Ground Driving, A Ladd Update, and Expanding Our Horizons

Sunday evening I ground drove Daisy for the first time in at least a month and a half. I wasn't sure what to expect, but. . . she was excellent! She was completely responsive to my voice commands, which is interesting because I don't really use them while riding (at least not the forward commands; I do use woah). I really want to get a cart and hook her up, but I'm leery. . . I was hoping I could find a cart in the area that I could borrow just for the first time to see if she could even handle it, but I didn't have any luck. So if I do it, it would require driving an hour or so away to pick up a ~$500 cart, in the hopes that Daisy even takes to it. So at this point, I haven't done anything more than think about it.

Monday morning finally left time for me to ride Ladd. He was full of it, as seen when he came cantering up to me full speed in the pasture and almost plowed me over. He had canter on the brain the whole time we were in the arena; I was trying to ride my PC dressage test with him, but the trot circles were turning into fights to see who would win; me at keeping him at a trot, or him at winning a canter. He was lathered up and sweaty after a half hour, and I took him out on the trail. He was surprisingly well behaved. I admit I'm a little anxious about riding him outside because when we canter, I always have the feeling that I'm on the edge of losing control, and I hate that thought. Not so on Monday; he was right in my hands the whole time, energetic, but disciplined. 

This is him and I before our ride:

Tuesday morning I took Daisy out for a ride Western. We headed out on a road we generally ride on, but we didn't turn back where we normally do. She was getting bored and lazy with the roads we always ride on, so we carefully crossed a busy road onto a new road. As I expected, she instantly perked up and was curious about her surroundings again. Love that!

The last time she was trimmed, I fear she was trimmed too short (in fact, I know; her sole was visibly too low to the ground) and as a result, she's been sensitive on stones. This aggravates me, because trimmed correctly, I know she (and all horses) can be sound, but being an advocate for barefootedness is not easy when my own horse isn't sound. I've been using her easyboot gloves for every single ride, which solves the issue and she's fine that way, but I still wish she could just go bare. 

Ah well. Onwards and upwards,

Oh Hey There . . .

Just a short post. Lots has been going on that I could post about, but... no one really cares anywayyy sooo. 

I went riding with Jenny's other boarders yesterday. We went on a dead-end road first and galloped the horses full out. So fun! Daisy really enjoyed it. (so did I).

Afterward, we rode up to my house so I could show them the barn.

I was supposed to have another lesson last Tuesday but it was only like 5 degrees out so we canceled. I'm probably going to have a lesson this coming Monday instead.

Daisy moves to Jean's on Wednesday.

Daisy's going to stay at Jean's for 6 weeks, all on 24/7 outside board...with a pasture buddy! She's had neither for at least 5 years. I'm actually pretty excited about it. *Crossing fingers* that she's nice to Dixie.

I leave for a trip to FL on Tuesday in a week, and Jean's lessons students will ride Daisy while I'm gone.

Posting Because I Say I Do

It's been a week since I posted....so I'm posting because I claim I post at least once a week.

Nothing much has been going on. Tuesday I took an almost 2 hour road ride with Lydia and Stewy... that was fun. In the afternoon, I gave pony rides on Daisy to two kids I'm babysitting. The little boy, 5, was a little unsure about it all. "We're riding on stones...that's bad right? What if I fall?...Ok I'm ready to turn now. Please turn. She's not going to go faster right?" (Imagine Daisy barely taking a step every second. That. slow. ;) His sister, 7, picked it up faster. Riding up hill, I told her to lean forward. As we went to go down "Do I lean back now?" :) smart kid.

I rode Ladd on Monday. He was INCREDIBLE. I hacked him out and he was amazing. We trotted and cantered and survived! I took him out again today...it wasn't quite as good, he still behaved but he was stronger than on Monday...but in all it was a good ride. Tomorrow I have...*gasp*...another lesson on Ladd with Karin. :P Ohhh goodness. What shall the day bring?
Otherwise, there is nothing really to report. I've been riding Bubba bareback which is loads of fun. He's really smooth for trot and canter; good boy. I'm riding him (with a saddle ;)) in a parade on the 4th of July.

