Thanksgiving is Thanksliving

I heard a friend say that this morning and it is so true. I have so much to be thankful for:

I am thankful for my amazing family who are always there for me!
I am thankful for my awesome friends and Coach who support me every step of the way!
I am thankful for my two silly dogs who show me the true meaning of unconditional love!
I am thankful for my three incredible horses who I would be absolutely lost without!
I am thankful for my good health in which we so often take for granted!

There is so much more I am thankful for and I could go on for ages. I thank the Lord everyday for blessing me far beyond what I deserve. And so to you, dear readers, I wish a VERY Happy Thanksgiving!

(P.s- I am taking Moose on his first BIG trail ride today. We are hauling over to the HOD for a Thanksgiving trail ride. I think it will be very good for him and he will enjoy it the nice, easy pace. I will post tomorrow about how he does. :)

Ready to race!

In two days we will be loading up and heading to Crawford arena for the three day IBRA race. I'm pumped and so are my horses. The weather has been a little nasty so I haven't been able to get in as much riding as I would like but, like Coach said, "Pretty much everyone in out district is having the same problem." Still I really would rather be riding right now....oh well.
I was supposed to have a lesson on Moose yesterday but *SHOCKER* it was rained out. SO at the time we tried to reschedule for today....well the rain never stopped so we wont be doing it today either. I'm going to reschedule the lesson for some time early next week. Moosey is doing good though and has put on a lot of weight and a lot of winter hair! It has been strangely warm this past week (temps in the upper 70's!) and so the horse have been pretty calm compared to the few weeks before when it was chilly. Upper 70's and thick, thick, winter coats just don't go together well. I might be taking Moose on a long trail ride tomorrow with some friends. We plan on hauling to one of our favorite places for a Thanksgiving ride. I chose to take him because I didn't want to ride Riley or May that hard before the show. As I have said before I always give them a few days off. Also I figured it would be good for Moose since the last few times under saddle he has been behaved but a little bit on the "hot head" side.  A nice, slow, relaxing trail ride would be the best thing for him.

May is doing good as well. Her tendon is cool and tight except for that one tiny spot. No bigger and no smaller. She is just and rambunctious as ever! I rode her English on Monday and it was a blast. Well I didn't technically ride her English but rather just put English tack on her and rode her for fun. She did pretty good and looked adorable! I had a blast. She wasn't as thrilled as you can see :P She has a knack for sticking out her tongue I think...

The Ri Man is doing great. My last post I talked about my decisions and debates with him. I'm still contemplating a lot but for now he is doing very good so we will continue with the original plan.

Had a good ride on him yesterday. He was HOT TO TROT which surprised me. Due to the weather he had been pretty laid back but he was all fired up yesterday. Maybe its a sign? lol I don't know. I just hope he maintains that attitude for the show this weekend. 

During the ride I basically just worked him on a loose rein and we did a lot of slow trotting followed by long trotting and of course some loping. We did a good bit of cantering just because he was so fired up and by the end of the ride he was all but lathered. I cooled him down really good and hosed him out and than groomed him for about an hour. Shouldn't have even bothered. He rolled RIGHT when I turned him out RIGHT in the mud....Oh Riley! The jokes on him though because last night it rained and rained and rained so this morning all the mud was washed off. :) I'm sure when I go get him though he will have rolled again and Ill have to spend another hour grooming him. Fine with me though. Nothing I enjoy more than spending time with my boy.

Decisions

Ok so I haven't posted in a few days because I knew I had a fairly large post coming and I was trying to get my thoughts together. I'm sure either way it will sound jumbled so I apologize in advance! I guess I will start off by saying Moose has been doing AWESOME! I am soooo in love with that horse! :) Me and him start lessons with a good friend of mine on Tuesday. I will be sure to post on how it goes.

I rode him the other day for a while in the arena. He did pretty well and kept his head low and relaxed the entire time we walked and trotted. He is also beginning to respond to my leg cues about 80% of the time. He was doing so well I decided to try bumping him up to a lope again.  He loped off fine but kept wanting to pick up the wrong lead. Sill boy. I would turn his nose slightly to the inside and touch him behind the girth with my outside leg and than kiss him up. He finally got it. At first he tossed his head up but after a few moments of asking with my hands and just 'playing' with his mouth he relaxed and began to lower his head in the canter! I was so thrilled. A few laps both ways and we called it a day. Afterwards we went on a short trail ride with my friend and her new TB.  I also got a pic of him laying in the hay. The FIRST thing he does when we put out hay is roll in it. He soooo cute!

