The Yearling Fuglies!! (ahhhh!!)

NOTICE: I gave up with blogger and just put a link to it from my myspace.

Lol, yeah, so they hit my poor little Tuff Tuff! :snff: but I guess it happens to the best of them, lol.

These pictures are from a few weeks ago, I haven't actually been out to seem him in awhile, bad mommy!! I get so caught up in my regular life that horsey life just doesn't get done sometimes. Its so easy for me to be "aw theyre all right they have a 10 acre pasture, water, etc, they don't need anything" and then I don't get out there and mess with them like I should. Besides the fact its 95 every day and I'm not even factoring in the humidity! UGH, I'm such a whiner!! I know, lol. I do need to get out there and war paint and fly spray the poor little guy, the gnats are TERRIBLE! And he's so sensitive about them, drives him nuts.

So anyway I worked with him a while a few weeks ago, and he did so good. I even bit the bullet and tied him up, I've been worried about that ever since he pulled back and broke his halter a few months ago. Which the situation should never have happened. (the short of it is I was not there and he got tied up in an explosive situation he wasn't ready to handle yet, and had a breakway leather crown halter on and it just snapped)

Anway he tied like a champ, stood quietly while i fussed over him, brushed his whole tail out, (THAT took awhile, he has a beautiful tail! yeah!!) And I also lunged him a bit, and even put his purple bareback pad on and cinched it tight! Didn't blink an eye! I lunged him with that a bit as well.

The thing I was most happy about is how well he did when I gave him a 'bath'. I have just gotten his legs wet so far with the hose and since it was so hot out that day I decided it was time to up the ante! So I took him to the hose and he wasn't thrilled with it dragging on the ground at hm, lol, he'd back up and look at it funny. But not in a AHHH PANIC way, just a mild, woah what is that? way. So I do need to work on that with him. He doesn't mind tepping over it, around it, ect, just when I was pulling it toward him to get closer, he didn't necessarily think that was a good idea.

But I found out he LOVES to drink the water out of the sprayer, lol, and after I let him do that I decided to get his feet/legs wet again, and them his neck, under his chin, ect, and he could care less!! The only thing he didn't like was his back feet, briefly. I don't knwo what it is about them but he kept picking them up and high stepping, backing, and then when that didn't work (I just kept spraying them) he'd just hold one up in the air, haha. But finally he got still and I stopped spraying him, and after that he was fine! Good boy! I let him play with it with hsi mouth a lot and he definitely enjoyed that, silly boy. So far I really like his temperament. I'm so glad his sire wasn't some crazy thing, or if he was, that he got most of his moms good naturedness. (is that a word??)

Lets see, what else did I do... Oh I had a d ring with rollers in the barn and drug that out there to see what he did with it, lol. It took some doing but I finally got him to open his mouth up and got it in there, just holding it with nothing attatched, and he chew chew chewed on it. Finally when he settled a bit I took it out carefully, and put it back in a few times. He got good at opening his mouth for me, and stayed totally calm. He's got a good mind on him, I think.

I guess that was about it, I gave him some more wormer too, hopefully that will zap his belly, and he does really good for that. Don't you wonder how some horses get so bad about wormer?? Like totally freaking out? That is so annoying, and so avoidable if they're just trained right as a youngun. And so many things can go back to that...train them up the way they should go when theyre young and they wont depart from it. Thats in the Bible somewhere and I'm totally paraphrasing it, but so true.

Anyway I'm sad to say I have NOT ridden since I put 55$ into Daisy's feet, lol, its been so hot! And I just don't have the motivation I should, because I just really have nowhere to ride. There is NO flat good ground anywhere close besides the little bitty spot I ride in outside their pasture. And I don't like trail riding much, specially alone.

There is a guy down the road, (would prolly take us at least 10 mins to walk there), that has an arena but I don't know him, and I'm a chicken you know what to ask about it! Besides the fact I can't SEE it, its up in the trees, and for all I know it has half its fencing and holes all in it. Or he pastures horses in it, or who knows! I'd also have to ride RIGHT next to the road all the way there. Some fairly big obstacles, man I wish we had a trailer! Thatd make one part a little easier. Well the me having a nervous problem part, haha. I'm sure Daisy would be okay with it, maybe a little antsy, but its not exactly a busy road, well except for on the weekends. We live near a off road park and trailers full of dune buggies and 4-wheelers go by ALL DAY.


So anyway, just me rambling. I hope she doesn't forget her neck reining work we did! Although she remembered from over a year ago in about 2 short rides, so thats good.

Speaking of 4-wheelers, we have a dune buggy ourselves, and my husband and I rode it around the other day right next to the colts and they barely even looked up at us! I was happy about that, and this thing is NOT quiet, AT ALL. (no muffler!) And then later I drug Tuff out of the pasture and my husband was riding his family round in it, and he just looked at it, it was fairly close to him too!

