Another Update

From Horseforum.com

Just a quick update - today I turned both of my horses out into the arena as soon as I got there, greeting Snickers with treats and giving him one when I left him in the arena. I went and took care of some things, then went back to the arena calling them. Guess who came to meet me! Snickers actually beat my colt to me, which resulted in much treating haha. I walked away, and Snickers kept his attention in me and followed me, even though my colt took his time. Snickers was the first to me every time! After walking away, having him come up to me, treating, catching, and treating him again a few times, I left them alone for a while. When I came back, he came to me again! This time, I didn't treat him until after he was haltered. He backed up a few steps, but I he was trying to keep his attention on me, I think, rather than get away. I just had to move around to his side and tell him woah. He didn't walk away from me at all! After all this, we called it a day, especially because it was quite windy. While I was waiting in between sessions, a new boarder came that the owner of the property asked me to watch out for, and she moved her GORGEOUS friesian into the stall next to Snickers to stay in for the first few days before he gets turned out with the other horses. I got along with the lady quite well and we're both going out there, so we're going to turn her horse out with Snickers and Flash tomorrow morning while I practice catching and releasing Snickers. I'm excited to see how it goes with another horse tomorrow and am very happy about the bond we are forming!

Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/cant-catch-my-horse-118092/page4/#ixzz1tRMXnznH

Update on Snickers situation:

From Horseforum.com:

Today was drizzley, so we stuck to the indoor arena, where, unfortunately, I can't turn him loose. However, it was quite productive! I pulled out all the stops with treats for rewards, coming with a bucket of grain, peppermint AND apple biscuits, and 5 lbs of carrots! Since he seems to get bored with treats after a while, I figured I'd mix it up and surprise him by pulling out different treats throughout our lesson, but I didn't use the grain at all because I don't think he really likes it all that much.

Other than personality, I think a major reason for my colt being so bonded with me is because I never caught him intending to really WORK him because I can't ride him anyway. Istead, we began immediately working on clicker training and have used that since, and I now have a super-eager treat earner. So why not start over there with Snickers? We did clicker training to get him to touch my hand - offer my hand, wait for him to come touch it, click, and treat! He caught on very quickly (of course, it helps when you start off with a treat hidden in that hand lol). We broke it up into short, quick sessions to avoid him getting bored, with brushing in between. We went from holding onto the lead rope, to letting the lead rope drag, and then letting the lunge line drag (so I could walk farther away and let him come to me), and it went very well. Then we braved the outdoors (it was only lightly raining off and on) and did it with him turned loose in the round pen, continuing to make progress. 

Finally, I turned him loose in the arena to chill, then went and got my colt and turned him out with Snickers as well to just have some buddy time. After about a half hour, I went back in armed with the halter, clicker, and more treats. Of course, Flash (my colt) came right up to me looking for treats, but Snickers was still stand-off ish. I did try to approach him, but he moved away and so I immediately went back to Flash. Snickers walked around for a few minutes, never going more than 20-30 feet way and acting like he wasn't interested, but sure enough, he eventually came and stood looking right at me about 5 feet away. I approached him, let him touch my hand, clicked, treated, and then went right back to Flash. And guess who followed me a moment or two later! This time I clicked, treated, then went around to his neck and petted him, and walked away. Flash followed me, and Snickers came behind him. When I stopped, he came all the way up and touched my hand for a treat, for which I clicked and treated of course, then moved around to his neck, petted him, then slipped the rope around his neck and haltered him, treated him again, then took the halter off. We did this routine 2-3 more times all the way back to my stuff in the arena, except now Flash was the one lagging behind Snickers! It was great having Snickers follow me without any regard to the fact that he was leaving Flash behind :) he got some extra treats - especially his favorite carrots - and we called it a day  

I'm not sure if he really gets or cares about the clicker (though he does when he puts up a fight for bridling, since that's what I initially introduced the clicker to him for), but he's definitely interested in me and coming to me! As for enjoying the down time, I know someone mentioned he may be a horse that just likes to move. In his case, the reason I didn't feel like he enjoyed the down time is because he was so concernd about where his buddies were, constantly moving around to see them and whinnying. He's been calmer about everything it seems since our back-to-back round penning and roping incidents, but I think he's at least starting to relax when I'm brushing him as we start bonding more (though he starts whinnying ans stressing out as soon as I'm out of sight like he always has, but there's less whinnying and movement when I'm there now at least)

Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/cant-catch-my-horse-118092/page3/#ixzz1tRLQKXr7

Success!

Well, today was ENcouraging finally rather than DIScouraging! I took one of the approaches suggested on horseforum.com of just hanging out with Flash with Snickers loose in the round pen, and pretty much ignored him until he wanted to come to me. I chose to go with the round pen so he had enough room to have his own space, while at the same time not letting him get far away enough from me and Flash to forget we were there. I was brushing Flash and giving him treats, and I initially gave Snickers a treat so he knew I had them. He was decently interested and followed me once he noticed Flash following me, then figured out that if he followed me, whether or not Flash followed me, he'd get a treat. I did approach him a few times, too, when he seemed to lose interest, just to get him used to me walking up, and gave him treats and brushed him as a reward for letting me approach him.

