jerk

I had other words for my horse last ride, but this is a family blog…oh wait, no it's not, but I've calmed myself a bit.

new tights, I'm in love with houndstooth!

Heading out for a little lake loop, just wanted a short, quick ride so I could get back and watch some football. I didn't boot because the footing is great. I naively thought "He's been so good, we can trot and canter the whole loop, be done in a hour, I'll be home by 1:00."

dreaming of a lake at normal level, even though we lose this trail

Not to be. I missed almost the whole first half of the game. Oh, but this is a horse blog. Ok, we headed out, down Barking Dog hill, my poor mistreated horse (who hadn't been ridden in four days) trudging along. He heard some hikers ahead and got a little perkier, stepping out. We passed them, and down onto the lake trail. Nice trotting, passed a friend heading the opposite way, still good behavior.

Then there were some horses standing next to the trail. We passed them, and Major thought the race was on. Even if they were still just standing there, facing the other direction. An argument ensued between me (trot like a normal horse) and Major (I must race everywhere at all times) idiot.

Then his tiny pea brain saw tiny horses in the distance. Obviously those horses were winning the endurance race. And our earlier argument escalated into full-out war. There was no forward movement that was not him being a rushy idiot. So we kept going, and going. Passed the turn for home, where he normally will begin to think twice about misbehavior: no reaction. Take the tough rocky upper trail (barefoot): no reaction. Haul him into a circle: momentaty ceasing of naughtiness, then back to old bahavior. I was getting pissed off, which is not good or useful.

walking hill

walking road

So we walked. There would be no fun cantering. There would be no trotting, not a single trot step. There would be no jigging. Any behavior other than walking received either circling, backing many feet, turning around, sidepassing, or other not fun behavior.

It didn't help.

actually standing at the pond, momentarily

walking by alligator rock

We did manage to stop at the pond momentarily and stand still, where he wouldn't drink (but I saw a  bobcat, that was awesome). Four miles later we crossed the road close to home, still trying to jig, and I offered my jerk horse to the endurance riders heading out. He could stand to be ponied for a bit, right?

still trying to jig home

He does behave better when we go at speed for 15+ miles. But I do not want to put more miles on, as he just gets fitter and fitter and I think it's too much to not have time off, etc. He behaves nicely in the arena, so I can't fix this there.

So what to do? I guess some walking rides, listening rides, to see if he gets it. Though I think he will. It's when we add in the speed combined with seeing other horses. He isn't herd bound, just way too competitive. He will be 11 this year. Shouldn't he be over some of this crap?

Of course after the ride he was a hot, sweaty mess. He tried to drink his sponge water. His feet looked awesome (glad to know he can do it barefoot if needed). I still gave him carrots.

Sure I love him, but I don't like him much sometimes. Jerk.

…cannot reach the carrot, trying to strangle myself…(he was supervised of course)

lake to lake

I took Major for a short drag/ride. First he is a slug, then a crazy maniac. Seriously, he keeps me on my toes! Heading out I dragged him down the road, strung out behind me. Found a good rock and mounted up, he walked out but not too enthusiastically. Then I start worrying that he is ok. I should know better.

This was just a short tack test ride (I'd washed and rearranged stuff). I just wanted to check all the equipment before leaving to the Tahoe Rim ride. Through the forest Major was a slug, so I went down to the lake. The whole lake trail is already exposed, the lake very low, drought concerns creeping in.

Tiny boat between Major's ears? Nope, a floating potty! We're classy like that.

At the lake, in the nice sand (and rocks), finally a nice trot. Not too fast, loose rein. A few lovely collected canters too. About the half way point things speeded up a bit. Then more. Soon I had a start-of-an-endurance-ride fire breathing dragon. So I took the rock trail, to make him think. It worked a bit, till we turned for home into the forest.

low lake, exposed rocks, amazing clouds, great horse, amazing view

I did ask only for trot, and I got it. The big huge one. We ran by a jogger on the wide part of the trail. Then a good sized deer skeleton. Finally slowed and saw some other friends from a nearby ranch. They joked that Major saw other horses and would want to join them. Oh no way, we were going home!

Back home I untacked and put my tack in my trailer, one last thing to pack later. Then Tahoe this weekend, from one lake to another! I am totally looking forward to the Tahoe Rim Ride, lucky that I got in, hoping Major and I are up for the challenge.

But there is a lot to pack before that!

rateability

Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. I had nothing that would get Major to listen yesterday. We did 10 miles, probably half of it was circling, backing, backtracking our trail, and stopping. I tried about every training tool I had.

I wanted to go out on the canal trail because it had been awhile and I know the lake level is creeping up. Also it was great weather before a series of storms rolls in, so my (awesome!) boss let me leave early, and we headed out. Through the forest he was fine, and heading towards Beeks Bight was fast but manageable. Turn around, all Hell broke loose.

the water creeps back in

I was going to head back through the forest, but with the bad attitude Major was having I thought we needed more miles in an open area. The canal is good for circling and such, more open. I was able to keep him in a trot, barely, but he wasn't listening. I'd do some form of correction (it depended on the terrain and misbehavior) but obviously wasn't truly getting his mind back focused on me.

