Pics of the Week

Gus's leg this week. Looking MUCH better, don't you think??!!
(My first picture of his leg on this post)

How do you make your cat stop trying to nurse on your dog...???

My 'Horse' History

I have been asked how I got into horses and how long I have been riding. Well here you go- the whole story from 2 years old until today.
Ever since I can remember I have loved horses. I have been told the story of the first time I rode a real horse many times but I don't actually remember it. I was at a friends birthday party, I was about 2, and they had pony rides. I got on one pony and when my turn was up I refused to get off. I held onto the saddle and cried for the man to let me stay on the pony. There were 2 ponies and only like 10 kids and since most kids had already had a turn he let me stay on. I aparently spent about 2 hours aboard that pony.
From there I bugged my mom and dad to take me riding. My mom got a morgan mare named Moondrift's Esprit. She boarded her at a stable in Fort Collins, CO and so I finally got to start taking lessons at about 3. I first started riding saddle seat. I showed in my first show at the age of 4 and I was upset because I wanted a pink ribbon and I got all blues. I asked my mom if I could trade with the girl that got the pink one and she told me that I could ask if I wanted to but that girl's mom wouldn't let her trade. At the time I didn't understand that the colors ment something.

I am on the right in the white shirt.

Anywhere we went I was on the looking out for horses and was constantly asking strangers (much to my parents dismay) if I could ride their horse. I figured if they were on a horse they couldn't be a bad guy. This is a picture of me at about 4 on a trail ride up in the mountians. It took my mom a while to convince the trail guide that I was fine to be on my own horse and not on with my dad.

By 5 I was showing regularly and was loving every minute of it. This is me on the horse that I showed called Cedar's Firelight. Just after I turned 6 I was offered the chance to show Firelight at the Morgan Grand Nationals. They had to custom make my saddle suit since I was so tiny. In the end it was still too big and they had to fold under and duct tape the sleeves to my arms so that I could hold the reins. Just after the Nationals my trainers got a divorce and the whole barn fell apart. Not too long after that we moved from in town to an 11 acre farm with an 8 stall barn and a huge outdoor arena. I got my pony Jasper and started riding hunt seat and learning to jump. My friend Sara boarded her horse at our house and so we rode together daily.

I am on the pony.After living in that house for about 4 years my parents decided to move us out to the midwest. When I got here I was heart broken because there were NO english or jumping classes at any shows. So the spring after we moved I got King (Skips Kings Champ). He was a 10 year old QH gelding that did western and trail rode. I quickly turned him into an all around horse and we did extremely well at all of the local circuts and county/state fairs. King put up with a lot considering I used him for 4-H and we played crazy games like cock-on-a-rock and had tandem bareback classes.

King is the second horse down. I have the purple helmet on. Brooke and I were trying to switch places.

I am in the white shirt.After a while of only having Jasper, King, and the donkey Ting my parents decided to buy 2 more horses for trail riding. We got Lady and Petals. Lady was a great horse. Smart and solid. My dad rode her a few times but then lost interest. So it was just my mom and I with 3 horses and a pony. So we decided to sell 1 horse and sadly we chose Lady because I was starting to train on and show Petals (who was a bit of a nut). This is Petals and I at a show.

Petals wasn't much fun to show because she was a bit of a nervous wreck. So I went back to showing King. After 1 show season where I did not place lower than 3rd in ANY class (halter, showmanship, trail, walk-trot, english pleaure, english equitation, hunter hack, western pleasure, and western horsemanship) my mom told me I needed to move on to a harder horse. So we sold Petals and bought Scottie (Scotch N Zip). He was a 5 year old breeding stock paint gelding that had a little western pleasure experience. Our first summer we did well but I was missing doing the all around stuff. So I started training on him to do english and jumping. He was a ROCKSTAR. I loved showing that horse. We showed in every class we were allowed in and did well in each. We even went to some hunter chooling shows and cleaned up.

