New Farrier. Baby Horse Growing Up!

So my farrier is a wonderful person.  I really like him and he's been doing my guys for years.  Granted, they've been pasturey pets that I'm reworking so having performance feet hasn't been a priority.  Mango has her summer white line issues but lately they've been bruising too and I'm like uh no.  I've asked about shoes and I always get the run around.  This is a thing from the past 2+ years and I was like :/

When I got Jade I didn't want to mess HER feet up and she was used to being shod exclusively.  I mentioned it to my farrier and he just kinda mehed me when I mentioned it.  This indifference led me to check out other people's horses and I had always heard great things about the farrier up at the TAMU clinic but I didn't realize we can just see him.  But you can!  Plus its up at my work PLUS employee discount!!!! And the clinic's prices are already lower than what I'm paying AND I can schedule appointments!  No more, how about an hour from now?  Oh, hey, your guys are 2 weeks over due...

Now that I'm riding Katy in her epic saddle, her foot soreness that was really only on rocks in 2014 became more of an issue.  If I helped her back... would shoes help her feet?  I'm not an eager person to do shoes but at this point her feet were hurting on the nice MMwhatever footing at the covered arena so that wouldn't do.  Also, she and Mango were having a hard time walking on the hard sand in the pasture so yeah.  SHOES FOR ALL!

The new farrier LOVED Jade and was honestly excited to be doing a "weird" breed's feet.  He took his time and did an excellent job.  With Katy, the first thing he did was just hack off her "long toe" that Old Farrier had been tip toeing around for years.  Mango apparently DOESN'T have white line disease, she just needs some support as her hoof was separating from her laminae.  Cripes.  The second she had shoes on, she strutted right across the concrete and was toe flicking her way back to the trailer.

Jade's "I'm getting new shoes" face

Piper and Edison came a week after that for just trims and they looked great.  Edison was a little rock star as we held him and his feet and he got the footsies trimmed up nicely.

Imma big kid!

Oh speaking of Edison!  He's sooo cool and losing his baby coat.  There is a seriously red hot smexy colt under all that dying fluff.  He's got plenty of sass but is super thoughtful.  I can see him starting to drift away from mom, but we'll worry about all that stuff in the upcoming months.  I pulled him out and started working on lunging (more like wild rearing baby horse) but he figured it out fast and all was good.  I also worked on hind leg picking up alone and it wasn't.. great.  He started hopping and my shoulder is toast so he decided I wanted him to lay down and so he did that.  I laughed and just lightly straddled him and sat on his back while I pet his ears and everything.  He was happy and I guess that counts as my first time sitting on him!  He's also HUGE(ish).  He'll never be super substantial (which we knew) but he's about 80% of his mom's height already and up to my chest with his back so yeah.  COME ON HIT 16 hands please!

 Video from when we got Piper preg checked at the OTHER clinic.  Edison gets around (y)

I also took some rather hasty pictures and registered him with APHA while at the clinic.

Introducing CS Logical Conclusion.  

July In Short. Or Semi-Short

As alluded to in the previous post, July was action packed for us.  We went on a family trip July 4th to test out the RV and then we were at a dog event for an entire week in the mid month.  I might have ridden Katy once but that was about it.  The event was a smashing success and I was pretty stoked that we pulled it off sooo well and I was truly humbled by our volunteers and the amount of people that believe in me.  I've always been on my own for so long, forging my own way, that its a shock when you have a group of people that are looking to you for leadership and just totally get what you're saying.  I'm feeling pretty fulfilled right now but also nervous a little.  Dun want to let them down! to some degree but we're all doing awesome and it was a week of being badasses basically.   We so rocked, go us.

So riding off that and the realization that I could now do MY things, I booked lessons.  After a lesson with dressage trainer in early July, I decided that while I love her as a person, I might need someone with more... unno oomph for me?  Its hard to word it really but I'm not sure my goals align with her teaching style although her lessons are quite nice and have been very welcome.  I feel like I need more focus and direction.  I like learning the process not just doing it so yeah.

I had managed to set up two lessons with Lurena Bell in Willis, TX.  She was shrot listed for the Olympics twice and her scores on Centerline Scores are great.  More importantly to me, she has loads of students (like me!) that are real people and have managed to show to and beyond their goals.  I'd only briefly met her when I was a teenager and trying to watch another boarder's kids at Windy Knoll so I couldn't recall how she was as a person.  Oh and she herds sheep with her dogs so I was all uh, yes please?

