A little bit of a break

Things have been super busy around work and the barn, so I haven't had much time to ride or play. I hope after this week this will change. I miss playing with my ponies. I have seem them everyday and we did ride and play on Wed/Thur, but that isn't enough for me. Here's hoping next week and the beginning of 2014 will allow us more time for fun!

Christmas bowls for the horses!

Jess getting his shoes reset

Char Christmas Day 2013

Char was the first...

Yesterday I had my fifth ride on Char. It was the first time we have ridden without Jess in the arena. Even though we didn't have Jess we had Sam, Lucky, and Dancer with us. She did just fine without Jess :) We were all riding together which was a lot of fun! At the beginning of the ride it was same as usually, not much if any forward motion. She doesn't like to leave the front of the arena. We did do backing, hip yields, and some turning. Then we finally got some forward motion...she decided it would be okay to walk all the way around the arena :) We were probably on our 5 + trip around the arena and she was super relaxed, head and neck completely level with her top line just cruising along! So I never saw it coming...I assume snow fell off the roof and past the window. All I know is we were up and facing the other direction and I knew at that moment I was not staying on. I was forward and to the side, yep no hope to stay with her. Once she turned back again I was on the ground and she was headed towards the front of the arena. Landed on my side and tail bone, bumped my head on the ground, but I had my helmet on! All was well I got up brushed off and went to get her. We stood and talked for a minute to help both of us calm down. She was still pretty up! But slowly she came around and I was able to mount back up. We took a few steps and I dismounted, on my own terms this time, lol. She was still nervous, but did well at letting me mount and dismount! All and all it was a good ride. We probably rode for almost 30 minutes before the unexpected happened. I do not blame her in any way, and in fact I got Jess to ride after and something in that corner was scaring him! He is rock solid and I could not get him to walk over there and stay calm. So it truly was extreme fear on Char's part. And if he had been with us in the arena at the time I would say it was what happened, but he was not with us. Odd...but lesson learned. Always be prepared, well at least when the snow is melting off the roof :)

In other news, I had a awesome ride on Pixie earlier in the day. It was nice enough to ride outside for a bit. So we just cruised around bareback. I can't say enough that this horse is my rock! For so long I thought Jess would be the only steady eddy, but I was so very wrong. Pixie is my go to horse for relaxing rides! Now Jess is still the go to when a job has to be done such as ponying. Pixie just always has an opinion about her space, lol. Oh well we all can't be perfect!

The barn from the outdoor arena. Pixie and I enjoying our ride!

checking out my boot

So anyways the title...as I have said before I have never been thrown off a horse. Fallen on yes, twice in fact, but never thrown. So Char now holds the title of the first horse to throw me :)

One Year

November 24th marked our 1 year with Navi. I realize I am late in posting this, lol. Navi has taught us so much in the last year. She is still the stubborn little pipsqueak that I brought home from the auction, but we love her dearly. I look forward to 20+ years of trail riding with her. Her training is currently continuing and as soon as she has reached a spot in her growth that I feel it is safe to ride we will start riding. Until then she just gets more ground work :)

Summer 2011

Summer 2013

2nd Ride on Char

My partner ponied us off of Jess yesterday. Char did great while being ponied, now forward motion on her own accord was a different story. She wouldn't move off of my leg alone. She will get there so I didn't push the issue and we just continued to pony. I could touch and pet her everywhere while riding so that was/is a good sign :) She stayed rather relaxed and stood perfectly for me to mount and dismount. However I for some reason was nervous right before getting on, so I had to stand and collect myself with some deep breathing. Funny how you get older and all of a sudden getting hurt is the first thing to come to mind on the list of what if. I realized I don't not bounce back as well as I used to. And its been a lot of years since I have ridden a really hard buck or rear from a horse. I have never been thrown, they have fallen on me, but not thrown. The fear of the unknown is almost worse. In the end of course I had nothing to be nervous about and I am sure the nerves will get better every time I ride her. I have to trust that the ground work was laid and if we take it slow she will be just fine :)

Jess and Navi eating a mid day snack. Yes, I know how filthy Navi is :(

Winter wonderland at the barn

Char

My trainers horse, Angel, peeking over the fence.

Extreme Cold!

There isn't much going on around here as far as riding or even playing with the ponies. This is because of our extreme cold snap that we just started her in Montana. Starting today we will not see temps above zero until Sunday when the high should reach 10 degrees. Tomorrow's high is -2 and Friday will be the worst at -8 for the high and -18 for the low. These temps do not include windchill :(

All of my guys came in on Monday night and will most likely be in at night until next week. Jess and Char usually always come in at night to help keep them from getting achy joints in the cold weather, but the other girls usually stay out 24 hrs. During the day they are all blanketed and have free choice hay to help stay warm. With everyone coming in at night it means I get my workout in since I have five horses to clean up after in the form of stalls.

I am hoping to get some good winter pictures today. Its beautiful at the barn with all the snow. The barn probably has 8+ inches currently.

First Ride on Char

Yesterday was the day! I had done all the prepping I could do and I felt like she was ready. I warmed her up by ponying her first then having her move around loose while saddled. She took it all in stride as usual. Then I laid on her again and then sat! She did great! I just hung out for a minute before dismounting. I then remounted to work on flexing. She decided to move around a little bit, but really took it all in stride. We practiced flexing a few times and then I dismounted. Next step is I am going to have my partner pony her while I just hang out being a passenger. No pics this time, but my friend did video it for me :) I think she was secretly hoping for something more exciting, lol.

We are getting ready for this big winter storm that is rolling in today. It looks like we won't get much snow, but our day time highs won't reach above 10 degrees until at least next Monday. Our low temps are neg. teens with super cold wind chills! It is our first big taste of winter this year. So far we have stayed warm with maybe a day or two of colder air. I rode all weekend in preparation that I might not ride for a few days. We are lucky to have a indoor that stays above freezing most of the time though. 

Navi Blows UP!

