Back in the saddle again

So I suppose the old name fits again. This past summer I decided I wanted to be a wrangler on a dude ranch.  Because the highlight of my summers growing up was to do a 50 mile trail ride in Montana on a dude ranch.

So I applied to places, did several phone interviews and eventually got a job at a ranch in Colorado. Not my number one choice, but top five. Hooray! So I signed the dotted line, got all my stuff ready (wranglers have very specific wardrobe requirements that I needed to find- such as button down western shirts with yolkes, chaps or chinks, cowboy hats- felt or straw, wrangler jeans.  The wrangler jeans and I had a problem, because my ass does not fit in them. At all.) anyway, I packed my car and drove out west. To work at a place I'd never seen before with people I'd barely talked to. Let's face it, it isn't exactly the first time I've done that. At least here if it sucked I could just drive home.

The drive was tedious (Kansas you suck to drive through), I split it into two parts. As soon as I got to the ranch I started unpacking my stuff. I was to share a small room with the other incoming female wrangler. The part the owner did not let me know was, *surprise!* we'd be moving into the bunkhouse (above the barn)... where the male wrangler had lived for the last year or so.  Alright, I thought to myself, I lived in a co-ed dorm. I can deal with this fine. And in truth, it wasn't the fact that he was male that made it awkward, it was more the fact that he'd been living there by himself and suddenly he's got two new flat mates invading his space. And it was his space- except for our room, it was covered in his stuff. The other new wrangler wouldn't be there for another week or so. Also he was just kind of an awkward person.

  The kind of person who has to know something more than you about everything and wants you to know it.   For example: We had a disagreement about salting water or putting a drop of olive oil in for cooking pasta. He said my 'Italian grandmother would be ashamed of me'. I replied with 'Actually Franca did this in Italy when she cooked and it was awesome.' Nope. He'd read that real Italians didn't do that. My response to that was.... which of us had actually lived in Italy? (I say a month counts.) Nope. Still didn't believe me.

Anyway, he showed me around the ranch and told me which things were "suggestions" and which weren't, which was nice of him. I met the ranch hand/ sometimes child wrangler and his wife. (His wife is lovely, but i clashed with him a bit)  And I did barn maintenance and clean up before the season started.  Tried to learn the trails- which, in case you were wondering; the easiest way to learn a new trail is NOT to lead it for the first time. It's to follow and then try leading.

Ah, but TT you say, talk about the horses, that's the good bit!

They had their own breeding program (it was part of why I chose this ranch) and most of the horses were either palomino or buckskins. With few to no markings. Let me tell you how much fun learning all 50 names of horses that look very alike was. For example, we had a pair of full sibling buckskin mares, same height, same build, same everything, except one had a sock on her left hind leg and one had a sock on the right hind leg. One had a slightly crooked nose.  Now go out into this huge pasture and catch only the second one! Naturally they're at opposite ends of the pasture, so you'd better hope you pick the right way!

But the program was nice because the horses were bred and raised there for the most part.

This little goober was born the day before I got there. How cute is she?!

They had a nice stallion, good mares and a good training program with a professional trainer. Who I am sad to say I barely got to work with. He was great. Horses were started halter breaking and ground work from young foals. They're exposed to the guests as babies as well. The one above was so friendly, she'd happily leave her momma to come see people. Then they're left to grow up for a couple of years, before the trainer starts them at 3. Then his assistant rides them, then the wranglers ride them, and eventually the guests ride them at about 6-8. Hopefully. My steeds of choice were 7-9 year old mares who made good wrangler horses, but not so good guest horses. Of course I like a quick, sensitive and well trained mare, so it worked out great for me. Each wrangler got an assigned colt, and some other projects.

Project one: the mare I rode most of the summer.

My first week there the male wranglers were giving me shit for not being able to open and close the different gates without dismounting. (Hey, it's not something I have to do...ever.) 

"Oh your horse is really good at opening them!" They said.

 So I felt like a failure. It wasn't until a couple of weeks after I'd mastered them  that they finally told me they were lying and my horse actually sucked with opening gates. Thanks boys, you're a peach. By the end I was one of the only ones who could open and shut the big double wooden gates without getting off.. that took some serious maneuvering. So ha. 

Project two: the one I wish I'd rode most of the summer. Not that I didn't like the first one, but this little girl had such a beautiful handle on her. And she was super easy to pick out of the herd. 

One of my "colts". It's a good thing he's pretty.... I wanted him because he was gorgeous. (And he had an amazing canter- I'm talking prince charming coming to rescue the damsel in distress amazing.)

Full brothers, both are sweet and will make good guest horses... Because both of them are dumber than rocks.  The trainer said this line of brothers (the third was already a guest horse) made him wonder if he knew anything at all about training, because they were just so hard to teach.

Basically my least favorite type of horse to ride. 

The second "colt" had been held back due to an injury. He'd already been a wrangler horse but needed some more saddle time. In my opinion, stick a guest on him because he's good to go unless he's leading.  But never in my life, and this includes Europe's warmbloods, have a ridden a trot as bad as his.  The worst trot ever. No guest will ever be able to ride it. There is NO sitting it. If the bronc riding trainer couldn't really sit it.....  

