Baby got Bounce

I have had a few rides on Roscoe recently and he has given me an awesome trot. Since Mom and Peggy were riding at the same time, no one got video of it. The common factor each time was that there was a mare present. I needed to get him listening to me rather than paying attention to the mare. So I trotted and did circles. At one point I looked at Mom and said "Baby got bounce!" I normally sit lightly at first until he is steady then start posting. With this trot I could barely sit. Mom said he was sitting and pushing from behind. All those great Cob joints were bending and giving me that awesome trot.

My Pixel Pony

Today I put the dressage saddle on for the first time and gave Peggy my phone to take a video. Well since there was no mares and Comrade was just standing in the middle, Roscoe decided it was a lazy day. Instead of bounce, I got sloth pony. Ok that's an exaggeration, maybe more of a western jog. Plus he was Mister Distracted Tourist. Here is the video from today.
We went for a trail ride after that worked his butt off. He was a bit of a baby today. I told him he was allowed to have baby days especially when they are not too bad. It just meant we had to scale back the challenges. I do think we did a step of canter going up a hill today. Love this pony! At one point, Peggy  went off with Comrade after a break. Roscoe had been standing with a leg cocked. He just watched at they walked off, not moving until I asked him to move on.
Even with his tourist actions and biting Comrade's butt, the ride was great. He worked up a sweat on all those hills. Wonder if he will need a trace clip?

Loopty Loo

Peggy thought I was crazy this weekend when I tacked up Comrade for a ride. The wind was blowing and it was one of the colder days we have had, but I was determined. At least I put a saddle on, so I did not totally lose my mind. Before starting I pulled his tail, stretching his back and sides. I also massaged his lower back and butt since he has had some tight muscles from muddy days.
Once in the ring, Peggy did not last long before she left me. I set to loosening Comrade's parts, shoulder in, haunches in, leg yield in random patterns. I was really happy with his responsiveness and willingness to work. He was still a bit heavy in the front end. Time to get creative.
First thing I did was raise my hands. I tend to ride with them lower than I should, so what seems high is only slightly above normal. By doing this, Comrade will lift his front end. I have used this with Dottie and it works great. I kept my contact consistent, letting him find the connection.
Next, we went Loopty Loo all around the arena.

My bad Loopty Loo drawing

Straight a stride or two, then 10m circle and repeat around the arena. Comrade had to bend, step under with his hind end and lift with his front end. I got a few Cob grunts protesting the challenge. He did not need to go the whole circuit of the arena before he softened nicely and carried himself to the left. I was glad to see that because going to the left was where I saw the soreness from muddy ground. Trying to keep that same softness, I reversed and did the exercise to the right. This direction, his tough side, took more circles before he maintained and carried himself. Comrade is always better when he figures out a lesson on his own which is what this was. When we traveled large, he felt so good. Much lighter in my hands and pushing from the hind end. His neck had that lovely side to side flop action. We ended with a stroll out on trail where he surprised me with a fabulous jump over the big log. I think someone wants a jump school.
Best of all, my Mom got on him today and felt he was so much better flexibility and straightness wise. Peggy and I got to see all our hard work show when he gave Mom a great ride.

And I have no idea why the kid's song Here We Go Loopty Loo got stuck to this exercise in my mind, but the lyrics are not too far off.

First three verses, enjoy!

Here we go loopty loo
Here we go loopty li
Here we go loopty loo
All on a Saturday night

Here we go way down low
Here we go way up high
Here we go way down low
We really know how to fly

Here we go round and round
Here we go fast and slow
Here we go round and round
Oh what a great way to go

Clip Art

Brrrr, It is starting to get cold. My ponies moved up to their 100gram blankets tonight. At least we did not get the snow some areas in central VA got.
Since the wind was gusting, I figured it was a day to catch up on my work. Number one on the list, trimming Rosemary's hooves. She was suppose to be done a couple weeks ago, but I trimmed Comrade and Roscoe instead before the show. I trimmed back her platter toes with her cooperation for once. It is always so nice to see how good they look after a trim.
Next up was going to be her trace clip. Both girls need one, but I did not want to make her stand after her trim. So I decided to play with the clippers and a quarter mark stencil. When I mentioned that Rosemary needed a clip, Lisa (Roscoe's breeder) sent me a picture of the perfect clip for her, a Dragon. Unfortunately my skills do not stretch even close to what this needed, but Rosemary could totally rock it.

