Still Here

That's right I am still here! We are alive I swear, haha! Life is good but it is BUSY. I am not complaining though because I am just thankful to have work. The horses are doing good. Moose has learned a few tricks of his own which I will post pictures of. I have been riding him in the side pull bitless bridle and he loves it. I ha vent jumped him in it yet and haven't jumped much lately anyway. Haven't had the time or finances for lessons and I don't want to over face him or do anything that is gonna back track us so we have been mostly doing ground work and simple things in the saddle like leads and getting him using that butt!
May's mohawk is looking awesome! I have to get some more recent pictures to post on here. It grew SO fast! Or at least it seems like it grew really fast.  I have a barrel race this weekend and I plan on taking her. Hopefully I will get to practice today or tomorrow a little bit. Mostly I have just been exercising her at night because it has been so HOT!!!
Riley is also doing wonderful. There is a lot coming up for him that I never even imagined we would be doing. One of my racing friends wants us to come and put on a show for her camp kids. I agreed as it is good exposure for me and Riley and getting him used to doing all his tricks in other environments. So far we have hauled two diff places to practice them and he has done FABULOUS! I was so proud of him that he was trusting and comfortable enough to do everything in unfamiliar places with nothing but the neckrope I ordered for him ( which I LOVE!!) Monday I even took him on a bridleless bareback trail ride at one of the barns we hauled to and he did perfect! 
I know the blog was made for Moose and lately I have talked mostly of Riley but it is a blog for all my horses and I mostly talk about what is going on at the time. Right now all this stuff with Riley is whats going on and it is a big deal to me. A couple of weeks back we were asked to do a training demo in Sept for the AL Horse Council, the Coosa Country Horse clinic. Of course I was surprised but excited (and nervous!) about the opportunity but accepted. I know it will be a lot of fun and good for both of us. Riley and I have done lots of competitions but nothing like this so it will be interesting to see how we do. I have trust and faith in my boy. Their expecting a big turn out. One of my friends is doing a Western Dressage clinic which I think is AWESOME! They will also have tons of different booths of everything you could imagine.

Now onto the pictures! Most of the time the pictures I have are crappy cell phone pictures but for once I have some camera pictures ..Yay! Some of them are still cell phone pics but most of them aren't. The first pictures are of course Riley performing some of his tricks. The first one usually gets a good reaction. I cued Riley to yawn and than made a funny face :) The second set of pictures are all Moose doing a few tricks (smile and lay) and than the last one is of Riley when I rode him bridleless bareback on that trail ride.  Also my birthday is next week and guess what I asked for? A camera! Yay for no more crappy cell phone pics and I can really get back to blogging. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their week!

Updates Galore!

As you can imagine I have been very busy these last few weeks so therefore I haven't posted in a while but I have plenty of updates on everyone! Ill start with Moosey. He is doing well and steadily (yet slowly) gaining weight.  I finally got the bitless bridle from one of my friends to try. ALL my horse's ride wonderful in it. Moose loved it but did better in the bitless side pull bridle and even offered both lateral and vertical flexion in it :) I plan on jumping him in it this afternoon when it cools down.

May is in heat so she is just as sassy and 'witchy' as ever. I had a barrel race yesterday and took her. She was fired up and ran a decent first pattern but I over rode her and caused some issues with first that cost us a lot of time. Our second run I loosened up on her a lot and tried hard to trust her to do her job and she ran much better. About a second off the fastest time of the day and we have a lot of room for improvement. Her mohawk is growing in great and stands up about 4 inches now and I love it! I ride her in the bitless bridle at all times now except when we are practicing. She is much calmer and does really well with it. Her head tossing and 'tourrettes' is almost non existent. I'm thrilled with the difference!

