Inspired by Tigger

Recently I was given an assignment at work, one that I think I will share with the world :) I have to present a story about one of my animals. I have to share how my animal has inspired me. While I have many animals to choose from, I had to choose Tigger. Why Tigger over my other dogs/cats/horses?  That is what I hope to answer in telling his story. He is truly a once in a lifetime dog.

Taken five years ago, but still one of my favorites.

 I first met Tigger at my vets office, 6 1/2 years ago, when we had to go pick him up for the city shelter. I saw this cute little 2 month old puppy come bounding towards us. Except he kept circling left over and over as he struggled to make his way to us. He finally reached us and promptly peed all over our feet. The vet then gave us her diagnosis. He had brain damaged due to blunt force trauma which in turn caused aggression, lack of body control,  and partial blindness. Her recommendation was to euthanize him after his stray hold was up at the shelter. She had deemed him unsafe due to the aggression, but this little puppy was so happy to see us that we offered to foster him to see if there was hope. Two days later his fate was sealed...We were his forever home.  There was a slight chance that as he grew his brain could re-wire its self,  meaning we could see improvement. As time went on though it became apparent that he was never going to get better. The damage was permanent, and he was going to have to learn how to live in a body that would never do exactly what he wanted. We spent the next several months teaching him to walk straight and turn right to the best of his ability. We worked hard on fixing the aggression issues, but were never able to fix them. Tigger doesn't have self control like most dogs, so when he is angry he will lash out at what ever is in his path, us included. Even though Tigger has spent his whole life having a body that never worked quite right, he still looks at the world as a fun happy place. Over the years Tigger has inspired me in many ways. He has taught me to: stay calm in stressful situations,live in the moment, never give up hope, always forgive, and above all has inspired me to love unconditionally.

Tigger with Laurel. He loves that puppy!

What keeps us going??

Just as with Pixie, I have had days where I want to give up and say I can't do it. I don't know how to get through to Char. Yesterday was good, but I know going forward we will have many more fails. With a horse this sensitive it takes time and lots of it. I look back and realize it took me a year to reach my goal of riding Pixie outside. That was a year of her being my only horse so I had hours a day to devote to her. Now I have also learned a lot in the past three years, so in theory it shouldn't take as long with Char as it did Pixie. Except Char is starting so much farther back than were Pixie was. Char didn't have time undersaddle as recently as Pixie had. I have said it before and will say it again and again. I am so very thankful for my journey with Pixie. Pixie has taught me everything I needed to know. It was my journey with her that is allowing me to start over again with Char. I realized yesterday that I have to put in my time with Char. It can't be once or twice a week it has to be five days a week! I almost came home at lunch time from the barn after working with Navi, Pixie, and Jess. But then I realized I couldn't back out on Char. She deserves as much if not more than the others. I am so glad I stayed!

Yesterday it seemed was the day for everyone to put their first rides of the season on their horses. Lots of warming up and horses getting back into shape for summer riding. It was then that I realized (what I always known) this is not my hobby, it truly is my passion. I want so much more from my relationship with my horses than the average horse owner.

What keeps me going is my own goals, as I don't show. What keeps me going is knowing that I can do it. Three years ago had someone told me that Pixie and I would be riding bridle-less in the outdoor arena. I would have laughed at them and said yeah right! I remember just two years ago we reached our goal of cantering under-saddle. It is reaching those goals that make it so I can keep going with Char. I know to some people it has taken us a long long time to do what others could probably do in much less time. But I like that fact that in reality my horse is not push button. Pixie and I still have struggles she tells me when something is too much. And as long as I listen to her, she will listen to me. Pixie demands respect before she will give it as with trust. The same with Char. Both of them are slow to trust, but will give it their all once they trust you. I hope that in three years I will be writing about all the milestones Char and I were able to reach, and Navi too. I am sure between my three mares we will have plenty of highs and lows. But it will be all of our milestones that keep me going. Each day that I get to spend with them is a good day.

End of Vacation

I have enjoyed my six days off of work! I have had four good days with the horses and plan on spending the day out there today.  My partner and I have had a few great trail rides on Pixie and Willow. Now that the girls have been out a few times they are starting to get into the grove. Even crossing the big bridge isn't too big of a deal now :)

Stillwater River...we stopped in the middle of the bridge for this photo. Pixie wasn't thrilled, lol.

