Hold Your Horse

Last Hay Run

2011-11-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

I organized the last hay run of the season and this is how the day turned out. Ugh. But we had a big team of bale-throwers and got three hundred more bales in the barn without getting stuck even once. We're set for winter now!

The Almost Finished Project

2011-09-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

While my horses napped all summer in order of biggest to smallest...

I was busy mucking in the mud.

We had the wettest summer on record here, so these piles of forty-year-old manure that were scraped away from the barn sat amongst the rain ponds for weeks and weeks before it was dry enough to get the dump truck in to haul them away.

Eventually, it dried out, the piles were hauled out, the water lines were dug for three yard taps (only one burst a week later and had to be redug and repaired) and we built the fences.

Here are some of the new fences and the new manure bins (which will have walls on them in a few days). The outhouse has a new home next to the manure piles. I didn't look into a permit for that biffy...but as long as no one complains...

I have a round pen in the works. I plan to brace the top with white boards and string three strands of white poly-coated wire.

Here's another before and after from the back of the barn. Here the old manure has been scraped away and we're waiting for things to dry up before digging the water lines.

And here are two finished paddocks, with the new road and gravel path.

This is one of my boarders in his new paddock.

It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better...

2011-07-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

Today's post is a series of before and after shots. This photo shows a shed attached to the barn on the right of the photo.

Shed gone. Imagine the little Tinkerbell ring they used to have with those Disney audio-assisted picture books. Yeah, the shed disappeared like turning the page on one of those books. That's right. No sweat or fiberglass slivers or convoys to the dump at all.

Here we have an array of graceful fencing. That fence in the middle distance is made of rusty old pipe. One chop saw and five blades later, it and the rest of the pipe fence from behind the barn were in manageable pieces that my helpers then loaded into a bin to go to the metal salvage place. I don't know how much it all weighed, but the bin was 18 feet by 7 feet by 4 feet, and it was full! I got cash for all that. It was kind of like logging my property.

Here's the same spot with most of the fence gone and the horses living in temporary electric fence set-ups, which they regularly escape from. There's a new ditch in the foreground. (I apologize for the poor photography. Most of these pictures are snapped with one hand while grasping muddy gloves, tools and lead ropes under an elbow at the same time as fending off two or three cats and a herd of contractors.)

This shows (sort of) the paddocks behind the barn. The ground here actually rises up above the floor level of the barn, so that all the spring melt ends up in the barn. The ground is higher than the barn on account of forty years of poo building up. The other phenomenon that occurs with that kind of poo accumulation is it acts like a sponge and water won't run off even if the ground is sloped. So the excavator guy spent a whole day scraping that layer of decomposed manure off until he got down to the actual ground level.

Here it is with the ground scraped. Uh, just ignore the scary-looking barn. We'll deal with that later. For now, the idea is to get the right ditching and the right slope on the ground to allow for proper drainage, and then when I actually do fix the barn, it'll stay fixed because the foundations will be dry. That's the theory.

Here's the excavator among its piles of forty-year-old manure. Most of the manure is being taken to a neighbour's place and I'll keep a small pile for future gardens or for putting into tiny bags and selling for $40/bag in downtown Vancouver.

Things are looking dreadful now after a week of rain, but at least the view from my little deck is relaxing, and will stay that way through all this destruction and rebuilding. Oh, except for a trench for the electrical upgrade from the house to the barn...

Gate Inventory

2011-05-30T21:21:00.001-07:00

As I'm getting my plans organized for the new fence layout, I'm taking stock of what materials I have on the property. A previous owner must have been a metal-worker. The gates are a full curious range of lengths:

3ft9
6ft4
6ft10
7ft1
7ft7
7ft8
7ft10
9ft
9ft8
10ft
11ft5
13ft2
14ft

How do I plan standard gate openings with those kinds of sizes!?

Okay, don't despair. The gates are quite lovely and light and will last a long time yet, but I still need to plan for the day the gates will have to be replaced with the standard 6,8,10,12 or 14 foot gates. I plan to put in the gate posts so that the standard gates will fit. Which means some of the gates I have will extend past the gate post, and some will have a wee gap between the gate posts that I may fill with a 2x4. It has taken some figuring but I've got it working on paper. We'll see how it all turns out...

Some Ways to Get Your Cow Ready for the Parade

2011-05-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's World Naked Gardening Day!

2011-05-14T10:21:00.001-07:00

Sorry, no photos.

Art as the Illusion of Function

2011-04-24T12:10:00.001-07:00

Here are some pieces of fence art I've found around the property. Sadly, the exhibits you see here will be dismantled as soon as the frost is out of the ground, so view them while you can!

This is a particularly fine piece of sculpting done by a series of horses over about two years. A group effort, but a cohesive one. They all had the same vision, obviously.

I especially like this piece, done in wood and metal, tied together nicely with the bright orange twine.

A fine antiquing effect was used on this linear piece.

One of my favourites, this piece gives the illusion of solidity with thick vertical lines, offset by the falling diagonal.

Septimus and his half brother, the newest patrons to the gallery.

Born Yesterday

2011-04-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

One down, one to go! Connie had her calf last night (on her own birthday!) with a breezy three hours of labour. The calf was raring to go and was up drinking within an hour. His name is Septimus. Don't ask me why.

Here he is this morning.

I gave him his vitamin shots this morning (ouch), a one-time thing for calves. Tomorrow I'll put in his ear tags. As Corb Lund says, "Welcome to the world, little buddy."

Kasper

2011-03-19T11:26:00.001-07:00

Kasper thinks cameras are for nibbling on.

I finally got organized enough to get him into the arena. He was a little nervous.

Noises outside the barn worried him.

But he settled down really well and we worked through a few of the easier Stage Three exercises (see previous blog entries) and he remembered all kinds of stuff that he hasn't done all winter. In this picture he's trotting circles around me. He stayed focussed on me in the arena even though he was off the lead rope the whole time, and he didn't seem worried that he'd left his friends behind. All very encouraging. A good start to the season.

Barn Cat Moves Indoors

2011-03-19T11:09:00.001-07:00

At first, living indoors was pretty spooky for Ginger.

And then he discovered beds.

The Next Big Project

2011-03-04T19:47:00.000-08:00

This is the next big project. It's not a horse. It's not a cow. It's an equestrian centre! I moved here in January, and am settling in. (And somewhat snowed in). The place has a barn with stalls and runs, several paddocks and some small pastures. Here are a few photos. These will be some of the "before" photos. I hope, by the end of the summer, to have "after" photos.

The first project in the spring will be new fencing. (The barn in the back is my neighbour's barn.)

This is my barn, which houses a riding arena, stalls, hay storage and tack rooms. It's thirty or forty years old. It's made of post and beam construction with huge pressure-treated posts. Which is great. But the posts have heaved with the frost and now the barn sides and roof swoop up and down like a sine wave. Apparently, post by post, this can be fixed. So, after fencing, the next project will be to change the foundation around each post to prevent heaving, level it all out, and put on siding. I'm thinking red tin.

This shows the swoop in the wall from in the arena.

Here's a shot of the central hallway.

This is the south side of the barn where the horses access their runs from their stalls. Snow is an issue! When the roof slides, the doors are plugged and have to be shovelled out. The roof slid just before I moved in so I didn't have to shovel that. (Phew!) But it's set to slide again...

A Refresher for CJ

2011-01-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Sleighing! The snow is piling up and the woods are gorgeous. Here's how I eased CJ back into the traces this fall. (Check out the posts from 2009 to see how I trained him the first time.)

Day One: ground driving with the full harness on. We weaved like drunkards.

Day Two: (which, as it happened, wasn't actually the day after Day One...) The following photos are from Day Two. I hitched CJ to the single tree and ground drove him. Steering was a little better than on Day One. He wasn't too happy with the traces coming tight against his back legs on the corners. He kicked at them at first, but he gradually kicked less as we continued. I added the tire. He had to pull the tire plus all the snow it dragged, but he didn't balk.
Here's a good photo of the harness.

CJ eyes the thing behind him.

Day Three: At the start of this refresher, CJ had been lazing around in the pasture for two months. So Day Three was a trail ride to see how he felt about being out in the bush without his buddies. We crossed several moose tracks, which made him flare his nostrils and look askance at the forest, but otherwise he was fine.

Day Four: With my dad's help, we hitched CJ to the stoneboat. (I'm a little short on photos here, but there are photos of all of these stages on last winter's posts...if I could figure out how to include a link, I'd link you...) We did two laps of the barn-to-house road with figure 8's in the parking lot. I halted him a lot and rubbed him and walked around him and fussed with the harness. He wasn't too happy to stand still so I gave him a lot of chance to practice.

Day Five: Three laps with the stoneboat and lots of halting and standing.

Day Six: Hitched to the sleigh! The sleigh trail I picked out this year is along old roads through thick woods. This way the trail won't get blown full of snow like it did last year when I had the trail going across the fields. The only problem with this is that you don't get any warning at all if a moose steps out of the trees. And as an experienced teamster told me recently with a sad shake of his head, "Moose are hard on horses".

CJ was completely unconcerned about the sleigh behind him. He seemed a little confused about how to get the darn thing going. He bounced against the breast collar a few times to get it going, but once he had it in motion, he was fine. I'm driving him with an open bridle (no blinders) and he seemed to totally remember from last year what that thing was behind him. He never even glanced at it.

We sleighed for an hour and CJ did not sweat. Not even under the harness. It's not that he's in great shape, I guess it's just that the sleigh is light and horses are really strong brutes!

Day Seven: This time I took CJ out with a non-horsey helper as a test to see how we would do without my dad's help. He had a little trouble making the turn (CJ not dad) off the driveway into the deeper snow of the trail, so I had to hop out and lead him around the corner, but otherwise we did fine.

