idonotneedaprojecthorse

I found a cute mare online today, Arab/Saddlebred cross, registered half arab, 15hh and three years old. I like her :)

I have been thinking about adding another horse to the herd, primairly to have another riding horse so I could go on trail rides with people (since Dancer is still a bit off from that!) A friend of mine is talking to me about taking her arab/quarter mare on a lease, which would be great since I have worked with the mare and really enjoy her.

But getting a project horse right now might be a good move, I have time ot work with one and it would be excellent to have a nice horse to sell in the spring (as long as I sell and don't just keep everyone because I love them) Plus I am really good at retraining and starting horses.

I think I will crunch the numbers and figure out basic costs before I commit, plus I should wait until Joe gets home or he will never leave me alone again.

Red Mare


Cute!



Cranky red mare.



Good weekend

It is hot again! yesterday was a scorcher but we still got tons done, got my corner posts set for the arena and a lot of pasture weed whipped.We had a lot to do since it rained everyday last week! But pasture maintenance got me thinking about boarding I have friend who have had nightmare experiences with boarding, on both ends. Horse people tend to be absolutely great or crazy avoid like the plague. As much as I love having my horses home, There are advantages both ways. Biggest thing is when you have limited time you often have to sacrifice ride time for care time.

I was lucky enough to board with some really awesome people before I got my own place, the first place I had Joy was a boarding and lesson barn, some of my friends had issues getting the barn owner to do extra feedings and such but it worked out fine for us since I was working off my board and spent a lot of there, Joy was happy in the big fields. The next place I took her to was a friend's farm and that worked out awesome, this friend has a really nice, small setup, with a great barn and safe pasture. I was super happy to leave Joy in the hands of such a knowledgeable and capable horse person, I felt totally comfortable with everything even when I was several states away, in West Virginia.

In other news I went trail riding with eventing friends Sunday, It was super fun! I really had a great time and Joy was a good girl despite some minor teleporting.We rode to the river, it was super high from all the rain we have been having and felt so nice after a hot sweaty ride. I love riding with eventers (at least these ones) since they can ride and we can do all the things I love such as gallop up hills, they don't yell at me if my horse spooks and don't randomly tale off without saying anything. Eventing friend brought me a present, Joy boots! so we are basically set for a show if I can scrounge a vest. Very exciting!

I should have done my outside stuff this morning, when it wasn't crazy hot. I swear my brain has fallen out I keep going to do something, forgetting what I am doing in the middle and wandering around. It is supposed to be up to 90 today, blergh.

I should go get Popsicles :)

River pic from last year :)

hothothot.

Wah it is hot, like 80 degrees and muggy, I know I was just whining about it being to freaking cold, but this warm in May seems excessive, I may have to start getting up early to ride (haha) Although today
I had to get up extra early because male offspring missed his bus, then later needed a pickup because he was dying of some mystery illness. I had to do lots of errands today so am feeling kinda burnout on doing stuff, still going to ride tonight though and need to get on it before Joe comes home.

Computers being screwy and not letting us access amazon or ebay without this weird phishing website that wants our credit info (and pin number!) to verify the account, not gonna happen. Unfortunately weird stuff seems to be happening with other sites like gmail as well, I'm considering performing a exorcism.

Babies are growing well, I ran out of goat's milk this morning and had to dilute it and they were not impressed. I think they took it personally. They will be ready for new homes after the 22nd, I will miss them but not miss having to feed them all the time. I can't believe how quickly they have grown or how sassy they are getting. I took teensy grey boy and two of the whites into town with me today to visit my friend Melissa (she is going to be taking home teensy grey boy) didn't take into account how hot it was and the poor things got to hot on the way over so I sprinkled them with water, they were not impressed but it helped cool them down a little, I love how mellow they are with people handling them though.

