Ponying the Boys

So once again I decided to risk my life. Went down to my parents place to go ride the horses and decided that I was going to ride Dollar and pony Reno. I haven't ponied Reno before, but I know that Sam has so I decided to try it out today.

Got there and saw that the horses were near the fence! Yeah!! Don't have to walk out there to get them!

Mars (left) and Dollar (right) with Reno in the bush

Dollar's "but Mom...." face. Lol.

I quickly grabbed both Dollar and Reno, got them out of the pasture without Mars following us and brought them up to the barn. Tied them up and went to grab my western saddle so that I could tie Reno to it and not worry about him. Quickly got them groomed and tacked up and of course had to grab a picture of my two boys.

Reno (left) and Dollar (right) ready to go

Brought them out of the arena and the hopped up on Dollar and just prayed that Reno wouldn't throw any shit today. Never know with him. Headed down the road for a short 2-mile hack. And it actually went OK!! We started out just walking and getting Dollar used to ponying Reno. No problems there. And the best part????? I even got them jogging together!!! Except Reno couldn't make up his mind while we were walking. He wanted to walk, but Dollar walks slower than him, so Reno would lag behind and then trot to catch up to us. Silly boy.

Dollar (left) and Reno (right)

Reno's cute little head

Once we survived the 2-mile hack and made it home (alive!!) I untacked them and proceeded to put them away. And I got a surprise when we got home. Mars was loose. Seems that he was lonely and decided to jump a barbed wire fence (and yes, I keep asking to switch out the barb wire. Way too dangerous). Checked him out and he seemed fine. As I was putting my horses away, I saw this.....

Dollar licking the fence

Yup, Dollar licking the fence. No clue why he was doing that. I guess just being himself. Sigh. Got them (all 3) put back into the pasture, but had to chase Mars around for a little bit. He decided that he didn't want to go into the pasture and got away from me. Managed to trick him into coming close to me by rubbing some dried grass together and that got his attention. Such a difficult horse. Got them all behind the fence and then called it a day.

I SURVIVED!!

I have 2 CHARGES NOW?!?!?!?!?!

Yup, looks like I'm back to having 2 horses. Sigh.

I had a conversation with my Dad over the weekend and talked about Reno possibly trying Reining again. See, Reno's a 7-yo QH gelding who's owned by my Dad and about 4 different people ride him. He's been thrown out to pasture earlier this year because he was starting to throw shit fits, rearing, etc, because people were being too harsh on his face and using correction bits to fix him instead of lightening up their hands. I had quit riding him back in April because I had gotten Dollar back and Reno was just acting up way to much for my liking. But now since he's been kicked out to pasture because Natalie's not riding him anymore (she keeps saying he's stupid and worthless), so he's not being ridden. Sam won't deal with him (she's way too harsh for him) and Dad has his horse to deal with. So that leaves me.

And yes, I know I ranted about quitting Reining, so here's a compromise. I will do Reining on Reno (I know he can do it. He was awesome with me), but that's where I draw the line. Even Dad's been getting the hint that I'm moving over to English. So yeah.

So today was my first ride with Reno in about 6 months. Got to my parents place, visited for a bit and then went to get Dollar and Reno. I had grabbed a grain pail so that I could avoid walking out in the watery pasture, but the wind was going against me, so the horses could hear me or the grain pail. Grabbed the two that I needed and managed to get them out without letting Mars loose. Brought them up to the barn, tied up Reno and put Dollar in a stall. My nephew Brody was in the barn and was helping me put together Dollar's grain by pouring it into his tub and grabbing (small) handfuls of supplements. Teaching him already. Lol.

Fed Dollar his grain and then went to get Reno ready. Brody stayed beside me as I brushed down Reno and even attempted to help me, but got scared because Reno did a fully body shake. Got Reno quickly tacked up because Brody kept asking me to go for a ride, so once Reno was ready, I threw him up onto Reno and he just sat there with a huge smile on his face. Yes, he loves riding his horses. I had to take him down so that I could ride, but he started crying and ran to Poppa (Grandpa) saying that he wanted to ride. So Dad put him back on Reno and took him around for a walk while I finished getting ready. Oh boy.

