2014 Year of the Trailer??

January

Well last year started with a bang!  I bought a horse trailer!!! It was exactly what I wanted, a bumper pull, 3 horse slant with a tack room in the front.  It needed some work to meet my expectations but I wasn't afraid of that.

Also in January I continued to work on slow feeder for Dani's trough.  Eventually I moved onto slow feeder nets and loved them and it was great having Dani be able to "graze" most of her time in the smaller stall area.

February

February was lots of cold weather as seems to be typical in Colorado.  We only whipped out the blanket a few times, Dani is pretty darn tough.

We also had L come to the KCRC barn with her 6 horses new friends.  It was great to have friends for Dani and to see another human being at the barn!  Still the evenings were dark and there was very little time to ride except on the weekend.

March
At the evenings grew a little lighter I had time to play with Dani on desensitizing with found objects.  She's such a sensible horse and I think continuing this effort will have great pay offs.

Steve and I attended the Mane event for the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo.  Lots of cute pony fun there.  The rest of March I spent planning my parents 40th Anniversary which we hosted at the KCRC club house.

 April
In April my dirty pony really needed a bath but instead we just got in some refresher rides with trot and working on mounting techniques.



I did some fetlock trimming as the barn was very muddy and shorter hairs would be best.  She's pretty good about it so I am happy about that!

May
In May Dani had an odd leg swelling.  We had the vet wrap her leg and it went down but there will always be a bump.  We are pretty sure she bumped her leg on the fencing as she kicked out at a neighboring horse.



Steve and I began stripping down the trailer on the warmer days to begin the process of rust treatment and painting.  We sure had a lot of work cut out for us!



My friends son, Liam, had his birthday party at the KCRC club house.  It was batman themed with pony rides.  LOL.  I think the kids had fun.  My friend Michael had a pony ride too.  I'd never known that was her first ride on a horse ever!

June

June saw lots of trailer work.  I started with conversion of rust and then began painting.  The spray painting gun didn't work so well, user error I"m sure so I ended up using rollers to paint.




KCRC hosted an EXCA (Extreme Cowboy Association) clinic at the grounds.  Dani and I joined to learn more about EXCA and the obstacles you encounter.  She was a really good girl.  The only thing was sidling up to a block to dismount onto.

July

Weather prevented a fun day on horseback at KCRC for July 4th, I was bummed since it's fun to do things with the club.  We also got in lots more work on the trailer when the days were nice.  Steve's parents were in town to visit for a month or so and we had Cierra out for a week so we spent lots of cherished family time up in Durango.  I also worked on getting Dani into trailer loading mode with L.

August
The move to the new barn was uneventful and Dani settled in right away. Because of the lush grass and her easy keeper status a grazing muzzle was on order.  



Luckily we didn't have too many issues with that though I'm sure she disliked her muzzle.



We installed new trailer flooring.  It wasn't really too hard, I was relieved and got a good look at the frame and treated areas that needed rust treatment.



Dani then came up with pony hoof clip injury.  The flap kept getting grass caught in it so we had the vet come out and they told us what wrap to use with DMSO and Furizone.  Dani hated having her leg wrapped and unwrapped.  It was a struggle but after a few days we were able to keep her leg open to the air and she healed right up.

September
In September I discovered bots on Dani's legs and sides.  That was a first.  I became very familiar with a bot stone! Steve and I spent a long weekend in San Francisco.  Then we spent time finishing of the tack room of the trailer and finally getting the trailer to the barn.  Dani had a minor colic episode, mainly seemed to be just gas discomfort.  Luckily she was fine.  It was a sudden change in weather and barometric pressure too.  Phew!

October
I began working on the horse area of the trailer, rust treatment and painting.  I did get some rides in and also too Dani for walk to the high school across the street.  



I discover some odd mud looking crusts on Dani's rear legs.  It is apparently scratches.  I treat her legs with Shapley's MTG which has sulfur in it.  Eventually it clears up.  I now have powdered sulfur, animal feed grade, and some oil so that if she has this start again I have a more concentrated tool.  It can also be used as a prevention.



Julie Goodnight mentions my post on her Facebook page!!  The posts sky rocket on October 29th!!

November

I take a jiggy ride near high school with Scotty and M.  For the most part Dani does good she was just excited and I think I was tense.  More to work on.  I discover a missing chunk in mane from Dani rubbing the fence, ugh, her mane is so beautiful!!!  Steve and I spend Thanksgiving in Mrytle Beach with family and have a great time though I miss the pony.

December
I come back from South Carolina and have her hooves trimmed and her annual dentist visit.  Both horse people mention the swelling of old injury seems a little more so I decide to paultice it overnight.  She actually did really well with me paulticeing and wrapping.



