Monday I decided to finish pulling Stampede’s mane in preparation for the show next weekend. In the past Stampede needed to be drugged for mane pulling, but last year I learned a new method and he had already allowed me to pull his mane without issues several times with no physical or chemical aids. I have no idea what his problem was, but he was not going to let me do up high by his ears. He kept flinging his head when I would go to wrap the hair around the comb, then rip the hair out himself and get upset. I tried pausing, I tried hurrying, I tried getting after him to put his head down, nothing worked. Finally I decided to just do some desensitizing work and just keep combing his mane there over and over.
Evidently that was all he could take so he flew backwards, snapping the cross ties (now hanging off his halter, why don’t they break the other way?) then stopped and looked confused until I grabbed him. Of course in all this I got hit in the face by one end of a cross tie and got a fat lip.
Fat lip from Stampy
There is a cut on the inside, which I didn’t share here. After that I put him away and didn’t touch him the rest of that night.
Not sure if the whole incident had an affect, but Stampede was awesome Tuesday. He stood perfectly in the cross ties to get ready, like a statue really. Didn’t even complain when I put my saddle on. He was cooperative jumping, and we had the best jumping round we’ve had in a very long time. I would have to be really picky to say something negative about it.
After my lesson it was getting late and I didn’t have the time to graze both horses separately, so I brought P out with me as well and just let him loose. He was cute and grazed by me and Stampy for a while.
Brothers hanging out by choice 🙂
Not much else exciting going on with my rides for the week. Mostly just flatting in the field while the weather is awesome. Highs have been in the high 60s which is my favorite. Not too many bugs and you don’t sweat everywhere either.
Today Christie and I got our boys cleaned up for the horse show next weekend. Since she is braiding Stampy next weekend I had her check his mane and she said I could just trim the top since it wasn’t too thick. So Stampede officially survived another mane pulling. Really mane pulling is the only thing Stampede objects too, he politely allows me to clip his ears and anywhere else I’ve tried with no complaints. He got all clipped up, and P decided he wanted to look handsome too even if he won’t be going in the show ring. Then we tamed Christie’s horse, Mikey, who is not so much a fan of ear clipping.
Actually, we are using her horse to test out my new knock-off pessoa lunging system. Her horse is a much better lunger so last Sunday we rigged him up to check things out.
Mikey checking out the pessoa knockoff
Lastly, here is a picture of the boys grazing today after my ride. Christie is holding P this time. 🙂
Shiny handsome boys
I have my Butet (Stampy’s saddle) home with me to clean today in preparation for the show. This week I will ride Phoenix Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Christie’s mom will ride him on Saturday. Stampede will have a lesson Tuesday, a flat Thursday, then will show Saturday and Sunday. I decided that since he never looks at jumps in schooling I would save him from jumping four times in one week. Crossing my fingers for a good show next week.
Beautiful grass!!! The boys look great!!
They look so shiny! 🙂