Auction Report

Me and my boyfriend Kyle headed down to an auction today with a few of my rabbits. They didn't do so well, we got a few dollars for them but ended up buying one back as he is worth a lot more. We did however invest in two very small baby dairy goats.

These poor animals are taken away from their mothers after the first few days; just like dairy calfs, so the mothers can be milked. Alike male dairy calfs, male dairy goats are often raised for meat. So this is strickly a business investment which should provide a bit of profit when the time comes to sell these little boys.

However, in the mean time, like everything else on our farm....they have been named and cuddled and pampered to death already! My little boy is named Bongo, he is a bit bigger than Kyle's who is named Q-Tip. Both are super vocal and friendly.

The auction did hold something for the horsie people. Well no, that's a lie.. They had 3 ponies. All were "fugly" and nothing went for more than a hundred bucks. First one was a broke to ride and drive shetland pony, a bit sassy but pretty cute and calm. She went for a very low $85. The second one was a 2 year old probably mixed bred pony or horse who never matured, he didn't get a bid...well one man offered $5 as a joke but the auctioneer wouldn't take it. The last horse was a mini stallion. He was pure black with a cute mane and tail, but he wasn't friendly and he had a long back. He went for $55, very cheap.

Only 3 Types of Riders

I've come to the conclusion..there are only three different types of riders. Ones who have an indoor, ones who don't.. tehe just joking.

There are three though that I have noticed so here it goes.

1st type of rider is a very observent rider, they notice everything often before the horse does. This type of rider is good at making a horse nervous. This rider is looking for things the horse is going to spook at and often finds things the horse would have otherwise walked right by if the rider had just been confident. Horses can read your body language so well they KNOW if your looking at something thinking "oh that looks scary bet the horse is going to spook" and then tada they spook!

2nd type of rider is the very opposite. They don't notice a thing! They're the ones with the really deep western saddles (sorry) who take trail rides at a leisurely walk and come off because they were day dreaming when a deer was spotted. Whoops!

3rd type of rider is the balanced rider the one who sees everything but has the confidence to know it isn't going to scare their horses (reguardless of what horse they're on). Perhaps it's just a mind set that makes them better riders, but these riders are able to get their horses through anything simply because everything isn't a big deal. They don't create the problem but they're also on their toes for when a problem arises.

Todays Going To Be A Good Day!

I have five minutes before I have to leave for The Beer Store which is great I haven't worked for more than 3 months and I miss it!

I also just listened to my 10 last downloaded songs which just cheers me up. I'm weird like that. I download songs and listen to them for about a million times and it always cheers me up.

Have a good day! I know I will!

I Hate Winter

I seriously hate winter. I have ridden once since I've been home from Illinois and it's just been so aweful.

What I need is an indoor arena somewhere that I can train and coach year round.

I also need to retire my old wintec saddle and get a decent dressage saddle for Peanut and a decent any type of saddle for Akasha (who is without saddle all together as Eddy has it and Eddy is an hour away).

Well I'm off to run errands and try to dig up a job for the meantime.
Adios..

My Favorite Cowboy's Stories

Here's a little introduction to my favorite Cowboy. His name was Ray, he owned a small buckskin quarter horse who he trail rode daily. Ray was well over 80 years old when I met him, and was still riding daily, he passed away last year in March, he is very well missed. Everyone who met Ray just loved him, he was always extremely friendly and had a pet name for everyone. I was Squeek, short for Pip Squeek. One of Ray's favorite things was to tell stories, I have no idea if half of the stories he told were true but after hearing them so often, as he did repeat them often, they are now my favorite stories as well.

When Ray was in his mid teens he lived with his family at a large ranch where his father breed horses. Ray went out with his brother one night and his brother drank quite a bit becoming very drunk. When they got home his brother hopped on his father's prized horse, a beautiful great big white stallion. He laughed and said "Hey Ray open up the gate there", Ray did and his brother riding bareback, rode the horse out into the yard. His brother rode the horse right up on to the porch of their big farm house. "Hey Ray why don't you open up the door?" Ray laughed thinking he's not really going to ride the horse inside the house and opened the door. Ray's brother marched the horse right through the door and up the grand staircase to the second floor where he dismounted, with grace of course, and walked a few steps to his bedroom to sleep for the night. In the morning their father woke up to find his beautiful stallion waiting paitently at the top of the staircase. They spent the whole morning trying to get the horse back down.

Lets Make It Better!

Here is your chance, let me know what you want. I am going to do my best to keep this site up to date but let me know if there is something you'd like to see, or that you don't want to see any more. Such as the classifieds section which only I seem to be able to use? Lets get some feedback here.

As for the stable what could I do to make it a better riding stable? I know of course we need an indoor but until we have the finances to cover such a project what could we do differently?

I am starting up a pony club this year we will be looking for a student president, and a junior present as well. If you have any ideas involving this please bring them forward. You can post a comment or talk to me directly.

This Is A Real Sport

Horse riding IS a real sport.

We have three (3!) events in the OLYMPICS.

