An Update At Last....

I still don't have my laptop but I'm on a friends so I'm gonna attempt to do a quick yet thorough update.
Ill start with Moosey. He is doing pretty good. The two weeks before last I had only been able to ride him once a week but than this past week I rode him three times which I was very happy about. I haven't been jumping him much. Working mostly on the flat and getting more control and more fluid transitions.
his upward transitions are pretty good but when we slow down a lot of times he braces for a second. Not really bad and he doesn't pull but it's still far from ideal. Last night we got a little help from the owner of Jubil and by the end of our "lesson" he was doing a little better. I know a lot of it is me and yesterday proved it. I have a lot to work on too. Mostly Western habits that are harder to break. Its some what difficult (for me anyway) to actively ride and compete both ways. We jumped a little bit too. Start off with lots of ground poles than did a few cross rails and than jumped the barrels. We set them up as an in and out so that he would have to slow down and think. It was a lot of fun and I love how he perks up and becomes so excited when we jump. N commented lots of times how he really seemed to enjoy it. He softened a lot and become very relaxed and malleable, almost like putty in my hands but still with contact, it was nice and I was very proud. :)
I will add he had one major and hilarious spook right at the beginning. He wasn't paying attention while we were warming up and N, whose as quiet as a mouse, came in the arena without him noticing and as we trotted past he looked over and saw her and I think we jumped about three feet away from her in the form of a perfect lateral, all four feet, hop! Silly Moosey!
His weight is also a lot better and his coat is looking good! He is shedding his winter hair and underneath he is so shiny he REALLY looks like a bay now! Just one without black stockings lol. I still want him to put on some more weight but at least we have made progress. I think his coat looks so good because of the good feed, corn oil and the Healthy Coat he has been getting.

Now for my other two babies. Riley is doing good. He ran pretty good at the show last weekend on Saturday the 9th. We won the Adult 2D. It was a big outdoor pattern and the footing was deep which worried me but he handled it ok. He slipped his second run and almost sat around 2nd barrel but he caught himself and kept trucking. It cost us sometime or sure but I didn't mind and the pattern was still pretty good. I didn't think he would run very fast because when its hot he can be lazy and I don't like pushing him much harder than he feels like going but he woke up and ran hard when it was time than dozed and grazed between patterns and while I hosed him. LOL

May is also doing verrrry well! Im super proud of how she is fiiiiiinally coming along on the barrel pattern. The last two times we practiced she did GREAT! I can't wait to take her to the next show and see if it is really paying off. I also shaved her mane (almost roached it. It looks like a drunk cut it but it will look good as it grows out. Im not very good at cutting\shaving manes I guess :P) because when we first got her she had this neat, adorable mohawk. She has a very thick pretty mane and a thick neck so it looked really good. I wanted her to have the mohawk back so I cut her mane very, very short and now it will stand as it grows. It definitely fits her "rocker pony" attitude the way she always nods her head and shows her teeth and pins her ears at other horses. Oh May May! lol

Happy Birthday Moosey!

Moosey had a birthday on Friday. He turned 6!!! I'm so pleased with how far he has come in only a short period of time. Cant wait to see what the future holds for us. He has taught me so much and shown me that even after a sometimes tough beginning in life, you can still forgive and learn to trust. <3 my big, goofy, dorky, love able MOOSE!
He got lots of carrots and apples and a little extra feed plus the day off :)

Moose in his "birthday suit" haha I didnt have a bday hat so we improvised :D

(Regular update is coming soon I promise! Still haven't got my laptop back :(( )

Dysfunctional Laptops and German Shepherds in Vests!

Quite the combinations but luckily not related! lol My laptop has been down and still is. I am on a friends computer and wanted to do a quick post to at least notify we are all alive. lol I have soooo much to catch up on and hopefully this afternoon I can get back on this computer and do a normal update. I should be getting my laptop back within the next week YAY! In the meantime:

How do you cause a synchronized spook? All 12 horses in a pasture (save one, Moose who decided he would rather die, death by vest wearing dog, than miss his breakfast) running madly away, tails flying like banners and manes flowing in the wind. They almost looked like a freestyle version of the Star Spangled Stampede.  Let me just say I saw some of those horses whippin' out moves I didn't know they had in them! All you need is a German Shepherd wearing a neon yellow safety vest (so cars and people etc see her when we trail ride) and just ride past the pasture, Ta-da! Mass mayhem! Luckily the horses all settled after a few minutes and followed us on our trail ride as far as the pasture line allowed them too. I was riding May who could care less about said dog as long as she stayed out of her way.

The dog in question: 

Big BreakThrough With May!

