A Great Afternoon Ride

Yesterday's rain let up, but the wind blew 30 mph gusts all day long...I'm just not going to do that...fine, go ahead and call me a fair weather rider ;~) Yea, I'm talkin' at ya Tracey!

Today was cold, but sunny and no wind. I let it warm up a lil' bit and went out after lunch. It was pretty nice ground, but still frozen hard in some of the shaded parts...which was about half the round pen. After a quick warm in there, I took Colt to the arena and it was really good footing there.

We took a quick ride down to the irrigation pump after our workout and saw that the repair guys had come and taken the turbo pump. It's getting an overhaul before next season. No pump, no water...no alfalfa...gotta keep the equipment in good shape.

After that I decided I would try my hackamore on Colt to see if the size was going to fit him. Oh he sure looks cute in it!!!


The size is right, so I don't have to worry about the new one that is being made for me. It'll be a 5/8" around, which is bigger around than this one and better for starting him in. I had a spur of the moment idea, prompted by Brown Eyed Cowgirls, to ride him bareback with the hackamore and see how he liked it. She had a great post about "When Horses Love Their Owners" and I decided to do something that I'd never done with Colt...ride him just for fun...bareback!

It was great fun! I'm lousy at getting on a horse bareback, so I had to get him over to the rail to get on, but he was quite accommodating. We dinked around with that hackamore and I really think he liked it! He was so soft and supple in as soon as he understood the feel. I'm really excited to get going with the hackamore training...hope my new one comes soon!!! But, it sure was fun riding bareback and he didn't mind it at all.

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Well, then I thought I needed to ride Whiskey. He's actually My Man's horse that we got last year for him for roping at brandings. He is probably one of the best bred horses we'll ever own. His sire is Paddys Irish Whiskey that stands at the 6666 Ranch in Texas. This is Whiskey's (his registered name is Whiskey Easy) pedigree on All Pedigree.com.

Whiskey is 11 years old and has been buckaroo'd on for 6 years on a ranch over in Nevada. He really knows cattle, branding, doctoring, and all that stuff. My Man gets along with him very good and really likes him. But, he tends to want to crow hop a lil when you bring him out after not being ridden for a while, and I sure don't want My Man getting dumped. We're supposed to maybe trail some cattle over to the Round Barn this weekend with our neighbors, and Whiskey hasn't been ridden since last fall. So, I figured a lil' ride wouldn't hurt.

In the past, Whiskey and I haven't gotten along...he's always crow hopped with me every time I tried to ride him (Whiskey acted like I was a lil' kid that he could buffalo or something), and I decided to try something different. I warmed him up in the round pen with the saddle...not a buck, nothing. I rode him in the round pen...no crow hopping, nothing. I went down to the arena, and all was well until one of the dogs came out from behind a stack of lodge poles and Whiskey spooked and took off crow hopping like crazy. I just pulled him back and to the side and got him stopped...then took off again like nothing happened...not 2 minutes later, he let out a nice big kick and I had to reprimand him for that...he got his butt planted in the ground and a lil' spur to the left and then to the right and a good verbal scolding!

After all was said and done, he did fine. As I suspected, he was treating me as if I were a kid (well I only weigh 105 lbs) and he was trying to pull one over on me...I feel like I've got his button now. I think we're ready if we get to trail cattle tomorrow. If we don't...My Man needs to ride his horse!!!!!