Cowboy Dressage~My New Love!

Well, here I am again...maybe I really can get this blog rollin'!! Thank you to those who have stopped by, and thanks to those who have left an awesome comment...great to hear from you all!!

A lot has happened in my life in the past 3 years...I wrote a quick summary that you will find in the right column called: Health & Life 2018 and Beyond. There's been a lifestyle change, hence the name change of the blog.

So...Cowboy Dressage...I had been searching for something to do with Colt besides moving cows...which in 2016 was all I was doing with him. As a team, Colt and I had competed in some reined cow horse and the local stock horse futurity for 5 years...and we completed the Mike Bridges 5 year Project building a bridle horse...and I was ready for something different...but I wanted to use Colt's skills.

Options...ranch horse versatility, western dressage, Cowboy Dressage, and others...well, there happened to be a Cowboy Dressage clinic in Bend with JoLinn and Mitch Hoover and Dee Myers. So, we went...and got hooked! Well, me for sure...not so sure about Colt...he was falling asleep...but he has all the training behind him to do well with the discipline!

Hooked, but not landed. My Man and I decided we wanted to move to Montana...so, our place has been on the market, and I didn't do anything much with Colt until I decided I was tired of waiting...waiting to move...and the move wasn't happening very quickly.

Fast forward to last summer...I HAD to move forward with Colt and Cowboy Dressage!! I found a clinic in Alfalfa with Lyn Ringrose-Moe! What a blessing...I was on the waiting list, but we got in!!

We had sooooooo much fun!! Three days of bliss!! The clinic was held at Flying Flower Ranch in Alfalfa...and all the meals were provided...it was a true vacation for me!!!!!

I only knew one person on day one...and after day three, I had a whole new circle of friends!! Everyone in Cowboy Dressage is rooting for each other. Great people with huge hearts...they love their horses and they love harmony with their horses and with their fellow man...what a concept in these frustrating days we live in now!

You'll notice that I'm riding Colt in the hackamore again...well, I LOVE riding him in the hackamore, and it's been a few years since I rode him in the bridle. So, that'll be part of our training this spring. But, one of the awesome things in Cowboy Dressage is that you are not forced to ride in head gear by the age of your horse. There are rules...but the main idea, is that you ride your horse with communication and harmony...striving for "soft feel." So, you can choose what you ride your horse in!

One last highlight...

...it was my birthday weekend...and My Man showed up, flowers in hand, to surprise me!! I was elated and feelin' LOVED...Colt...not so much as you can see by the look on his face!  LOL!!!

So, how do I feel about Cowboy Dressage? I'm totally hooked...and there is more, so stay tuned!!!

#DoingLifeBetter

With Much Love,

The Bridges Project Graduation

Five and a half years...really?!?

What a ride!!

September 21-23 was the final 3-day clinic for Colt and I in the Mike Bridges 5 Year Bridle Project. For those who don't know, we've been going to Central Oregon every spring and fall to learn from a true master horseman. "The Project" is a course that Mike developed to train a horse "his way" making finished bridle horses in the traditional California Vaquero Style.

One of my fellow riders is a wonderful photographer, and she offered to take photos "before and after" of the horses. They definitely built up some body!

~Photo credit to Cindy Sloan~
Date: 09/09/2009

~Photo credit to Cindy Sloan~
Date: 09/08/2010

~Photo credit to Cindy Sloan~
Working on flying lead changes.
Date: 09/08/2010

I really can't describe the feeling of completing the course, but the words accomplishment, satisfaction, amazement, comradery, fulfillment...these all come to mind.

Not only do you get to know your horse on a whole new level, but the friendships between the other riders...and their horses, too...are life changing.


Was it worth the time, effort and money?  Absolutely!!  The part I like most about his program is that he doesn't wait for you and your horse. He sticks to the program and moves forward whether you're ready or not. It makes everyone work all that much harder...and we get things done!

~Photo credit to Cindy Sloan~
Final clinic: Sept 2014

~Photo credit to Cindy Sloan~
Final clinic: Sept 2014

~Photo credit to Cindy Sloan~
Final clinic: Sept 2014

~Photo credit to Cindy Sloan~
Final clinic: Sept 2014

Thank you Cindy for the awesome photos!!!

To celebrate the occasion (there were two Projects graduating at the same time), the meeting room at the Sisters Rodeo Grounds was rented...catered dinner, live music and dancing...and of course the graduation/awards ceremony!! What a fun time!

