I'll Be Gone For Awhile, But I Will Be Back!

First, I want to thank each and everyone of you from the bottom of my heart, for your very sweet, kind comments about Grace and her family. This means so much to us. Monday was a very difficult day for all of us, and I just could not stop thinking about what happened, I don't think I have cried so much in one day since my Million Dollar Cat Dakota, was attacked, and we went through hell and back to get that cat to survive. I am sure most of you know me well enough by now, to know how sensitive I am about animals, I treat every one, no matter what kind (exception: snakes and spiders!) as they are my children. I am feeling much better now, but I am still thinking of my friends and Grace. It will take time to heal our hearts.



Second, I am sorry I haven't made my daily visits to all your blogs, I think it has been days! I had a crazy weekend. On Saturday I had to go to a mandatory unemployment meeting. Boring. Than I went to a yearling Mustang adoption. No, I did not adopt a Mustang! Then we had a friends BBQ/party to go too. Had a good time! On Sunday we went kayaking on our river for over 4 hours, but by the time you get everything set up and get down the river, than back home, it is more like 8 hours. So much fun! I won't talk about Monday. It is kind of a blur, and a day I never want to repeat again.



Tuesday I had to go to another mandatory meeting at unemployment. Quit picking on me unemployment! Go get an oil change in my car, deposit a check in the bank, mow the lawn in 95 degree weather, and now I need to start packing. Yep, packing. You see, me and my sis are heading out of town for a few days. So I will not be in the blogging world until possibly Sunday. I just don't want you all to think I have quit blogging, or decided I don't want to visit you all anymore. I actually might have access to a computer, and if I have time, I will try to check in on ya'll! Where are we going, you ask? We are going to haul our horses to our mom's for some horseback riding with some family members. I think half the Pony Cousins will be there. I am very excited for this adventure, and this should prep us for our annual Pony Cousin trip that is coming upon us fast. Real fast. After I pack, I need to load hay in the truck, hook the trailer up to the truck, load the rest of my stuff in the trailer, clip my horse, check the tire pressure in truck and trailer, all in 100+ degree temps, yep, we are in the middle of a serious heat wave! I guess it is good preparation for the weather that is to come on our Pony Cousin trip.



Have a great week and weekend, and can't wait to share my many adventure's of the week!!
Happy trails to ya'll!

A Sad, Sad Day

This isn't the post I wanted to do on Grace. What I wanted to tell you all was that we went over to our friends house last week to see Grace. That she was doing really good and the family was so excited to have her. They were spending every day out in the pasture with her. They loved on her. They felt like they were dreaming and hadn't woken up from that dream. They couldn't believe after all these years that they finally had a horse. They were talking about all the things they were going to do with Grace in the years to come.

This morning my friends woke up in a nightmare. Every morning when they got up they would go out to the pasture first thing to check on her. This morning was not what any horse owner would want to wake up too. Grace was down in the pasture. My friend knew it wasn't good, so she called the vet's number that I gave her. She than called me and left a message. I didn't get the message until almost 2 hours later. Her message said Grace was injured, bad, it didn't look good. I tried calling my friend back and left a message. I called my OH and told him I was running over there. I get to her house. I didn't see Grace in the pasture. My friend came out of her house, I just knew by the look on her face that it wasn't good. I start crying. She tells me that the vet had to put her down. Her injuries were just too severe.

Grace had somehow got her face/head caught up in the fence. They had that square wire fencing, it wasn't a bad fence, I didn't look at it that close but I think it might have had barb wire running along the top. The pasture is a large pasture. But we just never know what will happen with horses. Did she spook, was she just being curious? Her eyelid was torn back from her eye, the rest of her face was torn up from the fencing. When my friend got to the pasture this morning, Grace was laying down with labored breathing. While she was waiting for the vet, Grace did get up, she could barely use one of her back legs. It had not gotten caught up in the fence, but most likely when she got her head stuck in the fence, she struggled. Probably struggled for a long time. The vet said she had severe nerve damage to her hind end. The vet also said that if they wanted, they could have her taken to the animal hospital and see what could be done. But it was a big IF. The vet was pretty sure that even after everything they could do, that Grace would never be the same in her hind end. She was suffering, so they chose to have her euthanized. The vet also told my friend that it was a freak accident. There was nothing they could have done.