The lesson was perfect for me, Katy and Jade.  We all worked our asses off and while they're totally different horses, the exercises we did were similar with tweaks for each horse.  Easy to recall homework basically.  I told her I wanted to go home with homework and boy did we.  I also went home with a major confidence/ego boost as she told me soo many times during the lesson how great my position was and so on and so forth.  I finally was like stahhppp its embarassing about teh compliments to which she replied they weren't compliments, they were observations.  That shut me up but I was still glowing.

I've never had that many compliments/good things said about my riding in all the years I've ridden.  Like, if you add them all up, it would still be less than this lesson.  A little sad, but omg I felt validated that I'm not a flailing idiot either.  Most trainers I  ride with are like ok, do it better.  OK, that's better, but do it better.  Its all push push push not reward the little pieces.  No wonder I'm an anxious hot mess that second guesses herself.  Geez.

I floated home on Satruday with my mares who rock and then I headed out for dog herding the next morning.  No rest for the wicked!  We did soo well chasing sheep and then Monday PM I went to agility practice.  All the things man!

So in short, I'm exhausted, physically in pain (yay shoulder rehab), and mentally toast.  And I feel pretty freaking good about myself.  Now to get stronger and work out a schedule that works as the kiddo is starting serious football practices, hubs wants to hit the gym, and I have been dabbling with doing some things with Piper as well as Edison.

Oh speaking of Edison!  He's sooo cool and losing his baby coat.  There is a seriously red hot smexy colt under all that dying fluff.  He's got plenty of sass but is super thoughtful.  I can see him starting to drift away from mom, but we'll worry about all that stuff in the upcoming months.  I pulled him out and started working on lunging (more like wild rearing baby horse) but he figured it out fast and all was good.  I also worked on hind leg picking up alone and it wasn't.. great.  He started hopping and my shoulder is toast so he decided I wanted him to lay down and so he did that.  I laughed and just lightly straddled him and sat on his back while I pet his ears and everything.  He was happy and I guess that counts as my first time sitting on him!  He's also HUGE.  He'll never be super substantial (which we knew) but he's about 80% of his mom's height already and up to my chest with his back so yeah.  COME ON HIT 16 hands please!

Arthur: New Life

Arthur has been with the trainer about a month.  In that time, he had his skills I'd put on him brushed up a touch more and he restarted jumping properly.  By all accounts, he was the awesome, wonderful, snuggle bunny of a horse that I knew was in there and we'd lived with for the last 6 months.

People came to check him out as their next hunter propect and we quickly had a bite which led to a vet check naturally.  The trainer felt he'd move best with shoes on and since Arthur does have pancake feet, I agreed.  And that led to his PPE coming back as possible laminitis a day or two later.  Whaaaa?  There was a follow up PPE for that reason a few days later and derp, no laminitis, no soreness, just new shoe touchiness that other day.

So glad I'm not there in person to watch these things.

HOWEVER!  The followup PPE NOW has revealed that Arthur has some scratches on his eyes.  Minor but either normal things from stuff like dust in the paddock when he was younger or CANCER!!!

Seriously, who deals with these PPE vet people?  Cripes.

So yeah, naturally the people that are looking at him have a hot button with eyes as their last horse had to be retired after its eye was removed for cancerous reasons or something similar (so I understand but geez PPE vet, ranging from nothing to CANCER AND DEATH is a bit of a wide range). 

The people were lovely and offered me less than I wanted and I decided to just go with it because that's why you set a starting price.  So yeah, from uncontrolled bucker that was terrified of the world to plodding hunter kids horse... I'll take it.

Good luck Arthur, be as lovely as I know you are <3

Bad Saddle! Not Really Though :D

OK so I have been prepping for a huge dog event we're putting on in mid July so my riding is haphazard at best currently.  With the new saddle revelation, I took my first dressage lesson in forever now that we were able to actually DO the things we'd been working here and there on.  I've been doing lessons with Amanda too and that's helped sooo much with Katy and myself (yay basics) but I wanted a real dressage lesson in my real dressage saddle.  So saddle win (y)  I think I took like 3 lessons this month from dressage trainer and one from Amanda (see below).

