, I was a little confused cause he makes us do different things, but it made sense afterwards.  Then He asked if I wanted to ride Kali, so I thought I might as well since I never worked her on cows or the flag before.  And I can see what he means about her not being interested.  She worked really well when there was only one cow but when there was more than one she had no interest in chasing them.  I had to kick her really hard to get her to keep up with the cow.  Which is sooo odd cause outside she responds so well to the leg.  So I guess its the right decision but now I dont know what to do with her.

Afterwards we took Kali and Razz home and Charlene left Dude there for a month or two to get some refreshing and she is going to a show on Saturday in Claresholm.  She was not prepared for that, but she has a lesson on Thursday and Doug said he was going on Saturday so she is too. 

I have them in the corral so I can aclimatize Kali to not wearing a blanket anymore (I dont want to turn her out in pasture with 8 other horses with her blnket on, specially since she is the bottom of the totem pole in there)  So today I went out and opened the gate to the big corral and they sure made use of it.  I love it when they run around and play :)  It was getting dark but I got a couple videos of them out there.

I am thinking I will go down to Brooks to the Silver Sage this week and ride them down there, might as well since they are in the corral for a couple weeks..  I also told Char if she wants to ride while Dude is gone she can call me and I will bring them over and we can each ride one. 

Long Weekend

Well this weekend was really long, but totally worth it!!  First starting on Wednesday, Casino is now a Quarter Horse!  It took a really long time cause one signature on the papers was missing, but I finally got her registration. 

Thursday we were helping our neighbors wean and process their calves.  Since they raise purebreds all the calves have to be weighed and the weights sent in to the association before the first of November.  So after weaning, we separated bulls and heifers and then picked out more bulls they wont keep and all the heifers they weren't keeping and they went to another buyer.  Before they went, we put them all through the chute and they got vaccinated, branded and weighed.  My job was to put a post behind them so they didn't back up and the brand went good.  Doing a shoulder brand in a chute is hard to get at so the closer to the front they are, the quicker it is.  Well it was all going good till one of the heifers jumped at the wrong time and the post come up and hit me in the jaw.  Kinda made me think of safety, hence the post on safety with cows.  Now I have a bruise on the chin and it isn't sore much now, but it sure was!  I saw stars and my eyes watered it was awful.

So then since we were heading to Ponoka for the Saturday show, we decided we would head up Friday night and get a ride in and then stay at Charlene's Aunts house with a hot tub!  Well we left Friday at noon and stopped in Stettler and had lunch then kept going and when we got there we unloaded everything and then tacked up and some other people were riding and we go to get on and there were cows in the arena!  So we helped turn back for them and they helped Char and Dude get a little practice.  We were gonna bath our horses but we decided it was too cool in the barn and we didn't want them getting sick, so we just put them away and headed out for the night.

We got to Char's Aunt's house and she had pulled pork ready for us!  Wow was it ever good!!  I never realized how hungry I was till we got there.  But we were much later than we thought we would be so we just headed to bed after supper and skipped the hot tub.  Oh well next time I guess since she invited us back again:)

On Saturday we fed the ponies then headed to town for breakfast and we had lots of time so we went down to the tack store and never even bought anything!!  Its weird when you don't really need anything.  Well we headed back to the barn and the high school rodeo was just starting and Char was getting super nervous, but then Susan come up and we visited for a while then we met the chap lady who checked our measurements and took our orders for chaps.  They wont be ready till February cause she is not starting them till after Christmas but we wanted to get our names in anyways.  I went with black suede with light leather top with tooling and my initials on one side and brand on the other.  Full zipper, twisted fringe, and a square buckle on the back, conchos with black background on the sides.  A lot of decisions to make when ordering chaps.  I'm so excited to get them.

We thought it was almost time for Char's class and then they run out of fresh cattle so she got bumped to the end of the show so they could call the liner in with more cows.  The ranch classes and youth cutting use all used cattle so they went before her class.  I thought this was an annoyance, but it turned out good for Char cause she just relaxed and watched other good riders on good horses make mistakes. We said since it is her first show, just go out and get a score and we will see what she needs to work on.  Well her turn finally came and she was Awesome!!!  She scored a 66 which we were really proud of and the only mistake she made was she lost a cow, but it wasn't an option, the cow run into her horse and it wasn't stopping.  She even got a plus for eye appeal, so all in all an awesome first show for her and Dude!! 

