Maybe I am mortal.

So you know the feeling when you are in high school or even college/university and you just know that nothing can touch you? That feeling of immortality, you know logically you have just as much of a chance as anyone else of falling ill or getting in an accident but for some reason you never think it will happen to you.

My immortality is wearing off. I went in and met with my insurance agent today and we discussed life insurance policies. Also I discovered a new wonderful little blog called A Process of Learning about 2 days ago and have been thinking ever since. I will let you read Ashley and Ella's story because I couldn't write it better than she does but I just wanted to throw out there that sometimes reading someone else's blog really gets me thinking.

If something were to happen to me tomorrow what would happen to my horses? I know that Fiance, my sister and my brother would take care of everything to the best of their abilities but none of them are horse savvy. I have been thinking and thinking about what I would want to happen and it is very difficult because I would definitely want my ponies to stay in their home but I know T and her family can not afford to suddenly have 5 more horses to feed. So in the past 2 days while grooming and cleaning stalls and other horsey tasks that are perfect for thinking I have come up with a plan for each horse.

Titan. Now you all know that as much as I love the others Titan is a piece of my heart and I can't imagine him ever not being with me but knowing that may not always be a possibility forced me to think. If something were to happen to me Titan would be headed to Canada. Now all you crazies that think I am sending my baby to slaughter of course I am not. Titan would be headed to Newfoundland to be with Leila. Leila and I worked together in NY when we were camp counselors and riding instructors. She is an amazing person and a great rider. She would bring him along and train him right. She is soft and kind and I know I could trust her to always do what is right for him.

Margo. Margaret has only been here a short time but she is already a lifer. She would be going to Indiana (or where ever Ada happened to be living). Ada is my best friend from IWU. She would have so much fun with Margaret and would learn loads with her as well. I have no doubt in my mind that Ada would care for Margo the same way that I would and love her just as much.

As for the others it will be up to T to know what I would want to happen with them. She and I talk every day about the horses and about my plans for each of them. She would know how to go about selling them and the money would be split to help Margo and Titan's new owners get started. With horses coming and going as I try to better each of their place in life there may be horses here that I haven't mentioned but T would be in charge of figuring that out. At the moment Mace would stay with T, Tiki would go to C and Love would be sold. All of Titan's equipment and my English tack should go with him to Canada and Margo's equipment and my western tack should go with her.

Do your families know what to do with your horses if something should happen?

Some Happier Updates.

Mace is a good little boy. He can lead without mama around, picks up all four feet and holds them for you to pick them out, will stand to be groomed. He is a cool little guy. He is changing color to a VERY dark chestnut color. Not sure if he will stay that color? He looks a little scuzzy now because the patches that have shed out and are dark make him look like he has bruises or something all over his body. I will try for some pictures tomorrow so you can see what I mean. T is really falling in love with him and I am feeling a little guilty that I will be selling him. I really like him but don't have the resources to have a gazillion horses of my own right now. Once I win the lotto that will change and I will build my dream barn and rescue career broodies and give them a real job rather than a baby incubator but for now I will have to find him a new home sometime this summer.
Titan is fabulous. I have been riding him bareback almost every day (for my benefit more than his). I can now go two rounds posting bareback without stopping (proper posting where my a** gets up off his back, not the silly stuff some people do when they have to post with no stirrups and they just bounce about). I can only make it one round in 2 point (my legs aren't that strong yet). It is better than when I started and could barely do 1/2 a round posting! He is getting more confident and more consistent at the trot and we could probably go out and show in walk-trot and clean up right now but I don't have the 'horse show itch' just yet. Not with him anyway. I am having too much fun training on him.
Love is great. We walk and trot now. Still no canter. She has a super smooth little jog that is very natural and also has a very natural low headset. I wish I could find her an advanced 4-Her that wanted a project for the summer. She would be perfect for that since she is so freaking sweet. She can make nice round circles and pays attention for the most part. We are still keeping our rides very short because I don't want to lose her attention and don't want her to stop enjoying her work.
Tiki is still pregnant and I suspect she will go late. She is due beginning to mid May but I have a feeling she will hang on until the end of May or even into June. I have stopped riding her since she is getting uncomfortably big. She has a new pasture pal. After Margo was attacked I wanted her out alone with Mace so that she didn't have to worry about him so much so Tiki and Rocky got turned out in the arena for a while to test them out. I didn't think Tiki would take any of Rocky's crap and sure enough she set herself up as the alpha mare right off the bat. So long a**hat Rocky. Since they have been out together his manners have been better (read: he isn't a rude jerk anymore). He would still pick on the youngers but for now I am happy to have someone in with him so he isn't all alone.
Gus is doing well. I have T working with him on ground driving with him now as I don't think he is physically mature enough to have someone on his back consistently. She has been on him once for about 5 minutes but we have decided it is in his best interest to pull back a bit for now.