Amanda had ridden Jade in the new Flight and then I followed up with it after she had her go rounds with the great nonforward horse.  The saddle felt like it tipped us both forward and I was a bit disappointed.  On Katy it felt great, on Jade meh.  Jade didn't seem to care though as she had to deal with crazy riders whacking on her to go forward.  Saddle fail (sort of)

I contacted Shea about coming back out to refit and she was heading down already and tacked us on no problem.  Basically they'd fit the saddle to Katy with the idea that I'd use a pad with Jade.  I was like noooooo make it fit expensive horse please so it was done.  So basically, find a saddle fitter that returns your calls AND knows what they're doing.  SO MUCH NICER.  And no, I still haven't heard from Saddle Fitter A.  Seriously, how do people stay in business?  Ugh service industries are chapping my hide something fierce!

At this point I had no real idea what to do with Jade (she'll go forward after a few minutes and then... unno what to do as our instructions end there)  so with that and my cray schedule, we haven't done much in July.  I HAVE worked on her ground work which has begun to change her from a pushy obnoxious (but sweet) big girl into one that's more compliant.  We'll see what we need to tackle under saddle as we get to that.

Oh and the saddle is back to being wonderful now and works for both horses so yays.  Now to do this big event and then get to riding and all the things some more!

Nigel: Crashing Down

I'm so behind on this writing thing due to lots of things going on, so this is written (again) way after the date.  I am however glad to write about this after the fact.  Also, sorry for lack of pictures, but well... there's not much I'd be able to post about this photographically :/

So this was the week we euthanized Nigel.

I don't feel bad about my choice and even though I can question things leading up to it, in the end it was unavoidable even if what led up to it could have been prevented.

If you're keeping track, in the past month or so, there's been 2 different MAJOR blow ups with this horse that resulted in him seriously injuring himself.  By whatever grace you believe in, he's managed to not injure himself or anyone long term but I know its just a matter of time unless he's really got his crap together.



 And after the trainer, it really, really seemed like he did.

If you recall, when I picked him up, his legs were huge.  Cellulitis +10000 of course.  He hadn't been treated or seen and kept in super muddy conditions for 2 weeks before I got him.  A normal horse would be dead right?  Not Nigel!

When I brought him home, I took him to the barn and he got a stall across from Jade.  I knew he'd need rehab and this was the best way to do that, add weight, and hopefully get to riding him to decide on all that future things.  We took him to the clinic the first working day after I got him back and once again, he managed to pass all tests for infection, joint injury, and whatever else he should have had but inexplicably didn't.  They wrapped him from coronary band to knee/hock on ALL FOUR LEGS.  he was at the clinic for THREE days and I should tell you, he was a lamb.  From the moment we picked him up from the trainers, he was a dream boat.

I'd begun thinking maybe, just maybe this WAS my event horse!  But I also recalled I have Edison in the wings that will be a much more trustworthy one probably.  So I put on my businesswoman/trainer hat and got to work with Nigel.  At this point, I'm not trusting his tying and since he's BEEN getting tired FOREVER at the trainers, I tie him to a secure area near where our stalls are and leave him tied about 30 minutesish while I do my chores for each of those days and can keep an eye on him the whole time.  NOTHING that went past him ever phased him and I'm tentatively thinking this is going to work.  He was handwalked every day until the bandages could come off 5 days after bringing him home.  I never ONCE saw "Old Nigel" but I also wasn't going to take it for granted.  Also, I can't have him deciding to "untie" himself and trash his legs AGAIN every 6 months...  so we needed to test out how good he was at this tying thing and so we did.  On the 5th day of rehab, I crosstied (OMG RIGHT?!) to remove the bandages.  I knew this would/should test him but instead he was super quiet, happy, and just a little silly (in a friendly way) as I managed to removed the LAYERS AND LAYERS of wrappings on his legs without so much as bandage scissors (totally blanked on bringing them).

He was a saint and calmly but alertly checked out the farm goings on while I did this.

Then we did a bath because he was covered in rain rot (of course).  With that all done, he grazed, hand walked and then we tied in the same place as always.  Remember, he's now used to being tied for like all day so this wasn't excessive in any way for him.

So I start doing barn chores and the horse stands happily.  Calmly.  No big deal.

I think when "it" happened was when I finished up cleaning the stalls.  It wasn't very much but as I went by with the wheelbarrow, he was watching me more wistfully than before.  I was letting his legs dry before rebandaging them as well.  After dropping off the wheelbarrow, I came back to him and touched his hind leg (nbd) and then his front leg and I just felt the change in the force.  It wasn't an OMG WHOA moment, but once you're around cray horses long enough, you can practically smell something changing.

