I love my ponies!

I might complain about my ponies from time to time but I really do think they are great! The more we look for a horse for DH the more I realize how wonderful mine are.

Saturday we went for a short family ride (DH, Chase and I). Lucy was pretty excited to get out and go so she was out in front just clipping along with Chase behind us and DH and Black bringing up the rear.

My “alignment” issues with Lucy are getting resolved. She only veered left a few times and when she did she was easily corrected. The few times that she did do it more then two times within a very short period I decided to spin her to the right to get my point across a little clearer. She decided to listen to my message and for the rest of the ride unless we were stopping or giving my hand was in her mane.

Black decided to pull a few tricks out w/DH but he decided to listen to me so she decided to just go ahead and go down the road happily. I think the light bulb went off for him as well and he realized that by micromanaging he’s also making things harder for himself. The rest of the ride she was great for him.

Abby was wonderful but when we got back we had Chase trot her in the RP for a while just to lock in the fact that out on the road is a great place to be.

Lucy’s stop off of the rein is getting so much better! She’s finally learning that the release comes when she softens her face (before she would have her head up and she’d back up). I can only imagine how nice she’d be if I actually worked her on a regular basis.

When we got back I practiced throwing a rope off of her. It was a big difference for me going from the ground to a horse but she stood very well (almost fell asleep) while I practiced.

The search is on

Even though DH’s back is bothering him, the thought of him not having a horse is just too much for him to take so the search is on. I’ve been trying to talk him into just using Black until he heals up but I don’t think that is going to happen so now I’m trying to talk him into trying 100 horses before he makes a decision so he can feel the difference in them instead of just buying the first one he rides.

The one thing he has done is decided he’s ok with mares now (in the past he has hated mares). I still wish he’d look for a gelding but I’m glad he’s no longer against mares. Saturday we did go look at a mare. She was 5 and had been used to drag calves to the branding fire in South Dakota when she was younger. The weather this weekend was pretty nasty but they had an indoor so I still wanted to try her (figured she’d probably be at her worst with this weather).

The gentleman that showed us to her was very nice & seemed very honest. He said she didn’t want to get caught earlier but he had her up and brushed off for us. I asked him to saddle her up and ride her first. He saddled her nicely (didn’t just yank the cinch up like most) and when he got on he proceeded to bend her into a circle. You could tell she was hot and wanted to go and he didn’t stay in a trot very long before he moved her up into a fast trot and then into a lope.

Her stop was ok. She rooted a little and didn’t stop on a dime but once she was stopped she rolled back on her hocks and backed up fast with her head tucked. He tried to do some spins with her but it was more of a hop the butt over, hop the front end over then it was a plant the ass end and move the front end around. Her side pass was ok but she needed to catch her butt end up.

After that he hopped off and DH got on (in his saddle). He immediately took off trotting and then she broke into a lope. DH stopped her and backed her up but as soon as he released the reins she was off in a trot again and then back into a lope. *I* couldn’t figure out WTF he was doing. I could tell her trotting was starting to jar his back but he decided to try to throw a rope off of her anyways. Needless to say she pretty much ended up speeding up quickly until she was in a lope and he was stopping her again.

He finally got off and it was my turn (with his saddle – yuck). When I started off I started bending her. She was very soft in her mouth and she was very responsive to leg cues. I started trotting her down the side and then asked for her hip. Boom! She moved it right over. Then we went the other way and I asked for it. Boom! She moved it right over. Then I moved her into the center and asked her to bend around my leg. When she was doing that well I applied my outside leg and boom! She went right into a correct spin (not to gloat or anything but I think she moved better for me then she did w/her owner). I asked on the other side and got the same results.

Then I decided to lope a bit. Her lope was quicker. When I asked the owner if she’d go like this all day he replied yes. That wasn’t the answer I wanted. Lol After a few laps she did start to slow down. I loved her back! She never once drug her feet and she backed up quickly. I had DH hand me the rope and when I first started swinging it she wanted to walk off. I asked her to stop and she did so I continued to swing it. It didn’t take her long to realize that I wanted her to just stand still and the more I swung the rope the lower her head got.

On the way home DH asked me what I thought. I told him he honestly didn’t want to know but he pestered me so I told him. I thought the mare was a very nice mare. A little on the hot side but nothing that I don’t think a week of the ORS and passenger lesson wouldn’t fix. But with all of that said I told DH that unless he changed his style of riding that wasn’t the horse for him.

I think he was tense and had a lot of leg contact (even though he swears he didn’t) and I think she though he wanted her to go. I think DH rides with more contact then he realizes (and more then I realized) and I’m hoping by trying out a few horses he’ll realize that. Don’t get me wrong, she was very sensitive and it didn’t take anything to get her to go (I’m glad I told him to take his spurs off) but at the same time isn’t that what we ultimately want?

This is driving me bonkers because I see the potential in this mare. Don’t worry, I told DH that he needed to find a horse that fit him. I told him my ponies have been on the back burner for too long and it is time for them to come first. We have a few that we are going to go look at this weekend. They are higher priced (of course) but they also have more cattle experience too.

My baby is growing up!

Cat is growing up. She’s two now but she’s a very small two year old. Well that is what I thought when she was over at MIL’s but having her at home next to Lu and Abby she doesn’t look so small.