As for Miss May she is doing pretty good. I pulled her up on Thursday to ride her and noticed she had just a tiiiiny bit of swelling about midway down her back right tendon. It wasn't hot or tender and she certainly wasn't lame. I wouldn't have even noticed if I hadn't run my hand down her leg and looked at it at just the right angle. I called the vet and explained it to him and he said not to worry. I'm already VERY careful with my horses legs as far as warming them up and cooling them down well. I always cold water hose after a hard work out and I NEVER run at an arena where the footing isn't good. I don't practice very often on them anyway and always take preventative measures to preserve their joints. I'm especially careful with Riley but Ill explain more on him later. Basically my vet just told me to watch it close and ice it after hard workouts and if it gets any bigger or she gets lame on it at all to call him and he would check it out. She rode fine. Was as hot and hyper as ever. I didn't do any circles or hard work with her. Just exercised her and did lots of slow trotting and long trotting and loping. After I hosed her legs I iced the one. Here is a pic of her looking adorable while her leg is being iced:  awwww

Now onto the topic at hand: decisions. Mainly decisions with Riley. Here is where I will do my best to explain my dilema without confusing you terribly. First, as I am sure you can tell, Riley is my entire world and I often over analyze and stress about stuff when it comes to him. I love May and Moose to death but as I have stated before Riley is my deepest heart and has been for a very long time. If you have read some of my first posts it talks a lot about the all the lamenesses Riley has overcome. Everything from minor stuff like abscesses and stone bruises to potential career ending tendon tears and "Navicular". He is sound now and doing well. He seems to feel good and is always eager to work. He gets monthly Adequen injections as well as MSM in his feed. I am also about to start him on Platinum Perfomance. I have never used it before but have heard lots of good stuff about it so Im going to give it a shot and see how he does with it. Ordered it today actually.

Anyway....lol About 6 months ago the vet did X rays on Riley and flexion tests and found him to be sound and well except for a very SLIGHT 'unsoundess' in his front left when flexxed (rated a 1 out of 5 I think) as well as the start of arthritis in his right hock. He was not lame at all in the hock but just had a little more fluid than normal, but my vet told me the Adequen was probably what was keeping it under control.  Before he had done the tests I had thought I was going to have to retire Riley. I was pretty upset at first but it was ok. He was alive and he was well and it wasn't the end of the world. I had known when I started racing Riley that he wasn't bred nor built for the sport. I didn't realize just how much of a problem we would have but I had always known he had small feet and a huge body and he is pretty post legged.

When the vet deemed him ok to continue racing I was thrilled but apprehensive. Ever since than I have often wondered if it would be better just to retire him from racing and do a lighter, easier, sport or just to keep racing him since we both enjoy it so much. Its something to this day that I often think about. What got me back to thinking was the other day Riley ran extremley well at the show. Less than a second off the fastest time and both runs just felt really good.  I had been talking that night and the following week about it to my coach. We had discussed what I could do to get Riley to clock just a little faster and get us into the 1D. I realized from looking at videos that I am not getting far enough forward between barrels and coming home. I also saw that Riley was slowing down some about midway to third and running home. Those were our two problem areas. I racked my brain for a few days and figured out probably why he wasnt running as hard in those areas. Riley is as honest as the day is long so if something is going wrong it is 99% of the time MY FAULT. Ever since I had started him years ago I would stop him straight in the chute. I didnt circle or anything and I would usually stop pushing him right after I passed the barrels. I didnt think anything of it but I see now it transferred over to the pattern. Riley doesnt like to have to slam on brakes all the sudden so he starts slowing down soon to make the stop gradually. He's not slowing down too much but just enough to make a difference. In barrel racing a fraction of a second can put you in the money or in the crack. I than got to thinking about what I could do to "re wire" his thinking and show him it was OK to run through there and he would still have plenty of time to slow down softly. This in turn lead to thoughts about Rileys soundness. The ultimate question being : Do I work him to change his thinking and push him to get our times down and risk injury? or do I just retired him and move on to a lighter sport and compete May as my main racer? (I dont worry near as much about May. She is half his age (6) and is sound and built to last. She is a hard runner and has a totally different style than Riley. She has the speed, the turns and the attitude, we just have to get out timing together and with time it will all fall into place.) Of course I know I WANT to continue to race him and hopefully improve but nothing is more important than his soundness and sanity.I would feel terrible if we started running better but than something happened to him. I know thathe could injure himself in the pasture or just on a trail ride but still. I was having a hard time deciding when my coach made a valid point when he said, "But Summer you have to think of quality of life too." He is right. Riley loves to compete. We dont practice or exhibition. We just go and run and have fun. He loves it. He goes into the chute and loads up on his hind end, does a mini rear, and launches like he thinks he's in the Kentucky Derby! I have never had issues with him being gate sour or overly anxious. He knows his job and he loves it. I would never race him just because it is what I wanted to do nor would I risk his soundess or sanity for anything but this is what he loves. He is going to be 13 in January(I still cant believe it) but I know many horses who still race well into their twenties. Whether Riley will be one of them I dont know but for now Im relatively sure on what I want to do.

