Year.

A year ago today I became a real horse owner. I had owned a miniature, Barbie, beforehand, but obviously I couldn't ride a 30 inch tall mini. For years, I had wanted a big horse. A real one that I could ride. I had begged, searched for the horse, proved that I was responsible enough, that I could help pay, I'd work for them, which was all good, but in the end we just didn't have the room and we really didn't want to board the horse because there wasn't a place near us, or so we thought, and we couldn't afford the average boarding rate of $350+ a month.

Barbie.

Then, we went on a family vacation to Florida and I was invited on a trail ride along with my mother and step-dad. My aunt and her kids, a little older than myself, had to rehome some of their horses after financial difficulty and sadly, Red, the horse they put me on, had to go. It was difficult, getting rid of him. They had him for years, practically since he was a baby, and they loved him so much. But, they had to rehome some and Red just had to leave. I didn't know, but my Aunt was asking my mom if she could take Red. Mom had horses all her life as well, so she wanted to, but we just didn't think we could. But, mom decided to let me ride him, and not tell me her plan, see how we clicked and what she thought of Red. She had met him several times but never really paid attention.

Long story short, we got him after a hard time catching him, as he wasn't a fan of that, tacked up and left. I fell in love. I really wanted him. He was 15 HH at the time, now he's about 15.2'ish..he has odd growth spurts, lol. Not really what I pictured myself with but I really liked him. When we left, I begged mom. Please, let me try. Please, let's just try and see if we could do it. A week later, we were back home and went to a rodeo full of Quarters. I pointed out all of the Bay's and pretty much begged some more. The next day, I found out we were taking him. The conversation wasn't the nicest in the beginning. Mom started with, "We can't keep Barbie." and ended with, "Stop crying, you look horrible." Needless to say, it was bittersweet but I was excited. I loved Barbie a lot, but in all honesty, she couldn't take me where I wanted to go. We were at a standstill and while we had a bond, I helped her and she helped me, I needed and was ready for something better.

July 2012

To make this very long story even shorter, he came home on September 4th. I cried as the trailer pulled up. The first few days were hectic and I lived in his stall. I brushed him a good 50 times a day, I stayed in the pasture. I took my homework-homeschoolers unite!-to the pasture and spent time with him. I gave him treats. We fed him 3 times a day, once at about 5 AM when it was still dark, once around 3 and once around 11. I woke up bright and early every day to go see him. I didn't ride him for a few weeks, but that was fine. He needed to settle. We ended up having to board, that was hard, but seeing how happy he was to be part of a herd again made it worth it. 

The day he moved. Running to me as I left.

I cried when I watched him run freely, I hadn't seen him do that before. 

A year later, here we are. Still trail riding, still working on that gait of his, feeding less, still taking tons of photos every time I see him, the bond hasn't gone away and the thrill hasn't faded. Everyone said it was a phase and didn't expect me to still be this crazy after so long, haha, they thought wrong.

Little less than a year ago.

July 8th.

My EQ has improved, his gait has improved, my physical ability has improved, his has improved. I wish I had a better "after shot" but I don't have a good in action, new photo in the saddle, need to get more. Since my time has been so limited I've been riding bareback.

This past fall, I believe.

The other day.

Can't wait to see where we're at next year.


PS:  I was told the other day that Red was used as a cattle horse before my aunt bought him. Interesting. :)) Also, was told that he maybe cantered 3 or 4 times with them when they had him for over 5 years so I think all he needs is tons of work, muscle gain in his back and etc and his gait will get better. Tips?

Oh, forgot to post these photos I took this morning at the barn!

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!!!

He has turned from the horse nobody wanted, to the horse everyone can't stop talking about.-Bailey G

 I am *in love* with this boy! Thanks for sending in your story, Bailey! :) I enjoyed it a lot!

