From Bob:
We had another great ride today! Anjolina and I repeated Diego's longest trail ride, about 1.5 miles. I skipped the saddle today. The skittishness only lasted about 45 seconds. He opened and closed the gate as well as Penny does it. He didn't seem to care when we left the road to make room for an ATV. Diego led, followed, and went next to Carmel. He does best when he leads. We trotted about 40%. We had a couple of minor butt tucks, but no spooks. He was very relaxed the whole ride. Diego is a good boy!
:)
Friday, October 9, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
School - Oct 8th
Some earlier communication between Bob and I:
Bob:
I think he'll be ready for the 4-H 10-mile ride next weekend (17th or 18th). It's up to you which one of us rides him.
Me:
I definitely want Dig to do the 4-H ride. Have you ridden him with your saddle yet? I’m interested to see if he’s sticky/weird with you about that like he was with me on Sunday. Would one day be preferable over the other to come and ride?
Note: On Sunday, when I would go to move around, trot, or lean forward - Diego would throw on the brakes and totally stop. He was pretty tense and I spent a lot of time just walking him around in circles while I flopped around and moved all over as much as I felt comfortable doing.
I believe horses care more about your body language than what you put on their backs. The first time Surprise ever saw a saddle, I walked into her stall, let her examine it, and then put it on (no halter). I put on a bridle, led her out of the stall, and took her for a five-mile ride. To this day, she has never reacted to the saddle.
I'll probably try my saddle on him this weekend. I'm also planning a solo trail ride and a little cantering soon.
With Diego, when we were in Idaho and I was meeting him for the first time, I took him over to the trailer and tacked him up. He was fine, it was just him and I and, as far as I knew, he’d had a saddle on the week before (turned out this wasn’t true). We walked about 300 yards over to their round pen, again no issues, I turned him loose and all hell broke loose and he bucked around for a few minutes before I could get him to stop. That was NOT his first time wearing a saddle, and I had no prior expectations and had treated him like a broke horse. I didn't expect the saddle would have been an issue at all. Once he finally stopped, we had no further saddle or bucking issues.
Took him home, no trouble, no issues with the saddle or being tacked up. Never seemed to react again. Fast forward to June, I pull him out and go to throw the saddle up on him (it's been since early April since he was tacked up), and again he totally freaked out. My mom had a hold of him and they ended up going all over the yard, Diego was just a royal pain. He was also a little odd about it this past weekend, but it didn’t take much to get him to stand there and behave. I think he has a very sensitive back (or is sensitive ABOUT his back – two different issues in my mind). I’m hoping you’ll ride him a bit more in a saddle just because that’s what he needs to be used to for ME. ;) I’m also curious to see how he reacts to you leaning forward and moving around, like I was this weekend.
Sounds like I should put my saddle on him today or tomorrow, just to see what he does.
Update from later that day:
I put my saddle on, rode around the back yard with Anjolina, and then took him out on the trail by himself. As you suspected, he is more reluctant to go forward with the saddle. He sometimes backed when I wanted to walk or trot. He definitely didn't want to leave his mares behind.
We worked through everything without getting either of us upset. When I realized he wasn't going to do the entire trail ride that I had in mind, I made him walk forward and then turned him around on my terms, not his. He walked and trotted back nicely. We opened and closed the gate with a minimum of fuss both ways. I think he will be OK for the 4-H ride if he has a buddy or two. :)
Bob:
I think he'll be ready for the 4-H 10-mile ride next weekend (17th or 18th). It's up to you which one of us rides him.
Me:
I definitely want Dig to do the 4-H ride. Have you ridden him with your saddle yet? I’m interested to see if he’s sticky/weird with you about that like he was with me on Sunday. Would one day be preferable over the other to come and ride?
Note: On Sunday, when I would go to move around, trot, or lean forward - Diego would throw on the brakes and totally stop. He was pretty tense and I spent a lot of time just walking him around in circles while I flopped around and moved all over as much as I felt comfortable doing.
