Scrap!

No that's not a cuss word (I don't think.) I have been scrapped by Breathe and as far as I understand, the rules are to list 10 pieces of material that I would put on a quilt for sentimental reasons (and the reasons). So I'll have to think about it and post as I find them.

1. When we were married, my husband's family made some purple silk rose bird seed throwers. I kept a couple dozen in vases for several years, then reduced to a half dozen. Now I just have 1 or I would get one and use the material for scraps.

2. The baby blanket my daughter used. It's soft blue and really soft. It has a silk trim that she used to rub across her face. She called it "Mine." I had to wash it when she was asleep and make sure it was dry when she got up. She took it everywhere with her. If she left it somewhere she would not go to sleep. The other cool thing about that blanket was that it was her dad's when he was a baby. He carried it until he was 4. It is now a holey blanket and threadbare. It's just in the keepsake box.

3. Then there's my baby blanket. It's really a crib sheet but I shredded it from carrying it so much. It's white with blue sheep.

4. My dress blues with the chevrons from my short military stay. The Air Force issued me my husband, my daughter, and a college education. I would do it again if I had to start over.

5. A square from the quilt I gave my mom before she died. It's white background with blue star pattern.

6. A collection of material from my stepmom who just passed away and left a ceder chest full of quilt material to me.

7. Some leather from my first saddle, and some purple cloth from my first horse blanket. Since I'm still using them, this might be difficult. I have only had them a couple of years.


(That's all I could think of right now.)

To go along with the Wet Christmas...

Christmas Day's high will be 70 degrees. :)

Watch this YouTube video if you can... It's clean for little ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhei5sUY3I4



Merry Christmas!!




Update: It was warmish, overcast, and occasionally drizzly. I wore a sleeveless shirt all day.

Koda had a little spirit when I pulled her out of the pasture. I always longe her before riding and am glad that I did. She was breaking into a canter on her longe without prompting. By the end of our ground work, she was licking her lips. I am still working with her on riding from the house and walking back. Today, she walked back with her head low. I was absolutely in heaven on hooves. We startled some deer on our ride. Koda just twitched a little. We watched them for a second.

I got Horse decorations from my family for Christmas, along with some books and a couple of boxes of chocolate covered cherries. Koda got a good rubdown, work, hay, and grain.

Who do I call?

We headed out yesterday in the big truck to go Christmas shopping. We got about 15 minutes from the house and stopped at the gas station. We got back in the truck and it wouldn't start. It had a busted fuel line. We had it towed to the shop and won't get it back for at least a week (this being Christmas week). SO, I borrowed my dad's Honda CRV yesterday and we have no truck that will haul my horse. I was fairly upset that I can't take Koda to ride at the church today, but it's cold and have myself just about convinced that I don't want to ride.
We got home from church and my husband says "Just go park the truck" or something like that. I looked into the horse pasture and my heart sank. There was Koda in the back of the pasture laying down. Now, I have seen her roll, lay down, and such, but not laying with her leg sticking up in the air. Didn't know horses did that. But there she was. I ran for my pasture key in the house (it was actually in my purse in the truck) and started to run to the pasture. I thought she was hurt. She was laying right beside the fence. I started to call for her and she didn't respond. I was almost halfway across the pasture, my daughter running right behind me, when she just gets up like nothing happened. I guess on a beautiful sunny day, girls just like to sun bathe and she's no exception. Stupid horse, scaring me like that. Man!! Sigh!
The question in my head was who do I call for help. I will need an experienced horse person, with a trailer ready truck, to help me get her to the vet. I was opening the fence running through the list. Pastor, 4-H leader, close-by neighbor... etc. Good thing she's okay. I really hate to have to call and bother people because I am not prepared. I guess I'll just get a slice of pecan pie instead.

That's more like it

I guess the saying "ask and you shall receive" applied here. We now have 70 degrees, HUMID and rain. Here are some pictures:

I'm dreamin' of a wet Christmas...

...Just like the one's I used to know...

I live in Central Texas. You know, cactus, scorpions, tumbleweeds and super hot. Except that right now it's below 30 degrees and today it did not get above 35.

