July 11, 2008
Smooch had a long break in the month of June. I was busy with visitors and mounted patrol. So he just got to be a colt. I had ponied him on a couple of rides and he seemed to just fall right in. The exception being on the ride I took him on during Katherine's visit when we rode through the fields in the back yard. Smooch decided he was on his own and just about dismounted me from Amigo. Fine. He got to follow us around and he ran, pranced, and generally had a great old time. Too bad there were no pictures. He really is a handsome colt.
I had done some ground work with him since the clinic. Not much, but he definitely remembered and on Thursday I had him saddled and sacked out for a bit.
The great thing about Smooch is his confidence and willingness to accept things. He has so far never complained about much. He is like an old hat at the saddle. He doesn't mind cars, dogs, tractors, etc. But, I figured that on our first ride by ourselves, I'd better take him to a controlled environment so we went to the Driggs arena. I put him through the entire ground school, saddled him up, hopped on and rode for about 45 minutes to an hour. Still frustrating with no reins. Very difficult getting him to go where I wanted, so I cheated and looped the lead rope around his neck and made a reins. Much better.
Having accomplished everything I set out to, I quit when another rider with a fresh horse showed up.
Quite a boring ride, really. But the little bugger did well.
Monday, July 14, 2008
The Colt Journal, Day 1
June 1, 2008
Today was Smooch's first ride. We (Smooch and I) had attended a Parelli clinic all weekend taught by Gretchen Thompson. Gretchen is a first class person and an outstanding horse woman. Along with her husband, Dan, and family of I think 6 children, the Thompsons spend summers in Montana, Winters in Georgia, and travel around teaching Parelli clinics full time. I don't know how they do it. Honestly.
Anyway, I had intended to only attend the beginning level 1, partnership class on Friday because Saturday and Sunday were the advanced class and would involve riding. By the end of Friday, Gretchen was so impressed with Smooch that she had convinced me to come back for the advanced class and was confident that she would have me riding by the end of the clinic.
Friday was all ground work. We learned the 7 Parelli games, which are the foundation for all future training. Smooch had a lesson in "who is the boss", as I found out that he is a confident and controlling type personality. Gretchen had to take him for a while and somewhere along the way of Smooch rearing and pitching fits (at one point he reared up, threw himself on the ground, and pitched a classic temper tantrum just like a two year old child, honest to God), a carrot stick (an orange fiberglass stick with a rope attached to the end) found his left eye and gave him a pretty sore eye the rest of the weekend. Didn't seem to phase him.
Saturday was more ground work, and to the disappointment of several of us, we never got in the saddle because there were so many problem horses that hadn't attended the previous day's beginner course. We did have an excellent lesson in saddle fit, and at the end of the day Gretchen took the time to help me figure out which saddle to use. As it turns out, the new Costagno I got for Amigo works just fine and is a perfect colt breaking saddle. Gretchen also helped me do a little pre check to make sure Smooch was ready. All lights green and we got a go for Sunday.
So Sunday saw a lot more ground work and more work with problem horses. A few of us were fuming by now. Finally on Sunday afternoon we saddled, went through our pre flight, and were off and riding. Parelli is unique in that the process is very thought out and controlled. The process of saddling and preparing the horses to ride lasted longer than the ride itself. But it was worth it. In level 1, there is no bridle, there is no bit. Everything is done with a rope halter and a lead rope. When ride, you use the lead rope to steer. There are no reins. You just have a 12 foot lead rope attached to the halter, and if you need it on the other side of the horse, you just flip it over his head. Very difficult to master, but I recon one you do you are at a big advantage.
The ride went well. Smooch is not a bucker. It's one advantage of breaking a colt when he is young and too small to physically buck you...he never learns that he can. We wandered around the arena, him getting used to 200 pounds on his back, me fumbling with flip flopping a lead rope back and forth trying to get him to go where I wanted. Very frustrating. But at the end of the day I was rewarded when it occurred to me that I had ridden my colt, myself, for the first time.
