Pedicure!

Good gosh, what has it been, another 2 or 3 weeks?! Poor neglected pony! But he was as sweet and obliging as ever when I went out last Friday to see him. And he loved all the hugs and kisses from my sweet Chloe :).

So I'm not sure if I mentioned before, but my farrier got her wrist broken shoeing a horse a while back and has been out of commission. We first met her when I looked online for a good farrier for my mom's horse. Who supposedly had white line in all four hooves, (turns out she didn't, phew!). Anyway I loved her so much that I called her to do my horse. But she broke her wrist before she was able to come out, so as soon as she was back to work I booked her!

Thankfully Harold's hooves wore pretty even and didn't crack much at all even though it has been quite a while since he was trimmed. When I bought him he was losing his front shoes so was due even back then.

So Friday I went out to give him a tune up and remind him he has manners. I don't think it was really needed but I had fun playing with him anyway! With my youngest having her 1st birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas parties, the weather, it's been a challenge to get out there!

The original plan was to keep Shelby girl asleep in the car and park by the round pen, bring Harold over there and do some round penning since it's been a while... Well that was going well until I accidentally kicked the side of my door panel trying to unlock Chloe's door from the inside (so I wouldn't have to push the button and make that loud unlocking noise) and SNAP eyes are open and jabber jabber, we are awake! Sigh.

New plan! The girls wagon was sitting there so I plopped them both in there and took off to see Mr. Harold. The horses weren't up by the gate but we called for them a while and finally saw some movement over in the other pasture. They took their time coming but did finally mosey up and I went out and greeted Harold with a cookie which he very much enjoyed!

My little girl takes the neatest shots

I left the girlies in the wagon by a tree nearby with lots of toys and their sippie cups and put Harold through his paces. Which he did excellently! Back up is still stickier then I'd like, but he is doing great with his hindquarter yields and even did quite well with his forequarter yields! Lateral flexing was okay, not quite as good as I'd like. One thing he did so good at was desensitizing. I was doing my standard throw of the rope over his body and legs and before I got done with more then 2 or so throws he would blow out and relax. Lol, he has definitely figured out what makes me stop tossing the rope! Funny boy.

I had forgot my grooming bucket over by the round pen so didn't get to give him a good brushing. I did pick up his feet and he did pretty well. He's definitely lazy so would rather not have to hold his feet up very long. He's also a little sticky with his back feet, he might have a bit of stiffness there, he is middle age after all! Or just laziness, lol.

By then I knew it wouldn't be long before my little one would be done with the wagon so I put him back out and traipsed back to the house!

The next day the farrier got there around two. Chloe and I went out earlier and called the horses up. Grabbed Harold and parked by the round pen and brushed him down. He did great out there, no calling or other nonsense. I had the farrier come out there in case I needed to run him around. I wasn't sure how he did for the farrier and figured I'd be better off safe then sorry. But it wasn't needed! He stood very well! Just relaxed and stood there like a good boy! Yeah, Harold!

My awesome farrier! 

As you can see his condition is taking a turn backwards, ugh. I am kicking the other two out in the back pasture tonight (they pick on him anyway and keep him away from the hay) and Harold is getting senior feed and oil twice a day with all the hay he can eat. Blanket if its rainy and or super cold. I've been hesitant about rocking the boat with the in laws but its just gotten way too bad. I wish I had checked on him better before he got this bad. I also wish it was warmer! He can still communicate with the other horses through the fence.

Anyway my farrier loved Harold and said he was going to be a super nice horse when I got him filled out. She thought he looked like a cutter, lol. She said he toes out a bit, and also his left front has a bit of a growth issue. She said if I start riding him a lot I might think about front shoes to help with soreness. I might shoe him when it gets warmer and I get to ride more. She said his feet looked pretty good besides being a little unbalanced. 

Well thats about all! Still hounding the previous, previous owner for his papers. Still getting all kinds of excuses, and "I will send them". -_- So flipping annoying. Until later!

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!

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

Bestest Friends

Hey everyone! Sorry I have been SO BORING as of late. (IT HAS NOT STOPPED RAINING!!) I just wanted to get on real quick and say things are going well and not much has been going on.

Good news though! Like I was predicting, Tuff, Skip and the new princess are all doing VERY well with each other. As you can see from these pictures:

ahhh, this is the life, me n my boys ;)

Seriously, they are grazing like that nearly every time I see them! So funny and so cute. I did notice a bite mark on Tuffs side (just the hair snipped off). Thats good that she is keeping him in line! Someone needs to!

I swear, looking at Tuff, I don't know how he is going to make it to the 'white' phase of graying out, he is just 2 and is almost there already! As for his height, still nothing impressive there. Actually I'm kinda getting worried. I haven't sticked him in awhile, but I don't know that he has even passed 14 hands yet! GEESH! I never thought I'd have to worry about him being too short to ride by adults. Seriously. Well he has some time still, I guess. But I am not real optimistic.

Okay, for the BAD NEWS. First of all, the farrier came out and did the horses last week, and of course it worked out where I was not there (working, o yeah) and of course Tuff was a TOTAL hiney apparently. So much so that they had to TWITCH HIM!! >:( Durn horse! Wish I had been there, you know how you are always sure you could have done something to make them behave?? Yeah, totally my thoughts. Anyway, he just wouldn't stand still, didn't want him near him, etc. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense on one hand, because he was NOTHING like that the first time he got his feet done, and then on the other hand this was only his 2nd time being trimmed and I haven't been working with him a lot lately, etc. Oh and yeah, I wasn't there. :-)

So anyway, now the REALLY bad news.

