Return of the Red horse....well really he's a bay:)

Red is back, he did not turn in to the worlds best back country trail horse, it just wasn't in his cards.
What is in his cards is a silly old woman that thinks he's the cats meow, so we start our relationship back up with some trail riding, most of all he will be my personal trainer.
Yes Red horse is a work out, you can't sit that trot without an awful lot of core strength, needless to say posting helps with the thighs and bum :) YES my personal trainer is back, just in time for summer!
I've taken a couple of rides on Red horse since his return, we picked up right where we left off, I think the world of him in return he is as honest as the day is long, so we are off to a good start.
Of course that leaves my sweet mare, never fear along my journey I met my soul mate, my best friend, my love....his name as you will probably see him scattered throughout my posts is Jim, I am a very lucky lady, it just so happens that my sweet mare is just what Jim would order, size gaits temperament, yup she's his girl.
Of course we are talking about trail riding as I have not given up on barrel racing, oh know that is just starting up again now the sweet mare delivered the naughty baby, she will be my partner in crime in the gaming world, we have a lot of work to do.
So there you have it, some changes yet again, life is always changing this time for the better.

Until next time.....HAPPY TRAILS!

A new beginning

Well I've proved that I am not a good blogger......in fact a down right lousy blogger!

I get these great thoughts from my ongoing saga as a re-rider but some how they just don't make it to the blog,

So today I am going to re-cap my year with the ponies......more for me to look back on than any thing else.

I started the year with the birth of Shooter, I still have the urge to call him "little Shoot" however I was reminded the other day he's not little anymore.
I can say I will never breed my mare again, I don't remember such a stressful experience, my own children were far less stressful, his birth was horrendous on everyone most importantly my mare, nope I would never do it again.
Good news is I got exactly what I ordered, thank you Wrangle Socks and Diana, they sure delivered, only thing missing was gender and one sock and truly the sock was optional, now that he's been gelded the gender isn't an issue anymore either so all in all it was a perfect order and a perfect baby came out of all that stress.....that is a good thing.
Shooter has grown in to a feisty weanling he likes to test everyone every chance he gets.....EXCEPT his little tiny vicious pasture pal, Carmen is about 3ft tall with the attitude of a pitbull, Shooter has only pushed his luck with her once and she's still kicking his butt for it a month later. He's in good hands with Carmen we are all scared of her!

Now for momma ( Ms. Flirt), we tried keeping her on the same property at the far end but she knew her son was not far away, I attempted to walk her past him and then realized she needed to go back to her home before Shooter.
By the next day after taking her back to where I board her she was a playful bucking bronc.......completely forgot she had a son, I won't tell him!
It will be fun and interesting when I take him back and re-unite the two in a couple of months, got my fingers crossed he does better with hot wire by then!

During the last year I also did a lot of riding on other horses, which was good for me, went to a couple of barrel races, fun stuff.
I did a lot of trail riding with friends had a lot of fun adventures some I shouldn't post on this blog....in fact I won't post them I would hate to be a bad influence, I will say the horses were always safe and cared for.

I took out some trail rides for the ranch, that was a lot of fun, it's so good to see new riders having so much fun!

Now it's time to get my own sweet mare started again, yes I had big plans for that right before the storms hit.....for now she will stay blanketed and well fed until weather permits.......then we will start from ground work back to where we left off

Pre-baby jitters

Well the vet was out Friday the 11^th, Flirt had her pre-foaling shots, that should be a simple non eventful appointment for most people.

I suppose I’m not most people, as I was tempted to throw myself at the vet and hang on to his leg and beg him to take up residence at the arena to watch my precious mare until which time our little red sweet thing has all four on the ground and is nursing effortlessly.

Thank the lord I have restraint, for the most part……other than practically getting in his truck with him to continue asking questions, I was pretty good, I did let him leave …. eventually.

So now I know I should not stare at my mare endlessly for days surrounding her foaling date…and I know that I should see a white “NOT RED” bubble that will come and go and eventually a little hoof will appear then another little hoof will present itself at which time a little foal nose should be seen, at which time I should stay back and not dive on the cute little bundle of job and let the momma do her thing and bond with HER baby…..OH LORD give me strength

Pre-baby jitters

OK so I won't lie I am scared senseless about my mare giving birth ..... I was never as worried about my own pregnancy's and births. I agonize about the decision I made ...... God forbid anything happens to my beloved mare in the birthing process I would never forgive myself.
With all that off my chest I have to say I am also as excited as I could be, with 4-25 fast approaching I can't stop feeling the baby kick and visualize what the little cutie will look like, my mare never looked so happy and content as she does now, even the last time the vet was out he commented on how happy my mare looks. So this is going to be a positive thing nothing will go wrong and little wonderful will make his or her appearance in to the world un-eventfully and there I will be with open arms and a huge smile.
I will go for coffee and come back to check on my girl and there will be our gift from God and of course Wrangle socks ..... he or she will look just like mom and dad with a feisty attitude and a zest for life and all will be good in the world at that moment.
I'm going to sleep now with that thought in my head and peace will come to my worried mind for now.