I believe horses care more about your body language than what you put on their backs. The first time Surprise ever saw a saddle, I walked into her stall, let her examine it, and then put it on (no halter). I put on a bridle, led her out of the stall, and took her for a five-mile ride. To this day, she has never reacted to the saddle.
I'll probably try my saddle on him this weekend. I'm also planning a solo trail ride and a little cantering soon.
With Diego, when we were in Idaho and I was meeting him for the first time, I took him over to the trailer and tacked him up. He was fine, it was just him and I and, as far as I knew, he’d had a saddle on the week before (turned out this wasn’t true). We walked about 300 yards over to their round pen, again no issues, I turned him loose and all hell broke loose and he bucked around for a few minutes before I could get him to stop. That was NOT his first time wearing a saddle, and I had no prior expectations and had treated him like a broke horse. I didn't expect the saddle would have been an issue at all. Once he finally stopped, we had no further saddle or bucking issues.
Took him home, no trouble, no issues with the saddle or being tacked up. Never seemed to react again. Fast forward to June, I pull him out and go to throw the saddle up on him (it's been since early April since he was tacked up), and again he totally freaked out. My mom had a hold of him and they ended up going all over the yard, Diego was just a royal pain. He was also a little odd about it this past weekend, but it didn’t take much to get him to stand there and behave. I think he has a very sensitive back (or is sensitive ABOUT his back – two different issues in my mind). I’m hoping you’ll ride him a bit more in a saddle just because that’s what he needs to be used to for ME. ;) I’m also curious to see how he reacts to you leaning forward and moving around, like I was this weekend.
Sounds like I should put my saddle on him today or tomorrow, just to see what he does.
Update from later that day:
I put my saddle on, rode around the back yard with Anjolina, and then took him out on the trail by himself. As you suspected, he is more reluctant to go forward with the saddle. He sometimes backed when I wanted to walk or trot. He definitely didn't want to leave his mares behind.
We worked through everything without getting either of us upset. When I realized he wasn't going to do the entire trail ride that I had in mind, I made him walk forward and then turned him around on my terms, not his. He walked and trotted back nicely. We opened and closed the gate with a minimum of fuss both ways. I think he will be OK for the 4-H ride if he has a buddy or two. :)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
School - Oct 7th
From Bob:
Crysta:
Diego was extra good today!
I got back from Yosemite just after 6:00, and Anjolina was riding Carmel. Tammy showed up and I convinced everybody to go for a short trail ride. It took a while to get Penny and Diego ready. We didn't have much daylight, so we did our shortest trail ride.
The people across the street were roping cows, and I asked them not to do anything too exciting while Diego went by. They stopped as we rode past them. The first few minutes were a little tentative, but Diego settled down and led almost the entire way. On the way back, we had a car coming straight at us just as one of the riders across the street took after a cow. Diego just looked. He seemed half curious and half wary. No spook!
We opened and closed the gate on the way back into the yard. This was his best ride yet.
Crysta:
Diego was extra good today!
I got back from Yosemite just after 6:00, and Anjolina was riding Carmel. Tammy showed up and I convinced everybody to go for a short trail ride. It took a while to get Penny and Diego ready. We didn't have much daylight, so we did our shortest trail ride.
The people across the street were roping cows, and I asked them not to do anything too exciting while Diego went by. They stopped as we rode past them. The first few minutes were a little tentative, but Diego settled down and led almost the entire way. On the way back, we had a car coming straight at us just as one of the riders across the street took after a cow. Diego just looked. He seemed half curious and half wary. No spook!
We opened and closed the gate on the way back into the yard. This was his best ride yet.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
And then it was my turn
The Sunday after the Comstock Ride, I took Diego back over to Bob and Dovie's house and I had the chance to ride him around for a while. Dig's right front leg was pretty puffy and a little warm to the touch. He had wacked it pretty good during his shenanigans on Friday and being tied to the trailer for the large part of the weekend probably didn't help with it stocking up. I also was pretty tired and not feeling quite right (too busy the past few days) so chose to just ride him around in the round pen for a short time. 
