A girl and her horse

The kid has decided that barrel racing is a lot of fun. And honestly, Calypso looks much better as a Western horse than she ever did decked out in English gear.


She's starting to give me a hard time about wearing the helmet though. "It itches and makes my head sweat," says she. I grew up riding helmet-less, but for some reason, I just cringe thinking about her riding without one. So, until she's 18 and old enough to make that decision on her own, she'll wear it. I think the camo pants are a fabulous fashion statement. Ha! And please ignore the mare's muddy legs and mane, I am still working on convincing Kayleigh to more thoroughly groom before tacking up. We'll get there.


Don't they look cute together? Not only has she been running the mare on barrels, she has also been starting to rope off her. Thank goodness that mare is so accepting and quiet, cause all that stuff is new to her and she just takes it in stride. Last summer Kayleigh spent a month with her Nana in California and apparently was paying quite a bit of attention to her Grandpa Jerry when he was introducing his colt to the lasso. When she decided to introduce Calypso to the lasso she said "And when Jerry got Wrangler used to the lasso, he did this," and she rubbed the lasso all over Calypso, let her smell it and slapped her lightly all over her body with it. Calypso didn't flinch. Then, later, after a reminder, she also let that mare step on the rope and slid it beneath her tail. She has been dragging it on the ground when she rides now, too. Next step, tossing it from the saddle and whirling it around her.

So far, the mare has taken it all in stride. What a good girl, and what a good start for Kayleigh to learn how to train a horse!

I'm thrilled to death that Kayleigh's interest in horses seems to be growing. She has ridden that mare more in the past two weeks than she has all winter and she comes home from school and wants to ride. She's been going out by herself more often too, something I've been encouraging.

Sometimes...

I have to remind myself that although the sweltering, icky, yucky, horrible hot SUCKS....

The alternative is worse:



Because while hot is hot is hot, cold is just MISERABLE and a whole lot more work to deal with. Cold toes, cold nose, frozen horses, frozen mud holes, ice, more ice, snow...brrrrr....


Nope. I'm not ready for winter yet. I know I should be getting ready and get that hay shed filled, but it's an admission that winter, yes, it's coming.

And it can take its own sweet time for all I care. Fall, on the other hand, I am ready for fall!

While we swelter...

We've been under an excessive heat warning for almost a month, here, in the Midwest. Heat indexes between 105 and 115 many days. It's too damned miserable to do any kind of riding. My only goal for the past few weeks has been keeping the horses as cool and healthy as possible in this miserable crap. It hasn't been easy. Gabe will stand for hours in the sprinkler, but Chief and Calypso want nothing to do with it and prefer to stand in the sun practically panting and dripping sweat.

The only thing I can do is keep their water cool, hose them off and do as much as I can to keep the horrible, horrible bugs away.

In the meantime, my kid is waaay out west enjoying lots of California sunshine, (hot, but not humid. What a world of difference that makes!) mountains, trail riding and camping with her Nana, aunt and cousin!

See what the kid has been up to!

Gabe says...

So I was out in the pasture with my buds, having a good ole time...

Rolling in the mud, swishing at flies, chomping on green grass. Then, mom came out and said it was time to go to work.

She called me a filthy pig! Can you believe it? I get a little mud on me and she calls me names. So mean. She brushed and brushed and brushed and got most of the mud off then said I looked like a ragamuffin, an unwanted street urchin. Humpf. So maybe I need a haircut. So what?

Then she broke out the dumb hat. She says it makes me looks handsome. I think it makes me look like a dork. Or an Arab. I can't decide which is worse. Plus it keeps those horrible, painful deer flies off me. I like that part.

But Calypso and Chief snicker from the paddock and taunt me: "Your momma dresses you funny!"
They are not nice.

I mean, come on, mom, purple fringe and BEADS? Really? I'm a BOY!

Sooo embarassed. I can't even tell you.

