A Good Broke Horse

Taking full advantage of these mild days, I loaded up Blue this morning and headed back out to Branched Oak to work on the mapping for the Trail Challenge & Scavenger Hunt. I think I was abducted by aliens for a week, because I seem to have "lost time." I swore it was three weeks away and then today I wake up and look at the calendar and BAM! Just like that, I'm missing a week! I have a lot of work to do between now and then. Good thing I am one of those who work best under pressure because the pressure is on!

I have been using the GPS to record all the trails and then download to Garmin Connect to review. The above map is one of my most recent downloads and the trail shown at the top near the water is a major trail that will be used in the competition. Does anyone else see what I see? Can you imagine the instructions: "Turn left at the base of the penis and continue down the shaft until you reach the…." Yeah, you get the idea. This is going to be one high-class event, let me tell you!

You know how everyone is always looking for a "good BROKE horse." And we all know they are not easy to find. Heck, my Windy is a "broke" horse, but not always good. When I don't ride Windy, I usually load up Butter or Ginger because Case and John will ride more than McCain and I feel I need to keep their horses legged up, too, for their occasional rides. As time passed, I forgot about my "good broke horse" that seems to have unobtrusively moved to the back burner. That would be my Reggie Blue. Blue Boy. Blue.

You may or may not remember my blog about Blue a few years ago. Blue was four-years- old when we bought him in December of 2000. He was probably one of the most well-trained horses we have ever had. I, being a complete novice at the time, didn't know what he knew and have only discovered some of his buttons in recent years following lessons with Windy, no doubt confusing the poor boy all these years.

The first day we rode him at home, ten years ago, I was leaning down fixing my stirrup when John flew by me on Ginger. Blue's first reaction was to follow and took off. The reins, which I had left on his neck, fell to the ground and I was desperately trying to right myself in the saddle. In my panic, I recalled the girl I bought him from saying "he stops on one rein." At that time in my short horse life, I had no idea what that meant but reached down for the only rein I felt I could grasp and pulled. And it was like God himself put those reins in my hand. Blue stopped on a dime. With that one gesture, he earned my trust.

Blue's wonderful disposition and ease on the trail made him a favorite with my boys in those early years and throughout the years each claimed him as their own for a season or two. I moved on to other horses because I knew the boys were safe on Blue. McCain has pretty much given up riding and Case no longer appreciates Blue's choppy ride, so if he's not riding Butter, Ginger will be his second choice. Occasionally John will swing on Blue to bring the cows up.

When Windy became laid up with a swollen knee this past week and knowing Cowgirl Weekend is less than 4 weeks away, not 5 (remember, I lost a week in a space ship), I did a quick inventory of our herd to determine who is on the B Team just in case she can't make the trip. When I got to Blue, overweight and underworked, I thought "why not?" Four weeks is enough time to get him legged up and he is not only MY horse, he was my first Cowgirl Weekend horse. And like the Good Broke Horse he is, (who if he had a voice, would sound like Elvis) has stepped up to the plate again and has quickly become my Go-To Guy.


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Horse Weekend - Part 1

The Friday Before Mother's Day Ride

It’s been an all horse weekend! Actually, the weekend started on Thursday night when some of my horse friends pulled in to our yard on the eve of the Friday Before Mother’s Day Ride for our own “trailergate” party! These being the same friends whom I am traveling to a competitive trail ride with next weekend, it gave us an opportunity to chat about the CTR and finalize our travel plans. Our driveway turned into a makeshift camp ground/slumber party; our corrals into a temporary stable! A new tradition was started, no doubt.


We were up bright and early to fold up camp and get to the trail head in Valparaiso and it wasn’t long before the trailers started rolling into town. I recognized many riders whom I only see during this ride, lots of my regular riding buddies, the safety riders and my Horsetales friends -- two of which, Marie and Pam, had three generations of women from their families riding this year’s ride! How special is that! The sun was shining and there was a nice breeze. The weather gods were with us!

This year I was joined by fellow blogger, Valerie of Fantastyk Voyager and her daughter, Sheila! They traveled with their mother/grandmother from New Mexico to join us on the ride and I was truly thrilled they made the trip. I set them up on Ginger and Blue hoping my steady eddies would come through for me. They were a little fresh and forward, but I was glad to see that both Valerie and Sheila were good hands and were able to handle what these “spring horses” had to give. I enjoyed riding and visiting with them and hope they enjoyed the ride as much as I did having them here.

DJ, my safety rider, texted me shortly after the ride started. He counted 123 riders across the first bridge. There were at least 3 late comers plus my husband and his friend, who started at the other end of the trail, so all said, we had 128 riders. A new record! We also set a new record as far as pace – averaging around 4 mph the entire ride. What is usually a 5+ hour round trip was completed in a little over 4 hours.

