Horse Blogger's Meme

So we all love horses. First of all give us the name, age, gender, breed, height and markings of one of your horses. This can be a horse you ride, a horse you own or one you owned.

Name: Miss Daisy-Mae (Daisy)
Age: (On August 19) 11
Gender: Mare
Breed: Quarter horse/thoroughbred cross
Height: 14.2 hands
Markings: Socks on hinds and sock on left front, and crooked blaze w/ snip...her blaze looks like a penguin :-P

We need a visual of that horse. How about a picture standing still and a little description or story to go with it.

This is Daisy on her first day at our farm...or, rather, the first day our farm ever had a horse :-P. Originally, her fence had metal T-posts, but after a week they were replaced with wood posts, and part of her pasture was sectioned off for grazing. The picture above is her in the place where now there are two grass pens...every year she was fine int he pens, but this year she's been colicky each time she went in them...so now I can't let her graze there anymore and I have empty pens sitting there :-/

Now that we have seen a pic how about one of clip clop being ridden. Tell us about the picture.

I look so young in this picture! The first summer I had Daisy I didn't show, so I just had her as a fun backyard trail horse. I rarely do the above anymore; ride in shorts, bareback. I only ride bareback a lot in the winter; summer she's too sweaty. The first summer, I'd ride her in the morning or afternoon, and then in the evening, around 7, after dinner, I'd hop on her bareback and go for our "after-dinner ride" down the driveway...


Show us a head shot and a short story of a time with your horse. Doesn't have to be related to the picture.

Daisy LOVES to beg for treats...she can be food aggressive, but when out of her stall in cross ties she behaves for treats. She's not all "up in your face" pushy for treats. She stands there, stretches her neck out but doesn't move, puts her eyebrows up REALLy high, wiggles her lip, and waits for the treat. She tries to make herself look really cute. But she doesn't push you around; if she did, I'd NEVER hand-feed her, because that just BUGS me.


Horse have any bad habits?

There are miniature ponies that live down our street. Daisy knows that. So she's always trying to get down to see them. This year, my last ride before she got picked up for fair, I tried to ride her left off our driveway onto the road(the ponies are to the right). She told me she didn't want to, but she stepped out. But just a few houses down, she stopped. She does that sometimes; she'll go from walking along to just stopping and not budging. No matter what. Normally, I give her a smack, and eventually make her go foreword; I don't let her just turn around. But where we were stopped that day we happened to be in front of a house with kids playing in the front yard, and they were watching me and Daisy. So I feebly tried to give her a smack, but I didn't want the kids to think I was being mean to her (they were little; wouldn't understand) so I let her turn around and trot past our driveway and go down the road until we reached the minis. Then she gets all offended if you don't let her go right over to see them. So Miss Daisy forced me to get off and walk her back and forth in front of the property, to show her she couldn't go there until I said ok. We went off past the place and did some canter work farther down, and then I let her turn around and visit. The kick? Once she gets there, all excited, she just smells their noses once, then stands there and stares into the distance like they aren't there...I'm like, wow. ANYWAY, the pony she's visiting with above is Jax, the stallion she has a mini-crush on :-P.

A picture of your horse in action (ridden or not)

Daisy and I at county fair this year; one of her wild starts for barrel racing :-P.

Five things your horse likes

1. Being ridden. I keep her alone at home, and if I don't ride her for a day she's sad. I know it. She has her ears pinned 99% of the time when I'm on the ground, but on her back, just walking or trotting along the trail or road, they're never pinned. She's happy.
2. Treats. Apples, carrots, stale bread, sugar cubes, peppermints, skittles, horse treats, animal crackers, etc.
3.Barrel racing. Besides just trail riding (Where she snorts a TON in happiness at the start of the ride) she loves to barrel race. She may have her ears pinned the entire time, but that doesn't mean much; she obviously likes it :-P.
4. Galloping. I always let her go on pretty long gallops on the shoulder of the road and she LIVES for it; she knows it's coming. Her daddy was a thoroughbred; she's definitely got it in her. I haven't galloped her for real in a few days, and today she was really fidgety. I was wondering why, and then it occurred to me that I hadn't galloped her. :)
5.Having her face brushed. I really itch her face with a soft curry, and then brush off the loose hair, and she LOVES it.
Five things your horse dislikes
1.You brushing her chest. BIG no-no. She does NOT like that.
2. Spraying water under her tail. She doesn't always put up a fit, but sometimes she'll kinda curl her hind end in and act offended.(I guess I don't blame her)
3. Other horses near her. She will pin her ears and though she's never done it, I wouldn't be surprised if she kicked them.
4. Tennis rackets. At fair this year, we had to use one, and I thought she'd be fine with it; normally with stuff if she smells it and you let her see it and you talk to her you can talk her through being afraid. NOT with the racket. She was nervous of it the entire time :-/
5. Motorcycles. Those things are SCARY! She's pretty good about them passing her on the road as long as the engine isn't really loud, but she half-reared at the last parade and got really scared because bikers revved their engines. Dumb biker people :-(.