Fiiiiiinally! Don't you just love when  you work at something so consistently for so long and it finally comes together! It has taken a lot of patience and dedication but yesterday when I practiced with May I could feel her starting to get it. We did a lot of slow patterns with big emphasis on her slowing down with my seat and the voice command "EASY" when coming into the barrel and when I went to run one I could feel her really slowing down. The best part is we did it WITOUT having to snatch her face off or 'slam her down' like a lot of people insisted I would have to. I walked her out and praised her like crazy and even put a few treats in  her feed. What a good girl!

Moose and I also had some what of a breakthrough yesterday. The ride started off a little difficult. He was very strong and forward due to the wind and because I hadn't rode him in six days but I just hung with him and let him trot out his energy and than come back to me. After a while he started relaxing and moving VERY nice. I wish I could have gotten some video or pictures. His transitions were even a lot smoother and he wasn't pulling and was staying together in the downward transitions a lot better instead of falling all apart! GREAT improvement. At the end I let him go over a small cross rail a few times just because he was so good but I think I'm gonna keep the serious jumping for just during lessons so that I don't teach him (or myself) any bad habbits. As much as we both love it I would rather be safe than sorry. He is also getting too excited when we jump so when I'm not doing lessons or flat work I'm going to do alot of cavelleti to get him to slow down and pick his feet up and think. Maybe even some very small jumps in succession so he has to stay in control and pay attention. I will see what our trainer says during our lesson next week.

Horse-nalities! (Riley)

And no I'm not talking about the clinician kind. I'm just talking about horse personalities. They are all very different just like people. You can learn a lot about a horse by just watching how they interact with the others in the pasture. Are they dominant or submissive? Who are their buddies? Do they like to run around a lot and play or prefer to take naps and graze the day away?


Cantering bridless bareback in the arena.



"Free Jumping" with Riley

Barrel racing at Lazy W. We got 2nd in 1D!

Riley has a very unique personality. If you don't know him he can be hard to read and he is not as quick to trust like some horses are. When I first got him we didn't get along at all. He was my mother's horse and he was a BUTT! He had pretty much been a pasture pet his entire life so in the saddle he was very strung out and all over the place. He braced against the bit and was very lazy. He didn't want to be messed with and would have been perfectly content with no human interaction for the rest of his life (except for food of course) He was given to me after my first horse Khemo, a little bay Egyptian Arabian, injured his shoulder when we both took a bad spilll and would be off for three months, it was also pretty evident he would bever become the barrel racer like I dreamed off. Khemo had been my first horse and he taught me a lot and it pained me to sell him but I knew if I wanted to be serious about the barrel racing I would have to. I sold him to a close friend (whose dad, ironically, ended up marrying my mom so now Khemo is happily grazing in the pastures at their home, fat and happy like he deserves :) ) who mostly played with him on the ground and took great care of him. The best part was they boarded him at the barn where I was so I could see him anytime. After that I still didn't have enough money to buy another horse so Mom gave me Riley. It was a long and challenging road but in the end our bond is stronger and deeper than if we hadn't had to over come all the obstacles. Riley is dominant in the pasture but some what of a loner. He rarely ever gets bit or kicked because he keeps to himself. He doesn't take any crap but he won't start it either. Lately he has been sort of hanging with May. I think its funny how horses that belong to the same people kind of band together and form their own 'mini herds' sometimes. It's even funnier because they used to H-A-T-E eachother. Riley is very laid back but would do anything in the world I asked of him. He is definetly my 'heart and soul horse' and I know I will never have another one like him. I can barrel race him or trail ride or chase cattle or do trail competitions or just hop on bridless bareback if I want. Two years in a row we competed in the Alabama competetive trail competition and both years got second in our age group by less than 2 points. He is also my trick horse. He bows, picks stuff up, parks out, rears on cue, gives kisses, sits like a dog (in water :P), nods his head yes and no, 'shakes' like a dog and in the saddle I tried to teach him the Spanish walk but he ended up only doing it with one leg so now we call it his "one legged Lippizaner walk" LOL My friends and I joke that if Riley was a person he would be the big sarcastic jock. He is very independent by nature which makes our bond even more special as he is so trusting in me. I have been the only one to ride him for so long and he has so many cues and 'buttons' that when other people get on him he kind of just shuts down. He doesn't do anything bad, he just doesn't do anything PERIOD. lol He is a one person horse. He is a very sweet and loving horse but in his own way. He's like a big dog but not in the "in your pocket" kind of way. His shows of affection are more subtle: a soft nicker, pressing his head to my chest or resting his soft velevety nose on my cheek. I am so blessed to have him and would truly be lost without him.

"My horses feet are swift as rolling thunder
He carries me away from all my fears
and when the world threatens to fall asunder
His mane is there to wipe away my tears"

Riding Riley over an onstacle at the trail competition

Teaching Riley to lay down and sit. We started in water.