Special thanks to my husband, John, the safety riders, my friends, Kathy, who rides lead each year, Sam, who organizes the caterer, Loretta for taking pictures and the Horsetales bunch for kicking in gifts for the golden horseshoe game and to everyone for enjoying this ride with me and my good mare. Next year is the 10th year ride. I can’t wait!

Loretta Asche of Asche Photography was along the trail and in Loma snapping some pictures. To view proofs and to order, visit Asche Photography . Enter site & click on Proofing at bottom middle of the page. Type in the Password - horse . And you will see the ride photos. Prices: 5x7 are 5.00. 8x10 are 8.00. 8 wallets are 10.00. If you have any problems or questions , you may contact Loretta Asche via email at aschephoto@windstream.net .

Blue Boy

I have spent a lot of time on this blog talking about working with Black or riding Windy that I feel I’m a bit neglectful where the other horses are concerned. Not just in working with them, but talking about them, taking their pictures – bragging or cussing – whatever the situation warrants. Since Blue photographed so well for me this past weekend, today’s blog will be his.

We’d only had Ginger and Baby a few months. I don’t know that we planned on getting a horse for each one of us, but I had grown afraid of Ginger. We bought an old mare for the kids and started looking for something more appropriate for me. We found a pretty bay saddlebred mare. She rode nice for the owner; she rode nice for John. I rode her about 100 yards after purchasing her and dismounted. I would rather take my chances on Ginger. That is when John said, “Are we doing to do this horse thing or not?”



Some friends mentioned a black gelding they knew was for sale. He had spent some time with a trainer, ponied at the track for a bit – had a good start; gentle. He was a four year old. We made the trip over by Omaha to look at him. He was seemed nice. The owner lunged him and I was quite impressed! The first time I had ever seen lunging done so pretty and so successful! We took turns riding him in the arena. I liked him. I told her about my fear of Ginger & she told me (quite frankly, I might add), that if I have any problems with him, it is MY problem, not HIS! Well, I guess she told me! John wrote the check and told me “Merry Christmas.”



Blue’s lack of perfection probably wasn’t his fault. I think he knew more than me, but he also knew enough to take care of me. And slowly I regained my confidence. I could pull the kids up behind me in the saddle; I could go about anywhere on Blue. He became my buddy, my friend. And although I could get him to do most anything on the trail, he had (has) a couple idiosyncrasies. One can be endearing & the other maddening.

The endearing one is his spook! Now I’m not saying riding a spooky horse is cool. I’m just saying that Blue sees things differently than the rest of us and it is a game as to whether something on the trail will put him on alert or if he’ll pass with no issues. I swear, some days you could pass a mailbox with a cornstalks, a scarecrow and an American flag & the most he’ll do is try to eat the cornstalk. The next time you ride he will do a 180 over a pop can along side of the road. It is always an adventure with Blue.

What drove me crazy with Blue was his refusal to load in a two horse trailer. He will run and darn near load himself in the big trailer, but literally would throw himself on the ground over getting in a two horse trailer. Finally, I gave up. If we took the two horse, Blue just wasn’t going. It was only when the truck stalled pulling the four horse trailer & the option was to go home and get the Suburban with the two horse that I realized this is a problem. I may have to just ride Blue home. With the help of a trainer, after 7 years, he finally loads. (I haven’t taken him anywhere in it lately in it … but I THINK he will… Hmm. Maybe we had better have a refresher course….)



I lost Blue to my kids! I moved on to other horses because I trusted Blue with the boys and the boys spent so much time behind me on him, that they trusted him. Over the next few years, he carried one or the other of the boys on the trails. He seemed to know he was carrying precious cargo. He was who my niece would ride when she was here and other less horse savvy friends or relatives. He is who I would follow when on a young horse. I knew if heading down a hill that I could tell the kids to “whoa Blue” and his big butt would keep my young horse from taking the hill too fast or not in control. On occasion though, I would still saddle up my boy. And it’s like coming home when I climb aboard.

Blue took a hiatus last year when McCain started riding Black. I would take him out occasionally, but he saw less trail time that year than any. But when plans were made to go to South Dakota this spring, Blue once again made the travel team. I didn’t get as much time to leg him up as I hoped, but he was up to the challenge and traveled well. And he carried McCain through the Black Hills.



Blue is twelve years old now. This past weekend, I took Blue on a short ride down our roads. The devil got his tail a few times at what he thought were the “children of the corn” (I saw nothing, I swear!) But he relaxed when we got to a nice grassy area along side of the road and I stopped a few minutes to let him graze. We walked, we trotted, we loped. I was home again.

I’m lucky to have two great horses in my life that I call my own: my “go to” Blue and my “dream horse”, Windy.

Care to share about your first horse? You may post in the comments anonymously.

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Not horse related, but I have to share this picture! There were less than 2 minutes in the game & our team was down by 4 points. The ball was fired into the end zone to our son, Case. He caught it! We won! And the crowd went wild!! (Or at least Mom did!)