First Solo Ride With Jazz

Well bit the bullet and decided today was the day to quit putting off what needed to get done. Took my Mare Jazz out for her first solo ride. Now that I'm old......er the fact that I could be seriously injured or worse tends to cross my mind more often than it did when I was in my 20's 30's and early 40's. As a reminder as to things that can happen,( getting bucked off) all I have to do is feel what I call the divet in my head or the ache I still get in my once broken collar bone, or even the huge extra thigh I pack around on my right leg.....Ok enough of that I'm getting far afield of my post. Anyhow caught my girl and proceeded to our routine. I have to do everything different with this horse, not to get too far away from our ride, Jazz came back from her trainer as a 4 yr old with unexpected issues which I won't get into, suffice it to say she can have soundness issues along with some other stuff . So this is what we do before every ride. I apply these essential oils to various different locations, DiGize on her belly just ahead of her teats, as she gets a bit uptight with the whole riding thing and acts like she has a belly ache....seems to work and she likes it. Aroma Siez along her Gaskin all the way to her fetlock, both legs. Peppermint on both Hocks and Release on both sides of her neck along with a massage. Jazz's body is so out all the time, you should hear her neck cracking and popping when we do the neck stretches.

 

 After we are done with the oils it's off to the round pen to loosen up and get rid of the kinks. Yuk bad pic, she is not downhill the ground is higher at her butt end. She's feeling good at this point.

So saddled and ready to go. It started to rain so I put my slicker over the saddle, Jazz wasn't too bad about it. A month ago this horse would have been beside herself jumping and twitching...good job Jazz....just a few little twitches.

 

 

So down the road we go to get to the trail, we were both a bit nervous I'd say and I have to admit my hand kinda hovered close to the horn.......which I seldom use and I do mean seldom. After we got by all the different horses and one rotten dog we made it to the trail, by then I could feel her relaxing a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at her ears, pointed in the right direction all the time. She's engaged, she 's interested and she just plain likes it. Riding this horse is becoming a real treat, we still have a long way to go and a lot to learn but at least I know she's willing. At this point in the ride we were both pretty comfortable. The sun had come out so I was getting a bit warm and wanted to take my coat off....my noisy coat

( which this horse is afraid of) I slipped one arm at a time out and tied it around my waist, what a good girl just a few twitches. We rode for about an hour or a bit longer( got cold and put coat back on just a few twitches) had a few spooks, she tends to spook in place, quite manageable.....whew cause boy I can't stay on like I used to. We headed for home and she was just as consistent as she was leaving.

 

 

We had a bit of fun with the retard dog on the way home(it is just a pup....an annoying pup) It figured it was pretty brave barking and lunging at us as we went by.

 

 

 

 

It came running up behind Jazz so I spun her around which she does really well and put the run on it.....not so brave anymore....that was good for a chuckle. So we made it home with nothing bad happening, it was a great ride. I'm very pleased with this Mare. Shirley Nicholas you can be proud of the horses you have put on the ground, good minds( minus bad training practices) fast learners, good dispositions and pretty easy on the eye. We had one little glitch( I'm pretty sure Jazz thought it was more than a little glitch) and no I didn't get a picture. We were coming up the hill to the tack shed and I was about to open the gate when curious girl decides to reach out and see what this is.

 

 

Well it sounded like a firecracker went off poor thing had stuck the soft part of her nose on the electric fence ( it is a good one) holy crap airborne ...almost went over backwards....all four feet off the ground!!!!Eyeballs popping out of her head.....poor girl we had such a good outing right up till then. Took a minute or so to get her to go through that gate.....had to do a bit of soothing and of course she's looking at me like I tried to kill her or something. It's a little hard to explain to a horse that it's her own fault, anyhow if it hadn't been for that it would have been almost the perfect ride. Wow that turned into a book....sorry hope it wasn't boring. Looking forward to the next ride....minus any electricity lol.

 

 

Out Riding.

Had a wonderful ride last Sun. Shirley and Shayla came up from Creston and Dave and Jen and myself. We hooked up with Shirley and Shayla where we were going to ride from, everybody got their gear and horses all sorted out.

                                                             Jen & Moxie

 

Jazz waiting for me

 

Shayla and Rosie

 

Shirley & Clancy

 

                                                                    Dave & Skook

Once we were ready to go we had a group photo.....well almost, I had to take the pic lol.

 

Everybody ready, off we go.

 

 

A few shots of the incredible scenery in this area.

 

It never gets boring.

 

 

Every time you go out it's like seeing it for the first time.

The day was a perfect combo of sun and cloud and a bit of wind just enough to keep any bugs away.

 The company was awesome, the ride was wonderful, I hope we get to do it again before the weather changes too much.