And so he pulled back once I was out of the way.

And stopped.

And thought about things.

And then JUST when he was about to look at me for assistance, he got his NOPE EFF THIS SHIT and he began his "thing."  Gosh if I could have begged a horse to check in with me, this was that moment.

Its hard to explain this in any way that's going to make anyone truly understand when you've not dealt with "broken" horses but basically... he systematically and methodically tried to figure out how to break the halter or the rope.  Its not a simple pull back and freak out scenario.  I can do that in my sleep.  This is calculated, calmly done, and very independently driven with no regard for what humans are doing or physical pain to himself.  All I did was keep people back and wait it out.

The most popular approaches he likes to use are putting his feet on things to push OFF them for extra leverage as well as putting his front feet ON things to push UP on them.  Since he had a lovely pipe fence, he spent most of his time trying to utilize those to accomplish his goals.  Problem was, my stuff dun break and he also managed to twist the rope over the safety knot so I couldn't let him go.  Best I could do was keep people away and calmly wait for him to check back in with reality.  It was all very slow motion, calm, no flailing, and I even went up to him in this 2 on, 2 off position to moves his front hoof away from the rope so when he came down on his own, he wouldn't be caught in it.  It was that calm and he was that aware of what he was doing.  Basically, no self preservation coupled with him doing this sooo many times that he knew what he was doing.

People asked me if it was a trick I'd taught him.  I said no.

I checked my phone to kill time while I waited for him to give me something to work with.

About 20 minutes later, he completely and calmly gave up, checked back in with me like "hey, human, help me out." and I untied him easily and my lamb of a horse was back.  He'd blown out something inside his right hind leg badly and when I started assessing him, he's also managed to grind his right front pastern down to the tendons and seisomoids so I knew this was it.

I gave him a final big meal and lots of pats (while explaining to onlookers that he was walking the green mile and why).  I called the clinic and made the arrangements.  I knew I had to get him loaded before his adrenaline wore off so I headed home to get the trailer at 9pm. My brave, never say die boy unloaded 2 legged lame at the clinic but alert and completely cooperative.  80% awesome 20% deadly dangerous  *sigh

I could doubt tying him THAT day in THAT way all I wanted, but honestly... this is also the kind of horse that will "wing it" out on cross country when he wanted to.  He was athletic as all get out and sooo bold, confident, and clever that he'd just make that decision to leave a stride or so out in front of a huge table or hang a leg.  This is the horse rotational falls are made of.  I couldn't resell him knowing that.  I couldn't push forward and ride him myself and know that.  I didn't want someone less experienced dying from him not wanting to be tied today, yesterday is fine, but not today.  None of this mattered as he manged to mangle his legs beyond reason and didn't seem to give a shit that any of that had just happened.

I did contact the trainers I work with and they completely agreed that this was the right choice but I also knew it the moment I saw the look in his eye when he decided to be clever that evening.  There was never a doubt in my mind at that moment or since.  I'm sorry for Nigel, but I'm upset about the people that made him this way and allowed him to learn this deadly game.  While I spend my time with Jade and Edison, I'm realizing that that's where I want to be at this point in my life... helping "new" MY horses reach their full potential and not destroy myself over fixing other people's mistakes.  Its sad for me as I've done it to long, but I just don't think I can keep doing it.  I had my cry over my big red boy and I'll channel that energy into moving forward.  I guess you really can't save them all but this was my first time with that and it sucks.

Be free Fancy Boy <3

Baby Horse 2.0: We're Cooking!

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Edison: Month Two

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Jade: Riding in Texas

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The Day My Riding World Stood Still

In a super awesome good way!

So Jade's been in Texas about a month and it was quickly apparently that in order to ride her, I'd need a new saddle.  I hate shopping and I JUST bought my new M Toulouse Marianne in JANUARY, so the idea of shopping AGAIN was toe curling.  I also knew deep down I couldn't ride my $$$ horse in a $ saddle and expect any sort of greatness.  Also, Friesians are not an off the shelf kind of horse in really any form so I began the horror that is dealing with saddle fitters.

I guess the lucky thing about coming off buying the Marianne is that I had a good feel for what would work for me at least so I started with that.  I read online.  I looked at Jade.  Basically there's ONE saddle fitter that's recommended in my area and she also deal sin Albions which used to work good for me so I sent her an email.  I got a call back that day but hashing out the actual appointment has resulted in one email for an entire month until now (more on that later).

