Tuesday, 30 August 2011

My Horse Fell Off a Cliff

Our campsite before we left, with my tent.

We had a pretty eventful weekend and yet somehow nothing actually went wrong, which was very surprising.  I worked from 9-5 on Friday so we had to wait until I was off before we could leave.  My brother had arranged for a friend of his who was also going camping to drive us halfway and meet our dad, so they met me at my work and we left from there.  This friend is one of my brother's that I actually don't mind but I have to admit, his driving could be rather terrifying at times.  Though our first near-death experience wasn't his fault.  He was passing someone and when came up beside the guy, the van almost drove right into the side of us.  People kept cutting us off and swerving badly on the highway, it's amazing we didn't get into an accident.

We met my dad and then went back to his house.  It was 7:30 by this point.  We had to pack up the trucks and then load the horses in the trailer.  Thor and Seven went in surprisingly easily considering we've never really worked with them that much on trailering, something we should change.  They just walked in after Pawnee.  Then my dad went in the truck pulling the trailer and my brother and I followed in the other truck.  By the time we found a campspot it was 11:30 and pitch black.  We set up camp in the dark and stayed up talking until 1:30. 

 We woke up around seven and sat around for the next few hours because it was too cold to do anything.  My sleeping bag had broken during the night so it didn't zip up, and it was SO COLD.  We had a very good, but rather strange breakfast of steak and shrimp.  We had a search-and-rescue guy come to our camp.  Apparently there was a lost hunter in the area.  I honestly wasn't very impressed with the search-and-rescue guy.  He didn't believe the guy was lost and was annoyed that he had to go out looking for someone.  After that we saddled up and set out.  Our ride began with a fun chase of the cows grazing in the field in my picture.  And by chase I mean Thor and Sev loped in their direction and then went "Oh my god, are those monsters?? You're not getting me anywhere near those man-eating beasts!"  Apparntly they forgot about the herd of cows they live with at home.  We had to stop because my saddle pad, the first time I've used this one, was awful!  We had to take it off, it kept sliding around and my saddle was completely off-centre.  We hid it in some trees and continued on with the ride.


Thor Checking out the river
We had to ride down the road for a couple of kilometres before we finally came to a spot where we could cross the river.  It was Sev and Thor's first time crossing a river and they were great.  Thor gets his head right down and watches carefully when he walks through it.  We were looking for a trail up a creek that broke off from the river that would take us up to a little cabin my dad and brother had found two years ago.  We just knew the general direction that the cabin was in, so we started by riding in that direction.  We saw two more search-and-rescue guys down at the river near where we crossed.  We decided to keep an eye out for people and any traces of people while we rode, since we were going off of the usual trails. 


The river after we crossed it for the first time.
 
Riding on the beach
We rode down a quad trail for a few minutes and then broke off onto a deer trail.  The trail was rough, there was a lot of ducking and frantic attempts to try and get our legs out of the way before they were crushed up against a tree.  And my favourite part...spiders.  Everywhere.  They are half of the reason Thor and I ended up behind my dad and brother.  Here's something you learn quickly, when you're on a deer/animal trail, don't be the one in the lead.  You let someone else ride through the spider webs first.  The other reason was at first we were riding too close behind Alex and Thor got smacked in the face with a branch.  It was my fault, I wasn't thinking and didn't have enough space between us.  Thor was fine, but he was really watchful of branches after that.  The first hour or so of the ride was through the dense pine trees and we were beginning to think that we wouldn't find the trail.  We stopped to give the horses a break and Sev decided it would be a good time to roll, with his gear on.  He was sweating and was itchy.  We managed to get him up before he rolled and hurt himself.  The poor guy, after that we took it even slower and let him cool off.



Sinking in the mud
We eventually came out to a meadow, to our great relief.  We had to cross a tiny little creek again, and as you can see in the picture, the bank was pretty muddy.  Thor wanted a drink but unfortunatly since we were behind the other two horses, he didn't really get one.  He would have, except Sev decided it would be fun to paw at the water and stir up all the mud.  We left the meadow on another deer trail and kept coming across these little meadows.  There were a bunch of stallion piles on the trail, but they were all old so we figured the wild horses hadn't been here for a while.  Finally, as soon as we let Thor lead, we found a pretty decent trail.  The logs were all cut on it so it was nice riding.  It wasn't big enough to be a quad trail so we figured it had to be used by other riders. 