I felt bad for King just hanging out in the pasture so I started giving lessons on him and taking him to shows to do lead line with T. They would not allow her to show him in 8 and under walk-trot because he was a 16 hh horse and not a pony, even though he was much better behaved than 95% of those ponies. Like the old school vests??

I showed Scottie until the summer before my senoir year in high school when I made the tough choice to sell him. I wanted to learn new things and although Scottie and I made a great team neither of us were learning anything anymore. Scottie when from here to his new family in Texas who promised never to sell him. They actually sold him less than a year later to someone in North Carolina. I lost track of him after that.

So I bought a 2 yr old Zips Chocolate Chip gelding called Chip Proof. He was at a major training barn in Texas and was constantly bucking everyone off so he had been sent to a sale so that the owners could just get rid of him. At the sale Chip and I just clicked and I made the barn manager that had brought him to the sale an offer. He accepted but still took Chip through the sale ring. He ended up selling for $2100 over the offer I had made and I was devistated. But the barn mamager no saled him, came out of the ring and told me that the horse was mine. Aparently he knew who the high bidder was and that trainer was well known for abusive training techniques. So I got him and took him up to a trainer about an hour north of me. We turned him out in a pasture with the yearlings for almost 2 months (after finding out that he had been in a stall since he turned 2, only coming out to work). No wonder he was bucking everyone off. Once he turned 3 we pulled him out of the pasture and started him all over again. I was driving up every day (it was my senior year and I had taken most of my senior classes as a junior, so I was getting out of school at 11:30 every day). By late that spring he was doing extremely well in walk-trot and could be ridden by anyone. I remember once being on him with S and A on with me (they were 7 at the time). Chip became know as the barn puppy dog and we often found S sleeping in his stall on top of him while he was laying down.
I spent that summer living with some of my favorite people ever. The barn owner, her husband and daughter as well as another girl about 4 years younger than me. We worked our butts off in exchange to be working with this trainer and for having her help us with our horses. We usually ended up working from about 7.30am until well after dark. We rode everything from unbroke 2 year olds to several world champions. We were at a show almost every weekend and in exchange for being grooms we didn't have to pay training fees. The plan had been to keep Chip for only about a year as I knew I would need to move on to university but it still broke my heart to sell him. He went on to be an all around horse in Chicago.

After I moved to IL to go to school I started on the equestrian team at my university. I didn't ride much my first year but did a few shows. I was placed in the novice division because I had never shown in Pony Club or something like that. My second year I had a car and became the Vice-President of our team. These are a few pictures from IHSA shows.

I am in the blue shirt.

This horse was calld Finn. He was 17.1 hh.This was my second IHSA show and I drew a pony called Nala.

I showed IHSA through university and then after graduation took on several training horses and gave lessons. I planned to move to Kansas City and so was out of riding for about 6 months and was miserable so I moved back to the farm and bought Titan. This brings us to present day. :)

I have been scolded.

I have gotten in trouble by those who know me about not blogging this week. I am sorry. I will catch you up on everything.

I picked up Boyfriend on Monday. So happy to see him! His plane was delayed by about an hour due to snow but he has finally arrived. We have been hanging out for most of the week. I worked on Wednesday and Thursday but other than that we have just been bumming about.

Chance is good. He is getting very good at sit and is getting better about lay down. He still thinks he is a lap dog and should be allowed on the couch and bed- we are working on that. His new best friend Mo (the kitten I kept) has been following him around all week since the other kittens left. Mo sleeps on the dog bed with Chance and Tess. He also 'hugs' the dogs as much as he can by putting his front legs around their necks and 'kissing' (aka licking) their faces and ears. I will try for a picture of that but for now you will have to settle for pictures of them taking a nap together. Mo also loves Tess but she doesn't seem to feel the same way about him and is constantly getting up and walking away from him when he tries to cuddle her. She really hates it when he goes up and tries to 'kiss' her- Chance loves it, any good attention is apparently readily accepted whether it is from a human or a cat.

Titan is good. We have about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and Titan and Gus are enjoying it more than the mud that we had before. Titan still seems like he is getting bigger everyday. I thought that maybe his growth would slow a bit in the winter (you know like how their hooves slow a bit) but I think he is going to continue to grow at this ridiculous rate until he is 3 or so... he is going to be a freakishly large giant but I love him dearly.