Day Eight: This was a warmer day and the snow was sticky AND we loaded four people in the sleigh. Not so good. CJ couldn't figure out how to get the sleigh going. He would push forward into the breast collar, meet solid resistance, and give up just as the sleigh popped forward. So he would then pop forward, hit the pressure of the breast collar, again meet resistance, and give up the very moment the sleigh began to move. It's a kind of bouncing ball effect. I let him try a few times to see if he could sort it out. He popped up off his front feet and I was about to hollar whoa, but the next try he got it. The sleigh was moving, he kept a steady push into the breast collar and off we went. Phew. But the next time we stopped, we unloaded some passengers to make it easier for him.

Kasper's New Toy

2010-12-01T21:56:00.000-08:00

When horses do the mutual grooming thing, they nibble at each other and scratch each other with their top teeth. Cows just lick each other, so it seems that Red's not sure about Kasper's teeth, but Kasper seems happy enough to be bathed.

Weaning

2010-11-27T15:22:00.001-08:00

Red, Sid and Jean.

Weaning. I didn't want to do it. How could I take babies away from their moms? I read about weaning and talked to farmers. The books said one thing and the farmers said another.

I hummed and hawed. If I kept them together, feeding and watering would be easier. But then I'd have to separate them just before the moms were about to calve and that could be awkward if the weather's terrible in March. What finally decided me was finding out that the cows teats can split if they're always wet in -20 C temperatures. Since the cows aren't too happy with me rubbing salve on their udders, I decided I better wean.

It turned out to be easy. I lured the cows into the corral with some hay. Just like that. No fuss. So Sid and Red could still hang out with their moms with only fence panels between them. They could even still nurse if they wanted to. No one was upset.

Three days later, I put Sid and Red in a pen about forty feet from their moms' corral. They could see each other but couldn't nurse. After about 12 hours, the calves started mooing, but hay settled them down. No one was frantic. No one was trying to bust through the fences.

After about ten days, when the moms' udders had dried up, I moved the moms to the far pasture where they will stay until they're ready to calve. This move was a little tricky because to get them there, I had to move them through an area where they could break away and get to their calves. With snow on the ground, I couldn't set up any fences that would stop them. So, three of us lured them with hay. The cows were hyper, jumping and leaping around but following the hay. They got to about ten feet from the gate, we were almost there, and then wham, they took off for the calves' pen. I sprinted beside them, hoping to turn them off, waving a big rake and hollering, but they split and went on either side of me and had a little party over by their sons. My helper and I ran after them, got them running again and they ran right back to the hay and scooted through the gate where I wanted them. Phew!

Then Sid and Red had to be moved from their pen to the corral where they'll stay until calving time. This was a little more worrisome, because if they broke loose on us, they'd hit a barbed wire fence and would likely hurt themselves trying to barge through to their moms. So we made a fence out of two trucks, the horse trailer, a car, the tractor, and five people with rakes. It worked! Phew again! Now everyone's settled.

In the next post, I'll show how Red has found a new mommy. (It's Kasper!)

Testing for Stage Three

2010-11-11T17:40:00.000-08:00

Last week, I did my Stage Three test for Glenn Stewart's Natural Horsemanship program. To test, you have to video all the tasks, send the video in and get marked as "pass" or "resubmit" for each task. The above video shows the highlights from the test video. And I do mean highlights. These are the bits where it's all going smoothly. Now I should put together a video of the Stage Three Bloopers!

The Banff Centre

2010-11-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

The Banff Centre http://www.banffcentre.ca/ is a world class facility for artists of all kinds. There are programs for writers, ballerinas, painters, musicians and even circus performers. I've been lucky enough to attend two writing programs there. The most recent one was this September. I was in a six-day workshop on children's writing with the wonderful Tim Wynne-Jones, a Canadian author who has published over thirty books. The above photo was taken from the top of Tunnel Mountain. The Banff Centre is the cluster of buildings at the bottom right, and across the Bow River up and to the left is the Banff Springs Hotel.

Here's most of my group celebrating a great week. Standing from left to right: Sue Farrell Holler, me, Don Cummer, Tim Wynne-Jones, Joanne Jefferson, Karen Spafford-Fitz, Leslie Carmichael, and kneeling is Ann Sutherland. Brenda Johnson was also in our group but she was off writing or something when the picture was taken.

In this workshop, we each brought the first 20-30 pages of a novel, read each other's work, and discussed what was great and what had to go. It was extremely helpful. When you get knee-deep into a manuscript, you often can't see the forest for the trees. With the help of Tim and the group, I was able to tighten up my first chapters and get my novel off to a roaring start. The trick now is to keep that roar going...

The best thing about The Banff Centre is that they set up your environment to allow for the greatest amount of creativity. They teach you, feed you, make your bed, guide you on hikes, invite you to free inspiring performances...and give you lots of space and time to write. Included in all this is the option to work late and sleep in. Could it get any better?

Pole Bending

2010-11-10T18:55:00.001-08:00

I trailered Kasper to the arena yesterday for a change. Our trails are frozen solid (slippery) and the corral is frozen mud, so it was good to play around at the arena on some soft footing. In this outdoor arena, there is a busy road on one side and a busy parking lot (gymnastics club) on the other side. Kasper was worried about all the traffic but after about ten minutes he settled right down.

A Fall Ride

2010-11-07T21:16:00.001-08:00

We swapped horses for this ride. Here's Lena on Kasper.

And me on little Peter.

Stage Three: Task #7

2010-11-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

This task in Glenn Stewart's Natural Horsemanship Program states: Send your horse into a trailer while sitting on the fender. Count to ten, bring him back to you, without moving.

I thought this would take weeks of practice. But Kasper surprised me.

I started by sending him into the shelter while I sat on the fence (see the Oct. 3blog entry). I spent two sessions on this. He always stood patiently in the shelter waiting for the signal to come out.

Two weeks ago, I loaded him in the trailer for the first time in about two months. He got in but was nervous and jumpy and I didn't even try to get him far enough in to tie him. I figured I'd work up to that the next day.

Well, the "next day" didn't happen until three days ago. But when I loaded him, he was relaxed and went right up to his hay bag to eat. So after sending him in and out a few times, I let the rope drag to see if he was okay when he stepped on it. He's okay with this on the ground but I haven't tested it in the trailer. I was pretty sure that if I was on the fender, he'd be stepping on the rope, so I wanted to check his reaction out first. He wasn't worried when he stepped on the rope, and moved his foot or waited for me to untrap him.

I gradually moved further away until I was out the door, out of sight and around the corner on the fender. He went in and out as I asked. Wow!

So the next day, I only opened one of the trailer doors. I had tried last year to load him with only one door open and he was nervous and banged his side on the way out and then didn't want to try it again. But this time, in he went. No problem. I sat on the fender and sent him in and called him out and he didn't even step on the rope. And today I got it on video.

40 Days and 40 Nights

2010-10-20T19:34:00.001-07:00

It's been raining for two days now. No floods, but the corral is soup! I won't show you that.

Kasper's frizzy look.

Horses get noticeably grumpy when it's cold and wet out. They distinctly don't like to be saddled when their backs are wet, but if you do saddle them up, the saddle blanket warms their backs and they become somewhat less grumpy.

Peter was a little afraid of me in the big yellow jacket with the deep hood.

There's still a lot of grass out here so I won't be feeding hay for a while yet. Even when the snow comes, the horses stay busy pawing for grass. And the forecast says snow on Monday!

A Tough Morning Guarding the House

2010-10-12T14:28:00.001-07:00

Katie.

Sneaky Pete

2010-10-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

One of the exercises for Stage Three is this: you sit on the fender of your horse trailer, send your horse into the trailer (where you can't see him), have him stand there for ten seconds, and then ask him out again. I've set this up to practice at the shelter before we try it with the trailer.

While the camera was running, a sneaker came up who I totally didn't notice until I watched the video...

Almost Halloween

2010-09-28T15:23:00.001-07:00

Kasper is lurking through the pasture in his moose costume.

Stage Three Practice

2010-09-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

I'm working on some Stage Three exercises, especially trying to get Kasper to change directions in the round pen at the trot without breaking out of the trot. We're not quite there yet!

Back at 'Er!

2010-09-09T20:51:00.001-07:00

This is what Kasper and I look like after dirt bikes spook us on the trails. Except for the fact that...well...I'm not quite that muscley. This summer I spent a month backpacking across Europe with my two anonymouses. The statue above is in Vienna where we spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the Spanish Riding School. Vienna is full of giant city squares and enormous statues.

This pretty little team works in Salzburg. Those carriage horses trot right by honking taxis, garbage trucks and mufflerless motorbikes without twitching. Maybe Kasper needs to spend a bit of time in Salzburg.

These horse masks, and about twelve others like them, decorate arches that connect a series of courtyards in central Vienna.

Klosterneuberg, a village near Berlin, is built around this church which stands near my relatives' house.

We paid Knut a visit at the Berlin Zoo.

I took this one for my brother Dan. Everything in Denmark (which is Danmark in Danish) is called Dan this or that. Dantaxi, Danhostel...

Here's the viking ship we sailed in the harbour of Roskilde near Copenhagen.

And, of course, we had to stop in Iceland for a few days on our way back. These are houses from the 1800's in the south of Iceland.