Navi has been saddle countless times now. She has always taken it in stride. In fact she has never bucked under saddle even cantering or going over cross rails. I knew the day would come that she would buck, I was just hoping it was before I rode her! The good news it was before and that day came yesterday. I saddle her in the cross ties after grooming and we headed to the round pen to let her move around some. The minute I took off her halter she reared up and followed it with a crazy run around the pen bucking, coming up off of all fours! She bucked and bucked then settled into a nice trot and some cantering. Since bucking didn't work though her next trick was to roll. Two times of trying to go down and me getting after her she stopped that little trick. We ended with some nice walking and trotting and went back to the cross ties to untack. That is the first time I have seen her put that much energy into something, lol. I am hoping to have the day off work today which means more saddle time for little Navi :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has arrived and I have so many things to be thankful for this year (as always). I considered myself pretty blessed. Even when times are stressful there is still so much to appreciate.

1) My partner who has stood by me throw thick and thin for the last 8 1/2 years! She puts up with my craziness and accepts me for who I am :) I couldn't imagine trying to go through this life without her in it. I am thankful everyday that she is there every step of the way.

2) My Sister and Mother. While I don't see either of them very much, they both support me 100% of the time. They understand how horse crazy I am and accept me as is :)

3) My job. I am grateful to have a job I love and that it is able to support my horsey lifestyle.

4) My dogs. All six of my dogs are a blessing to us. Duel and Dakota have been with me since I first came to Montana. They turned 10 this year! The move here was hard on me and getting them made it that much easier! Riley, my beloved Pitbull, filled a void I had by not having a Pitbull. I am so thankful that Riley was my demo dog while I was dog training. He changed a lot of peoples' minds during that five years. Tigger changed my world the moment I saw him in the vets office. I fell in love with the little puppy. I am so very thankful he came into our lives. He has taught us more then any other dog. Laurel and Devan, my rez dogs, I am grateful we adopted them this year. They have filled our home with the joys of puppy hood and gave Tigger someone to play and bond with.

5) My Trainer, she has taught me so much with my horses. I am so happy we made the decision to train with her. Not only has she taught us about horses, but about dreaming big! I hope one day to make those dreams a reality!

6) My horses!! I cannot express how thankful I am everyday to have my horses. They bring me so much joy. It truly is a passion and a way of life for me, not just a hobby. I strive to be the best horsewoman I can be. I want to show people you do not have to use force to get what you want out of a horse. In the end I want to inspire people to train in a nicer way.

I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving with family and friends! I am off to take care of the horses and then come home to cook dinner. This is the one day a year I cook :)

Char saddled :) The first ride is getting closer!

Progress and it's official.

Char has been progressing nicely! Late last week we had her walking around with the parachute. It was loose, floppy, and fell off a few times and she didn't seem too bothered by it :) We have ponied her two times now and she is doing well! Yesterday she wore the bare back pad for the first time...not a care in the world with it on her :)

Today the vet is coming out to sedate her so we can clean up a nasty cut on her back leg. We can touch her legs and brush them, but we still can't pick them up safely or really clean up her cut without getting kicked.

Char getting desensitized to the parachute.

Oh and...I have Char's papers. Signed and filled out. I will be making copies and then I will send them in to AQHA. So she is officially ours! Welcome to the family Char :) As an added bonus I will become a member of AQHA and will save 5% on Smartpaks!

Pixie and I reach another milestone

Yesterday we spent the whole day with the ponies! We made it out after breakfast and hopped on Willow and Pixie for a nice little trail ride. I decided to take Pixie out bareback. We have been riding bareback quite a bit lately and for the most part have covered all of the barns property. There was only one place left that we hadn't tackled bareback yet, and that was the island. So we did it yesterday! My partner and I headed over after warming them up around the barn. There is a lot of downed trees, sand, riverbed, and hills on the island. Over all it isn't easy terrain for them to cover and Pixie was perfect as always. She never took a miss step even with my shifting weight. This is why she is my perfect partner. It took us a long time to get to this. She has to trust you to work with you. There are a lot of things Pixie does not excel at...she is not an arena horse or a beginners horse. She still can't for the life of her canter collected for more than a few strides, her side passing under saddle is still a struggle at times, and she loses her steering (because she wants to leave) when we enter the arena. Are we working on these things? Yes, we are slowly, but surely she is getting better with those things.
But more important to me are the things that she is great at! The most important thing... I can take her anywhere to ride now and she will trust me and I will trust her. She is the most amazing trail horse! We can open/close gates, go through water, over dead fall, and through deep footing without a miss step. She never rushes out or home, which is important when you are going up and down a rocky mountain.  Besides being a great trail horse, she loves to play at liberty with me. She keeps me in check, she makes sure I am just as connected as she is. Our relationship is now at the level where if she doesn't feel like I am going to be connected when I go to catch her she will make sure I have to focus and reconnect before letting me catch her. We play at liberty in our pasture amongst 4 other horses and she will stay focused on me :)

I am so thankful that I am able to have multiple horses. I love each and everyone one of them as they are all perfect in their own way. However Pixie will always be my heart horse. She and I share a special connection that is a once in a lifetime thing. She is the one that taught me what I know today, she opened the door for me to be able to work with Navi as a yearling, Baby Berry as a weanling, and Char as an untrained adult. She made me listen in the beginning and prepared me to help Willow through the unsure times when we first welcomed her into the family. Pixie has made me think outside the box of traditional horse training, and I will be forever grateful, as will my future horses.  Pixie did not give me anything easily, in order for her to get better at what I wanted, she insisted that I get better too. She is my greatest teacher and friend!

Two Weeks

It has been two weeks since we let little Baby Berry go. Honestly it seems like the last two weeks have been a blur. I think I have ridden maybe three times :(  While each day it seems to get easier, it is still hard. I have a hard time at the barn. I am so glad I have my other horses to love on and focus on because otherwise it would be almost unbearable. I always knew that Berry wasn't going to be ours forever. She wasn't meant to be ours, but maybe she wasn't meant to be with anyone else either and that is why she could no longer fight. Everything happens for a reason and with that in mind I know that there was a reason Berry came into our lives and had to leave us at such a young age.

Char is getting better everyday. It was hard for her, as to be expected, in the beginning. We kept her on Quietex for the first few days to help her stay calm. She did drop 50+ lbs those few days after losing baby, but she is slowly adding it back. We haven't done much work with her other than the basics. She can stand in the cross ties now and will let us brush her everywhere. We still can't pick up feet, but we can touch them! Throughout the winter we will continue to work with her and see where we get.

