Rusty & Skips Day

Hey guys! Look, HORSES on my horse blog! Lol, sorry its been so long since I've had a good update! Although, this is still not a post about the main horses this blog is about. Oh well! I was planning on playing with both my horses Sunday and of course it decided to start raining –_-.

Anyway! I haven't had a post specifically about either one of these horses yet! Rusty is of course the bro in laws gelding. And Skip is my sis in laws 2 year old gelding. I thought about getting my two out with them, but then I felt like I should step back and let them use it first, seeing as it is theirs. Plus it was getting dark FAST. I didn’t want to rush either one of them. Next time is my turn though, baby!

So first up was Rusty. Isn’t he pretty?? The FIL had decided he was getting on him that day. EEP! Thats what we all were thinking! I mean, Rusty is so unpredictable. He can be good, and then all of a sudden your hand moving in a different way can cause him to jump like he is going to die.

So they have had him out there at the round pen to lunge two times now. This time they lunged him again, then brought out the saddle. Tacked him up and then a few more times around the pen, and then time to mount up!

He did well! Didn’t even move off while getting mounted, and the FIL isn’t as spry as he used to be, so it took him a minute to get on, lol. He walked on out when asked, trotted when asked, and was overall a very good boy. I was impressed! They ride him in a tom thumb, which I don’t like, and he seems to be very touchy with it when turning/backing. He makes sharp movements. It could be that the FIL is a little heavy handed, or a problem with his teeth, or something else. Not sure.

Anywho, great first ride in two years!

So after that the BIL (who was feeling too icky to ride that day) took him back to his pasture. By then the SIL had come home and she wanted to get Skip out. So she brought him over and the FIL lunged him for a bit and then she came in. She has never lunged a horse before so the FIL stayed in there to help her a bit (although I think he could have explained a few things better, like DONT LET YOUR LINE DRAG, lol)

So as far as I know this was Skips first time in the round pen. He’s never been a real fan of lunging, or moving about in a energetic manner, lol. At first he tried a few ducks and dodges and stalls, but pretty soon he gave up and trotted around like a good boy. Rusty’s saddle was still out there so they decided to put it on him. Kristy said something about how “saddles don’t bother him” so I’m guessing he has had one on at some point?? I didn’t ask. He acted liked he had at least, didn’t move around etc. He looked a little worried at first but when she put him back out on the line he was perfectly fine with it. Darn, no bucking fits to video. ;)

By this time it was getting pretty dark, as you will see in the video. My camera kept trying to refocus. So they lunged him at walk trot and canter with the saddle and that was it!

Here is the video. I warn you its long and pretty boring, lol. I trimmed as much as I could! I should have made a seperate video for each of them. Oh well!

Rusty & Skip from Britnieann on Vimeo.

So I was disappointed I didn’t get to work with either of my two, and didn’t even get to ride Rusty! (no one offered and I didn’t ask, I figure the BIL will want to get on him before I do) But! Tomorrow is another day. So stay tuned! Just gotta find that tomorrow that doesn’t have dark descending at 5:00, which is only 30 minutes after I get home!

Have a lovely rest of the week all!

True Love In Boot Form

I can't....stop....looking....at....these.


I NEED THEM!!

Okay, I don't NEED them...well I sort of do since I don't have any riding/cowboy boots...so yeah, I NEED THEM!! ;)

All the hints are out for Christmas, so maybe I will score! I have never seen a pair that I like as much as these. Just beautiful! And they are so functional for riding.

Here's the link: Ariat Womens Legend Riding Boots

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! Now get your Christmas shopping done before the last minute! Don't be like me!!

This Face

Okay, sorry I have been so lacking in posts lately! No excuses! Okay, one, or maybe two. One; its been RAINING NON STOP. Finally the last week or two it has cleared up. So anyway, muddy, icky, slippery round pen = not good for horsies.

Also, another reason would be this face:

Ohmygosh, have you seen anything cuter?? Well, you probably have, but she is pretty darn cute, I do have to say! Her name is Missie and she is MINE! :D So now we have 2 mini schnauzers and someday will get some puppies out of those two, hopefully! But right now I'm just having so much fun having a dog of my own. Thats never happened before. I've had cats, horses of course, hamsters, fish...never a dog of my own. I am loving it. But she is also a 24/7 job! Gosh. Out of your sight for a second and something has been peed on or pooed on or chewed up. Phew. But I am loving it. Like I already said of course...

