Sunday - First Ride!

Well, first ride at home at least! Sunday after church we came home, ate some pizza per our usual routine and then headed out to play with our new horse! The night before the girls and I went to tractor supply and got all kinds of goodies for him. A new bit, grooming spray, Chloe bought her some special reins to ride him with, and a salt lick. Oh and wormer! I had called the vet earlier that day and asked what I needed to do to get weight back on him. He told me worm him now and then again in three weeks. Feed him some senior feed and add plain vegetable oil on top. Up to a cup a day if they can stand it, he said some horses don't like it. He doesn't seem to mind at all, lol.

So I did a little ground work to begin with. Building on what we had done the day before. I discovered he doesn't like his ears handled much, so we worked on that again. Also added some hindquarter yielding, which he did really well at as long as I was doing what I was supposed to.

His reaction to my touching his ear, lol

Then I parked him by the gate and gave him another good brushing, finally seeing some shine this time! I grabbed the grooming spray and started on his mane. He had had no problem at all with fly spray the day before, so I didn't expect an issue. Well apparently he didn't like it that close to his head and started jiggling around trying to get away from me. Well I just let him go wherever he wanted but he still got sprayed! Finally he stood still snorting and let me spray him, so then I stopped. By then he had quite a wet shoulder and neck, lol. Silly boy. I took him back over to the gate and we proceeded with no further protests from Mr. Harold.

I got him tacked up with no issue (besides the cinch being way too long for skinny boy) and hopped up! He of course tried to move off immediately (at least he doesnt move when I try to get on too!) so we worked on that until he was waiting on me for the cue. I need to get him yielding laterally so he knows he will be doing that right after I get on and not walking off. I will have to wait for a day without the husband and kids waiting on me though.

I put him through his paces again, he was pretty good! I think he was happy with his new bit. It's this one:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/reinsman-circle-r-offset-dee-cr225

Its a D-ring snaffle with a copper mouth. Has a nice curve to the mouthpiece. So I had nice long reins to work with this time instead of those silly barrel/roping reins that was on the cruddy nylon headstall at his previous owners. Which were great for a spanker when he didn't want to trot, and especially awesome to keep at the ready while we were loping as a motivator, lol. 

I enjoy riding him, he nearly always keeps his head level, doesn't move too fast, and is pretty responsive to the bit if I remember to use my reins right. He also doesn't seem to resent being rode, which I got from Daisy a lot, lol. I just wish his gaits were better! I found out he is out of halter blood, which sort of explains it. They are so BOUNCY! 

Here is a short vid I put together! Chloe is on it at the end for her ride, you'll see her AHH freak out face to begin with, lol, she is so timid about everything. But she ended up loving it. ;) If you want the video bigger click the Vimeo icon. And watch in HD! The quality gets a little icky at one point, the husband turned my phone over sideways to video half way through so I had to flip it in an editor and it didn't like that.

Harolds First Ride from Britnieann on Vimeo.

You can see to him a downward transition is a WOAH, lol, which kept catching me off guard. He looks like he could be athletic if he wanted to. Check out his snappy little turns starting at 1:30. I see some jumps in his future! :D

Thirsty horse

I could have rode forever but the natives were getting restless over there on the rail. So I got to a good stopping point and then it was Chloe's turn! He was very careful with her and she was so proud to be able to ride him herself!

So I gave him his first grain and veggie oil on Monday night. I was afraid he might be a picky eater since he didn't eat the watermelon rind we offered him the other night. But he loves it, lol. A little too much the next morning. He tried to make an ugly face at me when I walked up to him while he was eating. But after I chased him around and made him do some turns he decided to be a good boy and haven't had a problem since. 

I have worked with him a few times over this week. Been mostly busy with dinner, cleaning house, doing laundry and babies! Tomorrow is my off day so I want to try to ride him then and give him a bath. 

I took some reference photos the other day so I can see his weight gain. 

Not a great conf pic, but good enough to check weight changes

Whats with the flash photography?? 

He followed the husband all over and just stood next to him while he picked up his manure, lol!

Last night I got to play with him a little. Worked on his hindquarter yield and backing again. Touching his ears. By then it was getting dark so I gave him his grain and went home to play some Uno with the fam, ;).

I'll update again about tomorrow!

Friday Is Horsey Day

So I love Fridays. More then most people even, because its my OFFFF DAYYY. Whoo hoo!

And the last few weeks it has also become my go to day to play with Stormy.

The day starts with feeding the babies, picking the house up. Hopefully getting a load of dishes started (depends on the mood of Shelby Marie, my 9 month old) and then off we go to run a few errands and put my youngest to sleep. I try to make sure I have the clothes (usually a cool shirt and my sneakers) I need in the car as well as my training whip and rope halter all ready to go. Then I can just go straight past the house and park by the round pen without having to stop and potentially waking the sleeping beast beauty!

