- Chris skiing. I was trying to prove to him how high the rooster tail of snow off his skis is. Yes, the video is shaky, but tough. I was skiing at a nice clip behind him with camera in hand. It'll happen.
- Chris popping over King Cornice at A-Basin. Weee!
- One of the slides triggered by the avalauncher. Pretty sweet, eh?
- The super windy video of our skinning up the apron below Dragon's Tail in RMNP.
- And, finally, this gem. Not a gem because of my skiing skill - it was the first time I really made an effort to get in tele turns on a steep slope and I have a lot to improve, but that's why we make videos, to note error and help with forward progress! No, this is a gem because Chris has done it again with his epic video commentary. You may remember his former video from this post. Enjoy!
I'm fortunate enough to know some really, really incredible people. To celebrate the achievement of one of those people, today I request that you watch the above YouTube trailer. More information available on their Kickstarter page about the project. It was funded and produced and is now a finalist for the Banff Film Festival. Congratulations Daniel & team!
Because I'm not riding Q until the Woolback arrives (which hasn't even been ordered yet because my bank is being a snot), I've decided to work on other things with her...and Griffin had to be included, too!
This was the first time I'd had them in there. I WISH I'd captured the first few go arounds on camera. Hindsight can be a bitch. Sigh. But you'll have to take my word for it when I say that on the first few rounds they both stopped in unison when I asked them to and stood in the middle with me. It slowly peetered out as they got worked up. So we're back to doing solo sessions - especially with Q - to work on hercommitment to doing what I want her to do. She gets worked up and doesn't want to listen.
I hope to really work with them both at liberty this winter a lot. They're both more than capable when worked one-on-one. This duo thing though... It'll come.
Additionally, ground work like this will hopefully help Q form a better bond with me. She's shown that she can do it, but then as soon as that damn gelding in the field squeals for her, she goes to pieces. Okay, I lied, not to pieces, but her focus definitely flies out the window! More to work on.
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Griffin is getting a lot more work lately. I need to work the belly
off him, but I'm not too concerned about it as he's not anywhere near
obese, just has a bit of a belly from not doing a ton. I'm more
interested in engaging his mind and connecting concepts right now.
Getting him to realize that things on the ground can relay to things
under saddle. Things like moving off the pressure from the butt of the
lunge whip when it is placed in different places along his side. He
gives great when you ask him to flex left and right with the bit in. He
can't quite figure out how to back up though with the pressure. He still
gets super annoyed about the fact that the thing in his mouth is
putting pressure on his mouth in funny places. So he tosses his head
awhile which makes it hard for short me (as he's getting bigger) to keep
pressure in place. He will stop from the same pressure, he just hasn't
realized that he should back up if the pressure remains. He's getting
there though.
He did VERY well for the trimming of his tootsies last night. I was proud of him. And proud of myself because now that I'm noticing more of how his hoof wants to grow, where the flaring is, etc. I think I'm doing a much better job of trimming him. He licked and chewed so much after each foot yesterday. AND, he was sound walking on the gravel in the driveway after I was done. SCORE.
That's a new thing. Well, I'd never tested it a ton after I've trimmed before, but I am now. I did Q last weekend before a 6.5 mile ride with friends. Backed her toes up more than I usually do - not by much, but I'm timid so it was more for us - and she was sound on gravel. And now Griffin.
In the past, when my old trimmer did Griffin he was sore, sore, sore on gravel. Honestly, the last time he was trimmed by that trimmer he was sore for THREE DAYS. On any non-grassy surface. It was ridiculous. And the trigger for me doing my horses on my own. So the fact that I took off as much as I did on him yesterday (I did trim him significantly, no being timid about it) and he was sound on gravel was huge. His soundness and reaction to each foot being done was the biggest reward ever. I'm sure I'll encounter bumps along the way, but I'm finally starting to feel confident in what I'm doing.
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This will be a weekend full of ski patrol fun as I go to refresh my OEC certification. I'm really excited to see all my winter friends and picnic with them. The weather looks to be perfect, too! Very fall-esque. Time to pull out my jackets!
We got our rear boots in the mail yesterday. So logically I had to go get video of her showing them off!
