Catching Some Pony Time

I went out to the barn on Saturday.  I think Dani ran around the round pen 5 times before I received a call that I needed to be activated for my job.  Ugh.  Sucks working on your "day off".  It was a gorgeous day so even sadder that I had to leave.  The following Sunday was a little colder and chilly but I was determined to get some pony time in.  I tacked her up and rode around the property.

Dani seemed more alert, she looked around and snorted at a couple of things.  She even started at some tumbleweeds.  Luckily when she shies it's not too big and she'll more willingly take a look at the scary object with my assurances.  After our ride my little mare took a long drink of water and then.....

Tried to kiss me with her wet dripping lips!  Ewe!  Pony slobber!!!  I tried to get a picture of her tongue with my cell but they timing was never perfect.  Such a silly girl.  Look at her billy goat beard!!!  I miss seeing her during the week.  I can't wait until the days get longer and the time change occurs.  Lacking pony time!

Horse Trailer Update

I have not realized that I never posted on the final interior finish of the trailer!

It's done, all painted and pretty.  It will need touch-ups every year I am sure but the painting is done, the flooring is done and it is fully usable!  I still need new tires this springs before I'll feel comfortable taking trips longer than a few miles.  Local trips will be fine, the tires still have good tread but I think they are older than they should be and I want to make sure on highway or longer trips that my Daenerys is safe.

Steve had been working on wiring for interior and exterior lighting.  I have one light for the tank room, two for the horse area and one flood light for the grooming area on the the right side of the trailer.  These all run off a separate battery that can be charged while parked via a solar panel that connects to the terminals.  It's meant for these batteries....for truck, tractors or ATV's that don't get used all the time.  We've had issues with Steve being home to do the work, then with the weather being so cold and the wiring being extremely brittle and unworkable.  Lastly we had an issue with the switch smoking when Steve tested the system.  Ugh.

So I still don't have exterior or interior lighting, I haven't really had a need for them just yet and when I come at night to see Dani I just drag some supplies to the barn and groom her there.  For now this last part is on hold until we get some warmer weather.  I don't see that occurring for a while though.

At least if I need it I have a solar lantern and then of course my tack room has been in use for a while.  I love having access to everything and even having my own little porta potty!  Dani doesn't seem to mind me taking a quick potty break before our rides, she often takes her own DURING our rides.  LOL.  It's been a great little space to have and I hope to do some hauling this spring!

Serene Sunday

Sleepy Stubs on my lap. Nice evening inside. Snowy outside

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!!!

Who's Your Daddy?

Better late than never.  I finally got around to registering my mare in my name.  She's registered but with the record of an owner from nearly 4-5 years ago.  The gal I bought Dani from never registered her either so I had to pay extra for the double transfers in the registration.  It's yet another thing I'm not really going to have a use for since I don't show at this time.  But it's good to get done and I have another document stating this girl is all MINE!

I of course did not pay for a change in name.  Dani's registered name is Steiner Honor.  To me it just seems a lot of breeders are terrible at naming horses.  Here are a few odd names in her pedegree.  Niobrara Blackledge, Topside Eager Beaver and Gay's Irish Annette.  WHAT????  

Dani as a young mare when she was first cart trained

I figured what better time to go through her pedigree a little than right now after just registering her.  I found many pictures of her ancestors on the Morgan Horse Association website.  Not surprisingly the mares were hard to come by and only a few noted stallions could be found.  I wasn't going to spend too much time trying to find all of this!

Gallant King

Gallant King

Gallant King is Dani's grandfather on the sire side.  I'm guessing he is where she gets her animated trot.  It appears he was involved in sulky/roadster races.  He seems to be trotting rather than pacing but I wouldn't know if he was a gaited Morgan or not from these pictures.

Flyhawk

Flyhawk

Flyhawk

Flyhawk is Gallant King's Sire and Dani's Great grandfather.  What a gorgeous neck and nice stocky build.  Dani looks like him but in chestnut.

Go Hawk

Go Hawk is Dani's Great, Great Grandfather and of course father of Flyhawk.  Handsome looking boy. As stated on All Breed Pedigree "From an old-fashioned fast trotting strain of Morgans-good cross on Jubilee King Mares--H.B. Greenwalt." All of them are black accept Gallant King.  Florette, seen below is Flyhawk's Dam.  She was crossed with Go Hawk.  Below she is pictured with another foal and we can't really get a good look at her.  I see ribs though which is sad.

