Just Gotta Love Her

Some things about Daisy bother me, but...there is a bond between us that cannot be broken. I love that girl so much.
That said, I digress.

Jenny and her three mares moved into the nighborhood, and Daisy and I visited on Monday. Daisy was shocked to see them, and they were shocked to see her. I'm excited for all the things their living so close has brought for us; someone to ride with, ponies for Daisy to visit with, an indoor, etc etc. :)

Today Jean picked up Daisy...two hours late. That's never happened before :P but it turned out ok so that's good...by the time she came it was almost 9:30 and pitch dark out. My brother sat in the bed of his truck waiting for her with me (at the end of the driveway...as usual) and Daisy stuck her nose over, breathing in deep, looking around. I sat on her for a bit in the dark, with just a halter and lead...she was quiet. Same interested, not worried behavior as usual. In the dark...it was cool. What a sweet pony I have. I really do. :) <3 Lovvveee her. So...Mounted meeting with the 4H club Friday, possibly riding Saturday (depending on how energetic she is Friday), pleasure show Sunday, and parade on Bubba Monday. I'm super excited for the show...should be good. I need to do a refresher on side passing over a pole, and then we should be all set. We're showing in a borrowed leopard print pad from Jenny for western ;) with my new brown show shirt (I have 5 western show shirts now. I feel rich ;) and the new bridle. Funnn! English we have a new, stark white pad, and new paddock boots and chaps. Tall boots don't appeal to me...I feel like I don't have enough movement in my heel and leg with them...so I got new black half chaps to save just for shows with my new black paddock boots and those are my "tall boots" :P. That's it for now....my knee has been strangely swollen, again, since Monday...I'm icing it currently. :P These pictures were all taken tonight...I stuck the macro flower shot (of chives) in there for fun; it's pretty cool lookin'.

Headstalls, Lunging, & All That Jazz

Lots of fun stuff goin' on!...Basically.
Sunday I rode the 5.2 block again, but Daisy seemed tired. She picked up a trot and canter when I asked, but she didn't seem into it. So Monday I just went over our trail once, Tuesday it rained, Wednesday I rode Bubba. I rode him western for the first time. Andd...drumroll...I'm riding him in the Memorial Day Parade in our town with our club! And possibly the 4th of July parade as well then. I'm very excited :)
So Wednesday I didn't ride Daisy because I was with Bubba, ended up lunging Daisy on our lawn. Today, I barely rode, due to my exciting fun awesome new western show headstall. :) It arrived today. I got it at Horseloverz.com for just $24.50! I used the curb bit with it...and really like how Daisy rode in it. I know two years ago when I got the curb and used it she rode better in it than the Tom Thumb for awhile, but eventually started ignoring it...I think I'll definitely show western in it this year, and perhaps ride in it outside of shows, too, since I don't really ride western often anyway...it would just require switching out headstalls each time :-/ We'll see. In any case, I love it and can't wait to show in it (along with my new split reins to replace my broken old ones).

Got me some leather cleaning sponges ;) and so I cleaned up my three (!) headstalls today :).

My english one definitely needed it. It's so much more supple now. Western saddle is next on the agenda.

And apples. I know, I know...I'm weird for posting them. I just..felt like it. I keep getting apples from my school lunch when there's nothing else I feel like eating (but I spend money for more~set price) and they're accumulating. My lucky horse ;)

And what else? Jenny moves in this weekend...with her horses. I'm so excited. Once the horses are there, Daisy will be thrilled to head out to her house often, and so will I. It's a great deal.

OH! I lunged Daisy again tonight. I put her english saddle on and used twine to make my own version of side reins. A friend of mine started using side reins on her mare lunging, and ended up switching to twine because she felt it worked better. I don't have side reins, so I'm making do with twine. My friend's mare has improved tremendously, and I'm hoping it will do Daisy some good. I'm thinking, once Jenny gets her arena cleared out and new sand put in, I might leave my lung line and whip up there and "side rein" lunge Daisy when I go up. It's a little hard on our uneven lawn. I'm not sure what to make of it tonight...Daisy seemed bordering on confused and/or/idk uncomfortable...Not sure what to make of it. She came down on the bit, and had a few licking & chewing moments, and did step through a little more with it, but...Idk...she wasn't thrilled. I think she was confused...the more I do it, the more it will click? We'll see.
Sunday the 30th is our first show (since the game show was canceled). It's a pleasure show, and I'm riding all day. With the new headstall and trying out the curb again...I'm feeling a lot better about Western. And I really am physicked to see how Daisy does this year in an english show ring. She's improved tremendously this winter-I hope it shows. Then the 31st is the parade with Bubba.

Until my next post,

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 ;)

Some Short Videos

You'd think I'd have been warned of how the ride tonight would go by the first video... ;) But I wasn't. So the ride lead to the second video.

(Videos taken on my phone...notice ginormous buck in beginning of first video ;) )

I had a mounted meeting...and Daisy was CRAZY. I've never described her as crazy before....she got WAY too into the barrel racing; she was really really good; flying changes, no knocked barrels at the meeting, etc...but she threw fits when I asked to stop (wanted to keep running). Her behavior was so stupid I insisted on roundpenning afterward...and we did a join-up and things got a little better.

The show for tomorrow is already canceled...due to expected heavy rain and 50 mph winds. Which is a shame. :-/...

Oh well...I rode Bubba today. Despite his energetic behavior, he was very good.
Onwards and upwards as always,

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),