He's Baaaaaaccckkk!!!

Well Friday's excursion with Diego went extremely well, even if it was not according to my original plans. The original plan was for me to take Dig over to friends Bob and Dovie's house and ride Diego in their round pen and around their fenced in back yard. If everything was going well, then Dovie was going to take their kid-proof pony and go out with us on an easy little trail ride. This was to be the first time I had ridden Diego off the property since April, so I was a little bit nervous about how things would go.

As it worked out, I got Diego over there and he was being really good. Got saddled and he was pretty much ignoring Bob and Dovie's 4 mares that were checking out the new guy. I took Diego into the round pen and did some ground work with him. When we were both feeling relaxed, I went ahead and mounted up. Things were going okay until I asked Dig to walk around. I could feel him getting tense, which in turn made me tense, so we stopped and both tried to relax again. After a little bit, I again asked him to walk. He would walk a few steps and then swing his hind end around (pivot on his front legs) and then stop. After nagging at him a few times, he kind of tucked his butt, scooted forward and gave a little hop. I was still on top and doing okay, but I got off and decided to re-evaluate and maybe do some more ground work first.

This is when an extremely good thing happened, Bob volunteered to ride Diego for me. He could tell that I was feeling pretty uptight, not a good thing for either Dig nor I, and he's started a couple of young horses for him and Dovie in the past. So we pulled my saddle, since Bob's legs are much longer and I can't adjust the stirrups down that far, and he hopped on bareback. Bob rides bareback **A LOT**, like more often than not, and had put the first few rides on a couple of horses bareback.

Bob gets ready to mount Diego for the first time

So Bob mounted up and I lead Diego around the round pen for a few minutes. Dig was pretty sticky to start, it was a probably a good thing to just lead him around for a while. It gave everyone a chance to relax and get the feel of each other. Eventually, Bob started taking more and more control and, when he was ready, I unclipped the lead and he rode Diego around on his own.

Getting a feel for each other

Bob was very happy with how responsive Diego was to his sidepull. Bob normally trains with a snaffle, and other than a few bridle-less rides, this was the first time he had ridden a young horse without a bit. Diego actually is very happy in his sidepull and is very light and responsive. I received a few compliments on how quickly he would stop and how he didn't pull on the reins at all, instead yielding softly.

Soon things were going well enough that we opened up the gate and Bob rode Diego around their back yard. Dovie hopped up on the pony and rode around with him. Dig did very well, checking out the new environment and even leading the way around and behind their long shedrow barn. You could see his relax and start to get comfortable with being ridden again. Bob even did some trotting with him, a few steps here and there. He was very happy with how smooth Diego was.

After a while longer, Bob, Dovie, and another friend Tammy decided to go ahead and go out on a little trail ride. This was the largest "group" Diego has been out on the trail with. We've ridden with two other horses in the arena, but not out and about. This was also his *THIRD* trail ride ever. He did extremely well and I was a very proud mama. I followed along and took some pictures. Here they are riding past the neighbor's house to the little open area (single and two-track through sagebrush) where they ended up riding.

Diego actually lead the pack for most of the way. Bob complimented him on having a nice, mostly relaxed, forward walk. He wasn't overly balky and didn't want to rush. When he would get nervous, his tendency was to tuck is butt and scoot forward a few steps, then turn to look at what startled him (Diego that is, not Bob). They successfully trotted for a short distance out on the trail, were passed by, and then re-passed the other horses.

It really gave me a lot of confidence to see Diego perform so well. Bob is now officially the second-ever person to ride Diego. I am very grateful to him for his help and assistance, and am looking forward to going out there more often in the upcoming weeks and months. Bob wants me to do some ground-work with his young girl, Surprise, to help get her more soft and supple, and he'll ride and work with Diego for me while I'm doing that. I'm sure we're all going to have a lot of fun!