I pulled Riley up on Tuesday to see that he had a cut on his leg. Luckily it wasn't very bad and it didn't involve any tendon or joints. I hosed it really well and put some SSD and wrapped it for a few days and gave him some bute. There was minimal swelling. It was on his hind left cannon. I have a pic of it but this was from yesterday so it looks a lot better than it did. Riley also had his back shoes pulled on Thursday and now only has front shoes. Hopefully we can eventually get him back to be comfortable barefoot. As for the trick training it is going well and he is loving his new job. The lay is getting better and better as is the sit. I have some pics of him sitting at Liberty and rearing bridless and bareback. Right now he is learning to yawn on cue and bow on one knee which will progress to a full kneel. I am so proud of him and can not wait to teach him everything and hopefully one day we will get to the point we can do it all at Liberty, the tricks and the riding, that would be my dream :)

So that is all the updates for now. More coming soon and more pictures also. I can't decide whether I want to do Riley his own blog for the trick training and such or just keep it like it is. Obviously half the time I dont have time to post on this one but summer is a week away and I will have more help and more time so we will see.

Bitless Bridle?

Around the barn May is known as Maniac May or just "Tourrette's Mare". It's not meant in a mean way, it just suits the way she is always bobbing her head like she has a tic. From the moment the bit goes in her mouth or even in a hackamore.  Its not uncontrollable and shes not THROWING her head. Just bobbing it almost constantly. Especially when we practice and she has her barrel racing bit in. I've often wondered if it was just anxiety\excitment or the bit or perhaps a combination of the two. The last few times we have practiced she has shown lots of improvement and I really can't wait until the next race. I think she will be ready to clean house :-)
On the other hand I have been surfing around on the Internet for bridles without bits but specifically designed for riding...in other words not just a halter and lead rope lol. I know control comes from the riders seat\body\voice etc and how well the horse is schooled. Not from a bit but I would still like something just a tad more than just a halter for trail rides and stuff like that. I came across the Dr. Cook's bitless bridle and have been decided I might want to give it a whirl. I would still use her regular bridle on her when we compete but I think she would do good in this at all other times. If nothing else I KNOW it would do fine on Riley. He can ride in nothing. I also believe Moose would go fine in it too. He doesn't fight the O ring snaffle I use on him but he is very soft and sensitive for the most part and less is more in this aspect right? If anyone has any experience with one, let me know :) Either way I think it will be worth giving a try. I have to wait a little while to order one though as I just had two vet bills so I have to replenish my funds! One was for their coggins and the day after I pulled May up and her eyelid was swollen pretty bad so I had the vet out just to be safe. She was on banamine for a few days and an eye ointment and I put a mask on her. We think it was just the wind caused irritation and she rubbed it until it swelled. We still are watching it just to be safe as it is the same eye as she has the cataract from an injury before I owned her.

In other news Moosey is doing well. Putting on weight still slowly but surely. He is completely shedded out of his winter coat and he is VERY shiny. I didn't have time to ride him but I lunged(sp? I never know the correct spelling for this) him in the arena for a little while just to exercise him. After a while on the line I lunged him at Liberty and he was such a good boy. Once he got the idea I could send him out than bring him back in trotting with just my voice and body language. I was very proud of him! Maybe I will get to ride him this afternoon.  

Riley is doing great as well. Been working on the trick training and we are having a lot of fun with it. He is getting the smile a lot better and now lays all the way down and holds the sit longer too. We started the beginnings of the Spanish walk and he is catching on fast. What a good boy! Pics and video of all three coming soon.

Riley's Trick Video

Here is one of the videos of Riley working on his tricks. Please read the description before commenting. We still have a long way to go and a lot we wish to accomplish but he is doing so well and I am very proud of him :) Also this is my first time posting a video to the blog so if it doesn't turn out right or is too small or hard to see. Here is the link: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PqdRvUnsAw

Update on Moose and May coming later today or tomorrow so stay tuned. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Easter Trail Ride

