Dixie to Laddie: If you make this face at breakfast, they give you pellets! Try it, it works.😀
Rocky looks like a good winter project, but that's ending now, right?
Rocky looks like a good winter project, but that's ending now, right?
The Dogpatch Horses
I hope I am doing this right. I seem to be very sub-forum challenged! Anyway, this is a continuation of my recent posts in other sub-forums.
Just for amusement's sake, what the heck is "Dogpatch"? For those who aren't old enough to remember, Dogpatch is a ficticious place in a cartoon strip from the 20th century. Kind of a political satire. It was a poverty stricken dump of a community in the back country someplace. We moved to this place in 1980 and it acquired its nickname almost immediately, being a tommy-tumbledown dump, with past residents being of a reportedly unsavory character. The nickname stuck and we still find it amusing.
Anybody who's been kind enough to read my recent posts knows my current project is Laddie, a half Clydesdale, half Standardbred gelding, about 23 years old. A very gentle but troubled soul. I'll just pick up where I left off.
Laddie and I continued to work on jogging on the right rein, but we've hit the anticipation/anxiety threshold and Laddie's responses were deteriorating a little bit. I was asking for some "long interval" transitions, jogging from one letter to the next, dropping to a walk, jogging again, etc. But the "whoa" button got messed up, he wasn't stopping quite as well when asked, REALLY anticipating the jog cue and tensing up because I was starting to use a little more rein pressure to get the downward or stop transition, and he responded by getting a little more bracey.
There's no way at this point that I'm going to let him fall apart! So we backed our transitions down to walk/whoa/stand and abandoned the jog for the rest of the lesson. Stops got sloppy, so we just walked a small circle. He "knew" why we had to do this and preferred to stop after that. We did a few really good repetitions, enough to be sure he was relaxed and feeling successful.
Chatted with the neighbor over the fence when we were done, and Laddie stood there with his big ol' head in my arms.
Here is today's mud...er...mug shot. Next time I'll take that ugly halter off.
![Horse Head Eye Plant Working animal]()
Just for amusement's sake, what the heck is "Dogpatch"? For those who aren't old enough to remember, Dogpatch is a ficticious place in a cartoon strip from the 20th century. Kind of a political satire. It was a poverty stricken dump of a community in the back country someplace. We moved to this place in 1980 and it acquired its nickname almost immediately, being a tommy-tumbledown dump, with past residents being of a reportedly unsavory character. The nickname stuck and we still find it amusing.
Anybody who's been kind enough to read my recent posts knows my current project is Laddie, a half Clydesdale, half Standardbred gelding, about 23 years old. A very gentle but troubled soul. I'll just pick up where I left off.
Laddie and I continued to work on jogging on the right rein, but we've hit the anticipation/anxiety threshold and Laddie's responses were deteriorating a little bit. I was asking for some "long interval" transitions, jogging from one letter to the next, dropping to a walk, jogging again, etc. But the "whoa" button got messed up, he wasn't stopping quite as well when asked, REALLY anticipating the jog cue and tensing up because I was starting to use a little more rein pressure to get the downward or stop transition, and he responded by getting a little more bracey.
There's no way at this point that I'm going to let him fall apart! So we backed our transitions down to walk/whoa/stand and abandoned the jog for the rest of the lesson. Stops got sloppy, so we just walked a small circle. He "knew" why we had to do this and preferred to stop after that. We did a few really good repetitions, enough to be sure he was relaxed and feeling successful.
Chatted with the neighbor over the fence when we were done, and Laddie stood there with his big ol' head in my arms.
Here is today's mud...er...mug shot. Next time I'll take that ugly halter off.
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@Slave2Ponies Rocky is actually a warm weather project, which is why it's taken me 20 years to get around to him. My "carriage painting month" was always July, because it was always reliably warm, not humid, no 10% humidity east winds. Most of the restoration materials I use require considerable warmth and moderate humidity. I've tried painting in the heated shop this time of year and the paint never cures. The epoxy putty never hardens. So I'm hoping for at least a month of decent weather around July to finish up.
Color is up for grabs. I've thought about turning him into a pinto. Maybe a palomino.
Here we go, fresh out of the paint booth...
I KNOW I'm boring! LOL! But Dixie certainly wasn't boring. "Bored" maybe, but she's always an entertaining companion.
