The Call

Today, I call the dreaded call..."GunDiva, Estes is colicking, better get up here."

We don't panic about much up here.  Not much at all; not even a little bout of colic.  For Bill to make that call, Estes had to be in a bad way.  She was and she is.  This is what her poop looked like, right before she stopped pooping.

Wet kitty litter.  That's what it looks like.

Vet came, tubed her, gave her a ton of metamucil and some drugs.  Compass had already given her banamine.  The vibe I got from the vet was that he didn't think she'd make it through the night (not that he said that).  I don't know.  I was cautiously optimistic earlier today, but as the sun goes down and she's refusing water and not pooping, my spirits are flagging a bit.

Mom's posted about it over on her blog.

I'll post more, when I have more news.  Until then, I'm off to stand vigil over the equine love of my life.

Around the Block with Asset

Yesterday I went up the hill for a quick ride.  I wasn't able to ride last week, so Queen Estes was getting antsy about not working.

Asset, until a year or so ago, was afeered of horses.  I managed to get her to just sit on Estes on Mother's Day last year - since then she's decided that Estes is a pretty good horse.  I'm kinda partial to her as well.

Asset was so excited about going to see the horses that she "helped" me with my boots.  By picking them up and dropping them repeatedly in my lap while I was talking to Nebalee.  I'm sure poor Asset thought I was taking for-ev-ah getting my boots on, but she managed to keep herself in check long enough for me to finish up with Nebalee.

I took Asset over to the pen with me and told her she had to stay outside while I went in and caught Estes.  Jesse hasn't been out in a while either and is getting stir-crazy.  I didn't want to try to keep an eye on a three year-old with two squirrely mares.  For once, Asset stood patiently outside the pen while I took Estes out of the pen.  Asset was so excited, that I just plopped her up on Estes' back and told her to hold onto the mane.

That mare of mine was so wonderful.  She walked slowly and carefully beside me back to the Lodge.  Asset grinned the whole way.

Asset then helped me groom Estes.  Let me tell you...Estes' front legs have never gotten so much attention before.

I threw on a pad and a bareback pad, as Estes has dropped a bunch of weight recently and her top line looks like crap.  It makes for very uncomfortable riding without padding. (Don't worry, we're addressing it.  Her weight loss happens every year.)

I had promised Asset I'd let her ride around the block with me, so I sent her into the Lodge to get a helmet on and mounted up on Estes.  Estee got so excited that we were going to go out - and I'm sure she thought she was done having to behave with the chillin - that she almost spun out from under me when I mounted.  I got her back under control and told Nebalee to lift Asset up to me.  Estee was dancing in place, obviously wanting to GO, but when she saw Nebalee pick up Asset, she let out a sigh, squared up and contained herself.

You can tell she's not super excited about the prospect of hauling a kid around, but she's getting soft in her old age.

I love my mare.

When we were done playing nice aunt and her horsie, Estee and I went out on the mountain for a quick ride with Bill and Ranger.  And by quick, I mean at one point I heard Bill behind me holler, "I don't really enjoy loping!"  And that would be because Ranger lopes like a porpoise, up and down with very little forward movement.

Last time Estee and I went out, I couldn't move her into a canter, she just kept stretching out that long, beautiful Morgan gait while Bill and Ranger galloped to catch up.  Yesterday, we went from a stand-still to a canter in about a stride and a half.  Guess she really, really wanted to get out of the pen.

Just in case you missed it earlier: I love my mare.

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.

Goat Trail

I was going to wait to post about the Goat Trail, but Beel managed to get the video uploaded, so I thought I'd share the scariest part of the ride.  Pics will follow when I return.

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.

Willow Tree Trail

On Saturday, Beel Bill and I went for a ride on one of my favorite trails.  We don't ride it often, which makes it a huge treat.  It's what I would consider an "extreme" trail in that there are parts of it that you can't see and you absolutely must trust your horse to pick its footing properly.  This is not a competition trail, with one obstacle then another that you're scored on.  At several points, your horse is picking its way over downed branches and water while you're pushing tree limbs out of the way (or, if you're me, using the Flip camera to protect your face).

This is the same trail that many years ago Estes' daughter Meeker refused to take.  That was the last time I ever attempted to take a dude string along that trail - I had nightmares of what could have happened if the critter hadn't made noise until we were halfway in the willows.  I don't know if Compass' new wranglers even know the trail exists.  We talked about taking it for HCR last year because we knew that everyone could ride; in the end, because Baggins was being such a jerk for Rachel, we bypassed it. (<--- That didn't come out the way I meant it to.  Baggis was being a jerk; I wasn't sure how he'd handle the close quarters.  Has nothing to do with Rachel's riding ability.  She doesn't give herself enough credit in her ability.)

I had my sights set on doing the Willow Tree trail this year and spent the last week working up my courage to do it bareback.  I knew Beel Bill would be up for it - heck, he wants me to do the Goat trail bareback - so off we went.

Queen Estes Says

I'm busy putting together a video of the ride we took on Saturday, so Queen Estes agreed to help me out while I'm working on the video.

Mom - GunDiva - came up for a ride on Saturday, but the Bionic Cowgirl had borrowed my pretty purple halter for Jesse.  Oh, you should have heard Mom holler about that!  I thought we'd just get a spa day instead of a ride, but Mom came up with something else to catch me with...

"Really Mom?!  Ashinator's barrel rein?  I look like a dog on a leash. Really?!"

"Psst.  You there, Asset.  Yeah, you.  Come cut me loose."

Ugh.  I'm so embarrassed.



Mom did say that she would only do this with a well-mannered horse that she could trust to stand still.  I think she was trying to flatter me so I'd forget that she tied me up like a dog.  And Beel was standing next to the rail with the little silver flashing box (really, I don't know why Ranger freaks out about it).