Bareback Riding and Nasty Weather

The winter weather has really gotten us down lately. Snow, ice, rain, and then a foot of mud. Consequently I have had almost zero opportunities to work with my horses. The situation has just been nasty in general.

But I do believe things are starting to look up.

The last few days have actually been nice and decently warm, so the mud isn't quite so bad.

I was going through a bad case of riding withdrawal, so I decided that I would ride whatever the circumstances.

So I decided I would just throw Lady's halter on her and go for a bareback ride.

I've kind of made it my personal goal lately to learn to ride bareback. I mean I've ridden bareback before here and there. But I really want to learn to ride it confidently and at more than just a walk.

(Perhaps I've just watched too many old western tv shows, but those guys are seriously way cool.)

Anyways, so I've ridden Lady a couple of times recently with just a halter. Walk is easy. I'd done that before and had it down. I really wanted to perfect my trot. I had felt pretty insecure and like I was going to be jolted right off. So that is really what I worked on. A few strides here and a few strides there. I'm quite happy to say that I think I've gotten pretty good at it! I've discovered that I actually really like riding bareback, and I'm happy to say that I'm not bad at trotting like that now. So that what we've been doing lately when there hasn't been a foot of mud or snow or ice etc etc etc.

I don't have an pics of the whole bareback thing, but I did go out today and just take some pics of them in general.

Mya pretends to be a hound on a scent and Lady is "thrilled" that I am taking her picture. :D

And my dog is super cute. I mean how can you resist that face?

*Yawn*

I hope you all are braving winter successfully, hopefully spring is almost here! I do believe I am starting to see some green grass outside...

Blog Hop: A Rose

 

     

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Every horse seems to have at least three names:  the "real" one, the barn one, and that special one.  What are some of your pony's names?

 

I was excited about the theme of this blog hop when I read it. I love naming things, so yay! 

 

I will name just about anything. Its bad. I named my scientific calculator Cassidy. (I'm a bit of a math geek.) I have a Tardis from Doctor Who and a teddy bear on my key chain. Therefor I named the bear Lucinda the Time Traveling Teddy Bear. Like I said, its bad...

So of course I loved the idea of a blog hop about names. Cause I certainly have a tendency to call my horses a lot of different things.

Lets start with Mya. She doesn't have a show name because I've never shown her and she's not registered or anything that I know of. So we'll just start with her barn name, Mya. And then there's the nicknames. Pony, because she is big. Beastie, when I ride her because she is crazy. Myer and Oh Me Oh Mya. I also gave her a middle name. Eureka. Cause you know, I found her.

Then there's Lady. I actually changed her name when I got her. It was Penny. At the time I didn't particularly like it, but now that I think about it she does have the coat of a copper penny. So I get it. But I changed it to Lady just the same. We considered calling her Lucy, but the majority liked Lady better. So then I said we could make Lucy her middle name. It ended up that it was just shortened to Lou. And thus we have Lady Lou. More often than not, I just call her Lou Lou now. (I'm sure she lovesss the name.) I also refer to her as Ladybug from time to time.

Beastie and Lou Lou. :D

 

Collectively, I refer to them as "the ponies".

Oh Look! Snow!

I certainly wasn't expecting it to snow. Last night everything was just warm and drizzly. But, what do you know, I wake up this morning to a world of white!

The horses were already up at the stable, hiding in the run-in stall. Guess they weren't exactly over joyed with the snow. But it was cute to see their two little heads sticking out. "We are not coming out so you come in."

They perked right up when I started dishing out breakfast. Food does wonders.

The weather in general has been pretty nasty lately. Mostly just a lot of rain. (Hey, I'd rather it snowed than rained so yay!) But with all of that I just haven't been able to do much outside. I will be happy when the weather gets warmer, or less mucky, and I can get back to working with my ponies.

Kentucky Derby Star

I made a new friend last week! And I might add he's a bit of a celebrity in the horse world.

I was lucky enough to get the chance to meet the winner of the 2011 Kentucky Derby!

Meet Animal Kingdom!

The great Animal Kingdom!

Every now and then I get the opportunity to attend various events and my personal favorites are the ones that have to do with horses. So I was naturally thrilled when I got the chance to visit this stud farm. Animal Kingdom wasn't the only famous stallion I met there, but he was certainly my favorite. (Discreet Cat and Street Sense are two others names I can think of that were present.) But, wow. All the horses were absolutely amazing and gorgeous! I was seriously fangirling.Way too much awesomeness going on.

