Undate On My Horses
Posted by Steph919, Aug 9 2009, 12:12 PM
Bailey is still lame, going to find another chiropractor and make an appointment with the University for some tests. I think Im gonna retire her, she's been lame on and off for almost 2 years. Chiropractors have been helping but now its just isnt doing much. I just want to get her sound so she can be comfortable. She's an awesome horse so she deserves to be happy.
Winnie is healing slowly, probably another 6 months before she's even close to be fully healed. They no longer look like 2 giant holes though. The swelling looks better and she's laying down and standing on her own now. First time Grandpa and Dad had to help her up. She lost a lot of weight and shape bc of the stress.
Maggie is doing great. I spend a lot of time playing games and trying to get her ready to be saddled but Im gonna wait until next summer to break her. I want her shoulder to have more time to develop the muscle back. She's so level headed, she'll be a nice horse to ride.
Tony is awesome. Went to our first gymkhana of the year yesterday. We did not bad, got a first in the egg stomp, a second in potato race, and a third in poles. Only two events we didnt place in. Might have placed in barrels but for some reason she spooked at the chalk on the ground from the key hole race. It cost us 2 seconds at the third barrel. It must have been the shape bc she has to cross a chalk line when we are team penning. Im not worried, we'll work on it this week. Our second is Friday.
Poor Winnie
Posted by Steph919, Jul 20 2009, 06:51 PM
On July 10th, after a 2 man sorting competition, I felt for my family farm with Tony and Winnie. They were going to be rounding up and sorting cattle for 2 days and I was going to help. Like always, when I get there pretty much everyone is gone doing something so I back the trailer in and unload the two. They have been there many times so are quite content and more conserned about getting the green grass then anything. I take them out to the pasture where I always do and let them go.
The next day my Dad wakes me up before my alarm goes off. It was 6 am and pooring rain so we had to wait. The cattle are in the valley and we can get there by horse but we have to get a few vehicles down with the vaccinations and panels. By 11:30 am Dad, Grandpa, and my brother take a truck to check the road. When they return they say it'll be fine so Grandpa and I head for the horses and everyone else pack the trucks. I took Tony that day, we had to round up all 400 head and sort the cows so we could fly tag them. We managed to get all the cows done with no incedents.
Sunday morning is nice out and I go out to grab Winnie at 7 am. When we get to the valley she's heads up and unsure but after a quick warm up we were sorting the calves no problem. Sorting was done in about an hour then we decided to work until lunch. At lunch we went back to the house to eat. I had decided that I was only staying for a couple more hours so I didnt want to put Winnie back out to pasture. I was tired and didnt feel like trekking through the pasture and Tony was at the gate already. I put Winnie in a paddock beside my Grandpa's two horses. They have been together before but the other paddock was empty. After letting her go I went to get Tony to move in with her. They were content and grazing and Grandpa's horses were not even interested.
Just to give an idea of what was separating them was 4 rows of rebar and railroad posts and there was a brand new gate put in chained together on the west side. On the east corner they had a 5' panel where the rebar was down from a cow I think.
After dinner we are about to leave and I see my Aunt waving her arms like crazy. I told my Dad to stop and he slowly starts backing up. My Aunty waves her arms harder, I kinda mention to my Dad that I think we should hurry. So he speeds up and turns. I could see everyone standing around the corner by the panel where a horse is standing but you can tell something is wrong. Both my mares are bay and the same size almost so I couldnt tell which one it was until we got up to the corral. All I said was, "Oh my God, its Winnie." I start sprinting through the first smaller corral then crawl through two fences to find Winnie with her back right leg caught on top of the panel, with her ankle caught around the second top bar. After Aunty handed me Winnie's lead I started to pet her and looked up the fence. The new gate was broke off the post, Tony was in the next paddock and Grandpa's two are on this side. Bringing my attention back to Winnie, she was a mess. He rump was covered in scrapes and bites, under her eye had a cut. Where I was I could see her back legs but when I did, it took my breath away. They both were bleeding pretty bad. At this point three of the guys were digging the panel out of a foot of muck. Winnie was in shock and didnt move. The panel was finally free and they slowly moved it so we could free her leg. She didnt want to move but we had to get her somewhere so we could get her to a vet. I told my sister to run for some horse cookies which was enough to get her to walk and load.
