Bad Cop, Good Cop

 

Saturday, March 19^th, 5:00 p.m.

Phone rings.  “Hi Scott.  How are you?”  “Juanita, I just wanted to call and let you know I moved the horses from the north section to the south.”  “OK, thanks.”  “I really called to tell you … that brown horse of yours ….” 

Oh, oh.  What has Alloy done now?  Apparently, after getting caught, loaded, and moved, Al had decided he couldn’t get out of the trailer fast enough, so he went charging out backwards, breaking the hay string that had been used on his halter to lead him and load him.  (We tend to use whatever is handy to move our horses around, be it a dog leash, hay string, belt, whatever – as they are generally very good about it.)  There was no way anyone was going to get near him again.  So we got the call that we now had a horse loose in a very large pasture with a halter on; an absolute no-no in all our books.

 We headed the 18 miles down off the mountain to see if we could be of help.  Fortunately, the time was just right for us to use our own canyon to make the trip.  Our canyon is under construction to fix flood damages from 8 years ago and you can only drive it certain times of the day.  We got to the pasture, found the horses and discovered we also were not going to get near them; even my boy who comes at a trot when I call said, “not now, there’s grass!”

                                        Washoe is the white horse, Alloy is hidden behind him.

We decided to just come back the next day and ‘walk them down’.  Sunday dawned bright and sunny.    This time Washoe walked right up to me and let me brush all the mud off, a good deal of winter hair, and detangle the dreadlocks from his mane; all without a halter.  We spent the morning walking the pasture behind a stubborn bay horse with a more stubborn black mare, who seems to have become the lead mare and wanted nothing to do with Alloy getting caught.  Washoe went back to the other horses and started grazing and the two errant horses decided to circle them.  You would have thought they were inside a 30 ft. round pen, instead of on 30 acres of pasture.  

 Fortunately, the mare is not the endurance horse Alloy is, and finally tired and joined the others grazing.  That made the circling game not so fun any longer and Alloy finally joined them after a few more circles. Bill did almost all the ‘lunging’ while I stayed on the outside incase one of them decided to leave the circle.  Finally, Bill walked back to the car for some water and more snacks.  In the interim Al decided to just hang with the others so I walked into the group and started rubbing faces.  Guess who wanted his face rubbed, too?  After a couple of attempts, he stood still when I offered him an oat granola bar in exchange for his halter.  He was very still while I unbuckled it, then almost forgot his oat bar.  He sooo wants to still be a wild horse! 

The whole process really only took three and a half hours.  Bill said Alloy considered him the ‘bad cop’ and me the ‘good cop’.  What a great way to spend a gorgeous day – with the horses.

Bionic Cowgirl

Finally, A Break!

It's been another very, very busy several seasons for Bill and I, so we were quite wistful for a break.  Since this October was our 30th anniversary, we decided we deserved a weekend off and now that we have two horses that are "rideable", I chose Canyon Trails Ranch for a horse camping getaway.  If any of you get Horse & Rider magazine, you might have seen the article in the Sept. 2017 issue about the Canyons of the Ancients, located on BLM land adjoining Mesa Verde in CO.  Perfect.  We needed to stay within our own state until we get legal title for Alloy, our newest Mustang.  It was a 9 hour drive from us and the weather people said they were expecting better weather than here.

This was the sunrise here at the lodge the morning we pulled out.  What a beautiful omen.

We had taken Ranger to visit 'the cousins' (GunDiva's horses) the night before.  The drive was uneventful, horses traveled well and sunny. We pulled into Cortez a few minutes before 5:00 p.m., phoned the ranch for specific directions, and 25 minutes later saw the 'face' of the ranch.

We were led to the campsite (of which there were only 4 for horses) and were delighted to learn we would be the only ones there for the weekend.  It also had an electrical hookup, a water hydrant per campsite close to the 15' x 15' pipe corral, and a short walk to a bathroom with a shower and flushing toilet.  Such luxuries.

Just hangin' with the horses.  What a way to end the day.
On Friday, we just kicked about the campsites, enjoying the main campground with the tent sites, an eating area and complete with a chuckwagon kitchen.

Complete with chairs to hang out with a good book or enjoy the colors still in abundance.
Alloy had the hives - again - when we left home, so we weren't sure if he would tolerate being ridden.  However, he was good when Bill saddled him up for a short walk around the campsite.

