my jumping bean...

Last night I had one of the girls at the barn give me a huge complement on my monster. She said that she saw him jumping during one of his lessons with a young boy, and that he was probably the most beautiful jumper in the barn. YAY PINECONE! Things like that make me happy.


I rode him last Saturday and he was for the most part perfect. We did some baby jumps and a few low cross rails before he got REALLY fussy.

Or conversation went like this

Me: Walk!

Pinecone: NO! *ears pinned*

Me: Ok buddy. Please walk? *leg squeeze*

Pinecone: I said NO! *cow kick*

Me: WALK! *leg squeeze, light tap with crop*

Pinecone: FINE!! *buck, kick, buck*

Me: Thank you, now quit being a creep! I CAN and WILL bring you back to the ranch where I got you and you can sit there for years where no one will adopt you and love you and give you treats.

This happened one other time and then I figured something was wrong. He NEVER gives me that much attitude. I hopped off and then felt like a huge jerk when I realized that his saddle was pinching him. He’s put on some weight and I had forgotten to resize the gullet in my saddle. There were telltale signs on his pad and gel pad. I’m a horrible mother and I suck at life sometimes.

Someone said that he must have just really been excited to jump if he was willing to work through the pain for the first part of our ride. And we’ve all come to the conclusion that he wants to be a jumper. I see some of the horses at the barn jumping and they never really seem excited about it. They are just going through the motions because their “person” wants to jump. Do you think that it’s true that some horses like to jump more than others? Or is that something I’m just telling myself. I’ve ridden cutting horses who LOVE to chase cows. The moment they see a cow they just light up. ( I never actually got to cut cattle and I’m sad about that!) I’ve worked with racehorses who love to run. They get so pumped before the race they basically drag you to the paddock to tack up and then parade around it like a champion before the race(even if they come in last place durring the race.) And I’ve worked with racehorses who basically do a death march to the track. My friends horse LOVED being a Roping horse and she eventually had to sell him to someone who was going to rope more than she did because he just wasn’t happy not being used. I think some horses love having jobs, while other horses love being unemployed lol

just for fun i wanted to post pictures of my Pinecone...because I love him...

Wedding pictures since the weather here sucks!!

Since the weather here sucks (50mph winds mixed with rain/snow and freezing temperatures) and I haven’t gotten to ride since Thursday since I’ve been sick and out of town. I wanted to post a few more wedding pics from our photographer. I am so happy with how they turned out. She did an amazing job.


I got married last month at one of the most unique venues in the area. It is an old farmstead with a chapel, and a big white “mansion” and a cute white barn. It was a perfect day! I had origionally planned to have my monster trailed in so we could do some pictures with him, but decided that since his last trailering fiasco and the time crunch that we’d do a trash the dress session with him at a later date. (hooray!). But we did have some horses at the wedding!!

We hired a team of clydesdales  to give guests a little ride in the country durring cocktail hour

I want them! I asked the owner of my barn how much to board one of them and she laughed at me...

I am in LOVE with this house!!



I am also in LOVE with the bridesmaids dresses!! I want one!



The boys in front of the old grainery



Bride and Groom!

My besties little boy was the ring bearer. He's a little cutie!

You can't see it in this picture, but on my bouquet there is an antique brooch with a horse on it that looks just like Piney!

first and last rides

When I got to the barn last night I had one thing on my mind. I was going to ride my monster outside around the farm. For some reason I’ve been terrified to do it alone. The last times I’d ever ridden him outside I had a baby sitter, someone to watch us and basically hold my hand through it. I was thinking about it yesterday and I’ve ridden outside many times. In fact with Yellow I’d only ever once ridden him in an arena and that was when we took him elk hunting in Montana. Why was I so freaked out? I know I have a pretty good seat and am able to handle most anything that a horse can dish out, and hey that’s why I have health insurance right?


So when I got to the barn two of the girls who board there were taking off. “We threw hay and mixed grain so all you have to do is bring them in and water. See you tomorrow!” said one of the girls as they scurried out the door. HOORAY! That is an awesome day in my books! So I watered and dragged in all the monsters. Then I went and got ready to ride the beast.