A few people from the barn went on a long trail ride at the Russel Lands at Lake Martin. I chose to take Riley as I wasn't sure if Moose was ready for that kind of ride and May....well she isn't much fun on the trails because she is sooo hot. So I chose Mr Dependable and off we went. My friend took her really nice walking horse JoJo and we got a few pictures but nothing spectacular. The trails were great, very shaded and plenty of places to offer water and nothing too rocky or difficult. Riley LOVED the hills. Launched up them every time we got to one. I tried holding him and just having him walk up, but nope, he was determined to run up them than stop and go right back to a dead walk at the top. Silly boy! The first pic is of JoJo and Riley in the water and they both turned and looked at the same time. These were taken with a camera phone so their crappy :\ (I am getting a friend to take good video and pictures with her awesome camera of Riley doing all his "tricks" on Friday so I will upload them on here :) )but better than nothing I guess. The second pic is right after I cued Riley to sit. I thought Erica had already taken the pic so I was rewarding him and he was getting up. The third pic was after I cued him to lay than I was sliding off.  The last pic is a pic of Moose with his summer coat. He is so shiny and healthy looking. Totally different from last year. I hope he stays that way. With good nutrition and grooming it should. I rode him yesterday and it was an interesting ride. He did great at first but to the right he was pulling a lot especially in the canter. I worked until we got a decent canter both ways than just focused on the trot and getting him to relax and really use his hind end. I wanted him to soften and give me a few laps of nice trot work to the right and than we called it a day. Hopefully with time we will get into a good rhythm. I haven't been able to afford our weekly lessons with P lately but have been taking with N every other Sunday in return for working her horse. She has been helping us with our downward transitions which is sometimes the biggest problem. After a few though he usually softens and does some OK transitions. Not the best by any means but we are both learning. At this point I'm mostly happy that he is happy and healthy.

May's Mohawk

Ok so a few posts back I talked about how I wanted to cut May's mane so she could have a mohawk like she had when she first came to the barn. It was about 6-8 inches tall and stood straight up and looked very good on her. She has a very thick healthy mane and a nice thick (not fat or "Cresty") neck so it also doesn't make her neck look pencil thin. Not to me anyway. So finally I cut it. It's not pretty but it will look good as it grows out and stands up. My little rocker pony :) She is always bobbing her head and has quite the 'tude. Pinning those ears at all other horse's and making mean "mare faces". lol Here are two pictures: Enjoy!

Riley The Trick Horse

I have taught Riley a lot of small tricks over the years. Mostly just for fun and because we both enjoy the bonding time on the ground. For Riley it's rewarding and engaging and a nice change. For me, well it's rewarding in a different sense and some of the tricks are just plain cute! Over the past few years Riley has learned to do two different bows, paw from the saddle, rear from the saddle, pick stuff up, shake his head yes and no, park out, half of the Spanish walk (he only does it with one leg heehee) give kisses, stretch, and open\close gates. There are always new tricks I am adding to the list (hug, sit, smile or "flehm", rear from ground, bow from saddle etc) that I want to teach him but the one I have always wanted to teach most is for him to lay down. There is just something about these incredible animals that is just amazing when they choose to trust you enough to lay down with no force. I have seen many ways to do it but I refuse to use ropes and whips. I want him to WANT to do it and NEVER feel forced. Most of the time when we work on anything it is either at Liberty or with just a halter and lead rope. He has a choice. If he decides he is not comfortable doing something or just flat out refuses than that is fine. I know he has a reason whether I know what the reason is or not.

Real quick on a side note before I go further: I know some people don't agree with trick training especially rearing and laying down and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I agree that not all horses should be taught these things and only few people should even try. I have owned\known Riley since he was 18 months. Does that change the fact he is still a horse? Absolutely not. But I know him well enough I know what he can handle and what he can't. Most of these tricks he has known for years and we have NEVER had a problem. Not at home, not at shows. Nothing. I believe it has a lot to do with trust and never making him do anything and so he is always comfortable and never uses it as a method of evasion in an uncomfortable situation. I am also going to keep Riley for his entire life even if he was just a pasture puff. I will keep him until the day he crosses the rainbow bridge. I would not teach a horse these things and than sell them. I wouldn't sell Riley, PERIOD. I would not, myself, try to teach just any horse these tricks. Certain horses just don't seem to have the temperament. I am not saying that they couldn't be taught, just that I am not a trick training professional by any means. I'm just a girl with a very strong bond with her horse.  Ok....rant over :)

