Chrome Ride 140 - 100 Ride Challenge Ride 26

 I rode bareback for an hour and thirty four minutes right before dusk tonight so the pictures are crap because my cell phone is cheap... crap lol.  I just rode around the yard, but was able to ride through the trees, over logs, etc.  We didn't have to stay on the driveways.  I'm glad it's finally drying up.  We also did quite a bit of walk/trot transitions.  We have to add duration and trotting at some point.  If I keep babying him with these walk only thirty minute rides his stifles and fitness aren't going to improve.

Chrome watching Big Bang Theory on my parent's TV 

through the screen door while I talked to them.

I bought that wind chime for mom and it sounds so pretty!

We had a minor discussion about walking through a wet patch of ground that looked like water/gaping black hole of death to him that nearly involved my knee being crushed on a tree.  Luckily he eventually walked through it and we were both unharmed.

I hadn't intended on riding so long, but my farrier texted me saying she was on her way to pick up something since she was in the area.  By the text I thought she meant she was on the way... After riding for about forty minutes I asked her when she'd be there and she said in about twenty minutes.  About forty minutes later she finally showed up lol.  So she wasn't really in the area, but I was on her way home... oh well.

 While working on standing still (he started with an F, but eventually

 earned an A) I noticed he has two whorls (one on each side) behind his ears... cute!

I got bored while we were standing still and started trying to take selfies.  This is the first time I've managed to get a mounted one I think.

 Then I started taking pictures of his mane because I think it's so cute how one side grows in white and the other grows in a mix of white and black.  It makes it look dark on one side and light on the other.

 White side.

Darker side.

That's also what causes this cool effect....

Picture from the last ride.

Dark near the crest and white tips.  I love his mohawk.  It's so cool!  :D

So yeah... not much to talk about.  Lots of standing around, walking around and walk/trot transitions.  Other than the discussion over the wet spot on the ground it was uneventful.  He did try the turning around thing on the driveway again, but it was minor.

Oh.. there is one other thing... but it has to wait until tomorrow because I have video and I'm too tired to upload it tonight... so cliffhanger!!  Goodnight!

Chrome Ride 139 - 100 Ride Challenge Ride 25 - Solo Ride

Today was our first solo ride on the roads for the year!  Other than the really obnoxious balking he did really well.  He started out balking because he didn't know why Rocky wasn't coming.  Once he got to the neighbor's driveway he got over it and started walking out.  Then we rode by the neighbor horses and he started balking again.  He walks fast toward other horses and balks while walking away from them.  It is so annoying!!  I'm going to have to start carrying a whip again.  He gets over this eventually.  Or he did last year anyway.

We went a total of one and a half miles.  He ignored the neighbor horses across the road.  He stared at the neighbor horses down the road (the ones where they freaked out on their first road ride when Rocky went with us and we had to get off) and didn't even act up when they cantered up to the fence and then followed us.  As we got close to our turn around spot on the hill he realized there are new horses he's never seen and he sped up his walk (which is so annoying when he'd been balking.... grr...).  He was listening and only walking until one neighed.  Then he tried to jump into a trot, but listened when I told him to walk.  He neighed at them twice.... also annoying.  He's never really been a talker to other horses and I liked that.  I think a lot of the issues were just because it's been so long since we've gone out solo.  He was getting wound up so I just turned around and headed home.  We will face the new horses again another day.  So that's two roads with new horses.... that leaves only one road without new horses.... I swear there are horses every quarter mile in our neighborhood.  I counted them once and there were over 25 in a less than four mile area... now there's more!  Yet NO ONE RIDES!!!  What the heck??  Well B across the road rides obviously, but no one else does...

 Hubby snapped a couple of pictures before we headed off down the road.

He looks butt high, but he's not.  It's the road.

 A further out shot to show the pretty greenery.

Closer up.  He's so awkward lol.

His stifle was catching a lot today which made me sad.  It was only doing it when he stood still and then walked forward.  It didn't happen while we were out on our ride.  To be on the safe side I didn't trot him at all.  I have to be consistent with walking him everyday even when I don't ride because the daily exercise I really think is what made the difference.