After a while, I picked up the halter. In the week or two before our roping incident, Snickers would let me approach him, but keep me in front of him and then move away when I moved to his neck (I dealt with this by holding the food in such a way that he had to stretch his neck across in front of me, then moved in to wrap the rope around his neck, though that wasn't the greatest approach from a training perspective - obviously). As soon as I picked up the halter, he did the same thing today, not letting me get to his neck and moving away from me when he realized what I was trying to do. When this happened, I turned and walked away from him, as someone suggested on here, and went back to petting, brushing and treating Flash. Eventually, I was able to walk directly up to his side when he was standing against the fence, and he responded by looking at me and I gave him a treat as I rubbed the halter and lead rope on his neck, then brushed him for a while and gave him a few more treats, then went back to Flash (who was quite an [adorable] pest during this whole exercise, not wanting to be ignored since he knew how to earn the treats! He also figured out that they were in the bucket, and that if he knocked the bucket over he could reach them... But I managed to keep his attention enough not to let it detract from my lesson with Snickers). Eventually, he had no problem with me approaching and rubbing the halter and lead rope on him, then putting the rope around his neck, and finally haltering him, brushing him, then releasing him and starting over. He didn't really want to follow me much, though - at least not until I started using carrots instead of biscuits. Then he was VERY interested - I think I found his favorite treat! He would follow me, and then let me move around to his right side - the halter was in my right hand, so with me directly in front of him, I had to reach around with my empty left hand to rub his neck. If I move to his left side, with the halter in the hand reaching toward his neck, he moves to keep me in front of him, but he was fine with me moving to his right side, putting the rope around his neck, then moving back around to his left side to put the halter on. Awkward, yes, but successful! We can work out the details later.

After a few really good "catches", I turned them both out in the full size arena to give them a break, especially since Snickers needs turn out time from his stall. I went and did my own thing for 20-30 minutes, then went back to get them. Flash came as soon as he saw me, and Snickers followed behind. He seemed a little interested, but was still stand-off ish since I had the halter in my hand. He didn't wander too far away, though, just walking up and down the fence near where we were and occasionally looking at us. I just pet and treated Flash, attempted to approach Snickers when he stopped moving, and walked away when he walked away from me. Soon enough, I was able to walk up to Snickers, gave him a treat, and walked away. It only took a few tries before he followed me back to Flash, to which I walked up to him, haltered him, treated him, pet him, let him go, and then walked away. He followed me both times that I walked away, which I think was helped by Flash following me as well, but he also seemed to be doing it also because he wanted to follow me. The third time he followed me, I caught him, gave him a couple of extra treats, caught Flash, and called it a day.

Finally, rather than chasing Snickers away, he's letting me come up to him, catch him, and even following me sometimes - especially when I have carrots (though I ran out in the round pen, so the time he came in the arena was without them!) His overall demeanor seems timid and stand-off ish, but seems like he would like to participate if it would be a positive experience for him. I think we'll do this again tomorrow, and hopefully we just keep getting better.

Rodeo Time

It rained a lot last week so I got to go see my boys (since I got to cancel horse lessons!), but not ride on the trails as they were really muddy.  I did manage to get two trail rides in, about 4.5 miles each, but the first one was really muddy and quite nerve racking since we were slipping everywhere and the second was really choppy and a little stressful since I couldn't get Snickers into a good extended trot and to pay much attention.  On top of that, on the sloppy and slippery day, just as we were getting back, another guy was just starting down the trail towards us.  Snickers had been watching him and his little grey horse come down the road to start on the trail, but after watching them move toward us on the trail for a minute or two, he completely lost it.  He was ready to take off back down the trail again, AWAY from the barn that was right there!  And they were still a good 50 feet or so away!  Thank goodness for clip-on rope reins and his halter on underneath - with how slippery it was and how may badger holes there are, I got off and clipped the reins to his halter like a lead rope so that he could dance around me in an area I knew was safe while they passed us.  They only went a little way down the trail and then came back, so I waited and let them pass us to make sure Snickers could get his head on straight and let them walk by while still staying calm.

Speaking of spooking, Snickers also busted the new light blue rope I bought for him.  Flash and Snickers were tied up side by side, and Flash knocked down a rake.  Of course, Flash stood there like "oops" but Snickers lost it and didn't stop pulling back until the rope broke out of the metal clasp.  Since then, I got him a royal blue one that matches the rest of our stuff better, but I'm being super cautious about it, especially since our halter/bridle combo finally came in and I do NOT want to bust that halter!  Snickers also broke my phone, but that was kind of my fault.  On one of the days he was pretty tired, I decided it was as good of a day as any to try bareback - he'd been collecting VERY nicely for me, and has been quite a bit now.  Still foaming like crazy though :(.  Anyway, I left him tied and brought the stool up - BIG mistake!  He was fine for me getting on, though I was quite cautious about it.  But then he tried to move forward, found he was tied, and braced back against the post again.  I gracefully slid off, but my phone slid out of my pocket and not-so-gracefully busted the screen.  A few hours and $20 later, the phone was as good as new, but still!  I'll be more careful about that - this is at least the second phone I've lost because if fell out of my pocket on a horse.  Of course, I think Rocket stepped on the last one.