(and the horse related stuff) Yesterday when I got home from work, the wind was blowing and the temp was around 30 and felt like 20!! I decided that my central Texas horse needed her horse blankie. I went to put it on her and she kept walking away. My kid had a band concert to perform in so I let Koda go without the blanket. We went to the concert and it started raining. Umm, rain in less than 30 degree weather = ice. When we got home, I gathered the halter (used my brain this time) and blanket. Koda had a layer of ice in her mane and on her tail. Poor thing was cold. She doesn't normally stand in the run-in shed, but there she was. I hope she doesn't get sick from me putting the blanket on her while her coat was wet.

I don't remember having it this cold before Christmas before. It usually doesn't happen until at least February.

(Oh the picture is from April, 2007 - Our rottie, Tama.)

Another Sunday

I did not ride at the church today. Our church had team sorting practice. It was interesting. For those who don't know: They have 2 round pens set up together and 10 numbered cattle. The object is to get the 1 calf selected by the judge into the other round pen by itself. This is difficult because the cattle run together or try to slip past the "gate" horse. There are 2 riders. One to cut the calf from the group, the other to block the other pen from the incorrect cattle. I enjoyed watching the teams and was surprised to see that one of the best riders was a girl about 6 or 7 years old.

I did not want to take Koda to the church for this because of the number of children running around. I don't like that I can't control her at the church. She kind of goes berserk when there are other horses at the church. So after we left the church ground, I decided to ride at the house. Now remember that Koda also tries to run away with me when I turn back to come home. (These are the 2 main vices that I find in Koda - reasons I don't let my kid ride the horse.) I live on the corner of a dirt road and a highway. I rode Koda down the dirt road just past the end of our property, then turned her back to the house. I had to keep her on the rocky part of the road to remind her to go semi-slow, but she didn't run off with me. When we got to the house, I past it and went south on the highway to the end of our property and turned around. Then I went north to the other neighbor's house and turned around. I walked back torward the house, and turned her around again. I am trying to stop her from running home so I kept taking her past it to keep her guessing.

I had a good ride and had very little trouble with her. Next week is my Kid's 4-H riding club meeting. We go so I can ride. The kid doesn't ride so much since her last horse wreck.

Thanksgiving Rides

One of my best friends came up on Tuesday before Thanksgiving to take my daughter to Oklahoma. Her youngest daughter got SICK (yuck) during the night so instead of Oklahoma, they hung out at our house until little girl felt better then went home. The older daughter and I went for a ride on our horses. We have ridden together before. She has a paint gelding that she has trained (She's 15 and amazing) to be a true western pleasure horse. Then of course there's my Arab speed walker/crazy mare. My kid was going to go on the old mare that we used to have that came to visit us for the day. She managed to find her out when the stirrup broke.

So the older girl and I left the house down the dirt road. We crossed a wooden bridge and about in the middle of the bridge, a bird flew out from under the bridge. My horse went about a foot sideways before settling down again. We decided to go to a friend's house that is just past the end of my road on the local highway. Between my road and the friends house, we found a lonely horse we thought was going to jump the fence to be with us, so we crossed to the other side of the hwy and continued on. Well, the friend was not home and it was time for my husband to start home so we turned around to head back.

The problems started. My mare already walks fast. On the way home she wants to run. She also forgets to listen to my "whoa" and "easy" commands. I have to one-reign stop her to get her to stop. I asked my riding partner if we could go a different route home to confuse the mare, and she agreed. This route goes all the way to the end of the local highway to a major highway. The major highway has half the road shut down for construction and would be safe to ride on. So here we go. We trot/walk to the dirt road turn off, with me getting off her back before she turns stupid. Then, she struggles for a while to figure out what I mean by not going home. I get back on the girl and she still wants to run out of my stops. We went for about a mile before I found a pasture to teach her that I really mean for her to stop. At the end of the pasture, there was a horse and very vocal dog. We skipped back to the other side of the higway only to find 2 more horses. Here's where my horse acts right and the gelding turns stupid. He forgot that he's NOT a stud. She had to remind him and then we were off again. There weren't any more crazy incidences, just silly, after that.

We got on the new section of the main highway and continued to head home. My horse all the while is looking at those orange barrels like they might attack her. There was a pile of asphalt rock left on the side of the road that was also very menacing. Both horses walked past it with their eye focused completely on that pile.

Of course for most of the trip, my speed walker was in front. I would stop her and wait for the other horse to catch up, then continue. On the highway, I actually turned her around, went behind the other horse and looped back. Both horses thought the world was going to end because the gelding was in front.

