Merry Christmas from Me and Zoe (and the rest of the gang)!!!
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Friday, December 20, 2013
Boarding?
Yesterday I mentioned that we might be boarding my brother-in-law's horse for a few months. His family is moving to Arizona at the end of this month and his new place isn't quite ready for his horses to come along. So the thought was that he was going to ask his friends (and us) to take his horses - he has 4 of them. We said we would take one of his horses, his gelding Sisco (which happens to be Zoe's sire). We figured that middle daughter could ride him through the winter because that horse is BROKE.
Well, we got the call yesterday that my brother-in-law doesn't need us to take any horses any more. Two friends of his offered to take them and they live right around the corner so that's what he will do. It's fine that we aren't adding another mouth to feed this winter but it would've been fun for middle daughter to ride him! Hopefully the friends of brother-in-law will ride the horses so it won't be a waste of a few months.
Until next time!
Quote for the day:
"You don't take a photograph, you make it."
 |
| Wrap N Style (Sisco) APHA - Sire to Zoe! |
Well, we got the call yesterday that my brother-in-law doesn't need us to take any horses any more. Two friends of his offered to take them and they live right around the corner so that's what he will do. It's fine that we aren't adding another mouth to feed this winter but it would've been fun for middle daughter to ride him! Hopefully the friends of brother-in-law will ride the horses so it won't be a waste of a few months.
Until next time!
Quote for the day:
"You don't take a photograph, you make it."
-Ansel Adams
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Wonderful
In other news, we might be boarding my brother-in-law's horse for a few months...more details later!
Until next time!
Quote for the day:
"Do whatever you do intensely."
-Robert Henri
Monday, December 16, 2013
Condolences
Today I'm sending my condolences to a fellow horse blogger, Rebecca, at Diary of the Overanxious Horse Owner. She had to make the difficult decision of letting her horse, Junior, go. It's never an easy decision, even when it's the right decision. I feel for her as we too had to put down a couple horses too soon not too long ago. I think today is a good day to spend that extra time grooming all of my horses and take it all in again. Too often, I think, I take it for granted that I have these wonderful animals in my life. How quickly that can all change!
Until next time!
Quote for the day:
"Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations."
Until next time!
Quote for the day:
"Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations."
-Faith Baldwin
Thursday, December 12, 2013
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."
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
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Brrrr...
We are experiencing very low temps and a lot of snow right now which makes it hard to want to spend time outside. The older I get, the less I enjoy the snow - maybe one of these days our family will move somewhere where the winters are shorter and a lot less snowy!
Anyways, due to the extreme temperatures not much has been going on in horsey land at our house. Hubby is working like crazy to get our stalls finished up. All that's left are the bars. The floors are in and the walls put up. Can't wait!
I was feeding last night and it looks like Star might be losing some weight. My guess is that between Tyson and Zoe she's getting pushed off her feed (she eats the slowest). Tonight I'm gonna pull her out and feed her separately. I usually like to feed each horse separately, especially in the winter when there isn't any pasture, but without stalls it's pretty hard. I was making three piles (with their grain dishes) hoping that everyone would just stay at their pile but that's not working anymore. Needless to say, those stalls couldn't get done fast enough!
In other news, middle daughter decided that she didn't want to take riding lessons where she was at anymore. I'm not going to lie, I was upset because of selfish reasons. I really enjoyed our Monday's at the barn! I felt like the people at that barn were my kind of people and we really clicked! It was a dressage and western dressage barn but they were very accepting of everyone and their different horses and backgrounds. The way they were teaching middle daughter was very much like how I was taught to ride. But middle daughter was tired of riding on a lunge line and was bored. She felt like they did the same things over and over again. I tried to explain to her the importance of repeating the same exercises (muscle memory) but she had her mind made up. It didn't help that hubby also felt like she was moving too slow. I tried reasoning with them that rushing through could mean that important lessons might not be learned. But I was overruled and we ended lessons at that barn. I hope that one day soon I will be going there again for whatever reason, like maybe western dressage lessons??? Who knows?
Until next time!
Quote for the day:
"This is what I learned: that everybody is talented, original and has something important to say."
Anyways, due to the extreme temperatures not much has been going on in horsey land at our house. Hubby is working like crazy to get our stalls finished up. All that's left are the bars. The floors are in and the walls put up. Can't wait!