That alone should be enough to convince you but if not keep reading.

So why doesn't anyone take it seriously? I'm always having people not show up for lessons, not bother to call, even with a cancellation fee. What do I have to do so that parents (especially parents!) take this sport seriously. If you were paying $25 dollars a week for your child to participate in say a sport like soccer. Would you miss more than half the practices and still go to the tournament? I highly doubt it! The soccer coach wouldn't allow it. To play in the game you have to practice. Horse back riding is no different.If your child is bad at school or home would you punish them by not making them go to soccer practice? Heck no! You'd say go get those cleats on you've got soccer and it's our turn to bring the oranges. So why ground them from participating in their regular horse riding lessons.

Let me remind you, horse riding builds confidence, balance, muscle, strength, lets them bond with an animal and last but not least teaches them responsibility! Where else do they have to be responsible for another living thing, that they have to brush completely, pick the sharp rocks out of their hooves, exercise, praise, discipline, and clean up after!

When I started riding I was 10 years old and I hardly said a word to anyone. I was the shyest girl I knew. In class, at parties, even family get togethers I never said a word unless spoken directly to. I was sad and being sad isn't good for you. Now I am an outgoing, motivated, hard working individual. I run my own lesson stable where I work my butt off and will do anything for my horses and my lesson students. I have the drive and determination to really do what ever I want to. I would not have got to where I am today if I hadn't been involved with horses. True that I would have probably grown out of some shyness but I would have never had enough confidence to do half the things I've done in the past 10 years.

Being able to work with an animal so much bigger and more powerful than yourself is a great feeling, especially when you and said horse become partners. There is a level of riding that you can achieve only by practice and time. At this level the horse is more than just a riding buddy, he or she truly becomes your partner and while you ride it's almost as though they're reading your mind. People who don't know horses always say "why is riding so hard all you have to do is sit there", but they surely do not know our Eddy (or most horses for that matter). When you see a very professional rider riding, it looks as if they are doing nothing at all. This is the ultimate goal.

Horse Thoughts Straight From The Horse's Mouth- Literally!

My mom had Lauren Bode read my two horses that I've had the longest (just over the phone though). It was soooo cool!! Eddy had so much to say he hardly ever stopped talking and he had me and Lauren laughing the whole time he was funny! He started out by saying thankyou to me for picking him up..I got him for free 3 years ago. So that was really nice. Then he said that he was a good jumper and he snapped up nice and he wanted to know if I was going to take him to the jumper competitions. I told him eventually. (I'm a nervous rider over fences!). He likes to show off and he likes to go to shows. He asked if he was too loud. I wasn't sure what he ment because he's not overly vocal but then I thought about shows and I told him he was very loud at shows but that it's ok because he looks like a stud so he can keep doing it ( he never stops talking at the shows and definitly looks awesome lol). Lauren said he is very mocho and likes to act tough..that he always thinks he's right and that he likes to do things his way. She also said that he is gay. Very funny. He was worried that we were moving again and I told him we might have to move for the winter only. I asked him why he doesn't like our trailer and he said he likes it but he is just scared that we're leaving the barn, shows are fine though. I asked if he gets picked on by the pony and he said they're too rambuncious and he doesn't like to play with them. He also told me his gaskins where hurting but now they feel better and he's moving his leg differently but he'd like more medication (the bute I had him on while we were conditioning the stifles lol!). He also wanted to know if he was going to get any taller..apparently someone had said he was a big boy and he wanted to know if he'd grow any more. He also wanted to know if he had enough muscle, which I told him he didn't we still have a ways to go lol. He also wanted to know if I liked his tail...his tail is gorgous of course I like it lol! I asked him about his racing career and if he was fast and if he was a trotter or a pacer. He said he was very fast and he liked it but doesn't go that fast any more. He also said he was a trotter. Then I asked Lauren if he had ever learned how to pace, and he said he had but only raced at a trot. That's funny because I suspected that but wasn't sure, he does know how to pace and does that when he's off balance. That's so neat!! Anyways he had tons to say as you can see!... My other boy wasn't quite as talkative. Pnut first asked if he was walking right. I told him he did okay but I wasn't sure why he was asking. He went on to say he got tired and his head goes down and he goes to sleep. That's pretty funny because at the end of the lessons he does get tired and we let him stretch out to cool out and he usually points his toes down and ends up triping. He also said he was happy about learning his new walk (I don't know what walk he is talking about!) and his side ways walk (ok I get that one) and spin and back up (haha a few little reining moves we are trying to learn). I asked him what kind of riding he wanted to do and for the move part he said he was pretty happy with what he was doing now (aka lessons). But he did say he wanted to learn how to hippity hop..we're thinking this is jumping lol he said he saw the other horse do it and he wants to now too. But me and pnut have never been good at jumping together he had an awesome jump and I pushed him too hard when he was younger and scared him so he doesn't like to jump ever lol he almost always refuses anything that's not flat on the ground! Weeeeelll then I asked if he wanted to learn western and he said he wanted to do hippity hop and western....lol.. I asked if he liked to race as well and he said he did but he got bored.. which is pretty funny because he also got disqualified for cantering all the time during the races. I asked if his saddle fit and he said it did but his old one didn't and he had a lump in his back from it. (He had changed shape in his shoulders this year which made it fit differently now he's wearing a wintec which fits everyone because it's so flexible). He said he loves his new blanket and that doesn't make any sense to me at all I haven't got him a blanket in the last few years but oh well. He also loves the colour blue. He knew that he had won ribbons and cookies and flowers at his last show and he was pretty proud of it and he'd like more cookies. He also said he really likes the little boy who rides him, that's sweet because they get along really well. He also didn't know wether he was a boy or a girl so lauren had to tell him. He also didn't know who he belonged to he thought he was shared lol that's funny but sad he's my favorite horse I would have thought he knew he belonged to me lol but he is used in a lot of lessons so I guess it could be confusing! He also said he was confused when he started giving lessons but now he knows what to do and he likes it. That's pretty cool. He also said he really wants a brow band like the pony (refering to Akasha who is very spoiled and has a sparkly one). I told him he has his own but we only put in on for the horse shows. Anyways thought I'd share those too are so awesome!

