{"id":22002,"date":"2026-03-13T01:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T07:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/?p=22002"},"modified":"2026-03-12T22:47:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T04:47:55","slug":"horses-are-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/horses-are-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Horses are fun!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Patty Wilber<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;If you have a job you love, it is not really like a job,&#8221;<\/strong> or something like that.\u00a0 This week was the saying sure fit!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sunday was an 8-mile training ride with Back Country Horsemen<\/strong> at Golden Open Space. We split into two groups, but our total participation was 16 riders, 1 hiker, and 20 equine.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Here is our group climbing out of the canyon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BCH training ride, Golden.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HtzeDcOQo18?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>And here is LT leading the way.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"LT leading Bch ride at Golden\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/83ro3Ub8sZw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Then on Wednesday,<\/strong> I rode two, then loaded Gette and Cocoa, and drove to Capitan, NM, where Gette and I got to work cows with Caleb Martin. I stayed overnight, worked again in the morning, did a trail ride in the Lincoln National Forest with Janae, her horse, and Cocoa, drove home, and rode two more. It was a grand two days!\u00a0 On that trail ride, we saw an elk butt and a herd of mule deer. They were quite small compared to the ones I see here. Cocoa had a panic attack when the deer herd bolted. But he came back easily.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I got some great tips from Caleb on boxing<\/strong> (like spend 50% of my driving and 50% cutting), good positioning tips on setting up to go down the fence.\u00a0 I got pointers on how to bump a slow cow, how to execute a solid open-field turn, and how to finish the open-field turn.\u00a0 I got good training ideas&#8230;like keeping my horse on the cow for longer periods of time and really focusing on being in position, rather than simply executing a maneuver or two.\u00a0 Now, I just need to get my cow flag to stop falling off when it goes around the corner so Gette can DRIVE it around the corner instead of following it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But, I might have to fix that later<\/strong> in the month, because on Saturday, we are off to kayak near La Paz in Mexico, so there may not be a blog next week!<\/p>\n<p><strong>And speaking of fixing things,<\/strong> my bumper pull trailer will spend my Mexican vacation in the shop getting a new rear door since I managed to let the door swing open and then back it into the tractor bucket, bending the crap out of the door.\u00a0 Tractor was fine. Always fun to create completely unnecessary damage, all by oneself.\u00a0 Sigh.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Happy Friday,<\/strong> and I&#8217;ll most likely be back in two weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Patty Wilber &#8220;If you have a job you love, it is not really like a job,&#8221; or something like that.\u00a0 This week was the saying sure fit! Sunday was an 8-mile training ride with Back Country Horsemen at Golden &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/horses-are-fun\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[59,62,89,100,23,158],"class_list":["post-22002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-write-horse","tag-adventures","tag-happy-sigh","tag-horses","tag-new-mexico","tag-riding","tag-the-write-horse"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb2lc3-5IS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21956,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/always-more-to-learn\/","url_meta":{"origin":22002,"position":0},"title":"Always More to Learn!","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2602.13","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber This follows along with last week's post about Tim Anderson's Rule #3. One of us must learn something. Also, Anderson has a video, featuring a brother to Lucy (my horse that Heidi has) in which he talks about making a horse do more physical work as an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Write Horse&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260209_161802-e1770958359882.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260209_161802-e1770958359882.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260209_161802-e1770958359882.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21127,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2024\/12\/27\/2024-in-review-in-rhyme\/","url_meta":{"origin":22002,"position":1},"title":"2024 Blog Review in Stunning Rhyme","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2412.27","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber It has been a very busy year!\u00a0 I finished my cancer treatments in March and I felt better and better as the year went on!\u00a0 What a pleasure it has been to feel energetic again! We have had more horses in the barn than ever, we nearly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Write Horse&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/449383876_874321188063338_6805255889217400717_n-1024x819.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/449383876_874321188063338_6805255889217400717_n-1024x819.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/449383876_874321188063338_6805255889217400717_n-1024x819.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/449383876_874321188063338_6805255889217400717_n-1024x819.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/449383876_874321188063338_6805255889217400717_n-1024x819.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22299,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/10\/01\/gette-the-wonder-pony\/","url_meta":{"origin":22002,"position":2},"title":"Gette the Wonder Pony","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2610.01","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber I am proud of my grown kids.\u00a0 They have pursued their dreams and have lovely families, BUT THEY LIVE TOO FAR AWAY! (Of course, I come from a family of wanderers, so what can I expect?\u00a0 My parents moved from Missouri to California.\u00a0 I moved from California\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Miscellaneous!&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Miscellaneous!","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/miscellaneous\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20260925_105912-scaled-e1790916573743.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20260925_105912-scaled-e1790916573743.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20260925_105912-scaled-e1790916573743.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19266,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2022\/03\/25\/bringing-up-baby\/","url_meta":{"origin":22002,"position":3},"title":"Bringing up Baby","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2203.25","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber My favorite volunteer activity is trail work with the Back Country Horseman, so it stands to reason that the future show ring cow horse ranch horse, Gette (who is one year old), is also expected to become handy on the trail. To help expose her to new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Write Horse&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG-0182-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20295,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2023\/08\/18\/group-trail-ride-with-a-young-horse\/","url_meta":{"origin":22002,"position":4},"title":"Group Trail Ride with a Young Horse","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2308.18","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber Well, after recalling that Penny was out in the mountains as a two year old, I figured Gette might as well start her group riding mountain career as a two year old, as well. Three big things I consider when deciding whether to take a green horse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Write Horse&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230816_102503.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230816_102503.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230816_102503.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230816_102503.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19173,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2022\/01\/28\/pony-party\/","url_meta":{"origin":22002,"position":5},"title":"Pony Party","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2201.28","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber Suffragette CD is living with Christy's colt Gino so the two babies can play and roam on Christy's ten acres.\u00a0 I go by about once a week for a play date, and last weekend we had a pony party! Christy and Deets ponied Gino, and me and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Write Horse&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20220123_154117-300x183.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22002"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22005,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22002\/revisions\/22005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}