We both had a good time.
Dig Goes Camping
Diego got to experience overnight camping at a ride site this past weekend while I managed the Comstock Endurance Ride out in Lemmon Valley. This should end up being a really value-added experience for him and his future career as an endurance horse (crossing fingers). It also worked out REALLY well logistically, since Diego has been staying just two blocks from ride camp, so I was able to bring my camper and trailer over empty, and then just walk around the corner more or less to go pick him up. I went and fetched him on Friday and he spent Friday and Saturday nights camped out with us. My mom came up from California and stayed in my camper with me, she brought her Tennessee Walker - Joe to ride as well, so Dig had a neighbor to keep him company when they weren't riding.
Overall, Diego did really well camping out. He only shook the trailer/camper once the first night, but by the time I got up to see what he was doing, he was standing there looking sleepy and innocent. There were a few things that needed to be worked out though:
1. Diego is not allowed to have a water bucket. These equal a play thing in his mind. I tried, but he just wouldn't leave it alone. I took it away when he picked it up and was holding it in his mouth, daring me, and then dropped it when I walked over to him - totally splashing me with the wave upon impact with the ground! =) From then on I had to walk him over to the community tank, a 200+ gallon affair that he still tried to pick up with his teeth and play with.
2. Diego's hay bag is prone to attacking him by attaching itself to the snap on his halter temporarily. This will occur when you are having the ride meeting and 30+ people are standing around not 10 feet from where Mr. Dramatic is tied. He will freak out, pull back, and fall over onto the ground, at which point - he realizes 30+ people are staring at him and he'll get up and look embarrassed.
On Saturday, the day of the ride, Bob came over and rode Diego around camp bareback for a while. It was pretty windy, but didn't seem to cause any additional issues. He did very well, taking most everything in stride. He even went in between the arena fence and the metal bleachers for watching the horse shows. Diego got to follow us as we moved a table and drug around some chairs, and served as the "test dummy" in the morning while we were trying to see if the heart rate monitors were working.
Overall I was very proud of my boy. He did great for his first "camping" trip and really took the whole environment of the ride in stride. Check that step off the list to becoming a future endurance mount!
Overall, Diego did really well camping out. He only shook the trailer/camper once the first night, but by the time I got up to see what he was doing, he was standing there looking sleepy and innocent. There were a few things that needed to be worked out though:
1. Diego is not allowed to have a water bucket. These equal a play thing in his mind. I tried, but he just wouldn't leave it alone. I took it away when he picked it up and was holding it in his mouth, daring me, and then dropped it when I walked over to him - totally splashing me with the wave upon impact with the ground! =) From then on I had to walk him over to the community tank, a 200+ gallon affair that he still tried to pick up with his teeth and play with.
2. Diego's hay bag is prone to attacking him by attaching itself to the snap on his halter temporarily. This will occur when you are having the ride meeting and 30+ people are standing around not 10 feet from where Mr. Dramatic is tied. He will freak out, pull back, and fall over onto the ground, at which point - he realizes 30+ people are staring at him and he'll get up and look embarrassed.
On Saturday, the day of the ride, Bob came over and rode Diego around camp bareback for a while. It was pretty windy, but didn't seem to cause any additional issues. He did very well, taking most everything in stride. He even went in between the arena fence and the metal bleachers for watching the horse shows. Diego got to follow us as we moved a table and drug around some chairs, and served as the "test dummy" in the morning while we were trying to see if the heart rate monitors were working.
Overall I was very proud of my boy. He did great for his first "camping" trip and really took the whole environment of the ride in stride. Check that step off the list to becoming a future endurance mount!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
School - Day 4
From Bob, Monday, 9/28:
This was a big day for Diego. His feet look like he might have a little thrush. I cleaned them really well, trimmed a couple of "hangnails," and squirted some iodine to kill whatever might be living deep in the cracks. I was doing all this while he was turned out loose, and he only walked away once.