So it was late when we left about 6:30 and we stopped for supper on the way home and I finally got home about 9:30, so not too bad, but I was sure exhausted!  I am so happy for her (and a little jealous I will admit)  And I also found out in open cutting I could ride in whatever I want so next time I get a chance to go (Nov 24) I may show her in the hackmore if I have enough time to practice before then.  And I have to see how Disco is too, cause if I really like her, I may just leave Razz turned out for the winter.

A Friendly Day

Sunday was a good day here on the ranch, probly our last really hot day of the year, and we lived it up.  Charlene and Susan and Kendra came over and brought thier horses and we took a  ride down through the creek and it was a lot of fun.

Susan and Kendra had never been to my place before even though they been talking about it for quite a while and so she was pretty excited.

She couldnt believe I had all this land to ride on.  She kept saying how lucky I was to live here and how she took three years to get here.

We took a different route than both times Charlene has been here and it went through a gate I wasn't sure we could open it, don't know who tied it but it wasn't right.  But we got it and kept going and crossed the creek and went down a super step hill.

We did find a couple places to get some pics in and at least I brought the camera along this time.

I think she will be out more now that she is confident driving her new trailer and knows where I am. 

She kept thanking me for allowing her to come ride out here, I told her I was always glad to have company to ride. And it sounds like they might come out next Sunday as well.

Weekend--Sunday Stills and Other Things

This weekend was a full one again.  But I figure I might as well get as much fun stuff in while the summer is still here.  And believe me it is still here, with a high of 30 today.  Was a breeze ever appreciated.

I missed out on Sunday Stills this week cause I had too much going on, but I sure do have pests, one of the biggest is people who let their children run amok in the store.  Do they think no one notices them running and screaming, they are a pest to everyone else shopping.  And people who don't signal grrr, they are a pest to every other driver out there.  But also pest pests, like bugs.  Ed said extra points for who could get a mosquito and there was one in my truck the other night coming home, but this is the best shot I got of him.

But while I was stopped on the side of the road trying to get a mosquito picture, and I am sure that if anywone drove by they woulda had a laugh at me, but I glaned over at the mirror and saw the sunset and so I took this weird cool shot of it.

And its not that good, but I also have other pests like weeds, like this Kochia (however its spelt is still weed.) growing in front of my shop.

And the worst pest around is the mice, we had lots of snow last year so the mice just lived under it all insulated and there are a million of them around, we have them in the house (usually we get a couple a year) and in the tack shed and everywhere we go there is mice, I guess there is too many for two cats to eat, specially when its hot and he has to lay under the truck to cool off.

 But onto other things, Saturday morning, we were awakened by a phone call at 6 saying there was a fire in our neighbors Barley field.  Wow sure don't like those phone calls especially early in the morning.  But luckily it was in the grass and wasn't too bad to put out, a little rain earlier made the grass tough and it was pretty slow moving.  The guy who seen it was driving on the highway and drove in and called the fire department and woke up our neighbor.  Nice guy, and he worked hard to put it out himself before anyone got there.  So we visited and had coffee and then headed home to start the day.  At lest I wasn't late for Doug and Linda to pick me up when we attended the Hayes Sale and it was good, lots of nice quiet colts there, if I were looking, I probly woulda ended up with one (or two) you know me, lol.  But I refrained cause I certainly don't need anymore projects.  Then I skipped the wedding dance cause we were just too tired.  But I did wash my coolers and hung them on the fence to dry.  The eeyore was is my favorite, but I got the blue one at UFA cause Neil had a gift certificate and now I see it has mouse holes in in from hanging at Jardis all summer.  I shoulda took it home and washed it before this but I spose it will still work.

Then today we were gonna go down and ride at Doug and Linda's but Linda wasn't feeling good, so Charlene and Catherine come over to my house and we had lunch and went for a nice two hour ride in the creek.  It was lots of fun.  I took Razz, Char had Dude and Cat had her mare TJ.  Of course I took no pictures, but was fun anyways.

