8-23-11 Ride

Chainsaw gets better every day.  Rode him last night (8-23) in the sidepull hack and he is doing better than ever.  His upward transitions were much smoother, esp going from a trot to a canter.  He seems to flow now when he's going into his canter.  Guess I better have his teeth looked at, maybe the bit was hurting his mouth.  He even is starting to back when asked.  It's probably a combination of settling into his new digs and being ridden, as this was his 13th ride.  Thanks to my wife for giving me the idea of putting him in the sidepull hack, it seems to make a huge difference.  Chainsaw is getting legged up some too.  When we went back to the barn to take the saddle off last night he was still blowing a little.  Am thinking the next few weeks will be the meat of his training, with slow but steady progress on his leg cues, backing, etc.  Will probably start working more with the balloons and maybe some gunfire too.  He's accepting his ears being rubbed inside and out so earplugs will be coming soon.

For the Long Haul

Another nice ride last night.  Chainsaw seems to like the sidepull hack better than having a bit in his mouth.  He's still "SWOOPING" quite a bit, meaning that we will be going along at a walk, trot or canter and he will suddenly dive into a turn with being cued or asked to.  The swooping is becoming less and less frequent.  Most of the time it's to head back to the gate, but sometimes it's for no reason at all.  Thinking maybe Chainsaw just needs more time to realize that he is not driving the bus anymore but has someone else that is.  He's becoming more and more gentle on the ground and less and less spooky the more we are around each other.  Would like to put shoes on all fours soon so we can ride outside the arena and go out into the world to learn.

First Wreck

Thursday night got on Chainsaw again.  This time when we broke into a lope he pitched a fit, reared and head butted me off in a most agressive manner.  Was out in the arena all alone with nobody there to even cheer ol Chainsaw on.  After taking the lick on the left cheek and being tossed off, Chainsaw trotted out of the arean to go stand by the barn.  Is just like he puts himself in "time out".  He stood there nicely while I got up, dusted myself off and walked right up to him, gave him some soothing encouragement NOT to do that anymore.  Led him back into the arena where we went back to loping a LOT of circles.  He still seems stressed out from loping.
On Friday we went out of state to a Cowboy Mounted Shoot so was no riding on Friday or Saturday.  Got home Sunday about 6PM and decided to try the wife's suggestion of going back to a sidepull hack on him.  Put the sidepull hack on and he did just about the same as before, but no big wrecks and he is getting a little better with each ride.  Will continue on with the sidepull hack for a few weeks and see how that works out. He's better every day to handle on the ground and seems to like attention now.

Breaking into a Canter

Nice weather made for a good ride on Chainsaw again last night.  He's getting lots better about almost everything.  We did some cantering last night with just a little "HiYo Silver" to start with but he did smooth out some after a few laps around the arena.  He's still not the best to line out, relax and carry his head where he's comfortable. The resistance is fading ride by ride tho as we become a team.  My wife brought out a stick and a balloon to introduce him to the first of many balloons he will see in his lifetime.  (Balloons are what we shoot at for targets in the mounted shooting)  He was very shy of the balloon to start but as time went by he became more and more comfortable with it. After letting him view the balloon on a stick in the arena, we kept riding and finished our ride.  At times I'd dismount, pull the balloon peg out of the stick and let Chainsaw follow me around while I banged the balloon on things.  After the ride when he was put up, he stayed at the stall wanting attention so I put the halter and lead on him, and took him out to graze around the arena while I had the balloon in hand.  Ended up with the balloon popping less than two feet from his nose and he didn't even spook which was a surprise.  More cantering in the future till he smooths out and will walk trot and run a straight line.  Then will be on to acclimation to gunfire.

