Day 1: Rain. Cold birds. 4 raptors. A boiled skull. Cards Against Humanity.
Day 2: Wind. Less cold birds. 12 raptors. Lobster.
Day 3: Beautious sunshine. 37 raptors + three escapes and one hole from a Peregrine.
And no, I still won't answer questions pertaining to "how do you catch them". You'll have to accept that its magical and involves faerie dust.
My narratives about this trip become less and less it seems. Have some pictures.
Explaining how to hold a bird
Peregrines. Male in Mandy's hand, female in mine.
Cards Against Humanity
First time on a sandy beach
Male Sharp shinned hawk.
Female Merlin.
A peregrine. Duh.
Evil female Coop. Evil and strong.
3 years with these two pros. Mandy and I have female Coopers hawks and Arthur has two males.
Compare this bird to those Arthur is holding above. Arthur has two hatch year males. This is an after-second-year male of the same species. Striking difference, eh? Plummage changes much with maturity.
You take the bird out like so...
Coopers hawk party! Girls holding girls, boys holding boys!
On my way to 3rd Annual Girls Weekend at Cape May to band raptors this year, I spent a few days with Saiph and Charles in DC. My tale of this story will likely be slightly abbreviated due to my internet issues, but Saiph has already written the story here.
The weather was less than cooperative for our riding plans - raining raining raining - but we made the most of it.
I arrived in time for dinner on night one. We went to a local pizza place and where Jeremy - who also lives in DC - met us. It was a ridiculous dinner full of absurd conversation. Medical professionals should not be allowed to spend time together like that. We know too many terms and giggle far too much about silly things.
Kenai found the "chump" in the room to pet his belly.
I had hoped to be able to provide some guidance in halter tying in my evenings there. In this we had great success: Night one of halter practice was retarded by a little too much alcohol consumption, but one learns best from mistakes. So in tying, retying, and tying again many, many times, Saiph slowly began to grasp a better understanding of the Fiador knot required for these halters. Night two went much better, however. The knot was successfully tied and the halters were able to be completed!
My second day there it was still raining incessantly. We putzed around town visiting REI, Barnes and Noble, snagged lunch, and also visited a huge Asian market as we tried to wait out the rain. The highlight of these activities for me was by and large the Asian market. I was more giddy than a kid on Christmas morning. Charles and Saiph laughed and laughed at my antics.
Despite my body's great desire for a nap, Saiph and I changed clothes after our city adventure and headed out (in the rain) to the barn.
Biiiitttt big. Lily was the first horse where I could see and better understand why some horses need a smaller captivator than the provided one. They swallowed her feet! This foot had the weirdest fit of all the others. The hoof was much smaller.
I helped her to size Lily's feet for Renegades. I've been riding with them for almost three years now
and am familiar with fit. Saiph's been getting a wealth of wonderful advice and help from Mel, but its always hard to do things such as this from a distance as you're limited to a text medium. I think my explanations and demonstrations of the boot fit on both Lily and another horse in the barn helped to provide some more understanding to all of the descriptions and understanding that had previously been presented. I'm a very visual learner, so these kinds of things are always helpful for me. Here's hoping the boot fit issues comes to a conclusion in the near future! =)
After we sized Lily's boots, we made the decision to brave the rain a little so I could putz around on the little lady. My bum ankle proved a little problematic with mounting the pepped up mare (due to weather), but with some patience I was on with minimal issue.
We walked beside Saiph for a time while we both settled. I was slightly nervous because if Lily did decide to buck me off I was concerned about what would happen with my already bum ankle. Sitting the buck itself - if it happened - could also have potentially hurt my ankle more. With two weeks to my race - I'm nervous about these things!
Lily was sweet though when she discovered that I could, indeed, ride successfully. I was light with my hands - likely lighter than I should have been - but I'm always hesitant to haul around at all on a new-to-me horse. Its something I ease into with more time on the horse or with direct instruction from their owner/trainer on the matter.
I LOVED how easily and quickly Lily would laterally move off leg pressure. It. Was. Awesome. I was squealing and (apparently) sang and hummed as I went through the motions with her.
After a time with Lily - ending on a good note - I dismounted and we tacked up a stocky little Halflinger gelding by the name of McTavish for me to ride.
McTavish is an ex-Amish carthorse which basically sums up to him having an extreme work ethic. Saiph warned me he was very forward, but fearless under saddle. From readings about him on her blog, I knew he was very unlikely to exhibit any sort of manic antics to toss me.
I mounted from the right to protect the bum left ankle, and he was a doll from then on out. He didn't want (greatly) to stand still after this point, but with a series of pressure and release gestures coupled with a circle or two to the left and right, he did provide me with a few moments of still feet before moving forward again.
I had to laugh at him.