Anyway, so now for the "rodeo" part (which I am reposting from a horseforum.com post cuz I'm lazy)...

Snickers started to get less interested in being caught since I moved him out to Dusty Acres, due in part to me working him so hard every time but also I think contributed to by the fact that he's king of the herd (while Flash, ironically, is the bottom), but it was not really an issue until last Friday, when he flat out refused to let me approach him and I had to have the help of a trainer to corner him. During this event, she recognized he needed to have some serious respect and obedience training, so we went immediately to the round pen and worked with him for 2 hours until he stopped when we said "woah" - he stops immediately when I'm on him, but isn't as responsive when you're on the ground and especially when he's not "caught". Before this lesson, he was way too busy whinnying for the other horses to pay much attention. However, since this lesson, he stops VERY well in the round pen and even now if I work him free in the arena.

Unfortunately, the lesson didn't stick as the next day, he wouldn't even let us corner him and I ended up having Al rope him. It was quite an ordeal (he's very spooky) in which Snickers then proceeded to stampede (it looked like a wild horse herd!) until he finally ran himself into a corner huffing and puffing and Al grabbed the rope, and afterward Al did quite a bit of desensitization in the round pen with the lasso. He was so sweaty and exhausted after all of that, I didn't have the heart to make him work anymore. Rather than returning him to the pasture, he went to his new stall and has been there since. I've worked with him on stopping with "woah" and coming to me afterward in the round pen and even the arena now, but he really doesn't seem all that interested in me and kind of does things on his own time and how/when he feels like it. Worst of all, as soon as I introduce another horse (which I did by bringing Flash into the arena and turning him loose), all the progress we've made simply disappears. It's like he's never even heard the word "woah" before.  I've been riding him, but only 30 minute short ones that don't work him into a sweat, mostly working on collecting in the arena. My ideas are to keep doing what we're doing, as well as trying to turn him out in the arena with other horses and catch-treat-release over and over. If that goes well, I think I'll turn him loose in the pasture with a lunge line attached (yes, the 30 feet of line really is necessary in this case) and do the same thing. Hopefully, since I truly think I am part of the issue here, I can teach him to want to be with me. But right now, I just feel so discouraged!!


From this post, I've gotten a few good replies and more encouragement, so I'm going to stick with it.  It was pretty tempting on Saturday, after our "rodeo" to just sell him and go buy the mare at Belesemo Arabians, but after all the advice I've gotten and talking to them about the conditions with the mare, I think it's best to just work through this.  Thank goodness Trevor was taking me out to dinner that night (finally we got to go to Texas Roadhouse), and he really supports me and thinks this will just make me (and Snickers!) all that much better to have worked through this issue.  Snickers has been quite a bit more sensible since the whole ordeal, including letting me put the bridle on without issues, but I really just want to be able to catch him, but I also feel like I'm missing out on that wonderful bond that Arabians are supposed to have (and the bond Flash has with me!).  Hopefully this will improve soon.  I guess it's  just going to take time and work.

I'm still planning on volunteering at the Tough Sucker II, btw, and am hoping that the Owyhee Fandango will be our first race.  I was tempted to try and make it to the Tough Sucker, but especially with this setback, I'm not going to worry about it at all.  Plus, I really do need to volunteer first and get my bearings a little more.  Snickers has unfortunately dropped a lot of weight after all this too :(  Oh well, that gives us about 2 months to get where we need to be.  I sent an email to see if anyone will be able to drive us there....

I also talked to Doc Washington yesterday about Snickers's fitness and I got a lot more awesome advice than I was asking for!  We also talked about our current issue with the catching, and he said it sounded like I really recognized what we needed to work on before we move into more endurance.  Here are some of the key points from our conversation about endurance, though:

• I need to condition faster than I plan to ride
• We need to be getting above that 20 mile mark each week, but not go over 30 miles
• For an Arabian or half-Arabian, any conditioning will have them ready for a 25-miler,
• Especially for the first year of endurance conditioning, you need to take care not to get your horse sour (like I'm running into) - take some easy rides and put a lot of emphasis on bonding and enjoying each other as well
• As a personal preference, we should be loping rather than extending our trot (good news for me!) if we're working at 13mph speeds.  He was saying something about it being less taxing on their joints and whatnot.
• I had originally called about whether I should have him do a once-over before I race him since I never had a PPE, but he said that'd be overkill since I know that horse's background and he's never really DONE anything, so there's no reason he should have issues since he's been good so far
• As for a stethoscope, I should look for something in the $15-$25 range - between $25 and $100 there's not a whole lot of difference and the $100+ would be overkill for me

Anyway, so that's about it.  I have more videos, so I'll see if I can get some of the highlights uploaded.  Hopefully, things improve with Snickers :(  I feel so bad with him in a stall all alone!  Not to mention that the reason he's in there is because he wants nothing to do with me.  *sigh*

Here's a few videos related to this post:

Snickers after Al's rodeo, which involved roping Snickers to catch him and then desensitization in the round pen.