I am still working at the bookstore and I still love it. I got all of my Christmas shopping done today and I am THRILLED about that. I do NOT like shopping- especially with huge crowds and all that jazz. I am also still looking for a 2nd job but have not found one as of yet since I am over qualified for every position I apply for. However I can't apply for a higher position because I haven't taken my boards yet and I haven't taken my boards yet because I can't take the review class yet and I can't take the review class yet because it isn't offered until January. I should clean out the take room again- I always have stuff in there I can e-bay... I know I have 4 brand new stable blankets just sitting there...

Lovely day.

So this morning K and I really did nothing. I spoke to Boyfriend on the phone but besides that and doing chores we just sat and read. It was a lovely Sunday morning. Then at 2:00 K, C and I went for a trail ride out around the pond (I love this place more and more everyday). C rode Hayley, who was a doll, K rode Rocky, who was a bit of an ass, and I rode Midnight (now being called just Night), who was pretty good over all but we had some issues jogging instead of walking once we were headed back in the direction of the barn. I really wish I would remember to take my camera out with me as there would have been some fun pics. We saw several deer and the horses couldn't have cared less. C was a bit nervous on the bigger hills but Hayley took good care of her.
There is a chance of me getting in another training horse soon which would be good because Joe and Hayley won't be here much longer. She sounds like she would be fun. She is little- only about 14.2 and is 7 but only green broke. I'll see what comes of this and keep you posted. Oh- Her name is Missy.
K has just informed me that she wants to take a ride in the washing machine to try and figure out how bras get so tangled. It is a question I often wonder but never got to the point of wanting to watch the whole wash cycle to figure it out.
Titan was super today. His 'whoa' has gotten really good and he not only stops on the voice command but actually tucks his bum a bit and stops on his haunches rather than pegging his front legs into the ground. I don't know if that made sense. He has now had a saddle fully on and didn't give it a second thought and just went through his workout like nothing was different that any time before. This week when K and I go out trail riding I think I will saddle Titan and take him along. He has been out there before many times but I want him to be very used to the saddle by the time winter comes and causes a large pause in my training sessions with him. I am not looking forward to winter...

Busy Busy.

This week has been quite busy so I haven't been on Blogger much.
On Monday K and I took Hayley and Joe for a trail ride and they were both lovely. We even picked some apples from trees while on their backs to give them a little treat. I think Joe wants to run but knows he is too fat. Titan worked like a dream again. T came over and rode Midnight and worked with Gus then I taught her how to line drive Titan. I think she is looking forward to the day when she can start adding new things into Gus's training as right now it is mostly just ponying him and getting him used to everything.
Titan's breath is terrible. I keep sticking my fingers in his mouth to get the food that is caught on the wire but me doing that once or twice a day isn't doing much for cutting the bad breath. At least the wire come off soon! He struggles to eat apples unless I cut them but everything else is great and he seems to be healing quickly.
Hayley's soon to be new mom came and rode her Tuesday and has decided to buy her. I am glad that she will be someones fun trail horse rather than a baby machine. She is a good girl and tries to do what you want though still seems a bit confused most of the time.
Yesterday there wasn't much 'horse time' with work and going to my old high school's football game with K, C and E. Today the whole afternoon is with the horses so I better get out there!
I promise I really will take some new pictures soon!

Pain in the Neck

Seriously. I was driving to the airport on Wednesday and after getting frustrated with my horrible mapquest directions I chucked that page out the window. I know probably not the best idea but I was in the middle of nowhere and the directions were proceeding to get me more lost and I just had to. It made me feel better for a second until I remembered that my cell had no credit. So I had to pull over in a parking lot and do the little call in thing to add money to my phone. Then I called C and she got me 'unlost'. I finally got to the airport and pulled up in the front and then realized that K has no idea what my car looks like. So then I think 'OK I will just put my flashers on and run in really quickly' then I look up and see a sign that says UNATTENDED VEHICLES WILL BE TOWED. So that idea is out. So then I have to drive all the way back out of the airport to pull into the short term parking and I head inside. K is sitting waiting for me. As we head back out to the car I explain the whole story of why I was a bit late and she laughs. At least she was amused even if I was not.