For now I have decided to ride him and work him a little different. Gearing our workouts more towards getting our times faster. I guess I will just finish out this year (there's two more shows) racing and see how he does. If he finishes strong and clocks faster and shows how much he truly loves it, than we will continue down the racing path. If he starts getting frazzled and not handling the extra push than we will call it quits and do something easier. I will leave it up to him to 'decide' what he wants to do. We know eachother well to say the least and I figure as much as I worry and fret, he will let me know when he is ready to retire or if it becomes too much.

Three good turns

As promised here is a recap of the past week and of course the results from Saturdays show. Ill start off by saying Moose is doing very well! The last two times I have ridden him he has been very soft and quiet. He kept his head low and relaxed almost the entire time and is becoming more responsive to cues from my legs. I was going to ride him today but it rained all night and is supposed to rain all day and maybe even into tomorrow. Joy....But either way I'm very proud of him and how he is coming along. He is about where I want him to be as far as his weight goes and is all around just healthy and sound!

Riley has been doing very good as well. At the show Saturday he really tried hard and gave me two solid runs. We warmed up for adult and it was a little hectic. I had to run him and than immediately tack up May and get ready to run her and than in the following class he was in the first five AGAIN. So most of the day I was running around like mad trying to get one horse tacked and warmed up while the other was walked, cooled and had their legs hosed. I finished warming Riley up for our first run and than they ended up starting the class almost forty minutes late. I was getting a little worried because Riley is a really "ratey" horse and all you have to do with him is push him to the barrel and he will sit and turn almost on his own. He hunts a barrel coming into the chute and knows his job well. But he is so laid back that I have to warm him up well to get him fired up and once he is warmed up he is ready to run! He doesn't like getting all ready than having to sit for almost an hour and I don't blame him. I kept him warmed up by doing a few trotting rollbacks and just keeping him forward and focused. The poor boy was so excited he had diarrhea! (I had given him electrolytes in his feed that morning and always mix Gatorade with his water at shows for that reason) When the show finally got going we were 3rd to run in the class. When our name was called I started riding him out of the warm up pen and he was all business. He never gets crazy and he never refuses to go in the chute like you see some horses do. He gets really tense and prances and than about midway through the chute he sits back and launches, sometimes even does a small rear. That first run he sat back and took off and I could feel it was gonna be a good run. He cranked around all three barrels and flew home and as soon as I got home stopped I heard our times announced as a 15.5! I was so excited. I jumped off of him and gave him some peppermints and began walking him out. His fastest time at that arena was a 15.1 that he had run January of last year.  We hadn't practiced in forever and hadn't shown since State Championships in June. By the end of the class we were sitting at the top of the 2D but than a good run towards the end put us in the crack. I didn't care though, I was just glad he had a good, solid, clean run. My second run that day on Riley was even better.  He warmed up good and when our name was called he went out prancing.Halfway into the chute he sat back, reared and launched again, even harder than last time. He got a little ahead of me but I was back where I needed to be before first barrel and we had a good turn. Second and third were good as well and we ended up with a 15.3. The fastest time of the day was a 14.4. Less than a second off of the fastest time. I was so proud of him! The rest of the day while I worked May and helped the kids he got hosed down really good and than just happily munched on hay by the trailer. I think I gave him a peppermint every time I walked by him =D  For the Open class we fell in the crack between 2D and 3D but, again, I was just happy the runs were so good and Riley felt awesome.