All in all, a 3 hour ride that was very exciting, fun, and educational.

I did not ride this Sunday, due to the need to get the prodigal daughter.

Weekly rides

I have been trying to figure out a way to get more riding in without making my husband sit around for an hour doing nothing. Our church solved the problem for me. The church has an arena. That was the first thing they built after raising the tent. I have used the arena a couple of times but feel weird going by myself or making my husband go. So today at church, the pastor announced that at 1 pm on Sundays, there would be guitar lessons. My husband plays the guitar some but wants to learn more. I want time to ride my horse there. Voila, I now have 1 hour horse ride built in every week. I rode around and around the arena, around barrels, in and out of the roping setup (you know, where the horses wait for the cattle to be released).

My pastor informed me from the pulpit that I needed to spend more time on my horse. When your pastor says to do something (as long as it's not against God's Word) you do it. Thanks Pastor Terry. :)

You know that saying "Grass is always greener..."

Our new baby is testing the theory. He is finding any possible way that he can use to get out of the pasture. Today, my husband came home and found him outside the fence. He put him back. I got home a little later and he was out again. I stopped on the road and called him to me but he didn't come. All he did was stand still and "Baaaaaaah" He had apparently decided that he wanted back in the fence but got stuck. I wish I had gotten pictures.

The riding

It's really weird. I completely enjoy myself most of the time when I ride my young mare. (That's not weird.) The weird part comes when it's time to ride her by myself. I get really nervous and worried that she'll freak out or that I won't be able to control her or something. I guess it doesn't help that I have occasional bad days with her.

Here's what's happened lately. I took her to our church playday. I could not ride her because she was so keyed up. She seems to have a combination of Buddy-sourness, group shyness, and being spoiled. So during the playday, I tied her to the trailer and she managed to rear up and break the lead rope. She ended up being fine and relaxing completely when I tied her to the trailer next to the other mare.

She also freaks now when I try to load her in the trailer. I think it has something to do with the fact that we carry her and the 4-wheeler in the trailer at the same time sometimes. So trailering her to the playday already had her nervous.

Any way. I finally had to submit to the financial crisis and remove a large part of my horse fee every month. I hated to do that. Our 30 yr old mare went home to her real owners. Thankfully, I think they are going to use her to give riding lessons. That eases my mind some. The problem is that she only gets her nutrients from senior feed. That gets expensive when you are having to cut unnecessary costs.

Now, my poor mare, Takoda, now is the only horse on our property. She's not alone though. She has 2 goats to keep her company. But here I am chasing rabbits and forgot the original point of the post.

Back to the weird stuff.

So I took Koda to the 4-H riding club meeting yesterday and tied her in the arena there. The leader had 4 horses there that were penned up just outside the arena. Koda stayed relaxed and calm the whole time she was tied up and then lunged perfectly and rode perfectly. We did turns, rollbacks, walking, and trotting. When it was time to go home, I rode her out of the arena, through a ditch and up a hill. We then went back down the hill, through that ditch again and then through another ditch. When we went through the second ditch, she found a natural, deeper water channel. That made her a little nervous. She went through it though. I really enjoyed the time I spent on her. I love riding.

So, again, why do I avoid riding when I enjoy it so much the times I do ride?

We have a new member at our ranch. I mentioned him earlier. His name is Bryan and he is a Nubien/Boer cross. He is 5 months old and has two jobs - become a daddy, and entertain our indoor-bound kid. (I say "indoor-bound", because the kid can't seem to find the out-of-doors) :)

I can dress them up, but...

I have no time to do ANY horse stuff. I don't know the last time I even groomed my horse. I know I have not ridden since I got the saddle back. I guess school has hit with a fury. Oh well, maybe this weekend.

Back in the saddle again!

Well, today is Labor Day and I was able to go get a saddle I had sent off for repairs. Now we can both get on a horse at the same time. Yeah!!

Helmet debat

I live in Texas where everything is bigger, and I guess that includes the vanity. So I began recently to wonder what is it about the western sports that insist that participants wear cowboy hats. I understand that people look "dorky" in helmets, and you can look at the post below and see how I look, but I think I would rather look dorky while I ride than have an accident and not be able to walk or possibly worse. So, My question again. English sports and racing require helmets, even for adults, but western events, with the speed and unpredictability of all the animals involved do not. It doesn't make sense to me. See the following youtube video to maybe get your brain working more on this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0-A6T45xB0&feature=related

For more information about my opinion read more of my posts, especially the one labeled helmet.

