Western Dressage

This video is excellent. But to be completely honest...I think I prefer "normal" dressage to western dressage. Mostly because I prefer the looks of traditional english show attire as compaired to western attire. That sounds really weird I'm sure. BUT...It would be wonderful to wear jeans and cowboy boots rather than breeches...hmmmm....But anyways this video is excellent for an introduction to Western Dressage. Even if I find it really weird that after the final salute you just turn around and exit at A. We always proceded to C then said "Thank You" to the judge before continuting along the rail and THEN exited at A....not sure which one is wrong here...



first video EVER

Here it is. My very first ride on Piney EVER! My riding is awful, my stirrups are too short, the quality of the video is horrendous, and Piney is dirty but I love this video! I had only owned Piney for 6 weeks when this was taken. The last person to ride him before me was a jockey on August 17th 2006. He was a ROCKSTAR for going that long without anyone riding him. Obviously in this video we both need to work on things. But it was the beginning of our relationship so we still had some things to figure out about each other. But I think that for a first ride it went wonderfully.





P.S. I would have picked some different songs, but it was the best I could do with what I had on this computer.

I learned something yesterday.

It’s something that I should have already known. It’s something that most people would know. I learned that trying to put a winter blanket on a horse that’s never been blanketed before, in single digit weather, with the unforgiving North Dakota wind howling, as the daylight is almost gone, while you have the flu…doesn’t work. You might wonder why I didn’t practice blanketing said horse this weekend, when I was feeling better, and the temperatures were mild and above average. I wonder the same thing. I’m really not sure why I thought it would go easily.


I put Piney’s blanket on, no problem. But he’s obviously been blanketed numerous times before. Heck the last two winters he’s had a blanket on all winter, and he wore his cooler different times throughout the year, and then I would put his light weight sheet on sometimes, and I even had him in a fly sheet once. He’s a champ. He’s been there and done that. And I might say that he looks adorable in his new blanket. It was too dark to take pictures last night when I gave up trying to blanket his buddy. That and I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore. And my legs were going numb, and I was suffering from the tail end of the second worst case of the flu I’ve ever had.

I should have known better than to try and blanket Duke yesterday. I feel bad that he doesn’t have a blanket on, then I realize…he’s never had a blanket on. Ever. He spent his whole life outside in North Dakota with just his winter coat that comes by him naturally. As much as I hate to admit it, that horse is healthier than any horse I’ve ever met. He’s never been stalled at night, he’s never had supplements, his worming schedule has been almost no existent (until he met me), his farrier schedule has consisted of one trim a year and he’s got the best feet I’ve ever seen, he’s never been to a chiropractor, my hubby wasn’t spending a penny on his board for years, and years. It’s not fair! hahaha! I should really be thankful though that we are lucky enough to have him be as healthy as he is. My farrier made a comment that it’s all in the breeding of the two horses that makes the difference.

Anyways, this past weekend I did get piney’s tail braided and bagged. I used my favorite old trick that a friend of mine showed me way back in the day. I used an athletic sock and cut the opening into strips. It works just as good as a tail bag and I was able to do with with something I had at home. Actually the sock was probably going to be tossed out since it’s mate had been eaten by the dryer monster or something…we cannot for the life of us find it! anyways it looks really funny, but it does its job. I’m hoping that with some TLC I can get his tail back to the way it was before he went on summer vacation last year. I hope I can get him looking more like my fancy show horse and less like the hag he’s turned into! Summertime hurry your ass up so I can spend some quality time with my horse!

Looks like he has a foot coming out of his butt...

 Okay so this last picture has nothing to do with anything other than it's really cute, atleast I think it is...Last night I was feeling crappy and was trying to get warm. I lifted up my blanket for a second and Tucker dived under there with his rope and snuggled in. Then Pooper decided to join in the snugglefest and climbed on top of Tucker and the blanket. I think Tucker is actually saying "GET HER OFF ME MOM!" But he stayed put long enough for the pic to be taken :-) I love my little monsters....