One of the meadows

Thor was very happy to be leading at this point and Pawnee and Sev were having a hard time keeping up to him, so alot of the time it was just me, Thor and Si, our dog, with my dad and brother further back.  I have a video of us riding down the trail because I wanted to show what it is like to ride a Mustang through the Alberta forests, but it will not load for the life of me. 



Thor was not impressed about the hill
We eventually came out to the trail we'd been trying to find, by total fluke.  It was pretty funny because it took us two hours to get to it...and we could see the river we'd crossed in the beginning from where we came out.  If we'd gone down the other way down the river then we would have come across the trail quicker.  There was a big hill, as you can see in the picture, that we had to go up.  It didn't look bad until you got to the bottom of it.  Thor was great, he's so powerful he just launches himself up the hill.  I hold onto Thor's mane when he runs up the hill and I make sure to give him his head.  He doesn't need my help to go up or down hills, I just get in the way if I try to help.  


Continuing on the trail



High up in the foothills
The trail went up pretty steadily.  I tried to take pictures to show how high we were up but I'm not sure if you can really get a good idea.  To our right it was a very steep hill up, and to the left it was a straight drop down.  At a few points Thor decided it would be a good idea to walk on the very edge of the trail on the left side.  We had to have an arguement which I then won.  That's another thing you learn quickly on the trail, do not ride on the edge of a drop.  Thor learned that lesson firsthand later on but I'm getting to that.  We reached the top and then the trail took a dramatic turn down.  That's probably the steepest hill I've gone down.  The horses were sliding and I was just hoping they didn't fall.  They didn't and they were great.  We saw some GIANT Moose tracks in the mud, biggest I've ever seen.  I was very thankful we didn't run into it, Moose scare me more than anything in the woods.  My dad was attacked by one once and we've had several terrifying encounters of our own.

We came out the creek we'd been looking for all along and then ended up crossing it about six times in a row.  Thor finally got his nice long drink.  Unfortunatly my dad took the lead again so Thor and I were in the back.  Both of us prefer to be in the front and riding side by side wasn't an option on this trail.  I amused myself by taking pictures.  We came out to a flat spot on the river and decided to stop for a break and my brother wanted to fish a pool there.  I hung out with the horses while they fished.  I hate fishing and have long ago given up pretending to care about it.  Pawnee kept trying to wander off until I got mad at him and he settled for taking a nap instead.  Sev kept getting tangled in everyone else's reins and Thor was the only one being a good boy.  He just stood there and watched the other two being idiots.  My brother didn't catch anything and we had some beef jerkey before we continued on.  Beef jerkey has to be the best saddle bag food out there.


We crossed the creek again and we finally came to where the cabin was.  It's not even a true cabin, it's tiny.  It's barely taller than I am.  We think it was probably built in the 70's as a place for someone to stay when they came out to check on the free-range cows.  It's built in a beautiful area.  It's right against a cliff going down to the river with some falls not far away.  It looks out over a huge meadow.  We decided to take another break here and stipped the horses' gear off.  They enjoyed the chance to graze.  Then my brother went down to the falls to fish and my dad went for a walk up the other way of the river.  I once again stayed with the horses.  Sev and Thor were tied up and Pawnee was left free.  He stayed near Sev but then started to wander down the trail so I grabbed his lead rope and held onto him while I sat on a log.  Then something very strange happened.
 My dad was on his way back up to where I was with the horses and he heard a loud growl, very close to where the cabin was.  While he heard that, (I didn't hear it) the horses were all of a sudden just very strange.  Sev stopped eat and started making soft snorting noises and kept looking around.  He'd pull at the end of his rope and then freeze, and then start it all over.  Pawnee suddenly couldn't get close enough to me and was walking quick, almost panicked circles around me.  Then Thor started calling, which is very strange considering he never, ever calls.  I grabbed Pawnee and ran over to where Thor was and just stood there, kind of afraid, I won't lie.  When horses start acting strange I take it very seriously.  Then, after a few minutes everyone went back to eating and it was fine.  Talking about it later we think probably a bear was passing through.  We know there was a bear in the area, after we left the cabin we came across some giant black bear tracks that were a couple hours old.  I am very thankful that the bear, or whatever it was, decided we weren't worth the trouble.