Last week when we went out to see her, I did bring my saddle. I was just going to put it on her, I wasn't going to get on. Than I decided I would get on. She was so laid back. Not a care in the world. We knew she had had people on her back. The old owners had given my friends a nice bridle, but with a mechanical hackamore. I think this is what they rode her in. I had adjusted the bridle as small as it would go, but it was still too big. I had brought a snaffle bit over to give to them, she had never had a bit in her mouth so I didn't want to put a bit in. I even brought a huge stack of horse magazines for their daughter to read. She was so excited.



Grace didn't know what leg pressure was. So I tried getting her to walk. It took a little while, and I had to have my friends husband come over to help. But she eventually was figuring it out. She knew direct reining and how to whoa.



She was not spooky, very mellow. I could tell that she would be an easy horse to train. I was hoping I could help my friends and put some time on her.



I even did some Clinton Anderson ground work with her, to show my friends about desensitizing her. They really enjoyed that. It was great to see Grace respond so quickly to my handy stick.



This family is devastated. They are blaming themselves. They hadn't even had her for 10 days yet. They are in shock. To see their 10 yr old daughter this morning, broke my heart. Why does this have to happen to such a good family? They had been dreaming about getting a horse for so many years, and for that dream to finally become a reality, then have it taken away from them so tragically. I sit here, crying, and wondering, why? We all just will never know when something like this can happen. It can happen at anytime.



I had so many things I wanted to accomplish today. Now I don't think I can do that. All I can think about is Grace and my friends, a family that so desperately wanted a horse, a family that had so much to give to this horse. A family that has been torn apart by a tragic accident. A family that will be going through the "why us" and the "what if's". I am devastated for them and for Grace.

River Aussie's!

Last weekend was a hot one. Since we haven't taken the crazy Aussie's to the river yet this year, we figured we better get them down for some playing and swimming, and to also check the river out. We loaded them up in the truck and drove the few minutes to our private river access. We have to keep them on leashes, well, Bailey has to be kept on a leash, if he was loose we probably would never see him again. He'd want to go to the woods to stiff and play. Sadie, with her insecurity issues, won't leave our sides, but I kept her on a leash for awhile. We wanted to check out how the river had changed, it changes every year. Fishing season is coming up on us fast, we have really good fishing in September and we are planning on doing a lot of it! The dogs were very excited that they got to go on this journey with us.



When we first moved here 8 years ago, this log jam only had around 20 logs. It now has thousands. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger. In the winter, this log jam is under water. You can't even get to the river during that time of year.



The dogs see the water, they are so excited! They couldn't wait to drag us in that direction. I don't blame them, I wanted to get in the water too!



They finally get us to the water.



They insisted on walking in the water, while we walked on the rocks, which are hard to walk on, especially with flip flops on!



We notice some changes to our beach right away. There is now an island that we wanted to take the dogs too. We braved thigh high water to walk across, the dogs did not want to swim. But we made them. Even though Sadie is a water dog, she likes to just get her legs and face wet, but when it comes to having to actually swim, she said no way! Bailey was even worse. Once they figured out that they could swim, they followed along behind us. We make it to the island. My OH is checking out some new fishing spots.



We think this hole is going to have some really good fishing! Across the water is a new beach that has never been there before, which is good. It gives us even more places to fish.



After we waded back across the water to the mainland, with dogs in tow, we headed to the new beach. I am now standing on what is our new waterfront fishing property. I am getting really excited!



A nice looking beach, don't ya think? Across the water you can barely see our island we were just on.



We decide to head on over to another one of our favorite fishing spots. It's a huge rock formation, that we just call the "Rock". Bailey was very interested in the rapids. When we go river rafting, we have to go through these rapids. It's really the only "white" water rapids we have on the long stretch of river we raft on.



I never realized I had a camo dog. She blends in with the rocks quite well.



Bailey is really checking out the scenery. There were people across the river on another beach. We could also see river rafters coming down.



Bailey decides he wants to get his paws wet again. He wanted to keep going, but we called him back. The river goes through here pretty fast and we didn't want him to get swept away. That has happened to us before with another dog we use to have. He was out swimming and the current took him away, he ended up on the other side of the river and my OH had to walk and swim to the other side to get him back. I don't think that dog ever swam again!



