New Camera

I have had a yearning now for a decent camera to use in Colorado. The mobiles simply can't begin to convey the views here and I am so fed up of washed out, poor quality shots all the time.

I contacted a local camera shop who have a consignment and secondhand section. I didn't want to buy one from the internet as there is no come back or support afterwards, we knew we would pay a little more from the shop, but that was ok as long as we could get a good deal.

We popped into Englewood Camera shop and it was meant to be a pretty quick in and out. Of course, it didn't work that way. The assistant was super helpful and showed us three different cameras. He talked through the ups and downs of each and which one would be best suited to my needs. I am a total beginner so wanted something simple to use, but something I wouldn't be frustrated with in six months or so either. Eventually we chose a Canon EOS 60D, plus a great zoom lens, camera backpack, memory card etc. Fully kitted out, I couldn't wait to get out and have a play!

My Gorgeous Boy x

The next day we hiked Lair O' the Bear park in Kitteridge and took my new camera. I had a wonderful time snapping away and although I have huge amounts to learn, I got off a few lucky shots. Its a wonderful camera and such a beautiful area that I am excited to see what I can start to get shots of!

Our next trip is a longer road trip to Moab, Utah. We are stopping over in Glenwood Springs for a night then onto Moab for a few days after that. I should be able to get some great photos during the trip and it will be our first time out of state since we arrived! Super excited- Red Rocks here we come!

Horse Disciplines USA

Horse Shopping here is pretty different from the UK. In the UK most horses marketed are either 'Happy Hackers' or English ridden (be it show, dressage etc). Then there are a few off the track. They all ride pretty much the same. They all have similar training- some more, some less and most are handled pretty kindly and trained using a mix of +R and -P.

I have seen a real difference here in the US. Here is a short list of the types we have had through the barn so far and the ones you see listed on Craigslist too. I am sure there are exceptions on both sides and I don't want to cause offense to anyone as the following is a huge generalization.

Please feel free to correct me about anything I have been incorrect about- I am sure there is plenty!

Barrel Racers
Not the easiest retrain, Usually have been ridden with huge long shank bits and yanked around by competitive riders. Think big spurs and hard kicks. They are often quite good on the ground but impatient and fast under saddle. There are a few at the barn that are now trail horses but they can still be joggy and unsettled in their mouths.

Roping Horses
Quite a few of these seem to have been badly treated, again many have been yanked around with long shank bits, usually quite un spooky but very nervous on the ground from rough handling. Some are well loved of course too! These are the horses you are most likely to come off the side of them- boy they can change direction damn fast!

Amish Horses
These are usually very safe under saddle/ being driven depending on what they were trained for, sometimes both. The methods that 'some' of the amish use are really harsh. The horses are usually very well mannered but totally shut down on both the ground and under saddle. These guys make me very sad.

OTTBs & OTQHs
The Off the Track TBs & QHs are my personal favorite. They have nearly always been ridden and handled by professionals so have the nicest ridden training, certainly as far as english goes. They do understand rein aids but tighten both reins at once and don't release quickly at your peril! They respond very well to weight shift for go and whoa and are usually nice and forward. Normally have to learn about mounting and slowing their paces.  They are usually some of the fizziest and trickiest on the ground as haven't needed to 'walk' in hand or been led on both sides.

Summary
Very few of these guys know how to lunge or how to 'ground drive'. Some of them will round pen ok. Most need a lot of desensitization, on different things depending on their history. Some have been beaten with whips or lines or pitch forks. Some (esp ottbs/ otqh) just haven't seen an indoor school or normal life away from the track.

Retraining is different with each horse, some of the horses are happier sticking with Western style and some English. Some happily do both (most would I am sure if the riders are good enough).

I would love to see some 'proper' trainers and riders working with these guys. There are some fantastic resources from the web which are invaluable for restraining, esp for ex racers. One of the best is http://www.retiredracehorseproject.org. There are some great training videos etc.

