I was thinking the other day that I need to come up with a show name for Ace. His registered name is Ace Brown, which is thoroughly boring and completely forgettable. And since I can put whatever name I want on our show forms and USEF membership application, I need to change it!

I’m looking for something short, creative and classic that has a double meaning or something that makes you think twice about it. One, two words at the most.

And I could really use your help! Any ideas for us?

It’s been a horse-filled week, and I haven’t had much time to blog about my continuing adventures with Ace this week. I also spent a day at Quarter Horse Congress, mostly checking out vendors — which is exceedingly more dangerous now that I’m a horse owner.

Training Update

This week was the first that I finally started focusing on getting Ace up to speed in the saddle. We’ve continued to do our groundwork, primarily using the Parelli games, and he’s very responsive for most of it. He’s paying attention to me, moves off of pressure well, and focuses. Now we really need to work on transferring that knowledge to having a a rider on his back.

Tuesday we started out with some ground work. After a few days off, and free lunging before that, Ace seemed thrilled to be getting some attention and playing games instead of exercising so hard. He was very light and very responsive on the ground.

Plus I decided to finally try my good Crosby Prix De Nations close contact saddle on him. I hadn’t tried it yet because I was worried it wasn’t going to fit his high, long withers. I’d been using an old all-purpose saddle, that while a little wide, had a cut back pommel to give him some more wither room. But my saddle actually fit him perfectly. Because it’s narrower than the other one, it sat high enough on his wither without pinching or adding funky pressure points. Of course, it helps that his back has filled out significantly since I bought him, allowing for better saddle fit in general. So I was absolutely thrilled, because I was convinced I was going to be stuck buying a new saddle for him. But for now we look good and he is moving comfortably!

So anyways, it was nice to finally ride Ace in my good saddle. He’s still pretty dead to leg pressure and is a little hesistant to be very forward. I had Dave help me from the ground for a little bit with getting him to yield his hindquarters. He’s very good about it when I’m on the ground asking with the stick; but he hasn’t quite equated that with leg pressure yet. So with me asking from the saddle and an assistant on the ground, he started putting two and two together. We also worked around some cones on steering and bending. Instead of just weaving through, I circled the cones. And instead of just a normal bend, I tried to get him to yield his hindquarters as we went around the cone. And it worked wonderfully! He started moving his hind end away from my leg pressure and crossing his legs as he did so.

I also discovered that while he tends to travel with his hind end to the left when lunging, he goes straight when I’m on him.

Because we were so successful Tuesday, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to ride Thursday or Friday, I snuck out for a quick reinforcement ride on Wednesday before I had to head in to church. It was the first time I just got straight on him without doing groundwork first, and he handled it quite well. I alternated between trotting on the rail and walking circles and patterns through the cones. I’m slowly moving him up into more and more laps at the trot, both for conditioning and for training purposes. He has the best trot in the whole world! It’s very springy-floaty. He’s quite light on his feet. I find that I’m having an easy time posting or sitting, that it’s easy to keep my legs still on his sides, but that he still has that thoroughbred spring that I love. It’s hard to explain. Come visit me sometime and I’ll let you try it out for yourself.

Shopping At Congress

I spent almost all day yesterday checking out vendors at Quarter Horse Congress. Even though it was predominantly western, I saw stuff everywhere that Ace and I just had to have. I was pretty well behaved, though, and only came home with my very first cowgirl hat, a cactus cloth bathing mit, a bott knife, and some cute tall boot socks I found buy one/get one free at Stateline Tack.

One of my favorite stops of the day was The Australian Stock Saddle Company, where I got to meet the owner, Colin Dangaard. The company’s tagline is “Ride Like The Man From Snowy River.” As a sucker for good marketing, and for The Man From Snowy River (check out the poem this classic movie is based on), I was hooked. Collin was a blast to talk to, especially with the Aussie accent. We found out that he got into the saddle business because he’d actually worked as a writer on the Snowy River movie! How stinkin’ cool is that? I also decided that I have to have one of his saddles for trail riding. Not joking. I fully intend to take Ace out on the trail with Dave and Tracie, and even trailer away for some longer trips. And my little close contact jumping saddle is not going to cut it. These saddles are good leather, well-made, and are designed for all day riding.

Plus I want to be like Jim.

Fortunately, I don’t need one of the fancy, expensive ones and can get a comfortable, middle of the road saddle for around $600. That’s definitely on my wish list! If I’m smart, I’ll buy one at Equine Affaire in the spring or at Congress in the fall so that I don’t have to pay for shipping.

end of August

end of September

Look how well my boy has filled out in just one month! He looks so good. You can’t tell because of the light in this picture, but his coat is very shiny these days and he’s got some dapples on his hindquarters. Next step: build up some muscle!

And just because he’s cute:

Well, it apparently didn’t take long at all to convince my head-shy horse not to be … well, head-shy.

The first week Ace was at our barn, he’d jump a mile any time something moved around his head. With some steady work and constant attention, he’s settled down. I can do all kinds of thing around him now and he barely even blinks. He doesn’t mind the carrot stick/whip moving around his head much any more, and he certainly doesn’t mind random parts of my body waving. I can toss the rope over his head, or miss and land on his forehead, and he just looks at me like “what now?”

After a ground work session last night (which included a battle of wills as to who was really the boss, which I won for the most part), I decided to toss a saddle pad up on his back and see how he’d react. I didn’t even start gently. I threw it up there from several feet away, trying to get a reaction. He just turned his head towards me, one ear cocked, as if to say “Oh, what that supposed to bother me? Really, it’s JUST a saddle pad.” When I didn’t get any reaction, I tossed it all over from both sides, including on top of his head. And again, he just stood there with his ears pricked peeking out at me.

Judging from his non-reaction to the saddle pad, I’ve got a pretty good feeling that a saddle isn’t going to be much of a problem either.

I don’t think I’ll toss that on top of his head, though.

Not to Ace …  to me! I’ve had my horse for just six days, and I haven’t been able to go see him the last two days because I’ve been too sick. The injustice of it all!

I was getting the beginnings of a cold Tuesday, but it was just a runny nose so I went out and spent the evening in the barn anyway. Yesterday was miserable. Today was even worse. I’ve been coughing every time I move, which has ruled out working let alone playing at the barn. And it’s driving me nuts!

I keep telling myself that if I behave and take it easy, I’ll get better faster. It took all my willpower though not to drive out to see Ace when the coughing let up a little this evening.

I’m sure he’s doing just fine without me, but I so want to spend this time out there imprinting him with my image as his person. I want him to know that he’s mine. I think he’s figuring it out, but I don’t want to disappear for a few days at a time and leave him wondering.

Fortunately, my cough has finally broken up in the last hour or so. I think resting is paying off and I’m on my way back to being healthy. And no matter what, I will go out tomorrow to at least say hi, brush him a little, put some moisturizer on his dry feet, and give him a few cookies and some love. I have to be better by Sunday because my friend Hollie, who I met volunteering at the therapeutic riding farm, is coming out to meet Ace and Dave and Tracie and may start riding with us (Marahute needs a new girl now that I’ve kind of ditched her for my own horse).