While I don’t plan on actually backing her until next year I’ve decided there is no reason why I can’t have everything minus actually getting on done with her this year. So last night I decided to saddle her up to see what she thought. We did a little bit of RPing first (in my little square pen) and she didn’t do too badly for not being RP’d in a while.

Then I put the saddle and the pad in the middle of the pen and let her sniff, lick, paw, or do whatever she wanted to do to it. We worked on tightening the rope around her belly and when I didn’t get a reaction I decided to go forth!

Here is what she thought of the saddle.



She thought about crow hopping once but I think she decided that would be too much effort and just kept cantering. I flapped the stirrups – no problem. I left it on her for about an hour and then we took a walk down the road with it and I sent her up and down the ditches with it on. She really could have cared less.

I told MIL and DH if I have problems breaking her out next year I don’t need to be breaking colts anymore!

She’s going to start going to the ropings and learning how to tie patiently while the other horses work. I need to start exposing her to more stuff. She’s a good girl though and she retains so much that I have faith she’ll be a very good mount when the time comes.

Gotta Love Spring!

Tues. we went over to the roping arena. I let DH and Chase start out while Ty and I sat at the trailer. I tied Lucy up on a post in the arena next to a few other horses so she could just stand.

Abby immediately perked up (although she didn’t want to speed up) and did well tracking. Chase wanted to throw his rope but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. He always whacks Abby on the butt with it since he can’t get it high enough so right now she needs some desensitizing and he needs to learn how to throw it better.

I think DH (and a few other guys) were surprised by Black. He roped a few off of her and even dallied off a couple of times (he started off w/his breakaway). The only problem he had with her was getting her into a lope and that was just because he was being too nice IMO. He’s afraid he’s going to hurt her but I don’t think it will kill her.

He hopped off and I jumped on Lu. Boy does she perk up when we are around cattle! But on the flip side she also forgets a lot of her training. Her “whoa” sucked! I decided not to ride her very long. I was starting to accept less a then favorable performance from her in order to play and decided I needed to take it down a notch before I let her learn that she didn’t have to listen to me when we were around cows.

DH’s back was bothering him so I hopped on Black and persuaded her to lope. She wasn’t too happy with my persuasion and proceeded to let me know but I won and she loped. I tried to throw a few but missed. I’m going to try to get my first lesson in next week. She told me I could bring my horse but I think we’ll start with me first. I need to get Lu listening to me 100% of the time before I decide to try to rope off of her.

I do plan on taking her over and just letting her track the cows from time to time but I need to start working with her more consistently and expecting more from her.

All-in-all though I think we all had a good night.

Desensitizing the ponies & a bit about Max

Well Mr. Max passed his vet check and he is now with his new owners. It was bittersweet but I think it will be the best all around. She is young (turns 13 tomorrow) so they will have plenty of time to grow together and unlike most horses I don’t think she will grow out of him. She as already sent me an e-mail to tell me how much she loves him and how great he’s been so far (no riding yet) so hopefully they will keep me updated from time to time.

Here is a small cell pic of him checking out his sexy reflection in the stalls at ISU while he waited for the vet to do his exam.



The barn feels so empty without him and DH is starting to question his decision to sell him (a little too late for that). Since he’s still having back issues he’s in no hurry to look for another horse which is nice.

Friday DH had to work so I got the horses out for the kids. Chase was doing very well with Abby without me reminding him so I was very proud of him. His hand was low and he would stop and let her rest when she got farther down the pasture. He did so well I even let him lope her a few times. She did great with him too! No head tossing or anything like last year so hopefully the “bugs” are getting knocked loose.

Once they were almost done since both boys were listening I let them have a bit of fun.



Don’t the horses look excited? lol

After they got done I hopped on Black and roped the fence a few time. She could have cared less.

Tomorrow we’ll be taking them (Black, Lu and Abby) to our first roping of the year. I really want to see what Black is capable of.

With Max gone Abby has been trying to move up to queen “witch” status so she’s been helping us move Black. This morning it was great watching them all run and buck when I turned them out.

Quick (for me) Update

Saturday we brought Cat and Sis home (to my parents’’ house). The weather was lovely so MIL and I headed out for a ride. I decided to put spurs on just in case I needed them. Lucy does a pretty good job of ignoring my crop when she wants to so I thought maybe they’d be a little more incentive if I needed them.

We headed out and the drunken horse automatically appeared. She is getting better but it is still annoying. There is some trash down by the cattle that she doesn’t like. She isn’t bad she just wants to veer into the middle of the road instead of staying on the side so I took the opportunity to do some flexing and rollbacks until the trash didn’t look like such a big deal.

I was a bit surprised. She did the bending exercise very well with the spurs (last time w/bump spurs I still had issues). We headed down the road until we heard sirens. Lucy and Sis both stopped to see what was going on. There was apparently a grass fire down the road as several fire trucks headed down the intersection we had just gone through. Neither horse acted nervous, they more so wanted to just see what was going on.