This is what we're currently working on with Snickers and demonstrates pretty well his behavior:

A week's worth of riding

It's been raining and windy pretty much all week, so I couldn't give horse lessons except for Saturday.  However, that means there was plenty of time for me to ride!  I figure I can't decide what the weather will be like during my endurance rides, so I might as well get experience in all types of weather that's reasonable (though, here in Idaho, the endurance season months are generally dry and sunny, though they can occasionally get windy, like on the day of my outdoor wedding reception!)  I've got four trail rides to catch up on, plus one day's work in the arena....

Sunday was windy, but I went ahead and saddled up.  Snickers wasn't too keen on being caught, so I worked with Flash first and did some ground driving.  He did really well!  He's not fast by any means, but he gets that when I pull one direction, he turns that direction, and visa versa.  I did get it on video, too.  I don't think he's nearly as frustrated as he was during our first attempts at ground driving, with the bridle and bit and a makeshift surcingle.  The right tools make all the difference.  And a patient horse!  Good job Flash!

I did catch Snickers, and we went for a ride similar to our first one, to the mangled car.  He really fought going out on the trail and kept turning back toward the pasture - can you say herd-bound?? - but we eventually got going after a little antsy dance, particularly when he saw the dogs at the house.  It's not bad, especially once he gets going because he's a LOT better, but at first he was really fidgety and ornery (sp?).  It's amazing the difference it's made to get him out regularly and work him around things he tends to be afraid of.  He did stop to look at the car from a short distance and was a little shifty going past it, but all in all it really wasn't a big deal.  Now that I've seen it closer, I really have no idea if it's a car or not, but it's definitely a giant heap of rusty mangled metal!  We followed the trail to where it bends left at a fence, where we trotted a ways.  There were a couple of shiny, flappy silver board things on the ground that he shied at, but all in all he really works through things well.  Out that direction, we did see the train go past and I thought about riding all the way to it, but we came to a spot where the entire trail was covered by a mountain of tumbleweeds and decided it was probably a decent turning back point.  All in all, it came out to a little over 6 miles.

Monday or Tuesday I went out there but didn't ride at all.  Instead, I caught Snickers, who was being his little Prima Donna self and whinnying and dancing all over, and decided to leave him tied while I worked with Flash first.  Oh my goodness he was NOT happy!  Oh well - that's what a good knot is for!  With Flash, I groomed and groomed him, (as usual), and then set up a bunch of small jumps for him to work over.  I figured that would be good trail experience for both of them just in case we ever have to step over something.  Flash was so funny!  He willingly tried all the "jumps", though he knocked down every one that he could.  I love it though - even when the jump was falling down under his feet and the poles on the side were falling on top of him, he stood there like it was nothing.  Good boy!  I definitely need a horse like that to contrast Snickers, who, as expected, wasn't exactly calm when he worked over the same jumps lol.  I eventually put Flash away, and then Snickers was up, who had at least stopped whinnying constantly and was pawing instead.  I brushed him down, rearranged some of the jumps, and then off we went.  As we started walking up to the jumps, he suddenly realized there were all these scary monsters around him and went into "OMG" mode, dancing around wide-eyed and shaky-legged.  I was patient and led him up to each one and gave him time to figure out what it was, then coaxed him to step/jump over it, which resulted in much praising.  In the end, I got him to go over each one multiple times, and he didn't hesitate too much over the ones that were just low poles.  He just always needs to sniff things first, but that's ok.  I was so proud of him working so hard and being so "brave"!  Where Flash isn't phased by really anything, Snickers has such a big heart that he'll work to overcome what he is afraid of.  I'm so proud of him :)  It is pretty funny to see the contrast between the two on video, since it was the first time for each of them seeing these jumps.

Wednesday was another windy day, but we went ahead and braved the weather!  As I started out, there was an older gentleman starting out just ahead of us with his dog.  I recognized the saddle as the one that sits next to mine in the tack room because he has the same endurance stirrups as I do.  I struck up a conversation and it turns out he did do endurance, but not anymore.  His name is Lou and his horse is the one that Sandy's (the lady from SWIT&DR) daughter is riding for endurance.  Snickers was being a herd-bound turd again, but we got out there ok.  It was hard to talk to him because we kept getting ahead of him thanks to Snickers.  After a bit I said goodbye and trotted on ahead.  Snickers could not figure out what the heck the grain stuff was on the ground though and kept dancing around it as I tried to get him to look at it.  He seemed to do ok about the dog - he was just spooky all around though!  Once we got out there a little more on our own, he did fine.  I wish that was the Snickers people could see more often!  He can be such a scaredy-cat at the barn, dancing all over the place.  We ended up going under the power lines and following the trail left to Kuna Mora Road and then back, just over 8.5 miles round trip.  Overall, once he got over the stuff at the barn in the beginning, he did great.