Signing Out for the Summer

2010-06-07T19:48:00.001-07:00

The past few weeks have been great for Kasper and I. He's showing huge signs of being much more grown up this year compared to last year. (And so am I?) On June 12 he'll turn seven, and it seems he is now past his teenage years and entering young adulthood. He has been leading on trail rides on the way home, at a walk, trot or canter at a steady pace instead of an O-My-God-Get-Me-Back-To-The-Barn pace. Which is lovely. And today I took him to the arena in the trailer for the first time this year. He stood calmly at the trailer while I tacked him up instead of spooking at every car that went by. And he showed only the minutest signs of being nervous in the arena, and settled right down to the point of laziness. Which is fine with me.

(The first time I had him in that arena, before I started all the natural horsemanship courses, and before I really knew what I was doing - not that I do now - I had someone hold his reins and, while he ran in circles around her, I chased the stirrup until I somehow got my foot in and scrambled up onto his back. And then off we went like a shot...)

But with the temperature becoming more pleasant, the mosquitoes not too prolific, and the thunder storms only every other day, it seems there is way too much fun to be had outdoors, so I won't be blogging again until September. This fall, I plan to hitch CJ up to the cart and do a bit of road driving. And I'm keeping an eye out for a bobsled (not the Olympic kind) to use when the snow gets too deep for the sleigh. So check back in the fall and see what's up on the farm! Happy summer adventures to everyone!

Rodeo on the Farm

2010-05-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

Red and Sid look pretty cute and small here, I figure. Which is why we thought we'd have no trouble wrassling them to the ground to put their ear tags in...

So we gather a team of five. We have a rope. We have the tags and tagger, and instructions. The calves are curled up at the opposite side of the pasture from their moms. Everything looks perfect. We approach the calves, which is never a problem; they like getting scratched under the chin.

Problem number one: they're afraid of the rope. They get up. I decide to try for Sid since he's the smallest and tamest. Every time I get close with the rope, he moves away. Slowly, slowly, with the team waiting a little way away, I inch closer with the rope. And then it's on! Team member number two leaps on Sid and we hang on as Sid kicks and bucks and twists and drags us. The rest of the team is trying to sneak up but when I holler "Help!" they start to run, just as Sid escapes. How could he? He's so little!

Ten more minutes of trying to sneak the rope on Sid again, and ten more minutes of the calves moving closer and closer to their moms, causes Dad to ask for the lassoo (which is actually spelled lasso but I like lassoo better). Okay, lassoo fetched and swinging, Dad, ever patient, stalks and stalks and finally he's got Sid! Mom and I (the other two team members have wandered away) grab the rope, Dad tackles Sid and flips him just as his bawling (Sid's, not Dad's) brings the cows galloping in a rage! LET 'IM GO DAD!!!

Dad faces off with the two cows while Mom and I holler and Sid bawls. We need the rest of the team, but they're off somewhere on horseback...Dad lets Sid go and then there's a stampede! Two cows and two calves, one dragging a long rope that's around his neck (Sid's, not Dad's). He's going to choke! But no, from out of nowhere, one of the missing team members dives through the fence into the fray and slips the rope off the calf, risking death by trampling. Sid is safe, Mom still has the tags and tagger and instructions, and we're all still alive so we can safely go back in the house and figure out a better way to do this!

Peter--Days 19, 20 and Beyond

2010-05-11T10:32:00.001-07:00

Well, day twenty was no magic number for Peter, but he is continuing to become more relaxed at the arena and more willing to slow down. He's responding well in a thin snaffle bit and his rider was able to have a lesson on him with her riding instructor and everyone felt it went really well. So I will leave him to his rider now, which means I can turn my attention to my own horse, Kasper, who I've been itching to ride.

So far, I've spent some time doing ground work with Kasper, getting him used to me as the leader again after the winter off. I've ridden him around in the corral and pasture and soon we'll be going out on the trails when I have someone to come with me. Kasper really needs a confident buddy along on the trails. After he bolted home with me for the second time last year, I decided not to ride him on my own until he's more confident.

Here's Kasper in the bareback pad. This is one of Glenn Stewart's bareback pads. It's amazing. The suede holds you on like epoxy.

Red and Sid. Red is two weeks older than Sid, but he seems way bigger! But having never had cows before, we're not sure if Sid's a runt, or Red's a giant? We're hoping giant, otherwise we may have trouble selling Sid at the bull sale next spring.

Sid tasting the rake handle which he spent a good long time with.

Sid.

And this little guy is a vole, eating up some spilled oats. We have billions of voles here. They build tunnels out of grass under the snow in the winter, so in the spring, as the snow recedes, you see all these grassy vole highways and hide-outs. We have mice and shrews here at our place, but they're rare compared to voles.

Chicago - April 29-May 2, 2010

2010-05-06T13:41:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I went to my first Erin Murphy Literary Agency Retreat, held in Chicago. This is an annual retreat my agent organizes for her clients. It was held in downtown Chicago, which is bursting with tulips, crowds, and the odd cow.

And the rare but locally common Metalic Moose.

Here's a picture taken from the tour boat that took us out on windy Lake Michigan.

This sculpture is in Millenium Park. It's called The Bean. I think. At least that's what everyone was calling it, but I never actually saw a sign. It's a bizarre and wonderful sculpture amongst several other bizarre sculptures.

The retreat itself was fabulous. I met many well-published, in-the-midst-of-being-published, and soon-to-be-published authors. We swapped experiences and read bits of our works-in-progress, so we can all cheer for each other's books in all stages of the publishing process.

Happy Earth Day!

2010-04-22T11:59:00.001-07:00

Peter--Day 18

2010-04-22T10:52:00.001-07:00

Before anything could get done today, CJ had to fix Kasper's hair.

Ginger likes hanging out with Peter. Peter's not as sure about their relationship...

Peter and I went exploring today and found a new trail. This was Peter's first bush ride of the year. He was great on the way out and a little hyper on the way back as you might expect. However, he didn't balk at the deep puddles and he took his time going over logs. And he didn't bolt when a pack of dogs came after us...Yes, trail riding's always good for the odd un-needed jolt of adrenaline!

Peter--Days 16 and 17

2010-04-19T15:26:00.001-07:00

The daffodils are out!
The alpaca babies are out! (I took this photo at an alpaca farm where I bought some wool for a scarf.)

And Peter had another two sessions. I rode him in my corral at home which has dried up nicely after the spring mud. I worked on obstacles with him, like walking around barrels, stepping over poles and backing up between poles. These kinds of things make him nervous and he tends to want to rush through them, but working on them, whether I'm leading him or riding him, helps him gain trust in me and confidence in himself. Or that's the theory. He's getting less nervous with obstacles at home.
Today I rode him at the arena in town and put out some cones which he hasn't seen for a while. He was nervous when I asked him to back through them, so I led him through several times, and then realized he was even scared to touch the cones. So I rubbed one all over him (at first he backed away but eventually he let me touch the cone to him and relaxed when he found out it was soft). Then I backed him through several times. Next time I'll lead him through the cones and work up to riding him through them.

Peter the Pony

2010-04-13T21:26:00.001-07:00

This is Peter. He's a nineteen year old Welsh Pony/Quarter Horse cross. We've had him for three years and have used him on trails and for 4H. So far on this blog, I've covered some work with Kasper, and the harness training and sleighing with CJ, so now it's Peter's turn.

Peter has a couple of issues that I would like to see if I can change. First of all, if you put your leg against his side to get him to move over, he thinks that means go faster. Secondly, when I take him to any arena, indoor or outdoor, he wants to go way too fast. I think he goes fast because he's nervous. People call him a "hot" horse (a word you could use to describe Arabians) but he really shouldn't be. When you lead him, he's quiet and gentle and goes whatever speed you want him to. On trail rides, he's much more relaxed and also goes whatever speed you ask from him.

So, I started working on him about a month ago. Here he is at the local arena. I started him at Stage One of the natural horsemanship program I've been learning. Which means I did several session of ground work with him before getting on, at home and at the arena. I taught him to move away from pressure. At first, when I put my hand on his side to ask him to move away, he would lean into my hand. Now that I've worked with him and he knows what I'm asking, he politely moves away when I press on him with my hand.

Then I started riding him and asking for the same movement away only with my leg pressing on him. He didn't like this pressure. He'd move into my leg or shoot forward or pop up in little mini-rears. So I kept practicing on the ground, getting him more and more used to the idea that I can press on him anywhere and it won't hurt, I'm just asking him to move. I've had him down to the arena eight times now and he's getting fine with my leg on his left side, but still a little cranky with my right leg. The last session was the first time he didn't try to rear, so we're getting there.

Before I started working with him, you actually had to kind of ride him with your legs held away from his sides, because even just squeezing to get him to walk from a stand-still would cause him to leap forward. I did a lot of desensitization head to tail by rubbing him, swinging ropes, tarps and flags along his body, and sitting on him swinging my legs back and forth and rubbing them on him while at a whoa. He's made great progress!

The second issue of too much nervous speed has slowly been getting better as he spends more time at the arena. I think it's more an issue of improving his confidence than anything else. He has typically done a lot of head tossing when we've ridden him with a bridle (with various bits), so I started riding him in the arena with just the rope halter. The last session there, I used the bridle with him and he didn't toss his head at all. He could be ridden with the halter all the time (I ride him on the trails with just the halter) but for 4H he has to be ridden with a bit. (I'm not too fond of rules like this for horses, but there are some long-standing traditions in showing that I'm not quite ready to go up against.)

One way to slow Peter down is to lunge him for half an hour before riding him. But there is so much controversy about lunging and so many reasons not to do it, like it's boring for the horse and hard on his hips, that I'm looking for a different way. The last time I rode him, after forty-five minutes of ground work and warm-ups in the saddle, I let him trot without stopping for about ten minutes. Glenn Stewart has a game he does at his courses which is: keep the horse at a trot but let him choose where to go. There was no one else in the arena with me at this point, so I let Peter go. We high-power trotted all over the place. It was hilarious. The people tacking up their horses must have thought I was nuts. But when I finally asked Peter to walk, he was happier to just stay in a walk. Usually, he tries about every four or five steps to hop up into a trot, but after the mad-trotting caper, he was tuckered out and more relaxed at the walk. And the whole time I hadn't had to use the reins, and he really likes to have his mouth left alone.

