Our trail to happiness !

Our trail to happiness !

Monday, September 16, 2013

Sept, 15- YES! Another Great ride out on trails!! Sunday

Had a wonderful great ride last night!! Kizz was A1 going out, I was a little nervous as I hadn't rode him since the past Saturday out on trails, and then a short little ride around the pasture a day last week, but he was Great! We trotted up the access road, and right on across the first big field, when we got to the rock wall, we slowed, crossed it then walked across the next field to the trails.

 (Oh forgot to mention we put Coby in the mini barn right before I rode out. There was no whinnying. )

The trails were sopping wet , not so much muddy just filled with water. But Kizz did great! Just looked at each and went through them. We went up the short trail to the ant hill road and then trotted mostly down that (until we came to a few big wet spots) then at the end we crossed the pavement and went down along it. It had been recently chip sealed so it's like crushed rock. Well a few cars didn't bother to slow down as they passed I was really nervous some rocks might fly up and hit kizz and make him upset of even make him nervous for riding on the roads again :S I really have to get a DRIVE SLOW and PASS WIDE shirt to wear!

We got to the fields and rode down by the Blaney's. He was great, then we got through the ditch wonderfully!! and onto the RR, we rode up just a little ways and met Kaaren , Magic and Riley the dog :)

We rode down the RR , lovely footing of course, mostly walking. We went on across the pave in Millville and went on down the trail almost to Crabbe Mountain. The we tried a little trail that goes off , and found it circled back to the RR . Then we head home. About halfway back along that RR part Kaaren noticed Kizz had his boot on sideways!! ooops!! TWO screws had come out! I really need to remember LOCK TIGHT!

So I hopped down, took it off and tied it to my strap for my chest plate and continued on, the trails are nice from there on, so no problem. Only a couple washouts and trees across the RR , which is amazing from the horrible storm we had!





When we got back to the ditch off the RR, I crossed over in front of Kaaren and got to the other side then turned Kizz and Allowed him to see Kaaren and Magic leaving us lol He was a bit upset but didn't whinny or turn back on me! So that's awesome! We turned on home and trotted , cantered most of it. He was perfect! We walked back through the fields as I don't want to start having him always wanting to "run home" and he was good . Going about halfway down the access road beside us Coby seen him and started Whinnying and Kizz kept replying. So we did circles and heading back up the trail, yelling and he just kept ignoring me and whinnying but we eventually got down it and he was ok and being quiet.

I guess he's changing things up a bit and is going to give me trouble when I arrive home, rather than when we ride out! haha

Had a great ride, very happy! We did 14 miles and it was perfect!!!( a lot of walking, but we trotted and cantered about quarter of it on our way to meet Kaaren and on our way home) AND I burned over 2300 calories! ;)






getting excited for the last weekend of the month when we go to St Stephen for our first CTR (26 miles) on Sat and then another JP (14 miles) on Sunday! soooo hoping the weather is nice! AND hoping Kizz is good for vetting !! EEEK!  wish us luck!!!

plan to ride in the the pasture a few times this week as the weather looks GREAT! gotta get screws for his boots ASAP though!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Sept 7-Our next trail,This will either make or break us..

I put a few nights in riding in the front pasture at home... Kizz settles in and acts ok, No more spinning and acting foolish, he does Whinny some though and a friend of mine has told me not to tolerate him yelling to his buddy while we are working (which makes sense to me, as everytime he whinnies he usually does something foolish) So I take her advice and everytime he whinnies I pull his head into my knee and smack him lightly on the bum with my crop. At first he is so surprised he jumps sideways, but we do a few little circles and then he's fine and I continue on riding our circles trotting , whoa, rein back etc. We do this a couple nights in a row. He really is starting to pay more attention to me finally!!!

Saturday comes and Kaaren and I plan to leave around 11am. I have around a hour to prepare . i am so nervous, more nervous I think than the very first time we went out alone!! I almost feel sick to my stomach!