The point of all this is a few days ago I successfully taught Riley to lay down. (pictures coming as soon as I get a friend out here with a camera! Hopefully this weekend) We have been working on it from the ground. I was so proud of him that he trusted me enough to lay down in my presence with no other horses around. Last night I asked him from on his back and after 20 minutes he did it and laid down very softly. I praised him lavishly and than finished working him before we called it a night. I'm so blessed to have a horse like him. I know great horses are made but there are some things in a horse you can't change or teach. Like conformation and color but also heart, and Riley has a lot of it! I saw once in a book something that said it takes a powerful connection for two beings who do not communicate the same way to build a bond based on something deeper than words. Riley, thank you for being my heart horse.

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!

Thinking About Our Future In The Show Ring...

Moose is a very forward guy. He loves to move. He loves to run and he loves to jump and he loves trail riding and well, anything that gets him on the go! Very true to his racing background. He isn't crazy like some horses get or overly hot but I have noticed he get bored pretty easily. When he gets bored sometimes he will pull a little bit and his transitions get sloppy. He isn't really bad about it and I know this comes with the territory of being green but I'm starting to wonder about his future as a Dressage horse, even on the lowest levels. Right now I am thinking we may just lean more to (low level) jumping and just see where we get. We are both still so green and have a lot to learn. Anything could change at this point but for now we will train in that direction. Of course basic fundamentals at this point are more important than anything else, and we will only jump once or twice a week but he definitely seems to just LOVE to jump. He never ceases to amaze me when he takes a 'scary' jump as if it is nothing. Even when he has his doubt he seems to say "well Ok I trust you" and goes for it with all he has. I certainly don't want to over face him and we wont be going over 3 foot for a long time. As I have said before until both of us are completely balanced and comfortable with it and get the go ahead from the trainer. On our lesson Monday he did really well. We spent majority of the time working on leg yields in the trot and transitions. He picked up his right lead the first time I asked...YAY for progress!!! When we finally got to jumping we did some ground poles and small ones than the 3 foot vertical. he did well but we were out of sync a couple of times so we went back down. Sometimes we seem perfectly together and sometimes...not. P, the trainer, talked a lot about learning distances and strides coming up to the jump and keeping his straight both before and after the jump. That for us so far is the most difficult aspect. Learning the distances and canter strides coming into a jump. We have been working a lot on lengthening and shortening his stride and he is starting to respond fairly well. Again we are 'greenies' and have a lot to learn but I am proud of him and happy with our progress thus far. We ended on a good note and I walked him out and gave him a  good hose down and fed him before walking across the road and hand grazing him for a while.

Riley and May are doing well. I have been working Riley everyday this week in preparation for the race we have this Saturday. I will work him today than give him Thursday and Friday off so he is fresh and ready. It is just an Open barrel race. No other classes and the arena is supposed to be nice. It is one I haven't been to before and we are excited! I won't be taking May for a few reasons. I still want to get a few more practices in on the rating before I take her again and also I am hauling with a friend who only has one open spot. I am just thankful I am getting to go! Hopefully someone will take a camera so I can get more race pics to post on here. Today Im going to do loooots of long trotting with Riley and maybe a little hill work to change it up than a hose down and good grooming so he is race ready! Hope everyone is having a great week!!

Bedazzled Horses!

Yep thats right, we did the unthinkable....we bedazzled our MALE horses LOL

Well, not exactly. Yesterday was one of my best friends' horse's birthday. JoJo who is a totally awesome walking horse turned 8 yesterday! He is what we call a 'barrel bending walking mule'! He barrel races, pole bends, gaits and looks rather mule-ish with his big face and giant ears! We got some (safe washable) blue hair spray paint with glitter and sprayed their manes, tails, forelocks, and wrote their names on their hips. We than rode them up the road to the nearby gas station where we were given free drinks and peppermints and carrots for the horses.....SCORE!

