Our Senior

I seem to not be able to write very well lately.  I started writing a post about senior horses, but I just don’t have the steam to pull through making it what it should be, right now. 

I will tell you that my senior horse (I say senior because she has the wisdom and graciousness of humans and horses alike in their older years), Errika now 24, makes me smile all the time.  My mom and I spent a good time grooming the happy mare yesterday.  She stood for us for about an hour while we groomed her from head to toe.  Some people wonder why we like to spend hours primping her, when she’s isn’t going to a show.  Well first off Errika enjoys this detailed grooming time very much.  You don’t have to know her to know how much she likes it.  I usually like to find a nice quiet place to do this with her.  I don’t like to tie her up unless it’s at the wash rack for a bath.  Normally we do this in her field, to her discretion.  I’ll bring all the supplies out and walk them back and go to her.  Yesterday we did it however in the round pen.  I am very happy that I do have the time to dedicate to her.  But it’s always been something I’ve strongly believed in.  That when you take on a horse you dedicate yourself completely to it.  All horses are special, I’m just lucky enough to say I have my own special one to take care of.

I just don’t feel that because a horse is not showing or because a horse is not a show horse doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be treated great like one.  The majority of the ’senior care’ post I was working on focused on the fact that senior horses should still continue to get just as much love and attention that they got when they were winning ribbons.  

On another topic I’m just synonymous for getting cancelled on.  I was going to ride that horse yesterday but the owner said she forgot and well I ended up not riding.  I’m not worried about it though, I’m flexible enough where if people’s lives require their time suddenly, I can accomodate.  But hopefully soon I’ll ride :). 

I hope everyone has a great weekend :). 

Days of Play

Yesterday, the weather was odd.  It rained last night…huh?  Such nice, sunny, warm spring weather and here comes a sudden batch of rain.  At first when I went outside last night, I thought it might just be mist from heavy fog, but there wasn’t a lot of fog.  It got worse and worse and I actually had to use my wind-shield wipers!  It wasn’t enough to cause a mucky mess again in the field, but I haven’t been over there today to see the horses. 

 Now yesterday, one of my favorite type of horse days.  Matt and I stopped at the mini-mart for a drink and snacks and then got to the barn, walked to the back and sat in the field while we drank and ate.  At first the horses were very curious as to what they thought we brought them.  When we walked across to the grassier side that is a tiny hill and sat, the two horses watched us with facsination.  For about five minutes they stood still watching.  Then Ink decided he wanted to come hang with us, so he walked over to where we were, sniffed what we had, realizing it wasn’t something he liked, then put his head down and started grazing by us.  Normally Ink is such a lazy butt.  He won’t walk anywhere he doesn’t haveto.  Errika stayed behind, I figured because she probably knew what was on my mind.  After Matt and I got done eating and took the horses’ blankets off, he would give me a leg up on Errika and I’d walk her to the barn to ride in the arena.  Plus Errika probably knew that Ink would probably push her away, because he’s just like that. 

I rode Errika up and we followed Matt and Ink to the round pen.  Matt was going to lunge Ink while I watched before I went into the arena.  Well Ink did look good, he’s still slightly off, but he did look nice otherwise.  It was his best “normal” appearance.  I wanted Matt to work on how Ink responded to the cues for the different gaits.  But the highlight was when they were all done and Matt asked Ink to walk and then come to him, and Ink walked with his head low, a little concerned if he was doing right and put his head right at Matt’s stomach.  Matt rubbed his head and told him he was a good boy.  Both of them were proud of each-other.  Matt looked over to me smiling.  I wish I could have gotten a picture. 

I rode Errika in the arena for about 10 minutes, but it got boring.  Matt and I took Errika into the round pen and we all hung out in there together.  I rode Errika while Matt stood with Ink and then we played this game where the first person who could get their horse to halt from the trot first, won. 

Then we cleaned stalls and made grain.  That was about it for yesterday. 

 We will probably do the same thing today, or similar. 

The skies are all blue now :).  Spring forward, daylight savings, is sooo nice! 

The Icing

Hi everyone, I am blogging a little late in the week than planned.  But I’m here to update you on the most current situation.  I wanted to personally thank Jessica of http://equuspalaverous.wordpress.com/ for helping me out with Ink through email :). 

Meghan didn’t end up coming on Sunday.  She called me in the morning to tell me that the mare who she’d been waiting for nearly 3 weeks to give birth, finally did.  I really was looking forward to her coming out, but I can only imagine how exhausted one must be after sleeping in the barn for that long waiting for a mare to foal.

