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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Monday, November 28, 2011

Decisions

Well I have to make some decisions here pretty quick.  I have three horses boarded at Jardi's right now and that will get a little too expensive for me to keep it that way and seeing as I had planned on only having one there over the winter this is not gonna last.  But I don't know who to take home.

My original plan was to take Razz home and ride Disco all winter and see what she can do, but now I have an option to take lessons from Doug and I think I would be better off taking Razz.  And I never even planned on Shasta cause I am pretty suspicious about people wanting to trade until the deal is actually done.  So now I have her to think of too.

If I went the easy way I would take Disco home and just ride Shasta for a while then ride Razz.  But I know I should ride Disco more and give her a fair chance.  And I kinda want to ride Shasta more cause I am kinda liking her.  I was kinda hoping it would be nice enough out that I could ride her outside and hopefully see if her lope improves.  I think it is better than the first time, but still seems like someone has either held her back all the time or just doesn't know how to stretch out.  I checked her back the other day and I couldn't find a single sore spot.  Oh and I measured her and she is just a smidge under 15 hands.  So just about perfect.

I shall go today and ride them all hopefully and try  to make a choice.  I should at least decide between the weekend for them as well as me.  Cause I know I am not enthused about riding three and by the time I get to the third one I don't even want to ride anymore.  And I feel like if I want to ride more than 20 minutes I am exhausted.  I need to ride longer than that at least on who I am going to take to lessons or they just don't stay in good enough shape.

And I better get on the ball cause the show last Saturday was cancelled for not enough entries so if I want to go sooner is probly better than later.  I am okay with fewer entries and I think after Christmas is when more people show up.  But should still be okay.  Char was asking Doug about showing and he says he wouldn't go to small shows like that unless he was schooling so who knows.  But since I am riding razz with reining I will be schooling so it might be better for us.  He suggested we show ACHA (Alberta Cutting Horse Association) next year especially if she wants to go to the Supreme cause if we are competitive there she should be okay. 





Saturday, November 26, 2011

Lesson Update


Well Yesterday was a fun but full day and best of all I was still home by 5:30!  Char had a lesson planned with Doug at 2, and he said he would wait to work Kali on cows till I got there and so I was pretty excited to see her too! 
(Shasta at fence)
But first I got to Jardis a little earlier than Char cause she was getting off work and didnt want to be in a rush to hook up her trailer and tack up Dude.  So I caught Dude for her and then i had extra time and was gonna ride but not quite enough time for that, so I brushed Shasta and got a couple more pics of her.

(Really hard for her to stand still)
Then we headed down the road and he has an old cow in the pen he just calls her the babysitter and she just stays in the middle of the pen and keeps the other cows there.  Even when he chased in new cows or out cows, she just stands in the middle of the pen. She has been there forever and noone chases her so she just stays still.

(Char working cows)
Well Dude was first so Char worked him and Doug ahd a few things to say but overall he thought Dude looked pretty good.  I think Char was pretty excited and wants to go back more. 
(Pretty nice stop/turn)
Then was Kali, she was moving out better than I seen her before and she looked pretty good, but its hard to tell cause he didnt do a lot with her, just keep her with the cow and was pretty slow (which is good but boring to watch, lol)  I got a short video but I dint know when he was gonna do stuff so its okay.  I think she looked good, I was a little worried about her getting thin but not so much anymore :)

(aww shes so cute)
I liked the way he worked and super easy to talk to so now I got my brain thinking I might take Razz for some lessons, even on the flag, and see where that goes.  I need to get better anyways and if Char is going, we might as well travel together.
(sure watching a cow)
Then when we got back, I saw the sunset was pretty cool, so I got a shot of that too.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Looking Back

This afternoon I was cleaning out my basement room and some of the rubbermaids in there are full of stored stuff, so since I been throwing stuff out I thought I better see what I could throw out of there.  It sure was funny looking through a bunch of that old stuff.  Some of it I can't even believe that I kept this long, like theses reports and stuff from high school.  (What was with the peach paper???)

And I found this cool puzze of Bananas in Pajamas that my friend Melissa sent to me when we were just out of school and she wrote a letter on the back.

And some cool crayola packs from when I was collecting crayons and stuff.

And my sticker album from when I was really young, was kinda fun too look through there.

And all the fun things we did before we had the internet like writing out song words.  Amazing I would spend the time to do that.

I also found some more recent things like out wedding invitation. (Which I still think is pretty:))

And then found the wedding cards and this really cute anniversary card from Neil a few years ago.