Since it's dark as night when I get off work I can't do much at the barn during the week.  On the weekends I hope for nice weather so I can play with my mare.  We've had a few nice relaxing rides at least.

We plan to ride more regularly and also to begin some serious trailer training to get this girl out to some events and trail rides.  See you this year!!!

Extreme Cowboy Association Clinic

(FYI none of these pictures are mine, they were posted by various members of KCRC who posted on the Facebook page!  Thank you!!)

The Extreme Cowboy Association hosts competitions where riders take their horses through a series of obstacles that show horsemanship, trust and refined aids in order to get the horse through the obstacle and in order to earn points.  This is Craig Cameron’s baby; he is the originator of the Extreme Cowboy Race.

This was a free clinic hosted at KCRC by the members that are actively involved in EXCA.  I’d never done EXCA so figured this would be an awesome introduction.  I was worried I’d have to run through the obstacles but I was told I could stay at a walk.  It was good to get Dani out and about with all the activity of other horses running around in the warm up arena.  I had to figure out how to tie Dani while we were corralled into the stands for a brief introduction.  I didn't bring my lead rope with me since I don’t have a place for it on the saddle and you should never tie a horse by the reins!!!

There's me below at the right playing with the rope.

Luckily being at KCRC I could run her back to her stall, tie her there with some hay and run back to get the briefing.  We then were broken into small groups of 3-5 to rotate through the obstacles.  Not all possible obstacles were set up just a good number and variety.  Dani and I were with two others, a couple on their two horses.  Our first obstacle was a rope and barrel.  You have to either rope the barrel, then trot around it; thereby wrapping the rope around it or you place the rope loop over the barrel and complete it that way.  We only got to the part of standing on the ground trying to learn to through the rope and rope a rock in the sand.  I was so not good at it but almost roped the sock at the end.  Again I was sans lead rope so I didn’t know how to secure Dani.  I unlatched the reins from her bit and clipped one end to her halter ring and then loosely tied her to the rail behind me.  Hoping she wouldn't do anything silly while sort of tied.  She was good though.  

Our next obstacle was a barrel with four poles at 90 degrees to each other.  The goal is to trot or canter around the outside once, change direction and then go at an equal distance around the barrel and over the poles twice in that direction.  We practiced at a walk.

After that we did the water hole.  The two horses with me didn’t like it at all and were balking at stepping in the water (puddle sharks live there don’t you know!).  Dani just looked down, sniffed and then walked through.  We also did the cowboy curtain which she’s been pretty regular about as I’ve done lots of ground training and in saddle training.   Then we hopped up the three levels of “jumps” on the side of the hill (hello two-point, long time no see!).  I’ve only done this with her in halter from the ground.  The tallest one is about 1.5 feet.  Going up that one I accidentally bopped my girl in the mouth.  I felt bad but next time was better about it and she was forgiving.  We also went down the obstacles.  Always scary going down!  I chickened out on the second step but did go down it at last.  No ready for the tallest one.  I can work on those and get the courage to hop up and down all of them.

The next obstacle was side passing over a poll.  Nope, I haven’t side passed yet so that’s something to work on.  Then we backed the turned through an L shaped pole obstacle.  Dani was good at backing and turning outside of the pole obstacle but when I asked at the obstacle she didn’t like it.  I practiced outside some more, perhaps I can work on that on my own too since I have access to those poles.

The next obstacle was a ground tie where you walk around your horse, distance from them means more points.  I didn’t go too far from her but was glad she stayed.  Good girl!  Then we had to do a turn on the hindquarters (kind of like a spin but not).  I haven’t worked with her on this at all so barely knew what I was doing and confused her a bit but she tried.  That’s what I love about her, she may get frustrated at trying to figure out what I’m asking but she has a lot of try.

The scary object was the tunnel of junk.  Plastic bags, jugs and other “trash” were set up between two fence panels and you had to move your horse through.  The first time Dani paused; not out of fear but what seemed to be interest in if there was a treat in one of the bags.  LOL.  We went through again and again.  So in love with my mare, the flapping didn’t bother her much.

Removing a bucket from a barrel, lowering it to the ground and then placing it back on the barrel was the next obstacle.  It made sounds and clinking.  I made sure to have it brush Dani a couple times on the side and I made extra noise with it on the ground.  She was solid.   Then we had the “mounting” block.  A table was set on 4 bales of straw….guess what….pony took a nibble.  Oh my goodness.  I could walk her around the obstacle but I couldn’t get her to sidle up to it in order for me to dismount.  At one point she thought I wanted her to step up on it but that wasn’t what I was asking.  Again, lateral movements that go with sliding up to an obstacle and staying near it in a straight line is a common movement (opening gates, checking mail etc.)