Diego spooked when I dumped the wheelbarrow full of manure, so I stalked him with it until I could wheel it within a foot of his back legs. He overreacted when I tapped him with the crop yesterday, so I spent some time alternating between rubbing him with it and moving him with it.
I started riding him around the back yard. He always starts out skittish and gets better the longer I ride him. He is getting better at the trot-to-walk transitions, but he is also starting to pull on the reins at the trot. I'm still riding him bareback, and he seems to want to go faster than I can sit the trot.
Dovie came out and offered to go for a trail ride, so we headed out. I got Diego to let me open and close the gate from his back, but it wasn't pretty. We ended up going about a mile and a half, trotting maybe 40% of the time.
Diego did great! LaLa was constantly threatening him, so we just let him lead. He stopped and looked when he saw a neighbor walking her loose dog. No problem. Walking down into a dry wash was no problem. It was almost dark when he gave me his first real spook. He sort of lurched forward, stopped, gave me a tiny buck, lurched forward again, and finally stopped. We composed ourselves and headed home. By this time, he was ignoring LaLa when she followed him really close.
He is a little strong at the trot, but he was really relaxed and well-behaved at the walk. The total ride time was 38 minutes. Dovie says he is awesome!
This was a big day for Diego. His feet look like he might have a little thrush. I cleaned them really well, trimmed a couple of "hangnails," and squirted some iodine to kill whatever might be living deep in the cracks. I was doing all this while he was turned out loose, and he only walked away once.
Diego spooked when I dumped the wheelbarrow full of manure, so I stalked him with it until I could wheel it within a foot of his back legs. He overreacted when I tapped him with the crop yesterday, so I spent some time alternating between rubbing him with it and moving him with it.
I started riding him around the back yard. He always starts out skittish and gets better the longer I ride him. He is getting better at the trot-to-walk transitions, but he is also starting to pull on the reins at the trot. I'm still riding him bareback, and he seems to want to go faster than I can sit the trot.
Dovie came out and offered to go for a trail ride, so we headed out. I got Diego to let me open and close the gate from his back, but it wasn't pretty. We ended up going about a mile and a half, trotting maybe 40% of the time.
Diego did great! LaLa was constantly threatening him, so we just let him lead. He stopped and looked when he saw a neighbor walking her loose dog. No problem. Walking down into a dry wash was no problem. It was almost dark when he gave me his first real spook. He sort of lurched forward, stopped, gave me a tiny buck, lurched forward again, and finally stopped. We composed ourselves and headed home. By this time, he was ignoring LaLa when she followed him really close.
He is a little strong at the trot, but he was really relaxed and well-behaved at the walk. The total ride time was 38 minutes. Dovie says he is awesome!
School and Thoughts from Bob
From Bob on Monday, 9/28, after reading the rest of this blog. His comments are in black, my reply is in blue italics:
We know things behind or above Diego can set him off, so I'm doing stuff in front of him and then doing the same stuff behind him. I had the cart and bike behind him, just out of kicking range. I also sometimes make a point of being boisterous and scary when I'm on him. I'm going to try making sure that Diego knows the difference between casually touching him with a crop or stick and telling him to do something with it. His reaction to the crop the other night was a lot greater than need be.
Good. I try to move around a lot and wave my arms and such too. I was feeling pretty darn confident on him there for a while and really trying new things. Like you mentioned, the more of this kind of stuff, the sooner he'll realize it's nothing to worry about and will get over.
Your blog reinforced an opinion I've had all along. You have more fear and nervousness than Diego has. It's not easy, but at some point, you just have to say, "He's a good boy, I trust him, and I don't care whether he hops and tucks his butt once in a while." That trust makes the difference between Diego forgetting what made him hop and you becoming airborne. I know that's easier for me to say, when I've never really been hurt. But I swear it's true.
I know that a lot of the issue is me. I've just seen him be so explosive and really truly "loose it" a few times now. Just being able to put my foot in the stirrup when I first got him was a huge
accomplishment at the time. He's really 100% better than he was when I got him, but it's the few times when he just blows up that continue to worry me. You may not get to experience that side of him, I certainly hope you don't. Before I had my accident, my confidence was pretty high and I was thinking about how Dig was about as "trained" as Sinatra was when I bought him (in other words, not very but enough to start doing things with). Like Sinatra, I know he'll be a good boy 99% of the time, its just that 1% that continues to worry me for now.