A Welsh and a Dragon, perfect. If only I could

My initial idea was to use the diamond stencil to create a geometric flower. Then the clipper blade was too big to fit in the stencil and I had to adjust. It was tough to work with how the hair was lying. I just kept going, even though I was not sure if anyone would want to see it afterwards. Her blanket could cover any horrible errors I make. It seemed the horrible was going to be the outcome, until slowly I saw some potential. I added a line here, smoothed an area there before finally thinking I could actually call it a flower. I added a smooth center to cap it off.

Then I thought is resembled a pinwheel and needed something more. Using the edge of the stencil, I added a stem. At the bottom I put a leaf.

Still, I thought it was not right. The leaf was too low. I fixed that by adding more stem below.

Finally her clip art was done and I did not feel like it should be hidden.

My sister says I made her a My Little Pony, but my Dad said she did not have sparkles like them. Ah well, I was impressed with how it looked in the natural light later when I changed her blanket.
Now I have to do her trace clip... at some point :)

Product Review: Hay Burners Slow Feed Bags

Over the years we have tried different methods to slow down the rate the horses eat hay. Horses are grazers and do better when they eat a little over time. We have wrapped hay in landscaping mesh with success, but a lot of effort. Peggy purchased Nibble Nets and those worked really well too. For Winston we combined the Nibble Net and the landscaping mesh to make the holes smaller. Mom went a step further by purchasing fish net when she went to Florida. The fish net was too hard for Rosemary, but Winston did figure it out. We still have more fish net to play with and will work with it more in the future.
When we moved to Peggy's, the lack of grass made finding the right bags imperative. Peggy found an Australian company that made slow feed bags and bought two. We used them for the boys when we went to the Welsh show in September. The 3-4 flakes in each bag lasted the whole drive there and the five hour wait. Peggy and I were impressed. The squares are 1 1/2".

The Australian Slow Feed Bag

Afterwards Peggy went in search of others a little closer to home. She found Hay Burners Equine LLC. They have standard sizes and will custom make bags also. Knowing that our guys already mastered the 1 1/2", she purchased the 1" square polyester and the 1" hex nylon in the half bale size. The bags area  great size and fit over a muck bucket making it easy to fill. We found that the horses prefer the square bags versus the hex bags. This was because the hex bags are smaller when hanging. All the horses including Dottie with her big lips are able to eat from both though.

Hex material

Most mornings we come in to find some hay still in the bags. I love that because it means they have hay available all night. We have hung them from the fence and thrown them on the ground. Very effective slow feeders.
Now for the negatives. The website warns about shrinkage. That is a fact. We had rain soon after receiving the bags and soon the square bags showed shrinkage. Unfortunately the shrinkage was not even causing a bottle neck effect. Just getting a couple flakes past that point was difficult. The hex bags had minor shrinkage, but were still easy to fill. Peggy and I took pictures of the worst bag and sent it to the company. The company said they had not seen shrinkage in quite that way. Since they were unable to get the netting to work, they discontinued that material. For us, they sent two more square bags for free. The other negative is that the rope they use to secure the top can be frayed by a fence. Good news is that it is easily replaced for less than $5. We have replaced 2 so far. To help prevent fraying we put them on the ground when dry.

 

Roscoe says "I got this square bag"

The company does what they can to make these bags as durable as possible. They also send repair materials in case your horse causes a hole.
What they don't tell you is what interesting things can happen with the bags. We knew from Winston and the fish net bag that a horse could toss them under a fence and not be able to reach it after. So when we put them on the ground we make sure they are away from the fence. One morning I came in to find one bag in the grey boys area, but the other was missing. I looked at the fence line and could not find it. As I walked back to the stalls, I saw something in one of them. In the corner of the stall was the missing bag. One of the grey boys, I bet Winston, walked that bag all the way to the stall. Another time Peggy found one bag in each of the stalls. So not only are they "grazing," they are also moving around. To cap off the hay bag adventures, twice we have found this in the morning:

SLAM DUNK!!!