I took her out to see a horse for the first time today, she was a bit overwhelmed, although Tuff was trying to eat her...sorta. ;)

Anywho, maybe I will get some horsin around done this weekend. I hope so!

On another note, Daisy fell into a sink hole in her pasture. Yeah. No joke. I guess that big butt of hers was a detrement this time. The ground just couldn't hold that glorious thing up. Lol, just kidding, well sorta. Mostly its because it has RAINED SO MUCH. She is fine, was just a bit muddy. None of us really know how she got out by herself. It was so slippery and deep. Which it did take her a while I think since there were two piles of poo down there, poor girl! Lol, sorry its not funny, but it is!

Anyway, hope all is well with everyone else! Everyone say a prayer for Beccas girl Lilly, shes got a tendon injury (more specifically a DDFT Lesion, yeah, what she said) Here's hoping it will be healed completely soon and have them out there kicking butt at the shows again!

Ta ta!

Stormy In The Spotlight

At certain angles she has such a pretty, feminine face

Okay, first of all I'm kinda ticked at blogger. Apparently my posts have not been being published when I tell them to be. -_- I had one from a few days ago that never showed up, so I went and REpublished it and now it is finally showing up in my list. So annoying. Anyway! Yesterday afternoon I pulled into the drive and saw the little BIL getting his horse out of the pasture (they are in the front one by the road right now). I was like oh! Horsey goings ons! Of course one of my favorite goings ons there is! So I stopped and he said he was going to go lunge her, so I asked him if his dad was helping (the only one at the house with a good bit of horse experience) and he said he 'reckoned'. So I hurried home and changed out of my work clothes, grabbed my camera and waved at the husband as I went back out, lol. He had just got to the round pen basically by the time I was dragging my bike off the porch.


She was pretty nervous for about 15-20 minutes. Trotting around pretty quickly, neighing and calling when she heard her 'beaus' calling for her (they were a bit upset at her departure!). The round pen is about half a mile? from the pasture she was in. Maybe less. She did good though! She settled in and was listening pretty well. Of course the little BIL is a newbie to horses anyway, so they did good for both being green!

He lunged her for quite a while, took him a bit of work to get her to lope, he hasn't figured out how to use the whip and control her at the same time real well yet, lol. Then they got the saddle out and put that on her. You could see she was a little iffy about that at first, but within seconds she was fine with it. The FIL decided to lunge her around a bit (after a comment from me) with it before the BIL mounted up. She was pretty unconcerned.

So without further ado he mounted up! She stood very well for that and all the stirrup fiddling. When they first walked off she had a few issues with wanting to turn and go her own way, or trying to back up. But the BIL did very well with correctly her quickly but gently, and that was all the trouble they had! She seems to have a good mind on her. Thank goodness!

The round pen is GREAT. Its a good size and was very helpful for something like this. We have no idea how many rides this filly has on her, and they have only rode her once since we bought her. So its nice to have a round pen to keep things controlled!

After he walked her around a bit he decided to try trotting her, something they had not done before. She did super! Did not take much urging at all and off she went! She quit on him pretty quick, but it didn't take him much to get her going again. Super job.

I wanted to ride but we had plans that evening, so it will have to wait! I left soon after that to get ready, but I heard later that the older BIL and then the FIL also rode her, and she did just as well. Good girl!


So that is about it! A good showing for Stormy, and a great start to our round pen usage, ;). Can't wait to get my horses in there!

Here is a video I put together of all that went on!



Thanks for reading, have a good weekend all!

BEHOLD!

The Round Pen.

:sounds of awe:

Two Videos!

Hey guys! Sorry its taken me so long to get these up. But here they are now!

First one, Tuff Ground Driving


And Tuff being a good boy for the farrier (who likes to talk way too much)


There you have it! Hope everyone has a great weekend. Becca, how did your show go at the fair??

Farrier Part Trois! Good or Bad?

Drum roll puhlease!! Was Tuff the monster and major PIA that the guys all said he was last time?? Or was he the angel we ALL know he is?? ;)

Well he was an angel of course!

So last night I had a dream that had me waking up pretty happy. I dreamed the farrier came out and he did so great and everyone was complimenting me on him. Now, usually I would have had an anxiety dream with him being a total terror. But thankfully that wasn't so!