Otherwise...nothing much. I'm battling a fever this afternoon, weirdly...hoping it will be gone for my lesson tomorrow.

Tootles, ;)

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Hello, dearest bloggers! I'm sorry it's been so long-didn't post not for lack of things to write about, but from lack of time.
Monday I rode the 5.2 mile block around the roads...because Daisy was really energetic. She's generally not exactly (...not at all...) a quiet ride, but that was extreme. So I figured she could use the work. She was such a good girl! She's great because we passed a lot of dogs and "scary" places and she was fine. The first house with dogs had three dogs running as close to use as their electric fence would let them. And Daisy stopped and looked at them, all alert, and out of the blue started to turn around. She doesn't turn and bolt. She just slowly turns around and starts to meander back home. Pretty amusing, actually ;). I think she likes me to know that she'd rather go that direction, just in case I wasn't aware :P. I turned her around again and she didn't object.

So the rest of the week was blah-like. Tuesday I didn't have time to ride. Wednesday it rained. Thursday it threatened rain, but Jean called to tell me that she was over at her sister's house, who is moving in about a 15-minute horse ride from me, all day working on the barn and that I should go check it out, and explore all over with Daisy because I would love it. Sooo...I did. :D

The picture below is (a bad one) of the arena with barn attached on the side left. It used to be a 6-stall barn, with stalls back-to-back and no aisle down the middle. 3 stalls were ripped out and now there's an aisle in the inside. Two more stalls will be built on that open part in the front of the barn in the picture.

The arena door was, according to me, painted shut (there was spray paint on the edges...I thought it was shut)(Now I realize spray paint can't be that strong)(I'm often dumb). So I didn't get the door open. Of COURSE it turns out, it was just latched on the inside. I couldn't get in with Daisy to open it because I'm told not to tie her to a tree with reins :P and there was trenching work being done on the outside edge of the barn and I didn't want to step her through it.

So this is the part where you get to laugh =). I got on my hands and knees and looked through the crack under the arena door.
Yeah, laugh. ;) I must have looked so stupid. It was worth it though. The arena is bigger than I expected, such a great size for a private barn, and has nice arena lighting. Oh yes. You read right. BIG lights! :D Soooo exciting.... :)
I can't wait. Jenny (Jean's sister) insists that I can ride over any time. I should probably ask if my 9am in summer is ok.... :P

There is a lot of work to be done to restore it all. But it's obvious that whoever owned the place before had the right idea, because it's so nice. There' s a nice big tackroom, too. Tomorrow I'll ride over and take a closer look around. Maybe I'll bring rope and tie Daisy. Jenny should be around to give me a tour... :D fun!

Besides the barn and arena, there's a big, green pasture...really beautiful. Jenny's horses (4, currently) will have such a great place. There's also a pond...
I really want to try swimming with Daisy. Badly. It looks like such fun. What are your thoughts?
Can it still be swam in if there's (snapping) turtles? What about leeches? :P
Picture below of Daisy by the pond :D

So this is my epic fail picture. Daisy rarely puts her ears up, so I wanted a picture when this happened...and didn't have time to focus and get her nose in :P so just imagine her nose is there.

Which brings me to....Sydney's contest to win a Level Rider. I would have put some pics in...but i forgot until now. And blogger is silly about adding pictures to the end of a post. (please tell me if you know how :P)
Thanks Sydney, for the contest and all your helpful comments!
See Sydney's post here to enter! It sounds pretty cool. Actually, seriously cool. Unfortunately, it does not come in an English saddle version. Luckily I ride two disciplines ;)

Colic, Dentist, and Upcoming Show!

Hello! Sorta-long-ish time no post!

Some of you who commented last time...I'm sorry I haven't gotten around to your blog! I'm busy, and forgetful :P I'll try when I'm done writing this.

