Brief Ride

Well, I did manage to sneak down to my Dad's place to ride Dollar for a bit before I had to pick up Keith from work at 3:30.

Got to the barn around 2:30, quickly ran to the barn, grabbed the barrel reins and went to go get Dollar from the holding pen and paused to see if I could possibly get my trailer out for when I want to go riding with Kelly in a couple weeks. Umm...I think not.....


I don't think the trailer's coming out anytime soon...

Looks like Kelly's gonna have to come down to ride. I'm not getting that thing out anytime soon. Sigh. Once I was done being a bit blah about the stuck trailer, I said hello to Sue and grabbed Dollar for a quick jaunt. Got Dollar out of the holding pen, clipped the barrel reins to his halter, climbed up on the fence and jumped on. We worked a bit on our walking and trotting around (still sucks that I don't have an indoor arena to do actual work) and loved him up lots. He behaved like a true gentleman and of course I had to show off my mad riding skillz...


Look Ma! No hands!!

Hehes. Reasons why I love him. After riding him around a little bit more, I glazed at the time and realized that I had to go pick up Keith. So I stopped Dollar in the middle of the arena, hopped off and put him back into the holding pen. Hoping the weather keeps up with the warm temperatures so that I can keep on riding!

Winter Ride

Finally got my lazy arse out to go see Dollar today. It was such a beautiful day, I couldn't really pass it up ;-). I got to my Dad's place around 10:00 after running some errands and quickly ran to the back to grab Dollar.


Sue


Ponies!!


Dollar eyeing me

 I managed to get him out of there without the other horses getting out as well. I let him go around for a while before grabbing the whip to get him moving so that I could get some awesome photos!


Trudging through the snow


Lope-y!


The water donkey that he is


"Run away from Mom!!"


More lopey


Trotty!!


Looking at me asking if we're done

After he was done trotting around, I went up to him, attached the barrel reins to his halter, climbed up on the fence and hopped on. We did some walking around and then moved up into trotting because of all the snow that was outside. I even got a couple moments of a floaty trot! Yeah! He seemed full of energy today, so I kept him trotting around the ring and then got a brilliant idea.

I've been trying to get him working on his straight lines, but you can't really see them to well in the sand in summer. And so since it's winter out, I decided to try this again and then we could see how well we were doing. Wow, our first couples lines down centre looked like we were a drunk sailor. Lol. And I knew exactly where he was wanting to turn because he was eyeing his food. So when we went down centre again, I kept my outside leg (right) on him and then kicked him good in the shoulder when he tried to that. It seemed to work and then we started getting straight lines down centre! Yeah, progress!!

Oh, and of course, had to take some photos while riding. Lol.


Doll-face


On our walk workout

After I was done riding (about ½ hour), I hopped off and put Dollar into the barn to give him a good grooming and work on his “no” trick. He had quite a few icicles hanging off of him, so I went to work scrubbing all of those off and he was loving every minute of it.

Then I went to grab some grain and work on his “no” trick. He didn't seem to happy about it at first, but then he realized that if he co-operated, he got treats. Smart one. Lol.


The fat Moose



The begging face

Once we were done in the barn, I kicked him back outside and spent a couple minutes loving up Reno. Kelly's coming down in about 3 weeks to ride, so I'm guessing I should probably ride him soon. Unfortunately, I had to go pick up Keith when he was done work, so I'm gonna leave Reno for another day.

Gift Exchange with Kelly!!

Yeah!! Gift exchange with Kelly today! Pretty excited about this. Yes, I know it's after Christmas, but Kelly just got our gifts in (finally!) and so we had to do a gift exchange.

Kelly got here around 6:30 (after she was done work) and came down to my place. Of course the regular amount of giggling ensued with us and also made Keith roll his eyes at us. Lol. While we were talking and stuff, we decided to exchange our gifts.

I had gotten Kelly some blingy spur straps that I knew she wanted. And of course, she was giggling in delight. She gave me a beautiful horse hair bracelet, something that makes me feel very special. See, not only is it a horse hair bracelet with mine and Dollar's colors (purple and black), but it's also made from her (deceased) beloved Banjo's mane/tail. Awww....I'm special enough to get something made from Banjo...sniffles.

