"OH MY"

As promised on my last post I gathered up the UMPH to get over to the stable and ride, I did, I drove right on over there. On my way there I also decided that I was going to start riding my pretty little mare (well not so little) anyhoo I got there with all the enthusiasm I needed to follow through with my intentions. 
I haltered her up and we headed up the drive, leaving her screaming 2 year old to throw his tantrum with out us watching or validating his behavior.....I didn't always do that so I was very proud of myself.

I groomed then saddled, walked around the indoor arena in hand looked at scary things like jumps and stuff, then headed out to the large round pen, where we could see our 2 year old in full view still throwing a tantrum {he's very fast by the way).
Not having ridden my girl in about 3 years I was a little apprehensive as any old re-rider should be, I also watched her short amount of training at which time I realized, I REALLY liked my Red horse, he has never displayed the kind of moves my girl did. But that's all behind her she's a good girl now, that's what I was telling myself before the mount, so I did, I mounted up from the ground as I could not find my beloved mounting block, up I went breath held landed where I wanted to and my good girl just stood there.
OK we are off to a great start, I'm up she's standing still life is good, except for the annoying 2 year old throwing his tantrum, STILL.
Feeling pretty darn good about things we walk off, we walk a while all is good so we pick up a trot, that's where the whole day took a turn for the worst.
We are trotting around, I'm trying to pay attention to giving the correct ques (as she's very sensitive to that), I feel something that's not quite right, so we come down to a walk and all seems fine, we pick the trot back up and there it is again, that down right awful feeling that screams, lame.
To be absolutely certain I call over the resident expert, she first watches and says yes it's in the rear end, at that point I dismount (without crumpling to the ground I might add) and have Bekkah get on and take a spin while I watch the poor girl short step on the rear end.
What can I say "OH MY" no that's not what I said, mine sounded more like "OH F%*#K.
With that said, I am now on a mission to find out what the heck is going on, that can be a process but one we can handle.

I  kept my promise I got my behind on my horse and I blogged about it, that's a good thing, I'm also just certain that my sweet little momma will be back to good in no time, myself and the professionals will see to that!
Our naughty 2 year old, well, he did get to come out and get some attention, but that's a whole other post:)

Until next time...... happy trails!

Motivation or lack there of....and stuff

OK so it's been a very long time, in fact a really really long time.

This is sort of a confession I suppose, not only have I lacked complete motivation to Blog I have lacked complete motivation to ride, a very sad but true statement.

I did have one little short episode I should mention, my daughter has been riding our Red horse a little and on one of those occasions I decided I should hop on and take a little walk around, so I did.
Of course Red horse being the steady eddie that he is it was completely UN-eventful, until I decided to get off.
I brought Red horse up to the barn and parked him facing the inside, I then swung my leg over and of course being that he is 17hh I take my foot out of the stirrup and jump down, sounds easy right.
Well on that particular day I forgot that my left foot has been swelling from some sort of injury that my old brain can't remember but that's another story, the BOTTOM line is I landed on the ground and the foot didn't hold or anything else from the waste down.....I just kept right on going until I was sitting along side of Reds front leg looking the opposite way...REALLY...that did not just happen.
I not only landed flat on my tush I had shorts on, not a pretty sight......but good OL Red horse behaved as if this never happened, he just stood looking directly at the barn and didn't flinch, I can't imagine what was running through his head but the sweet boy never showed it.

Just prior to the incident

So there you have it, I will say I am going to make a big effort to take the time to ride and blog, you heard it here first!

Until next time..... Happy trails to you and hopefully me !

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!