I was not too happy when I got to the driveway though and saw the farrier already out there doing Stormy. I was like crud! He was at least 10 minutes early! I had wanted to be out there to brush him down and work him a little. So I rushed home got my nice work clothes swapped with my comfy ones and tried to get my camaro to get out of the mud where I park it (the rain is endless here!!). It wouldn't come out! So I flew out of it and into the truck, yelling at my husband to hurry who by then was coming from his parents. I got out there and walked up to Tuff and saw he had a huge brier in his tail, so I reached back to get it out and he starts walking off. -_- I reach for his halter and he walks faster until he is basically running from me, but I got the sucker! Hehehheh. So got the brier out and held on to him until Stormy was done (who did well for her first set of shoes! We weren't sure how she would react, haven't had the farrier out since we bought her, although I heard she did roll the farrier across the ground a few times, haha, apparently her shoe hooked his chaps).

Then it was his turn! He did pretty good with his first front, he tried to pull away once but I held him, and then called in the husband for back up. (he's stronger them me of course!) So I handed him the lead and took pictures. After that he did pretty good! No trouble with the backs of course, and his other front he thought about pulling back a few times but didn't. (I got that leg on video but can't upload it until tomorrow when I get to work) So all our work has paid off!

I bet it didn't take 5 minutes. And after that I was like wow, what an anti climax! Which is totally fine with me. Of course he needs to be a good boy another half a dozen times at least before it is likely that he won't be a problem. But this was a good sign! I joked with the guys before I left, how I still didn't believe he was such a pain last time. ;)

So after that we headed to the house to get the checkbook and a halter for Daisy while the BIL and FIL went on out to the other pasture to round up Rusty and Daisy. We did Daisy first, she was a star as usual. Although she did think my fingers were carrots a few too many times for my comfort, lol. I brought some out for Tuff to distract him and he didn't even want it! Neither did Stormy or Skip! Weirdos! Okay, yeah, they were a little frozen and really old, but still! I knew Daisy would eat them, of course she did. And Rusty even liked them. So those youngsters need to stop being so picky! Lol.

Rusty was next, he gave a little trouble with his fronts, pulling back until the farrier lets go, thats his usual stunt. But he wasn't bad. At one point he picked up the farriers rasp from his little roll around cart and held on to it by the handle! It was so funny, the farrier tried to get it back and he wouldn't let go! He is super silly. Lots of personality. And goofiness!

So thats about all! Sorry I still haven't gotten the ground driving video up yet. Stupid vimeo took all day to get to 84% just to tell me that there was an error and it couldn't finish. GRRR! So I'll try again tomorrow! (I got it down from over 10 of uncut video to 5 minutes, yay me! lol)

Have a good night/morning all!

Ground Driving Part Trois

Or part three in case you aren't up on your french, lol. (believe me I am not, had to google that one!)

So first off, Tuff hasn't been ground drove since March of this year, and if you all remember (post here: A Tough Tuff Day) it didn't go as well as I would have liked! Although in his defense, it was only his second time.

So Saturday morning I drug my surcingle and lines out to the pasture with me. I had a little bit before we had to go get hay and wanted to get out there and work with him. (D-day is tomorrow!! Farrier part trois as well)

He did SO good. I was very proud. First of all I lunged him around a bit, just to make sure he was listening and acknowledging who was in charge, and that would be moi. Gosh, what is it with the french words today?? So sorry. By then the little BIL had showed up on his four-wheeler. I was thinking, oh good! Then if I need help for any reason I have an extra set of hands. I thought about having him stand at Tuffs head to begin with and then gradually go off, but I have never done that with him, and he's always been pretty good. I also didn't want Tuff watching/listening to the BIL and not me...sooo, I just had him stand close in case I needed him. And then I asked him to video for me, thats why its on the ground at first, and then up, lol.

Turns out I didn't need him! That little grey fuzzy butt went out there and waltzed around like he had done it thirty times instead of three.

Of course he wasn't perfect. We still need to work on:

• Stopping on cue better
• Backing up better
• Not moving forward after backing
• Turns could be better
• A little 'pluggy'
  

Now for things he did good!

• Walking off on cue, very well!
• Yielding to the halter fairly well most times
• 'Parking' nicely most times
• Staying steady, not speeding up
• Staying calm and unconcerned
• I saw him licking and chewing a few times, very good!
• Totally unconcerned with the surcingle, only his second time in it!
  
• Also very unconcerned about the long lines

So all in all a very good lesson. I have never tried backing him on the lines before, so that was a first. He did pretty good! Except for always wanting to step forward again right afterward. I'm not sure what that was about! You'll see it in the video. Next time we might try a bit of trotting! We'll see!

