back to work / never tacked soo fast before

My work started today again. The weather was still not nice: grey clouds, a bit of rain and chilly. After we tacked all the horses we needed we got other jobs to do. I had to help deworm horses. Katie, got all the empty chaff out of the oats bag (the mice ate it) and Rachel had to clean the round pen. After lunch all the tacked horses came out and got tied up. I had to go on the 1.30 pm ride on my horse Mohawk.... GREAT ! I didn't tack him up in the morning. (The last few times I had to ride other horses...) So I had to get him out of the pasture, groom, saddle, briddle and mount him in about 5 min. And then catch up to the group... Oh my God ! I never tacked a horse sooo fast in my life ! We trotted the whole trail to caught up to the group. I already saw Mohawk and me laying on the ground ! We travelled so fast and the trail was full of rocks and so uneven ! If I would have asked Mohawk to canter he would have done it for me ! I am sure glad he is soooo sure footed ! When we reached the group he got a bit hot and was a bit dancing around. But as soon as I talked to him he calmed down and was okay. Oh God, I really like this horse. So one thing I learned today : I will tack up my horse in the morning if Dave tell me this to do it or not !!! This was not much fun ! :( The rest of the day wasn't too bad, we ended the day around 3.30 pm. And of course, as soon as we were done with work the sun came out. The sun is shining at the moment hahahahahahahahaha ! I really hope we would get some sun shine during the day.

more square bales and a little accident

The stable was open today again. The weather was sooo crappy no one wanted to go for a trail ride in the morning... Only Katie and I worked today. Dave had a good job for us to do : unload a horse trailer full of hay bales !!! According to Dave there were around 150 square bales, we did the job in 1 1/2 hours. Then we fed the horses in the barn and after lunch we had one trail ride with two people. Katie went for this ride and I cleaned the barn. Some of these doors from the box stalls are pretty hard to open, so you need some speed and strengh. I had speed and strengh but unfortunatly my thumb was in the wrong place in the wrong time... So I crushed my thumb between the box stall door and the box stall wall.. :( Now I have a pulsating finger tip. Good thing I am off tomorrow and Sunday so my thumb has a chance to heal without getting dirty. Oh well, I guess things like that happens from time to time.

stables closed - day off

Stables closed which means : Day off ! It is a long time ago since I had a day off the last time. I really needed to sleep in. The weather was not good, grey clouds and no sunshine at all. Katie and I wanted to go for a hike when it's not too bad weather but we postponed it 'cause it was a light rain around noon. So we decided to watch a movie, Armageddon. And then I watched 'the holiday' as well. I had a very lazy day which is good. So I can be full of energy tomorrow for work again.

more horses... and finally COAL !!!!

The weather was great today, sunny and some clouds. Dave brought 5 or 6 horses today. They were still on the community pasture in Brule. And one of them is Coal. A gelding of the size of a small horse , black, 22 years old. Dave bought Coal from my friend Reg a long time ago. Reg told me about this horse and I thought he is a tall horse.... So I was sooo surprised when Dave gave me the lead rope and said, this is Coal, he has to go in the barn... I said, Oh this is Coal ??? Dave thought I didn't understand the name so he repeted it. I was so excited to finally meet this horse ! He is a real cutie ! You can see he is an old horse he gets white hair in the face now. Only here and there one... Dave decided to use Coal and another one of the new arrived horses to be a guide horse today. He didn't say specific who rides which horse... So I said I will ride Coal ! ;D So I rode him in the afternoon. I am not sure if he is impatient or just fights the bit... As soon as I wanted to stop him (to let the dudes catch up) he started to toss his head around. I don't know how he managed to unclip the lead rope and go for a walk in the next corral... Maybe he is a king of escaping :) I really like this cutie !!

horse change and a good amount of patience is needed sooo badly

I was suppost to be the front guide on the 2 hours-ride with my horse Heureuse. But my girl decided not to cooparate with me and turn around.... Great idea with a string of 12 dudes on their horses with us !! So the back guide took the front position and I walked beside my horse for at least a half hour. I mounted her again at Old Fort point (?) and then she was fine. It's never good to have two horses to stick to each other like glue ! Anyway, I don't ride Heureuse anymore now. My horse is a bucksin gelding, called Mohawk. He is a big thing and has a hard time to stand when I want to mount him. Okay, this would be our project : stand still for mounting ! I had to jump off him today out on the trail to shorten a kid's stirrup. Mohawk thought I could mount when he walks away.... And it didn't help either that the rider behind me didn't listen what I told him... I told him to keep a distance between his horse and mine. He rode his horse this close so the nose of his horse was right behind Mohawk's butt. Sometimes I really ask myself how hard it can be to follow orders !!! There is a good reason for these orders, it's not just because I can give them. 'grrrr !' I need a good portion of patience !!! Otherwise I will go crazy soon. There are a lot of nice dudes only some objects are just horrible.

