An Intro: The past month

So my little hiatus lasted a little longer than planned. But that's ok, I'm here now and want to start back with a small intro to the next few posts.

1) I got engaged! Holy crap was this a total 360 in my life. Luke proposed at his birthday party (end of April) I hosted for him after blowing out the candle (I actually forgot candles for his cake and had him blow out a giant yankee candle lol). It was so lovely to have our friends and family there. I am so so thrilled. No, there is no date yet, my focus is my last semester of college!

 

Baby Z's third ride!

2) Ponies are doing swell. Baby Z has been rocking baby boot camp and I've even ridden him twice now! He comes home in about two weeks. Mae has been a little brat and I haven't gotten to ride her yet, she needs to graduate from my stop-being-a-brat-about-work groundwork bootcamp. Vermont has been a super steady guy and very easy for rides. Merlot definitely is showing his green side but so so willing (and gorgeous to look at omg). And finally, Evita has been my rock and so much fun.

3) I finished my second to last semester of college with a fantastic GPA. My work continues to be nice and they even gave me an internship for summer to get some credits knocked out. I'm looking forward to my future outside of college.

Weekend Warrior

YAS MOVE THE SAND

So many good things have been happening! Like the above picture. The arena work was started! It is about 2/3 of the way done and we have pulled out a metric crap ton of excess sand, that has been happily dumped into my once crappy paddocks that were down to the base! Life is going to get so much better out here!

Anyways, I had quite the intense weekend! 

Saturday

Saturday morning after completing horse chores I drove over to CJ's to ride. This was everyone's first ride of the year. She had a light lesson planned for Sunday and wanted me to hop on both Aragorn and Tess (potential new lesson pony!). Aragorn was surprisngly great. You remember me calling him the mule headed thigh master? He was definitely SLOW but took some encouragement quite nicely! I forgot how much fun he can be, his big warmblood gaits are so unique. 

Thats about 2' deep at the center

Tess was a wild card. We haven't done much with her since CJ got her and this would be her first ride under saddle. I knew she had experience with lots of kids riding her but was more of an all around horse. As a QH and 13 I expected to be pretty safe. She definitely acts SUPER green but overall seems safe. She was very insecure in the contact and either bobbed her head down or latched onto the bit and yanked it down. We kept it basic with just a few strides of trotting here and there and she wasn't mean so so far she seems like a good candidate. 

Next I hopped on Evita and I was kind of nervous to ride her. I've mentioned her spooky/bolting behavior in the past and wasn't sure what horse I would have under me after a few months sitting around. Surprise to me, she was PERFECT. Definitely weak and out of shape but nearly the same as what I left off with. It felt like home being on her back again <3

I also got Mae out who presented with some soreness behind and opted to put her away. She was such a good girl though, but tweaked something while being an idiot in turn out. 

Later I went home to show my cousin my place; I haven't seen her in probably 10 years! She has kids now and overall seemed disinterested but oh well. 

Such a good mule head <3

Once they left I hooked up my trailer, loaded Merlot, and hauled a few minutes down the street to Jannae's house (who I just recently learned blogged! Go follow her, shes an awesome person and has kickass pones). Jannae was kind of to host me and my green bean since we are arena-less but the weather is so nice. Mer was kind of a basket case to haul and was extremely apprehensive to load but hopped on like a good noodle. He got himself in a tizzy on the trailer and was shaking like a leaf when I pulled him off. Once I tied him to the trailer though, his little greenbean brain was like "oh tying. I can do this" and cocked a leg and relaxed. 

So hairy but still the best <3

He was on edge again when I lead him the short distance to the arena but once I set him out on the line he got pretty comfortable. Being an adult is hard but I really like this guy is a diamond in the rough. He wants to try so hard, he is just terrified of the world. 

Sunday

Sunday I woke up and kind of felt like death physically. I had TRX Friday night and combined with all the pony shenanigans on Saturday my body was TIRED. However, I did have a personal training appointment with my favorite horsey-themed personal trainer. It was also her birthday so I had an excuse to buy her coffee and a piece of cake from the local cafe. She loved it and gave me a great workout. 

My cousin fed him a carrot and he just played with it in his mouth

After feeling like death warmed over again, I went home to do some homework and house chores. Luke and CJ were continuing work on the arena and moving sand into the paddocks. 

