Harness Training Update

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It’s been back to work for Mr. Banderas, the pony, for the last week.  This morning we practiced ground driving in the pasture.  This allowed more variety:   we navigated around trees, practiced turns and going over uneven ground.  So far, he has acquired these skills:

• Familiarity with the harness (although we are only ground driving in the surcingle currently) and an open bridle.
• Becoming comfortable with the lines flapping around hindquarters and legs
• Understands cues with lines run through the tugs.  (Tugs are the leather loops that will eventually hold the shafts of the cart.  They are attached to the surcingle.)
• Accepting contact with the bit…sometimes.
• Starting to understand WHOA and STAND, but not when the flies are out.
• Navigating more complex obstacles: through gates, over raised caveletti, making tight turns

We had quite a bit of trouble with Banderas turning to face me when I first started.  This has almost disappeared.  And I discovered today that a little forward motion (i.e. tap on the rear with the whip) goes a long way in stopping this before he can get the lines tangled around his neck.

He’s making good progress.  I definitely need to invest in a smaller cavesson as he’s gaping at the mouth to evade the bit and the current one is made for a pony with less delicate features.  He rushes through gates and gets much too strong if allowed so we need to continue to add some ‘western trail’ type of exercises to our ground driving routine to occupy his mind.  I’d like to add walking over a blue tarp to our next outdoor arena trip.  And, I think he’s getting close to being ready for the lines to go up through the rings, instead of the tugs and begin dragging some poles to simulate cart shafts.

I have also purchased a CD from Spookless.  It is the Show & Driving Edition and contains all sorts of different sounds that a horse might encounter on the road.  While I think it would likely be more the appearance of a fast moving car or bike that will be apt to frighten him than the sound, I thought this would be another way to add variety to our training and build his confidence before we set out on the road for some ground driving through the neighborhood.  Has anyone else used these or similar with success?

Hiro the Invisible

A more typical pose for the little Hiro. He’s teeny tiny and still a little nervous in his new surroundings. He likes to hide in corners where he feels safe and must think he is invisible. He’ll purr away while sitting on your lap, another favorite pose. His purr is LOUD; it’s funny to hear such a diesel engine coming from such a tiny kitty.

Hiro’s Welcome

I drove to a farm about 45 minutes away today to pick up a new addition to the Ranchette clan.  Welcome, Hiro, the newest addition to the Mouse Patrol.

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The picture doesn’t provide any perspective on just how tiny he is.  He fits in the palm of my hands.  He’ll stay in the tack room with milk and cookies, I mean kibble for a couple of weeks until gets acclimated to his new home.

George - MN Hooved Animal Rescue

image: Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Trainer’s Challenge. The Challenge has begun and horses and trainers have been paired up for the summer. So far, this good looking boy & his trainer are my favorite duo. He’s already been trailered to a local park to get familiar with trailering & new places and walked along the pretty horse trails at Carver Park Reserve. (Coincidentally Carver is one of my favorite places in the area for wildlife and flora photography.)

Check out the full list of horses and trainers, along with status updates, at the Trainer’s Challenge website: here.

All will reconvene September 13th to show off their new skills and compete for the cash prize. Good Luck everyone!

Update: Kara Myst’s trainer just posted a hilarious update from Sleipner Stables.  Looks like George will have some competition for my affections.   Check it out at the link above.

Last of the Mohicans

I’d noticed over the last month that Mr. Banderas, the Hackney Pony, in a never-ending quest to reach the last blade of grass under the wood fence, had been rubbing a section of his mane thinner. And thinner. And then, oh my god, one day. Bald. Pony Mohawk. Ready to join a Punk 80’s Band.

He looks a bit ridiculous. With the last of this stretch of hair gone, I began to worry that he’d actually been itching it off and dosed him up with Ivermectrin ahead of schedule and topped the mohawk off with a little MTG. Has anyone used the MTG (Mane Tail Groom)? Or any other recommendations?

