Snow Days!

Hey everyone! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year since I haven't talked to ya! All is well here, my girl is growing so much! Over 5 months old now!

We got nearly 5 inches of snow Sunday night!! Thats CRAZY for us! Although its kind of a bummer because we got half an inch of ice on top of that, which makes it kind of scary! We've been stuck here for 3 days! I grabbed my bareback pad and bridle yesterday thinking I could sneak in a short ride, but then I almost fell on my butt 2 feet from my porch and thought, hm, probably not a good idea. :)

Hopefully tomorrow will get better. We are supposed to be almost 60 Sat, weird weather!

Anyway, just thought I'd share a few pics of the horses I took the other day in the snow. We have been snowed/iced in since Sunday night!

Snowy pasture!


Horses down in the trees!

Tuff sampling the local trees, lol

Pretty pic of Skip I made black and white

Hi Tuff Tuff!!

Hey Daisy and Rusty! (notice the bloody fetlock, ughh, its superficial thankfully, probably a stick in the woods)

Icicle tail!

I'm not liking how thin she is looking, she is usually an air fern horse, but she is getting older and its cold! Going to start her on some senior feed as soon as I can get to town again!

Hope all is well everyone else! Chloe says, see ya later!

Some Pictures...

Hey everyone! Still alive and kicking! (and being kicked! No, not by the horses, my little cowgirl! Yup, we're having a girl!)

It is starting to get nice around here!! Supposed to be 70's today. Though we still have those 60 days. But I think we are about done with the freezing weather, maybe one more shot! But hopefully not.

Nothing to post as of yet...just thought I'd share some pictures from the other day. On one of my days where I go into work later, I took the dogs out for a walk, and myself of course, to the in laws and then on out to the horse pasture. There they all are on the far side looking at us and the two puppies. They all seem to be pretty good buddies! Yeah, Scarlet is in with the other three, I think the FIL was afraid she'd get beat up on in the other pasture, plus she is able to come up to the house in this pasture to be fed, messed with, etc.

So without further ado!

The 'girls' coming to check us out, you can see Tuff is real concerned, lol

Stormy girl!

I love this pic, they were staring at the dogs, too cute. They seem to get along well

Next Post! Tuff wearing his first saddle and bridle!

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!

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

Why Can't Horses Be Indestructible??

Okay, it happened. Here I was congratulating myself the other day about how MY horse was not the one that got cut up, hahahhahaaaa. Sigh. I can't say that anymore!

This is what greeted me when I went out to see Daisy this afternoon, warning, its NASTY.

Icky Wound

Nice, huh?? So I'm thinking she did it either last night or early this morning. It wasn't bleeding when I saw it, but was really swollen. I patted around it a bit, and she didn't freak out, but you could tell it was sore. So I was like, okay, I have to get her to the house and hose this sucker down, get some stuff on it. But, only one problem. Four other horses were in my way. -_-

I had just come from messing with Tuff, who is in the pasture next to them. I had my bike and a bucket with brushes, etc in it. And Tuff, Skip and Stormy were between me and the house. I also had to keep Rusty from getting through the gate with us.

I COULD have gone the long way around, which is like a 5 minute walk at least, but I didn't want to put her through that. So I was like screw it, I gotta get to the house. (I had tried calling the in laws house for help twice and even left a message, no answer)

Well I put the bucket on down the fence-line a bit to make the other horses go check that out and got the gate open. Partly. Its only on there with ropes right now. Yeah, I know. So it has to be UNTIED and TIED and then it doesn't move right, so you have to pick it up and still I couldn't get it open enough for her to get safely through (plus my bike was RIGHT there in the way)

So I'm trying to get the gate open some more and Daisy starts trying to get through the little gap nearly running me over!! Thank God she listened to me and didn't smoosh me into the dirt. I thought something had got in her wound or something, horse fly ect. But it was just Rusty coming up on her butt and she did NOT want him there. (this is the mare in perpetual heat, remember -_-)

So I shooed him away, got the gate farther open, and then of course I have the 3 stooges on the other side all back up in my face. -_-'

So I start yelling and waving the lead rope at them, they back off, momentarily of course, but long enough to tie the fence up again. I was just happy Rusty didn't get through, what a disaster that would have been. So we head off across the pasture, oh and I had Bowser out there with me too, thank God he knows to stay AWAY from the horses, because I didn't have enough in me to watch for him too. I tried!

