It's about that time

Driving this morning

For an update, that is.  Ruby continues to do well - she picks things up very quickly and tries hard.  If I was more of a horse trainer, she'd be much farther along already.  Today was only her fourth or fifth time driving (due to weather and family illnesses) and she did fantastic.  When I asked for whoa, there was no pointing her nose to the sky - a vast improvement.  She's also been learning that taking the bit is a great thing...possibly due to the molasses smeared all over it.

After driving, we went for a neighborhood walk.  She was cool and collected, just taking in the sights even when a 4-wheeler approached.  She did spook as the 4-wheeler went out of her sight and the neighbors horses galloped up to the fence - definitely not her fault.  Her spooks are few and far between and consist of her turning to face whatever has startled her...love it!

During our walk

There has only been one hiccup so far - that is that she doesn't fully trust me when she's loose.  Approaching her in the pasture is not something that she always allows (even when there is no pressure, no halter/rope, and cookies involved).  For the last few days, I have been letting her graze in the barnyard while I clean her stall.  When I'm done, I call her and walk her to the pasture gate to let her out.  Yesterday she decided that barnyard grass was much better than pasture grass so I went to get her halter. As soon as I grabbed her halter, she took off for the pasture gate.  Hmm...whatever.  Put her halter back and started walking to the pasture gate - so she proceeded to pretend that she was a wild child and bolted for the trailers.  Okaaaaaaay...I opened the gate and called for her - she blazed by me (like she thought I was trying to trap her maybe?) and did a sliding stop about 30 feet out when she realized that I had a cookie that was now being fed to another horse.  I'm not too sure what to think about this.  She is completely relaxed around me at other times and even when loose in the round pen - heck, this morning she even let me and Heather rinse out her goopy eye with no fuss. Perhaps when she gets to know me better, she'll trust that I, in fact, do not eat horse.  We'll see. 

Sheriff's Posse and other stuff

So, after looking for months, I was finally able to determine that there IS a local mounted sheriff's posse!  Search and rescue is something that I've been interested in doing for years, but I wasn't able to find a local group until last week. Apparently they are rather unorganized and don't have the full support of the county sheriff, so I'm not sure what will happen there...but it's something to keep on my radar. 

We were unable to start line-driving Ruby last week due to three days of rain, uggh.  Today I was finally able to really work with her, so we lunged a bit in side reins.  Poor Ruby - the first reins I tried were way too short for such a greenie and she was absolutely convinced that she COULD NOT move.  I put on my own (much longer) reins, lunged her a bit, then we practiced giving to the side pull again. She'll be ready to start line-driving tomorrow.

Oh, before I forget, I was sitting on her, reinforcing the concept of giving to the side pull when a helicopter flew over really low.  She tightened up, so I hopped down (bareback pad) but it was unnecessary.  Good girl! 

Intro Ride in March??

Our first selfie - we need practice!

I may be jumping the gun, but there is a mid-March introductory/fun ride that is being held in conjunction with an AERC/SEDRA (SouthEastern Distance Riders Association) ride.  Distance is 15 miles - fifteen miles is nothing for a fit horse, but Ruby's been a pasture potato.  And she's so green that I won't be able to even start conditioning for another two weeks, at least.  But, if it turns out that Ruby's up to it by then, I'm taking her.  There is a cut-off time but I just want to take her for the experience of it all.  Jennie will be going if she can get everything set up, and Heather (barn owner) is thinking about going too.  It should be a good time.

Ruby's training is going very well - so well that it's hard for me to believe that no one's done much with her.  Actually, not so hard when I think back to the first time I lunged her and she tried to run me down...repeatedly.  Anyway, it looks like we'll be line-driving by Friday.  Until then, we're doing lots of ground-work and getting to know each other.

More Ruby

The more I work with and then think about our time together, the more I wonder if she's ever really been broke.  Ruby is supposed to be green-broke.  In my mind, this means she knows steering, walk, trot, whoa.  It's obvious that she's 'saddle-broke' and used to someone sitting on her back, but it's also pretty damn clear that she doesn't know what to do from there.  Jennie did not get to really feel Ruby out during her time there, so we're going on what we were told - I guess we'll never really know.

EDIT: I spoke to Jennie again and Ruby's been 'backyard broke' - throw the saddle on and go.  Aha!

So, we're starting over completely from scratch.  Ruby's doing very well with lunging, including speed control now.  She's no longer nervous and looking for escape, now she's looking for the whoa.  She's giving ok to pressure, and gets better every session.  She's learning that I expect her to at least drop her head for the halter, and also learning that snatching her head out of the halter when being released only means she gets to stand there longer!  And, broke or not, she's not going anywhere.  I really like this mare, and can see us doing great things together. 