We continued on and did a little bit of trotting and a little bit of vertical flexion. Lucy’s attention drifted when we got up by the neighbors’ horses so we did a bit of bending. It didn’t take long for her to focus on me instead of the horses. As we rounded the corner onto the next road we passed a concrete planter. Kind of like the garbage she just slowly veered away from it. I decided it was time to fix this as well so Sis and MIL sat back while Lucy and I did rollbacks and circles around the planter. Boy can she move off of her hind end when she wants to! It took about 15 minutes before she would even look at the planter but once she figured it out she was all for touching it.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, some trotting here, stopping off of rein only there, and a little loping up the big hill here. That has to be Lucy’s favorite (not). On the way home we worked on collection at the trot. This isn’t Lucy’s favorite but she did do her best. All in all it was a very nice ride.

Back at the house Lu and Sis got a little bit of patience pole time while MIL and I unloaded hay. Lu wasn’t very happy but Sis is slowly learning.

As for Max – well he’s still here at the moment. Right now I have two people who say they want him. The original people are being slow so I told them they had until Friday to have him vetted. After that I would be allowing the second person the opportunity to have him vetted. I guess I should feel lucky that he’s wanted in an economy like this.

Pleasure pony in the making

Last night I headed over to the arena for a little ride time. I wasn’t sure if I was going to miss the rain or not so I just took Abby over. We started off with some YHQ (under saddle) and then with some flexing. I can’t blame her too much for not being as responsive to the flexing since Chase hasn’t been releasing her in time but she’ll have to learn the difference in riders and what is expected so she got a few “bumps” to get around faster.

Then we did some ORS at the walk. I could tell this was going to be a good day by her “exhale”. I’m not really sure what it is called because it isn’t a nicker but it isn’t just normal breathing either. We started doing our ORS at the trot and she was finally starting to rate me a little bit so we moved onto the passenger lesson.

Keeping her in a trot for longer then 2 minutes is a chore but we continued with our squeeze, cluck and spank. I tried pushing her into a bigger trot but she just took that as a cue to lope so I let her pick her pace (for now) and just continued to get after her when she would breakdown to a walk. After about 15 minutes of this *I* could feel the burn so I decided to move onto loping.

Now if you remember this is where we had most of our problems last year. When I asked for the lope she went right into it with no head shaking or taking off. The only thing she did that I don’t like and that time will fix is that she braced against my hand when I tried to do a ORS the first few times.

Her version of the passenger lesson at the lope was pathetic. She was barely moving. She would try to take me over by Bishop and I would speed her up so she decided that maybe, just maybe if she went faster I’d shut her down. Well it wasn’t fast enough for me to shut her down and it didn’t take her long to realize she was burning calories so she came back down to her almost 4 beat lope. When she was dog tired I put her in the middle of the arena and flexed her while Terry loped Bishop. She was very happy to stand still.

Once Terry was done I worked on stopping off of two reins from a walk. Abby really is smart (which is a concern of mine since she is a ‘kid’s pony” and picks up quickly. I think with time and consistency she could be a very nice pony for Chase.

Round and Round We Go

Tuesday night DH, the boys and I headed out to the barn. We had left the horses in earlier in the week due to a rain/snow storm so we had stalls to clean. Poor Chase doesn’t think he should be responsible for cleaning Abby’s stall and when he does clean it he does it like most kids would do it. I’ll admit I’m pretty picky about how my stalls are cleaned so I wasn’t happy when he was just trying to throw away all of the sawdust vs. actually cleaning his stall.

By this time my niece had come down and started brushing Nikki for a ride. DH helped her saddle up and about 20 minutes later Chase was finally done with his stall so we started on Abby. I sent the kids out into the pasture to ride while I jumped on Black bareback and had Ty join me in the drylot. All I can say is that it is a good think Black ignores ½ of the cues you give her! Ty was clucking to her trying to get her to trot and when I’d take her towards the barn he’d grab the reins out of my hands and try to steer her back over to the gate because he wanted to go out to the pasture with the kids.

After a while of that he decided he was done. It was a good thing too because I nearly unloaded on my eldest child. Looking back I probably shouldn’t have gotten so upset but it is a little too late now. All he wants to do is run that pony (yeah I know I did the same thing when I was young). I had told him several times not to and when I would turn around he would be giving her the cue to trot and then he’d tell me “she just started doing it on her own”. **inserts not a happy mom face here**

Needless to say by the end of that night I was ready to sell Abby.

The next night we sat down and I explained to him what my expectations were for him. I expect that if he is going to have a pony and that if he wants to show (more like show off) then he needs to practice just like he would with baseball or wrestling. So that night we headed back out to the barn only this time I loaded my pockets with a few quarters. I gave both kids (my niece and Chase) $2.00 worth of quarters and told them when they didn’t listen I got one of their quarters. If they lost them all they were done riding. Whatever money they had left over at the end of the night was theirs to keep.

This seemed to work out well and Chase lost a quarter right off of the bat for giving Shari some “training tips’. About 5 minutes later he lost one for not releasing Abby when he flexed her (we had to buy her a caveson because she’s been biting him hard since he isn’t releasing her). I had them do some ORS at the walk and then I let Chase do some at the trot. We need to work on Nikki a little bit but I think her toes are a bit sore from some of the hay we had so I didn’t push her trotting.