So here we go again, trying to recall what exactly I did Friday!

I had a bit of trouble getting her this week. I approached a little more directly and when I went to reach for her halter she walked off. Drats! So the next time she came to get her cookie I just petted her on the head and acted more nonchalant before I took hold of her. She still raised her head up like "aw,  man!" but I had her then! She's not nasty about being caught, I just think someone has been too impatient or rough with her a lot in her past and that has made her like that.

I took her to the tie post and my little helper and I gave her a quick dust off and mane comb.

Silly girl pulling her hand back after petting her 

She stood perfect. I didn't mess with her hooves since I had Chloe with me so we just went on to the round pen. 

Another review of all we have done before! Except I didn't free lunge her at all. She is still sore on that leg -_-. Her hooves still need attention but I can't get her owner to get anyone (or let me) out there. 

I checked on little girl before we went in the pen, then the father in law got there and he checked on her again and told me she had woke up. So he got her out and held her while I finished up. 

I've been wanting to see how she would do with the lunging for respect exercise for a while now. So I practiced a bit of hindquarter yield and then went for it. She did great. I think she has done something similar quite a bit before because she did it all very well, despite my bumbling around. She was a bit more animated with it then I would like (she can be quite reactive) but I eventually got her settled down where she was even just walking. I think CA usually wants them at least trotting but with her being so reactive/hot I thought it was a good thing for her. So that was pretty exciting! 

I had Chloe take some videos but as you imagine they didn't turn out too hot, lol. Here are a few 

0screen shots.

She got a little heavy on the line a few times but all I had to do was tug a bit on her and she would soften. She actually went around looking at me a lot of the time, wanting to stop and come in, or just being attentive. You can kind of see it in the pics.

So I did very little since she is still gimpy and finished up with some more lateral yielding and such. Great session! Especially after the somewhat disappointing one. We had birthday parties all Saturday and Sunday is full with church, so didn't get out there again. Maybe tonight!

Settling Cisco In

Rocking some boots with the fur

Fun, fun day with my Cisco boy Sunday! Came home from church and ate a little lunch, let little girl take her nap, then we hoofed it over to the grandparents! Thats little Chlo on the right, how much cuter can you get?? Not much, friends.

Cisco and Stormy were chilling right by the front of the house so I grabbed a lead rope, a step stool for Chloe, and a chair to set my bucket of grooming tools on. I sat Chloe on the chair and told her to stay put while I got the monster out. Then I parked Cisco in front of her chair and set up her step stool (its a mini sort of scaffold thing the FIL got for Christmas, pretty neat!) right next to him. I thought he might give it the hairy eyeball, but he barely sniffed it. I plopped Chlo up there and a brushing we went! She likes the mane brush so she did that while I used the soft brush. Her interest waned pretty quick though so I put her down and she spent most of her time playing with the cowboy magic bottle and spraying anything in reach down, lol.

My little helper

We had to be back at church for a singing that night, so I just planned on grooming him. After I gave him a good rub down I tackled his chestnuts. They were pretty long and gross looking. As I tried to peel on them they came off in puzzle pieces, instead of a long strip! Weird! So that took awhile, but he was so good and just stood there. I know some horses pick their feet up a lot when you do that. Really the whole time we were messing with him he just stood there with a foot cocked and head down, sweet guy.

After I got his chestnuts looking good I braided his mane over, hopefully it will start deciding to stay on the right side! Some of it does, but most of it hangs out on the other side. As I was doing that I noticed he has a lot of crest up there that flops around, I'm hoping as he loses some weight that will go down too. He is definitely an easy keeper. Also, looking at the picture I probably should have braided it quite a bit tighter up top, oh well, I will have to redo it in a few days anywho!

So after that I worked on his backing with a wiggle of the lead rope and then some lateral flexion. He remembered a little of it, but still wanted to lean on me a bit. Then he thought he was supposed to be moving so we had to work through that. By the time I was done he was doing pretty good. And I started looking at that big fluffy back, oh yeah, gotta jump on! I had the little BIL bring me another lead rope and stood him next to the mini scaffold and hopped up! He didn't even bat an eye, although he did move right off, lol, how embarrassing if I had slid off right then! But I manged to gather myself and just let him walk on. Um, anyone else out there rode a gaited horse bareback?? HARD. They move so lateral that I was sliding off every other stride! Thank goodness for those braids, lol, I grabbed one and got my bearings a little. We were also traveling in a pretty much constant circle, so that didn't help.

Maybe its just him, I don't know, but he does have a very long and low ambling stride. Aside from that I had a great time! He just strode along with his big head hanging, except when we went by the patch of green grass, lol, then he thought he needed to stop for a snack. Our woahs weren't the best in the halter, but not surprising.