 

 

Now that the smoke has cleared.

Finally now that the smoke has dispersed this is a good place to make up for lost time!!

Jazz leading the way. The more rides I get on this horse the more I like her. She is an odd little horse but she tries hard and that's worth something. She is six this year and still what I call quite "Green" however in these photos she is out front leading the much more seasoned horses, she doesn't seem bothered by too much and nothing that slowed her progress. She has a nice fast walk and covers the ground easily without slips and trips.........lov'n her.

 

 

Jenn and Moxie and behind her Dave and Buster

 

I'm not sure this pair look like they are having a good time. The dog sure was though!!!

Clinic May 2015

I have been meaning to post this for awhile.....just never got around to it. Here are some shots of Jazz while in a Bruce Koch  - Natural Horsemanship Clinic back in May. I got a few eye openers during that clinic and so did Jazz ( I think everyone did)

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz is still afraid of the plastic bag but she at least tries to handle it a bit better, I'm calling it improvement.

 

I had a few aha moments during this clinic. Bruce is not only good with the horses.

 

 

 

                                        This is one good looking horse and she's not just a pretty face either.

 

By the end of the clinic I was well aware of my horses and my own shortcomings. We have a lot of things to work on. How you see this horse in the pic below is how she went trail riding on the final day, gotta like that.

We are having another Bruce Koch Clinic here in Kimberley on the 25, 26 & 27th of Sept. Still a few open spots for anyone interested. You can contact me here or on FB.

Have A Great Week

Finally Some Horse Time

Well the retail part of the Business is over, still some odds and ends to do and all the clean- up.....sigh. Now that that part is behind us for another season and my time is mostly my own, it is horse season...yes!!! finally way more time for horses. As you might see these horses are all overweight and in need of some consistent use...which they are in for......poor creatures they have no idea what they are in for, they seem to have come to the conclusion that they're just intended to wander around and look pretty....wink wink. So here are a few shots of what we have been up to for the last few weeks. This is Mattie out on the trails behind our place.

This is Jade across from the Buttes.

 

Jenn riding Moxie.

 

Getting two done for the price of one. Mattie and Jade.  At the Buttes in Wycliff, riding with Dave.

 

 

 

Nice shot of Dave and his boys. This is out on the trails behind our place.

 

 

 

Jenn and Moxie, then Jazz and Crystal with Razz, this was cute because Razz wouldn't keep her ears up for a nice shot so Crystal helped her out a bit.

 

 

Jazz after I got home from riding with Crystal, she was very tired. I didn't get any shots through her ears as she is still very...very green, she was quite excited by a few of the things she encountered out there so I thought it best to keep my hands where they belonged....firmly on the reins. She was quite pleased with herself when she got a cow to move, I'm not sure who was more surprised her or myself.

 

Crystal and her very nice horse Razz. Some of you might recognize this woman. Crystal is a blogger friend from Alberta, she stopped by here on her way home from a clinic she had attended in the States. I am so grateful she did, not only did I get to know her better but she helped me out in a way I'm not even sure she is aware of. My little horse is pretty green and has not had a whole lot of riding time outside the arena, I won't take her out alone. I took advantage of having Crystal here to ride this horse instead of the others. She was well behaved ....a little spooky at times nothing I couldn't handle ....except once where she went one way and then deeked me, I managed to hang on though. I think Crystal's good horse and her quiet riding style helped to keep Jazz in a good place. Thank you Crystal....Let's not wait too long to do this again. 

 

Oops I just realized I messed up the order of the pics...oh well...hey I haven't blogged for awhile...I am not trying to fix it. You'll figure it out lol. 

Enjoy your week - end.

Getting Caught Up

Well it's that time of year, because I'm a procrastinator I have to run around and get stuff done last minute but at least it's done....well almost. The big Greenhouse is done and if plants showed up today they would have a place to live. So one house done the stove works......and I am finally starting to look forward to the season. I already am thinking about what combos of plants yahooooooo.

 

 

 

Ready to go.

 

Lighting her up. I will be paranoid now until about May. With nothing for back up heat it is always a bit tense around here for awhile. It always works although we have had a few failures, nothing that killed the plants though( Big sigh of relief)

 

First containers for a custom order. The owner of these containers has given me free reign to do as I please, just the way I like it.

 

Have A Great week

 

Holy Moly

Well here's a blast from the past, a friend of mine that I haven't seen for many years
(facebook reunited us) sent me these pics and I thought I would share for a chuckle.

Do you guys recognize the horse.....yup that's my boy shortly before I became his person....so strange to see someone else on him.

 

And this next pic is something I don't think any of you have ever seen, me ....I think I'm about 23  here and even back then I was not very photogenic. I don't know how my friend got this pic...the really scary thing is she says she has more...........