Wimp that I am (imagining all kinds of horrible things that happen to me out in those fields) I quickly down 3 coolers while tacking up :P

I get on a do a few serpentines in the top of my driveway. (Hubby takes our gelding and puts him in the mini barn. Where he is happy to keep company with the minis )

I head down the driveway , along the road and up the access road. I ask him for a trot ( I figure if we can get some of the hyperness gone by time we hit those 2 fields it will be a good thing. It's a bit of a uphill and a ways until we get to the fields. Once we hit the fields I ask him for a walk and we walk calmly across. He is A1! We arrive on the trails and I'm ecstatic!!  I take a picture of us and post it on Facebook to let all my friends know we made it!! Yahooo!





Kizz goes along the trail excellent! At the bottom of the mowed trail, we come to the logging roads, they're very wide, straight , good footing! So we trot all along it, it's a blast! once we get a ways in I call Kaaren and she says she is just coming onto it from her end so we have a ways to go. I trot most of the way and we even canter some. He is perfect! ears up, happy and heading on great!! I am so happy! I think about how this is most definitely a rollar coaster ride for sure! lots of ups and downs!







We are quite aways around that logging road when Kizz looks ahead very intently and I know Kaaren and Odin must be up ahead! We see them as we come around the next turn! We head down the logging road the way I came. We are going to try a new trail. As we get onto it, it's really muddy but she says the muddy part isn't long so we trudge on, at the end of the trail we notice she is missing on of Odin's pretty orange back boots! So we spend the next hour or so looking for the boot in the mud. Here 's a picture of myself holding Odin on Kizz at one point while she's looking on foot for the boots (at this point she's lost 2 !)





Finally the boots are found! yay! at this point I have to head home. We continue on the way we were and loop back onto the logging road again and head back towards home. When we get to the part where I take a left back towards home, Kaaren and Odin are in front of us and continue on.. and Kizz knows to the left is home so he heads that way, but soon realizes that Odin isn't coming with us. He whinnies and is upset (this is the first time we leave Kaaren /Odin that he notices us leaving them ..normally he doesn't notice until it's way too late lol) But I point him towards home and ask for a trot, he continues on slowly but doesn't refuse or spin around. He doesn't whinny after that first time either! We trot and even canter along the road! Then we hit the mowed trail and continue on up that. When we come out to the fields he seems under control and good so we trot across the field. He is perfect! We cross the little rock wall and then into the last field (the big one) When I ask him to trot across, he picks up a canter... A very nice slow easy going canter (nicest I've rode on him YET!) so I let him keep it, and we make our way across the field with no incidents! He is A1! look at us?!?! trotting and cantering through the fields that a few hours ago I was needing a drink to WALK through them haha! 

When we get onto the access road and he can sense his buddies at home, he starts whinnying and acting up a bit. It takes us a while to get down the access road because of it, as I'm doing small circles everytime he acts up. Then most of the way he is fine until we get to the very bottom close to home. He whinnies again and ignores me, so we do another small circle. Coby is whinnying to him at this point . We get home eventually and I dismount and clean kizz up , cool him down then give him his supper in the wash rack. No girth sores! our new system seems to be working! 

I put him back in the pasture with Coby since I'm so happy we had such a great ride and also there is a new fresh cut round bale in there for them to enjoy and it's calling for rain all next week. 

What a great ride, I'm so happy! We did 11 miles and a lot of trotting/canter and Kizz has cooled out pulsed down A1! Rides like these make me feel again that "We GOT this!"








It rains for the next week , slippery messy mess.. when will we get our next ride in?  Soon I hope as we are planning a fairly long ride Sunday ! (with Kaaren & Odin and Robyn & Magic!) 

Thursday, September 5, 2013

some Fun horse times to cheer me up!

my daughter is crazy in love with horses and spends a lot of tine with her miniatures, I decide it's time for me to take her out on a 'trail  ride' , I just know she'll love it!!

We take Dream's filly with us since she's still only 2 months. We have a great time!! She has a blast and Dream is A1. She moves along well for being a lazy girl! We even trot on the way back home in he pasture. Ava lee giggles the whole time :)

It makes me so happy that not only does she love horses but she has such a fun time with Dream. Dream is a wonderful little mare and we are so lucky to have gotten her!