Today was Smooch's first ride. We (Smooch and I) had attended a Parelli clinic all weekend taught by Gretchen Thompson. Gretchen is a first class person and an outstanding horse woman. Along with her husband, Dan, and family of I think 6 children, the Thompsons spend summers in Montana, Winters in Georgia, and travel around teaching Parelli clinics full time. I don't know how they do it. Honestly.
Anyway, I had intended to only attend the beginning level 1, partnership class on Friday because Saturday and Sunday were the advanced class and would involve riding. By the end of Friday, Gretchen was so impressed with Smooch that she had convinced me to come back for the advanced class and was confident that she would have me riding by the end of the clinic.
Friday was all ground work. We learned the 7 Parelli games, which are the foundation for all future training. Smooch had a lesson in "who is the boss", as I found out that he is a confident and controlling type personality. Gretchen had to take him for a while and somewhere along the way of Smooch rearing and pitching fits (at one point he reared up, threw himself on the ground, and pitched a classic temper tantrum just like a two year old child, honest to God), a carrot stick (an orange fiberglass stick with a rope attached to the end) found his left eye and gave him a pretty sore eye the rest of the weekend. Didn't seem to phase him.
Saturday was more ground work, and to the disappointment of several of us, we never got in the saddle because there were so many problem horses that hadn't attended the previous day's beginner course. We did have an excellent lesson in saddle fit, and at the end of the day Gretchen took the time to help me figure out which saddle to use. As it turns out, the new Costagno I got for Amigo works just fine and is a perfect colt breaking saddle. Gretchen also helped me do a little pre check to make sure Smooch was ready. All lights green and we got a go for Sunday.
So Sunday saw a lot more ground work and more work with problem horses. A few of us were fuming by now. Finally on Sunday afternoon we saddled, went through our pre flight, and were off and riding. Parelli is unique in that the process is very thought out and controlled. The process of saddling and preparing the horses to ride lasted longer than the ride itself. But it was worth it. In level 1, there is no bridle, there is no bit. Everything is done with a rope halter and a lead rope. When ride, you use the lead rope to steer. There are no reins. You just have a 12 foot lead rope attached to the halter, and if you need it on the other side of the horse, you just flip it over his head. Very difficult to master, but I recon one you do you are at a big advantage.
The ride went well. Smooch is not a bucker. It's one advantage of breaking a colt when he is young and too small to physically buck you...he never learns that he can. We wandered around the arena, him getting used to 200 pounds on his back, me fumbling with flip flopping a lead rope back and forth trying to get him to go where I wanted. Very frustrating. But at the end of the day I was rewarded when it occurred to me that I had ridden my colt, myself, for the first time.
The Colt Journal
It dawned on me that although I haven't been keeping up with this blog, I should at least try to keep a journal of Smooch's progress as I break him this summer. So I will make an entry for each ride I put on him, of which I plan to do 30 of, or at least average 30 hours by the end of the summer. Maybe more or less depending on how he progresses. It would be nice to take him hunting this fall if he is ready.
I already have three rides on him. Following will be post ride entries to catch up. I will try to stay current on a daily basis in the future.
I already have three rides on him. Following will be post ride entries to catch up. I will try to stay current on a daily basis in the future.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Two days in Yellowstone
My Friend Katherine was visiting last week from Sacramento. We spent two days in Yellowstone and had some dissapointments and some real surprises. Katherine got a bunch of pictures with her new camera and she even let me snap a few. Mostly we saw elk and bison but missed out on moose and bears. We saw an eagle with eaglets and we saw two wolves chasing down a cow elk. If I get a chance I will post a few of the pictures I got to take.
Almost as exciting as the wolves were the bear and twin cubs we saw on a horse back ride in Grand Teton Park at a few yards distance. I'm glad we weren't on foot. I thought they were cinnamon black bears but our ride leader swears they were grizzlies. Hmmm...I'm still not so sure.
Anyway, Katherine is gone and I'm back to work. The folks arrive this week for some visit time during the 4th, and I will be busy working the parade for mounted patrol.
