This fall has been filled with so many exciting times getting to work with our horses. A few weeks ago we took Cowboy and Cojo to a cattle working clinic and also Phoenix turned 18 months and we celebrated that time with her trying on a saddle!
We were also given permission to ride on our neighbor’s land which is a wonderful place to take the horses on regular rides, which has helped us identify our horses’ problem areas.
The most interesting problems right now are with Cojo and Pollyanne. We don’t know much about their history, but they have lots of potential.
Cojo
We love Cojo! He is well-built, has excellent manners, and doesn’t need to be number one in the herd. He does good on trail rides and will go wherever you want… unless you’re near cow panels.
We like to take our horses into the pasture where we keep our cows as it gives us the most room to ride. However, when Cojo sees our squeeze chute and working pens he becomes anxious and unpredictable.
Our plan is to ride in areas that don’t cause him to panic so that we have good rides with the hope that he will learn what we are expecting from him, which is to be a trail horse.
Between those rides, maybe one out of five, I am taking him into the pasture and working on getting him to relax, stand, and walk around the panels and cows.
This has been helpful for me to look for the good and not become discouraged by the bad.
Pollyanne
Pollyanne has spent the last seven years as a pasture ornament with our gelding John Henry, and they are crazy about each other. Both of them struggle with buddy-sour syndrome in the most extreme ways possible.
When taking her on rides she is back and forth between great and not so great the entire time. She is throwing her head when stopping or backing up which is creating resistance and avoiding contact with the bit.
She will also go from standing to a trot without any warning, and she will not ride in a straight line. The entire ride requires me to stay deep in the stirrups and no room for rest.
That said she is a wonderfully gentle horse. Although she can be terrifying when loping in a half pass and not responding to leg pressure or the bit, she has never kicked out or reared up.
I plan to start doing some basic groundwork exercises, especially on a medium lunge line with a Parelli Carrot Stick, and improve her ground manners and hopefully create a connection with me instead of John Henry.
It takes a while of riding before she starts to connect and I’d like to shorten that time. Once we get to that stage she is an absolute joy to ride. Her gait is smooth and I loved cadillacing across the pasture and bending through the trees.
Cowboy
Cowboy has been great in every way. We are still working through his surgeries removing the keratoma cancer in his front feet. Our farrier has been doing a great job and the work my friend Juan did this spring and summer has gotten him through a tough start this year.
Minka
Ooh! How I enjoy Minka so much. She has spent this year with a new injury, allergy, or reaction every two months. Her broken leg has fully healed, the eye drops have combated her spring allergies, we’ve gotten through the half-dollar size cut on her fetlock (not a fun injury to doctor!), and we are currently working through an ear infection.
All these things have required daily attention and yet she eagerly awaits me every morning. She stands patiently and lets me do whatever needs to be done and always makes me happy.
We’ve only gone on a few rides these last few months but she loves it! Oh, as much personality as she has in the pasture, it becomes genuine excitement when she’s under saddle and exploring the world.
Phoenix
Phoenix has been going through the unfun parts of domestication. I am doing basic groundwork on leading with her on occasion and that’s about it.
Every few days I am cleaning out her hooves and trying to get her more accustomed to standing for the farrier. When we do this I’m also trying to teach her how to respond to leg positions and connecting those pressures to moving her feet. It feels like it’s taking forever before she’s big enough to start riding!
Conclusion
I am having so much fun working with all our horses and having opportunities to ride these different personalities. It’s been pretty exciting going through YouTube and looking for answers to solve these problems and getting to work with these horses that I love.