In the afternoon (yay DST even though I love sleep), I went back to CJ's and even though her lesson was canceled she asked if I would hop on the ponies if she tacked them up. I agreed because I can't pass up an excuse to ride. Aragorn was still being fabulous. With Tess we worked more on actually asking her to get on the bit with inside leg to outside rein. She got steadier in the contact and we avoiding some of her anxiety by riding lots of figures. 

Proving we can tie like an adult

Evita was an angel again, but got a little excited when we asked her to canter. Even though she can be a strong and intimidating horse, I actually smiled because it is refreshing to see a horse love their job so much. We got her relaxed and ended in some nice stretchy trot and she was so freaking proud of herself. That mare is becoming my second horse love (behind Ries of course). 

I'm really really excited to see where the year is going, but I'm trying my darnedest to kick ass.

SO FANCY! I think hes going to be a great dressage pony if he hates jumping

Blanket Weather

Idk wtf hes doing with his hind legs but that isn't how he normally stands lol

Pats for good babeh!

While Merlot is significantly older than Czoltar, his lack of consistent training  always make me question how they each will respond to something "new".

For example: because I've had Czoltar nearly his whole life and have maintained his farrier care hes nearly reliable to be trimmed and isn't too fussy. On the other hand, because I just got Merlot and finally brought him home, his past farrier care has not been regular his whole life. So when the farrier came out to trim him, he acted like Z did at 6 months old and was a spooky hot mess. 

For the most part, my training with Z has been pretty lax. In a large part because I'm so busy, but also because he only turned 2 in June. I want him to just worry about being a horse while he grows up, but I have worked to make him easy to catch, easy to halter, easy to lead, and easy to load. Besides that, there isn't much more I would want him to be able to do as a 2 y/o. Since hes largely just been turned out on pasture his whole life until we moved to the new RWF, I've never worried about a blanket. But now that hes in the barn and goes out every day for group turnout, I thought getting him desensitized to a blanket would only be beneficial for his future training. 

Merlot on the other hand spent most of his life (to my understanding) in a dry lot with no blanket or no cover. Hes a tough little dude. But hes always been on the ribby side and I want him to be a healthy weight and not have to spend all my money feeding him to keep his weight up. 

So last week when I knew it would be cold at night, I brought out Riesling's old blankets (because I'm too lazy to measure them to buy their own) to try them on the boys. Because Merlot is broke to ride, I thought he would be good to put a blanket on, but hes also been super spooky so I wasn't 100% sure. Like a champ, he snorted at the trash bag containing the blanket, snorted at the blanket, but stood like a rock for me to put it on and let out a long sigh after everything was adjusted to fit. 

I decided for Czoltar's first meeting with the blanket I'd try it on in his paddock where he would be more comfortable rather than the cross ties. He also snorted at the blanket and was a little noodly to rub it on his shoulders but really he was behaving pretty well. I was able to drape the blanket folded up on his back and he didn't seem to mind. As soon as I began unfolding the blanket and pulling it across his back though, he went bug eyed and "ran" forward (mostly like a strong power walk). I had my BF holding him for me at the time (I know I'm mean) and advised him to just walk him in circles until he relaxed. This happened rather quick and then I began to buckle the chest straps and rub my hands on top of the blanket all over him. He rushed forward to avoid the pressure again, but after a seconds of walking determined everything was ok. 

Because it was Riesling's though, it was swimming on him and I didn't feel like it would be safe to keep on him so I began to pull it off his hind end towards his shoulders. Rush forward, circle, rinse, repeat. Once it was off I rubbed the blanket over him again and despite his bug eyes he stood to take his torture. Really a rather uneventful first meeting to the blanket despite how I made it sound.

Smaller rain sheets are now on order for both boys! No more nekky ponies in winter!

Baby's First Vet Bill

Now upon first glance the picture looks like baby Z is just resting his hind fetlock. But as soon as he started walking he dragged it behind him rather alarmingly. 

I had never seen or heard of it, and neither had CJ. She was afraid he broke his pelvis. Luckily this was not the case. While waiting for the vet I posted on one of my fb groups and quite a few people said it was locked stifle. I spent a few monutes googling and it seemed like that to me too.

