New Kicks.

Went out to ride today around 3 ish. When we pulled up, Spirit was out playing with the others and seemed fine, but upon closer inspection we came to the conclusion that our farrier was right and he may need shoes, at least short term. I'm a big barefoot advocate, not one of those, "SHOE ALL THE HORSES!" types, but I do think some horses really need shoes and Spirit may be one of them..dreading the fee for it but looking forward to less lameness. We shall see when and if he really gets his new kicks. We're still hoping that he will be okay without them but right now mom's sure that he'll get them. She doesn't like shoes either but she likes healthy horses, obviously.

Anyways, we went and all of the horses were in front, yay, A and R pulled up right behind us which was awesome. Got Red on the lead and Tucker went after him and had a little fiasco. My first time in the middle of a horsey fight. :P Red freaked, which isn't normal. He typically just lays back but he wasn't expecting it. He ran in a few circles and pulled away from me. I ran after Tucker and shooed him away, then calmly walked to Red, held my hands out and called for him. Finally, he settled down and walked straight to me and refused to leave my side. No wounds, just a scare!! Red didn't go after Tucker but ran off which I think made it worse. :( I took him to the fence to tie him and he got lots of lovin'.

We ordered some stuff from Chicks before we left for Florida and got it from a wonderful neighbors house where they were getting our mail. :) Little things..two pairs of spurs, a clip for my breast collar so it snaps instead of fastens, some stirrup straps since I was borrowing A's after mine disappeared, and a new curb strap for Spirit. Got my breast collar and stirrups fixed!! Woohoo!! I no longer have super long stirrups and it was ah-ma-zing.

I somehow managed to tack this while lugging my saddle, pad, and breast collar to tack him up.He says, "please, no pictures. I am far too gorgeous for your silly blog."

While I was getting beefcake all tacked up, mom decided to walk Spirit to the barn and try to bridle him to see how he did. He really wasn't acting in pain so mom decided to hop on him bareback if he checked out. No limping, so she tried it. But more on that later...

Worked on Red's standing still while mounting. A and I went ahead on the trails while mom got Spirit-boy settled. She apparently mounted easily but stayed behind us for awhile since we got a head start.

I started using a pair of blunt spurs, like these:

 Because Red's been having some little issues with stubborness. Not to jab at him or anything, but when he acts up, just to give him a little poke. These are really mild. As far as I know, he's never been spurred, but I think he probably has. Can't say for sure. He didn't act up at all with them. I only had to use them, maybe, 3 times tops. Once at a hill we go down and twice in the front pasture that we rode in after the trail ride.

He did great with them, never acted up once and didn't seem fazed. He responded to them well so I'm excited.

A and I trotted around the back pasture a lot, the stirrups. Le sigh, they made such a difference. :) I also open reined today. I need to keep my reins lower and it helped a TON. Plus Red did SO much better with it and it allows me to sit deeper easier. They could still be lower but it improved drastically today.

Once we were done there and had ridden for about 30+ minutes we decided to head back since we hadn't seen mom for awhile..needed to check on Spirit. When we got back she was in the run in with Spirit. He had acted up a ton, she thinks it was mostly from not being worked for a few weeks because he didn't seem tender. :(

I took Red out to the front pasture since we had only ridden for a short period of time and rode around for another 30 minutes. Pretty easy work, only trotted a couple times and worked into a really fast trot.  His trot is about the speed of a typical Quarter Horse canter so we were booking it up the pasture. :)) He is always stubborn in that area because he wants in the run in but didn't fight me as much today as normal. The babies were loose in that pasture so that didn't help, but they stayed in the run in and never bothered us, as per usual.

Excuses are bad, but the only reason my reins are so high in this and I'm not open reining is because we were slowing to a stop and he was being a brat about it. :))

Later, A joined me. She had ridden Patches but switched out with Bay and rode her bareback.

Me: "I AM KING OF THE HILL!" Red: "Shut up mom, you are so, so, so embarrassing!!"

See my heels, they are DOWN. Woot.

And now, photo dump.

He looks so cute.

Muh hur.

Whata butt.

Going to the tree...

Around the tree..

