.... A Whole lot about Horses.

I. LOVE. MY. LIFE.

I seriously get paid to ride and cuddle horses.

TUESDAY:

I wrangled in the morning, but with 4 people we didn't get to ride the Icelandic ponies. I went to the lower pasture with Richard and brought the horses in form there. It all went very smoothly, and apparently one of the (many) dogs--Whistle--the poodle showed some very non-poodly instincts up at the top gate and actually helped herd the horses! (she's not much of a hunting dog though...)

I didn't go out on the morning ride, but stayed back with 2 other wranglers and Richard and Hadley. Kate (one of the other wranglers) and I were assigned to canter out a few horses in the hay field. I rode Laredo (one of the owner Bayard's horses) first. He is a big chestnut quarter horse that really covers ground--huuuge stride. He was well behaved enough though. After him, I had my first Little Gray Arab experience. I rode a mare named Tequila who haddn't been ridden in two years because she had a foal last summer. I didn't know what to expect... especially because I'm not so fond of Arabians..... but she was AWESOME!! Like, incredibly awesome. I had a little bit of an identity crisis because I actually LIKED an Arabian. She was lovely and responsive and so so so smooth.... and completely well-behaved cantering after 2 years off! It seems all the little arabians here are like that. So... I still don't think they'd make the best sporthorse.... but as trail horses.... they ROCK (I know, it's almost blasphemous). Here it is the Quarter Horses, Mustangs, etc etc that are the problem horses.

Anywayyyy..... after cantering Tequila and Laredo out, Hadley Kristen and I worked with four 4/5 year old arabian mares who had been broken to saddle last summer. I rode a beautiful leopard gray (to be totally gray/white when she fully matures) named Lorean, and she was fantastic! No funny business, and she responded really well to voice commands.

That afternoon I went on a ride lead by Kristen (the one returning wrangler) and I rode Buster for the first time. He's a dun paint, and they told me he had a bucking problem-- but we didn't canter on that ride so I didn't get to experience bad Buster. I liked him a lot, but decided to wait to profess my love for him until we cantered.

WEDNESDAY:

I didn't go on a guest ride wednesday morning either, instead I worked with the 4 saddle broke mares again with Kristen and Hadley. They were so good in the corral the day before, that we took them on their first trail ride! I lead on one of Richard's (owner's son, Hadley's husband) horses named Lullabye-- a 6 year old arabian mare. She was more spooky than the babies!! It was hysterical... the babies walked calmly behind, and she proceeded to spook at a cabin, a fourwheeler, a tree, and the trout pond we were riding them around. She settled after a while though (and not to blame her.. she haddn't been ridden in a year and a half herseld), and it all went well.

In the afternoon I got to ride Buster again on a ride lead by Richard with the 3 most advanced guests we have this week (Steve and Miki from San Fran, and Linda from Texas). Not only was the ride beautiful, but I finally got to canter Buster.... and he was fantastic!! I can see why he isn't a guest horse, but he didn't buck at all (some attempts... that i successfully stopped)... and I loved him even more!

THURSDAY:

I went on the morning ride lead by Bayard. I rode a 5 year old Percheron/Andalusian cross mare named Peanut (who is not so "peanutty"). She is still learning, so I was essentially schooling her at the back of the ride. She doesn't neck rein yet, so we worked on that... and we worked on stopping from a neck rope instead of a bit because she's become really fussy about her mouth. Overall, she was good. Not my favorite horse, but comfortable and pretty well behaved for me. She is Kristen's favorite, so I don't think I'll be riding her all that much anyway. We got stuck in a BIG hail storm up in the Absarokas, and I was only in a t-shirt. That was interesting, but we moved our way back down the mountains and back out into the sunshine.