Makes it more fun to clean out stuff when it brings back good memories like that (well except school).


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Tuesday and Wednesday

Yesterday Charlene had a lesson booked with Doug Reinhardt so we loaded up Dude and headed out there.  She was pretty nervous about going by herself and I kinda wanted to visit as well so I went along too.  She rode Dude on the flag and he was pretty good then Doug got on him and found a few problems, but all in all thought he was doing pretty good.  She kinda wanted someone to take him for a month or so and tune him cause its been a long time since he has really been in training and she doesn't want to mess him up.  Doug isn't sure that is what he needs but wants to see him on cattle on Friday so we are going back Friday to work cows.  I got to see Kali in the barn and she looked tired, i had to wake her up to get a look at her.  But Doug said he will wait on Friday till I get there so I can see her on cows.    Im pretty excited!!  It will be a long night cause after that we are going up to Ponoka to stay overnight and Char is gonna show on Saturday.  I will bring Razz up as well but we are not gonna show.  I was gonna bring Shasta but after only two rides on her I think it might be pushing it a little bit yet, maybe next time.

Tonight I went a rode Shasta again, I am kinda liking her, didn't really expect that.  We did quite a bit of trotting and she is sure smooth, really like that.  I asked her for a lope today and she was all balled up, it was really weird, like she didn't know she could go fast or she was sore or something.  It was odd.  But she kept going till I asked her to stop and wasn't grouchy or anything.  I totally meant to check her back and measure her before we left but forgot. 
(rabbit hopping through our yard today)

Afterwards I sucked it up and got on Disco.  She didn't really want to leave the door area, but we got her going around following Dude and she sure still mouths the bit a lot.  Still responds to it, but constantly chewing it.  Just a plain snaffle, but she don't like it very much.  She didn't respond very well to my leg either, kinda just ignored it, but we will see I imagine that will come back pretty quick.  I just walked her around both directions about 10 minutes and quit.  She walks really fast when she wasn't trying to stick to the door, was kinda nice.
(rabbit hiding after Neil tried to chase it towards me)

Then since I had Razz all tacked up I rode her too.  I was pretty exhausted but she was all ready to go and it had been a couple days since I rode her that I thought I had better.  I never rode in my spurs cause they were on my other boots in my truck and she acted like normal still so that was good. I like to know I am not relying on the spurs all the time.

I thank you all for your comments, BEC, I had no idea about any of her breeding, so that helped a lot.  And Shirley I feel real stupid for not thinking of getting her teeth checked especially since we just got our others done 2 weeks ago.  And Leah I liked the name Sage too, but where I board there is a Sage and that just gets too confusing having horses with the same name.  And Janice, she is in with Disco right now and Disco bosses her around but they seem to get along well.  Eventually she will get kicked out with Razz and Dude and Jardi's few shes riding.  She is registered as a Dun, but kinda a buckskinny color now, real cool markings though dark stripes on shoulders and legs.   Although she has no forelock to speak of and her bridle path had been trimmed and now looks funny, but I think that will all eventually grow out.  I think she is close to 15 hands, but I will get a stick on her maybe on Friday if I am there early enough.

Monday, November 21, 2011

More on Shasta

Well today was the big day, sorta.  First of all our accountant come out for an early tax call so we could do something and not pay so much income tax, well turns out that isn't a problem.  But he was late so I wasn't sure I was gonna get to go ride, but I went anyways after he left.  I never got any pictures of Shasta (stoopid me)  cause I forgot till after I turned her out and it was dark out, of course.

Well I rode Razz and she was good like always, so we just had a short ride and then I got Shasta, still not sure I am stuck on that name, but unless another one comes to me that will be her name.  Anyways when I caught her and Disco cause they are in a pen together, I put them in stalls opposite each other.  I saddled Shasta before I rode Razz.  So I went and got her and put a snaffle on her cause that's what I was told she was ridden in last and got on.  She tensed up a little when I first stepped on so I had her moving in circles right away and then walked around the arena.  I totally forgot to walk her around before I got on and she looked a little odd at the tractor and the mirror.  I always forget about the mirror in there unless its a young horse.  But she kept going and all was good so I asked for a trot and that was fine, we did some figure eights and she was just good.  Not very bendy, but sure does know how to move her shoulders.  She also doesn't know how to rollback, and her stops are not very good.  But all in all not a too bad.  I didn't lope cause I was more nervous than  I think she woulda been bad.