This was a male hogan that was in the camp.  Reba explored it like it might be a dog house.  These small ones were often used as sweat lodges; less space to get hot.

This was the 'outhouse'.  Doesn't look like much from the outside, but was very warm and clean inside, with a real hot water shower and a flushing toilet.

Whatch' doin'?

Washoe and Alloy behaved like perfect gentlemen, sharing their pen.  We put them in separate pens for a short time so they could have more space, but they hollered back and forth until we put them back together.  We spent a considerable amount of time sitting next to their pen reading, and saw a lot of this.

Saturday we decided to take a trail to the closest Anasazi ruin that was on a trail that left right from the campsite.  However it was on permitted BLM property, so not wanting to get the owners in trouble by riding the horses there, we opted to hike.  Reba dog thought this a good idea because than she could go (she does not like being with the horses, so it is either her or horses with us).  She did a LOT of free running on this trip.  For a house dog, her feet held up really well, but she did get pretty tired on the hike; I would guess about 4 miles.

The trail ran along stone walls and cliffsides, and past small log buildings like hogans, eventually getting to some of the smaller ruins.

Coming back down we got a good view of the back of the ranch itself, where their horses grazed in pastures.

... and a view of our own campsite.

Later in the afternoon, we again saddled up the horses and rode all the little twisty trails throughout the site and part of the way down the road to the other trail heads, just to see how Alloy would handle the hives in the heat - it was sunny and 69 degrees.  He did great.  The horses found the trail we had hiked in the morning and were rearing to go.  It made our decision to take them onto the main site the next morning.

Sunday dawned sunny and warm with a very slight breeze; perfect to hit the trail.  After a lazy breakfast we headed out with the horses.  It was about a 1/2 mile ride down a county dirt road, then a bit down a paved road to get to the Canyon of the Ancients Monument.

There were two loop trails and one that traversed across the entire area, which we decided would be too long for this first trip, so we started off on one of the shorter loops.

Lots of different kinds of cactus encroaching on the trails.  Washoe is an old hand at this, but we didn't know how Alloy would do.  Should not have worried; he just followed Washoe's lead.

We had a lesson in map reading 101 and saw lots of great views.

One of the best views I had though, was of this very happy rider and his very good horse.

We did not complete the loop, only doing about 2 hours in the heat, but we did see some ruins from across a canyon.

We had such a great relaxing time just getting to hang, with no time synch, lots of napping, reading, and just being. Considering Alloy probably still does not have 50 hours worth of actual ride time, we are very pleased with his temperament and behavior.  Wet saddle blankets are the best way to get a well trained trail horse, and he is well on his way.

Bionic Cowgirl

Alloy Oop!

I have not posted in a while.  My bad.  It's been a busy summer and Juanita and I have been running non-stop.

When we picked Alloy the mustang up in January, it was too cold and snowy to work with him.
When February rolled around it was too cold and snowy to work with him.
March was too cold and snowy to work with him.
April was just too snowy.
May we had a snowstorm with three feet of snow.
June we got busy at the lodge with guests.
July, more guests.

August hit and I realized it is about to start snowing again, and guests or not, I better get with the program.

During the preceding seven months, I would do some work with Alloy, but none consistently.  Alloy reverted to his old ways.  Again, my bad.

When Alloy was first taken in by his first trainer, Jessica, he had a bucking problem.  The problem was he was GOOD at bucking.  Jessica sent him to trainer #2.  Al seemed to get over his problem and was sent back to Jessica.  Jessica worked extensively with Al, and he showed the makings of a great trail horse.

On to owner number two.  For whatever reasons, Alloy started bucking again.  Was sent to the next trainer.  Still bucking.

I picked him up.  He got extensive time off, but when worked this summer, he still bucked on occasion.  Often enough I was... worried.  My previous mustang, Ranger, dumped me, oh, I don't know... probably twenty times.  No damn fun.  And I am about eighteen years older now, and not interested in doing that any more.

Fortunately, Al didn't buck while I was on him.  He was bucking just after saddling, or right after I dismounted.  And boy can that fodder-mucker BUCK!  One time he ran into the road bucking so hard the stirrups clapped together above his back and one of them broke.

One of the things we noticed about Al, was he seemed to get bitten by bugs a lot.  He would have large welts.  So we would spray him with fly spray.  Still welts.  More spray, even more welts.  Finally Juanita said "That looks more like hives than bug bites!"