That night was the SWIT&DR meeting, where I sat next to Sandy and her husband.  I am now an official member with dues paid and all, and I met and talked to a few more people, particularly about volunteering at the Tough Sucker in April.  The lady I talked to (I believe she's the treasurer...) suggested I get my own stethoscope and learn how to take a horse's pulse, especially because that's what I'll be doing most likely for my volunteering day.  Plus, then I'll get used to taking Snicker's heart rate.  I really enjoyed the meeting and learned a lot (though the speaker was talking about composting, something I can't really do since I board and, though I did mention it to my dad a little, I doubt he'll ever take the initiative to do it).  I'm glad I joined the club!  Also, Sandy said she'd trailer with me to rides she goes to that her daughter doesn't, so maybe that will work out!  I really want to get some award next year, and I think the Rookie Rider award should be easy enough to get (there wasn't even a rookie rider last year), but it would be really cool to get the rookie horse award for Snickers.  That means I'll have to make going to rides a priority and maximize the amount of riding we can do!  It's a cool goal to work toward!

Thursday we rode again, and it was a pretty sweet ride.  I worked him a little on the lunge line first, and I think that helped him use his brain a little more.  He was a lot better about striking out for the trail.  It was still windy, but we just struck out under the power lines and then back again in a straight line.  Past the trail intersection, the trail wasn't as good, but good enough and I could still see any holes.  The best part of the ride was that we totally had a Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron moment - There was a bald eagle flying along with us!  I couldn't believe what I thought I saw, so we did some loping to catch up.  At one point it landed on one of the poles, and I'm fairly positive it had to be a bald eagle. It was pretty sweet :)  It was a really nice ride, and the loping was great!  I felt a little more secure in the saddle, something that still feels weird to me on Snickers and in this English saddle.  We didn't do a whole lot, but Sandy suggested doing a variation of speeds so we threw it in there.  Plus, it was pretty sweet to be loping along in the wide open with a bald eagle flying above us :D  We went just over 8 miles.

Shelley called and said my tack was in, so I went to pick it up before class Thursday.  I picked up the pad and breast collar, and grabbed an English hackamore while I was there.  The bridle came in, but it turns out the bridle/halter combination she ordered was one of the ones that clips on the bit and the halter has a brow band on it.  I wouldn't have been able to use the snap-on headstall with it, so I decided to wait until Shelley was in to figure out what I should do.  Then I decided (mostly out of impatience and the weak rationale that with Snickers's bridling problem the snaps would probably cause more issues anyway) to go back and get the combo.  Then, as I was pulling out, I realized that since it had a brow band, I would need to pull the halter over his head (and that's when he freaks out) in the pasture just to get the halter on, and that wouldn't go well.  So I brought it back.  Shelley called the next morning and is going to order the right halter for me.  Hopefully it gets here soon!

We took a break Friday since he got a really good workout Thursday, but Saturday we went ahead and did a "short" ride.  It wasn't raining while we were out there, but the ground was really wet and muddy.  We tried a new trail going right at the first fence, which leads west.  It went into the area where there was a fire - I think that may have been one of the fires last summer from this really strange electrical storm that started a bunch of fires around our house.  We came out toe Pleasant Valley Road, and there is a track along the road, probably for ATV's.  Either way, it was really nice and wide, as well as flat, so we went ahead and rode South along the road.  At one point, there was a giant puddle that covered almost the entire track, so I decided to take advantage of it and work with Snickers on water.  He was pretty funny, but so brave!  It was wide enough that he couldn't dance around it, and finally realized he was going to have to go through it.  He put his nose down and sniffed it a few times, blowing the water away in ripples.  Finally, he decided it was safe, and took a couple of steps, then sniffed it again to make sure it was still water.  He did the routine a few more times until he was all the way through the puddle, and I told him how good of a job he did :)  We went a little further, loping some of the way, until we reached the railroad tracks.  There was a cattle guard there that I got him decently close to, again just letting him get used to anything and everything, then turned back.  I let him lope a little bit and let him lengthen out pretty fast, but then practice slowing down in between trotting and loping.  I think we need some more collecting lope, which I plan on doing today in the arena.  We went through the big puddle and a few smaller puddles, and he did really well!  He still had to sniff the puddles every time, but didn't have to stop and sniff again once he was actually walking through them.  He felt a little funny coming back, but I think that was because of the mud and that he really wanted to get back!  Again, we'll need to work on some discipline today in the arena.  All in all, we did a little more than 6 miles, totaling about 41 miles for the last two weeks.  That's great!  I'd like to average about 20 miles/week in conditioning, and so far, so good!  I'm setting a goal to make it to the Owyhee Fandango at the end of May, but MAYBEEEEE we can make it to the second Tough Sucker.  That might be pushing it, though, so I'll really want someone to check him out for me to tell me if they think he's ready.  I should go ahead and get that stethoscope soon so I can start checking Snicker's heart rate myself and get a good idea of where he's at physically :)

Well, that's about it for my horse exploits for the week!  It was a good week.  I'm excited to get Snickers's bridle - I'll have to take a picture of him all decked out in pretty blue!!  IT looks really good so far, so I can't wait to complete the set!