Berry Fine Chardonnay May 15,2013 - Oct. 30, 2013

My heart is breaking as I write this because yesterday we let little baby Berry go. She could no longer fight the fight. We tried everything we could think of, but it seemed nothing was going to work as she got older. Tuesday we did surgery to try and open her up a bit more so hopefully she could pass firmer stool on her own. However, I arrived at the barn yesterday morning to find that she was still unable to poop. That was it, it was our last chance. We all knew what had to be done. I called the vet and let my trainer know. Around 9am my partner got to the barn. We stood and cried with Berry in her stall. Loved on her and hugged her while she quietly munched on hay. Then her and Momma where turned out together in the outdoor arena and left alone for a while. At 11am when the vet was close, we took Char and Baby Berry to the upper pasture and let them eat hay while waiting for the vet. When the vet arrived my partner and I held her and talked to her while the vet injected her. it was only a few seconds later that she was gone. We laid her down on the ground next to where Momma was so she could say her goodbyes. Momma smelled her and nickered to her quietly. It was heartbreaking. We let Char stay in the pasture with her for a few minutes to try and understand that her baby was gone. Then we took Char inside to stay in a stall across from Jess to try and let her calm done. We all stood there in tears talking to Char.

Now we must focus on Char we want to as stress-free as possible move her in with the others, so for now we are just letting her and Jess bond. As my other mares can be a bit over whelming to a super passive horse, not mean, just in the face all the time.

I have let a lot of animals go in my life time, none as young as Baby Berry. I find it to be very difficult to comprehend. I knew it was coming and that it was a possibility from the day she arrived, but for the last 4 weeks we have poured our hearts and souls into trying to find a way to make it work to have her live. I have only known her for a short time, yet it hurts just as much as when I have lost an animal after owning them for their entire life. I am glad she is free of pain now, and I will forever have the memories of kissing her little nose as she smelled my face. That little foal made a bigger impact on our lives then she will ever know. Rest in Peace Baby Berry, I love you and will miss you forever.

Preparing for Goodbye

4 Weeks and 3 days ago a little baby and her momma came into our life when we least expected it. You guys know the story as I have been writing about them. The day they arrived I had no idea that they were coming, and little did I know how much the two of them would impact us. Baby Berry (as I always call her now) came to us untouched. It was the first chance we have had to work with a baby as young as her. She is now halter broke and loves attention!

 It is with tears in my eyes that I write this post because today we are preparing to say goodbye to Baby Berry. She is having more and more problems passing stool and is now plugging up daily. It is no longer fair to her to make her keep fighting. We are going to possibly attempt an emergency surgery today to make her opening bigger, but I am not sure she will be able to make it then. Her little soul has brought us so much joy, that we will do what is best for her even if that means letting her go. Everything happens for a reason so maybe we were only meant to have Baby Berry in our lives for a short time.

I do not know what today will bring. It may be extreme heartache. I do know that even if my time with Baby Berry was short, that little foal made me a better person and taught me so much about horses.  

Baby Berry making sure nothing was left in the bowl 10-2013

Baby Berry and Me.

It is kind of Official!

Well I had said something was in the works with Char and yesterday it became verbally official. She will remain with us! So whats our plan. Well I hope to put her under-saddle and get her trained for a pleasure horse. My hope is if all works out as planned that I can lease her out. That way I can remain in control of her out come, but she can be placed with someone who can devote all their time to her! I have time currently to devote to her for training, but once next spring rolls around and Navi goes under-saddle I will be pressed for time, so I hope to have a leasee by then. When I get the bill of sale (which is signed by the previous owner, but just sitting at the barn because no one knew who would take her in the end. )  I will officially transfer her papers over to my name :) This mare is too nice to get tossed around any longer.  She has spent 17 years being thrown away by people. Wish us luck in our new adventure.

Busy Feeding Critters!

So yesterday's schedule went like this:

4am- Wake up

4:20- Finally eat after feeding all my little creatures :) Then enjoy some coffee!
5am- Shower
5:15- Leave for Barn
5:30- Start feeding my 4 horses, Char and Berry, and 10 other horses at the barn.
6:10am- Leave Barn, head to work.
6:30- enjoy some quiet time at work before chaos begins
7am- Start the busy day at work.
11am- enjoy a quick 15 minute break/lunch before finishing my last half of the work day.
4:00pm-  Finish up on last dog of the day at work. Total of 7 dogs groomed. 3 Poodles, 1 Goldendoodle, 1 Pekinese, 1 Maltese mix, and 1 Shih-tzu.
4:15pm- Head to barn to feed the 16 horses! Thank goodness they all have automatic water :)
5:15pm- Head to parents house to feed 2 dogs, 2 cats, and fish. Make sure they are all taken care off until morning!
6:00pm- Finally head home after stopping to get milk, lol.
7:00pm- Sit down, eat dinner,  and enjoy quiet time for the evening! Which includes cuddling with my critters at home.
8:00pm- BED!

Life has been super busy due to my Barn Manager getting hurt, my Mother being out of town and then her husband going into the hospital. Needless to say yesterdays schedule was just a repeat of Thursdays. Today I don't have to work- Thank goodness!! But I will still be super busy with spending time with my critters. I want to get some much needed time in with Navi and Pixie. Thursday and Friday left no time for playing with them. So today I will be riding and having some down time with each of my girls!

I am so thankful that I have my partner to help me keep up. Yesterday my Partner took care of all my critters at the house and then played with Char and baby Berry. They have to get out everyday to run in the outdoor arena since we moved them into a paddock at the barn.

Needless to say life is a little crazy right now.  Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about having to care for my critters. I could do less if I choose too, but I will not. It was my choice to take on my animals and I will provide them with the best that I am able. That is just how it will always be, their needs will always come before mine. Even animals that do not technically belong to me will be provided with the best care I can give if they are relying on me to do so. Take Char and Berry. I do not own either of them, but currently I am paying for all their feed and care. Some people would ask why I would do that...well because some one has too. Berry has to be attended to daily to make sure she isn't plugged up with poop. She has to receive oil daily and be manually unplugged some days. Yes, that involves stinking fingers up her anus to help pull out poop. On a side note, there might be another surgery in Berry's future to help open up her anus. There is some trade off such as my puppies got their rabies shots for free :) The bittersweet side to taking on Berry's care is that it will be a very sad day when she is re-homed. As far as Char is concerned...Lets just say something is in the works! 