Also I decided to measure him because it's been a long time.  He is 15 hands, two inches and 5/16ths of an inch!  So he grew 5/16ths of an inch.  :)  That's after a fresh trim too.  Obviously that's just his withers.  A horse's withers are the last bones to finish growing, so that's why they can add height as late as seven.

During the ride, to keep from getting bored, I was working on my posture.  I just left the reins laying on his neck almost the whole time (well I did when he wasn't trying to turn around while balking).  I realized that when I'm focusing on keeping my heels down and my shoulders back I over arch my back and freeze my hips.... oops!!  So I was focusing on correct legs and shoulders, while also tucking my pelvis and letting my hips move with his motion.  Oh and I did a really good job of not looking down!  All the practice I've been doing off the horse with that has definitely helped (I've been working on not staring down while walking because of the slipped disc in my neck which is doing great by the way! No nerve pain at all anymore!).  It was all hard work and my abs were burning by the time I got off.  I'm so out of shape and I've been using my over arched back as a way of not using my abs... oops.

Now that I have this new job I'm really, really, really hoping we can fix the trailer and I can start taking lessons again, so I'm going to keep working on my posture a lot, that way we can focus on him in the lessons and not all of my bad habits haha.  Maybe I'll have hubby get a video of me riding sometime to show the difference of when I'm arching my back and when I'm not.  I would also like to see what I'm feeling if that makes sense.

Anyway I'll quit rambling.  I hope you guys are having great spring weather with lots of riding!

Chrome Ride 138 - 100 Ride Challenge Ride 24

I wasn't expecting to have anything to write about for this ride because it was a simple bareback, in a halter, for only twenty minutes ride.  However.... there is something I want to mention.  In a second. ;)

I got off work, hopped on Chrome bareback and started working on teaching him to turn on the forehand, but his stifle locked up.... I was so disappointed.  That's the first time it has locked since his trim.  I haven't been consistent with his exercises lately though because of the rain, so maybe that's it... or it could be because the last ride was so long.

I was so disappointed that I gave up on trying to teach him anything new and asked hubby if he would open the front gate so I could just ride up and down on the road in front of the house.  The ground is too wet to ride anywhere but on the road or driveways and the driveways get very boring.  He decided to walk Rocky with us because his back is too sore to ride (busy day at work).

So we walked up and down the road.  Chrome was walking really big, happy to be out, looking for the horses, enjoying himself.  I was relaxed and enjoying myself.  I kept noticing that he was staring off into the neighbor's field.  I thought he was just staring at the horses, because he was looking in that direction, but he was so intent.  I started staring in the direction he was looking and finally heard something.

It sounded like people talking and I thought it was the neighbor girl over at her barn, but then a truck pulled into view.  A guy was standing in the back of it holding a rope, yelling at the driver.  We had just made it to our driveway so I stopped Chrome and watched them.  Then I saw the horse.

They had a totally wound up, excited, freaked out horse behind the truck with a lariat around it's throat.  No halter or rope.  They were basically dragging it down the road because it wouldn't follow and wanted to go to the neighbor horse.

The horse finally got back on the road and started following them at the trot.  He kept trying to bolt up beside the truck and the guy was yelling at him to slow down and the driver to speed up.  They were coming our direction pretty fast with the horse trotting down the asphalt with his head and tail in the air.  Chrome was just staring, but I knew that wouldn't last.

Hubby opened the gate and got Rocky inside and I followed, then I did the only sane thing in the situation and got off even though I'd only been riding eleven minutes at that point lol.  We watched them drive by.  Chrome was really excited and tried pushing into the gate, but I scolded him and he stood still.  Once they were out of sight and I'd scraped my jaw off the ground (shocked at how dangerous they were being), we led the horses back down the driveway.  Chrome was trying to trot and be a dork, but he listened when I told him to knock it off.

By the time we got back to the car he was calm and I was able to climb up on the bumper and hop back on.  I decided to play it safe and just rode on the driveways for the rest of the ride.  I did quite a bit of walk/trot transitions up and down the driveway and his stifles didn't give out so the ride ended on a good note.  :)

You just never know what is going to happen with horses... especially when combined with stupid people lol.