On Monday Matt and I brought the horses out and free lunged them in the arena.  Ink was a happy, competitive, horse following Errika around the arena.  He threw some massive bucks as usual and played catch up with the frisky Arab mare.  

I’m feeling much better about what’s been going on.  I am pretty sure I took it hard because for the first time I had someone tell me that he just might not be “it.”  “It” I guess means the nice, sound OTTB who takes his rider to some Dressage and Jumping shows. 

“It’s” not an “It” anyway.  “He” is a beautiful creature with secrets to share that have only yet been starting to unfold.  He could take me over a thousand jumps and we could ride some awesome tests, but at the end of the day, he is still an animal.  He is still Ink and I won’t know who he is just by knowing what it’s like to ride him. 

I have actually learned things from horses from cleaning up their poop.  I’m now cleaning stalls for the barn where the horses are kept to help cover board.  There is only four stalls inside the barn, but I love each horse in there.  Especially one.  His name is Bucky and I’ve known him since he was a wee lad.  I used to play with him through a fence when he was kept in the field next to Errika and he would follow me around the field he was in when I would go in there.  I’ve never rode him, don’t have any plans to.  Well besides he’s one of the young ones in training.  When I’m cleaning out his stall he is so into what’s going on and what I’m doing.  I often times have to remind him to stay on one side of the stall while I’m cleaning out the other because he will smell my hair and walk in front of me for his favorite, wither itching. 

 I know that based on just spending time with horses doing some of the most, not the highlight of things to do, I can get to know those horses.  I’ve gotten to know Errika a lot just by spending time with her doing things other than riding.  Like enjoying sitting with her in the field, having a picnic with her, or my favorite - going over at night in a storm to bring her in for a few hours of grooming and dry time.  Ok, no that is not my favorite, but I’m sure she likes it.

Riding has been the second thing for us.  It’s been a lot of fun and I can’t tell you how awesome it is to ride her bareback.  I laugh so hard I swear I’m going to fall off.  I probably will one of these days, God knows I’ve come close!  I feel safe, whole, ful-filled and confident when we ride.  But again it’s just the icing on the cake.  There is a whole bunch of other goodness underneath the icing. 

Productive Ride

The dark skies are depressing.  I really miss the sun :(. 

My mom and I rode yesterday.  She rode Errika and I had a great ride on Ink! 

It was very productive, I worked on getting his neck and body to bend on circles, since he is a little stiff going right and tends to fall on his shoulder.  His jaw is really breaking loose and he goes on the bit much more easily now. I don’t ask much of him in terms of going on the bit at this point because he needs a lot of time to develop those muscles to hold it, but he’s getting the response down very well.  This was mostly done at the walk and I will continue to do that during the beginning and end of the rides. 

This is really funny..  Ink has been doing this a lot lately after we get done riding.  He will lift his back leg like a dog and stick his neck out and waits for me to scratch his belly.  He loooves his belly scratched, it’s just now he’s holding his leg up for me before I even do it! 

After I rode and un-tacked and scratched his belly, Matt let him out in the arena to roll.  It always feels good to him I’m sure, without his blankets on.  Apparently he had a lot of energy left and ran back and fourth after rolling bucking hugely as usual.  Then showing off his flashy trotting skills, haha. 

It rained today and is supposed to throughout the week, but it’s nothing bad as of now, so I think I’m going to head over there now to ride the big guy. 

Equine Love “Ham”

I hope you all had a great Valentines day!!  I had a nice, relaxing one.  Because last year at this time I didn’t have my license, I swore that when I did, I would get out there more for people.  I took some money that my dad gave me for keeping the house in order while my mom was away and bought balloons and had them blown up for friends/family.  Weeks earlier when the Valentines day stuff first hit the shelves, I bought some $1 items from Wal-Mart.  I bought this really cute goodie bags that had these bears on them, balloons with hearts on them, the v-day kids cards that come in a box and some candy (that by the way wasn’t a dollar lol.)  I ended up tying the balloons to the bags, which I put the candy and a card in and taking them to people.  The first one I took my dad at work, then to my older brother at work, then I went to my Grandma’s and brought her one.  She lives in a nice care home, it’s actually a house and that was my first time visiting her alone.  I enjoyed it as did she.  It was a great surprise for her.  I also picked out a bouquet of balloons for my mom at the place where I got them blown up and had two cards I previously got to give to her.  One was funny and the other was a really nice one. 

