Just as a Note...

Just as a note, so you won't be surprised if this does happen - there is a possibility that Promise won't work out for me. Some horses can be very awesomely gentle when they're kinda skinny, but after becoming healthier they turn out to be not-so-gentle horses.

Anyway, this probably won't happen (I'm not worried about it), but thought I'd tell you that me having Promise isn't a concrete deal yet. :)

Some Time with Nolia

Yesterday evening the weather was absolutely lovely, so I went on a long walk. On the way back, I saw Nolia standing right next to the field fence and decided to go hang out with her for a bit.

Usually she'll let me hand-groom on her for a little time, but then she'll wander off unless I give her some grass. However, yesterday she stood still for more than half an hour - just letting me pet on her. I don't generally spend so much time grooming on the field horses, but she was shedding out a lot. Not quite so much as Toy was shedding, though.

So yeah, I just found it really awesome. She stood still for each side (I was both surprised and happy that I was able to make her turn around with simply a handful of grass!), and didn't pretend to spook from cars or anything. 

For five or ten minutes Nolia was facing me, and I was able to scratch under her mane. She absolutely loved this, and started rubbing her upper lip back and forth on the arm of my blue hoodie. ^_^ It was really, really cool, and she didn't once offer to use her teeth! Angel will sometimes do this if I'm close enough to her whilst grooming, but I hadn't known Nolia did nibble rub (what else could I call it?) grooming on people too.

Anyway, I just thought it was pretty awesome. I know that Nolia can and will be wild sometimes (you should probably be wary of her when walking through the field whilst feeding), but she was superbly calm and trusting yesterday. :)

~ IZ

P.S. - Sometime today if I have time, I'll sketch out a stable map for you, and hopefully it'll reduce confusion. :)

It's that Time of Year Again!

Yep. Shedding time!

Not all horses have started shedding yet, but some DEFINITELY have. Yesterday the stable ladies and I were grooming on Toy-Toy and Angel before we worked them. Little punkite Angel is hardly shedding at all. Toy, on the other hand, is. XD

Anyway, we also clipped around their heads. Angel's head is only part finished, which is why she looks so cute and silly. :) Toy's head is all the way clipped, and she also has a new accessory for now - a zebra-striped sweat collar so she sheds out a bit better around the base of her neck.

Time for pictures. :)

Before the clipping on Angel. :)

Hair from just one side of Toy!

Standing in a hair mess. :3

Angel's new style!

The silly! :)

Aww :D

Like it? :)

My Showing Outfit

I finally got around to taking pictures of some of my new show gear. And believe me, the shirts really do look much better on someone than just laying flat. :P

My blue shirt for showmanship and halter.

The back of my blue shirt.

This lighter fabric is kinda shimmery and cool. :)

The trail shirt. The yoke and cuffs are a dark forest green, and the other stuff is kinda gold-ish. 

The almost identical back of this. This one fits a bit loose, but ah well. I'll grow into it.

Boots! :D

Billy the QH Stud

Billy is the red dun palomino (EeEe/CCRC+/Dn+) that MiniOwner and MiniOwner'sMom own. He's turning 23 this April Fools' Day, but he doesn't look that old. :)

He hasn't been ridden for years, but it sounds like his owners may start riding him again this year. And if he doesn't like it, he'll just have to get past that. I guess he used to buck some, but it definitely seems that with being ridden enough, that can be trained out of him.

Anyway, he's a really good boy, even around small children. Awhile ago when I was feeding him I started petting him because he was shedding like crazy. MiniOwner handed me a shedding blade and continued feeding, leaving me there with him with the door into the upper barn (Billy is kept in a pen outside the barn) wide open. Billy just continued eating, didn't mind me at all, and most certainly didn't try to get into the barn (even though, yes, there were mares in there).

He definitely knows what's what. When I'm feeding the horses in the upper barn, I can open the door to his pen and do whatever I need to do before feeding him; and he'll just wait there. It is seriously SO cool. :) So cool that I even got a picture of him doing it!

I love his steel dust jowls. :)

Anyway, here are a couple more pictures of him from last summer. I think the latter one is a bit more color-accurate; Billy seriously is a vibrant sheen of red-gold.

In this shot you can see the door to the barn, that's the same door as in the first picture.