Way off in the distance are some river rafters. You can't see them in this picture. But Bailey noticed them.



We hung out until the rafters came through the rapids. Here they are on the other side of our island.



I was able to get a family picture, without me.



On our way back, I took Sadie off the leash. It is so hard to have both dogs on the extended leashes. Since I knew Sadie wouldn't leave me or my OH, we let her run. I don't think Bailey was liking that too much. We decided to head back over to our island. But I left my camera and cell phone on the beach this time, before we waded through the water. One thing I can not be without would be my camera and cell phone! The dogs weren't as scared to swim back to the island. Once on the island, we took Bailey off the leash. We knew he wouldn't swim on his own to get to the other beach with the trees. But he sure tried to find his way off the island. Bailey and Sadie ran up and down the beach, played in the water, rolled in the dirt. At this point I really wish I would have brought my camera with me. But I didn't want to wade back to get it. We stayed on the island for around 45 minutes and let the dogs just run. Than it was time to put Bailey back on the leash and swim back to shore.

It was so much fun, the dogs loved it and we found some great new fishing holes. I love this time of year!

Something A Little Different!

A while back, I mean a long while back, my sister and I talked about getting an english saddle so we could ride english if we wanted too. My trainer/good friend just happened to have an extra english saddle around, that she said she would sell us. She brought it over, with a couple saddle pads, bridle, girth, everything! Now I haven't ridden english in 19 years, yes, 19 years! Seriously! When I did ride english, it was just for fun. I never showed english, although I wish I would have. So please don't laugh at me when you see the pictures. Remember, 19 years!!

I longed Brandy first. Brandy has never worn an english saddle, so I knew it would feel different on her back. I really don't think she liked it. She does buck when I longe her with the western saddle on, but this time her bucks were different. She wasn't liking it! Plus every time she bucked, and she can buck, the saddle slipped forward on her. Brandy doesn't have much wither and she has a very narrow topline. I am sure this didn't help matters. The saddle seemed to fit her pretty good, but what do I know about english saddle fitting? Remember, 19 years!



Here is one of her many bucks. I could tell that her bucking style was different. I am sure glad I longed her!



Here the saddle slipped forward. Maybe one of my english readers can help me out. I don't want to sound like an idiot here, but I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to english. I can post, jump with my silly form, and that is probably about it. I do read magazines and books on english riding. But I feel like a total horse beginner and out of my element!



During longing, I had to adjust the saddle back to it's proper position.



I think my horse thinks she is part bloodhound. Or maybe she is checking out all the weeds in the arena, yeah, I know, I need to weed the arena! It's on my list.



I think Brandy finally got all the bucks out. Next step, getting on. I don't have a mounting block. I know I need to get one. I will be putting that on my honey to-do list, pronto. I am sure we have plenty of logs, that he can make me a nice large stump, to use for a mounting block. My sister had to give me a leg up. I am glad Brandy is only 14.3 HH. I have no idea how I use to be able to jump on my horse's bareback when I was younger. I can't do it now. I guess I lost my jumping skills.



Since I knew Brandy was not comfortable with a strange saddle on her back, I had a feeling she would be uncomfortable with a rider on top of that strange saddle. Yep, she did not like it. She fought me, she would not give to the bit, she was wringing her tail, she wouldn't listen to me at all! I just walked her around, hoping she'd eventually relax. We walked, and walked, and walked. We worked on some bending exercises, which she is very good at, but that day, not so good. We continued walking. I could feel her starting to relax, she wasn't fighting the bit so much, her tail wringing was slowing down. We continued to walk.



We kept walking until she got used to the feel of the saddle and finally relaxed. I think I had the stirrups adjusted too short. In some of the pictures of me riding, I look like a dork with my long legs. I did not post them here.



How do cowboy boots look in irons? Of course you can see my way too long legs, in jeans that look way too short. They are not. They actually seemed to ride up more riding english, than western!



We can't afford to buy the saddle now. But my trainer doesn't need it and she knows it's in a safe place, so here it stays, for now. I'd love to ride english more. I should probably take some lessons sometime, when I get a job. But for now, it was fun to try something different, after 19 years!

I Did It!

