Hello!

Just a quick picture of Zoe and me!  We are doing great and loving the beautiful weather we are finally getting!  It was official bath day for ALL horses last weekend and they all were very well behaved.  Melody didn't have any freak outs and enjoyed the scrubbing - she's so dang cute!

I have more updates but have to get outside and get some riding done before our friends come over...they brought our bull, Bo, home from Oklahoma...

Until next time!



Quote for the day:
"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."

-Helen Keller

Melody's Turn!

Melody's biggest hang up right now is mud puddles so we tried to cross a puddle that was by the barn door leading to the turn out where Star was.  Her first time through she jumped it and bumped into me.  So we turned around and went back into the barn.  She spooked on the way in because one of our rodeo bulls was next to the gate by the barn and he spooked.  At this point she was getting frisky.

We headed back out across the puddle...she RAN through the puddle, right past me and when she got the end of the lead it brought her to a sudden stop.  I turned her to go back inside and she gave me a half rear and tried to go the opposite direction.  I held my ground and was able to keep her feet moving by zig zag walking in the direction of the barn.  We went back into the barn and it was no big deal this time.  Then back out of the barn like she'd never had an issue at all.  The only time we have gate issues is when there is a puddle so I really don't think gates are her issue...just puddles.

I figured that was good for today and let her go out with Star...meanwhile Zoe has been calling and screaming for Star the entire time (I had put her in her stall).  So when I went to get Zoe back out I could see she was seriously stressed about being away from Star.  She was covered in sweat (not from when I worked her because I had her dried out before I put her away) and had paced by the stall door to the point that the shavings had been pushed back.

I put her halter on (which she dove into) and lead her out.  She was a very good girl so I let her be with her friends.  I guess she has become buddy sour over the winter so we will have to work on that.  Might have to pasture her by herself like we did before when we were training.  I do that because if she gets insecure in her training or work, I want her to look to me for security and not rely on her buddies waiting for her.  Make sense to anyone?

Well that's all for now!

Until next time!


Quote for the day:
"I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

-Thomas A. Edison

Over the Weekend

This post isn't about my horses - sorry.  Instead it's gonna be about our bucking bulls.  I hope you don't mind reading about those crazy animals too!

Over the weekend we took our two youngest bulls on the farm to buck them with a dummy.  A dummy is a small metal box with a cinch on it to keep it on the bull.  It has a pin that holds the flank strap (the rope tied around the back end of the bull - not his testicles!!) on and you push a button on what looks like a garage door opener and the whole contraption falls off.  We use a dummy on our young bulls who aren't big enough to handle the weight of a rider to help us determine if the bulls are gonna buck.  If they buck we keep them and raise them up.  We might buck them a few more times to make sure they are getting better, not worse.  If they don't buck we usually bring them to the local sale barn.  Unfortunately, that's part of the business.  Anyways, we drove a couple hours south of us to an indoor bucking arena.  Some friends also loaded up their two young bulls on our trailer and off we went!  More back story - the two young bulls that our friends took actually used to be ours.  They bought them from a third party - small world - before we really knew them very well. 

Back to the story...one of the two bulls that we took had already been bucked earlier this year.  He did pretty good so we kept him.  The other bull we took along was a weanling and had never been bucked before.  We had no idea what to expect from him.  Both of the bulls were pretty gentle as far as bucking bulls go.  Neither of them will try to charge you and will even eat out of your hand (if you're on the other side of the fence/gate)!  The weanling is small compared to the rest of the bulls that were bucked that day, and him being white and fluffy (his winter fur) didn't help his cause either.  Everyone, us included, didn't have very high expectations for him but boy did he surprise us all!  While trying to strap the dummy on the bull, there was a guy IN the chute WITH him and another guy practically doing a HEADSTAND on top of him in order to secure the dummy and flank because the dummy was too big for him and then he put on quite the performance!  He EXPLODED out of the chute, bucking, twisting, leaping, kicking and jumping really high in the air!    I think he was one of the top five bulls that we bucked that day!  His name went from Powder Puff to Power Puff! 

The other bull we brought, Stubby, also did very well.  He did better than his first time out so we are happy with that!  He 'turned back' one jump out of the gate and got to spinning!  Our friends' bulls did pretty good too!  One of them had a lot of kick!  The other one I didn't care for but that's my opinion.  I'm not sure what they will do with him but I know they are keeping the one with kick for sure.

There were horses at this barn too - about 15 of them.  One was a beautiful grulla paint mare with a white face.  She was big and oh so sweet.  She had a filly on her side still who was a tri-color paint with a white face and one blue eye!  She was neat looking!  If we had room, I would've loaded both of them up and took them home!  Beautiful!!!  Those two really stood out but all of the horses were very friendly and good looking - even in their winter fuzzies!  The barn had about 30 stalls on one side of the arena that were getting old and needed a little TLC but definitely still nice.  I bet that place was gorgeous in its hayday!  I enjoy looking at barns/stables!  Gives me so many ideas for my own barn, ya know?  I guess the story is that the old guy built the place for his barrel racing daughter.  He passed away recently and now it barely gets used anymore so that's probably why it's getting run down now.  So much potential there!

It was another COLD day and I had a hard time getting warm after we were done.  The entire 2 hour ride home I was still cold.  After we got home, we had to feed all of the animals which made me even more cold.  I don't think I got warm until 5am...and then we were out in the barn again working.  I guess that's the way it goes when you live on a farm in the winter!

Until next time!


Quote for the day:
"The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire."

-Richard M. Nixon