Once I got Brody off of Reno (again), I bridled him up and hopped on, praying that he wouldn't try to kill me. Started out at the walk and just getting used to riding in my Western saddle again (seeing as Dad won't let me ride English on Reno) and it didn't feel as comfy as my English saddle :-(. Worked a bit on his collection, to which he was very touchy about, but he did as I asked him to. See, Natalie's been using a correction bit on him, but I switched him down to a much softer bit. It still has a port, but it's very gentle because that's what he needs right now. He was doing pretty good and I switched from riding 2-handed to one handed and he was still giving me collection!! Yeah!!

Moved Reno into a trot and he was still doing pretty good, giving me the collection that I asked for. Dad tried to tell me to ride him 2-handed, but I said that I like training one handed because I can't ride 2-handed in the show pen and Reno freaks out when you change something as simple as that on him. So I kept to one-handed. He was doing very well (much to my delight) when I just picked up the reins a bit, bumped him a bit and his head would reach down and collect. I don't want his head dragging on the ground (he just won't do it). I just want his head level and quiet, instead of tossing about. And he stayed quiet! Progress!! I loped him for a bit as well, but he was being so touchy on his face, that if I asked for collection, he'd break down into a jog. Not that that's a bad thing, but when you're trying to work him at the lope, it's annoying.

All in all, he did pretty good, but we'll have to see how time goes. If everything goes according to plan (and we all know that it never does) I'll hopefully be Reining him next year in CCRHA/NRHA. Hopefully :-) Oh, and I took a pic as to what he looks like now....

Yeah, a little on the tubby side, but don't tell him that.

After I was done with Reno, I tied him back up, untacked him and went to bridle Dollar. I figured that I'll just ride him around bareback for a bit to get him moving some more. So I hopped up bareback, and as soon as my nephew saw me riding a different horse, he decided that he must ride as well. So he climbed up onto a chair and I brought him up to sit with me on Dollar. And since the reins were connected, he was holding them all by himself (although he hadn't figured out the steering quite yet) and was just blabbering away. After we walked around the arena a couple times, I put Brody back down on the ground and continued my (somewhat) workout with Dollar.

He was being good and responsive as always. I worked him a bit with his canter and keeping his head collected then called it a day. Still haven't seen my hubby much since I got back last night from Brandon, so I went home to spend some quality time with him ;-)

Riding Indoors

Not much to do today. Not working today, so I was thinking of going to ride around 10:00, but then it started pouring and didn't stop. Sigh. Then Sam called me around noon and asked if I wanted to go riding with her at an indoor arena located about 20 minutes away. I said sure and told her to pick me up when she was done work.

She stopped by around 2 and ran a couple quick errands and then headed home to get ready. Mom had the truck so we had a bit of time to get the horses ready. I was thinking of taking both Dollar and Reno, but we had limited time seeing as we also had my niece's first birthday party at 6. Sam got Pretty ready and I headed out to the pasture (yes in the pouring rain) with a grain bucket to get Dollar. I got to the fence line and just shook it calling his name. I saw him come barreling through the bush leading Mars and Reno. I took one look at Dollar and laughed while I called him Fatty McFatso. He's got a huge grass belly! Yup, he's enjoying being outside 24/7. I managed to get him out of the pen without the other 2 getting out and quickly ran over to the barn. Brought him outside to get out of the rain and started getting him ready to go ride. Got him saddled up and then put a winter blanket over him to help him dry up a little.

Mom got home shortly after we were done getting ready, so I grabbed the truck, hooked up and loaded up the horses and took off. Got to the indoor arena that we would be riding at, unloaded and quickly hopped on. It was almost 4:30 by this point and we had to leave by 5:30 in order to make it in time for the birthday party. So I hopped on Dollar quickly and got to warming up. His breathing wasn't the greatest today, so we were just going to stick with walking and trotting. That grass belly doesn't help anything!! Lol.