May did pretty good as well considering she hasn't been racing near as long as Riley has. She also has a totally different style of running. She runs really hard and really fast and you have to check her up before the turn or she wont slow down. She gives you 110% all the time and is a really competitive mare. Her biggest problem is going to deep into a turn so at home I really emphasize rating and slowing down when we practice. Even when I don't practice I will work on  slowing her down with my seat and voice while just loping circles or trotting along the rail. Luckily, neither of my horses have trouble with hitting barrels *knock on wood* May has never knocked one over, even during practice, and Riley has only knocked over 3 at shows his entire almost 4 years of competing. Also every time he has it has been my fault for cuing him too soon.
 My first run on May my stupid belt buckle got hung on the horn when I was leaning forward heading to first, and so I couldn't sit properly into the turn, and it cost us some time. When I finally get the money together to have my custom saddle ordered I'm getting it hornless. Yes, you read that right, hornless! I don't hold the horn while I race and never have. There have been a very few times I have grabbed it to stay with my horse when they have gotten ahead of me but I prefer to learn my balance and timing and stay with my horse and I think a lot of barrel racers use the horn as a crutch. I also don't like how I always get the horn hung on my bra, belt, jacket, shirt etc and it hurts like hell when you catch your ribcage on it. I AM NOT SAYING that holding the horn is bad or wrong or that I am better because I don't. I see a lot of big time barrel racers who are much better than me who hold it and are very successful. I can also see where it could help some people, if they use it right, to keep their seat but it just isn't my style of riding. I hold both reins coming into a turn and in teach all my green barrel horse how to turn properly by riding with two hands. There is a lot that can happen in a hundredth of a second and every single extra step counts. A lot of times its a fraction of a second that puts you in or out of the money. I was never taught to hold the horn and that is just how I ride. I'm NOT out to conform or judge anyone. Everyone has their own style of riding, just as I have mine.
The rest of the run was OK. She turned second really nice but third she went a little deep coming into the barrel and we ended up running a 16.8. I was still happy with her as she tried hard and we ended up placing in the Adult class in the 3D.  Her second run was MUCH better. I took my belt off before I even ran ha ha. Her third barrel was also much tighter and we ended up running a 16.1 but were in the crack between 3 and 4D. I cooled her out really well and left her to eat hay with Riley while I coached the kids. Everyone ended up having a good time and it was a really good day over all. At the end of this month we have the Turkey Circuit three day race than December 4 we have the last race of the year. Cant wait!

Total exhaustion....

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off! Going on just four hours of sleep just doesn't cut it for me. I will have a good, normal post tomorrow on whats been going on for the past week. For now I will just say the barrel race yesterday went GREAT! Also, Moose is doing well! More details on both coming tomorrow so stick around :)

Cool weather = fuel weather

It has still been crazy busy the last few days. I imagine it will be for the next month or so. I've been riding Riley and May a good bit in preparation for the race next weekend. I'm pretty stoked because it has been a long time since we got to compete. I could have gone to all the shows the last couple of months but I chose not to. Why? Because of the extreme heat. This summer was sooo hot and I was extremely worried about my horses over heating. Barrel racing isn't a light, easy ride. They have to run and run hard. No show is or ever will be worth my horse. Not the NFR and not a local NBHA race. So we chose to just skip them until this month. I went to state in June and than took May to one race in August (that started later in the afternoon) and that was it for the entire summer. Usually we race at least once a month but its OK. This gave me time to get them back in shape. I'm not sure how we will do because we haven't ran in so long but I'm not too worried about it. I practiced May the other day when the footing was nice and she did good. I haven't practiced Riley though but he is more seasoned and I am much more careful with him because of the sliiiight start of arthritis in his right hock. Its so minimal that there are no changes in the hock yet, just a little more fluid surrounding the joint. Still, Id rather be proactive and keep it at bay as long as I can.

Moose has been doing good. I haven't rode him in a couple days because I have been so busy but I plan on riding him this morning. He has gotten really fuzzy and gained a lot of weight which makes me happy. I didn't know whether I would have to blanket him but it doesn't look like it. He seems to be staying nice and warm! I've dropped his feeding to once a day but he has hay in front of him 24\7 so he is holding fine. If he starts to drop any weight I will bump him back to twice.  He has been very quiet and tolerant on the ground and very rarely spooks anymore at anything. Even before when he spooked he would become alert, maybe do a tiny jump and than that was it. He never lost his head or reared back or bolted which is nice. Now he will occasionally snort or look at something but that's about it. When I rode him on Friday he did very good! He was stretching down onto the bit with just the lightest encouragement. It was a much better ride compared to the one I had, had last. When I picked him up to a faster trot this time he remained soft and relaxed instead of becoming tense and throwing his head up. Hopefully today he will follow in that trend and we will have another good ride. He is such a goof ball and I love him to death. Here is a picture of Riley May and Moose standing at the gate. How typical of the three of them. Riley doesn't care, Moose is trying to bother May and May has her ears pinned! haha