Here he is snoozing in the sun after the ride. Counting ground work at home, road rides and the arena sessions, I've put fifteen days on him. That's how the cowboys say it: "I'll put twenty days on 'im fer ya, Ma'am!" Twenty days seems to be the magic number. It took me twenty training days to get CJ hitched and pulling the sleigh, so we'll see what the next five days do for Peter...

The Colour Orange

2010-04-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ginger and his new toy.

Chickadees

2010-04-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

I took this video from the counter by the kitchen sink. These little guys bring their sunflower seeds from the feeder to the lilac bush by the window and hammer away at them till they're empty.

The Weather Today

2010-04-03T19:35:00.001-07:00

Bleak. Then again, this time last year we still had a foot of snow on the ground.

Put out to Pasture

2010-03-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video of the fun after we moved Jean, Connie, Sid and Red from the corral out to the pasture last night.

Calving Season

2010-03-21T16:43:00.001-07:00

Here's our second calf born March 10: Sid the bull. And with that, calving season is over. Yay!

Here's a new set of statues in Vancouver on Cambie and Broadway near the new skytrain station.

The birth of Sid went very well. However, I was fretting the whole time because the day Connie went into labour, I discovered a deep cut on one of her teats. I knew this would interfere with the calf being able to get near her udder to get his first drink, but since she was already going into labour, it was too late to call the vet to stitch her up. So Sid was born. And sure enough, every time he went for the udder Connie would turn away. I was happy to see she didn't kick him away, though. When he came too close to the wounded teat, she would just nudge him away with her knee. We watched and fretted for three hours, hoping he'd figure out that she had a non-sore side of her udder. But he didn't. So at midnight, I called the Dad Rescue Team and we tied Connie up (which went very well considering she'd never had a halter on before) and I was able to heave the calf up to her udder and get him a drink.

With the first drink in him, he knew what he was after, and Connie was reassured that he wasn't hurting her. So we went to bed and I was at the vet's door at opening time the next morning. The vet arrived at noon, sedated and stitched up Connie, and assured us that Sid was a lively and healthy calf.

Sid may be healthy, and he has moments of lively, but in between, he's more like a turtle. He tiptoes veeeery slooooowly as if he's not sure there isn't a land mine somewhere around here. He is gaining weight, and I see him have the occasional burst of galloping, but then he stops...lowers his head...peers around...and tiptoes. It seems odd, but then, I have little experience with these creatures!

Barred Owl

2010-03-06T10:00:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, we had a noon visit from a barred owl. In this picture, he's in the tree to the right of the bridge.

I'm not sure why he was up at noon. He closed his eyes a lot as if he was enjoying the sun on his back. He was completely unconcerned about us stalking him with the camera.

The Birth

2010-03-05T16:48:00.000-08:00

The only way I could agree to getting into the cow business was to figure out how we could do it without eating any of them. So I bought Purebred Red Angus cows as breeding stock. The bull calves we will sell as bulls, and, like Ferdinand, they will have happy lives in green, flowery pastures. The heifer calves we will keep as future moms. So there. No one has to eat anybody. I'm not a vegetarian, I just don't think I could bring myself to eat one of my pets!

So, Jean's delivery went like the text book (which, with a little verbal advice from local farmers, was all I had to go on). She had a contraction when I was feeding her at 6:00 pm, so I checked on her at 8:00 and her water had broken. She settled down for some serious pushing about 8:30, and then soon after the front feet showed up in the right position. Phew! Meanwhile, I was extremely stressed about dealing with a problem birth on my own. A friend of mine happens to be a vet tech...I texted her from the barn and she was not in town! Horrors! But she kindly gave me text support through the whole procedure! Thank you Sue!

The little guy "Red" was born just after 10:00. Jean didn't get up, so we rushed over (me and my two anony-mouses) and made sure he got his first breath. Then we urged Jean up and retreated to give her time to bond. She was neat to watch when she turned and caught scent of the calf. Her eyes went wide and she sniffed him all over and kind of paced on the spot, being close enough to lick him but not so close she'd step on him.

Thirty minutes later, the drama started. The book said the calf has to get up within thirty minutes to drink. Has to. Or he'll die, is what I thought it meant. It turns out it's not quite that urgent. But at thirty minutes, he'd tried and failed to get up, so we were in there trying, without getting in the way of Jean, to get him up and to her udder. He was about eighty-five pounds and I couldn't lift him with him still wet and slimy. We struggled and smeared until finally I was worried about interfering with the bonding, so we backed off, scared out of our minds. The little guy was shivering, and seemed so weak, and now we'd probably messed up Jean and she'd reject him. Without a warm tummy-full of milk, I figured it was straight down hill from there.

I texted my friend, and when she didn't reply instantly, I cracked and called the vet. She said he had twelve hours to get that first drink in him. She said leave him be and see what happens. Within ten minutes he was up and heading for the udder. Who knew! So as he guzzled, and milk drooled out of his mouth, and Jean mooed contentedly, we stared at our slimy clothes and shook our heads.

It's A Boy!

2010-02-26T11:47:00.000-08:00

Born at 10:05 last night, here he is at 12 hours old!

I'll write about the birth later. Right now I'm going back to bed!

Due Any Minute Now!

2010-02-23T19:06:00.000-08:00

This doe-eyed beast is about to calve. I've been getting up once a night to check on her. It's her first calf. And mine. Oh dear.

Rules to Live By

2010-02-23T18:52:00.000-08:00

(I saw this sign at a beach on the island of Hawaii when I was there last week. Not bad advice at all, I thought!)

Two Types of Frost

2010-02-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

Hoar Frost.

Horse Frost.

CJ Gets a Holiday

2010-02-01T20:30:00.000-08:00

I rode Peter out on the sleigh trail the other day and the snow crust is still a problem. Peter crashed through every second step. (Amazingly, the crust actually held him up some of the time!) So I won't be putting CJ through that with the sleigh. This may be it for sleighing this winter. I'll have to start getting the wheeled cart ready for spring.

In the meantime, here are some photos from my driving lesson in the summer with Big Ed, the draft cross, at a friend's place near Smithers.

Big Ed.

Ground driving.

A single tree used for dragging things, like a tire. Or a tree.

Hitched to the cart.

No New Snow

2010-01-24T10:12:00.000-08:00

It continues to melt here. The trails and sleigh tracks are all hard, lumpy, icy paths now. No fun for sleighing. The snow on the road softened up enough one day for me to ride, so I took Peter for a jaunt. I rode him with a bareback pad that I recently bought from The Horse Ranch (see The Horse Ranch link) and I was amazed at how comfy it was. It's suede, and well padded, so it was soft and warm and I stuck to the suede like glue. Here are some photos of some (anonymous) riders toodling around the pastures the other day. Which gave Kasper an excuse to dash about.

The bunny got out for a jaunt, too.

Snow Comes, Snow Goes, Snow Comes Back...

2010-01-15T09:51:00.000-08:00

For a full week, it's been melting and raining. It was up to plus 9 Celsius one day this week. We've lost about 75% of our snow on the field. There are even bare patches showing. I've kept CJ off duty because, in that kind of soft wet snow, the sleigh runners will cut right to the ground and he'll be stuck.(Sleighs like mine with narrow runners are called cutters for a reason.)

The five day forecast this morning was for ongoing melting and raining...but then the rain turned to these beautiful big snowflakes. So maybe we'll be sleighing again sooner than I thought!

CJ - Day Twenty!

2010-01-10T11:56:00.001-08:00

This was only the fifth time CJ has pulled the sleigh and I'm so pleased with how well he's doing. He just headed out on the trail and pulled, no problems. Of course, there is only one way for him to go, now that the snow is deep. He has to follow the track so there's very little steering involved. But he is whoaing well without kicking and when he has to pull a little harder through a snow drift or uphill, he just leans into the collar and pulls.

My dad is still leading him off the first hundred yards or so...so I have to try starting him myself from the driver's seat.

I've found the perfect spot to park the sleigh: under the camper overhang in the front of the hayshed. It's the last bit of cover available, but seems to be enough. The seats flip up to keep blowing snow (and the cat) off.

I'm also pleased with the fact that CJ isn't sweating at all on these outings. The route is about 45 minutes long. I thought that sweating would be a limiting factor in the sleighing because I don't have an indoor stall for him to dry off in. But, no sweat, no problem!

Kasper at a gallop

2010-01-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

Track Issues Day 19

2009-12-31T14:24:00.000-08:00

The above photo shows a good view of the whole set-up of harness, shafts and sleigh. You can zoom in by clicking on it (if it's in a good mood). My passengers wished to remain anonymous so they dove for cover when the camera came out.

The snow is piling up here and I'm floundering around, trying to find the best way to keep the sleigh track easy for CJ. The snowblowing worked for part of the track but I didn't attempt the uphill portion of the track (the snowblower is mounted on the back of the tractor, so you have to drive backwards to snowblow). So a friend came over with her two skidoos and we roared around the rest of the track four times to pack down the snow in a wide track.

The next day, I led CJ along the skidoo track and found he punched through every second step, but with repeated use he'll beat down a path for his hooves. The day after that it snowed two inches, so I walked the whole track to make a trail right in the middle of the track. CJ follows any little track in fresh snow rather than picking his own route, so with my boot track I figured he'd follow and that would keep the sleigh in the middle of the track instead of riding up into the deep snow. It worked! When Dad and I drove him yesterday with the sleigh, he followed my tracks and I had very little correcting to do with the steering.

