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!