Pesky flies

After a break from riding (we were on vacation), E had her first lesson in two weeks yesterday. We were both happy to be heading out to the barn and I looked forward to seeing Monte. Plus E really needs to buckle down and practice some of her riding skills before the county fair hits.

Monte was happy to see E and even seemed pleased to see me. At one point E went to get something from the trailer, and while she was away he inched closer to me, lowered his head and gently rubbed his nose on my knee. Too cute for words! :)

Unfortunately, the fly bites on Monte's back are still bothering him. They are not quite as large as before, but he shies away whenever we try to touch them. And he was definitely throwing dirty looks at the person trying to do the touching!

Consequently, E did not ride him for Pony Club yesterday. But she was able to ride another PCer's horse, Sienna. Sienna is a Tennessee Walker - and E was (pleasantly) surprised how smooth and responsive she was. Monte is so light that she often finds other horses a bit hard to cue; Sienna was just about as easy as Monte.

The best part of the lesson is that E finally got her D2 checklist completed and can now schedule her rating. Hoping to have that done in two weeks.....

Bug bites?

E and Monte had to skip their riding lesson last night. It appears that Monte has been repeatedly bitten by either some sort of vicious fly or bees. There are big lumps near his withers, in the brown spot he has there. And it seems to be painful for him.

He was quite agitated whenever we tried to touch the spot, twitching and moving away quickly whenever his skin was brushed there. Poor pony!

So, we'll be keeping an eye on him and be more regular with the fly spray in the coming weeks.

Managing fear

R ended horse camp last week with a bucket-load of fear. She went back on Tuesday - did okay - and the same can be said for Wednesday. But on Thursday, there was another incident that caused her to be afraid again. It caused all the campers to be afraid, actually. So I got another call on Thursday morning and then she decided to not ride on Friday. And I totally understand.

But here's the kicker - she still wants to try riding! She just needs to find a horse and an environment that helps her feel safe and in control.

So good friend T has stepped up and offered lessons on her horses, which we took advantage of this morning.

R and Spirit on their first ride together.

T is a gentle teacher and is hopeful that R will fall in love with riding like the rest of us crazies. They spent the first 30 minutes of their lesson choosing a horse, brushing and generally getting to know Spirit, and then leading him around with the halter. Only then did R get to mount up. To help R relax, T showed her how he was really trying to do whatever R asked. She also got her to let go of her death grip on the horn by having her drop her reins and pretend to be an airplane, guiding the horse with only her legs and body movements.

At the end of the lesson, R was smiling. And on the way home, she was totally happy and asking to come back for more lessons and rides on Spirit. Thank you T!

R loves the dorsal stripe and zebra leg markings that Spirit has. So do I!

Tiny saddles

I rode today. For the first time in over a year. And, boy, was I scared!

Let me elaborate.....

Another boarder at our barn owns several horses that are currently just sitting in the pastures. His children aren't currently using them so the horses are really living on easy street. I approached him about possibly leasing one of them (horse, not child!) and he thought it would be a great idea.

So today was my first trial ride on Badger, the 18 year old quarter horse. Badger is a generally sweet guy, is supposedly well versed in trail riding and prefers to go at a slower pace. Sounds perfect for me, doesn't it?

I was warned that he will try to test a new rider, making steering and just plain forward motion difficult, but that once the rider shows who's in control, Badger will buckle down and do what is asked. Okay. I can do this.

Upon arrival at the barn this morning, I discovered that the western saddle we currently have available (remember, R is using the good one at camp) does not fit Badger. Alrighty, then. E and I saddle him up with her English saddle.

E rides first and says that yeah, this is the horse for you mom - meaning, he doesn't want to go faster than a toe-dragging walk. Badger does try to take her out of the round pen at one point and she has a bit of a struggle keeping him going in the right direction, but they get it worked out.

So, it's now my turn. First challenge - this guy is tall! Taller than Curly, anyway. And I have no strength in my legs to hoist my fat butt up there. So we walk over to a mounting block and on I get. Did I mention the English saddle? Well, it's tiny. At least, it feels tiny compared to the huge ol' Western ones I'm used to. And I've never sat in an English saddle before. So there I am, riding for the first time in over a year on an unfamiliar horse, in a saddle I've never used, with weak legs and suddenly I'm scared. There is nothing holding me on there - no horn to grab, no comforting seat cradling me, nothing.

