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.