No hail for hammer

This pic was taken from the same spot as the top pic in my last post--two days later when it was not getting ready to hail. Way more to see huh? It is a pretty high point.
This is what baby Hammer looks like on day 3 of hard riding. He got better and better every single day. There was nothing he could have done better.
I never had to worry about him worrying the reins when he was tied for a break, because he was too tired!


Isn's he darling? I never thought I would be able to say this, but this one even tops Radar on his first hard trail ride. Someone will have a handy little horse when he gets a new home---any takers? You won't be able to throw anything at him on the trail that he will not take in stride. He will hop logs, climb out of steep ravines--he will drop his little butt and shimmy down the side of a cliff like he has done it a million times--and when he slipped in one, he burn the hide off his fetlocks and still has not even told me about it. He is a stoic sort, and I sure did not expect that from him. He thinks he is big--and thereby able to climb out of creeks like the other horses, even when the edge is almost over his head. And then by God, he does it, even if he has to crawl on his knees to get up it. I could not be more shocked by him, I swear.

The area is much prettier when the sun is shining, isn't it?
Hammer went up and down this washed out climbing spot---I admit that on the way down, I shut my eyes, laid back and let him go--hoping he could handle the weight shifts and be sure footed about it. He did it better than the other horses, and I do not think he considered for a second not doing it. Going back up, he just dug down and got after it, and the only side effect was my lost hornbags who could not handle the angle
There seem to be a lot of pics of roads here, and we rarely even ride on a fire road. This year's rain has worn out some of our regular paths, so that they are just rutted gravel--far more slickery than the rougher terrain we are used to.
This was a rare moment when Hawk was not torturing Jodi by rubbing his head on her to scratch. He is a scratchy dude. They got along fine--she liked him. As she said, he is a bit of an asshole, but he rides nice so she liked him. He comes across as such a thug and I do not know why, as he really is not--and he is so brave, I swear he holds his breath and just throws himself into any new challenge. I do not think he has any fear about anything either.

Here, he was asking Head if he could maybe have a drink of beer. I do not know how he made out on that deal. I suppose if Hawk really wanted it, he would have knocked Head off his perch and taken it.

Linda has a long horse--it makes it easier to get phone reception in the wilderness. Even out there, there is always something demanding attention back home--so thank goodness The Dirty Cowboy knows how to hook her up with a high point to take a phone call.



Radar rode only on Monday, and that is when we realized that he and Hammer have to share a headstall for their bitty heads. I was not about to give it up, so Barry had to make do with a closer fit. Not very close at all, actually--about a half inch too long, and the buckles on the throat latch thing were missing. Because we are fancy, Barry tied it in a knot under Radar's jaw--which of course would not stay. There was no curb chain either--so this poor feller was in a bit of a snit about his ill-fitting equipment. He and Barry do not get along like Radar and I do, so they argued for a while, until they reached a truce. And now I have an excuse to shop some more!

Look how far down on his head that browband is--pathetic, huh? He is still awfully pretty, but I guess we might as well admit that he will always wear a yearling halter and have to have his headstalls adapted to fit his pea head. I guess there are worse problems.

We had a great weekend, and there are more pics to go through, but if I waited to post until I was recovered, it would never happen.

I love these weekends with Headleys and Jodi, and various other people that come along-- they rejuvenate me. I am lucky to have friends like this to spend time with, and lucky to have a constant supply of home grown babies that make me happy to be around, and ride. What more could anyone ask for?

Two of a kind

We have some serious brotherly love going on here.

Radar was one of the victims for the farrier today-- he and three of his friends needed shoes for Labor Day camping. After each one got done, I put them in the front pasture which has been empty so it could be scalped to de-weed it. That is why it is so short right now--it looks like a low-rent golf course. Anyway, Radar and Hawk have been separated in different pastures, until today.
I do not know how much Hawk cares about Radar, but Radar thinks Hawk is the second coming of Jesus. I forgot about Hawk until several hours after I had turned everyone else out, and had to go back over there to turn him out. When I put Hawk out, Radar came running as fast as he possibly could to greet him like he had not seen him in years. Forget the fact that they had been stalled next to each other all day.

It is really interesting to see them interact.