horses, different charactars

I wanna introduce some of the horses: Jack, a chestnut gelding, dude horse, he gets bored pretty fast and likes to untie himself or take the briddle off. So we have to make pretty good knots to prevent his game and we have to briddle him just before we put a dude on his back. Baldy, a paint gelding, dude horse, he is pretty competitive on the trails, no other horse is allowed to pass him not even the back guide. Ghost, grey gelding, dude horse, like to walks over small trees so he can stratch his itchy belly. He leaves the trail (especially with a dude on his back) and walks out in the bush. I had to laugh when I saw that the first time :) Rocket, bay gelding, dude horse, he doesn't care if the person on his back pulls the reins back to stop him. He plows right through this aid. He knows exactly that the person on his back has no chance !! So he ended up behind us today. We had to put him back on his place in the line. Punch, bay gelding, dude horse, I had to ride him in the front to guide a ride, he got soooo impatient and fast 'cause he was annoyed of the speed from the other two horses which were with us. And then is there Heureuse, my guide horse. She is a Canadian mare, 11 years old, ex brood mare and the second summer here in Jasper. Last summer she was in the back country. Heureuse has a buddy, Moka, these two girls are best friends. They always hang around together in the pasture. When Moka is also in the same string like Heureuse I have a hard time to ride my horse where I want. Usually Lynda rides Moka and I ride Heureuse. We need to have other horses between these two otherwise my horse will turn and try to follow Moka. When Moka is staying at the barn I don't have so much troubles with Heureuse. They call each other from time to time. My horsey can be pretty impatient especially when she has to be tied up or has to wait for the dude horses to catch up. We improved the listening to leg aids already and she is listening to my voice when I have to calm her down. She doen't like to walk sooo slow when she is in the front. When we are last in the line she starts to dream and doesn't pay attention where she walks and so she is stumbling a lot.

back to work and winter

Back to work again today. It was pretty chilly in the morning and in the night we got rain. So all the area outside the barn was muddy. We didn't have trail rides in the morning 'cause of the weather. Good thing the rain stopped when we started work at 8.30 am. Dave brought the horse trailer (room for 10 horses in there) full of hay bales. The three girl of us had to unload all the bales and stack them in the barn. Rachel was in the trailer and threw the bales out, I had to carry them in the barn and Katie stacked them. We were all covered in hay and sweat after awhile. It was a good workout for us :) In the afternoon we had two trail rides. One with dudes and the other one with staff member. I went on the one with the dudes. We had a good time. I was front guide this time. My horse was already bored in the beginning and saw her ghosts again. I kept her occupied with exercises (leg yields, bending,...) She gets better now with listening to leg aids. I am so happy ! I don't like just to ride with pulling on the reins. Sometimes I only have to put my leg on her belly and she moves over and there are times when she needs a bigger reminder to move over and I have to use the reins as well. Yes, my girl can be Miss Impatient or Miss Pissed ! A mare totally for me :D I really like her.

a lazy day with a few snow flakes

The weather is not so nice today, grey clouds and it should be rainy. There were also few snow flakes. I decided to take it easy today. I slept til 8 am, put all my washed clothes away, read almost the whole morning, had a nap after lunch and went for an exploring tour in the bush behind the stables. This time I took my bells with me :) I went to the Trefoil Lake. We see this lake when we are on the 1 1/4 hour-trail ride. It is a nice little lake. The duckies really enjoy it there. One day I will walk to the Lake Edith which is also on the tour of the 1 1/4 hour-ride. Since I know how fast the weather can change here I prefer to go there when it's nicer.
It depends on the weather but maybe I will go for another walk after supper. This time to the shore of the Athabasca River. I'll see...

days off, a loooong walk home

The stables are closed today and tomorrow which means two days off for us and the horses. I took the chance and went to town. The one girl, Katie, gave me a ride, she and her boyfriend went to Edmonton. I went shopping (cell phone and grocerys). I decided to walk home. It is a nice walk along the shore of the Athabasca river. There is the horse and hiking trail. The other day we rode on this trail with two tourists. In the afternoon I washed my cloths and played around with my cell phone. After supper I went for a walk with my camera and took pictures of the river and the mountains. The sun is shining and it's a bit windy. It is so nice here. I love it. I look forward to the Canyon ride, it is 4 1/2 h. I know I won't walk straight afterwards but it is it worth. After a longer time in the saddle my right knee starts to hurt big time. I had this before.. I hope I will get used to long hours in the saddle soon.