In the afternoon I went out on a "schooling ponies"/staff ride. I lead because they wanted me to learn the Poll Creek Trail, which is one we frequently use on Monday mornings after guest evaluations. I lead on Lightning, a tri-colored paint gelding who one of the guests fell off of on monday. He was fine overall, except for one canter that was faced in the general direction of the ranch. Kristen just finished explaining how at that part of the trail I should be carefull because the horses have a tendancy to run away because they are faced towards home... so i should watch my guests. We start off on a nice slow lope, and Lightning is being very well behaved.... after a while (at where the trail became more rocky) I raise my hand to signal that we would slow back down to a walk.... Lightning slowed down for about a half a stride, and then grabbed the bit and took off. The three staff that were behind me (now walking) were left wondering why I had signaled to slow down and then taken off again. He galloped off a bit, but I just grabbed the reins in both hands an circled him off the trail into the sagebrush. He calmed down pretty quickly after that... and the rest of the ride went smoothly. We continued onto Upper Gorge Trail... which is a dead end into a beautiful gorge cut out by the Wind River.

That night we had a bonfire with the guests (all 5 of them). Hadley had found out at dinner one night previously that the favorite part of Miki and Steve's other ranch vacations was taking tequilla shots with the staff... and she was determined to outdo that. We. After a little firewood fiasco, and a ride on the flatbet of a pickup at 60mph on a dirt road, we settled down with the guests and drank some wine near the river. The french couple (Michel and Michelle...yep.) played the guitar and sang... and I spoke with Steve who offered me a job in green construction or a place to stay if I am ever in the Bay area. The staff then all went off to bed WAY after our bedtime (I wasn't in bed until 10:45.... shocking!).

FRIDAY (today):
While Kristen and Emma were on the ride this morning with Bayard, Mel had me stay behind to help with teasing and breeding. We took 4 broodmares over to the stallions. Only one was in heat, so we bred her. After that the vet came to do cultures on two of the broods, and check out one of the Icelandics who is completely lame. I held the mares while she examined them... and while it's a totally different world than Ireland/Coolmore, it is cool to be able to handle mares/foals, etc again.

Once the teasing/breeding/vetting was done, myself, Mel, and Kate rounded up the yearlings to continue halter breaking and general groundwork that had been started last summer. They were the CUTEST ponies ever.... way cuter than thoroughbreds because they are FAR less awkward looking (though much smaller). The first 2 went very well--- allowed us to groom them, responded to the wand, could be haltered, and picked up their feet when we asked. Then came a little chestnut arabian filly with an attitude. Kate and I were in a little pen with her trying to groom her... she wasn't having any of it. She was spinning in circles and bashing into walls, and no matter how much we tried to calm her down... it didn't work. At one point she just wheeled around and kicked out..... unfortunately I was on the recieving end. I got two nice kicks to the thigh. Luckily, I was close enough that she wasn't able to fully extend into me.... but I'm gonna have a nice baby hoof shaped bruise. Mel just kept apologizing profusely, because she sore none of the babies really kicked. I told her I was fine, and we moved on to the rest of the yearlings after letting the chestnut biotch settle down.

I LOOOOOVED working with the yearlings. They are so cute, and groundwork is fun. I think Kate and I are going to be doing a lot more of it.... partially because Mel wants to be able to lead them down to a bigger pasture, and because we are going to be the two hear in late September/early October when they start doing that kind of work with this years set of foalies.

This afternoon I caboosed a trail ride Mel was leading. I was on my man Buster again, and Mel warned me before we set out that the ride would be really fast and Buster has one hell of a buck. We did some normal trail cantering, and Buster was great.... and then we ended up on a huuuuuge high altitude field bordered by the Wind River Range on one side, and the Absarokas on the other. We brough the horses side by side, and trotted for a bit first... then Mel gave the signal and we took off. She lead us on a long faaaast canter/gallop over the plain. IT. WAS. AWESOME. Buster... ROCKED IT. He definetly has a bad streak, but he warns you about it... and if you correct him, he is really good about it. We galloped along, jumped over ditches, and in general just tried to catch up with Mel's wicked fast arabian. It was BY FAR the most fun ride yet!!! I officially LOVE Buster! I think Mel took me on that ride as a form of apology for getting kicked this morning....... let's just say I wouldn'y mind getting kicked more often! SOOO much fun. I can't even describe. Buster is so great... he isn't a pushbutton horse, but he is honest, adjustable, and we click really well. Mel was glad to see I loved Buster, and that Buster seemed to like me.... so I think I'll be riding him more this summer.

Anway... it is time for dinner, and I have babbled about horses for WAYYYY TOO LONG now.