I worked him in the halter that day mostly because I forgot my bitless bridle. He had no problem in it. The first few turns were a little sticky but after that he went pretty well! I'm halfway thinking of measuring his mouth and getting him a full-cheek. See what he thinks. He still has such a small mouth though, that it will have to replaced sooner or later when he gets bigger...

So we practiced the farrier routine a few times after that. He did pull away from the BIL once -_- I just told him to quickly pick it up again and he tried a few more times but didn't get away and he quit. I wanted the BIL to do it because he is bigger, more like what the farrier will be, and I knew it would be harder for him to keep his balance. Thats why he pulls away, he thinks he is falling and has to get his balance. So after that he was good, and did well when I did the rounds.

I'm gonna try to get out there again today one last time before tomorrow. Not sure if I'll make it, depends on what is going on. It is my birthday today, so not sure what they might have planned. :)

Backing...

I will try to get the video uploaded tomorrow and posted. Its LONG, I think I need to go through and cut it again, lol.

Have a great week everyone!

Heartland

Okay, the first episode of the new season just started Sunday, so I thought, hey, I need to let my horsie readers know about this GREAT show.

Most of you probably haven't heard of it, and its no wonder. This tv show is actually filmed and shown only in Canada. But thanks to youtube and torrents (utorrent.com) anyone in the world that has access to the web can watch!

It is based (very loosely I might add) on the book series for young adults by Lauren Brooke that began in 2001 and has 25 books and some 5 special editions, named Heartland.

I read the books when they came out and when I heard about them filming a tv series I was super excited! And then super dissapointed when I found out I wouldn't be getting them on my tv. Some of you lucky people that have the CBC channel on their satellite can watch it!

Anyway, here is a link to the first season on youtube, check it out! Its addicting, my husband (not so horsey) even loves it! As do my in laws, and my mom and niece...etc. The scenery is beautiful, and its CLEAN. No sex, drugs, smoking, cussing, etc. Thank God! There are SO FEW programs out there like this.

I admit some of the horse stuff is cheesy, but its better then a lot of things I've watched!

Heartland Season One

And here is the first part of Episode 1:



There ya go! Enjoy!

All I Need Is A Tuff Pick-Me-Up

Well yesterday started out fine, was going good...and then I found out my violin was stolen. :( In case yall don't know I've played for about 15 years, I taught for about 7. It's a big part of my life. And its gone now. I don't even want to think about it. I'm going to trust God with it...(it was stolen out of my car behind work) Here's me playin a while ago...



So I got home feeling pretty crappy. I was like, okay, I need to see my horse. I'm sure you all can relate!

I got my shoes changed and grabbed my camera and a light coat (its getting cool at night!) and hopped on my bike. I left it at the end of the lane that opens into their pasture and walked down the hill. I was hoping they would be close, but there I saw hide nor hair of them. *sigh* So I started calling "Tufffff, TUUFFFFFF" and rattling the bucket I had picked up with brushes, lead rope etc in it. I wasn't real optimistic, but I figured I would try. And then lo and behold! Here he came!!



Let me tell you that is where my whole night turned around, folks. Such a sweet boy. So we walked around a bit doing the same sort of stuff as the day before. Pivots improved! Trotting off promptly did as well. Then I decided to lunge him a bit. Did some good trot circles. It was getting DARK though and all of a sudden Tuff flew off in the other direction spooking bad at something. I knew it had to be Lee, who had called a few minutes ago saying he was coming out. It was so dark I couldn't seem him but Tuff could!

Well he flew to the end of the lead rope (and drug me a bit, but I wasn't letting go yet!!) and I just held on and yelled WOAH at him and finally he stopped backing up and I reeled him in, lol. Right after he spooked he calmed down and that was it! I put him back out on the line and we resumed our lunging. Good boy.

Then I had Lee hold him while I played farrier again. He did very well and no pull backs with the hinds at all. He also wasn't slamming his fronts down when I put his hoof down either, which he does most times. Then Lee did the rounds and we let him go because it was DARK. But our eyes had adjusted pretty good and we got back to the house without any trouble.

So talked to the FIL last night about the round pen again. He says it needs to try out more before he can work it more. *SIGH* It rained again this morning a it, so hopefully it will dry out soon. I want to be using it!!

Bye for now!