To be honest...(Let me get on my soap box for a minute) The situation with Char and Berry makes me mad. It makes me mad because of all the worthless people that owned Char before. She is 17 and been passed around from home to home once she was no longer needed for more babies. She was (in my opinion) neglected. She hasn't ever had her feet trimmed or teeth floated. Currently she is a 3.5 on the body scale out of 9. (She came to us at this weight) Berry was born with a defect so the answer that the breeders came up with was to give her and mom away. They chose to breed Char, but once it became an issue they wanted someone else to deal with it. So they were given away. It all comes down to money, and I understand that people aren't made of money, but lets not make your problem my problem. I choose not to breed because I know that I would have to be responsible for whatever living creature I brought into this world. In a perfect world you could find loving homes willing to buy them for whatever you are selling them for,but it doesn't always work that way. Financially breeding is expensive especially when things go wrong and the babies come out like Berry- unsellable.   Okay off soap box :)

I am off to spend the day with my ponies/puppies/ and kitties :) Oh did I mention in that I am currently caring for 2 five month old puppies, 1 five month old foal, and 1 five month old kitten. Good thing babies are so much fun and cute...it makes up for all the hard work!

Berry Found a Home!

I don't have much time this morning to update, but Thursday in meeting with the vet we learned that Berry will be going to her new home in a month. Some family members of my vet will be taking her :) She said she would keep us up to date on how she is doing. So while it was sad to hear the news I was happy that Berry will have a good family hopefully for a long long time! I sure will miss the little squirt, but now it will give us the time needed to focus on getting Char back to a good weight and start her training.

Now off for day 2 of the NILE :)

Fall = The NILE

Enjoying a good ride with Willow on a beautiful fall day!

The NILE has finally arrived which means I have a week of vacation :) Love my fall vacations!

I always take the week of the NILE off, but this year I will be helping my trainer. She is doing an hour demo both Friday and Saturday and we will be assisting in that. Plus we will be hanging out at the booth talking to people. We look forward to seeing all the different events! Hopefully I will get lots of pictures and have some fun updates come Saturday evening. And Friday night we are going to the rodeo :)

Momma and baby are still kinda in limbo as far as where they belong. We have named baby...Berry, as in Strawberry. They have both become our projects. We are meeting with my vet today to come up with a game plan. Not sure what the outcome will be. In all my research on Berry's issue it doesn't seem likely that she will out grow it :( Atresia Ani is the clinical name for what she has wrong. We hope to help her live a long good life, but right now that just isn't a for sure thing. Mom is doing pretty well...We wormed her on Tuesday with hopes it will help her put on some weight. Currently she still belongs to my trainer, but again that won't be her finally home. We have taken on the task of training mom. With any hope she can become a nice saddle horse for someone to just trail ride with. Our training is limited with baby at side because she gets worried if baby is too far, so for now we are just getting her used to the barn, arena, and other areas she will be working in. Berry is doing well, we haven't done any feet work yet as we are still working on touching her belly and back end. It is proving to be challenging with them up the road so we have kept them down at the barn more while on vacation to get some more handling in.

The rest of the crew is the same :) Perfect! We have enjoyed some great fall rides these last two days. And enjoying a great ride is the plan today! There are days when sometimes I question why I spend so much money to have my horses, but then I realize I couldn't live without them. Every time I look at Pixie, Jess, Willow and Navi I fall in love with them a little bit more. They bring me so much more joy then money does! And while sometimes its stressful, its always worth it in the end! Speaking of them I better wrap this up so I can go turn out and feed. Everyone came in to the barn last night cause it was supposed to be windy and raining. So they are probably more than ready to be turned back out to their pasture.

Before I go some pedigree info on Char :)

Go Man Go Quarter horse Stallion is on her papers on her Dam's side. Her Dam is speed bred!

Snipper Music Quarter horse stallion. Char's Sire. He is out of Music Mount's line. 

All in all she has some good blood lines! And Berry's sire is out of Smart Chic Olena who is out of Smart Little Lena who in turn goes back to Doc Bar.

So if any one is interested in them??? :)

Momma and Baby...

Boy  does it get busy busy when you have a baby to watch over at the barn! Life has been crazy. Work has been steady which means a solid 40 hours, no overtime, but no extra hours at home either. Momma and baby have been at the barn for two weeks now! Can't believe how fast time goes. Baby (who still remains nameless) is doing well. We had a little incident on Saturday and Sunday where she was a bit plugged up, but we got it all taken care of. It was scary Saturday morning to find her in pain and unsure of what to do. We now have the know how to take care of her if she gets plugged up again :) Our vet came out and gave us directions and left stuff with us! The good news is she seems to be getting better so she may still outgrow this and be a normal horse. I certainly hope so...I am getting attached to the little one. Speaking of getting attached here is the game plan for her. My vet wants us to start working with her on feet handling so she can trim her no later than weaning. Halter breaking is already happening, She is getting better at leading. In two months she will be weaned and will stay in the pasture across from the barn. She will be staying there so my trainer and I can work with her to get her ready to be sold. So baby will stay around all winter probably and will hopefully find a good home come spring. This of course is all contingent on if she can grow up and poop on her own without needing a special diet. Only time will tell. On to Momma. Momma does have a name, she is called Char. As stated before she is 16 and has been a brood mare her entire life. She is halter broke, but that is it. Char is now the barn horse. Her future was not with my vet as that was never the plan so my vet gave her to my trainer. My trainer told us she is the community horse as of now. Her future is still not certain. Maybe the people across the road where she is staying now will keep her as a buddy horse for theirs, maybe she will stay at my barn, maybe she will be given to someone else....Again only time will tell. Until then she will be a fun winter project. I haven't had the chance to work with a older horse that knows a very limited amount. Having the chance to work with all these different horses at different ages and very different stages of training will make me a much better horse person :)

Baby taking a  nap inside during our first very cold rain of the winter

Momma and baby

Char saying hello during dinner.