Parade Picture

Here's a picture from the 1st parade Koda and I were in. Notice the new blanket bought just for the parade. Isn't she purty!! No, I'm not pregnant!

Holiday Riding

Yep, Takoda's my dream horse!

I rode her three times this Saturday and Sunday, and have fallen in love. I will tell mainly about the 1st ride then skim the others. But first some background. My horse friends came up from near San Antonio and spent the weekend with us. They brought their 3 beautiful horses. Tib is an 11yr old bay and white paint gelding that a very smart 14 yr old girl rides. She is going to the state horse show on him and does well in western pleasure riding events. Chubby is a 16 yr old palomino mare that the 11 yr old sister rides in the same events and is also doing very well and going to state. The mom was riding a 4yr old buckskin mare named Demi that the family is training for a cousin of theirs. Demi is green broke and has around 6 months training. She was started when she was 2, but got hurt so was not ridden for over a year.

In addition, my Kid rode her 30 yr old horse Scarlet (the first time outside an arena since the big fall (see the helmet to the right). I rode my WONDERFUL mare Koda.

The first ride was just with the mom, Gay, and her horse. We rode out in the big pasture with the snakes, cows, and pond. Demi was trying to spoke at anything that would move, but Gay's good. She had Demi side-pass to the gate to open the gate. A side-pass is where you make the horse walk sideways instead of foward. Koda did everything that I asked her to do. I walked her behind the 4 wheeler (she hates that) and then went to the pond. There is a ravine into the pond that draws the water from the pasture. She went down the side of the ravine and to the water. She took a sniff, a drink, and then plowed through. No extra prodding needed. Then up the steep bank on the back side of the pond and a meander around to the dry creek bed. Again the sides were steep. We followed the cow trail in and up to the other side. We can't go in that pasture because of all the bugers we might find in the tall briars. Back through that creek bed and up a steeper section out. Gay and I then began searching for logs to cross. I started it with a small limb that was maybe a 3 inch diameter and we worked our way to more complex obstacles. All of this Koda just took in stride except for one limb. It was forked and she got her back legs tangled the first time she went over it. I had to work her back to that section of the limb. We quit after the logs to get the older daughter from the train station.

When we got her home from the station, we saddled all 5 horses and walked down our dirt road for about a half mile. We had to turn back because it was dark. Danged nighttime interferring with our riding! Again, Koda did everything I asked her to.

Today, we rode at the church arena after church. I go to a cowboy church and they just got the arena ready enough that people can cautiously ride. It still needs work but the church has only been open for 2 months. The kid wasn't feeling good so she just went home with her dad. I cantered (loped) on Koda for the first time today. I felt like I was going to fall of the whole time I cantered. I adjusted the stirrups and still felt like that. We do well in short distance trots but I really enjoy trail rides so I guess trot and canter are not very important right now. I guess that's something we have to work on. We did more trailriding type rides there and then came home.

Now that's a weekend like I have always wanted to have.

Summer update

I think Koda and I have finally figured out the bonding thing. Usually, when I go in the pasture to catch her or just to go up and scratch her, she runs away taking the other horse with her. Since Saturday, she's been standing still and letting me catch her or at least not running off to the other end of the pasture.

So the routine with Koda has been every night or at least 4 nights a week, I go out and do something with her. I wait until 7pm to do anything because it is still so hot here that it's torture before that time. As it is, we are both sweating profusely within 20 mins. We started the month with longe line work. I did that for about 2 weeks. Then one day, I finally got brave again and saddled her up. The first day I did that, I rode her with a hackamore. We got the hackamore from her previous owner when we got her. She has never accepted the reining commands I give with the hackamore and that day was no different. I had my husband hold her on longe line while I instructed her gaits (walk, trot, and stop) and directions. Later that week, I got off the longe line and rode her in the small section of the pasture. By this time I changed her to a ring snaffle bit. I eventually started riding her in the big part of that same pasture.