Ride Goals.

I set goals every time I get on any of my horses. If I don't set a goal, even if we had a good ride, I don't feel like we accomplished much. I even set goals for out on the trail ride. I never really say them out loud but having them in my head helps drive the ride forward to a productive place where the horse and/or myself are learning something. If I get on and the horse isn't where we left of for whatever reason the the goals change but generally it works out really well.
Today I only worked from 5:45-10 and it was BEAUTIFUL outside so I got everyone worked and was able to spend time fussing over everyone.
Margo and Mace were first. I lunged her (and of course Mace too since he is part of the Margo package). My goal for Mace was to teach him not to run up at the lunge line. The other day when I lunged her he kept charging the line and even tried to jump it once. Luckily Margo's whoa is fabulous so I just dropped the line and said whoa and a possibly major accident was avoided. I didn't want to stop working her because he was there but more important was him not getting hurt. So today I decided to use a different line. It is a fat round purple one rather than the flat navy one that I normally use. I thought it would be more visible to him and it is much heavier so if he did try something stupid again it would drop to the ground if I let go. The navy one fell to the ground but when it landed it had loops sticking up that could get a leg. Every time he would try and charge it I would very firmly tell him no and wiggle the line. That seemed to get his attention and he very quickly got the picture. Mace goal: accomplished.
With Margo I wanted to get her responding to my voice better for gaits and also learn to walk on the lunge. She likes to go straight out at a trot and then trot and canter the whole time. Her whoa, like I said before, is great so I decided to work on transitions both up and down. She was getting much better at the end and even managed to walk long enough to cool herself out. Margo goal: accomplished.
Tiki and I desperately needed to work on her reaction to my legs. So my goal for her was to become more responsive to my cues rather than just reacting. To me reacting is an automatic response to my cues where as if she is truly responding then she has to think about what I want her to do. So today we worked on leg cues. She is very sensitive to my legs but every time my leg is on her side she thinks it is go faster unless I have pressure on the bit. Today we worked at the walk on lessening the pressure on the bit and increasing me asking her to move her body around. She was getting it but I think it is definitely something that we need to work on over more time. Tiki goal: in progress but better.
Titan and I had a ground lesson today. I have noticed in the pasture lately that he is much more pushy and I wanted to remind him who is boss. So my goal for him today was to get back to we were last fall with him reading my body language and listening to my voice commands. He did get in trouble a few times for trying to just walk over me but in the end we are almost back to where we were last fall. I am sure he will need many more refreshers in his life but for today he accomplished my goal for him.
With Love I worked on moving forward consistently. She prefers to stand still when I am sitting on her back. So we worked on walking with my voice and a little leg pressure rather than having to bump her sides with my legs. She did well but it took a while to warm up and since she is only 2 I only ride her for about 15 minutes at a time. By the time the little light was turning on in her head it was time to get off.
How about you guys? Are you like me with goals for every ride? Or do you just go by the seat of your pants so to speak and let the horse tell you what they need to work on that day?

Please excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin.