New Headgear and Saddle Mods

Diego got a new sidepull from Crazy Ropes. I LOVE it!!! Debbie Hanson is the owner and she did a fabulous job. It's exactly what I wanted. Diego still needs to have a dental appointment, his wolf teeth are starting to erupt, so I have only been using the snaffle really sporadically for now, preferring to use a sidepull. I also have found that I get less resistance with the sidepull and he will yield with lighter pressure. Whether this is a result of some teeth issues, or just a training thing and he prefers nose to mouth pressure will have to be determined in time.

It has the marine-grade rope with the two extra pressure knots on the noseband. She then adds a really pretty overlay that is knotted/weaved on with a color you can select. She also has a couple of different base colors you can select from, if you don't want basic black.

You then add your own curb strap. I bought this one a while ago and it was a bit too long to use with the snaffle bit (a safety measure), but I'm glad I decided to hang onto it. It fits and works perfectly with the sidepull.

The curb strap attached to one set of rings, and the reins to another. The reins are the black strap you see running up along his head in this picture. This is installed on my biothane halter bridle combo that I purchased at the AERC Convention. Another item I dearly love.

I also am fortunate enough to be borrowing a Bob Marshall treeless saddle from a good friend of mine. It didn't have any stirrups though, or the modified Bob Marshall fenders/leathers that are somewhat of a custom item for these saddles. I know a few people who make do with nylon dog collars. I looked around in my trailer tack room and low and behold, child-size Wintec Webbers! I zip-tied them onto the saddle D's and then put my EZ Rides on. Perfect and so easily adjustable!

Going Riding

A friend and I have made plans to get together for a ride on Friday. I've been riding Diego more and more at home lately, but still just inside our small corral. I have a larger area outside where I have room to lunge and ground drive, but it's not fenced and the ground is really rocky and hard - so the possibility of something bad happening should we have an issue is a bit much right now. I have ridden Diego out there a few times in the spring, before my fall, but I just haven't got up the nerve to try again.

In other good news, a neighbor about 4 houses down is finishing up building a fairly good sized arena in their back yard. Diego, Taren, Molly (our puppy) and I were all out for a walk the other day and he invited me to come over and ride sometime. In a twist of fate, he's the off-duty EMT that was one of the first responders when I broke my arm at Bartley Ranch. He was the one there on a walk with his wife. She's the one that has horses in their family, he as a dirt bike (just like in my household). =) I was surpised he still offered once he knew who I was. I was joking with my husband that having an EMT on site would be a good thing. =) I guess when I was hurt, this guy was the one that called AJ and let him know. When AJ got the "I'm calling about your wife" he (AJ - my hubby) said "Well, she either fell off her horse or hit you with the truck, which is it?" LOL As you can tell - I'm a teeny bit accident prone. But it would be wonderful if they get the arena done and it's okay for winter riding - would beat having to worry about getting the truck and trailer out in the snow.

Bomb-proofing Clinic

I was able to take Diego to the Wild Horse and Burro Expo that was being hosted here in Reno at the Livestock Event Center today. One of their scheduled "events" was a bomb-proofing clinic hosted by Willis Lamm that was free to the public - bring your horse it said, so I did!

This ended up being the first time Diego's been off the property since he bucked me off and I broke my arm back in April. Add to that the fact that we were going to a pretty large show grounds with other horses, loud speakers, golf carts, plenty of people, etc and this ended up being a pretty big test for him. AND HE TOTALLY ACED IT!!! =)

When we first got there, I got Diego out of the trailer in the parking lot and tied him up and groomed him for a little while. I had strategically parked where he could see two other horses that were tied up to their trailer, so he had a little extra confidence boost. His eyes were kind of big, but he was very good and stood still while I brushed him, combed his mane and picked his hooves. Unfortunately/Fortunately it was a little cool and breezy today, so he wasn't able to get a bath and elbow grease had to do, but at least it wasn't 101 like it was a few days ago.

