Actually, I have lots of them, thus my post!
Today's ride was over-overwhelmingly PERFECT. I mean there were totally some "WOAAAAH!" moments like always but it was great.
We spent over half the day searching in within over an hour radius from our house for tack shops and found NOTHING. Everything is closing down?? Derp. I'm on the lookout for a purdy breast collar..preferably red, but as long as it has some bling to it and it's not $200+ dolla's I'm alright. Anyone selling?? :D I love having a breast collar even though it's optional, but I really don't like Red's that I'm using. It's kinda ugly and it's WAY too hot for Summer. Blah..
Anyways, after that and some antique stores, one with a beautiful Australian saddle-vintage but in perrrrfect condition-and one with a few awesome looking antique saddle bags with a stingy and mean owner. :P I would'a bought some cool Military patches from the uniforms to sew on stuff to be cool but ya know, the owner was mean so I took my business elsewhere! Actually,, I took my business to a Taco Bell and Krispy Kreme. I tried sneaking a donut to the barn for Red but I was caught. :(
Anywho, we went out to the barn later tonight, not sure on the exact pain but I know it was later, probably around 7'sh?? We went out later tonight so it would be cooler. It was still around 90 though. Mom and Jeff want to get a ride in together because he's going back to work this monday-poo-after his knee surgery and so he wants to ride, then in two weeks stuff is happening and mom won't be able to ride for possibly up to 4 weeks so I'll be working Spirit for her while she can't. Hopefully Red will get some work in then too, I'm sure after about a week he'll be ridden again,I just have to get a ride TO the barn and back!! We got down there and of course since it was night time, the horses were WAY in the ten acres, so we had to walk through pastures, on the trails, and finally got to them. Spirit ran but once he saw mom he settled down and walked to her, Red on the other hand cantered to me immediately after he said "bye" to Bay..literally, I called, he went to Bay, sat there for a second and went to me...Wonder if he was whispering sweet nothings? I hooked his lead on and since one of the colts were trying to follow us, I was randomly like, "oh hey let's trot!" so I took off running. Didn't expect him to follow me. I expected him to stop. He didn't stop. He walked next to me. Then started running next to me. And oh my goodness, my mom looked at us like, "Wow!" and I dropped the lead, threw it over his neck and he kept running next to me. I felt like Rain and Little Creek..( I tried to find that video to no avail, but y'all remember the scene where Little Creek and Rain took off running and playing together and she pushed him in the creek?? ) Yeah.
So, we walked back up the trails, every now and then I had to swat Red with the lead because he'd stop, but he did better than Spirit. ;) Spirit has gotten WAAAAY better, but he still has his moments, as does Redman. ;) We took the shorter way this time since it was hot and said hello to J who was mowing his lawn. He said hi to Red and Spirit and continued his work.
We walked the ponies to the barn and mom kept Spirit in the barn to brush him while I did all my work with Red..He was pretty clean from me brushing him thoroughly the night before,, so I just brushed his back and belly so he didn't have anything where the saddle would be. I gave mom the brush and then focused on tackin' him up. I opted for a saddle this time since he was acting a little feisty tonight and I didn't want to handle THAT bareback..I would've ridden bareback since the heat if not for that. His saddle pad had poo on it so I had to clean it off. :P :P And yes, I did it with my bare hands. Us horse people just aren't too sensitive about that. But I can't handle dog poo..Yuck.
What was I talking about?? Oh right. My clean, sweet, majestic horse-psh yeah right I was talking about my poop machine horse. But yes, he's sweet. Majestic???Meh. Clean? Only on special occasions.
Once I was done, Mom took Spirit out to tie him and I walked Red around so he wasn't bloated and I could fix his girth..I tried mounting. Didn't work. I wore these terrible jeans..yeah, remind me to NEVER wear those jeans to the barn. EVER. Again. They aren't tight at all, but when you get sweaty, they get fairly tight and man it wasn't comfortable. But that wasn't really the biggest problem, Red kept trying to spin. He's done this before, a lot. But ya know, I took it in stride. Finally, I got on. After about twenty five butt smacks and "STAND RED"'s. After that little display I was kinda nervous about our ride. He was acting feisty. PLUS we'd be in the 4 acres since the other ponies were on the trails and we didn't feel like stalling them. He'd be close enough to them and would want to see them..
Him being bad wasn't the case.
He did perfect!!