That day I also worked on his lateral movement a bit as well. I had him crossing over in the front and back with just light pokes pretty quickly! Now my next move is to get him sidepassing away from me, how neat would that be? And good ground work for in saddle work! :)

A comment on the last picture, doesn't he have the prettiest neck now?? It was a bit on the short side before, I'm so glad its grown out, but who knows if it will keep growing with his body! lol I hope so, a great hip and great neck are some of my favorite things on a horse, and a pretty head of course. ;)

Also, Tuff has an AMBIDEXTROUS mane! Can you believe that?? I can flip it to either side and it will stay and look RIGHT. Not goofy! It is the neatest thing, haha. Okay sorry I know I get excited about the strangest things. But I think you horse people will understand, lol. One side is darker and the other has more red in it from when he was a foal. Its so neat! I think it does prefer the left over the right a wittle bit, but not much.

So I guess I'll shut up now, I tend to get going on these things and never stop. Maybe I'll have something new to report soon.

p.s. Thanks so much to in2paints for her lovely comment, your so sweet! I too really enjoy YOUR blog and check it every day! Hope things are going well with you!

pps! Here is a vid from a while ago of Lee (my husband) lunging Tuff! This was his first time lol, and Tuffs maybe, oh 3rd? So I was proud of them!

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33418609

Video is Back Up!

Thank goodness! Apparently it was a blogger thing and not my fault. Yeah!

So nothing to report really, sorry. I've been the busy girl this last week and was gone most of the weekend until monday on a camping trip with the in laws ;).

Daisy did get herself a set of shiney shoes Thursday! And behaved very well. Only one little hiccup when she didn't want to have on of her back feet doen for a moment, lol. A slap with the lead rope and growls did the trick. Rusty on the other hand was a bit of a handful the farrier had his number. Every time he went to pull his foot away and be a pain he grabbed the lead rope and made him run around in little circles until he decided it was just easier to stand still, lol.

I was planning on having Tuff trimmed as well but it was 55$ just for Daisy and the husband wasn't wanting to pay the farrier any more of our little amount of money. *sigh* So next time.

Not sure when I'll be riding again. I want to keep working on her neck reining so it gets very good, and start some side passing, rollbacks, etc. Those are fun. I like to have a horse that will put its feet where you tell them, no matter the direction. I also need to teach her haunches out to help with lead cues. Hm, what else...maybe letting me swing/climb up on her bareback? hehe. That reminds me, while the BIL was having Rusty done I found a stump and climbed up on her bareback in the pasture, that was fun. I tried neck reining her a bit with the lead rope, but mostly ended up having to flip the lead rope from side to side, lol, good thing she doesn't mind a lead rope swinging over her nose lol.

Well hope all is well with everyone elses horses! Ta ta.

p.s. Here is a short video from the last ride of the big BIL and Daisy, they trot! hehe

Stupid Video

Okay I swear I had a video loaded yesterday on my previous post and it was working just fine. Now its saying theres not one loaded. -_- So check back later and I'll try to fix it and add my other one too from that day. Thanks!

GREAT 3rd Ride!

Yeah! I knew it would get better next ride! Well I hoped mostly, lol. And I did act more intelligently this time as well.

So, I got home from work Saturday and was vegging on the couch thinking how I was planning on riding, but the couch was comfy and I was a little overstimulated from work...so I grabbed me a bowl of ice cream and vegged some more. Then the BIL calls:

"were you going to do anything with Daisy this evening?"
"um, I dunno, why?"
"I was just wondering..."
"oh, were you going still going to get your horse out to give him a bath?"
"nah."
"oh, were you wanting to ride?"
"well, I don't care...Jessie wanted to."

So I say okay, I'll be over there in a few mins. Got dressed boots on, etc, grabbed the bridle and head over there. They already had the tack and brushes in the back of their dads old truck and we were set! I'm glad he called, was the kick in the butt I needed.

I let the little BIL tack her up, which went okay, although he did put the saddle a little too far back, had to fix that. No biggie!

So I put her back in her grazing curb bit just for kicks, and to see just how well she did in it. Well she did okay, she does settle with it very quickly after she gets it in her mouth. But she has next to know turning or stopping with it, which a bit of it could have had to do with her not having a curb chain (forgot it on my other bit)


Here's a few pictures from then...

Cant you tell she loved it! lol She's like bleck!
This one was neat, looks like we're cutting or something lol! Well, minus the cow.


So, hopped off and changed that, undid the straps on each side and Daisy decided she was fine just holding onto it, lol! The look on her face is like "what? what did I do??" hahaha

So I finally got her to let go of that and put her mullen mouth back in. She was such a good girl during all that. I hopped back up and headed around with that one, she responded much better with it. After that I jumped off and let the little BIL ride. He had a bit of trouble understanding how I wanted her to rein him. And I think Daisy knows she can get away with stuff with him, lol. I don't know why she didn't try that with Kristy (SIL). She knows even less then the BIL so maybe she knew she shouldn't mess with her or she'd prolly fall off! lol

So anyway he was having trouble getting her to turn, and then when he would turn her around back toward us she'd start trotting, very slow and easy, head down, nice as you please, hahah. That is so unusual for her, she's usually so lazy! I kept asking him if he was squeezing her or something, no, he says. She did it like three times, he'd stop her right after but it was funny. After he got off we were adjusting stirrups and such for the older BIL to ride and saw that the cinch buckle had gotten all twisted (its a cheap piece of crud my FIL had on his saddle) and it was poking her in the side in like three places, lol. It's a wonder she didnt buck us off! Goes to show you how unperturbable she is. Wow, wonder if thats spelled right, doubt it.