I for some reason feel like I’m more secure riding outside in my western saddle. Maybe its just a psychological thing and goes back to all those hours I spent trail riding Yellow with my friends, or maybe I just think that in Minnesota/North Dakota you have to trail ride in a Western saddle because it just looks right. I don’t know. So I hauled it outside and it reminded me why I prefer my dressage saddle…my western saddle is heavy! I had decided to tack up outside because we still have screens in the big doors and I didn’t want to risk leading pinecone through the people doors with this gigantic saddle of mine. I’m sure he would have fit but I was nervous to try. I brought him the long way around the barn. Just to let him look around. The second I started leading him towards the trailers he stopped dead in his tracks. Eyes bulging out of his head, nostrils flared out. Guess I know he’s still freaked out about the trailer incident. I assured him we weren’t going in the trailer and I got him over to my saddle. I tacked him up with out incident and got on. We walked around the north side of the barn where the out door arena is going up. And a tractor about a mile away caught his attention and I had to assure him, that it wasn’t going to eat him. We rode up the driveway and then headed north on the gravel road. When we got to the tree line of the property I turned him around and we headed south to the south tree line. He was fine. A little jiggy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I then rode him for 10 minutes in the front of the barn and he was fine, a little barn/buddy sour but not as bad as most horses I’ve ridden.

When I got him untacked and brought him back to the barn I kissed him on the nose and went to grab grain. I started dumping grain and when I got to Wizard's stall he was laying down. My heart sank. I got him up and called his owner/the barn owner. He’s been on a pretty strict feeding schedual. He’d eaten some of his hay, and all of his senior feed mix from earlier. His owner asked me to ride him bareback for a few laps around the arena. I rushed to grab my helmet and my clip on reins. He was down again. This time it took some more effort to get him up. But I got him up. When we got to the arena and I hopped on it was half a lap before he pooped. I felt a bit relieved. But I kept riding him around for about 10 more laps. When I brought him back to his stall he instantly layed down. He looked like he wanted to roll all the way over but didn’t. I thought maybe he wanted to get a good full roll in so I brought him to the arena again and turned him loose. He walked around nose to the ground walking in circles like a big dog, then he rolled half way over and then got up…he then continued to walk around for a while and found another spot to roll and this time he rolled all the way over. After he did it I heard his tummy grumbling. I thought that must be a good sign, that he was able to get things moving in his guts. I brought him back to his stall, and he laid down again. This time he laid all the way on his side for a while, his eyes half open. His breathing was weird, then he laid upright, and looked so tiny there all curled up. He kept looking at his stomach. He looked tired of fighting this, he looked like he was tired of being in pain. He looked like he was ready to go. I called his owner back up and said that I did everything I could. Then I started crying and said “I feel like its all my fault! I tried everything and he’s not getting better!” That’s when she said “it is NOT your fault!” and then I heard her voice tremble and she said “it happened when it was supposed to happen. It’s been two weeks and it happens almost every two weeks”. She thanked me for describing everything that was happening and said that I could go home since she’d be there soon. I went up and tried to give Piney a hug and he of course tried to bite my butt…but he did stick his nose through the stall bars as I closed the door and gave me a kiss.

When I got home Wizards owner called and said that the vet was coming out to give him something so he could rest easily that night and that they would be back in the morning to end his pain for good. I spent a good part of last night a crying mess. We’d done everything right and he had been doing so good! It just sucks so bad that you can do everything in your power and still it doesn’t work.

This morning Wizards pain will finally be over. He lived an amazing life and was loved by everyone who met him. He was the horse that many, many children learned to ride on. He was a confidence booster and the safest mount at the barn. He gave me quite possible my best ride of my life and continued to build my confidence in the saddle. He is going to be missed by everyone at the barn. Love you buddy..

I love my little war horse.