So to update you...well, again, I'm forgetful so I'm probably forgetting to write something. Riding has been uneventful. The last two weeks I haven't really paid any attention to Daisy's leads, I let her do what she wanted out on the road rather than fight her all the time. I think that was a good thing, because when I rode yesterday, she actually listened to my cues for leads! That never happens. NEVER on a straight-away do I touch her left outside and actually get a right-lead canter on the first try, without sidepassing. And I did yesterday. AND we went for a real gallop, and she felt amazing; very controlled, but fast.

My friend came on Saturday and rode Daisy...she was good until we got to the point where we normally gallop. And she didn't want to walk. :P Bethany did a good job handling her...and could have got her through but I didn't wanna wait :P. Of course, once I got on, she got her butt in gear. She's smart, that horse.

Our first game show of the year is Saturday! I am frankly not feeling ready...not that it matters. I just feel sorta bad that I'm not riding much western but will show western on Saturday...heavy saddle and all. I've only ridden western one other time (I think...) since the last western-riding-picture post. Lydia will be joining our club at the show! :)

Daisy's dentist came today. Which brings me to the question. Should you have horse's teeth floated yearly, *even* when they're "young"?
I think you should. Because it's not like they don't grow when they're young. It's not like they can't have problems when they're young. Why wait until they have an issue? I'm for prevention. :) Plus Daisy likes it; she leans into it ;). And I feel better about her. Some horses will ride, while in pain, and seem to be fine, because they're good little ponies. Others may have issues that may seem behavioral...but could just be caused by pain because their teeth are too long. Yes, older horses might need more dental work because their teeth are "old", but they can essentially have the same problems as young horses. Age shouldn't be a deciding factor (in my opinion) So I wanna know; what do you think? Maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to know. Also, do you think people can still do a good job floating teeth without using one of these thingys to hold their mouth open? Mine doesn't use one, but he looked in her mouth today with a light on his head....sooo...just wondered.

And moving right along to...my new Tuffrider APPLE GREEN SADDLE PAD! :D I love it. I got it at Horseloverz.com. Which I linked in the sidebar ---> there but I wanted to point it out again. I LOVE that store. They claim they ship in "one day" and they used to ship really fast, but they don't seem to anymore...which is a bit of a shame, but it's ok. I got three bags of Nicker Snacks treats for free with the order. I can say I have first-hand experience with their customer "live chat" feature and it works very well. :) So just had to plug there.

And there's my bug! I took all these photos with my cellphone...I think they're decent! I'm not sure currently where I put my camera because I cleaned out my room and had it sort of re-done, and it's in one of my boxes...I'll find it tonight...maybe.... ;).

And this was taken just today of Daisy grazing.

OH! I remember now what I needed to post!
Daisy coliced. TWICE last week. The first time, Tuesday, was minor; not very worrisome. Thursday, it was bad. I went to go to Bible Study at night, and noticed she was pawing and not eating...again. My dad updated me while I was gone and after an hour said she was lying down in her stall...which was unusual. And my brother had seen her pawing. So I went home. After walking up and down the driveway a few times, I let her in her stall for a moment. About a minute after she went down and rolled. I was not happy. That's not a good sign. She's never been in enough pain to roll. So I made the decision and gave her a dose of banamine and walked some more. The eerie thing was that while walking, she was in a really good mood, the entire time. But as soon as we stopped, she pawed. So I guess the walking eases the pain...

I discussed it with various people on facebook. Some brought up grass. That can't be it because I'm slowly getting her used to it...she's only on for about a half hour a day right now. And Tuesday she hadn't even grazed. Another said lack of water...but she seems to drink a lot. I'm not sure if it's just coincidence, but Daisy's never been colicy at Jean's...there she's in a dirt paddock with no trees near her.

So I'm thinking it's leaves. There are no more red maples in her pasture, but there are sugar maple leaves...The other thought is that she went into heat on Friday after colicing....soooo...it may be a heat thing. I've never heard of other mares colicing when they go in heat, but it seems possible. Since Thursday, she's been fine. On grass and everything.

So that was my "big news".

