Stiffness & Farrier's.

I think the last time our farrier was out, Red was stiff in his back legs. He was stiff in his *FRONT* legs this time!! Grrrr!!! Gave that boy some bute and walked him around and he seemed to be a little better, I'm still planning on riding tomorrow unless it's just way worse. Anywho, we had left VBS and rushed to the barn, so they had already finished Red-big thanks to the barn "manager" for holding my horse when I couldn't be there!!-and were just about to trim up Spirit. :) :) No pictures of Spirit because he was being a jerk. He did great for the first two, front hooves, but once the farrier got to the back, he started bunny hopping and tried to run himself into the farrier, Ann, the chair and the concrete table. After a couple smacks on the butt, he settled for about three seconds then we decided to tie him in the barn and he did fine. No one got kicked in the process. ;) I meant to take a before and after shot of his hooves because the girl had trimmed them herself and they started to look a little bad, but I completely forgot! :P :P Now, they look perfect!!

I headed to Red's stall after that and made him walk in the stall for me so I could see if he was too stiff, he seemed stiff but not overly bad so I don't think my Saturday riding plans will be ruined. Even if he was, I'd get out and groom him.. I think it'll work out well.

Really not too  much to report until tomorrow when I ride, so I'll leave on a happy note with some cute pictures. :D

Part of me hates this picture because he got too close and the flash made his face look pale, but look how muscular and shiny his body looks!!!

Cutie patootie!

Sticking his tongue out!

And here is Bay, sticking her tongue out at our farrier. ;)

Planning to trail ride tomorrow, groom Red and etc. Not sure on a schedule. It's hard to make one with my life. :P :P

GOOD NEWS!! We got our farrier to check out the "cancerous spot on Chip" and we couldn't even find one. Seriously?? We are 99.9% sure this lady who came to the barn just saw something wrong or something because we do NOT think he has cancer of any form. Vet is coming out in mid July so we'll check just in case but we do NOT think it's cancer. Yipee!

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)

Hard days.

Yesterday was hard, I was really struggling to have a good day for some reason. The first part of the day was great, but I got tired and I just felt bad. Everybody has those days, right? we went to the barn to possibly ride but we ended up not riding and just hanging out. We brushed out Chip and we still feel really uneasy about taking him..we found out he reared while someone was putting his tack on, and that he bucks in the round pen and is bad on the trails. I don't think we'll end up with him..we'll help find a great home, but as of now we all feel uneasy about having four horses and none of us want to get reared off...He would need to go to a trainer, possibly, and we just don't have the time or money for that. Plus Spirit needs to be worked a lot or else he'll become sour and then I will NOT let Red just go to the background because we have two horses that have  a touch of an attitude and need to be worked 24/7. Red is my baby and he will always come first. Yesterday Chip took up most of our time and I barely had anytime with Red. I fly sprayed him, put MTG on him and checked his hooves, but really, five minutes ISN'T enough time. I was hormonal yesterday, I swear, I just was not in a good state of mind, I was in a funk and I'm thankful to be out of it today, mostly at least. I need a good ride.

We tried putting a fly mask on Red because he's started to lose some hair on his face, but Hercules kept trying to bully Red and get it off, so we had to take it away. I'm really bummed out about his hair..He's losing a lot and I'm freaking. I don't want him to go backwards..Obviously he won't lose the weight again but I don't want him to be hairless all Summer.

He's still got that red coat, though!!

 

He wasn't pleased with the mask!!

I just adore this horse. I walked in the pasture after they let everyone out once they had eaten and he waited for me instead of going after the others and going to the back pasture..He let me hug him and cuddle for a few minutes and do all that was needed.  Once we were done, we went towards the van to leave the barn and he stood at the gate and waited for us. The minute we were pulling out, he started walking away but he waited for us until we left..

"Do you have to leave, mom??"

 

He's such a good boy...Nothing like this guy to get me out of a funk! Hahaha! I think we're going to try and ride tomorrow or Sunday..Jeff works tomorrow, but only half a day, so he'll be home early anyways. It was supposed to rain yesterday and today but it never even got close and it's staying to the east, so I think it'll be dry enough for a trail ride. I really hope so, I need a good trail ride... It's been a difficult week. :)) :)) Plus I want to break out my red tack! Hahaha!

Thunder, rain and horses, oh my!

Well. Went to the barn yesterday morning to attempt to saddle up Spirit and ride. Since we have Chip now and he needs a lot of work, we need to make sure we even the time out because if Spirit isn't ridden he'll get really green. He was in the same pasture as the babies and we couldn't take him out without the other horses bullying and couldn't take the filly/colts out because they would get bullied, so we were going to saddle him up and see how he did while I kept the babies away, then mom would get off and I'd ride. It didn't work and we left. :))

Then, went to go pay board for Red-we pay at separate times so it's easier-and it started storming really bad. We get the horses stalled up, Spirit is still in the four acres with the babies but they have safe places up there to hang out while it's storming so they were fine. Some of the horses were iffy about the lightening but Red ended up falling asleep after a few minutes of waiting for his food..

Getting sleeepy!

Lighting was horrid in the stalls so I have terrible pictures to offer..

Sleeepier.

Got the grain in the barn for all ze horseys, then as Ann and mom were taking up the food to the others- I was in the car with a terrified little brother..he hates hard rain. ;) Once I got Red taken care of I was out of the rain!-It started raining HARD and we waited it out. Finally we had to leave and all of the horses were safe..Geeze. I hate Spring weather sometimes..It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow as well so it'll probablyyyy be too muddy to ride this weekend but we'll try. We HAVE to get Spirit out soon and start working Chipadoodle.

Dumb rain..PS: This is the front of our barn! Lol!

Our newest fur baby!!

We've been at the zoo ALL. DAY and my step-daddy is gettin' off late today, so we'll probably try to stop by the barn but it won't be a long visit..Probably no riding until this weekend/week. Chip will be in the round pen soon and mom will saddle up and get on him since she's used to buckers. ;) I'll try to take a video, if not I'll get pictures! Excited, but nervous. Hopefully mama doesn't get thrown. Lol!!! Red got worked the other day so I'm not all that worried about riding him. He can go months without work, but I won't let it happen. Lol! I try to get out and ride at LEAST once a week..Spirit and Chip will probably need more than that. Life is changin'!!!!

Not sure about our schedule this week..hopefully riding+work+visits. :) :)

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. ;)

We are now horse owners of 4.

Oh my goodness, we got a new horse. Again.

And he is another Appaloosa.

Craig, a man at the barn who owns Hercules, Trigger, Lady and Chip needed to rehome Hercules and Chip. He gave Hurk to Ann and her husband at the barn, and we took Chip.

I think we are a little crazy, but a good crazy. This guy needs LOTS of ground work and round pen work before any of us-but mom, lol-can ride him, but he's going to be a good boy. He is 16+HH and an Appaloosa, obviously...This will be my step-father's horse-did I already say that??-but he will need work before he is rideable for Jeff. Going to add an "About Chip" page soon..Still surreal. :)) He's already part of the family!!!!

Jeff and Chip.