His Amish background has led him to believe that he must work. I found that his personality and thought process was much like this, "Work. I gotta work. Can you see me work? I'm working. I love to work. I'm working this way. This direction. Can you see me working in this direction? Come on Lily, lets work this direction. No. Seriously. I'm working this direction."
Once Saiph was mounted, I let McTavish march off at a smart working walk. He was so happy to do so.
McT: Work. I must work. Can you see me working? I'm working.
Me: Yes! You're such a great worker!
McT: Yes. I'm working. Lets work. This way? Yes. Work. Go. Go. Go. Lily, keep up.
Me:*giggle*
McT: Work is important. I must work. I love work.
Me: Yes! You are so good at working! Want to work at the trot?
McT: YES! Trot. Trot is work. Trot is good work. I'm working so well. Work is so important. Lily, keep up.
Me: *giggle*
McT: Work. Work. Work. I love work.
Me: You do! You've got such a great work ethic!
McT: Yes! Work is important. I must work. Work my way up. One is not CEO without working!
Me: Good idea. Now stop.
McT: Stop?
Me: Yes, stop. *applies steady even pressure to reins*
McT: *slowing...slowing...stopped* Sigh. Okay. I stopped.
Me: GOOD BOY! Now lets work some more.
McT: WORK?!
Me: Yep, work. Just work on my terms.
McT: Okay. Yes. I think I can compromise with that.
Me: *cuing a faster and faster trot to see if he'll canter*
McT: Oooohh! Yes. I can work this way, too!
Me: *cuing a stop*
McT: *slowing...stop*
Me: Good boy! *cuing a back*
McT: *backs*
Me: GOOD BOY!
McT: I am a good boy. I love to work.
Me: You're a MOST excellent worker.
McT: I am. I love work!
And thus, I cantered and stopped the "unstoppable" horse while traveling in the "home" direction to boot! I also had him walking home. With a loose rein. On the buckle. One handed.
We also trotted side-by-side with Lily and Saiph close enough for her and I to be able to hold hands and go "la la la" and laugh like fools.
Rain? What rain?! Fun was had.
Such a great little gentleman. I loved him.
I rewarded him post-ride with some treats and then rewarded myself with a sushi treat (NOMZ).
The following morning, we met a good friend of mine for breakfast and then I headed off on my Cape May adventure. More on that to follow!!!
Life of late is hither and thither. I'm busy nearly every work night evening (Wait, work? What's that? Life since furlough is full of action!), and I'm out of town nearly every weekend.
Q has begun her taper for our race at the end of the month. She's in a really good place, I feel. She's been in heat the last week which has been heinous. She gets exceptionally spooky on trail when she's in heat. Barnyard work - jumping - goes well, but trail work? Forget about it. I came off last Thursday when she slammed to a stop during our training ride with a local junior endurance rider. The worst part about the evening was that I could NOT predict or figure out WHAT or WHY she was spooking. It was awful.
My ankle is still screwed up from Griffin broncing me off nearly 3 weeks ago. Its no bueno because of my race in 2 weeks. I'm hoping it'll be better by then...but who knows.
As a result of the ankle incident with Griffin, I haven't ridden him or worked much with him since outside of trimming his hooves. He still comes to the fence each time I'm out there asking to be let in - begging for a job. But I just don't even want to tempt myself. I've been putting so much work toward this race - I don't want to blow it.
I have been greatly enjoying the brisker and brisker fall weather at home. This is the time of year I love my home the most (okay, I love all the seasons, I love West Virginia), but autumn is exceptionally beautiful. I think I enjoy it more just because it is so brief.
Kenai is much much better. Every day he does something minor that I recognize as a step forward into normalcy. Its so great to see him so happy and increasingly mobile. The surgery was a big expense for us, but it was so worth it. I can't wait to get him out on the snow where he's happiest this winter.
I'm so excited every time that I go to ride in my new saddle. Its just so wonderful. Its so freaking comfortable. Love. Love. Love. Additionally, Q moves out so much freer in this saddle as a whole. While the Wintec fits her well, it did impede some freeness of motion through the shoulder. Its so fun to get that swinging trot from her more and more. <3 her 10 mph trot!
I finally got out with my BO's husband to clear our trails. I'd wanted to do this in April/May, but training for No Frills and then Q's injury stalled it. We hadn't cleared them since Sandy/Frankenstorm happened last October. It was so good to finally get out there and open up some areas to ride again. I took Saiph out in July, but we did have to deal with a lot of spindly sapling branches up in our business. No bueno. We spent 4 hours clearing the big stuff one afternoon. I got to learn to use a chainsaw finally, too! I've got another few hours worth of clearing smaller branches with tree loppers/my hands, but overall, the trails are in a much more passable condition than they were originally. It feels good to finally have that complete.