Peaceful...not boring...peaceful. Me to Dixie:
@dogpatch :
1. Those words ‘atmospheric River” are becoming a vulgar part of our vocabulary 🤯
2. There’s a whole bunch of us who get that “the energy to ride did not come with the dry spot in the weather”. 🤯🤯
3. Please hear me out in this😇😇
Have you considered trying a low port (LOW) curb bit with swivel shanks on Dixie.
A million years ago the Amish man who owned the tack shop I should have bought stock in, suggested that type of bit for my Arab/Saddlebred. Soon as I put the suggested bit on my horse, his head tossing stopped. I had raised this horse from both, so ask me how embarassed my 20-something self was at that revalation🫣🫣
Many folks make the sign of the cross at the mere mention of this type of bit —- it is NOT the bit, it’s the hands holding the reins to that bit that are the problem.
My Arab/Saddlebred and I, back in the early 80’s, waaaaay up in the Tionesta area of the Allegheny Mountains — a bunch of us were hoping to see either Bigfoot or the Marlboro Man step out from behind a tree. No such luck on either one, lol
The shanks are six inches. Sonny loved that bit.
![Plant People in nature Tree Working animal Gesture]()
Annnd, as that wise old Amish man told me fifty years ago “—just because it’s called a Walking Horse Bit, doesn’t mean it is strictly for Walking Horses-“🤠🤠. It’s for any horse who is more comfortable with more freedom of movement in their head/neck.
P.S. look at all that “Sun-In” in my hair, lollol. I never did that again, lollol. is sun-In even on the market these days??
1. Those words ‘atmospheric River” are becoming a vulgar part of our vocabulary 🤯
2. There’s a whole bunch of us who get that “the energy to ride did not come with the dry spot in the weather”. 🤯🤯
3. Please hear me out in this😇😇
Have you considered trying a low port (LOW) curb bit with swivel shanks on Dixie.
A million years ago the Amish man who owned the tack shop I should have bought stock in, suggested that type of bit for my Arab/Saddlebred. Soon as I put the suggested bit on my horse, his head tossing stopped. I had raised this horse from both, so ask me how embarassed my 20-something self was at that revalation🫣🫣
Many folks make the sign of the cross at the mere mention of this type of bit —- it is NOT the bit, it’s the hands holding the reins to that bit that are the problem.
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www.statelinetack.com
My Arab/Saddlebred and I, back in the early 80’s, waaaaay up in the Tionesta area of the Allegheny Mountains — a bunch of us were hoping to see either Bigfoot or the Marlboro Man step out from behind a tree. No such luck on either one, lol
The shanks are six inches. Sonny loved that bit.
Annnd, as that wise old Amish man told me fifty years ago “—just because it’s called a Walking Horse Bit, doesn’t mean it is strictly for Walking Horses-“🤠🤠. It’s for any horse who is more comfortable with more freedom of movement in their head/neck.
P.S. look at all that “Sun-In” in my hair, lollol. I never did that again, lollol. is sun-In even on the market these days??
That's one of the reasons I haven't gone on any of the organized trail rides in years. Everybody just lets their horses charge uphill and it can become a great excuse for bucking and rearing.
Our local state park has gorgeous dedicated bridle trails, but it's all extremely up and down. And narrow. The Morgan mare I had before Dixie was very hot. I worked very, very hard to make her take those uphill stretches at a walk without having to hold her back. When doing the big loop counter clockwise, one goes waay down to a river then waay back up to the trail head. The last uphill stretch is a beast. One day I rode Spunky past a park employee working on that section of the trail. He said, "I've never seen a horse take this hill that calmly!" That was a moment of pride I'll always cherish, because Spunky was ANYTHING but calm! She was being a good trail horse!
I wish the same for Dixie, calm cooperation when she wants to be otherwise. Although as I said, I don't believe she wants to charge the hills. I believe she thinks that's what she's supposed to do. It is SO HARD to suppress the desire to experience that rolling-thunder gait, but it upsets her and I can seem to feel her relief when she gets support from me to just take it easy.
In the future, I think if I ever go to the park with her again, I'll stick to the bunny trails around the big meadow where the trail is wide enough for a park vehicle. One section goes into a lovely, gentle woods, the other skirts the relatively flat meadow. I can enjoy a little flat walk in the meadow, and a little scenery in the woods.
And the people who trail ride there seem to not be the same as "back when", except for the older gals like me, who love to exchange a few moments of "Oh, your horse is so gorgeous!" without telling you to keep moving or get out of the way.
Picture is from Oregon State Parks, not me. This is the "far side" of the meadow trail, showing the "bat barn". (Bat habitat, not Batman! LOL)
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