Poop.  I think the guy is allergic to the spray we use.  We quit using it, and the "bites" went away.

I wonder if the hives were the original bucking trigger, at least here in Colorado.  Assuming the hives were the trigger and we stopped them, now we just need to lose the "habit".  Bucking is not good, Alloy.  Just say no.

So I did.

Every time that jerk would start bucking I would run up to his face, latch onto the lead rope or reins, and scream "NO!  NO!  NO!" like some sort of lunatic at him.  He would get kind of bug-eyed and freeze, as I was obviously unstable and a danger to all.  Then I would rub his neck and tell him what a good boy he was.  I've been doing this of the last 3 weeks or so now, and the episodes are getting more rare, and not as violent or prolonged.

And I have been able to mount and ride him with a certain amount of confidence. Probably 6 or 8 rides at this point.  Increasing in time from just a couple minutes in the corral, until today when we went for a real, honest to goodness trail ride.  We spent an hour and a half in the forest.

Today I saddled Al up, and he threw a minor bucking fit while he was tied to the hitch rail.  I waded in and grabbed his halter and yelled "NO!NO!NO!" at him and he stopped bucking.  And went into a full angry sulk.  Like a 12 year old boy who got in trouble.  Tight lipped, squinty eyed, pinched nostril pout.  No eye contact and staring off in the distance even when I told him he was a good boy for ending his fit.

It was really kind of funny.

In a couple minutes he got over it.  His eyes got soft again and he focused on me. We mounted up and spent an hour and a half on the trails on the nearby national forest with Juanita and Washoe.

I wore red to make my body easier to find.

Alloy was a very good horse today, And little by little we are building up trust in one another and are enjoying each others company.

Some day I can lose the "chicken hat".  But not yet.

Bawk-awk-cluck-bawk.

Bill

The New Foster Kid

Only this one has four legs.

Me:  "Hey, kid. How about loaning me one of your horses for awhile - like maybe a month?"

GunDiva:  "What?"

Me:  "I just realized I only have a couple weeks to get Washoe legged up for some long rides coming up, really soon.  Ranger has a one hour limit on our trails, so I really, really need a horse that can go out for 3 - 4 hours at a time.  Loan me Skeeter.  Please."

GD:  "Well, she does need a lot more wet saddle blankets and I am booked up with the Greeley Stampede for the next two weeks.  When can you get her?"

This conversation was a couple days ago.  Today, we picked up granddaughter Autobot and went to collect a horse.

All three of us walked into the pen with a halter.  We got met by three horses.  Pearl was closest so I just put my arms around her neck and Autobot slid the halter on while Bill reached for Skeeter.

Oops.  Not happenin' pal!  And off the other two went.  We were not the right people to be holding their halters and they were taking exception to that.  They spent a whole lot of energy running around the pen/track; we spent the time standing in the middle, shuffling our feet a bit every now and then.  They did eventually give it up.  In 92 degree hot sun, you can get really tired.

And the others?  Well, Pearl got to graze on the grass outside the pen.

And since it was that hot, I didn't want to leave Washoe in the trailer. (We had brought him with us to keep Skeeter company for the ride back up the mountain - a new experience for her.)

OK, so maybe getting caught has its benefits.  The trailer loading went pretty well; only a couple of mis-attempts, but with Washoe standing in the front stall, a large open window with ... wait ... do I see Grandma cookies poking in that window?  A flop of the flag as a reminder and in Skeeter went.

Where are we?  This is all new.

Skeeter will be in the smaller 'visitor pen' for now.  She knows all our horses except Alloy, who she met through the fence with no dramatics at all.  She unloaded better than I have ever seen her do, so I think having Washoe as a traveling ambassador worked well.  She was calm and quiet, and waited for the backup command before trying to step off the trailer.

She now has her own water tank ... which she promptly ignored.

... and her own feed bin, complete with slow feed hay bag.

... and of course, Jesse had to come visit.

After leaving them alone for an hour or so, Bill took a book and chair out to keep them company, but apparently Alloy is not used to that yet.  I guess only a couple pages got read, as Al kept poking and prodding at him for attention.

Stay posted.

