Perry's Seventh Week of Training

 

Sunday, July 16 (Kelsy)  Day  43

 

Today Ches wanted to take Bear over to the river, so I decided that Perry would be a good match to go with him because I knew she would lead into the river first if need be. On the way out we worked on bouncing and stopping. Since we worked on it in the arena I thought it would be good to work on it out in the open and on the trail as well.  Ches and Bear would trot out ahead of us and Perry would have to walk. If she couldn’t walk on a long rein I would bounce on her until she stopped (which she did promptly almost every time). All this time I’ve been trying to find ways to have her walk on a long rein when horses leave her and this is what finally works best!

 

On the road heading to the river two dogs ran out at Perry and Bear. Ches and I yelled at the dogs to go home and they reluctantly went back up their driveway. Perry said she was ready to lead the way to safety when the dogs jumped out, she had heard about Stuey’s bear training. But she did listen to my cues and only scooted off a few feet. We finally made it to the river and Perry bravely led the way into the moving water (splashing and getting me all wet). Bear and Perry got to walk up and down the river a little bit while playing in the water and getting a drink. On the way home there's a large hill we normally run up, but today I made Perry walk up on a loose rein just to change things up. She was fine with walking up it instead of going full steam ahead, even as Bear cantered away.

 

Now came the part that I am very proud of. When we got back to our hayfield Ches and Bear went cantering across it to home. This is normally when Perry gets worried, when other horses get between her and home or leave her when she’s headed home. Today she walked on a long rein all the way home without having to have any reminders at all!  I guess the bouncing and stopping game pays off in more than one way. 

Monday, July 17 (Kelsy) Day 44

 

Mom, Patti (a friend) and I headed out for the track today. Mom rode Stuey, and as Ches says, the mental capacity of both siblings goes down just a tiny bit when you ride them together. But overall Perry was good. We practiced that when I bounce, even in a big open field, she needs to slow down to a walk. We worked on walking when the other two horses got ahead and also cantering ahead of them and being the brave leader.  I also confirmed that when I fall forward onto her neck she needs to stop. In the arena she is good at it but out in the field things change--her buddies and home are more important in her mind than me falling off. Perry and I spent a good chunk of time working on that. If I laid on her neck and she didn’t stop then I would stop and back her without sitting up. She never got this 100 percent because her mind was busy thinking about other things, but it did get a lot better.

 

We then went and trotted up the elk trail a couple of times. Each time she was expected to walk down it on a long rein. If she couldn’t then I would stop and back her up the hill until she took a soft relaxed step. At this point Mom and Patti wanted to continue to ride but I needed to head back to the house. Perry had to leave her buddies and head for home alone. She only stopped and spooked a couple of times (mostly because she wanted to get back to her friends) but was easily convinced to keep going and made it home nicely.    

Tuesday, July 18 (Kelsy) Day 44

 

As I was heading out to the barn to ride Perry I remembered that her soon to be new owner (Linda) was coming to take a lesson on her, and I didn’t want to work her too hard. So I grabbed the sidepull and my helmet and headed down to the field where she was eating with all her buddies.  Of course she was easy to catch. I took off her fly mask and put on her sidepull, jumped on and off we went. I thought she might be kind of sticky riding around her friends while they were eating, but she was very workman like. We trotted in and out of the herd, coming and going away from her friend’s and circling trees. Mostly just silly little stuff to get her steering and stopping a little sharper. It was a short ride, but we accomplished plenty. 

Wednesday, July 19 (Kelsy) Day 45

 

Our friend Jessie came back for a few days this week, which meant we had three riders instead of two to get horses ridden. Ches just got another baby to start and had only ridden him once the day before, but today she wanted to take him out of the roundpen for a real ride. Jessie rode Stuey and I rode Perry so that the new guy (Jim) would have some other horses to show him the ropes. When I went to put Perry’s sidepull on she wouldn’t let me touch her ear, meaning I couldn’t put the sidepull on. I have no idea why all of a sudden she decided not to want her ears touched. When she first came in June she didn’t like them being touched, but after the first week here she hasn't had any issues. I put the sidepull aside and put her halter back on so that we could work on me being able to touch her ears. I would gently try to rub her ears and if she started to wing her head away then I’d have her move her hindquarters in a few circles and try touching her ear again. Perry and I spent about five minutes working with her ears, and just when it seemed that maybe it was time to try something different she took a deep breath and let me touch both her ears inside and out. We then went back in the barn and got her sidepull on and joined Stuey and Jim for a ride.

