August 4th Until Now - the 6th Month Mark

And so, it's been a while. I haven't been able to find the time to get on here and get to writing. Things have been hectic, but grad school is over for good! To sum life up, I was traveling a lot for work. We got a new kitchen which took up a lot of time, and we hit Canada to ski this winter. Things are busy, but good.

Mr. Miserable  wet from the rain

On the Denali front, things are good! He's calm, he's collected, and he's getting better! He's more relaxed and comfortable in my ability knowing I am not going to hurt him. We haven't had many UP episodes, but we've been taking things easy and slow so I have not pushed too hard. Dom was extremely helpful in getting us there and letting me know what I can do to get him desensitized to the small stuff he was fretting! We've been working on getting comfortable with things moving quickly around his face especially and being able to rub his body with things that were once causing him to flinch. The last flinch was with my helmet bag. He didn't like the sound so we worked until he was OK with it and he let me touch his body with it. We'll get there with most things. I just need to be patient.

Hunter pace

Shortly after getting him, we trailered to a local show and schooled in the ring with another horse. He threw his temper tantrum near the gate and was a slick, wet, sweaty mess from being worked up, but we were still getting to know each other. We did a hunter pace and he was pretty good, but he was FORWARD. He just wanted to go, but we were pretty comfortable and even cantered a bit on an open road. It was comfortable, and he wasn't taking off. He was tossing his head a bunch, but he calmed down with work. I was still unsure of what to think of him or what the future might bring. He's wasn't always fun.

We also went on a trail ride where I took him on the trailer solo with a group of random people that I met on a local trail riding group. He was so calm and collected! We mostly walked, but the trot was good! He did get a little fussy and started to fling his head, but it wasn't like the hunter pace. We all took turns being in the front and the back of the group, and he was good with being anywhere. He wasn't as forward as he was at the hunter pace (at the same park and some of the same trails), and he even went in water a little bit following the other horses! It was a great day for a ride, and it got my spirits up about him.

Solo trail ride - Thanksgiving morning

We rode over to the barn next door with a group of boarders, and he drifted towards the gate a bit, but he listened. He is understanding his leads a bit better, and he is a lot less upset when I don't give him the right signals. He did so well that we continued to ride with the group over at the barn where he's boarded, but when he had enough, he started to have some fits again (yes, going UP!). It wasn't' too bad, and we rode until he was through it. After that, I decided maybe it was ring work. Before going out to the ring on other rides,we just hit the trails. After his rides, we've gone on trails, too. He's good by himself and he seems more excited to be in the woods. Again, I feel like we're getting there! :)

Group trail ride

All in all, he's proving that he can calm down and act up a lot less. He's not very spooky, and he tolerates my mixed signals at times. He's getting better with me in the round pen and more confident when I go see him. I'm making an effort to get to the barn when I don't even ride, but I'll just go out and brush him and bring him treats in the field or bring him in for treats and brushing and put him back out. He's more worked up when I first bring him in, but after a ride or some work in the round pen, he relaxes and enjoyed being brushed. He is letting me brush his face more and brings his head down so that I can bridle him and massage his temples (which he loves). For just 6 months time, he's come a long way and I know we have an exciting and fun adventure in store for us with more persistence.

His still sign - birthday gift from sisters

Riding in the open field

Buyer's Remorse

OK, OK, don't kill me for the buyer's remorse part. That phase is over, but it was seriously a problem for a while. While I know that no horse will ever be the same as Spyder, I was expecting a lot. I just wanted Denali to like me, and he wanted the same back. We both tried so hard in the beginning to impress each other, and it was weird, awkward, and somewhat sad. I am not sure if I wrote in the whole story of how getting him and then not getting him and then getting him again went down, but I can post back that story. Dom alludes to it here.

Tacking this horse up, he'd shake. Quivering, I would assure him that I wasn't going to hurt him. He was head shy, and I could hardly touch his ears. Like Dom mentioned (and posted lots of photos), he needed some help. He saw the vet, then a combo vet/dentist/chiro/acupuncturist and that seemed to help him out. He LOVED the chiro work, and the dental work corrected his sharp edges (and HUGE mouth ulcer from it rubbing). Poor guy, he was feeling better once he woke up from the sedation. That is when I got to pluck his hair for the DNA test!

He's just thrilled.

He stands well to get on, and he is such a treat hog. We had a lot of issues from the start, though. He would be weird around the barn, he'd rear out int he big ring, he'd rear and pull to the barn, and even jig back to the barn. When back at the barn, he'd shoulder out to his paddock. JERK. These were the reasons for the buyer's remorse comments. Something had to change or I wasn't sure this was the right choice.

I had a lesson with the BO and she got us going FORWARD instead of UP. UP turned into BACK before it was FORWARD, but now we're FORWARD and on! It took a few lessons to get it right, but the last 5 or so rides have been forward and no up. After the BO got us going forward, I decided to take a lesson with Danny. "The Danny Lesson" as I like to call it is always interesting. He's a level III ICP certified instructor, and boy are his lessons intimidating. I figured, what could be worse than what I've been dealing with and so it happened. I was not with it at all. I was just fearing he'd go up again and that would be the end of the lesson. He had his moments of up, but leg on and not letting go was the answer.

