Fatty McFatterson

I've needed a back cinch for my saddle, but haven't put much effort into finding one. I love my lightweight saddle, but it is so light that when I longe Skeeter in it, the back end flops all around. Mom and Bill were able to find one that was reasonably priced and picked it up for me. I have a synthetic Wintec saddle and they were able to find a nylon back cinch by Formay that would work with my saddle.

I was ... confused ... when I unpacked the cinch, because I couldn't figure out how to attach it to the saddle. I'm used to the leather billets that you feed through the D-ring and hold in place with the tongue of the buckle. That was not at all how these attached. Bill had tried to explain it to me a couple of days ago, but I wasn't able to visualize it. I had to go to Google University to figure out how to get the dang thing on. I took pictures in case anyone else runs into the same problem.

I mean, really? WTH?

Ah, unhook the billet from the cinch and feed it through the D-ring

Slip it through the belt keeper

And tighten it up

Then re-attach the cinch with the buckle.

Do the same to the near side and it's finally on!

Except ... oops ... someone has enjoyed her free feed too much.

I do not believe that Skeeter was very excited about me calling her Fatty McFatterson, but if the cinch fits - or doesn't in this case ...

After I turned her back out in the pen, I took a leather punch to the straps and will hope that it fits her better next time. It looks like we both need to join Julie Goodnight's 5-Pound Challenge and maybe start Couch to 5K.

Horse Master with Julie Goodnight 2015 (Cast member)

This July, as I do every July, I loaded up and headed to southern Colorado to work on my friend Julie Goodnight's RFD-tv show, Horse Master with Julie Goodnight. I first met Julie when I was a cast member seven years ago (2008) with Estes. Since then, I've gone back to work as a crew member every year.

Lord knows I can use some help with Skeeter, so I applied to be a cast member this year and do double duty. The stars lined up and I was able to work it out with Mom and Bill to haul Skeeter to Julie's and back since I was going to be working.

Skeets has tons of holes in her training, but the one thing she does well is trailer loading. When they brought Ranger down to babysit, they left the trailer, so we did a quick practice run with it. She loaded into the unfamiliar trailer like a champ, which assured me there wouldn't be a problem getting her to Julie's.

I headed to Julie's on Sunday, and Skeeter was scheduled to arrive Monday evening. I tried not to fret too much, but as it got later and later in the day, I started to worry. Mom and Bill drove in about 8:30, just before full dark.

"Mom? Is that you?"

Skeets unloaded from the trailer like a pro. I was a little worried that she'd want to bolt off of it after being locked in for five hours or so. I needn't have worried.

It was after she was off the trailer that things got exciting. She circled and circled, trying to take it all in. So many different things and so many different smells. I let her circle until I got dizzy and then stopped her nonsense. Walking her from the trailer to her run was like taking a kid to their first day of kindergarten - she was both excited and unsure. We stopped and soaked it all in a couple of times, but before I knew it, she was loose in her temporary home.

So many smells to check out.

It was getting to be past my bedtime, so I patted her on the nose, told her I loved her and headed "home" for the night. Mom and Bill stayed at Julie's in their horse trailer, so I slept soundly knowing that if anything went wrong, they'd be there.

We had two episodes to finish up the next morning before it was Skeeter's turn, so all she got was a run-by "I love you" as I headed to the arena to work. Bill and Mom did a good job of keeping her company and getting her all pretty-fied.

Bill says, "no autographs!"

One of the best things about Julie's place is the hitch rail. Since we don't have one at home, us two-leggeds were looking forward to giving Skeeter some quality time at the patience post. She did pretty well, though she tried to dig her way to China (we filled it in, Julie, I swear!).

When we finished the two episodes, I ran up to the house to get myself dolled up for the camera and thus began the process of hurry-up-and-wait.

As ready as I'm going to get - or so I thought.

I got the star treatment from Cheryl, who decided to re-do my braid so it wasn't so loose.

It takes time to move all of the cameras and crew to get set up in a new location, which is why the hurry-up-and-wait thing. I understand it and was thankful to have a bit of time to decompress and switch gears from crew member to cast member. Finally, the cameras were set up at the round pen and we were ready to go.

She stood so nicely outside the pen.

Getting my mic turned on. They probably should have left it off.