He was behaving quite well and just doing whatever I asked him to. I was also watching out for Sam as this is her last chance to get Pretty ready for Reining finals this weekend. I worked with Dollar on getting our marching walk and also some extended trots. Got him to do some cantering as well, but he also had it in his mind that we could fast. Needless to say, we had a discussion about that. Lol. Sam stopped me so that I could watch her work her Reining circles and see how she was doing. And since I had my camera with me.....



Yup, got video!! Mwhahahaha! :-)

Anyways, after she was done her circles, I put Dollar back to working his trotting circles and then Sam wanted to work some sliding stops. She couldn't do much because the ground was very soft and Pretty doesn't have much stops in her. We figured about 10 before she quits. So she worked her stops while me and Dollar went around the perimeter. And then Dollar got it in his mind that we were doing sliding stops. Oh silly boy, we don't have sliders on!!

Near the end, I got Sam to take some video of me and Dollar working our circles a bit....



Not too bad, Sorry there's no sound though. Apparently my camera doesn't have sound (it's a photo camera with video on it). We still have lots of work to do. We also worked some of our half-passes while Sam was cooling down Pretty and then we loaded back into the trailer. We were running behind, so we quickly zoomed home for the birthday party.

Till next time!!

A Little Hack

Had the day off today and seeing as my Dad and sister Sam weren't going to CWHA finals, me and Sam decided to go for a ride.

Had to make a quick stop at the pasture where Dollar was because we moved them, but my stuff was still there. So I grabbed my stuff and then went to my parents place. Sam and Dad had just gotten home, so while they were busy unloading the trailer from the show yesterday, I went into a different pasture and brought out Dollar and Mars. * sigh* Dollar's getting a grass belly. I kinda giggled when I saw him and called him Fatty McFatso. Lol. Oh well, he'll be going on a hay diet soon. That should help. He's on grass 24/7 so no wonder he's got a grass belly. So does Mars, and Reno.

Got the two out that we needed and closed the gate. Sam was coming out to bring water to the horses (the horse to the water tub is shot) and so as I was closing the fence (it's a stubborn one), Sam grabbed D & M and took them back. Actually she grabbed Mars while Dollar decided to walk himself to the barn, promptly away from Sam. She was yelling at him to stop, but he had her on ignore and just kept walking. Oh boy. Sam caught him and then I grabbed him and brought him up to the barn.

Started getting him ready to ride and noticed that he was breathing a bit heavy today. I let him stand there for a bit while I grabbed his bridle and his bit from the tack box. Remember when I changed the bit last time. Well it turns out that the bit was way to big for him, so I found a dog-bone snaffle that fits him perfectly. While I was changing the bits around, my nephew Brody came up to me and asked to sit on Dollar. So of course, like a good Aunt, I obliged....

Yes, I'm teaching him young. Lol. Don't worry. He's already learning how to ride and has his own Western saddle already. Once I got him off, I continued to switch the bits and finish getting Dollar ready for our ride. Once we were ready, I hopped on Dollar and we headed off down the road.

We were going to do a 4-mile ride, but Dollar was breathing heavy and being really picky over the rocks, unlike last time. He was actually fighting me to go into the ditch because he was starting to stumble on the rocks a bit. When we got about 1 mile into our ride (coming up to an intersection), I stopped him, hopped off and took a look at all his feet to see if there were any rocks in there. There was nothing, so I told Sam that we'll cut it down to a 2-mile hack instead because Dollar wasn't doing good.

We basically walk/jogged the rest of the ride home. Sam turned around when we got about 1/2 mile from home to take Mars for a run. Dollar didn't even bat an eye at him.  Got home all safe and sound and checked his feet over again. Nothing in there, so I'm guessing that his feet are just a little sore. Untacked him and gave him his grain and some supplements and then kicked him back out into pasture. Hopefully I can get out to ride again soon....