Of course, the entire time we are trying to find a vet and the only one we find is an hour away. I had no choice but to take her. The cuts looked only like they got the flesh but it needed to be cleaned and make sure nothing got in towards the joint. So off I go with my brothers girlfriend, Kellie. The vet cleaned her wounds and inspected them. No obvious penitration to the joint, thank God!
So for the past 8 days, its been needles and hydro theropy. Its looking good, not too much swelling and she's walking great. Im just so happy nothing broke. When we were talking about it later, we think the one horse of Grandpa's chased her into the corner and caused her to jump. I cant see it because, she's 14.2hh maybe and to have done that without braking her leg? I dont know but it doesnt matter, I still have my horse. Thats all I care about!
Life
Posted by Steph919, Jun 9 2009, 08:08 PM
So Im kind of getting tired of my job.. actually I hate it. I work at a restoration company which can be pretty fun. I rip stuff apart all day or help the carpenters. They keep saying they are going to send me for a water tech. Its been 4 months that Ive been pushing and they said May. Well that months is gone. Ive been with this company 1 year and 6 months. The people are kind of getting to me now.
My SO found another job which he loves. In another month they are going to appretice him as a heavy duty mechanic. He went to school for small engine mechanic but he likes to do it on his own time with his stuff.
We only live in an apartment with a friend of ours. I board my horses at a really nice barn. Nice but expensive. I want our own place but we dont have enough for a down deposit right now. I was good with living here once I got all my horses to the city with me. Now that my job is bothering me, again Im thinking of school. There is a course I want to take but it would require moving. Last time my SO and I talked about it, he said he would stay here. The last course I was thinking of taking, that would have worked. This one I think would end up a permanent move somewhere.
Im only 20yrs old and my SO and I are engaged. For a few months I feel settled and content then I just get restless. I want to do something but the only thing Im good at are dealing with horses. Ive even been considering becoming a certified race track groom. I love the energy of race tracks and as long as I have a bit of time for my horses Id be good.
Im just not sure what I want to do.
Moving Maggie And Bailey
Posted by Steph919, Apr 26 2009, 07:48 PM
Im so excited! Next saturday I get to bring Maggie and Bailey up to where I am. It'll be great! I finally got everything ready for them. I got the extra feed for Bailey, since she is getting older. She's 15yrs but in great shape and I want to maintain that as much as possible. Plus I have my own trailer now so I no longer have to try and find someone to come get her.
I found a lady that wants to try some alternative stuff with Maggie. What she told me to feed her right now isnt very expensive. It will be worth the try. She isnt much better but it is nerve damage and it will take a long time.
Ive been riding Winnie outside alot now with my friend Kim and her horse, Rusty. Winnie is much fun to ride. At all paces I can ride with a loose rein; well not a loose rein but Im not having to sit there and either keep pushing her or hold her back. We also went through a small creek and it was like we had done it a million times. Some ducks flow up at one point during a ride and I think I jumped more than she did. Which is bad because I could have spooked her more but she just turned around to watch them fly away.
I took Tony to her first indoor rodeo a few weekends ago. That was interesting hehe.. We were running flags and turn back at my friends rodeo, they just asked for my help and since I was there I entered us in a run for barrels. The first night she was a wreck. Never stopped pacing between the crowd clapping and the bucking horses making noise in the shoots infront of us. It was nice though, when we ran the flags she never spooked at anything and she was listening to me. The first night we also ran our barrels and she did way better than I thought she would. The second night was a little better, she still was a bit tense but I didnt feel like she was going to take off every few seconds. The grand entry the second night was pretty cool. We put glow sticks on us and our horses and ran a pattern that went well. The last night was fun but I was ready to go home. I realized I am no longer was inshape enough to ride for 3 solid days. I had saddle sores on my butt hahaha. I blame work, I cant ride all day like I use to. Oh well...
The weather is actually perfect right now. Its a bit windy and cloudy so bugs around out yet, yay! Ive been doing as much riding as possible especially since my friend is pregnant so we want to do as much before she gets to big of a belly. Hehehe so excited for that too, she'll be a great mommy.
Winnie
Posted by Steph919, Apr 5 2009, 02:10 PM
Today I took Winnie outside for a ride for the first time. We've been riding in the indoor arena, I wanted to make sure she knew leg yielding and collection before I took her out. She did amazingly! I went with my friend Kim and we just walked in the field. We sunk in a bit of snow and she just kept walking. Walked through some puddles without any problems. She's doing so good, Ive only been riding her for a month.