I am proud of myself again, this has happened twice in one week! What are the chances of that happening? One night last week, I started thinking, and yes, once I start thinking, who knows what will happen! What do we have here? A saddle on Fritzy? Could it be? Could I possibly be riding Fritzy? Oh yeah, back to the "I was thinking I should ride Fritzy" part, Yes! I did it! I rode Fritzy!



I started thinking that it was time for me to cowgirl up and take Fritzy for a spin. I haven't ridden Fritzy in almost 2 years, I think. It's been so long, I can't even remember how long it's been! So I brought her out, saddled her up, which can be an issue, one of our biggest problems is saddling Fritzy. She will not hold still! She anticipate's the saddle pad as soon as she see's it, same with the saddle. I have been working with her on the saddling issue when we are at the trail head. She had been doing very well there, so I was pleasantly surprised that she stood STILL for saddling at home! Good girl Fritz! I take her to the arena. I longe her out first. Than I get on! For those of you that don't know, I have serious confidence issues with Fritzy, if you'd like to read the story, please go here. I have ridden Fritzy numerous times since the accident the year it happened, but I have spent most of my time riding/training Brandy in the last 2 years. I think I have used my fear/confidence as an excuse to not ride Fritzy, and since I had set a goal for myself, which is riding Fritzy this summer, I felt I just needed to get out and ride her. And ride I did! Of course before I got on I started thinking I should wait for my OH to get home from work. I was alone. But I decided not to let that stop me. Yes Mom, I wore my helmet!

How often do you see me behind a black neck? I was liking it! It had been so long since I last rode her, that I forgot how long her neck is and how big her ears are! I could tell that Fritzy really needed a tune up. She has only been trail ridden in the last couple years. She seems to have lost the arena "mentality" that she was trained for. She minded well, but she didn't respond to my leg at all. She also didn't remember that slow western pleasure jog that she had learned so well. So I worked on getting her memory back. It didn't take long for her to remember that slow is good. After about 20 minutes of some refreshers, I worked on sidepassing. She barely would sidepass to the right, but when I went to sidepass to the left, brick wall! This started to remind me of our groundwork lessons! But we worked through it, and I got her to respond to my leg and sidepass to the left! Obviously I need to spend more time on Fritzy's back. I know my OH doesn't use leg on her, not in the way you are supposed to. But we did buy Fritzy to be a trail horse for my OH. I just need to get some more rides on her in the arena more often.



Here is more proof that I rode Fritzy, that would be my hand in the picture!!



Here is my chunky girl all saddled up after our ride. She got quite the work out. Fritz, you need to go on a diet, I think!



Here is sleepy Fritz. I think she was done for the day.



I had to hose her down when we were done. Than I let her eat some grass for awhile. The flysheet is to keep her semi-clean. FLY UPDATE- Since we started using fly predators, we haven't had flies. In the last couple weeks, we have had some flies, but they aren't as bad as they usually are. I still have not had to put the horse's flymasks on, which is not normal. So I would have to say that the fly predators are working. We might have some flies, but it is WAY better!! I am still a believer in fly predators. I will keep updating as the season goes on.



Here is Sadie, the Painted Creek Supervisor. I think I need one, since I am now retired. I am used to having someone telling me what to do, and a crazy Aussie can get the job done!



The next day my sister was coming up so we could go trail riding. I had made up my mind. I was taking Fritzy on the trails. I hadn't done this in over 2 1/2 yrs. I wasn't even nervous. My sis arrived at my house and we went to get the horses. While my sister was switching halters out on her boy he pulled out of his halter and took off. It took awhile for her to catch him. My sister's boy is a hard to catch horse at times. What I have heard about him from previous owners is he was terrible to catch. Thankfully my sister has only had a few issues catching him. And today was the day. Also this was the day my friend called about the horse that was given to them, and wanted us to go pick that horse up. So we were going to be running out of time. Once my sister caught her boy, we decided we'd just ride through the neighborhood. I have never ridden Fritzy through the neighborhood before. But my trainer has ridden her twice and my sister once through it. So I probably was a little nervous. Fritzy was really looking at stuff, there is so much to see, boulders, mailboxes, brick driveways, vehicles etc. But she actually settled in nicely and so did I!



As we were rounding the corners to home, Fritzy really picked up the pace. She knew she was going home. I stopped Fritzy so my sister could catch up, and Fritzy's impatience kicked in. She hates standing still. So I had to work that out with her.