Looking around, the Custom Saddles are getting good reviews and USDF has them as their official saddle and Steffen Peters rides in one, yadda yadda and the rep for Texas comes to my area regularly.  I figured it couldn't hurt so I contacted her.  She was prompt, helpful, and we were set to meet roughly this weekend.  The last week heading into it I had heard nothing so I contacted her again and after a little communication lag, I knew she was coming SAtruday PM.  I like 2 minutes from the barn so whatever.  I also let her know I would ride KATY so I could work the fit for me and fit it for JADE.

I'm sure she thought I was nuts but whatever, right?

I won't go into huge details about it but basically she showed up on this day with one of the Custom Saddlery company owners (omg, right!) and proceeded to dump thousands of dollars of saddles on the ground and at me.  I had studied extensively online and knew that the Icon Flight was most likely to fit ME but I said to just give me whatever and we'd try it out.  I didn't want to know much about the saddle, just go and ride, go and ride.

Katy was a little keyed up at first and I was very wham bam about the whole thing so that didn't help. We plopped saddle #1 on her and I headed for the nearest field.  Very little warmup and we walk trot cantered to the right and came back.  Saddle swap and repeat.  Always to the right so I can compare better.  I'd rate the saddle when I got back and we'd go again.  After about saddle #2 though, Katy was sooo relaxed.  She eagerly cantered (which is not something she's been doing so hot at for the past.. forever) and I could lift her back and she started using her shoulders.

WHO KNEW SHE HAD SHOULDERS?!?!?!

By the end she was so relaxed and so bendy that I was sold.  On a saddle for Katy.  Derp.

In the end, the Icon Flight was our saddle hands down.  It was like the skies opened up and the sun shone down on us in that moment.  All my struggles with my right hip, all Katy's struggles with her canter, gosh it was all gone. Even more shocking, I didn't want to get off!  I just wanted to ride and ride and ride and ride.  It was soooo comfy and soooo awesome I just knew it was the one.  Shea sold me the demo there on the spot and we fitted it to Jade but it turns out Katy's back is more a wider type like Jade's so I get to use the saddle on both.  Sorry about all those medium trees Katy! lol.

Shea and the company owner were in love with Katy by the end as she was sooo patient and well behaved for the whole order.  Not bad for Miss Craiglist Special!  And thus ended my saddle search and onward to riding Jade.  *gulp Oh and that other saddle fitter?  They LITERALLY contacted me the day I got this saddle.  I was all well, I'd be happy to still try and Albion but I do have a Custom on trial, not sure what the etiquette is with that but I'd be happy to compare.  *radio silence

And... CHANGE!

So Nigel has been at training and for the most part, his legs have healed up and he's been getting trained.  Aside from some typical OTTB things, he's been doing fine. 

Except tying.

Its like he refuses to get this no matter how step by step things go.  He's fine then... not.  And he's just chill about wanting to NOT be tied.  Except that he keeps hurting himself in the middle of his bizarre tantrum.

*sigh

I've also told the trainer to get him going well and sell him and he's glad to show the horse to people.

So trainer calls me and thinks Nigel needs some time off to heal his legs.  I'm assuming its from the original issue at the vet school so I'm like ok, that makes sense.  I'd just gotten Arthur back from Shane and despite falling in love with him again (he's SUCH a good boy!), I know the right thing is to have trainer sell him to someone that will let him just be a big hunter dope (sorry huntery people).


I take Arthur out to the place and after DRAMA getting in and miscommunications, I see Nigel.  He's tied.  Calmly and happily.  His legs however are all the size of elephant legs.  I take a deep breath.  And another one.  He's also thin.  All my months of feeding him and he's... thin.  I'm trying to process.  Trainer is trying to flail around to stem off the impending rage he's sure I'm going to throw at him. 

I'm still breathing.

I decide to assess with my hands.  Aside from his legs looking horrific, they don't feel terrible.  His weight loss could be logically from all the riding he's been under so I'm all "ride him for me."  It's been hella wet, so he rides him in the round pen and overall, Nigel rides fine.  He's a little gimpy on one side but it's not bad.

I feel a bit stuck at this point.  (Literally too as my truck and trailer was stuck in mud at this moment) *sigh

I don't know what else to do so we load up Nigel, I hope Arthur is in the best hands and ask for how to get unstuck.  The trainer is a bit fluffered out because I'm not a normal psychopathic horse person that should've yelled by this point, so he offers to get us unstuck.  I'm thinking tractor or something else saner, he's thinking rodeo the shit out of my truck and trailer (remember Nigel's in it still) and ends up jacknifing my trailer into my truck's back window shattering it and leaving a dent. 