Lazy Day and Barn Cleaning

No work today so it became a very lazy day. Went to go see Dollar around 1. Stopped by my parents place to drop off some stuff and grab the 4-wheeler to go get Dollar. Got out to pasture and found him just grazing in the middle of it with Mars. I called out his name, he looked up and started walking towards me! Guess he missed me. Him and Mars came right to the gate, so I slipped off his halter and put the bridle on. Got him out of there and got him tacked up in no time. Decided to go for a short 2-mile hack today so we set out at a brisk walk. And for the next 2 miles alternating between walking and trotting. He was behaving really good and I even got him to extend his trot a bit! Yeah! We just stuck to the walking and trotting, but we did have to review what "whoa" meant.

We trotted up to a stop sign and I had asked him to stop. He decided that we should keep on walking and ignored me. So I had to haul back on the reins and reinforce the "whoa" along with the spurs. I turned him around and had him trot up to it again. This time he figured out that whoa means whoa. Oh boy. Once we had that fixed up, we continued on our way. Still kept alternating between walking and trotting to keep him moving.

On our way back, I noticed that there was a "driveway" going into the bush with a fence up, so I decided to go in there and take a peek. Turns out that there was 2 horses in there. Poor things. Dollar didn't seem too interested in them, but he did go up to them, squeal, strike out with his front leg and ignore him. Such a snobbish old man. Lol. After we were done visiting with them, we continued on our way home.

Dollar visiting with some other horses

Once we got home, I tied him up to rest a little before I had to take him back to pasture. I talked to Dad about some ideas I had for the tack room in order to make it look neater and he agreed! Then Sam came home and I explained to her what I wanted to do. As I was explaining this to her, I was pulling the blankets out of the box they were in to go through them. Well, as I was doing that, a mouse crawled out of there! I, of course, screamed for my cat. But did she come? Nope. Some mouser she is. Me and Sam went through the blankets to see what damage the mice had done and realized that they had riped some pretty good holes in Sam's winter blankets for the stuffing. She wasn't too happy with that. Then she said that she had to run to town to get a birthday present for her boyfriends grandpa.

So I cleaned up the tack room and bit and changed the bit on my bridle. Dad had seen when I got back that one of the cheek piece was cracked 3/4 the way around. Don't need to break that when I'm out on the road. So I managed to find another bit (hopefully it fits. It looks quite big) and switched them out.

See that nice crack?? Yeah, don't need that to break.

When Sam got back, she had bought a big plastic tub with a lid on it so that she could store her blankets away from the mice. See? She liked my idea. Then we took out her winter blanket that the mice chewed up a bit and put it outside to air because it was also getting white spots of mould on there. Once we were done that, I put Dollar's bridle back on (and realized that the bit was waayy too big. Have to pick up a new one), hopped up and took him out to the pasture. Untacked him there and kicked him out (don't I sound mean?? I'm not!!) and headed home.

He seems to be doing pretty good with the hacks and seeing as we're done showing for this year, no reason not to go out for a hack.

Trail Riding in Birds Hill Park

Woot woot!! Trail riding today!! Was up around 8:30 this morning as Keith has set the alarm. So we got up and Keith noticed a buzzing noise coming from the furnace fan. So he played around with the furnace controls a bit and then went downstairs to see what was going on. Seems like something went again on the stupid thing. Agh! Why does it always break down?? So we called the furnace guys, but they're closed until Tuesday because of the long weekend.

While Keith was dealing with that, I started getting all my stuff ready to go trail riding in Birds Hill Park with Kelly and some other girls. Grabbed all my stuff and left the house around 10. Did a stop by the gas station to fill up the truck and grab some snacks for myself. Once I was done there, I headed over to my parents place and hooked up to the trailer. Once everything was secure, I went to the barn to grab some grain, hay and protective boots for Dollar. My tack was at the pasture so I didn't have to worry about that. Got everything organized and loaded and then went to the pasture to get Dollar.