Then on the drive home I turned my head and I insist that I broke my neck. Now considering that my head is still attached I don't actually think I did but it hurt pretty badly. So Thursday afternoon was spent at the chiropractors. He is a nice guy- he actually my sister's best friend's brother... the joy of small towns. So he adjusts my neck (something I hate having done) and manages to do it without me getting super tense and making things worse. So all in all that was a pretty good visit.

Joe and Hayley are settling in nicely. They have become fast friends. Hayley couldn't care less if Joe is around but Joe acts like he is missing a leg if she is taken away. He has been spending some time tied up alone to combat the 'Oh My God! I Can't Be Alone!' syndrome. Hayley is working wonderfully. She is an old pony horse for a racetrack before they decided to breed her (for 9 years straight). So she hasn't been ridden in 9 years and seems a bit confused as to why I want to ride her but she does try. We are working really hard on bending and being supple. She bends really well to the left and leg yields to the left but to the right- Nothing. She does not bend to the right she does not leg yield. It took me almost 20 minutes just to get her to bend her head around to the right. She is slowly understanding what I want and is attempting to do it but it is going to take a LONG time. She does have an awesome smooth trot and can settle into a little jog or extend out well. Yesterday we finally got the left lead (oh yeah- she would only pick up her right lead). I am excited to get out there and work with her everyday as she is becoming quite the fun project (apparently this is my Thunder replacement).

Joe is Joe. He is even fatter than Hayley and when I picked him up on Wednesday his mane and tail were SOLID in burrs and his body was completely covered in manure. After about an hour of grooming and a 1/3 bottle of baby oil he is looking much better. I am struggling because I am only supposed to have him for about a month but I don't want to take him back there. He is severely over fed (which is better than underfed but still unhealthy) he hadn't been trimmed since I had him last fall (his owners insist that his feet just break off naturally) he probably hadn't been groomed since I had him last fall and I know for a fact that he hasn't been ridden. We are taking it slow to get him back into shape. He (along with Hayley) is on a strict diet. He gets some form of exercise everyday, though he doesn't get worked for long at all because he is so overweight. It is sad to see a horse that I had in such great condition and that was working SO well just dumped out in the pasture. Maybe I will see if they just want to let me keep him...

Long Line Lesson and Fat Ponies

Yesterday Titan had his first lesson on long lines. He was a bit nervous but good for the most part. He actually went over backwards once which was the scariest thing ever. He was standing and when I asked him to walk he broke into a trot. I very clearly said WALK again and lightly touched the reins. I think it must have startled him a bit as he proceeded to sit down and go over on his back. He actually seemed more surprised than me when it happened. He just rolled to his side and lay there staring at me like 'What just happened??' with the why mama head tilt. I let him just lay for a minute and then asked him to get up. He did and just kept giving me that look. I didn't want to end the lesson on a bad note of course so again I asked him to walk off. He walked off, turned and stopped like a pro. Maybe the tumble knocked some sense into him...
I really want to get out there and give it another go today but it is raining. Blah.