I am totally in love with this horse. I have been working with her the past week but all just grooming and such like that. Today I took her out in the arena and lunged her *drool*. She is almost freaky her legs are so good. She carries herself really well even on the lunge line. This is all in slushy snow as well! I can't imagine how awesome she is going to feel once I am on her back! She is also such a sweet mare, lets me do pretty much whatever I want with her or Maynard (also known as Mace now because sometimes Maynard is just too long). Margaret's nickname is Margo. Maynard's legs are pretty freaky cool as well *drool again*. Naturally really slow legged and has really nice flat knees and some crazy deep hocks. HOW did I get such cool horses at such an amazing price?!?! Also Chance still thinks he is part of their little horse family.
In other fun horse news...
Love had her 3rd ride today. T rode her around at the walk working on bending, turning and actually moving forward. It seems like there are 2 kinds of horses when you first get on their backs, those that don't want to move and those that want to toss you. Fortunately I have been lucky enough that most of the horses I have trained have been 'those that don't want to move' when they are first started. I would rather teach a horse to go forward that to teach a horse to stand still. I also think this may have something to do with all of the time and energy I put into them before I actually get on. I apologize that is isn't a very good picture of Love but it gives you an idea of how different she looks from when she first got here! Fatter and MUCH harrier!!
Gus had his first ride ever. He was great. As you know he is T's horse that I am helping her bring along. He is very mellow and also fell into the category of not really wanting to move when she first got on. After mounting and dismounting a few times I told her to stay on and ask him to turn his head both directions. Then after a bit of that we walked around a little. I say we because although I think Gus is mellow enough for her to handle horses are still unpredictable and so I had the lead on him for her first ride. She wants to do everything herself so with my guidance and support she is training him.
C had her first ride on Tiki today. She spent a while grooming and getting to know her and then just rode on the lunge line at the walk. I am really proud of C because I know she was a bit nervous but she did really well. I don't know if I told you anything about C's horse background? She rode when we were in middle school but never had a horse of her own. The horse that she used for 4-H died (either when we were still in middle school or in the beginning of high school) and she never really found a new mount that she was as confident on. She loved King and Hayley and she got along well with Reno (one of the horses I trained last summer) but she really needs a horse that is here consistently that she can learn on a build her confidence on. Tiki will also be used for her daughter to get rides on. I told her that she is going to learn to ride English this summer and she seemed semi excited/apprehensive. I don't think she likes hunt saddles.
Titan wasn't left out! We went for a ride out on the road and he was ok but a little spooky. On the way back he was much too forward and refused to pay attention to my legs or seat. So we worked when we got back. We worked out in the arena on using his body at the trot and listening to my legs when I am asking him to move his body around. It wasn't a long work but since he hasn't done much since November (give or take) he was puffing. As you can imagine is it hard to move how your rider wants you when the arena is still snowy. As much as I am looking forward to spring I am also dreading not being able to use the arena. Right now we are kind of in between the ground is no longer frozen and there is no ice but there is only one small spot of mud as it is all about 3-4 inches of snow (a few places as deep as a foot). In the next few weeks as everything thaws out there will be lots more mud and less working horses in the arena. Which usually means more trail riding but I am really itching to get back to work in the arena with all of the horses! Luckily I am on the top of a hill and am usually one of the first farms in the area to dry out!

What a day!

Today was great!
I'll start with the pictures in the last post. The pictures of Chance and Mo I just thought were cute. Then there are pictures of when I got Margaret and Maynard home yesterday. They settled in well. I spent a little over an hour just fussing over Margaret. She needed to be groomed SO badly and she loved it! I fed her and then grabbed brushes and went to town. She was so dirty. She is shedding a lot already and since it is only about 28 outside I blanketed her. I don't want her hair going back in just in time for it to get warm (which it is supposed to starting this week!!). I also haltered and unhaltered Maynard about 10 times and started working on handling his legs (he isn't a fan). He is starting to like to be scratched on the neck so he really struggles with whether he should let me catch him or not. Then today I got up and went out and fed everyone. After they were done Margaret and Maynard went out in the arena and Tiki went out with Titan, Love and Gus. I hung out with them for a while and debated taking his halter off but in the end I left it on since I was going to be out there the whole time anyway. Chance has decided that Maynard is his new best friend. Margaret won't let Tess go into the arena with them but she let Chance hang out with them the whole day.Chance and Maynard became fast friends and were playing most of the day. Except when Maynard or Chance needed a nap. I wonder if they each realize that the other isn't also a horse or dog. Titan and I went for a trail ride and we got stuck in a snow drift. It was totally my fault and I am super lucky that Titan is so mellow. There is one section of the trail that dips and then goes up a hill. We were going along and I completely forgot about the dip. The snow really piles up there and we walked straight into it. Titan is game for anything so he plowed on through until he couldn't move. Then my brain kicked into gear as he somewhat tipped over. He just kind of lay sideways into the snow (that at this point was touching my stirrups). I climbed off onto the snow and pulled his reins over his head. He had to think about it for a minute and then he decided that yes he would get up and get himself unstuck. After we got out of that self made mess we headed back to the barn and rode around in the yard.
Love had her first ride today! Normally I would put this in the 'her' blog but I have decided that I don't have the time or energy for 2 blogs so hers will be smushed back into this one. I mounted and unmounted for a while and we practiced bending and giving to the rein. Then we walked around a little bit and she was so good! Never offered to buck or run off. Since she was so good I put her away after that. I wish there was more time in the day and that I never had to go to work. That would be nice.