I had one fail moment that I SO wish was caught on video. Red and I, we were running full force. All of a sudden he's like, "NO I MUST RUN INTO ALL THE THINGS" and ran me into a really annoying tree with very annoying, pesky limbs. Kinda like this tree:

And I literally had tiny sharp leaf thingies IN my shirt and IN my pants. Red wasn't fazed although R laughed at me. A lot. :( It was hilarious though.....although said sharp leaves really hurt when I trotted. LOL.

We played around for a few minutes then mom got on Red because she hasn't ridden him in months. Apparently she thought Red was still lazy and I was just having to push him a ton to get him going but as soon as she got on, Red proved her wrong. :)) He took off galloping with her. She claimed her canter felt like he was bucking. :( But she still admitting, AND I QUOTE: "He has a rough gait and probably always will but he's the best horse ever." IN YO FACE SPIRIT.

Took Redman back to the barn after about an hour+ ride and untacked, loved on him. Talked. Gave him a massage with the magnetic curry thingy that he adores and hung out.

"I refuse to put my ears up woman."

So yeah, fun day. :) He got to run around the barn because the stalls were all taken up but he loved it. He ran to each stall like "bahahaha I'm out and you areeeen't!!!"

Jericho is lame right now, not sure why, but we were checking on him and Red peeked his head through the stall next to me and kept trying to eat my shirt sleeve until I came out and gave him his treats. Attention hog.

The horse, with beauty unsurpassed, strength immeasurable and grace unlike any other, still remains humble enough to carry a man upon his back.

When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk. He trots the air, the earth sings when he touches it.

William Shakespeare

  

Okay, today's ride. Le sigh, where do I start? If perfect rides truly exist, this was in the top 5 of all time perfect rides. 

We had a football game to watch before we went to the barn-Go Vols!-so as soon it was almost over, we headed to the barn. We got there before everyone else, which was nice because it gave us more room to tack up and once everyone got there, we were ready to go. Mom tacked Spirit up in the barn and I tied Red to a fence post. He was really pushy up in the pasture when I was leading him down, but I think it was because the others-Bella, Bay, Tucker and someone else, I forgot, lol-were all up in our business and being pushy themselves. Bella-Bella wacked mom in the face with her head and received a very stern "no ma'am!" from mom. :)) Once we got down, he kept wanting to run in front of me but I think it was from flies. Once we got to the barn and I started fly spraying he settled down and fell asleep. Got him tacked up quickly and actually PUT MY SPLINT BOOTS ON CORRECTLY, yes, I remembered, and worked on our mounting and dismounting. One of his most annoying things is he moves when I mount sometimes and we're working on that now. I fake mounted-put one foot in the stirrup and stood there, then stood IN the stirrup, lol-about ten times then actually mounted three or so times. He did good. Then I got off and made mom braid his mane...she's my unpaid groom.

Oh so bootiful, Redman.

"Hang on, let me pose. "

After that I hopped on again and we just kinda hung out together for about 25 minutes while A and R tacked up. R, A's husband, came along this time. He rode Bay-Bay, who was very hyped today. :))

Seriously in love with his tack right now...everything MATCHES!! My bridle, reins, breast collar and saddle look like a set. Plus all of my red is the same shade. And almost everything was yardsale finds...splints were like $2, breast collar custom made, saddle was traded, reins and bridle were yardsale finds for like $20, pad was like $10...woot!

 Bay led the way for about two secs until Red decided he HAD to be right next to her. So we raced. Lol!! Red apparently needed to use the restroom so when he did he refused to go anywhere but behind a tree. LOL. Such a gentleman. Anyways, we trotted up ahead. Got Redman prepped for some work today. I love slow trail rides but if I don't start working him, he's gonna be all chubby and zero muscle! I actually think he enjoyed it though, I let the reins slack and he went faster voluntarily. Good boy! 

We rode around the trails, went the long way 'round. We went to the back pasture, about ten acres. When you go in, there's a fairly steep hill straight ahead so Red and I immediately went up it. I've never, never, never gone so fast up that hill. I felt like I was going to die. :)) :)) But we made it and after that we kinda had fun with it.

 Ignore my feet, time to shorten the stirrups. They keep slipping down!! grrrr

 We probably took the hill about ten times. He was really into it and we kept it at a trot most of the time but walked up it and went the easier way about five of those times. Cantered around the creek where it's a LOT cooler so he would cool off.