The beautiful award; hand crafted silver knife by silversmith Rusty McCullough!

I do have to say there was a big "sigh" in my head for making it through.

So, where do I go from here?

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

April 19-21 2015...Project 7 begins...with Pierce!!!

Oh yes...we're gonna do it all over again!

Pierce (aka ScarFace) Goes to the Futurity

Today is clean up day for the lil' boy because tomorrow is the 2 year old halter class at the Harney County Reined Cow Horse Futurity...but there's a lot that I can't do much about...

Oh bother!

Amanda worked so hard on trying to get him healed up from his face playing over the fence when he was in training at her place...and the lil' bugger comes home and can't keep himself out of trouble...everywhere I put him, he gets bunged up.

I'm trying to have a positive outlook for tomorrow, but Pierce just doesn't have what Colt had. I've wanted to blame it on Pierce being born at the end of May, but Colt was born just one month earlier...so it's not an age thing. Pierce is just taking longer to mature.

Seven years apart.

I'm sure Pierce will grow up and fill out...and look very similar in build as Colt...but today, he's just not like Colt was seven years ago.

Colt 2007 (LOL...standing very cow-hocked!!)

OK...want to know what's really on my mind? At the end of the day of Colt's final Futurity show, I realized that we had placed 2nd or 3rd every year...which I was told is very unusual, as horses have their ups and downs. But I was also told that it would be a long time before another Colt came along. That statement has haunted me since.

I try not to compare them. I worked very hard to get where I did with Colt, but I've got to work a lot harder with Pierce...he's not nearly as forgiving.

My original goal with Colt was to "not make a fool of either one of us." Colt helped me succeed and surpass that goal.

Now I'm just trying to have the guts to try it again.

Pierce Goes to School

I've got to admit that I had a problem with getting the Gus horse started...a mental issue mostly. It's true that I just didn't "click" with him, but I wasn't putting the time nor energy into his training like I had with Colt.  There was something stuck in my brain that kept me from just getting on and "riding" him like I've done colts in the past...I guess it would be fear of something happening.

So, that's why I decided to have someone else put the first rides on Pierce. I wanted to get him going without my mental getting in the way...and I'm very glad I made that decision. Pierce is thin skinned, literally, as well as mentally. It took Amanda 10 works before she was in the saddle on him and it usually takes her 2-4. Pierce is very feely, and I'm glad she took her time with him and didn't push him too hard...she knew how far to push without pushing him over the edge.

Amanda just ponied him from her house down the road to her training facility...Pierce did great with the traffic!

Pierce had a LOT of fun at school...especially when it was play time with his buddies across the fence. He got so bit up from face playing that Amanda had to take him to her house to keep him from getting any more beat up...all in fun of course. But, I do want to show him in the 2 year old halter class at the Futurity...we just call him scar face for now! ;)

I loaded up the LQ trailer when it was time to bring Pierce home, and I spent three days and two nights at Amanda's. Thank goodness I could do that...it's been such a help!

Fitting my gear on Pierce for the first time. He's so tiny compared to Colt!!
You can see some of his scrapes in this photo...they will heal.

The first evening, we trailered Pierce and her horse out to some sagebrush land. Amanda rode Pierce; she walked him out, asked for a trot, and not a minute later he was into a nice lope...loose rein and he was calm with a soft eye. He climbed a small hill, zig zagged through the sagebrush, she answered her cell phone, he came down the hill, we came into the water trough and called it a ride. He was awesome! No, no pics of course!

The next day, we were up early to beat the heat...but the best I can say is that there were some technical difficulties and it could have gone better. But, it was good to get on him for the first time.

Day three was much better...after I got my big girl panties on. It was much better than day two...and this video is one of three that I watch before I go out to ride Pierce...





All in all, I'm really excited about Pierce!!

And here's the new best seat at the ranch! 

Spring is Around the Corner

There are baby calves by the hundreds hittin' the ground all around us...a sure sign of spring! Every rancher has their own idea of when they want their cows calving; some early, some later, and everything in between.

Rancher Dan asked us to help with a two day cattle drive on the weekend after next...Colt's been in hibernation since before Thanksgiving...it's time that he get back into the workin' mode!

Wind in the Mane

It's been a bit frustrating this winter with lameness issues. First, Colt had a slight sprain in his front right. Stall rest, cold hosing, a poultice wrap and some bute got him mended pretty quickly on that one. Then he did something to his left foreleg...more stall rest and bute. Lastly, he got an abscess two weeks ago...more stall rest and bute!