We had a plan: I would go in the round pen and do some of our usual groundwork to show off what we've learned and how far we'd come (including sitting on her bareback and in a saddle), then Julie would come in and we'd talk a little bit before Dale Myler would work with Skeeter. That was our plan.

What actually happened: Skeeter lost her mind. Her brains fell out her butt. Everything we'd learned and practiced went right to hell in a handbasket. We managed to do a bit of circling and leading. We tried standing and taking deep breaths to calm down. We walked around some more and circled a bit more, but Skeeter was having none of it. I finally got to the point where I felt like, "well, this is the horse we've got, so let's get going" and had them bring in the mounting block.

Bill might end up on camera, since he came in to help out.

She wouldn't calm down enough for me to mount up, so we just worked on laying weight across her back from both sides. I was willing to climb on up, but Julie decided to err on the side of caution. She asked what I thought of really working her in the round pen. Initially, I was afraid to amp her up even more and lose what little control over her I had, but when Julie offered to do the round penning I couldn't resist. I mean, Julie Goodnight working my horse? It was an offer I couldn't refuse.

We removed Skeeter's halter and turned her loose in the pen with Julie. I perched on a hay bale on the other side of the pen so I could see and still be on camera. It was amazing to watch.

At first, Skeeter did her level best to ignore Julie. She did what was asked, when enough pressure was applied, but made it very clear that she wasn't happy about it. In fact, she very clearly told Julie to eff off more than once. Slowly, very slowly, she began to regain her brain and focus on Julie. It was a pleasure to watch and I'm fairly certain Julie was having a good time with my challenging mare. After about fifteen-twenty minutes, Skeeter came around enough that we could move on with the episode.

Or so we thought.

Skeeter is good about getting haltered. If she balks at it, she takes fewer than ten steps before she's "caught" and then stands quietly for haltering.

My horse. My stupid, wild mustang, decided that she didn't want haltered and took both Bill and Julie dirt skiing. I heard her husband, Rich, telling her not to get hurt and all I could think of was if Julie got hurt it would be my fault. After a few minutes, they were able to get the halter on the fire-breathing dragon as I watched, absolutely horrified. Skeeter's first haltering wasn't nearly that crazy and I have video to prove it.

I should have just gone back in the round pen to halter her, but there's this whole thing about having to stay clean for the episode and Bill has haltered Skeeter almost as often as I have, so I didn't expect it to be a thing.

I don't have any pictures of the round pen work or what happened during the teaching segment of the episode, because cameras aren't allowed while taping the actual episode. All of the pictures we have were taken between shots, but I know the finished product is going to be amazing.

Dale quietly slipped a bit into her mouth and adjusted it, then taught me how to "work over the withers" with her to teach her to give to the bit.

We put her in a 3-ring combo for the episode, which seems to be the favored bit on the show. After talking to Dale, I understand why. The 3-ring combo has five points of contact: the nose, curb chain, poll, tongue, and bars. It's designed so that the horse first feels nose pressure and then the other points of contact back up the nose pressure.

In "real life", though, I'm going to start her in a Myler 04 snaffle to get her used to carrying it around in her mouth. She'll get to do her ground work and circling work while wearing a bridle for the next couple of weeks until she's ready to move into the 3-ring combo.

I brought home two bits: the Myler 04 snaffle and the Myler 04 3-ring combo. Both will be excellent bits for her. I also brought home a new set of Julie's rope reins and her bitting system. When Skeeter is comfortable carrying the bit in her mouth, I'll add the bitting system to the equation to help her learn to carry herself properly. The beauty of the system is that it's not dependent on my ability to time the release on time - the release is completely controlled by Skeeter's movement.

The 04 snaffle with pretty rope reins

It's not a "pinchy" snaffle like most are.

The 04 3-ring combo

When it was time for Mom and Bill to pack up to leave, Skeeter was over the trailer and didn't want to get in. I'll admit, I had them resort to a bit of bribery to unstick her feet. It occurred to me that while I thought the whirlwind 24 hours she was at Julie's with me was fun, for her it was a lot of work and learning. It couldn't have been easy to get trailered 5 hours each way for her first trip, and then get left alone in a pen with strange horses next to her over night, and then get tied to a patience post for hours (not exaggerating, she probably spent two to three hours standing tied), and then get worked in the round pen, followed by having to get a metal bar put in her mouth and learn about that. It was a lot of work for her busy little brain to process, but it was good for her (and me).