When we were done I did a little trotting in a circle and dismounted.  Lunch time!  I brought Dani back to her stall, untacked her and made sure she had some hay to nibble on.  Then I went for my pulled pork sandwich.  YUM!!!

After lunch we were going to run through the obstacles like a race.  This was going to take a long time as there were 30 something participants.  We waited and waited as people ran the course.  I was tired and my knees were hurting me.  I starting seeing dots so decided to call it quits and go take care of the pony, mucking, hay moving etc and then head home asap.  I wanted to get out of the heat and into a luke-warm bath.  We’d started the day at 8am and I left early at around 3 pm-ish.  Several days that week I’d been in the heat working on the trailer, I was done with hot.  It would have been nice to run the course but I just had to get out of the sun!

Anyways, I learned a ton and had a great time with my good girl. I'm so thankful to all the EXCA KCRC riders who volunteered their time to put this on for us!  What an awesome day!

The Batman/Pony Ride Birthday Party

The Birthday boy was visiting from FL for the weekend with his mom.  We've missed our friends so it's nice to get to see them.  Ashley and I had started planning the party, I was able to get the KCRC clubhouse and suggested pony rides.  She was all about that!

There were only two little kids that rode Dani, Liam was one and he was all smiles!  The other children were too little.

Ashley was all smiles too.  She loves Dani but didn't ride since she's expecting.  But loving on the pony is totally fun too!

Dani investigated Ashley to see if she had any treats.  Nope.  :-(

I borrowed "buddy stirrups" from a friend.  They are little stirrups on a strap that loop around the saddle horn.  Liam and the other cowboy held on tight to the horn and friends walked along side as I led Dani in a circle and around some barrels.  Dani was a good girl but at first wasn't sure about moving off at the walk with people still standing at her sides.

This picture of Liam is so cute.  The Contemplative cowboy!

My friend Michael had never made it out to see Dani so this was the first time meeting her and the first time she'd ever been on a horse!  I had no idea!  She was delighted.  Perhaps when Steve and I get a second horse we can encourage Michael to come and learn to ride!

Little kids and big kids alike had a great time.  I think the pony rides were a hit.  How it related to the Batman Theme?  Who knows....but does it really matter?

Serene Sunday

Today was not so serene since there was a mounted shooting clinic at KCRC.   After working on the trailer most of the day, I walked Dani around the arena.  She was pretty spooked by each shot. Something to work on are loud noises!  She really doesn't like them!

Still she could have freaked out more than she did.  Mostly it was just shudders then quick movements away after she'd had enough but she didn't seem like she would bolt or buck.  I kept it short since I didn't want her to strain her still injured leg.

Stay tuned....I have trailer restoration posts coming up!

Barn-aversary!!!

May 11th is Dani and I's Barn-aversary!  We started our journey together at Whispering Winds, a gorgeous barn up near Monument but that was just too far to drive for me!  Particularly in the winter!

We later moved to an icky barn and then 6 days later landed at Kit Carson Riding Club.  It's a self care barn and though I was worried it would be too much driving and time for me it's worked out nicely.  I still want my self care barn in my backyard but that will come soon enough.  For now there is Dani, 6 paso finos, Daves horses and baby bunnies to enjoy this facility with me.  Nice horses and nice owners, always willing to lend a hand when I go out of town....and visa versa.

Dani and I plan on staying here for the time being, I'm contemplating moving in the fall to a place with an indoor.  By then I may have my trailer up and good to go and my mare loading well.  Perhaps then hauling to an indoor arena won't feel like traveling to the end of the world.  We shall see.  For now we are content.  Happy Barn-aversary my girl!

Year of the Horse Resolutions

Well it's the year of the hors...so it makes sense to have my New Years Resolutions revolve around my equine friend.  Here are my goals for this coming year...should I tell Dani or not?

1) Ride more!!!!  As the weather gets nicer and not dark when arriving at the barn I should ride at least twice during the week and once on the weekends.....at least that is.  If I do more then great!

2) Do more groundwork.  If I can do some groundwork while it's dark I should, I have the set up for it!!  At least 2 times a week do groundwork with new exercises introduced regularly.  Mainly work on Clinton Anderson stuff but work on the bitting rig of Julie Goodnight.  Also, desensitizing to everything I can imagine!

3) Become better at mounting and get Dani more consistent with standing quietly for mounting.

4) Get a horse trailer.  Nothing prevents me from doing what I want more than not having a trailer....except....