But I don't let on how scared I am....I just squeeze....no motion....okay, I kick his sides, and forward we go. And true to his nature, Badger starts his toe-dragging walk. He is very quick to halt when asked. Steering turns out to be bit of a problem for me. I kept forgetting that there is no neck-reining in English but other than one moment when Badger tries to run me against the gate (E gamely gets between the gate and my leg, saving my knees from scrapes and bruises), we manage okay.

So, I think Badger and I could get along. We still have to work out who is boss....and I definitely want a Western saddle. It was so strange being perched up on that little saddle, able to feel the movement of the horse so much more fully (and alarmingly!). Eventually, I think I want to learn to ride English. But for right now, I just want to get my courage back. And maybe Badger is the horse to help me do that.

The Tunnel of Death

The kids heading out for camp instruction...

What a first day at horse camp....and not one I'd like to repeat. I'm sure R is thinking along the same lines.

The morning started off breezy (not a good thing), but bright. R caught Monte, nice and easy, and we loaded up and headed out to the first day of horse camp. I helped her unload and set up her stuff and then headed out for a trip to the grocery store.

As I was checking out at the store I decided to take a quick look at my phone - and then panicked when I saw a message from the camp instructor. R had been thrown - twice - and was on her way home with Dad.

So here's what happened: R saddled up (with help, of course) and easily mounted Monte and then headed out to the trail course. She immediately headed towards the tarp tunnel (a.k.a. "The Tunnel of Death" - at least according to Monte now!) - in hindsight, probably not the wisest choice. As they were standing at the entrance, a big gust of wind came up and the tunnel expanded into a huge horse-eating monster, which terrified Monte, who then proceeded to back up as fast as possible, leap over a pile of logs, dash off to a back corner of pasture, do a speedy 360, helicoptering R out of the saddle in the process. I hear the display was quite impressive. They even broke one of the reins.

The Tunnel of Death

There were tears (Of course! Who wouldn't cry after all that!), but R got back in the saddle and went out into the arena. All was going along smoothly for about another 10 minutes until other riders began to speed up. Well, Monte (who's still plenty amped up from the previous performance) decides that he needs to speed up too. And he kept speeding up, as R tried to (ineffectively/inexpertly) slow him down. Her death grip on the horn and with her thighs weren't helping much, unfortunately, and the end result is that she fell off again. After this fall, she was done for the morning - and it was only 10.

Luckily, there were no serious injuries but she does have a nasty bruise on her side and it now hurts to run or walk on uneven surfaces. And surprisingly, she wanted to come back to camp for a second day. What a tough girl! I am so impressed with her courage, 'cause heaven knows I probably wouldn't have gone back for round 2!

R's bruise. She also has a scraped up elbow and bruised knee.

The camp instructor has very generously offered up the use of her amazingly trained horse, Julima, for the remainder of camp week. R went out this morning, saddled Julima up, and tackled the trail course again. She even went through "The Tunnel of Death" with Julima. Did I mention how courageous she is?

R and Julima, getting their morning instructions.

R is scared, of course, and is pretty much keeping Julima in a slow, steady walk, but she's up there, conquering her fear and trying new things right along with the other kids.

A, handing a flag to R

At the end of the lesson today the kiddos were asked to show the instructors one new thing they learned to do with their horses that morning. R immediately came over to the side rail, picked up a flag, and proudly showed A that she can walk and trot while holding the flag. We were all very proud of her today.

R & Julima, doing parade practice. :)

Back in the saddle again?

R recently announced that she would like to start riding again. I was totally surprised - and very happy! I so want to share my joy with horses with both my daughters, but have been very careful to not force either one into the activity.

Anyway, Monte being our only horse at the moment, R went out and had her first real ride on him yesterday. We saddled him up, shortened the stirrups (by 6 holes - and shoulda gone up at least one more really!) and led the horse and rider to the round pen.