The Object Is To Be A Good Boy

So the brother in law said he was going to call the farrier out sometime this week the other day. And immediately I was like, uh oh, I better get out there and work with Tuff! I usually go out there about once a month to refresh him up a bit on all the things he knows, and have never had any troubles with him really. He remembers things pretty well I think.

But allegedly, yes, ALLEGEDLY, he was a major PIA last time the farrier was out. I had to work so I wasn't there. Ugh, I wish I had been there! Apparently they had to twitch him and STILL couldn't get him to behave. Lee said he was striking out with his front feet and everything. What the?! My ANGEL! No way! I still don't believe it. He has NEVER even half way acted that way before. Not even when he was a colt! Anyway! It apparently happened, though I have no idea why. If I had been there I might have figured it out and fixed it, I don't know. I definitely plan on being there this time!

So yesterday afternoon I drug Lee out there with me to play 'farrier', lol. Drug being the key word here -_-. So as we were walking down the lane to the pasture my lovely husband thought it would be amusing to find a stick and hit me on the butt and legs with it. Thanks a lot. So I was making quite a bit of racket trying to get him to stop. And then we heard rustling and out popped Tuff Tuff! Yeah! :) Thats him coming to see us in the top picture.

So I grabbed him and did a bit of walking and attempting to pivot, which he was doing terribly that day! And then trotting off and stopping promptly. And some setting up, which he is getting quite good at! (he should, I've been dong it with him since he was 5 months!) Then I held him while Lee picked up his feet a bit, but when I told him to put his front hoove between his knees he said no way! I'm not a farrier, so I had to get him to hold Tuff while I did it, picking up a rock and 'rasping' on it as well. Which he stood very well for.

Now his hind end was not so good. He kept trying to pull his leg back, not hard, but it was annoying. I growled at him a bit and smacked him on the butt a few times, no help. So I grabbed the lead rope from Lee and whipped his butt around in little circles both directions a few times and then gave him back to Lee and picked up his back leg again like nothing happened. He tried it a few more times but after the butt smack he decided it wasn't worth it to go through the circles again I guess! Because he stood very well. I went up and did his other front, then his back, and had no further issues! He stood like a good boy. Which IS the object, right Tuff Tuff?? ;)

Then I took the lead rope from hubby and told him it was his turn, lol. He did the rounds again while I took pictures (of course). We were out there for about 30 minutes I guess. This picture here is hilarious, have you see a horse blink with one eye before? Or maybe he is just winking at me, lol. Yeah, thats it.

So thats about it! Stormy and Skip of course were a little pesty. Wanting in the bucket and getting in the way. But we chased em off. It was funny, one time I was trotting Tuff towards them and they scattered like we were chasing them.

Skip has beefed out! I don't think I got a good picture of him, but he is CHUNKY and still short, haha. I think he will have another growth spurt soon though. Tuff is filling out a bit, but nothing like that. Thats okay though, I don't want a chunky monkey! Nicely muscled is good. I can still see a huge difference from a month ago to now though, check it out:

First of August

And yesterday the end of September

I know the first picture is a terrible angle, but still. I see a big difference in his overall body condition and he just looks more 'mature'. Looks like hes going to have no withers like his momma though, and a longish back. Forgive the terrible feet and mustang mane! Both are being remedied soon ;).

So good news! The round pen is all painted and ready, but the bad news is that its STILL not up. -_- The inlaws are a bit slow about things. Although it DID rain nonstop virtually all of September. The FIL is wanting to get the ground leveled out before we set it up. He has done some work on it, not sure how much he lacks. I'm SO READY to use it!

Things I Want To Do In The Round Pen With Tuff:

1. Lunge
2. Ground Drive
3. Free Lunge
4. Saddle Work
   
5. De-spooking Stuff (work with tarps, bags, etc)
6. RIDING (when his body decides to grow into an adult horse)
   

So I'm pretty excited! There are a lot of things its going to be soo useful for. Sure I can do these without one, but it makes it SO much easier and makes me a lot more comfortable.

I'll keep yall updated! I'll leave you with a few more pics!

Other side!

"Good boy"

Now does this look like a wild thing?

A neat tree in the lane

Tuff following us back

My New Favorite Picture

Hi everyone! I don't have time to blog right now, but had to share this totally adorable picture of Tuff and I from this afternoon. (well, just ignore the dumb dumb on the right, actually) Is he not the cutest thing ever??? ;)


We did a mini training session with his daddy (aka my husband, and dont tell him I called him Tuffs daddy). Just mainly getting ready for the farrier who is coming hopefully at the end of the week.