Of course it couldn't go all as planned, here is my hitching rail now,

and here is it after Razz had a fit when I sprayed her with fly spray. Not sure why she freaked out, but she pulled back pretty hard and pulled the one post away from the rail and her and Kali were attached to the rail just hanging in the air.  Luckily Kali's rope wasn't tight ans just slipped off the end but Razz had hers really tight so no such luck but she just stopped and waited for me to fix it.  She was not in a panic cause she just put her head down to eat grass and waited.  Silly pony.  So after that I decided not to pony Kali as was the original plan.

and the rail on the ground, I had to get a new lead rope cause I couldn't get that one off without too much pulling.  After that she was fine on the ride, not sure why she was silly. 

When we come back everyone was sweating aso we hosed them off and Razz hasnt been hosed alot, but she wasnt afraid of the water, but OH MY the hose on the ground sneaking through the grass was pretty scary!  But was alright cause after bathing comes grazing in the lush green lawn, mmm.

Long Weekend

This has been a long weekend.  On Friday I headed up to the Mane Event in Red Deer with Linda from One Old Cowgirl.  We met her daughter and a friend of her daughters there and did a ton of shopping, and met Sherry from Fern Valley Appaloosas, and Cheyenne from Little Prairie Baby. That was really cool! 

I ended up buying a pink camoflauge cooler for Kali, a set of reins and a set of pink fringe gloves I had been eyeing up since last year. 

Then Saturday I headed up to Jardis to ride and take my ponies home for the summer.  I met Charlene there and we rode in the arena, she rode Cutting Dude and I rode Kali.  Afterwards, we loaded up Razz and Ricki and headed to my house.  We went on a ride down to the creek and around.  Then we headed over to an acerage that was for sale and then came home and had supper. 

Charlene stayed over and we went riding through the cows on Sunday morning cause Ricki is a little concerned when cows are around.  He did really good.  He was worried then we just ignored the cows and did some trotting and loping and rollbacks and turnarounds.  Then we headed home and he was in a hurry so we kept making cirles and he relaxed and we went back.  We had lunch then took him back to Jardi's.  I left Razz home.  We got there just in time to load 350 square bales into the loft.  After that, Jardi had made chili and ice cream cake for us and that was really tasty :)

I rode Kali in the arena with Charlene on Cutting Dude and then loaded Kali up and did chores for Jardi and then took Kali home.  She is in my round pen with Razz and she acted like she had been here a hundred times before, so calm.  Pretty nice for a 3 year old :)  I sure am liking her.

Weekend Plans Go Awry

On Friday we headed up to Olds for the Northern Bloodstock sale.  It was really good, so many nice well bred horses there and many people we knew also.  This was the first sale I have ever been to where a broodmare was high seller, $14000.  There was a couple nice broke horses there and lots of young stock and a few I certanly could have come home with, but I didn't.  Charlene debated on a couple, but never bought either.

I stayed over at Charlenes that night cause Saturday morning we were planning on heading out to my house with our ponies and ride with the cows and maybe get some halters on my colts and maybe do some scrapboking.  It was gonna be a fun relaxing weekend.  But as we got to the barn and had our horses loaded, Jardi drives up and asks if we want to go to Vic's cause he has some horses for reasonable for Charlene.  So we loaded up a horse for Jardi and headed up to Ponoka.

There were two horses there to try out, a mare and a gelding.  She tried the mare and really liked her but shes 18 so not sure about that.  But she is in really good shape, not overused but used regularily and Vic figures she could easily cut for another 6 years.  She had a vet look at her and they said she has no soundness issues and is sounder than most younger horses.  So that was good, but might as well try the gelding as well.  She REALLY liked him, he worked really good for her and it was gonna be a done deal so she phoned the owner and left a message.  During all this, I was being herd help, which I am not very good at, but I am learning.  It was good for Razz too, sitting still by the cows and then just moving when we needed to.

We worked our own horses afterwards, Jardi wanted us to circle all the cows with one on the ouside and keep it outside the herd.  It was kinda fun, but really fast, we had to lope almost the whole time to keep up, but Razz was awesome!  Except when I lost a stirrup then I was lost, so we stopped and restarted.  Oh and she tried to run me into the in gate, so we worked on that a bit, but she needs more help to slow down and not rush through the gate.  Afterwards our horses were sweaty, so we bathed them (I only hosed Razz and shampooed her tail, cause shes never had a bath before and I thought it might be a bit much all at once)  then we put coolers on them then visit for a bit then headed home. 

