By Patty Wilber
Went to Lubbock last weekend for the Pan Handle Reined Cow Horse Show. Google map estimated the trip should take about 4 h 47 min (306.0 mi) via I-40 E and US-84 E by motor vehicle. It took a little longer because we were driving a truck with a camper in the bed and dragging a horse trailer while fighting a strong cross wind. Ten miles to the gallon. Ugh.
Apparently, if we’d walked it would have taken 99 h.
Marcia came to help me and good thing because this was my maiden voyage with the camper. And nothing was working! Marcia (who has her own camper, giving her a slight leg up on me) gave me these helpful tips: 1. Turn on the circuit in the fuse box. This allows the electricity to work from the truck battery or the RV plug in. Imagine that. 2. The heater has a reset button, so if it fails to turn on (as in Friday night), open the front and hit it.
Once we had electricity and heat, the camper was really comfortable!!
My goal for this year is to take LT to the Appaloosa Nationals and Appaloosa World in Working Cow Horse and possibly Reining. This was our first outing of the year.
In brief, there were lot of elements that were working well, but never all at once.
LT is a busy minded horse with more energy, less patience, more opinions and less focus than I sometimes know what to do with.
She never feels out of gas, but she can definitely get out of sorts, especially when she is mentally tired.
She has a hard time waiting and will pop her head and stamp her feet when your quieter horse would just stand still. If we are supposed to be waiting to begin our pattern or for our cow to come out, this does not present a harmonious picture.
On the other hand, when all is right in her world, she is a fluid mover with a lot of desire on the cow. (And I just like her.)
Her dry work (without the cow) was solid, but in watching the videos, it is clear that we need to move a whole lot faster on her circles and run downs to the stops.
All that training of horses that are shown on the rail has skewed my speed perception. I would have sworn we we running flat out. Ha.
In this video from last weekend, you get to see The Head Toss of Impatience but also a really nice lead change and her smooth way of going.
In this video from last year, she does not have same level of self carriage as last weekend, (but she does stand still to start with) her lead changes are not as smooth and she spends more time questioning my directions and looking around. It is fun to see the change!
The cows last weekend were tough, however, she had several super boxing turns, two outstanding fence turns, and one nearly perfect circle up (and one pretty good one).
She had a couple really grand fence turns!
We won two small training classes last weekend, so will get a pay check, and once we get all the working parts all working in the same go…well, that will be a blast!
The next PHRCH event is in April. Me, LT and the camper will be heading to Texas again!
P.S. Thanks Troy Rogers, 4R Performance Horses, my cow horse coach!
Oh, she has a really nice way of going! Just lovely.
Thanks! Now if Operation Wither Nibble can help her out…!
She does remind me of Dart. So what happens if you drop rein when she flips her nose?
She takes that as a signal that she can go. I know how to fix the impatience at the start–lots of standing and walk offs and no practice lope off departures from the middle. Usually the cows come out without much delay so we do better there. I see from the video that I could have left immediately as well–she stopped square, breathe, go–could have worked.
Ah, I’m thinking dressage hold with seat, and taking away the opportunity to do the flip. Always cool to learn cow horse stuff!
hold with seat might be an option…