I was feeding last night and it looks like Star might be losing some weight. My guess is that between Tyson and Zoe she's getting pushed off her feed (she eats the slowest). Tonight I'm gonna pull her out and feed her separately. I usually like to feed each horse separately, especially in the winter when there isn't any pasture, but without stalls it's pretty hard. I was making three piles (with their grain dishes) hoping that everyone would just stay at their pile but that's not working anymore. Needless to say, those stalls couldn't get done fast enough!
In other news, middle daughter decided that she didn't want to take riding lessons where she was at anymore. I'm not going to lie, I was upset because of selfish reasons. I really enjoyed our Monday's at the barn! I felt like the people at that barn were my kind of people and we really clicked! It was a dressage and western dressage barn but they were very accepting of everyone and their different horses and backgrounds. The way they were teaching middle daughter was very much like how I was taught to ride. But middle daughter was tired of riding on a lunge line and was bored. She felt like they did the same things over and over again. I tried to explain to her the importance of repeating the same exercises (muscle memory) but she had her mind made up. It didn't help that hubby also felt like she was moving too slow. I tried reasoning with them that rushing through could mean that important lessons might not be learned. But I was overruled and we ended lessons at that barn. I hope that one day soon I will be going there again for whatever reason, like maybe western dressage lessons??? Who knows?
Until next time!
Quote for the day:
"This is what I learned: that everybody is talented, original and has something important to say."
-Brenda Ueland
Friday, December 6, 2013
Ok, Ok, I know...Bad Blogger!
I have many updates to do with little time it seems! Anyways, I might as well start somewhere!
Melody (the new baby) is doing great! She's an amazing little horse! Ok, I have to back up...her health is ok. We took her to the vet because her runny nose kept coming back and she was coughing. The vet gave her a shot of an antibiotic to clear up whatever she had. The gunk in her eyes is gone and hasn't returned but the cough and runny nose has returned since then. So we need to get another shot to try and clear this up. She is still by herself because I don't want her to expose the other horses to what she has. That's all I need is four sick horses!!! Other than her nose and cough, she's great! She's been leading great and picking up her feet most of the time when asked. Nothing much phases her at all! The other day hubby was working in the barn in her pen with a cordless drill. She followed him everywhere and hubby thought he would see what she would do if he showed her the drill. She sniffed it, so he turned it on. Nothing. She just stood there. He moved it up to her ears and turned it on. Nothing. Moved it all over her body while turned on and nothing. She didn't care. I don't think Zoe would let me do that to her without throwing a fit and she's had clippers used on her before! I have to say, though, that Melody isn't perfect. The other day I was leading her back to her pen in the barn and the dog scared her for a second. She tried to run past me but stopped as soon as there was pressure on the lead. She is a curious little horse too - always interested in whatever we are doing. She has to either stick her nose in it or put her foot on it. She makes me laugh or smile every day!
So how are things with Zoe? Like I mentioned, Zoe had the first week off due to poor weather. But as soon as the weather cleared up and the outdoor was decent for riding, we got to work. The first time I brought her into the barn to work, she was extremely nervous. I tied her at the hitching post and got her all groomed. I left her side to get the saddle and while in the tack room I heard a big ruckus going on. I looked out and there she was standing with her eyes as big as saucers without the lead rope attached. Thankfully hubby was there and grabbed her right away. I grabbed another lead rope and went out to see what happened. Hubby said she just flew back for no reason that he saw and snapped the lead rope. He agreed to hold her while I saddled up. Zoe was on edge, big time! I lunged her until I could see she had her mind again and then jumped up in the saddle. She felt pretty good! She really relaxed into the work and we were able to get some good work done. Once she was soft, moving out and listening consistently I called it quits.
The next day I took her out, she wasn't as edgy but still a little more up than normal. Hubby came out to help again, this time he wrapped the lead rope around the post and held the other end. She tried to fly backwards again but he held on (we used a heavy duty lead) and she went nowhere. She stopped and then just stood there and waiting for me to groom and tack up. I lunged her for a short bit and then got on. Did a lot of the same stuff as the day before. It didn't take as long this time to get to the same place as the day before so I thought we would end with some neck reining practice.
It rained that night so the following day the outdoor still had some big puddles. I groomed Zoe and tacked her up without any incidents. Her lunging session was short but this time it was because the footing was slippery. I didn't dare ask her to canter on the lung when she was slipping at the trot. I got on and decided that neck reining would be the work order for the day. She was really getting it!