I have kept one section of track untouched except by CJ and the sleigh. I've decided that's the best track because it's quiet, he follows his own track and needs no steering and the sleigh runners stay in their tracks. So next year, I'll just keep the sleigh going from the first snowfall and that'll probably do it.

The only problem we had yesterday was getting started at the barn. Up till now, my Dad led CJ the first 100 yards or so as I drove from the sleigh but yesterday we tried having CJ stand alone while I was in the sleigh so he gets the idea he should just relax until he's asked by me to go. That worked fine. But then, with me and two passengers on board, CJ had a hard time overcoming the sleigh's inertia. Meeting the sleigh's resistance and thinking he couldn't move forward, he tried sideways, which almost slid us into the tractor (in slow motion). So we all piled out of the sleigh, moved him forward and tried again. The same thing happened. Dad then led him down the trail as we'd done before. Next time, I'll try starting him with only me in the sleigh, and then when we're on the trail (hopefully) I'll stop and invite the passengers in, and CJ should head off in a straight line when he's on the trail.

At this point, it seems I still need my passengers to be spritely and adventurous!

Christmas Day! (Day 18 for CJ)

2009-12-26T15:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning, after pancakes and presents, I headed out on the tractor and snowblowed the sleigh track. Then we loaded up two passengers in the back, with Dad as assistant (called the groom in driving parlance) and off we went, bells a-jingling!

It wasn't all as smooth as it looks. While hitching up, two deer ran by in the next field - we could see them through the trees - and CJ was fairly head-up about that. We got him past the deer and made one lap without passengers. The track was somewhat difficult because, even though it looks like a lovely smooth road, he wanted to walk in the tractor tire track, not the middle of the road! So as I aimed for the centre line, he kept swaying from one side to the other and the sleigh dug into the edges all along. On the way back from the first lap we almost tipped over coming around a corner. The sleigh dug in to the uphill side, that runner rode up on the snow and over we were going! He stopped after five whoas, while I was hopping with one leg on the ground and the other caught in the sleigh. Learned something there... Finally he stopped and we led him and the sleigh out of danger.

Then we were back at the barn and loaded up the two passengers. They were able to ride part way until the extra weight started pushing the runners too deep causing too much resistance for CJ. We threw out some ballast (one passenger) and carried on successfully.

We also discovered that CJ is completely desensitized to loud raucous singing!

CJ - Day 17 - A Field Day

2009-12-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

We headed out to the field with CJ and the sleigh. Dad provided back-up with the lead rope while I drove from in the sleigh. Part way along, Dad rode some. CJ did really well except where the snow was deeper. At one point he balked and almost popped up in a rear so we whoaed quickly, hopped out and led him the rest of the way through the deeper snow.

Day 16 - CJ Pulls The Sleigh!

2009-12-23T17:12:00.000-08:00

After the video camera died, I hopped in the sleigh and drove from the front seat. We did a couple of figure eights in the parking lot and everything went well. My dad kept the lead rope on and walked with CJ, so next time we'll head into the field and take off the lead rope!

CJ - Day 15

2009-12-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

It warmed up! Here's a clip of us hitching up and heading out.

Minus 35 Celsius (minus 31 F)

2009-12-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

This is the kind of cold that makes your nose drop right off. I won't be harnessing CJ until it warms up!

CJ - Day 14

2009-12-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

A thoughtful chickadee.

Ziggy hunting voles.

Katie listening for voles.

A passenger! (I wore my yellow pants just to keep CJ on his toes.)

Concentrating...

Heading home.

Unhitching.

A big thank you to Russ and Julia for today's photos.

CJ - Days 12 and 13

2009-12-08T10:53:00.000-08:00

It's been so frosty out these days that the video camera won't work.

Day 12 was just a nice fuzzy bareback ride. I rode CJ out on the trail that I harrowed, figuring that I could keep him in a nice straight line through the fresh snow and then he'd follow his path the next time he pulled the stoneboat. Well, it was a good idea, but he wanted to follow the dog's track, who was sniffing along ahead of us. She makes only a thin trail through the snow, but still, he figured that would be easier going for him and I couldn't convince him otherwise. At least I managed to keep him on the harrowed track when the dog sped off after some scent or other.

Day 13 was a full lap of the fields with the stoneboat. It was a 40 minute work-out from hell as I floundered along beside him in the deep snow, holding the reins lightly like I had a tray of full wine glasses in my hands. CJ didn't even sweat. The only problem he had was a reticence to stand still. He kicked several times while being asked to stand still. I'm sure he'll stop kicking as he learns that kicking doesn't change anything.

Getting closer to hitching up the sleigh! We might make it before Christmas!

CJ - Day 11

2009-12-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

Here is a stoneboat, in case you were wondering. Back in the day, they used to pick stones up off the field and put them on the stoneboat and drag them away to the dumping spot. Our stoneboat is very small, only 5 feet by 4 feet. The shafts attached in the photo are the shafts that fit the sleigh.

Yesterday, I drove the tractor and harrow (the harrow is a metal chain sort of thing that you drag behind a tractor to spread out the manure on a pasture so it dries out and doesn't grow parasites) around the fields to break up the crust on the snow for a sleigh track.

Today, we hitched CJ up to the stoneboat and, after about 10 minutes of leading him, I clipped on the reins and ground drove him around the harrowed track. We went for about 25 minutes total. Dad rode on the stoneboat at times. CJ was a bit more energetic once we turned in the direction of home. He wasn't too happy about whoaing, and he kicked a few times, but he did settle down. He didn't even break a sweat (unlike me!)

CJ - Day 10 - The Stoneboat

2009-12-01T10:46:00.000-08:00

I didn't have the video camera set up, so picture this:

- Dad hammers together the stoneboat while I run back to the house twelve times for tools and hardware.

- I harness CJ and bring him to sniff the stoneboat. He's particularly intrigued by the smell of the preserved wood runners.

- We attach the shafts to the stoneboat and I convince Dad that he needs to drag the stoneboat around for CJ to see it in motion. We do two laps, with a rest for Dad in between.

- We hitch CJ to the stoneboat. Dad helps get it moving because it sticks to the snow when it's stopped. We take a few steps and halt. CJ gives a few small kicks with one foot. We continue. Dad lifts the stoneboat around when we have to turn (Dad's getting a good workout). CJ gives one more kick. We return to the barn (only one 400 yard lap today) and unhitch because it was a success and we've run right out of time.

- Dad goes home to rest.

CJ - Day 9

2009-11-28T21:14:00.000-08:00

Check out the steps we worked through...

This session was about 45 minutes long. I made the practice shafts out of two ten foot long PVC pipes. CJ threatened to kick at them at first, but it took very little time for him to get used to them bumping against his sides.

Next, we'll be making a stone boat which wooden shafts will attach to. We'll have him pull the stone boat in a straight line first and help him pull the weight of it around the corners. When he's doing well with the stone boat, we should be able to hook him to the sleigh without worry of him kicking it.

CJ - Day 8 - His First Passenger

2009-11-24T19:54:00.001-08:00

This guy (girl?) was sitting above our bird feeder on the weekend watching the chikadees...

Well, it's really a shame that I didn't have the camera rolling for yesterday's session, because my dad went for a good ride around on the tire today, courtesy of CJ. We hitched him (CJ) up to the single tree with shorter traces so the single tree was closer to his heels, and then attached the tire on a rope. I took the reins and my dad led CJ at first, because we were heading for new territory: the long driveway from the barn to the house.

As CJ seemed to be comfortable, and my signals seemed to be effective, Dad dropped back and had a ride on the tire. CJ wasn't sure about all that extra weight (oh...did I say all?) but I talked him into going forward with a few taps of the whip. At the house, Dad took the lead rope again and we did big wide figure eights in the parking lot. CJ kicked at the traces as they came against his leg on the corners, but after a few laps, Dad was able to fall behind and I steered him through the figure eight with no more kicking.

I talked to one of the local teamsters last night for general advice. According to her, the most important thing is the whoa. "When you say Whoa, it means Whoa before even one more step, because that one step could be your life." Note taken!!

She also agreed with training CJ in an open bridle (one without blinders over the eyes). She told me of a runaway that happened with an old steady Percheron who had never (ever!) seen the vehicle behind him. The driver hopped out after the ride and for some reason took the bridle (with blinders) off before unhitching--the horse saw the cart and took off, blasting through three fences and demolishing the cart. And guess what else. Another rule is Driver In First, Out Last. But this driver's daughter was in the cart! Thankfully, she was fine. These are all good lessons for me to learn from!

One last thing--don't try this at home! If anyone is planning on following my training method, you should probably wait a year and see how this all pans out before you trip on the heels of my mistakes...

CJ - Day 7

2009-11-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

Pictured here with Ginger the cat is the single tree I made when I realized after Day 6 that I needed one. The single tree keeps the traces apart when hauling things. My single tree is just a piece of a fence rail with some hardware drilled in. Those black leather straps are the traces that buckle in to the breast collar. I'm not sure what its weight rating is... I let CJ sniff the single tree while I rattled it, and then I hitched him to it and led him around the corral. He didn't seem to mind the new noise. So I tied the tire to it and he hauled the whole thing around while I lead him.

The snow is 8 or 9 inches deep now so he had to work to pull the tire. We went around the corral, and when the outside trace came up against his leg he kicked at it, so I stopped him and rubbed the trace up and down his leg. We carried on, and each time he kicked at the trace, I stopped and flapped the trace and rubbed his leg. On the second lap he didn't kick at all. Because he's doing so well, and is very steerable and stoppable, I'm going to drive him along the road next time where it'll be easier walking and we can go farther.