I talked to the lady I board with and she's going to let me bring Maggie and Bailey up. Im so excited. I'll have all 4 up here then. That'll be so cool.
Sorta Penning
Posted by Steph919, Mar 28 2009, 11:04 PM
Well for those of you who dont know what a sorta penning is I'll give a quick description.
You are on a team of 3 riders, with 10 cattle at one end of the arena with a number on their backs, and a little 'pen' made of panels on the other. The judge will call out a number, example #4, you then ride down to the cattle sort out 3 cattle in sequence starting with #4, then #5, then #6. After they are sorted you chase them into the pen and put your hand up to call time. You have 60seconds to do this.
It was pretty fun. Got to visit with people I havent seen in a long while. Last year I won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Everyone kept askin if I was going to do it again, I was like who cares. Im here to have fun! Which has been my moto since my knee surgery. Im just happy to be riding without pain now. Anyways, Im thinkin last year came back and bit me on the butt. heheh Because I didnt even make it into the top half! Hahaha I thought it was humorous. I pretended to pout (sp?) at the judge, who is a really good friend, by sticking my lip out but he just chuckled and said it was because of last year. I still dont care, I just told everyone Bailey working amazingly! Thats all I really ask for.
I miss riding her soo much! Her personality is almost human. I swear she understand what I say. I had someone ask how old she was. She's 15yrs old. He just looked at her and said her eyes are still bright. She didnt put a lot of weight on during the winter but I can tell she is stiff from not being riddin. But soon My Girl will be with me again! Very soon! That day will be a glorious day.
Gymkhana
Posted by Steph919, Mar 13 2009, 09:56 PM
Yeah! I just was told about a gymkhana on March 29th! Im so excted hehe! I love going to them with my friends. I think Tony will be my main horse this year. Bailey is 15yrs old and Im kinda wanting my sister to start on her. I'll use Tony for this one because I have a team penning on the 28th and she's not in that good of shape to be doing a two day weekend yet.
I'll have to change her training though. Ive been doing reining with her to get her ready for working cow horse competitions. She'll remember though, hopefully.. It'll be so fun. Im extremely excited.
New Member
Posted by Steph919, Mar 9 2009, 07:27 PMWell I got a new member to my family. I was working today and this place had a cat at it. The lady then told us that she was givin this cat and she doesnt like them. I then convinced my fiance to let me take him home. His name is Spook and well when I took him home, he's been hiding. I got him out for a little bit but he went and hid again. I got a pic of him in his hiding spot. He'll get use to everything eventually.
My Ponies
Posted by Steph919, Mar 8 2009, 09:14 PM
Im so excited! Grandpa signed Tony over to me today! She's offically mine! Ive been working with her for some time now and I finally asked if I could have her. So now my little herd is compete. 4 Beautiful quarter horse mares.
Maggie is growing up so fast. Cant believe she's gonna be two soon. Cant wait to start saddling her and ground driving her. She's will be my tallest girl too, she's already as tall as the rest of them.
Bailey is... well Bailey. Still hard to catch but when you do she leads you to the trailer and loads herself. She'll be 15 this year and showing a bit of age but still has spunk. I love her to death, she'll do anything you ask.
Winnie is a pet. She sees you and just wants attention. Plus she's very intelligent, you show her something once and she remembers. She reminds me sometimes that she's only 3 but thats fine. Im not in any rush with her.
Tony is my project right now. I taught her to spin and do flying lead changes. It was so fun. We just gotta work on when we change directions she wants to bring her nose up. I ask her to flex again then she brings her nose down again. Im signed up for some clinics so we'll get that figured out soon. I cant wait to start doing working cow horse shows, it'll be so cool.
Awesome Day :)
Posted by Steph919, Mar 7 2009, 08:42 PM
I just got back from an awesome day team penning. I placed second in the open class and third in the ten class. Bailey worked amazingly. The cattle were tough but I just put the reins down and she never lost one! We even ran one down that had gotten away from a team mate. It was so much fun. I just wish I could afford to have her with me in Lloyd. But I do not have a trailer and it would be a pain for Grandpa have to come pick her up everytime we have to compete.
I plan to have one soon though. Hopefully by this summer. I really want all my babies with me so I can care for them and ride them. Today Bailey was actually a little sore from not being excersised *sigh* its all my fault. Im kinda planning on getting a second job. Im kinda impatient when it comes to having my horses near me. Is that a bad thing?
on Awesome Day :)