Sorry this is so short and abbreviated, but there's so much to do lately...
Almost as exciting as the wolves were the bear and twin cubs we saw on a horse back ride in Grand Teton Park at a few yards distance. I'm glad we weren't on foot. I thought they were cinnamon black bears but our ride leader swears they were grizzlies. Hmmm...I'm still not so sure.
Anyway, Katherine is gone and I'm back to work. The folks arrive this week for some visit time during the 4th, and I will be busy working the parade for mounted patrol.
Sorry this is so short and abbreviated, but there's so much to do lately...
Friday, June 6, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Mounted Patrol Class is over
It has been a long 5 weeks, but the 40 hour mounted patrol class is over. I will try to get some pictures posted if I can get my hands on some. The last class and final test was last night and Amigo and I passed. Actually I think everyone passed with some having more difficulties than others. We were somewhere in the middle having to repeat two of the test items. After the class we got our belt buckles, hat pins, breast collars, scarves, and.....
saddle pad cover blankets for the Memorial Parade on Saturday! Yes, the Citizens Mounted Patrol Unit is actually going to be a part of the parade this year instead of just traffic control. The Teton County Sheriff's office has an entry in the parade honoring the fallen law enforcement officers in Wyoming. Each of us riders will represent a law enforcement agency from the State of Wyoming that has had an officer die in the line of duty and each of us has a saddle pad cover with that unit's patch. Six of the agencies are actually providing their own officers to ride in the parade, plus the Governor of the State of Wyoming and some other unspecified dignitaries will be in the entry. The entry will start with an honor gaurd, and then a couple of wagons carrying the dignitaries with a riderless horse behind one of them. Then our column of troopers will fall in behind. And the best part is that we are supposed to be televised nationally. The powers that be could not tell us the what where when or how, so if anyone happens to run across this on TV please let me know. If you do happen to catch it, look for the copper sorrel colored horse with the short rider and baby blue blanket cover with the Gillette, Wyoming Police patch. There is actually a web site dedicated to Wyoming's fallen officers and it was fascinating to read the history of these men. If you look at the early ones, you will see officers shot from all of the "old west" stereotypes: train robbers, horse thieves, angry lynch mobs, bank robbers, etc. And the most fascinating part is that since 1883, there are only 47 fallen officers in Wyoming, with Game and Fish having the most. Again, I will try to post pictures of the parade if I can get some. Wish us luck, I hope Amigo behaves!
saddle pad cover blankets for the Memorial Parade on Saturday! Yes, the Citizens Mounted Patrol Unit is actually going to be a part of the parade this year instead of just traffic control. The Teton County Sheriff's office has an entry in the parade honoring the fallen law enforcement officers in Wyoming. Each of us riders will represent a law enforcement agency from the State of Wyoming that has had an officer die in the line of duty and each of us has a saddle pad cover with that unit's patch. Six of the agencies are actually providing their own officers to ride in the parade, plus the Governor of the State of Wyoming and some other unspecified dignitaries will be in the entry. The entry will start with an honor gaurd, and then a couple of wagons carrying the dignitaries with a riderless horse behind one of them. Then our column of troopers will fall in behind. And the best part is that we are supposed to be televised nationally. The powers that be could not tell us the what where when or how, so if anyone happens to run across this on TV please let me know. If you do happen to catch it, look for the copper sorrel colored horse with the short rider and baby blue blanket cover with the Gillette, Wyoming Police patch. There is actually a web site dedicated to Wyoming's fallen officers and it was fascinating to read the history of these men. If you look at the early ones, you will see officers shot from all of the "old west" stereotypes: train robbers, horse thieves, angry lynch mobs, bank robbers, etc. And the most fascinating part is that since 1883, there are only 47 fallen officers in Wyoming, with Game and Fish having the most. Again, I will try to post pictures of the parade if I can get some. Wish us luck, I hope Amigo behaves!
Monday, May 12, 2008
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