When we were on the way home on Sunday, Charlene pulled out the papers and the name that was on them as the last owner was one of the 4H kids I used to help!  Kinda weird!  So tonight I gave her a call and asked her all about this mare.  She said they just didn't get along so she traded for a nice gelding she really likes.  She also said she had been patterned on barrels but she only loped them, she had been tracking steers but she never roped off her, she doesn't like white cows.  Don't know what that meant never had a horse that was picky about color of cows before, but who knows.  Said she was really cowy and has lots of energy, better if ridden every day.  She also said she is pretty sensitive when it comes to spurs and she put a shank bit on her and she reared up.  All good things to know I guess, and she seems to be alright.  I can't argue about not getting along with a horse, cause I had Dinero and didn't get along with him, not that he was bad, just not for me. 

I found her old sale ad on the Internet last night too and in it it says she is broke to drive, so who knows maybe I will be using my cutter this winter.  I don't know what I will do with her, but will ride her this winter and see how it goes then decide.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Quick Trip to BC

(I love trees that are frosted with snow )
A Month or so ago I made a deal with a girl, J, that I was gonna trade Jamaica and Casino for a mare she had (Shasta).  She didn't get along with this mare cause she had lots of energy and she wanted something quieter.  And she really likes the young ones and likes to start them and get them going.  So I wasn't really looking for a trade, but this mare sounded like a decent mare (She actually sounds a lot like Bailey)  So we conversed forever and finally decided we would do the trade.  I would drive cause she was going to college and I had more time.  This weekend worked for both of us and so yesterday afternoon I loaded up the babies in the trailer which I had bedded down with lots of hay and off I went to pick up Charlene.  We left Drum about 4 and were on the way.  It took Casino only about half hour to get her sea legs and I think it sure helped Jamaica just jumped in and started eating. 
(Jamaica in the trailer in Invermere)

We took  a small detour (about an hour out of our way) when we got to the Radium turn off and missed the sign and we hit Lake Louise and I was pretty sure we weren't supposed to go through it but we went a little farther and finally decided we should stop and ask and sure enough we had to turn around.  We finally found the right corner (silly national parks have brown signs when I was looking for a green one, lol)  and headed down to Invermere to spend the night.  I thought about going to Janice's after she suggested it but I was exhausted and she was probly another hour or so down the road.  I never even thought of her being that close or I mighta gone a day early and spent some time visiting her.  Sorry Janice, maybe next time. 

We fed and watered the babies in the trailer and headed to bed for ourselves. In the morning we gave them more water which they didn't want, then we headed to J's place.  She lives in town and it was odd to dive by houses and see horses in the yards.  Sure a lot different than here.  It was about -11 and kinda windy so we caught her mare (and she was super easy to catch) then we lunged her a little (she was sound and even when she slipped, she just got up and kept going)  She was just sweet.  So I led Jamaica and Casino off the trailer and into their pen and loaded her up with a full hay bag and made the deal.   Then we headed home.  It was a lot earlier than I thought we would get on the road, which was kinda nice. 
(walking to the Husky Restaurant, lol)

We headed up the 93 and saw signs with the mountain sheep on them and I said I wanted to see some, and lo and behold when we got to Radium they were just standing in all the streets and so Charlene took my camera and took some cool pics of them.  They were just standing there and some even posed for us.  One which we missed a pic of had his front feet in the tree and was eating the leaves!  Kinda fun to see different wildlife than we have here.
(Posing for Char)

We got back to Jardi's at about 4 and got her settled in the barn for the night and she was real well behaved through it all.  Tomorrow Char has a lesson so I might go over and hopefully the weather forecast is wrong (it says high of -15)  if its warmer I will ride her otherwise I have to wait till Tuesday cause it is supposed to be +8 or +9 so that will be perfect.  I am not sure what to do over the winter now cause I had a lesson on the flag with Razz on Thursday and she was soooo good that I got caught unaware and now want to show her this winter.  But that leaves me Razz and Disco and this new mare.