Riley has been a little hyper the last few rides as well. Hence my post title, I believe it's the weather that has them all feeling so good. I have been warming him up really good and than just exercising him and working to keep him supple and build him back up before the race.  I also really have to watch him when it gets colder because he will stock up in his back legs. About ten minutes of trotting and its always gone but I still try to keep him exercised and moving to prevent it. He is turned out and can move as much as he wants to but the lazy boy would rather just park his happy butt in front of the hay and eat all day, only moving when he decides to go get a drink from the trough before heading right back to the hay. He hasn't stocked up yes this year even with the low 30's we have had at night but I still always keep a close eye on him.  Hopefully I will get a chance to practice him before the show but I likely wont. I only do when the arena is PERFECT but we ha vent had rain in a while to soften it and settle the dust and it doesn't look like we are getting any before Thurs. I always give him two days off before a race so he is nice and fresh and ready to run. He never gets hard to handle or out of control but just really seems to perform his best when he has had two days to relax and walk out any soreness.



Riley wearing my gloves =P



May on the other hand has been the typical ball of fire. I rode her yesterday and am planning on riding her today as well. I just put the hackamore on her and worked her in the arena. My friend took a few pics with her camera which I will upload at the bottom. She did well other than wanting to launch the entire time. I practiced her on the pattern on last Thursday and she did well but was very fired up. I'm debating on switching her from the Martha Josey shank bit to the hackamore when we run. She did pretty well when I practiced in it the other day but I think I should practice her a few more times with it before I make an ultimate decision. I ride all of my in either an O ring, D or full cheek snaffle except when I race, just for a little more leverage but am very soft with my hands when I use that bit. It doesn't take much to slow 'em down and turn them with it and I want to keep it that way.

On a side note the big Percheron i have been working with is doing GREAT! He is sooo much fun to ride and really is a gentle giant. I have been leading him with a stud chain and most of the pushy-ness on the ground has ceased and in the saddle he is a dream. He is great on the trails and loves but still needs a little work in the arena as he drifts over to the gate every lap and it takes a lot of outside leg and inside rein to keep him in. Still, for as little as he has been ridden I'm thrilled with how he is doing! I will put a few pics of him on here too. I have even ridden him bareback a few times and double with one of my best friends. He is such a cool horse!  

Busy week

As you can see from the title, it has been a busy week here at work! I work at a local riding stables(where I also board of course) teaching beginner lessons and training horses for the facility and for other people. I also take care of a lot of the boarded horses for their owners and have, of course, my own three to tend to. Last Sunday we got a new horse and a new boarder. The new horse was basically a rescue. A VERY skinny little Arabian who I'm happy to say is doing good so far. Ill post before and after pics of him once we get him fattened up :) The new boarder is the Percheron I talked about a few posts ago. The owner had me ride him and than decided to buy him and board him here for me to work with for a month or two. He is right at 18 hands and he is MASSIVE. It's really been fun to work with him though. He is very sweet and even tempered but a little pushy on the ground. He rides pretty well so most of the work I do with him will be on the ground.
Monday and today I rode Moose. He did pretty good on Monday. We have still been doing LOTS of trot work. I just want to be sure he is gonna stay relaxed and on the bit when we finally pick it up to a canter. Not lose his mind and become a hot headed giraffe. Today when I rode him, we had a few "disagreements", and he got a little hot when he saw the Percheron pastured by the arena start parading around and bucking, but over all he did well. The crazy weather being so unpredictable and getting cold and windy has got the horses feeling pretty fresh.  At a walk Moosey was fine and was starting to move off my leg good. At a slow trot he stayed pretty relax and focused but than when we started doing a faster trot, up went his head and he started becoming tense. I slowed him back down, got him relaxed and we tried again. Same result.  So we stayed at a slow trot both ways and did some circles. I made sure my hands were soft and that I was staying loose and relaxed as well. I know that if I'm tense than my hands are tense which makes him defensive. After about 15 minutes we picked up to a faster trot again and this time he stretched down into the bit and stayed relaxed. He became a little stiff once or twice but it was MUCH better. We worked on maintaining that trot both ways and quit. I than spent a good thirty minutes brushing him really well while he ate. He got his second adjustment on Monday. It was just a follow up and everything had held good except for two lumbar which she put back in. This time he stood very still the entire time and thoroughly enjoyed his massage. The only thing is the Blue Lotion used for the massage is hard to get out of his hair the next day and it was a little too chilly to hose him. I finally brushed it all out though. Nothing a little elbow grease couldn't conquer.