But its unstuck.

This is a great analogy for us.  We both get the job done, I just don't like leaving shattered glass.  In his defense, sometimes glass needs to be shattered (Nigel).  I just wish it hadn't been my truck.  :/

We took Nigel home and he had ZERO issues with being a psycho in the trailer this time and we even stopped at Which Wich to eat lunch without hearing so much as a peep from him.  I have more faith in Arthur not being so "special" and I can only draw on the thought that lots of people I know have sent their $$$$ warmbloods to this guy and rave about him.

*sigh

Farm: BARN!

My life can be summed up right now as DO ALL THE THINGS!

Really, I'm not trying to be that nutty but its a bit of an unstoppable force at this point.  Paying off debt has been amazeballs.  Buying Jade isn't something I've regretted for a moment.  Katy is rocking at life.  Edison is the most amazing little red guy ever.  Add that to lots of personal and professional triumphs and I'm rocking life right now.

Once things are going well though, I like to figure out how to maximize things.  I'm still working on eating better, losing my weight back down another 5 pounds, but I feel super strong so meh.  Imma eat that cupcake right now if I want.  The main thing that I HATE right now is monthly bills.  The mian thing right now: the boarding barn.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the barn.  I love all the wonderful people there that are enjoying themselves at their daily escape after work.  As I tear around there lost in my mental to do list, I try hard to say hi, chat with them, but my crazy life doesn't allow this right now because once I'm done at THAT barn with Jade, Edison, and Piper, I have to come home to THAT barn/farm and do all the things again.   Add onto that any dog training business things as home life things and yeah, I'm a task listing robot right now.

Apologies that I know hardly any of you lovelies by name!

And yes, I'm jealous a little.  I miss the long lost days of going to the barn, shooting the hit, riding around together and just "relaxing."  I've never really really had that though as most of my barn days were "ride this horse for me," "can you help me with X, Y, Z" "do you think this looks like instant death" and so on so yeah.  Maybe I don't miss those days, but I do miss the days of it being an escape.  Right now its just another place that I have some tack but not all of it but some of it.

Thanks for letting me borrow your lunge line Saturday Jeanette since mine was in my trailer at home this time.

So now I've written a few hundred words and gotten nowhere really towards my point.  Some backstory, sure, but actual point?  Nope.

Point is, I need to actually get on to doing something about my barn at the house.  You see, I have 33% of the barn I want there already.  I just need someone to AT LEAST put the roof up over the other 67%.  Joe and I would find time to get the rest done (eventually) even if the contract couldn't do it for us at the price I like.

Problem is, I can't get ANYONE out to do ANYTHING at the house right now.  I have an unpainted house, a partially finished bathroom, and a few other odds and ends the handyman was working on but didn't get done just right.  This hiring help sucks.

So I sent out an email asking for reliable, reputable people to not completely hose me over on finishing out at least the ROOF of my existing barn.  Here's hoping but ugh, unno...

Make me bigger and more horsified?

Jade: Settling In

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Jade: The Eagle Has Landed

And she's a hot baby horse mess.

So Jade's here now... remember that?  Yes, she shipped down from PA last week and spent the weekend in north Texas before heading this way.  The past two weeks have been a mess with me coordinating Piper's rebreeding, moving Piper and Edison, work, family, Jade's PPE and shipping arrangements and all that.  All good things, but still a lot to be handling.

But Jade finally arrived.

Boy was she ready to get off that trailer too.  She ran over the transport guy who passed her to me where she proceeded to run me over and almost got the farrier (naturally my farrier was out there at the time too yay coordination!).  All I had to grab was the THICKEST cotton rope ever and a stud chain - that wasn't over her nose.  So I'm trying to get control of her while my hands are getting shredded by the chain and teh transport guy gushes over how gorgeous she is and well behaved.

Yeah.  Sure.

I'm being as aloof as I can as he goes on and on an ON about her (he was really friendly but its hard to chat with a 1600lb spoiled brat trying to drag you everywhere).  He FINALLY leaves and I snap the shank as hard as I can and smack her off my body.  She barely reacts.  *sigh Guess we have work to do there too.

I toss her in her stall and head to work.