I actually got a new training horse in yesterday as well. It is a horse that J's mom (M) is looking to buy for herself. I had her old horse for about a total of 4 months and it took me that long to convince M to sell her. They had bought her because she was a pretty tri-color paint. She was pretty don't get me wrong but all that prettiness didn't come with much for brains. When they got her home she flipped over backwards on M twice. Then she was brought to me. I got her to the point where she was rideable and could walk/trot/canter both ways and I spur trained her. She was good in the ring and M was even getting along with her well. So after having her for about a month (so 4 lessons with M, as every training horse I have the owners get 1 lesson per week included in the training fees) M decided to take her home because she really couldn't afford to keep her in training forever. After about 2 months I was talking to M and asked her how Rain was doing and her response was that she hadn't gotten the chance to ride her. So after another few weeks Rain ended up back with me and was back to all of her old tricks. This cycle kept happening and eventually when Rain was back with her owners she went over backwards and actually hurt M (it had amazed me that she hadn't been hurt before). After getting her back the first time I started trying to convince M that this was not the right horse for them. She was OK if worked everyday by someone that really knew what they were doing but she was not the kind of horse they could just ride on the weekends for fun. Once I finally convinced her to sell Rain as an advanced adult only horse (we picked very carefully where she went) we started looking for a new horse for her. This is where Hayley comes in. She is a 15.1h 17 yr old well broke broodmare. She has not been ridden in several years and has had a foal every year for the last 9 years. Personally I think she is THRILLED to not be pregnant again. M has ridden her but wants me to try her out for a month. That way M can get some lessons in on her as well. Hayley has an extremely level head and doesn't spook at anything (even when J's 5 yr old brother, K, came flying around the corner of the barn with a garbage bag cape flapping). She is EXTREMELY overweight. So she is now on a strict diet and we will slowly start working her back into shape. And I mean SLOWLY- she jogged around the arena for about 3 minutes when she got here checking everything out and was breathing hard. She is in dire need of a trim and I have a call into the farrier for her and a horse that is coming in tomorrow called Joe.

I am really looking forward to having Joe back. I had him for the summer of 2007 out in NY with me and he is a big puppy dog. He is a cute little paint gelding whose owners just don't spend any time with him. He was apparently a high level HUS horse when they bought him but then they decided to barrel race him and now he can't do HUS to save his life. He is an awesome little games horse and great for just hacking around. He is quite overweight as well as they don't work him at all but basically give him all the feed he wants. It took me an entire spring/summer to get him to a decent weight last time and it took them about 4 weeks to make him fat again.

Oh Lordy- Are you serious man??

So today was a pretty good day.

I ran some errands this morning (post office, bank, etc). Then came home and had some lunch. Remember the people that originally had Thunder? They called and told me that they had 100 bales of nice grass hay that they needed to get rid of. I asked what they paid for it. $4.00 per bale (so in my head I am thinking ok so it isn't going to be fantastic hay but should be decent). So I ask what they are asking, $2.50 per bale. Ok- reasonable. I ask if it has ever been wet- no. I ask what cutting- 3rd. So I offer them $1.50 per bale and they agree. Yeah! Decent grass hay for super cheap just because someone got transferred to Germany. So I tell them I will be over in about 20 minutes to check it out (I am not crazy enough to trust these people to know what nice hay is).

So I get there and chat to the dad for a bit about his transfer and such then we go to take a look at the hay. When we walked into the barn I honestly did not know it was right in front of my face. I don't know what I thought it was but I wasn't thinking- Yummy Looking Hay! So after I pull a few bales down to check them out I realize that there can't be more than 40 bales- Ok so the guy can't count. It honestly looked like straw. Not only was it completely colorless but it was stemmy as hell! Even when I cut a bale open- no green, ALL YELLOW. There were even corn stalks in it. It did not smell like hay at all. It smelled like yuckiness. I continued to climb around and look as I thought that maybe my neighbor who has cows would want it. As I am climbing I stick my hand in something wet and sticky. It is MOLD. SOPPING WET MOLD. It was SO gross.

So I climb down and tell the guy that I am sorry but I don't want it and that I am pretty sure no one will want it. Not only is it very poor quality but it is MOLDY. I prefer my horses alive thanks.

He goes on to tell me that it is what he fed his horses all winter last year. Oh lordy- Are you serious man? We chat for a bit longer and then I head on my way. Strange that on the phone he failed to mention that it was LAST years 3rd cutting and was being stored in a barn with a big hole in the roof so it had been getting wet for a YEAR. Ick. No. Titan likes his green, soft, nice smelling, non-stemmy, corn stalkless, NON-MOLDY hay.

So I came back home and washed off the nasty moldy hay smell.