I led for a minute so mom could open and close the gate, here's a picture :D-
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| Love his ears!!! |
I asked him to trot to the four acre gate and he tried to turn to the trails, but after a quick pat on the butt and a point to the gate, he went straight there without a fuss. I asked him to canter alongside the fence in the 4 acres to ride next to J's lawnmower because I like racing stuff-lol-and I love testing him. He did completely perfect,never blinked at the mower. And it was LOUD. Asked him to walk up over to the gate again to Spirit and Mom so they could catch up after having to dismount, mom took Spirit for a canter and I decided to follow after her. Red was content at a trot but I pushed him a little farther and made him canter and he did great. At one point we even beat Spirit. :D
We only had about an hour or so to ride, so we took it easy, went around the acres and just chilled out, to be honest. We took them for a few canters/trots but mostly we just walked around. It was hot, but super breezy with a storm rolling in and it was really nice. Really, really, really nice. The horses did great. Spirit acted up a few times and wouldn't stand for pictures, Red tried to get too close to Spirit and went too fast when I asked him to slow his pace and even out, so it was hard to have soft hands with him tugging me along. :P We still got a few good pictures. :)
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| I LOVE this one!! Mom isn't one for pictures but since her and blue eyes matched today I talked her into it. :) |
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| My indian pony. :3 |
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| I loove this one. Mom's big on posture so this one isn't fantastic, but this was like, right after a "good boy" and a neck hug, so naturally she wouldn't have perfect posture. ;) She's actually talking to him in this. Lol!! I talked her into loving it |
After our picture taking, we just cantered around, then walked, then trotted, then walked, then went back to the barn. I had to spray Red down with his fungal stuff, scrape the sweat, untack him, turn him back out, put my stuff away, make sure I didn't need to wrap his tail, then mom had to untack Spirit, make sure he's all settled, turn him out. And we only had a few minutes since Jeff was home alone with fussy children....
Red and I cantered down there, I hopped off, tied him, sweat scraped him, then noticed his chest starting to lose hair. UGH! I get past one problem and another arises..I got his anti-fungal stuff, sprayed it all over his chest, put it in his mane and tail. This spray is *AMAZING* simply my best purchase horse-purchase yet. And it doesn't smell at all!! And it sprays on so nice...Anywho, I walked him around to cool him off, I wasn't as worried about it tonight since it was cooling off and he's on full turnout other than eating,, sooo...Still walked him. ;) got him a half of a treat-his treats have been cut quite a bit since his founder-and turned him out after Spirit went out. He wanted to stay with us but after Spirit ran off he followed. As I put my stuff away I heard his whinny. :) Love how high pitched he is. Haha!
Oh, here are some pictures before us tacking up-
Thought I'd answer some F.A.Q's as well and also some questions I'm sure will be asked after this. I've gotten a few emails and etc with questions so might as well answer like this.
FAQ's
- What's wrong with Red's skin? Wish I knew. I think it's fungus.
- How old is Red and how tall?? Red was born 2002, so 11. He's 15.3
- How old/tall is Spirit and what's his reg name? 8 years old approx, 14.3 He doesn't have one. We call him the Spirit of Sheriff Frankie -inside joke!!-
- Do you board at a private farm? It's a tiny little barn-not in size but in people-that people just so happen to board at. Just a group of friends, to be honest.
- Where did you buy your horses? Bought Cowboy and Spirit on Craigslist, Red was a gift.
- What do you use for fly spray since Red can't handle normal stuff?? Not sure on the exact mixture right off the bat but google "Avon skin-so-soft and vinegar horse fly spray" and it should come up.
- What do you feed your horses? I'm actually not sure on the exact brand because I'm forgetful, lol, but Red is on a low-sodium feed, plus we put the garlic in the feed. Not sure on Spirit. Cowboy just eats a typical miniature horse feed specifically for mini's and we buy it at Tractor Supply, he also eats some kind of horsey' vitamin that mom buys for weight gain since we're not overly pleased with his weight quite yet.
- What's that pink stuff that's on Red a lot??? It's SWAT for fly control and wound healing.
- Why do you buy so many halters? This question made me LOL..Because Red is a turkey and he is constantly losing them. It's handy to keep them around. He's missing four stinking halters AND his mask now!! Grrrrrrrrrr
- (last one btw) How tall was Red when you first got him and how much did he weigh??? He was 15 even, I believe. Not sure on weight, I think he's put on about 150, mostly of muscle though
Spirit's hindquarters are so full and healthy!
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