5) Get Dani to be a better loader.  My goal is to get Dani to load on the first try, not panic or back out and when asked she should back out nice and slow.

6) Participate in several trail rides this summer...including the one overnight ride that KCRC does!!

7) Continue to work on trotting and feeling comfortable riding Dani at that gait.

8) Begin working on the canter.

9) Participate on horseback in at least one KCRC event whether it's a Gymkana or EXCA....just to get a taste!

10) Learn to open a gate perfectly from horseback....which means coordination for me and my horse!

11) Get my horse to accept gentle washing...even of her face!

12) Kind of a stretch....buy Steve a beginner horse (or better yet find a nice free horse!)

13) Lastly....a little bit of a pipe dream....buy horse property!!!

Happy New Years!

Year End Review....2013

January

In January I took a lesson with Laurie when I was still getting used to riding Dani.  I felt much more confident after the lesson learning how to yield Dani's hindquarters under saddle.  The rest of the month I rode some but did the beginnings of Clinton Anderson type groundwork.  Dani showed a lot of attitude but eventually learned it didn't do her any good and she's become a pro now!

 February

My long time Ariat paddock boots died finally died so I was in the market to find a new pair.  I started looking at the boots and found that the Pinnacle tall boot was nearly the same price as regular paddock boots so I tried to determine my size.  Dani was working on realizing that the mounting block wasn't scary and I trained her to stand nicely at the block for mounting.

Dani met a couple of my friends, including their young son who absolutely loved her.  No pony rides though since I don't have a small child's helmet in my equipment storage.  Steve came to visit Dani a lot and enjoyed playing with her in the indoor arena....he still hasn't really ridden her yet though!

March

In march I finally go the right size Dublin Pinnacle boot and have enjoyed them so much!  Very comfortable boot with a casual look.

My friend Jessica came down to meet Dani and we borrowed a friends horse so we could walk around the arena together.  It was fun riding like when we were kids growing up.  Loved playing with Breyer horses as kids but it's fun to play with the full size model as adults! 

I took some fun St. Patrick's Day and some bunny ears pictures for a Julie Goodnight contest and one a DVD of my choice.  Dani was so tolerant and such a good girl!

April

I joined the Kit Carson Riding Club to meet some horsie people.  The group is awesome so I was excited about the future activities to get involved with.  I started looking for new places to board at and found one to move to at the end of the month.  I was mixed about leaving Whispering Winds since it was such a nice facility but I had reasons for moving...mainly the distance and secondly it was a little too busy of a barn for with lots of kids running around in the arena doing their jumps and making it hard for this still apprehensive riding trying to walk circles.  I started looking for hay as well....totally another major aspect of owning horses!

Our favorite appaloosa friend Rock died from several bouts of colic.  He was only 9 and had a lease rider that was so in love with him.  We were heart broken, Steve loved Rock and even though we weren't going to get a second horse anytime soon the connect Rock had with Steve was so cute!

May

I purchased 30 bales of nice Timothy and Steve and I got to use our truck for hauling purposes...weee!!  We moved to a ranch just down the road from KCRC.  Uschi and I didn't have luck with Dani getting in her trailer but a gal, K, from KCRC rescued us with her trailer and worked Dani hard outside the trailer.  At a later date I had a training session with K on loading Dani into the trailer so I have an idea what to work on once I finally have a trailer. 

After less than a week at the new facility I moved Dani to KCRC.  I'd been warned about many things regarding the owners of the ranch and decided it would be safest for all to move to the barn at KCRC.  At the time GG was still there with her horse who was for sale, so was K and David of course had his mare Ducky and an older mare there are well.  We settled in well and got all the supplies we needed for taking care of my girl.  She began eating like a mad horse so it was obvious she wasn't comfortable at the other place either!

Around the time of the move I found a great Circle Y saddle on craigslist and tried it out on Dani.  It fit well and was comfy for both Steve and I do ride.  I did take it to a tack store to get the stirrups adjusted and to add some more D rings and such that were missing on it.  It was a great deal so I was pleased.

June

My brother and his family came out for a week to visit with family in Colorado.  I got to show Scott my baby....Dani and his son Bryson was able to meet his first horse!  It was a fun visit to include a nice picnic with extended family in the Black Forest Regional Park.

On the 21st, the Black Forest Fire started and horses were moved to KCRC among other locations.  Because of my work with Emergency Management I decided to voluntarily evacuate my horse since I wouldn't have the time to do so with my work and because she was a difficult loader and because I didn't have a trailer available to me when ever I would need it.  I had to make a quick decision that would help me do my job and not worry about Dani in the process.  Laurie was able to accept Dani during that time, she also had Rio and Orchid, Uschi's horses.  Uschi's house was fine but the fire burnt a huge patch of forest just behind her house.  It's amazing to drive through the forest and see the damage.  It's unreal that last year I was responding to the Waldo Canyon Fire around this same time period.   