Last week we had a snow fall that stayed in the trees and knocked our power out for two days.

Still lots of grass to paw for:

Here are some pictures I took today. The horses are waiting for hay (cow mooing in background):

Kasper posing:

Peter:

These last two are my Tim Flach impressions. Check out the link on my favourites. He photographs the lines of horses in a most intriguing way. I have one of his books. He has a photo of the toplines of horses that I would love to hang on my wall...but the book is cheaper.

Flashback to Stage Two Test

2009-11-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick look at one of the tasks I needed to do with Kasper in the Stage Two natural horsemanship test. This was filmed in September.

CJ - Day 6

2009-11-15T11:31:00.001-08:00

Day Six was more of the same. CJ pulled the tire around the corral for about twenty minutes again. He shook his head repeatedly for the first 5 minutes or so, and then he seemed to get used to the pull. He's stopping now with a firm "Whoa" from me without any pull on the reins. If he's trained to respond promptly to voice commands, then we have a better chance of surviving an emergency, like a rein breaking just as a moose steps out of the woods, for example...

CJ - Day 5

2009-11-11T20:08:00.001-08:00

Today, I had a helper (who wishes to remain anonymous, thus the headless pictures). I started by cleaning and oiling the breast collar and traces. The harness I have was bought second hand. It had never been used, but it had been stored for several years, so it needs to be oiled and I'm working my way through oiling all the pieces.

So, to get CJ used to the tire, I started by having my helper lead CJ and I walked past him dragging the tire (because I need the exercise). I dragged it ahead of him so he could sniff it, and then beside him on both sides, and then behind him where he couldn't see it but could hear it.

Since he was fine with this, my helper hopped on CJ and I kept dragging the tire (because I need the exercise). Then, when we were sure CJ was fine with the tire, my helper dragged the tire:

CJ didn't mind pulling the tire like this, so we harnessed him up. I ground drove him around the corral while my helper put a little weight on the traces for him to pull against. He was okay with this, so we put the tire rope through the traces, but didn't tie it to them; my helper held the rope and walked along so she could let go of the tire if CJ was suddenly unhappy with it (ie. if he bolted). In this picture, CJ is objecting to pulling. He was a little confused when he felt the heavier weight against the breast collar, but I gave him a few taps with the whip and he got the idea that he was supposed to pull.

When CJ was walking along fine, pulling consistently, we tied the tire rope to the traces and my helper was free to take pictures.

I ground drove CJ for about twenty minutes. His only change in behaviour was that he shook his head a lot, as if he thought he could ease the pull of the breast collar against his chest. So, I didn't carry on too long, and I assume he'll get used to the weight as we continue to practice this.

Horse Dentistry

2009-11-10T15:21:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we had a snowstorm which brightened up the scenery.

And then everything turned pink for a while.

With an uncommonly bright sunset

I managed to get an old tire from the local tire store, which I dragged around the corral this morning because I really needed the exercise. No, really, it was for CJ to see it, smell it, and hear it before I hook it to his traces and ask him to pull it. He had absolutely no interest in the tire, but Kasper was fascinated by it and followed it around until it scared him and he ran away.

This morning all three horses had their annual tooth inspection and floating (which means filing down the sharp spikes that form on the teeth from imperfect alignment). I never enjoy the annual dentistry. It's like watching your kids get their braces on. But, overall, the horses were tolerant and nobody needed to be sedated. I'm glad that's over for another year! I didn't do any training after that in case CJ connected dentistry with driving.

CJ - Day 4

2009-11-08T14:38:00.001-08:00

Today I started by cleaning and oiling the crupper (the bit that goes under the horse's tail). And filling in a hole that the dogs dug in the pasture that was just the right size to break a horse's leg. Here we are in the pasture: Kasper's helping me bring CJ in.

Here we're setting off on a ground drive around the fields where I plan to drive the sleigh. I haven't had CJ out riding on his own for a long time so I thought I should make sure he was fine to go off without his buddies.

Kasper wants to see where I'm taking his buddy.

Into the woods...

CJ did really well. I did okay with the reins, but I definitely need more practice because some of the time we were doing a lot of zigzagging!

CJ - Day Three

2009-11-07T19:59:00.000-08:00

I took two afternoons off to go trail riding. The weather's been lovely. A very accomplished rider friend of mine rode Kasper (I thought she deserved a ride on the Big Comfy Couch) and I rode Peter, and we had to pass an excavator and a dump truck! Kasper skirted sideways into the ditch and edged his way through some willows, but he came back onto the road quite calmly as if he was embarrassed he'd ever stepped off. Last year, the same vehicles would have put him in a bolt for home!

Today, CJ and I ground drove around the corral and I practiced Gee and Haw, consistently this time. At almost dusk, a small grey owl came out and soared low over the pasture hunting, so it was a little hard for me to keep my eyes on CJ. Kasper and Peter seemed entranced by the owl. It hunted close by, diving for voles. Very silently.

When the owl disappeared, I practiced driving CJ from off to the side, because soon I'll have him dragging a tire and I need to be off to one side. It wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be, and we did just fine.

Here's a clip of Kasper kicking up his heels.

CJ - Day Two

2009-11-06T10:43:00.000-08:00

Here we are, doing our little dance around the corral. We did much better than Kasper and I last year. CJ seemed to get the hang of walking ahead of me, and we were able to do figure-8's around the barrels by the end of our half hour.

I forgot all about saying "Gee" and "Haw" for the first ten minutes, and then when I started saying it, I kept getting mixed up. I'm not that good with left and right as it is, and then to try, on the fly, to remember that "Gee" is right and "Haw" is left...I probably confused CJ, but he's very forgiving. Maybe if I practice saying it when I'm driving my car...

CJ's First Day

2009-11-04T07:56:00.001-08:00

It worked! Yesterday I worked on desensitization with CJ, and he seemed pretty senseless right from the beginning! I don't think it'll take him long to get used to dragging something.

New Trailer

2009-11-03T15:39:00.001-08:00

We had to (had to!) buy a new trailer this summer because Kasper, the giant, outgrew our old trailer. This one has a 7'6" ceiling height and each stall is longer and wider. Kasper, in the last stall, has enough room to turn around!

I'm pleased he has so much room, because I saw an upsetting incident with a draft horse and a trailer this summer. The horse fell while in transit, and couldn't get up on his own because there wasn't enough head room. A horse needs to heave his head and upper body way up to get his hind legs under him, and there wasn't enough height for the horse. So, he was pulled out. And after seeing how that went, I will never let anyone else transport my horses, and I will always have them in a properly sized trailer.

Meanwhile, I started CJ on his harness training yesterday, and made a video with music...but it won't load! I'll keep working on it...

Fall Photos

2009-10-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

Meet Connie and Jean, the new additions to the farm. They are purebred Red Angus heifers, bred to be calving in March! No one will be eating these cows, or any others that come along, not because of any vegetarian tendencies (I don't have any of those), but because I can't bear the thought of eating a pet. And any animal on my place is a pet! So, these girls are breeding stock; bull calves will be sold for breeding and heifers will be sold as moms.

And here are some pictures of Kasper from today, out in his pasture with his buddies.

This next one is from a few weeks ago when we still had leaves. Sigh.

The next one was taken the day Connie and Jean arrived. The horses are a little uncertain as to why these aliens are in their corral...Well, I should give a summer update. It was such a busy horsey summer that I had no time for the computer!

Kasper had a fabulous month of training in May, which I followed up with a 5 day horse camp at The Horse Ranch (see link). Very worthwhile. I passed the Stage 2 Natural Horsemanship after practising all summer. Trail riding has been great, with Kasper jumping ditches, wallowing through swamps and trotting through thick underbrush. We didn't see any wildlife on the trails this year, but cars on the road aren't a problem for him anymore.

As for driving training, I learned enough this summer to make me decide not to go any further with Kasper in the harness, but to work on my older fellow first. That way I'll learn what I'm supposed to do on the experienced, patient horse, and then I can do harness training with Kasper when I've had a lot of practice at it. I will hopefully get started soon, and I'll try to post our progress. So, CJ--rest up while you can!!

A Dog's Opinion

2009-05-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

Kasper Goes to Summer Camp

2009-04-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

I've taken Kasper to a trainer for some foundation work. He has only had one trainer and then me, and since I'm not a professional I thought it would do him a world of good to have another go with a real trainer. He'll be worked 2 hours a day, five days a week. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the results.

Meanwhile, I read somewhere that riding a unicycle is an excellent way to improve your riding balance. So, while Kasper's away, that'll be my new project.

If I'm brave enough to show my efforts, a video will follow. If...

A Road Ride With Peter

2009-04-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

The afternoon started with some precipitation...

...and ended with some precipitation.

Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink

2009-04-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

The non-freezing, super-dooper self-draining horse trough tap froze two days ago. How could that happen? It's been 10 C during the day! The creek is overflowing, water is running through the barn yard and flooding the corral, it's been raining steadily for two days, but no water in the tap. I moved the horses to the other pasture where they could drink from the creek. And then this morning we discover: no water pressure in the house. I look out the window and water is gushing from the trough tap. And has been for who knows how many hours. Now there's even more water running through the barn yard, but at least the tap's working!

Pining for Spring

2009-04-19T16:34:00.001-07:00

23, 24 - More Trailering, Less Snow

2009-04-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

Snow update: this is the bridge.
When I stand on the bridge and look west -- aha! It really is a picnic table!