We went for a ride and mom said I was GREAT! I was too mortified by the hat to call any attention to myself so I just did as I was told. Figured she was using the purple bead hat as some sort of cruel and unusual punishment for that last time I jumped around, acted like a yearling and tried to put her butt on the ground.

Apparently she wasn't kidding when she called me a filthy pig. I got the bubble bath treatment and everything. My tail is white again. But baths? Really? They are for the birds. No thanks!

At least she didn't make me get a haircut.

This time.

The best thing about working hard and bubble baths? Mom always lets me munch on the good clover-y grass after she's done fussing over me. Don't tell anyone, but I kinda like it. The fussing part, that is. I always like grass. Always!

She says I'm too fat. I prefer to think of myself as comfortably plump. That grass is goooood stuff!

She even trusts me enough now that she lets me wander around the yard while she puts all our stuff away. I'm a good boy that way. Besides, the grass and clover is best here.

And I know she has at least one more peppermint waiting for me in her pocket.

My little helper...

Not!

Accomplishing farm tasks, in the pasture, is pretty darn near impossible with Gabe sticking his nose up in my business the entire time.

But I don't mind so much, not really. Even as much as I complain and call him all kinds of names during his nosiness, I kind of like that he chooses to be with me when I'm in the pasture and not the other horses.

He's not TOO pushy. Definitely not rude or scary. Just....curious, as all good horses should be.

Hmm...what have we here? A bucket of stuff? What's the stuff? Can I eat it?

What do you mean there are no peppermints here? Really? You're kidding right?

Oooh...this is yummy! Yes, the brute left teeth marks on the drill. He's like a baby...everything goes in his mouth at some point. I have to be extra diligent about keeping noxious/poisonous weeds out of the pastures because the dang fool has been witnessed EATING THEM!

Have hammer, will travel! He has been known to clock me in the head with the hammer...and has hit himself with it once or twice. I don't know what his deal is, but once he has it in his teeth he like to swing it around.

I did manage to get the gate up...took probably twice as long as it should have and it hangs a bit crooked...but it's up nonetheless! Thanks for your help, big guy!

Bits and muddy butts

I've tried a plain eggbutt snaffle, a loose-ring comfort mouth snaffle, a plain D-ring snaffle and a full-cheek snaffle on Gabe.

He hated the full-cheek, played like crazy with the loose-ring and just didn't seem to care for either the eggbutt or the D-ring.

I have one more mild snaffle in my arsenal of bits.


It's a Myler comfort mouth level 2 snaffle with hooks. Sounds complicated, but it's one of the most interesting and mildest bits I've used. It's a snaffle with a very, very small port on it for tongue relief. The hooks, which are spaces to connect the bridle and the reins directly to the D-ring, stabilize the bit in the mouth and the way the snaffle joint is connected it prevents the "nutcracker" effect of most snaffles and allows me to move each side of the bit independent of the other. I really like this bit.

And apparently, so does Gabe! He mouthed it a bit, chewed on it, wiggled it around as much as he could, sighed and dropped his head. He wasn't quite sure what to think at first about the port and my ability to move each side of the bit independently, but he figured it out pretty quickly and seemed to accept it far better than the other bits I've used.


But before I could ride, I had to deal with THIS. Seriously Gabe? Must we roll and roll and roll every single time it rains? And what's wrong with rolling in the grass? Must you find the slickest, wettest, muddiest spot available?


Nothing like a mud-covered beast to start your riding time out right! He likes to grind it in good. And our mud isn't just mud, it's mostly clay, so even on a summer coat, it sticks like glue.



Luckily he didn't grind too much mud into the tail. Usually I'm picking huge clumps and giant hard balls of mud out of the end. He was at least kind enough to spare me that extra effort.


I love this horse's eye. They are so dark, deep and expressive. I can lose myself in them and I get the feeling there is a whole lot going on in that head that I'll never know. It's almost like gazing into the eyes of a lover. Can't you see the intelligence in there?



I LOVE this picture. Amazing how waiting an hour to catch the light of the setting sun makes such a big difference in the ambiance of the photo.