Trail Riding with Kelly and Michelle

Yeah!! Trail riding with Kelly and Michelle today!

Woke up around 5 am in order to drive Keith to work for 6 and then went back to bed until 8. Lol. Once I woke up, I did my devotions, did some stuff around the house and then got ready to leave around 10:30 for Kelly's barn to go trail riding today.

On my way out of town, I stopped by McDonald's for some breakfast and was trying to text Kelly, but my phone was being wonky and was sending it to different numbers, not Kelly's. Weird. Once I had gotten my breakfast, I hopped back into my car and headed on my way. Got to Kelly's with no problems, unlike last time I went there in winter. Once I had my car parked, I went inside the barn and said hello to Renegade, Skylla and Treble and upon not seeing Kelly around, I went and took a look in the riding arena. Yup, she was there and riding Weeper. She was almost done, so I just stood there and watched her.

Once she was done riding Weeper, we started talking about some shit that was starting on Face Book between her and another “friend.” I won't go into it, but all I can say it drama! Once Kelly had Weeper untacked and with a cooling sheet on, she brought out Skylla for me to get acquainted with and play with. I tried doing some tricks with her, but she was more interested in the treats than doing tricks. Then Michelle showed up and started talking while we were tacking up the horses. I had to quickly run back to my car and grab the rest of my winter gear so that I wouldn't freeze while we were riding, because who knows how long we'll be gone.

Skylla ready to go

Once I was all bundled up, I grabbed Kelly's 14” barrel racing saddle and started getting Skylla ready. Once we were all ready to go, we brought the horses outside and proceeded to mount up. Except that I found out that my winter riding boots were a tad too big for Kelly's stirrups. Oops. It took me a bit to get onto Skylla because my boot kept going into her side and she kept moving because of that. Sorry Skylla!! Kelly had to come over and hold Skylla for me so that I could get the tip of my boot into the stirrup and quickly hop on Skylla before the boot came out.

Once I was on Skylla, we headed on our way to Bird's Hill Park. I found out very quickly that Skylla likes to walk fast and ahead of everyone. Lol. We just kept the horses to a walk while we made our way to Bird's Hill. I had to keep laughing at Treble though. Seems that she was having a mind of her own while we were riding and tried to kick Michelle's horse Sonya. Well that little stunt earned her a trip to the other side of the road where she wouldn't try to kill anyone. Lol. And Kelly mentioned that Skylla must like me because she hasn't bucked me off yet. The other person to ride her last time (other than Kelly) got bucked off 4 times in one trail ride because Skylla can't stand stupid riders. Lol. We were chatting quite a bit and once we got to the highway, we waited for traffic to pass, which took a bit longer than usual because some deer were standing in the ditch.

Once we got across the highway, we went on some trails that were made this summer for riding and driving horses. And it was pretty. Sigh. I'll take the pretty winter trees anytime, but not the cold. Had quite a bit of fun going down the trails and then of course, something really hilarious had to happen. While Michelle was ducking underneath some tree branches, her toque got caught on one branch, came off and went on the ground. I was right behind her with Skylla and she kept kicking it on the ground and by this time it was on a little bit of a snow bank. I couldn't get off to grab the toque and Michelle couldn't either because of her knee and I wasn't sure about Treble, so I was going to walk Skylla up to it and stretch down to see if I could grab it. Well, Kelly hopped off of Treble and grabbed it for Michelle, all the meanwhile saying that she had the crazy 2-year-old who was just standing there wondering what we were laughing about. Once Michelle had her toque back, we continued on our way.

Winter prettiness

Michelle in front of us

And of course, Michelle had to get us partially lost. Lol. Happens almost every time. We did manageg to find the right trail and kept on going. The trail took us right to Bird's Hill Ranch, where we promptly dismounted and tied the horses up the tying pole. Michelle quickly ran in to see if we could tie the horses in the indoor arena so that they could stay out of the wind. We got told no, so we just tied them up to the pole outside. We went inside and ordered some food and hot beverages to warm ourselves up. We had some good conversations around the table there, talking about tattoos and stuff (I really want to get mine done now) and then got ready to go. One of Michelle's riding buddies from Miracle Ranch who now boards at Bird's Hill wanted to go for a short ride with us.