Now, R has been up on Monte before - usually on lead-line and one other time in the round pen. But this ride was to be a test of sorts. In the past, E has ridden him first to get all his tricks worked out and quite honestly, to tire him a bit as well. Yesterday we decided that R should be the first rider so we could find out if he will attend to her without the prep and to make sure she could stay in charge as well. And they did fine.

Since R is a beginner, and Monte is pretty much a one-person-horse at this time, the pony was very confused by the cues (or lack of!) being given. It took R a bit to turn him and in the end she had to just pull his head in the direction she wanted to go. But she could steer. And go. And most importantly, stop.

Then she asked if she could go out in the big arena. I was a bit nervous (There are so many spooky things out there! - according to Monte, anyway!), but said yes. R calmly entered the arena, I gave her a pattern to follow.....and she did it!



Monte drags his feet terribly while she is riding and he did little naughty things like rub her leg up on the fence. But he didn't bolt, or try to even go faster, and in the end he basically did whatever R asked. I couldn't ask for much more at this point.

Monte took R through a tall bush - bad pony! - and got a mane and tail full of flowers for his effort!

So.....here's the big news....R gets to go to horse camp next week! The same camp that helped E learn to ride and really cemented her bond with Curly in the very beginning. Both R and I are really excited.

And I have my fingers crossed that Mr. Monte keeps his head the whole week and doesn't do anything stupid to scare my newest rider. I really want her to like this.....

Deary

E and Monte had horse camp this past week - and what a blast it was! Ever since she started Pony Club we've been told "You HAVE to go to Deary!" E was also told that it was more intense than the rallies we went to. Which had me a bit worried, because heaven knows, the rallies took quite a bit of energy!

We packed on Tuesday, trying to make sure we had whatever we might need for the coming week. And I think we did pretty good, except that a couple of key items were left behind at the last moment.

While picking up hay at the barn on Tuesday afternoon, another boarder requested some help from E (Their pony was being a butthead and pulling back while tied - but that's a whole 'nother story!). In the process of helping them out, we forgot to reload the extra stall bedding and the muck boots that had been temporarily taken out of the truck while we packed in some extra hay. Those two things would've been mighty handy once we got out to Deary since there were torrential rains a couple of nights before we arrived, turning the whole property into one huge mud pit.

I also walked out the door on Wednesday morning without my foot bands (for my plantar faciitis) and my sunhat - both things I can live without, but again, sure would've been nice to have them!

Wednesday started out very smooth, but way too early. Out of bed at 4:45 and on the road by 5:30. We picked up our friend's horse, Handsome, and hit the highway around 6. Check-in at camp was between 9 and 11, and I had been warned that earlier is better because you can choose a better camping spot. Given that we were staying in a tent, a prime spot was VERY important to me! So, we arrived at Deary around 9:30.

Entering the Pony Club camp.
This was taken after several days of no rain, so the road is no longer a river of mud.

We immediately discovered that the whole place was sopping wet, with part of the property being totally closed off to any traffic. People driving 4-wheel drive trucks couldn't even get through the road. After some truck juggling (since we only have 2-wheel drive and couldn't safely position the trailer ourselves), another rig pulled our trailer into place and we found a relatively dry, if not flat, spot to put up our home-away-from-home. I decided sleeping on a slope with toes downhill was preferable to sleeping in a bog.

E returning to the campsite after 6 a.m. horse chores....note the incline - and her smile!

Camp could now begin!

Deary is both a horse management rally and a summer camp with riding lessons. E's team was made up of younger Pony Clubers, one from her own club and two boys from others. Their counselors were also on the younger side, although both very experienced PCers. It took the team some time to figure out their rhythm and pull the tack and feed rooms together, but in the end they managed to place 7th (out of 8) in the rally.

The Red Team - ready to put on their skit. :)

The first riding lesson, on Wednesday afternoon, was led by a veteran PCer named Erin who has been coming to Deary for 32 years (she is also 32, by the way!). The other students in the group were young riders and after the lesson, E asked to be moved to a different group. Although she is still rated as only a D1, her skills are a bit above that rating. I was very proud of her for taking the initiative and approaching her instructor to ask if she could join a different group. When she asked, Erin agreed that E was definitely able to do more than was being taught and arranged for E to move to lessons with another instructor, Sarah Stanton.

