A couple of months ago Daisy passed away. I knew she was getting old at 24, but I don't know, I guess I was expecting at least another couple years. She was in such good health!
We found her laying in the pasture, no struggle around her, no poop like she had been there a while. I think she just laid down and she was gone. :( I guess that is the best way to go. I like to think she was doing her favorite thing (eating) at the time. I just kind of wish I had been there to say good bye, and thank her for all the great times we had together. I wish I had known her longer! At least I have Tuff to see a bit of her in.
Some of my favorite moments...
So, I have kind of been looking for another horse casually here lately. If your a true horse person it runs in your blood. If you don't have one you are automatically looking for one. I went and looked at a gelding that was pretty cheap, looked good in the pictures, sounded good in the texts, and was close. Turned to be a big no go, I didn't even ride him. He was so herd bound to his mama that he was just dangerous. He was 10, but I bet he had never been away from his mama except to maybe wean him when he was young. I liked everything about him but I think he would have been more trouble then I need right now. Time for horses is VERY slim with two little ones! Nap times are precious around here, haha.
So, then I started thinking, well, there are four horses right here near the house for free. And I won't have to buy hay for them! Lol. Five if you count Tuff. Why don't I pick one of them and work with it, get it riding good, satisfy my horse bug, and also take it with me to ride with my mom and dad this fall at their new lake house near the national forest?? No one is riding any of them. So I went through my options:
Chatterbox - Some of you may be wondering what happened to the pretty palomino my FIL bought? Well turns out there was a reason he was so cheap. He had white line. Ugh, took them a year to get rid of it, and I personally don't think he is sound yet, although the FIL does. Anyway, he's big and pushy and kind of a pill, I don't really like his personality per say. Although to be fair, I really haven't done much with him. Plus I would feel bad taking over the FIL's horse when he keeps saying he is going to come and ride him. So no on him.
Rusty - Nah, he has a weird eye cancer thing going on and he is goofy again since no one has messed with him but maybe twice since he got back from the trainer 2 years ago.
Skip - Thought about it, but he is not even green broke, just worn a saddle once and been lunged a few times. That would be a lot of work, even though he has a great, quiet temperament. Too much time needed. He is also too short to keep up with the parents two gaited horses that are both over 16 hands. More about them later.
Tuff - Again, thought about it, but he is still so small, he wouldn't keep up either, plus he also is not even green broke. He has been rode a few times, but still, too much time needed.
Stormy - Ding ding! I decided on her. Another mare, I know. But she has a great mind, tall enough to stand a better chance of keeping up (although I remember how bad Cisco and I left her and the brother in law in the dust, lol) and she has good genes and is a pretty thing. Plus she already rides decent. Green broke I'd say, but not, 'I may buck you off still', green broke, lol. Here is the post about her arrival and bloodlines, etc.
Anyway, I want to put some back story on the reason I want a horse for fall riding. Mom has always said Cisco was too tall for her, and Dixie is too old now. So I started just kind of looking around for a horse for her. I joined a few facebook pages for horses for sale in my region, told a horsey friend, etc. So that friend sent me a link for a horse one day. I checked it out and was like, ooo yeah, we need to see this one. Convinced the mother to go look at her and she ended up going home with her the next day.
Her name is Chloe, but that is kind of confusing since my oldest daughters name is Chloe, lol. But we still haven't come up with another name for her. Any ideas are appreciated!!
So her she is! She is a 5 year old gaited horse, palomino paint. Around 15.3 to 16 hands. Although we have no papers, and I don't think she is full gaited either. I think she's got some QH in there somewhere. But she does gait! Get ready for some picture spam!!
Trying her out
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| Breaking out some Clinton Anderson on her |
Isn't she pretty??
Desensitizing her to the stick/string
Dad working his horse, Cisco!
Inside turn
Following...
Our awesome new farrier lady
So we loved her temperament and how she looked, but she had a weird bump on her nose, and she was pretty green. As in, not got a real good handle on her. She would get 'stuck' sometimes if she saw something scary or didn't want to go somewhere and I had to eventually resort to beating her with a small branch, lol! But we liked that her first reaction wasn't to be stupid, it was to just kind of stop and look. And there were ALL kinds of stuff at that crazy place to look at. Pigs, goats, chickens, you name it. (she really didn't like the pigs, lol)
Anyway, we took her to the vet for a vet check, mainly worried the bump on her nose was cancerous. And turns out it was nothing, but ALL FOUR FEET had white line in them! Wha?? So mom really had to ask herself if she wanted a horse that needed quite a bit of attention for a while. She eventually decided she was worth it! So here we are!
We found a great new farrier that has all kinds of schooling, and bought some new stuff they have out to soak her hooves in. The farrier didn't think they were too bad at all, mainly front left, and thought she could get her going good. She is one tough lady, do rag topped hair, muscle shirt, shoulders like a line backer, and tattoos. And so nice and polite, we loved her. She's originally from out west I think.
So coincidentally I had been watching some Clinton Anderson DVDS and researching him again and when she came along I figured she was the perfect horse to try out my new knowledge with.
I went after work to my mom and dads for about two weeks. Helping them both get their horses going well ground work wise. We kind of stalled the last few weeks with rain, then heat advisories, and now they just bought a lake house so they are focused on getting that all set up for Labor Day weekend this week. But hopefully after that all dies down we can get back to it. I want them both to be exemplary citizens for them to trail ride this fall with.
The lake house they bought, like I said earlier, backs right up to Bankhead National Forest, which has tons of horse trails in it. Woot woot! So glad we have that awesome aluminum four horse to use! Figured we could bring a few round pen panels with us and make them a temporary enclosure and stay over night, go riding in the morning. Or we could just trailer down there early, stay that night after riding, or go home. Its only like 40 mins from their house, little over an hour from mine. Not sure how we would share the trailer, maybe keep it at my house the night before, load my horse up and then drop by and pick them up on the way out there.
So! Cisco and Chloe both know how to:
- Stay consistent at whatever gait we choose by just pointing (in round pen)
- Do inside turns (in round pen)
- Desensitized to lead rope and stick and string all over body
- Desensitized to string whacking on the ground on either side and in front
- Backing up from wiggle of lead
- Lateral flexing on both sides
- Some hindquarter yielding
Well I've yammered on enough for one post, more about Stormy on the next!
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