After I had my fun I jumped off and did some more flexion with him. Then I decided it would be fun to try to teach him to park out. I had loaded up my pocket with cracked corn so every time I stepped forward when I tapped his fetlock I gave him a bite. He was VERY happy about that! He even started watching my pocket, lol, he knew where it was! Well that didn't go too well, he would move his front foot but his back would usually come up too. Then he was so excited about the grain he would get frustrated and try to paw. So I got a few good moves and left it at and tossed him back in with his girlfriend, who definitely missed him, lol.

So good time by all!! Stay tuned for more, hopefully I will get a real ride in soon.

Small Update!

Yes, I'm still alive and well! Not much horsey things going on since the beginning of the year. I've pretty much retired Daisy girl. She is nearly 23 now and really would rather not have to do anything but eat!

Chloe and I went out and visited her this afternoon. She is looking good going into winter. I'll have to make sure I blanket her on the cold wet/snowy nights though, she isn't as hearty as she was. I wish she would grow more of a winter coat!

She of course didn't make it easy on me and be available up at the gate. No, I had to walk through 3 pastures to get her fuzzy butt! And of course I carried my 2 year old daughter through nearly all of them to and back because she was "huffing tired" lol! She is so funny.

I had a pocket full of corn so gave her some after I caught her, hopefully she will remember that!
So we finally made it to the house and got her brushed. I also got her nasty mane snarl all smooth and fixed, though it seemed like I pulled out half her mane in the process! Doesn't look like it though. I guess its like me when I take a shower I feel like I lose a half a head of hair down the drain sometimes!

I found Chloe a low bucket to stand on and she was a great helper. Then she found the cowboy magik and had to spray that all over Daisy (and my leg -_-). She even got Daisys nose which I'm sure she appreciated, lol.

I had so much fun sharing with her the parts of Daisy's body, what a hoof pick is for, don't walk behind a horse, etc. She loved feeding Daisy the rest of the little corn I had gotten. Daisy was so careful not to use her teeth too.
After that her papa came up and gave me a leg up and then lifted Chloe up. He gave us a little pony ride in the yard, fun fun! Chloe wasn't real sure about being so high, but with time I think she will be fine! Or maybe she just needs a pony! ;)

After Chloe decided she was done I tooled around on Daisy a bit longer. I was thrilled she still remembers her lateral flexing! She was such a good girl. I haven't rode her since March probaby.

And in other exciting news! The father in law has been on the hunt for a horse for a while. He's only found one worth looking at and didn't like him enough to buy. But! I found him a gelding about an hour from us we will probably check out tomorrow. I'm so excited, love horse shopping! He is a big scutter at 16.2, chestnut reg QH out of a great grandson of Obvious Conclusion. Does english, western, jumping (woot!) and trails. 11 years old. Pretty guy! I'm on my phone or I'd put his ad link up for you.

 I can't really put photos where I want them on my phone so the first two are obviously the horse for sale, Red Man. And Daisy and Chloe and I the next! (And a bonus cute one of Chloe in her 'stang from today , lol.

I will keep yall updated on the test ride!

Day Before The Horse Fair!

Tomorrow is the day! And I am sitting here so tired! I was out with Daisy for four hours riding, bathing and getting all our stuff together. TIRED. I also see I have a light sunburn on my lower arms, the one day I don't wear a tank top!!

I'm SO thankful the sun came out and it quit raining today! They were saying all week that today was going to be our best chance of rain. They don't know my God, I made a request and the day was awesome! I got everything done I was hoping to.

So after running to town to get my mom and dads avalanche (this will be my trailer puller) and pick up a few things I came home and parked by the round pen. The child had thankfully decided to take her nap so I left her in the car and fetched Daisy. A BIL had appeared thankfully and he kept an eye on Chlo to make sure she was till sleeping.

I was very happy to have one more chance to ride before tomorrow. We refined a few things, solidified a few things, and got as good as we are gonna get in this time frame! I really wish I had known about this last week. Anyway flexing was much better today as well as my trotting. It rained a bunch yesterday and all night so the round pen was a bit soggy which was making Daisy even slower then she usually is, lol. I had spurs on today hoping that would save my legs a bit. They annoyed her a few times and she kicked out at them so I smacked her and gave her another jab to keep going each time. By the time we were cantering she was done with her protests and I didn't have any trouble with her. I only did a few strides of cantering because of the sloppiness.

After our ride I took her over and gave her a good bath. Her white socks are white again! She was a good girl for that even though its been years since her last one, lol. With all the rain her hoof crack, divot, HOLE whatever it is flipped up on one edge so I had the FIL snip it for me.

