[wild_spot]

Ok, Latte has her own journal, so in the interests of fairness, Bundy is getting one too!

Stats:

Lone Pine Josh - Bundy

Breed: Australian Stock Horse

Age: 7

Height: 15.2h

Colour: Brown

Sex: Gelding
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What we do - My main focus with Bundy is ASH showing, time trials/challenges and campdrafting. Within the ASH shows we focus on working classes, which are made to show the versatility and ability of the ASH as a working horse on a station. These classes involve w/t/c, gallop, simple and flying changes, haunch turns, rollbacks, stops, and whipcracking. Campdrafting is similar to the wet portion of working cow horse competition - We have to cut a cow out of a mob in the 'camp' then draft the cow around a course similar to barrels. Time trials are like a western trail course but done at speed, and can include gates, bridges, tarps, jumps, whip targets, carrying a billy of water, etc.

They are my main focus, but also do MG, Pony Club, trail riding, stockwork, jumping, dressage, polocrosse, and soon will be trying our hand at reining. Basically anything that comes up, we give it a go.

Bundy came to me with chronic back issues due to a badly fitting saddle, and it is only in the last few months that we have been able to get him really comfortable working.

Strengths and weaknesses - Bundy is a very laid back kind of horse, so he is great at working on a loose rein with low head carriage. Once i've warmed up he gets very soft and has good hard stops and a fairly fluid back up. Canter departs are good from trot, and great from walk on the right rein and not as good on the left. We are working on flying changes and get them right about 50% of the time. He is better at rollbacks than haunch turns, but a major issue we have is loving momentum coming out of turns - It takes a lot of effort to get him back up to a gallop which is our biggest let down in working classes. I also want to work on clearing up the difference between a stop and a steady sl wing down or downward transition - He tends to take any 'slow down' cue as a cue to stop, and it gets quite jerky when we try to do changes throguh walk or similar.

I ride him in his custom made stock saddle, breastplate, and a barcoo bridle with a lozenge mouth doubel jointed loose ring snaffle. I also have a curb bridle that I sometimes use - The bit is a jointed curb with a copper roller in the middle and short shanks.
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So I guess this blog will keep track of our training progression and results at shows. We have a few clinics and lessons coming up, as well as a few shows, so I will document all that here. I ahve also just received my first ever training DVD, lol! "How to teach your horse to rollback and spin" by Larry Trocha - I really respect this guy and have already improved a lot from watching his snippets on youtube. I'm excited to see what we can achieve using these DVD's.​

 

[smrobs]

Gasp, *steals*. I know that Bundy would enjoy working some Texas cattle, right?

 

[wild_spot]

I'm sure he'd love it! Though those horns might worry him a bit, he was glad of our polled cattle when that bull got after him the other day :]

 

[smrobs]

Not all our cattle have horns . My brother manages a ranch that raises muley (polled) black angus, though they can still do plenty of damage when they get on the fight. I don't much like horned cattle either, had a horse get gored once and that is an experience I will never forget.

 

[wild_spot]

*28/03/2010*

Yass Show!

Had a great, great day. We got there early and got ready for the led class. Gosh Bundy looked good - And with my new tailbag his tail finally had that mirror shine I had never been able to get! My spunky boy :]

We didn't get called in for led but I know his faults and it doesn't bother me :]

So we went back and saddled up for the ridden events. He started off very uh... Spirited! A bit of jumping and head flinging when asking for canter, and general hi-jinks. I got up him whenever he did and he soon settled into the work. And boy was he being good! So lovely and soft and compliant - Did some haunch turns to see how he was feeling and wow! Snappy. Definately some fo the best he's given me.

So we headed on down to the ring to watch and wait for our first class. Our first class was Ridden ASH (Snaffle bit) over 15h. A basic flat class. The class was huge (About 14 riders) so the judge split it in two to judge on the circle. He called in four from the first lot - And then only us from the second! I was very proud of Bundy, the general hacking isn't his strong point but he was coming really round and forward and so soft. There were a few megabucks horses in our half too, I was very happy to be the only ones called in. The workout was pretty simple w/t/c, lengthen, and I think a simple change and a fly. I was stoked, we made our flying change! Wer are very hit and miss, as it's something I ahve never been taught and he didn't know so we are bumbling our way through them, but it was nice, straight, a bit of a hop with the abck but I was very happy. The workout was great by our standards, he had a habit of losing it out in the workout but he is gradually getting better and he was great. We didn't get a place but I was chuffed :]

Next up was Ridden ASH Pleasure - To be ridden one handed, loose rein, snaffle bit, no whips or spurs. Now this class is our forte :] Bundy loves nothing better than just poking around on a loose rein with his head down! We did w/t/c on the circle, and then the judge asked us all to walk and then pick up a canter one at a time. Boy did I thank god we were on the right rein - Our good rein, and yep, he did a picture perfect canter-walk transition to such a lovely canter, and very straight. Most of the others trotted/had to sidepass to get the right lead etc. We got called in first.