So I'm screaming at the horses, spinning Daisy and I in circles to keep them away from her butt, lol, I didn't want anyone launched. We finally get on down to the bottom of the hill where there is a lane that goes up to the gate that connects to the house-pasture. I did NOT want them in that lane with me. So I chased them off a ways and tried to walk as fast as I could down and then up again to the gate. Hoping of course, to get there before the others and shut the gate. Heh, didn't happen. Stupid, retard, idiotic Stormy comes BARRELING down the hill with the colts right behind. I tried to shoo them off but it didn't work, they all crashed into her. Skip scattered up to the side, Stormy tried to roll back into the woods, and Tuff came up her other side into a little corner made by the fences. So I tried to shoo him out of the corner and back up the hill. But what does he do?? He tries to JUMP THE BARB WIRE!! Gahhh!!! I screamed NO TUFF! And he got out of it and ran off the other way, phew. Scared 10 years off my life. SERIOUSLY, why he thought that was a good idea, I've no clue.

So I'm like okay, what do I do NOW! I don't want to fight with them all the way up the other lane to the house. So I get Stormy behind us again, the colts have already gone up through the gate. So I keep her behind us and shut the gate on her. Phew. So I had the biggest trouble maker in jail, just had to get up to the house without any more mishaps. (oh, and add to all this Rusty screaming his head off and galloping around because he got left behind)

I shoo the colts away from her butt and head to the house, Thankfully they decided to stay behind us quite a ways and I was able to get to the gate and through it with no trouble. Thank GOD. Finally something that went right.

Okay, Time Out! Just heard from the vet. He looked at the picture I emailed him and said he wouldn't worry about proud flesh in that spot, thank God, and said to hose it once a day for 10-15 mins for 10 days. He said its going to get worse before better, and more stiff. I prolly should have picked up some bute, poor girl. I didn't get an answer about wrapping it or not tho...hm. Any thoughts guys?? I think I'm gonna leave it open with a bunch of medicine on it, seems like it should drain.

So back to my harrowing experience. Well, its past the harrowing part now. I got her up there, grabbed the water hose, and hosed it off for about 40 minutes. The swelling got a bit better. She was SUCH a good girl for everything (well, aside from wanting to run me over to get away from Rusty, although she DIDNT) just ate some grass, didn't mind the water or anything. And so calm about all the other horses running amock around her. Phew, just thinking of it makes my stress level jump, lol.

So I put some gunk on her wound and then we moved the colts out of the close pasture and put Daisy in there. The BIL came by here (work) earlier (he went to get a tetanus shot for me) and he is going to give the shot to her and I'm gonna try to get some bute on the way home. Might need to get some carrots to shove them into as well, heheh, thats how my mom always did it. Carve a hole and stick it in! Might want to get something for dinner, the husband just MIGHT be hungry when he gets home.

So before all this happened, Tuff and I had a good time! We did some lunging with my trusty long green lead rope (lol Becca) and some showmanship stuff. He was actually pivoting on his leg a bit! I was shocked, haha. Hopefully he was doing it halfway right, you'll have to tell us Becca! Then we did a little head lowering, and I did a little vertical yielding with him for the first time. He caught on to that quick! Then some lateral yielding. Then I got on the bucket and leaned over his back a few times each side. He was very good for that.

Pics of course!

Ratty mane, didn't bring a comb with me! I like the lighting tho...

Oops, cut off his ears, I was trying to be quick. Angle is bad as well, not flattering!
Oh well.

"Whatcha got in the bucket??"

And here is a vid I put together of all that we did. I did get one of me on his back but it looked like junk, I had to sit the camera on the ground and Tuffs whole head was not in frame, oh well. He looks wormy, I know, got it covered!



So I am pretty anxious to get home and check on her. The little BIL was supposed to be checking on her every so often for me, so I'm sure she is fine...

Everyone think good thoughts and pray it gets well quickly!

Till later!

PS! I didn't post this entry yesterday, Thurs, cause I couldn't get the video uploaded before I left work. So! Here it is today!

Update on Daisy: It actually looked better tonight when we went out to give her the tetanus. It's not as swollen. She is noticeably ouchier about it though. She was picking her leg up a bit and holding it when we were hosing it, etc, but still not real concerned. She was eating fine, looked fine, etc. Thank goodness. So we put some more medicine on it and put her back in the pasture by herself. Today we are going to move Rusty and her into the close pasture and the colts out to the far one, to keep her more accessible.

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

Yearling Training

So I'm at work, its Saturday, boo, and quiet here, so I have time to blog! Yeah!

I got both babies out yesterday and did some work with them. Not much, but it was fun. Lee and I had went out to the big pasture that afternoon to scope out the bird action. Dove season opens today and he has been feeding them cracked corn out there to get them to come in. Well we rode the BILs 4wheeler out there to see how many dove were out there and then came back to the in laws house.
Skip came rambling up to the pasture near the house, but there was no sign of Tuff. Odd. I called for him and I hear his real high pitched NEIGH coming from the gate to the big pasture. That cracks me up that he will answer me almost every time I do his special 'call'.

