Baby Boomer Dreams - Dandy's Story Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Sometime during that first year of starting groundwork on the Arabian horse, my husband built some trail obstacles for me out in the pasture. Wouldn't you know it, Dandy and his brother Aidol were out there trying to help.

The two horses were busy picking up the cut boards, the hammer and other tools and the bag of nails, anything they could get into as Dave tried to assemble that gate and bridge. Nothing scared either of them, not even Dave shooing them away. As a matter of fact, the more he tried to get them to leave the closer they came convinced it was all part of the game.

As Dave was nailing the boards onto the deck of the bridge, Dandy was walking up onto that brand new deck. The goofy gelding was putting his nose right down close to see what Dave was pounding. The horse is lucky he didn't get bopped in the muzzle with the hammer.

Next thing you know there's 2 year old Dandy standing on top of this half built bridge. He sniffed over each side while waiting for Dave to apply another board. That's where he stayed until Aidol chased him off wanting his turn at the game. So Dandy came up behind Dave and began rifling through his pockets.

Onto the gate and Dave had the same kind of problems. The horses wanted to be included in the project. They flung the cut boards around and played with the hinges and slide. When that stuff got boring they went back to annoying Dave. I swear by the time he got both projects done the man was half dressed by horses tugging at his clothes.



Once Dave was finished and left the pasture, both horses had been up over and through about every direction possible. They were pretty sure the new toys were there for their enjoyment. Is it any surprise I began doing in hand trail with Dandy?

Arabian horse shows don't usually have trail in hand classes. The only Arabian show I know of that offers this class is the Egyptian Event. There's not much chance I'll ever be showing there because I'm not breeding Straight Egyptian horses, but the thought of teaching Dandy to do trail in hand seemed like a smart thing to do.

I figured if I could control the horse from the ground, it would be a lot easier to control him once I was on him. So I started off with an "L" shaped obstacle made out of railroad ties that would work as a back through or to sidepass. I built a water box with railroad ties and a tarp. I had cones and barrels that I could use to do figure 8's, serpentines and cloverleafs. With my bridge and gate, I was set to go.

Right from the start Dandy loved doing trail. It was all a big game and he loved the added attention. I could spend hours out there teaching him how to move off my cues.

Usually when he wasn't getting something, it turned out to be me. I wasn't asking correctly. I had a copy of Horse and Rider in my back pocket that I'd pull out to see which way I should be tipping his head and where the cue should be on his side. Of course, the article was written for ridden trail, but it didn't take much to translate it to the ground cues. The result was a horse that grew softer and softer about pressure on the lead and pressure on his side.

Even with those two years of working the horse from the ground, I was worried about getting on the Arabian gelding for the first time. I had no idea how much this in hand trail work added to his condition, balance or to his understanding to my use of cues in the saddle. Had I known I would have a supple horse with great steering and a wonderful "Whoa!" button, I probably would not have been so concerned.

Before I even attempted that first ride, I had read every article or book I could get my hands on about that first ride. I had seen John Lyon's with his round pen reasoning and starting a horse in a weekend. I had so many conflicting ideas I just decided to go with what seemed best suited to Dandy and my.

Not having an enclosed area made getting on the horse for the first time not the best idea in the world to be doing at home. So I joined the Tacoma Unit of the Washington State Horsemen. That membership for $150 and 8 hours of volunteer time each year gave me a covered arena and access to a round pen. The only drawback was I couldn't ride whenever they had scheduled events. That included club nights three nights a week.

I clearly remember that first ride just like it happened yesterday. I hauled my horse in my little tin can size trailer the half hour trip. Tied him to the trailer (which I had not taught the horse how to do ahead of time!) and saddled him up. Then I headed for the round pen shaking like a leaf.

I swear my heart was in my throat as I put weight into the stirrup for the first time. I banged and slapped the stirrups with the horse just standing there. I tried a bit of weight and the horse didn't budge so I swung up into the saddle and mounted the horse for the first time.

No one was there except for Dandy and me and I was petrified. Dandy just stood there quietly waiting for me to tell him what to do. The horse couldn't have been more relaxed if he was on drugs. I was the one that needed the drugs but Dandy wasn't the least bit bothered by my fear.

To be continued............

Part 3
The top picture is Dandy and I when he was about a month old. The next picture is that of thind instigator brother of his, Aidol.

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