Random picture of your horse and the story behind it.

I got my hair cut about a month ago and I really liked it...so my mom did a photo shoot with me and Daisy and I didn't wear a helmet *gasp*...but she stood SO still when I sat on her like that. A lot of times at shows when I'm waiting for a class (in Western) I sit Indian style on her with my legs crossed over the horn :)

A picture of when you first got your horse.

Not sure if you can tell in the picture, but I have tears of joy on my face because just literally 5 seconds before my mom said the words "Should I write the check?" and I knew Daisy was mine. *Sniff*

Give your horse a kiss and tag a few friends

(the first week that I had her)

If you read this post and you have/had a horse/lease a horse/ride a horse, whatever, feel free to consider yourself tagged and do the Meme! Just let me know you did it so I can read it! And get ready; you need a wide variety of pictures! :)

I got this meme from Sydney at http://bitlesshorse.blogspot.com .

County Fair: Friday; Gymkhana

Gymkhana day is, as always, the very best. The day started out with Egg on Spoon race, which we didn't get first in...we didn't drop the egg, but neither did anyone else in my division :-P so it was all based on time.

Then we had "Feely Mealy" where you have to ride to the end of the ring to two spotters. One holds your horse, the other holds up a cardboard box to you. There's a slit in it to stick your hand in. The box is filled with lots of random objects: batteries, flashlights, pens, hole punchers, corks, bouncy balls, erasers, you name it, it's there. I rode across the ring and was told to find a pine cone, by feel. EASY! It was huge; I finished in 17 seconds, so I won by a landslide...kind of a hollow victory, though, because I had an easy object :P.

After that, Daisy and I really got into it. She was amazing; I never told people I had a "gamer", but now I can! She was a ball of energy at the start line. A few times I had to wait for a minute for the timer to get ready, or to fix the course, and Daisy had to pace back and forth, ready to run. She loves the patterns. Ones like quadrangle and texas t bother her because they're not that simple; it seems to annoy her that she has to listen to me tell her where to go, verses just run it herself :-P. She's great, though. I think there were 12 or 13 classes; we won 7 of them. Bam, bam, bam, we racked up the points. She was awesome. At the end, they have one called Ready, Aim, Fire, where you ride around shooting balloons on the outside of the ring with a squirtgun; that was fun! Daisy didn't know what to make of the balloons, but she was fine in the end.

At the end of the day, we had an awards assembly. Oliver, Jean's son, got Most Improved Rider. "S", who was riding Mouse (From a few posts ago where we went trail riding) got a few high points for the day. Another member who didn't ride this year still got Most Helpful . :)

High point is determined by who got the most wins in a day; the better placings you have, the higher "points" you have. It's pretty special when you get a high point. I ended up getting High Point for Western day (Which I had NO idea I was getting) and Gymkhana (Which I did figure out)!!! That was cool; two trophies. Then I ended up getting the Overall Jr. Division High Point Champion trophy, for high point for the entire week. That's because I rode in almost every class, every day...it's pretty nice to be awarded stuff like that. "S" also got Overall High Point for her walk/trot division. YEY for the Yautzy Road Yahoos! :D I LOVE county fair! It was awesome!

I was overall very impressed with Daisy this year. She was awesome already last year, but this year, without THAT much work, we really improved. She was much less fore-handy, she had her leads correct 98% of the time, and she sidepassed over the ground poles in trail class like they owed her money. She was awesome. She listened SO well. I was soooo proud of her. Plus, for a horse with slightly bad conformation, she looked beautiful. I love how much she's improved apon this last year, and how willing she is. The best horse ever. Maybe not in looks or breeding, but for me, she's perfect.