Baby the her first day in her new pasture

In other news...My herd is still doing wonderful! They are keeping me busy. I am trying to ride a min of 3 times a week with both Pixie and Jess. Then Navi gets lots of ground work also. Navi is still growing like a weed. She is getting huge! I still haven't done much more other than ground work because her joints are still growing and there is no reason to rush. I have plenty to do on the ground with her and plenty of under-saddle work to do with Pixie. Navi is turning into such a little ham, she meets me at the gate everyday and loves to come inside and get attention! I do not even use treats any more for our training with Navi, while she loves them, she loves attention and petting almost as much and will work for that as the reward. Pixie on the other hand will work okay for praise, but will offer me so much more if I up the reward to treats, lol. So she works for food :)

I cannot express how happy I am that summer is over! I have been loving the cooler temps. I get so much more done with the ponies!! However, fall and winter do bring some good winter storms that make me worry about the horses. This year I have the option of stalling mine when it gets really nasty out so that makes it easier.  In fact Jess now has a permanent stall inside for the winter nights. The girls will stay out most of the time with their blankets. I also brought Jess's extra blanket to the barn for Char. She is still under weight and might have a hard time maintaining weight this winter without  help. So we have a heavy weight blanket for her and we have been graining her daily. 

Hopefully I will have more pics and updates by weeks end!

Baby!

A new baby and her momma arrived at our barn today. The good news is she belongs to my Vet :) The bad news is she was given to my vet because she has medical issues :( The filly is 4 months old and is a cute little red dun. She looks just like her mom who besides needing some groceries she is a very pretty mare. Both mare and filly were just given to my vet, but that doesn't seal their fate. Their future isn't with her, in fact their future is unknown. But in the meantime the filly is my vets project and we get to help! I am very excited to help with the baby. I just hope she "makes it", the filly's life might not be long :( She was born with a very small anus, in fact it is so small she is unable to pass stool normally. My vet and I treated her this morning with the hopes that she will be able to pass small amounts. The filly has made it this far in life, but it doesn't mean she won't become impacted and colic. Only time will tell, but for the time being we are going to make her as comfortable as possible. And if she doesn't get better, my vet will not let her suffer. For now she is turned out on a huge green lush pasture getting to run and play :)

In other news. My crew is doing amazing!! Navi is growing fast and becoming a solid horse citizen :) Pixie and I have been enjoying some great rides and amazing ground work. She is truly my best friend! Willow and my partner have been making some great strides in their relationship and ground work. Jess is back to being ridden around 3 times a week. Twice with us and once a week with another lady for lessons. He is getting spoiled and is loving the extra attention from my Trainer and her students!

Goat Hunting

Yesterdays ride started out normal. I headed out for a ride with my partner and another friend. My partner and I took the girls (Pixie and Willow) and my friend was riding her Icelandic. We decided to take my friend around the barn on a trail that she hasn't been on. Its a nice little hack that borders the outside property line. One side is the barn property and the other side is the road. We made it just past the half way point when my partner who was a head of us says "There is a goat in the bushes...turn around and walk away slowly before the horses see him/her" Then there was me with my deafness, lol, I said "there is a what??" My friend heard right away and says "just go" "get out of here" It took me a minute to gather what they said then I caught on and realized yeah we needed to calmly get out of there since not one of our horses has ever seen a goat and having a scared loose one come out of the bushes could cause a problem. We made it back to the barn dropped my friend off and my partner and I headed back over to the goat. We got close enough to walk the rest of the way and I went over to inspect. Well good news the goat wasn't injured, but it took off down the pathway towards the road :( So on to plan B... We went back to the barn to get a rope and grain. Yep, we were gonna catch it! So I grabbed my "rope horse" Jess. Does it count when only the horse knows how to rope, lol.  My friend with the Icelandic had already dismounted and practicing with her rope. My trainer gave us a bucket of grain. So we were set. I was on Jess who apparently could tell we were going to do something new cause he was full of energy and my friend was hand walking her Icelandic carrying the bucket of grain and the rope. I bet we were a funny sight heading down the drive way. Jess and I trotted ahead to go search for the goat. We made it just short of where I had last spotted the goat when Jess saw the statue Bison that is in one of the pastures. Its been there forever, but I guess it has never bothered him before. Well this time it was a horse eating statue! He froze and then spun around so fast...I figured it was just best to let me get out of that area. So we headed back to find my friend and tell her the goat wasn't that way. Except I never saw my friend and I had made it all the way back to the barn. I just assumed she had turned around and went back when I didn't pass her. Well she hadn't turned around to go back so now I was out on a search for her. I followed our same path. No luck. It wasn't until I got back to the barn that I finally saw her coming from the other direction. We had passed in Jess's hurry to get away from the statue. We had ran past her on the way back because she had followed the lower path and I had followed the upper path. We never did see the goat again, hopefully it made it home or at least somewhere safe. It probably would have been quite the sight if we had found it! Who knows maybe we will find it today on our ride...

Work is finally slowing down

My busy season at work is slowly but surely approaching its end. While this can be a double edged sword cause slow equals less money, but it always means more time with my horses! I always look forward to winter because it is a break from the heat and the craziness from work. I have so many things I can't wait to work on more with Navi and Pixie. Plus I look forward to working with Jess and Willow to see if I can create a better bond with them also!

Time for updates on all of them :)

Jess is doing well! He just got new shoes with front pads put on a few days ago. Shoes will be a permanent thing for him. While I had hoped to pull shoes and retire him, he just wasn't ready for retirement and he needs shoes because of his thin soles. He also got his teeth floated on Thursday. He had a few sharp points and has worn a few of his back teeth to his gums. Old age is a bummer at times! Otherwise his teeth were in good shape. Good news for going into winter! I have been riding him at least once a week and he is still going strong. In fact he likes to go when out on the trail! He has also been giving lessons to the small children at the barn (indoor riding only). I love the fact that he is the "go to" horse for my trainer. I can't say it enough...he is worth his weight in gold! And currently that is a lot of gold, lol.

