I've wanted a horse since I was a little girl. After only a few months of horse shopping I found my cute mare Daenerys (Dani) in 2012. Then in 2015 we moved from CO to NC and bought horse property. We now have Chance a sweet Arabian gelding. Then in 2022 I bought a younger and gaited horse, Kentucky Mountain horse, named Seamus.
This is the story of my continuing adventure in the world of horses in my backyard.
When you were just 8 months old, you met a pony for the first time! You didn't know what to think at first. She was the biggest "dog" you'd ever seen!!
She lipped your daddy's pocket looking for treats....and sniffed your feet to figure out just what you were!
But then she just fell asleep in the afternoon sun while you and your dad tried to figure out what to make of this big red animal. It was a new thing for both of you!
Face to face you looked at each other, right in the eyes. You gained courage looking into her gentle doe eyes and she felt calm seeing your big contented smile.
You said hello and Dani sniffed you...she thought you were pretty neat. She'd never seen such a small bipedal creature before!
Everyone was happy to meet Dani and you couldn't keep your eyes off her. You were ready for your own saddle, boots and riding helmet!!
Since you were still small though, Mom and Dan held you tight and let you sit on her broad back. Dani liked having you up there and stood quietly like a good girl. Aunt Christie praised her for keeping her nephew's safety in mind.
Even with the tight grip your parents had on you...you still moved around to figure out what this "thing" was that you were sitting on. It wasn't a chair, a car seat or a sofa. It was a real live pony! How much fun!
One day, you'll come out to Colorado again and ride with Aunt Christie. I'm sure you will love it and Dani will too!
It's always something with horses, that's what makes them fun and interesting. Daenerys doesn't like the cowboy curtain or noodly horse eating death machine. I've been working her from the ground and she would stand there with just her head in the noodles, bopping her in the breeze.
She planted her feet and won't move forward but I made sure she kept staring into the noodles. Then I backed her up and did several changes of directions releasing the pressure when she was near the noodles. Very much like trailer training!
Finally I decided that reducing the amount of noodles would help. It did! We had success. Every few passes we made walking through the noodles I released a few more noodles. We'll keep on until the curtain is fully noodly. After I feel she is going in and out of the noodles consistently we'll try while under saddle.
The other obstacle I've worked on Dani with is the water puddle. The club has a box set up that can be filled with a few inches of water. Dani is going through that no problem, even under saddle. Also after many of the rain storms we've had lately I've worked her in the muddy puddles around the grounds. Much improved over the puddle issue she had at Whispering Winds! LOL. The more desensitizing I can do with her the better. She will be a stellar trail horse someday I know it!
I was a little disappointed today when I went to the barn and it started storming like crazy. Dani gets really excited in her run when it thunders and the rain pours. Several times I felt there was a Dani butt getting a little to near to me too fast so I back off into the back of the stall, sat on the hay and waiting out the rain.
Good things come to those who wait! Two gorgeous rainbows came out after the storm had past. Eventually they were full across the sky and very very bright!!
I let Dani out to play so I could set up her new trough filter (more to come on that!). I had to grab the iPhone and take some photos. Nothing like a wet chestnut horse in the sun with a dark gray sky and rainbows behind to make mundane pictures a little more interesting. Darn it! Wish I'd had my SLR camera!!
Down went my wet mare.....
Up came my muddy mare....
But she shook for joy and went on to grazing. Later I did some work on the "cowboy curtain". That will be a post to come soon. You can see the object in her rolling picture. It's dangling noodles and rope that a horse has to walk through. I will have to say that we ended the day on a good note though. The rainbow was awesome! More to come!!
My original location for the Jolly Stall Snack was not very good. Since Dani could press it up against the railing she made quite the mess and it lasted only one night. At least she enjoyed it!
The next location was dangled from the rafters so it was about rear end height for Dani. She never paid it much attention and I kept ramming my head on it when I would muck the stall. Ouch!
So I just moved it so the "apple" is between the railings and at a decent height. It seems to be her preference. We'll have to see how long this thing lasts now and I'll have to compare how she likes the different flavors. The first was peppermint, this one is apple.
I want to get some more toys, though she doesn't seem to interested in her jolly ball. Perhaps this would be a good friend? Still debating a goat but really just want to get a second horse she can hang with.....