We got home at midnight and  the horses were dry and so we put thier blankets on and turned them out to eat and helped Jardi with her chores then I stayed at Charlenes overnight again.  On Sunday morning I realized I forgot my camera up at Vic's, so we called him and he said the owner of the gelding called him and told him he is blind in the sunlight and has to wear a mask outside. Well all the summer cuttings are outside, so thats kinda useless.  She never has called Charlene and so now she is really thinking on the mare.

We spent the day at the barn visiting and grooming the ponies, we were gonna go for a ride, but since our horses had clean legs, we thought we would shave them and trim up thier chins.  Razz looks so much prettier now, without all that long hair.  I really was tempted to clip her whole body, but I resisted.  She will shed off soon enough I guess.  It was a fun day, but we will have to make different plans for another weekend for Charlene to come out to my house.

Cutting Clinic with Guy Heintz and Loren Christianson

This past weekend I spent in Airdrie at a cutting clinic. I was pretty worried going in that we were not good enough to be taking the clinic.  Well it turned out we were not mounted on the same quality of horses as they all were, but I think it was an amazing clinic and I got all kinds of advice that I can use.

Both days we spent working cows from the herd and getting tips on how we can improve our cut.  I need to ride with less hands and more leg.  He says he would not like to come back as my horse cause I just pester her all the time instead of asking and really meaning it then backing off.  I hate when people do that and I didn't think I did, untill he told me at the time I was and wow I quit and amazing how much better Razz was.

I also was told I needed a new saddle, which I knew because I am using a wade ranch saddle which is amazingly comfortable, but not appropriate for cutting.  He figured it would solve most of my stopping problems cause it puts me in a better position to stop.

I need to also work on more rollbacks, without so much hands,  I tend to force her around and it makes it look horrible.  I tried and makes a big difference.  He told me to think of it as a sidepass around her tail.  Kind of a interesting way to but it, but made it easier to work on.

I also need to do more counterbending.  I know she is not very good at them, but that is very important in cutting.  We use it after turning with the cow, to press away from the cow we are cutting back to the herd but still facing the cow we are cutting.

I also do need to work on mirroring the cow more,  I tend to make a full turn, even when the cow only turns to face me.  I guess I was thinking of working the flag we always need to be straight with the flag,  but the flag can't turn only half way around.

There was a lot of stuff to work on, but by the end Razz was turning with the cow and starting to stop with them as well.  It was pretty cool.  We need to work more on cattle and we are thinking of taking a few lessons from Doug Reinhardt who is in Irricanna or from Guy Heintz who is in High River. Both take haul in lessons and I think we would improve greatly with more lessons on cattle.

Trail Riding Post Part One

Well I finally made it back from our trip out to the mountains on the blogger trail ride. It was so much fun. I convinced a girl from our barn to go with me and she was pretty nervous, but I think it was a good time over all.

We left from Drum and drove, even Charlene drove for a while, but mostly took pictures out the windows of mountains and the cool color of the mountain water.

We got to Jaffrey and met up with Shirley from Ride a good horse, and we followed her to the base of the mountain where we met up Janice at Own a Morgan and she led us up the mountain. Its a radio controlled road, so she had the radio to let anyone coming down know we were on the road. We had a flat tire just south of Calgary, but not a big deal, we got it changed and kept going, then about 4 kms from camp, another tire was shredded.

This caused the fron tire to go flat as well, so there we were on the side of a mountain with two flat tires and no spare. Luckily one of Shirley's tires fit on the trailer and we limped out way up to the campsite. While Dave took our horses in his trailer.

We finally got there, got the horses out of the trailer and set up the tent.

Our horses spent the night tied to the trailer because there was a community corral, but other people had their horses there and we we uneasy about keeping ours with them. Shirley had a separate pen for Beamer, and Janice and Dave highlined their horses.

Then Saturday morning, I went with Shirley down to Cranbrook and got new tires for my trailer and Charlene went on a ride with Janice and Dave.

The scenery in camp was beautiful, we were prolly about 20 feet from the river, which was the start of the trail.

Both Shirley and Janice brought 3 dogs, so it was kinda chaotic in camp, but they were well behaved.

The dogs were very focused on us throwing the stick for them, especially Sage.

Shirley set up a hammock and the dogs loved it, Charlene and Callie,

And Shirley and Tess in the dark.

Then Tucker (the only dog that wasnt a border collie) and Callie playing with a stick

The view of the mountains was just amazing, I took tons of pictures of them.