Before my dad and brother got back but after the horses calmed down I ended up taking a nap.  I didn't really mean to.  I had spread some of the saddle pads out on the ground near Thor and Pawnee and next thing I knew I was being woken up by my dog's wet tongue.  I felt much better after the nap but it was not the least bit comfortable.  I don't suggest sleeping on horse blankets.  We decided to return to camp after that and the horses were more than happy with that.  We got home much quicker than it had taken to get out there.  We took the same trail back and it was uneventful except for when a spider fell on me.  Thor and I were leading and I brushed up against a branch.  A huge, fat gray spider fell on my leg and I was panicking.  Thor just kept walking along as I was freaking out and trying to kill the spider, and then find it as it fell down onto my saddle.  I never did find it and I'm still grossed out.

We kept going straight down the trail instead of onto the horse trail we'd come in on.  We came out to the river but there wasn't any good place to cross so we had to ride down the beach for awhile.  When we finally did find a good place to cross it was near to guys cutting firewood.  I'm pretty sure we scared them.  They were busy so they didn't notice us until we started to cross the river.  They stopped to watch us and asked us how our day had been.  We rode the rest of the way home on the road, until we got to where we'd hidden my saddle pad.  I carried that home and that simple fact was amazing.  Thor has an issue with having other things on his back but he got over it right away.  After we unsaddled we all just vegged out for a while until we went to bed.  I had the tent to myself and my dad and brother had air mattresses in the horse trailer.  We don't sleep near each other, it's kind of ridiculous I know, but my brother snores like there's no tomorrow.  I refuse to sleep next to him.  The first night my dad had slept on his air mattress outside of his tent.  The second night he quickly regretted sleeping near Alex. 


The culprit
The next morning I woke up to Thor falling off a cliff.  My sister has informed me that I'm not allowed to say that because it makes it sound like he fell of a 30 foot drop, but still, it's technically what happened.  Our camp was by a a creek in a very deep creekbed.  Part of the creek went under ground and it was a six-eight foot drop to the rocks below.  My dad woke up first and tied Thor on a long rope behind my tent.  Well Thor was standing near the cliff and stepped on his rope.  He backed up to get off of it, and went off the side.  He tore the ground up where he tried to keep himself up.  My dad started yelling and ran over to him and saw him lying on the bottom, tangled up in the rope.  My dad ran and got the knife and cut the rope, then had to convince Thor to get up.  Thor didn't even have a scratch on him.  I'll admit, my dad got a lecture afterwards.  I was mad at him for tying Thor up where he could reach the cliff. 

After that we had breakfast, packed up camp and left.  We ran into some other people on horses and learned of a new trail to ride on.  All in all, it was a fun weekend but there were a lot of near-misses.  I'm very proud of Thor and Sev, they did amazing!  I got to hang out with Cas and the others for a while too but I'll add that in my next post.
Our first view as we set out


Thursday, 25 August 2011

Happy Four Months

Artemis is four months old today.  It seems like she's been here much longer than that.  Today was kind of the beginning of her weaning.  She won't be weaned for at least another month, probably longer but I have never been a fan of sudden seperation.  With Cas we did a slow process of getting her used to being away from her mother until they didn't care when she was weaned, and that is how I'd like to wean Artemis if I can.  So today we put Socks and Jimmy in the grass pens while I kept Artemis out on her lead.  She was not very impressed.  She jumped around a bit, striking one leg into the air but quickly calmed down.  She did much better than I thought she was going to.  We took her all over the farm, behind the stable and around her pen.  Socks didn't even call for her.  Artemis called a few times but she was pretty good.  We talked to our BO for about fifteen minutes and Artemis just stood there patiently. 

We took her down to meet Charlie, the other foal at the stable.  Charlie was dying to smell her and see her but Artemis was not impressed with him.  He's very high-energy and she, while she loves to run around and play, she's generally pretty calm.  She kept trying to bite him.  We'll be taking her down to see him more often since they should, hopefully, one day be living in the same field and I want her to see other foals.  Titan kept running up and down, making the softest noises I've ever heard a gelding make.  They sounded almost motherly. 

After we led her around we put her in the same grass pen as Jimmy.  I let her calm down and then I took Socks out of the pen and led her around and out of sight of Artemis.  Artemis was not pleased.  She ran around the little pen screaming her head off.  She calmed down when we brought her mother back.  When we were putting them away, I brought Socks back first and put her in the pen.  She called for Artemis and then ran straight for her food.  We led Jimmy and Artemis to Jimmy's pen and brought Artemis in while we set Jimmy free.  She was fine with being in there.  Then we finally brought her down to her pen and her mother.  She was great with it considering this was the first time we've seperated them for this long and it was the farthest they've been from each other. 