But needless to say I was very excited when I heard that this horse was going to be there because he is one of the few racehorses that I actually knew my name. I remember watching the Derby on tv the year he won.

I'm not a huge racing fan or anything. I'll watch the Triple Crown once a year and thats about it. But I do love OTTBs, and its on my bucket list to own an ex-racehorse and retrain it. I think they are super talented animals.

So, ya, I have to say this was a pretty cool experience. 

The Case of the Runny Nose

Doesn't that title sound Sherlockian?

I couldn't resist.

I mean this post has absolutely nothing to do with my favorite super-sleuth Mr. Holmes, but I've got to add a little personality somewhere...

Anyways...

I posted before about Mya having a respiratory infection. I had the vet up and we put her on a round of powdered antibiotics, while that worked for awhile, eventually the runny nose/nose bleed/respiratory infection came back.


I think it is due to the fact that Mya did not get the full amount of antibiotics in her system. She wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of eating them in her feed.

So a second round it is.

This time I am making sure she gets the stuff in her system.

I was a little worried (ok maybe a lot) at first because she seemed to lose her appetite earlier last week. She wasn't eating her feed and wasn't very interested in the hay either. The vet was called and he said to come down to the office and pick up more medicine and put her on a second round of it. Because Mya wasn't eating I obviously couldn't put it in her feed so thus enters the oral syringe.

Boy, was that fun.

I gave her the dosage of medicine via oral syringe for two days. Then I decided to try mixing it with her feed again. The mucas had cleared up a little and she was starting to act a little more perky.

Round one I tried mixing it with apples pieces, molasses, brown sugar, and oats. I cooked it all together and it smelled so good I was just about ready to eat it. But that was a no go. This horse has weird taste buds.

Round two, I decided to try something different. Peanut-butter and a little bit of honey.

Peanut-butter...!

The winning combination!

I didn't know my horse liked peanut-butter. But when I mixed that with a little oats and a little bit of her normal feed (medicine cleverly disguised inside), she immediately showed some interest in it. I left it there for her and when I came back a couple hours later it was all gone.

Peanut butter!

I then basically proceeded to walk around the house with a silly grin on my face mumbling that word. 

Yes. I was really happy that my horse actually ate something. I had been pretty worried about her.

So now Mya has had her third dose of peanut butter-ized medicine and it seems to be working. Horses can be pretty finicky but I'm hoping she'll continue to eat it. She also ate all her hay for the first time today so I think that is a good sign.

We're not out of the woods yet, but I think we are getting there.

Meanwhile, despite all the mud, Lady seems pretty happy. It took her awhile to recover from that abscess episode, but I think she is doing a lot better now. Though she did loose a shoe (mud) and I need to call the farrier tomorrow to have it put back on.

Here is a picture of her in the "front" less-muddy pasture.

2014 is almost over! Wow. I feel like that flew by really fast. This is possibly my last post for 2014. So if I don't write again before then, see you all in the new year!

Merry Christmas!

Mya and Lady wish you a Merry Christmas!

December's 10 Questions!

I've been a bit MIA this month. I'm sure everyone else has been super busy around Christmas as well. Its just that time of year! Not that I can complain of course. I love the Christmas season! But I'm back just in time to type up the 10 Q's of the month. So here they are!

1. What size horse do you prefer to ride? At the moment I prefer to ride ponies. 14hh is about perfect.

2. Do you school in tall boots or half chaps and paddock boots? Well, when I actually wear my english boots I school in half chaps and paddock boots. But more often than not I just slip on my cowboy boots and ride in those.

3. What do you do with your ribbons after shows? I have them hanging up in my room. I don't have that many so it works out just fine that way.

4. Do you ride/board at a large show barn or a small private barn? Since I have my horses at my house, I guess it would have to be a small private barn!

5. Have you ever seen a horse give birth? No, and I can't say that I really want to either.

6. What is your favorite breed? Ooohh. Now that's a hard one... I have a thing for Arabians. I've loved every horse I've ridden that has been an Arabian. (Night was an Anglo Arabian. I really miss that horse.) I also like Thoroughbreds. Its on my bucket list to get a OTTB. Mustangs fascinate me. And Andalusians and Frisians are just gorgeous.

7. Favorite tack brand? I don't have a favorite. Just whatever works at the time is good with me.

8. Would you ever buy used tack? Yes. That's the only way I buy saddles. You can find a lot of good stuff used.

9. Ever been on a carriage ride? Yes.

10. How often do you go to the tack store? Probably twice a month to pick up feed and such.