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 :)

Electric fences = interesting rides

We have been able to enjoy super nice temperatures this summer. Our average is staying around 80 degrees which is almost perfect. I can't stand hot weather so this summer has been nice compared to last year. The nice temps mean lots of horse time for me :)

Last week Jess got shoes with pads put back on to help with his soft soles. As much as I would love to keep him barefoot it just isn't possible with him, not if I want him to be pain free. His shoes have helped him 100% and we are riding and getting him out now. Which is good since he is getting a bit chubby. We are going to try a different kind of shoe this next time though. The Epona shoes are a plastic more flexible shoe and they say they are a good in between for barefoot and metal shoes. My trainer loves them and our farrier says they would work for Jess. He will stay in his metal shoes for 6 weeks and then we will switch him over. I am also going to try them on Pixie's front feet. I want to try and get her one frog in her club foot more developed. She doesn't have a true club foot, but it does sit higher and has a contracted heel so I hope to widen it. Pixie has been barefoot since I have had her and she is sound for the most part over any surface, but always battles thrush in her one front foot because the frog isn't functioning properly.  We will see, but I figure it is worth a shot with the shoes.

On to explain my title for the post. Yesterday we enjoyed a mid morning ride. My partner took Willow and I decided to ride Jess. He needs the exercise more than Pixie.  So we meandered around the barn and back behind the pastures where the fence line is. Well on our way out of the trail behind the pasture Jess was excited, but then something kinda spooked him. I say kind of because Jess really doesn't spook just looks and might jump a bit sideways. Well I think we would have recovered from that just fine had the bugs not bothered him at the same time so there was a head shake and tail swish to get rid of the bugs, but then he swished his tail into the electric fence behind us. Not sure if it actually shocked him or if just got stuck in the fence for a second, but I saw his head go down and knew what was next. At that moment my partner yelled "hold on" and yep sure enough he started to buck. They were little and it was over fast enough. I quickly took him out of the trees to the clearing and we just stood for a second to calm down. Then we quietly finished our ride. All in all it was a good ride. However I am pretty sure two times is more than Pixie has bucked with me, lol. I am not sure how Jess and I get into these messes, but at least it always ends well :) 

4 Day Weekend

My four day weekend starts today :) I am so excited to have time off of work to spend with my horses. I will update as the weekend goes, but for now I am off to feed some ponies. My BO is gone to Europe so I have morning feeding duty for all the horses at the barn this week.

Pixie early morning

Sunrise over the river at my barn

The island we ride on when we can cross the river

Early morning nap for Willow

Getting a ride in before the storm hits

Pixie and her new found friend Angel (she belongs to by BO)

Farrier and a Little About Dogs

I think our search for a new farrier may have come to an end. Thank goodness. I would use the farrier that does every other horse at the barn, but we always have scheduling issues. He isn't one to be on a set strict schedule and we are. I like to have my appointments book out every 6-8 weeks so I know in advance when I have to take off of work. We had a farrier come out Tuesday evening (he was super nice and squeezed my four in at the end of his day) and we have our next appt set up for July 13 :) Willow and Navi are wearing their new trims without issue, but Jess and Pixie are a bit sore. However Jess was sore before the trim so that really isn't different. Wet weather makes what little sole he has soft and tender on rocks. And Pixie had to have her frog with thrush cut way down so I can treat it, which makes her tender on the rocks too. So they have a few days off of riding. Good news, he says I pretty much have the thrush at bay only a little left in her front foot, but now that we got the old dead frog cut away and the meds can get right to the thrush it should go a way...hopefully. I feel like it may never end (Its been a year of treating it. Granted it goes away and comes back it seems).  Overall I am happy with how their feet look thought, they are a good angle with no flares and he didn't chop away at the sole.