After that I brought Nikki in with me and had Chase do the passenger lesson at the trot. Abby kept taking him behind the barn, by the gate, etc. He trotted her for probably 15 minutes and then I had him take her to the far end of the pasture, flex her and just let her stand still for about 5 minutes before bringing her back up to the barn to stand tied.

Then it was Nikki’s turn. Instead of letting Shari do this in the pasture we went to the dry lot so I could help “encourage” Nikki to go. Any time Nikki’s head would go down she’d get a friendly “pop” on the bum. I didn’t ask her to go too fast or too long before we put her up as well.

With DH’s bad back Black has been missing her exercise so I decided to RP her for 5 minutes each side at the trot. She wasn’t amused but she needs the exercise as well.

Isn't she looking good?

Let’s try this again…………………

Well I finally got the e-mail.

Hello, We enjoyed meeting you Saturday and were very impressed with Max and your handling skills. We were even more impressed with Max and feel he would be perfect for XXXXXX at her riding level. We would like to purchase Max pending a vet check if you are agreeable.

So now the wait is on. I don’t know why vet checks make me so nervous but they do. The ONLY health issue Max has had since we’ve had him was his hock sprain last year which they know about. He’s been moving out great this year and actually seems to be stronger on that hock now.

They seem like very nice people and the barn he will be going to is a pony club barn so he will be used. I think this will be a great opportunity for Max. I think he will be able to grow with the little girl (maybe 14-16 yrs. old) and hopefully if she ever does outgrow him or his potential he’ll be able to be passed on to someone else who can see what a wonderful horse he is.

So for right now I’m just asking everyone to keep their fingers and toes crossed for me that his vet check goes just fine.

Iowa Horse Fair 2009

Here is the video from Saturdays performance. I think MIL and Sis look great for only their second time in this spot!

The good, the bad, and the snow!

Well Horse Fair finally came and went. On Saturday I got Sis all cleaned up for MIL and I have to say I think she looked pretty darn good! I have their performance on video and I will try to upload it later this week. It went well and MIL did wonderful for only practicing the spot she was in a time or two.

Saturday afternoon I met a gal who came to look at Max. She was around 16 yrs. old and a VERY timid rider. Max did superb! She wasn’t used to riding on barely any contact so that was different for her. I made a joke about riding with a death grip and her mom replied “yeah that’s normally how it is”.

They loved his breaks. It almost sounds like the horse she has now took off on her and scared her quite a bit. I was so surprised to hear she jumped as timid as she was on Max. I haven’t heard back from them yet but that is ok. I was just so happy with how Max did since I’d only had a chance to jump on him a few times before she came.

Sunday the rain and snow and sleet moved in. A lot of the people left so the horse fair schedule was running ahead of schedule. This of course put everyone in a panic and the horses new it. There was no warm up either since the weather was so nasty. I didn’t get this performance on video which was probably a good thing. Some horses were going backwards, others were bucking, and even Sis was in a mood (although I was the only one who noticed that). At the end when the sent the two little girls in the one girl lost control of her horse and my worst fear came true as she came off nearly hitting the concrete wall. I won’t comment much on that.

Once all was said and done we loaded the horses up as soon as possible and headed home. MIL took Sis home with her so Cat was happy to see her big sister come home.

To error is human

Last night MIL and I headed over to the arena. We needed to drop Sis off at Terry’s so she could take her down to the fairgrounds today. I decided to take Max and put a little arena time in on him. I have someone coming to look at him this weekend & I haven’t ridden him much.

Wednesday night I rode him but it was a white knuckle ride. After my ride last night I’m not blaming that on Max but more on myself for having to high of expectations and not realizing his physical limitations but I won’t go into that too much.

When we got to the arena I started off by flexing him. I had him in the full cheek with the dog bone in the middle (remember DH has been riding him this winter in the wonder bit). He still flexed but he wasn’t as soft as I’d like. Once in the arena he felt “ready to go” so we did some ORS at the walk. Wednesday night I had tried to keep him in “frame” while maintaining a slow trot so I decided tonight to just let him trot on a loose rein. Go figure he was much slower then he was the night before.

I felt a calmness over him last night. Part of it has to do with being in an arena. He feels so much more secure in there because he knows there is no where to go. He was trotting so slow that Sis was passing us (this is not good for an English prospect lol).

Our troubles Wednesday night came with the lope. He was chargy and was bracing on the bit. When I asked him to lope last night (on a loose rein) he was dead slow. He was a bit too elevated in his shoulders but I pushed him to move out a bit more and he relaxed into a more cadenced lope.

He was rating my body wonderfully. When I’d quite riding he’d quit moving. His stops were solid and I never had to touch the reins to stop or back up. He didn’t want to go into the far end of the arena so we went there and rested. While resting we did more flexing and then some vertical flexion. I would barely pick up the reins and he would give so we started back out in the walk and I asked him for more.

It is amazing how well they do when you give them an opportunity to work with you and when you take the time to explain to them what you want (which I didn’t do Wednesday night). The only gait I couldn’t get him in frame was at the lope but I don’t think he is physically ready to carry himself that way yet so I settled for a relaxed lope.

I hope he does well for this gal tomorrow but only time will tell. I think Max will tell me if it will be a fit or not. I’m not getting to overly excited about it but it would be nice to get him sold.

Sort video clip

Horse Fair is this weekend so hopefully come Monday I will have some good post for you.