Daisy goes to Jean's on Thursday. YRY mounted meeting Friday <3>

Until then (probably),

Good Weather=Good Mood

We have had AMAZING weather the last two days. Yesterday it was high 80's, today, 80's. It feels WONDERFUL; like summer. Daisy's still shedding out her coat so I don't think she fully appreciated the warmth :P but that's ok.
Riding her has been ok...today's ride started out pretty not good :P. We turned left off our driveway (not right towards the minis, the way Daisy likes) and we rode a bit and then, Daisy strategically placed herself between two houses with neighbors in the yard to throw a "temper tantrum". Her form of a tantrum consists of just ignoring me, out of the blue. She isn't jumpy or pushy; she simply refuses to listen. She stops, and won't do anything-back up, walk forward, trot, side-pass, etc-except turn around. So I smacked her once with the end of the rein and used my stern voice, but it got me no where so I got off her back and made her trot up the street next to me until we were a distance from the neighbors who were blatently staring and using us as entertainment. Once I was far enough away, I mounted, and gave her a good smack with the reins and I gave my typical manly "GET!" growl and she went (relucantly). In exchange, I promised a trip to the minis tomorrow :P (turns out I probably won't have the opportunity to ride tomorrow anyway...sorry Dais' :P). After that, our ride was actually pretty darn good. She was dull until we got out on the big open rode and then she was great. One time she had a right-lead canter hissy fit, but she got over it pretty good with me reminding her who was in charge (*ahem*) and that was all. One rode back (as mentioned two posts ago) is about a 1/4 mile and we gallop it and Daisy has the annoying habit of trying to gallop and jigging in place as soon as we turn onto the road. It's not dangerous or really bad, just annoying. Today, I expected her to do that, but she was AMAZING. I got her on the bit and we walked a little bit until I finally gave her a soft signal to canter and she sprang walk-canter into it perfectly and was really good. I was in two-point (which I stink at, so I do it whenever I get the chance) and about half-way along the road I realized she was sort of not controled anymore; going a little too fast (Before I was so astounded with her good behavior I was basking in it and forgot to think about speed :P). I tried half halting, but then just told her "woa" and she brought herself right back down to an acceptable canter. :) YEY!

And going up the BIG hill home she was amazing :)

Afterward, I went to Jean's planning on riding Bubba, but ended up riding Paulie, a new horse, because Bubba refused to be caught...
Paulie was born at Jean's farm out of a rescue mare 2 1/2 years ago. He's since been with a new owner and is incredibly well trained. Jean wants to buy him back and has him on trial. It didn't occur to me until after that I rode a STUD, that was only TWO AND A HALF! He was so great. I always sorta thought only really good or really insane riders rode stallions, but he was so good. He was a little nippy on the ground, but otherwise, SO well behaved. He can walk/trot/canter, turn on the hindquarts/forhand, sidepass, back up, etc, already. That's me on him in the second picture :P
He's being gelded on the 29th, and Jean offered for me to be there along with a small group of kids from the trade school. She said it would be interesting for me to see him gelded, especially since I'm interested in vet school.

So my question is, has anyone ever witnessed a stallion being gelded? :P Is it worth seeing? Is it interesting? Should I see it? What stood out to you most?
If you haven't, would you want to see it?
Just wondered, thought it was interesting.

Also, on a sort of off-topic note, out of Listerine and apple cider vinegar/tea tree oil mix, which do you prefer for daily thrush prevention? I can't decide; Lately I've used Listerine.

Happy Easter, Everyone! May you celebrate your risen Savior! :)
And eat chocolate. It's required. :)

The Best Word to Use is "Frisky"