I'm so thankful to Julie and Dale for their help and patience with Skeeter. I'm also very thankful for the support of the rest of the crew that I've been lucky enough to work with for years: Heidi, Sharon, Cheryl, Lucy, Twyla, Mel, and Steve. It was fun to get to have my friends (and Mom and Bill) with me through the whole process.

If anyone has the opportunity to apply to be a cast member for Julie's show, jump on it! It's an experience you won't forget.

Click HERE to read about Mom and Bill's version of the events. Those two are crazy - 36 hours away from the lodge and they consider that a vacation.

You just never know...

Did you know that one of the riders I wrote about in "Diamonds"  turned out to be Julie Goodnight's t.v. producer?

That trail ride changed my life.

Several months after that ride, I was at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo and heard a casting call for Julie's new t.v. show, Horse Master with Julie Goodnight. I applied and a few weeks later got the call from my former guest, Heidi, who remembered that I had been her guide. I didn't even own Estes yet - I was in the process of buying her - and she had been out to pasture for two years, but Heidi trusted (somewhat blindly) that Estes would be camera-ready and we were cast for an episode on walking off during mounting (remember I had to master the running mount?).

The rest, as they say, is history. I've been a member of the Colorado Crew ever since. Each year, when we film at Julie's ranch, I go work on the set. It's been an incredible journey and I've learned a lot.

You just never know who you're going to meet in the course of a work day.

Photo by: The Whole Picture, LLC

The Ride Home

The first part of the ride is here.

After the horses had finished up their picnic (that's a lie - they would have never been finished)...  After Bill and I decided the horses had finished up their picnic, we tacked them back up.  Let me tell you, that's a real chore when you're barebacking.  I used to be a purist when riding bareback and would refuse to use a bareback pad.  However, her highness is rather bony toward the end of the season and a little extra padding makes both of us more comfortable..

The re-tacking's the easy part,
it's the finding something tall enough to mount from.
*Remember, I'm about the only one on the planet in my family
who can't use *my* Million Dollar Idea.

She's so patient while I throw myself at her,
only one ear twitch

I try to have a goal for each season.  My goal this season is to ride the one-hour trail bridleless.  To that end, I've been practicing dropping the reins when we're out on the trails.  Estes was doing so well on this ride that when we hit the bottom of Pinky's Wash, I decided to try to ride back home entirely without using my reins.

We did okay.  Not spectacular, but okay. I had three times I used the reins.  The first was to reinforce the whoa.  Even that was good.  Estes is a very forward horse and we've been working on her whoa all summer.  I knew there would be no way in hell I could go bridleless without a good whoa.  She and I have had some pretty good battles over whoa this summer.  This whoa wasn't one of those battles.  I gave her the verbal command, sat down hard with my seat and she didn't stop, so I reached forward for the reins and slid them back on her neck toward me.  She stopped.  That's a huge step.  You can see in the picture how relaxed she is and how much play I still have in the reins.  I never even picked them up, just slid them toward me.

Rein touch number one.

I don't have a picture of my second rein touch because Bill and Ranger were trying hard to keep up with us.  I'd moved her into a trot, which was really nice until she realized Ranger and Bill were trotting along, too.  Then the horse race was on.  Before it really got out of hand, I had to rein her in.  With Bill bouncing along on Ranger's crazy lope (he looks like a porpoise), there wasn't an opportunity for a picture.

After we got them back down to a walk, I dropped the reins and away we went.  Into a tree.

I was calling her bad names, pressing like crazy with my left leg,
trying to move her away from the tree, and laughing my butt off.
I think this is payback for stopping the race between her and Ranger.

Since she wasn't able to scrape me off on that tree, she tried a different one.  I figured I could duck under the first set of branches, but then I got a look at the second set of branches and there was my third rein touch.