Got out there and grabbed Dollar (who was hiding in the bush), grabbed the tack and loaded into the trailer. Dollar seemed pretty happy to be going somewhere. Got everything in there and fully locked up and headed on my way. Sent Kelly a text saying that I'd be there in about 1 hour.

The drive there was uneventful, just had to drive on the #1 for a bit, which was a pain due to construction and it being 2 lane almost the entire way. Took a bit of a detour getting to Kelly's barn as I couldn't get directly onto the road that I needed, so I had to take a different way, but it all worked out.

Got to Kelly's barn with no issues (unlike last time), managed to get the trailer turned around. Didn'trealize how tight it was because last time I was here, ht etrailer hadn't been lengthened yet. Once I was parked, I went and found Kelly and asked her if I could let Dollar loose in the arena to loosen up a bit before our ride. She said sure, so I got him out of the trailer and let him loose in the arena. All he did was walk around and go look at himself in the viewing room window and walk around some more. Didn't feel like running at all. Since he seemed like he was done walking around, I grabbed him and tied him up in the alleyway and gave him his grain. I met Natalie (another one, not my sister) who was riding with us and Michelle, who also boards where Kelly is. We all got our horses ready and Kelly gave me the fly-mask that I asked her to pick up, so I put that underneath his bridle to keep the flies out of his eyes. And he looked so cute!!

Dollar looking cute in his fly-mask

 

Ready to go!!

Kelly had to kick out some horses and then we all got ready to go on our ride. And the nice thing is that this group doesn't run! Yeah! We headed off down the driveway, just all chatting away. Dollar seemed pretty happy to be out and about.

We walked all the way to Birds Hill Park and then proceeded to inside the park. Before we got in the park, we found something dead on the trail taht we were on. Me and Kelly couldn't figure out what it was, so we decided to take a picture of it. And then Dollar decided to step on it when he turned around. Oh boy.

The dead thingy

Michelle was having some fun with Renegade because Renegade wanted to do his own thing and kept going everywhere else, except where we were going. Silly Renners. We were heading out to some fields to walk around in the had some xc jumps, but we came across a little bit of construction zone. It almost looked like they were making a road going through the field for something. I tried getting Dollar to cross it, but he wasn't doing it. So we walked back to the road and that's where we saw a pony pulling a cart. Looked so cute!

Heeeere's Johnny!!

Pony pulling a cart

When we got across the main road, I saw the wall jump and was going to trot Dollar over there. I guess Dollar accidentally spooked Taffy, Natalie's horse and he ended up bucking off Natalie and trotting off. Natalie landed on her back. Kelly told me and Michelle to get Taffy and she would look after Natalie. I was slowly walking Dollar towards Taffy while whistling fo rhim, but he slowly kept walking away. So Michelle gave me Renegade to hold and she got a hold of Taffy. Natalie was up on her feet but was feeling a bit dizzy (she wasn't wearing a helmet), so we walked over to the picnic tables that were nearby and let her sit down a bit. She said she was fine a couple minutes later, so she hopped back on and then we went to the wall jump.

When me and Dollar got closer to it, he stopped about 5-10 feet away and just stared at it. Lol. Always looking out for me and scary stuff. I got him closer to the wall and then we continued on our way. On the next road, there was a paved shoulder, so I had Dolalr walking on there to help toughen up his tendons.

Walked all the way there and found the XC course. Played around in the water complex for a bit and then kept on walking.

Marching through the grass

Standing in the water jump

Kelly & Johnny

Found some small xc jumps and decided to try Dollar over one. Nope. I jogged him up to it and he just stopped, trying to figure out what this thing is. He tried putting his leg over it, but decided not to. Oh Dollar. So I found a smaller one and actually got him over it! He still seemed like he was being cautious, but that's OK, I'll take that. Kelly got some video of us doing the jump and then we just walked around the field for a bit.

At this point Natalie and Michelle changed horses and Taffy was pushing Natalie around, so Michelle offered to ride Taffy and Natalie took Renegade. We waited while Michelle re-did the cinch and lengthened the legs on the saddle before heading off to the ranch to grab something to drink.