I was really, really hot and tired by this point ><

Piper/Edison: Moving Horses

So in anticipation of Jade's impending arrival, I've booked a stall at the nearby barn.  I hate to spend the money but she's not used to roughing it in a pasture 24/7 and she WILL need serious fan power to keep her cool during her first Texas summer.  I asked for a stall and a paddock (so I don't have to compete for turnout with the rest of the barn) and everything was on track.

But then Granada called late last week and was all "your mare's ready to head home!"  I was in slight shock.  It felt a bit like when I brought my son home:  "you're letting me take this baby life form home?!?!  I mean... I'll probably kill it, I don't know what I'm doing!"

So I swallowed my anxiety and thought about the options for a one month old foal and his rebred but not confirmed in foal mum.  Well, the house seemed a mess and I didn't think the tyke was ready to deal with REAL electric fences and I'm not ready to deal with catching a baby horse every morning because he got out again.

I decided to get them a stall at the barn.

The pickup went fairly smoothly and the baby was loaded pretty well.  I tossed them in their stall and it seemed suddenly like we can do this.  Plus I get to see Edison every day and torture him whenever I want.  So win!

And he hasn't died yet, go me :)

Edison: Heya!

Edison and Piper are still at Granada Farms with my decision to rebreed her.  Its been nice having them in a stall rather than my open pasture and I'm totally enjoying being able to just show up and mess with them.  Piper could care less, but Edison is doing well when I visit.  I try to make it out there 2-3 times a week to show him humans are fun but its been hard with, what else? the weather and my other things.

We tried to just put a halter on him since I'm not entirely clear on how to handle all that but figured it couldn't hurt.  Schiller has some things about foals, but it talks about laying them down and while I can totally see the value, Edison's legs look awfully breakable and I'm not sure I'm confident enough to attempt it without stumbling and falling all over him myself.

So we tried the halter and he ended up balking into me, bucking, me hanging on, and hitting the ground anyhow.  Yay laying down now?  I drag myself off him and proceed to take advantage of the situation by rubbing him all over, putting the halter on and off and so on.

Apparently I'm not going to break him, but I'm going to have to debate how to handle all of his body WHILE trying to lay him down.  This seems daunting since the little guy is up to my waist at this time.

We'll get it sorted out though.  Someday.

Baby Horse 2.0

So I've done a lot of thinking and with the acquisition of fancy pants sexy black horse Jade, I've made the decision to sell Nigel and Arthur for sure.  That should offset Jade's cost for the most part and yay.  Now the next order of business is Piper and more specifically Edison.  As a paint, he's useless right now and as a possible event horse he's useless too.  I hate to say all that, but its true.  No spots doesn't get you much (especially when your dad is an event/jumper bred TB) and eventers are going to want a young horse that's got good foundations.

So yep, looks like Mr Edison is here to stay for now and I feel pretty good about that.  It'll give me a chance to learn about babies and continue this fun journey we're on.

That brings to mind what I do in the meantime.  Piper is basically out of commission until after weaning which will put her around fall.  If it rains then like it's rained now, then I'm out another year with her soooo...

LET'S MAKE ANOTHER BABY!

I'm still wanting my awesome APHA sporthorse so I decided to just do the cross I wanted to do last year but was too cheap/nervous/worried to do at the time.

Meet The Huntsman:

He's a paint, he's versatile, he's homozygous for tobiano!  So basically I'm going to make a painted APHA paint no matter what and I'm breeding to a guy that's done it all (all over the country) and is just a sweetheart of a horse.  He's done Battle of the Breeds, Jumper Derbies, and possibly the most important thing: trail horse all over the US and Canada in mixed herds.  This guy has trainability and temperament to spare!

I'm excited about what's to come and there are some fun color opportunities I hadn't thought of that would be possible (homozygous black and tobiano filly anyone?) and that's exciting as well.  So hopefully I get everything on my wishlist.  The actual breeding was a little harrowing going from Canada to here and some phone line issues but everything got sorted out and we found out Piper is cooking a new baby 14 days later so whew!

I Got On a Plane! Random Trip to PA FTW

So I did it!

I was THAT person!  I booked my flight last week and hopped on it to head to Pennsylvania to meet the crew at ISF, meet some big black horses, spend some money, and then literally turn around the next day to come back to reality.  One day of horses, two days of flying.  Bring it.

The weather in Philly.. what the?