first solo trail ride and a patients test for me

I had my first solo trail ride to guide today. Oh my god !!! I had two dudes with me. I rode Punch, a Canadian horse. He got so impatient when he had to wait for the two grandpa horses again and again. I kept telling the two tourists to try to get some more speed out of the horses but it didn't happen. So we were way too late in the end. And that on my first solo trail ride !!! Okay this wasn't too bad. We came back to the barn with everyone in the saddle. I had to jump on my guide horse, Heureuse and be the back guide for a group of 10 people ! Holy sh... ! Okay now I know when I have what to do on the 1 hour ride when I am in the back. There were two women who kept ignoring me when I talked to them. All I wanted was to ride to them an kick their ass ! I was sooooo mad ! Lynda keeps telling me we are responsible for the dudes !!! But I guess there is a point where this 'beeing responsible for the dudes' has an end. I also heard some very nice advices from a tourist to another tourist : if you wanna make your horse going faster lean forward... ! Bullshit !!! I did correct them. We give a simple explaination to the rider before we head out in the bush. This happens when people think they can ride.

second day of work, a trail ride with two new guides and dudes

It was my second day of work. We had to tack all the horses again and then off to the first trail ride at 9.30am. I was in the back and rode the young Canadian mare, Heureuse, I already rode in Brule. She was good only when she saw here friend Mokka in the string of horses she didn't wanna pass her and so we had a few arguments together.... After awhile she learned that I won't just give up and so she did what I wanted. The second ride I was guiding was in the afternoon. It was just Rachel in the front and me in the back. No boss ;) I rode Heureuse again. This time, Mokka wasn't with us. My beauty did good also when I had to pass the other horses to make sure they won't get run over by a car or moterhome. That's the job of the back guide to make sure when the group has to cross a road the cars wait til the group is away from the road. Heureuse trotted this time better and she was pretty fast ;D Usually she takes her time and just kinda moves like a snail. I can get her moving fast now when I need to :D She is a sweety and I hope she will be my guide horse for the summer. She is tall, has a wide back and is strong. Unfortunatly, she doen't listen so good to legs... especially when she wants something ! I could work with her a bit when I am the back guide. ;D

first day of work

I am in Jasper now. It was my first day of work as a trail guide. The stables are near the Jasper Park Lodge in the Jasper National Park. It was nice weather, sunny but not too hot and from time to time a few clouds. In the morning we got all the informations around the barn, how to feed, how to tack horses, how to dis/mount a tourist, what we have to tell them when we mount them... Then we tacked the horses and Dave took the guides for the first trail ride. It was the 1 hour trail ride. Dave explained us all the importent stuff we need to know out in the bush. All guides have a radio on the belt just in case we would need help. It was a lot to learn and keep in mind and sure we need to learn the trail.... 'cause in the afternoon was already the first trail ride with real tourists !!! I should be in the front and Lynda was my back guide... Oh my god !!! She told me I can ask her when I don't remember where to go. Good thing I remembered the whole trail only once I wasn't so sure and had to ask. My horse, Jack was a bit slow in the beginning and I thought oh my goodness, will I have to drive him one the whole ride... ! Thank god not, he only needed some time to warm up and then we travelled nicly and were just a bit fast sometimes. I don't like when a horse moves like a snail.... There should be a certain amount of speed even for a dude horse !!! In the end he had the idea to get fast to go back to the barn and I could stop him before he could take off.. Horses and their ideas sometimes... ! After lunch we had to clean the barn and put the feed in the stalls for tomorrow.

Moving to Jasper

We took 10 horses, two cats and my two suitcases to Jasper today. The two cats had to ride in the back of the truck in a cardboard box. Both didn't like to travel the black and white one was crying and the black one made a hole in the box :) Kitties... as soon as they could come out of the box in Jasper they were gone. The black cat looked at me like you don't catch me again ! And was gone... I put my suitcases in my room in the staff accommation, it's a nice room and we even have a fridge. At the moment I am alone in there, my room mate will move in at the end of the month I guess. It feels so weird to move again.. to get used to one more new environment. I like changes but at the moment it's getting a bit to much of that... Well, I think when I settled in nicely I will feel better. I will definetly move to Jasper tomorrow, it is my first day of work. I think we will take it easy at the moment... :)

normal farm days

The last two day were almost the same: the day starts with feeding the horses then farm work (collect baler twine in the horse pens), lunch and work with young horses in the afternoon and evening feeding. Raya, my young horse which I work with is making progress. We play some of the seven games first and then do driving from the ground. She is always so nervous when she has to be alone in the indoor arena but as soon as I get her to focus on me she is better. We had to work a lot on staying out of my personal space. Now she can stand in an open door/gait and wait for instructions from me. Yep, we are getting there... :)