The big change was this past week. We went to New Braunfels Wednesday, and I rode Koda out in the open. No fence to block her in. She did great. She got a little skittish when it got dark and the other horse we were riding with disappeared. She was probably sensing some of my concern too. The other rider is an accomplished rider who started training my kid and myself before she moved. She was riding a horse they are training and it was acting silly. My concerns were that it was dark, I couldn't see the path, and she didn't know it that well either. And there was always the possibility of the horse throwing her. It was dark after all. But Koda was great, just a little nervous and everyone made it home.
The next day, we took her with us to their horse show. One of my friend's girls rode Koda most of the morning and she behaved really well, until her friend left the arena (notice a pattern here?). Then I took her on Friday evening on a trial ride where we were going to ride in the parade. I even took her to the fire station where they were getting ready. They blew their sirens. She was a perfect angel for all except the truck's backing racket ("beep, beep") but even then, she just was jittery. She listened to me and followed my instructions.

The parade was a HUGE success for us!! She was perfect. She did kick at 2 horses, but we think she did it because she is in heat. When she kicked, she did not make contact. I think it was a warning to the other horses..."I'm slightly moody right now and my boyfriend is in New Braunfels, Back Off!" We will have to watch that to see. By the way, we will be in the 4th of July parade in a nearby town.

Pictures coming soon.

Summer's Here!!!

It's almost been one week since school let out and I have been busy. Of course there's the standard catching up on laundry, cleaning house and so on. In addition to that it's now time for the horse and myself to seriously bond. I started at the beginning of this week with daily training for both of us. The goal is to be ready to ride Takoda in a parade at the end of the month.

I am learning how to longe her. I found a website that has great information. http://www.kbrhorse.net/tra/line01.html has a step-by-step guide to longing, round pen work, and other basics. We have been working on getting the instructions for walk, trot and canter (though I think I am going to say "lope" instead) together. Koda and I are having to do the ground work without a round pen. I just found a place in the pasture close to the house and started doing the ground work. We are having issues with keeping the circle round and having serious trouble with the lope. It will come though. I will have the husband record a session and I'll post it soon.

When, if, I start teaching others to ride, I think I will begin the students with ground work. When they can do the ground work, they can then begin to ride. Ground work is hard and has not been covered at my riding lessons or at the 4-H riding club meetings. It's kind of weird that the way to get respect from horses gets neglected in the training sessions.

Horse events coming up this summer:
There is a rodeo in a nearby town this week, then a local 4-H district horse show next week for our 4-H district. The ferrier comes next weekend and then the following week, we go to New Braunfels to visit some friends and go to their district horse show. That weekend is the local parade I want to ride Koda in.

Dogs, Horses and Wind

I got home from work today with a couple of expectations. First was that my husband would be in a class tonight and not home. Second, we were supposed to have lots of rain. Third, is that I had to rotate the animals tonight.

Our wonderful labweiler (part lab - part rottweiler - mostly goofy) decided to let his lab parts shine lately. He is escaping the fence where we keep him during the day. To correct this temporarily, we will put them in the horse pasture. It's fenced with bull wire and is about 2 acres of land. He should be happier in there for a little while. We closed off part of the cow pasture and put the horses in there. This is good because it was time to rotate pastures anyway. The 2 problems with this pasture are that it is leased for cattle (we have permission to rotate occasionally as long as the horses don't eat it all to the roots.) and there is not much shelter from anything in there. We build the loafing shed in the horse pasture.

So I decided the weather was going to miss us so the kid and I went out and got the horses and started grooming them. As we were grooming, it started thundering. We picked up the pace. I asked the kid if she wanted to go ahead and put them in the new pasture or wait until tomorrow morning in case it storms. We decided we don't get up early enough to switch pastures in the morning. So first, I close the pasture off, then the horses are released. Then we have to deal with the feed. Their feed containers are clipped to the fence on the horse pasture and have to be moved to the new one. And we have to feed and we have to water.

Meanwhile, remember the thunder? It's getting worse and now there's even lightening to go with it and the wind picks up. We got through with every thing except the water as the worst of the storm is beginning. It was around 8pm. I left the water running and ran the kid inside so we could listen to the fire dept scanner. As I turned it on they announced that there was a TORNADO warning for our county and specifically that they have sighted funnel clouds in our town!! We got flashlights, cell phones, and my kid's mattress and huddled on the floor by my bed for a while. The tornado touched down southeast of our town and we are west of the town.