Gus in the background would like to play some too!
He's on stall rest since he stuck his hoof through
the field fence and tried to cut his hoof off.
It not too bad, and it's healing very quickly.
I don't think there's going to be a scar either.

But Colt's sound now and seems to be fit as a fiddle...ready to get back into training...and working.

Yahoo!

I find it much easier to let them blow off some steam in the round pen before I even take them into the barn for brushing and saddling when they've been off for that length of time.

And for those who questioned Colt's photo from yesterday's Wordless Wednesday...yes, he had quite the hair do (a photo from this same series)...but a lil' bit of Laser Sheen did the trick ;~)

Gus is gettin' into it now too! Look at his butt and tail up in the air!

The round pen was thawed out pretty nicely, but when I rode Colt out on the property, the ground was either too damp and he would slip, or the ground was still frozen because the sun hadn't hit it because of the rim rock. So, we kept to the cinder road the goes down to the other end of the property and did a long trot as much as we could.

Yesterday, I loaded Colt up, and we went to a friend's place who has an indoor arena...30 miles away. I'm hooking up with trainer Matt Goodson, and we're just going to ride together every other week or so.  It was really helpful to get my own brain back into training mode as we talked about different techniques and other trainer's philosophies. Not all trainers think alike which you well know. Matt and I are on the same page; open to new ideas but always putting the horse first.

Riding with Matt also gives me a lil' bit of a push (mentally) to get out there and do something with my horses. Living where we do and being by myself so much, I find I loose enthusiasm...that's when I need a kick in the back end to get goin'!!

So, this is my Rural Thursday...check out the other participants in the blog hop and see what they're up to!

Friday Fences ~ The Filly

This lil' weanling filly is here at my place for weaning from her mother and basic halter training. She's got a very pretty smokey buttermilk dun color and her leg markings are not really bars, they're more like honeycombs.

The mornin' shadows created an interesting photo. I'm naming it
Fenced In, Fenced On.

Because of the zoom, she looks all boxed in, but the panel on the right is actually parallel to the round rail fence...and the row of sagebrush is an eighth of a mile behind her! In actuality, there are three fences, one gate and a panel in this photo!

She's an active lil' girl...hard to get her to stand still for a decent photo!

Yes, that's a small scratch below her left eye...of course I can't figure out how she did it, but it was just the hair that got scraped off, it didn't puncture her skin.

This is the pattern on her legs. I think she's going to be a very
flashy girl when she grows up!

We just call her The Filly because I don't know if Ty gave her a name yet or not! She's been here since about December 14. Ty unloaded both the mare and filly into the run, and then we haltered the mare and loaded her back into the trailer and he left.

I had my Ol' Man Toby in the run next to her, but of course she cried for about a week. But, she's all over that now and is really coming along quickly. She learned how to lead the first day I worked with her (Dec 26...I had my hands full at the Post Office), but she had the "I don't want to" work ethic. She's getting over that very quickly since I am just staying soft and consistent with her.

When I'm finished with her training for the day, she follows me around like a puppy wanting more. She's fun to have around. I haven't halter trained a youngster for quite a few years. I enjoy shaping their minds so they can live a good life with respect for the human not fear and learn how to be a partner.

Check out the other participants on this week's Friday Fences over at Life According to Jan and Jer!

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.

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!

Clinic Time Again

~I'll ride anything with four legs and a tail.~

~Amy Stewart 1902~

That quote has pretty much always been my motto...jogging, bicycles, motorcycles...never been my thing. I've always said "If I can't do it with 4 legs under me, I don't wanna do it!"

Yep, the horse under all that mud from last Tuesday's post was Colt...he does clean up pretty good ;~)

What mud? I hardly had any mud on me!
Besides, it gives character...shows the REAL horse!

I've been busy getting ready for Session III of my Mike Bridges Project 5 clinic.  For my new readers, "The Project is a 5 year study course, in which participants learn the process of Making a California Vaquero Style Bridle Horse." (quote taken from Mike Bridges website) The Project sessions are every spring and fall for 5 years. You can read more about Mike's clinics HERE.


This past winter and spring have not been very conducive to "productive" training, but it seems that everyone in the Project had the same problem.  I heard through the grapevine that Mike told Project 4 participants to just do the best that you can on the "homework", and that he understood the difficulties we'd been having.