J had a great lesson today. I had her ride Rocky as she needs to be used to different horses and since Midnight is for sale and will be gone soon I thought we should work on detaching her from him. She was bummed at first but we did lunge line work and she seemed to enjoy it. I am really enjoying seeing her progress. A few weeks ago she could barely trot (except to bounce around on Sparkle) and now she is posting trot with her arms out to the sides. I think the different mount is making all the difference. Maybe I will take her out on a hack with Sparkle tomorrow as I know she is missing that pony. Her parents decided to keep her pony Sparkle here for her to take lessons on but J has gotten to the point where she just can't advance any further on Sparkle. We spend most of our Sparkle lessons just getting her into a trot (stubborn Shetland and J's short legs don't mix well). She was a great little pony to start on and has built J's confidence but it is time for her to move on. I spoke to J's mom about this and she agreed. Sparkle will be going to J's little brother and we are on the hunt for a new mount for J. Until then J is going to be riding Midnight or Rocky for her lessons and her little brother has started having mini lessons on Sparkle.

Mama has a vet appointment tomorrow and so we will see what happens. I will keep you posted on that!

This is little miss Sparkle. She is old but she is a good girl.

Broken hearted dog.

So today was a good day. Though my computer is annoying me because as I attempt to type this a security center warning continues to pop up every 30 seconds or so.

Anyway I judged the 4-H fun show and enjoyed that. It is fun to judge and teach/give pointers at the same time. I actually may have gotten 2 new training horses and 3 new lesson kids out of it as well! All in all that went well.

Titan was yet again amazing. We worked on ground tying and he was lovely. He listens very well to voice commands and I would stop him, tell him to whoa and then continue to walk without him. He was very concerned at first and would take about a half step forward. I would again say whoa and he would move that one foot back into it's original position. He does this funny head tilt thing (I will try for a picture) when he is confused almost like he is asking 'Why do you want me to do that?' and I got a lot of that today. However by the end of our session he would halt and stay put (without trying to graze) with me wandering around the arena for about 2 minutes. Which is like years in baby time I think. Actually not following me like a puppy was hard for him I think. I was quite proud of him. This exercise also reinforced his vocal commands for whoa and no, as every time he attempted to graze I just shortly said No and then I would get the 'Why Mama?' head tilt but he would bring his head back up. After that we did a short longe line session working on our trot/walk transitions. He did fine but continues to cut in towards me a bit when going to the right but never the left, we are working on that and it is getting better but if you have any suggestions feel free to comment!

Haven't talked to Boyfriend since Wednesday. He is currently working two jobs to save up to move over here to finish school and is working about 50-60 hours a week. Then top that off with the 6 hour time difference when he is off work then either he is sleeping or I am sleeping or working. I think I am going to just have him call when I am asleep and I will wake up for it because I am really missing him! Oh yes! His plane ticket is booked and he will arrive Dec. 1st!

Also my friend from Australia will be here in just over 2 weeks! I can't wait to see her. She worked with me at the summer camp I taught at out in NY and I haven't seen her in just over a year though we talk often. She doesn't know this yet but we are going to be teaching a clinic together for the 4-H club while she is here (this was just decided today). One of my lesson girls was asking me if they even have horses in Australia. Kids are so cute.

Fun days. Oh yes I wanted to ask-

My brittany spaniel, Tess, is a mess still over losing her buddy Tucker a week ago. She panics whenever I go to the car thinking I am going to disappear and has been running errands with me all week just because I feel bad leaving her at home with just the cats and horses. She whines at the door and runs outside to his spot under one of the trees in the front yard (this is actually where he died). Then whines and runs back to the door. She will do this for hours straight. This is the first time she has even been an 'only dog' as Tucker was 5 when we got her. He and she were always together and I just don't think she knows what to do with herself! I feel so terrible because she seems so upset and I can't even explain to her what happened ! Any suggestions to help with a heart broken dog?

Tess the now Lone Ranger.

Below are the original 3 Musketeers

Bailey, Tess and Tucker

Oops!

I got so busy with my rant I forgot to tell you the good things!