The little BIL finally named the new pretty grey mare.

Wait for it...

It's really quite bad...

Prepare yourselves...

No, really PREPARE YOURSELVES!!

Stormy.

STORMY!! I knew it was going to be bad!! I just KNEW IT!! :tries to calm down: Okay, okay. It could have been worse, I admit, he said he almost called her Storm. Eye yi yi. And he will not be moved on it. Believe me I TRIED. So there you have it. I have a seriously hard time even referring to her by that name. It won't come out of my mouth!!! GREY MARE is better!! Okay, I forgot, I'm supposed to be calming down. Okay, phew.

Anyway, back to the first bad news. That day (yesterday) that I took the above pics I picked up his feet, yada yada, moved him around, etc. NO PROBLEM. And they look great. I mean, he had his head down and was grazing and STILL he didn't ever offer to pull back or move or anything, picked them up nicely and held them. I mean, seriously, HORSE. Why weren't you like that when it COUNTED!?! :sigh: Hopefully he will be his good self the next time around. (and I will have him better prepared!)

On the other side, Skip, who was a pain last time, was an angel this time. Naturally. -_-

Oh, and in unrelated news, I found another blog with my name! Well, almost, and she has a chestnut QH named Daisy as well! WHAT ARE THE ODDS?? Well, pretty good actually, but anyway...here it is! Riding Miss Daisy

Tuffs First Trim!

Tuff Tuff says, "what's in there??"

So I was kinda nervous. Yes, I have been picking his feet up since he was a baby, and he does good. But its a whole different ball game when its the farrier, a stranger, and they are rasping and cutting etc, on the hooves and not just holding them.

Anyway, we decided to do it out in the pasture, since all 5 horses needed doing. He drove in on Daisy and Rusty's side, and we did them first. This was two days after we had rode them, and apparently she was still in one of her moods because as soon as I walked toward her she took off trotting away from me!! Oooooo, I was livid. Stinkin mare. So for some reason Rusty was still there (I think he was going to the bathroom) so I grabbed him and he did him first. This guy is FAST, I mean he trimmed all four did front shoes and it took him maybe 10 mins? Crazy. He does this for a living tho, like 70 horses a week he said. Still, I like to see one take his time and check angles and such, I don't think does anything with them. But I could be wrong. After Rusty the little BIL was able to get Daisy and he got her trimmed up, unfortunately she only acted up a little once, haha, so I only got to smack her with the lead rope that one time. (yes, I hold a grudge!)

Once they were done there he drove over to the dividing fence where the colts and Sugar are. (by the way they all get along quite well, she say stay out of my way, and they listen! But she doesn't chase them) Lee was already there attempting to put Tuff's oh so pretty red white and blue halter on, and was trying to keep the head piece buckled, lol. Why, I have no idea, so I said you have to undo it! He goes I KNOW, man, try to tell a man something and yikes. Anyway, he was the first caught, so the first done! I was so nervous, lol, I wanted him to be so good! I'm silly, I know.

The farrier got out of his truck and goes, "now thats a pretty colt!" I beamed! Don't we all love getting compliments on our horses! And he hadn't, and didn't, say a word about any of the other 4.

Anywho, he did good, not great. He wanted to pull back a few times and get his foot back (fronts, he's always had a bit of trouble with balance) But Lee was holding him and was able to keep him still enough. Although the whole time you could see tension in his neck and his head cocked sideways lol, usually a foot stuck out at an odd angle trying to stay up! Poor guy. The farrier was really nice though, saying he was just a baby, its just baby stuff. :) He's right. Lee thought he did a good job, so I'm happy I guess. Need to work on acting like I'm rasping etc on his foot though, and holding it between my knees more. As you can see here --> no prob with the back feet, hehe.

Now as for his buddy, Skip, who was next. He made me feel even better about Tuff, haha. At first he wanted NOTHING to do with that farrier. He is kinda skittish around strangers. And started yanking and running backwards. The older BIL had a hold of him, and later Lee said he thought Skip wouldn't have gotten so far if his bro could have held him. He's not go the muscles my man does, hehe. (or the fine behind!! sorry ;)

This pic here is so cute, Lee held on to him while the other horses were being done and he just stood there and relaxed, so cute. Ugh, that halter!

Anyway, after that Skip was just fine, no probs. Of course his owner wasn't there, and didn't believe us that he threw a fit at first. I ALMOST got it on camera, seconds too late. Boo! Hehe.

After Skip was done, we let the colts go and they wandered around eating while Sugar was being done. At one point Tuff got very curious about the farriers truck and kept trying to see in his windows and through the back door, it was hilarious! I've never seen a horse maneuver around and just stare into a vehicle like that, so funny. Thats what he is doing in the very first picture.

And here is a comparison of Tuff and Skips hooves, Skip has quite a bit smaller one:
I will leave you with the cutest head shot I have of Tuff yet! He looks so different 'naked' lol. I will also leave you with a small video of him getting his back foot done.


Hope all is well with everyone, have a good week!



Tuffs First Hoof Trim! from Britnieann on Vimeo.