Yep that is a hay bag in the water trough. The first time they soaked it for most the night. The second time they tossed a morning bag in for about and hour. I will say they ate the hay once we fished the bag out of the trough, so nothing was wasted. It is not fun to bail out an entire trough though.

So if you are looking for a slow feed bag, definitely try these. Depending on the size you want they run from $27-$45. I especially like them for long show days to keep the horses occupied.

Tic Tac Toe, 3 Cobs in a Row

My Mom came home from FL yesterday and today was her last day before returning to work. So after our farrier visit, we went for a trail ride. By process of elimination (DaVinci worked yesterday, Dottie does not work after the farrier and Winston is a bit unpredictable) the 3 Cobs were chosen. This ride was going to be on near by trails, not Peggy's, and meant going on the roads. A first for Roscoe in addition to riding with a mare.
Just in case, I made sure I was on Roscoe before Mom brought Rosemary into the arena. He was aware of her right away, but he listened when I told him to focus on me. Then it was time to head out. We tried putting Rosemary first, Comrade next and Roscoe at the end. I was able to get a picture :)

1, 2, 3 Cobs YAY!

Soon we realized that Roscoe was out walking Comrade. Time for a switch, Mom circled Rosemary to move behind Comrade while I let Roscoe pass on the other side. He took the lead with only a little hesitation. When we reached the trail head he spooked a little at the shadows I think, but he kept going. Further along there was some roots sticking out of an edge and leaves fluttering with some eroded ground. He stopped, looked around, thought about it, realized it was not going to eat him and he walked on. Then he was off with a huge walk stride. I waved bye to Mom and Peggy.
His next challenge was a narrow crossing with more eroded ground. Roscoe stopped dead. I asked him to move forward, but he was not ready yet. This took more looking and assessing. Mom asked if Comrade should go first, but I felt Roscoe was nearly there. I asked again and he carefully walked across.
Occasionally he would startle at who knows what. The best thing was that he did not hold on to it, did not snowball. Nothing ate him so he let it go. Sometimes he got distracted by Rosemary getting close when he turned around. He never pulled toward her though, just slowed down. He handled lots of brush and stepped over branchy logs. Then at one point we got off trail and were finding our way when an ATV starts coming up behind us. Peggy yelled at the guys to slow down. All the horses did not care one bit about the intrusion. We continued the trail, finally finding our way back to the trail head. The ATV still rumbled around near by as we walked the road back to Peggy's. I decided to try Roscoe up the drive way and face the flag. That was no problem. Nor was her seasonal decor or Sonny trotting up to the fence.
What a great ride overall. Rosemary was her typical drama queen self and Comrade was steady. Both helped give Roscoe experience. Rosemary must have warned him not to walk on dark road patches because he avoided them all. These Cobs are so great!

Rides by Color

I am nearing the end of my vacation. Probably half of it was rainy, but the other half was super fall weather. Peggy and I would say "who are we riding?" For some reason, the horses have been paired by color when we think about riding and even for turnout.
So first up, the Dark Girls:

Their first ride was just doing intervals, stretching the muscles shortened by mincing through mud slicked grounds.
Their second ride was a fun trot around the woods. We went over logs and up hills. Nothing out there got a jump out of Dottie, but Rosemary gave me one jump. It also showed me Rosemary will need a trace cut soon.

