Monday, July 14, 2008
The Colt Journal - why am I doing this?
And did I mention that the reason I am breaking this colt myself is that I don't have the $800 to have a trainer do it? That and the challenge is there and the gauntlet has been thrown!
The Colt Journal, Day 3
July 13, 2008
Sunday was Smooch's first trail ride under saddle. I decided to ask a fellow mounted patrol rider, Jayme, who also lives on this side of the Tetons to ride with me. He has a mule that could be the spitting image of Sara, only larger. She is experienced, level headed and calm. Perfect riding companion and lead for Smooch. Robin (my new girlfriend and favorite mounted patrol partner) decided to come along also after her trail ride dates for the day bailed.
I picked Jayme and "Big Momma" up at their house and we all met at the Pole Canyon trail head. Smooch was saddled and ready to go without complaint or incident. Pre flight checks passed. I made sure my colt was "leaving with me" (natural horse people will understand that one) and off we headed down the trail, straight up hill. Right into about half a dozen stream crossings in a row and a few mountain bikers. No problem. Oh and did I mention that Jayme's Australian Shepard, "Woof", came along for the ride? Dogs? No problem. A few minutes up the trail and a group of eight motorcycles came by. No problem. A couple of nice step up ledges? No problem. The only problems I seemed to be encountering were that 1) the rocks were hurting Smooch's feet and 2) he didn't seem to have the confidence to head off down the trail and seemed to be lolly gagging. I think 2 was more related to 1 than anything.
Reached the summit and what a view of the valley! Picture by Robin.
Sunday was Smooch's first trail ride under saddle. I decided to ask a fellow mounted patrol rider, Jayme, who also lives on this side of the Tetons to ride with me. He has a mule that could be the spitting image of Sara, only larger. She is experienced, level headed and calm. Perfect riding companion and lead for Smooch. Robin (my new girlfriend and favorite mounted patrol partner) decided to come along also after her trail ride dates for the day bailed.
I picked Jayme and "Big Momma" up at their house and we all met at the Pole Canyon trail head. Smooch was saddled and ready to go without complaint or incident. Pre flight checks passed. I made sure my colt was "leaving with me" (natural horse people will understand that one) and off we headed down the trail, straight up hill. Right into about half a dozen stream crossings in a row and a few mountain bikers. No problem. Oh and did I mention that Jayme's Australian Shepard, "Woof", came along for the ride? Dogs? No problem. A few minutes up the trail and a group of eight motorcycles came by. No problem. A couple of nice step up ledges? No problem. The only problems I seemed to be encountering were that 1) the rocks were hurting Smooch's feet and 2) he didn't seem to have the confidence to head off down the trail and seemed to be lolly gagging. I think 2 was more related to 1 than anything.
Reached the summit and what a view of the valley! Picture by Robin.
It was quite a ways up, and as you can imagine Smooch was exhausted. I didn't even think he would make it to the top. But little guy has a lot of heart. We had a nice little break.
Here's the two mule guys resting hard. Picture by Robin.
Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and the others forgot to take any horse pictures. So you are left to your imagination.
Smooch tied well during the break. He didn't get himself all wrapped up like Amigo does. Jayme has this thing where he walks his horses down hill to save wear on them. I'm not against that, but I was more interested in the training and getting Smooch used to navigating terrain with a rider on him. It took a few minutes and we almost knocked Robin off the side of the mountain, but Smooch soon got the hang of things and we were headed off down hill. He navigated the ledges going down as well as he had going up. He was tired, and he still hasn't figured out that turning around means going back home to food and shelter, so it was more lolly gagging on the way back. That's fine. Better that than racing ahead out of control.
Back at the trailers Smooch was acting fidgetty which is out of character. Jayme and I were checking him for Cholic but everything seemed to be ok. I hypothesized it was his feet and a quick check and sure enough he was off a bit. Probably just some stone bruising and hopefully he'll be better for his next ride this week. I think by next week I'll have Wendel put shoes on to avoid any potential problems in the future. Although Smooch has good feet, they are young and tender and I don't need any lameness issues.
So all in all a great ride. We encountered dogs, water, rocks, ledges, snow, mud, motorcycles, bicyles, hikers, horses; and all without any problems except the stone bruises. There are many old "broke" horses that have more problems than this little two year old colt. Look out, he's gonna be a good one. Let's see if I'm still saying that when he's a three year old! Only time will tell. In the mean time, stay tuned for ride no. 4.
The Colt Journal, Day 2
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.
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.
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
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