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Turkey Causes Chicken-like Behavior
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| (Friday, 05 September 2008) Written by heather |
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My birthday was earlier this week so I thought I'd celebrate
by going on a nice, relaxing trail ride.
I left work a little early and the weather was perfect. Normally, my dear horsey (DH) loves the
trails but I haven't taken him out by himself on the trail at his new home (any
idea of what's to come?!). When we go
out with buddies, my normally timid horse somehow becomes Super Horse and leads
the way. When his buddies shy, he forges
ahead. Courage really is a new trait for
my horse. It's also apparently only a
trait that reveals itself when in the company of other horses.
This much anticipated birthday trail ride started out
benignly enough. We entered the wooded
trail where trees make it a little dark.
DH seemed happy enough, maybe a wee-bit hesitant to enter the trail by
himself. The trail was really pleasant ,
cool, no flies, etc. We walked for
probably 20 minutes before anything at all new and potentially scary presented
itself. When we came to a small log that
was new on the path, my horse hesitated a bit.
I encouraged him on with just a little tap with my leg. In the past, if he was nervous or unsure of
his surroundings, his refusals to go forward or to follow the rider could be
quite epic. So, when he so willingly
relented and went forward after demonstrating his uncertainty at the small log,
I took it as a sign of trust and a nice birthday present.
We kept walking. We
walked under low-hanging branches and by a creek. We were almost at the point in the trail
where we would exit the woods and then be on the small road leading back to the
barn. Then, almost at the point where
the wooded trail ends, the entire path was blocked by a huge fallen tree. There was absolutely no way around it. The area was heavily wooded except for the
trail, the ground was covered with leaves, and it looked like there could be
deep holes off the path. It was a
disappointment because the trail was fairly long, it was getting late, and I
didn't necessarily want to retrace the whole trail. Nonetheless, I thought it would be safest to
turn around.
So, we turned around and started retracing our path on the
trail beside the creek. That's when DH
saw the three wild turkeys in the middle of the path ahead and lost his
mind. Poor fella. It was the first time I had seen wild turkeys
and obviously the first time DH had seen them.
It's a little funny for me to consider now, but was not quite so funny
at the time. DH was incredibly scared. He made his dragon sound that he makes when
he gets really, really scared. I
actually hopped off because I thought he might bolt (which he had done several
times many years ago when he got scared on a trail L ). I found a quick way out of the woods and got
back to the paved road to the farm (it's in a new residential area that doesn't
have traffic yet). Well, the cherry on
top for DH was that once we exited the trail, across the road and a little ways
up the hill was a pack of about 15 wild turkey.
He really thought they were out to get him and proceeded to snort and
prance around. Nonetheless, I didn't
want to walk home and figured it'd be easier to ride a bolt on the road than in
the woods, so I hopped back on. We
walked back, neither of us 100% relaxed on our "relaxing" trail ride. It was still a lot of fun and I appreciated
DH's confidence to allow me to get back on and to walk back to the barn
together.
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Your new Dressage Partner: A Lusitano
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| (Tuesday, 26 August 2008) Written by Florian |
| Hello, I am Florian fromSucandi ® - Cavalos do Brasil and my wife and me have our farm just outside of SãoPaulo in Brazil. There we have almost 60 Lusitanos, all carefully selected andwell trained especially for dressage. Currently we are exporting our horses tomany parts of the world, including the USA. The beauty of lusitano horse is that they are gifted with a wonderfultemperament, lightness, responsiveness and collection. They are easy to ride which makes it so much fun to ride, especially for amateurs. And i know what I am talking about as me riding really is not of a high level at all. Nevertheless also professional riders such as Guenter Seidel are enjoying more and morethe benefits of the noblest saddle horse of the world. Two weeks ago you couldsee of the first time ever Brazilian Lusitanos participate in the Dressagecompetitions of the Olympics. And not just one or two but eight. Only theHanoverian breed qualified more horses for the 2008 Olympics. Having said this we from Sucandi ® - Cavalos do Brasil are very proud to offer the world’s largest selection ofDressage Lusitanos. Please feel invited to have look under http://www.sucandi.com where you can discover your new dressage partner, first class facilities in a tropical environment, Brazilian hospitality and the only Brazilian lusitano farm specialized in dressage. Discover Sucandi ® - Cavalos do Brasil. |
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Moving forward, or the solo-rider's shuffle
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| (Thursday, 31 July 2008) Written by heather |
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I have been so busy with everything (!) lately that I haven't had time to write in my blog. So, this post will be really, really short but I did want to put up something.
I've been auditing clinics this summer and trying to observe good riding and different teaching & training as much as possible. One common demoninator that I've observed that has definitely been missing in my riding is just getting some energy in my rides. I had a very nice lesson last week and a clinic ride earlier this summer where my horse was lots more forward that I normally ride and, lo & behold, he felt a ton better, his movement was better, and there was actually something under me to work with. In several of the clinics I've observed, I realize that the horses that look really good are actually moving, not just shuffling along. Since I ride on my own a good bit, it is very easy to slow down little by little until we're doing the solo-riding shuffle again. (This might have happened a little to my blog too, but that's an entirely different story .)
For now, I'll try to focus on moving forward energetically (not running, of course) and see where that leads...
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