Chiro/Dentist

Nothing was right, though. I wasn't sitting right, my hip wasn't right, my leg wasn't right, and so we had to sort through that before I could start. Next step was his steering, moving him off my leg, and keeping him moving. That was all turn into the fence and push off and go. Turn into the fence, go. I always feel like a cowgirl when I take a lesson with him. I'm glad he decided to put me in the round pen, and we certainly were not even good enough to come out of it for the duration. Once we got going, it got OK, but leg, leg, and more leg was tiring! Next, to fix his head tossing and my awful hands. I rode with a crop horizontal to the ground to keep my thumbs up. I had to pull back until the horse would give. I thought I was going to get punched off the horse with his head, but I stuck with it for over 10 minutes until he gave. UGH, finally. I'm sure if it were anyone else, it would have been 2 minutes, but I finally got it together and got to push with leg and could soften when he'd give. It got nice, and we moved to trot. Lesson learned, I am out of shape, suck at riding, and I need help.

Good news is, Danny didn't hate him. I'm sure he didn't love him, but he would tell you if he hated him... so I think that means he likes him? He's just OK in his eyes, I assume. He's got potential? Either way, I'm not trying to be a competitive rider (we're no where near being ready for anything other than trailering to get out and see things). I'm just trying to get somewhere (forward and not up and maybe slower), and if the competition arises from his ability (because we know it's certainly not mine), then we'll take it from there.

Hopefully I can get back to this blog thing so that I can keep updates coming. He's gotten so much better a lot quicker than I thought. I'm glad things turned around. :) I was waiting to post this to upload videos of my struggles, but I will save that for another post.

A New Journey

And so a new journey begins. Finding a horse to fill the shoes of Spyder has been difficult. It's been a lot of riding, a lot of phone calls, and a lot of annoying "horse people." People that want to lie, people that just want to unload, people that expect you to bring cash and the trailer to decide right then and there, and some, but very few people that care about where their horses end up. Horse people are just plain weird, aren't they? Summer is an awful time to look for a horse, and I knew if I could be patient, more would pop up in the fall. Chris was on board for me getting a new horse and expressed that before I could even bring it up.

I went on vacation shortly after Spyder passed (Glacier, Teton, Yellowstone, and Rocky Mountain National Parks), and mustangs were on my mind! I rode one before I left, but he sold while I was gone. I was upset about it, but I knew I couldn't be so excited about the first horse I rode. We went to a mustang museum/refuge type place and saw a ton of awesome horse hair items. I took some pictures and got the name so that I could eventually get Spyder's tail turned into something awesome. I was thinking a dream catcher since I always wanted one, and they had a nice example of one there. If anyone knows of any good people to turn horse hair into art, let me know! The mustang place was super cool and followed the lineage of a herd that has been there for over 200 years. I asked her all about the BLM and adoptions, but I wish they weren't so far. I got a cool shirt and a magnet to give them some money for annoying them with all of my questions. Click here to check it out - it's in "the middle of nowhere" which was most places in Wyoming.

I went back to SRF where Spyder came from and tried a few after I got back. Of course, it was just as hot as the 95 degree day that I went to meet Spyder on. This time was different, and I was wishing Dom was there still to help me pick one out. She did a great job at matching me when she was there before. I believe I rode 3, maybe 4. The first was the 3 year old I had been eyeing up, I liked him, he was never ridden under saddle, and I hopped on. He was obviously not sure what to do, but he was so very good. I rode another after him, a mare, and she had a bit of an attitude. After that, I rode another gelding that had a prior injury, and he was too uppity for me. I liked the 3 year old, but I sat on it.

I went home, and I thought, and I knew I needed to ride some more. I rode another mare that I liked, but I knew she'd be a lot of work to bring along. I scheduled a ride out to PA to check out another that I thought would be a great fit, and wen tot visit him. He was what I was looking for, but again, I knew I had to think about it. He had trail experience, but no ring work, so I wasn't sure I was up for that, either. I rode another from the barn that would be for sale come the end of a summer lease, and she was nice, too (rode her when one fell through to feel better that day). I just kept going back to thinking gelding, though. I did find a gelding that I went to see with the BO, but I passed on him so she could scoop him up because I thought he'd be better as a lesson horse. Thinking back, I think I rode others? I know I was over 10, but it feels like an eternity ago because I was trying so hard and talking to anyone and everyone that had something for sale. I had to look beyond a few because of dealers or bad connections. There is nothing in south jersey!

Anyways, the one that fell through came back around, and I had to tell myself that if it was meant to be, it would happen. It happened, and it's getting easier to stomach the idea of it all. I think that we're both trying so hard to please each other because we're both into getting the other to like us. He needs to settle, and I need to accept that it's not going to be the same. He's super cute, super friendly, and super willing to please. Your guess is as good as mine on what he is, and he's around 6 years old. I'll tell you his background in another post, but...

Meet Denali! :)

August 4th - his first day at the barn

Riding around the barn

His first bath at the barn