Wonderful Update!

Yesterday I received this wonderful message! It made my week. I am so, so happy :)

Hi Gemma, Just saw your post on the Colorado Sporthorses group. Wanted to say a quick hi! I was one that tried Ruff Cut when you were out riding him. Just thought I'd let you know he is loving his new home! He's already been used in a few walk trot lessons, and his canter departures are coming along nicely with our instructors on him. He's gaining weight and is such a sweet heart. He lives in a paddock with Red, and Macho from FOH and one other hard to keep TB. So they get fed hay 4 times a day. He loves his buddies, and his turn out time in the big arenas. I know it must be tough to see your favorite projects disappear, especially like we did where we took him out from under you! So thought it would be nice to give you an update.
If you're ever in Littleton area feel free to come visit.

RCs new home

A Rocky Road

No, not the cake kind although that would be nice too!

This is about my newest project at FOH. His name is Rocky and he is about five or six I think. He arrived at the rescue centre as a surrender from his previous owner. I don't know a lot about him except that he was being trained as a racehorse. He looks more quarter horse than tb to me as he is really very chunky so I suspect that he was training for QH races over here. However, before he could complete his training, whilst being shod, he apparently ended up with a nail straight through his frog. I think there must have been complications/ infection as he ended up in a field for four years until he arrived last week at the rescue.

He is being stalled (stabled) there and is very quiet and happy in his stall. I went in and spent some time in his stall getting to know him before I brought him out for the first time. In the round pen he was quite tense and jumpy so I just spent some time doing some quiet in hand work. We didn't do much as he wasn't in the right place mentally to do much more than react rather than learn so I just wanted him to get to know me a bit and see what he is like with ground stuff. He is very inquisitive and affectionate but he is a strong, big lad and will need nice, clear boundaries too. We finished the session with a groom which he really loves.

Butter wouldn't melt...

The next session I only had access to the indoor arena as the round pen and all outdoors was cover in a foot or so of snow. Again, he sparked up the moment he left his stable. The indoor arena had another horse being lunged so it was good for him to work around another horse. He was very alert again and on edge and we just walked round in hand for quite a long time. The window in the arena was a big draw for him to spook at but also to be fascinated by. Again there wasn't much point in trying to 'work' him yet as he is very unsettled but we did do some basic moving from pressure stuff, turning etc. He doesn't understand being led from his right hand side. I have seen this with a HUGE amount of the ex racehorses over here so we worked on this today too, sandwiching the tough side with the easy sides for him. A little desensitization too but this is more helpful in his stable where he is less reactive at the moment. After the other horse left we did a few more bits in hand and then I wanted him to be able to run for a bit and just have a chance to view the new surroundings in his own way. I allowed him a while of just being silly, running, bucking, farting- as they do. After a bit, when he started to try to hang around the gates in, I started asking him to pay some attention to me. Moving him forward when I wanted him to- asking for more speed and then less. This work is the bit I have found just fascinating with the horses here. That without any prior training you can have them responding to body language and you. He did great and basically popped himself on a circle around me, working in trot and canter and whoa too. He is a bright horse and really responds well to people but is probably by far the greenest horse I have handled here. I think he needs time seeing the farm first without too much pressure to work but also with an understanding that he needs to listen and respond to his handlers. Once back in his stable I wanted to see how he was with feet being picked up. He had no response to the usual cues so I moved him to be able to shift his weight onto the other side so he had no choice but to allow that foot to be lifted- timing is everything! Once I had his foot he didn't want me to keep it for more than a seconds and tried his best to tug it away and wave it around. I kept a hold on it until he relaxed which didn't take long at all and then let him have it back. We finished with a grooming session and he was super chilled by the time I had finished with him.

I am sure lots of the people at FOH think I am super slow and pretty weird at times. I think they would have been on him by now to see how he reacts but everything about him tells me he is far from ready for this. Even when he is ready I think he will need a total reback and someone to be able to get on him with me on the ground. From what I have seen so far - I won't be the first one getting on this boy!