I feel pretty good about that touch, too, though.  It didn't take any mouth pressure to move her off the tree, simply rein pressure across her neck.  One of the things I'm going to do when I do my bridleless ride is to use a neck rope like the one Julie Goodnight has designed. 

www.shopping.juliegoodnight.com

Only, I don't own one of Julie's yet, so I'll probably use braided twine until I buy one of hers.  Since I'm planning on using a neck rope, I was happy to see her respond to just neck pressure.  Yes, she's trained to neck rein, but when she gets stubborn (not that that ever happens), I have to go do direct reining.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, which I was really thankful for.  We'd agreed that we'd go to reins to cross the highway, just for safety's sake.  Our "rule" is that the bridleless riding will begin and end at the highway.  Not sure how that will work once I actually leave the headgear behind at the lodge, though.

My plans to continue toward my goal are:

• switch out to the halter that Mrs Mom made me and attach Ashee's barrel rein
• make a neck rein and start riding with it in addition to the halter and barrel rein
• put on my big girl panties and Cowgirl Up, in reality the only reason I haven't done my ride yet is because I'm a big ole chicken shit

I should note that Bill doesn't have enough sense to bridle his horse and has been riding essentially bridleless forever, so while I get all giddy about riding home without the reins, he's been doing it all along. He's just gracious enough not to rub it in my face.

Horse Master Cast/Crew

I'm having some problems getting my thoughts in order for this post, so while I try to put my thoughts in some semblance of order, I thought I'd share our crew photo with you.

Back row: me, Steve (camara)
Front row: Susie, Cheryl, Heidi (Producer), Julie (Star), Jackie, Lucy, Sditta

It's not often that we get Steve in front of the camara, but after some good-natured coersion, we managed.

Cheryl is Julie's Wardrobe Wrangler - she makes sure that everyone is looking their best.  She also was a cast member this time, so she was pulling double duty.  When it came time for her interview, Steve told her to go to a specific location, but she refused, telling him, "I'd rather do my first take here".  He said okay and this is what we got...

Note: Rachel, I added a transcript for the video, but I'm not quite sure how it works.

Horse Master Time Again

Photo cred: Heidi Nyland Melocco, the Whole Picture, LLC

I'm off this week to crew for Julie Goodnight again. For the last two years, I've been lucky enough to "work" as a member of her Colorado Crew for her TV show, Horse Master with Julie Goodnight.

In 2011, Heidi, her producer, about killed us with taping eight episodes and a complete DVD in four days.  This year, the schedule looks a little less likely to kill us.  That might be because Heidi is 35 weeks pregnant and she might need to "go easy".  Yes, I'm laughing at that, because she's a damn hard worker and I can't imagine her going easy at anything.

I'll be back in a week or so with the recap.

Visiting the Triple Creek Ranch

Mom and I went to see Julie Goodnight at Triple Creek Ranch for a one-day Horse How-To clinic focusing on:

• Ground Manners for Young or Fractious Horses
• Advanced Groundwork and Liberty Work
• Riding Right: Balance Rhythm and Feel
• Training Solutions

I'm always so impressed when I get to watch Julie work.  She's hilarious in person and is so down-to-earth.  When I work as part of the crew, there are so many things going on that I can't focus on one thing.  Taking Mom as her birthday present was totally an excuse for me to sit in the audience and focus on what Julie had to say.  (I did feel a little guilty about not working, though.)

What astounds me is the immediate difference in the horses.  I know that there are some nay-sayers who don't believe that change happens as quickly as it does on the TV show.  For those people, all I can say is, audit a clinic.  She takes horses she's never seen or worked with before and in a few minutes produces dramatic positive changes that the owner can reproduce.  To me, that's the most important thing: to be able to reproduce the results the trainer gets.  It doesn't do me any good to send my horse to a trainer if I don't learn how to get the same results at home.

What I noticed was that the horses - all of them - immediately responded to Julie's take-charge attitude.  When she says, "Horse, this is your Captain speaking", they listen.  It's been my observation that as soon as the owners take the same attitude and expect their horse to behave a certain way the horses take notice and toe the line.

Mom had a big ah-ha moment and put it into practice the next day with Jesse, apparently with positive results.  I'm pretty sure she'll get around to writing a post about it, so I won't blow it with a spoiler. 

As for me, I hadn't realized how close Estes and I are to being able to do simple at-liberty work and bridle-less riding until I watched the Advanced Groundwork segment.  Poor Estee has a lot of learnin' to do when she gets home.  First, we'll work on my million-dollar idea (I haven't posted about it yet) and then move to at-liberty work and bridle-less riding.  I'm not certain I'll attempt bridle-less out on the trail, but I'd love to.  I just don't know if I've got the stones required to try it outside an enclosed area.  Baby steps.  Gotta work on my million-dollar idea first and go on from there.