So my first time trotting on him we got part way around the arena... before I stopped him with a look of horror on my face. 'What is this hell?!'  I complained to the other wranglers. They  told me it wasn't *that* bad. So I had the guy get on first. He made it about 45 feet before stopped and started laughing so hard he had to dismount,  So then the female wrangler got on, 30 feet in she stopped, laughed and said "Oh yeah, you're screwed." It was that bad.

So I talked to the trainer and our conversation went like this:

"He has the worst trot ever, is there any way to make it better?"

"Did you try collecting him?"

"Yes."

"Posting?"

"Yes."

"Didn't help, did it?"

"No!"

"You want my advice?"

"Yes!"

"...... lope."

I hear you now in your heads- this sounds like the dream though! You get paid to ride horses all day in beautiful country! Make no mistake, it was beautiful and nestled in the start of the rocky mountains. 

Breakfast rides= worst rides! Wake up extra early and get fed later. Hungry wranglers are grumpy wranglers.  Feed your wranglers!

You'll just have to stay tuned for me to write more to find out what made this summer.... interesting. 

I kind of feel like I should start this up again.

What do you think? Should I attempt to revive this? Bring it back to life? I will say, I've got a whole summer full of stories for you. I was a wrangler on a dude ranch and boy, did things get..... weird. I'll call it 'Drama Ranch' because I'm not naming names.

 Okay, I am definitely going to have to tell you some of the stories, they're too "good" not to share. However  I'm currently wasting daylight, so it'll have to wait until a little later.
Stay tuned!

As a sneek peek, I'll say they involve strange guests, crazy rules, thundering loose herds of horses, and some just plain depressing moments.

Cha-cha-cha changes

Yes, I changed my blog name. I created the original name when I was in a more negative place in my life and I think I've moved away from that so I changed the name.

I like it better.
Also, I know I've been really wretched about posting lately. I've been in a funk.
 I do have a mini, mini auction report- I went to a weekly auction. It was awful. None of the horses went for over $50. Some of them were pretty nice. None looked awful.  One was a 15 y/o pintabian gelding, broke to ride, been to the chuck wagon races and been roped off of. $42.

Yikes.

Anyway, I had Brea listed for sale for a whole 10 minutes before someone called and offered to buy her. She's wiring me money tomorrow apparently. I hadn't even finished putting up all her pictures yet.... Craziness.

Anyway, I have a new functional computer so I'm going to try to be better about updating. Hopefully try to start writing on my book as well.

Brea: before and after

Quick shot of Brea's movement, build and weight when I got her and now.

She might move, oh, a little better, you know, just a tad.

My horse is a fiesty, stubborn, hard minded brat.

And I love him for it.

Yes, my horse is a terror.

 I took him on a trail ride and in the process he:
Would not stand still at the tie block.
Fidgeted and pranced for saddling.
Bucked and ran in circles around me tossing his head when I was leading him to the trailer. My neighbor was watching with wide eyes like he thought he was going to explode. (Sam gets excited about trail rides.)
Stamped and stomped in the trailer.
Immediately started to trot when we got to the trails, and then broke into a canter.
Kept going into a trot or canter without being asked.

These are all things I would not allow in my projects for 30 seconds, but my own horse does them.
My mom thinks it's because he's spoiled (he is) and because I don't want to discipline him since I got him in bad shape when I was 14. She's wrong there.

 I don't work on these issues because to me, they aren't issues.

 Nobody else rides my horse or has ridden him for, oh, a good 5 years. Nobody else really handles him- although he is perfectly capable of standing tied and leading like a gentleman and don't let him tell you otherwise.

Nobody else will ever own him because he will never be for sale- I put it in my will and informed others that if I died suddenly, my possessions are to be sold to pay for his upkeep and if no one is available to keep him, he is to be put down rather than sold. He's not a young horse nor is he a calm horse- although he's as docile as a lamb around children.

He gives these little crow hop things that feel ridiculous and would unseat absolutely nobody and I just laugh at them. They feel hilarious. He goes, more or less, what speed he wants to and slows when he wants/needs to.

 I don't have a problem with this because our preferred speed of travel is a canter and since he's as out of shape as I am, and nearly as old, he knows his limits. I let him slow down because he wouldn't if he didn't need to. When he starts to go he does is slowly- his way of asking if it's cool to go now- and if it's not I say no and we don't. Personally I'm fine with travelling fast all the time but hey, he's the one doing most of the work.

You'd think I have to ride him with a deal grip on the reins but the truth is, they're definitely a U shape when we're trail riding.

It didn't used to be. He used to have way more issues, and those we did fix. We fixed the bolting, not loading, rearing, trying to turn back on the ride and some others. Those I did not want to live with. These I don't mind.