You can see from this next picture that it is much less wintery on the east side of the bridge: I made it out to brush the horses a few times this week. They're losing their winter fur and it's all sticking to my clothes. The birds are picking it off the ground to line their nests.

I also had an extremely frustrating afternoon of trying to get Kasper to stay in the trailer long enough for me to close the door, which he didn't do. I ended up riding him back and forth in the corral along the ten foot wide strip of bare ground instead of working him at the arena, but he was super-responsive to all my cues when I was riding him so I forgave him for frustrating me.

The next day I had a door helper so Kasper and I made it to the arena. We had a great couple of hours there where I ran through all the groundwork exercises I've been working on and then rode him bareback with the halter. He was surprisingly good at everything, which shows that all my practice in the icy-snowy driveway all winter has actually paid off! And it also shows me how much we can accomplish in a dry, cozy arena.

Kasper decides to head out into the pasture to see if the snow is still up to his armpits.

And it's not! Time to try pawing for the remains of last year's grass.

Peter the Pony and I partnered up today and went for a trail ride with the neighbours. We went to a park with the one trail that's been plowed over the winter (for forest management) so it was bare of snow. Peter was stalwart and steady as usual.

21, 22 - Kasper Goes To Town

2009-04-11T13:43:00.001-07:00

I took this photo yesterday. Yes, that's two feet of snow in the background.

The bearded Friesian:
I was able to take Kasper to the arena twice this week, with a helper to close the door on the trailer. Kasper was still pretty unhappy to be in the closed trailer. The arena was very busy because people were getting ready for the Western Weekend. I spent most of the time outside the arena doing ground work to get Kasper used to the commotion. When I finally took him into the relatively quiet arena, he was much more relaxed.

Here's our picnic table on April 8th under its cap of snow:

And on April 10th --the snow is finally melting!

As soon as the Western Weekend is over (no, I'm not cattle penning with Kasper...yet) we'll head back to the arena and keep trailering until he's a happy traveller.

Day Twenty - The Vet

2009-04-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

We made it to the vet's on time. Kasper just about jumped into my arms when the garage door opened to the treatment room, but he went in, didn't feel the needle, and seemed actually happy to get back into the trailer!

Days 17,18 and 19

2009-04-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

The reason I'm counting the training days is so I can look back and see how many sessions it took to accomplish something, and also to see how many days I'm getting out there on average. Sometimes it seems like progress is at a standstill...

If Day Sixteen was triumphant with the first haul and a calm unloading, Day Seventeen was a huge disappointment. But it makes sense. Once Kasper was reminded that the trailer actually moves, he wanted nothing to do with it the next day. So it took a lot of stepping in and out, turning, dashing, trying it again, before he was calm enough to shut the trailer door. And once the door was shut he paced unhappily, ignoring his hay. I did manage to take him for drives all three days, and every time he was very calm on unloading and stood until I invited him out. But the loading is nervewracking for him. It seems it's a huge jump for him to go from standing in the trailer, to being hauled in the trailer.

Day 20

Today, the weather has conspired against me and there're three fresh inches of snow on the ground! I'm not sure the truck and trailer will make it back up the driveway, so I'm not hauling today, but I'll have to tomorrow because it's vet day! My Dad came over and acted as doorman which worked well. At first, Kasper was quite worried about another person standing at the trailer door, but he eventually got used to him. Once Kasper was relaxed and standing quietly in the trailer (which took about 45 minutes of work) we closed the door. Then we stood and chatted while Kasper paced back and forth looking for a way out. It took about 10 minutes before he settled down enough to have a bite of hay. When we opened the door, he stood quietly and awaited the invitation to come out. Not too bad!

Days Fifteen and Sixteen - Trailering Triumph!

2009-03-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

As I went out with the camera (on the tripod I found in a closet so no more need for the camera crew) it started to hail. This video needs no extra music added!

Rest assured these guys have a shelter, it's just twenty feet to the right from where they're standing. Why don't they use it? Good question.

When I watch this video from yesterday, it looks like Kasper's been mozying in and out of trailers for years, but he really was jumpy when we started a few days ago! He's made huge progress with his confidence.

Today I loaded him once, turned him, shut the door (a process that I took about an hour to accomplish yesterday and today took three minutes) and took him for a half hour drive. When we got back home, he stood still while I opened the door and stepped out when I asked him. Yahoo!

Day Fourteen

2009-03-23T18:48:00.001-07:00

I turned the radio on in the truck today for Kasper. It freaked him out at first, but as I walked him around the truck, he realized where it was coming from and relaxed:
I practiced making him stand on his own at a distance from me, which he's getting comfortable with, even when the neighbours are revving their snowmobiles.

At the trailer, I had him step in and back out several times like yesterday, and then I was able to get him to turn to face the door and stand still. I asked him for a few back steps and forward steps in the trailer, and then let him walk quietly out.

He did very well, and didn't attempt any Lipizzaner moves like two days ago! Tomorrow he may be ready for me to close the door.

Days Twelve and Thirteen

2009-03-22T19:35:00.001-07:00

Kasper grew stripes! Ack! Actually, I photographed this fellow at the Mountain View Wildlife Conservation Centre in Langley when I was there last week. Check out the link!

I may change the name of this blog to "A Year of Living Horsily" because I haven't been specifically harness training lately, and I suspect real life will continue to get in the way of my plans. The present need is to get Kasper comfy with the trailer. He needs to go for a Coggins test (so I can take him to summer camp with me), and he's a might bit afraid of the trailer. Last year he loaded fine but wasn't too happy once the door was shut.

So, trailering will be my task for the next couple of weeks. Yesterday, it only took me about an hour to dig the trailer out of the snow. This photo shows how deep the snow is where it hasn't been trampled. I have this skinny little path beside the barn wall to pull the hay sled along...

Once I had the trailer dug out, I had to dig holes for the truck tires to sink into so the hitch was low enough, etc etc. Once hitched, I tied Kasper and groomed him until he was relaxed, then we did some ground work in front of the truck, taking breaks for him to nuzzle the truck hood--it's so soft and smooth!

Then loading. I asked him to step up with his front feet, stand, and back out. After several repetitions of this, I stood in the trailer and bounced it and made noise until he relaxed. And then I asked him to step in with all four feet, let him have a mouthful of hay and then asked him to back out. That was tricky. He spazzed, spun (away from me so the rope went flying), leaped out, did an amazing air-above-the-ground that would have made any Lipizzaner jealous (and made me wish I'd put my helmet on) and came to a stop facing me. So I asked him again, and this time on the back-up he scrunched his hooves together like he was trying to balance on a loonie, quivered, and then stepped back to the ground. I gave him a good rub and called it a day.

Today he was so much better. I started with the same grooming and ground work routine, and the front feet back-up routine. When I asked him to step all the way in, he was quivery when he backed out the first time but after that he did really well, searching carefully with his back feet to see if he was at the edge. He went in and out about fifteen times and never tried to spin and dash out. I jiggled the trailer and tapped the sides and he was okay with that.

By the way, it's a three horse angle haul trailer, so he doesn't need to back out, but his habit is to go in-get scared-dash out, so the backing practice should be giving him more confidence in the trailer. The trickiest part of loading for me last year was getting Kasper to stay in long enough for me to shut the door! Whenever I had a helper, it went fine, but I need to be able to load him up on my own. Most of all I need him to be happy and content in the trailer!

Spring...?

2009-03-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

Heading south for a week. I hope to return to crocusses and daffodils...and weather conducive to training. Thanks to everyone who's sent me feedback by email!

Day Eleven -- More Ponying (and a serious lack of a camera crew!)

2009-03-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it felt like I had a lot of horse in each hand yesterday. It was a lively day at the ranch with a lot of bustle and barking so Kasper was...shall we say...a tad flighty. I was happy to be up on CJ so I could direct from above instead of below. We did lots of circles and walked up and down the road and stood still for several minutes at a time.

I would like to get out there every day but today it was -25 C (close to Absolute Zero with the wind chill) and tomorrow it's supposed to be even colder!

I would also like to get some more photos, but the tractor seems to be parked at an imperceptible slant so the video camera slides off...I'll have to think of some other way...

Day Ten - Ponying

2009-03-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

Kasper had his first lesson in ponying (being led by a rider on another horse). I rode CJ and led Kasper up and down the driveway where he's been nervous. He was much less nervous, having his wise old buddy along, but it took some convincing to get him to realize that CJ wasn't along just so Kasper could chew on him. With the odd flick of the lead rope, he started to figure out he was supposed to give CJ some space and follow along beside without spinning or barging ahead.

By the end of half an hour, we were walking five steps, halting, backing up, walking five steps, turning, etc., in not too bad form.

After the ponying, I loaded Kasper in the trailer a few times. Now that I've dug the trailer out of the snow, I'd like to get Kasper down to the arena where we can train indoors. But, he's nervous of it, so I'll get him comfortable with it slowly.

Between Rain Showers...

2009-03-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

Today I took CJ out of the corral and dusted him off, did a bit of spring cleaning on him and then rode him up and down the driveway. He's our most steadfast horse. My plan next day is to ride him and pony Kasper along so we can go a little further than ten feet away from the barn. I won't be able to progress Kasper's driving training until he learns that he's safe out there in the non-barn zone.

Day Nine (which was last Friday)

2009-03-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

I usually work with Kasper in the morning after he's filled his belly, but I was late getting out. Toward the end of our hour, he dove into the neck-deep snow beside the road to get at the moldy hay pile, which he couldn't see but could obviously smell!

After retrieving Kasper from the snow bank, I ground-drove Peter with a halter and the long reins. He responded very well and we went up and down the road without a hitch :)

Day Eight

2009-02-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

Today was pretty chilly so I left the cameras indoors with the dogs.