Cue-ing Riley to rear

All parked out and he ain't even a walker! :P

Bowing on cue

Picking up a halter on cue

Race Recap Saturday March 26, 2011

The race went well. We fell in the crack between the 2D and the 3D which means we were too fast for 3D and too slow for 2D. I was fine with this though because we had a clean run and Riley tried pretty hard even though he had never raced there before. Also he slipped pretty bad on first but caught himself. Second barrel was almost bad but I could feel him fixing to duck and turn before the barrel and pushed him past it. It was a huuuuge pen, apparently where Troy University does there competitions. Very nice well groomed arena but by far the biggest we have run in. Riley, as I have said before, is a very 'ratey' horse and really sits down around a barrel. He goes into the chute hunting them and does very well with small indoor pens or large outdoor pens. (May on the other hand would have ate. this. pen. UP! She thrives in the bigger pens because she is so quick in the straight aways and is more of a free runner, definitely not very 'ratey' on her own. I hope to take her next time we race there!)This was a small indoor and I think maybe he got a little confused and anticipated the turn.  He is used to the indoor pens being small. As we were coming into second I could feel him wanting to turn right before or right on top of the barrel but luckily I tapped him with my inside foot and he went on and turned the barrel close but didn't touch it. Third was good and he ran home fine but we slowed down before we hit the timer. It felt like he ran out of gas. He is in pretty good shape but maybe I need to work on his cardiovascular strength? Longer distances of extended trotting and slow loping perhaps? The fastest, clean, time of the day (that I saw) was a 16.9. Beautiful pattern they ran but also goes to show how big the pen is. We clocked an 18.2 which is good but he is capable of much better. Still besides the pen being big there was a lot of distractions, cows everywhere in holding pens in preparation for the roping event that was after the race, and just lots of things he wasn't used to seeing at just barrel races. Riley seemed to love the cows. He wasn't scared of them at all and every time we passed a bunch he perked up and tried to stick his nose through the fence at them. Poor cows were terrified lol. Sadly, I did not get any pictures of us racing but I do have one of Riley and Tovah (my dog) and of Riley checking out the cows. 

I was surprised by how kind Riley was to Tovah at the show. Usually he HATES her especially when she tries to lick his nose, he pins his ears and squeals! Silly boy.

I will have an update coming on Moose and May later today or tomorrow. They are both well but I haven't been doing much other than feeding and grooming them due to all the rain. Moose has become quite the jealous butt in the pasture and took a chunk of hair out of May when she got to close to me. I just hope he isn't brave enough to try that with Riley because he will regret it! lol Riley isn't a dominant, problem starter, but he doesn't take any crap either. Well, I'm off to go doctor the injured (luckily none of which are mine!) and feed and groom my mud ponies! :)

Quirks: The Little Things That Make Our Horses Who They Are!

All horses have them. It is not one big thing but rather a thousand little things that make these magnificent creatures what they are. And the best part is: Their all different! One of my favorite things about working with horses is learning all their quirks and personalities.  All three of mine have a few things that make them alike but over all they are very, very different horses.
Riley is my best friend, partner, 'child', and deepest heart. His personality and mine go together great. In some ways we are a contrast but in many we are so alike from riding together so many years that some times all I have to do is think something and he responds. Some of our best times together were the most subtle and silent. Riley has a few funny quirks. He yawns whenever you brush or scratch his chin, he always licks and chews when I put his protective leg boots on for racing, he pees after every ride before he eats and if you accidentally pull one of his whisker hairs he squeals.  

Moose is my goofball and his quirks are totally different from Riley or May's. I think his are partially developed from having been stalled and for so long and they were a boredom reliever. Some of his most notable are he stretches on his own EVERY morning after I ask him to bow, he drools worse than a Saint Bernard almost all the time(though he has been vetted it's just him! haha) if he gets anxious or bored he will start flipping his lips around and making funny faces or even "dancing" by rocking his head up and down exactly like a parrot does.  He is very sensitive and I have to brush him very carefully, especially around his flanks, he loves the insides of his ears to be scratched and he nickers almost constantly.

May is my ball of fire. Most of her quirks I think are just product of being a hormonal, attitude filled mare. She never offers to kick or bite but when I push her over while she is eating she sometimes squeals. She loves to lick stuff: your hand, the fence, her bucket, another horse...haha and with the constant licking she likes to stick her tongue out. When she gets through eating or drinking she always lolls her tongue for a few seconds and it makes for some cute pictures.  Everyday when I go to pick her feet she always intentionally picks up the OPPOSITE foot first and when I horse her she always tries to step on the hose. At first I thought is was coincidental but now I see her shift around and step on it than sometimes she tries to refuse to move. Some days she comes trotting up to me nickering and others she walks away with her ears pinned. Awww for the love of a mare :)

Knowing your horses quirks and personalities is also very important. It helps you to know if you horse isn't feeling so well one day or just acting plain out different. The next post I write will be on personalities so stay tuned!