I took a short video clip of Black last night coming up to the barn. She's been running a lot more but of course when the camera is on she decides to trot. Oh well, you can still see how well she's doing.

I’m so glad it is Monday!

Not all of this is horse related but let me quickly re-cap my weekend for you.

Friday DH was hurt at work and taken to the ER. Nothing life threatening but he was having pretty severe back spasms. I had to go pick him up and he is so drugged up he is almost comatose. He went back in today and they are not releasing him back to work as of yet (which is good).

Saturday DH’s 70-something year old grandpa had his small garage blow up with him in it. He was taking to the ER with 1st & 2nd degree burns all over his legs. We were told it was a miracle he’d survived. Apparently he was working on his motorcycle when it fell over and the gas line ruptured. He had a kerosene heater running and it caused the bike to explode. He was in ICU all day Sat. and then they released him to go home on Sunday (what were they thinking).

Sunday we had drill practice. Chase and I went early since I wasn’t riding with them. He rode Black and I rode Abby. Both were very good. Chase had a blast trotting and loping Black and she seemed pretty content. Abby was very well behaved. We trotted and loped with no attitude at all.

During practice one of the riders was thrown from her horse and was injured. I’m not sure how bad she is (if it’s just muscles or more) but I can tell you she’s probably hurting today!

When we got home MIL and I were unloading horses when my dad yelled at us. I assumed we were being called in for supper. Nope! Chase had been playing baseball w/his cousins with a board (2 x 4 consistency) when it jiggled out of his hands and into his face. He managed to knock out one baby tooth and one permanent tooth. The permanent tooth he managed to break in half almost all the way at the gum line. We were able to find half of it but it must have shattered. We will be seeing the dentist this afternoon to see what they can do.

So needless to say I was actually looking forward to work today!

A trip to the arena

Sunday the weather was lovely and the drill team was finally going to get to practice in the big outside arena so DH and I hauled over early to play around. My niece and Chase went with as well.

Sis was a bit of a basket case when we unloaded her so we did a bit of LFR and then tied her on the opposite side of the trailer while Chase and I cleaned up Abby. After we got Abby cleaned up I did some LFR w/her and some backing and then threw Chase up on her. I told him to do ORS at the walk only. About two minutes later he was asking me if he could trot. **bangs head**

DH was riding Max in the arena and Terry had decided to bring Mr. Bishop up to ride too. Sis was settling down so I tacked her up for my niece to ride. She was good as gold as soon as I got Shari up on her back.

As I looked over though I noticed Chase was having problems with Abby. I wasn’t sure if she was bucking, kicking or what she was doing but bless his little heart he got her into a ORS and held on. She did not want to be around Sis. So I had Chase just flex her and when she’d give him resistance I’d let him bump her until she came around. I think he was enjoying that a bit too much.

When they had that down I let him walk off and ORS. Abby was in a bit of a hurry so they didn’t get very far at all. By this time DH had gotten off of Max and was picking up rocks in the arena so I had Chase get off and get on Max. There is only so much I can expect him to do on Abby w/o getting frustrated. So I put my saddle on her and away we went. The first thing I reminded her of was yielding her HQ. Then we just flexed and flexed and flexed. She’s at the “I’m gonna bite your foot” stage when she flexes so she’s going to get a caveson the next time we ride.

By this time the other horses for drill were starting to come in. I did manage to get her to trot and even lope some without any resistance but she did feel tense. When I was done I had her stand in the middle of the arena for a while and then dismounted. I think she was happy to stand back at the trailer.

The first drill run went fairly well. We had three people filling in for individuals that were gone and we were in a bigger arena. The second run………it didn’t go quite so well. As we were rounding the corners to go from two sweeps into one I noticed a horse go down. As I got closer saw Sis on her side and MIL face down in the arena with her leg still under Sis. Sis struggled to get up but finally did and MIL had managed to get her feet out of the stirrups and free.

Sis seemed ok. MIL was shook and worried about Sis but was able to walk it off. Apparently one of the other horses jumped over into Sis’s space causing her to try to get out of the way and slipping.

They have one more practice left before the horse fair but it is raining this week so I have a feeling they will be in the smaller arena.

I rode my own horse!

Saturday DH was at work and my sister took the boys so I decided to go on a ride. As Lucy and I headed down the road she started her drunk walk. Then she decided maybe a few logs in the ditch scared her. She wasn’t bad but since I don’t want her to build on bad behavior we had a few words until those logs were no longer scary.

When we got where we normally turned around I decided to keep going. By doing this I knew we’d be out for a while because the only “shortcut” was the highway. We passed a few horses and she decided to call for them for the next 5 minutes. She was constantly trying to turn around to get back to them so we did some serpentines to get her mind back on me. She’s a lazy horse so it didn’t take long.

About 3 miles into the ride she started walking straighter and staying where I told her to stay. When we got to the big hills there was a cat in the road and she wasn’t about to walk past it. The cat finally started moving away from her so we chased it away and continued on down the road.

I took the opportunity to work on vertical flexion while going down the hills. I love it when I barely pick up the reins and automatically feel her rock her weight back onto her hind end.