And by frisky I mean Daisy's behavior.
I'm sorry I haven't posted...Daisy came home Tuesday a week ago...I was hoping I could ride a lot everyday when she came home...but that hasn't been the case. I've still ridden at least every other day, but...each day I don't get to ride (because of sickness...horsebowl competition...rain...birthday...) she's really really...somethin'...the next day. I rode her down to visit the minis at the end of the street on Wednesday, and she could hardly contain herself...she refused to walk (she did that annoying horse thing "Mom, LOOK, I'm WALKING! Feel it?! I'm going slow!" when in reality she's TROTTING so slow it's almost like walking! Of course.
The trimmer came on Monday.
No thrush. (YEY!)
No laminitis (YEY!)
.... But she has bruising. Her heels in the back were bruised red. It looked painful. The trimmer trimmed 'em up so that the area the bruised area was supporting is now spread out over a larger area...he said it's probably because Daisy's hooves are soft (we've been getting a ton of rain) (oh, excuse me...a ton for US. Don't worry, Mrs. Mom, I know it could be worse ;)) and they bruised out on the road. He is going to start selling easyboots (he'll be an...idk...registered easycare provider or something) and recommended I get some when he does for times like this...and I think I will. In the meantime, I'm riding her on the actual flat pavement (as she prefers.. :P) to keep her out of pain until the mud goes away and her hooves harden. I will be adding pea stone gravel to her pasture for her hooves! I'm pretty excited...I learned that because of taxes, the town provides it for free... ;) YEY! That's good news...so as soon as the mud clears up and we can level the ground a bit, we'll put some down in Daisy's high-traffic areas.

The weather, besides rain, has been (had been..until today) soooo nice. We had about a week of weather in the 50's and 60's...just beautiful. Today it was about 26...and only in the teens tonight. Daisy started shedding, so she's got her blanket on tonight... and her heated bucket plugged in again...

Yesterday was my birthday...and I got two more western show shirts, and the belt and buckle above...I've always wanted a nice buckle! I love it :) Lydia also got me some blue riding gloves for cross country (and barrel racing) :)

I rode Daisy today...it was FREEZING! Of course, normally I wouldn't find 25 cold, but after a week of 60's...it sure was a pain. She needed to be ridden SO bad, though. When she's not ridden, she's sorta reckless, dangerous, and stupid on the ground. She's more aggressive and more of a jerk than usual...I can handle the usual. But when it gets the way she was today, I know I've gotta crack down on her.
We went English... (The first picture is taken of our shadow goin' western on Tuesday :)). I rode pretty far with her. She was soooo silly. We trotted and cantered basically the entire ride...I have no idea how long we went... She had the energy. We had some pretty scary stuff pass us...at one point we were cantering along a rode we go on a lot, and out of no where a border collie comes at us from a house; I had no idea they had a dog. Border collies are into herding, right?...anyway, that's what i thought, so I got Daisy to a walk and stood as a car passed us. The dog seemed to have electric fence, so it didn't come after us. Daisy was so good! Another time, a car with trailer like this came by...There are two things that actually worry Daisy on the road. Motorcycles going fast, or revving their engines, and cars with those trailers. It came up fast behind us (not speeding, just coming around a turn without much warning) and I turned, saw it, and got her over to the far side and kept a strong leg on her...she tensed up as it went by and her head shot up but she didn't move! I love my pony... she's such a good girl...when I'm on her back, anyway ;), on the ground is another story. At one road that we always canter/gallop (about a 1/4 mile, slight uphill) Daisy cantered and ended up galloping...I very rarely feel her truly gallop. Generally it's just a really fast, powerful canter. But she got so into it today, she went faster and faster and then was galloping...she stopped pretty well, though.

The last picture is of her today...taken with my phone. That was after our ride, I shut her in her stall with the cooler on. :)

Tomorrow I ride Daisy and I go to Jean's to ride Bubba...I'm trying to get one ride on him a week while I'm not at the barn, so that I'm ready for county fair with him this week...the Bubba Chubbs... :)

OH! Need to add for memory sake, I rode Jean's new event horse, a big 17hh thoroughbred named Ladd, a couple weeks ago...he was INCREDIBLE. I mean, amazing! He was pretty jumpy at first, but once I got him on the bit, he automatically engaged and his back lifted and he felt amazing. I LOVED him! I'm SO excited for Jean's show season; I can't wait to follow them along. Ladd is awesome already! :D

Pi π Day

Hello, all!
I actually started a post earlier this week, never finished, and decided not to post it at all :) Sooo I'll just tell you about my day/weekend.