On to other topics. I decided to write a bit about my dogs. Often times I think I take their company for granted and it dawned on me last night they are all aging quickly and I may not have them around for many more years. Kylie is 16! Duel and Dakota are  9 1/2, Riley is 7 1/2, and Tigger is 6 next month! It has been 6 years since I have had a puppy, needless to say I some times think having senior dogs is like going back to puppy hood with potty issues. 

Kylie was here long before I was as she was my partners dog before I came into the picture. She is a sweet little terrier mix that is spunky and full of herself. She ran the house before she was old. She always kept the big dogs in place. Now she is aging and falling to the bottom of the pack, but still has her days.

 

 

Kylie rocking her mohawk :)

Duel and Dakota are my Siberian Huskies that I got just a few months after moving to Montana. They filled a void I had after having to leave my dog behind in Michigan. Puppy hood with them was trying at times, lol. They were hard to housebreak, hard to kennel train, and were runners. Lucky for me about the time they turned 6 months old is when I went to training to become a dog trainer :) So life with them got much easier! However for the first 5 years or so they were still runners! We had to be extra careful to not let them get out the front door or dig out of the back yard. Dakota was never and still isn't very social. She never did really like strangers. Her brother Duel loves everyone he ever meets! They are both aging well and just now starting to show their age. They have finally stopped trying to run :) Life with Huskies is never dull and I have enjoyed all 9 years with them and hopefully we have many more!

Dakota and Duel at 3 months

Duel and Dakota all grown up. Duel is red and white, Dakota black and white.

 Riley is my heart dog. He is my rescue Pitbull. In fact his face is one of my two tattoos. He came to us as a 6 month old very sick little guy. He was at the shelter we both worked at. His back leg was skinned and swollen to twice the size it should be and he was skin and bones. We spent hours soaking and bandaging his leg. Once he started feeling better he started coming to work with me and was put into training to become my demo dog for dog training. He proved to be a fast learner and spent the next 5 years coming to work almost daily with me. He was the store mascot. He had a hard time adjusting after I quit dog training and went to dog grooming. With my career change he could no longer come to work with me. He has now adjusted to staying home, but still loves to go visit! Occasionally we work and see what he remembers...to this day he still does all of his commands :) He had a hard start to life and still became a shining example of what Pitbulls are really like. He changed a  lot of minds in this town!

Riley and his best cat friend Merlin (who is now 16!)

Riley covered up as usual

Graduation from Advanced class years ago

On to Tigger. Tigger is my super special needs dog. The past six years with him have proven to be the most challenging and yet the most rewarding time in my life. He is a high percentage wolf dog. Besides being part wolf which is a challenge in its self he also has brain damage due to blunt force trauma done before the age of 2 months. Tigger came to us at 2 1/2 months old. We took him in while the vets did testing to see what was wrong with him. After testing it was decided all of his issues stemmed from trauma to the head and his brain didn't rewire its self correctly. He was partially blind, could only turn to the left and was very food aggressive. It was recommended that he be put down because there was no way of knowing if he would be safe when he was grown. So we decided we would take the chance knowing he may not be able to safely stay with us very long. We made a promise to ourselves if he became a danger to live with we would have him euthanized. Well here we are 6 years later and he is still with us. Has life with a 120lb brain damaged wolf dog been easy...nope! He has drawn blood on us more then once, luckily it has been only a few times. He has taught us patience and when to pick our battles. We don't ever give him anything we may want back and he has his kennel for quiet time when things get out of hand. Overall he is attached to us at the hip. He loves to sit on the couch with us and watch TV. I just told my partner last night, I will be absolutely heart broken when he leaves us. His hips are bad and we know that we may only have a few years left with him. But he gets 2500mgs of glucosamine daily along with other joint supplements. He is still playful and seems to be doing great :)

Tigger 4 months

Tigger 6 months

Tigger 2 months

Tigger now :)

Tigger and Dakota admiring their work, lol

Tig and Riley

There is life outside of horses and this is a glimpse of my other four legged best friends! Now I am off to go get hay for the horses :)