Tag Archives: Huey

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Not every ride is perfect

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80+F on Easter?  In CT? That is definitely horse riding weather. After doing a few small projects around the farm this morning, the family went on an afternoon trail ride from home.  We only rode for about 5 miles in 1:20, but there were some important lessons learned.

Amanda is building her confidence and endurance in the saddle on the trails.  She did the whole ride today without any leadline assistance, including 4 small water crossings which are usually a challenge for her on Huey.  She didn’t have any problem handling the trotting.

Vicki rode Duchess.  This is only her second time out on the trails with Duchess and they are making progress.  Today she rode in a bitless bridle and that definitely helped.  It’s definitely different having a mare back in the herd.  Duchess isn’t completely comfortable with all the boys yet and she will threaten to kick or bite any horse that enters her space.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of motorcycles out today as well and in the first encounter, Huey ended up too close and Duchess kicked him, hitting Amanda’s foot.  It didn’t actually hurt Amanda, just scared her.  That also rattled Vicki a little.  Later in the ride, Duchess threatened to kick Dakota when he rode up too close on her butt and it made Vicki really upset.  She decided to get off and walk for a while (about a half mile) and then mounted back up when she had calmed down.  While it may not seem like much, it was an important lesson for Vicki about backing off when her emotions run too high and calming down to handle the situation.

Overall, the ride was a success.  No one got thrown.  No one got hurt.

When we got back home, Vicki stayed on Duchess and joined Mojo and I in the front pasture for a little jumping.  This was the first time Vicki has gotten to taken Duchess over anything other than ground poles.  We didn’t work too long and we kept everything low, but they did very well together.  Vicki has learned to control her canter speed and in the bitless bridle, they seem to be getting along better.  I didn’t have much opportunity to take pictures because I was jumping Mojo (who was a rock star!) but I did shoot a short video clip of Vicki trying a simple approach at the canter.  Despite the challenges on the trail, after over 2 hours of saddle time, she was all smiles as we headed in to the barn.

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It’s all Run and Games

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This morning I (Rob) did my 5th half marathon at the Colchester half (all 5 have been there).  In very uncharacteristic weather, it was 60F when we started at 10:00.  I completed the 13.1 miles and 881′ of elevation in 1:58 (9:00 min/mile pace).  Nothing like burning 1800 calories before lunch.

Just finished the Colchester Half Marathon

After a quick shower and bite to eat, I met Anna and the kids an hour and a half after I finished the race.   They had a trailer load of horses and it was time for Pony Club mounted games practice.  I rode Mojo, Anna rode Dakota, and Amanda rode Huey for the first session.  Then Alex rode Dakota and Vicki rode Devil.  Everyone had a great time, but if this weather continues we will need to body clip some ponies! By the time we got home and unloaded the trailer, everyone was ready for some dinner and a movie.

 

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A slushy ride in the woods

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It’s been a while since we posted.  Angel (aka Jellybean) didn’t end up staying with us.  She had too much anxiety and couldn’t handle being away from Devil, so we are back to our 6 gelding herd.  Of course, we finally got a bunch of snow in Feb.  We went from nothing to about 16″ on the ground in a matter of a few days.  Since then, we have been participating in mounted games practices on weekends, but no really riding much at home.

Today, it was in the mid-50s and the snow was melting away.  Anna has been a little under the weather and Alex bumped his head sledding in the woods, so I went on a short ride with the girls.  While the temperature was great, I hate riding in the slush.  It’s pretty, but I don’t like the horses sliding on ice you can’t see.  It was a short ride, but good to get out.

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Fresh snow! More sleigh rides!

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We got a little snow on Thursday night and then a good dump yesterday.  After a late breakfast this morning, we had a solid 9+” of fresh powdery snow on the farm.  After the driveway was cleared and the horses were fed, we hitched up Huey to his Kingston Saddlery sleigh to cut some paths in the front pasture.  Everyone took a turn with the reins except Amanda, but she did get to ride until she was frozen.