PS.  Now that I've decided to change her name, I'm having a hard time thinking of her as Ruby instead of Ginger - gah!!

Slow down, Grasshoppa

Breakfast time!

Yep, I rode Ruby today.  Nope it didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but it didn't end with disaster either so things are good.  We did the usual prep this morning, then I wanted to see how she'd go in a side-pull and a bareback pad.  It was very cold and windy...why yes, I am grateful that I didn't break my neck.  Ruby let me mount up from the mounting block fine.  She stood very quietly and let me rock around, dig through my pockets, and snap a picture.  Then I asked for forward movement - wait, you want what?!  She started backing a few steps.  She turns towards the goat's pen...and walks through me asking her to turn away from it.  Hmm, maybe I should get down and try this in the round pen (I know, I know - and I'm not telling my Mom or my husband that I did this). Hop down, grab mounting block, and head to the round pen. Lunge a few laps to make sure she's listening before we try again.  Walk up and make sure that we have steering, things are a go.  Mount up, fine.  Ask for forward movement - what?!?  She backed a few steps, then swung to the left.  Anyways, to make a long story short I think she was a bit on sensory overload.  I was using my voice (walk, trot, ho just like when we lunge), my legs, my seat, and my hands when asking her to move, turn, stop, etc.  She could feel every movement I made because she was in the bareback pad.  It was also cold (low 40's) and windy, and probably too soon but now I know what we need to work on.  I know she's ok with movement and noises coming from her back when I'm mounted, and I know that she has basically no steering in the sidepull (still stumped on that one because she was doing great from the ground).  After a few minutes I decided to steer to and stop at a particular clump of grass and call it good.  We have lots to work on!  In the meantime, have I mentioned how gorgeous she is?

Before going into the round pen.

Feet and an update

Here are the first pictures I have taken of Ruby's feet.  They aren't very good and I haven't taken the time to take solar shots, but they'll get me started so here goes.

Front feet

Front feet

Hind feet

Hinds again

Not too bad to start with.  There isn't much flaring, though her quarters are jammed up, especially on the front feet.  I don't know what's up with the cracks in the fronts either - they don't go all the way through the hoof wall, so maybe it's nutritional?   What you can't see is that she has very thick hoof walls (her feet are HARD), and some white line stretching, but nothing major.  She has deep frog clefts, so the coffin bones are way up there in her feet - but she is flat-footed.  I haven't seen a nice, concave hoof since I've been here but I'm not sure if it's an environmental or management issue.  The farrier is coming out on Monday.  If he's the type to take direction (don't cut out any sole, really roll the edges, etc), then I'll continue to use him. If not, it'll be time for me to break out the rasp myself.  I've got to dig out my Pete Ramey book.  Unfortunately, there are no real 'bare foot' trimmers around that I've been able to find. 

All that being said, Ruby has me pleasantly surprised. She has been great and tries very hard to please.  She's also been very easy-going - if I'd had my helmet, I would have ridden her bareback this morning, she was that good.  Alas, I haven't brought out a helmet to keep at the barn (I take my lessons at another place, so keep the helmet at the house, doh!), so we practiced giving to pressure.  I also climbed up on the fence and waved my arms all around - in preparation for teaching her to line up to things for me to mount.  We also went for a stroll down the road.  She was checking everything out but not spooky.  There are horses (not part of our barn) at the corner that came galloping up to meet the newbie - she did not lose her cool or forget that I was there, woohoo!  On our way back, a truck came zooming past - no response.  And, she doesn't seem to be the least bit ouchy on asphalt. 

She's doing so well, it's hard to know when to stop everyday.  I'm asking a lot out of her and don't want to push her too far, too fast.  She does not know a lot, but she picks up on things VERY fast, and takes everything in stride.  I'm going to have to keep in mind that it's probably time to stop when I most want to keep going. 

First conformation pics

I got this idea from Mel at Boots and Saddles.  The plan is to take updated photos every month or so - the reality is that I'll be lucky to remember to take new photos twice a year.  I was also going to take pictures of her feet, but forgot.  Maybe tomorrow.

Right side (so shiny!)

Left side (forgive the lighting)

Topline (kinda-sorta) 

Things went very well today.  She only got pushy once, when I went to put her back in her stall and she wanted out.  I made my point, and we had no more issues.  We practiced leading, free-lunging, grooming, scratching, and she stood tied (very quietly) while I cleaned her stall.  She was fantastic and I'm even more excited now than I was yesterday.