Bionic Cowgirl

May 2017 Snow Storm

I hear Bill muttering in the office; when I ask what's wrong he says, "We are under a winter storm warning for the next two days. 1 - 3 feet expected."  This time they were right.  Raining when we went to bed Wed. night; 14" on the ground in the morning - and not stopping.

Finally (Friday) this morning the sun comes out and we have a count of 36".  Wonderful spring storms.  Gotta love 'em!
The horses keep the corral stomped into baths, so all we have to do is shovel our way TO the corral, because you don't walk too far in thigh-deep snow.

We shoveled last night to get extra hay to the horses, and had an additional 6" in the track this morning.  The biggest problem we have found using our slow feed feeders is that they get packed with snow when it comes down this heavy and the horses can't paw the snow off to get to the hay, so when we went to feed this morning, the feeders themselves were still full after the snow melted off.

This is the horse's shed, which a couple of them actually used part of the night.  The horses themselves.....

....were happy to have their feed boxes back - except for Al, who has become quite the camera mooch.
Bionic Cowgirl

My Day

This morning I left Juanita fixing breakfast while I spent over an hour driving down the mountain for my annual physical.  I spent over an hour at the Dr's office.  Then I spent over an hour driving home.

Early this afternoon, I spent over an hour changing both radiator hoses on the mini-van.  (The top hose had blown out about a mile from home last night.)

Later this afternoon, I spent over an hour driving the tractor around the horse pen, heaping up the manure.

And then later today, I spent less than 5 minutes on Alloy.

There were llamas going down the road.

Alloy saw them.  There was snorting involved.

I climbed on anyway.

The horse time kept the whole day from being a total waste.

Bill

Heads or Tails

B-  Hi horses!  Washoe, Jesse, Ranger and Alloy-  how are you guys doing today now that I have scraped the first layer of manure off and into a big pile?  I got down to a layer of ice and the tractor lost traction.  Must have reached the "perma-frost".  Or an old forgotten glacier.

B-  So, "Big Al",  I REALLY need to start working with you.  How about I climb up on the feeder and lean over you bareback...


*SNORT*

B-  Gee whiz, Ranger.  I was just messing with the new guy.

R-  No Beel.  You are my people and you should only mess with me the horse.

B-  Okay then, it's a beautiful day and it's almost 70 degrees out.  How about we take Alloy out for a drag?

R-  Okay Beel.  I will show Al-fred how to be a good horse.

B-  Alloy.

R-  Whatever.

B-  Juanita can take Washoe, and we'll pony Al.  Jesse will have to stay here.  She "foundered" this week, and is under doctor's care until her feet start feeling better.

R-  That Mare will not be happy.  She will yell for us.

B-  She'll get over it.  We'll only be gone for a half hour or so.  

***************************************

B-  Man-oh-man!  It is so pretty up here.  We haven't been able to ride this trail for 5 months or so.  Look at this- someone is getting ready to build a house up here next to the National Forest.  Juanita, let's leave the trail and see if we can spot where they are going to build.  I don't think we have ever ridden right along here...

B-  WHOA!  I said WHOA!  Just STOP, Ranger!

B-  Alloy, what in the world is wrong with you.  You are supposed to just follow along when we are ponying you, and you just stopped cold and almost drug me out of the saddle...

J-  Bill, Alloy is standing in a coil of barbed wire!

B-  Oh man.  Okay I'll climb off here and see if I can get him out of it...

A-  IAmSorryBill. IHadToStopBecuaseISteppedInThisBunchOfSharpWireAndItWillHurtMeIfIMove. NowIfIJustStepHereLikeThisAndThenStepHereLikeThis. OkayWeCanGoNow.

B-  Okay Alloy.  I am impressed.  You have a very good mind.  That could have been a DISASTER, but you just worked your way through it and didn't even get a scratch.  You are one smart horse.

R-  I do not think a smart horse would step in a big pile of biting wire Beel.  Al-loof is a goofball.

B-  Alloy.  Stuff happens.  He is a very smart horse.  Let's head home now.

B-  Nice ride.  Here we are...

B-  WHOA!  I said WHOA!  Just STOP, Ranger!

B- Alloy, what in the world is wrong with you.  You are supposed to just follow along when we are ponying you, and you just stopped cold and almost drug me out of the saddle AGAIN.

A- IAmSorryBill. ButWeAlmostCrossedAVeryDangerousWildRiverAndICouldHaveDrownedOrBeenEatenBySwampMonsters.