The workout was easy, just walk out, pick up trot, pick up canter, then gallop a half circle, back to working canter, and then back to the judge and stop. I love workouts with gallop as it's one thing I love - A lot of people don't do a true gallop (4-beat) and go too slow - Not us! We flew around the corner. Our gallop is often what will win us a class. And yep, we won! Woohoo! I was very proud as this class had no restrictions on age or height, it was everyone.

I went in for champion ridden ASH and it was a free workout, blegh. I did a trot out, lengthen along the back, pick up left canter, simple change through walk, right canter, flying change to the left, pick up gallop, then a stop, back up, and canter a half circle back on a loose rein. Our change was late in the back, and I fudged the stop, I accidentalyl checked him to he half stopped then just went everywhere, lol. So no champion or reserve.

Then our last class - Working ASH Gelding. Working classes are my favourite and our strongest (Except pleasure!) The workout was walk our cracking the whip 3 times, trot a circle, then pick up canter, then a change of your choice, circle, flying change, pick up gallop, around to the marker, then haunch turn gallop, haunch turn gallop, haunch turn gallop - Back to trot and trot a circle ona loose rein back to the judge. I decided to try to two flys - As you will always win with a fly in the ASH ring. Our first fly was amazing! Straight, minimal hop in the back end, was so chuffed. Second change he didn't change his back end but I broguht him back to one step of trot and corrected before galloping. Turns were amazing! He got so low in the but we slid a metre or two before out first turn, lol. Ilost a stirrup on the last turn and nearly came off, so we went straight into the loose rein trot. He really is great at the loose rein after fast work.

All but one of the others stuffed their second change as well, mostly out in the back, but they didn't fix it before the gallop. The other person did beautiful clean changes but had a lack of impuslion the whole way round and was kicking a lot. I didn't think I would win because of our stuffed change, but we did! Yay! Thats quite a few working wins for Bundy now.

So I went in for champion, free workout again. Did much the same as in my class, changes were clean, but did some shocking turns this time. Everyone did much the same until the second last fellow went in and started doing 360's *shock* We get so used to the usual tasks in working none of us even thought about doing more, lol. Learnt my lesson! His workout was vert fast and not very ordered but horse was massivety manouverable and balanced so he won well deserved champion. The guy who bred Bundy won reserve on his young colt.

We still had the time trial to go but it started to pour rain so we bailed :]

Good day though, had some really nice work out of Bundy and some great turns. Very excited for the reining clinic we are going to next weekend.

A few pictures to come tonight.

 

[wild_spot]

*03/04/2010*

Reining Clinic at the local Amateur Reining Club.

Ok ran out of time at work today, will update tomorrow :]

 

[wild_spot]

Okay, lots to update!

Reining clinic.

This was with the local amateur reining club. The teacher was Ed Hanford? I was in the begginner group in the morning and had taken a chance and put my name down for the more advanced group in the arvo.

I started in my snaffle bridle for the first session, which turned out to be a mistake, he went much better in the curb in the arvo, but oh well.

We started out with turnarounds/begginings of spins. The rein placement is very different to what i'm used to - The neck rein wasn't really a neck rein, it was just our hand on the neck near the wither. As asuch Bundy was a bit confused, but once we added a bit of speed he was getting it better. He is always better on his turns with a bit of speed.

We then worked on loping circles - I don't think i've ever non-stop loped so many circles, lol! He worked on me picking Bundy up for a few strides until he lifted his ribcage and gave his head and then giving the rien back and just letting him travel. We got it, kind of, in the end. It was hard not to pick up the rein or use too much leg!

We then moved on to rollbacks. We were meant to use the same rein position as we did with the turnarounds - Open, guiding rein and the other hand on the neck near the wither. Again it was a bit different than what we are used to and we were only walking - So they were a bit average.

Then a break for lunch. I decided to put the curb on Bundy for the arvo session, and I chatted to Ed and he just said to do what i'm comfortable with as I was the least experienced in the session. He was really lovely :]

So in the arvo session we started off with turnarounds again. The others were much more advanced on this one, however our tries got better with the curb and we added a little bit of speed, but he wasn't really ready to go much faster.

We then went into fast circles. I was about third to go and Ed just told me to show him hwo I get Bund to go around a circle - Well, let me tell you those circles aren't fast compared to a Working ASH class! He kept telling us to slow down :] We were pretty good at this bit, still working on picking him up then letting him go again. When it came time to drop back to slow circles though he anticipated and almost stopped - Gosh he is sensitive to my seat. So we worked on that a bit and it got better.

Now for rollbacks - We were riding a pattern kind of like a cross with straight lines up the egdes, so it was two right rollbacks then two left, then two right, so on and so forth. Some of the other had a bit of trouble. I don't think Ed had very high hopes for us in this one but boy did we prove him wrong :] Bundy really excels with a bit more speed and our rollbacks were really snappy to the right and just a bit worse to the left. Ed commented thate he could tell we'd done that before :]

After the rollbacks we just did some drilling in stops to get them under themslves, which is a big problem we have. We were just jogging, and then loping, a small way before saying WHOAH and stoping and backing straight away, over and over again. This was really good, especially in the curb - bundy was really softening and starting to stop under himself. Ed came over and had a chat to me about changing my hands - I needed to drop them super far so Bundy and I got the idea - They were around my knees and it really made a difference, Bundy started giving his head much softer at the stop.