Homework...we get a list of maneuvers that we practice at home and then come back to the next session and perform them, one rider at a time. There isn't a pass or fail...you'll know if you've got it or not. But if you want to have a good bridle horse in the end, you work as hard as you can.

Is this my better side?

I'm leaving on Sunday and My Man'll be batchin' it for 7 days. He's totally self sufficient, and I don't have to worry about a thing when I'm gone. The fridge is stocked and hay is in the barn...that'll do!

How 'bout this side?

It'll be Cindy Sue, Colt 'n me. I'll take my laptop, but there won't be any internet connection available.

The clouds and light were so nice...just had to play around with the camera.

I'm finishing up the May issue of Horsefly, packing, riding...Saturday we go to a branding...daylight's burnin'...gotta go!

It's Gonna Bite Me in the Butt

~You must always do the thing you think you can't.~

~Kathleen Harris 1910~

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I haven't ridden a horse...mine or anyone else's...since before Thanksgiving...slackin'...big time.

And my horses and myself will end up with the short end of the stick.

Somehow, I have a really hard time gettin' my motivation back up after the holidays. This year has been the worst ever...and Gus is so far behind from where he needs to be for this summer's futurity it ain't funny.

If you were around last year, Colt came up with a pulled tendon from playin' in the pasture just when I was going to put him back into training. This time it's just me gettin' in gear.

But, the weather's been cooperating and my round pen is usable...I know...it's a lot more than most of you can say with feet of snow and ice. So, I feel for ya...and, I really do consider myself lucky!!!

I'm gettin' the wheels in me turnin' again.

Look at me!!! I'm back in training!!

Last week, all the boys got wormed...yesterday the wind was blowin' 40 mph. But today...the sun was shinin' and it was a good day to get started...so we did!

I just let Gus do a few laps in the round pen first off, then took him into the barn to get brushed and saddled. He was perfect.

Back out to the round pen to free lunge him...he had a couple of humps, but I really don't think he can buck (knock on wood). He just settled into listening to me. I attached the line and worked on moving him across himself left and right. Had him stop and back with a wiggle of the line...he didn't miss a step.

All I can say, is that I'm glad he's smart and remembered everything from months ago!! Way to go Gus!

I threw Colt into the round pen for a few laps too and he's ready to be saddled and ridden...I can't believe he's a 6 year old this year. The plan will be to ride Colt 'n pony Gus to get some legging up and get their cardiovascular going again...they both ran out of air quickly. I've got to build them up. We'll be doing a lot of long trotting up Anderson Valley Road and back.

OK...I'm ready...bring it on (well, between taxes and ag surveys) LOL!

Au "Gus" tus Post

My dear friend Shirley at Ride a Good Horse was hoping for another post about Gus. So, Augustus McCrae gets to have his cute lil' face on today's blog post!!

"I like being in training!"

I've been going pretty slow with Gus, but it's not really on purpose...time is what's keeping me from moving faster with him. Haying got in the way last week, so we're back on track this week...somewhat.

Big Brother 'n Lil' Brother..."Do you see what I see?"

I've been working on ground work quite a bit. He had a sticky right side where he'd always prefer me to be on his left, but I've got him where he'll flow through with his shoulder smoothly as he makes a turn to the left to the inside on the line...he kept getting stuck and was insisting that turning around to the right to go left was the correct thing to do. But, we've got that working nicely now.

Then we ride for a few minutes in the round pen; he's doing great! After that, I get Colt saddled and pony Gus...we take a long trot to the other end of the property or a trail ride up the hill...just somewhere out and about with the dogs running etc. I like them to see all the stuff out there before we ride into the wide open spaces.

Gus has a lot of growing to catch up with Colt...I hope he doesn't get that tall.

Gus carries the old beater saddle, but it sure looks like he's just a tiny thing as I sit on Colt's back. I sure wouldn't mind it if Gus only grew another 2 inches or so...but I'm sure that's not going to be the case. Somehow I always get tall horses for my 5 foot body!

"Mom says I'm learning patience."

Then it's Colt's turn for a workout in the arena...and Gus gets parked...it's a good patience learning tool. But, I'm anxious for the first ride out with My Man and Whiskey...maybe this weekend...we'll see...

Yesterday, Gus got his hooves trimmed and he was perfect for the farrier. Colt got his "Baby Sliders" put back on...so we're off to try everyone's new hoof wear today!