 

Perry played leader of the pack all the way around the track at a walk, trot, canter, and gallop (Jim is 16 hands tall so he has a big canter stride, Perry had to move fast to keep ahead). Because Jim was going well Ches wanted to take him on the elk trail, so off we all went. On the way over to the elk trail Perry and I fell to the back of the group and let everyone else trot and canter away from us and then come back. She was very good about the other horses going ahead and running past. When we got to the little bog Perry again went in the lead so Jim would have a tail to follow across. Because we are who we are (slightly crazy), instead of just following the nice clear trail up the hill Ches points to a path a rabbit had been on once four years ago. So Perry and I led the way up the rabbit trail with Jim right on our tail (he definitely thought we were crazy). Perry of course was oblivious to the brush, sticks, and things and marched right up the steep hill. Only a couple of times did she look over her shoulder at me and say, “are you sure?" After hanging out at the top of the hill for a few minutes to let Jim and Stuey catch their breath (Perry never gets out of breath), we led the way down a much clearer trail and headed home.

Thursday, July 20 (Kelsy) Day 46

 

What do kids do when they go to summer camp? Play with their friends, hit the trail, learn new things, and go swimming, right? Being as it was 85+ degrees outside (hey we live in Washington so that’s hot!), our group of three headed for the river to go swimming. I thought Perry would like to go swimming on a hot day (I know I wanted to) because she always likes playing in the river. I should warn everyone that when we swim we ride the horses over to the river in shorts, flip-flops and ride bareback bareback. This makes getting through the wooded trails and stinging nettles kind of interesting. But today I made it all the way without getting stung or scratched (good girl Perry).

 

I let Perry wade around in the deep water as my body adjusted to the glacier cold water. She was way into splashing and bouncing around in the water. Jessie was riding Pippin who was our fearless leader because he’s been swimming a lot and is a good at it. Pippin and Jessie headed off swimming first, followed by Stuey, and then Perry and I last. Perry was so funny! Most of the horses keep the upper part of their neck out of the water, but not Perry. The only thing sticking up was her head, and just barely. But she kept on swimming along slowly. We went back up the river and swam down it again. This time for some unknown reason Perry just stopped swimming in the middle of deep water. Then of course her ears ducked under water for a moment which prompted her to swim for shallower water, shaking her head all the way. We kept swimming and sometimes for no reason at all she would just stop swimming and then get water in her ears (it only happened three times). Then she’d be all unhappy about her ears. I kept telling her that if she kept swimming that wouldn’t happen, but I don't think she listened to me. Finally I picked a stick off a nearby tree and whenever she started to slow down her swimming I hit the water with the stick and she’d start going again. The stick worked and she didn’t get any more water in her ears. But overall, besides the water in her ears, I think Perry enjoyed swimming and it felt good to cool down. 

 

Side note: we really wanted to get pictures of the siblings swimming, but our camera wasn't available.

Friday, July 21 (Kelsy) Day 47

 

It was over 100 degrees here today, that’s not an exaggeration. It was just WAY TOO HOT! Ches, Jessie and I decided to go over on the other side of the creek, where at least it is shady, and play hide and go seek tag on horses. Jessie rode Perry, Ches had Stuey, and I rode a little QH mare I have in training (Kali). Perry and Kali are best friends, so that made things a little more interesting for Jessie when she had to hide. Playing any kind of tag on green horses can be funny to watch because at speed they don’t turn or stop so sharp. Now add in the fact that we are playing along brushy trails... someone should have had a video camera. All the horses were fairly good minus some steering issues. I did see Jessie and Perry going flying into the bushes a few different times. Perry didn’t like hiding because that meant standing by herself, and we all know Perry’s not good at that. At the end Jessie goes, “she doesn’t like standing huh? I’d bend her and then she’d stand for
point two seconds and go back to doing mini rears.” We played about four different rounds of hide and go seek tag. No one fell off but we now have a bunch of scrapes from being run through trees and brush (laughing the whole time). At the end we told all the horses that “old folks” don’t like running at mock eight on trails, so they all need to forget our little afternoon of games. Perry says that’s how all trail rides should be, chasing your friends through trails and the creek at almost a gallop.

 

Go to Perry's Eighth week of training (new website)

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