The bridge its self. I will admit I am scared of heights so it's not easy for me to cross either. 

Jess and I got to enjoy a nice ride out alone yesterday. Of course we didn't venture far as I don't like riding out alone. To risky especially since I don't have cell reception most places on the ranch. But he was a good boy and we got to school on not rushing home. That is his biggest problem.

Navi and I have had some good lessons this past week. I have sat on her a couple of times, but she is starting to brace, so we are doing some more ground work to address that issue. Yesterday she was listening while on the ground, but got super distracted once I mounted so instead of fighting with her we went back to the ground. She is one tough cookie, but I love her and I think once she is trained she will be an amazing trail horse because NOTHING scares her. Maybe that is just because she is young and dumb right now, lol.

Navi napping in the afternoon sun after our training session. 

Char has also made some strides in her training. Yesterday we had the best round pen session to date. She was able to listen and not panic. She is so sensitive! I just use my hands and body to direct her. A level four of pressure to her is most horses level 1. She will melt down if you get too big with her, and it took us two round pen sessions for her to calm down. We just stood there and then in the end gave her treats to make sure she understood it wasn't a bad place. But yesterday was different than before. She was able to move out at a slower trot with one ear on me, she stopped 90% on cue and would turn in. We were able to change direction and not peel out of there at warp speed! I saw a breakthrough I hadn't seen yet, and I hope it is still there this morning. I look at this horse and see what Pixie and I used to be. Lets be truthful, Pixie and I were a HOT mess! And I see us in my relationship with Char. I hope we can overcome the obstacles in our way and become an amazing team too.

Finally Home

Me that is! I am finally back to living at home after a month of house sitting. I am so very happy to be back with my other half and all our critters. Being home means I can finally post pictures of our new barn. It has already been three weeks!! We still love it more and more everyday.  Yesterday I rode Pixie and Willow. Pixie was amazing for our arena ride (bridle-less) but was less than stellar for our ride around the ranch. In fact we ended up walking around more than riding. Oh well...she still isn't ready to ride out alone. We will get there, after all it did take some time before we could ride to the island by ourselves at the old barn. Willow did really well for her first time out alone. We crossed both big bridges and hung out by the river for a few minutes. Was she perfect no, but she tried and I give her credit for that. Unfortunately my horses don't have a lot of time under their belts when it comes to trail riding alone, since for the most part we are out trail riding together. So I was asking a lot of them yesterday. All in all it was a good day. Both girls got a work out and I enjoyed a peaceful morning.

Since I am on vacation until Monday I plan on getting to spend a lot of time with my ponies :)
And with that here are pictures of the new place.

Pixie and I enjoying a bridle-less ride in the outdoor arena

Char checking out the geese

Char and Navi checking out their new pasture

Char. Behind her is the lounge/one of the tack rooms

Char over looking the neighboring pasture

Jess and the geese

Jess happily grazing

Nap time for Navi and Pixie. Char grazing :)

Navi exploring

Navi was resting so I sat with her

Our view riding

Pixie ready to hit the trails!

Free Time

The horses have been at their new home for two full weeks now. They have adjusted well and are loving it out there! They are still on the grass round bale, but most times when I arrive they are grazing in the lower part of their pasture. Spring has arrived now and we are enjoying temps in the high 50's to 60's :) We have managed to go on two short trail rides! To say the girls (Pixie and Willow) were great wouldn't be accurate, but they weren't horrible either. Pixie was a bit better than Willow on yesterdays ride. But since we hadn't ridden in a week, they have only been out one other time, and the wind was steady at 20 to 30 mph with gusts into the 40 mph range we had the cards stacked against us! All in all it wasn't bad we just had to stop more than once to focus and I had to dismount to cross the big bridge cause the river was rushing underneath so neither of them wanted to cross first, lol. We ended on a good note so that is what matters. I hope today's ride will be a bit more relaxing, they aren't forecasting high wind again so that should help.