You can expect that I will be doing a lot of blogging now for a while..... so until next time happy trails to you!

Been a while "do ya think" and my mare

I could start off with many excuses for not being faithful to my blog.......like a new baby granddaughter and prior to her arrival in to the world, I dedicated 2 of my days off to babysitting my 3 year old grandson as mom was on bed rest. Of course my oldest grandson graduated 5th grade, YEAH buddy, you go......then my youngest daughter graduated high school, which was a HUGE present to me on my birthday........yes I have even aged during my time away.

So now that I have validated my lack of blogging with some excuses I feel better, but what I need to blog about is my mare!

My mare.....I will have to blog her whole story soon as she will be bigger than life on this blog......however today I just want to make the announcement that I, an older responsible (or so I like to think) woman, who supports rescues and always will,  made the well thought out decision  to breed my mare.

Yup that came as a shock to many people and yes many raised an eyebrow at my decision....I agree wholeheartedly that there are TOOOOOO many horses in rescue, and in need of homes, I agree with that statement! I will help in anyway I am able when it comes to those horses in need, that's a given.

So here is my story .... I used to fantasize about raising my very own from day one foal .... well myself and the mare of course.
Sometimes with quiet time at work I would look through dreamhorse.com at possible sires to said foal........during one of my peeks at the site I came upon a perfect QH stallion, chestnut with 4 white socks and appropriately named "Wrangle socks", I even sent pictures of him to my sister stating that this should be my foals sire.
As fate would have it I meet a woman and her husband at my horse trainer/ friends place, where my mare was in training.......in speaking with them I find they own "Wrangle socks".... OK some may call me a foolish old woman but I just knew at that point this was meant to be. Now that wasn't logical at all was it......so then agonizing over the very real decision started, should I breed my mare when there are so many un-wanted horses in the area never mind the country.
So I began the internal debate......I have dedicated my life to rescue.....all my animals are rescue with the exception of my gelding "Red", who had been another agonizing decision to buy a young healthy good minded horse as apposed to adopting another rescue.......that one was easy.....heck yes I needed my kids to have a safe, healthy, young horse to ride. As we had just had to put down a wonderful rescue horse that was to far gone to make it (I have never seen my youngest daughter stand for hours keeping a horse company as she did with that one) then the hours spent crying when we had her put down,  with that I felt I was allowed to give my kids and myself a gift.
So with all of that in mind, my decision to breed my mare I decided is my gift to myself and my grand children, I will of course keep the foal for life as that's what I do...he or she will never be at risk nor will mother or is Red horse (I have to add that Piper LOL a sense of responsibility)....I will from day one be able to have contact with he or she and develop a relationship and bond that will be like no other, I will have my family take a big part in the foals life so the bond will develop with them as well.
My other hope for this foal is that he or she will turn out to be a competitor in the barrel racing world.....that may or may not happen, but the breeding is there so chances are there as well........again if this isn't meant to be then it wont happen, but that is OK!
So, with all that said I do hope to have a little one next year and yes this is the only one I will take part in bringing in to the world, what fun will be in store if all works out and we are blessed with the gift of "Bobbie socks" or "Bobby socks", if is it's a boy.
It's an old ladies dream and I AM ALLOWED TO HAVE IT AND MAKE IT REAL ...... to all those that have raised your eyebrows!
For everyone else I will keep you updated as this is truly an adventure of a lifetime:)

Until next time.....happy trails!

Trail wimp

Another eureka moment I had when I came back to horses was the day I realized "I'm a trail wimp".
These moments are hard for us re-riders because ... well there are a lot of them, but this one really hit hard.

I got to my horses one morning with my sister, we were going to take a ride with a dear friend who rides the trails often. I get Red saddled up with a western saddle my sister decides to ride bareback......now I have to say little Fancy the horse my sister was riding was like sitting on a couch she was comfy, so don't feel bad for Gina this was her choice.
Anyway we head out in to the great beyond the wind blowing in our hair.....just a beautiful day and our mounts were fabulous as always.
As I trailed along behind my friend I was sort of day dreaming of days when my body was much younger and I used to race through the "jumping trail" in Bridle trails state park across from our house......yes, I would haul through there with my Thoroughbred jumping everything with precision......wow what a great trail rider I was.
I even went further back to living in up-state NY, I would ride with a neighbor or alone, didn't matter, I was out in those trails bareback most of the time running for glory.......yes those were the days!
Just then I realized they are by far not over...NO.....here I am still riding the trails, YES I am as kick ass as I ever was.....me and my big bay horse.....yup we bad and we know it!