So I'm going to keep this short and simple, although this was possibly one of the most epically fun things I've ever done in my life (yes, money can buy happiness).  I headed to Austin around noon on Monday and stopped at Dover when I realized I could NOT show up without a nice new shirt that spoke of an understated but businesslike persona.  I also bought some new breeches while I was there to match. Oops.

So everything thrown in my suitcase, I headed to the airport and hopped onto my flight to Chicago.  There was a stop there and I hussled to my next flight to Philly.  I ate some expensively boring but attempting to be healthy foods at both airports.  Yay.    I got into Philly late that evening and headed to the airport.  Had to be up by 5am their time, 4am my time.  Hooray.

Dino in Chicago

Tuesday morning I hop the airport shuttle BACK to the airport and go to pick up my rental car.  Well, rental hearse really.  I'd asked for a full sized SUV because I love my trucks and I got a deal that cost the same as tiny compact car soo... yassss... all the things man.  I get in the black beast of pimp and head out to the PA countryside.

My ride, the pimp hearse

So its like horse heaven out there.

Plantation Oaks?  Unno, CROSS COUNTRY COURSE

Hideous countryside

Horse crossing #135345346

Convenience store here are waaay different than we have.  Also, this was the biggest and cheapest breakfast sandwich I've ever had.  Oh and it was fabulous.  ALSO NO ONE STARED AT ME WEARING BREECHES I MEAN OMG.

Surprised I didn't crash into anyone or anything with all the oogling I was doing while driving.

Its now "equestrian crossing."  I must be getting close to the motherland.

Yasss

More yassss

I was set to live there forever until I remembered it quit snowing there like... a few weeks ago.  Gross.  ISF didn't disappoint and I drove up, parked where I guess was the office, and walked inside.  They were super nice, showed me to the barn and we did the horse dance there.  I pet my first Friesian (who felt like a horse, shockingly) and we tacked up to head to the indoor.  Everything was fabulous (seriously, I'd go on for pages here if I could) and the ride was fine.  The mare I'd narrowed it down to was Jade and she was a good girl but lacked forwardness that I like.  Eh, she'd just turned 4, I had time to fix that.  They let me walk her out of the indoor, around the building and down to the outdoor where we walked over some poles like epic people/horse types and then headed back.  I laughed at her canter... it was sooo big and sooo fun and I'm suuuchh a goober.

Oh good, she's derpy.  She'll fit right in (y)

Friesian feet AND water OMG!!! She didn't burst into fungus flames (the internet says Friesians melt in water)

Did you just call me derpy?

 Also, when they ask if you'd like to go on a tour, the answer is YES OMG YES!

Stallion Barn ISF Sign

Judgement ISF's grumpy old man ass.  "I won $1.5 million dollars and you're not a mare gtfo"

Florianus and his fine ass self.  I could go warmblood for him.

This place is the worst.  In opposite land!

I keep my stallions here.

The thing with all the windows?  Yeah, I totally rode in that.

We got done, did business things, I went to the office, made an offer and bought a horse.  All before noon word.  Next order of business was to head to Boyd Martin's place and sneak to the gates like a ninja, take a selfie and bolt before he could have me arrested.  The ISF people stopped me before I left though to offer some nice toursity advice and see what my plans were.  I told them about Boyd's and they laughed, before picking up their phones to text him that I was coming.  Oh and then ask if I wanted to stop and Phillip Dutton's... the Schramm's and so on.

WHAT IS THIS PLACE?

So I'm all excited but only time for one, so I stick with Boyd's.  I head over there and less than 10 minutes I'm there and its all awesome and people are prepping huge gorgeous horses over huge jumps before they head out to some local huge gorgeous facility for a huge gorgeous show.  Seriously, this part of the world is sooo different.

Not having to stalkerize a selfie at his gate.

And yes, I got asked 100003432 questions about Texas lol.

Cortez getting his... adjustment on?  I seriously don't recall what this treatment was called.

Jumps haaayy

Boyd's valley of cross country torture

I hung out with Boyd and his lessons for the afternoon and it was soooo fun.  I was like a golden retriever puppy chasing after his scooter all around the cross country course.  He had to head off to the show finally so I headed back to Philly where I ate what else?!?!  Joe's Crab Shack (there are waaay too many philly cheesesteak options in that town!).  I head to the hotel, pack, and sleep briefly before heading to the airport at like 3am.

Whew!

I had a great whirlwind trip and bought a horse.  Whoop!

I also had a 3 hour delay in Houston... SO CLOSE TO HOME RAWR