I started off last Saturday looking at the arena ground and watching the sky with Ross, our Gymkhana guy. Way before the fire I’d been trained on the tractor to drag the arena. The biggest down side to the job is that the arena has to be wet and the club has an archaic way of wetting the soil. They run a 1000 gallon water jug around the arena 5-6 times to wet it down…then they can run the groomer on the arena and it’s done. A full 4-5 hours of work to get both arenas ready for the gymkhana!!
They have a sprinkler system on one zone for the whole arena and the water pump can’t do that. If they had three zones it might work. I have a former boss that is still a licensed plumber….hmm.We received decent rain Saturday though so there was no need to water the arena but there sure was a lot of waiting around and wasted time trying to figure out what we were doing. I groomed one arena and then the next. You start on the outside and then go down the center, then you move to the left of the outside line and go around and down the left of the center line…..circles, circles and the thing ain’t that fast but it was fun. I only did a small retouch after several of the games halfway through the gymkhana.
The rest of the evening I was able to get Dani out and ride her around all the activity. She was pretty alert and several times kept trying to break into a trot. She tossed her head a lot and pulled hard on the reins nearly ripping them out of my hands at times. I tried to do changes of direction, backing up etc. She responded well but it didn’t keep her occupied long enough before she was back to looking around and quickening her pace.
I’m also still having some issues with my saddle. The stirrup turners, I got different ones that stay put, work nicely but I still have my foot falling asleep in the stirrup. The ball of my foot hurts and it just feel really restrictive. Not sure but thinking that an angled stirrup may help? A thinner stirrup more like the English ones I’m used to? Or should I get synthetic Fenders and leathers to ease up on the amount of resistance? I just don’t know what is causing the discomfort. For the most part the saddle feels comfortable in the seat it’s just a lot of leather for the fenders/stirrup leathers compared to English. I don’t want to keep having to try different tack items to find what works. It just seems that my foot can’t find a flat foothold on the stirrup easily without having to push out hard on all that leather. Western fenders have like three layers of leather right at the ankle area, especially when you have them on the shortest hole so perhaps the angled stirrups are the way to go? I guess I can always return them if they don’t, I will read the fine print!
Not me. This was one of the trainees when I got trained up
Anyways, sorry for that tangent....I tried to end the Saturday ride on a good note but with Dani trying to trot off or not responding to a stop it was nerve racking. She just needs more exposure to this noise and activity.
So Tuesday I went out and round penned her for a short time then mounted up and rode in there. We trotted a couple times and I posted in the western saddle and tried to keep my cool about it. I haven’t trotted much with her, feel like I need to get the brakes and steering solid at the walk first before progressing. It only makes sense. The round pen trots were fine, not really graceful but I think it’s the way to go as we practice. I then got her out onto the grounds and walked her around. A couple showed up with three horses and their truck/trailer. Cool a little bit of “excitement”. I walked her around and noticed she was still alert, just being in new surroundings was exciting. We did some changes of direction and neck bending exercises. Near the windmill on the property there was a bit of a scary spooky sound and movement of a trashcan lid???? She was nervous about that so I’ll have to continually expose her to that.
Steve wasn't there to film me in action but next time I'll make
sure someone does!
We practiced several stops and I even worked on lowering her head with sponge squeezes of the reins as we walked. As soon as she lowered her head a bit I released the pressure. This is something we’ll have to do in the arena during some concentrated training. If a horse is lowering their head generally they are calmer and less tense, so teaching them to do this under saddle is helpful…Julie Goodnight just had an episode about this not too long ago. We will keep working and I can always walk her around at other gymkhanas or have her in one of the pens near the activity.
This is just a silly post, a rant about how ucky water gets so quickly in the summer! Dani, like most horses goes to their water with a full mouth and drinks the water. Then she seems to slop the water around to clean off the bits and pieces of hay or grain.
Uck!! I daily use a fish net to filter the water and sometimes twice a week end up dumping and refilling. Not the best thing in the world during a drought but my girl needs clean water! I start with a fish tank siphon since I find it easier than the plug that exists in the tank, less mess and I can make sure the water goes out of her stall instead of spilling on inside it. Then I scrub the inside with a brush, hose it out and dump that last bit and refill.