He likes his hay. :3

Haboob the Arabian

Yes, weird name; I know. The horse is an Arabian, so I imagine the name is Arabian as well...or at least some foreign language. The name is pronounced mainly like how it looks, but the last "B" can be made very minimalistic. :P

Anyway, most of us just call him Boo. In my opinion, it's a kinda cute name. :) Boo is a bay Arabian gelding that's being boarded at the stables, and one of the best trained Arabs I know. He's somewhat curious, very laid back, and just simply gorgeous.

I don't have any full-body pictures of him, but I have this head-shot. It's kinda blurry, but at least his beauty is apparent. :)

Promise

I now can write about the horse I have. :)

Her name is Promise (full name is AngelsPaintedPromise), and she is a double-cream-dilute tobiano Paint horse. Her lineage is mainly QH (Quarter Horse) and Paint, but there's also some TB (Thoroughbred) in there. In fact, I found Man o' War in her pedigree seven lines back.

Now, her papers say that she is a cremello. Unfortunately, she could also very likely be a perlino. Her sire is a smoky black tobiano (the papers say black, but that's impossible), and might carry the Extension gene. As far as her dam...*sighs* I have no clue what color she is, so unless MiniOwner can figure it out, I'm at a loss.

Which, at that point, means that I just have to guess if Promise is a cremello, perlino, or smoky cream. All three colors are very similar; cremello is two copies of cream on a chestnut, perlino is two copies of cream on a bay or brown, and smoky cream is two copies of cream on a black. Both perlinos and smoky creams are usually slightly darker, and sometimes have darker points. Cremello is usually just very light, and a very flat (or even) shade all over. I guess I'll have to wait until we can get Promise cleaned up to tell.

She's either ee/C^CRC^CR/To^TTo⁺, Aa/C^CRC^CR/To^TTo⁺, or aa/C^CRC^CR/To^TTo⁺. Anyway, enough with that horridly boring stuff (that actually isn't very boring). :P

EDIT: Once we get her a bit more cleaned up, hopefully I'll be able to tell the base color. Right now I'm thinking cremello is right, but we'll see. :)

So, Promise is a registered Paint mare, and she's about 15.2hh or so. She doesn't seem that tall to me, but probably because 1) she is a tad bit skinny, and 2) when I'm leading her she drops her head very nicely. She seems to have pretty nice conformation, but I'm not really planning on showing her much. I more will just want to have a horse to trail ride on. You know, the more relaxed stuff. (:

Anyway, here's the moment you've all been waiting for! Or, maybe. *shrugs* Either way, here's a picture. :)

Tack Swap and Reggie

So! I know something happened today, but that can wait till later! Please just be patient. :)

This morning was the tack swap, and it was a lot of fun! I was awakened by the friendly alarm clock at 5:15, and was picked up an hour or so afterwards. Due to paying the $20-per-person fee for early tickets, we got in at 7 A.M., instead of 8. As only 100 people were allowed in early, and this was held at the tack swap, there was plenty of space for us to move around and find what we wanted.

I brought about $36, and pretty much spent it all on a pair of nice, black, leather show boots. Pictures will be coming sometime! I also got a very nice tough-cloth zip-shut bag travel bag for my show clothes. However, MiniOwner was really nice and offered to buy it for me, so I let her. :3

We were at the tack swap the majority of the day (from about 6:50 to noon?), just kinda wandering around. My parents wanted me to look for a bareback pad and also some helmets (which turns out we didn't need anyway :P), and I found a nice bareback pad for $35. It has a kind of rubber-y stuff on the bottom of it, and it's quite cool (even though it does look kinda 90's...).

After that, HorseFriend (my horsey friend that's my age), MiniOwner, MiniOwner'sMom, and I all crammed back into the silver 3/4 ton pickup and headed back to the barn. For the first hour or so we picked stalls, ate lunch, and watched horse lessons. After that, HorseFriend and I got the colts we're training.

HorseFriend is working on training Ruger, and for me, I get to work on Reggie! Which...well, after you lead him with the lead rope around his rump to the cross-ties he's pretty good, but I don't especially like exercising him. He's really rowdy, and I really don't have what it takes to bring him outside. More than once he tried to run away with me, and I was hopping around, trying to plant myself into the ground and keep him from pulling me any more. *sighs* It didn't go too well. (And yes, he is a mini, but a

However, I will say that when he's tied, he's a little sweetie. I was brushing him all over, sometimes slightly yanking on mud clods that were stuck to his hair, and he didn't seem to mind it at all. :) Also, when I picked his hooves, he was super good about it. :D

Anyway, *yawns* long day, but it was still a good one. More news is coming later, so just hold out till then. :)

How to Take Advantage of a Hill; The Appy's Story

Awhile ago, MiniOwner and MiniOwner'sMom were telling me a story about a horse that they had sold. I'll try to remember the story as best I can, and also try to condense it some for you. (And, if you'd rather not hear an awesome story, just skip down to the end.)