The new addition for today’s session were sets of bells hanging off either side of the saddle and we got our side check in.  Huey didn’t care about the bells.  While we don’t usually need a side check, it keeps him from dropping his head too low (probably a bigger problem during grass season).  Not bad for his 3rd time hitched.

 

 

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Dashing through the snow

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Last night we got 3″ of snow.   The kids were excited to switch the wheels on our Kingston Saddlery cart to the sleigh runners.  Unfortunately, the snow switched to rain and it is warming up tonight, so the snow won’t be around for long.  However, we did get the chance to do a little “dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh”.  We did some loops around the house and through the front yard of our neighbors.  We look forward to more snow through the winter.

We also made a short video of Alex driving. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbLSnzp3PdE  

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Driving Huey

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For those who don’t know, Huey is our 16yo Dartmoor who’s registered name is Hedgehog Hollow’s American Eagle.  While he has been a good riding pony for Amanda, and still goes on trail rides, Amanda is preferring to ride Devil in the arena.  Huey needs a job and so we have been slowly working on teaching Huey to drive for the past few months.  Even though we were told he was driven before we owned him, we wanted to take everything slowly and actually step through the entire training process.  It was also beneficial for the kids to see the intermediate steps of training a driving horse.  We have been ground driving Huey, including teaching Alex and Vicki how to ground drive and Huey has pulled a tire on the ground.

I recently built a set of false shafts which are poles designed to give the pony pressure like a cart, but without the expensive cart.  Here is the document I used to make our false shafts: false shafts instructions.  This afternoon, Anna did a little lunging with Huey in his harness and then we hooked him up with the false shafts.

Anna and I took turns ground driving Huey with the false shafts  and made him walk and trot around the arena.  He didn’t show any concern at all about the shafts, so we decided to move to the next step.

We decided to purchase our easy entry cart new from Kingston Saddlery.  It wasn’t much more expensive than most used ones and we knew we could get replacement parts as needed.  We were also able to purchase sleigh runners, so we are looking forward to the snow arriving.

Alex and Vicki were on hand to assist with the initial hitching of Huey to the cart.  We started by approaching him with the cart and removing it to make sure he wouldn’t react (I think he slept through it).  Then we actually hooked him to the cart and I ground drove while he pulled the cart.  Anna started with a lunge line attached to his bridle in case things went wrong, but we removed the extra tending line pretty quickly.

Since everything was going well, the next step was to get in the cart and drive around.  Alex and Vicki didn’t want to be left out and both took turns driving Huey around the arena.

We need to get a side check for the harness (that’s what the blue baling twine is doing right now) and some sleigh bells.  The kids were singing Dashing Through The Snow as they rode around together, and Huey was a rock star.  Now they are discussing plans for driving him at the 4-H fair in the summer.

 

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A momentous ride for the family

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On Sunday morning, there was  a distinct chill in the air, everything was wet from the 3.5+” of rain we received Friday-Saturday, and the wind was blowing steady.  Like many other weekends, everyone was up early and we headed out to the barn to load up horses.  We were headed to the WGHA Ghost Ride at Goddard State Park in RI.  However, this particular Sunday outing was different for 2 important reasons: Amanda got to take Huey on the ride and King was going as well.  Amanda and Huey have been doing a lot of rides from the house and also lessons with Pony Club.  However, until now, Amanda didn’t get to join the family at trail riding events away from home.  They were finally ready to join us on the trails with other riders around.  Last weekend, Alex rode King 4 miles on the trails from home.  King hasn’t left our farm for a ride since the summer of 2014.   He has been combating injury from a tendon strain, Lyme, general arthritis, and more recently, EPM.  In all honesty, after this summer, we thought it was unlikely he would ever go to an organized ride again.