After that the husband got home from work early so he went and got the trailer from the neighbors. Daisy and I went over and checked it out and I tied her up to the side while the DH cleaned out the stalls. Then it was time to do our test load! She wasn't too keen on the first two tries but the third time she hopped right up in there. I had left a pile of carrots in the manger so hopefully she remembers this in the morning, hehe. I am not above bribery! ;) So then we decided to take her for a little ride. I threw her some hay and we took off. She didn't seem to have any trouble and hopped off nice and slow after we got home.

I took her back up in the yard and we brushed her out again since she was now dry and then I tried my braid again. Success this time!! I think the key was braiding SIDEWAYS not straight and it stays up tighter to her neck long enough to get all the hairs in.

She was such a good girl just chilling resting a hoof! The FIL thought itd be funny to braid her tail so he stood back there and did that for awhile, lol. And Chloe also sat on her back most of the time, she loved it.

So thats about it! Almost time for our small group for church so I better scat, I'll be back next with our report on tomorrow! Wish us good riding and a good time!

My Little Cowgirl

I know it has been FOREVER since I had a good post, especially one about the subject of this blog! Well I can deliver today!

Yesterday afternoon I actually had a Saturday free, and the weather was great. The husband and little girl and I all took off for the inlaws. I grabbed my bridle with the mullen mouth on it and also wanted to get my billy allen curb but it is seized up with rust so I left it. Side note: anyone know how to dissolve BAD rust on a bit? Its been in the weather a LOT and the roller in the middle is crusted so it won't turn.

Anyway! I got all the brushes and tack set out in the area I planned to tack her up in and we trekked out to the pasture. Because of course the girls were waayy out in the back. So we located them and easily haltered Daisy girl up. I love that she is so easy to catch. Stormy was with her but moved off as soon as we got close. Daisy kept eating, lol.

We had a somewhat Harrowing experience bringing her back with Stormy bouncing about and the geldings going crazy in the other pasture, but we managed to lock Stormy in the back pasture and had peace up the lane. The father in law and BIL were near the place I took Daisy working on a pickup but it didn't bother Daisy girl. Chloe helped me brush her down, it was too cute. She was even smart enough to want the shedder and not the soft brush, lol. Its definitely the start of the fun shedding season!

Then I handed Chloe off to the husband and finished tacking up. Daisy wasn't real happy about the saddle so I had Lee hold her. I she was thinking 'what is this foreign object!' lol. It has been a LONG time! I ride her bareback a bit but this is the first tack up in forever. So got her cinched and then walked her around a bit, cinched her again. Up I went! Had to get onto her a bit for walking off but we got that sorted and then strolled around the yard and pasture a bit. Even did some trotting. SO FUN! Daisy was such a good girl, its an awesome trait to have a horse you can turn out for a year and come drag them straight from the pasture and hop on and your good to go! She is feeling good too. I saw her just yesterday trotting and loping around her pasture at will. Thats so good! I think she has tons of years left in her!

She kind of surpised me a little bit when we rode over by her pasture. Her 'girlfriend' was out in the far pasture and apparently Daisy felt the need to make sure she hadn't been abducted by aliens, so she let out a deep neigh to her. (she has such a funny 'voice', so deep and masculine! lol) Which of course Stormy returned, and then Daisy returned, you get the picture. But we headed back towards the other area and she was just fine, even while calling she wasn't too concerned, love that mare! Doesn't she look pretty!! ~~>

After I had my fun I had the hubby bring Chlo Chlo over so she could have her first horsey ride!! She was initially a bit unsure (she's going to be a tad timid in nature I think) but after I got her up there and we got going she was having a ball. She kept saying 'yeehaw yeehaw', lol! And grinning, according to the onlookers. She fit really well up there right in front of me. Although I need to teach Daisy to neck rein ASAP if there are going to many more pony rides. It was NOT fun trying to steer her and also try to keep a hand on Chloe, although she did fit nicely in the little 'box' of my arms. The husband walked with us most of the time, you know, for 'just in case'. But I would have had a much better time of it if I could ride one handed. But neck reining is something that takes LOTS of rides and time, so who knows if it will ever get accomplished! Back when I was riding her half way consistently she was starting to get it. When we were going the direction she wanted, lol ;). Here are some pictures from that! (btw, all the pictures and such were taken from my husbands htc phone)

 Pose! 

 Daisy getting fired up ;)

 This is my favorite

So after that we untacked her and put her up. Where she promptly trotted and then cantered her little self over to the fence near her friend, ;). So a great Saturday afternoon! I gotta say I am LOVING this mild winter, even though it kind of scares me at the same time, strange stuff! We are going to be so spoiled for next winter! Oh, almost forgot, here is a short video of me and little girl.

So not much else to say, none of the other horses have been out in a while. I have a feeling Rusty is going to have a relapse in behavior since he is not getting ridden regularly. Which I knew was going to happen. Shrug. And Stormy has a hoof issue the BIL said? Not sure what.

Anyway, till next time!