After I bit, I put my lunge line on Diego and took him over to the area where they had the obstacles set up. They had many different obstacles: wooden fence posts in various designs (5 of these), a barrel, a big tractor tire with plywood over it, a bed sheet on a frame, a "horse wash" on a frame with caution tape, a leopard print rug to walk over, crushed cans, a small set of wooden steps with a platform the horse could walk over, two different types of bridges, crushed aluminum cans inside one of the fence post sets, etc. It was a really nice set-up. Things were pretty low-key when I went over, there was just the clinician and one other gentleman working with is roan mustang at the time. Perfect, perfect.

Diego was nervous at first so I went over to the barrel and lunged him in some circles for a while in the most open area. This gave him a chance to start to check everything out. I just let him trot for a little bit, then started asking him to yield his hindquarters, turn and face me, change direction, back-up, etc. Once he was focusing on me, we started to walk around more and look at stuff.

One of the first obstacles we did was a set of six poles set in a circle, so I stood in the middle and lunged Dig around the outside. He did well and as soon as he dropped his head to watch what he was doing, I could see him start to focus on me more and begin to really relax. After he was looking comfortable with this, we went over to the bed sheet on the frame. Diego walked up to it and started trying to chew on the bed sheet. =) Obviously our tarp training has been paying off! Yay! I let him check it out a bit more, and then sent him through several time. We then did the caution tape horse wash obstacle. This one was a bit more tricky in that there were bits of red plastic and flagging ribbons tied long this side of the arena. Diego didn't seem to care about any of that stuff - he even bit one of the red plastic flags and pulled it off - so I had to tie it back on.

We then went over and worked on the wooden bridges. Diego has done the one at my friend Sarah's house before, so I didn't take long before he was walking over both of them. You could tell he was starting to get more and more confident and braver about trying things. I took him through the two of the other wooden sets - one was a long narrow, somewhat bendy section made of railroad ties. The other was a big jumble, where the horse had to pay attention to where they were placing their feet. The poles were angled and set up on the side with one or the other end, so he really had to focus on what he was doing.

The clinician Willis Lamm came over and talked with me for a while at this point. Diego was stopped in the middle of the obstacle, back feet straddling a pole, and he stood patiently while we discussed Dig. Willis mentioned that as an Arab, Diego is breed to be extra aware of his surroundings, as battle horses, they needed to always be alert to what was going on around them and be quick enough to evade an attack. He'd noticed when we first came in, how Dig was a bit on "overwhelm" and complimented me for just working with him calmly and quietly. He mentioned how with Diego, his "flashpoint" was still very near the surface, and he was quick to react, but we had both noticed how he was also quick to stop, think about it, and settle down to evaluate the situation. He really liked Dig a lot, and told me that in about a year and a half or so, I would probably have a rock-solid, very steady mount that I could point at just about anything.

This echoed a lot of my own feelings in that Diego is just unconfident and didn't have a lot of trust in me and our relationship. I've been happy to see that trust developing more and more, and today it was very apparent at times as he would look to me and take his cues for reaction based upon what I was doing. I could go on and on, but I'll let the pictures (taken by my 7 yr old son) speak for themselves. Diego conquered every obstacle that was in that ring. He cracked me up with the aluminum cans, rustling them with his nose, biting one, tossing them around, and then calmly stepping through. I also hooked up my second line and spent some time ground driving him around and over them as well - helping to establish that "I don't have to go first" scenario that will continue with our riding career. We ended our day with going inside the big spooky indoor arena, and lunging a bit in there and then calmly walking out and back to the trailer. I was exceedingly proud of my boy today - GO DIEGO GO!!!

What we've been up to...

... besides obviously not blogging. =)


So, broken arm aside (which has healed extremely well and I have my full range of motion back - Yay!), I haven't just been letting Diego rot in the barn for the past few months. I've done my best to take this set-back in stride and think of it as time to improve our ground work and overall relationship. With that mindset, I've been pretty satisfied with our results. To be perfectly honest, I think this time to take a step back and really get back to basics has benefitted us both. And I most probably would NOT have done all this additional ground work if I had been able to keep riding.