The ride was at Goddard State Park which has 6 miles of bridle paths.  While the trails are open, wide, and scenic, the park is usually crowded.  This weekend we got to share the area with a 5k race being held on the roads of the park.  Alex and King led our group for most of the ride.  Alex describes riding King as “smooth” and “light as a feather” with his floating trot and high energy (but without the spookiness characteristic of the arabs).  I’m sure it also feels different considering King is 8″ taller than Dakota.  Amanda did great controlling Huey.  The temperature definitely sucked the energy out of Amanda faster than normal, so I did put a lead line on Huey for the second half of the 6 mile loop.

While we had the option of doing multiple loops, we elected to stop after 1 successful loop.  Amanda really wants to ride the hunter paces next summer, so she plans to try to ride for longer periods of time.  It is nice for our whole family to be able to ride as a group at the events.

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October Updates

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It has been almost 3 weeks since we made a blog post.  It’s not that nothing has been blog-worthy, but rather, we have been so busy we haven’t had time to sit down and catch up.

Last weekend was our annual trip to the Hartford County 4-H Camp for Pony Club Columbus Camp.  We took 4 of our horses – Mojo (for Alex and Rob), Teddy (for Vicki), Devil (for Vicki), and Huey (for Amanda).  It started to rain on us Saturday afternoon and rained all day Sunday.  All the kids did 1 lesson in the pouring rain on Sunday and then decided to skip the afternoon lesson.  Devil was getting seriously underutilized and came home on Sunday afternoon.  He was literally climbing the walls in the stall and losing his mind.  He was much happier to be turned out with King when he got home.

Alex ended up riding 3.5 lessons on Mojo, including jumping.  I picked up 2.5 lessons on Mojo and we were able to loan him out for 2 more lessons when another kid had her horse go lame.  In the end, Mojo did 8 lessons in 2.5 days.  And he was awesome for every lesson.

Vicki rode Teddy for 3 lessons and 1 on Devil.  Teddy was calm and cool with Vicki and they were able to work on some jumping.  Amanda did 4 lessons on Huey; we were much more focused on the experience for them rather than a specific lesson goal.  I’m sure we didn’t take nearly enough photos, but here are a few.

The horses were happy to be home after camp.

King standing watch while the group who went to camp sleep in the next morning
King standing watch while the group who went to camp sleep in the next morning

Since Vicki is outgrowing Devil, and Amanda is moving up to ride Devil occasionally, Huey is getting used a little less.  We have decided that he will stick around and become our driving pony.  We were lucky enough to find a harness locally that fit him, so he has been getting worked for some ground driving.  This week, Vicki and Alex both got to start learning how to ground drive Huey.

On Friday evening, Alex and I were able to spend a couple of hours in the stand hunting deer.  We got to see 3 young bucks and 1 doe, but came home empty-handed.  Saturday morning, Alex and I took Mack out for the opening of pheasant season.

Today, we did a family trail ride. King’s health over the past year has been up and down as he combats EPM.  For the last few days, he has been doing surprisingly well.  Today, Alex was able to ride him for an hour covering 4 miles on our trail ride.  All 5 members of our family rode with all 5 of our horses.  Vicki rode Huey since he has been giving Amanda attitude on the trails and Vicki can work the spunk out of him if needed.

Once the ride was over, we did a little work outside and came in for dinner.  Fried pheasant from yesterday’s hunt, rice and gravy, and cole slaw with a cabbage picked from our garden this afternoon.

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There is no question that October and November are my favorite months in New England.

 

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Eventing and trails

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Now that May is coming to an end, our schedule is calming down a little.  Things have been non-stop with music concerts and horse activities.  This weekend, Alex and Vicki participated in the local Pony Club eventing rally at Mystic Valley Hunt Club.  At a Pony Club rally, the parents can help set up the area first thing in the morning, and then the rest of the day is up to the kids.  We arrived at MVHC at 7 and didn’t leave until about 5:45 that evening.  The kids had horse management inspections (including verifying all required equipment was present and labeled), a written test, formal inspections of rider and mount, dressage tests, stadium jumping, and cross country jumping.  Parents are not allowed in the areas at all, so it is all up to the kids.

