Boys will be Boys

Well, the title says it all. Tex and his buddy must have been having a little to much fun on Friday and Tex now has a very sore shoulder. I haven't posted about it because I was *hoping* that it would get better quickly but, while it is improving he is not going to be ready for the Gold Coin Show this weekend.

Tex is the best patient though! He has patiently endured me poking and prodding on the sore, feeling around on the swelling and generally annoying him. I have been able to easily do hydrotherapy (thank goodness that the weather is cooperating!) and we have actually had a chance to bond in new ways with hand walking. I have even had Emily helping me.

Tex also got his new end of winter hairdo. I did an Irish clip since he is still turned out most of the time, but the wool that he had was making it hard for him to dry after riding, and I know that Equifest has a heated arena and I don't want him to overheat. He stood, untied for me to clip him too...such a patient, easy guy!

Perspective

Well, I am glad to be home. I have learned several life lessons today that are going to stay with me for a while. Tex is doing great, he enjoyed a quiet day turned out with his buddy while I spent the day at the hospital with Evan. Evan is fine now. He went by ambulance to the ER with a very fast heart rate, shortness of breath and chest pressure this morning. In my previous life (7 1/2 years ago) I worked in a cardiology office so I know enough about all of these symptoms to be pretty scared. It turned out to be an irregular heart rhythm that should be treatable. But boy, there is nothing like a scare like that to make you step back and realize what really matters.

I tend to become very one minded, and my horses and my job usually take most of my focus. I am going to work on making sure that while working hard, I need to take time to slow down, check in with everyone and make sure that they all know how important they are to me.

Thanks for reading and go hug your family, two legged and four legged.

Sharing

I have to admit I have never been very good at sharing. I know that it is good for the horse to have lots of different people ride, they have to be trained for any rider, etc...but I get a little possessive. It isn't that I think that someone else will do a bad job, it is just that I can tell when someone else has been on "my" horse.

Evan is an awesome rider. He and I even ride fairly similarly. He is quiet, and does a very good job at staying out of the horse's way. He has been wanting to ride Tex for a while and today was a good day. I have only ridden Tex in the Stock saddle one time, so Evan's big, heavy saddle was a bit of an adjustment (again). Evan uses his bridle with the mecate reins and a little different bit, so Tex had to get use to that too. All of this is good for him. He needs to learn to be flexible.  But it was still hard for me.

After watching for a little while I did have to admit that they got along fine, and I am eternally impressed with Tex's attitude to new experiences. The only indication that this was new was that his ears were sideways, and he was breathing harder than he would have been on a normal day. He is such a confident, well adjusted horse that he seems to be able to handle anything, including new riders.

WHAT A DAY!

WHAT A DAY!!

 

Tex was good as gold at his first horse show. He not only showed very well but he took care of my little girl and that is worth more than any horse show placings, ribbons, or scores. Emily came with us to the show and she waited patiently through 17 classes to get her turn. We didn't promise anything before the show because we didn't know how Tex would react to the other horses and show environment but after I rode him in the ring, and warm up with no problems we told Emily that she could do her first show too.

 



I have to say that I love showing. I am competitive and love the challenge of getting a horse ready and presenting it. This first Gold Coin Winter Series show was perfect for Tex's first experience and we had a blast. The Gold Coin shows are a series of open shows with a mainly Stock horse focus. There are classes for Halter, Trail, Reining, English Pleasure, and Western Pleasure. They don't have tack or dress requirements so there were several Western saddles in the English classes.

Tex stood out a little!

 

This was a very good thing because he gave me the opportunity to talk about OTTBs, Remember Me Rescue and the Battle of the Xs. I had several people ask me about his race career and his breeding as well as how I got him and what I was doing with him as far as training and showing with the Trainers Challenge.  I listed Remember Me Rescue as being the owner so people did stand up and take notice when we placed in all of our classes. What a great ambassador he was!

The most amazing thing about the whole day was Tex's attitude! He was attentive, calm, responsive and seemed to enjoy the environment and attention. People couldn't believe that he had just been ridden away from the track for 3 weeks!

 

I can't wait to see where we go in the next 3 months!

Tarp Day

This week has really been pushing me outside of the box (or arena). I must admit, I am an arena rider. Trail rides, slick footing, ground poles, hauling every day...these are all big challenges for me as a rider. I have said since I found out about the Battle of the X's that I would do all that I can to make my horse an all-around horse. That includes all of these things, and more (cattle, more trails, jumps) so Tex and I are on this adventure together. I am thankful every time I climb on him that I have been blessed with a kind hearted soul to share these challenges with, and even if he in unsure, I know that he will keep me safe, and he will look to me for reassurance. We can conquer all of these together.