I know we can go around, you're going through it

He even was in such a mood to spook pretty good at a tree stump and a nothing. And real spooks, not the usual Major jump-in-place spooks. Full of it and ticking me off.

So we were going home through Sterling Point, and he was still pulling (though we were walking along the road, no trotting there) so I turned away from home and went through the neighborhood. He thought warp speed was a good option, I kept it back as best I could. Walking just led to annoying prancing and jigging no matter what I did, so trotting used the forward momentum more constructively. We got to a place where we could go into the forest or back down to the lake. As much as I would have liked to do more miles, darkness was coming, and I was getting tired of fighting.

So we were back in the forest and I used to cantering road over and over until he would canter controlled and listen to whoa. Keeping him at a trot wasn't working, it was just a pulling contest he was winning. Barely won a battle, after the ride felt like I'd lost the war.

With this kind of behavior, how can I even think of doing an endurance ride next month? I can't even get him to listen when we're alone! I think the next month of riding will be all listening, not for conditioning, because he is fit (probably too much so) for a 25. Of course, now that winter arrived late all sorts of rain is coming, which makes riding that much more of a slippery slope.

Back at the barn they asked how my ride was, and instinctively I said "fine." Then I qualified that my horse had been an a**hole, I was a mess riding, it had actually been a crap ride. But, still, it was riding, which is still better than sitting at my work desk, or cleaning the house, or grocery shopping, or pretty much anything else.

Oh, and to top it off there seems to be a saddle fit issue! He was a bit sore after our 25 mile practice ride, and this time had big dry patches towards the rear panels of the saddle. Nothing else seems to have changed, so I'm also wondering if it is how he's carrying himself. One more worry!

Even after all that I did laugh at my sweaty horse: with long winter hair he gets a pretty good likeness of a David Hasslehoff chest hair thing going on. Sexy.

Sing it: I'm too sexy for this...

Arrgghh! All this is Fun? Frustrating? I can think of a few other F words I used...

double ride

After last week's adventures in speed, I wanted to take is slower, but still put in some miles. My friend B and her horse Ziggy were up to the test. We wanted to do a mini endurance ride, coming back home halfway through and then heading back out.

Major did not seem to annoyed with Ziggy along, who is often his archenemy. They both headed up the trail, and jauntily trotted towards Rattlesnake Bar. Perfect weather, not too cold, no dust, lake view. The park is closed to vehicles, so we tried to get a good canter on the dirt roads. Both Major and Ziggy know that we often turn around here, so they were a bit sluggish, but we kept going, and they relented. Coming around the corner, there is a large yellow caution sign, warning boaters of stuff. Ziggy saw it as we passed and gave a huge spook into the road! B managed to keep her seat, she was happy to have boots on when she landed on the asphalt, and then manged to crack a joke: obviously Ziggy can read, and the sign meant "Imminent Danger! Must run now!" It is always good to laugh when your adrenaline is going!

The ride back was less eventful, even though we took them the "wrong" way home: they were very good at pointing out when we kept missing the turns back to the barn. Back home we untacked, gave them a drink and wet mash snack, ate some lunch, and headed back out.

Going back up the road Major seemed pretty chipper, but Ziggy was dragging, He does use up quite bit of energy worrying about the horse in front, the speed, the scary stuff...but we hit the forest and both horses just shut down. We used all of our riding skills just to keep them walking a reasonable pace, they soooo did not want to go out again! They were just dragging down the trails, we both needed a crop! I thought the lake trail would perk them up, so we hit the sand and headed for Granite Bay. Major was in front, trotting along, when he sidestepped, threw on the brakes, and declared himself done. I don't think so! We continued and got to Beeks Bight, where we had to decide: continue on or head back. Both horses were being so good, none of the misbehavior I had last week, so we headed back. Ziggy was in front and didn't know where were were, so he didn't think we were going home. Major knew, but kept it to himself in the back!

We eventually cut down to the lower trail, Major took the lead back along the lake, and he certainly knew where we were! We took a cutoff from the lake trail into a very unused access to Pioneer Express trail, and then back into the forest. Major did the strange sidestepping thing one more time, I think he just didn't want Ziggy behind him. No kicking at Ziggy this time, very good behavior, but he will need to get used to someone back there! He is fine with most others, it is so hard to figure out their quirks.

The ride back was good, because both horses were pretty tired. The mileage wasn't too high, but the Pioneer Express trail is pretty taxing, with lots of up and down and rocks and dropoffs and bridges for them to think about. They were so good they got another snack and a good currying. Back in his paddock, Major was more interested in his leftover breakfast (I don't know how he could still be hungry!) than me, but I told him what a good boy he was today, and hid some carrots in his salt bucket.

All in all a fun adventure, though I know nothing like a real LD, still good practice and something different. And now I know for that second ride from home I need to carry a crop!