Things I've been doing:

- Despooking: Diego has now been "sacked out" and is non-phased by tarps, plastic bags, whips, ropes, our new puppy (who thinks he's a big dog andwants him to play), hula hoops, towels, milk jugs with rocks inside, pool noodles, Taren riding his bike around, and he's getting a lot better about quick startling movements - for the most part he just ducks his head or flinchs in place now. That was one of the little gems I picked up from the Stacey Westfall ground work DVD I rented from Horseflix.com, was that she's "never had a deer jump out, and then back, and then out, and then back" while trail riding. So she uses both rhythym and quick sudden motions while despooking. I've noticed a pretty big difference in Diego since I've started just randomly jerking my hands around, or ducking down, or jumping towards him, etc. When I first started - it was OHMYGODWHATSGONNAEATME! Now he kind of goes "Huh?" Unfortunately, I've found out this doesn't quite apply when you walk out in the middle of the pitch black night to go feed and take off the horsie fly mask and the horse is totally zoned-out dead asleep on the far side of the barn, such that when you walk into the middle of the corral and see the dark shape and proclaim "Oh! THERE you are!" the pony will have a heart attack for approximately 3 seconds (poor guy). It also doesn't help when you are carrying a saddle and two hula hoops (which he's never seen or heard before) up to the corral in the dark (I work late a lot, training often happens at night under lights at my place) and the big rattly bulky clinky misshapen monster may "sound" like Mom, but only until you can acutally SEE her are you reassured it's not a horse eating monster.


- Lunging: We've been doing a lot of work on the lunge. Working on establishing good verbal cues (I use "walk", quick kisses to trot, a long smooch to lope, "easy" to slow down, and "whoa") that are followed every time in a quick consistent manner. I'll ask, ask with slight pressure, and then make him do it. An example of this would be a walk to trot transition. He'll be going along and I'll kiss to him. If he doesn't immediately start to trot, I'll kiss to him and use the whip, end of the rope, or my arm to apply pressure from behind to speed up. If he still hasn't started trotting, then I'll get after him until he does. The one that he has the hardest time with is the trot to walk transition down. He will often stop completely and then I need to get him walking again. He's gotten a lot better, especially going to the left, but this is something we'll continue to work on. The other nice thing is that I don't just lunge him in the same circle in the same place - we'll lunge in different areas and go over "obstacles" such as rocks, a small ditch, gravel, pieces of pipe, a sand hill, etc. I'll also use the lunge to ground drive him straight for a bit and then ask for turning again - work on making different "shapes."


- Ground Driving: I've also been doing a bit of ground driving. I rented a Mark Rashid DVD from Horseflix and he really made it look simple. I've taken lessons and had formal instruction in ground driving before from one of our local trainers who uses it a lot very successfully for her dressage horses. So I'm not totally clueless about what I'm doing. Diego has been doing pretty well with it, but after getting kicked, I do still have some hesitation about being directly behind him. As such, I do a lot of my "driving" standing next to him in the position of where I would be if I was riding. I'm seeing Diego having to overcome some of his confidence issues while we do this. I am no longer the "leader" out in front of him, instead he has to be responsible for choosing where to go with some direction from me. I've been using my hand or the stirrup if saddled to create pressure where my feet will go to help reinforce our verbal cues as well. While ground driving, I'll press, then give the verbal cue and press again, and then make him - using this as a transition away from the verbal cues somewhat. I purchased a new snaffle bit that has three pieces, similar to a french link but with the middle link being a little thicker and more rounded (I believe it's called a Lozenge snaffle). Diego seems to like this bit a lot better and doesn't chomp on it as much. He also doesn't bob his head when I apply rein pressure, so I think the regular snaffle was hitting the roof of his mouth.