On a side note, both Artemis and Socks stepped on my foot tonight.  The same foot.  Artemis was prancing around when we first brought her to Charlie and stepped on my foot.  At one point when I was leading Socks, she became distracted by Artemis and stepped on the back of my foot.  Artemis has gotten much heavier since the last time she stepped on me. 

I'm going camping for the weekend.  It'll be my first camping trip without Socks.  I'll be taking Thor instead and it's going to be his first camping trip.  Here's to hoping everything will go fine!

Monday, 22 August 2011

I Don't Like Being a Mom

I've never been one to refer to myself as my animals' mother but that is exactly what I felt like yesterday.  My best friend has already had a fun time laughing at me over this, not that I can blame her.  First though, the day started out with my cousin and my aunt coming out to see the horses.  I went riding with my cousin and it was pretty fun.  It was a funny sight, she's six feet tall and Jimmy is only 14.3hh.  He can carry her weight no problem, she's stick thin after all, but she is way too tall for him.  Once they left my mother got on Jimmy and we rode for a while in the indoor arena with Artemis running around free.   About halfway through the ride another girl came and she stopped at the gate to ask if she could come in.  I immediatly went to dismount so I could catch Artemis and pony her (or drag her) while the other girl rode, but the girl interrupted and said that her horse is fine with foals.  So my mom jumped on that and told me to leave Artemis free so she could get used to another horse. 

Right away Artemis was interested in the other horse, Sue.  Socks was very watchful, she always slows down and holds an ear in the direction of whatever she's not pleased about when she's nervous.  Artemis followed behind Sue as her owner led her to the mounting block.  Socks was getting all tense underneath me so I let her go over to her daughter and herd Artemis over to us.  That worked for about 30 seconds.  Once Sue's rider was on, Artemis trotted back over to them, doing that chewing motion that basically says "I'm a baby, please don't hurt me."  Sue walked over to her cautiously and sniffed noses.  By this point I was ready to jump off of Socks, run over to Artemis and carry her away from Sue and any potential danger.  But the idea of lifting Artemis was exhausting and so I had to leave it at watching and trying not to pull my hair out with worry.   Nothing happened.  They smelled noses and then Artemis came running over to hide behind her mother.  She stayed very close to her mother and every now and then she'd run over to Sue, then lose her confidence and come racing over to her mother again.  Everything went as well as it could have, but soon I couldn't take the stress and we stopped riding.  I know, ridiculous, but I couldn't help it.  Sue is at least 16.hh, and Artemis looks so tiny next to her!  All I could think about was the, what if's. 

We ended up putting them out on the grass for a while.  Not too long though, there isn't any shade in those pens and it's been pretty hot here for a while, too hot to do anything outside.  It reached 35 degrees yesterday apparently.  Thank God for an air conditioned indoor arena. 

And on one last note, I measured Artemis again yesterday and she came in at 12.2hh.  She grew an inch in a week.  And being the crazy, overprotective mother I am, I was ridiculously excited about it.

Wednesday, 17 August 2011

Wild Horses

I don't have much news on the Artemis front.  My brother took a friend out to ride the other day and they had the saddles way too tight.  Both Socks and Jimmy have saddle sores now in their cinch area and are on vacation until they're healed.  Artemis is getting lessons in manners again, she tends to forget sometimes.  So this post isn't actually about them, it's about a ride I took nearly a year before Artemis was born.  I was looking for pictures of Pawnee and came across these pictures.  It was the last time we took Socks out in the trailer before she came down.  This will be a long post, mostly because of all the pictures.  The picture format kind of got messed up at the end but oh well.

My dad and I went, on Sadie and Socks.  We went to a lake that's about an hour's drive from where he lives.  We stopped and saddled up the horses, taking our time and letting them relax after the trailer drive.  Once saddled we took our time riding the little looped quard trails around the truck.  Socks and Sadie were both in a great mood.  It was stormy in the distance and we hoped that it would miss us.  We soon rode down the road to a trail we'd passed on the drive that went up into the hills.  The area was well-known for wild horses and there was signs of them everywhere.  We were hoping to see them and thought that by getting up high we'd have a better chance of seeing where they might be.  The trail was nice and wide, obviously well used by quads.  I didn't mind; it meant the trail would be clear for several kilometres. 

