Busy days and nights....

The county fair is fast approaching and E. has been busy getting ready. She and Curly are together most days now, taking lessons and just generally bonding. Soon there will be two lessons per day (currently she does one every other day) to make sure they are in sync when it comes time to compete.


They will be participating in Western Pleasure, Western Equitation, Bareback, Showmanship, and Trail. This is all going to be quite a challenge for Curly as he has never been a 4-H project horse and has never competed in an arena. I'm sure E. will be quite frustrated by the end of fair since her last competition experience was on Pyro - a 27 year old Arabian who could compete in his sleep - and they took home a handful of blue ribbons!

We don't expect any blues this time around, but are preparing as much as possible to make the events come out as successfully as possible.

Having said all that, I must add that Curly and E. took yesterday and today off. He had his hooves trimmed on Wednesday and is pretty tender-footed at the moment. The farrier is very happy with the direction his feet are going, but it is still a somewhat painful process for the poor guy. And on top of that, E. has gotten some sort of stomach bug and was up all night vomiting. Poor girl!

We took one more step into the "horsey world" this week. Our family is now the proud owners of a truck. Never thought I would have one, to tell you the truth! Guess the city-girl in me is slowly fading away....

Cancelled rides...

E. rode for the first time in many weeks today - and said that it was her best ride yet! Having a professional work with Curly seems to have been money well spent.

We traveled far and wide during the last three weeks and towards the end I have to admit that I missed our guy. Our original plan was that E. would meet up with Curly at a Wilderness Summer Camp about 100 miles from home, but we received a phone call during our trip informing us that the camp had been canceled. Not enough participants. E. was quite disappointed but her trainer offered to take her on a trail ride today as a sort of consolation prize.

When the phone rang early this morning I had a feeling that something had gone awry. Unfortunately, I was right. Our trainer was thrown from a young horse and hurt her hip, making a trail ride impossible. She felt terrible about disappointing E. again. I was more worried about the trainer!

We went out to the barn anyway so that we could visit Curly and little sister R. could play in the stream. It was a very pleasant way to spend the morning.

Poor Curly is being plagued by mosquitoes. I am now searching for an effective way to treat current bites and repel the tiny bloodsuckers as well.

Hoof health and goodbyes...

The farrier came out yesterday to shoe the horses that will be going on the Wilderness Summer Camp trip in early July. When we pulled Curly out for his turn it was decided that we should hold off on shoeing him for a couple of more weeks. His feet just aren't the healthiest yet so the extra time barefoot would be beneficial. Rather than having a hollowed out, smooth section in the middle of the hoof, he has a fairly shallow, flat hoof - which all contributes to his tender-footedness. It'll be a long process to get them into top form. The farrier will make another trip to the horse barn in two weeks and we'll shoe Curly then. Sure wish this trip didn't require them!

We accidentally left the door to Curly's stall unlatched after lessons on Friday - and our trainer found him on Saturday morning in the main barn, happily helping himself to all the hay bales stored there! Needless to say, he did not get any breakfast that morning.

E. had to say goodbye to Curly since we leave for a long vacation today. She's going to miss her horse friend very much.

Sharing the fun...

E. led her best friend and her sister around on Curly this evening before her lesson. All three girls helped brush him down and then E. saddled him up. First to ride was best friend B:






Then E. led sister R. around the property:




And then it was lesson time:




E. is no longer using a snaffle bit with the German martingale. She has moved on to a Myler bit, which Curly seems to respond to better. He definitely tests her during their rides, though. Towards the end of the lesson her trainer decided that he was being a little too naughty so she took over for the last 10 minutes. But it gets better every day!

He was VERY sweaty by the time we left the arena. And immediately rolled in the dirt when he was free in his stall.

A good evening overall.

Battle of the wills...

E. had another 4-H ride night on Tuesday. Curly did okay but was challenging throughout the evening. The group was working on completing specific patterns, so precision was the goal - something that E. and Curly are still working on.