The horses are ok (no thanks to us moving them in the shelter-free pasture) and we had absolutely no damage at our house. Unfortunately, my husband, the firefighter, is out still helping with damage repair in our area. He was called out of his class to help.

It is now 11pm. The stars and moon are out and my household is safe even though he's still out.

Bareback lessons

I got on Takoda bareback today. This is the first time I have ever been on a horse bareback. She had no saddle, bridle, or halter. I also was not appropriately dressed. I had on blue jean capris and sandles with no helmet. OOPS. It went ok though. We have to work on driving cues. She does the stop ok. I only sat on her for a few minutes but enjoyed almost all of it. I had to get my balance for the first 30 seconds or so.
We got the horses a new toy. It's a hanging apple barn toy. We hung it in the loafing shed. I don't know if they have played with it yet. When I went to town today they had not played with it. I got home and it was too dark to even see where the horses were.

Trade #2, Meet Takoda

So we took Bella back to her mom and got Takoda. Her name was Chula. Takoda is Souix and means "friend of anyone." Chula is Spanish means "pretty girl." I like Takoda better. Anyway, we took Takoda to a friend's for some round pen work yesterday and just did some ground work with her. Today, we went out to the pasture and pond. I did some more ground work with her on longe line for a little while. I then put my saddle on her. Since we had a back cinch, I trotted her again on the line to make sure she was ok with that. I got on her and rode her near the picnic area. Then moved out further and kept working my way out away from my "safe area", the area where my husband was. I rode her into and around in the pond. She did everything I asked her to. I did find that her reverse gear "jumps" a little. When I told her to back up near the house, she did a little hop and spin around on her back legs. Unfortunately, my pasture is not conducive to making her canter and trot for any distance. My goddaughter got on her bareback when she was tied out in the pasture. Mary enjoyed the ride.

Hello Bella and Goodbye

Apparently the trade didn't work. I was ok with the trade of Bella for Tonto. Especially the "for Tonto" part. He is extremely green broke. I guess the previous owners let him do whatever he wanted to when they rode and never made him do what they wanted. He is ok to ride if you don't challenge his opinion of what to do. He has already bucked off and hurt someone at his new home. The part that didn't work was her losing Bella. She decided she can't live without Bella. She's going to let us have a 14yr old Arab/Quarter horse that is for beginners. She is a light bay color. Other than that, I don't know much about her. We'll see.

Tonto's Gone!!

This weekend, we traded Tonto for a better model. As I said in a previous post, Tonto was not the horse for us. Instead, we now have an 18 yr old Tennessee Walker that is about the color of dark chocolate. Her name is Bella. She is very sweet but probably starting to be a little arthritic and needs to gain between 100 and 200 pounds. I got her Saturday and rode her Saturday, and Sunday. I have never ridden a gaited horse and am not entirely sure about how to ride in the gaited walk. I am used to a western pleasure type horse.

Of riding and the inevitable fall...

We went riding yesterday at our riding lessons. Our horse, Scarlet has a cut on her leg we wanted to let heal so we both, the kid and I, rode stable horses. I rode the horse that the kid normally rides. He has a very jarring trot. I am appearantly still learning the proper way to sit through a trot. The kid was on a 19 yr old Arabian hunter. She's beautiful!! She's gray with a beautiful long silky tail. Anyway, so we went in the arena and started riding. My stirrups had to be adjusted so the kid started walking her horse around the arena. We then got into the trotting. I was, as I said, having trouble with the trotting when the kid passed me. As they passed, the horse kicked up her speed a little. The kid did NOT like this and got scared. The kid shrieked for the riding instructor. When the kid did, the horse got spooked and went faster, which prompted the shriek again, and the spook. Every time the kid shrieked, the horse went faster. At one point, the kid was quiet for a second and the horse slowed down. Then, the shriek again, and the horse sped up. This time the horse stumbled and there went the kid over the saddle and the horse's neck. She landed on her helmet. The helmet cracked and her forehead has a nasty red bump. It cracked from the vent hole to the front of the brim, as well as from that crack around the helmet where the brim attaches to the helmet.

You know, I was kind of lax about requiring the kid to wear a helmet. After this accident, I don't think either of us will ever ride without one again. If this happened to the helmet, think about what would have happened without the helmet.

