NOTICE: I gave up with blogger and just put a link to it from my myspace.
Lol, yeah, so they hit my poor little Tuff Tuff! :snff: but I guess it happens to the best of them, lol.
These pictures are from a few weeks ago, I haven't actually been out to seem him in awhile, bad mommy!! I get so caught up in my regular life that horsey life just doesn't get done sometimes. Its so easy for me to be "aw theyre all right they have a 10 acre pasture, water, etc, they don't need anything" and then I don't get out there and mess with them like I should. Besides the fact its 95 every day and I'm not even factoring in the humidity! UGH, I'm such a whiner!! I know, lol. I do need to get out there and war paint and fly spray the poor little guy, the gnats are TERRIBLE! And he's so sensitive about them, drives him nuts.
So anyway I worked with him a while a few weeks ago, and he did so good. I even bit the bullet and tied him up, I've been worried about that ever since he pulled back and broke his halter a few months ago. Which the situation should never have happened. (the short of it is I was not there and he got tied up in an explosive situation he wasn't ready to handle yet, and had a breakway leather crown halter on and it just snapped)
Anway he tied like a champ, stood quietly while i fussed over him, brushed his whole tail out, (THAT took awhile, he has a beautiful tail! yeah!!) And I also lunged him a bit, and even put his purple bareback pad on and cinched it tight! Didn't blink an eye! I lunged him with that a bit as well.
The thing I was most happy about is how well he did when I gave him a 'bath'. I have just gotten his legs wet so far with the hose and since it was so hot out that day I decided it was time to up the ante! So I took him to the hose and he wasn't thrilled with it dragging on the ground at hm, lol, he'd back up and look at it funny. But not in a AHHH PANIC way, just a mild, woah what is that? way. So I do need to work on that with him. He doesn't mind tepping over it, around it, ect, just when I was pulling it toward him to get closer, he didn't necessarily think that was a good idea.
But I found out he LOVES to drink the water out of the sprayer, lol, and after I let him do that I decided to get his feet/legs wet again, and them his neck, under his chin, ect, and he could care less!! The only thing he didn't like was his back feet, briefly. I don't knwo what it is about them but he kept picking them up and high stepping, backing, and then when that didn't work (I just kept spraying them) he'd just hold one up in the air, haha. But finally he got still and I stopped spraying him, and after that he was fine! Good boy! I let him play with it with hsi mouth a lot and he definitely enjoyed that, silly boy. So far I really like his temperament. I'm so glad his sire wasn't some crazy thing, or if he was, that he got most of his moms good naturedness. (is that a word??)
Lets see, what else did I do... Oh I had a d ring with rollers in the barn and drug that out there to see what he did with it, lol. It took some doing but I finally got him to open his mouth up and got it in there, just holding it with nothing attatched, and he chew chew chewed on it. Finally when he settled a bit I took it out carefully, and put it back in a few times. He got good at opening his mouth for me, and stayed totally calm. He's got a good mind on him, I think.
I guess that was about it, I gave him some more wormer too, hopefully that will zap his belly, and he does really good for that. Don't you wonder how some horses get so bad about wormer?? Like totally freaking out? That is so annoying, and so avoidable if they're just trained right as a youngun. And so many things can go back to that...train them up the way they should go when theyre young and they wont depart from it. Thats in the Bible somewhere and I'm totally paraphrasing it, but so true.
Anyway I'm sad to say I have NOT ridden since I put 55$ into Daisy's feet, lol, its been so hot! And I just don't have the motivation I should, because I just really have nowhere to ride. There is NO flat good ground anywhere close besides the little bitty spot I ride in outside their pasture. And I don't like trail riding much, specially alone.
There is a guy down the road, (would prolly take us at least 10 mins to walk there), that has an arena but I don't know him, and I'm a chicken you know what to ask about it! Besides the fact I can't SEE it, its up in the trees, and for all I know it has half its fencing and holes all in it. Or he pastures horses in it, or who knows! I'd also have to ride RIGHT next to the road all the way there. Some fairly big obstacles, man I wish we had a trailer! Thatd make one part a little easier. Well the me having a nervous problem part, haha. I'm sure Daisy would be okay with it, maybe a little antsy, but its not exactly a busy road, well except for on the weekends. We live near a off road park and trailers full of dune buggies and 4-wheelers go by ALL DAY.
So anyway, just me rambling. I hope she doesn't forget her neck reining work we did! Although she remembered from over a year ago in about 2 short rides, so thats good.
Speaking of 4-wheelers, we have a dune buggy ourselves, and my husband and I rode it around the other day right next to the colts and they barely even looked up at us! I was happy about that, and this thing is NOT quiet, AT ALL. (no muffler!) And then later I drug Tuff out of the pasture and my husband was riding his family round in it, and he just looked at it, it was fairly close to him too!
That day I also worked on his lateral movement a bit as well. I had him crossing over in the front and back with just light pokes pretty quickly! Now my next move is to get him sidepassing away from me, how neat would that be? And good ground work for in saddle work! :)
A comment on the last picture, doesn't he have the prettiest neck now?? It was a bit on the short side before, I'm so glad its grown out, but who knows if it will keep growing with his body! lol I hope so, a great hip and great neck are some of my favorite things on a horse, and a pretty head of course. ;)
Also, Tuff has an AMBIDEXTROUS mane! Can you believe that?? I can flip it to either side and it will stay and look RIGHT. Not goofy! It is the neatest thing, haha. Okay sorry I know I get excited about the strangest things. But I think you horse people will understand, lol. One side is darker and the other has more red in it from when he was a foal. Its so neat! I think it does prefer the left over the right a wittle bit, but not much.
So I guess I'll shut up now, I tend to get going on these things and never stop. Maybe I'll have something new to report soon.
p.s. Thanks so much to in2paints for her lovely comment, your so sweet! I too really enjoy YOUR blog and check it every day! Hope things are going well with you!
pps! Here is a vid from a while ago of Lee (my husband) lunging Tuff! This was his first time lol, and Tuffs maybe, oh 3rd? So I was proud of them!
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33418609