UPDATE!!!

Day 3 of working with Rocky today and he did great. He was much more relaxed heading into the arena and wasn't holding his breath today. He allowed me to lead him on both sides. I changed directions turning him in front of me to keep putting him on different sides. After a short while, he settled nicely and we managed some small left rein lunge circles. He did very well in both walk and trot and didn't over react to anything. We finished on a good note and back in the stable I popped a saddlecloth and then saddle on him, he was quite happy with this too. He is still a spooky horse in the arena but he really did well today.

*after working Rocky I spoke to another girl who had worked once with Rocky before I did, she found him very difficult and apparently he kept reacting like he was going to get hit and she couldn't get him to do anything much. I think she went straight in with him tacked up in Western tack and tried to lunge him- all of which would have been sensory overload for him. I think he is my project now so hopefully I can continue to take it slowly with him and move onto the next thing when I think he is ready.

Snow Joke

On Monday evening we had a blizzard come through Denver. The ran fell thick and fast until around 7pm and then the snow started- and went on heavily through the night and until lunchtime tuesday.

We woke up super excited on tuesday morning and had a text from Ethan school to say the school was closed for the day.... SNOW DAY whooohooo!

We spent the morning while it was still snowing wrapped up warm indoor in Pjs and slippers and as the snow slowed we ran upstairs to get dressed. Ski gear on, dogs in tow and Ethan on his sled and we set off to the local park for some fun. Ethan giggled and smiled as I towed him along, it started so well, then Linx started tangling me up- Hoax tangled Linx and it all got a bit crazy! Anyway we made it to the park and I let the woofs run free whilst Ethan tried sledding. The first attempt was on freak snow so it didn't really work. We stomped him a downhill path and he finally got a good trck to sled down- it wasn't long or a big hill but he had a wonderful time anyway. The dogs were manic- jumping through the snow and eating big mouthfuls of the white stuff. We stayed for a while and when we got cold and tired we all headed home for hot chocolate and cookies.

Later that day we had snowball fights in the garden- of course the dogs had to join in too which was all great fun!

Nic spent half the day shoveling snow off the driveway and paths and working from home... not quite as much fun for him ;)

We had a lovely day and its stunningly pretty here in the snow, the roads get cleared very quickly and very professionally so we managed to get through to Ethans Taekwondo in the evening followed by the yummiest Pho dinner at a restaurant literally around the corner from us.

Today, the snow is still sitting quite thickly on spots but is starting to melt a bit and the roads are more or less clear completely.

We LOVE the snow- roll on more snow days please!!!

Weird Movie experience!

Last night Nic and myself headed off for a rare date night. We booked tickets to see James Bond at a dine in seat cinema; the Alamo Drafthouse.

We arrived early and found glasses of water on the tables (positioned between the cinema seating). The menus were in slots below the tables and there were lighting bars under the tables to allow you to read menus without disrupting the customers next to you. There are paper slips on which you write your order and slots to pop the order slip into. While the pre show clips were running we selected our drinks from the large menu, root beer for Nic and a glass of Pinot Grigio for me. Followed by our meal order of good old burgers then warm home baked cookies. The cinema has table/ at your seat service so just before the main film started the waitress took our slip/ order and scooted off. Soon my glass of wine appeared so I could sip and watch Bond at the same time. I thought I could get used to this!

However, it soon appeared that the downsides outweigh the upsides for me. The waiting staff running around during the movie is distracting, as hard as they try to not disrupt you can't help but be distracted. When your food arrives, you can't actually see it- so you kind of fumble around the bowl trying to find a chip or the burger and hope you aren't decorating your clothing with ketchup. Oh, and I hate hearing people eat- it makes me cringe. So, when the lady right next to me orders a salad and sits there crunching through her lettuce leaves like a freaking hyper rabbit for ten minutes- I am just about ready to leap out my seat and throw her salad across the room!

