2014 Year of the Trailer??

January

Well last year started with a bang!  I bought a horse trailer!!! It was exactly what I wanted, a bumper pull, 3 horse slant with a tack room in the front.  It needed some work to meet my expectations but I wasn't afraid of that.

Also in January I continued to work on slow feeder for Dani's trough.  Eventually I moved onto slow feeder nets and loved them and it was great having Dani be able to "graze" most of her time in the smaller stall area.

February

February was lots of cold weather as seems to be typical in Colorado.  We only whipped out the blanket a few times, Dani is pretty darn tough.

We also had L come to the KCRC barn with her 6 horses new friends.  It was great to have friends for Dani and to see another human being at the barn!  Still the evenings were dark and there was very little time to ride except on the weekend.

March
At the evenings grew a little lighter I had time to play with Dani on desensitizing with found objects.  She's such a sensible horse and I think continuing this effort will have great pay offs.

Steve and I attended the Mane event for the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo.  Lots of cute pony fun there.  The rest of March I spent planning my parents 40th Anniversary which we hosted at the KCRC club house.

 April
In April my dirty pony really needed a bath but instead we just got in some refresher rides with trot and working on mounting techniques.



I did some fetlock trimming as the barn was very muddy and shorter hairs would be best.  She's pretty good about it so I am happy about that!

May
In May Dani had an odd leg swelling.  We had the vet wrap her leg and it went down but there will always be a bump.  We are pretty sure she bumped her leg on the fencing as she kicked out at a neighboring horse.



Steve and I began stripping down the trailer on the warmer days to begin the process of rust treatment and painting.  We sure had a lot of work cut out for us!



My friends son, Liam, had his birthday party at the KCRC club house.  It was batman themed with pony rides.  LOL.  I think the kids had fun.  My friend Michael had a pony ride too.  I'd never known that was her first ride on a horse ever!

June

June saw lots of trailer work.  I started with conversion of rust and then began painting.  The spray painting gun didn't work so well, user error I"m sure so I ended up using rollers to paint.




KCRC hosted an EXCA (Extreme Cowboy Association) clinic at the grounds.  Dani and I joined to learn more about EXCA and the obstacles you encounter.  She was a really good girl.  The only thing was sidling up to a block to dismount onto.

July

Weather prevented a fun day on horseback at KCRC for July 4th, I was bummed since it's fun to do things with the club.  We also got in lots more work on the trailer when the days were nice.  Steve's parents were in town to visit for a month or so and we had Cierra out for a week so we spent lots of cherished family time up in Durango.  I also worked on getting Dani into trailer loading mode with L.

August
The move to the new barn was uneventful and Dani settled in right away. Because of the lush grass and her easy keeper status a grazing muzzle was on order.  



Luckily we didn't have too many issues with that though I'm sure she disliked her muzzle.



We installed new trailer flooring.  It wasn't really too hard, I was relieved and got a good look at the frame and treated areas that needed rust treatment.



Dani then came up with pony hoof clip injury.  The flap kept getting grass caught in it so we had the vet come out and they told us what wrap to use with DMSO and Furizone.  Dani hated having her leg wrapped and unwrapped.  It was a struggle but after a few days we were able to keep her leg open to the air and she healed right up.

September
In September I discovered bots on Dani's legs and sides.  That was a first.  I became very familiar with a bot stone! Steve and I spent a long weekend in San Francisco.  Then we spent time finishing of the tack room of the trailer and finally getting the trailer to the barn.  Dani had a minor colic episode, mainly seemed to be just gas discomfort.  Luckily she was fine.  It was a sudden change in weather and barometric pressure too.  Phew!

October
I began working on the horse area of the trailer, rust treatment and painting.  I did get some rides in and also too Dani for walk to the high school across the street.  



I discover some odd mud looking crusts on Dani's rear legs.  It is apparently scratches.  I treat her legs with Shapley's MTG which has sulfur in it.  Eventually it clears up.  I now have powdered sulfur, animal feed grade, and some oil so that if she has this start again I have a more concentrated tool.  It can also be used as a prevention.



Julie Goodnight mentions my post on her Facebook page!!  The posts sky rocket on October 29th!!

