Bandit Springs: Forest Dude

Saturday July 11 2015

He's a Desert Dude, used to wide open spaces and few trees that monsters can hide behind (only small monsters live behind sagebrush).

Bandit Springs last weekend in Oregon was Dudley's first forest endurance adventure. He went with his pasture mate Smokey and his neighbor August. The best part, of course, was the grassy meadow we camped in. Ohhhh, that rich grass smorgasbord reaching to his kneecaps, that he loved to stuff in his mighty mouth at every opportunity!

You can see he's scarfed the tall grass in his immediate reach, and he's plotting how to reach the rest

It was Dudley's first time on a high tie, which I was a bit leery of, since we were camped in such a tasty meadow. Middle of the first night, he was pulling and yanking and squeaking and stretching that high tie so hard, he woke us all up, and Steph took the high tie down and I tied him right to the trailer.

My biggest fear for Dudley at that ride was him getting loose, and getting lost in the forest, and me never seeing him again. Horses have gotten lost before. And guess what happened the second middle of the night, right before our Saturday ride. He got loose! Suspicious noises woke Steph and Carol up (they were sleeping in the horse trailer; I was sleeping in Helen's freight liner.) He was on the other side of our trailer, devouring an entire bucket of beet pulp!

Now my second biggest fear, almost as big as the first, is Dudley getting loose from his trailer and getting into every single bucket of grain in Ridecamp. Fortunately, he was easy for Carol to catch, but who wouldn't be, after a big satisfying bucket of beet pulp, from which he was still licking the crumbs? He had pulled his entire halter off his head, but I think it was from scratching and trying to rub behind his ears, because he was very itchy there. Nevertheless, Carol put his halter on tightly, and I gave him a stern lecture, because he scared the crap out of me (and a hug because I was so glad he wasn't lost), and I went to bed praying he would have no ill effects from a bucket of beet pulp. Needless to say, every time he made any kind of noise (banging his hay net against the trailer, sloshing water while drinking, peeing, or farting) I instantly sat up, wide awake, and looked out to see if he was still tied to the trailer. I didn't get any more sleep before my alarm went off at 5 AM.


Carol and August led Steph and Smokey, me and Dudley, out onto the trails for the 50 mile ride on Saturday. We had a twenty mile loop back to camp and a vet check, then a 30 mile loop, with an out vet check. The previous day we'd gone out on the 10-mile loop for exercise and to get used to the scary forest monsters, like fallen monster trees, scary tree stumps, and a herd of over 50 elk whose bugling squeaking trumpeting calls so alarmed our horses that we all jumped off before they ejected us. The elk herd seemed to want to make our acquaintance, and I left the horses, screened behind trees, and ran out to scare steer the herd away from us. Yes, a person on foot can turn away an entire elk herd that's bearing down on you!

On ride day, our horses weren't scared o' no stinkin' tree stumps or monsters. Or elk, which was fine with all of us, because they might have still been a bit alarming. The horses know the difference between deer or antelope, which they know, and elk, which they do not!

Dudley's other favorite part of the forest ride was the two wild turkey feathers he found, that he had me stick in his bridle. (Dudley always finds things: feathers, neat rocks, deer antlers.).


And his other favorite part of the ride was the vet checks where horses had a treat of oat soup waiting for them!


The other best part of the forest ride was the cool weather and the rain. Everybody I talked to only knew Bandit Springs as hot and dusty. We got lucky this year, the 25th anniversary of Bandit Springs. It was so pleasantly cool in the morning, in the 60's to 70's, and in the afternoon, scary-looking thunderheads built above us and finally blanketed the sky with heavy dark clouds. After the vet check, a delicious rainstorm, with no lightning!, soaked us and turned the trails to slick-snot mud, as we plodded through the dark forest, the pine and fir trees beating with dripping water. My other favorite part of the ride, besides the forest trails, the Ochoco Mountains, riding a big handsome beast, and the rainstorm, was the lovely trill of the hermit thrush which serenaded us all day long.

Always mugging for the camera!

Our horses walked the entire last 12 miles or so, because the mud was so slick. But we finished before the cut-off time, and our horses looked and felt absolutely great afterwards. The six Pickett Crick Musketeers did it again!

oops, not quite a wide-enough angle lens!

And the other best part of the ride was the 25th anniversary handmade ride award necklaces and key chains made with jasper and quartz rocks hand picked by ride manager Janelle and her son Spencer from Doyle Spring on the trail. The Raven had a hard time picking his favorite one.


And the best best part is, Dudley's not just a desert horse anymore. Now he's a Forest Dude!


More stories and pictures from the 25th anniversary of the Bandit Springs ride here!
http://www.endurance.net/international/USA/2015BanditSprings/

Dudley's Escort Services, LLC

Wednesday August 27 2014

Step this way, little lady, Dudley says to Smokey. I'll escort you down the trail.

Smokey is green-broke, learning the ropes of riding the trails.

Dudley is, well, The Dude, and while he can have his (exciting) moments on the trails, he performs his escort duties with aplomb as he accompanies Smokey along her future endurance trails.

Steph says Dudley is just following along, looking for something to eat. Well, Dudley is ALWAYS looking for something to eat, but in addition to that, he carefully watches over Steph and Smokey,

keeps a close eye on Smokey as they amble along,

keeps his cool when Steph works on carcass training with Smokey,

it's a giraffe carcass someone stuffed onto a sagebrush!
and just in general exudes casual calm, masculine confidence out in the wilds of Owyhee.