Pixie is doing amazing! We are working on our liberty work at higher speeds now. She is getting the idea that just because I am asking for faster doesn't mean she is in trouble. Its pushing her to trust me and for me to see where she might lack trust in me. We still argue and have "I" moments while riding, but if she didn't express her opinion I might worry about her. She has her ideas and I have mine and we are working together to make them our ideas. I practiced driving her at liberty in her pen last night and she did fantastic!  Its amazing the connection I have with her at times. I can't wait to see where we are in three more years :)

Willow is doing wonderful!! I love this horse. I have been trying to ride/work with her more to create a better bond. She is so light and offers so much! Willow is my go to horse for putting friends on when they want to ride. She has always takes care of them and will offer what they are ready for.

And last but not least Navi. Navi is finally back in training. Her knees are closing up slowly and we are getting back to work :) She is packing the saddle once a week. Still no problems there! She couldn't care less about it! We are also working on all of our yields. She does struggle with this. She is a very confident horse still and really isn't concerned about what you ask of her. Some days are better then others, but we are still working hard to have her not be sticky. Her forward is good, but her backing is super braced and slow. We will get it to all come together at some point:)

My baby is growing up!

Navi after her bath

Jess after his bath

Hay!

The 5 tons of hay that I ordered arrived yesterday! It sure is nice looking hay. It will be the first time I have fed a grass/alfalfa mix. Usually I buy both straight grass and straight alfalfa so I can control the amount of alfalfa, but this stuff is higher grass mix and I think my guys will do well on it :) We made it through half the stack yesterday (re-stacking inside my hay stalls) We will continue to pick at the stack through the week until it is all inside. After that is complete I am hoping to have time to update on everything else going on.

Lesson after the clinic

Yesterday Pixie and I had our first follow up lesson after our clinic. It was a great lesson and a much needed review. I have to remember to not nag at Pixie and move quick and light. She responds so much better to quickness than me just sitting on her at a phase 1 or 2. I have to remember if I know that she understands what I am asking then I need move up through my phases and reset right away. We have a ton of ground work homework now that I am excited to start on today :) Rest assured we have plenty of riding homework also. I am to focus on trying to connect with Pixie by being a passenger and waiting to see when she starts asking me questions. We tried for a bit yesterday, and we ended on a good note, but we never made a connection so we will practice more.

Next lesson is on Wednesday with Navi. She is ready to be put back to work and it is apparent she has lost some of her skills. And I am having a hard time getting them back. She is so very different than Pixie. Pixie is super light by nature, Navi is not!  Not that Navi has been bad, she has actually been really good. Yesterday we had a good ground working session and then a fun walk down to the river and the island.

Navi on the island

Having fun in the river

Willow after her bath

Willow all clean :)

My little barn helpers. Laurel and Devan

After thoughts on Clinic

The 4 days spent at the clinic was a lot of fun and challenging at the same time. With so many new words and things to remember such as : Bubbles, speaking to the space, "we" not "I", resets, resets are not releases, lead, dominant, and passive. There were so many concepts covered, some new to me some not. I was lucky in the fact that my horses live at my trainers barn and since Aimee Brimhall is her trainer I was able to take lessons and prepare for the clinic.  And now going forward I can work closely with my trainer to continue and grow. One of the biggest take aways I got was the reset of the phases. It's important not to stay at phase 4 when asking a horse to do something because then they come to only expect phase 4. Also it gives them something to brace off of. This is something that will help Navi and I. In fact it already has...she is already leading much easier! The other thing I realized is I need to make sure I am offering "we" to all the horses, not just Pixie. I realized I tend to be an "I" around Jess because that is what he is offering. Jess would be considered our most "broke" horse as in the amount of training and what he is capable of doing, but now I see that he is also the most disconnected of our horses. He is an "I" horse completely meaning he does everything mechanically, but if something goes bad he isn't going to think of me at all. And that is apparent with our last couple of messy moments. Do I think we have a bond with Jess, of course we do, but it isn't the same as with the mares. Jess has spent his life as an "I" because that is what most if not all rodeo/ranch horses are. They are a means to an end. They do stuff because they learn they have too. I want to go back to basics with Jess and see if I can't get that "we" connection, but in order to do that I have to make sure I am offering the "we" not just riding him as an "I".  Time will tell, but I am excited to try and make a better connection with him. Just think of the things we could accomplish then. We were able to try and make the connection with Pixie and Willow a long time ago, because we had to teach them new things. And they don't take to force real well. This is also exciting for Navi and I because she is such a clean slate that she will never have to know any different. Hopefully this will mean great things for our future riding partnership :)

I want to clarify that "I" horses have the ability to look amazing at what they do. Mechanical can be very impressive. And there are very few people that can tell the difference in when a horse is connected with its person and when it's just doing the motions. But what I learned this week (which is something I always had an idea of) is if there is more force required then the connection has been lost. This is something I am guilty of also, even with Pixie. When something wasn't going my way I moved to stronger aids instead of trying to find the missing piece. I went to a twisted bit and spurs. Now I know bits are only as strong as the hands behind them, but when you transition up for the sake of control it is being used for the wrong reasons. At the time I didn't have the knowledge to get what I wanted without force, then I made the move to my trainers barn and have since been learning. I am happy to say my spurs haven't left my trailer since the move :)

This last week inspired me to grow so much. I can't wait to see what the future holds now that I am armed with this new information :)

Aimee Brimhall Clinic Day 4

Our riding and ground work continued on day 4. In the morning session we learned about the driving game while riding, and for our ground work lesson we learned a circle exercise that involved moving forward to backwards with no stop just a fluid transition from forward to backward. The end hope is they will stay on the circle to back, but for now we just focused on getting the back up no matter which direction they went. Pixie and I did fairly well at this exercise she of course would stop and turn in as soon as I sent the intent to back up, but that was ok. She was listening and we got some great backups that were continued at a phase one. She was far from the circle, but we have a year to practice :)

On to the riding exercise we were given a sting (no string) and told to ride without leg or reins. We were to just practice our front end/hind end yields to a stop by driving from above with the stick.  I must admit I was a nervous nelly for this exercise. I found myself thinking Pixie was going to go back to her old ways and be scared of the stick. Even though she couldn't care less about it on the ground I have never ridden with the stick. I saddled up for this game to give myself more confidence! I had to get over the nervous feeling if I wanted to be successful at this. So I jumped on with stick in hand. What happened...Nothing! Pixie acted the same as if I was on the ground :) So we ventured off to practiced. She would yield easily on the front, but the stopping was a bit harder. Once I learned to relax and turn my body off she found the stop easier. I found the right hand side to be the easiest since I am right handed, but soon enough we got the left side down too. We didn't end up getting a hind end yield that day...she is too forward thinking still, but with practice we will figure it out. Before we broke for lunch we gathered to go over our findings. Mine was that I have to give Pixie more credit. I sometimes still live in the past and she is long over the past. I have to trust her as much as she trusts me!