In yesterday's session, Kasper (having not been away from his buddies for ten days) was skittery again, worried about what might be down the road, or what might come roaring up the road. Every time I led him down the road a litte way--and I mean a little way, like ten feet--when we'd turn around he'd try to dash home as if demons were nipping at his heels.

So today I focussed on getting him comfortable with turning in a calm manner and not dashing off. I led him down the road, made him do lots of turns on the hind quarters, and then stood him and flapped the flag around him, which seems to relax him. I stood him facing down the road, and made him stand facing home (which makes him more nervous). We did the turns both ways, backing up facing both ways, and lots of flapping. He didn't dash off once today. Yay!

I've added a new link that has a brief description of training a young horse to harness. Their method took about two years. That's the kind of timeline I'm prepared for, since Kasper has big confidence issues, and since I'm willing to take as long as he needs to be comfortable with every stage.

Day Six - The Movie

2009-02-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here it is! The movie I couldn't load...I'm learning so much about computers...

Day Seven

2009-02-25T20:21:00.000-08:00

I found out I passed Stage One of the natural horsemanship courses I'm taking. Yay!

Today, Kasper and I took a step back, since I haven't worked with him for ten days, and we just did some ground work. I had him walk parallel to me down the road, making him stay at the other side of the road, and had him stop whenever I stopped.

Day Six - The Truth

2009-02-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, back from the tropics...Now for the truth (which you could have seen if that movie I made would load!): Kasper and I weren't amazing on Day Six. I had bought some new reins that morning, because the other ones were stiff like cardboard, and the new smoother reins helped a lot. But Kasper wanted to keep turning towards me and I wasn't quick enough to correct him. He'd end up facing me and then we'd have to get reorganized and start over. By the end, I just kept him on a circle and that worked pretty well. I've since had some tips from my natural horsemanship friends and I have a new way to work on keeping Kasper from turning into me. Hopefully I can get that on video next time.

Yesterday was a blustery day so I just took pictures instead of training:

My plan for the next few days (when I get out and brave the North Wind) is to ground drive Peter (below) who I've ground driven before and is happy to have me behind him. I'll get some more practice at it, and get a better feel for the reins and the contact with his mouth, and then I'll go back to Kasper.

Here's my two wheeled cart for the summer:

And here's the sleigh waiting patiently indoors:

This is apparently a Quebec type sleigh. It is very compact; just wide enough for two people on each seat.

Today is brilliantly sunny, but it's also -21 C! We'll see if it warms up...

Day Six

2009-02-12T20:43:00.000-08:00

Kasper and I were amazing today! Too bad the movie I made, complete with soundtrack, refused to load onto the blog. Oh well, no time to mess with it, we're off to the tropics for a week!

Day Five

2009-02-11T15:50:00.000-08:00

Today, well, we got a little tangled. After a warm-up of ground work in the halter, I hooked the long reins to his bridle and we tried ground driving, but he wasn't so sure about being out there ahead of me and kept wanting to turn back. We worked back and forth along the road, doing several unintentional circles along the way. At the end we were kind of getting the hang of it, and I got a beautiful back-up from him at the gate. Of course, the video camera didn't catch any of it this time...somehow...

Day Four

2009-02-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, the video loaded. Wahoo! This is called: Standing at Attention for the Flag

It appears, in the video, that I magically cued Kasper to stand up straight and hold absolutely still for the flag routine, which is pretty cute. But in reality, he's staring at my car which is parked on the road ahead of him in a place where there usually aren't any cars. The flag is nothing new, but that car sure is!

After the flag routine, I did ground work with him for a while and then we headed over to check out the car. He wasn't sure about it at first, but after several minutes of walking all around it and nuzzling it, he became quite friendly with it. I now have green tinged lipsmear marks all over the hood and down the fenders!

Today was much better than yesterday. Kasper was calmer and only had one little crowhop. I might just attach the reins and try ground driving tomorrow. We'll see!

Day Three

2009-02-09T16:04:00.001-08:00

Ziggy wanted nothing to do with going out into that biting wind this morning. But by the afternoon it had calmed down and out we went. Sorry, no cameraman today. I had the video camera all set up on the back of the car (I found the remote!) but Kasper and I didn't make it that far.

I harnessed him up and did some ground work in the usual spot near the barn where he can still see his buddies, and then I started moving him further down the road toward the house (where the car was parked with the videocamera all ready). As soon as he was out of sight of the barn, he started to get worried. The dogs spooked him. Noises out on the road spooked him. He got prancy and bouncy. I worked him for a while in this not-so-comfy zone, doing ground work like backing, yielding the front and hind quarters, circling, and rubbing his withers. Then we moved back to his comfy area near the barn and did some more.

I worked Kasper for about an hour. Tomorrow I'll do more of the same. What he's dealing with at the moment is separation anxiety. I don't think he even notices the harness now!

The dogs and I finished up at the barn and came back to the house for a nap in front of the wood stove...

Day Two

2009-02-08T16:11:00.001-08:00

Here we are, day two. I oiled up the crupper and Kasper doesn't seem to mind it at all. Here he's eyeing up the pile of moldy hay, hoping that's where we're headed. His mind is run by his belly most of the time!

I start by leading him around, asking for halts and back-ups. He's more interested in the surroundings at this point than in doing what I ask. He's away from his buddies now and a little on edge.

Asking for a halt. This is a good view of the harness. Does it look like it's sitting right? I used some odd names for parts of the harness in my last post. I've come across different terminology depending on whether the driver is British or North American, but I think the names I was giving things yesterday didn't belong to either group! My favourite book is "Breaking a Horse to Harness" by Sallie Walrond. It has fabulously detailed photos of the harness. She calls the strap that goes behind the butt the breeching, and the straps that adjust the height of the breeching, she calls the breeching tugs. The straps that I have attached from the breeching to the shaft loops, she calls the breeching straps. It's all very confusing.

The important thing is the fit. It looks like I could lower the breeching and perhaps shorten the strap that runs along his topline (hell if I know what that's called!) so that the breeching isn't sagging.

He's starting to relax.

Time to sort out the lunge line so I don't get strangled.

Here we are lunging. I work him at a walk and trot. I don't have enough room here to ask him for a canter, but apparently it's quite important to make sure the horse is happy with the crupper at the canter. I'll have to dig out that trailer and take him to the arena...

I kept him on the lunge today and didn't progress to the reins because he wasn't totally relaxed. He had two little crow-hopping bouts. I'll work him on the lunge line for as many sessions as it takes for him to be happy. At this point, I think he's reacting more to being removed from his buddies than from wearing the harness.

Next session, I'll be cameramanless, so I'll see if I can set up the videocamera on a fence post. Now if I could just figure out where I stashed that remote control...

How Day One Went (which was yesterday)

2009-02-07T14:07:00.000-08:00

Even the dogs, Katie and Ziggy, thought today was the perfect day to start training Kasper to harness, but first they had to clear the area of coyotes.

The horses, Kasper, CJ and Peter, are snoozing. They're recovering from a particularly blustery day yesterday.

Kasper's not sure he wants to wake up.

Here he comes...

Now, it would be better if I had a camera person along. Since I'm doing the horse work and taking the pictures, you don't get to see any action. I'll see what I can do about a cameraman. At this point, I take Kasper out to my training area (a strip of snow along the barn that is only knee deep, not thigh deep) where I can tie him by the tack room door:I start with some desensitization, flapping a flag around him. I've been doing the flag thing for months and he's quite happy with it. I can flap it wildly above his head and under his belly. Between flappings, I sweep it across his body so he's continually reminded that it's a friendly object that isn't going to hurt him. It actually seems to relax him so I usually begin a session with that.

From the flag, we move to the tarp, which I've also been flapping over him for months. I lead him around and lift the tarp up and down, fling it on and off him, and let him stomp on it. He likes to get his nose under a fold of it and flip it up.

Here he is in harness! An anticlimax after the tarp, it seems. This harness is a Pfiff from Germany. It's a breast collar style single driving harness suitable for light buggies or sleighs. The breast collar attaches to the traces, which I'll leave off for ground driving until I put the traces on and have Kasper start to pull something. I have the brake straps tied into the shaft loops just to keep them out of the way, and to put some tension on the back strap so he gets used to the feel on his butt.

Check out that mane! I spent an hour getting the winter knots out of it!

The last photo of the day is a close-up of the backstrap and crupper assembly. I don't have the crupper on him here. The next day, I'll oil it up and (gently) position it. I've spent the last year lifting his tail and putting my arm across his butt under his tail to get him used to that, so he should be fine with it. But we'll see...
At this point, I lead him around, stop, start, back, circle (in knee deep snow). And it all goes fine.

Plan for next training day: add crupper, add open bridle (without blinders), add reins, and ground drive. Maybe I'll have a cameraman, too!

Part of the reason I'm blogging this training process is to get feedback. My horse trailer is pretty much snowed in which means I'm stuck out here in the boonies with no chance for feedback. So if anyone sees something I could be doing in a better way, feel free to comment!

Day One: Harnessing up

2009-02-07T13:46:00.001-08:00

This blog will chronicle our efforts, mine and Kasper's, as we fumble with the names of the pieces of leather, scare ourselves silly with tarps and flags and flapping buckles, and get hopelessly wound up together in 40 feet of reins...should be fun! But don't expect quick results; this will take a while. Kasper is prone to bolting at the sight--or sound--of cars, speeding cats and barking Chihuahuas, so I'll be giving him time to get comfortable with the greater world outside of his quiet, cozy pasture where his buddies are so wise and reassuring. (Meanwhile, I'm learning how to blog, and that seems to take time, too!)