Sadly I haven't had many more rides since then. Our weather has been awful making the outdoor arena a mess! I really need to get Zoe trailered to an indoor! So what's been holding me back from spending more time in the saddle? Life and weather. Plain and simple. But there's a light at the end of that tunnel...
In the world of Star and Tyson there hasn't been much going on. It occurred to me that Star was the only horse of mine that hadn't gotten her teeth done yet this year so I brought her to the vet last week and got that done. I chose to trailer her there so that she could be in a heated barn while being sedated. The vet didn't use hardly any sedation (enough for only 300 lbs) and she was a good girl - she always is! Tyson is his happy, fat and sassy self.
In other news, remember how I said hubby was working in the barn? Well that's because he's building me new stalls, tack and feed room!
Aren't these stalls going to be awesome?
Until next time!
Quote for the day:
"Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age."
Melody (the new baby) is doing great! She's an amazing little horse! Ok, I have to back up...her health is ok. We took her to the vet because her runny nose kept coming back and she was coughing. The vet gave her a shot of an antibiotic to clear up whatever she had. The gunk in her eyes is gone and hasn't returned but the cough and runny nose has returned since then. So we need to get another shot to try and clear this up. She is still by herself because I don't want her to expose the other horses to what she has. That's all I need is four sick horses!!! Other than her nose and cough, she's great! She's been leading great and picking up her feet most of the time when asked. Nothing much phases her at all! The other day hubby was working in the barn in her pen with a cordless drill. She followed him everywhere and hubby thought he would see what she would do if he showed her the drill. She sniffed it, so he turned it on. Nothing. She just stood there. He moved it up to her ears and turned it on. Nothing. Moved it all over her body while turned on and nothing. She didn't care. I don't think Zoe would let me do that to her without throwing a fit and she's had clippers used on her before! I have to say, though, that Melody isn't perfect. The other day I was leading her back to her pen in the barn and the dog scared her for a second. She tried to run past me but stopped as soon as there was pressure on the lead. She is a curious little horse too - always interested in whatever we are doing. She has to either stick her nose in it or put her foot on it. She makes me laugh or smile every day!
So how are things with Zoe? Like I mentioned, Zoe had the first week off due to poor weather. But as soon as the weather cleared up and the outdoor was decent for riding, we got to work. The first time I brought her into the barn to work, she was extremely nervous. I tied her at the hitching post and got her all groomed. I left her side to get the saddle and while in the tack room I heard a big ruckus going on. I looked out and there she was standing with her eyes as big as saucers without the lead rope attached. Thankfully hubby was there and grabbed her right away. I grabbed another lead rope and went out to see what happened. Hubby said she just flew back for no reason that he saw and snapped the lead rope. He agreed to hold her while I saddled up. Zoe was on edge, big time! I lunged her until I could see she had her mind again and then jumped up in the saddle. She felt pretty good! She really relaxed into the work and we were able to get some good work done. Once she was soft, moving out and listening consistently I called it quits.
The next day I took her out, she wasn't as edgy but still a little more up than normal. Hubby came out to help again, this time he wrapped the lead rope around the post and held the other end. She tried to fly backwards again but he held on (we used a heavy duty lead) and she went nowhere. She stopped and then just stood there and waiting for me to groom and tack up. I lunged her for a short bit and then got on. Did a lot of the same stuff as the day before. It didn't take as long this time to get to the same place as the day before so I thought we would end with some neck reining practice.
It rained that night so the following day the outdoor still had some big puddles. I groomed Zoe and tacked her up without any incidents. Her lunging session was short but this time it was because the footing was slippery. I didn't dare ask her to canter on the lung when she was slipping at the trot. I got on and decided that neck reining would be the work order for the day. She was really getting it!
Sadly I haven't had many more rides since then. Our weather has been awful making the outdoor arena a mess! I really need to get Zoe trailered to an indoor! So what's been holding me back from spending more time in the saddle? Life and weather. Plain and simple. But there's a light at the end of that tunnel...
In the world of Star and Tyson there hasn't been much going on. It occurred to me that Star was the only horse of mine that hadn't gotten her teeth done yet this year so I brought her to the vet last week and got that done. I chose to trailer her there so that she could be in a heated barn while being sedated. The vet didn't use hardly any sedation (enough for only 300 lbs) and she was a good girl - she always is! Tyson is his happy, fat and sassy self.
In other news, remember how I said hubby was working in the barn? Well that's because he's building me new stalls, tack and feed room!
Aren't these stalls going to be awesome?
Until next time!
Quote for the day:
"Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age."
-Booth Tarkington
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