first trail ride and a lazy day

We went for a trail ride yesterday. I rode a huge Canadian mare. She is the tallest horse with the biggest ears in her group. :) A good description to find her a group of all the black horses !! We had some troubles to leave the barn, my girl had other plans then to go on a trail ride. We ended up being ponied from Lynda for a while. Then we had a good slow time on the trails. It is nice to ride here, all bush and mountains around us. That is what I love. Today, is mothers day and we had a brunch. Everyone of us had to prepare something to eat. I baked muffins (black and white). And it was my day off. I could sleep as long as I wanted. As I promised I baked a Engadiner Nusstorte (a nut pie from the Engadin). And while I was in the kitchen anyway I baked peanut / oatmeal /chocolate cookies. Both turned out very tasty. It was nice weather today beside the snow we got in the morning. It was not a lot and it melted right away again. So I went for a walk in the afternoon with Kelly, the Lab-border collie. A great mountain view. I can not wait til I am in Jasper and see all the mountains there.

work with two young horses

It was another busy day here in Brule. The sky was still cloudy and from time to time a few snow flakes. My day started with feeding the horses. I am not used to carry many buckets of cubes so I have sore muscles. Oh well, that's just part of the game ;) After lunch and a nice chat with Lynda we went to the barn again to grab two horses. This time we took Raya (for me) and Rica (for Lynda). Raya is a nice quiet mare and it turned out she is a fast learner. I worked with her to stay out of a person's space and be comfortable with that. According to Lynda the Canadian horse is always in a person's face so they have to learn to stay away... We also worked on the beginning of lunging. Just send her out on the circle and don't go backwards to avoid work. She also learned this pretty fast :) I like a horse like that... Mercury was a bit more difficult. He kept ignore my orders in the round pen 'cause I didn't push him enough to get his attention. When I realized this and added a few more pressure I got some nice turns. We still need to work some more on that... He is a brat and know exaclty what when to do. An interesting horse !

Brule

I am in Brule since yesterday. It is really nice here. When I look out of the window in the living room I can see the mountains. We are surrounded with bush I really like that. The stupid thing is you have no idea what's around the next corner... !

My first day was not to bad. I helped feeding and we worked with one of the young horses in the indoor arena. My second day was a bit more 'interesting'. I had my first lesson in 'cowboy ground work' and the young horse I worked with had a bucking and rear up fit in the box stall ! I was just about to leave the box stall when he started... The result are three bruises on the leg.

I won't tie him up again to saddle him. Well, he was used to this last year and everyone was surprised that he reacted like this today. It came out of the blue, he was eating and I showed him the pad and saddle and he was not snorting at all.... And then he had another bucking fit in the arena.

Lynda worked with him a bit in the afternoon again and then I did a few times in-hand leading. He didn't know it before but he did just fine. :) I guess I will work with him some more so he is not that nervous anymore. So I am tired from this day and will go to bed early I guess....

lazy day

I am in Hinton at the moment and enjoy a lazy day before I'll head for Brule tomorrow. My almost final destination for the summer. As far as I know I will switch between Brule and Jasper from time to time. Exciting ! Today, I am lazy, read, listen to music or watch tv... In the evening Krissie and I will go to Walmart. I need a second pair of Wrangler jeans. Soon I am a real cowgirl :)

surprise surprise...

We were pretty busy last night. A foal decided to leave mom's belly and hit the ground. It's a black leopard Appaloosa stud. He was born around midnight and one week too early. Little man and his mom Fancy are fine. Cutie already answered his daddy, Banner, when Banner talked to another horse. I love his colour, he has a white spot on the one ear. The boy has no name yet. They are in the garden at the moment, so they have their privancy and can rest. Soon enough the whole bunch will want to have a closer look at the little boy... Fancy is a good mom, she keeps the boy away from the fence where the other horses could reach him. Mikey, the Llama was at the fence already and had a look at the foal. So cute !

I had a good ride with the bus last night to Hinton. I arrived there at 4.45 am. Krissie and Lenard picked me up at the bus station. We went to their home and head for bed for 1 1/2 hours. Around 8 am we packed all the stuff we needed for the weekend in Edson. I am here in Edson now. Tomorrow evening we will head for Hinton again. Linda, Krissie and I went to Winfield to bring Totie to his new job at the Wheale Ranch. He will be a working cow horse for the summer. We went for supper to Entwhistle. It was a surprise for Krissie, it's her birthday tomorrow. She was pretty surprised that even I knew from this surprise supper :)