Haaaavvvvveeee you met Duke?

I just realized there hasn't been any pictures of Duke here. So Introducing..... DUKE!

Duke is a horse of questionable lineage. Hubby bought him as a grade quarter horse. But with the big white blaze that extends to the side of his face and a tiny little splotch of white on his belly I think he is a paint. He is a big stout boy. seriously he looks pregnant. I think this spring/summer he is going into training and will be working off some of that belly. He's huge.

He is a good boy. He loves LOVES attention from humans and often nickers at me when I pull into the yard. He is scared of mostly everything. The pigeons in the barn loft scare him daily. He is a bit of a handful under saddle. I hope that I can work with him this summer and change his "OMG everything is going to get me!" personality so that he is a bit more fun to ride. He's also super barn sour and buddy sour. So we have a few things to work on. But he is sweet and I love him.

And just for fun here is one of my terrible looking horse...I mean seriously he needs to be groomed BAD. And don't let those ribs fool you...he has a great big hay belly. He just looks super pathetic, so that I feel like a terrible owner. Tomorrow I hope to steal an hour to groom him up.

truth.

"I am still under the impression that there is nothing alive quite so beautiful as a thoroughbred horse."

- John Galsworthy


lol.



I feel like...yuck.

The weather here has been fantastic. Temps up into the 50’s! Which is un heard of in North Dakota. We have no snow and it is January. Last year at this time, I was in Las Vegas with the hubby for our honeymoon, and temps were similar, but when we returned there was snow drifts that reached up to our garage roof. I am NOT missing the snow or cold weather. But by the sounds of it this nice weather is coming to an end. Boooooo! Thursday’s high is supposed to be 7…SEVEN! Today’s high is predicted to be 51.

With all this fabulous weather you’d think I’d be out riding my horse every day, but that hasn’t happened. Even thought the days are Sllllooooowwwwllllyyyy getting longer it is still real dark when I get out to the farm. And not to mention we still aren’t 100% moved out to the farm yet, and I have 100 projects I need to get done, and finish packing, and to top it off I’ve been sick. These last few days have been brutal. I haven’t let myself relax and get better so it’s my fault that I feel like garbage. I hate having a runny nose AND a stuffed nose at the same time. I also hate that with a cold I add “mbb” to words. Like “Momm-bb” and “Farmm-bb” I sound awful.
I did manage to go through all of my “new” tack and I really, really want to write a post about my new treasures, but I want to include pictures so I am gonna wait on that post until I can get my camera out there. I did find some really, really cool stuff that I’m very excited to show off!
My father in law came down last weekend and brought us a whole bunch of big lateral filing cabinets that he got someplace. He thought that we could use them in the barn. I’m not exactly sure where they are going to go right now, but I am thinking that they will be really useful especially if they keep mice out. He also made us hooks to hang tack on, but again not exactly sure where that is going to go for the time being. The barn needs major renovation and restoration which unfortunately isn’t a major priority at the moment. My horses have shelter although they choose not to use it. So as long as they have the choice to get out of the elements and it is safe for them. That is all that matters the barn renovations can wait until time and finances allow us to revamp it.
Anyways my head feels like it is going to explode, so I think that is about all I can type for now. Ugh…I feel like garbage.

But before I go I thought I would share this picture, which I think I've maybe shared before. It's Piney on the day I found him and brought him home. I have this picture in my office, but it was hidden behind some other stuff and when I saw it it just made me happy. Look at that scruffy red monster. It's like he is saying "I'm so very tired of this place. Please.PLEASE take me home" and look at that nerd in the glasses next to that red monster lol I will never forget that day.

Happy Birthday Pinecone!

Piney turned 12 today. His actual birthdate is January 25th. Hopefully I can celebrate with him then. Today was an awful day. Don't much feel like getting into it. But hopefully tomorrow will be better and I can snuggle my big red birthday boy.

Happy birthday Thoroughbreds across the globe. And happy new year to all!