November

I take a jiggy ride near high school with Scotty and M.  For the most part Dani does good she was just excited and I think I was tense.  More to work on.  I discover a missing chunk in mane from Dani rubbing the fence, ugh, her mane is so beautiful!!!  Steve and I spend Thanksgiving in Mrytle Beach with family and have a great time though I miss the pony.

December
I come back from South Carolina and have her hooves trimmed and her annual dentist visit.  Both horse people mention the swelling of old injury seems a little more so I decide to paultice it overnight.  She actually did really well with me paulticeing and wrapping.



Since it's dark as night when I get off work I can't do much at the barn during the week.  On the weekends I hope for nice weather so I can play with my mare.  We've had a few nice relaxing rides at least.

We plan to ride more regularly and also to begin some serious trailer training to get this girl out to some events and trail rides.  See you this year!!!

Extreme Cowboy Association Clinic

(FYI none of these pictures are mine, they were posted by various members of KCRC who posted on the Facebook page!  Thank you!!)

The Extreme Cowboy Association hosts competitions where riders take their horses through a series of obstacles that show horsemanship, trust and refined aids in order to get the horse through the obstacle and in order to earn points.  This is Craig Cameron’s baby; he is the originator of the Extreme Cowboy Race.

This was a free clinic hosted at KCRC by the members that are actively involved in EXCA.  I’d never done EXCA so figured this would be an awesome introduction.  I was worried I’d have to run through the obstacles but I was told I could stay at a walk.  It was good to get Dani out and about with all the activity of other horses running around in the warm up arena.  I had to figure out how to tie Dani while we were corralled into the stands for a brief introduction.  I didn't bring my lead rope with me since I don’t have a place for it on the saddle and you should never tie a horse by the reins!!!

There's me below at the right playing with the rope.

Luckily being at KCRC I could run her back to her stall, tie her there with some hay and run back to get the briefing.  We then were broken into small groups of 3-5 to rotate through the obstacles.  Not all possible obstacles were set up just a good number and variety.  Dani and I were with two others, a couple on their two horses.  Our first obstacle was a rope and barrel.  You have to either rope the barrel, then trot around it; thereby wrapping the rope around it or you place the rope loop over the barrel and complete it that way.  We only got to the part of standing on the ground trying to learn to through the rope and rope a rock in the sand.  I was so not good at it but almost roped the sock at the end.  Again I was sans lead rope so I didn’t know how to secure Dani.  I unlatched the reins from her bit and clipped one end to her halter ring and then loosely tied her to the rail behind me.  Hoping she wouldn't do anything silly while sort of tied.  She was good though.  

Our next obstacle was a barrel with four poles at 90 degrees to each other.  The goal is to trot or canter around the outside once, change direction and then go at an equal distance around the barrel and over the poles twice in that direction.  We practiced at a walk.

After that we did the water hole.  The two horses with me didn’t like it at all and were balking at stepping in the water (puddle sharks live there don’t you know!).  Dani just looked down, sniffed and then walked through.  We also did the cowboy curtain which she’s been pretty regular about as I’ve done lots of ground training and in saddle training.   Then we hopped up the three levels of “jumps” on the side of the hill (hello two-point, long time no see!).  I’ve only done this with her in halter from the ground.  The tallest one is about 1.5 feet.  Going up that one I accidentally bopped my girl in the mouth.  I felt bad but next time was better about it and she was forgiving.  We also went down the obstacles.  Always scary going down!  I chickened out on the second step but did go down it at last.  No ready for the tallest one.  I can work on those and get the courage to hop up and down all of them.

The next obstacle was side passing over a poll.  Nope, I haven’t side passed yet so that’s something to work on.  Then we backed the turned through an L shaped pole obstacle.  Dani was good at backing and turning outside of the pole obstacle but when I asked at the obstacle she didn’t like it.  I practiced outside some more, perhaps I can work on that on my own too since I have access to those poles.

The next obstacle was a ground tie where you walk around your horse, distance from them means more points.  I didn’t go too far from her but was glad she stayed.  Good girl!  Then we had to do a turn on the hindquarters (kind of like a spin but not).  I haven’t worked with her on this at all so barely knew what I was doing and confused her a bit but she tried.  That’s what I love about her, she may get frustrated at trying to figure out what I’m asking but she has a lot of try.