County Fair: Thursday; Western Day

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Western day was GREAT! I didn't think we'd do as well as we did. I had a bit of time in the beginning of the day, so I did a kinda 'spider web" pattern with Daisy's mane. (More pictures on my mom's blog, http://cdgagudl.blogspot.) I love how it turned out!

We went in the classes feelin' pretty good...Showmanship kinda messed me up because we entered the ring one at a time, which was weird, so I didn't do well...I think I got 4th, I don't really remember.

I don't remember what we actually placed in classes, but we must have done well. Daisy got her leads right the ENTIRE day! She was awesome.

One of the best parts of the day was when we lined up to speak with the judge after one of the first classes. The judge went to the first person and informed her she had had a wrong lead. She got to me and simply said "You were fine", then moved on to the other 3 people. Each person she said either "You had a wrong lead" or "You didn't canter well". But with me I was just fine. :) I got first in that class! It was a great feeling, but I could so sympathize with the other people; I was in that situation last year!

Trail class was GREAT, we got 1st place as expected! We side passed over a pole (OH YEAH!) which is something I had worked on with Daisy first with groundwork and then on her back last winter. I think I was the only one who could side pass. Then she barely hesitated going over the bridge, backed in a crooked back-up station, went to a mailbox, trotted over poles, etc. She was great; that's the class we really shine in :).

At the end of the day I did a Versatility class! In the class, you started out riding English and did a flat work English class. Then all the riders in the ring (7 maybe?...8?) went to the edge of the arena to meet their "pit crews" and changed into western clothes and western tack and did a western flat class and a timed barrel pattern. I luckily got some AWESOME fringed half chaps just the day before (first picture) so I only switched regular half chaps on my breeches to fringed and pulled off my English show coat to show my western shirt. I had one of my 4H member's Dad on my pit crew, and I grabbed Lydia last minute and she very willingly helped me out, too (THANK YOU, Lydia! :D). It was SO fun! Once everyone started changing, people always cheered really loud when another rider finished and mounted again...the first rider to get re-mounted finished in about 60 seconds! Daisy had been getting more and more edgy and excited as the day wore on; our cantering wasn't as good because she only wanted to run fast, so she was in the perfect mood for a barrel pattern. We did it (FAST :D) and in the end, we got 2nd place in the class!!!! It was SO much fun; really worth it.

My Mom took the first two pictures, the second picture is of my trainer, Jean, and I...I lived in her house for the week, too...she's great, many thanks to her! :)

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th pictures are by Lydia! OH! I forgot to mention that class. There's a class called Western Riding where you go through a pattern where you weave cones at a canter, serpentine cones at a canter, and back up. It's SO fun! Last year I loved the class even though I think I only got last place; it's just fun! This year Daisy did FLYING CHANGES throughout it! :D It took her awhile each time we changed directions for her to realize she had to change leads, but she pretty much got it; it's a great class. So Lydia's pictures are of that class :).

The last pic is by Jean's mom, who took pictures EVERY DAY all week long! She's great; our club is soooo lucky to have her! Anyway, it's from the Sunday game show before the fair; it was a sit-a-buck class, bareback :). I love the photo, and how Daisy's really stepping under!

That's about it!

Until later,

Modeling Chicks

For those of you who don't read my mom's blog, check her's out today! She posted ADORABLE pics of the chicks that we took yesterday...you'll like them I promise. And I happen to know she likes comments just as much as the next blogger, so leave her one. :)

http://cdgagudl.blogspot.com

^Click. UP THERE^^^. See?! CLICK!!!!^^^^

Saturday Game Show

READ THE POST BELOW THIS ONE FIRST IF YOU HAVEN'T YET!

These pictures were taken yesterday by my mom at the horse show. You can see more at her blog at http://cdgagudl.blogspot.com.