Not to mention the obvious - he's a knock-out gorgeous dude, a stunning creature to be seen out and about with.

Dudley is following in the hoofprints of Jose's Escort Services, LLC

All Grown Up

Wednesday July 13 2011

It's been 2 months since the Little Princess Smokey went to Andy's Boot Camp Boarding School down the road to get educated.

Andy brought her back home today and showed us and the Owyhee herd her graduation papers.



Though she's still green, she moves nicely and willingly and forwardly,

knows how to move off leg and back up.

Andy said she was "a bit sting-y" to get started ("it took a couple of days"), and she can be "a little flighty", but that "she wants to please you."


You could see the difference in her eye, too, compared to the day she left here with that stubborn, bug-eyed look in her eye she got when she didn't want to do something, such as load in the trailer. Now her eye was alert, but relaxed, and looking for her next instruction.


Andy really liked her while he had her. Steph really likes what she sees. It's so important to start a young horse right. Andy's the best one around here to do that.


Now school's out for the summer for this young filly. Getting an early education was the best thing for this filly, but she'll get turned out at least a year now to keep growing. But we won't be calling her Princess anymore.

Smokey is all grown up now.

The Little Princess Goes To School

Friday May 13 2011

Today is the day the little princess Smokey started boot camp. Today the little princess Smokey saw God Andy.

'Little' Smokey - the daughter of Princess, is 2. And big. But really, still a baby. She hasn't been asked to do much of anything her whole life other than leading, and standing tied, and getting her feet trimmed. She has been allowed to grow up and develop, physically and mentally, be a horse on a lot of acreage - footloose and fancy free... until today.

Andy and his wife Gloria came to pick up Smokey - Steph is sending her off to school at Andy's for a couple of weeks of basic training.


Smokey had never been in a trailer before. Ever. I've seen glimpses of a bit of Stubborn in her, when she doesn't get her way. Today would be her biggest challenge ever, to get in a trailer for the first time to go to Andy's house.

Andy's a local cowboy trainer - grew up here then left then came back - and he's already worked with a lot of local endurance riders' horses. He's very good with horses - gets them to do what he wants them to do, in a quiet, light-handed, but insistent way.

It didn't take too much asking from Andy to get Smokey to go up to the big scary trailer and stand there,


and even start putting a foot


then two


inside the trailer.

But then, she decided she didn't want to go in that trailer. And when Smokey doesn't want to do something, she can indeed be stubborn about it.


She started making a big deal out of it, backing up, then wanting to get away from it all. Andy simply started asking her to go in circles around him. He used a lunge whip, either flicking it at her hind feet or butt, or tapping her on the butt with it, gently but insistently.


She didn't want to do that, either, clamping her tail down and freezing before leaping forward.


It took some time. Smokey thought she could out-stubborn Andy, but he kept asking her to move her feet. She tried everything she could think of to just get away from the situation - she tried yanking away,

rearing,


she tried lunging at Andy,

she tried almost falling over, she even double-barreled at him, but Andy just kept asking her to move - move - move in a circle around him. The harder she resisted, the more effort he asked her to put into moving around him.


Her only respite was a quiet space right in front of the trailer. As long as she stopped and stood quietly right there, she got to stand there and rest.




He'd then ask her to step into the trailer; and as long as she made an effort to move forward - give in to the pressure on her head, or move a foot forward and relax, she got to stand there.


As soon as she resisted - threw her head up or backed up, Andy asked her to go back to moving her feet around him, move, move, move.

Andy kept the same patient demeanor: just kept asking her for a response, releasing when she gave, and when she resisted, he just asked her for more effort in moving forward.

It took about an hour - time for a thunderhead to build and completely cover the sky, with thunder rumbling overhead - before Smokey really gave in to moving around Andy without resistance - no tail tucking, no crowding Andy, no pulling on the rope. She was wet with sweat.


Ten feet away from the trailer, Andy asked her to walk around him (she no longer needed to trot, because she was no longer resisting), and he then straightened her out and walked toward the trailer on a loose lead rope, and she walked right into it without any hesitation.




It's art. It's a matter of timing: requesting and rewarding at just the right moment. It's a matter of making the wrong things difficult and the right things easy for the horse.

It's a matter of making the horse move forward. "You can't get a horse to do anything without forward motion," Andy said. "It's hard to get a green horse to back up from a standstill. First you get his feet moving forward, then you ask him to back up." Then same was true for Smokey - it was hard for her to just stand still at the trailer door and lift up her feet one by one and step inside (especially the first time) - so once he got her willingly moving forward without resistance, it made it easy for her to keep walking right into the trailer.

Andy left Smokey to stand in the trailer for a bit, then he led her out - she leaped out of there - then he circled her a few more times and led her back to the trailer and she walked right in again. This time he stepped inside with her and had Gloria close the door. They stood in there a while quietly; and when Gloria opened the door and Andy walked out with Smokey, the filly stepped out beside him calmly.


They walked to the side of the truck and trailer (a new spot), where Andy asked Smokey to step around him in circles.


She did this quietly, calmly; and Andy led/drove her along the side of the trailer, to the door, where she turned and on her own hopped right into the trailer.






He left her in there a while by herself. Then he did it twice more: leading her out (calmly) and away from the trailer, then letting her go back in (calmly and willingly) - and there you had a horse that will now willingly go into a horse trailer.

Princess Smokey's whole perception of the world changed today - Boot Camp has begun!