This is my pretty boy Big D's Got it Good (Diego). He is a 9yr old Friesian sport horse. I meet him 3 years ago in need of a new jumping horse. The first ride, he barely knew how to turn. I don't know what I was thinking, but I agreed to lease him, training him, helping him. He had an eventful life of walking in circles once a week. And I later learned he had been abused before, tried to be trained by "cowboys" with harsh methods. And they sold her to a young girl saying he was finished. Well she used a curb, that being his first bit he did something, I don't know what,  to make her parents think he was dangerous enough to drop him off at a barn, saying he was "killer". I see nothing of that old horse he used to be. He turned out to be one heck of a jumper, clearing 3'5" with ease in the first few months of jumper training. We compete in dressage and show jumping, and next year 3-day eventing. Over the past 3 years we have both taught each other SO much, and has turned from the horse nobody wanted, to the horse everyone can't stop talking about.

Thank you!
     -Bailey G.

 

Remember, if you want YOUR story featured, shoot me an email at Superspecialninja@gmail.com! :)

Red wears his sassy pants & Spirit takes a bit. Finally.

So, we will *not* be able to get out to the barn and ride tomorrow because we got a respit call-for those of you who aren't familiar with foster care lingo, respit is when you take a child for the weekend to give other foster parents a break-for a little girl and we decided to help out and take it, we'd be going to pick her up right at 4:30 and Chip's possible owner will be there at 4:00 and we have to drive a good distance, so we're hoping to swing by on the way home if all is well. Since we can't ride tomorrow, mom and I decided to head out tonight and go for a short ride. We probably rode for an hour or more, and it was just us because Ann needed to work her husband's new horse, Hercules, who was already at the barn and was owned by Chip's owner. He's a 3 year old TWH-or saddlebred, I forget-and has only been worked with a saddle once before, so he needs the work.

Playing with his mother a few months ago.

You'd never think he was such a silly dude.

He is a fly mask ripper, a halter stealer, an escape artist..but he's a sweet horse and very docile, especially when being worked. The other day, we stalled the horses up to feed and he got out of his stall-how he did it we have no idea, it was latched tight!-and just walked out, put his head on me and stood there like, "hey guys, what are you talking about???" Plus his eyes always look so silly..like he's either done drugs or is really sad. But he is really pretty, I love his markings. He should mature to be about 15 H.H!! Of course he won't be seriously worked until he's matured enough since he's only 3, but they have sat on him before just to get him used to it, then hopped off. He's done great!!

ALSO something I'm EXTREMELY HAPPY about!! THE STALL GATES HAVE BEEN FIXED! Before, Red's stall door swung out an awkward way and it wouldn't close, so I had to open it, push Red outside, close it while holding Red, latch it with a lead rope and try to keep Red from running off,it was a pain. Now, we have fancy doors like these:

Just without the bars. :D :D YAY!!

I got Red out, tied him, got his tail wrap off..and then I freaked. Red randomly YELPED like a little girl and knowing his tail was sensitive due to possible arthritis from breaking it when he was a colt-an ugly wittle colt :( :(-I freaked out and thought I hurt him! I was being gentle, but I was wondering if I just pushed a bad place or something. Ann looked up like, "What in the world?" and then he did it again. This time I just stood there. Turns out Raven, a colt, was trying to bite him and he was scared. :( :( I got in front of him and he hid behind my back. DUDE. You are a 15.3 huge QH, you could take a 500 pound, 13.2 HH TWH colt! :)) Apparently, Red isn't a fan of being bullied.

This is what we did afterwards. Which he actually does all the time.By himself. I love it.

Once Raven was shooe'd away, I put his bridle on, tied the reins, put MTG on his tail and decided to let it air out while it was raining tonight so it wouldn't get all dry. I'll wrap it tomorrow or the next day again. It's really starting to look better, gettin' some hair growth!! Yipee!! I tacked him up, left the splint boots and ear bonnet this time because we were kind of rushed and I didn't think he'd need them. I mounted, he tried to spin a couple times but after about three tries he stood still like the good boy he is. ;) Mounted, stood while mom finished with Spirit..He FINALLY took his bit without a fight!!!! We think it was the sunburn on his nose.

Red put on his sassy pants.

Oh my goodness, for the first time in forever I wished I had a crop.