Riding and riding

We have attended 3 riding lessons. The first, I have already discussed. The second lesson was a bit different since there was no riding. We got there and it was raining. Instead of riding, we worked on horse care and grooming. We learned a while back that Scarlet, our mare, had a fungus on her legs. We thought it was gone, but discovered that it is still as strong as ever. We shaved her legs up to her knees and the next day I started to apply generic Listerine to each leg. It's looking better now but I have to continue until they are all good.
This week we rode again and worked on trotting and "half-halting." This is where you slow your horse down but it stays in the same gait. For example, going from a fast trot to a slow trot.

Today, we went to the stables to work. We cleaned some of the stalls, pulled carrots from the garden, and helped bring in horses. We also got a chance to ride. The riding instructor, Lisa, has many beautiful Arabian horses. Some so light grey that they are white. Some are bay, sorrel, and black. She has one poor bay-colored baby that has pneumonia. It is so sick and looks really bad. She has so many doctors working on this one horse that you'd almost think it would get well by osmosis.

Meanwhile, poor Tonto is still up for sale and is being practically neglected. I feed him and groom him as often as possible, but I don't know what to do with him for training. And I do not want to get on him because I can't afford to get hurt. He is right now a very spirited pasture ornament.

Sunday, we went to my dad's house to visit. You would not believe the work that this entailed. We decided to go ride horse and ATV's at his house. Here's how it went. We started getting ready around noon. First, we had to groom the horse and hook the trailer to the truck. We have a 3-horse slant trailer with a tackroom. We had decided that the 4-wheeler should be in the front of the trailer in case there was a problem and we needed to unload the horse quickly. We ran the 4-wheeler up into the trailer and tried to close the front slant gate. It didn't fit. We removed that gate (they come out fairly easily) and closed the other gate.

We then had to find our tie-down straps, tie down the 4-wheeler, and bring the horse around. We had locked Tonto and June in the pasture. Scarlet is very finicky about getting in the trailer. We finally loaded her and I was tying her to the trailer when I heard June (remember, the goat) outside the trailer. She had escaped the pasture - again. We (the husband) wrangled her back in the pasture and we had to tie her up to keep her in the pasture. We made sure all the tack was loaded and almost left the bridle in the house. Then had to load our house horses, the dogs, into the back of the truck. We needed their obedience collars and their leashes.


We finally got to my dad's house and had to unload it all. dogs go first so they don't hurt the horse. Then the horse and tie her just outside the trailer's tackroom. Then the 4-wheeler. Had to re-groom the horse and tack her up. By the time we did all this I was hungry, so it was inside for a quick sandwich. Dad and husband stayed at the house to put together a seeder/spreader. Sis, kid and I went off into the pasture. Sis and kid on the ATV and me on the horse. Woo Hoo!!

I started to follow the 4-wheeler but Scarlet wanted to run after it so I turned her away and went towards the back of the pasture. My dad's cows followed us around for a little while. We went all over his pastures. Through ravines and over logs. Well the 4-wheeler went over less and smaller logs. I had a blast. Scarlet went everywhere I wanted her to go without complaint except into the stock tank my dad has close to his house. I think that the mud was too muddy for Scarlet to follow my instructions into. After instructing her for about 10 minutes to go in various places in the pond, I finally decided that the horse may know something about the mud that I don't and walked her away. We trotted a little in some places that we had already walked across. I was really concerned about animal burrows and other various holes, but when I found a track of land that was solid, flat, and free of holes, I allowed her to trot. She did this willingly enough.

I am learning that Scarlet likes to neck reign better than direct reign and I switched her bit to a ring-snaffle bit. The ring with a bending post through the mouth. We had a shank-snaffle on her, but our riding instructor recommended the ring-snaffle. I guess that I have the names correct.

Internet Games

My kid introduced me to a internet game for horse lovers. It is originally made in France and has been formated to fit the American screen. The address is www.howrse.com and it is FREE to play. There is a cost involved that is purely optional and in no way is required for fun on the game.

The objective of Howrse is to become the best breeder of horses in general, and your favorite breed specifically. You start with a foal and raise and train it to compete in English riding events. The competitions include trotting and galloping races, cross-country events, and show jumping competitions. You can also breed, buy and sell the virtual horses in this community and run an Equestrian Center (EC).