Mounted shooting horse prospect~~~Chainsaw

Was to go look at a six yr old gelding on 7-10-11 but had to postpone due to a funeral visitation, so rescheduled for 7-13-11. On 7-13 got the dually hooked to the trailer and took off for points west.  Went about ten miles and felt the truck was pulling funny.  Pulled off the road to find the inside drivers dual flat.  Strike two at making the trip to have a look.  Saturday 7-16-11 we leave again with fixed tire on a warm July day here in Iowa to make the 100 plus mile trip to have a look see at this horse.  We get fairly close to the destination and stop to retrieve some cold drinks from the fridge of the LQ of the horse trailer.  Ooops, drinks weren't so cold, the fridge had stopped working.  Made note to stop and get ice on the way home to put contents of fridge into the cooler.  We take off and dial the address into the wife's "smart phone" to show us the way to this wonderfull new prospective shooting horse.  It takes us over 8 miles of muddy gravel roads ( area just had two inches of rain that morning), and we arrive at the destination which is on a PAVED ROAD~~~~~so much for smart phones.
We pull in and the horse is in the round pen by the barn.  Nice looking good sized six year old registered AQHA bay gelding.  The owners neighbor happens to be an ex rodeo stock contractor by the name of Ron StPeter. Had a nice visit with Ron and the owners~~~great people and the horse is just about what I was looking for. (Maybe I should have asked Ron if he has bucked this horse???)  I do get on the horse for a short ride in the round pen and things went fine.  We arrive at a price, sign the transfer sheet and it's time to load the horse and take him home.  45 Minutes later I jokingly ask for my money back when the horse refuses to load into the strange 3H slant load Featherlite trailer.  After lots of patience the horse is loaded and we are on our way.  Owners say they always tie their horses in but I don't tie them in soooo off we go.
About 20 min down the road we stop at a Casey's store where they are having a shift change and it's quite a wait just to get some ice.  Old feller in there looks us over and tells us we should watch RFD-TV.  My nerves are a little thin at this point.  I tell the clerks my wife will hang around and pay for the ice, I am taking it to the trailer to get things done as it's HOT and the poor horse is in the trailer.  I go outside to the trailer and drop the bars on the window of the horses stall so he can stick his head out and get more fresh air. About the time I am behind the trailer I hear a racket, look back and see my new horse is a very good climber, he's got his head, and BOTH FRONT LEGS OUT the window of the trailer and has struck the hinge on the bars window, breaking it creating a sharp object which is drawing blood in a wild way. About this time the old feller from the store drives up and says "YOU REALLY NEED TO WATCH RFD-TV, I gave him "THE LOOK"  After some struggling I go inside the trailer, open the divider and the horse decides he will come back in.  Side of the trailer looks like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, blood and hair everywhere.  I am crushed and feeling mighty low at this point.  New horse is all cut up and our nice trailer now has an oblong window.  I look the horse over and see he's not bleeding terribly bad so I put the bars window back up and head east to home.  We get home and things settle down.  I doctor the cuts with Underwood horse medicine and intigrate him into the herd of our 3 other gentle horses.  After telling this to some friends the name CHAINSAW got stuck on him, everyone seems to like it. 
Heat stayed with us till the first part of August, I doctored ol Chainsaw up and his wounds were not bad at all.  Worked on the window of the trailer the next day and it wasn't bad either, so things looked lots better.

Finally on August 8th I couldn't stand it any longer, Chainsaw was 97% healed, the weather was nicer and I was itching to ride him.  Tossed the saddle on him and took him out to our 100X200 arena.  Sold the round pen last year so the arena was the smallest place to ride I had.  The horse was at a trainer for 60 days last fall so it's not like he's never been rode at all.  I get on him and we have a nice short ride with him dropping his nose lots to try and evade the bit.  I KNOW I should have done more ground work but it just felt like time to RIDE.  Didn't sack him out or anything and we had an OK ten minute ride.
August 9 rode him again with him becoming some better.
We ride Aug 10&11 with some trotting involved and he gets better with each ride.  Still haven't had any buck or real wild issues but he is VERY sensitive.
Had company on August 12, one of which was our 9 yr old grandson who is VERY active and can make lots of interesting noises without even trying.  Chainsaw was so snorty I knew better than to hop aboard so I chose to wait for a better time.
Aug 14 was a Saturday and we had a nice ride in the arena again, with Chainsaw getting lots softer in the face by the end of the ride.  We are trotting larger circles all the time.
Aug 15 another nice ride but when I stepped off after 30 min or so Chainsaw bolted like cockroaches when U turn the light on.  He went out of the arena to stand over by the barn.  Nice thing was I walked right up to him and he was fine. He's been very good to stand still for mounting and dismounting.  He did cowkick at my some when I was doctoring his front leg, but I write that off to spirit  :-)  He stands like a rock for flyspray and is getting gentler every day. 
Aug 16 ~~last night I had another nice ride on him. We are trotting the entire arena now and he's picking up on leg cues and doing great.  Needs his feet trimmed or shoes put on so I can ride the gravel roads soon.  We will be cantering soon and am looking forward to it all.  A few rides back someone shot a gun off over a mile away and that perked him up some, so am thinking teaching him to accept the gunfire off of his back will be a challenge.  So far I can move my hand all around and he's not spooking.  Will work up to carrying balloons on him, shooting around him and etc in the near future.  To this point there has been no bucking or really bad behavior, he's just very sensitive. 
THANKS TO THE PREVIOUS OWNERS, he's a great horse and he's responding well to the calm gentle handling he's getting at our house.