The movie was pretty good, the food passable and the staff were brilliant along with great company from my gorgeous man. A great date night but next time I will stick to popcorn and giant fizzy drink to accompany my movie.

The Alamo setup

Good Day, Bad Day...

Some days are good, some days are bad.

Thats true everywhere, but when you are in a strange country without your support system it feels even more raw.

I have been lucky to have a few fantastic weeks, happy family, happy dogs, happy horses. I have been on some amazing hikes with Julia & Claire and the dogs, plus a yummy lunch where I spoiled myself a bit ;) The hikes here are simply breathtaking, the views like nothing I have seen before and can't be compared to a walk in the British Countryside.

Ethans been doing superbly at school. Getting amazing grades and making lots of new buddies. He is also totally hooked on Tae Kwon Do. I have never seem him so keen on something and he can't wait to go to class. He gets three lessons a week and is earning his stripes towards allowance to take his yellow belt test. I love watching him there and am so proud of my little man.

Today sucked. Detour was in the vets this morning as he has been dropping weight more and more. He is down to 11.70kg again. He has been treated for EPI for over a year now but I think his B12 levels have dropped now and he has stopped absorbing nutrients properly. He is now on a course of B12 injections to see how he gets on. Hopefully he will start to put weight on again now.

I popped to FOH afterwards, I probably shouldn't have gone as wasn't feeling the love but went anyway. It is mud city after rain and snow and as the arena was busy I was limited with where I could use. The horses have all been moved around and mixed up so they are all unsettled. After trying to long rein briefly and slipping around with a horse that wasn't very settled today, I decided it wasn't safe for me or the horses and make did with a groom and scratch for them instead. I left feeling a little dejected as I can't see that changing much over the winter.

The list goes on a bit, but I won't go on about having a bad day, I am well aware of how lucky I am for this chance of being out here and how lucky I am to be able to have these days to go off and investigate and have my own time and therefore I have no rights whatsoever to feel blue. However, its just one of those days, feeling a bit blue and a bit alone. Ah well, onwards and upwards, stiff upper lip and all that! x

Training, Training. Don't judge!

So, I haven't seen a lot of work done with the horses at FOH. Most of the care time is put into feeding, mucking out etc. Alicia whom I have worked with before is the softly, softly cautious approach which is much more like me.

I met a nice girl who has just started working at FOH and yesterday she decided to start work with a mare called Rosie. I have been doing a little ground work with her. She is quite a sweet quarter horse type but has some issues. She is terrified of rakes and reacts very badly to you having one near her, she wants to spin if something spooks her and when she arrived at FOH it was with marks all over her face where it looked as if she had been whipped repeatedly. I have been working in hand getting her confidence up and de spooking her a bit but haven't had a chance to do any lunge or long line work or even round penning with her.

The girl tacked up Rosie and she was evidently quite worried about being tacked up. Western tack on and ready she took her out to the round pen. Now, I didn't watch the start but heard back on the first ten minutes. After the girl hopped on board Rosie took off, galloping at the fence, spinning and bucking. The round pen is deep at the moment as it is just a dirt base and after rain last week its just churned up mush. The girl hung onto the horn of the saddle and kept Rosie moving. I watched a bit after she'd started to settle and Rosie had begun to calm down although she did take off a few times and put the poor girls leg into the fence a fair bit. After about 45 minutes in the round pen she hacked Rosie around the farm taking some obstacles on the way and apart from the odd bit of shooting off and not wanting to stand really she did improve enormously in just an hour and a half.

I am interested to watch Rosies progression and see if she relaxes into it. I am not here to judge or criticize and have to be open minded. I can say one thing though; Theres no way that anyone would have stayed on that mare in an English saddle! However, I am definitely of the school of thought that I like to have the option to bail at all times. I'm happier starting off the first few minutes with no stirrups in my English saddle- I can just slide off then if need be!!!

I will try to watch Rosies progress and get some photos and video to keep you updated.