Washoe's Little Rodeo

Went for a ride with Mom and Bill today in the Wild Basin area.  Estes got hurt on Tuesday when she got spooked and ran off a ledge in the pen, and unfortunately, used a chewed up tree stump as her brakes.  Since she was out of commission I had to Cowgirl Up and ride Washoe the Wonder Idiot.  Except today, he wasn't really a Wonder Idiot, he was remarkably well behaved.  I wouldn't go so far as to re-name him Washoe the Wonderful, but maybe Washoe the Not-Such-A-Big Idiot.

He behaved like a grown-up horse for the most part.  He balked a little bit crossing the first set of bridges, but then so did Jesse and Ranger.  Bill finally dismounted and led Ranger across the bridge.  Once the horses saw that there were no horse-eating trolls, they all followed like good little mutts.

There was only one time when Washoe really tested me, but he actually had a reason this time.  The last time I rode Washoe, he fell off the side of a trail and then popped me off his back.  He didn't actually buck that time, he just wasn't strong enough to stand up from his kneeling position, so when he hopped up, I got popped off.

We rode through a cloud of horse flies on our way back to the trailer.  He did a pretty good job of just dealing with the flies, but then one got a chunk of his butt and he set to crow hopping.  Bill said he wished he had his camera out, because Washoe cleared a foot and a half.  I managed to stay on - in actuality, I was so stunned that he was pseudo-bucking that it never occurred to me not to stay on - and get him calmed down a little bit.  He calmed down enough to stop jumping around, but his tail was going a mile a minute and he was tossing his head trying to get rid of the buggers. I can't blame him at all for today's little rodeo - if horse flies were biting *my* ass, I'd throw a temper tantrum, too. 

All in all, a damn fine day.

The Three Most Adorable Kittens Ever...& A Spoiled Horse

The latest batch of kittens are sooooooo dang cute! Ash hates the names I gave them, but they all look so much alike that I used horse face markings for their names, so let me introduce (from left to right) Snip, Blaze (can't see his markings behind Snip's ear), and Star. They're not quite five weeks old and they're so dang cute. I know, I already said that, but they are!


Estee's been acting a little sore recently and really favoring her right foreleg, so she got a good stretching out before our ride. Since I don't want her "unbalanced", I stretched both legs, trying to loosen up her chest and leg muscles. Sometimes she likes it, sometimes she doesn't. Today, she wasn't thrilled, but allowed me to stretch her out. Could be that I bribed her first with Black Oil Sunflower Seeds first.



Finally, I was finished stretching her out and decided that she was sound enough to take out on a short ride to try to work out a little of her soreness. Bill hopped up on Ranger and we headed out onto the mountain. Estes was a little pissy at first because she didn't want to go on a trail, but we found a trail that we hadn't been on in a long time and she was much, much happier.

When Estee's happy, everybody's happy!

First Ride '09

The best thing for the inside of a human is the outside of a horse...or something along those lines. Whoever said it was (is?) a wise person, because it's absolutely true.

We moved Estes up to Mom's a few weeks ago, but today was the first time I had a chance to get up to see my baby girl. Last week the weather was beautiful, in the 70s and each day was a wonderful spring day. Today, however, the weather sucked. I woke up to an inch of snow on the ground here in town, which I knew meant that there'd be a whole lot more up at Mom's place. I was right. However, when I called Mom, she said the sun was out and the wind was blowing away the snow. Yay, me!

I finally managed to crawl outta my nice warm bed, into my silk long underwear, and hauled my cookies up the hill. Mom hadn't lied, it was pretty. Still a bit on the brisk side, but the sun was shining and most of the snow had gone. I took my halter and camera out to the pen to gather up Estes. I'm a picture freak when it comes to Estes; she, however, sees the camera come out and gives me a look that says, "are you serious? Another picture?" I can't help it, I love my horse. So, I go out to the pen and pull out my camera to get a picture before our first ride of the year. The minute she hears me turn it on, she gives me the look and walks away. Ranger, however, heard the camera turn on and immediately started posing. I guess he thought that if I had a camera in my hand I couldn't catch him.

I did manage to catch Estes once I put the camera away and got her all tacked up and ready to go. There was a moment of hesitation on my part before I mounted up. What if she had "forgotten" what she learned from the Horse Master? I didn't have a longe line on her and I certainly didn't want to have to remind her of her lesson from Julie Goodnight. I shouldn't have worried; she stood like a champ while I not-so-gracefully climbed up. I would have been more graceful had whoever rode in my saddle last returned my stirrups to their proper settings. Instead, I looked like I was climbing up my horse rather than mounting her properly. Despite my less-than-graceful mount, she never flinched or showed any inclination to move until I got settled. What a great little mare I have!

I won't bore anyone with a step-by-step narrative of the ride, but it was amazing, as it always is, and I ended the ride in much better spirits than I woke up in. The mountains were gorgeous covered in snow, a sight I'm sure I'll miss in just a few short weeks, and there were even patches of snow we had to break trail through - always a good time.

Aw, heck, the computer's not reading my disk full of pictures, so I guess everyone's off the hook as far as oohing and aahhing over my pictures goes.