Arizona Day 1

Woke up at 6am to dogs and coyotes.  Beautiful sunny day but a little chilly in my room. Got up at 7am and had breakfast with Carole, my roomy for the week.  She's been here since January from Colorado. This is the bunk house we're staying in.

Living Room

My Messy Room

Kitchen

 There are 2 other bedrooms a bathroom and laundry facilities.

The porch out back is a wonderful place for breakfast and watching the sun come up over the large cow working round pen.  Okay it was already up by the time I went out there but it sure was pretty.

Morning

Evening

I went for a walk and shot a few more pictures.  Al got in late last night from Ohio and usually gets Monday off so I was on my own for a bit.

I watched and met some of the people and tried to remember names.  Charlie rode first, he's a friend of Al's and a photographer.  The cactus are amazing and how many people can say they have one in their riding arena.  That's one pylon you won't be running over.  The footing is really nice.  Firm base with about 1 1/2" of loose stuff on top after it was worked up.

At the same time Louis was tying out horses to be worked throughout the day and to learn patience as well. The tie poles are like tether ball poles and the horses can move around them if they're fussy.  All but one had a cement pad where the front feet would reach possibly to eliminate ground wear from pawing.  For those that have met him, doesn't that look like my Papa horse?

Next Jade and Cody went to get the cows for the days work.  The focus here these days is mostly on cutting but there's always help for working cow horse and reining people too.  Everyone here is so polite and helpful.  It's a great atmosphere to learn in and very comfortable.

While Jade rode in the cutting pen I got to warm up Raisin and T-Bone.  No pictures of course but will get some before we're done.  It was interesting finding the stiff spots and resistances and applying the corrections and feeling the horses respond.  I could especially feel the lift of not only the shoulders but the whole back of Raisin on lope transitions.  I was able to feel when she wasn't elevated and fix it till she stayed there herself.
I did a lot of suppling until she felt more even.  I also worked on the trot, circle, back, exercise which I have a little trouble with at home as my horse tries to make the circle smaller.  I figured out a couple of things and am looking forward to trying it again with Boomer.

T-Bone was a lot lazier and stiffer.  He really made me work on Go Now. His back up was crappy too, for me, so after loping a bunch to warm his muscles I worked him on the trot, circle, back, exercise as well which really lightened up his back up. I found him stiff through the back so I worked a little on counter bending to get shoulder control, which was pretty easy using the triangle rein position then started working on haunches in while keeping the shoulders out of the way. The right side was a little hard to get but the left was difficult. He was getting it in the end so I was happy.

It was Dillon's final day here so we broke for lunch about 1:00 and went out.  Can't remember the name of the place but it had a lot of choices and a lot of stuff I could actually eat.  It was excellent.

After lunch I got to ride one more horse.  He was Al's horse Max and he can do anything. I repeat, HE can do anything, we, that's a different matter.  I had a lesson on him and I hope I get to ride him again tomorrow cause he's going to teach me a lot.  Be softer, rhythm, go into corrections slower, ask with less, relax, loosen the legs, loosen the arms. I'M SORRY MAX.  After our lesson I got to ride in the desert with Jade and Cody. Incredible scenery, didn't have the camera but went back out later and took some pictures.

The Palo Verde tree is the state tree of Arizona. It has a green trunk and green branches, and blooms with bright yellow flowers but not in bloom right now.

The Saquaro gets it's first side arm at about 75 years old and new ones every 10 years or so.