At the bottom of the hill I decided to ask her to lope. I got some grief but to give her the benefit of the doubt she has no shoes one and she wasn’t booted so her feet could have been a bit sore. She did as I asked – she just wasn’t happy about it.

When we got back I figured we’d gone about 6 miles but after driving it we actually went 7 miles. I thought she did great all things considering.

A Family Affair

Monday MIL came over for a ride after work. We’ve had lovely weather and with daylight savings time who could pass up o the opportunity?

I decided to ride Abby one last time to see how she was going to do for Chase and MIL was going to ride Black. To my surprise she decided to ride her bareback (good for her). We headed down the road with Abby being a bit reluctant. I don’t think she’s very fond of being the lead horse. MIL asked Black to trot to catch up and you could just hear the joy coming out of her in laughter. Black has a big, floaty trot & it is a lot of fun to sit.

I had Abby in her new bit and wow can she turn (neck rein)! When I’d set the rein on her neck she would put her head to my leg (as if she was flexing) and turn quickly. Almost too quickly! Turning right wasn’t quite as good as turning left but she is a very athletic pony. She’d make some little girl (or boy) one heck of a barrel horse the way she can turn. Needless to say she was full of it. Fat, lazy, athletic pony + spring time ride = a lot of work! Meanwhile MIL sat back on Black enjoying her ride.

When we got close to home I asked Abby to stop and let MIL and Black continue on towards the house (Abby had separation issues last year on the trail). After she stood still for 30 seconds I got off and backed her all of the way to the house. She wasn’t thrilled. Back at the house we did some LFR stage 1 and then when she was nice and tired I tied her up in the corer of the barn and left her to think about it.

Yesterday we went out as a family. DH on Max, Chase on Abby and Ty and I on Black. I had asked DH to do some GW w/Abby before leaving but when I got there Chase was riding her. I did some GW but not as much as I had wanted to since we were running out of daylight.

She did very well for Chase (she wasn’t the lead horse). Ty had a blast! He loved trotting and he loved the baby “moo-s”. He liked the baby “moo-s” so much that he had a mild hissy fit when we left the moo-s. He picked up the reins a few times and tried to get Black to go but thankfully he didn’t make contact with her mouth.

When we got home I told Chase we weren’t done. I put Abby’s butt to work and told him that when I was done he was going to get on, ride her down the road, stick his hand in her mane and let her go where she wanted. If she turned for home I’d take over.

Chase hopped on after I did some LFR with her (which by the way I’m noticing huge attitude improvements with her at the lope) and headed down the road. She tried turning for home but he stopped her (he wasn’t supposed to) so I had him get off and I backed her all of the way home and did some LFR again. He got on again and this time she didn’t even think of going back home. She stopped once on him and looked back. I told him to just squeeze her and see where she went. She decided to keep going down the road like planned so right before we hit the neighbors drive I let Chase stop her and let her rest.

He stayed there for a good 3-4 minutes before I had him dismount and we let her walk home behind the four wheeler. At home I backed her up to the barn and was in the process of backing her into the barn when DH and I got into a small tiff so I ended up leading her in and tying her up. I think she got the gist of the exercise.

Here are a few pics of Chase (not the best I know).

Official Chiro Report

Some of this stuff I post just so I can find it down the road (easier then digging through paperwork or e-mails). So here is the official report I got from the Chiro.

3/3/09 - Adjusted the mare

-Rotated to right at the poll
-C3 & C4 rotated to the right
-Right shoulder out
-2 Ribs sore on right side, none on left
-Rolled out both shoulder muscles
-Heart Point and Withers both ok
- Left stifle "Clicky" - did not appear to be sore
- Both hocks showed some soarness
- Also noted big reaction when checking 3 point back from withers (over kidney area)

OMG It Is A Horse Eating…………….Horse?

Yesterday we had records highs of 74* so there was no way I was passing up a ride. Since I wasn’t detoured like I was the previous day I decided to take Lu. Let me start off by asking – do you have any clue how difficult it is to brush a horse that keeps taking the brushes out of the brush bag and throwing them on the floor? I must say Lucy does not lack in the personality department.

Feel free to look up when I rode her last but I know it has been a while. Needless to say CA would not be proud of me. I saddled her up, jumped on, did a little flexing and off we went. She immediately started off being little miss drunken sailor again but she was a bit better then the last time.

Like Black, she decided ditch diving would be fun until I let her do it. That kind of freaked her out a bit. She did have her first real spook with me. The neighbors to the south of us have a pasture that is lined with trees. She heard something in the trees and jumped sideways. Honestly it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated her spooking would be but maybe she didn’t give it her all.

We continued down the road and even did a little bit of trotting here and there. Man is she lazy! I had to push her to trot fast enough so I could at least post. When we turned around and headed for home she started acting like she wanted to turn back around so I let her to see what she would do. She just started going in a circle. I seriously think her internal compos is off.

When we were approaching our road to head home I noticed something coming down the road towards us and so did Lucy. Was it a person walking? A person riding a bike? No! It was a person riding a horse! In all of my years living where we do that is a very rare sight for me to see & Lucy was petrified. She didn’t know what to think and she was so tense beneath me. I couldn’t get her to walk forward at all. It was pretty humorous in a way.