So we fixed that and of course big BIL had no trouble with her, but he also knows how to ride pretty good. Here they are:

Stirrup adjusting... Daisy looks wild. ;)
Daisy looks awesome here. She's so pretty. I got her for a song and she's just great! Worth so much more. Wish she were about 10 years younger...oh well.

So after the big BIL rode awhile I got back on and tried riding 'one handed'. Although I did have my pinky in position to help with direct reining if she wasn't getting the neck cue. Predictably she did great when going 'home' but any other way not so good, lol. Although it got a lot better after a few mins and I was even guiding her a bit going straight, not just neck reining the turns. AWESOME! So fun, I love neck reining, it makes you feel so in control and like your on such a broke horse.



So all in all, a great day. Daisy put up with us getting on and off her so well, bit changes, stupid pokey cinches, etc.

Oh, I almost forgot. After I got back on again after the big BIL got off we rode on down the road again. BIL distracted Rusty with some grain so he didn't come running around crazily until a while later, lol. Got down there and up to the main road, walked up the hill, and she turned and was looking at the bushes, thought she was thinking something was in there, but turns out she was looking behind her at Rusty who had come running up. So we walked a little farther, turned around and I made her stand for a few seconds.

She moved off twice, but then stood quietly for a few seconds and so I told her to go on back down the hill and back to the gate. She made me a bit nervous with how 'up' she gets, but her 'up' is her head isn't dragging the ground and her ears are pricked, lol. I'm such a wussy. I'll get better though, the more I learn to trust her, and she learns to trust me too. I hope!

I made her walk past the spot where the gate was a few times, making her listen to me, and not going where she wants to, etc. She did pretty good. Then I walked on back up where we were riding and did the same thing, because I knwo she was expecting me to get off after we got near the gate. Nope! Hehe.



Here's a vid of us! :)

So that's about it! Didn't get a bosal to try, although the FIL says he has a homemade one...hm, not sure, but I'll look at it. I'm okay with the mullen right now I guess, just wish she wouldn't chew on it so much while turning, etc. I wish we had a trailer and could cart her up to the vet to do her teeth. I bet that might help. God knows when she's had her teeth done. NEVER probably. We did buy a trailer this weekend, but it only fits a lawn mower or four wheeler, lol.

Oh! Tuff had a excited time that day too! He wore his first saddle! :) I was proud of him. He was pretty scared of it to begin with, didn't want it too near him or touching him at all lol. I had the little BIL holding him for me and he backed up from it for awhile, but eventually I rubbed him with it, held it high by his side, set it on his neck a little, etc, and he was totally fine with that. So then I set it on him, ready to grab it off, but he didn't give a rip. After he figured in his mind it wasn't anything to worry about the didn't care what it did, lol. Yeah! So of course I got a picture, lol. He looks worried doesn't he! The picture right before this had his back foot cocked, but his eye was flashing so I like this one better. Gosh he loosk wormy again. I swear I worm him a lot.

Sigh. Well guess thats all for now, bye!

Boring Post

So, haven't been able to ride or do anything with the horses last couple of days. Thursday had a ho use warming right after work and then my husband and bro decided they had to work on their piece of crap dunebuggy (more a sand rail) until 10:30. -_- And yesterday was cold and depressing!

So! Hopefully today will have some horsey stuff to it. Its beautiful out supposed to get nice and warm. Although right now I am stuck at work until 3 pm. Boo. The older BIL was talking about taking his horse out to the house and giving it a bath, I really need to do this with Daisy as well, although I'm not sure he's going to wait for me to get home. I told him to, but then said you don't have to, so who knows lol.

Farrier did not come on thursday. I told BIL to cancel cause it did NOT want to stop raining. And then turns out he was at the hospital with a nephew and wasn't planning on coming anyway. Nice. Thanks for calling. -_- Farriers are so freaking annoying. So hopefully he will get out mon or tues. I think I've decided to shoe Daisy all the way around. Might as well she's just so ouchy on gravel without them and will work to avoid getting on it, lol.

I did see mr Tuff Tuff last night. He was looking good, looked bigger from the week ago that I'd seen him, his tail is getting long. Quite a ways past his hocks. He has also slicked out on his shoulder and chest but thats about it lol. Need to get some wormer in him again. He was chomping down on some hay and I made him back up and held on to his head, moving it this way and that. He tried to get away a few times but not hard and I was pleased with his reaction. His eye stayed soft the whole time. Hesa sweety. e also didn't spook when I rode my bike up to the fence where they were like his buddy. Good!

He could also use a bath, or some more water training. He seems like he will be easy to mess with, as far as the water is concerned. I messed with it a month ago or so with just letting it run next to him and then gradually getting his front feet wet. He moved a little but wasn't unduly concerned. Then a week or so later I got his feet wet up to his knees and his back feet wet pretty high and he did great. So! We'll see! Maybe do some work with him today since it will be warm.

Well thats it!