I kind of suspected this whack was coming. Hawk seems to inspire this weird sort of worship in a lot of horses, so he is used to having to tell someone to get up off his ass. He is pretty nice about though, and almost never has to make actual contact. Radar is kind of relentless though. Notice Radar's ears--he is not saddened by being told to back off...I think it is part of their game with each other.

And they immediately return to palling up and hanging out together. I had been hoping for one of those wild horse scenes where they stand up and strike at each other--it makes great pictures. I did not get it though. Obviously.

Radar is going with me tomorrow to Sam Dale, so we will get to relive this great reunion scene again when we get back.

Horses are so funny.

Weekend in the woods

Try as we might, we cannot quite get everything together at the same time. We got out of town a little after 4 pm on Friday and arrived at the campground around 5:30. Jodi and Ed had been there all afternoon, so were set up and relaxing. We were surprised to see how busy the campground was--we have gotten a little spoiled in that we have quite often had it mostly to ourselves over the past year, since our friend bought it. The word is out though that it is open, and it was pretty busy.


We hung out and had dinner and talked all nite. We expected Amy and Burt to arrive from Chicago Friday nite, but they hit a snag of some sort, and did not get in until Saturday afternoon. Linda and Randy arrived Saturday morning. We had a nice ride--not long, maybe 3 hours or so on Saturday afternoon.


I rode Gyro, because she is delightful. And after this, none of the pics will make any sense.


This Great Pyr came to visit on Sunday. I thought he was swell.

Amy brought her pack of dogs. This is Bopper.
Every time the dogs got a chance, they got their short asses right back in the Denali. Evidently, camping is not the best thing in their world--they prefer leather seats to sleeping in a tent.
This is Jodi, looking like she has been caught in a thunderstorm, because she had in fact been caught in a thunderstorm. Our Sunday ride went off the rails a bit, as it looked like the rain was over. It most certainly was not.
Only Eddie had a reasonable raincoat. I of course, had nothing, and was soaked to the skin.
Look how wet all the horses are. I had to use the flash too, as the skies were so dark.
Poor Amy had on a sweater, I cannot imagine how unpleasant that felt.

I did not mind the rain so much, it was actually kind of fun.
This is what Jodi looks like when she is not caught in a thunderstorm. Her horse is a pretty good boy too.
Here, you can kind of see Tequila's ouchies. And that her ass is shaved, so that her wounds could be treated. She discovered the couch in the trailer, but honestly, she was as happy having the mid tack and stud stall to herself--she could come and go and had two rooms to choose from. Not a bad way to live.
This is Barry and Head at the initial tree. We always stop here for a snack break.
Who knew that Bocephus had been there?
It was at this stop that Gyro got up close and personal with this tree. She spent the longest time trying to get it in just the right place to scratch her itchies--which evidently involved her udder or something else personal. I don't think you can see her face well enough to know how much she was enjoying this episode. We watched her do this for several minutes, moving that tree all over the place. When she got done, she picked up her off hind leg and tried to get it out of there--that required hopping on her other leg all the way around the tree. She never got the least bit bothered by any of it--she is a good girl, and kept us laughing for a while.
This is the big Weed. His real name is Tumble Weed. we mostly call him the Weed. When he is bad, he is the called Dick Weed. This weekend, he was regular Weed, which is nice.
I did not get many scenery shots, as I thought I would have time on Sunday--and then the down pour started, so I mostly have pics of rain, and a few rocks in the rain. That kind of sucks
This is Tequila acting like a good girl. She was an angel all weekend, and she is feeling very good. It does my heart good.
Ah--finally proof that it did not rain the entire weekend. This is Linda and the Dirty Cowboy. Saturday was hot and humid and other than it making me sweaty, it was really nice.
Barry rode Hawk on Saturday. Hawk got cut from the team last year, as he was pretty solid and did not need the work, and got bratty about the trailer. It was time for that to end though, so he was back in the lineup. He was excellent. Did not take a wrong step, was great about the trailer, and was all around swell in every single way. We were thrilled since he has been off so dang long--like a year or so--which is a long time for a young horse. Barry loves him.


I kinda like him my own self. He is such a handsome boy. He is going to make someone a great horse---if someone would just step up and buy him. You could not ask for more in a young horse with as little work as he has had--he is just such an athlete, but laid back enough to get along with everyone.