In line with completing things that have been long in the process of getting accomplished - on the same day we cleared trail (really making the most of this being furloughed thing...) I bought a gun. I practiced shooting with it some and am very pleased with my decision to get it.
And - because things come in threes - another long standing thing I also accomplished AFTER purchasing a gun AND clearing trail - Q finally did bounces! I started by lunging her through them, expecting her to hate it. Imagine my surprise when she lunged through like a champ! I moved them closer together, as she was really having to stretch, and put her through again. Then I raised what had begun as slants to verticals and lunged her again. Perfection! It only seemed like the next best thing to do to mount up and try it riding. I'd never ridden a bounce before...
Such a good mare! Next time I'll either up the height and/or move them a little closer yet.
New *red* reins because I have yet to find retired orange climbing rope
I have minimized the amount of metal on these opting to tie instead of clamp
So now we're red and orange - visibility is what I'm striving for at this point
*note attached crupper and breastplate now, too!*
The only negative side of this saddle was lack of any D rings; I made my own
by attaching paracord to rings and looping them around the stirrup bars
I proceeded to get creative even more by creating a system - also attached
to the stirrup bars - to allow for attachment of a crupper to my treeless saddle
It turned out quite wonderfully
We won't have a slipping saddle any time soon!
If anyone would like to see a more detailed tutorial on any of these projects, let me know. All of them cost well under $20 each to create and some involved using recycled materials from former projects!
My new girth arrived mid-week last week. Of course I had to go out to the barn and try it out immediately.
So much fluff! Woolbak errythang.
Q loved it.
How do I know this? I tacked her up, tightened it up, and then she proceeded to stand licking and chewing for many minutes.
Licking and chewing
Yes, the pad is overly large for the saddle. It was purposely ordered ages ago to be this way so that the cantle pack I use can rest on the pad and not on the horse.
On this day, as exhibited above, she also wore her newly re-tied (had to tweak a couple things) halter-bridle I made for her. Blaze orange, of course.
Sooo unamused with this photoshoot
The design is a rope halter with a rope bosal over the nose that - when reins are attached - will be tighter in response to pressure. Its much like the bridles I've seen used in many South American riding culture and some others around the world. Q adores this, too.
I'd planned to do hill sprints this night, but figured I'd best put on the Wintec for this as it has a crupper attachment and D-rings for breast plate. Additionally, I'd have to put her bridle on - with plans to use the corkscrew snaffle as she completely ignored the full cheek last time in her efforts to return home! However, once I saw her all set up in the new tack I just had to get on and ride her in that instead. I just figured we'd tool around for awhile and see what came of things.
Well, before I knew it we were sprinting up our hill in the treeless saddle sans breastplate/crupper/bridle/bit.
She. Was. Amazing.
She's so much more content without a bit. It surprises me more and more how well she does in this halter-bridle I've rigged up. We've done many miles on the rail trail in it, jumped in it, and now hill sprints - the thing I figured we'd never do because she gets all fire-breathing-dragon on me during those.
Instead, in a bout of craziness on my part to let her sprint in this get-up, she proved me wrong. She listened better than she ever does in the bridle. We didn't fight about things. Sure, the saddle did slide a bit, and I do plan to resolve this issue with some d-ring rigging, but the bridle? Not unless we're flatting and doing dressage work and perhaps on occasion with some jumping.
I know the bitless, treeless, barefoot crowd trends toward the crazies of the world, but damn does it work for this little mare of mine. Do I advocate this trio of methods for everyone? No. Well, the barefoot I do. But I will be the first to admit when in discussion about barefoot methodology that it IS time consuming and it DOES take effort on the part of the owner to keep up with it. To me though, these efforts are 110% worth it. The bitless/treeless? Not for everyone. Not for every discipline. Not for every horse. Kinder? Perhaps. I truly think it depends on the rider/trainer though. As those have said before, if it was the next best greatest thing everyone would be utilizing it. All that matters for me though is that all of this works terrifically for my wonder-mare and I.
But first: Between my INSANELY busy schedule (those of you who are friends with me on Facebook follow all my photos from this nonsense), work, travel, and lame internet - I am BEYOND behind on everyone's blogs. The internet issues keep me from commenting, and when I do even THAT becomes an issue (sorry for my multitude of duplicate comments, Funder, haha). So, while I've been silent in both my own writing and in response to the writing of many of you, I am lurking and reading! I think life may settle in November for me to be more regular about things and not have to schedule posts as I am doing now.
And now:
I love her. I love her. I love her.
Also, the turn away from jumps on first go was because my recovering dog was in front of the jump. Had he been in full health and not rehabbing from double ACL surgery I'd have jumped her anyway and expected him to move his ass or learn a lesson. Le sigh, Kenai.