- Riding: Yes, I have been "riding", just a bit the past week. Actually, truth be told, I have sat on the pony a few times and done a little bit of walking around the corral. I just don't totally have my nerve back yet and my corral is not the most conducive place to riding the horse, being farily small and having one wall of the barn/shed that sticks out into it. Mounting and dismounting (from either side) has been a non-issue and we've done some really easy walking circles, stops, and backing up. That's it for now. I've been busy doing something pretty much every weekend lately so I just haven't had time to get him out to a proper round pen or arena to do some more riding.


Honestly, I don't think our bucking issue is totally resolved or gone. I think Diego has learned he can do this behavior to get me off of him and to be able to do what he wants. I'm not sure if it's naughtiness on his part (which I kind of doubt), or just insecurity and feeling overwhelmed. I'm hoping that by going slower and doing the basics again, we can avoid the bucking. But the little voice in the back of my head is telling me that this isn't a "done" issue and that honestly I'm going to have to ride it out and then severely discipline him for him to start to think about giving up that behavior. I would be happy if that little voice is wrong though.

Tevis Bound!!!

Okay, so I'm not riding =( BUT just being there is *almost* as good! This year, I'll be helping with the webcast coverage and be available to help crew. My good friend, Lucy Chapman Trumbull is riding this year for her very first time. She is rider # 170. Also, Kevin Myers, who I got Diego from, will be riding on his horse Far. He is rider #129. Kevin got Far from our good friend Leslie, who I rode my first 100 with on my older horse Sinatra. Lucy got her horse Roo from Kevin's partner Rusty... Hhhmmm, seems we just shuffle them around our small group. =)

You can follow along in several ways. Karen Chaton is head of the webcast this year, and as a tech guru, she certainly doesn't disappoint. The official webcast coverage can be found at http://www.teviscup.org/webcast/main.html

Photos (including mine, and Lucy's shots "from the trail") will be uploaded during the event here: http://www.teviscup.org/webcast/2009photos.html I'm hoping to get some video as well and will be posting those links as we go. So far, I plan on being at Robie Park Friday, then the Hwy 89 crossing (near Squaw Valley), Robinson Flat, Michigan Bluff, Foresthill and the finish in Auburn.

Tevis tweets! Check out the Twitter page with updates: http://twitter.com/tevisnews I'll also work on adding a Twitter sidebar to this blog, but am not making any promises as to frequent updates since I hate texting on my phone. =)

Honest Scrap Award

Horse of Course was kind enough to bestow the "Honest Scrap" award to my blog! My first award!!! =) I've been following her blog for a while now. She's a dressage rider who lives in Oslo, Norway. Along with providing good, practical training advice, she also shares her trail riding and traveling adventures. She lives and rides in an area that receives a lot of snow and has a terribly long winter from the sound of things, but she doesn't let that slow her down overly much. I've picked up a few gems from her site, http://horseofcourseeng.blogspot.com/.

When you receive The Honest Scrap award you must stick to some rules:

Recognize your award presenter and link back to their blog in your post.

List 10 honest things about yourself that others might not know.

Present this award to 10 admirable bloggers and link to their blogs.

Leave a comment on your recipients' blogs to let them know to visit your post to retrieve their award.

Here are 10 honest scraps about me:

1. My husband, my son, and I all have our birthday on the 19th of the month, just different months. Taren, my son, barely made the deadline, arriving at 11:57 PM. Yes, I was pushing like a maniac and some of my first words were "Did we make it? Was it before midnight?"


2. I finished the Tevis Cup 100-mile endurance ride in 2007, which was a dream of mine for 20 years. I'm proud that my first endurance horse was a non-Arab. I think he taught me a lot since the sport wasn't overly "easy" for him but he was very capable if we had our act together. Sinatra has now passed on but he was deserving of his own blog, see here for our ride stories together: http://www.ctsinatra.blogspot.com/


3. I'm equally as proud of my Miss Reno Rodeo 1999 title, and I think that buckle is much prettier. =)


4. I've only been out of the country once, to Victoria, Canada. I would LOVE to travel more, especially internationally. But I don't even HAVE a passport... yet.