 July

My best friend Marie came to visit for a week in July.  We were in a parade as pooper scoopers for the 4th of July!  Weeeee!!!  We chilled at the pool and just did other fun things.  I even got her up on Dani for a little pony ride.

I continued to work on improvements to horse care like adding a water filter to the trough.  I was also battling algae so found a natural preventative that helped keep the algae amounts down.  It's still a battle!  I was contacted by a gal that owned Dani's full sister, Maddie.  I learned a bit more about the horses pasts and was glad to here how well her sister was doing.  They look so much alike!

August

In August came the rains.  Everyday it rained and there was a river running through KCRC.  Part of the arena was washed out and I probably lost a lot of sand from Dani's run.  I had to respond for work several times for flooding around the county.  Up north of Denver it was really bad.  This has just been a year for natural disasters in Colorado! 

When I could I worked Dani on a few obstacles like the cowboy curtain.  I tied back the noodles and walked her through.  Slowly I let down more and more noodles until she didn't have any issues walking through.  Now I can ride her through them...just at the walk since even I don't want to get slapped in the face with the metal washers that hold the noodles onto the rope.  Dani learns fast so it's been fun teaching her to accept the noodles and negotiate other obstacles.

September

September continued with more rain and many busy days at work.  Steve and did manage to get 100 bales for the winter though.  We bought them from a hay charity and have been pretty happy with the hay purchase though I'll be looking for a consistent supplier this year and perhaps certified weed free hay.

My silly Aussie mix Loki, got trampled by Sugar when he ran into her pen and I didn't notice at first.  Luckily he wasn't injured but for a minute or so I was afraid some nerve or spinal damage had been done.  Poor baby!

October

I worked on more trotting and getting over the fear of speed.  We succeeded and have done many rides with lots of trotting about! Because of the rain and lack of putting on hoof oil as regularly as I should Dani had a hoof chip that freaked me out.  It actually wasn't a big deal but has made me more aware and now I round the hooves regular to prevent chipping in between trims.

My slow feeder has failed, the plastic lattice kept breaking so I've ended up buying a nibblenet.  It doesn't fit as much hay in it as I need so still have been working on making the trough into a slow feeder using a nibblenet sheet.  It's still a work in progress but at least it does slow her down and reduce the wasted hay.

I started to see Stubs around a bit more, running here and there.  I continued to feed her dry food but never got too close to her.  She seemed curious so I always talked sweetly to her when I saw her.

November

KCRC had a vaccine and floating clinic so it made it very easy to get Dani's fall work done.  The club also had a clean up day with a cow run.  Other club activities included being a pooper scooper for the Veterans day parade but this time I got tot drive an ATV.  That was pretty cool!  Someday I'll ride in a parade but not just yet....

November meant a time change so the days got darker sooner.  I got a night light set up with one of those indoor work lights.  It did the job so I could do groundwork with Dani during the week.  Then we hit some cold spells and I didn't want to do groundwork.  Wuss I know!  Stubs started showing up and hanging out with me and my girl.  I got some wet food to start feeding her when I saw her and it became a consistent thing.  I started planning on how to trap her and get her spayed.  Local Trap Neuter Release groups never got back with me so I was sort of on my own.

December

In early December I borrowed a trap from a friend and brought Stubs home.  Steve and I already accepted the fact that she probably would be staying in our house if Armani my other cat was okay with it.  He was.  We got her fixed and all her shots.  She's been settling in very well and though we can't pick her up and hold her yet we can love on her, hug her and scratch her itchy spots.  She's made a great transition from feral cat to spoiled house cat in such a short time.

We've had some really frigid cold spells but Dani didn't mind.  The past two weeks I've been off from work which is nice to just chill and do nothing.  We've had a great Christmas too.

Hopefully the New Year will continue to have great blessings for us and our little critter filled home.  I really want to get Dani a pony friend but that mainly depends on my hubby and his work schedule.  None the less we are doing well and enjoying KCRC.

This next year I want to get a trailer, trailer train Dani so she is a perfect little loader and then I want to hit the trails with my horsie friends!  I just need to give confidence to Dani and have confidence in myself that we can overcome our fears....her's are of the trailer experience and mine the fast speeds.  I think we have gotten to a good level of trust in one another and will continue to develop that bond.  I love my girl!

Wishing everyone a great New Year!  Remember it's the Year of the Horse!!!  Make it a good one!!