Mentally, I feel very confident and ready to get back on and start doing things, but when "something" happens, I find I do still get tense and worried pretty quickly - which doesn't help Dig out any. I don't mind the little tuck and hop, but I've had it turn into the full out bucking a few different times now, so being able to remain relaxed through the first bit, and not grap up rein and crank on him is an issue I have. With Sinatra, I needed to get him stopped *NOW* when he would do that - so it wouldn't escalate, with Diego I think I need to relax and not react for a minute, because it's me reacting that's furthing the problem. Does that make sense?
One of my... I don't really want to call it an issue, because I don't see it as a problem, but perhaps "hangups" is that I WILL NOT BE JUST A PASSENGER. I want my horse looking to me for guidance and instruction *at all times*. This was my issue with Caramel when I got on her. She's used to being the boss, you can feel it in how she reacts to commands and just her overall attitude. My mom's horse Joe is the same way and I don't particularly like riding him either. Both of these horses are totally safe for their riders (my mom's never come off Joe), but I can't and won't trust a horse that treats me like that. It's just a "me" thing with how I was taught to ride.
We know things behind or above Diego can set him off, so I'm doing stuff in front of him and then doing the same stuff behind him. I had the cart and bike behind him, just out of kicking range. I also sometimes make a point of being boisterous and scary when I'm on him. I'm going to try making sure that Diego knows the difference between casually touching him with a crop or stick and telling him to do something with it. His reaction to the crop the other night was a lot greater than need be.
Good. I try to move around a lot and wave my arms and such too. I was feeling pretty darn confident on him there for a while and really trying new things. Like you mentioned, the more of this kind of stuff, the sooner he'll realize it's nothing to worry about and will get over.
Your blog reinforced an opinion I've had all along. You have more fear and nervousness than Diego has. It's not easy, but at some point, you just have to say, "He's a good boy, I trust him, and I don't care whether he hops and tucks his butt once in a while." That trust makes the difference between Diego forgetting what made him hop and you becoming airborne. I know that's easier for me to say, when I've never really been hurt. But I swear it's true.
I know that a lot of the issue is me. I've just seen him be so explosive and really truly "loose it" a few times now. Just being able to put my foot in the stirrup when I first got him was a huge
accomplishment at the time. He's really 100% better than he was when I got him, but it's the few times when he just blows up that continue to worry me. You may not get to experience that side of him, I certainly hope you don't. Before I had my accident, my confidence was pretty high and I was thinking about how Dig was about as "trained" as Sinatra was when I bought him (in other words, not very but enough to start doing things with). Like Sinatra, I know he'll be a good boy 99% of the time, its just that 1% that continues to worry me for now.
Mentally, I feel very confident and ready to get back on and start doing things, but when "something" happens, I find I do still get tense and worried pretty quickly - which doesn't help Dig out any. I don't mind the little tuck and hop, but I've had it turn into the full out bucking a few different times now, so being able to remain relaxed through the first bit, and not grap up rein and crank on him is an issue I have. With Sinatra, I needed to get him stopped *NOW* when he would do that - so it wouldn't escalate, with Diego I think I need to relax and not react for a minute, because it's me reacting that's furthing the problem. Does that make sense?
One of my... I don't really want to call it an issue, because I don't see it as a problem, but perhaps "hangups" is that I WILL NOT BE JUST A PASSENGER. I want my horse looking to me for guidance and instruction *at all times*. This was my issue with Caramel when I got on her. She's used to being the boss, you can feel it in how she reacts to commands and just her overall attitude. My mom's horse Joe is the same way and I don't particularly like riding him either. Both of these horses are totally safe for their riders (my mom's never come off Joe), but I can't and won't trust a horse that treats me like that. It's just a "me" thing with how I was taught to ride.
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