8 mile loop

We went 8 miles Thursday!  Snickers was actually less sweaty than last time - maybe it's because I don't think I pushed him quite as much haha.  We took off down the main trail that goes under the power lines.  He did pretty well, and trotted out for me just fine.  He was a lot less spooky, but what he lacked in quantity he made up for in quality.  The biggest spook was when a flock of tiny black birds, those one that hang out in a giant black, morphing cloud, took off from the ground 50 feet or so ahead of us - far away enough to not be any cause of concern, but close enough that it surprised Snickers.  But, he worked right on through it!  The funny thing is he doesn't really even break his gait when he spooks or shies, he just trots slower and around the monster and takes a good look at it.  I saw a coyote as well, but I don't think Snicker saw it because he didn't spook.  I stopped him and let him take a quick break while the coyote (at least 100 ft away) ran away into the brush.  He did, however, smell it a moment or so after we started going again.  He'd take a couple steps, freeze, stick his nose in the air, look around, and go again after a little prodding.  It was only for a couple of minutes or so, though, and then he was back to normal.  I'm so impressed!

Snickers extended really well when I asked him too, and it's getting easier and easier.  I think it helped him a lot when I just let him extend last time as we headed back to the barn, but checking him when he broke into a lope.  I think he's got the idea of what I'm asking for, and is more than eager to give it to me.  Since I think he's more or less got it down, I'm going to tone down the speed and just ask him to trot nicely for a distance.  I did ask him to extend every now and then, especially where the trail was really good, so I could reinforce what I wanted.  I checked our speed, too, and it looks like he gives me a slower, collected trot at 7mph, and his big, extended trot is around 11-13mph.  That's pretty sweet - we were cruisin!

We took a right where the main trails intersect, headed North (there's a map of our ride at the bottom of this post).  One of the guys from the barn had mentioned that it loops back around and I was a little curious, but mostly I just wanted to continue exploring the trails.  I kept a close look at the time, though, and kept going "just a little further" - and eventually we ended up right on Kuna Mora road!  Instead of turning around, we went ahead and followed Kuna Mora back to South Vista, then walked South Vista all the way back to Dusty Acres for his cool down.  He really didn't have much trouble with the cars, who were mostly nice and moved over.  I'm not a huge fan of riding along the roads, but it was probably the quickest way back (and he'd already gone 4-5 miles), there was a nice, wide dirt(ish)shoulder, and it was good to know how he'd do around cars anyway.  I'm not sure if Snickers caught on that we were actually getting closer to the barn rather than farther away still, but it was nice not to have that "return trip" so I know he was still concentrated on what I was asking rather than just trying to get home.  It's a fine line between cruising home and barn sour lol.  He did really well with a couple of other scary monsters along the way, including a torn up mattress and some other garbage thrown out along the trail.

All in all, I was pretty proud of us and can't wait to get out there again.  Good boy Snickers! Backing up a little, I did lunge him with the lunge cavesson (which I got in the mail last week), which he freaked out about like the bridle when I tried to put it on.  It took one try with the clicker to get him to keep his head down, though.  I think I'll just have to include my clicker in my pack (probably buy a few extras as well), just in case I'm ever out on the trail and need to get him to behave with the bridle or anything else that might come up.  He calms right down and concentrates with it, but it'd sure be nice if he just got over this issue all together.  He also cross fired (of course) while lunging, and I got after him some, forcing him to get back on the right foot.  I did get him to do it a few times, but I'm not very satisfied with it.  They horse shoeing lady was there, and she said she sticks them in a round pen and works, works, works them.  I'll have to worry about that later.  On the bright side, I'm not so worried about lunging him before I ride anymore - it's more to get him to let his air out so I can get the saddle tight at this point. He also doesn't let me catch him without a treat.  It's kind of funny, though - he doesn't "avoid" being caught so much as has the attitude of "bring me a treat first."  Whereas when Smoke'Em was in his "don't catch me" phase, he would be very cautious and move away from the halter/lead rope even when I had a treat in my hand, Snickers just wants to munch away while I'm putting the lead rope around his neck and lets me put the halter on really nicely after that.  He is so alert and keeps me in front of him, so if I don't have a treat he just backs up so I can't get to his neck, then loses interest and walks away from me.  However, if I have a treat, I just offer it to him, move around to his neck, and put the lead rope around it while he's having his snack.  The little stinker lol.  Oh well.