So the little BIL gets on his 4wheeler and goes out to find him. Well a few seconds later we hear the 4wheeler revving up and slowing down and revving up and slowing down, and we're like, what is he doing?? And then here they come, he is HERDING Tuff with the 4wheeler! LOL, it was so funny. He was trotting ahead of it for a bit and then when he met up with Skip, they both plodded along in front of it like plow horses at about 2 mph. It was so funny. I'm glad they aren't scared of it!

So I went to the gate and Tuff plodded up to greet me, and then I grabbed a lead rope, brush, and the weight tape. Dragged him out of the pasture and parked him up near the trees where the swing and bench is, and also my husband, his brother, and then later the FIL came out. He didn't want to 'park' to begin with, but after a few times of, if you move you get to back really fast down the hill, he decided it was easier to be still, lol. He's no dummy! I think he was just excited to be out of his pen and out and about.

So I brushed him a bit, picked up his hooves and held them, weighed him (he is around 554 :) ) and then practiced some lateral flexing. He remembers it quite well. He should be pretty light in the face by the time I'm ready to ride him. Which with the way he is growing now, wont be for another 2 years! I was wanting to start him next summer/fall, just walked and steering stuff. But we will just have to see.

After that I decided to see how well he remembered his lunge lessons, its been a good 3 months since I lunged him last. And he did just as good as I knew he would. A little 'sticky' but thats no suprise. After I whacked him with the lead rope (brought out my special long one, I love it, its soft and long enough to lunge a smallish circle and still have enough to whack with! haha) if he didn't respond to my light cue, he decided it was easier to not get whacked. He trotted out good on it too, and even did good on his 'bad' side! (the right) I was very pleased!

So, I let him sniff the 4wheeler a bit, threw the white weight tape around his body a bit, around his head, swung it in circles, etc, then put him up.

While I was lunging Tuff the little BIL had said, "how did you get him to do that? Skip won't do it for nothin." I replied, "I bet I could get him to do it". Sigh, famous last words!

So after I put Tuff up I got Skip out. I've not done anything but hold him for the SIL (sis in law) a bit, so I don't know much about him. The last time I really did anything with him he was VERY skittish about people. He's not like that anymore, thankfully.

So the first thing I notice is he has a big, heavy head. Tuff is very light and watches my body when I go, stop, etc. Skip hasn't been worked with as much and you can tell. He is a sweet boy though.

So I decided to teach him about lateral flexing, which took about 30 mins, yikes. The thing with him was he couldn't understand that I wanted him to turn his head to the side, but NOT MOVE. We backed and sidepassed all over that area, lol. But I did get him half way consistent with it both sides before I quit. Then I decided to try what I had origionally brought him out for, lunging. I put him in a real short circle and waved the lead rope at his butt, until he moved a foot, then quit. Very quickly he was doing well on a small circle at the walk. Stopping well, etc. Then I tried to get a trot out of him. TRIED being the key word. Yall, there are no words to describe how DEAD SKINNED, DEAD SIDED, DEAD HEADED, whatever way you want to say it, he is! I was litterally BEATING him with the lead rope at one point and he would NOT break into a trot. It was about to drive me crazy. I got it a few times, but a step or two at MOST. I was working FOUR times as hard as the colt, lol, never a good sign! (the lead rope kept getting wound around and was not very effective, part of my problem)

So the little BIL brings out the lunge whip. I kept the lash in and just tapped him with the pole, that worked marginally better, but not very well. I was chasing him all over that area with it, basically. And then he started turning to face me. So then I finally had a light bulb moment and pulled him in on the circle close enough that he couldnt do that, and I could stay behind him to drive him. And AGAIN, literally beating his butt with the whip and getting MARGINAL response. I have never in my life heard, seen, such a thing. I know I could have done something better, but I'm no expert! I did my best, although I have to admit I did lose my temper with him.

He wasn't misbehaving, per say, I just don't think he really KNEW what I was wanting. If it had been my colt, I probably wouldn't have asked him to trot that quickly. Even though he had been lunged a few times prior to this, I had not been there, it wasn't me. My bad.

So anyway, finally I got him to the point where he would walk faster when I told him, and then we got a few trots without me beating him, lol. So I quit on that. I made sure I rubbed him with the whip a lot so he didn't think it was evil, but he didn't seem to mind it. He is a very quiet horse. DEAD quiet almost, yikes. He didn't seem upset or resentful at all. I don't know if I should get a stick with a rustley bag on it, or what. I heard that somewhere for a horse that wont get any energy up. (not sure it would work for him anyway) But I think once he realizes the cues for speed up better, he will be okay. Just lots of work to get him to respect and understand them.

So that was my adventure yesterday! I'd like to get Tuff out and work on some long lining. I did one session a while ago, and he was a bit confused. He didnt get that swinging lines against your butt means go! I think I will bring the lunge whip with me this time, so I don't have to pull on his head at all. And also inlist a person to lead him a bit until he gets the hang of it.

Thats all! Wow, can yall believe I have just posted a entry with NO PICTURES!! Unheard of!! ;)