Had a really productive ride on Joy on Tuesday, good conditioning trail ride with lots of canter up hills and working on keeping connection at the walk. Also started some in hand work on Wednesday and then rode bareback, She took to the in hand stuff fairly quickly, it's not much different then regular leading just changing the angle and keeping her body alined with mine. She is quite fun to ride bareback, really working on transitions and relaxation, which I think is hard for both of us. I tried the exercise that the dressage lady from Eventing University gave us, the basic ten steps walk to ten steps trot and back again, Joy got kind of bored (and so did I) but it seems to be helping with the rush into trot whenever I shorten the reins thing. It works best if I add some circles and halts, Also got a couple really excellent trot rein backs (trot to halt then back a couple steps and into trot) Need to work on cantering bareback,she gets quick behind and I get tight and bouncy, no fun!

Big plan today is putting in my arena, got lots of t-posts and tape for it. Starting to doubt my ability to draw a straight line though, so might enlist Joe to help since I seem incapable of making things square. I am really excited to have a solid, dedicated riding space though. I plan on working Baby a little, maybe a small amount of free lunging and some ground stuff, she is almost one! and going to be huge (well huger then Joy, not that it is hard ) Also gotta figure out my chick order, if I am indeed going to have chickies.

Oh and little brown dog ate the checkbook, maybe she thinks I spend to much money.

In praise of difficult horses.
It is funny I own two Arabs since when I was a younger I said they were too hot, and too smart and I didn't want one of my own. The only Arabs I was working with were all in retraining and had major trust and behavioral issues due to past owner and training, they were like the other horses in for retraining except 1000 times more reactive, easily offended and neurotic, I eventually found I really like working with sensitive horses and have a real knack for it.

There are two main types of sensitive horses, the ones who are smart and the ones who are dumb and over reactive as a result. With the smart ones you have to set out each thing so they really understand and have some exercises to fall back on when they get reactive or overwhelmed, basically you do the same thing for the dumb ones but it is less fun(hah). In a perfect world I would have my own training facilities and get paid to put miles on greenies and retrain horses with issues, I enjoy many other aspects of horses but that is really where my heart is.

Riding a sensitive horse is a little different since everything you do matters and you have to manage them a bit more, really set them up to succeed. It makes you more of a compassionate and aware rider. Honestly riding sensitive greenies has been great practice for training any horse because they take the normal young horseness and multiply it. I also love riding green horses, I think it is a lot of fun, it is also a lot of work. You can be an excellent rider and not be good with greenies, since it is not just about equitation. I think some of the keys to being good with a green horse are you have to be very very very confident, willing to explain the same thing over and over until they get it and willing to work with the horse you have that day (and not what the can become) It takes time to develop the trust and understanding. Any horse can be trained to respond to light and subtle cues, but a sensitive horse can get there faster just by their nature.I love how light and balanced Joy and I can be,she is also a big tattletale since if my position is off she reflects that immediately, 

I bought Joy based on her athletic ability not her breed, when I saw what a nice balanced mover she is I was sold. I now have a desire to show people what a nice Arab can do, not just in the breed shows but competing in a real discipline with all different types of horse. In my opinion it is far more impressive to correctly train an average horse and bring it through the levels then buying some flashy thing that will look nice at shows and some judges will place high. In dressage(and training, since dressage means training) at the end of the day isn't it supposed to be about bettering the horse? .

Despite a killer headache and a mild fever I still managed to get a ride in today. We did the two mile loop in the park, Joy was excellent, quick off my leg and responsive. I am lucky to have such nice trails so close, they are nicely rolling hills for most of it and not too rocky so great for getting a horse in shape. She stays fit fairly easy though and takes a lot to make her sweat, generally only happens if she is nervous so she might make a good endurance horse. Today she was hot hot hot but in her normal "lets go!" way and not in a pissy "I hate everything especially you because I am not doing what I want" way.

Dear Clinic Organizers,
You said on the application that you would be posting the clinic schedule and ride times on April 14th, It is now April 14th and I have checked your website more times then I care to admit for fear of looking obsessive and unbalanced. Please post the ride times soon or I might cry and/or spend the rest of the day checking your website and feeling sad.
Love, The Only Slightly Obsessive Person Who Will Hopefully Enjoy Your Clinic.

Both boys are napping and the pressure cooker is going, so dinner before eight, which is better then yesterday. I love my pressure cooker! I can forget all about making dinner all day and then throw some random hunk of frozen meat in it, dump in a few veggies and dinner happens. So cool.