On a good note.

I totally forgot with my rant on Vickey's totally irresponsible old owner about my lovely ride with Titan yesterday.
I have been dying to get in the saddle for the past few weeks but with the amount of snow/rain we have gotten it just wasn't possible. We kept getting snow then rain then snow then rain. So everything is in layers of ice and snow.
I couldn't take being on the ground any more so I decided to take Titan out in the woods for a little trail ride. We stayed off to the side of the normal path where the grass was long when it first snowed so I knew he had some traction. He was SO happy to be out! I actually can't remember if I have ever trail ridden him alone but he was a perfect gentleman. We got up into on of the fields and since it is on the top of a hill there wasn't much snow. We did some trot work but didn't canter since the ground is frozen.
After leaving the field we made the trek down into the woods and around the pond. We scared up LOADS of deer. Probably close to 50 in total (Chance was along and helped scared up the deer, much to my dismay) but Titan didn't bat an eye, was actually much more interested in following the deer that were running around him than shying away from them.
He was happy, responsive, quiet and we had a good ride. So the weekend wasn't a total loss at all.

Oh Mylanta! UPDATES!

I have been gone for a while!! Not actually gone but gone from Blogger for one reason or another. I am really going to attempt to get bakc on track this spring and summer with writing as I loved reading everyone elses blogs and getting all of your feedback!!

Quick update on all the horses:

Titan- He is still mama's favorite and totally knows it. He has been doing really well under saddle (at least until I had to take the last 2 months off due to the weather!

Gus- T still has him and is really excited to start working with him this spring. Though it is looking like he isn't going to get very big and since T is already close to 6' she may have to fine something else in the future.

Rocky- He is still a big jerk and is in a dry lot alone 24/7. He is next to the other horses but I am trying to avoid him bloodying up anyone else!

Lexy- Back up at her owners for the winter but is coming back this spring. Is doing REALLY well and is going to be an awesome little show mare for them.

Missy- Sold in August at a sale for $171. Broke my heart to see such a talented mare go to auction. But the lady that bought her seemed really excited to start working with her. I asked her to keep in touch with me but haven't heard anything.

Reno and Stacey- Both sold to the same lady in AZ. She is totally loving both of them. She also bought another horse I trained called Daisy and she can't decide which of the 3 she loves more.

Blue- Sold to a college guy in TN. Seemed to be the perfect match. I even checked refrences and everything but he turned around and sold Blue for about double what he paid for him about 2 months later. That was a huge bummer as well.

Biscuit- Still owned by the same people and they plan to bring him back in the spring I believe. He is an awesome little pony for me and my more advanced lesson kids but is too much pony for J. He is constantly taking advantage of her. I truly think that they should sell him and his brother (just a year younger) and buy J something that she can really learn on and not be afraid of. But who listens to thair trainer/instructor? I don't know anything I guess.

I don't think I forgot anyone...?

Oh LOVE!

My new girl! I rescued her at an auction. She is such a sweet girl. She has a registration application that came with her (she is out of Shes My Pick by Rock Four). She is a cute little bay and is the most level headed 2 yr old I have ever met. Nothing seems to rattle her. Now that I have said that I am sure to be dumped from her many times this summer. I started another blog just about my training her "Adventures with Love"

More Pictures

T and Blue

Huge thunderstorm from a few weeks ago

K and Missy

New girl Lexy

A's horse Buddy with Hayley and Biscuit

Titan and Gus- little bit of a size difference :)

Missy

Brick Wall

Today has been frustrating so far.
I feel like Titan and I have hit a wall and with my knee I really can't push him very hard. I don't want him to learn to get away with things but I am fairly one sided with pretty much no right knee. I REALLY want lessons again but am struggling to find someone that is at a higher level than me in the area. It seems that every one that offers lessons around here has pretty much the same experience as I do or in some cases less. I will keep up my search because I feel like I am not really learning anything right now and I don't want my current level to be where I am at forever. I am constantly looking for ways to become a more well rounded and better rider. Any ideas if I can't find any instructors/trainers around here?