The gal ended up stopping and we chatted for a bit. She is a pretty big time roper around here and I know she puts on clinics so I asked her if she ever gave private lessons and if so how much she charged. I was pretty surprised with her rates (they included cattle usage) and I think I’m going to contact her about taking lessons both on the ground and on Lucy. This way I can actually learn from someone who has competed (instead of DH) and can also learn from a woman’s perspective.

I’m pretty excited about the idea of actually getting some “real” help. DH will be leasing some cattle with a few friends this year so I will have the opportunity to work them whenever I want (I’ll have to haul to where they will be kept) but it won’t do me any good if I don’t know what I’m doing so hopefully I can get some pointers from Kim so that I can utilize my time with them better.

Here is a photo of Kim roping. Due to copyrights I’m just going to put a link up for you to follow. This is the horse she was riding on last night. He made Lucy look like a yearling.

Woodburn, Iowa 6/07

Adel, Iowa 6/07

Here is also a neat article I found on-line.

Kim Wing Breaks the Ice for Midwest Ropers

Last year, in an attempt to bring opportunities to women in the Midwest a chance to earn points toward the WPRA World Standings, I asked the Iowa Rodeo Cowboy’s Association to co-approve their events with the WPRA, and they agreed.

We were all disappointed when only a few women took advantage of becoming WPRA members and competing in their events..

When I asked some of the women I thought would take advantage of the opportunity why they chose not to they said they didn’t feel they’d be competitive at the WPRA level.

I have to admit feeling the same way as a barrel racer competing successfully in amateur rodeos, until a friend pushed me into trying WPRA competition.

Roper Kim Wing of Van Wert, Iowa, did take advantage of the opportunity, and qualified for the 2007 WPRA World Finals. She was the only roper participating from the Great Lakes Circuit, and she represented her state and the circuit well, finishing 12th in the 2007 WPRA World Standings.

Kim’s success demonstrated to her peers, that if you are a good roper in your region, you will be a good roper in the WPRA.

This year more Midwestern WPRA ropers will take advantage of the opportunities to rope for real purses and a trip to Tulsa.

They are talking to producers in their area, asking them to co-sanction with the WPRA, so that they will have events to compete at. The women are excited, and so are the producers. The ball is rolling in the Midwest, and we want your help to get the ball rolling everywhere—until we’ve covered local regions to the entire United States.

Women ropers everywhere should be making plans to be one of the five women from every circuit, in every event, including both ends of the team roping going to the WPRA World Finals. If, that is, they aren’t one of the top 15 qualifiers. It’s also true that some circuits, like the Great Lakes Circuit last year, may not have enough ropers to fill all their positions, so even more opportunities may be open to them.

The message here is, don’t be afraid to get your card and enter WPRA competition. Find some events in your area, and take advantage of the new opportunities available, or encourage someone you know to give it a try. You will probably be surprised at just how much fun you’ll have, and just how competitive you really are.

See you at the 2008 WPRA World Finals!

Slide Show

John did this slide show for me so I'm testing it in a new post.

Isn't she adorable?

When I was looking up information about old horses I’ve owned I also decided to see if I could learn more about Lu and her mother. That lead me to finding out who her original breeder in Canada was. I managed to find an e-mail address and though “what the heck” and shot her off an e-mail asking her for more information on Mana Dry (Lucy’s mother). That was a few weeks ago & I really didn’t expect to hear anything so I was so excited today when I got this message in my in-box. (my comments in blue)

Hi Courtney, Sorry for the delay in replying – just have been really busy this last week. Thanks for contacting us! It’s great to hear from you. “Little Dry Step” was the last foal we raised and the last foal her dam raised before she died. I have lots of pictures of Mana Dry and lots of your mare when she was a baby.We originally bought Mana Dry to breed to the reining horse stallion we owned at the time – Dunnit In Hollywood. Mana Dry had never been shown, but spent her whole life as a working horse in a feedlot in Tennessee. The folks who owned her, absolutely loved her. She had work ethic, sensibility, and even taught their kids to ride while raising several nice foals for them. When we bought her, our two kids were small and she was great with them too. She was great minded, although the alpha mare out in the field. All in all – a really nice mare.I’ll attach the photos for you. Hopefully it won’t make the file too large for you to receive.1 – Portrait of Mana Dry in the summer – she had an amazing hair coat in the summers!



(so does Lu when she has hair in the summer)

2 – Side view – wintertime, but still looking pretty good for an older girl! (in foal with Lucy)



3 – Lucy or MissT as our kids named her, the day she was born



4 – Our kids with Mana Dry - (note the King Ranch running W brand on her hip – she was born there)



5 - The first filly Mana Dry raised for us by Dunnit In Hollywood – as a yearling



6 - The second filly Mana Dry raised – also by Dunnit In Hollywood – as weanling



7 - The two sisters grazing together



8 - Picture of our son with MissT the morning she was born – have to say pretty cute!



9 - Another picture of both kids the day she was born



10 – Baby picture



11 – a few days old



12 – about 4 months old



13 – weaned



14 – as a yearling, just before Brent Loeske bought her from us (2006)



Hopefully you can see how much we enjoyed her!We would love to hear all about what has she done, what your plans are for her etc?

Thanks again for contacting us!