Well, I think I've effectively described my whole ride with Snickers in reverse order, and I guess I'll continue to do so since I briefly worked with Flash before working with Snickers.  Flash was super sweet about being caught, of course, and walked right up to me and stood still.   He's shedding like crazy, so I spent a long time brushing him down.  There were quite a few giant ticks in him that I felt, so I pulled out my jar and tweezers and got all the big ones I came across plus a few little ones.  One of the ladies I see out there every now and then asked me what I was doing, and we talked for a while while I tracked down the nasty little suckers lol.  The lunge cavesson was a little big, but I tied it up just like I did the surcingle and it worked fine.  It's still twisting around his mouth, though, but he did fine for the most part.  He did pretty good with the long reigns, actually.  He's starting to get it and turn nicely when I ask.  Just a little work every now and then I guess and we'll get there :)  I'm not  in any hurry!  Though I sure am excited about riding him - he's such a sweet heart and everything I could ask for in a quarter horse!

I also went shopping this week - I got some good money from horse lessons and decided to go ahead and get the saddle pack and some stuff to keep my cinch clean along with the blue rope reins they'd already ordered and gotten in.  Still no saddle pad, but that should be in by the end of this week or maybe the beginning of next week, as well as my other tack that I ordered!!  I'm so excited - I decided to take the plunge and order my royal blue Zilco halter/bridle combo (which will be much nicer to work with getting the bridle on Snickers since the halter fits nicely under the bridle to hold his head down if need be) and matching breast collar.  I can't wait to be all decked out in my blue endurance stuff!  It looks so cool on everyone else's horses lol.  And I will still have my very pretty all-leather bridle, of course, when I want to look classic haha.  We're gonna be hot stuff!  I decided I really like the blue - it's pretty color that really pops, will match Snickers well and even Flash (though it's looking like they'll each have their own tack anyway), and it's Trevor's favorite color so I'm excited to be all decked out in it :)  I'll have to take a good picture once I get it all in! You know, I just thought of this - those nice blue rope reigns will double really well as a lead rope out on the trail, especially since all I have to do is unclip them from the bit and clip it onto the halter ring :)  Awesome!  One less thing I'll have to carry! (maybe lol) Ok, well I think that's about everything.  I'm planning on going riding after this.  I wasn't sure because, despite the semi-nice day we've had so far, it's supposed to rain - but I guess that's what endurance is all about!  I'm not going to get to pick the wether for the races, so I might as well work him either way!  Dang, this sport is addicting ;)

Trimming and Trail Riding

I officially get to log my first 4.5 miles! Yeterday was a big day for me and the boys. I got out there and tied them up for trimming, and the lady got right to it. I can't remember her name, but the cmopany is Little Lady Horseshoeing. She was really good with both of the boys, taking time to let Snickers, who I had go first so I could saddle him up while Flash got his feet done, calm down and get used to her being there and working on his feet and all her tools. He stood really well for her and she got him trimmed up really nice. She said he had good feet, though his outer walls are a lot thinner than his inner walls I guess. She helped me decide to keep him barfoot as long as I can, though,if we need to, shoes will prevent him from wearing down unevenly. Flash didn't want to stand still very well and she worked well with him. She had me come stand in front of him and calm him down and keep him from going forward, and he did great after that. I really wanted him to learn to stand for her without the clicker, so I was glad he did so well. She also said he had really good feet. When I mentioned about him being toed out, she said his toes were just long and he had a "flare" on the outside. She trimmed it off and he looked a lot better. I don't know about the toed out or not, but it was nice to hear her say he's really good. I put Flash back right after the trimming. He was already sweaty when I pulled him out of the pasture, so he must have been running (I'm guessing chased?) around a bit. I'm glad I hadn't planned on working him. Snickers, on the other hand, I planned on finally taking out onto the trail. I figured out the Garmin and set it up so I really wanted to try it out, plus it was really nice day. By the time I got out there it was cloudier and windier but not terrible. I almost decided to stay in the arena... I got the bridle on the first try. He took the bit fine and ALMOST raised his head, bringing it up a few inches but still with my arm over his poll, but I paused and just waited for him to put it back down before I finished putting it on. Then I rewarded him with plenty of grain :) He did NOT want to stand still at all. Thank goodness he freezes once you're actually getting on and off, but getting him to hold still otherwise was a pain. He fought dropping his head and collecting, but eventually started to give in. Ultimatlely, I decided to go ahead and just take him out and let him move. As soon as we were out, he turned his attention to what was going on rather than misbehaving. Of course, he had to look at everything and s really cautious, but once we got going on the trail he started moving really well and collecting when I asked him to. He shied away from a few things, but overall I was really proud of him and he behaved himself and listened. When it was coming bout time to turn back, there was a really good marker: a giant bundle of rusty and tangled up metal. It might have been a car at one point - either way, i wanted Snickers to at least take a good look at it and he decided he didn't want any part of it or the 30 feet of trail between it and us as it was right alongside it. I didn't ask him to go toward it, but I did want him to take a good look at it and calm down - and it definitely showed when he finally saw it lol. But, after a little bit of coxing not to just turn around and head the other way, as he REALLY wanted to do, he stopped and took a good look at it and held still, and then I told him it was time to go home. On the way home, it was REALLY easy to get him into an extended trot, so I rewarded him by letting him and I worked on getting comfortable in it. He did break into a lope now and then, but slowed right down when I asked him. When we started tog et closer to the barn, I slowed him down to a walk to cool down, but we did average 6.9 mph before we slowed down. At the end, we'd gone exactly 4.5 miles and averaged 6.3 mph. He was really sweaty but so excited to be back and started whinnying for Flash when we got back. I unsaddled him and did a quick brush, but he was ready to get to the pasture and I needed to go, so I got him back out to his buddies pretty quickly. Overall, it was a really good day :) All of my maintenence is done now and they won't need their feet done for another 2 months, and shots done until fall! And I'm finally logging my miles (which, btw, the GPS doesn't get a good signal inside the barn, but oh well). I think I'm going to get ahold of the endurance lady out there so I can make sure I go about this the right way, but I'm feeling pretty good about all this. I called Legacy and my reins are inbut my saddle pad is on back order, so we'll see when ose come in. I think I may pick up the reins tomorrow though. I guess we'll see!