I even have a cart that I'm buying for Ava lee and her minis to use!! It will be a completely new thing for me, harness seems like a foreign language to me!! but I just know we'll have such fun!!!




I plan to pony Dream & Ava lee out with Coby soon!!  

Sept 4-our next ride.. another struggle

This herd bound business is driving me insane! Everytime I take Kizz out to do ground work Coby & Kizz both yell to each other even when they're within sight of each other!! This is coming to an end boys ! I think being out together 24/7 with no time even stalled apart is too much for them. I decide to put them in separate pastures for a while.. see if it helps.


I put off the next ride as long as I can.. knowing I'm only making things worse by not riding but I'm so nervous to do it :(

I finally decide tonight is the night and start to get him ready around 5 (my husband gets home at 6, so I figure by time I'm riding he will be home soon ) I don't like to ride with no one here.  The kids are inside playing the wii :)

I tie him in the wash rack to settle him down a bit and groom. Then we tack up and ride around the top of my drive again (yup, right back where we started!) He kicks out and crow hops some , flinging his head and generally just grumpy. He always hates any type of 'work' at all. But this is even just as we start out! I know I'm in for a horrible ride.  After a while and he seems settled down (and my husband has arrived)  I head down to the front pasture to ride. On the way down he refuses some and kicks out a few times but I just push him on.

We get to the bottom and he starts whinnying and spinning around and ignoring me. I do some one rein stops and take some teeny tiny circles with his head pulled back towards my hip . Coby even whinnies back and forth with him (they can SEE each other and are still whinnying!)

Then straighten out and move on .. we work in some circles. He doesn't settle any at the walk and I know it will help to trot so we work up to the trot . He acts foolish for a long time, we probably put in half an hour before he settles. We do some circles working on bending and dropping his head . I switch directions and he is bad again. We work at it switching directions a few times. I ride for near to an hour and a half before he settles. He is ok walking up to the house thankfully. I do some ground work in my driveway and quit on a good note. I untack him (sweaty saddle pad yay!) and leave him tied a while , while I do night barn chores with Ava lee. Then I grain him and eventually put him back in HIS pasture. Alone. Hope he stays in all night! lol



The roller coaster dips down...

ok so riding out 2 rides in a row with Coby, Kizz's buddy was not a good idea. :(

I had been doing some ground work but hadn't rode for a week as Kizz got some girth sores in the wrinkles of his elbow. I believe since his shape is changing and his girth is slipping forward tight to his elbows. I get some advice from my friend Kaaren and get two longer new nylon girths and rig my saddle up differently so it is helping tug his girth out of his elbow.





So I tack up and we head out the access road, and I'm very pleased, he seems settled (we hadn't rode in a while so figured I'd have trouble) I even grab a picture :)







                                     
But that All changes once we get to the fields.. he dances around ignoring me, whinnying to his buddy Coby and  kicking out . I make it through the fields and get onto the trail. He is much better, we go through the trails and head on our way up to the ant hill road. I call Kaaren but she is quite a way away so we decide not to meet up and I will head on home. Instead of going back through the fields, I decide to ride further and go onto the road. I will ride home and hopefully Kizz will behave (he has always been very good on the road) 


When we arrive on the road (up to his point on the trail he has been A1! )
He is fine so far but then starts ignoring me and whinnying again. He dances around so bad that when a car comes I'm forced to jump down so that we are safe from going out in front of it!

I have a hard time even getting the reins over his head, his head is so high.. he's acting like his brain melted (just like at the ride when he couldn't see Odin) 

I make him stand and get his head dropped and get my reins, I start leading him home, making him walk beside me with his head down.. it is a big struggle but when we get close enough to home that he sees Coby then he immediately drops his head and walks quietly.. 

When I get home I get back on and ride him in the front pasture . He isn't very good and ignores me some ,but by time I quit he is fairly well behaved doing nice trotting circles. On the way up the pasture to the house, he keeps racing off on me so we work again some more. Finally we get to the top and quit. I do some more working on ground tying and then give him his supper and put him away. I'm so super disappointed and sad :(
                                        

He's never been this bad on the way home before and never on the road. It makes me really nervous to ride again.