Now onto the pik-chas!!! :)

I will add more later when Erkle (JoJo's owner) uploads them so I can steal them :D so stay tuned!

3-14-11 Jumping Pictures

I have two jumping pictures from yesterday of Moosey and me jumping just under 3 feet. I was so proud of him. I also took one of him right after his bath. I gave him a big bath and show sheened his mane and tail and he looked sooooo pretty and than it rained! fml jk I guess now he will just be suuuuuper clean.....at least until he rolls :) Enjoy

More Transitions Please!

The title says it all. Moose and I have been working a lot on, you guessed it, transitions! His upward transitions aren't bad, as a matter of fact they are pretty nice but coming back down is a whole nother story! He isn't terrible by any means but we have a lot to work on. I took a "lesson" on him from the lady who normally has me ride her finished English horse and she gave me a lot of good pointers. He wants to brace a little when I ask him to slow down and loses all impulsion. At first she just had me sit deep in the saddle and ask him to stop completely off my seat alone without changing the reins. After a couple of times he started slowing immediately after I gave him the cue with my seat!! I praised him a lavishly! After that I started bringing my legs and reins back into the equation and he was responding much nicer. We worked on that almost the entire time yesterday and didn't do any jumping which is fine. The flat work is more important at this point.

I also rode him on Friday and we did a little bit of jumping but mostly flat work and than finished off with a nice trail to let him relax. Later today I plan on riding him and maybe doing some jumping. I want to jump him enough that he becomes used to it and comfortable in the work but no so much as to sour him. So far he enjoys every second of it and definetly seems to prefer it over everything else. I am glad he enjoys it, it's always nice to have a horse who loves their job! If I ride later I will get my friend to get pics and maybe videos so stay tuned! I will also do an update on my other two beasties =)

On another note I am trying to get him to gain weight again. I had started feeding him just once a day when I wasn't riding as much but I am going to go back to twice a day. He seems to lose weight so quickly. He doesn't look bad by any means and I know a lot of athletic Thoroughbreds look lean but he is still not quite where I want him to be. He is definetly a hard keeper where my other two are fatties! haha The feed I use is great though so, that and the corn oil and he should pick up quickly. He also has pasture and free choice hay.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Come again....well not here for a while! :D

I rode the Moose yesterday and he did fairly well. It started off a little rough but ended very good. I knew he was gonna be hot and forward since I hadn't rode him in about 4 days. It didn't help that is was cool and windy. Still, I tacked up anyway knowing today would be nothing but rain. I started off at a good stretchy walk trying to get him to relax and pay attention. I asked him move off my legs and stretch into the contact. He was fine other than feeling strong and wanting to trot prance the entire time. Finally we picked up into a verrrrry forward trot and I kept him light and responsive but didn't ask him to get on the bit. I just let him go around like a giraffe and get his energy out as long as he wasn't pulling on me. After about five minutes of that both I asked him to stretch into the bit. At first he wanted to fight it but a few full halts and he became soft again and than we had some nice 'long and low' trotting both ways. He was a lot stronger to the right than the left but I think he has just gotten too much into a habit of trotting to the right and than going into a canter to the right so I did some transitions and changed directions a few times to get him to quit anticipating and pay attention.
He picked up his right lead the third time I asked which is great. He has always been pretty hard to get on it but he is getting better and more balanced, so more comfortable on his right lead. He was still a little strong to the right but eventually he softened and went nicely. To the left he was a perfect little angel and his canter was great. Even when we transitioned down he stayed soft and responded fluidly. We did some more leg yields and than I let him walk on a loose rein for a few minutes before we headed to jump. The last two times I had ridden him we only flatted so today I was gonna let him jump. We jump some what often but not a lot when we do and once he becomes more experienced and used to it we will only jump once a week (maybe less depending on what my trainer says) to preserve his joints. I set up some trot poles and than a small barrel jump. He is really good with the barrel jump now and handles it like a pro. I'm so happy he seems to enjoy jumping so much. He is eager to go to the jumps but rarely gets too strong and isn't hard to handle. Even when we are warming up away from them he always wants to go towards them and he perks his ears so cute when we do. After a couple small jumps I set a jump using one of the barrels upright, and a tall cone. It was the highest I have ever asked him to jump. He went towards it fine but last second wanted to go around it. I could feel he wanted to jump it but wasn't sure. I patted him and told him he was doing good and we went over the smaller jump first before approaching this one. The second time he sailed over it like a champ but clipped it with his back foot an knocked the pole down. I set it up and we went over it one more time and again he clipped it but barely. We stopped there because even though he knocked it down he tried very hard and obeyed when asked to go over it. It was almost a 3 foot jump which is big to us. I praised him a lot and cooled him out. I can't wait to do another lesson next week. This weekend I have one on Jubil, the 'steady eddy' horse and than Monday I hope to do one on Moose. I am so proud of how he is progressing, it seems so fast than sometimes I worry I am going to overface him but he takes it all in stride and I don't plan on doing anything more challenging for a while, or at least until he is completely comfortable and confident at the level we are at.