For quite a few months, MiniOwner and her mom had driven past a thin little orphan colt (I'll just name him Colt) on their way to work. The owner wasn't caring for Colt properly, and at only four months old (way before a foal should be weaned) turned him out on sparse pasture. Eventually, the lack of health in Colt got to the point where MiniOwner'sMom asked Scraps if they would handle the situation. They said that they had tried, but no police officers would go with them. Finally, MiniOwner'sMom went up to the owner herself and tried to buy the colt. The owner wanted $800 for the horse! Being sane, MiniOwner'sMom offered $100 at most to take Colt off this guy's hands. The guy refused.

A couple months later, Colt was pretty much skin and bones. MiniOwner'sMom got in touch with a police officer that she knew, and informed him she was going to go up and forcefully take the colt herself if there was no other option. The police guy followed her to Colt's owner's place, and also brought along a couple other cops in separate vehicles (the owner of Colt was known for being a trouble to deal with).

The owner of Colt had a gun out, but then realized he had no other choice but to hand Colt over to MiniOwner'sMom, so he did. When asked why he let Colt get so deathfully skinny, he simply replied that he didn't know how to feed an orphan foal. Of all the...agh! :P It isn't that hard to see that a horse is too skinny and figure something out, or at least ask for help.

By now, MiniOwner and her mom weren't even sure if Colt would make it or not. A couple days later he was still alive, and he made it. They were giving him meds and the right type and amount (you should never feed a horse that has been eating almost nothing a whole bunch of feed because his digestion track won't be able to handle it) of hay, and he got healthy and well.

They had him for about a year or two, and he was maturing pretty nicely into a perfectly-spotted, black leopard Appy. For awhile now, there had been a teenage kid with slightly special-needs that had gotten Colt to come up to him, so he could pet him and (I imagine) feed Colt grass or treats. The two had a made a bond, and this kid fell in love with Colt. The parents of the kid asked the landowner if Colt was for sale, but the landowner replied that they didn't own the horse, and he wasn't for sale (MiniOwner'sMom had promised the horse that, after all that had happened, Colt would always have a secure home with them).

The kid continued to bond with the horse (and also telling his parents that he would do anything to have Colt), and kept on asking his parents if he could have him. Finally, they talked to MiniOwner'sMom, and asked if Colt was for sale. She showed them pictures of him as a colt, told them his story and her promise, and said no; Colt was not for sale. As she said that, though, she say the kid's whole mood drop completely. She was saddened by it, and, after thinking for awhile, decided the kid could have Colt (I'm pretty sure this is the only time that MiniOwner'sMom broke a promise to a horse). The owners asked how much she wanted for him, and since the meds and feed to get him healthy were only about $500, she said that much would do it.

Suddenly, the kid piped up and said, "Lady, I have $700 on me right now. I'll give you it for him." MiniOwner'sMom was really moved by the kid's kindness, agreed to the price, and hauled Colt over to the cattle ranch that the family owned.

Just as the new owners had said, they sent pictures and updates on him monthly. I think after awhile they had stopped, or maybe just not sent pictures. Anyway, a couple years later MiniOwner'sMom had to go do some business for their cattle ranch (can't remember what). She was driving a big, purple, 1-ton truck along a field, and a giant, all-muscle Appy ran up to the fenceline and started cantering parallel to the truck. MiniOwner'sMom kept thinking, "That can't be him!", but it was.

Apparently, Colt had grown to be a giant of a horse (which is surprising because of how long he was malnourished). He was pure muscle, and when the kid (now an adult, probably?) apologized for Colt being a bit fat, MiniOwner'sMom felt Colt's side, and told him that it was all muscle; no fat there!

She asked the kid how Colt got so muscular, and the kid replied that he just put Colt's hay at the top of a hill, and the water at the bottom. This then made it so Colt had to walk up and down the hill to eat and drink.

