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!!!!
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| 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..
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| 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... |
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| This sums up our personalities in a nutshell. Red's like, "What'cha doin' up there?" |
Photo creds to my mom for those^^^^
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| 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. :)
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| Hmmmm?? Treats??? The only way to make his ears go up. |
Once he was untacked I took some pictures.
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| Notice that tongue. |
UPDATE ON CHIP: Chip is settled in his new home!! Yay!!!