The scary object was the tunnel of junk.  Plastic bags, jugs and other “trash” were set up between two fence panels and you had to move your horse through.  The first time Dani paused; not out of fear but what seemed to be interest in if there was a treat in one of the bags.  LOL.  We went through again and again.  So in love with my mare, the flapping didn’t bother her much.

Removing a bucket from a barrel, lowering it to the ground and then placing it back on the barrel was the next obstacle.  It made sounds and clinking.  I made sure to have it brush Dani a couple times on the side and I made extra noise with it on the ground.  She was solid.   Then we had the “mounting” block.  A table was set on 4 bales of straw….guess what….pony took a nibble.  Oh my goodness.  I could walk her around the obstacle but I couldn’t get her to sidle up to it in order for me to dismount.  At one point she thought I wanted her to step up on it but that wasn’t what I was asking.  Again, lateral movements that go with sliding up to an obstacle and staying near it in a straight line is a common movement (opening gates, checking mail etc.)

When we were done I did a little trotting in a circle and dismounted.  Lunch time!  I brought Dani back to her stall, untacked her and made sure she had some hay to nibble on.  Then I went for my pulled pork sandwich.  YUM!!!

After lunch we were going to run through the obstacles like a race.  This was going to take a long time as there were 30 something participants.  We waited and waited as people ran the course.  I was tired and my knees were hurting me.  I starting seeing dots so decided to call it quits and go take care of the pony, mucking, hay moving etc and then head home asap.  I wanted to get out of the heat and into a luke-warm bath.  We’d started the day at 8am and I left early at around 3 pm-ish.  Several days that week I’d been in the heat working on the trailer, I was done with hot.  It would have been nice to run the course but I just had to get out of the sun!

Anyways, I learned a ton and had a great time with my good girl. I'm so thankful to all the EXCA KCRC riders who volunteered their time to put this on for us!  What an awesome day!

EXCA

I volunteered to help with the Extreme Cowboy Association competition hosted at KCRC.  EXCA as it's called is a competition done in western tack and attire.  The riders are timed and go through a series of obstacles.  This particular course had the rider go into a "box" and turn there horse several times clockwise and then counter clockwise.  Then they had to take a rope off a barrel and loop the barrel and ride their horse around it coiling the rope around the barrel. The next obstacle include three 1 foot jumps.  Then a circle that had poles laid out to make the horse trot nicely over the poles in each direction.

The next "obstacle" was a free ride, most people just galloped around the arena and didn't do anything every interesting.  Then they had to drag a pallet so many feet and then rode between two cones doing a stop and turn, run, stop and turn etc.  Next they had to open the gate to get out to the other obstacles.  After that there was a stand that had a pulley which pulled a tarp up in the air.  Many had their horses walk through it with the tarp flapping around!  Then they had to back up a hill and back down a hill.  Next was ground tieing.  They dismounted, ran up a couple of jumps on a little hill and came back to mount their horse.  The final thing was running over a bridge and going back to the gate to close it.

There were several divisions, youth, novice, non-pro and pro.  Some of the higher divisions added the cowboy curtain (noodle thing) into the mix or had slightly more complicated maneuvers to do.  I found it very fun to watch.  I was up in the eagles nest doing the timing for the runs.  Each rider is judged by time but also horsemanship and how well the team does each obstacle.  I could see getting involved in doing stuff like this with Dani at some point.

After the event was done I grabbed Dani from her stall and round penned her for a little bit and then brought her over to the tarp.  I pulled on the pulley and she started as the tarp flapped all around.  When she calmed a bit and licked her lips I let the tarp down.  We repeated this, each time the tarp getting higher and faster.  She became very calm about it and even tried to nibble on it.  I may have to build one of these since the club doesn't own one, it's a great desensitizing obstacle!  We still need to work more on the cowboy curtain.

When I finished my chores and playing with Dani I went to my truck to head home.  Guess where all the flies decided to hang!  The roof of the cab was covered in flies!  

Anyways, it was a long day but I had fun working with other club members and learning about the EXCA.