Matt and I had a nice day.  After I dropped the V-day things off, I met him for lunch at his work. 

After he got off work I surprised him when he got to my house with a balloon, his valentines gift and a card.  I bought a bunch of those Reeses candy hearts and put them in a bag for his gift.  Matt LOVES Reeeses so it was perfect, for a guy. 

The two of us then went over to see the horses and drop hay off.  I gave them each a kiss, even took a short bareback ride on Errika and headed home for dinner.  My mom, Matt, Klint and I had Chinese food, take-out.  It was yummy. 

Well today my mom and I went over to see the horses and ride.  It was a nice day. 

I was offered to ride a horse from the neighbor at the place where the horses are kept.  A hotter Thoroughbred mare.  Currently being trained in eventing.  I was delighted.  Emphasizing on her Dressage.  So we’ll see how that goes. 

I’m going to have that girl come over, hopefully this week, for a lesson and then our friend’s daughter might also come over for a lesson. 

Matt’s mom got me a Valentines day gift and she told me today what it was…  I’m going to get a facial!  Yay, I’ve never had one before.  I’m excited :D.  I wasn’t expecting anything, let alone a facial.  But wow, so neat!

I have a lot of pictures from today, but I still have to upload them, so I’ll have them up by Sunday or Monday.

I’m going tomorrow to go over-night camping with Matt. 

Man oh Man

Back to the drawing board I suppose.  I’m on the job hunt again, and I’m really contemplating work at a barn, unless it’s one that is owned by people who know nothing about horses and need someone to manage it.  The position I was offered ended up not being exactly for me.  I’ll end it at that really.  Even after working only 4 days total, I felt like I neglected my horses and missed them.  I feel so much better being able to go to this private place where I keep my horses and do what I want.  That sounds a little nieve, but I have developed my own ways of going about things and I just like being able to keep my horses on a schedule for exercise and all the other things that come along with responsible horse ownership.  Hmm.  So Ink might be moving to the other barn, where Meghan is, this month.  I need to persue that and work out the details, because I will be working to pay off some or all of the pasture board. 

Today Ink did some more free jumping and he was going over them perfectly and only knocked a rail once.  He’s smart when he approaches a jump.  Still green of course sometimes he comes in to late, but he saves or corrects himself really well.  He jumped 3′6″ today with ease.  I turned out Errika in the arena after we were done and she was a ball of energy.  Then Matt “attempted” to clip Ink.  He just wanted to practice so I let him re-clip Ink.  Meghan did it about 2 months ago.   

Our Halloween

I brought both Ink and Errika a carrot for Halloween.  =D  Ink started getting really grumpy because he thought, when he finished it, that I had more and was teasing him..  Another thing we suspect came from the track.  He wanted to come up to the barn, he had more energy than he usually does.  Ink stood in the cross-ties impatiently in the beginning.  He was getting really fed up with the flies that were around. 

I was there alone because my mom had to run to the bank.  I tacked Ink up, and for the season and for Halloween, I used the nice suede caramel colored pad =).  I took Errika with us to Ink’s field and she herself was pretty frisky.  When I let her go she cantered to the other end and then suddenly went down to graze and for the rest of the time she was back there with her head down munching away.

I rode for a little bit, doing the collection.  Again it went fantastic.  Matt and my mom both got to the barn around the same time, so they both came back.  Matt was going to put in a new float for Ink’s water bucket.  When he was done I decided to end short and go up to the round pen.  We did canter to trot transitions free lunging.  After only 3 times of asking for it, Ink got it and was doing it no problem.  Then Matt lunged him by himself to see if Ink would join-up with him.  Here are the pictures I took!

So, the haunted house thing that we built at our house was a hit!  There was a lot of people that came.  I had to be the line holder, because we couldn’t let too many people in there at once.  My older brother, Matt, Klint, Ryan and Kevin were inside dressed up scaring people, it was great! 

Akhal-Teke; Meeting Attley

 In the spirit of Halloween….

 

May I introduce you to, Sophie.. The barn “Grain Monster.”

She looks so cute and harmless…. Then…….