I never got very many pics of her so I will post a bunch tomorrow or Tuesday when hopefully it is a little warmer.  I think she will turn out and if I don't get along real well with her I don't think she will be a hard sell.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Big Plans for the Winter

Well yesterday I went riding and saddled Disco again and put the snaffle bit on her just to hold while  rode Razz.  The whole time she was chewing and being silly so I still never got on her.  She was much better with everything else though, stood still while brushing and saddling so that was an improvement.  But I better get on her soon cause I want to show her in the Jan 7th show, so I better get her in shape so we can work the flag and some cows too.
(Disco all saddled up and ready, just not sure I am ready)

And Razz was soo awesome too.  We did a little trotting then some loping and I made her go slow which was pretty good, still tries to go fast most of the time.  Then mixed her up and trotted again before loping the other way.  then more trotting at the end.  In the middle we did circles and rollbacks and figure eights and even some counter bending.  She was pretty responsive until Jardi come to talk to me and we stood still for a while then she thought we should be done, so we trotted and worked some more till she wasn't trying to quit on me.  She is getting way better, but I read an article last night about Chiropractic work and it said something about if the horse has trouble chewing and making sharp turns the jaw may be out, and since Razz has issues with her face, maybe a chiro should be next on our list of things to check out for her.  I was more thinking it was nerves or something but this might work too.
(Disco still all saddled (even though the saddle is obviously not tight as it slid back quite a ways))

And this weekend I am heading to BC to drop of Casino and Jamaica and pick up the dun mare from a million posts ago that we are trading for.  Should be a fun but long weekend.  Think its about 5-6 hour drive so I am thinking I will leave on Friday afternoon and stop in Radium or Invermere overnight then head to her place for about 10ish and ride the mare and then load up and head home.  That way it will still be a decent time when I get home on Saturday.  I am thinking I will leave her at Jardi's and take Razz home.  That way I can get her ridden instead of putting it off till next summer. 

Sure will be a challenging but interesting winter with riding 2 new horses and I am hoping I will at least like one of them.  Both would be nice but I'm not sure about that cause I am pretty picky about what I really like and am kinda wary about riding horses that other people have ridden, not that they cant be good, but I like things a certain way and not everyone is the same way.  But I am trying to keep an open mind and will ride both and see. 

It will be kinda weird not having any horses in the corral for the winter though.  At least until it gets real cold and I might have to bring in Jazz. I am still up in the air about her, I think I probly would really like to ride her cause I really like Razz, but now my heart says not so much, but I will find out in the spring when she gets started.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Monday, November 14, 2011

Scrapbooking Weekend

On Thursday night I headed to Olds after feeding my ponies at Jardi's.  Charlene had a lesson on the flag and so I never rode cause I wasn't having a lesson.  We stopped for supper at the Chinese food place with Jardi and had a nice good visit.  I kept going to my Moms and stayed there overnight.  In the morning we went out to Sundre to a place called Diamond Buffalo Guest Ranch where we spent the weekend.

It sure is a pretty place out there.  They have their own private lake, and the big lodge building and bunkhouses a little farther away.

 In the lodge they have a restaurant/lounge and they serve meals on Thursdays to Sundays.  On Friday and Saturday night they had a blues band in there, that was different. I don't listen to a lot of blues, but kinda nice for a while.

We had our own room set up in the basement and it was pretty nice big room.  There was lots of tables down there for us so we could spread our stuff out really well.  In the next room there were chairs and couches if we wanted, but we didn't spend much time there.

It was my mom and my weekend we usually spend together, but we invited Stacey along as well cause she really wanted to get a bunch of stuff done.  It was so much fun.   I worked on my regular album, getting caught up and I finally finished 2010.  I was gonna start on the cruise we took in February, but I had printed mine and my sisters pictures but never got my moms pictures printed, so I didn't want to start and then find out I had more good pics I wanted to get put in.

So I continued on into 2011, and sure some good memories of clinics and cutting we went to up at Vic's last winter.  But I sure hope we don't get as much snow as last year, it was ridiculous!!  I sure wont have a problem using up all the snow stickers I have. 

It sure is easy looking back and finding out dates on stuff when I have my blog.  I kinda think its silly to have both cause I could just print out my blog and its almost the same.  But I sure like the dimensions and backgrounds and stickers and stuff that we put in our scrap booking albums.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Here and There

On Tuesday, as the pic from yesterday shows, we loaded up in the trailer and headed to the vet.  Charlene took Ricki cause he was fighting the bit and the insides of his bottom teeth were pretty sharp.  Dude was turning his head sideways when he eats but there wasn't much wrong with his teeth just a few edges to get rid of.  I took Razz cause she is still being silly when using a bit and when something touches the side of her face, but not much he could find there.  He checked to see if it was her sinuses but doesn't look like that either.  She was still sore yesterday so still not sure whats going on yet.   And I took Disco just cause she has never been as far as I know and for 15 her teeth were really good.  One top side had a little to come off but he said it wasn't bad.  And even though we did her last she never really took to the sedation but she was really well behaved anyways, way better than I thought after her standing by the trailer making noise and being wiggly the whole time we were there.
(the bit I thought would work)