5. I have been to a lot of cool places in the United States - Grand Canyon, Bryce, 4-Corners, Disneyworld (& Disneyland), Daytona, Yellowstone, Las Vegas, etc. Most of that is in great thanks to my Grandparents who were willing to haul 3 (or more) bratty kids around in an RV during the summer for a month or more at a time.


6. My ideal job would be something that centered around horses but didn't require me to be outside all hours of the day. Anyone have any cool marketing or promotional type positions open that pay really well???


7. My mom is one of my best friends. Not so much when I was a teenager, but more and more as I get older. I'm just sorry she wasn't into horses when I lived at home and instead waited until I moved out to start riding more and getting a horse of her own.


8. I love my "car". It's a dark sky blue 2005 Dodge Durango, V8 Hemi. With nice wheels. ;)


9. I grow my hair out pretty long then get it all cut off and donate it to Locks of Love. I've done this 4 times now. The last time was partly because of my broken arm... Even seen a husband try to do a ponytail???


10. I strive hard to be the kind of person that other people want to be around and be friends with.

And now for the bloggers to whom I shall pass on this award:

1. Trot on Hank - This is the story of my friend Jonni's horse Hank. Hank lives in Texas and underwent colic surgery in August 2008. Since that time he has returned to competing (and winning the CRAP out of!) NATRC rides.


2. Endurance Granny - E.G. is working on getting her home-bred horse Phebe going in AERC endurance rides. They had a set-back at their first LD and have gone back into training mode. I especially like this blog because E.G. has had a lot of the same issues with Phebe that I'm having (and am somewhat expecting to have) with Diego.


3. Boots & Saddles - Mel has been competing in endurance for a couple of years now. She's a fellow West region rider, but we haven't had the chance to actually meet. She's planning on making her first attempt at Tevis (which is also her first 100-miler) this year. I hope to get the chance to meet her there!


4. Go Pony - This is my friend Ashley in Arizona. Again, we haven't met in person but will most certainly be spending time together at Tevis this year. Ashley rides a POA mare Mimi in endurance and this blog is a chronicle of their adventures together. I think it's especially cool that Ashley does most of her rides with her dad, something I really enjoy sharing with my mom as well.


5. Living in a Zoo - Another endurance blog!!! I think it's fabulous how many riders, especially new riders, are documenting their journey into this sport that I so love. Not only is Elly starting to compete with her horse Jasper, she's a fourth year vet student! I don't know how she finds the time. I'm excited to hear more about her adventures, both in the clinic and at rides.


6. Zephyr's Wonderful Wanderings - Sharon and her horse Zephyr live in Maine and recently completed their first 100-mile ride! Zephyr is a beautiful Arab/Rocky Mountain cross. I'm also throughly jealous of their beach rides along the coast.


7. Adventures on Arabee - Nicole had been conditioning her mare Arabee to compete in their first ride, but that got put on hold while she and her husband add the blessing of a second child to their family. She's still updating occassionally. I'm sure we'll hear more from her this winter/spring on the horse-front.


8. EnduranceRider - April in Tennessee has two horses which she's doing rides on, Tanna on whom she recently completed her first 100-miler at last year's National Championship, and Serts who recently completed his very first LD (25-mile) ride.


9. Karen's Endurance Ride Stuff - No endurance blog directory (which this is becoming) would be complete without the Martha Stewart of endurance riding, Karen Chaton. Her blog (actually the whole site) is just a WEALTH of resources. I've seen and passed on many a link to her site for many, many different topics from barefoot hoof care, equine nutrition, tack tips, ride history, and much, much more.


10. A Good Horse - A non-endurance blog! Solitairemare has a fairly new-to-her horse named Rugby. After getting dumped a little while ago, she has decided to go back to basics and work on more groud work and gaining respect with Rugby. Sound familiar??? She has a trainer, T.S., who has been helping her achieve her goals. Like me, she's very much ready to start riding again.

I have many other blogs I really enjoy following as well, please see the sidebar. I tried to mainly include those that I thought would post a response.