We came to a split in the trail, one continued on straight and one cut up into the trees.  It was obviously a little detour for the more adventureous quaders who wanted a bit of a rougher trail.  It would soon end up back at the main trail so we split up.  We decided that if we didn't meet up in twenty minutes, we'd return to the fork in the trail.  I took the dog and continued on the main trail while my dad took the detour.  My trail continued uphill at a steady rate, and the left side of the trail broke off into a steep hill.  We saw several deer and at one point Socks was nervous about something down the hill but Si didn't find it interesting.  We came to the top and the trail stretched on for miles and miles.

At this point I decided to turn around.  I couldn't see my dad anywhere on the trail ahead and it would take at least ten minutes to get back to the fork.  Socks was feeling good so we had a gallop down the trail with Si racing ahead of us.  We got to the fork just as my dad was coming back down his trail.  His trail had continued higher up as well, but there had been several logs fallen across the trail that made it too difficult for him and Sadie to continue over.  We decided to head back down the road and find another trail.  We hadn't travelled long before my dad spotted two black dots in a distance meadow: horses.  We were hoping for a better view of them so we decided to try and find a trail up to where they were.  We ended up on several looped trails and it was steadily growing colder.  I didn't think we'd be lucky enough to avoid the rain or see the horse.



We came to a trail that led up to the main road and followed it, hoping to hook onto another trail from there.  We'd just come out of the trees, and right across the road from us was a herd of 11 mustangs.  They didn't notice us at first and were content to continue grazing happily.  Socks and Sadie were immediatly interesting in them but didn't utter a noise as we came closer.  Finally, the sorrel mare in the far right of the picture lifted her head and noticed us.  She gave a warning snort and ran back to the rest of the herd.  A couple of last year's foals were lying down and their mothers quickly got on their feet and they formed a tight circle to watch us.

The stallion, a beautiful bay with a thick blaze, was unsure about us.  He was interested and ventured a few steps close before returning to the herd to protect them.  Getting excited, Socks swung her head around and the herd took off.  Caught up in the excitement, Socks and Sadie thundered after them.  We didn't get anywhere near them before they disappeared into the trees.   Soon the crashing faded and the forest was silent again.  We tried to follow but the forest became too thick and we turned around.  Happy with our encounter, we picked the next trail and ended up doing one very large loop.   We were near the rode again when we came to a big pipeline.  The horses were there again.
Once again the horses' were on the alert.  The mares and foals huddled together while the stallion pranced in front, watching us and snorting.  Socks and Sadie were content to hang back and watch, not wanting to venture too close to the stallion.  Finally my dad urged Sadie on and the wild ones took off.  We followed behind slowly and came out to the road again.  The horses were now grazing in the meadow across the road.  Once again they looked up at us but we decided to leave them alone. 
The storm was right behind the horses but we weren't ready to finish our ride yet.  We continued down a newly-made road, hoping to get further west than the storm.  The ponies were happy to continue down on the flat road without having to pick their way across logs.  The machinary lined up along the beginning of the road didn't bother them.  Halfway down the road it began to pour so we turned around.  The ponies didn't seem to mind the rain, it was almost refreshing after the long ride.  They're eager to go back to the trailer now and fight to trot down the road. 
We come back out to the road and the wild ones are still there.  It hasn't rained here yet so we take the oppertunity to give our horses a run.  Socks begins and the mustangs soon follow suit out in the field.  The stallion begins snorting and neighing as his mares run.  They stopped as they reached the rode and resume grazing.  We took the trail leading up to the truck, leaving them for the last time.  The ponies were beginning to slow down, tired from our long day.  They are happy when we reach the truck.  We stripped their gear off and gave them a good feeding of sweetfeed.  We let them graze for a while and I brush off both of them.  Socks enjoyed it more than Sadie who just wanted to eat in peace.


Saturday, 13 August 2011

I Was Smarter When I Was Younger

My horses are such nerds.  These pictures were taken on the same day.  I think I need to make a sign for Artemis that says "Please Do Not Compliment".  Anytime she gets a compliment she feels as though she no longer needs to behave.  I can hang it over her tail.  She's so butt-high I wouldn't have to worry about it touching the ground.  She had her feet done and she recently had her second bath.  I can't really say she was that good for either but I try to remember that she's only three and a half months and I can't really expect her to be perfect.  It'd be nice but then again my life would be much less exciting.  It doesn't help that she's figured out that by stamping her feet and whinnying her displeasure with us gets her the attention of the other boarders, the chiropracter and the massage  people who come out.  The monster seems to have everyone wrapped around her little hoof.  All she has to do is squeal and people are oohing and aahing.  :)  Also, I measured her today and she came in at 12.1 hh.  I have no idea how tall the average three and a half month old is, but I still think she's a little tall for her age.  Her butt must be if nothing else.