My horse has discovered he can high step.

Okay, so, we kept running past twigs. Finally, we found a bigger log, probably about the size of an average trot pole. He jumped it. Umm, Red, you aren't supposed to do that. I mean, it wasn't an eventing jump or anything but he hopped over it and scared me half to death. Proof he can do the cavalettis, lol. 

This ride was so much fun, we got tons of work done but I feel like we both enjoyed it and he liked being able to let loose without me pulling him back. I don't know why he was never worked because he likes it and I think I can improve his gait. I think some of his problems is his pasturns because they are a little straight, but we shall see. I think there's been improvement so far.

Spin

We also worked on turns and spins, nothing major, just teaching him the cues and trying to get him to listen more when I say we're NOT going to the gate. I told mom he looks like a reining horse in the picture up there, lol.

Spirit did really good today, too. Last real ride, Spirit was terrible and we now know why. :P His chin strap was missing on his bridle! We fixed it, lol. No pics of the pony because mom had the phone the whole time so I couldn't take photos for her.

Wish his ears were forward and my feet were in a better position but this is my favorite!

I really don't have a bad thing to say..he went down that steep hill that he refuses CONSTANTLY without very much fuss-I had to show him the crop but didn't even tap him with it-he had sassy moments at the barn before we left but that's normal, wanted to be next to Bay-Bay, and he had a couple other "oh no ya don't!!" moments but really, he did amazing.

Pats for the good pony.

I can't remember when we have had such a successful ride. It left me feeling really good about our training and our methods. He's doing so well. 1 year together and we're tackling so much and doing good at it. 

We went back towards the barn then, took the long way until A and mom went up the hill. R and I decided to take the trails the rest of the way. It takes longer but Red was starting to get tired and I wanted to take it easy. We ditched R about halfway and went up another way, he had decided to go ahead and untack her. Mom, A and I went up to the 4 acres for about two laps around there, in which Red decided he had another bolt of energy and raced Spirit. I didn't make him go any faster than a walk the whole time, if he was lazy,I would've because he needs work under his belt, but he literally wanted to go and I've always been told he NEVER NEVER went faster than a walk and was lazy. Yeah, not anymore. :)) After that we went ahead and untacked,sweat scraped and cooled them off. Took Red to his stall once he was cooled off and fed him dinner.

"treats?"

Gave him 3 treats too. He normally only gets one. ;) I splurged! 

We rode for a good two hours, I'd say. It was fun. Longest ride we've been able to have in awhile and we did a lot of groundwork beforehand. I'm proud. We had to get a good ride in before we left for FL. I'm hoping to ride bareback before.

Anyways, no schedule. Things are getting crazy now. Gotta start cleaning the house and preparing. We're about a week away so I have to start planning stuff, buying what we need. Gotta decide on books to buy before. :)) Any ideas? ;) I'll miss Redhead. 

Now, I must eat.

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!!!

Spinning horses.

So, today I decided to get out and ride early because it's going to be hot and I wanted to beat the heat. Mom, "Petey" and I went out, got Red in the round pen and all tacked up and she went back down with the little bro. While we were there and getting our stuff together so I could start riding, a friend who boards at the barn and has been in Florida all Summer got back! Yay!!!

Here he is, changing a tire and letting Hercules wear his hat.

So, I went to the pen, put my foot in the stirrup and Red starts spinning. He refuses to let me put a foot in the stirrup and I stop for a minute, check his hooves and walk him to make sure something isn't wrong. Nope, totally fine. He is completely sound. It's just the fact that, 1. This is the first time I've mounted ALONE. No one was near us. And 2. He was lazy. ;) So, I tied the reins to the round pen, mounted, he never moved. I dismounted, untied the reins, threw them over his head, hooked them on the horn and mounted. No more problems! Yay!!

Since it rained HARD all weekend, the pen was kind of muddy so we took it slow. We trotted/cantered in the beginning, but as it started getting muddier we slowed to a walk and had a chill ride. It was too muddy to go out on the trails and Spirit+The babies were in the 4 acres, so I was stuck with the round pen. It was probably good for Red to be worked in the pen for awhile, anyways, he hadn't been in there in a few weeks and I think he does better when I get him in there every so often.