I wasn't even nervous dealing with her impatience. I just made her do it.



Now she is standing still. Look! I am smiling!



I am very happy with myself. I rode Fritzy 2 days in a row. I have felt that my confidence was getting better by doing groundwork with her, and now that I have a couple rides on her, I am feeling much better. Hopefully I can get her out on the trails soon!

Unexpected Delivery

I received a phone call from a friend of ours last Thursday. I couldn't believe what she was telling me on the phone. My friend's brother knew someone that had a horse they wanted to find a really good home for, free. She wanted to ask us a really big favor, could we go pick up the horse for them? We are the only ones they know with a horse trailer. My friend and her husband have been talking for years about getting a horse. He had grown up around horses a little bit. She had a horse as a young girl. They now have a 14 yr old son and a 10 yr old daughter. They have been to our house numerous times, and the kids loved going out to pet our horses.

So when I answered the phone, and she was telling me about this horse that these people were giving away, I was excited for her but also a little concerned. They had went to look at the horse the day before she called me. What she told me about the horse is this: the horse is a 3 yr old Tennessee Walker mare with Oklahoma Star breeding. She is very calm, gentle, very friendly. She has been ridden by the adults and kids, they did see the kids riding the horse. She had shoes, but threw a front shoe. She would come with halter, leadrope, bridle, and a saddle pad, but no saddle.

Ok, so here is where all my questions come in. I try to find out as much as I can. More about the temperament, training, how old exactly, more info on the breed, trailering issues, vaccinations, and all that good stuff. Yes, the horse has been vaccinated, she hadn't been trailered much and from what I could understand, they had a hard time getting her into a straight load trailer. She was very sweet, the owner's kids were crawling all over her and she didn't care. Ok, so I tell my friend, let me call my OH and see what he says. I call him up, tell him the situation. He says yes we could help them out. I knew we'd help them out, we were in a similiar situation with Fritzy 3 years ago, when we didn't have a trailer and had to call a friend up to help us. So we planned on meeting our friend at her house at 6:00 to pick her up, than we'd drive another 35 minutes south to get the horse.