I plan on investing in self waterers on my own future property. These will only have a small amount of water in a bowl at a time but the horse will always have a clean supply and when you clean out the bowl (easily done daily) there is maybe only a gallon that is wasted.
I am seriously thinking of getting one of these though since there is a heater that will attach to it in the winter. I originally thought "why not a fish filter?" but found they have filters specifically made for water troughs. Cool. Can't seem to post the video here but check it out! http://youtu.be/polT3Oj0jAA
I was surprised with an email recently. A lady named Barb contacted me about Daenerys. Apparently way back, before the person who I bought her from had bought her, Barb inquired about Dani’s full sister. She bought her full sister Maddie; full name Lady Madeline. It sounded like they were interested in Dani (called Maggie at the time) but that the owner didn’t think she should be a child’s horse…they thought she required an expert rider. My mare?
Lady Madeline
I was told that those that owned her at the time kept them in Woodland park and only visited in the summer and that the property owner wasn’t much of a horse person so probably just didn’t know how to deal with Dani. I’m betting with Dani’s “in your space” personality that it can be a bit much if you don’t know how to handle it. Anyways B had searched for Steiners Honor and found my blog.
Grazy Maddie
She told me a little bit of Dani’s history. Her breeder most likely was the one who had trained her to drive. When the breeder passed on the horses were sold and there is evidence that Dani was trained and ridden hard by whoever that trainer was at that time. The marks on her sides and topline are from an ill fitting saddle. I’m guessing it was probably the same trainer that probably introduced her to the trailer or where she had a bad deal with the trailer that was never corrected. That’s a shame considering that with her mind and willingness she could have easily learned to load and be comfortable at a young age.
Lady Madeline
She lived in Woodland Park being ridden only in the summers by her owners that resided in Arizona as I stated before. So there was little formal training, aside from the one trainer it sounds like, during those years like we’ve suspected but she was pretty well broke, as they say. It sounds like she had good treatment there but was most likely not trailered much.
Lady Madeline, what a cute face!
Then the gal I bought her from purchased her and did some work on her head shy issues and tried to work on her with trailering. Her daughter rode her mostly around the house and in the fields since she couldn’t be trailered. They loved her I already knew that but they couldn’t get the trailer issue worked out so put her up for sale. Barb had encouraged her to keep Dani but the trailering issue was just too much. Some Morgan breeders were interested in Dani but I lucked out and am now owned by this diamond in the rough!
Lady Madeline
Maddies owner sounds really nice and Maddie sounds like a great mare to. It sounds like they show a lot and just generally love hanging out with their Morgans. Her account on You tube is Morgans4Us. I’ve posted one video on here of Maddie. It was a fun email exchange and it was great that she sent pictures and the video links that she stated I could share on my blog. Both from Barb and Laura from the “Old Morgans” blog I follow (see left side of this blog) I’ve found out that there is a lot of Working Western blood in my mare.
Dani and her sister are from the Western Working and Brunk Lines. Here is an excerpt from information sent by Barb: http://www.rafterbardmorgans.com/history.html
In 1893 Joseph Brunk and his family established the Brunk line in and around Springfield, IL. Joseph Brunk had a serious interest in Morgans and his sharp sense for horses led him to raise some of the most influential Morgans of all time. These horses were known for their high action, sound, correct legs and feet and all around athletic ability. They were often line-bred and usually high quality, showy horses. The Brunk influence is felt strongly in the ranch breeding of the west known as the Western Working family of Morgans.
Flyhawk was the mostly widely known stallion of the Brunk family. He sired many great Morgans and his influence is still seen in many breeding programs today. He was noted for his big ground covering trot, dense bone, hardiness and athleticism.
Some of the well known stallions in Brunk breeding are Flyhawk, Jubilee King, Senator Graham, Senator Knox, Mr. Breezy Cobra, Beamington, Congo, Go Hawk, Stetson, Red Vermont, Agizzaz, Flying Jubilee, Juzan, and Allen Franklin.
Some of the well known mares include Senata, Florette, Sentola, Daisy Knox, Bens Daisy, Jubilee Joy, Sentana, Daisette, Liza Jane, Neliza, Paragraph and Juvina.