The others were taken last Sunday at the open show during the trail class. Photos by Jean's sister...I LOVE the picture of us going over the jump. :)

Yesterday I was surprised and happy to see my old riding teacher, Dana, at the show with her daughter Amberlea who was showing and her husband and new baby, Chase. I took lessons at Dana's for 8 years starting when I was 4 years old and the first pony I rode there and the pony I started lessons on (and rode for years--not regularly, but probably once a year minimum) was Sunshine aka, Sunny. And GUESS WHO WAS AT THE SHOW!? Sunny!!! He's now being ridden by Amber, who is 5, and Amber rode him in the walk/trot division yesterday. She was great! It was so cute to see her bouncin' up and down to Sunny's choppy little trot, and she maneuvered the courses really well. So cute to watch. I will always remember those years riding at Dana's and remember Sunny. He's a wonderful little pony.

Lydia (who rides with me, from and older post, owns Stewy) came as well! I don't have a picture of her (:-/) but thanks for coming, that was really nice of you!

They have "lead line" classes for kids who don't know how to ride. They just sit on the horse and hold the reins while another person leads the horse around the course. One of our 4H group members did lead line on Bella and Jean led her around the course. She didn't want to do lead line when she came because we didn't know that she'd be able to do it, so when we asked if she wanted to she said "no". However, we got her to do it and she ended up getting Grand Champion in the lead linedivision! Imagine the surprise--Mrs. I-don't-want-to got a trophy! She ended up loving it and she was very happy with her trophy (Jeez, I should do lead line!). Jean's son, Levi, came toward the end of the show and I ended up doing lead line with him! He doesn't really ride and only likes western, so he wanted to ride Daisy. The stirrups didn't even fit him (he's 7) but he rode anyway, and I ran him and Daisy around the pole bending course (we didn't go off course :-P). My running paid off--Levi got 5th place! A ribbon! YEY for him! :) It was really fun and when asked if he wanted to do lead line on Daisy or Bella next year he said "Daisy" in a "duh"sorta way. :) Yey! Daisy's such a sweet girl. She may not be a fast barrel racer (Something I have come to terms with during the show yesterday--I realized, I mean) and she may not be a western pleasure horse, but she's all-around wonderful. She seems so mean on the ground, but really, she loves attention. You should have seen her a few days ago at the barn--she had I think 5 or 6 people and kids around her, petting her, and she was really quiet. Good girl.

Anyway, I'll try to post on Tuesday...I've got interesting news! But it'll have to wait. :)

Stewy and Lydia

So, I finally have someone to ride with! This year I met Lydia at a Country Max store after seeing her at a 4H meeting thing, and we found out we live just streets away! We have been riding with each other every Saturday now. Unfortunately, we can only do Saturdays because she takes tennis on the other days after school and I can only ride between 2:30 or whenever I get home and just after 4 when my mom leaves for the restaurant. Anyway, Lydia has a cute, 6 year old Quarter Horse gelding named Stewy! Isn't he a cutie?! I think so! Last week we couldn't ride on Saturday because it was foggy all day, but this past Saturday we rode together! I met her on a shortcut that goes from the farm she boards at to the road that connects to my road, and we rode to my house. Then we went on our trail, got in some pictures, offered Stewy water (of course, he didn't want it, lol) and then I went and "dropped" Lydia off at the shortcut again (Stewy isn't familiar with the road enough for Lydia to ride him home alone) and I rode home. For me it was a LONG ride! Back and forth and back and forth! Altogether it was a 2 hour ride. It was good for Daisy though, who was having a problem at the beginning of the week with not listening because she had way too much energy. She was better after that long ride! :)

Probably this Sunday we will be going to an open show to do western classes (western pleasure/equitation/horsemanship/trail classes) and definitely the Saturday after we are showing in a gaming show (barrels and poles)...I'm really excited! I ordered a new saddle pad for my western saddle and a new helmet (I saved money) and I'm really hoping I'll get them in time for the show! :)

Don't expect a post for a few days... :-/
I only just got to posting--I spent the last hour or more on an essay for Social Studies...look for it on my writing blog here if you want.

9:22 PM

How Do You Give A Chicken A Bath?

This is Bibbi. I believe she is a faverolle...anyway, she spends probably 23 hours and 45 minutes of her day sitting in one of the nest boxes--whether there are eggs in the box or not, she sits there. Once a day I do her the favor (Yes, a favor) of shoving her out of the box so that she is forced to go eat food and drink. Of course, as soon as I do that she runs like a mad hen squawking out the coop shed and into the pen to drink water and eat some food like she has just been let out of prison and hasn't eaten in months. Really, she acts like we force her to sit there! So, my first question is, do any of you know how to discourage her from sitting in the coop so much and get out in the fresh air?