Florette with a foal Annadale

I'm still looking four generations back, the Great, Great grandparent (GGG) section of Dani's pedigree.  Another GGG is Jubilee King, very upright neck and noble head with a kind eye.  That's my Dani Girl!  Up to now all the horses have been on her Sires side, Yampa Romeo.  I didn't have much luck with the ancestors on her Dam's side, TMM Lady Jane.

Jubilee King

On her Dam's side but also a fourth generation GGG is Broadwall Brigadier, he was a bay and gorgeous.  That face and the ears and the hooves.  I see where Dani gets her good looks even way back in her pedigree.

Broadwall Brigadier

Then lastly there is Applevale Encore, a brown stallion.  He won a Grand Champion Amateur Park Harness, and Grand National Reserve Champion Park Harness.

Applevale Encore

Dani certainly has a lot of trot in her pedigree with Roadsters and Park horses.  Flyhawk was a good working Western horse and I think his lines contributed to her all around gentle demeanor with the trotty horses added in for a bit of flash.  LOL.

Anyways, this is my mares heritage.  Kinda fun to see but doesn't make a big difference to me.  She's be just as beautiful to me if she was grade.

Something's Fishy

I like to post about my other critters on occasion.  A tragedy occurred in early November.  I'd had a nice day at the barn only to return home and find all my fish in my 55 gallon tank dead.  My CO2 regulator had failed and gassed all my fish to death.  

We'd had a near disaster over a year ago with another regulator and thought this issue was solved.  Luckily a year ago my hubby was home and saved all the fish with a water change.  We'd only lost one fish then.  This time no one was home so all my babies were gone.  I was so angry and sad.  I ended up dismantling the tank, getting rid of my live plants and changing out the plant substrate.

I decided to go with fake plants, no more high tech aquarium for me, I was done.  So it's been about two months and I've slowly built up my tank with new fish.  I have cory cats, zebra danios, neons, pictus cat fish, tiger barbs, pearl gouramis and moonlight gouramis.  It's coming along and I think even with the fake plants it's looking good.

Swishing Tail

I went out to ride on Sunday for a bit.  I'd received some nice Mountain Horse Rimfrost boots for Christmas.  Man were they cushy and warm!  I paired them with some fleece lined jods and stayed pretty warm.

Dani was cute as ever in her paddock.  She was actually laying down soaking up the sun when I arrived.  I groomed and tacked her up, English today!  Been a long time since I used this saddle.  I figured I was going to work on some lateral moves and the dressage saddle would be most comfortable.

I mounted with the mounting block again, Dani was a good girl.  We went into the arena and walked around a bit.  I had her flex some and did some serpentines to loosen up.  Then we faced a fence and I tried to ask for the sidepass.  I pressed with my left leg and had pressure on the left rein while looking right and opening the "door" with my leg.  She maybe took some steps but often tried to back.  We kept working and I felt her getting frustrated with a swishing tail.  We moved onto a circle at the walk and then more changes of direction.  Eventually we just walked around the arena.  Swishing of the tail continued.

I kept petting her for good responses to really simple movements including a simple stop.  I think we need some help with learning the lateral movements.  Maybe I'll take a few lessons this spring.  We walked around the barn and each time when we got to a little incline Miss Dani decided a trot was on order but I checked her immediately.  I tried a couple times to go up the hill without her trying to trot but she kept doing it.  I made sure my legs were off her and I was sitting properly and not giving mixed signals.  Who knows she was feeling a bit giddy today.  

I untacked her, groomed her and then brought her back to her pasture with a big hug and cuddles.  I'm hoping that with some of the days off around the New Year I can get out there a couple more times.  I'll research side passing and other moves I can do with her.  Still, any day in the saddle is a good day.

Serene Sunday

Blue Skies and a Red Pony

It was a peaceful day today, crunchy snow under Dani's hooves as we walked around the property.  I love the simple ride around the 65 acres, we can see for miles and it was so pretty today.

It was just a touch chilly but gloves and a fleece were all I needed.  Dani was a good girl and I mounted with a mounting block with no issues.  She didn't step away like she has in the past.  Been ages since we used a mounting block.

I can't say enough about how peaceful it was just to go ride for a couple hours.  I groomed her and loved on her and then treated her hooves which had some flaking from the wet/dry weather.  Not only is she cute to look at but she's so darn funny.  I gave her a peppermint treat and then later while looking for another she nibble my jacket zipper.

I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful little horse to call my own.  I needed my barn time today and was glad we didn't have too many xmas eve chores to conduct.  Tomorrow I'll be busy from morning until evening with family so I won't see my girl.  At least we got some quality time in with a nice leisurely ride.  

Mare-ee Christmas everyone!