** Don't forget the GIVEAWAY! The winner will be chosen tomorrow evening! Just comment on this post to be entered in my blog giveaway. You can choose a hand-tied halter in the color of your choice or a hand-knitted hat in color/yarn type/style of your choice! **
My first experience, first run with western powder. Its akin to the white powdered drug, 'cause I'm addicted after my first try! Oh, Rocky Mountain high, when will I experience your sweet slopes again!?
Hot off the press! Was out there about 4 hours ago and now here's the edited video, what up productivity?!
Its a 3½ minute video that was consolidated out of a 20 minute video of our workout. The way I rigged up the camera to get this was beyond ghetto & super creative - I'm tooting my own horn here, but this is my blog so I think I'm entitled to that once in awhile ;-)
(Sorry the loping clip ended up in their twice... I'm not awesome at this editing thing yet.) We have a lot of work to do still, but watching this has helped me to learn SO much about what I'm doing and NOT doing. Its going to help me immensely. It also helps me to really fall for this little horse that much more. He's super stupendous with everything.
Accomplishments from today that weren't filmed:
- He nickered at me as soon as I got out of my car and started walking over. I reinforced this with a whistle or two just to hammer that in more.
- He walked through two people doors without balking. I've never asked him to do this before.
- He wore Orion's old frilly bonnet and didn't freak out. However, he did manage to look a little sheepish which was amusing (yes, I'm anthropomorphizing here, but - once again - my blog, I do wha' I wan').
- Let me rasp all four hooves. He previous wanted nothing to do with the rasp, it felt too funny or sounded too funny. But today was a different story. This probably had something to do with the fact that there were NO OTHER distractions and he had food to concentrate on.
- Wore hoof boots for the first time. Same first reaction as Orion - acted as if it were old hat and didn't care at all! Made him walk and trot out with them and he was mostly agitated that they were slightly large and made a funny noise. He's probably going to fit a double ott, but because the trimmer hasn't made it out yet and his feet are wonky in a couple places from flaring and because I didn't want to cram on boots and freak him out too much, I put him in a pair of size ones.
- He isn't afraid of a squawking flapping freaked-out bird in his face. Just flicked his ear.
Wait, what? A squawking flapping freaked-out bird in his face?! Where did I conjure that desensitizing measure? Oh, that's right, I caught a starling today with my bare hands.
Starling bomber. ..and my hand a month after I accidentally rasped it. I heal excessively slow
THE BIRD WAS NOT HARMED! Extremely agitated, yes, but harmed, NO.
Little back story: A couple days after I picked up Kenai we were walking and he managed (on a leash) to catch and kill a starling fledgling. Ever since he's had quite a fascination with birds. Today I couldn't help but re-introduce him to a starling sans killing it.
Holy laser-eyes, Batman!
Oooh, yew haz this bird for meez?
It haz pointy nose.
Iz yew shur yew izn't tricksing meez wif this?
Reery? No tricksing? I can haz bird?
Well okayz...
I takez bird.
But no, seriously, the bird was not harmed. Keeny knows when he can and can't have something. There is either YES or NO in that realm. And if it isn't a YES then it must be a NO. So he was pulling his whole If I openz mouf slowly and gentleez then I maybe getz this as mai ownz routine. (He also uses this routine to try and sneak away with things he shouldn't have to hide them in a corner [does anyone else think of Dirty Dancing whenever you hear "in a corner"? NOBODY puts Baby in a corner! ..no? Okay, I'm weird.]) I reprimanded his sneaky bite-grab immediately and he backed off. Bird was no worse for the wear and was released into the wild moments later. (I would like to point out my restraint at killing said invasive species during this encounter. My inner nature purest was squealing to kill it, but I subdued her and set the little thing free. It didn't even bite me - odd from my experience with starlings - so it deserved to live even more.)
Its been a great Friday so far. Here's to the weekend!!
Does ANYONE remember when I said over the summer I'd have video footage of me riding/training that pushy little paint gelding? Here it is. (Please excuse my pale redheaded complexion despite the middle-of-summerness.) Better late than never, and I absolutely love it. Thanks, Matt.
**No, flip flops and no helmet on my head aren't proper or smart, but oh well. It was hot as STINK that day with humidity being just as high and awful (blech), honestly, I'd have been naked were it permissible!