Why?

I am scared, and incredibly worried! I just looked at my local classifieds and found at least a dozen horses for sale for under 2000. These horses are all broke (or at least green broke), seem to have decent conformation, range in size from a Welsh stud to a 16.2 "power house jumper". Some of them even come with TACK!Not only horses...purebred rabbits are going for $5!! At a pet store you pay 45..but online only 5! It's crazy!Cats and dogs they're all free!!THIS is Scary! Animals have dropped in price so quick that it should be the dead of winter even though it's summer when prices are usually at their best. On a different note beer and gas prices continue to rise..

Akasha

Akasha is such an amazing little pony! She's already doing walk/trot under saddle and I've even gotten a few canter strides out of her. She's a bit on the lazy side but she really enjoys being ridden. She's one of the first to come see you if you have a lead rope in one hand (most of them run away but not little Kay). I'm proud of her. :)

Dressage Could Be Fun

I am so pumped now! Today we went for a drive and watched a bit of the LDA show (London Dressage). Although my horses aren't quite at the advanced level which we got to see I think we can do it! I was so excited I rode Eddy at quarter to 9 tonight (after the first storm but before the second batch of rain). He did extremely well and used his back and hind end a lot better than he has been lately I'm proud I can't wait to get out there for our first show next month!

Eddy Goes BOOM

Eddy has had his first real temper tantrum of the year! It was a big huge leap sideways into a canter rather than picking up a normal working trot.He was feeling pretty spunky and had to pee, go figure! He had plenty of opportunities to pee but he didn't use any of them so he had to work. After leaping sideways he figured he'd be allowed to stop so I gave him something else to do. I made him work, he had to canter around the ring 3 times instead of stopping. Then he tried to spin into the center and that didn't go over very well so he had to canter a small circle and then go around another 3 times. It's amazing how reverse phycology works on him. He wanted to run so I made him run and then he didn't want to run any more. All the trot transitions after that where much better ;)

For Lack Of Blogs....

For lack of blogs I wrote a blog... and here it is..I guess I could start with an overall update: Here it goes!Peanut's back is feeling better, for those who didn't know; he had a sore back after the open house and we didn't know why. After a few massages (and a week and a half off) he seems back to his normal self, today I rode him and he did very well..well except for spooking at mom's scary garden..eeeek weeds!!Eddy...Needs to be ridden more!! He wants to jump and I can't wait to jump him myself! We're still working on his stifles which are slowly coming along.Akasha is very excited and extremely proud of herself, now if I go to take her for a ride she prances all the way to the round pen! I'm quite happy about that she's very awesome and so much fun to ride, I've never felt a smoother pony!!Dolly is working hard and loving every moment of it..however she feels someone should develop better fly spray so that she doesn't have to roll to remove the horse flies off her and rider. *tehe just joking she hasn't tried it yet*Scotti has learned that being with humans isn't so scary and now will stand in the cross ties without sweating buckets! Whoopee!! Now for the saddle.........

Open House A Success

Things have been crazy around here lately, hence the lack of blogging going on. It was worth it though! Our horses were clean and the barn was spotless, the ring was neat and the rabbits/guinea pig/goat/cow where fed and in the right places! It rained off and on all day which effected the number of people who came out. We did however get a few spectators for the lesson demos and musical ride. I really want to say thankyou to the students who came out you made our Open House so much fun and there was never a dull moment!

My Little Pony

Akasha my little halfy pony is finally learning to be ridden! With the help of friends I am finally able to walk and trot with her in the round pen. (friends have to stand in the middle with a whip to reinforce go forward aids). She is learning very fast and although she has little temper tantrums sometimes she is getting better and better each time I work with her. I can't wait to be riding her without a spotter on the ground she is so much fun! Her trot is incredibly little and I love it :)

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Does this work? Can you see me? Really? Tell me the truth now??!??!?