Have a great night all!

Bitless Bridle Plug

Daisy in her beta bitless bridle

So I stumbled across an article on a horse news website talking about an experiment with Dr. Cooks Bitless Bridle. Which most of you know is what I ride Daisy in when we go english. I really like the bridle, although I won't call it a miracle and have a spaz over it like some of the users do. Its a good tool, my horses have liked it, there you have it. It is still not legal in a lot of recognized show organizations. Though hopefully that will change someday.

A little background on the bridle first. I have used the bitless on 5 horses so far:

Cisco - I actually broke him out in this bridle. He never had a problem with it and did well in it. Although we have never tried him in a bit. He has been rode in a Noavel and a bosal also. I can't really say which he did better in at this point, it was so long ago. Right now he is rode in the Noavel. Can't say that contraption is my favorite, but it works for him okay.

Doll - My QH mare I owned as a teenager. She did really well in this. She was very unsettled and annoyed in a bit. I tried tons of them. She just never was happy with any of them. In the bitless I could get her to flex and stop her constant chewing.

Dixie - Out of all the bits and bosals and headstalls Dixie does best in the bitless bridle. She is very nervous and jittery under saddle, but not dangerous. In various bits she has thrown her head a lot, acted VERY annoyed, etc. She responds well to the bitless and it helps me to know I can get up in the reins and not be afraid of hurting her, since she is so sensitive.

Daisy - Of course you know I like the bitless for Daisy. She is another like my QH mare, chewy, unsettled. She doesn't misbehave, but also you can tell she is not comfy with a bit. With the bitless there is of course no chewing, she responds quietly and without annoyance (most of the time, sometimes you can tell she doesn't care for the noseband pressure).

Tuff - I haven't had anything but the bitless on him, besides a halter of course. And he does well in it. I have ground driven him a few times and he still is learning the woah, but turns quite well in the bitless. Overall I like his response with it.

So! I watched the entire thing, and I think it is pretty consistent that the bitless did make most of the horses happier. (the appaloosa obviously has other issues going on, and did the worst I think)

I do want to say I'm a little disappointed in the partiality. You can clearly see the judge (Mitzi Summers) was a bit more optimistic about the horses performance without the bit then she should have been. Not quite as objective as she could have been I think. But what can you say, lol.

The first horse was my favorite. CLEARLY he was much happier in the bitless! (super cute also)

Intro with Dr. Cook



Horse #1, Bitted




Horse #1, Bitless


Horse #2 Bitted & Bitless



Horse #3 Bitted


Horse #3 Bitless


Horse #4 Bitted & Bitless


Final Results & Questions Part 1


Final Results & Questions Part 2


So let me know what yall think! Hope all is well with everyone. Until later!

Jumping FOOLS We Are!

Okay, I had like the funnest (ya, I know, not a word) time this morning!! I decided to go out and ride Ms. Daisy May since I had a little extra time before work and it is SO nice out right now! Plus I needed to check on her leg anyway. Originally I was planning on just put putting around bareback. But then I saw my beautiful english saddle sitting there (thanks again Becca!!! ;) ) and I thought...now that sounds like fun! Its been too long! So I was like, I'm not going to do any jumping or anything, just get out there and have some fun trotting around, etc.

Heh, yeah right.

Anyway, loaded my stuff up, left a pouting dog behind, and headed out there. I get there and Daisy and Rusty are not far down the fence from where I want to be, so I start calling them and shaking the bucket while I get my stuff out and over the gate. They start moseying on over so I give Daisy a piece of carrot and get her halter on and then bam, it hits me. I forgot her bridle. DANGITDANGITDANGIT!

So I have to take her halter off again, put all my stuff back over the fence and drive home again. Once I get back, TWO MINTUES later they are GONE. I'm like what the?! I was just here! So I start calling again while I set up the jump (you never know, I might want to pop it once or so....heh) and get my camera in position.

I'm done, but still no horsies. So I sigh and head off to the pond, knowing thats prolly where they are. Its a bit of a trek, through nasty sticky bushes and thorns, etc. So I finally grab her and head on back, getting my arm stuck STUCK in a thorn on the way out. That was not cool, I mean I saw my skin getting PULLED out away from my arm! So gross. Its just a scratch tho, thankfully Daisy stopped and backed with me so I could disentangle my SKIN. :shudder: Sorry, I'll get over it now.