Anyway, that's the gist of it. I just thought it was a pretty awesome story, and also an awesome idea for how to get a horse in shape. XD

Another Busy Day

Today was another good, yet busy, day at the stables! I got there earlier than usual (and Mom offered to do my lunch chore for me; thanks!), and we picked out two stalls in the lower barn. After that, BoarderLady and I got to take Ruger (a miniature yearling colt) and Echo (a miniature yearling filly) out to the pen so we could clean their stall. They stayed outside while we stripped both their stall and Warrior's stall, and were quite a sight with all their happy playfulness. :)

I will say, though, that their personalities were quite different. Ruger is a good little fellow in the training, and his slight laziness won't make him run away with you. Echo, on the other hand, reminds me slightly of Angel Eyes when she was younger. Also known as! Echo has a big temper, and likes to throw tissy fits that involve her making the handler (in this case, it was BoarderLady) end up on the ground, and end with Echo on her side for about 5 minutes. Anyway, hopefully Echo will turn out fine, albeit eventually.

Echo is the gold champagne nearer to the cell phone camera, Ruger is the silver dapple and white.

They have a cute trot. :)

A slightly better look at Ruger

After that, MiniOwner, BoarderLady, and I got in the awesome silver Chevvy pickup and headed over to the second barn (yes, I know it's confusing. One of these days I'll write up a post with a map-like diagram of the barns!). Once there, we got out the cart, a couple garden rakes, and a couple pickers. We then commenced to raking all the dried horse apples in one of the pens into piles, using the pickers to dump them in the cart, and then using the cart to transport them to the dumping hill.

A fairly quick process, and we're almost done cleaning that pen! Which is good, because the horse I'll have is coming this Saturday afternoon. :D

A Productive Day of Cleaning Stalls

So! Today was a good, productive day. I was at the stables for about two hours, and we got three quite bad stalls absolutely clean. All of these stalls were in the upper barn (aka the mini barn), and now Lad (Arab weanling), Sonny (mini stud), Reggie (mini colt), and Ruger (mini colt) have clean stalls. :)

Actually, both MiniOwner, MiniOwner'sMom, and BoarderLady started working long before I got there, but I'm not certain of how many stalls they did by themselves.

Spooky and Thomas were there as well, and from this picture, you can probably tell how great of buddies they are. :3

They're both great kitties. :) Thomas is an absolute sweetheart, and Spooky is an interesting kitty. He's a lot more rambunctious than Thomas, and although he too will want attention - one must be careful. If you let your hand stay near him for too long, he'll have his claws in it, and will pretty soon commence to trying to bite it. XD So, you just gotta learn his ways.

Anyway, all the time I was there we were busy working, and it was a lot of fun! And thanks to BoarderLady for making sure everyone either had bubble gum or butterscotch candies. XD Anyway, here is a picture of Lad (the orphan weanling/yearling) as we were bringing him back into the barn (after we had cleaned his stall).

Also, if you made it down this far, I have news for you! SPOILER ALERT - I'm getting a horse. Soon. :D

Sheila the Mule

Since I now have a picture of Sheila, figured I'd share it with you. :) Also, that is Sunny the QH gelding in the background.

A bit on Sheila's personality: Sheila is a younger-ish-middle-aged mule, with brown (E-/A^tA^t) coloration. She's a mare that'll test you. Oftentimes when you go into her field, she'll come at a hasty trot towards you, with her ears slightly back. The feeling you get is quite similar to being herded, I believe. However, if you just stand there or continue walking and ignore her, she'll (usually, just a warning) leave you alone.

She really is a sweet mare though, after she's had her feed. If she's not eating when we're cleaning out the barn, she'll come up to the door (unfortunately for her, there's a single chain blocking the passageway) and just watch. And she doesn't mind being petted on either.

A bit on Sunny's personality: Sunny is just...Sunny! He's an older red dun Quarter Horse gelding, and is pretty laid back. Usually he's not near as active as Sheila is, and not as inquisitive either. He seems like a really sweet boy, though. I like him. :)

Working with Angel

Last Thursday, MiniOwner and I realized that I really, really, really need to work on turning Angel away from me, instead of towards me. The problem with turning a horse towards you (like I had been doing) is that, after awhile, the horse will always try to get ahead of you - pull you, tromp past you, and just get in the way.

On Thursday I got to work with Angel on turning away from me, but it didn't seem to help that much by the end of the session. Today, however, she ended on a much better note! At first she was trying to lead me (as well as completely ignoring my cues), but then MiniOwner lunged her until she was quite tired, which helped tons. Afterwards, she was much better! She was listening, and actually let me get ahead of her to make her turn.

After working on turning her right (right as in both the opposite of left, and also right as in correctly) for some time, I worked on her sidepassing. Sidepassing has never been her forte, to put it simply. When she is happy she'll do it great at the barn, but at the shows she always thinks she can get out of it. And, I think she's right, as I don't discipline her in the show ring (because it'll get us DQ'ed).