B-  Alloy, We are 10 feet outside of your corral.  That is the same stream you drink out of every day.  There are no monsters.  You crossed the stream 20 minutes ago with no problem.

A- IJumpedOverTheRagingRiverSoTheMonstersCouldNotCatchMeTheFirstTime. ICanNotCrossTheMonsterInfestedWaterBecauseIMightDrown.

B- You are going to make me get off of my horse and lead you across a ONE FOOT WIDE TRICKLE of water, aren't you.  Jerk.  You are a lot less smart than you were 10 minutes ago.

R- I think he is afraid of Al-e-gators Beel.

"Manny" the Mannequin

At the Rocky Mt. Horse Expo this year, we watched one of the clinicians working with colt training.  I became interested as I was walking by and heard her say it was best not to get bucked off the first time you climb on a horse.  Boy, do I like that thought – also knowing we had just taken on a horse who had proven to enjoy bucking.  Maybe she had a hint or two, so I sat down in the stands to listen.  Of course, she was working with a couple of young, unhandled horses, but she progressed pretty quickly to the first time things are on their back – also mentioning that this process could be used on any age horse that would have the inclination to buck when first feeling weight.  Several of the ‘firsts’ had already been passed with Bill’s new boy, Alloy, but we were at the stage of restarting him under saddle.

Hence, we ‘built’ a mannequin, to be the first rider up.  There are products out there you can purchase, if you are going to do this a lot.  There is also the simple method:  take an old pair of jeans, sew up openings, and fill with ‘stuff’.  I think she said one pair of hers had clean shavings.  We don’t use shavings, but we use a lot of wood pellets, and hey, they cost approximately $5 for a 40# bag!

I took a pair of Bill’s jeans that were headed for the trash (we have a lot of our old jeans laying around here for various projects), sewed the holes together in the knees – so what if they have a bend in the knee; doesn’t your knee have a bend when you are riding – and stitched the bottom of the legs shut, and stitched the waistband together, leaving the zipper operable.  We used the zipper opening to fill/empty the ‘stuffing’.  So far, it has worked like a charm.  Yes, our mannequin weighs in at 42# when we got done, but both of us weigh considerably more than that and we wanted a true test.

Bill and 'Manny'

Today is test day.  We plan on saddling up Alloy in a small round pen type area and placing “Manny” in the saddle, hopefully tying the legs to the stirrups.  With young horses, you start with a smaller, lighter bean bag type and just lay it on their back, letting it slide around and fall off as they walk, so they get used to things that do fall (at some time in their life, something IS going to fall off them).  You want them to learn that it isn’t scary and they soon learn to even try to balance the item so it does not fall off.  As they progress to the balancing stage, you move on to a bigger, heavier mannequin like we made.  Al is past the first parts, but needs to learn it is not OK to buck with weight in the saddle.  Since neither of us is good at bronc riding, Manny gets to do the job; hence the reason for tying it to the saddle.  It needs to stay on!

Whatcha' got, Bill?  Notice Alloy is just ground tied.

Wow!  Can that horse buck?  So happy he waited until he was unsaddled and in his corral before the show started.  The mannequin in the saddle was such a non-issue.  He stood so still for saddling, then walked to the round pen and waited patiently while Bill ‘mounted’ the dummy rider and tied its legs to each stirrup, even tying a piece of twine from the waistband to the saddle horn.  

Hardly a blink of the eye, except when the camera would turn on or off, which caused the ears to come forward to alert position for a moment.  Walked around in the pen, got led outside in the driveways, stood tied to the hitchrail while we talked to a neighbor.

Walkin', walkin' outside any pen.

It was decided we should go for a short walk around the area, so I grabbed Washoe (who desperately needed some action) and we walked around a two-block area, stopping at the post office to show off a bit.  How nice – the post mistress had an apple to split for two sweet horses and another neighbor joined us to finish the walk home.  

Please?

I think Al has been taught to ‘smile’, because he showed off the flehmen grin a lot, asking for more apple, we’re sure.  He has one very proud owner right now.

Happy, happy, happy.

He finally got turned back out with the other horses and we expected some rolling in the dirt.  What we got was a bunch of ye-hawing and very nice bucks all around the corral!  Then he walked up behind Bill and followed him to the fence.  One big, huge non-event.  Expectations, according to Bill.  He behaved exactly as expected.