There has been some discussion about adding Western competitions to the game, but I don't know if that is in the plans or not. There are competitions for virtual prizes for the players, and forums for discussions of various kinds. These forums are HIGHLY moderated and if there is unseemly language or discussions, they are removed. The moderators and administrators of the game work very hard to keep the game PG rated. As always, parents should monitor their "kids" on any internet site to ensure their safety. Any repeat offenders are locked out of the game completely.

This also has a small amount of educational activity mostly about the horses. However, it does encourage reading and writing, money management, and responsibility towards animals.

If you want to try it out, use me as your sponsor. My username is d2cmom. Also, you can see my horses and EC.

Hoof Care

Ok. So I have been having problems with Thrush on my horses. I had been using a store bought thrush medicine that is green, thin, stinks and expensive. I would try to use a little each time but the liquid was so thin I always wasted some. At $10+ a bottle, I was getting kind of aggravated that I would waste so much and the horses still had thrush. The real owner of Scarlet (She's really just on loan) suggested that I mix water and plain bleach. She said this wasn't dangerous for the horses since they don't lick their hooves. So I got a small cosmetic spray bottle and mixed half bleach and half water together. I have used it to help clean the hooves. First, I scrape and brush the packed dirt and stuff out of the hoof. Then, I spray the hoof with the bleach and brush again. I may spray again and brush again if needed. Last I hold the hoof for a couple of seconds to allow the hoof to dry a little.

This has been a wonder! Their hooves all look (and smell) a lot better. THANKS, GIRL-FRIEND!!

HORSE FOR SALE

We have reluctantly decided that Tonto is WAY too much horse for us amateurs. We are asking $800 for him. He is an upper level intermediate or experienced rider horse. He has learned to back and lunge since we got him, but he has a teenager attitude. I don't think we are good for each other. If you know anyone who needs an Appaloosa, feel free to respond.

Official and Professional and everything

Yesterday, the kid and I went to our first professional riding lesson. We had to be there at 7:00pm and there was so much we needed to learn and discuss. We didn't leave until 10:00. First, I learned the proper way to hold a hoof-pick so that it's comfortable to go from the back of the hoof to the toe. Then I discovered that Scarlet will neck reign very well. She will trot, but not over pipe obstacles. I found out that you have to do "The Twist" when trotting for more comfort for the horse and myself. In other words, keep the shoulders still while twisting your tail. Of course, I can't quite get it, yet. But I'm practicing.

The stables where we are taking our lessons have several beautiful Arabians. Their website is: http://rlarabians.com/index.html. She offers Western and basic English lessons, as well as bareback.

I think we're going to have fun.

The animals.

Scarlet - Our first horse. Really, she's on loan from a good friend so we can learn how to ride horses. Scarlet is a 30 yr old red and white Quarter horse/Paint mix. She's the boss mare if I'm not there. Her baby is June.

Tonto- Our 10 year old gelding and the first horse we have bought. He's for sale especially if I can't get him where I (the new horse person) can ride him. He's a beautiful Red Roan Appaloosa.


June - Scarlet's goat. June was born on our ranch and we kicked her family off. (They belonged to someone else and we needed the land for the horses.) Scarlet has adopted June and June follows Scarlet on all our trail rides.


Tama - 4 year old purebred rottweiler and rotten to the core. She's my husband's dog and we've had her since she was 5 weeks old.


Samson - My big boy labweiler or rottendor retriever. He appears to be a cross between a black lab and rottweiler. He's pretty big, but he's my lap dog. He's 4 yrs old and was a Mother's Day present in 2007.

Cloud - reasonably ok cat used for mousing purposes. Of all the animals, I am NOT a cat person. The kid thinks he (the cat) needs to come inside when it's cold outside. I think his coat's thick enough that he could stay outside in the extremely cold 30 degrees we get in Texas. Especially since it lives in the garage.

Pictures will be posted soon. Keep watching.

My first post!!

Hi, My name is Carol and my husband and I own D²C Ranch, a small ranch in the heart of Texas. We started D²C Ranch about a year ago with a small patch of land and some borrowed cows. Since then we have acquired a goat and two horses. Our goal is to eventually have our own working horse and cattle ranch. I am absolutely in love with horses. My husband calls it a contagious disease. He says I have infected our kid.

I got the idea for a blog from a nice family in Tennessee at www.ourfirsthorse.com. Check them out for more horse experiences. Also, check back for more of our story, issues, and experiences we have as we go though the effort to "Treat" my disease.