Walked all the way to the ranch and Dollar just kept marching way ahead of everyone and I had to keep stopping him so that they could keep up. Seems that Dollar likes being in charge. Lol. Got to the ranch and tied up the horses to the hitching post and went inside and sat where we could see them. Got a drink and some pizza pops as I was pretty hungry, wtched the horses and chatted around the table for a bit. Pretty good conversations. After a while, there where some kids outside who started feeding all the horses some grass and all the horses seemed to be loving the attention. Nice.

Dollar waiting for us at the ranch

After we were done at the ranch, we got the horses ready to go and started haeding back to the barn. And the horses knew that we were heading back because all of a suddenly all the horses were marching pretty good. I was talking to Kelly during the ride back and I swear Dollar was trying to rush back. He was almost speed marching and tried trottingon me a couple times. Such a silly boy. But I got him back down to a walk and continued on. We got to the highway to cross and Dollar stood at attention while we waited for the cars to pass. Almost all the other horses were moving around and Dollar was barely moving a muscle. Yes, he's a gentleman. Got over the highway and continued the march home. By now allt eh horses knew that we were heading home, so we were all speed marching. Oh well, it's a good workout for Dollar.


Got back to the barn and started getting everyone untacked. No breathing issues with Dollar because we just walked so I wasn't worried about him. But by the time we got back, we had been gone for 5 hours!! 5 HOURS!!! OMG!! But me and Dollar really needed that. It was a good workout for us. I gave him the rest of his grain and got him ready to go home. Talked with Kelly for a bit more while Dollar finished eating and thanked her for the ride. Definitly have to do this again. Once Dollar was done, I loaded up everything and got ready to hed for home.

On the way home, I did a quick stop by Deacon's Corner to grab something to drink and eat and continued on our way. Got to my parents place in good time, dropped Dollar off at pasture along with my tack and then dropped the trailer off at my parents place. Went inside and Mom had some pizza left over so I grabbed that and shoved it down my throat. Natalie told me that I had to take Mars back to pasture because Sam was in too much of a hurry to bring him back before. Sigh. So I went to the back, put his halter and lead rope on him, hopped on and rode him back to the pasture. Wow, high as a kite. Natalie was picking me up at the pasture, so she drove beside us so that Madison could see Mars. Got to the pasture without Mars killing me, put him in there with Dollar and then headed home.

Got home around 8:30 and hopped in the shower as Keith doesn't like me smelling like horse. Once I was all cleaned up, I spent the rest of the evening with him and didn't get to bed until close to midnight.

So this actually took care of a couple things on my 101 list:
#27 - Go on at least 1 trail ride a year (1/3)
#45 - Try at least 1 XC jump with Dollar (non-competition)
#20 - Get a fly-mask

Sweet!!

Hacking and Sprinting

Yes!! Another beautiful day to go for a ride!!

Sam picked me up after I was done work at 2 so that Keith could have the car to make it down to my parents place for supper tonight. Once Sam picked me up, we headed over to my parents place and Sam dropped me off at the pasture so that I could grab Dollar. Seeing as I had left my tack there yesterday, I went into the pasture and found him once again (he likes to hide in the bush) and brought him out. Mars didn't try following us this time, so that was a relief. I tacked him up quickly and headed on our way home.

I was thinking of deworming Dollar before our ride, but decided to wait until afterwards. I went inside to grab a granola bar for Dollar and look for Sam. She was taking a nap in bed and said that she had a headache. Fine then, I went back outside and finished getting Dollar ready. Just as I was about to leave on my hack, Sam walked out of the house and said that she'd come on a ride with me.OK then. She got Pretty saddled up and we went on our 4-mile jog.

Now, I don't mind riding with Sam. It's when she makes it into a training session or she just wants to race that annoys me. I'm out here to do some hacks with Dollar for his COPD and to keep him moving. Not get a training session in or to race.

