The Call Of The Open Desert

I am wasting no time this year. Got here late Saturday night. Unpacked on Sunday and got to work on Monday. My ponies and I are 'feeling the burn'. LOL

One of them is less than thrilled...

Oohhh, the little red hotrod is pretty sure he is not happy with this new work schedule. He is most definitely pouting in this picture. We had just finished an almost 2 hour ride...most of it spent trotting. Not that you could really tell because the little stinker barely sweated up. But, in spite of the lack of profuse sweat, he was most definitely a little on the tired side. He got to stand tied for a couple of hours and then we did some work around the barrel pattern. Luckily for him, he was a good boy and a whole lot less inclined to whinny for and fight to get back to his buddies. He actually paid a bit of attention to the barrel pattern. If he had still been acting like a turd, we was going to hit the desert for another big loop.

I'm telling ya, after spending these last few years working with 1/2 crippled, older, out-of-shape horses that give out fairly easily...I'm not sure if I'm tough enough to outlast this young, healthy, fit, energizer bunny of a horse. Luckily, LJ is an intelligent and willing little guy. He's not being a turd just to be a turd. He's just full of himself and has youth on his side. LOL

I generally start with the horse that I know is going to take the most time. That way I have several hours, if necessary, to spend making sure they get the time they need put on them before the end of the day.

The one horse I know that doesn't take very long is Jet. We work on a little Showmanship and I usually put 20-30 minutes of riding on him and he's done. But that is probably going to change now, because...

Jet is now an open-area riding horse.

Whooo-Hoooo!!!

The big guy has been to the desert twice now and has just been a rockstar. You'd think I have been riding this horse outside for weeks now. He just cruises along.

Jet is also starting his barrel patterning and he's fairly studious about it. He's actually pretty methodical about everything. If he sees something in the desert, he just stops and stares at it until he is satisfied and then walks/trots right on by it. I did have to laugh at him though. He stopped and stared at a black trash bag stuck on a bush and then walked right by it, even though it was fluttering in the breeze. However, he couldn't quite wrap his mind around the sofa someone (so kindly) dumped on one of my trails and decided that he was going to give himself a 10' buffer before passing that.

The other two goofballs...

Are doing pretty good too. Frosty's belly is pulled up and he is starting to look and travel a little more athletically again. I opted not to run him this week. I wanted to give him a few days of steady conditioning before our rodeo run this coming weekend. Frosty has been pulling pony horse duty with Shooter and he doesn't find that much fun. Shooter makes him work pretty hard because he stays right up beside Frosty the whole time and danged if it doesn't bring out Frosty's competitive spirit. Shooter has such a naturally long stride that when he trots he can easily outpace Frosty and Frosty has to bear down and really reach to stay even with Shooter. It's great for me!! I just get to sit there and let them long-trot race each other and they both get their workout. (Hahahahaha)

I haven't rode Shooter outside yet and it might be a little bit before I decide that it's a good idea to do so. Shooter has started throwing in these lovely, not-so-little bucks out of nowhere, but is especially prone to getting overly exuberant when he goes from a trot to a lope. I can ride them out and get his head up in the round pen, but I'm not so sure I would be able to if we was in the big, wide-open and he decided to do that. He's not really trying to be rank or even particularly naughty. It's more of a 'I just feel so darned good' thing. I'd just as soon not let him get the best of me though. Shooter is no dummy. If he figures out he can get me off...He might just to decide to get serious about it and then I would have a problem on my hands. Shooter isn't a youngster anymore. He's a big, stout, 6 coming 7y/o and he has no idea how powerful he is. I'd prefer he not find out. ;-). LOL