On the way home we stopped at Boston Pizza for Appetizers so they could wake up and then when we got home they were standing silly all noses together.  We put Ricki in front cause we wanted him as far from Disco cause they never met, then Dude , then Razz who just shoved her way up front then Disco last.  I know there is lots of room for 4 horses in that trailer, but the way Razz shoved everyone up we coulda easily fit another one in, lol.  Those 3 were in the front half, probly squishing Ricki, but hes too wimpy to try to push back even.  When we got back to the barn that how they were standing so I had to take a picture.
(the bit I shoulda tried cause everyone that I used it on liked it)

Yesterday was another eventful day, I saddled up Disco.  She was really good with the whole thing except a little touchy around the cinch area, especially the back cinch.  I did it up so it just touched her belly, which was probly good cause she tried to kick at it and caught the edge of it so if it was loose she woulda got her foot in it.  I left her saddled when I rode Razz.  Afterwards I took her in the arena and tightened the cinch and turned her loose and she walks away.  I couldn't make her go any faster and she wanted to stay by the door so I got the whip and thought I might at least be able to make her trot.  But no, she is the only horse I know of when you tap them with the whip they turn towards the whip!  So i led her around and we had a good look at stuff in there and thought I might as well try to put a bridle on her.  I have no idea what she was ridden in last but she was supposed to be a broke cutter, so I put a real mild curb bit.  She wanted no part of it.  Not sure if it was the actual bit I chose or just a bit in general, but she kept her mouth wide open and was chewing.  I probly shoulda just left her a while with it, but I took it off.  I tried one of Jardi's with more tongue room and same thing.  I might try a snaffle on her and then go with my original plan and put the bit on her from Henry (and Gypsy, not sure why its still Henry's bit)  that every horse seems to like.  I am not sure I will get on her today, I might wait till next week and go over to Greg's arena and pony her with Razz a bit then get on her there.  Not enough room here to pony. 
(if she dont like that bit we will start over in a snaffle and see from there)

But first things first.  Today we have two loads of cows going to the sale, the dry ones.  Then I am going riding, then afterwards I am gonna head to my Mommy's and we are going out to Sundre for the weekend and going scrap booking.  I'm pretty excited! We usually do our weekend at Jardi's but she is way to busy this year and asked if we do it later, so we might come in Feb/March there.  The only thing I miss about being at Jardi's is I don't get to ride.  But there will be lots of time this winter for that.  And this weekend the show in Ponoka I am missing,  and making Char go by herself.  But sounds like her hubby will go with her so that will be good.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

More Ponies

Yesterday I guess I didn't explain very good about what's going on.  Duchess is not my horse nor was she in one of the pics.  She belongs to a friend, Susan, and is here for the winter.  (She is a half sister to Charlene's horse Ricki)  She is a sweet horse and the only horse I know that will allow me to hug her head.  And she enjoys it too.
(A not real good pic of Duchess eating cause I was crouched down to far and she is big)

And apperently I think more than I write cause I forgot to say the biggest part of my blanket dilema is because we are going to Vic's for cutting every other weekend and they spend a couple nights in a heated barn.  Then I feel bad putting them back outside without anything on.  Last winter it wasn't till about end of January I put a light blanket on Razz.  But also there are so many horses turned out with her (6 now) that her blanket always ends up getting ripped. 
(Belle, Casino and Jazz in the snow)

She has winter hair, but it is short and thick so I think I will put it off for a while.  No saying I can't blanket her later in the year.  I actually prefer no blankets and my home horses don't get a blanket but they have a windbreak and noone rides them and smooshes the fur down on them either.  If I ride like last year it will be 5-6 days a week and then I think a blanket is gonna be necessary.  Even though I know it won't make less hair cause only light can do that, it seems to prevent a little sweating and makes me feel better, lol.
(The babies--Casino, Jazz and Jamaica)

Oh and the house the other day was not ours, unfortunatly, but we were headed to town and got stopped to let it go by.  There was a pull out so he actually stopped to let us by and they guys behind him pass as well.  It was 40' wide the guy said, so pretty good size.  Still wish it were coming here, sigh.
(Casino looks so little behind Duchess)