This is Barry's favorite activity on these weekends---sitting. He did not ride on Sunday, opting instead to go mountain biking, but he did not get to do that either due to the rain. So he sat and rested. I take my resting in the form of a nap--I slept so long Saturday evening, I missed dinner. I only was down for an hour or so on Sunday when Darrell and Paula showed up and I never ever ever miss the Logan show. You just cannot make that stuff up, so I got up for that adventure.
The other swell thing of this trip as baby Junior---Eddie and Jodi's pup. Is he not the cutest thing ever?

Reflections

My meeting ran long, so I did not get to the farm until after 7:30--Barry was just coming back from the back of the property where he had taken down some fence. He said the horses were not interested in the water---I found that very hard to believe, so we got feed and went back. I knew they would follow that!

And they did--and my battery died immediately thereafter. No one got in the water yet, but they were distracted by the high grasses. Wait until they discover the apple trees!


This is Haida Girl. She is sort of standing on a slope, but is that cool how she is reflected so clearly in the water? I was all the way across the pond from her, and it was probably 8 pm, so it is not as bright as it could have been--I still love the photo.



Hawk's did not turn out quite as good, partly because his coat is so much lighter, the reflection is not as strong. I like how he seems to be looking at himself in the water.

I am definitely trying again tomorrow, but with a FULL battery. Evidently I left my charger in Belize, so I have had to order a new one---

What he would have been

This is Hawkeye, or Haywire as Linda now calls him. He is Turbo's oldest sibling, he just turned three.

I took him to the Shawnee on Sunday, for his first trip down there. I did not really care who went, but he offered, so I considered it an opportunity to get to know his riding better.

Things I knew about him from the trainer: he is extremely athletic but can be obstinant if he does not want to do something. I have ridden him a lot around the farm, Barry has ridden him at Hutch's, Even Ashlyn has ridden him, and did fine --and there is no doubt about the athleticism, but we have never really had any issues with the stubborn. I chalk that up to there being no way we can ever ask for as much out of a horse as the Secret Weapon can.


We had a few interesting events on this trip--that may be an understatement. He refused to cross a bit of water---then it occurred to me that he was at the trainer during the heart of the drought so even though he has water running through his pasture, he is not used to being ridden through it. The first little shallow crossing required the assistance of Woodrow to drag us through--good thing he is like a Mack truck. Hawk ended up launching himself up in the air and almost landing on him. I took a horn to the gut, but the important part is that he got over the water.

The next crossing he did not need to be dragged but decided to launch himself UP and over--he was sky high and Head said he could have read the Tribune between my ass and the saddle--I do not know if that was a reference to how high out of it I was, or how much hang time I had. In any event, I again did not fall off, and evidently it scared the pee out of Hawk, as that was the last of that foolishness for the rest of the day (we had other kinds but they did not involve water)
.

By the end of the day, he was happily crossing big creeks, water up over his hocks were no issue--he was awesome. It was a good day because he learned it so well, even if I did not know that he did not know it already.

I did get to see his stubborn side when we got done--he did not want to load. It was a mess.

When we got home, he got more trailer practice--he knows how to do it and will run and jump in no problem--until you piss him off, then he refuses and you have to start over. We will keep working on that submission.

The mystery is solved

Well, here he is, caught in the act! Hawkeye is always beat up--marked up, hairless, scuffed up--he looks like a two dollar whore on Sunday afternoon. I know he plays hard and plays with everyone, and I could not figure out who was laying it to him. Now we know--it is RADAR!

First he tried to get him to play with this move, and when that did not work, he had to resort to biting him on the butt a few different times. It was a hoot to see him take bites out of different parts of his butt, and Hawk to whack him for doing it . Then he did it again, until Hawk would finally play. (please ignore the tractor ruts in the pasture there--you have to move hay even when water is standing on the fields and this is the aftermath)

Finally, Radar got Hawk to play with him. He was a happy boy. Those two really love each other and are always up to something, but they are so much fun that you forgive them pretty quick. Their antics never get serious either, so it is cool to watch them interact with each other.

Next he took up with Cash, and they had a nice moment loving on each other. Cash is not a sweet horse---a thug, yes, but no one would call her a delicate flower.

Silly Radar was just asking for it.

He should have known that she could only take it so long before she turned on him.

Now that is the Cash we all know! Looks just like her mama the Rock, doesn't it with the ears pinned and her teeth undoubtedly out.

Radar comes by it honestly. Growing up here is not for wussies!