Trail riding at Hidden Hills

It is still soaked in South Central Kansas, so instead of riding, today was TARP DAY. I had always thought of teaching a horse to lead over a tarp to be more on the circus act side of training. Something only those "kooky" people did, because in my "arena" my pretty show horses will never have to walk over a tarp....Boy was I wrong!

 

I had an instance this summer that changed all of that thinking. I was on a filly who had been touchy, but manageable in the round pen. She could walk, trot, and canter just fine around the rail. But our pen had some taller grass, and she went and little sideways, the grass hit her pasterns and she froze and then broke in two. She was scared of the GRASS! She felt it on her legs and couldn't figure out how to move her feet to get away from it. I wonder now if I had worked on having her walk over a tarp, and she felt it move around her, and make noise under her, if she could have handled the grass better. It is all about teaching the horse the correct reaction in a scary situation. If she had been able to walk just a little forward then I could have helped her learn how to keep her feet moving and look for reassurance.

I start with the tarp folded fairly narrow and not up against the rail. If the horse gets scared they still have a way to go forward, either by stepping/jumping over or going around by the fence. Tex was a little unsure at first, but that lasted about 30 seconds, I walked over it so he followed.

 

Here it is folded in half and a different color, Tex was not worried, although he did walk fairly quickly over. I don't make an issue of the new thing. I just work him like it has always been there. If he makes an issue of it, then we just repeat quietly until it becomes part of the scenery.

Finally it is full size. You can see how quiet his eye is, he stopped worrying about it and was waiting for his next direction from me.

 

This actually surprised me. Tex has been less than impressed with flapping, noisy things around his sides. But he treated the tarp like another saddle pad and lunged around me with it flapping and crackling on his side. He is awesome!

Tomorrow it is back to the arena and our last day before the show...

 

 

Show Prep Week!

I am beginning to think that we are in England instead of Kansas. It has been very wet and cloudy this past week and since we don't have an all weather manege (European outdoor arena for us Americans) we are still hauling to Benediction Farms and Tricia Kaufman's barn to get horses worked.

Weekends at my place are photo and video days since Evan is home to help me. He has become quite the photographer and we got some great photos of Tex on Sunday morning. I am thrilled with the way he is working. He is one of those horses that you can rely on to be there for you. He works hard, concentrates, and puts effort into everything that I have asked. So our big activity for this week is SHOW PREP! I can't believe that I have committed to taking Tex to a show already, but here we are. When I decided to do this Dec 20th seemed a long way off! The Gold Coin Show Series in Hutchinson, KS is a winter open show series designed as prep and practice, so it really will be a perfect chance to get Tex out in a show environment before the Battle. But I can't help thinking about the fact that he will have 30 days of riding off of the track! I know that he will be awesome and we have enough lateral control that I can keep his attention but I feel a little like a Kindergarten teacher the first time that she asks a student to read. We are just going to have to do it and trust each other.

Look at that cute face!

 

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Flexibility

Tex has been great these last few days. I have been riding on my own, so it has been hard to get photos. We have really been working on the basics and learning flexibility (both physical and mental!)

 I was planning on having a nice quiet ride on Wednesday so I started some ground work with Tex and he was working really well UNTIL I had the audacity to twirl the lead rope. Well, Tex was not going to stay anywhere in the area, no way, no how! He peeled sideways and his whole body went rigid. I thought "hmmm, this is a problem that we really need to work on..." So once he settled, I did it again and got the same reaction. Knowing that I am planning on dragging logs and swinging ropes off of this horse this reaction really is an issue. This is where my flexibility comes in, I gave up on the idea of a ride, and went and got a longer rope, and I just let him carry that rope all over his body, and once he learned that it really wasn't a horse eating monster (about an hour of patient work later) he was walking and trotting with it banging his sides, wrapping around his legs, and bouncing all over. So for now, he is rope broke.

Today we have new poles and jumps in the round pen and arena. I love these because they give the horse something to focus on instead of just endless circles. They give him a purpose to turn and a reason to trot. After his initial "pole = horse eating monster almost as bad as the rope monster" he started to enjoy going over the poles and figuring out where to put his feet. Today, I did have a great ride, using the poles for direction and transitions. This was his opportunity at physical flexibility. He had to be able to get around the turns and come straight to the next pole without fussing with his mouth or resisting the bend. He really is working so hard! Tex's mental flexibility came with some TOP SECRET freestyle work that we did. He is a rock star!!

I also want to say a HUGE thanks to everyone who has talked to me about Tex. I had no idea going into this adventure where it would lead, but the horse community here in Wichita has been amazing!! I have met so many people who find out what we are doing and say that they are following our page or blog. You all have no idea what it means to me that you have come to support this awesome horse. Please feel free to message, call or email and come meet Texas Citizen, he loves the attention!