Riding During Naps: Horse-Sitting

Here I am! Not dead, hehe. And hey, it still hasn't been over a month since I last posted, so I figure I'm doing good! Not to mention its winter and there is like NOTHING much horsey going on.

Well as you may, or may not know the horses are all over at the 'rents in laws. Which is just down the driveway, but seems like farther! And Daisy really is a ways away, in a back pasture we are renting. So I haven't seen her in months!

But, the in laws (who do all the feeding) took a 2 week vacation to Oklahoma to see family, so Lee and I are regulated to pet watching, lol, well more like pet feeding. We would have gone but we are too poor!

There are 5 horses, 2 dogs, and 2 cats in total. Cats are pretty self sufficient, we just pet them every so often and make sure the water and food are good, and the dogs are about the same. But the horses of course are not as easy! (never are! lol) But its really been quite fun. The hubby and I drive out there every day around 4:30 or so and give the old mare and 2 babies a bale of hay which lasts nearly all the way to the next afternoon, then old mare gets some grain, and so does Skip. Poor Tuff Tuff doesn't, hehe, but he doesn't mind too much. He's such a good boy. A lot of horses would be carrying on having a fit but he just munches on his hay.
I might go get him a bag, it certainly wouldn't hurt him, and the complete feeds I like to get will actually help him. Its just we are SO low on money right now I feel bad doing it...I'm really quite worried about the REALLY high power bill we have to pay soon as well as the truck payment, car in

surance...gah, getting depressed. NEW SUBJECT!!

So then Daisy and Rusty are out on grass so Rusty just gets a bit of grain to go with his hoof supplement (CRAP hooves on that horse) and then we slather some hoof protector on, and thats all for them. (Daisy, unlike her son, of course is NOT happy about not getting grain and usually tries her very best to get Rustys, lol)

Anyway its been fun visiting with them, and it just is really quite satisfying to make them all happy with they're food. They look so content. I also usually mix some training in with my fav grey gelding, leaning over his back, touching him all over, picking up hooves, desensitizing to the lead rope (I was swinging it all over him last night and touching him all over his body, and even looping it around his leg and pulling until he picked his foot up, also pulling on it between his legs, you know sorta like if he stepped on it or something, until he gave to it. He did sooo good of course! No problemo.

Last night Lee gave Skip his grain and I just clipped a lead rope to Tuffs halter and held him at his hay rack, and he VERY lightly tugged on the lead rope a few times but then just stood there and ate his hay, like I said, so well mannered about it. I guess he's just gotten used to it being for them and not him, and its a non event. So Lee brought me some brushes before he went to the other pasture to feed Rusty, and I brushed him down, played with the lead rope on him, leaned on his back etc. He's almost too tall for that now. Still only 13.1 tho :(.

<~~Lol, he's like why the heck are you taking MORE PICTURES! ;) Then! I took his brushes back into the shed and saw this CUTE little training bosal! I don't know where it came from (I'm sure its the dadinlaws that he dug up from years ago somewhere) and I thought that would be so neat to use for Tuffs first few rides. And it actually looked small enough for his head. Well I was right! I drug him away from his hay and put it on over his halter, and it looked just about right. The only thing I don't like about it is it has a real skinny one ear slot on the one side. And his ear looks really cramped in it! I kept waiting for him to wig out on me and have a freak attack (I would have!) but he just stood there! But I didn't like it so I tugged it back out of there (thank God I worked a lot on his ears, lol, I folded and turned and twisted it this way and that and he never batted an eye! Side note: when he was just a few minutes old, after we had got him standing, I noticed whenever you touched his ear he would SHAKE SHAKE that head! OOH he didn't like it, so I just kept doing it until he quit and I think that helped!) So I had to take it off again to get his halter off, cause it looked funny under there, and slipped it back on, just putting the whole thing behind his ears instead of through that little slot, and worked with him in it a bit. At first he was not happy about me interrupting his hay eating, but got over it. He was extremely responsive in it! He backed up from ounces of pressure. I pulled back on both reins only, and it was like, BAM, he was moving back. Then I tried some lateral flexion with him, at first he kept backing up backing, but FINALLY he got it (a lot of it could have been me too, because I started really concentrating on how I was asking him, and thats when it seemed like it clicked) and then we had very nice movement to each side with VERY small pressure. He was almost TOO light to it.

Then the really fun part. I put both reins on either side of his neck and gathered them up at this withers, in position like they'd be when he is ridden, and I started clicking to him and pushing on his neck and we walked forward and stopped, and even turned a bit like that. WAS SO NEAT! He responded very nicely. So I think this may be our first rides bridle! I will have to work him in it a bit more to be sure though. I don't want it to annoy him. AT ALL. And the way he was so light off of it, makes me think he might be a little eh, with it, you know? Or it could have been fine and he just responded well to it. It was DARK out by then, and I couldn't study his ears, eyes, body language, very well. So we'll see!

Here's a few TERRIBLE pictures of him in it, lol. The flash about blinded him each time! haha, what a mean mommy. I dunno, think it could be a bit lower on his nose? I think I need a new hanger, that one is a bit odd...Dunno if I can stretch that ear out enough to suit me. But I liked how it was a good fit...so we'll see.

He is SO HAIRY! But thats good, don't want him to get cold of course. I can't wait to see his transformation in a few months. His birthday is getting close! Three more months!

On a non-horsey front! I took a few candids yesterday. Here is our cute little house, I dressed it up with those wreaths. We had them made for our wedding and I just now have put them up, lol.