Riding up to the arena for a lesson.

E's first lesson with Sarah proved to be a better placement. And Sarah was able to get E to finally SIT UP STRAIGHT AND NOT LEAN FORWARD while riding! A major, if simple, breakthrough for E. She also had the students trot over poles with no hands.

Look, mom. No hands!

The second lesson with Sarah was a jumping lesson. They jumped cross poles and small banks. Because E is so tall and her pony is not, she has to be super conscious of her body position, especially when jumping. Slight changes in her body angle can have big consequences on his balance. This makes jumping a bit difficult for Monte and E, but with practice they can be quite successful. And in the end, E will have great body control and awareness.

Thursday night was skit night for all the campers. E's team had planned ahead, bringing costumes and whatnot for the festivities. Due to E's "memorable" performance as Princess Ella, the other campers called her Princess Emily for the remainder of the week. (PC parents from our own club were surprised at how goofy she was as she's often pretty quiet during our regular lessons. If they only knew!)

E's final lesson with Sarah was on the cross country course. I was nervous about how Monte, a true arena baby, would do out in the open and in the woods. I was especially concerned about all the mud and the pond they would also go through.

Sarah schooled all the riders on how to approach the jumps - and Monte did it! In fact, I think he even enjoyed the experience. I know that E did, anyway. Huge smiles the whole time we were on the course.

Jump #3 on the beginner XC course at Deary.

The footing was still a bit messy, but safe enough.

The last jump on the XC course; they just came up a hill to jump this.

As expected, Monte was totally unsure of the pond. After 2 days of dealing with mud, he had become accustomed to mucky ground that sucked at his hooves, but entering a pond that was almost 3' deep in the center was not his idea of fun. You could see him thinking, "But I'm a desert horse, not a water pony!" E managed to coax him into the water, and I swear that if a horse could tip-toe, he would've been! We all were laughing as we watched him gingerly cross the water with his ears off to the side.

First time into the pond.

At this point, camp ended. But we stayed on to participate in two competitions - Combined Tests, and the Hopeful Horse Trials. Combined tests consisted of a dressage test and a stadium jumping round. In this competition, the lower the score the better; E and Monte scored 34 in dressage (all 6s and 7s, with an 8 thrown in for good measure!) and had a clean jumping round, so they ended up in 2nd place for their division. Yeah! The Combined Tests were over by dinner, and then E began the Hopeful Trials, which consisted of another dressage test, a round of stadium jumping and a cross country competition. E and Monte competed in the Nervous Novice division, along with 14 other competitors.

The dressage portion was completed Friday evening (the same test that they did earlier in the day). By the time they rode the test, Monte was done so their score was a bit higher than the first time through (40.5 - which is still quite respectable for a novice rider).

Saturday was jumping day. E was very happy that she didn't begin riding until early afternoon (a nice change after early mornings during camp). The XC course was deemed too wet in portions, so a few spots were eliminated (including the pond) and/or changed. E found that Monte was VERY nervous about entering the woods without his herd. She had to work to get him over all the obstacles but they managed to get through the course with no refusals.

The last portion of Hopeful, the stadium jumping, took place late afternoon. I hoofed it up the hill to watch the higher level competitors, thinking that I'd leave sometime during that portion to help E get ready. But the competition was so exciting I never left my spot so E had to manage on her own (which she did splendidly, btw). Watching those huge horses (and some not-so-huge horses!) speed through the jumping course was incredible.

Being in the Nervous Novice division, E's jumps were substantially lower than the first riders'. Her challenge consisted of 10 jumps, all 2' or lower. Which was plenty challenging. :) By this time both horse and rider are exhausted, but being the good pony that he is, Monte willingly did whatever E asked and knocked down only one pole at jump #4. Their main problem during the round was that E wasn't focused enough and didn't give Monte clear directions for part of the course.

In the end, she and Monte placed 6th in the Hopeful. Not bad for a first time!

A tired rider, wearing her medal, on her tired pony.

And what was I doing during all of this fun? Well, washing dishes up in the cook shack, cleaning the bathrooms one afternoon and volunteering as a jump judge during the cross country portion of Hopeful. I was plenty busy. :)

And we are both totally looking forward to next year at Deary!