However, my plan is that in the first trail course with sidepassing this year, if she misbehaves, I'll get after her. She needs to know that the show ring ≠ getting out of certain tasks she doesn't particularly like. If I get disqualified for it, I guess I lose ten bucks or so, and that's that.

Anyway, for a fair portion of the time I spent working with her on sidepassing, she was just paying attention to Milo (the dog). When she listened to me, though, she did pretty good! On the last time she did exceptionally well (for me not having done it with her for  along time) - not even bumping the pole once - so I decided to end it at that.

And as always, after a horse has a good training/working session, they should be rewarded. Usually this just means getting a quick grooming again, but today she also received some pieces of apple core. Angel Eyes really, really likes it when I have treats for her. ^_^

The point is, when you are leading a horse, do not make the same mistake I did and turn the horse towards you just because it's easier. It won't end well, guaranteed. Also, after a good training session with your horse (or even if your horse does something you ask of him exceptionally well), reward him. Not only does a well-trained horse need discipline, but also praise. (:

Meet Ben!

UPDATE: During the late summer of 2013 I got to ride Nick (the horse has been renamed)! You can read about it and see the pictures here.

This is part of the surprise I told you about earlier. :) Last week my stable friends cared for a big, gentle (although pushy, sometimes) Belgian gelding. He had been taken into custody by a humane society because his owner was mistreating animals (thankfully not him). Anyway, first one of the vet places cared for him for a day or two, and then we got him.

We weren't keeping him, though. We were only giving him free board until we found a good home for him. A gentleman friend of ours said he would take Ben if he was broke to drive. My stable friends had already suspected Ben was, and when said gentleman came out with his draft harness to try on him, he confirmed our guesses.

Ben is only five years old, and we're pretty certain he was trained by some Amish. Regardless, whoever trained him to drive did well. Ben was calm the entire time (he could've cared less!), didn't freak out when the collar almost got stuck over his eyes, was accustomed to the bit and reins, and didn't mind the blinkers.

Anyway, the gentleman was more than happy with the results, so the next morning (last Sunday) he came and picked Ben up. Once the guy tops off Ben's driving skills, he'll also be showing him. Which means I'll probably see Ben at least five times this year. :D

Ben has a good home now, and will actually have a Belgian friend who's name is Red. :3 Here are some pictures of him on the morning he started on his journey!

It was crucial that he finish his grain before leaving!

If you can kinda figure out how tall Ben is, I think the guy's somewhere around 5'8" or so.

Nice hooves! And pretty large, at that. 

I like draft horses. :3

Horrid picture, but his movement is *beautiful*.

Nice tail? XD

I'm fairly certain he's checking out the trailer in this shot.

Speaking of trailers, he fit quite snugly in this one.

Peppy the Mule Colt

First of all, this is not a 2013 foal! This post is almost 11 or so months late, sorryyyyy. However, Peppy is too cute to not have his own post, so here it is. :)

He was born on April 12, 2012. His dam is Flicka, the silver dapple and white pictured below with him. The sire was a gray pinto miniature jack. Somehow Peppy managed to avoid the pinto allele. XD

Anyway, the story about how he came is slightly humorous. I guess you could say that he was an "oops" baby. MiniOwner had been offered Flicka (not in foal at that time), and had settled a deal to take her. However, before we ended up getting her, MiniOwner was called up by the Flicka's original owner. Apparently, Flicka had crawled through a water trough to get in with the miniature jack, and the lady had no clue as to if she was bred or not.

Regardless, MiniOwner took her, and we've had her since (although, if she doesn't take [aka if she isn't breedable] this year, we'll be selling her *sad face*). Turned out (yay!) she was pregnant. Anyway, all said and done, we got Peppy from it. We sold him after he was weaned, but it was awesome when we had him. :)

These stall pictures were taken the night he was born, and the outside pictures were taken a week or so later. :)

Awwww!

Flicka. Such a good mommy!

"What're you doing?"

He didn't have the dorsal stripe for long, but it was adorable! 

A big forehead, followed by a cute lanky mule. (:

Already great at walking!

Aww. I like this dam and foal shot.

Almost looks like he's gaited. XD

Looking back at Mommy.

He was braver than most foals - first time ever outside and he's already exploring! 

What's this that I smell?

I'm excited!

So, since Mommy's busy eating the grass, maybe I'll see if I can wander off again!

Not sure what he's thinking here, but it's a cute shot. I love the airplane ears!