I don’t have any pictures, unfortunately, but today I met a 2y/o buckskin Akhal-Teke named Attley.  My brothers girlfriend owns him, lucky!  =D

Sabrina said she just measured him and he stands at 15.3hh right now, at two!  I’m used to being around 14hh 2y/o QH’s at the barn, so it was sure a site to see this leggy creature.  He reminds me a lot of Ink, curious, mouthy; picking everything up for a sample, and playful.  Sabrina said both his parents are jumpers, and his sire was huge, well over 16hh.  Attley is a gorgeous horse, and just by looking at him you could tell he’s special.  I would love to have him as a project horse, or even as my own hehe =D.  We’ll see if Sabrina will be willing to sell him later on..  He can’t be ridden for a few more years, so there is plenty of time for lots of ground work.  Sabrina had him out in the round pen working with a big blue tarp, which he had no problem with. 

I’m going to go check on him when my family and Sabrina and Kirk (my older brother) go out of town for a wedding.  Yay, absolutely!

I had to hurry when I went to see the horses and give them their grain.  I needed to get home to get ready for my Equine Nutrition class tonight.  I put Errika on the hot walker, and walked back to Ink.  Just to grab his grain bucket and scurry back up to the barn.  But I did manage to throw a few kisses, pats, and hugs in there!  He walked right up to me, and put his head at my chest, it was the cutest thing.  I wanted to stay and hang out with him until dark, but I couldn’t =(. 

Needless to say I hurried back up, whipped the grain together, put Errika’s blanket back on and then put her away, and left. 

I plan on riding tomorrow, just working on the same collection stuff with Ink, but I also feel like just hanging out with him and maybe fit in a join-up before and then after.  I have decided that, based on common sense and what I have learned at class, I am just going to do light work, the collection, for this next month to help him continue to gain weight and get this solid.  He’ll probably get bored so I’ll have to mix it up quite a bit. 

Field Schooling & First Join-Up

Me and Ink went back out in the field today to work on going on collection.  It was an absolute success just like yesterday.  =)  I was very proud of him.  So instead of boring you with all the details, which aren’t many anyway, I will share with you the pictures from today.  Please excuse my horrid position and leg. 

Then….

Matt and I took him into the round pen after I un-tacked him, because I wanted to try free lunging him for the first time in the round pen.  He totally got it, and was going around, even picking up the canter quickly after the verbal “canter”, kiss, and then whip ques!  Ink was awesome, such a smart horse, I didn’t know he knew all those things that well. 

It quickly turned into a join-up.  I just wanted to try it, so Matt left the round pen.  We did a successful join-up! 

Then hanging out together, and giving loves =)

 

Green Grass Jubilee

Today was super.  I have to say my favorite days are Sundays spent with the horses.  The day was long and relaxing, and the sun was out and bright.  During the earlier part of the afternoon it was warm, and when I went out to get Ink, he was drenched in sweat.  Matt, on accident, completely ripped Ink’s light cotton sheet that I put on him during the warmer days and not so cold nights.  I also use it on really cold nights underneath the thicker blanket.  But it’s no more =[.  Beyond repairable.  

Anyway, lets get back to the story shall we?  I brought him up and was un-decided as to what to do, a bath or let him dry then groom him?  Matt brought out Errika and Klint came and joined us on the grassy area by the hot walker.

 It was quite fun =).  Matt laid by Errika as she grazed and occasionally took a break to blow warm air on him and engage it was seemed like a non-verbal form of a conversation.  Klint held Ink (this all while I had to take photos instead of join in!) and he kept his head down munching away without a care in the world. 

Silly Matt. 

I was experimenting with the camera settings, that’s one example of what I was trying. ^

Me and Errika, finally our turn!

The four of us! 

Errika’s #1, and she totally approves =D

More of my experimental photography

After that fun Matt and I decided to give Ink a bath. 

Ahhhh!  Ink loves his belly itched!

Massage and bath, oh my!

And what happened next?  Well Ink spent a little while on the hot walker with a bud, then Errika got to go on there too.  Ink was sun-drying.  Then after about 30minutes he was dry and ready to go.  I didn’t plan on riding, but I was thinking about doing some more of our softening stuff and try the collection out back in his field.  So, because it was just too nice of a day and it overall felt good, I took a go at it.  We made a lot of progress, it was just fantastic.  He was actually collecting by himself, with very little pressure and contact, and going on the bit!  I made sure I rewarded him every-time he softened and went on the bit in the beginning and once he had that down I worked up to doing it in longer increments, then once he was consistent I rewarded him by doing the usual; releasing all contact, pressure, telling him was a good boy, patting him, and then collecting back up in around 5 seconds, sometimes a little longer if we were working longer.  I had a blast as well, and Ink’s mood changed when we went to un-tack in the barn.  He was happy and I could tell confident and proud, as was I =).