Re: [IceHorses] sucky mud
On Dec 2, 2007 11:19 AM, susan cooper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- Janice McDonald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >>makes me wonder if it is primitive trail sense..<< > > Tivar (what does his name mean, anyway?) sounds like > the kind of horse you can trust your life to. Aren't > you lucky!!! I think Andi will be that way. > Yesterday, on our solo ride (we did 5 miles yesterday) > I rode him up on a "berm road" that was raised above > the desert floor. He was looking off on each side and > really seemed to enjoy the different road. I think he > thinks the jeep trails are boring - he always wants to > go "off-roading". > > Susan in NV > Nevermore Ranch http://users.oasisol.com/nevermore/ my friend ruth is always talking about "primitive trail sense" and I think that is what you are describing! One sign is smelling the trail when unsure or to make a decision. they can smell how deep mud is! i am convinced of that from jaspar's decisions thru the years.Tivar means "mountain spirit" but when i googled it i got some info about Tolkien basing his "Lord of the RIngs" middle earth beings on "The Tivar" which also tranlates to "glorious beings", plural, something in their mythology, beautiful spirits that live in the center of the earth. Having said that I feel quite certain several icelandic people will swarm out of lurkdom to tell me it means "bucking a-hole" haha. i love that thing judy posted about leslie desmond saying how it never fails that a horse on the trail arriving at the peak of a hill will stop and gaze out across his surroundings like he is sinking it all in. thats the way Tivar was at the sinkhole overlook. i know its very stupid to base generalizations on the actions of two horses, but teev and nasi are my only horses that seem quite oblivious of extreme heights. nasi acts like he would happily jump over the guardrail of a bridge i take him too all the time whereas Jaspar acts leery of looking over the railing as we cross. my friend ruth also says trail rides are as much for the horse's pleasure as it is for us. we rode with a group of people one time which included a woman who was the worst whiner i have ever seen. if we went above a dogwalk she would yell for us to slow down that her horse, was 'beating her to death" but if we went at a dog walk she would whine that her horse was jigging and beating her to death. i would want to scream "get a new horse" and be so aggravated, but one day she yelled "slow DOWN my horse is beating me to death" and Ruth yelled back over her shoulder "nope. this ride's as much for my horse as it is for me." and we just kept on. I have not ridden with that woman since and now ruth has moved away. i sure miss her. janice -- yipie tie yie yo
Re: [IceHorses] sucky mud
--- Janice McDonald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>makes me wonder if it is primitive trail sense..<< Tivar (what does his name mean, anyway?) sounds like the kind of horse you can trust your life to. Aren't you lucky!!! I think Andi will be that way. Yesterday, on our solo ride (we did 5 miles yesterday) I rode him up on a "berm road" that was raised above the desert floor. He was looking off on each side and really seemed to enjoy the different road. I think he thinks the jeep trails are boring - he always wants to go "off-roading". Susan in NV Nevermore Ranch http://users.oasisol.com/nevermore/ Disclaimer CAUTION: DO NOT DRIVE WITH HOT COFFEE IN YOUR LAP Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ
[IceHorses] sucky mud
here we have some really bad deep sucky mud on the trail, especially with drought and going down to drink at ponds and streams that have dried some and left a very muddly bank. People say riding a young horse hard in deep sucky mud is a good way to give them bowed tendons! On the trail I saw an older TWH work himself out of belly deep mud, one step at a time, I thought to myself, man, what a fantastic horse. he never lost his head and just one step, one lunge at a time, got out and I thought we would have to get him out with national geographic helicopters and a crane :) (this was a few years ago) But makes me wonder if it is primitive trail sense... because yesterday going down to a river Tivar demonstrated a primitive trail sense i think. None of the others would go down to drink from the river, a river that goes underground for miles and comes out, fed by springs and it is sorta narrow and deep right now. But when he felt the mud sinking beneath him he did not panic and try and lunge out, he walked quickly DEEPER, like he knew a stream or river gets more solid when you are actually IN it, then he stood belly deep and drank, then when we went to leave I got myself ready for him to lunge out quickly but he did the coolest thing where he sorta hopped out with his front feet then unstuck one back foot, hopped, unstuck the other back foot, in a methodical calm, totally relaxed way. Like he knew the way to work himself out of deep mud. He was also savvy when we came up on a wooden observation deck overlooking a deep deep skinkhole. It was at the state park. The overlook was small, about the size of a stairway landing, and you could easily see over the railing that it was hundreds of feet straight down. that we were SUSPENDED which you would think would terrify a horse. none of the others would go anywhere near it, but he walked out on it and looked all around like cool, then when we started backing out someone hollered be careful its slippery, and it had some sort of algae growing on it that made it very very slippery so I let him back out and he would reach with one foot and test it then let it land, then apply weight slowwwly then when it started to slip adjust himself and I just let him work his way out. He finally did a half turn and hopped over the slipperiest part. its interesting to learn as time goes by what a horse knows and what he doesnt, what terrifies him and what doesnt, what terrible issues he has and what he is ok with. one thing he did also, we had to walk thru a very narrow gate between two tall posts between a low two foot limestone wall. He chose to step over the wall which made him have to hop out with his back feet. interesting. Janice -- yipie tie yie yo