He worked up a sweat!! Ignore the puddle beneath him..It wasn't THAT muddy, but he peed RIGHT as I walked in!

We trotted around the pen for about fifteen minutes, then cantered for two or so laps around, then we slowed to a walk for another twenty minutes, trotted around for another five minutes and walked around for another twenty or so. We worked a little bit on stopping and circling and he did really good after the mounting incident. After we were done I untacked him, put his halter on-his old one, the turquoise has disappeared. :P-and worked on his following command. I led him to the back of the round pen, clucked and said "Follow" and he followed me to the gate outside and I allowed him to go on and get water from the trough near the barn. I walked down to put his saddle, pad and bridle away and got a few treats, clucked and said "come" and he obeyed before he even saw the treats. Woot!! He took his first treat, said hello to "Petey" in the stroller and came back for his other treat. He went back to the water, then checked out Craig and joined in with the curious horses around the car.

"I know you have treats!!"

I was going to bring his new tail extensions and leg wraps but it was just too muddy and rushed to do it. I didn't even brush him, all I did was check for thorns and etc so he wouldn't be irritated. He wasn't that dirty anyways, so I wasn't overly worried. Next time I'll get him all dolled up and take better pictures. ;)

Pretty boy!

Step-dad wants to ride this week, so I may not ride again until this weekend, MAYBE. It may be too hectic to even do it, but I'll be by the barn every day, probably. He really could use a bath....

Tack review: Tacky Too pad.

 I recently bought a Tacky Too pad in a huge lot of tack and I probably spent MAYBE ten dollars on it. I used it for the first time yesterday and some people on Pinterest asked me what I thought about it, so, I thought I'd do a quick review.

This is the same as mine, but mine is a brighter red.

I've used a load of pads, mostly all standard western pads with wool, but Red is a sweater. 

After ten minutes of trotting, he looks like this.

So, when I found this neoprene pad in the lot, I bought it, but wasn't sure if Red could use it. I figured he would sweat even heavier with that, plus it was thinner and I had only used thick pads on him. It sat underneath one of my saddles on my saddle rack at the barn for awhile, I figured that one of the other people at the barn could use it or if mom ever gave in and bought herself an App like she so desperately wanted, she could use it. Of course, she bought that App soon after, but somehow on our first ride out with him-Yesterday-Red ended up with the pad on and Spirit had our older one on, mom's favorite.

We rode for about an hour an a half, maybe two hours, on the trails, in pastures, in about 75 degree weather and for the first 30 minutes, he didn't sweat at all, normally, he'd be soaked. Once the hour was up, he was sweating, but not as bad. When I took his tack off, he seemed cool and after about ten minutes of walking him around I was able to take him back to the pasture. I actually really liked this pad and Red seemed to do well with it. It is much thinner than my other pads but he seemed to be very comfortable.

I really love this pad! I'm very happy with it!

Galloping up hills is actually kind of fun.

Oh my goodness. I am exhausted, it's late, just got back from a rodeo...Not going to be a long post. Sorry.

Mom and I went to the barn today and randomly decided to ride, so we got Spirit and Red out of the pasture VERY carefully so the others didn't get out, went down and tacked them up. John, the owner of the farm, had company over and they got to see the horses. Red was a gentleman and walked over to them as soon as he could to get a good head rub, but Spirit pooped and refused to let them get close. Nananannaa, mom, my horse has better manners! ;) Joking, joking.

Patches waiting to go to the trails!!

We went out on the trails and rode all around the farm, probably spent around 3 hours there, but maybe an hour and a half, maybe two hours of riding. In the beginning, we let Spirit lead because he seems to do better in front, and Red was in the back. Spirit started trying to run the other way and rear, so Patches took the lead and I cantered back to the main trails while mom got Spirit settled down. He was soon back to his normal, kind of calm, self. I swear he acts like an Arab, but that's what mom likes, so.

Love those ears!!

Red did AMAZING. The last few rides we've had have just been great. There is a steep-ish hill that you have to go down in order to get to the more fun and rugged trails, and Red normally flat out REFUSES to go down it, but this time, after some persuasion, he went down without a problem. Going back up was super fun, I must admit. We started gaining speed on the way there and he knew exactly where to go, and we galloped up that hill like it was nothing!! So fun!!!

