7/10/13

Trot, canter, poop, trot, canter, pee, trot, canter poop again.

For all of you Equestrian's that are sensitive about poo, or just people who strolled on my blog to see cute ponies..sigh, I have no hope. I think Red pooped three times and peed once during our ride. He does this every time.....

Mom and I went out to the barn yesterday evening around 4:30 and decided to ride. Jeff was watching two babies, somewhat fussy ones, so we had to make it quick. I tied Red, groomed him, then tacked him up.
Let out a sigh of relief, as well.

Last time he was tacked up, he was foundering, and his tack barely fit, his breast collar didn't fit all all. This time, it clipped perfectly!! Perfect, loose fit again. Phew.

Since Red lost *another* halter, I already had put his bridle on and tied him with the reins, so I went ahead and mounted so mom could tie Spirit and get him ready. The driveway where we normally tie to the posts was full of cars so we didn't have room. :( Really excited to get our cross-ties built soon!!! :D :D


Red was a gentleman and let me mount over in the grass without spinning, let me move him around before I got on so I was on a hill and he wasn't, because hey, I'm only 5'3 and he's about 15.3 if not taller now, it's hard to mount him when your stirrups are fairly short and you are hot and sweaty just from lifting the saddle and tack, and your jeans are sticking to you. Sigh, I really want a pair of stretchy breeches for the Summer..

Anywho, A had some people out to the barn to help her work Tucker, Hercules and Jericho, just to let you guys know and brief ya a little, Tucker was a rescue, not sure of his breeding. He spent the majority of his life in a pasture and had only set foot in a barn when A bought him, he had no hoof care and he looked pretty bad. A cleaned him up and has been working him, but she's thinking about selling because she has 6(?) horses and she's never really felt a bond with Tucker, he had to be helped and so she was there. He had an abscess, a  terrible one, a couple months back and he's still acted a tad tender footed, but he needed to be worked desperately. Hercules is her husband's young TWH, I think he's four or five or something, they were recently given him by his owner who also boards, we'll call him C, at our barn and actually leases the property..we are confusing at our barn. ;) C is SUPER nice. Hercules is just now being broke and is doing amazing, but he doesn't know his cues at all and A wanted someone to help out with that. Last but not least, one of my favorite horses at the barn..Jericho is a skiddish Mustang, also a rescue. A is his owner, when she got him you could barely get near him and now he's improved like crazy. He's been a round pen horse for awhile but yesterday he *FINALLY* got to go outside of the round pen and did AMAZING! :) Yaaayy!!!!
Watching with those "I don't care" ears.

I was the first to walk out with Red and so I rode out to watch them working. One of the gates is right on a hill above the round pen about a hundred feet away, so I had a nice view and Red enjoyed watching Tucker..They brought Tucker out of the pen and he refused to move. After a few minutes we decided to walk Red out to see if Tucker would follow. I rode Red out the gate while the woman hopped on Tucker again, he bucked as Red was passing and the guy seemed a little like, "uh oh" and I hopped off, moved Red to the side so he'd get out of the way faster, don't want to be bucked, ;), and hopped back on. Somehow, I dropped my reins and I twisted in the saddle to grab them, all the while Red stood like a good guy and just waited for me to fix everything. I kicked him, pointed to the four acres and he went straight there. Clucked my tongue, he trotted up there, he went to the water in the four acres and kind of stood there like, "Uhhhh...could you drop your reins lady??" and I loosened them enough so he could drink. Tucker still didn't follow, so once he was done I cantered him back down the hill and tried again, this time talking to Tucker. He still didn't want to move, so I went and cantered into the four acres and to see if he would follow if Tucker would go if Red was out of sight. Nope. Cantered back. Nothing worked. :P A grabbed one of my crops and that got Tucker going a little. Finally, mom came up with Spirit, apparently chose to ride bareback because the only tack she had was her bridle and reins. ;) Back when my mom was younger, her first horse was well over 16.HH, she'd hop on that horse-apparently, I wasn't born yet, LOL-and go ride around with just a halter. She is known for her crazy horses. A wild App with a attitude named Beauty, her favorite horse she ever owned. Her heart horse. Before Beauty, who was actually an ugly App with a rat mane and tail and modeled skin, she owned several Arabians, all very hyper. She didn't like lazy, she wanted fast and hyper. She barrel raced, raced cars, rode into a side of public property even when a man threatened to shoot her and cussed her out because she was in "his property" and got her policeman friend to join her on a ride just to  clear it up. Later, when the man realized he couldn't do a thing about her riding, she would go there all the time with friends and their horses. So of course, when she found Spirit, she needed something a little more docile than she would've before, especially since she'd been out of the saddle for so long, but still wanted something with spirit, pun intended. We really weren't sure if he'd do okay bareback since he is very hyped up, but he did great! No pictures then because my phone was shoved in my boot and I couldn't get it out on the trails. :(

Once she was up there with me, we rode around the four acres for a minute, cantered the "pony's"  and headed to the trails. It was still muddy and we had to be home soon since Jeff was alone, so we didn't take the whole thing. Plus, we wanted to give the horses some TLC afterwards, so after about forty five minutes we headed back to the barn. Red led the whole time and I must say, he did fantastic!! He normally hates leading but he did very well. We galloped up the hill to get back, one of our steeper hills that Red loves galloping up, and I managed to hang out. :)) Tried to take me in the woods but I averted that crisis. ;) He wanted to race Spirit *so* *bad* but we didn't let them..:)) Mom bareback+Spirit's tiny hooves+Spirit's whole bucking at other horses too close thing+we weren't sure if they were still working down in the pen..yeah, didn't want to chance it. :)) I took Red the long way down and mom took the easier, shorter way. They were working Hurk then, one of Red's BFF's, so I got close to the round pen to watch for a minute then went down to untack him.