As the ride went on my friend took a small trail off to the left on the logging road.....see I know where that sucker is to this day.......anyway she was scooting along on her very energetic Morgan...beautiful horse and a good trail horse, my sister was coming along behind me on this fun little trail it was rather nice good footing yes I liked it.
Now my big bay horse would take his time but we stayed in fairly close proximity to those in front and behind..........but all of a sudden I looked a head and my friend had vanished......my word she had just vanished.
I called out her name and she called back, I rode a few more feet only to reach the top of a vertical drop.....wholly mother of beat all, there was my friend at the bottom of what looked to be a serious fall off of a cliff.......so of course I yell are you OK....."of course" she says are you coming down........I'm thinking the woman had fallen, she couldn't have pitched herself and her horse off this cliff willingly, could she?
Well yes she had, she had intentionally taken her horse down the cliff and she wanted me to do the same.....good God this was not happening......so she yells up "do you want me to come back up?
For the love of Pete I'm going to have to plunge to my death on my faithful big bay horse just to save face....OH GOD WE"LL DIE!
Now my big bay horse was only 5 years old at the time and the trails were new to him, however he loved heading in to them, he loved these trails.......he was not as perfectly sure footed as the Morgan she is a trail master, but he held his own..........more than anything I trusted him, trusted him to do his very best always.....my sister, well I know she was thinking the same thing I was and yes she was bareback, YIKES.
I stood at the top of the vertical drop I calmly took my reins and hooked them around the saddle horn then I silently said a prayer......at which time I closed my eyes and urged my big bay horse to lunge over the cliff, the big bay horse did take a rather large jump over the edge but then he realized he needed to slide on his butt or he would fall.......well that big bay horse was no fool and he did not want to fall......he also knew I was atop having an out of body experience so I was of no use to him.....he tucked that big butt right down and made his way down the vertical drop with out incident........in fact the only incident was my sisters little gray horse giving out a big buck for joy when they hit the bottom of that cliff my friend calls a hill!
Yes we made it safe and sound, me with white knuckles wrapped around the saddle horn my sister kinda white faced and my dear friend with a look of puzzlement on her face.
Nothing more was said that day about my near death experience.....however I knew at that point that I was a trail wimp.....oh that hurts.....not my big bay horse nope he was brave, just me, I was the trail wimp.
I remain to this day a "trail wimp" not that I don't go out in to them I do, I just have to swallow my pride and let others know.... I am Gerri and I am a trail wimp!

Until next time .....happy trails!

The Bumble Bee halter

When your horse prances out of the barn in a brand new bright yellow halter with black fuzzy covers to make it not only comfy but fashionable, it is obvious to those around you that you are an older woman who is suffering from the early stages of empty nest syndrome.......I like to say it's the re-riders syndrome.

Yes indeed I spent many many years dressing up those little princesses........those days are over and I know it, but that doesn't mean I have to stop, no just change who I dress up and so I have.
I love going to the tack store or the feed store anywhere there are new bright, pretty things to purchase for my horse, I need this, I want to buy a pretty then take it to the barn put it on my horse and beam. However when your horse is at a stable where there are hard working young people who spend the day polishing their horses performance under saddle then throw any old brown halter on their horse, you have to do this on the down low.....which is hard to do when the new pretty looks like a bumble bee.

I recently had a rather embarrassing moment with my horses trainer........I got to the barn to find my horses pretty black halter with little silver horses running on it, broken in to pieces.
I was told that my sweet little mare got very angry at being tied to the wall while others were being worked so she sat down with all the force of a mac truck backing up and broke her pretty.......oh well I said no worries I'll get her another:)
In my mind I was thinking YES a good reason to go buy another pretty, so I did. I found the buy of the month staring right at me it was bright yellow and pretty......but better yet I found the fluffy black comfy halter covers to make it even more comfortable for my sweet mare to sit her extra wide quarter horse rear down and break this one......what a buy.
Except, when I got back to the barn and realized that I wasn't going to live this one down easy, I not only purchased the brightest halter I could find I was rewarding her for breaking her other one. So I had to try and keep it quiet ..... then the moment came when the trainer asked is that Flirts new halter, the one that looks like a bumble bee? Oh lord she was smiling and I know what she was thinking so I used this to my benefit and said no I'm going to use it on White, her horse that had a head injury, he will be comfortable in it.........she knew, oh yes she knew, but that was that White had a comfy new halter, of which he does deserve.......and yes I ran myself back to the tack store and found a bright green pretty with little silver horses on it for that halter breaking sweet girl of mine......and in my car to this day are white fuzzy halter covers which I will put on the NEW pretty I spotted, for the day she graduates from training......oh what fun!

Until next time happy trails, and hold your head high when you ride by the others with all that bling on your horse .... I do!