We went out, he did GREAT for the first few minutes, perfect!! He tripped a few times but that's normal for Red, he always trips. At one point I asked if he looked lame because he did some weird trip movement but mom said he looked perfect, and when I got off I walked him and he was fine. Must've been all the rocks that were washed up during the storm the other day. I think most of his issue was because, 1. He's nervous around Spirit, 2. This is the first time he's ridden with ONLY Spirit, normally he hangs out with one of Ann's horses that he is comfortable with and walks with them and stays in line, 3. Mom was the only one with us and he knew he could push me more than usual. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. He was sassy, but we had a lot of good moments. We trotted around a lot but I stuck with a walk for awhile because of all of the mud, once we got up to grass I let him canter. Went all around the farm and into the 4 acres after we were done on the trails, he did well up there other than one moment of, "I'm going to the barn and seeing what Hercules is doing in that round pen!!" and I made him do a little barrel formation twice. ;) There were wonderfully placed bushes up there in a perfect barrel racing formation and we trotted around them. ;) We didn't do great, but hey, it's a start and I think those tests are good for him.

We took some pictures on the trails, of course..

Don't look at his poor tail. :( :( :(

And I ONLY took pictures of ONE STINKING SIDE. I meant to snap a few pictures of my new saddle concho but completely forgot.

Went back to the barn, said hello to Hurk, tied Red, put his halter on, tied the lead rope again, untacked him, used the sweat scraper, fly sprayed again, put MTG on his face and on his tail again, rammed my finger into wood and got a splinter, got it out, gave Red treats-three, because when I tried giving him two he kept looking for his other, whoever says horses can't count is stupid!-took him in front of the fan, then walked around, stalled him up. Gave him kisses. :) He did that hugging thing like he does every time he sees me..Gah I love this horse, even with ugly sassy pants on. Really, the sassy pants came off once I dismounted and fly sprayed again, I'm still guessing it was the bugs.

I'm just so happy about his coat now, it's so shiny!!!!

Anywho, good ride. :) Testing horses are good sometimes, keeps you on your toes-or should I say heels considering proper EQ??-and gives you more experience.

Once we were done he ate dinner and got turned out again to go play. :) It's been a nice day. Before the ride I took my labrador out to the creek and let her swim around. It's been hot today so it was a treat for both of us. I completely forgot to take pictures, but picture a cute, shedding, fluffy black lab swimming with me wishing I could swim too. ;) Shallow water! :P

What did y'all do today? (Any tips on tail wrapping? :D)

More on Chip.

If you read my last post then you'll know we recently got another horse, Chip. It was a short post because I had to go out and do some work before it got dark, so I thought I'd post a better post today and give a little background. We don't know all the details like his reg name, lineage, etc, but we do know enough. So, first, the basics:

• Name: Chip
• Age: Ballpark 10 or so, we were told when the farrier was out but I completely forgot. :))
• Breed: Appaloosa
• Color: Leopard App, black & white with some brown spots on his face.
• Height: 16+HH-He's a huge boy!!
• Barefoot or shoed?: Barefoot. Nice striped Appy feet!!!!
• Discipline: Western, mostly trail riding but who knows what we'll end up doing later on.
• Lineage: ????

Chip was given to us for free by a man at the barn, and he paid $2,200 for him. Yep. You read that right.

Chip.

He needs a lot of groundwork and just work in general. He has a bit of a 'tude so we'll be doing a ton of work with that. He's never offered to bite us or anything, but he is a little feisty with other horses and at the moment, he's the herd leader. He is classified as greenbroke and hasn't been ridden since early September or before then. We'll get him in the round pen next week and start working. The idea is for him to be my step-father's horse, but we'll probably all ride him if he ends up being a good boy and DOESN'T buck. ;) He works with a hack so we may try a bit later on but we'll probably keep him on a hack because it's easier for a new rider who doesn't know all that much about horses to use and put on. Plus Chip is very mouthy and likes to playfully nip when your hand is close. He doesn't BITE, but he nips and licks. :))

 

I'm really excited to see how this guy ends up!! He's an absolute gorgeous, huge horse. He's got a lot of potential and I'm eagerly awaiting next week to see how he does with someone back on him.

With the farrier.

He does good getting his hooves trimmed as long as someone he likes is holding him like Ann is doing in the above picture, but on one of the hooves he has to have a twitch. He used to need one of all of his hooves but he's improved. He doesn't have his feet messed with often so I think that'll improve and he won't need a twitch at all eventually.
He's going to need a lot of work..hopefully we don't get bucked in the process. ;)