Hobby Horse Blog Hop - Week 4

It's that time of week again!  Dreaming's Hobby Horse Blog Hop!  I'll put the linky thing at the bottom so you can join along.  It's been quite a bit of fun, even if I did miss last week.  Let's hope that my answers this week make up for my absence from last week.

1. Have you ever been a victim of the weather when you were riding, or participating in some other sport? You can't ride where we do and not get caught in weather.  I've got a couple of blog posts on some of the more hair-raising rides from when I was working as a wrangler: Racing The Storm and Lightning in the Yard.  It's bad enough to be caught in weather by yourself or with a friend, but to be out there with inexperienced riders looking to you for direction?  Well, that just gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Cowgirl Up".
2. If you could take a lesson with anyone in the world, who would that be? I work as a crew member for Julie Goodnight's TV show, Horse Master with Julie Goodnight, and I always learn a ton.  But I'm learning it from the ground.  I love her teaching style, so that puts her at the top of my list.  But...I want to take lessons bareback.  I've been riding bareback for about six years now and I want to be able to do everything that people in a saddle can do.
3. Which season is your favorite? Springsummerfall.  Riding in the snow can be pretty.  Once.  Okay, maybe twice.  But then I'm over it.  I'd much rather ride in the spring, when things are greening up and blooming. 

The frogs sing in the spring and it's the best sound ever.

Or the summer, when it's too hot to be in town and I can escape up to the mountains for a long ride. 

My favorite Aspen grove

Or the fall, when the leaves are changing and the temps are cooling off. 

At the south end of the Aspen grove

But I'm over riding in the winter.


Ok, now my question to add...how old were you when you first rode by yourself?  (Riding behind an adult or in a snuggli doesn't count.)

Worst Trail Ride Ever Give-away

I've had a lot of worst trail rides.  Mostly, though, they're amazing, but any time you put horses and humans together in the wilderness things are going to happen.  Just ask the Bionic Cowgirl - her last worst trail ride involved a plate and nine screws in her right arm.

I have a whole list of worst ride stories.  I could tell you about the time my Barn Boss' horse went to noon on me, or about the time that I did a Hollywood-style dismount, or about the time we had to AirLife a guest out of the forest.  I don't know anyone who has been around horses who doesn't have a worst ride story.

With that in mind, I thought we'd do a little contest for Julie Goodnight's new book, GOODNIGHT'S GUIDE TO GREAT TRAIL RIDING.

Read about how Estes darn nearly broke my leg in half with a gate.

All you have to do to enter is to write a blog post (or two) about your worst trail ride and link up. The contest will run from now until Friday, December 23 at 11:59 pm MST.  The winner will receive an autographed copy of Julie's new book (Julie's autograph, not mine).

Note: Bionic Cowgirl, you are NOT eligible for this give-away.  Neither are you, Beel.

Awww...

Talked to Mom today, who talked to Ida, Estes' "other mother".

My baby girl is doing okay out on fat pasture, which makes me very happy, because we got her moved down just before the weather went to crap.  However, she spent the first two days she was with her old herd, hollering and looking for Mom's herd.  It's the first time since I bought her that we've broken up Mom's herd for the winter and it was distressing for her.  That makes me very sad.

