This morning Tommy and I worked on the mechanical "string" cow out at my parents place. He is the first purebred in history to cut cattle - (well, at least a string cow so far). I've worked my sporthorse crosses on it, and it helped them immensely to sharpen their turns up. The nice thing about the mechanical cow is that you can work it as long as you want to fix problems, without wearing any real cattle out in the process.
It was another good desensitizing tool for Tommy. A few months ago my mom turned it on for the first time for us, and Tommy did an exit stage left at a million miles an hour. It scared the holy living crap out of him. Now, we are able to actually get into the pen with it and get some decent "baby steps" turns. He's still fairly timid and scared of it - because it has a jerking motion and makes a funny "swooshing" noise - but he's 100% better than when we first started. We're making progress. =:)
His head was up and ears at attention when we first started.
But the more we worked at it, the more relaxed his head carriage became and it came down to a nicer working level.
Catching up.
Went too far past it......working on backing up and staying straight.
My mom's two friends came out and worked their horses too. This is Debbie Scheuning and Grace above. Grace shadowed Tommy to build his confidence up to begin with, and I really appreciated her help.
Cathy Gettner and her horse Diamond, a young 3 year old filly in cutting training. A big thank you to Cathy for taking the photos of us!
My mom and Magic. A young 2 year old filly out of my mom's favorite cutting horse Maggie. It's easy to see where a horse that is specifically bred to do this kind of work makes it look so darned easy. Even when they are young and still trying to figure things out, they make it look simple and effortless.
Tommy and I are definitely nowhere near the effortless stage yet, so we will keep plugging at it.
Cathy and Diamond getting ready to go.
A scenic view of the distant canyons.
An old windfall tree. The branch on the far left looks like a gigantic elk horn sticking up out of the trunk. I like this tree - there is almost a natural abstract look to it.
Cathy and Diamond, happy campers. =:)
My mom and Lena - (with Tommy's gigantic ears taking up most of the picture...) Lena is a very nice horse - and is for sale.
One of my favorite pictures. It's REALLY nice to see some small green patches in eastern Oregon right now. It's the end of August and the lower lands are dry and look more like a desert. When we went further along the trail into the forest, there were some nice wild flowers that started cropping up.
Indian paintbrush.
Some sort of fuschia or purplish colored flower. Not sure what it is....
Little blue daisy looking ones.
It was a very enjoyable and relaxing ride. A nice day.