So we headed out on our hack. Started out at a brisk walk and then progressed into a jog. He was really trying to stretch out more in his trot, so we're slowly making progress!! Kept up the walk/trot alternations for almost 2 miles. Then I asked Dollar to canter. He moved up really nicely into his canter and just kept like that. Pretty on the other hand just wanted to race right aways. Sheesh. Dollar just kept at his canter (he knows not to push my buttons) while Sam fought with Pretty.

Then I thought "what better way to work a sprint than to have him go up against Pretty?" Seeing as Sam was egging Dollar on (and he was still on loose reins) I asked him to sprint. He immediately responded and blew past Pretty for a couple strides. Then Pretty blew past him and we were left in the dust. I was kind of holding him back a bit in the sprint because he was in a snaffle and I'm not sure how much control I've got when he's running. Let him sprint for a little bit (maybe 1/4 mile? Not sure) And then got him back down to a jog and then walk. He listened really well to me asking him to slow down. It also helps that he knows that as soon as I say "OK, that's enough" that that's his clue to start slowing down. Got him down to a walk and then we trotted up to Sam. She was fighting like hell with Pretty right from the get go.  So glad Dollar doesn't do that to me.

Sam finally got Pretty down to a walk and then asked her to stop at the stop sign. Do you think Pretty would do that? Nope. Sam fought with her tooth and nail again. While me and Dollar just kept walking down the road. Pretty hasn't learnt respect yet for anybody, so all of this crap is making it really hard for her to respect Sam at all.

While we were walking down the road, I noticed a freshly mowed field off to my side and decided to do some more sprint work in there with Dollar. And this is where Sam thought it would be a great idea to work Reining circles with Pretty. Yeah, bad idea. Pretty had sliders on and your going to work her in the grass?? Not thinking there... And because she's been letting Pretty go full out lately, well that's all she wants to do when she gets out of the pen. She doesn't want to go slow and listen. She just wants to give 'er. Sigh.

I got Dollar just walking and trotting around in there for a bit so that he could get used to the footing. Then I asked him to do some sprints for me. And he did them wonderfully!1 He didn't go full out (he knows better and his COPD can't handle that) but he did kick it up a couple gears and then listened beautifully when I asked him to slow down. Did that a couple times and then did some more walking and trotting around. After a while I just got tired of watching Sam fight with Pretty so much that we jumped across the ditch and made our way home.

Got home, took his bridle off and let him cool down a bit before I gave him his dewormer. I've been a bit behind on that and have noticed the bot eggs on his legs. So I gave him the dewormer (lovely. Yummy!!) and let him taste that for a little bit. Then I bridled him back up and brought him back out to pasture. When we got to the corner for us to turn, Sam was just coming home with Pretty just dripping in sweat. Well that's what happens when you get her worked up like that. I asked her how she was and she just mumbled an answer. Whatever.

Got Dollar back to pasture and got passed by Mom in the truck as she was on her way there too. Turns out that Mom had picked up a whole bunch of little corn for the horses as it was pretty cheap. So I untacked Dollar and put him back into the pasture so that he could have some corn. Don't worry, he was all cooled down and not sweating at all. Actually I don't think he even broke a sweat. Mom had my nephew helping her feed the corn to the horses (which he was being really cute at) and once they were done, I grabbed my nephew and took him home on the 4-wheeler with me.

All in all, a pretty good day.

101 in 1001 - Horses

101 in 1001 - Horses

The Challenge:

Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple challenges such as New Year's resolutions or a 'Bucket List'. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips, study semesters, or outdoor activities.

I have another 101 list on my other blog, but decided to make one just for all my horses. So here it is. It's not completely finished, but I'll be adding to it as I go along.