Pony update!

Ok so there has been a load of changes in the horse pasture during the 2 months I have been 'internetless'.


Titan is as lovely as ever. I am riding him. For those about to freak out that I am riding a 2 year old we are just walking. We work on stops, turns, moving away from pressure, etc. I plan on taking it very slow with him as there is no point in rushing a baby. We don't do very long rides- about 30 minutes 3 times a week. He is a bit of a giant as he is already 15.2 (at the withers and is still a bit hip high) and that was about a month and a half ago that I measured him so he may have grown a bit more since then. He is an absolute joy to work with I completely love him and I don't know if I will ever be able to sell him like I originally planned to do. He still does the 'why mama' head tilt and I haven't managed to get of a picture of it to date.


Blue now belongs to T. The more I worked with him the more she fell in love with him and so they bought him from me a few weeks ago. He is going to continue training with me until sometime this summer. He is doing very well. He has an awesome floaty, flat kneed trot and extends like I have never seen. His canter needs some collection work but he is now picking up his leads correctly 90% of the time and without cowkicking! We have had him over some low jumps and he really seems to enjoy that and it keeps his attention quite well. He is still a bit pushy on the ground (generally just trying to itch his face on you but he is huge and so that is not ok). T is looking forward to taking him to the open shows in our area this summer and eventually seeing how much talent he has over fences.



Biscuit is doing great! He lunges and we walk/trot with no problems. His ground manners are pretty fabulous most of the time. He gets a bit frustrated with me at times I think but I get annoyed with him as well just because he is a stuborn pony. He is actually quite a cute little guy. His owners are looking forward to this summer when I have a girl coming out from NJ to train with me. She is 16 and I will refer to her as KP from here on out. Once I get Biscuit settled at the canter then he really just needs a lot of time in the saddle but their daughter is not strong enough or advanced enough to put that time on him. So owners have asked if I thought KP would be willing to ride him for them for the summer to earn a little extra cash. Will be a bit cheaper for them than my training fee and will give KP a project to work with a bit while she is here as well.



More on the rest tomorrow.... I need to go to bed.

Pony Eyes....

So I have this weird thing for taking pictures of horses eyes. I just think they are so expressive and interesting so today I hung out in the pasture and took pictures of Titan and SeaBiscut's eyes. Some of the shots actually turned out really cool. Also I really liked this shot of Titan's ears- he was watching Chance try to play with Blue. The first two eyes are Titan and the 3rd is Biscut.

Pony update!!

So I haven't actually posted anything about the horses in a while! This blog should be called Polka Dot Chance or Polka Dot Crazy Cat Mo.... who by the way has started trying to nurse on Tess, who is not impressed- anyone know how I can nix that??
Anyway the horses are all doing well. Titan is growing like a weed! I swear he gets bigger every day. Gus is doing much better as you can tell from the recent picture of his leg. Rocky is still fat and still has to be kept seperate from everyone else because he is a big jerk. Though him and I went out on a trail ride the other day and had a good gallop which we were both dying for. Boyfriend also took him out for a ride and said that Rocky was a good boy.
Then the newest addition is a little paint pony called Seabiscut. He is a cutie and is actually a very quick learner. When he got here he struggled to lead and now he takes cue from my shoulder and is moving away from pressure very well. I will post more on him later.
On Sunday I am going to check out a prospective called Blue. He is a 17 hh, blue roan, appy gelding. He is 5 and has some training issues but seems like he would be a really cool project for me. I have to run but more on him later tonight as well...

Some Nice Shots

Last fall some family came to help me with redoing my bedroom and my aunt took some pictures of Titan and I. I had had him for almost a year and didn't have a single picture with the 2 of us. So here you go! (He is only about 16 months old in these pictures and I am 5'5" so you can see he is a BIG boy!)

PS Thanks Peg!!

WARM day! (Well it is for December!!)

