Rescuing Rusty

The wind was howling. The noise of it makes me a little crazy sitting in the house listening. The whistling through every crack and bushes scraping the side of the house make it hard to go outside. Dry storms blew through last night. Lightening sparking fires across the state.

But, there’s a chance Sunshine will be headed off on an adventure so I wanted to work with him. Bad weather is the perfect time for these things. As long as these things aren’t me trying to ride a young horse.

I brought him up into the ’round pen’. We have no facilities here. It’s a smallish pen without any roundness to it. Small enough I can almost work a horse in it. Not that I do much round penning, but I wanted Sunshine to be bale to move away from me. Just not too far away.

I got Rusty’s rope out. It’s small, light weight and easy to manage. Then let Sunshine in. I gave it a good swing and he was done. I always start with a bit too much. Maybe I should have done something less.

His mares left too. That was too much for him. He spent some time trotting the perimeter. I stood in the middle swinging the rope. If he looked at me, I stopped. He got to control the rope. It wasn’t long until he figured out the rules of this game.

Before my arm gave out, I’m not used to roping, he was coming over to investigate. Same rules still, he could stop me from moving the rope. He would approach. I would give him a cookie, pet him, hang out a bit. The I left. Swung the rope. Threw it in a direction away from him.

The sky was clear and blue over head. But I kept thinking I could feel drops of water hitting me. Just occasionally. Sunshine started flinching periodically too. He’d jerk then shake his head. There was a line of clouds up wind from us. It looked threatening, but there was zero chances of rain today. Not that we’d get it if there was a chance of rain. We have reached a point where we all are going to dry up and blow away. Checking the radar it showed a little rain in the line of clouds. The line way over there. The wind was blowing so hard it was blowing rain from the line of clouds way over there to us here under the blue sky. I suppose the people under the clouds weren’t getting anything.

We kept working through the water drops and head shaping. Soon he wanted to chew on the rope. To investigate it with his mouth. So I let him. It was Rusty’s rope after all. It was meant to be chewed on by a horse.

Soon Sunshine was grabbing it and handing it to me. I worked my way around his side until he was picking it up and handing it back to me. Almost as good as if I was on his back. Once it became a game the rope wasn’t scary any more. He was picking it up, shaking it, wiggling it around on the ground under his nose, and it was fun. When we can make the training we do a fun game that the horse is participating in and has control over then the training we do is no longer hard work or scary.

The clouds were getting closer. The drops coming more often. Sunshine was ding so good. It looked like a place to call it quits. He went from scared of the rope and running across the pen to avoid it, to playing with it and learning to pick it up off the ground without breaking a sweat and without me forcing him to stand and take it. He isn’t over his worry about ropes yet, but he made a huge step. By turning ‘serious’ training into trick training we made progress in leaps and bounds. He’ll be a great roping horse before you know it.

What type of roping is harder to say 😉

I had my saddle worked over. After getting it in the early 2000s sometime it has been working and going about life with really very little care from me. I feel a little guilty admitting that.

It has had some damage. There was the time Rusty took out the clothes line with it. The time Rusty hooked it on the trailer while unloading. It has had other wear besides damage Rusty did to it. Dragging calves, riding in mud and dust. Normal saddle wear.

So I took it to the lady with the new saddle shop in town. She was very nice saying nice things about it. She polished it up until it glowed. She made new bucking rolls custom to match my color preferences of purple and orange and my cinch of those same colors. They really are gorgeous with purple pin-striping and purple thread. She insisted that my latigos, the same ones that had been on the saddle for the last twenty years had seen better days and needed replaced. The whole thing was shiny and gorgeous and as good as new.

I couldn’t wait to try it on Sunshine.

As we were standing there talking when I picked up the saddle I said something along those lines. The lady said to be careful about putting it on colts. Don’t want to ruin a great saddle on a young horse. That’s silly I thought. I’m only putting it on Sunshine. He’s fine. It was one of those moments that hang in the air taking more space than they ought. Sticking with you as the day goes on.

Back home I rushed through the things i had to get done. That saddle was burning a hole in my mind. I had to see how pretty it was on my horse.

Finally I was able to get away. The warm day meant I could get out there still at dusk. Sunshine was happy to come in and work. Even if he spooked a little walking through the yard to the trailer. We have been working on the other side of the house and he hadn’t been back that way in a couple weeks.