<---sorry yall, I know I need to get some proper tall boots, but gosh, these are my favs and I only paid a few bucks for them at the thrift store! lol


Got the fat girl tacked up and on up I went! Side note, don't you love english girths! I know Daisy should be in the 3rd hole on each side and that is it! I really don't have to worry about it being too tight/loose now that I know thats a good place for it and its easy. Sighhh, okay, done.

So before this I was shooing Rusty away from my camera about ever couple minutes. After I got on, I had to do the same thing. Then, while I was occupied he knocked it off the bucket it was on. Great. So I had to get off and on again, geeze. Then while I was over pulling branches off the tree that were in my way, he somehow knocked it over AGAIN and this time chewed on my tripod so its screwed up. GRRR, at least he didn't hurt the camera, right? So off and on again. Also had to get off and on again after I dropped my whip when I was pulling branches off. -_- Lets just say my muscles are going to be loving that tonight!

So we walked about a bit, letting her get stretched out. I also started teaching her how to do a turn on the forehand. That was fun, lol, lets just say she had her tail going a mile a minute while I had my leg behind the girth trying to cue her. She was a bit confused! But she did do some good step overs and I quit, then a little later on did a bit more with it. Just easing her into it. I eventually want to be able to do some side passes, too fun! I'm following mugwumps advice on this.

Then we did some trot work, which was a little bumpy to begin with. She was REALLY bouncy for some reason! I was having a hard time keeping my butt in the saddle, and I'm usually a good trot sitter! I tried posting first to begin with but then quit to feel her trot better. I think she was pretty stiff, its been getting cooler in the mornings. So after a few rounds that smoothed out and we tried a figure eight. Well right as I sat 2 beats to change my diagonal she quit on me, so we tried again and that time was great! We did that a few times and she was a star. She was actually really moving out (for her) in her trot today. It is cooler out and it was morning, so that probably has a lot to do with her energy level.

So on to the really fun stuff! I saw the jump...it saw me...and off we went for it! Now, I was looking for a fight with Daisy like last time. Weave, wobble and stop. Then proceed to trip over it.
So instead of this:

I got THIS!
And this...
And this!

She was JUMPING yall, not just stepping! It was SHOCKING I tell you! Now it probably doesn't look that big/high or whatever to you people, but to me, it was like jumping 5 foot, lol! Our very first try at it I was SO not ready for her to launch herself like that! As you can see from my fetal position in the first picture, haha. I was like holy smokes! I think I was even prepared to hit the grass after that one, I remember thinking that in the back of my mind, and being totally okay with it, lol! You can hear me laughing in the video and going DAISYYY! But I was having oh so much stinkin fun.

A lot of it was her stopping and then LEAPING over it, lol. As we progressed she got better and was trotting over them instead of stopping and jumping from a standstill. Our last one was really good so I quit on that! But really no balking or quitting on me this time! Last time she needed LOTS of whip slapping and encouragement and was weaving all about trying to avoid it. This time she was keeping a good trot to it (and in fact was getting ill if I kept urging her as we went towards it, she was kinda like "I SEE it, okay, I'm GOING!") and staying pretty straight and locked on!

Oops, guess we should have backed up from the camera a bit more-->


I have to tell you too, this horse is a saint people. I mean, one look at the video and you will see why. She put up with a LOT of my crappy/weak riding! Gosh I wish I had legs of steel! Thats my biggest problem, I just don't have the muscle strength to keep myself where I should be. Oh and my lurvely roach back. :roll eyes: But I digress.

She was noticeably off a bit today. :( After watching the video I can see it is definitely her left hind, which I knew. I would think I'd know if she was in pain, so I don't think she is. That makes me feel better. I may start looking into an arthritis supplement... She was so willing today, that I just think its stiffness/age, not pain, you know? Who knows, she could have an old injury there that I have no idea about, that makes her stiff, etc. Hard when you own a horse in their later years and have no idea what went on before! But its probably just age.

Heres our video! Took me all day to edit it. We were going in and out of frame the whole time so I tried to cut it so yall wouldnt be watching the grass for long periods of time, lol. Try not to laugh too hard, though I know I did! (sorry about the gnats! gosh, no idea why they were so bad!)


So there ya go! Also, her wound looks GREAT. I think its closing up so that there will be little if any scar. Thank God!

Till later!