J, the owner of the whole farm, was down there with his colt that sadly got a case of rain rot and was brushing him out. Mom tied Spirit to put his fly mask on, sunscreen and fly spray and I untacked Red while he was untied..love having such a good horse! :D I randomly decided to take pictures after I got the breast collar off so here they are..ignore how ruffled and lazy I look..
Normally, I'd dress nicer even to just go to the barn, but it was a good 90 degrees and we had been working all day...

This sums up our personalities in a nutshell. Red's like, "What'cha doin' up there?"

Photo creds to my mom for those^^^^
Here's a selife.






















 So I'm pretty much positive that Red has sweet itch, so I bought him some anti-fungal stuff to prevent rubbing and to cause hair growth..I forgot the name of it, I'll try and remember next time. ;) Anywho, put that stuff in his mane and tail, hopefully it works. Crossing my fingers!! He got the special treatment..fly spray, anti fungal spray, MTG on his chest where it's been scabby, SWAT on his nose and tail..Good grooming to scrape the sweat, cuddles and a treat. :)
Hmmmm?? Treats??? The only way to make his ears go up.

Once he was untacked I took some pictures.














 




Notice that tongue.
As for my schedule..I'll probably go by again tonight just to put the stuff in his mane but no riding. It's supposed to rain. :( Really not sure on my schedule. May ride again this weekend if we're able. Hoping to go to a rodeo Friday if we can find a babysitter. :)

UPDATE ON CHIP: Chip is settled in his new home!! Yay!!!

8 comments:

  1. Gorgeous photos. Yay for riding :-)

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    1. Thanks! :D I agree!! hoping to get another one in this weekend

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  2. He sure is a good looking guy!!! Ah, sorry I've been so busy lately and haven't been keeping up as well as I'd like :( AND MOLD AND RAIN ROT, I hate it! You live where I live so I know you know all about it ;)

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    1. Thank you! :D And ohhh yess!!! Our whole farm is full of rain rot! :/ Plus my saddle is molding..A stinking $500+ barrel saddle..MOLDING. I'm investing in a saddle cover soon.

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  3. I'm pretty new to your blog, have been here once or twice, but don't think I have ever commented.
    Red seems like a really sweet easy going guy. I'm kind of like your mom, I like my horses with a little more pizzazz to them, but I love having a guy like Red around. We have one named Killian.
    I had to laugh at the pooping and peeing. My paint does that. He farts, poops and pees while being ridden more than any horse I know. I haven't decided if he is that relaxed or that nervous.
    I'm going to throw one thing out here, and you can take it for what it is worth. You mentioned that you cannot wait to get your cross ties for tacking up. I would strongly suggest/urge you to teach good old Red to ground tie for tacking up. It comes in really handy, as you never know when you are going to need to tack or untack in a place where there is nothing. He seems so mellow, I'll bet it wouldn't be hard to teach him at all.
    The way I did it with mine is round penning them for a little bit first and then drop my lead rope and have them stand in the round pen when I saddle them. I did it that way over and over again until they got used to being tacked with the lead rope on the ground. I don't correct them if they move a step, but only if the try to leave. The way I correct them is by making them do a little more work. Pretty soon they are happy to stand still for tack. Now I tack up next to my trailer (because that is the only tack room I have)but rarely ever tie them to the trailer. I just drop the rope and they know to stand still. Not only will you have a horse that you can tack up anywhere, any time, but everyone will be impressed with how easy your horse is.
    (not that they aren't already- I know I am, after that horse bucked right in his face)

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    1. Thanks for joining me! :D
      Red will actually allow me to tack him up without anything tied. There have been a few times that we haven't had enough posts to tie and so I just tacked Red up and made him stand, he does really well with that, the only reason I'm eager to get cross ties is because typically, when we go out to ride, there is at least two other horses other than Red and I don't want any of them to grab at each other or something.
      As for the poop during rides, I think Red's is mostly a relaxed thing. In the beginning, I know it was stress, but now he's very chill out in the trails and his body language is completely relaxed.
      Red was actually used as a lesson horse for the majority of his life, not sure if you've read his about page, and so he was taught from time he was bought as a colt that he stands still! Most kids, about 5 years old and a little over, would tack them up by themselves with nothing tied, mount by themselves and he did great. I probably wouldn't use the cross ties a lot, but when Red is feeling antsy-even though he's calm 99.9% of the time, he has those days, lol!-it's nice to have the ability to tie him to a structured place. And LOL! Yeah, the bucking scared me a little! He just took it in stride and moved over like, "yeah, I'll give ya some space, dude!" He was actually in a pasture with a mustang before I owned him and the mustang would literally trample every single horse, but he was great with Red because Red respected him. :) Red's also been in with 29 inch tall miniatures. Lol!!

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