Vaccination Day!

And a week's worth of riding too...  I may not have done a good job of updating this week, but it's been a really good week with the boys!  Plus, a week isn't TOO far behind lol.

Anyway, like I said, today was vaccination day, and tomorrow they're both getting their feet trimmed.  Doc Woodington came out to Dusty Acres from 11-1 to do anybody who wanted to get their horses done.  I showed up around noon and pulled both the boys out - Snickers wasn't THAT hard to catch, but I'm still using a handful of treats to keep him still while I throw the lead rope over his neck.  I'm not so sure that he doesn't wan't caught - I think it's more of him wanting to keep me in front of him where he can see what's going on and get treats lol.  However, if he realizes I don't have any treats he wants and gets uninterested, then I have to do a little dance to get to his neck because he just wanders away from me and does try to avoid getting caught with minimal effort.  I did some clicker training with getting him to come to me yesterday, so maybe that's why it was easy to catch him today.  Flash, of course, walks right to me once he thinks I'm really coming for him.  Never trotting or loping, just a steady walk and taking his time lol.  Yesterday he walked all the way to the gate as soon as I came in.  Today, though, I had to come half way before he started walking.  Oh well, it's not like it's a huge area.  Plus, once he's with me, he never leaves :)

With Snickers, the focus this week has been on fixing the bridle issue and working into an extended trot.  I did a good clicker training session with him the other day and got him to where he at least wasn't freaking out, though he was still putting up a fuss.  Yesterday he started off really well and we got it to where I could put the bridle on reasonably easily and fuss with his ears in doing so.  One thing that I think helped was loosening up the bridle - not only did it make it less tricky to get the bridle on in the first place with more room to work with, but it looked good at the longer length so I think it may have been a tad too tight.

Snickers collets pretty easily with me now, but we've got to both get used to an extended trot to cover ground fast for endurance :)  The first day I decided to work on that, there was a guy out there with an English saddle that was friendly, so I asked him about an extended trot.  He explained it to me and told me to work on transitions within the gait to get it from Snickers by collecting on the corners and extending down the side of the arena.  Every now and then his movement got quite a bit bigger and I could really feel the difference on top of him, so I think that's him getting into an extended trot.  Yesterday I brought the camcorder, but I can't really see much. I'll have to just work on it more until I can get the other endurance lady out there, Sandy (who I met at the SWIT&DR banquet and then ran into the night I was working on Snickers accepting the bridle), or something like that to watch me ride and let me know what I need to do still.  Yesterday, we started doing the extended trot across the arena in a diagonal, making a sort of figure 8.  That seemed to work pretty well, especially since I wasn't battling him trying to shy away from the side of the arena where all the other horses and stuff are that he gets nervous about sometimes.  The rides have felt pretty good and I love the leggings Shelly sold me :)  They're so warm and comfortable!  I'm figuring out the half chaps a little more too so they don't rub on me.

Flash has been doing good too, though we've mostly been having fun haha.   We did a little lunging work, particularly to get him to pick up directional cues when I point and switch hands with the lunge whip.  We've also done a lot of liberty leading, and he started loping after me one time!  So now we do liberty leading at a walk, trot, and lope.  It's pretty sweet :)  My surcingle came in the mail, so I thought I'd give it a shot with Flash yesterday.  It was a tad bit big, but the straps were nylon so I just tied a knot in each one and that took it in enough to fit him.  I didn't get it as snug as I would have liked (or could have done actually), because Flash was moving around a bit when I put it on.  I ran the long lines through the holes and clipped them to his halter - I hope my cavesson comes soon because that will make it a bit easier.  At first he reacted the same way he did with the bridle, backing up and tossing his head a little bit.  However, since he didn't have a bit pulling on his mouth, he settled down.  First we did some flexing, which he figured out pretty quick.  It was a little harder to get him to move forward and then turn, but he was beginning to get it last night so we stopped there :)

So overall, it was a very productive and good week!  I started talking to the lady in Texas whose blog I follow and she's (kind of) doing endurance.  She has the same GPS as I do, so she explained to me how to set it up for conditioning.  It does some awesome stuff - way more than I thought it tracked! I got my trip computer page set up so I can start using it on my next ride.  Now I can start logging my miles for 2012!