Titan was AMAZING today. He is feeling much better and is back in my pocket every time I go into the pasture. He is even back to running about as normal.

Today we worked on clippers. We have been working with them on and off for a while now. I want to go slow so that he doesn't end up as a horse that has to be twitched!! So I always untie him and hold the lead in one hand while holding the clippers in the other. Anyway, until today we had only gotten to the point of me holding the clippers against his side, shoulder, neck, cheek and legs for him to get used to the vibrations and the noise (we had started with him sniffing the non-running clippers). I always push him a little beyond his comfort zone without scaring him. Today we worked up his neck and got to the point where I could hold it on his poll without him even blinking. So I went ahead and trimmed up his bridle path. He was a little concerned about the change in the noise as it actually cut the hair but he didn't move just kind of looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

I love that boy!!

Tomorrow I think we will do a little refresher on ground work. We do the basics everyday but we haven't actually done a proper ground session on about 2 weeks!


This picture is a little strange. I like it because his face is the only thing that is really clear. I guess it does make him look a little funny but since he is a baby and growing he often looks a little funny!

Gus-Gus

I almost forgot to write about Gus!

Gus is a new boarder horse. He is only 6 months old and is a doll. He is a reg. breeding stock paint. His registered name is Nota Lota Fancy. He is a sweet little guy and Titan is loving having a new pasture buddy. They move around the pasture together. Even if one goes to get a drink of water the other follows along and dips his chin into the waterer at the same time. Though I think that Gus is a bit more atached to Titan than the other way around. If I take Titan out of the pasture then Gus whines at the gate, where if I take Gus out Titan nickers at him as we leave then just goes back to munching.

Horse for Boyfriend

Oh yes- I almost forgot. Boyfriend and I talked today (first time since Friday of last week!) and he wants a horse. I am excited that he wants to get into riding more. Last spring it took me a while to convince him to get on a horse (then the same day it took me a while to convince him to get off). I am thinking maybe a horse that he can ride while he is here but that would also be a good lesson horse so that it has a job when he is back home in England.

This picture is by me... along with many other things I like to experiment with the camera (Though I do feel it would be offensive to proper photographers to call myself something to that effect...)

Horse Surgery- Messy Business

I forgot to post last night about Titan's surgery. It went very well and hopefully we have managed to save the 2 front teeth (though we had to pull one). Also the damage to his jaw was not as bad as originally thought- though the vet still had to drill into my baby's jaw and wire it together. The wire should be able to come out in a month or so and then it is just a waiting game. We won't know until he is about 5 if his adult teeth will come in correctly or not. So we may have to do some more 'fixing' somewhere down the line. But at least for now he is comfortable and eating well.
PS If you ever help with oral surgery on a horse- wear clothes you don't mind getting bloody.

Titan

This is my baby Titan. He is an APHA yearling gelding. He is the sweetest thing in the world and will do anything to please me. He is so much fun to work with and it is often times the bext part of my day. Well this morning I went out to do chores and when I walked up to pet him I held my hand out. He always checks my hand and then my pockets for treats. Today, however, when his lips touched my hand he jumped back like I had burnt him. Once I convinced him to let me take a look at his mouth (he struggled with wanting to do what he was told and instinct telling him to run from the pain). I lifted his lip and saw what used to be his cute baby teeth turned into a bloody mangled mess. I called the vet right away and he came out and took a look at Titan. Titan must have gotten his front teeth stuck in the chain that holds the gate closed and then jerked back and done a lot of damage. He ripped one tooth out completely and the others are all severely out of place. he had a gaping hole in one side of his mouth and has possibly cracked his jaw. He has surgery tomorrow but for right now he is resting in his stall. I feel so horrible for him. I know he is in pain yet when he sees me walking to his stall he nickers to me and puts his ears up. My poor boy.

Makes Sense

So my whole life (or a least as long as I can remember) I have ridden and loved horses. I have competed and trained, trail ridden and jumped. I have done saddle seat and western, 3 day eventing and AQHA. If anything is wrong in my life I get on the back of a horse and is dissappears. Horses just make sense to me.