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Welcome to the Rough String, and thanks for stoppin' by!! Grab a hot cup of coffee and sit a spell!
10/22/18 You will see a name change on the blog. Lots of things have changed in my life in the past few years, and I feel compelled to share my story.

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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Is the Adventure Ending?

~No one can keep me down if I have a mind to get up.~
~Netta Simpson 1902~

When I started blogging in Oct of 2008, I had a lot of stuff to talk about...things that I wanted to explain, so the readers would understand what I was doing. One of those posts was in January 2009.

River Bug Rambler (aka "Colt")



That post told the story of how and why I got Colt, and what we had done since I bought him in November of 2006. It was a LONG post, since it covered a little over 2 years of training and showing.


The day I picked Colt out of the pen of long yearlings. Nov 2006
He wasn't my first choice, but he was the right choice in hind sight.


My Man had to come over to Todd's place to see this new acquisition I'd made! Dec 2006

The first line of that old post read: "This is the story of my adventure...a challenge to myself...to train a horse as a working cow horse."

If you've been following me along, you've probably read quite a few of the 100 posts that I've done on Colt. Of course this is another Colt post...documenting yet another monumental event in his training.


In the Bridle
Colt in the bridle.

Tuesday is the first day that I rode Colt without the hackamore under the bridle...no crutch to fall back on. My hand felt almost naked without that wad of reins in my hand. I spent time walking him around the arena just pondering the things we'd done in the past 5 1/2 years.

I remember taking him to that 2 year old Futurity halter class. Our class was the first thing in the morning. But, I spent the rest of the day watching the other horses. The 3 year old class in the snaffle...the 4 year old class in the hackamore...the 5 year old class in the two-rein...and the final stage, the 6 year old class in the bridle (and they had to rope a steer too)...oh my...what had I gotten myself into. Would I ever be able to ride a horse like the fine ranch/cow horses I was seeing...and train it myself?!? I had so much to learn myself...let alone teach it to a green horse! I din't know how to cut a cow, do a spin, or do a flying lead change!

But, here we are. In a very short 20 days, we'll be at the Futurity...the final stage as a 6 year old. We're just going to do the best we can...and have fun while we're at it!!!

What will we do after that? Well, at the time I bought Colt, I had never heard of Mike Bridges and his 5 year Project. And, even though Colt is working pretty good in the bridle, he has a lot of holes. There are a lot of steps that I didn't do (because I didn't know about them...remember, I'm just doing this by the seat of my pants) so, we'll be going back to the hackamore and completing the Project with Mike Bridges; following the steps that he has outlined through years of experience to build a true "California Vaquero Bridle Horse."

I almost quit the Futurity at the two-rein stage because of the 5 year Project, but a friend of mine said I couldn't do that...she wouldn't let me do that. She said that I needed to finish what I set out to do no matter what, and that Colt and I were a team.

Why couldn't I do both? I thought it would be very confusing for Colt and didn't want to screw him all up. But, Colt is a very flexible horse...through all my goof ups in his training...doing something wrong and having to fix it...he's always had the attitude of "OK, we'll just do it this way now." He never argues about it. I've never had such a willing horse in all my life...and probably won't again.

So, Colt and I are coming close to the end of our first "adventure," but we'll just be moving on to the next one!


14 comments:

  1. CONGRATS!! and good luck on the next adventure! Those are accomplishments to be proud of!

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  2. Too true! Well done, there is more out there!

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  3. So awesome Karen! You've done an amazing job with Colt, my hat is off to you. I've had (am having) a similar journey with Piper, although I haven't done near the amount of training, etc., with her that you have with Colt. But, there has been tremendous progress and such a sense of accomplishment. All the work you've put into Colt is WHY he is so willing and easy to work with. Have fun with your next adventure!

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  4. Good Morning Gtyyup, You and Colt are just getting started.

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  5. Good luck at the Futurity and with the future training. I love reading about Colt in your posts - and I'm happy that I can look forward to lots more of them!

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  6. I sure wish I was able to watch you and Colt in the futurity; but I'm guessing someone will video, and that you'll be able to put it on the blog. Best of luck!
    I've really enjoyed following your journey with Colt.

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  7. My heart dropped when I read the title, I thought you were going to call it quits on the blog thing...I look forward to your posts, they are always good. I am looking forward to being a part of the next adventure. It really sounds like a good next step. I also read the River bug Rambler post, great story!

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  8. I had the same thoughts as Mary - you scared me!
    I may not comment often, but I do read your posts religiously!
    Colt is one good looking guy and I'm so impressed with his progress. Wow!
    Have fun at the Futurity! Can't wait to read about it

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  9. So glad you are going on to the next stage! You deserve it!! Dont be so hard on yourself, you have worked hard for it, and you havnt ruined him yet, have you???
    LOL Go get 'em girl and have fun at the futurity!!!! You will do great!

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  10. You've done well on your journey.....I'm looking forward to the next one. Thanks for sharing it all.

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  11. Girl you gave me a scare!! I thought "oh no another blog I love is ending?!" then I thought "oh no she's selling Colt?!"

    Good luck at the Futurity, looking forward to the recap :)

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  12. Either you're a very petite woman standing in a very deep hole, or that was one very BIG yearling!
    I'm enjoying your journey with Colt, and anxious to see (ie photos and video!) how he does at the futurity. Good luck!

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  13. LOL...didn't mean to give anyone a scare about quittin' bloggin'...but I thought the post title might give that impression ;~)

    Shirley~I sure wish you could be there too...you could bring Beamer and show him in the Sr. Open class!!!

    EvenSong~I am petite (a whoppin' 5 ft tall) and yes, Colt was a big boy from the start. I haven't measured him, but I think he's close to 16 hands now.

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  14. I wasn't sure what was happing, but I'm sure glad you and Colt are headed out on a new adventure. :)

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I love your comments! Let me know what's on your mind~~