I have riddin Roman just a couple times this month. I also rode him the day before yesterday. It was a lovely day. Roman was bored and jealous of me working with Popeye. So, I took Roman to the round pen, which is quite a feat, because I have to lead him through a crowd of 4 other horses in the pasture to get to the round pen. Being a 17++ hand stallion, weighing 1650 pounds, and having a mare in heat sniffing his leg does not make things easy when moving him by myself! But, we got through the crowd and into the round pen. Roman ran around both directions as directed. He was interested in the other horses hanging their heads over the fence, but knew he had to behave.

I saddled Roman and climbed up into the saddle. We rode around both directions for a little bit. The other horses went off to eat hay. Roman is so, so, so big compared to Popeye and everyone else. He is so broad, with the muscles and extra weight he has right now. When you climb up and look down at him, it feels like you are on top of a bull. You can feel the mass of flesh under you and it can be quite intimidating, especially when he is making wierd breathing sounds, like a snorting bull. He could smell the mare and the geldings that had been in the round pen before him. Being a stallion, he has to take in all those dfferent scents.

I decided to take Roman to the farm and ride out in the open fields. I had to go hook up the horse trailer first. Roman was already to go so I had to get hm to stay where he was while I went off to hook up the trailer. We don't have anything sturdy enough to tie a horse to. Plus, the other horses were still loose in the adjoining pen, including the mare in heat. Luckily Roman is hobble trained. I hobbled him and wrapped a lead rope around the tope fence rail (can't tie it) to slow him down and give me more time. I went into the house to get my truck keys. When I came back out, I saw Roman down on him knees, nose poked under the bottom fence rail, trying to get a wee to eat. Remember, I hobbled him.... I called to him and he hopped up to his feet, still hobbled. When I first saw him down, I thought he fell. No, it was intentional on his part.

I got the trailer hooked up, got Roman out of the round pen and loaded. At the farm Roman seemed a bit excited. I thought, "Oh great." We were lucky enough to have a freshly plowed field to ride in. My husband was plowing it as we rode. Poor Roman didn't have a clue where he was. He felt lost. He wanted to follow the tractor for a while because it was moving. Maybe it was alive....not. The earth was soft and deep. It was a round or circular shaped field with a center piviot irrigation unit.

We walked around the field for a while until Roman was comfortable. We trotted  quite a bit, too. But the best part was when we gallopped! Have you ever read the Black Stallion books by Walter Farley? In the books Alec rides his big stallion "The Black". Alec races his stallion across fields, in the deseret, along the beach, with a power like no other beneath him. The Black's muscles flex and ripple while Alec tries to contain the powerful beast beneath him. The wind whips his face as they streak across the ground like a bullet. Alec realizes the intensely powerful creature beneath him could do as he pleases and knows that they are moving as one, that it is a priveledge to be able to do this. It was very much like that while riding Roman in the field.

Roman is a super powerful horse. He's currently weighing in at over a ton and a half! It was all I could do to just hang on to the reins as his head pumped forward while galloping across the field. It was so exhilerating, too, to know that you have all that power and strength under you, with a mind of it's own, yet this creature chooses to let you be in control. We ran back and forth across the field many times. I had full contact the whole time because I could feel what would happen if I gave him his head--I wouldn't have had control. And the field wasn't long enough for that! It was amazing how quickly we covered ground. My shoulders were so sore the next day from holding Roman at a gallop like that. It really was intense. What a ride!

Feb. 23, 2009.
The weather is finally warming up a bit. I think we are averaing in the 60 degree range with some days in the 70's and a couple in the 50's. It is still freezing at night as the water tank was frozen this morning.
With the warmer weather comes riding! Yeah!
Popeye(Cant Touch This Blue) hasn't been ridden since sometime last summer. I haven't really ridden since then either. I didn't know how he was going to be, since he is green. Well, the day came when I decided to try riding him. So, 3 days ago I saddled him up and we rode. He didn't blow up on me, just rode. So, I was qute pleased. You can see a little of the ride at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImBi9dyI_64 . It was nothing exciting, just a return to the saddle on a greenie. I'm glad that's over with. I was afraid things wouldn't be that easy.

We had a cold day, VERY cold(teens and lower wind chills!) day following my first ride on Popeye so I stayed indoors. But yesteday t got warm again, 70 degrees here. We have extreme weather like that here. With the return of warm weather, came another opportunity to ride. So, I rode Popeye again. We rode in the round pen for about 15 mnutes. He is living in there right now. There were the reminants of a big hay bale on the ground near the fence on one spot that really made me nervous. When the wheat hay is scattered like that, it makes a slick spot for the horses. So, when the horses are running around the edge of the round pen at that spot, they sometimes slip. When you ride in that spot it is a bit nerve racking, knowing that your horse might slip and fall there while you are riding at a trot or faster. Whenever I rode in that spot yesterday, I just went along for the ride. I don't push the horse there, I don't pull the rein. We get past it first. I've slipped with a horse on the slick spot before and it's not a fun feeling.

Beyond the slick spot, Popeye was doing OK. I decided to try and ride him out in the big pen. It's more open and he can act like himself out there if he wants to. I started walking him around the perimiter of the pen. When we got to the North end, he got spooky at Apollo's run-in shed. It looked very different to him and he was right. It was different. The wind blew so hard 2 days ago that the shed blew over! So, he wasn't imagining things. We worked past that and kept riding the perimeter. We got around the pen and back where we started which was also next to the other horses that are out there.

We rode round some more. Popeye got spooked at one place, but I think he tripped or was just testing me out in the open. Anyway, he hopped and I bumped him in the back, which spooked him a bit because he is a young green horse and they do that. So, it was a bit more hoping, getting a bit faster trying to run and hop every time I thumped back down on him in the saddle. I pulled him to one side, then he other. The hopping eased up a bit and I started talking to him, saying his name, "Popeye" and tat brought him back to normal. So, once I figured out that my thumping on his back was causing him to react, and was able to make sure I wasn't coming out of the saddle, I was able to get his attention and try not to bounce on his back, and bring him out of it. You always have to pay attention with the "babies" because they don't have the experiences of an older horse and you don't know what they will do when. If you are expecting the young horse to react, you are ready for what may come, and maybe it never will. You just haveto be ready for anything. I learned that a long time ago. After his little romp with me, and my staying on, Popeye realized I meant business, he wasn't getting rid of me and he rode like a dream after that. We did a large posting trot serpentine, changing diaganols several times as necessary, and halting with collection but little effort. We rode around the perimeter one more time at a walk and came to a relaxed halt without hardly any cues. He did very well. On top of all this, there were people everywhere making noise, making for easy distraction. There was a lot of activity around us including 4-wheelers racing noisily past us-literally. So, Popeye could have been a real jerk and he wasn't. He showed me he is very sane and you can reason with him in a sticky situation. When he knows you mean business, he listens attentively and does the best that he knows how. What more can you ask for. Plusssss, I had fun! That's the best part. If you get done and feel like you had fun, then it was all worth it.

Gotta go, going to go ride again....