I love this article written on ottbs How To Handle & Care For "Off Track Thoroughbred" I've read it a bunch of times and each time I pull something new out of it. I wanted to post my favorite part here. The last little bit almost made me cry.

 A racehorse today is the closest thing to a "war horse" from the past, and to be a part of that requires a huge heart on the animal's end, much bigger than a man's. The bigger the heart, the bigger the courage of the animal, which demonstrates itself and its beauty at every opening of a starting gate on every track in the world. As most admire the fascinating beauty of this animal in full run, you should learn to "hear" his heart, for it is not surpassed by any other divine creature of this Earth.



Of course, like in any other horse industry, there are many "chicken hearted horses" among the racing stock as well, and these are the ones that you will most likely get, as the greater racehorses will take part in reproduction. Nevertheless, accept this horse with respect even if only for what he went through. It is much harder for the coward to get through a war than it is for a brave heart. Where there is no fear, there is no courage, and it is the fear that makes heroes. These "little chicken hearts" are the true heroes of this "sport of kings" and they will need your brave heart to lean on.

Horse show pics

I was going through pics and I thought i'd post these pics from the dressage schooling show I went to this summer. I was supposed to ride but was a big chicken and thought my horse would flip out...but NEXT year watch out! we'll be there!!

the winds were CRAZY this day and the judges trailer closed right up as my friend started her test...

if you notice the back ground, that my friends is a race track...a HORSE race track...can you see why i might be chicken to take my OTTB to a race track?

We rode outside. Hooray!

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL fall day! It was warm and sunny and perfect. I decided that I wanted to take my monster out to hand graze him for 15 minutes. Ever since that disaster of a day in the spring where he accidentally sent me to the hospital to have my head stapled back together, I’ve been a little chicken to take him out of the barn/arena/his paddock. I used to be so confident leading horses around the yard. I used to hot walk Thoroughbreds at the track for crying out loud! But of course an injury sets you back and I am a big chicken because of it. But I decided I NEEDED to get him out walking around to get me more comfortable about it. Well as I was walking to the barn I heard a combine pull into the field that neighbors the barn. “Great” I thought. But I was gonna get him out gosh darnit! I brought him out to the big patch of grass in front of the barn. He didn’t even notice the big green “monsters” eating the soy beans behind the shelter belt. He was happily eating grass as fast as he could. So after 15 minutes I thought “hey he’s being so great, why don’t I ride him outside!” I took him back to the barn and then asked my riding instructor, who was doing some Wizard duties, if she would babysit us as I rode outside. She said she’d be happy to!


I tacked him up in his stall then brought him outside. I mounted up right outside the barn and away we went. I honestly don’t know why I was so freaked out to ride him outside more. He was LAZY! Like lazier than I’ve ever seen him. I didn’t bring my “weapons” with because I thought he’d be full of the devil and adding a whip to the mix would have caused me to hit the dirt. Boy was I wrong. I know for next time that I’m definitely bringing a weapon. But we walked and trotted a bit. He of course thought he was being eaten alive by flies and mosquitos even though I sprayed the crap out of him.

My riding instructor thinks that next time a group goes out on a trail ride I should join them. Too bad we don’t actually have trails just roads and fields. Ahhh gotta love the Red River Valley!

Wizard

Driving out to the barn tonight my stomach was turning. I still hadn't heard anything about Wizard. I figured no news was good news but I still felt weird. As i pulled up and parked i looked over to where the barn owner burried her horse who had lived to be over 35 years old, as well as her beloved barn cats and german sheaperds. The ground had been dug up, my heart sank. I continued on to the barn and i then heard the sweetest sound. It was a horse whinney from Wizard! He was in his stall and he looked very happy!
He now has a new diet of 3 cups of senior feed, a handful of sweet feed and 18 tablespoons of light mineral oil, at night with a leaf of really watered down hay . His morning feed is a little different. We are hoping that this diet will keep everything going through his guts! and that way we can keep him happy and as healthy as we can!!
He also was hand grazed for 20 minutes before he had his supper so I took the time to get some pictures of him.

Same as the previous pic...just don't know which one I like better!