Yesterday, Banderas returned to harness training and strutted his stuff around the arena. I think he’ll be ready to take some ground driving trips around the neighborhood soon. We haven’t had a single tangle up in the lines the last several outings. He chomps at the bit and will likely benefit from some side rein or side check training eventually as he tries to evade contact with the bit still.

Today was hoof trimmer day. In preparation, I free longed J, the Trakehner/Arabian gelding, in the indoor arena. I like to exercise him before the appointment. Old habits from the days when I used to base the multiplier factor to use when writing the farrier check on the number of times J tried to kick at her. He’s a good boy now but still, I’d hate to mess with a system that works.

Here’s a photographic attempt to catch him going over a barrel & side pole. My cellphone camera can’t keep up with fast motion. He looks a bit like a really really large weiner dog in flight.

Bellini on the Prairie

 

White peaches are in season.  The means two things: Bellinis and jam.  Since I’ve had no time to make jam and I had over a dozen white peaches languishing in my refrigerator, on Sunday I set about making peach puree in preparation for a nice refreshing Bellini later in the week.

The Bellini, a combination of peach puree and Italian sparkling wine, was first created at the delightful Harry’s Bar in Venice.  Arrigo Cipriani has this to say about proper Bellini tending in The Harry’s Bar Cookbook :

“Like so many things in ‘the good old days,’ making the white peach juice for Bellinis was a lengthy and tedious process.  We had a man who did nothing all day but cut up and pit small white peaches and squeeze them with his hands to extract the juice. 

…Never use yellow peaches to make a Bellini and never puree the peaches by machine…Use a food mill or meat grinder to make the pulp and then force it through a fine sieve.  If the peach puree is very tart, sweeten it with just  a little sugar syrup.  Refrigerate the puree until it is very cold.  Mix it with very cold, dry Prosecco in the proportion of 1 part peach puree to 3 parts wine.”

Since I did not have a man in the kitchen devoted to creating white peach puree for me, I pitted the ripe peaches (skins on) and smashed them through a wire collander with a potato masher.  Strain again through a fine sieve and chill.  Mix with some sparkly as directed above.

Now I think I’m going to order a Croque Monsieur and watch the gondolas go by.

Walking in Tall Cotton Now

Well, at least tall grass.  This is the height of the grass in the big pasture, the one on which I’m still trying to get the electric fence working.  Mr. Banderas, the Hackney pony, couldn’t believe his eyes.

The horses have had a nice 2+ week vacation while I’ve had my hands full with projects at work.  I hate to break it to them, but summer vacation is scheduled to end this coming week.

Splash One. . .

It started this winter with the business of The Accidental Vole. This spring Kato, the Grey Ninja, has quickly advanced to birds. Given how fast the barn swallows swoop through the barn and yard, I thought the one above, captured a few weeks ago, was an anomaly. The kitten didn’t really seem to know what to do with it.

Over the course of the last 3 days though the tack room had quickly turned into a gruesome cat snack storage locker: One small live frog kept in the corner as if the start of a kitten entertainment center. (Watch! It hops when I bat it with my paw!) One baby bird, no longer of this world. First one, then the following day a second, full grown barn swallow, also dispatched by the Ninja. (The parents?? - eeek, little birdy genocide!)

Is the kitten a hoarder? It’s possible she’s bringing them to her mother cat who’s been a little under the weather and losing the sight in one eye. The little body land mines were just too much for me last night. DH helped me clear out the carnage and lock the cats out of the tack room.

Food, water and cat beds have moved to an unused stall with a view where the kitten can store all the midnight snacks she likes.

It’s Good to be a Pony

Becoming That Crazy Lady in the Neighborhood

Ok, all I can say to explain is that I’ve been working too much lately. It made perfect sense to me when I ran home between appointments to just quickly throw the wellies on and turn the horses out in this outfit. Dressage whip extra special crazy touch. It occurred to me when the meter man arrived at the same time I was headed out back that this isn’t a particularly normal combination, even at Ranchette. I guess at least the boots match?