The end of the ride was a disaster - or maybe it was a triumph. Horses were leaving the arena as E. and Curly approached the gate so he decided to stop and leave too - without being asked to. This is absolutely not allowed! Curly still needs to learn that E. (or anyone riding him, for that matter) decides where they are riding, not him. E. realized immediately that this was an important teaching moment and signaled to keep going around the arena. He just stood there, looking at the gate. She tried kicking as hard as she could, but he refused to budge. By this time tears are streaming down her face because she is tired and frustrated. I stepped in and slapped him on the rear - and he just looked at me (now I'm frustrated too!). I grabbed his lead rope off the fence, told E. to hang on and "encouraged" him to move with a quick whip of the rope on his hindquarters. Curly finally figured out that he wasn't going to win this battle. He slowed on the next pass by the gate but kept moving. On the third time around the arena he did a little hop that frightened E. so she finally let him stop and quit for the night. This was a hard one for her, but I was very proud of her for sticking with it and teaching him that she is in control.

When E. was putting away tack, we asked her if she still liked her horse and she said that, yes, she did. Good thing they are so cute! Within 10 minutes of ending the ride there was no trace of her tears and she was back to her happy self.

Yesterday E.'s trainer tried a new bit on Curly. As she was putting him through different patterns she commented several times that E.'s hard work is very obvious when you ride him now. Curly responds nicely to leg cues and is beginning to submit to a rider's requests more frequently and more smoothly. He behaved very nicely for the trainer for her first 20 minutes on him....and then he proceeded to pull some of his regular tricks (disregarding direction cues, tossing his head, etc.). But he has learned bunches this past month and is going to be a great horse.

Learning to listen...

E. had her first lesson in over a week. Consequently, Curly was on the energetic side. The wind blowing all around us didn't help, either!

Trying to get the horse to take a bit is still a big ordeal. E. got very frustrated so her trainer stepped in to help. After working a few minutes, Curly finally accepted the bit when she said "Open." We are now wondering if perhaps he was trained to use this word as his cue....or perhaps it was a pure coincidence! We'll try saying "open" next ride...

His head tossing is substantially reduced - down to maybe 10% of what he started with. E. still uses the martingale, but perhaps by July Curly will be able to go without.

The big lesson today was listening - something the horse didn't want to do (E., on the other hand, can be an excellent listener!). He tried to take control of their movement in the arena and there were many struggles between Curly and E. over direction and speed. But E. stuck with it and made him realize that she meant what she said. This is not always an easy task, and really not a fun way to spend an hour on a horse, but eventually her focus and determination will pay off.

E. unintentionally discovered that Curly has a great response to a particular cue for transitioning from a walk immediately up to a canter. He was very smooth and looked wonderful!

4-H Ride Nights...

E.'s 4-H club had one of their ride nights yesterday. I've come to really look forward to these couple of hours spent chatting with the other parents as we watch our children ride together. Everyone is so nice and I always end up learning something new about the horses and riding.

E. was a bit frustrated during the ride. All the other girls got to ride bareback but she had to stick with a saddle. Until Curly's "steering wheel" gets a little better she'll have to keep using the German Martingale. I think she's also really tired - we've been out at the barn working almost daily, plus she's been having lots of outside play time with neighborhood friends as well. Her body is just plain exhausted!

The club used a weigh tape to estimate their horses' weights. It showed Curly at 1124, but everyone there thought it was closer to 1250 lbs. We also measured height and he appears to be 15.2 hands. He's really shaping up quickly - just has another 100 to 150 pounds to lose!

Called to have hay delivered. I'll feel better once we have a good supply of feed on hand....but wondering where we will store the extra ton we'll need to get us through the winter months (there's only room for one ton in our allotted storage space at the barn - or 2 to 2 1/2 months worth of hay). Perhaps the carport here at the house??? That'll raise some eyebrows in the neighborhood!