I rode the Ri man on Sunday and Monday and just exercised him. Lots and lots of long trotting. We did some rollbacks and some sidepassing just to change it up and keep him light on his feet. He was great as usual. There is a race this Saturday and if it doesn't get rained out I will likely just take him. Monday I rode him bridless with a bareback pad and we just rode around the arena by ourselves for a while. It had been a stressful week and it was nice to unwind and relax with my best friend in the entire world.
May is coming along a little by little. I dewormed her yesterday and she promptly spit a big glob right on my boot so it looked like a bird crapped on my boot or something LOL Silly mare but I love her to death. I have been trail riding her a lot to help her relax and switching it up a lot in the arena. It seems she does better on the pattern with lots of routine and consistency but better with everything else when you switch it up a lot so we have practiced about once a week than the rest of our rides are just exercising her on the trails or working on stuff in the arena: side passing, leg yields, rollbacks, lots of trotting and slow loping to take the edge off. I'm  hoping to take her to the barrel race in April. Maybe after these last few months of working on her rating will finally pay off.

Dressage Test and pictures!

 So I took a "for fun" very beginner, as low as you can get, dressage test on Sunday. It was on the Jubil, the steady eddy horse I lesson on every other week. It was a lot of fun even though I wasn't very good. By the third time I did pretty well but also jubil had figured out the drill and so that helped. She is a lot more experienced at it than I am lol Me and Moose MIGHT have our first show in April. I am not sure about all the details yet. I'll have to talk to the lady who has been training us. I'm both nervous and excited. I know we will be jumping but I think we might be doing beginner dressage too but I am not positive yet.
Moose is doing really well. He enjoyed almost a week off while I was getting everything back in order after the accident. I rode him on Tuesday and he was in a very good mood. Very fresh and forward but responsive. It was a good ride. He got a little heavy a few times out of excitement but it wasn't hard to soften him back up and rein him in.  We did mostly flat work and lots of transitions than I let him go over a few jumps which he absolutely loves. He is getting braver and picking his feet up and tucking better. I credit that to all the gymnastics we have been working on. I know also when we really start cantering over higher jumps that his knees will become more even and he will round up better. I'm hoping to be able to do a lesson on him on Monday since I missed this weeks.

Riley and May are doing great as well. I have been doing all sorts of different stuff with Riley to exercise him but keep him mentally in the game and from getting bored. I trot him out a lot on the trails which he enjoys and one day I jumped him for fun. Yesterday I just took him in the arena and let him run around and took a bunch of pics. I did the same with May. May is doing really well. The other day we had a little disagreement when she got too hyper and wasn't wanting to focus or listen at all. She was stuck on go so we did lots of circles and downward transitions until she calmed down and than I just walked her and got her moving off my leg good. We practiced barrels on Saturday night and she did really good. Each time feels like she is rating a little bit better so hopefully by the next race we will see a big improvement.

The pictures are of me and Moose jumping and just playing around and than there are some of the other two burning some steam in the arena. Enjoy :)