So we went back outside, got the horses untangled (Treble and Skylla manged to get their lead ropes tangled up) and mount back up. Again, I had trouble getting back up on Skylla because of my damn winter boots. Kelly had to hold her again so that she wouldn't move around so much while I was hoping on. I really hate winter boots. Once we were all mounted up, we headed to the indoor arena to meet Michelle's old riding buddy. Well, there was a small round bale in a pen by there, covered in snow a bit. Sonya and Treble didn't want to go past it, so i figured that I'd try to get Skylla. Nope, no way. So then Kelly tried with Treble again. Treble looked at it, walked forward 2 steps, reared up perfectly straight, came back down, and walked past it like nothing had ever happened. Wtf??? Kelly was laughing at Treble and then I asked Skylla to go past it. She did walk past it, but it her head turned and looking at it the entire time. Lol.

We went on the loop, which took us around the barn, but it was out in the bush kinda thing. Once we were done the loop, we said goodbye to Michelle's riding buddy and started our ride home. We had to go through some knee deep snow with the horses, and of course the horses wanted to jog because all of a suddenly, I felt Skylla going all floaty going through the snow and heard Kelly and Michelle laughing behind me as their horses did the same thing. Lol.

Winter trees

Once we got back onto the road, we made our way to the trail and kept to the trail going home. The wind had picked up a bit, so it was nicer in the bush without the wind. While we were walking, we saw some deer, and I had taken my camera out to take a photo of it. Skylla on the other hand, didn't want to be used as a tri-pod. She kept moving around and I was afraid that I was going to lose my camera. I finally got her to stop, but by that time, the deer had taken off. I silently swore at Skylla and put my camera away. Once we had put our camera's away, we continued on our walk home. And of course, the closer we got to home, the faster the horses wanted to walk. Which was fine by all of us, as long as they didn't run home.

Deer!!!

Skylla knew we were on our way home and just kept walking faster and faster while I was trying to talk with Kelly and Michelle. So of course, I had to hold her and tell her to slow down, otherwise I'd put her in the ditch to help her slow down. Kelly was laughing because she heard me say this to Skylla, and when Skylla kept walking faster, I put her in the ditch. All of a suddenly, we were walking slower! Hooray! Unfortunately, we made it back up to the road and then went back to our previous speed. * shake head *

Got back to the barn in one piece and then started putting everyone away. I gave Skylla some treats for being so good, talked with the girls some more, mostly about tattoos and then headed home. We had gone on a 4-hour trail ride!!

Puppies in the barn

And I know my hip is going to start feeling this tomorrow. Oh well, it was worth it. Next time, I'll bring Dollar out for some fun.

Riding and Tricks!

After work today (which was around 3:30), I headed down to the barn to go play with Dollar, seeing as I haven't ridden or played with him for almost a week. Once I got to the house, I went inside to see where Sam was and to show her the halter that I got as Dollar's Christmas gift. She just looked at me and said, "Well that's good. He needs a new halter anyway." WTF? It's a show halter, not a pasture halter. I told her that he has his halter in the barn on my bridle hook. Her response: "You don't have a bridle hook." Umm...yes I do. It has both my western bridle and my english bridle on there. Seriously...wtf?She basically just told me that nothing in the barn is mine. Fxck. Uumm...yeah, all the Enlgish stuff is mine and my bridles are mine as well as I bought and paid for them. Sheesh.

After our little argument, I garbbed my stuff, put on my winter gear and headed outside to see PonyFace. I let allt he horses out and took some pictures of Dollar in the snow. And then proceeded to have some fun with him. I garbbed my lead rope and hooked him up to lunge a bit, but he didn't want to move. No matter how much clucking, swinging the rope or anything did, he didn't want to move. So I went and grabbed the whip. Well, that got his attention and all of a suddenly, we were moving! Sam was riding pretty at this time, so I moved Dollar more into the middle of the arena and where there is some more deep snow so that he could get a work out. I was keeping an eye on his back legs because of our last ride, but he looked alright to me. He was even trying to do some extended trots and even got to extending his legs a bit. Yeah!