Wasn’t she just the most adorable thing? I see the pictures a pretty big but I don't want to resize them so you might have to click on them to get a full view. Sorry. :(

H.A.

After Smokey passed away my parents decided to let us get another horse with the hopes that my sisters would start riding again. Their choice this time - a half Arabian named H.A. His name basically stood for ha, ha, ha, ha, ha as in they were laughing their butts off when they originally bought him.

I always try to take a 1st day home picture and here is his.

He was beautiful & full of energy! It didn’t take long before we learned that even though we thought it was beautiful that he carried his head so high and proud the judges didn’t much care for it.

I used him for just about everything from barrels and poles to our version of western pleasure. He was my trusty steed on River City Round up for a few years and we even did a few Pony Express runs. And when he’d get excited he had the most beautiful prance.

Brandon is on the horse to the left of me next to my pony horse (Tee Jay)

He took me to the Queen Contest n 1993 but alas they didn’t care for his proud prance either.

After that he turned into a driving horse for my parents for a short period of time.

This is one of my favorite photos. For the Murray Jamboree Amber and I spent hours painting him with acrylic paint to look like an American Flag.

I hope you all are enjoying my trips down memory lane.

I think someone is feeling a bit too good!

Tonight I had a much needed ride however after getting out to the barn later then expected I didn’t have much choice but to ride bareback. That pretty much eliminated riding everyone but Black.

She was a mud bug so I grabbed the Furminator and went to town. OMG is she shedding. I think this is wonderful because I think this is a sign she’s getting healthy from the inside out. I threw her boots on and away we went.

When she’d try to turn for home I’d straighten her back up by gently persuading her hindquarters with my crop to move the opposite direction. She didn’t much care for that but it didn’t take long for her to decide trying to turn fast and run home wasn’t an option. Since that was out of the question her next battle tactic was ditch diving.

I put my hand in the center of the reins and took in a nice grip of mane. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t micromanaging her at all. If she got too far to the left I’d politely ask her back but there was a ditch on the right so I decided she was capable of keeping herself out of it. She took me over to it and headed straight down. I think she was a bit taken back that I let her do it so I just asked her to keep moving on in the original direction we were heading. She soon came up out of the ditch and back onto the road. I’m not sure how many times she tried taking me in the ditch but when she realized it didn’t really bother me she quit trying and decided trotting would be a better idea.

Well unfortunately for her trotting is the best thing we can do so I allowed her to trot as fast as she wanted to. This really didn’t last very long at all. When we got to the corner where we typically turn around I decided to go a bit further since she was feeling so well. When we rounded the corner she decided it was time to pick up the pace again. Once she went back into a walk she was so busy gaulking that she slipped into a shallow ditch a few times and caught herself off guard.

When I decided it was ok to turn around I turned the opposite direction she normally wants to go (turned clockwise or to the right) which put us on the left side of the road. When I tried to move her to the right side she became a bit stubborn about the ordeal and reminded me of a barrel horse how they run sideways into the arena. I finally got her where I wanted her and we headed back home. At the corner heading back she decided sideways would work again. During this I managed to drop my favorite crop. I’m not the best at getting on bareback so I decided I’d just have to come back for it.

The rest of the ride home was pretty uneventful. We trotted some (this time only when asked) and she felt really nice. Luckily for me someone picked up my crop and handed it to me just shy of us getting home so I didn’t have to go back for it.

The trimmer comes on Tuesday for her third trim. I can’t wait to see what he thinks of her feet.

Let's try this again

Ok since no one has passed my little test so far I will give you two more clues.

My nephew Brady showing DH's horse Max at a RFSC show in 2000.



DH & Max at a RFSC show in 2008



ETA - Answers to previous responses:

John - they are on the correct side of the horse in the top picutre

AJ - it is a fun show but the lead is attached correctly. The "extra" person was due to Brady's age. "Poor" Max might have shoes on. I can't remember if we shod him or not but I'll bet we did.

I can gurantee that he is clipped. My horses are always clipped for shows even up tot he little whiskers under their eyes. I use clear polish on hooves, bridle path is ok and the mane is ok. I'm sure pulled would have been prefered but it isn't requried as long as the mane is clean & neat.

Snap, crackle, pop!

Yesterday Blackie had her chiro appointment. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be there but was able to get the report on my way home. Below were her issues. I’m going off of memory & that seems to be getting worse and worse as I age so if I forget something I will add it when I get the e-mail from the chiro.

Poll out
Two vertebras in neck shifted to the left
Right shoulder dropped
There were a few ribs out but I don’t remember what side
Heart point and whithers were ok (this really surprised me with her cinchy issues)
Tenderness over kidneys (could be from my saddle)
Right stifle clicking
Both hocks hot/sore

All-in-all though she thought she looked pretty good for her age and said sometimes they are harder to work on because they hide pain more. She felt the hocks were probably sore due to over compensating for the front end & suggested buting her before riding. I’m not sure I’m keen on that idea. I’d rather slow her progress down.

Terry said she was a bit growly with Jenny (the chiro) which really doesn’t surprise me.

On the Bright side when we went to pick her up I started massaging her neck and she acted like that felt very good as she relaxed into my hand. When I pulled my hand back it was covered with hair. She is shedding! To me that is a sign of a healthy horse & I think it is great!