Also, because she sits there so long, when she lays an egg she tends to, sometimes (I'd say twice a week) crack the egg and get the yolk all over her stomach. She did this recently, and she has the egg sticking all over her stomach, and her feathers are all gross and ewwww, gross...so I'm going to give her a bath. I was going to give her one today, but I haven't because it's not that warm out, and we are not bringing her in the house. I think I'll do it like it says here, mixed with the way this lady here does it...except not in the kitchen.

Have any of you ever given your chickens a bath? Any suggestions?

3:34 PM

New Saddle Pictures

Here are the promised pics of Daisy and I and the new saddle I bought...I got a pad from Jean that fits...thank goodness...I like it, I think it looks good on Daisy...so yea, there you go. :)

9:41 AM

Evaluation Day

Hey! Evaluations were on Wednesday, and first off, they went very well. You may have seen some of these pictures on my Mom's blog, but I'm showing them anyway, in case you haven't.

My cousin, Anika, and I went to Jean, my 4H leader's house, on Wednesday morning. We cleaned the stalls (along with the other 4H-ers, Oliver and Jessie, and her sister). I rode Daisy around and barrel raced her a little, which was fun and I think she'll do very well with that once we get back into it a little, and then we worked a little on sitting trot and cantering. Then I tacked up and rode Bubba, Anika rode Daisy, Oliver rode his own, sweet little Morgan pony mare, Bella, and Jessie's sister rode another mare there, and we all went for a trail ride. Bubba was pretty good, except when we had to ride toward the back of the line of riders, then he started to get pushy, but it was alright. I rode him a little in the indoor, and he was great. Normally he's very strong and it's hard to get a good handle on him, but Wednesday he rode very well. We untacked, and Anika and I gave Daisy a bath, and all the horses got baths. Ate lunch, cleaned tack, got ready for the evaluations. We trailered Bella and Daisy there first, all tacked up, and when we got there Jessie rode Bella and I rode Daisy first. I got evaluated by a very nice young women who was quite kind, even though Daisy's trot to canter transitions were VERY sloppy, and my hands were "flamboyant" when they should have been lower to Daisy's neck. We passed though. We had to walk, trot, canter, halt, and back up for the judge, and then answer questions like how to pass around a horse in certain type quarters, and how to behave around a horse.

Then we brought Daisy back while Anika stayed with Bella and we switched for Bubba. Tacked him up, brought him there, and I rode him. I did (sadly, lol) better on him then on Daisy, but I credit it to the fact that he's a bit better trained (ok, a lot better trained) on leads and transitions, and complicated stuff like that. It felt wonderful to ride him and I think I rode him the best ever that night. Oliver, Jean's son, rode Bella for his evaluation (he and Jessie got evaluated for just walk/trot) and then they trailered home. It was a fun night.

Daisy came home yesterday morning, and Anika and I slept in the barn last night...except for a certain horse waking me this morning ;-) the night went well. :)

Tomorrow Anika and I are going to visit my brother, Markus, and his "family" and animals, so I'll be back Sunday night.

3:35 PM

Remember you can ALWAYS press the + and - signs to speed up and slow down the slide. The captions aren't anything special this time, so that's why I allowed myself to add the song, which kind of covers up the captions.

Boots and a Show Shirt

Florida is nice....I don't know how else to start posts, lol...

Today my father surprised me by driving us to a totally western store...I can't remember what the store is called. Anyway, it sold western boots, show clothes, western hats, belt buckles, and western and English saddles and other horse supplies. The entire back of the store was cowboy boots and my dad bought me a pair...I feel REALLY blessed and oh so spoiled...I am spoiled. The pair is shown in both pictures. The boots are handmade with lizard skin (ew) but they are really cool. Then we browsed western show shirts and my dad bought me the one above. I'm really excited now-I'll wear the shirt and boots when I show this summer...sorry, I didn't have a pair of jeans to finish the look, so I had to wear khakis... :D

I'll post this coming weekend-we fly back on Wednesday and I'll be busy with school on Thursday and Friday. I'll share pictures and stories this weekend.