Things are melting a bit. Titan even got to spend the day without his heavy winter blanket!! He wasn't so sure when I took it off and actually grabbed it and tried to put it back over his back. But soon he shot off across the pasture bucking, farting and having a grand old time. After the bucking and farting, he dove (almost literally) down in the snow for a good roll. Then came flying back over and shoved the blanket with his nose as if to say 'HA! I don't need you today!' It was all pretty amusing. Rocky also got his blanket pulled but he didn't seem nearly as impressed just looked at D like 'Yup- take that off it's warm.' Too bad I had to work most of the day as I wanted to do some barn work- I suppose there is always Monday when I am not at the bookstore at all. Anyway way the horses are enjoying some sunshine and above 30 degree weather. Off to check them now... Sorry my my absentness (is that a word? probably not), I will try to be better this week.

PS Chance just jumped against the window and scared the daylight out of me!

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...

BEAUTIFUL Day

Today has been interesting so far. I had to be at work at 6:45 so was up around 5. Then after work I got home and played with Tess and Chance. The plan for the afternoon was to CLEAN the house. It isn't super messy but I don't dust or anything like that often (ok- almost never) so I was going to really clean the house today. I started cleaning the kitchen and got a call from some friends to go to a movie. I decided that was more fun than cleaning so I changed my clothes and got in the car. About a mile and a half down the road I turned around. I didn't want to go to a movie. I didn't really even want to see that movie. On top of that it was BEAUTIFUL outside today. Who wants to sit in a movie when it is nice outside? I had gotten so used to it being FREEZING that I automatically agreed and should have thought about it a bit more. So I came back home called to say I wasn't joining them then changed my clothes again and headed out to the barn. No need to waste a nice day cleaning when I could be out working Titan.
So out I went. I got Titan out and gave him a super hard grooming- got lots of dirt and such out. Why is it when you groom a horse that has long winter do they always get dirtier before they get cleaner? By the end he was looking somewhat clean. Dust is dust and there is no use in stressing over it I think. So I wrapped his legs and we headed into the arena. We just did a short lunge session working on transitions and whoa. He did very well and seemed very happy to be back at it. For the past few weeks it was so wet and then it froze then if it was warm enough to work him it was muddy. So this is his first real work in about 2 weeks. We have done grooming type things and stuff like that but hadn't been able to get into the arena. He is still growing like a weed. His rump is now just about an inch or two shorter than me (I am 5'5").
You know when you ask someone to do something and they don't do it for days, then when they finally get to it after you harping on them they do a halfass job? That is very annoying.

No dice.

So it has been quite a while since I have put up a Titan post. I have been working with him it is just that nothing significant worth a post happened- until last night. So as you may recall back in October we had to put a wire in Titan's jaw to try and save several of his teeth. It looked like he had been chewing on the chain that holds the gate closed and got one tooth stuck then jerked back and did a lot of damage. So we had to put in a wire that went through his top jaw and around his front teeth- think of it like a yearling with braces.
So anyway the wire was to come of in mid November but since 2 of the teeth were still quite loose we decided to leave it for another 3 or 4 weeks, with me checking it every day, in hopes that those teeth would become more solid. Last night I went out to feed and everything seemed normal until I went to feed Titan. The wire had somehow been pulled down over his teeth so it was just a loop of wire going into his jaw. Obviously if he were to get that caught on anything he would have done even more major damage. I called vet but he was unable to make it out until this morning. I contemplated calling the other vet in town but he doesn't know much about horses in my opinion and I would worry that he would make it worse. So I decide that I need to at least cut the wire so that it is no longer a loop and then twist the ends so they aren't pointy. Easier said than done. Neighbor and T come out to hold Titan while I cut the wire and in many attempts to bend the ends I was not overly successful. At least for the night there was no danger of him getting caught on anything and the ends were short enough that he would not be able to poke himself.
Vet came out this morning, he sedated Titan and checked things out. It turns out that even with our best attempts we were unable to save 2 of his front teeth. Vet had to pull those teeth out. The only good news is that Vet doesn't think Titan had much use of those teeth since they were just being held tight with the wire and he has been keeping his weight really well. Which is saying something because he seems to be in the middle of a growth spurt as well.
Now it is just a waiting game as we won't know if we successfully secured his jaw to support his adult teeth until he is 3 or 4 years old. For right now he is happy to have his 'braces' off and is sleeping off his sedation in his stall.

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!

Good Driving.

Titan was lovely today. It was CRAZY WINDY and he still listened very well. I can't wait until I can start riding him! He is growing like a weed- I will take some new pictures soon.