Then came the Red Boys:

Their first ride was Roscoe's time to ride with another horse in the ring. He had to deal with Comrade trotting around him and coming at him. I could not get Roscoe to trot by Comrade trotting the opposite direction, but he at least kept walking. Both of us are figuring things out slowly.
Their second ride actually was separate. Roscoe and I went out on trail with Larry walking with us. I wanted to take him down what essentially is 3 hills in a row. The first two are short in length, but steep. The last is long and winding, but gradual. I questioned whether it was the day to attempt it when Roscoe about fell over as I reached down to get my stirrup. Then he proceeded to walk calmly around the arena while Larry through the frisbee for Shadow. Ok, the boy was ready. He was so excited to go out on trail, he forgot to apply the brakes. After a reminder he started to contain himself. On the way to the hills, he walked over a baby coop and log piles. At the first hill, he got quick. I circled him and went down again. I kept my hands level, applying half halts. Finally he sat down and got off his forehand. Just in time too. The big hill presented a new distraction. Peggy had this hill graded out of the side of a steep down hill to make it usable. This left a ledge of dirt and roots on one side and a drop off on the other. Roscoe decided he was not walking near those weird roots. I had fun keeping him away from the drop off. Once down he had to come back up. I could feel Roscoe start out pulling up the hill. Then he figured out that engaging his butt and pushing was easier. I love seeing all his learning moments and breakthroughs.
Comrade and I went for a bareback ride at dusk. He was feeling a bit tight and wound up. I think he had a sore hind end from slipping in the mud. So I started moving his parts, shoulder in, haunches in, correct bend, counter bend. It was a battle since he felt he should be eating with everyone else and the boogie monsters in the woods might eat him. Gradually he started loosening up. I was so glad we ended with him trotting on a circle keeping contact on a longer rein. Plus his neck had that great floppy crest.

Finally came the Grey Boys:

So far they only had one ride. It was a ride to remember for me. Peggy rode DaVinci and I rode Winston. We started in the arena to make sure Winston was ready for a trail ride. He really wanted to trot and trot big. I had to breath and let him be. There were no scary vibes and I had to trust him. Peggy led the way onto the trail. She went on a lesser used one with a lot of brush. Winston was a star. He followed right behind DaVinci and had no problems with the footing or brush. We even walked over logs. He was happy and I was not nervous. That was amazing. These rides will go so far helping him gain back the muscle he has lost over the last year.

And that is our Rides by Color. I love our herd. It has it's own balance. 2 greys, 2 bays, 2 chestnuts and 1 lone black. Even the breeds are balanced 2 arab crosses, 2 TB crosses and 3 Cobs.

Welsh Show and Tourists

So our last show was chilly, but had wonderful fall foliage.

It started an hour later, woo hoo, letting us have time in the morning to get some chores done. The normal five Cobs came with somewhat normal results. Roscoe was Reserve Grand Champion under one judge and Comrade, the lone D gelding took his class.

Halloween theme ribbon

The best part was that the breeder's daughter showed the boys for us. She was able to run enough to get them moving great. Both boys tried cantering which is a no no for the show. Surprisingly, Roscoe did not try anything funny with her, even though this is the first time she has seen him since he was 6 weeks old.

During the time between classes, the boys stayed on the trailer and we eventually hunkered down in the truck. While we sat there, Peggy and I saw one handler lay down on the ground and wiggle about to get his pony to be expressive. That was priceless. We did walk around and chat with the other welsh owners which is always fun. When we finally unloaded the boys for the last class, a couple walked up and asked to take pictures of Roscoe. They were just enjoying the show and all the ponies.
Then when we moved down to the arena, a little girl was fascinated by Roscoe. Peggy let her come and pet his head. I got him to prick his ears when they took some pictures. I love seeing kids meet horses. I moved to take pictures of Comrade's class, but was soon distracted by Roscoe relaxing with the little girls.

Peggy said the family was going to Skyline drive, a scenic foliage stretch, but it was too crowded. They saw the sign for the 4H Educational Center and thought that would be interesting. That is how they came to be at a Welsh Show.

When Roscoe went in the arena, I looked over to see Comrade giving the kids pony rides one time. Then the next time he was parked out nibbling hay from their hands. Peggy and the ponies made those kids' day and brightened up the typical show day.
If two sets of tourists were not enough, one more came up to the trailer asking for directions. I guess that is what happens when you have a show during the changing of the leaves.