Rain, rain, rain

Every chance I thought I had to ride this week was interrupted by rain. We need the rain, but at the same time why won't it rain when I'm busy. Yesturday I was sure I had a chance for a good long ride because the farther from Auburn I got, the clearer the sky look. When I got home I made lunch, which was a chore in itself since the microwave didn't want to heat, and then laid down for a power nap with Brutus. Thirty minutes later I woke up to heavy rain and thunder. I stared out the window for a minute. I'm sure Brutus thought I looked confused, because in a way, I was. I just went back to sleep. When I woke up it had cleared mostly, so Ruby and I hopped in my car and went down to see Bullseye. He was happy to see me until I tried to get on his back. After struggling a couple times to pull myself up, I led him to a fence. I think I need to work on my pushups, because it shouldn't have taken much more to climb on. Or I'm going to teach him to bow down and let me step on. I've seen it done; how hard could it be. It was a short ride because Alex wanted to go swing dancing later. Other than trying to bite my foot, Bullseye was a good boy. Tomorrow, Hope and Star are returning. They've eaten our pasture down too low. I like having them at the house, but that's OK. We're going to need grass.

Bullseye

Bullseye about a year ago.

Who is Bullseye?

A little more than two years ago, my dad found this young horse who belonged to a man who knew nothing about horses. This little boy had been spoiled rotten. Whenever he didn't get his way he bit or kicked. When he got his way he bit or kicked. I messed with him at their house for two days, the start of his training. By the end of the weekend he didn't kick anymore. He stopped biting until this summer when he hit his terrible three's, going on four's. Our neighbor Al gave him his name. He said he looked like he'd been shot and the head and the blood dripped down his forehead. Graphic description of his blaze, but it was a good name. Bullseye turned four last month. We've been through a lot and I believe we have a lot more to go through. Better late than never to begin documenting this guy's life.
I have two other horses, Hope and Star. Both have their own quirks and personalities and are in their teens. Bullseye's former owner said he'd been taken from his mama too young. He adopted Star and Hope as his mothers. Hope takes the responsibility as mother seriously. After the initial putting him in his place, she allows him to act as the baby. Star, on the other hand, doesn't like Bullseye. Both allow him to do whatever he wants, so of course he tries to walk over them. At this time, I have him at a friend's pasture alone.
After a six month hiatus, where Bullseye wasn't handled by anyone, I began a serious riding program at the beginning of the summer. Our farrier said he had muscles he never used before, and I didn't like having a lazy horse in the pasture. For two weeks I spent about two hours riding only Bullseye, teaching him things I should've done during the hiatus. By the end of those two weeks, he was close to perfect. The rest of the summer I rode him about 45 minutes everyday until classes started back.
Saturday was the last chance I rode him. He was up to his usual tricks. Sometime this summer, probably when we took him to another pasture for two weeks and he wasn't touched, he learned to buck. The beginning of the ride was a long series of bucks until he decided I wasn't coming off. His brakes don't work very well either, but the one-rein stop has been perfected so I helped him realize he only had to trot when I nudged him faster. We ended the ride with a hose down, which included a through cleaning. He wasn't a big fan of that and bit my shoulder. I lounged him for a few minutes, ended on a good note and went home.