Eventing Rally Team L-R Alex, Nina, Vicki, Christina, Alexis
Eventing Rally Team
L-R Alex, Nina, Vicki, Christina, Alexis

It was a long and hot day, but the team managed to keep their spirits up and had some good rides.  Alex and Nike had great jumping rounds.  The jumping Steward (keeping track of which rider was next and sending them into the arena) turned to me after their first jumping round and said “Is he your son?”  I said yes.  She replied, “I was not prepared for how well he would ride.  They are a really good team.”  It perfectly captured Alex.  He was moping around during the course walk and acting like he hated everything.  But as soon as they enter the jumping course, it’s pure business and Alex had a huge smile on his face.

As good as Alex’s day was, Vicki’s was even better.  She rode the best dressage test I have ever seen her ride and it was reflected in her 69 score.  Then on the stadium and cross country courses, she had clear rounds and loved every minute of it.

At the end of the day, the team won 1st place in Horse Management and 5th overall.

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Yesterday was wet and still hot, so we gave the horses a break.  This evening, we decided to head out for a trail ride.  Alex really didn’t want to go, so he got a pass (I’m sure Nike didn’t mind).  For those who have been following, King had EPM over the winter.  We have been bringing him back into work slowly and are cautiously optimistic that he might actually make it back to competitions this summer.  This evening, Anna rode King, I rode Mojo, Vicki rode Dakota, and Amanda rode Huey.

Amanda is becoming quite the trail rider.  We only rode 5 miles over 1:15, but Amanda was constantly announcing when we needed to trot or walk based on the terrain, although her default is always more speed.  They did plenty of trotting and cantering.  She and Huey are a great team.  Mojo was great.  I love his trail demeanor and he is very level headed.  He is definitely powerful and loves to race, which makes him a great match for me.

Hands down, the best part of the ride tonight was watching King back in work.  King was the first horse that was “my horse”.  We bought him in 2002 for me and he has been a rock star.  The last 2 years have been rough with injuries and illness, but tonight he had every bit of his power back and was moving great.  I look forward to his return to hunter paces.

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Anna and King enjoying the sunset in Pachaug
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TSHA Dressage Show 2016-1

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After a couple of cups of coffee yesterday afternoon, we completed unloading the trailer from the NEATO ride and started prepping ponies for the TriState Horseman’s Association Dressage Show today.  We were taking 4 ponies (Nike for Alex, Devil for Vicki, Ace for Alexis, and Huey for Amanda).  Amanda was very excited that she was finally allowed to wash her pony too.  She also kept reminding us that she needed to clean her saddle, bridle, and polish her boots.  Who am I to argue with such motivation?

A couple of weeks ago, the kids all ordered new sleezies for their ponies from Just for Ponies using allowance money.  For you non-horsey readers, a sleezy is a stretchy hood that covered the horse’s mane and neck.  The primary purpose is to keep the mane clean and all the braids intact once a pony is prepped for a show.  Amanda had chosen one for Huey and was very excited to get to use it.

Once all 4 ponies were prepped and tucked into stalls, the trailer was loaded, and kids were washed, we were ready to crash.  5am came awful early, but we had to hit the ground running.  We were at the show grounds by about 7:40 and discovered we were the first to arrive, which was fine since we also had the second ride time in one of the rings.   We got our crew set up, ponies tacked up, and headed to the warm up field.  Amanda was doing a lead-line dressage test, which means she is responsible for directing Huey and following the preset pattern, but I got to keep a line on his halter to make sure he didn’t try any funny business.  After about 5 laps around the warm up field, I wasn’t sure about Huey, but I was definitely warmed up.

Alex and Vicki each did a dressage test (Introductory C) and competed in the 18″ 2 phase class which included jumping and the Introductory B dressage test.  Neither of them had their best performances in the dressage ring, however, they both did very well jumping.  Vicki did have 2 good rides without Devil trying to leave the dressage ring.

I was able to shoot video of the kids riding their jumping rounds.

In the end, the kids brought home a few ribbons and had a good day on their ponies.  It was another busy horsey weekend for the farm.  Luckily, next weekend only has 1 horse event.