115/365 Photo shoot: Sally and Temper

Mom has made some great friends through her horseback-riding group -- the majority of them women -- and Sally is one of them. Sally has been riding for many years (I think it's at least eight if not more than 10), and her hard work is apparent when you see her with her horse, Temper.

Temper is a gelding whose disciplined behavior is incredibly impressive. I'm amazed every time I watch Sally and him together. Even when chaos is breaking out around him, he knows to listen to Sally's cues and return his attention to her. When you watch them together, you can't help but think, "I want my horse to behave like that."

Sally dabbles in photography herself. From experience, I know that often means you end up with few photos of yourself since you're always the one manning the camera. Sally asked if I would photograph her and Temper, and I jumped at the chance!

We met -- nearly at the last minute -- on a beautiful afternoon that provided the perfect fall setting: the turning leaves were at about peak color, some had fallen but most were still hanging on, and the late-afternoon sunlight bathed everything in gold.

I found this spot and captured as many photos as I could, taking advantage of the perfect setup. Temper was a little distracted by his buddies in the pasture nearby and the crunching leaves underfoot, but as always, he knew to listen to Sally and trust her not to lead him astray.

Sally and Temper were fantastic customers. I think we all had a good time!

Camera: Canon 40D, 1/125s, f/3.5 at ISO 400 and 1/125s, f/4 at ISO 160 at about 5:30 p.m.

36/365 A pony and a Clydesdale

The original plan for Saturday included going to our horse trainer's house to watch as Tina worked in the round pen with a couple of her other clients. We'll be doing that in a couple weeks, so we were looking forward to a preview of what was in store for us.

But when the day dawned rainy yet again, plans changed. Tina invited us load up our girls and take them to the neighbors' indoor arena and ride with them. Because the footing in this arena isn't great, we didn't have any big new tasks to work on. Instead we just had the chance to spend time practicing the cues and work we've been doing for the last few months.

We rode with the same group as last time, including Sally and Temper, the "black stallion":Our girls did very well. Oprah kept her feet to herself this time (thank goodness), and we didn't have any big excitement until the owner of the barn came in to ride with us. His chosen horse wasn't just any horse -- it's a Clydesdale. Not many people ride Clydesdales. I imagine it must feel like trying to ride an elephant. They also tend to be "trippy" (exactly what it sounds like), so they can be rather dangerous.

All of our horses, including those of our fellow students', immediately reacted when this horse came in the barn. The stall area is actually outside of the arena and down a hallway, so the horse wasn't even in the same room. But as soon as she (it was a mare named Nikki) came inside to be brushed and saddled near her stall, all of our horses wanted to go check her out and watch. We had been walking in circles around the outside of the arena, like at a skating rink, but every time we got to the end near where Nikki was standing, our horses started craning their necks and did not want to listen and keep walking. Their attention was fully on this new horse.

I went outside to get my camera at Tina's request, because she wanted to a picture of Pat and her pony, Ginger, next to this Clydesdale. She said if she ever gets a website, she wants to put the picture on it to say, "I can fix your horse's problems, big or small."

Notice that it's the woman on the pony who is wearing a helmet -- not the guy on the Clydesdale!

The biggest excitement of the day happened when a couple guys arrived at the arena to buy some of the hay stacked inside. The owner got off the Clydesdale and tied her to a rail of the round pen. When he walked away from her, she wanted to follow, so she started walking -- and pulling the pen with her. The panels of the pen clanged against each other loudly, which made her start to freak out and pull back harder. The round pen morphed from a circle into more of a teardrop shape. Luckily the owner wasn't too far away, so he was able to get back to her, untie her and calm her down. If he hadn't, she would have kept pulling, the pen would have folded up and fallen over, and she could have run off with it. And that could have been disastrous.

So we learned a good lesson -- never tie your horse to something that can move!

Camera: Canon Rebel DSLR indoors under halogen lights, with additional natural light from high windows.
Temper: 1/60s, f/4.0 at ISO 800
Clydesdale feet: 1/60s, f/4.5 at ISO 800
Clydesdale and pony: 1/60 s, f/4.0 at ISO 800

15/365 Our first horse clinic

Today was what I would definitely call an adventure! We participated in our first horse training clinic. Also known as: Oprah and Shep's first test of minding their manners (and riders) in polite company.

They loaded into the trailer at 9:30 this morning beautifully. Tina held the clinic at the same ever-so-kind neighbors' indoor arena where we rode last weekend. Three other clients and their horses were there: Sally, with her dark brown gelding, Temper, who she affectionately refers to as the Black Stallion; Susie, with her quarterhorse/paint, Pepper; and Pat, who rides a pretty little pony named Ginger. The three of them have been working with Tina for at least a year, if not 5+, so they were a good test for Oprah and Shep. We didn't have to be concerned about the three of them being unpredictable or out of control (worrying about one horse at a time is plenty). Temper and Pepper were especially models of the perfectly-behaved horse.

Walking into an arena with three unknown horses put Oprah and Shep more than a little on edge. We didn't saddle them right away -- we believed the smarter route was to walk them around the arena on foot several times, letting them get acquainted with the others and the space. We weren't 20 feet in the door when Temper reached out to catch a whiff of this hot new mare, and Oprah wasn't interested in flirting. Instead he got a grazing kick to the hip that luckily missed Sally. It took me a second to register what was happening, and then Tina was yelling at me, "Don't let her do that! Get after her! Correct her!"

Everyone was fine, and Sally wasn't bothered at all, but it didn't calm my own nerves at all to make that our first experience at a clinic. Oprah settled down with no problem and behaved wonderfully the rest of the day. She trotted (unasked) in excitement a few times, but she listened when I corrected her and calmed down quickly.

About an hour into the clinic, Tina asked the others to trot their horses (we haven't officially worked on that yet). Shep had been behaving, keeping her feet to herself, but when the energy rose in the room and these strange horses started trotting around her, Shep said, "I'm out of here!" Before Mom knew it, they were walking fast... then they were trotting... and then they were hopping. Luckily that was the extent of her freak-out.

Oprah's final hurrah gave everyone a good laugh. She'd been doing a great job of ignoring the salad bar on either side of the arena (stacks and stacks of alfalfa hay). As our last challenge, Tina asked us to walk on the plastic on which the hay was stacked, because horses often have a great fear of plastic -- it rattles, it blows across the trail in front of them, it gets caught on their hooves, you name it. Shep did well, then when it was Oprah's turn, she avoided it at first but then obeyed and sidled over to walk on the edge. As I was praising her for doing so well, thinking our job was done, she seized her opportunity, reached out mid-walk, and grabbed a mouthful of hay from the closest bale. Everyone in the room had been watching, and the laughter that echoed through the entire barn ended the day on a great note. Needless to say, I'm not surprised that it was Oprah who gave in and snatched at her chance.

I took lots of pictures after we loaded them into the trailer for the trip home. Shep's favorite thing to do after we ride (or after we brush her) is pick the muddiest spot in the lot and have a good roll:


Both girls were happy to have a post-ride snack (even though Oprah had already had an appetizer).

We're all going to sleep well tonight!

All pictures: Canon Rebel DSLR. 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 100 at 5:00 this evening.