I find it interesting to learn more about Dani and to learn more about Morgans. It still just all goes back to that moment though, when I first met her and knew there was something special about her no matter what her shortcomings. We’ll walk the path together, and together overcome our fears. I love my girl!
I still feel like I’m trying to recover from this summer!!! I’ve been going nonstop it seems since May. In May my step daughter graduated high school. We spent the week out in Maryland, luckily able to spend it in our friend’s house to save on hotel money. Our friends right now are stationed in Cheyenne so only their 19 year old daughter was there but she was a fantastic host. Steve’s parents also stayed with us there. It was a gorgeous house and so perfect for my childhood friend. I could see why it was her dream home!
Cierras graduation was great to see and it was fun meeting many of her friends and family. We went to Baltimore aquarium, saw movies and just caught up. She is so grown up! Starting college is one of the best times in life! She is going to Salisbury University in Maryland and will be studying Marine Biology (I love aquatic sciences!). It was so fun so see her again. Hopefully we can attend some football games and cheer her cheering!!! We also got a chance to chill with Steve’s parents at Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware, a must for any home brewer!
I came home to find Loki with blistered type pustules on his face. The vet wanted $600 for a test of the face but for easier sampling we went with his belly where there were also outbreaks. Couldn’t justify the extra money when both outbreaks occurred at the same time, I figured they were related. The results were inconclusive and assumed an allergic reaction. To what I don’t know, the kennel he stayed at didn’t do much different than other kennels. The only thing was that perhaps he was exposed to those red ants since it was out in Falcon. Oh well, after several weeks of medication he got better and is perfectly fine and happy.
Then my brother was out to visit from Virginia. His wife, Brianne and their boy Bryson (only 8 month) also came with Brianne’s parents Lane and Donna. We did a lot of things after I got off work like dinner etc. Bryson even came out to see Dani at the barn. He was fascinated! It was great to have everyone out; we spent a nice day in the Black Forest Regional Park, grilling up brats and burgers. Steve and I made a big deal about collecting all the ashes for fire safety. The Tuesday following my brother’s departure started the Black Forest Fire.
The fire started west of the regional park we were at on Sunday but I was pretty sure the park must have burnt. I was activated for the emergency operations center and was busy for several weeks. Dani was moved for my peace of mind since I couldn’t easily have moved her while I was working the situation. You can read about that here.
After the fire was out I had a preplanned vacation where my freshman roommate and good friend Marie came out to visit for a week. I made sure my vacation was still a go and it was. We spent a good week in early July together chilling, doing some pony stuff, going to the pool and hanging in Denver for some fun exhibitions. It’s great to hang out with Marie, we always can just pick up where we left off and chillax. We even got to attend the 4th of July parade as pooper scoopers for the club! LOL.
I then was back to work and really wishing I could just take a week to do nothing. Housework is unfinished, the lawn is a wreck (though pretty green from the recent rains). My hubby constantly travels for work and most times I only get to see him Saturday because he has really quick turn arounds flying in on Friday night and leaving Sunday morning to head back to another job. Sometimes he actually gets a full weekend and that’s a little better. It gets old and I hate choosing between him and the horse but on the short turn arounds he’s usually just doing laundry and repacking and submitting his expense reports….
I’m trying to just get back into the groove of “normal” life and do a little at a time. I am trying to spend more time with Dani, working her on the Clinton Anderson method etc. I’m desensitizing her to the lead rope and stick and string. Whipping the ground near her is freaking her out but she is calming down. I’ll be getting to even scarier objects soon…like dangling noodles!! They’re gonna get her! She will benefit from a lot of different desensitizing. I really want to trail ride with her so all this is leading to that.
Right now I’m working on a co-op for buying hay, $11 a bale. That’s about $3.50 cheaper than this spring though some places are still charging that price. Hopefully it will come down even more next year but I’m happy with that price for now and it’s good brome hay. It’s taken a bit to get a hay co-op thing worked out for Kit Carson Riding Club, I’ll be discussing details with the board on August 7th and have a forum created already to hopefully help this along for the coming year. Can’t wait to launch it and get members on the forum!! Anyhow, that’s my life the past couple months!!
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