She had polished up the rear cinch and put a new connector on. I thought I should probably make sure Sunshine was used to a rear cinch. I’m too lazy to use one regularly. So I left it on as I saddled.

That new latigo on the near side was shiny new and stiff. I snugged it up, but not too tight. Still trying to figure out new settings to get the cinch just right.

Then I untied him so I could let him circle and not beak leadropes or my trailer if the rear cinch bothered him when I fastened it. I have spent lots of time getting him used to ropes everywhere and He’s kind of going under saddle. It shouldn’t be a big deal. But, better safe than sorry.

As I loosened the lead and asked him to step away the rear cinch brushed the back of his front leg and Sunshine exploded. I was between him and the trailer. Luckily he went the other way. Those tight places scare. Watching him leap and kick and buck I also saw the saddle with the not so tight cinch working further and further up over the withers.

My saddle. My saddle that felt like a brand new saddle after all the work done. He was going to destroy it before I ever even got a picture. Holding tight to the lead I managed to circle him. He spun and spooked and finally held still a little. The saddle was still on his back. At least partially. It was just as much on his neck as his back. But. It wasn’t underneath him being kicked to pieces or drug through the gravel.

Easing up on his right hand side I debated what to do. Reaching for the stirrup caused him to shy and pull away. Slowly slowly I stroked his neck and worked my way down his neck to his shoulder until I could touch the saddle. He stood still quivering and sweating. The shiny new strap was holding tight. If I could undo that I could get the rear cinch off. Knowing that underneath this big spooky horse who didn’t think he had ever been saddled before was my brave quiet well behaved horse I normally ride and work with I held the lead tight to keep his nose towards me, which hopefully means the hind legs will be away. I reached under his belly and fumbled at the latch. Luckily the new smooth leather unhooked easily in my hands. I suspect a bit f help from God because those types of latches never come undone easily. With that loose the buckle came off easy and he was free.

From there we worked on calming enough that I was able to undo the cinch and work the saddle back into place. A whole lot more slack got pulled out of the latigo as I tightened it as much as I could. Then we spent the next hour learning how to be a horse again. I grabbed my rear cinch and touched his front legs to make sure my theory about the cause was correct. He tucked tail and bolted. In a circle as I held him tight but let him move his legs. We worked with the cinch. We traded that out for a long cotton rope. We worked on having legs touched. On his belly. On roped around his belly, under his tail, around each leg. Worked on reminding him of all these things he already knows.

Should I have kept pressing even though I knew he was just having a day and this was not my normal horse? I did debate that as we went. In the end I decided that we needed to figure out how to deal even on bad days and that he could not be left with the memory of the spook. We needed to find a place where he could soak on the memory of it not being awful.

When he was finally calmer. Licking and chewing as he got over the stress. Not giving huge flinches when the rope touched him. We stopped. We went to the pedestal and played. He happily offered all four feet up on the small pedestal. That was a first for him and I didn’t ask for it. He thought about it and tried. I just rewarded. This was my horse back again.

Back to the trailer I held him as I unsaddled. Ready to grab for the saddle if he should spook. He stood mostly quiet. I turned him loose to graze.

Lessons learned? Non really. It wasn’t like he hasn’t had all the ground work. He’s normally a steady well behaved horse. You never know when some strange thing is going to set a horse off. That is why we are always careful no matter what.

Today I will saddle him with a different saddle. At first at least. Work again on touching those legs. Make sure we have more good memories to over lay the bad.

My saddle is still gorgeous. There were a few normal scuffs added from ropes flopping about. The dust he raised means it is no longer as sparkly. But the most important thing is that it is still in one piece! And so is the horse. and so am I.

It’s been a few days since I worked with a horse. A few days since I had any desire too.

The missing of Rusty has been strong. Why bother to go play with a horse when it isn’t MY horse. Yes, Sunshine is wonderful, beautiful, willing, and nothing but Sunshine and rainbows. He should probably be a unicorn. But I always liked darker fantasy. I liked my demon pony.

The weather has been bad. That didn’t help. And everyone home for longer than just the weekend. That means it was really since Wednesday that there was a great opportunity.

Today the wind is howling again. But it’s warm. I’ve been busy with the cows as they start calving. But, an object in motion tends to stay in motion. So I kept going and played with Sunshine.