Once I saw that he wasn't having any problems moving or being stiff, I tied the lead rope to both sides of his halter, brought him over to the fence and hopped on. He seemed a bit hyper, but I was OK with that. I'd rather him hyper than lazy. Then it makes for some interesting rides. I rode with Sam and Pretty for a bit, just letting Dollar trot all over the arena and then Sam switched horses and hopped on Spawn of Satan aka: Mars. I had already stopped Dollar in the middle of the ring because I could see Mars breathing fire while Sam tried to hop on him. It took her 2 tries to get onto Mars and he was just raring to go. Once she got on, I continued Dollar with our trotting work-out. Of course, while we were trotting around, we came up behind Mars, and all of a suddenly, I could see his back rounding, prepping for a buck. Luckily, Sam felt it and managed to get him stopped and keep his head up. Then of course, Mars was shaking his head "no" in protest. Dollar just kept on going and wasn't bothered by it in one bit.

Once we did quite a bit of trotting around the arena, I got off of Dollar and brought him into the barn so that I could try teaching him some tricks! Sam was putting Mars away and asked that I grab Sue and put him in a stall. Well, that horse was higher than a high kite. I tried just walking up to him to grab his halter, and he spooked on me. Wtf? So I just stood there, with my hand held out and slowly moved towards him until I got my hand on his halter. I got him inside the barn, but Pretty and Mars decided to follow as well. We kicked the other 2 out and then warmed up the bit for Sue. He's the only one ridden in a bit in winter because he is so unpredictable.

Once his bit was warmed up, we took him outside so that Sam could hop on him to ride. Ummm....that wasn't happening. Sam was going to use the rails to climb up onto him, but he wasn't having any of that. I think he was starting to have mini-anxiety attacks, he was that crazy! So I told Sam to grab the chair and we'd put Sue up against the railing and let Sam get on by using the chair. Again...wasn't happening. I was holding his bridle right underneath his chin and he was just snorting and do half-rears and jsut plain out panicing. Sam actaully managed to get up on the chair and then lean over him to put some weight on his back. Then she jumped a little bit to get up onto him, but because of her winter gear, she couldn't stretch her leg that far and came off. So I walked Sue around to calm him down and tried again. Only this time, he was a bit wilder and crazier. Sam did managed to get on him, but she had barely got her leg over him when he exploded. She went off (luckily not into the fence or the water tub) and I was running backward with Sue in one hand and the chair in the other. I had actually grabbed the chair when he exploded so that he wouldn't knock it over and hurt himself. Crazy! I looked at Sam and told her to grab her saddle because she was not going to be riding him bareback if he was acting like this. But he was also now spooking at the chair and snorting like crazy. So Sam took him and stood on the chair and let him lunge aroud her while I grabbed her saddle for her.

Once I had her saddle outside, I decided to try teaching Dollar how to say "no." So I tied him in the alley way, grabbed some apples that I had (it was the only treats I had), and proceeded to follow the instructions taht Kelly had sent me. So I worked with him for a bit on that and actaully started to get the hang of it near the end. He was more interested in the apples though. Silly boy. Once he started getting the hang of it, I put on his new halter and tried to get some pictures. Well, he wasn't co-operating at all. He was still looking for the dang apples and didn't want to stand still for any photos. Sigh Maybe next time.

I grabbed the rest of the apples that were left over and brought them to the other horses outside, leaving about 2 for Sue once he was done his work-out. Then I kicked Dollar outside and headed home for supper.

December 2010 Goals Assessed and January 2011 Goals

So December  was an uber-fail month for me. You've heard me complaining about this stupid cold that I've had for almost a month now. It's fricken ridiculous. Sigh. Nothing much I can do about it.  So here are December's goals, even though it's basically a failure :(

December 2010 Goals
1) Complete 3 items on the 101 list
PASS!! I actually managed to do all 3!! We completed, #25, #67 and #83
2) Get Dollar a Christmas gift
His gift was more like treats on Christmas Eve.
3) Make horse cookies with Kelly
Mwhahahaha.......read about it here.
4) Ride at least once a week
Uber-FAIL again. I've been sick almost this entire month and have only ridden once. ONCE!!! Now I feel like a really bad horse mom :(

January 2011 Goals
1) Complete 3 items on the 101 list
2) Start a riding program to start getting Dollar back into shape
3) Ride at least once a week
4) Find something for his joints

That's all that I have for now really. Been a really busy month.