Back to the title of this post...the horses have settled in nicely, but I am still having adjustment issues. I have way more time on my hands then I used to. I now have no commitments in the wee morning hours and it still feels strange. I can handle not going out to the barn for up to three days in a row, but then I discover I get cranky if I even think I won't be out there on that 4th day!   We are spending an average of 5 hours out there on our days off and I try to make it out after work one or two days a week to spend about an hour with them. It really isn't that far at 40 miles away, but it has to be worth my time to drive out there. Our SUV does well with gas going out there, but driving my 3/4 ton truck out there is hard on the wallet.  It has been a relief to not have to worry about where the hay is coming from or when we have to go get it. And I look forward to not having to stack 5+tons in the summer heat. Although stacking hay did keep me in shape. I guess I will have to make sure I stay on top of things at the gym. (which I have not been as of lately). In a lot of ways I miss self care. I loved self care in the sense I was in control. I never had to worry about their care since we were the caretakers. Now I have the best of both worlds because I finally found a barn that is willing to do 24/7 feeding. They had a new round bale in the minute theirs ran out last week! One of the best parts is my barn grows all their own hay! So I never have to worry about a sudden diet change nor do we have to worry about the hay being bad.  And with that I am off to go see the horses. Today we are getting Char out again to go on a walk to the river.

Where is spring??

Yesterday we ventured out to the barn in nearly whiteout conditions! Ok maybe they weren't whiteout, but I couldn't see more than 1/4 mile in front of me. That meant our 40 mile trip took us close to 50 minutes. Usually we can zip out there in 30-35 minutes. Why did I venture out in the snow to see my ponies? Well because I hadn't been out there since Saturday. I was not about to not go on my day off. I am pretty sure someday it will stop snowing. Due to the snow we had to change our plans of riding out to playing in the indoor. The new indoor is small, probably a 1/4 of the size of the old barns. But I am not complaining because at least on snowy days we have a place to play.

We took Char and Willow out first. This was Chars first time out of the pasture since we moved them last week. We let her settle for the week cause she is kind of a nervous horse in new situations. Much to our surprise she was very relaxed. Maybe the week of settling in worked. She stood nicely while tied inside the tack barn and then did very well in the indoor arena. We got to practice feet handling also! She still isn't comfortable with us picking up her feet, but we have made huge strides. We were able to pick up her fronts a few times yesterday! We worked at liberty and online she stayed relaxed the whole time! This move may have been the best thing we could have done for her. I hardly ever saw her this relaxed at our old place, but she had a lot of stressful moments there.

Willow was a champ and we look forward to riding Willow out and about today! Willow has taken this move in stride too! She is such a good girl! Speaking of Willow when we first took over managing the other barn we had to clean out the office. While cleaning out the office we found old papers from when it was a Tennessee Walking Horse show and breeding barn. In fact Willow spend many years there as a broodmare. It was a huge operation back in the day and a stunning facility! I only knew it in 2010 and after by then the owner had retired from showing. He was still breeding some and had a few horses still for sale. We have always known Willow was bought in Tennessee by the owner of the barn, we just never knew her worth to him in dollars. We found out when we stumbled across the papers that had the asking price for all his horses at the time. She was listed at $8,500. To me that is a lot! Not because she isn't worth it, but because I would never have that much money to pay for a horse! She did win at Celebration in Tennessee as a yearling and as a two yr old undersaddle! She was an outstanding broodmare for him for six years before she was offered for sale. And in the end she stayed until he completely retired and listed the ranch for sale. Which meant we got to buy her for what the old barn manager paid for her from the owner. We got her for $500. She fell into our laps and we are blessed to have been given the chance to own her!

We only have one horse that is having a hard time settling down and you can guess who. Yep, it's my Pixie Dust. She is my heart horse in every way down to the fact that she hates change! And in her pasture she is as calm as a cucumber :) In fact she loves loves her new pasture! All the grass and hills to play on. She only is nervous when I take her out. And she calms down, but she is not my super calm horse that I know she can be! She will get back to being the super lazy horse with no cares in the world soon enough, so I guess I should take advantage of her wanting to offer some more energetic play behaviors.  Okay maybe I shouldn't word as if she is a wild child. I mean we were able to ride out and about bareback and in a halter only by ourselves. I just have gotten used to perfection, lol! Needless to say my bridle-less riding has been put on hold because that I know we could not achieve that  right now, well maybe in the round pen. We will get there soon enough :)