French Braids & Tarps

Sadly, I have been slacking this past week.  It was very, unbearably hot and while my old plan would have been to go out and ride at eight or ten at night, it's a little more difficult when my alarm clock goes off at 2:52 am.

So the past few days were horseless.

But I pushed through the late afternoon grog and slogged out to the barn today and I am glad I did.  It's always the struggle to finish the drive out there and get out of the car, but once I have my horses in hand, I feel the energy return. 

I pulled the semi feral mare out of the pasture first.  I decided recently that I need to learn how to do a decent running braid.  Unfortunately, I also realized I can't french braid my way out of a paper box, let alone trying to do something tight and elegant on a horse's neck.

So, I think I may have to go to the Goodwill & find an old Barbie doll or something to practice on. 

French Braid 1:  Feral Rider 0

So I decided to give up on that project and move onto something that I theoretically know how to do.  Easier to say than in practice.  I saddled up the semi feral mare and we rode in the indoor for a few minutes.  She was good and well behaved, despite the cooler weather and time off, so we headed out to the outdoor.  Egads, no crazy bulldozer to stop our path. 

However, the grass in the outdoor was fairly long and she was tripping a little more than I was comfortable with.  While, I don't mind an occasional small trip out of a typical horse, but the mare has had a couple minor hiccups the past few years: a fractured splint bone, a torn superficial flexor tendon, and a bunch of smaller bruising from the splits-on-the-ice adventure.  So, in the interest of keeping my horse theoretically in one piece with the same amount of lumps I left with, I went back to the indoor arena.  Sad defeat.  But no tripping. 

Next time, I'll try putting her Back on Track hock boots on and see how that helps.  I'd like to get a pair of Back on Track polos too and see that if that will make a difference. 

Any Back on Track fans out there? 

So overall, semi feral horse was less feral and more semi tame.  Very good.

Are we done yet?

Then I went ahead and got the semi feral filly.  She really is a sweet filly and I should come up with a better nickname for her.  She does have a tendency to go by Silly Filly though.

She is a two year old filly with a good head on her shoulders.  She currently lunges with tack on, ground drives, and has been out and about showing in hand for a little while now.  No major rush to put her under saddle, but I enjoy exposing her to new things.

Tonight's adventure was the tarp.  She had been exposed to a tarp off and on since a suckling, but she used to hesitate a bit and then get a little nervous anytime it was bunched up or moved around.

I put it down tonight and asked her to sniff it and she decided to do better.  She just walked right onto the bunched up tarp and gave me the cookie face.  So I gave in. 

Filly 1: Tarp 0

I worked a little bit longer with the tarp, but why beat a red horse with a tarp (better than beating a dead horse right?)

Hoping to have a lesson tomorrow.  Let's see how that goes!  I'm hoping for more success than with my braids.