We get to the peoples house. They live in a housing development, larger lots, but NOT a horsey area. Hmmmm......... ok, so we back the trailer into the driveway and get out. Our friend goes to get the owners while my OH and I are looking around for the horse. We see a dirt paddock with one strand of electric fence about 3 feet high. I am thinking of Lisa, from Laughing Orca Ranch at this point! What is up with the fencing? Still didn't see a horse. The owners come out. All of a sudden we hear a horse running full speed, right up to the short electric fence. She actually came running to see us! Ok, this is good, she loves humans! So I asked the guy "She's a TWH right?" he says "TW and Oklahoma Star". Ok, so I know Oklahoma Star is not a breed, it is a bloodline. But I didn't get into that with him. I asked him how long he has had the horse, he says a year. The horse, whose name is Grace, was a sweetheart. She stood at the fence and just let us love on her. I asked the guy how old she is. He says she won't be 3 yrs old until August 28th. My friend had said she had thrown one front shoe, but I noticed she had thrown both front shoes. Her feet were a little overgrown. My friend asked about his farrier. He said he used this woman and she did a really good job if he was there, but if she came out when no one was home, than she seemed to not do a very good job. Red flag. What? This guy lets a shoer come out to shoe his horse when he isn't there? There isn't even a place to tie the horse, which is unsafe anyways! Ok. So they were going to give my friend a couple halters, one she had on and you could tell that she wore it all the time from the rub marks on her face. He also gave her some electric fencing supplies, a bridle and a bareback pad. They didn't even own a saddle. Hmmmmm...........So my OH and our friend put the little bit of stuff they gave her in the tack room of my trailer. After about 25 minutes, the guy finally gets a leadrope and leads her out of the paddock. The first thing I notice is he lets Grace run all over him. Oh no. She wanted to eat grass, so he lets her do it. I knew at this point that even though she was really sweet, that this guy basically lets her do whatever she wants. So I already had both my trailer doors open, and all the windows open to make it as light and inviting as possible for her. He says she has been trailered around 10 times. He walks her up to my trailer. He gets in my trailer, Grace walks right up and stops. She sniffs the shavings, she sticks her head into my muck bucket that I keep in the back on my trailer. I had to pull that out, because she kept tipping it over. He never once asked her to get into the trailer. He asked his wife to go get carrots. So the guy has a huge carrot and is kneeling in my trailer trying to get the horse inside with the carrot. Still not asking her to get in. He never once pulled on the leadrope. My OH and I give each other the "look". He asked his wife to pick up Grace's front leg and put it into the trailer. She was wearing flip flops. I had to contain myself from laughing. The first thing I thought of was the Clinton Anderson clinic I went too awhile back. When he did his trailer loading demo, and he showed us how most people try to get their horses into a trailer. If you want to see something very funny, go to this post I did on the Clinton Anderson trailer loading demo, where I put the pictures of him making fun of people and how they try to load their horses by trying to pick up their feet. Yes, this is what I saw. Ya gotta be kiddin' me! The wife picked up one of Grace's legs and sets it into the trailer. The guy still has a carrot in front of her face. Grace has her neck all stretched out. I do want to say that she was not showing any signs of being fearful of my trailer. She just did not know what she was supposed to do and her owners were not helping the situation. So after about 15 minutes of this, I finally say, "You know, I have boots on, let me get in the trailer". So I jump in. The guy gets out. I put pressure on the lead, she stepped forward, I praised her. The guy picks up a leg and puts it in the trailer. I didn't feel like I should tell him what to do, but apparently he doesn't know horses. I mean, I'm not a professional trainer, but I do train my horses and I know what horses respond too. So I continue to put pressure on the lead. Too much pressure and she felt restrained and backed up. I didn't want her to go up. My OH asked if he should get another rope. I said yes. So he goes and gets a rope. Now I don't like doing this, but this horse wasn't scared. She just didn't know what was being asked of her. My OH and the guy put a rope behind her butt, I put pressure on the lead, and viola! She is in the trailer. I make her stand calmly, praise her, pet her, get the trailer tie on her, get the divider shut. She starts to paw, uh oh, another Fritzy! We would have been there all night if we didn't step in. I was trying to play it safe by not loading the horse, I don't know the horse, this guy wanted to do it, ok. But seriously! Grace is not a dog! He totally treated her like she was his puppy. Here is Grace, in the trailer, finally!



I put her in the middle stall, I really don't think she had been in a trailer 10 times, so I didn't feel comfortable putting her on the wall. Ever since Fritzy had issues on the wall, I am a lot more careful about that. She looks so small in my trailer! She is around 14.3 hh though. The guy did say her dad was over 17 hh. Who knows if that was true. I did shut the drop down window, I know some horses see it as a possible escape route. I didn't want her to freak out and think she could try to jump out the window, even though there are bars there, doesn't matter.



We drive another 35 minutes to get back to our friends house. The pictures I got aren't that good. It was around 8:00 at night, and in all the excitement, I forgot to turn my flash on. Here she is a little while after we got back to our friends. She wasn't very nervous at all. When I went into the trailer to get her out, she stood perfectly still for me to unsnap the trailer tie, and I made her whoa and stand before I turned her around and we very calmly walked out of the trailer. She did that better than my horses! I didn't want to back her out, not knowing her trailering history, and dealing with a horse I didn't know. I noticed she kept trying to run over me in the driveway, so I went and did a training lesson with her. I did tell our friends that they need to stop that asap. They need to show her who is boss, and get her to back off. I showed them how to do that.



There is only one thing I am not sure of. What color is she? She is not bay. I wish my pictures turned out better. Her mane has black and brown in it, she seems dappled. She does have black legs. I was thinking some kind of dun color? I am not good with the dun, buckskin colors.



She seems a little underweight, but it could also be her age. If she isn't even 3 yet, than she has some time to fill out.



This picture makes her neck look like a pencil. It isn't that bad. She wasn't holding still for my OH, so it was really hard to get a picture. I will have to go over there another day to get some better pictures.



Overall I think she is a very nice horse. She has picked up some bad habits from her old owner, that need to be handled. I have offered my services to my friend to come put some rides on Grace and give lessons, if they want. I have already been emailing her a lot in the last couple days, giving them advice. I hope Grace works out for them. Her attitude and level head, makes it look like she will work out to be a good horse. I hope so. I am sure I will keep you updated on her, and hopefully I can get some better pictures of her color.