 I also rode Riley on Monday and today. Monday he did good. It was much warmer than it was today and neither of us were really in the mood for a long ride but I still needed to exercise him so we just did a variation of slow and long trotting and than some cantering and ended with some transitions to get him a little more forward and using his hind end. Today he was a lot more perked so he we did a lot more trotting with some circles and a few rollbacks thrown in. I also worked on him picking up a canter from a stand still on being on the correct lead. He usually does but every now and than I ask him for his right and he gives me his left. He did good today though.  I am having him adjusted on next Monday. I am doing each one separately because it is a lot easier for me financially. I really do love how it makes them feel though, and sometimes you can really see a difference in the way they move so it's definitely worth the money.

May has also been doing well. Her eye started draining so I had to put her fly mask back on. Sometimes when it gets windy her eyes get irritated and drain but keeping them clean and putting a fly mask on keeps them from bothering her too bad. She been a little quieter under saddle when I have been riding her, now that I have been able to work her more consistently. I rode her yesterday and am planning on working her this afternoon if it doesn't rain. If not than definitely tomorrow. She is starting to get back into shape and lose her huge hay belly which is good. I'm hoping to have them ready by the race on the 13. We will see. I am pretty sure they will be. It was also dewormer time this week. You can see from this pic what May thinks about that =P

Trick or treat! Pick my feet!

Best. Halloween. Ever! Me and one of the little girls (Jo) who I teach at my barn went "trick or trotting" in her neighborhood.  I took Riley of course and she took her saint of a pony\QH mare Summergirl (yes named after me. The little girl is the sweetest youngin' I swear!) and we had a BLAST! We had cool little reflector vests so we were very visible. We didn't get to dress up as anything(it was a last minute plan!) but one of my friends who took her mare 'trick or trotting' painted her like a Zebra! It was sooo cool! She used safe washable hair stuff and did an EXCELLENT job! Next year I hope to do something like that with Riley.
We pulled the horses up and Jo's mom hauled us to her neighborhood and we unloaded and off we went! She saddled SG up, as the mare can  be a little hot sometimes, but I just went bareback.  We cruised over to my granddad's house first and met up with my family and friends. Every ten seconds we had to stop and let some kids (and teens and adults) pet them. It made a lot of kids extra happy so it was totally worth it! Plus it was a lot of fun. The horses did not spook at ANYTHING! Riley eyeballed this one weird sign on a curb but that was it. Nothing, nada! Have I told you how much I LOVE my Riley?! Probably the coolest part of the entire night happened about halfway through our ride. We came across a group of two families with their kids, one of which was a tiny baby girl in a stroller. We walked over to them and the little girl began reaching for Riley. Riley put his head down and at first I became a little nervous. What if he accidentally nipped her or bumped her with his big head or with his headstall or something? She was just SO little. But he didn't. He reached down and she put her head against his muzzle and Riley nuzzled her as gently as he could and let her feel him all over and pull on his nostrils. It was the sweetest, cutest thing I have ever seen in my life. It reminded me of that cute cartoon movie 'Spirit: Stallion of the cimmaron' where Spirit nudges the little kid and lets her pull his nose. The parents of both groups couldn't believe how gentle he was and how he understood how little and fragile the girl was. I couldn't believe it myself at first but than smiled and thought how I shouldn't be surprised at all. Nothing should surprise me when it comes to Riley anymore. He never ceases to amaze me!

After about ten minutes of talking to those people and watching as Riley would gently touch his nose to the baby who would than brush her face and head against his soft fur and muzzle, we finally said bye and they thanked us, and we headed down the road. We went down a few more streets before heading back to Jo's house. At her house we took 2 crappy pictures with my phone under her carport and than loaded the horses up and took them back to the barn to feed them and turn them out. It was definitely a fun time and something I look forward to doing next year! Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!!