She's had more reasons for temper tanturms lately as we're working on her getting used to being seperated from Socks.  At first we put her in the round pen because it's safest and still near the outdoor arena so she can see her mom being ridden.  It was fine, except when she decided to see if she could headbutt the gate open.  She could not but she managed to get the first scrape of her life trying.  It's tiny though and she'd rather people not look at it.

On Friday my brother came out with us so we put her in the grass pen beside the outdoor arena.  She loved it in there but she was angry when Socks started running, as you can see in the video.  Her babysitter, my brother, took the video.




I've recently rediscovered something I knew and lived by when I first had Socks and was first learning to ride.  Back then my dad lived on this tiny farm with absolutly no good riding.  Just the back field.  We had absolutly no where to go and it was the most fun riding we ever had.  We went on night rides all the time, we constantly raced each other (which is probably why Socks loves to run so much now).  It didn't matter that we had nowhere to go or nothing really to do.  We just had fun.  I like to think that our horses did too.

This past winter Socks and Jimmy came down so I could work with them on barrel racing.  It was nerve-wracking.  I had no idea how to train a horse how to barrel race.  Anytime we practiced I felt more and more discouraged because we couldn't get the tight turns and we couldn't do the speed.  It sucked. 

Since Artemis has come along, we've spent weeks just riding in circles, watching her run around, bucking and having fun.  Socks is getting back into shape and reminding me that she loves to run as fast as she possibly can, as often as she will get away with it.  We've started practicing barrels again and I am having a blast.  I stopped worrying about being technical about everything.  If we don't have a tight turn, oh well, we'll try again.  When we have a bad turn (and we've had some really, really bad ones) I can and do, laugh about it, a lot.  And we have really been improving.  Our first barrel, which is the one we were having the most trouble with, is amazing if I may say so.  I couldn't ask for Socks to be better.  And our secret?  I'm having fun.  Every single time we ride.  Every single thing we do during a ride is fun.  Even when Socks smashed my leg into a barrel it was funny.  It was a what-in-the-world-are-you-thinking moment.  I've stopped obsessing over what went wrong and I focus instead on what we did right.  I still get annoyed at times with them, especially when Socks gets overexcited and starts tossing her head around like a racehorse but I'm spending more time having fun then being frustrated.  So is my mom now that she's stopping having to worry about Jimmy all of the time.  It took one hyper-active monster baby, very limited riding space and a mother who gets insanely excited at finally being able to trot to remind me to stop stressing and just enjoy riding again.

Sorry for preaching in this post, but I think it's something important that all riders should remember.  No matter what, always have fun.  It doesn't matter what you're working on, barrel racing, patterns or just getting the horse used to being ridden, keep it fun for you and your horse.  You'll probably succeed much faster if you make it a chore and get frustrated with it.  I know Socks and I are doing good.  When my brother took her around the barrels the other day, she clocked in at 25.07 seconds, which isn't bad considering she loped around the barrels, had AWFUL turns (we've gotten good laughs from watching them.  If I find the video I'll post it) and only galloped on the way home.  Sure, it was on a bit smaller course than the standard but still, I'm proud of my pony since it was her third day back into training :)

So here's Jimmy, saying he approves of this post and reminding all of us to smile and enjoy ourselves.

Wednesday, 3 August 2011

Progress


I've had a very busy past few weeks.  We had family out from the East, two of my cousins stayed with us in the city, and an Aunt and another cousin stayed with my dad up at his place.  We took them to the zoo, Banff and Drumheller to see the Royal Tyrell Museum.  It seemed like every second day we were with the horses, and I am not complaining.  My one cousin owns a horse of her own back East so she knows about them, but my other cousin had only ridden a handful of times.  It was a lot of fun to ride with them. 

We've been able to get back on our regular schedule of going out to the barn three times a week, so here's an update on the three of them.