Smoky Pritchett Clinic & Life at the Ranch

~If I ever become successful in life, I'm 
going to get me a ranch of my own.~

~Emily Downs 1892~

The days are flying by!!! It's already Wednesday, and I'm finally sneaking time in to do a blog about last weekend! I've got my Horsefly publication deadline coming up...and some ag surveys to do also...OK...gotta make this quick!

The Smoky Pritchett clinic was awesome!

The only photo of the clinic. I was too busy listening!!

Every rider got to work one on one with Smoky with a maneuver in the reining pattern...rider's choice. Horses were at all levels of training (green snaffle bit to bridle) and riders were of all ages (youth and adult). What everyone's main point of trouble boiled down to moving the horse's body parts...hip, shoulder, nose. For example with the lead departure, the hip needs to be to the inside as well as the nose...and the horse drives from the hip to pick up the correct lead. If the body parts can't be moved by the rider, the horse won't be able to do the maneuver very well.

For me personally, I rode Colt in the two-rein and asked Smoky for some help on getting him starting correctly and some basic use tips. Since I've never had any formal training with the two-rein, it seemed like a good place to start...from a man who's been there and done that! I brought along my hackamore just in case, but never had to use it.

After Smoky helped me adjust my bosal under the bridle correctly, we got started. First he had me pick up the bridle reins...well, I'd only been riding Colt with just contact on the hackamore reins...so, I took the slack out. We practiced his neck reining...making sure that Colt's eye was tipped to the inside. We'd spiral down in the circle and come back out in the same direction and pick up the lope. Colt tends to drop his shoulder going to the left and I need to work on keeping him balanced. It was a really good exercise to get the horse positioned correctly.

After we had finished, I told Smoky that I'd never picked up the bridle reins before today...he said that it seemed like I had and that I had a really nice horse. That was a wonderful compliment coming from a man with his background!

Then after everyone had their one on one, we each got to box a cow...a fresh one at that too! I've never had professional help with my boxing or fence work either, so it was a great learning experience. I just need to do my job..."stop the cow!" I've got to make sure that going to the left I get in front of the cow (I tend to lag behind too far) and then Colt needs to finish his stop before he turns (rider adjustment).

There was another gal there in the two-rein and she'd been in it for a year, so I got great info from watching and listening to her works.

It was supposed to be a two hour clinic, and it ran 3 hours and 15 minutes...but everyone was learning and they wanted everyone to get their works in...it was a great day!

After the clinic, they started the horse sale. This is the annual Shelman Family Horse Sale. I didn't stay too long, but saw this photo op and couldn't resist:

If you want to sell a horse, get a cute lil' buckaroo to show it for ya!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been pretty hot for the past week or so...the dogs are taking full advantage of the pool too!

Abby loves her pool and is always laying down in the cool water!

Everyone except Abby only wants to get their feet wet...Abby's the water dog!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What do you do on a hot Saturday night at the Rough String? Well, stack hay in the barn...what else is there to do?!?

First My Man puts 3 bales in the tractor bucket...

...then My Man stacks it in the barn....what am I doing? I'm driving...and taking pictures!

This photo in the barn looks like it's snowing...but it's just hay dust emphasized by the flash. We finally got done around 9:15 PM or so...we only have to stack 3 more loads (including our own alfalfa bales).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hmmmmmm...Sunday...what shall we do? Let's put in the new deck!

My Man got a smokin' deal on this "already built" deck that was used for a home and garden show...and we'd been thinking about putting a deck off the front steps.

Whala...instant deck!

This load made that lil' tractor grunt!

This is probably the heaviest load our lil' tractor has ever carried...My Man had to drive it in backwards because it didn't steer right! But after wiggling it around for a while, he finally got it into place.

We placed pier pads underneath it...and it's in!

Now all of the landscaping comes (that's like my job). I'm planing on using the "lasagna" method. This link talks about vegetable gardens, but it's the same theory for flower beds. If anyone has had any experience with this method, I'd love to hear your thoughts...pros or cons.

The pups have moved right in!

The posts are coming off the deck and My Man is going to make a cedar flower trough along the front that will hide the pier blocks. Finish it off with one of my Leopold benches, a two chair bistro set and the BBQ...we're ready for outdoor entertaining...until the skeeters drive us indoors ;~)

A picture perfect ending to another great weekend!

The hay is cut...raked this AM...and now I hear thunder and it looks pretty dark up behind our hill...pray that the rain and wind hold off for a couple of days~