I'm on Red, and Ann is on Patches in front of me. Waiting for mom and Spirit!

We went up to the 10+ acre pasture where subdivisions are on the other side of the fence, and I took off cantering ahead of them, the dogs started barking at us and a kid ran out and yelled at Red really loud but he never missed a step and didn't even seem phased at all.

Red loves dogs....

All in all, it was a good ride. Spirit had his moments, but it's nothing mama can't handle. Patches did great, as usual, a little stubborness on the hills but nothing bad. Red did amazing, a little stubborn at times but he did very well and acted like he had ridden with Spirit all his life. :)



Used my new Tacky Too neoprene pad..I was worried about him sweating worse with it because he sweats so bad, but he seemed to be cool in it and didn't seem bothered by the new material. I like it and it's thin, but thick enough to give him a lot of comfort. I'm not overly fond of the color with my brown saddle, so I'll probably stick with my fleece blankets unless it's really hot.

We took Red and Spirit back to the 4 acres where they are currently staying while we transition Spirit into his new life and home, and tied the other horses to the posts so we could get them all in without an accident. :P When we untied them, Red and Spirit had a bit of a fight..Nothing bad, Red went to bite him and Spirit tried to buck, but Red ran. :P Can't wait for that junk to be over with!! I'm happy Red is holding is own now, though..Before he'd just take it and end up with tons of wounds.

After that we fed and went home, then went to a rodeo. I'll probably post pictures from that tomorrow. We may ride again tomorrow..weather is nice.

Spirit & mom

Red

Red & I

I have an obsession and that obsession is tack.

Soo.....I bought Red yet another halter today..What??? There was a cute turquoise one at Tractor Supply Co. and it was calling my name!! "Kaaaaliiin!! Red would loooooove this!"

So I splurged.

And it's cute and huge and teal and bright and pretty.

And Eeyore looks pretty snazzy with it on. But he makes everything look good, so.

I wanted to get a conformation picture, but this was the best I could do...


Sorry if the picture is really large....I had to take it with the phone sideways. Lol!!! Doesn't he look great?? Let's do a quick comparison, shall we?

May 3rd, 2013. Once again, I apologize if the picture is huge. Keep in mind he is still VERY wooly here as it was still cold. He's lost all of that fuzzyness now and is slick.

Looks better, am I right??

We went out to the barn to drop some stuff off and chill out. I got Red out to groom him while step-daddy, mom, little bro and John, the owner of the barn, sat and talked. Red and I listened to some music and I broke down and used a little fly spray on him.

 I couldn't help it.

Old followers will know that Red has a minor allergic to fly spray, minor as in it doesn't hurt him, but some of his hair falls off, then he recovers in about a week if you don't use any more and use it very little. I haven't used it nor had to and I was planning on getting a natural spray to use, but haven't had a chance to ask my vet about it. He's been fine until tonight, and his legs were covered with the pesky bugs and I couldn't stand it, so I sprayed a TINY amount of Zonk It! on his legs and they finally went away, mostly at least. I was at the point of not caring how his legs look, I'm NOT going to let my horse be tortured by bugs just because I'm too paranoid about a bald spot. Going to get garlic powder and Apple Cider Vinegar to put in his food tomorrow which helps prevent flies and will be making a natural spray. Wish me luck.

PS: if you have a "recipe" for a spray, tell meeeee!! I NEED the ideas. And Red would like them too.

What kind of horse girl would I be if I didn't sneak in some pictures of us???

Mom took this one, way better. Plus we match!!! Hahahaha!

He stood still like a champ during the grooming. I got his mane/forelock and tail all brushed out and smoothed. His mane is so long now!!! Yay!! He wasn't dirty at all, just a little sweaty with some mud spots on him, so I only spent a few minutes on the brushing and spent the rest of the time hugging on him. :)

Going to post some more tomorrow, exciting stuff going on that I REALLY want to post about but I can't yet!!! Hopefully I'll get the go-ahead tomorrow. If I get it before then, even if it's 2 AM, I'll post! Rofl!

Til then!