Start: September 1, 2010
End:

1) Spend 30 minutes grooming, once a month (3/33)
2) Wash, dry and clean English pad - September 1, 2010
3) Help with fund-raising for a Horse organization
4) Set monthly goals for my horse (2/33)
5) Make/replenish horse first-aid kit before show season
6) Replenish/update grooming equipment before show season
7) Clean and organize tack and store properly
8) Attend at least 1 dressage clinic
9) Get more travelling supplies
10) Go to the race track at least once
11) Have professional photos taken of me and Dollar
12) Complete at least 1 Dressage show
13) Learn to scallop Dollar's mane
14) Learn to do button braids
15) Learn to do Diamond-weave braiding
16) Learn to do a Running braid
17) Complete my Dressage show outfit
18) Complete Dollar's Dressage show tack
19) Get Dollar a new blanket
20) Get Dollar a fly-mask - September 4, 2010
21) Enroll in the AQHA Horseback Riding Program
22) Work out a condition schedule for the seasons
23) Get a new English saddle
24) Get Dollar new protective working boots
25) Get a new helmet: December 28, 2010
26) Get a new saddle pad
27) Go on at least 1 trail ride a year (1/3): Spetember 4, 2010
28) Polish up field boots really good
29) Polish up paddock boots really good
30) Get proper riding gloves
31) Get proper riding breeches
32) Clean the tack room fully
33) Orgainze all grooming supplies, label: November 18, 2010
34) Make hooks for all bridles and label
35) Organize all blankets and put into bins labelled and sealed
36) Go through all hoof trimming supplies and replenish, orgainze into a bin label
37) Make list of missing supplies
38) Clean off work bench and organize into bins, label
39) Find English spurs (buy if can't find)
40) Work on my photography with horses -
41) Take 1 really good phot of each horse and frame
42) Teach Dollar a minimum of one trick
43) Get a horse tattoo
44) Go barrel racing at least once a year (0/3)
45) Try at least 1 xc jump with Dollar (non-competition): September 4, 2010
46) Learn to do a proper tail French Braid
47) Figure out how to get Dollar's tail to grow long & thick
48) Keep up to date on his steroid shots for Heaves
49) Put Dollar on Senior Feed or a ration balancer
50) Get his teeth looked at
51) Have a chiropractor look at him
52) See if accupuncture would be good
53) Work through every exercise in 101 Dressge exercises
54) Look into more Barefoot information
55) Make show contact sign
56) Find/make a list of all the stuff needed for a show and put in grooming kit - October 31, 2010
57) Start putting money aside for shows
58) Find a way to hang up all my plaques, medals and ribbons from showing
59) Buy new polos and wraps
60) Buy new bell boots
61) Buy carrying bags for tack (saddle, bridle, garment)
62) Buy carrying bags for supplies (bridle bag, grooming bag, )
63) Make a new grooming kit: September 1, 2010
64) Get a new tail bag
65) Get a new slinky
66) Find Dollar a new Dresage bit
67) Get Dollar a new halter with his name on it: December 28, 2010
68) Repair old saddle
69) Buy a breast plate
70) Clean birdle thoughourly
71) Find a way to wash Dollar's outdoor blanket
72) Get a new bridle
73) Replace old bit on old bridle - September 11, 2010
74) Buy my own clippers
75) Get my own whip/crop
76)Learn how to pull a mane
77) Look at getting Hoof Boots for Dollar
78) Try to go to 1 Reining clinic with Reno
79) Get a score higher than 63 in Reining on Reno
80) Figure out what to do with Reno's mane
81) Get Reno used to the clippers and all clipped up
82) Try Team Penning just once for fun
83) Bake horse cookies at least once a year - Decmber 4, 2010

Done - 10/101

Oh. My. WORD!!

The impossible has happened!!

This was my saddle pad before:

The back

The Front

And after 3 washes:

The Front

The back

Can we say OMG!!!!!

Yes, it was extremely filthy. And yes, the bottom was black. When it was in the barn and nobody was using it, so it just got dirty and filthy. And it didn't help that when Sam did use it, she never washed it. I don't think that it's been washed in probably about 2 years. So it was wayyy overdue for a really good washing. And it is clean!!

#2 on my 101 list: Wash and clean my saddle pad