After lunch we did review to wrap things up. We went back to our indirect rein conversations and practicing circling the barrel. This is a challenging exercise for us. Then we gathered to answer final questions and took the class photo. It was a great 4 days with lots of stuff to remember. Now off to practice for next year!

Aimee Brimhall Clinic Day 3

Day 3 starting the riding portion of the clinic. We started with classroom and simulations before grabbing the horses. We worked on finding the connection while riding in the morning session. This was interesting because almost all of the horses were disconnected for the most part. Pixie was having a lot of "I" moments, but at the same time I was too because I am just as easily distracted. It took us a while to find our "we" during our ride. I should say ride loosely because it involved more standing and flexing and backing then actually moving, lol. We ended on a good note before breaking for lunch though.

After lunch we focused on the porcupine game while riding and moving the hindquarters. This was a good exercise for me because we were challenged to disengage the hindquarters with no leg pressure. We were only allowed to use our indirect rein. And we had to circle a barrel without leg pressure or direct rein. We had to complete the circle using only the horses hindquarter yield. Needless to say our circle was not pretty and wasn't really a circle, lol. By the end of the exercise we at least got a few good circles both directions. It was a hard exercise and something we will continue to work on. It made us work on our phases 1234 and reset to 1234 instead of just staying at 4. After the barrel exercise we moved on to riding on the rail then yielding hindquarters so the horses where facing the wall. Again this was to be done without leg and indirect rein only. By the time we got to this exercise Pixie was starting to get the hang of things and we did fairly well. We struggled a bit with not going all the way around to line up to the rail (we practiced this a lot for fence opening on the trail) But we got over that quickly.

Overall lots of good stuff on Day three. There will be a lot of things I look forward to practicing not only with Pixie, but with all the horses. I have lots of thoughts about things too, but have decided to put those in a separate post after the clinic is over :)

Off to start day 4!

Aimee Brimhall Clinic Day 2

Yesterday was a continuation of ground work from the day before. We got into some more technical  things. We covered the friendly, driving, porcupine, and circle games. We learned some new ways to look at these games and some more ways to practice. Body language is such a big thing! We did some simulation work with human partners and when I was the "horse" I realized just how a tiny shift of the "humans" body meant something else to me. Especially in the circle game, one tiny shift of weight sent a signal of go out or come closer. The way your body is angled can make the difference of going straight or in a circle.

Pixie and I had some great breakthroughs. She has always been a little sticky in some areas when circling and backing. But we made some progress because Aimee showed me how to adjust my phases just a tiny bit. Pixie needs quick and light not slow and steady. She needs me to be very clear but in a light and quick way. I was trying so hard to stay at phase one to make her light I was actually making her heavier in areas because she was unsure of what I was asking. I also realized I have given up the porcupine game without knowing it. I had gone on to driving only in an effect to be super light and continue on to liberty work. I now understand where we need to go back and work on the porcupine game and it will only make other things better not diminish my liberty work. 

In an effort to be lighter and quicker...I bought a new stick and string. My original one was the traditional Carrot stick. I love the feel the lighter weight brings to our play sessions. 

I look back to three years ago when Pixie first came home and realized just how far we have come. We have had our share of challenges, but its nice to be in a spot now where we really don't have problems any more just opportunities. There are a few ladies that came to the clinic because they are having problems with their horses. A few worse than others, but none the less they are there to fix something. I am so glad Pixie and I are not here to fix something, but just to grow as partners. Maybe that is where the "we" factor comes into play. I don't see our imperfections as Pixie's fault instead I see them as something we need to work on together to get better at. It may take us a long time to get perfect at something, but we will get there at some point, lol. Three years if you would have asked me to take this clinic I would have jumped at the chance with the mindset yes, finally a chance to fix Pixie's problems. I was still thinking as an "I" then not a "we".

Today starts the two day riding portion. I am excited to learn lots in the riding segment because I know this is my weaker area. I have grown up riding horses, but just not super well behaved ones. I can ride about any thing...never having been thrown off (fallen on a total of three times) Now I was young then and bounced, lol, or should I say they bounced off me well. I am pretty sure if a rearing horse flipped on me now I would crack in a few places. So I would like to learn how to teach so I don't have to go through a rodeo ride :) And with Navi going under saddle in a year, now would be a good time to learn these things :)

That's all for now, more later. Off to pick up dessert for the BBQ tonight after the clinic :)

Aimee Brimhall Clinic Day 1

The first day of the clinic had a lot of classroom time which was good because it gave us a change to understand the material before handling the horses.

The first concept we covered was the "I" and "We" topic. The person and the horse are each an "I" so how do you work together to become a "We". We talked about traits that made up a "I" person/horse and traits that made up a "we" type person/horse. In that topic it was also discussed that when working with your horse you shouldn't put all of your attention on the horse you should have 60% of your attention on you (meaning what are you doing to get the behavior you want) I find these concepts make complete sense, but it sure is hard to write it out to make sense :) There were so many more concepts that we covered that I can't figure out how to convey in writing this morning. Hopefully after the clinic I can go back over my notes and get them all down.

After learning the concepts we practice with each other in pairs of two. One person being the horse during role play. I always have a hard time with these things just because I am such a matter of fact kind of person. I have a hard time imagining things like this. But it was fun and proved to be a great learning experience...even if it meant I had to let loose a little bit.