She's settled in to her old herd again and has stopped calling for Ranger, Jesse, and Washoe.  But it still makes me sad, in a my-kid's-gone-to-kindergarten kind of way.

~~~~~~~~~~

In happier news, remember this:

It's been released!  Heidi got her copies the other day.  I can't wait to read it.  Anyone who is interested in buying it can go here to order it.  And, if you order it by a certain date (I honestly don't remember what the date is), Julie will inscribe and autograph it for you.

I'm a little nervous to read my contribution, because Heidi just asked us for some trail riding horror stories.  So I shared the story of when Estes about broke my leg in a gate.  Since I just jotted it down, I have no recollection of what I said, other than Estes about broke my leg.  I hope she or Julie polished it up pretty-like and I don't sound like a total idiot. :)

Heidi asked for trail riding horror stories too early - if she had waited a few months, Mom would have had a doozy to contribute.  Nothing like getting kicked, shattering your elbow and having to ride out as a contribution to a trail riding book.

Woo Hoo!

I opened my Facebook today and had a message waiting:

You're named --with your trail stories that you sent me in the spring-- in the Julie Goodnight/Heidi Nyland Melocco trail riding book published by AIM Media.

That was a nice surprise.  I had almost forgotten that I'd shared a story with Heidi back in the spring.  I have no idea what the book is titled or when it will be released, but it's still a cool bit of news today :)

I might have to do a give-away once it's released.

Horse Master 2011

Julie Goodnight, Heidi (Producer/Director), Cheryl (Wardrobe Wrangler), Petra (Cast Member, adopted Crew Member), Sharon (Key Grip), me (Grip), Lucy (Assistant Instructor) and Steve (Videographer)

Last week before High Country Rendezvous, I had the privilege of working with the Horse Master with Julie Goodnight crew again.  It was like a family reunioun to see everyone again.  Last year, Heidi tried to kill us by shooting eight episodes in four days.  Since she failed in her mission to kill us last year, she upped the ante to ten episodes and a DVD in four days this year.

We were completely blessed last year - pretty much everything went perfectly and we finished up early every day.  This year.  Not so much.  We actually cheered when we had a "short" day - only 11.5 hours.  However, we got some great episodes.

This is Christy and Jessie - their episode is about trail obstacles, specifically gate opening/closing, but the biting flies were so bad that they took a dip in the pond to chase off the flies.

Francine and Hero with Julie and Dale Myler - a bitting episode to help Francine with her reining horse.

Heidi, besides being the Director/Producer for Horse Master is also an accomplished equine photographer and owns The Whole Picture.

Joli and her horse Katrina - Katrina had a bit of an issue with canter departure.

Julie and Dually taking a dip in the pond to hide from the flies.  All I could think was, "Ugh, I hate the feeling of wet jeans".  Good thing it was Julie, not me.

Petra and her horse Maximus - the coolest thing about them is that Petra has trained Maximus by herself, using all of Julie's methods.  Maximus was a delight and so wonderfully trained - Petra's done an amazing job with him.

This is Chaco - he and I had a little equine love affair.  Beel Bill called me an equi-slut for cheating on Estes while I was away at Horse Master.  Whatever.  Even Estes would fall in love with this seven year-old BLM mustang.  Thursday was a rough day; we were all exhausted and I had reached the breaking point.  Chaco gave me all sorts of horsey hugs and greatly improved my mood.

Rachel and Rooster - one of the two bitting episodes with Dale Myler.  Rooster's a young 'un, four years old, and Rachel's hoping to run barrels on him in the future.  He just needed some help to relax.

Our daily rain delay.  This did not help shorten our days at all.  We did get pretty good at tearing down and setting up between rain storms.

Tony and Chaco - this episode was supposed to be about a spooky horse, but Chaco was anything but spooky.  So much for a fire-breathing scary mustang.  He did have some basic skills to learn that a dead-broke horse like he is should have.  Being a mustang, he picked it up quickly.











We also taped four episodes of colt-starting, but I was far too enthralled with the process to think to take any pictures.  The colt-starting episodes will be turned into part of Julie's "From the Ground" DVD series (a lot more goes into the DVD than what will be seen on the TV show).  Sadly, I had to leave for RomCon before I got to see help with the final episode - teaching cues.

Getting Dressed

Okay, Estee, we're gonna try a saddle today...

Let's get the bird poop off...

Let's see...yeah, first the saddle pad...

Oof...this saddle business is so foreign...

On three...one...two...

...three...

Wait...these straps...I know I'm supposed to do something with them...

Oh, that's right, we have to tie the saddle on...

Good thing my hands know what to do...thank God for muscle memory...

Whew!  All saddled up!

And I even managed to get in the saddle.

I've got some great pictures from our ride up the Goat Trail today, but those are going to have to wait until I get back from HorseMaster.  It's that time again, time for me to load up and head down to southern Colorado to work as a crew member for Julie Goodnight's TV show.  It's a blast, but I'll be super busy and wireless is spotty down there. As soon as I return from HorseMaster, I head up the hill to the Lodge for the High Country Rendezvous.

Ride safe and hug your horses; I'll see y'all after HCR.