All in all a good day, and I will definately be using the curb mroe for schooling when I get the chance. Gosh I wish I had an arena!

*09/04/2010*

Just a funny tidbit from today - Meg has been riding Bund when i'm on Latte as he is a really good confidence booster for her.

Well today when we went to get the horses, dad's boss had put two racehorses in the paddock we had to lead through. A mare and a gelding, and just so happens the mare was in heat!

Well, Bundy was lovin it. I took him on the way back through and he was showing off horribly! Prancing and leaping and just being a dolt, lol. He had his willy out as usual but it was uh, happy! Lol! And when we let them go he was making gooey eyes at her over the fence and nearly got his face squirted on Silly boy.

 

[wild_spot]

NOOOOOOOOOO.

As a result of all his flirting over the fence, Bundy now has a puncture in one back leg, and skin off and another cut on his other back leg, the idiot!

There was a small amount of swelling around the puncture. We cleaned it up and sprayed stuff on it for the night yesterday. He was still in a stinker of a mood and would NOT stand still!

I went out to check him this morning and it had been weeping and it was swollen the whole length of his tendon. Ack.

I was planning on floating him to PC with us tomorrow and getting our vet to come have a look, but dad checked it this arvo and said the swelling has gone down again and it looks good.

I am still hoping dad will float us to PC instead of having to ride, and if its swollen again then i'll get the vet out.

Bah humbug!

 

[Plains Drifter]

Sorry to hear about Bundy's leg. Here's hoping it heals quickly!! Congrats on your wins at the show! Sounds exciting! That's the one thing I miss these days...showing.

 

[wild_spot]

*11/04/2010*

Rally Day.

Went to catch him and sure enough, it was swollen again, right from his hock to his fetlock. We decided to bring him as he would be home alone and running around. We floated up and he just sat in the rounyard all day. The plan was to get the vet out while we were there but she had another drama to deal with (Horse kicked in the head, bone broken in a hoof shape and indented) so we had to go round to her place after 5pm to get the shots he needed (Penicilin and Tetanus).

I'm horribly queasy and can't do shots so I brought my cousin who is a training vet nurse. You can read the saga here - We failed at giving the shots.

So our vet is going to come out this afternoon and try again. He really needs them too, his leg was really swollen this morning when I went out to unrug. I'm not sure how she will do it as he was objecting quite violently yesterday.

 

[wild_spot]

Oops, haven't updated in a while.

The vet came and attempted shots the next day, but she couldn't either - Luckily she said his leg would be ok without them.

He has had about a week and a half off now and he isn't lame and the swelling is gone - It's just nice and lumpy.

He will have his first ride tonight with Meg while i'm on Latte, so we will see how it goes.

I'll bring him back to full work in the next two weeks if it's all good, in time for Jugiong Campdraft on May 8.

 

[wild_spot]

So, we did make it to Jugiong Campdraft, despite the swelling incident and his unfitness!

We actually did really well - not by competition standards but by our own personal standards. He was the best he has been in the camp yet (Cutting the cow from the mob and working it before being let out into the arena). We scored a 17 and an 18 - The 18 was our best score yet. he was really on the aids and watching the cow, a lot more than previously. We didn't complete a course, but I was chuffed anyway :]

Next weekend we have MGA National Pairs, so have to fit him up a bit before then!

 

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MGA pairs - Went ok. He was a bit naughty Sat morning as he was fresh, but as he got a bit tired he settled inand was really good. We didn't come last either! (About second last, shhhhh!).

We have a versatile horse comp this weekend (Dressage, jumping, handler, handy pony, etc) and then he will go out for a break while Latte gets a bit of work.

 

[wild_spot]

Hmmm. Competition was ok - Bundy was good, in general. We did a pretty good hack workout despite the fact the surface was reallllly deep and I didn't have my spurs (They aren't allowed at PC). I honestly thought I would win or come second, but I got fifth. One of the girls who beat me muffed a flying change and went half a circle on the wrong lead while I made no mistakes. Some of the others commented I should have won as well. Ah well.

The rest was ok. There was a derby - A mix of CC and showjumps. I kind of forgot that Bundy has never been over a CC jump in his life - Lol! He was really good - He leapt the first jump about 3X it's height and I almost fell (I was in my stock saddle - makes jumping difficult!) and every jump after that I gave him the rein and grabbed my saddle with one hand, lol. He was looking at every jumo but bless his heart he didn't stop, just leapt them really high! He did stop at one but I knew about two strides out he would so Ijust let him have a sniff and he took it the next time no worries. It was a fairly big and scary one, and downhill to boot. I was very proud of him :]

So now he is out for a break until after winter.