Friday, kids from a trade school in the animal science program near us came to see a sort of presentation of Jean's farm. It was SO fun! We went in the arena towards the end and the kids (okk...so some were older than me :P) watched me and two other people demonstrate all sorts of stuff, flat work to jumping. it was awesome! Daisy was really good. The man who brought them their checked over Daisy's western saddle for me (which I stopped using when white hairs started growing in a little) and he said that it pinches her only on her left side because she's more muscled there and that since I ride primarily English anyway it was safe to keep the saddle; yey!

I rode Daisy today and Bubba (second picture). Daisy was great! We worked on flying changes and I got three good ones out of her from right lead to left; I figure we should start easy and once she starts to get it one way we can try the other :).
Then I rode Bubba, for the first time unsupervised! He was very good; as usual. We kept it pretty simple, working on circles (which I did with Daisy, too) at walk/trot/canter. He's awesome!

Daisy comes home this Tuesday...so we'll begin conditioning on the road again. After these two months primarily in the arena, I can't wait! :)

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 .

Life is Good

GUESS who got a new western saddle on Friday!?!?! ME! Sooo, let me tell you about it :)
Last Friday, Daisy was picked up to be driven about 1 1/2 hours to a place just outside of Buffalo, New York. Her traveling companion was a pretty boy named Jan (stands for January something-or-another (idk)). She trailered up pretty well; she paused for a minute because she wasn't sure of what to think of Jan's whinnying and stamping as he was already in the trailer, but she loaded pretty quick and they got along; she didn't bite him (That's a plus). I rode down with Jean and with Jan's owner, sharing fun horse stories and plans for the season...

Once we got there we took around; those are the horse pasture's at Jean's dad's place (who owned the tack shop).

The tack shop.

More horse pastures :)

We unloaded Jan and brought him into his new place.

Jan took the trip down with Daisy to visit the "Equine Correctional Facility" part of the property :-P. Jan has a rearing problem that just didn't stop, so now he found himself in a new place :). Ironically, Daisy spent a month at the Correctional Facility as well. Jean originally got Daisy because her old owner became afraid of her. Jean didn't have time to ride Daisy, so Daisy went to Jean's dad's place for a tune-up. Turned out, she didn't need much of a tune-up, because she only spent a month there.

Jan quickly met his stable mate in his stall. There were some very pretty horses in the barn; it's very cozy there, and pretty cool looking.

Like these two pretty horses that were across the aisle (I know, look like Jan and his new "friend").

After settling Jan into his new place, we headed to the tack shop. It's small, but filled literally to the ceiling with stuff: English and western saddles and bridles, halters, lead ropes, saddle pads, gifts, consignment stuff and new. The first saddle he showed me was this one. I didn't like it originally; it looked boring (I know, I'm so...picky:-P). However, I tried it on Daisy, and it fit her, so we headed to the round pen to try it out while riding and make sure it was good.

His round pen was AWESOME. It was indoor, and sanded. The walls were high, with just some windows, and there was a place where you could sit up high and look down onto the ring. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good picture of the ring because of lighting. But that's not the point. I got in that saddle and I fell in love (*sniff*). It was SO comfortable. And it fit Daisy. And it fit me like a glove. SO well. It was so comfortable, not to big or too little, and just wonderful. It was handmade by a private person (company?), not a big retailer. The leather is in GREAT condition. It's old, so it's heavy, but it was great. So of course I bought it. For $400. Which, according to Jean and her dad, is VERY cheap considering how much that saddle probably cost when it was brand new (Think a couple thousand dollars here). Jean's dad looked sad to see it go, lol, and said that if it had fit him he would have kept it for himself.

Saddle in the trailer, we loaded Daisy back up for the ride back, her alone that time.

Of course, she got a couple treats. (Man, I love my horse.)

I know, blurred picture...we drove back home.

With a beautiful new saddle.

Tomorrow the Yautzy Road Yahoos are riding and walking in a parade nearby. I'm so excited!

Hopefully I'll let you know how it goes by tomorrow night...hopefully. :)