Artemis:
Our newest thing has been ponying her off of another horse (so far it's only been from Socks).  Usually when we're in the arena we just leave her free and she loves to run around and buck.  However, lately there have been more people there when we are so there have been other people riding in the arena with us.  I don't want to leave Artemis free for fear that the other horse could injure her or that she could injure the other horse.  So that's why I've been ponying her lately.  I can't say it's that much fun.  When she's free she likes to run ahead and lead, but when I pony her she lags behind at the end of her rope and acts like every step takes a great effort and she can't possibly go on.  I am thankful that I ride western and the extra leverage the horn provides.  So far she's had two ponying sessions and is slowly learning that it will not kill her to walk beside us.  Both times there has been a horse lunging at one side of the arena, so we've only used half.  When we're along the rail she lags behind as far as she can possibly go, but when we reach the corner she leaps forward and tries to cut in front of Socks.  When that doesn't work for her, she falls behind again. 

She's also growing insanely tall.  Everyone at the stable agrees that she's tall for her age.  She's not much shorter than Socks now.  It shouldn't worry me but I'm pretty short and not that flexible and I like being able to get on my horses from the ground if I need to.  I don't think there's a chance she'll be under 16 hh though, I better start exercising and working on being more flexible.  Sommer can get on all of our horses without any issues and she's shorter than I am.  If she can do it, I can.  Somehow...

My cousin took this picture of Artemis when they came out to see Socks, Jimmy and Artemis.  Artemis' favourite thing is to rip around the arena.  The jumpers have jumps set up and usually she runs right at them and then swerves to the side at the last second, but she's jumped over a few of the low ones.  She loves to show off and runs around with her tail up in the air like an Arabian.  I keep meaning to take a video to upload on here. 
Jimmy:
Jimmy has been our problem-child for a few months now.  My mom and I had actually decided that if he didn't improve by the end of the summer then he would go up to my dads.  I don't claim to be a horse trainer, I know a bit but I am by no means at all an expert.  But now, Jimmy is being an angel.  We haven't had any issues with him.  He's been getting ridden more regularly and I think that's been making a huge difference in him.  He loves working.  As soon as he realizes that he's being ridden he's perfect. 
His paddock buddy, Eli, has been moved in with a different horse, Charleston, in the paddock beside Socks and Artemis because Eli's owner was complaining that Jimmy was too rough with Eli.  Eli has a nasty bite on his shoulder and two more bits along his rib cage.  They don't fight when they eat, but I've noticed that Jimmy likes to have the shelter to himself.  It's strange to see the little guy being the dominant one, at my dad's he was the one everyone picked on.  I don't actually mind that his in a paddock by himself.  He's calmer when he's alone, and he still has company.  He has four horses on either side of him.  We're working on getting him and Socks in shape now so we've been doing a lot of trotting.  He actually worked up a sweat tonight, the first time in a while.
Socks:
Socks has been pretty good.  To be honest I don't do as much work with her as I do with the other two because she doesn't need as much.  She's usually the calming presence in the stable and the horse I hang out with when I just want to relax.  She hasn't disappointed lately.  She's been getting some extra love from the BO's kids lately.  They love to come down and brush her and help me clean out her feet.  She loves all the attention.  She has been worrying me a bit lately though.  I've been thinking about bringing out a chiroractor to look at her.  The last couple of rides she's been stumbling a lot in her back end and just generally feels weak in the back.  She is amazing when she turns to the left.  When we turn left on the barrel patter her turns are fantatistic, seriously.  She can get around them so quickly.  But her turns to the right are absolutly horrible.  She can't do a tighter turn to the right, which for barrel racing obviously causes some problems.  I worked on it a little bit but it wasn't improving at all so I backed off, afraid I might be hurting her instead of helping her.  One of the other boarders had the chiropracter out not that long ago and she really helped the horse.  I figure it can't hurt.  Socks' is nine now and has taken her fair share of spills out on the trail.  She's been in the mountains more than any of our other horses and carried me through some very rough rides.  I think it's realistic to assume that she could have something out of place after all of that. 

On another note, I saw Cowboys and Aliens the other night.  While it is by no means my favourite movie, I really enjoyed it.  It had all the elements that I think make a good western and then of course the scary alien parts (my brother didn't find them terrifying but I am terrified of aliens ever since I watched the X-Files when I was three).  I think the best part though was after the movie when my mom was going on.  "And I knew that horse had a star, and that one had a blaze, and that one had a noseband and none of the others did!"  She was so proud of herself for noticing all of it.   My brother and I found it pretty hilarious.  Maybe we'll make a horse person out of her yet.