And you know what? I feel so much better for just getting out and doing it. Isn’t that how life usually goes? We put thing off and put them off. We sit around and don’t want to get up. We putter inside and don’t want to go out. But when we do. When we force ourselves to get going to work on the thing. It usually makes everything seem easier.

Sunshine and I had a great play. He was floating away again. My magical little unicorn pony.

The dog was even inspired. He leapt, she leapt. We all played.

After debating it for literally months I finally gave in and bought myself the gorgeous horse hair mecate I’ve been wanting.

It took a lot of debating. Do I want to order a bright colorful one online? I’ve been drooling over those for years. But what color? There were too many options. The switch from purple to blue with the recent unwanted switch in horses was what convinced me to go with traditional browns. I want them to work with the color palette of more than one horse!

The tack store in our nearest big town carries a gorgeous supply of very nice quality tack. She had a pair from The Colorful Cowgirl on hand. Just not one of her colorful sets. I felt it, stroked it, and generally drooled every time I went in. If I wasn’t going to go with color I might as well just go get that one. Now that I am actually, finally, using my bosal on Sunshine instead of his halter. I couldn’t justify the beautiful reins if I was riding in a halter. That may be the thing that made me finally switch 😉

I did not get that pair in the end. Set? It feels like reins are plural. Is a mecate also plural? Hmm. The dilemmas we face in this world. But, I did get the other pair she had on hand. They were slightly shorter. Slightly firmer,. Just as gorgeous. The poor lady who owns the tack store. We sat for a very very very long time while I debated which set to get. I brought my bosal in. We tied it on. We compared and thought and talked about it forever. She was very patient. It had taken me months to decide to get the one set. She’s lucky it only took me hours to chose between the two.

Today was the first day of riding in my birthday present to myself. They felt amazing. So much less scratchy than it seems like horse hair would be. Soft, pliable, and with considerable weight I don’t think he rode any different in them than he does in my trusty old nylon mecate. That one was a birthday present too? Maybe. I was some sort of present from my mother way back in highschool. And I do love them. But. Horsehair.

I can’t wait to keep using these. Sunshine is coming along nicely. And he looks even prettier than usual decked out in his new finery.

I enjoy it when my horses have strong opinions.

Sometimes they are telling me there are things they don’t want to do. Even better are the times when they are telling me there is something else they want to do instead 🤣

But if you teach your horse to rear isn’t that just asking for trouble? Wont he do it while you’re riding?

Well yes, it is a very real concern.

Like here where Sunshine is confused or unwilling. He offers a behavior that is well rewarded when I’m on the ground. It isn’t a full rear. More of a school halt, weight fully on the hind quarters, one leg in the air. It is something I will want him to do while I’m riding. Eventually. Right now it was not what I was after.

A behavior that is not rewarded will not be repeated.

The trouble people get into with that is that we tend to think that a reward has to be something we intend as a reward, a cookie or a good job pat. Anything the HORSE finds rewarding is a reward. In this case that would have been getting to stand still or me getting off of him. There are a number of things that could have been a reward here.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction that will put a stop to the unwanted behaviors.

So we needed to find something that I did want him to do that made his little up he offered there impossible. Like walking in the other direction. So we turned and walked and rewarded him for that. The little attempt at a rear was left behind, no big deal made of it. Something that made rearing impossible. And he got a big reward for that.

I spent a very long time with Sunshine today.

We played out in the great wide open. Under the skies so blue. Is anyone singing along with me yet?

Sunshine was not a rebel, with or without a clue. He was a very good boy.

He did his sky hook routine. Offered some lovely canter departures. Then we rode. It was a very brief ride. When he is unsure he likes to freeze up. Once he is comfortable again we get movement again. That is on the ground or in the saddle.

While he was great today on the ground, as soon as I got on he wasn’t sure about moving. We did walk a little bit. Mostly he wanted to explore the semis parked there behind the camera. I did not want to play there. After just two minutes I got off. And that was a very good ride. He did great, didn’t get upset about anything. Now he has something to dwell on and I bet he will be a lot more forward nest time.

Then we went back to the usual arena. Our driveway.

I tied and retied the reins on my bosal. Found a fit that seems decent. Then got back on again in the bosal. He wasn’t sure about that either. I get it. Who likes change? But we worked a bit. I’ll keep fiddling and he can keep thinking about it. Hopefully we can get switched to the bosal soon. It sure looks prettier than a halter 😉