The real reason I don't correct all these 'bad habits' is because riding Sam isn't work, riding Sam is fun. It's relaxing and enjoyable and it always cheers me up and makes me laugh. Riding Sam feels different, it feels easier and "right". Probably because I've been riding him for ten years.

Riding the other horses is unquestionably work. Even trail riding isn't very fun. It's work.

I love my brat because he's entirely separate from my projects; there is no 'what are we going to work on today' in my mind when I get on Sam. It's just being there and letting everything go. That's borrowing freedom.

And for all the nonsense that Sam pulls, he actually loves being ridden. He dislikes anytime I ride other horses- not as much anymore, now he's just accepted it, but there's a distinct (and guilt inducing) change in his expression and carriage after we ride. He holds his head higher, his ears are perked and I swear to god, he struts. Even if he was tired. He thinks he's hot stuff.

I just laugh.


 
Before you ask, yes I had a helmet. I hooked it to my saddle when we stopped for a rest break by the lake. It's why my hair's so crazy. (Shut up, that's totally the reason. It's not because I need a haircut and haven't had one since London.)




It is a little bit 'Do as I say, not as I do' but then again, who really cares?

What I say vs What I mean when talking to potential buyers

What I say:
"Well, I think a turning 5 year old is probably a little too young for him..."

What I mean:
"What the is wrong with you?! I said he's a good horse but not yet a finished kids horse, why do you want a green gelding for your 4 year old with no experience?!"

WIS: "Do you mind if I ask how much you weigh? He's just not that big of a horse."
WIM: "I've had too many people think that it's okay for a 180-220 pound person to ride a 13.2 pony, despite my saying he weighs about 740 lbs and has a weight limit of about 140-150 MAX. including all tack."


No, it is not okay for you to ride a horse his size...
I don't know why he looks so much bigger when being ridden!
 


WIS: "Well, I think you might just be a little too big for him..."
WIM: "No. You are way too heavy to ride this horse. I don't know why you think it's okay, but it's not. Stop."

WIS: "Yes, I know you can be heavy and be a 'light' rider, but at 180 you are probably just a bit big since he is smaller than he looks in pictures... "
WIM: "I know you say you understand where I'm coming from and that you'll lose weight, but I'm not selling you a horse and then having you call me in 4 months complaining that he has soreness issues and started bucking. Nope."

What they say: "Well, I know your mom said that he was smaller than he looked in the pictures and he had a weight limit, but I only weigh about 185 and he looks big..."
WIS: "Yes, he looks big in all the pictures but he is definitely a pony, he needs pony tack and is small bodied. He look big in the pictures, we don't know why, but 185 is pretty heavy for him."
WIM: "We just told you on the phone and in the ad that he's smaller than he looks and you're too heavy. "

WIS: "Oh, You grew up riding a shetland about his height until you were 15? Interesting."
WIM: "No, no you didn't. Shetlands do not officially get that big."

WIS: "He's about 13.2 hands. In other measurements? He is 52 inches...  In feet? Uh, I don't know.."
WIM: "What kind of a horseman doesn't understand hands? Nobody measures horses in feet...."

WIS: "Oh you have a 22.2 hand thoroughbred? Wow."
WIM: "Wow! Call the Guinness book of world records! Why have you not reported him? That's amazing!  You know, considering the current tallest living horse is only 20.2 and the all time record was 21.2 hands.. "


Big Jake

WIS: "Oh, you found another pony? Okay, thanks for letting me know."
WIM: "Oh, you bought another pony within 5 hours of talking to me and making an appointment to come out tomorrow at noon? Okay, not sure how you even did that but okay. Thanks for letting me know! "

 WIM after thinking about it: "Somebody actually called me, the night before, and said they wouldn't be coming so I don't have to get the horse ready and just sit there waiting for hours. Oh my gosh. That never happens."

Arkansas Appaloosa Event photos.. and others

I've been getting really into the idea of pursuing Equine photography, and now I want more lenses and a better body and to learn more and take more and more pictures of gorgeous horses...

I went to go cover a a shoot with the Arkansas Appaloosa club... and discovered that my shutter speed for indoor shoots is too low, and my f stop too high. Which basically means my photos turned out 'busy', grainy or blurry, or all three.  Arg. It was very frustrating for me... also it was cold and I didn't feel like I could move around and get crazy angles like I could in France. Since the only place my shutter speed was even passable was facing the door and practice area, all my backgrounds are 'meh'. So now I'm saving up for a f/2.8 70-200 lens. Drool.

Anyway, I'd say a solid 99% of you don't care a bit what I'm babbling about so instead I'm going to post some pretty pictures and beg people on facebook to consider liking my photography page or share some pictures. Also if anyone in Arkansas has particularly pretty or photogenic horses and would like a free shoot (bonus points to Friesian or Andalusian owners) hit me up.

First, some old but newly edited (recently got cs6) photos

  

 
 






And now: photos from the Appaloosa Event



  



  


Love this mares color!








So anyway, there are a lot more pictures, so if you ever feel inclined, or you want to see more of my pictures or my horses, you can see them at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alaethea-Equine-Photography/569641646495818