About 3 pm we got our horses. There are three people who brought more than one horse to work. I almost at that point thought to alternate between Pixie and Navi  also, but changed my mind. My original plan was just to work with Pixie in the clinic and that is what my final decision was. While it would be nice to have Aimee's help with Navi I feel this clinic can bring Pixie and I farther along in our journey if I can focus 100% on her. Plus I always have my trainer at the barn. Biggest perk of my horses living at my trainers barn. Weekly lessons are so easy! So Navi gets the four days off, but little does she know I have a three day weekend before heading back to work...so we get to practice our stuff then :)

After we worked with our horses freely for about 30 minutes we gathered around to cover what we had learned and answer questions. I was proud of Pixie, while she was distracted enough that going faster than a walk wasn't a fun idea for her so we kept things slow. That was good for both of us. I want her as light as possible and if that means we work at things like side passing for a month then so be it :) I found it was hard to stay in the "we" frame of mind. I tended to go back to thinking "I". As much as I thought I was always asking, I realized I would get frustrated and start telling. So I went back to square one and focused on what I was doing wrong. We got some of the lightest and best side passes down the wall to date :) Where they perfect...no of course not. But they were a great effect on her part so I will take it.

Off to get ready for day 2!

Clinic starts today!

The Aimee Brimhall clinic I am attending starts today :) I am so excited to work with her for the week. There is so much Pixie and I can learn! I will hopefully post an update nightly with pictures. Until then...off to start my vacation and clinic :)

Summer is in full swing

I can't believe summer is almost half over! The days are already getting shorter, but it took me until yesterday to realize that. It wasn't until I was driving to the barn at 5:15 that I noticed it wasn't getting as light :( Oh well, the good side of summer going fast is that means the heat goes away with it! I am NOT a heat person and I do way less in the summer than in winter. However I do love my mornings and summer allows me to ride early in the morning :)

Speaking of morning rides, last week we were able to cross over to the the island on the Yellowstone river. Our side of the river is getting low. In fact it will be gone before we know it and the island will only have one side with river. But none the less its still here for now and its about three feet deep all the way across. None of my horses have crossed that deep and wide of water before that I know of so we set out not knowing what to expect. Pixie hesitated for minute but then went forward. Willow didn't even pause for a second. The were both such good girls walking straight across...thank goodness since I was halfway across when I realized I had my phone in my pocket. It's a new smartphone and I was just hoping we got across the river without going in, lol, I didn't want to ruin my phone.

Looking over at the island before we crossed.

We made it :) Such a pretty ride minus the mosquitoes

I am hoping to get a early morning ride in tomorrow. This morning I have an appointment, so riding will have to wait until evening.

Update on Navi. Her knees are finally closing and she is doing great. We have gone back to ground work and she picked up right were she left off. I might put her under saddle this winter if she is big enough or it will be next spring. No rush really, I want to have her sound for years to come and I don't want to push her to hard as a baby. So for now she has the easy life still :)

Hopefully I will update a bit more often now that the babies (puppies) are getting a bit older and can entertain themselves a bit more now. They will be 9 weeks tomorrow :)

Busy Busy

Davin

Laurel

These little girls joined our family on Saturday the 29th of June. So needless to say we have been super busy with them. No worries the horses have not lost attention as the little ones have been coming to the barn with us :) They are adopted from Rez Dog Rescue here in Montana. We have no idea what they are. We do know they are proving to be super smart and easy puppies. Probably the easiest puppies I have ever had!  They have big futures as trail riding buddies :)

The happy news comes because of sad news though. We lost our oldest dog on Wednesday the 26th of June. She lived to almost 17 and old age just got the best of her in the end. She went peacefully with no suffering. Kylie had come from the reservation many many years ago, so that is why we saw it fitting to adopt from the reservation again. These little ones are helping us move on and celebrate Kylies life with us.

More later, but I am off to go see the ponies :)

Playing

Rest in Peace little one. We miss you! 

Three Years

Tomorrow is mine and Pixie's three year anniversary. It was June 24th on our second visit that we had decided we would like to adopt Pixie. I was so nervous filling out the paperwork. So many thoughts going through my head...would we be approved, was I ready for a horse, was I ready for this horse who was only green broke. It had been ten years since my last horse and I wasn't the one financially responsible for them. It was a huge move getting back into horses! But beyond my doubts I knew this was the right move, I was more than ready. I had missed having horses in my life and something inside was telling me this mare was the one I needed. So we signed the papers and it was official she was adopted to us :) We would visit her one more time the next week before she was delivered to us on July 10th.

Our first ride the week before we decided on her

 The first few months with Pixie proved to be a learning curve. She has to trust her handler and her situation and frankly we didn't have her trust yet. She was not an easy horse, but she quickly grew on me. There were days my confidence was shattered and so was hers. I was ready to give up some days thinking we were never going to meet our goals. Then I decided to stop pushing so hard and came to the realization we will get there when we get there. I stopped getting frustrated at that point and things fell into place. Pixie had to learn to trust in me and that was only going to happen over time.  We have grown together over these last three years.  Three years ago in August when she bolted while I was riding and I had to jump off while she was trotting circles I thought we will never trail ride, but yesterday I took her out bareback with only a halter we rode down by the river and just sat. She grazed and I watched the river. It was peaceful and perfect. When we bought Jess I said it will be nice to have a horse I can just hop on bareback and not worry. I was right...Jess was that horse for a while, but now I have that horse in Pixie.

Interested in the water bottle. During our visits to get to know her

 Are things perfect with Pixie...no. She still has her days where liberty work isn't her thing and we can not for the life of us even get the basic three different walks down in Western Dressage. She still argues with me while riding...by saying no we are going this way and I have to remind her that she doesn't decide. If I leave her in the cross ties by herself she paws and stomps and then stops when I return ( I know I know my fault)

I now know the sky is the limit with Pixie and I. We can do anything as long as I am patient. This horse has taught me more than I could have thought possible in these last three years. 

I like to say Pixie is perfect, but as my partner reminds me Pixie isn't perfect, but she is perfect for me.

Pixie and Angel out to graze on a beautiful afternoon

My heart and soul

Here is to many more years with my imperfect, but perfect horse :)