The vet confirmed the diagnosis and told

Me its common in young horses. The medial tendon that supports the patella was loose and slipping. The vet gave him some IV bute and told me to bute him over the next few days then start exercising him to build up muscle and tighten the tendon. 

He immediately went back to normal! So I guess baby horse has to start "working" a little earlier than I wanted. We will just be handwalking hills, he has a lot more growing up to do before I get too crazy with his work.

Czoltar's Spa Day

 

I'm pretty sure he thought he was being harassed. Such is life for baby horses. Z has been nothing short of an ugly yak this spring and after I played with Riesling, I decided it was time to spruce him up. 

He is still learning the basics of everything but I decided he just has to be treated like he knows his job to some extent. He is still reluctant to be haltered but doesn't fight and attempts to run away. But he makes it about five steps before he turns his head to look at me and I pat my thigh and tell him to come and he happily obliges. This must just be his weird baby horse game. 

We have only worked on tying twice but experience is the name of the game. I looped the leadrope around the panel twice to provide enough "you are supposed to stay here"-ness but allows him to not break his neck or freak out if he spooked and tried to pull away. There was a few times he wanted to pull back and leave but he felt the pressure on his poll and was like "oh I have to stop going backwards" and then stood still as I brought him forward again with no issues.

I decided to slowly introduce everything to him because its been about a year since I last brushed him (and he was loose in his stall at the time). He was apprehensive at first but just stood there and accepted his fate after ten seconds. I also wanted to trim his dread locked mane and while he thought scissors were super scary at first he just kind of got over it. I even brushed his poor butchered mane and again, he was not a fan at first, but then I think he started to like this whole pampering thing. 

He's only had his feet picked up for practice and for the farrier and I decided today we would step up the game and I'd pick out all four feet. 3 feet he was super on but his right hind he was being an ass about. I had to encourage him that polite ponies are good ponies and after a few minutes he got with the program. 

I decided he had enough torture for the day so I put him away with lots of pats and good boys. Hopefully none of the other horses make fun of him for his atrocious hair cut. Sorry Z.

All Ponies, All the Time

I've been doing so much riding lately, it is awesome! I've had 6 lessons on Evita now. Evita has shown up to 3rd level (1 test) and was giving her owner (my old friend!) issues with changes. She didn't really want to sell her but she wanted to develop her personal future in dressage, so she sold her back to my trainer. 

Praying this is just ugly growing phase, at least he is sweet

My trainer actually was her breeder. Tina (Oldenburg who is retired and lives at my house) is her mom and her sire is Cowerslain Nomination, a shire. She is 15 years old and I am leasing her to learn on. My trainer will be breeding her next month, but I'll be able to ride her in between. She is very well trained but that doesn't make her easy at all. 

She is also extremely wide. I've been neglecting my yoga and my gym workouts are mostly cardio, so I managed to pull something in my groin. I went to get on for my lesson yesterday and was struggling to get on. Walking around was ok, but as soon as we went to trot I felt like I was being stabbed with a hot knife. 

Luckily I live close to my body worker (who also does Ries) and she squeezed me in last night. I put off seeing her for so long. Especially with my broken foot, I was so crooked. I learned my lesson and as I continue to push myself in and out of the saddle, seeing her needs to be more of a priority. 

The two goofs who aren't getting ridden are Czoltar (obvi) and Ries. I'm starting Ries slow back into work since he has had so much time off. I also finally broke out my BOT blanket I bought six months ago. He is super sound and ready to work so I'm going to start under saddle next week. 

More fun pony adventures in the coming week! I'm on spring break now so I'll be getting a lot more blog posts up. 

Baby Horse Shenanigans

 

Here is a little update on Baby Z. Now that the ground is solid and sun is shining, we are back to baby bootcamp. He is coming 2 this year and while he isn't a snot, I want him to be a perfect gentleman before he gets broke. I've done 3 groundwork sessions over the past week. Last year he wasn't exactly fond of being caught and haltered and I'm happy to report that while he isn't an eager beaver to play, he does let me catch him and halter him easily. 

On the ground we've been going for walks. He is reasonable about the forward and stop and he understands backing up pretty well. We also did some turns on the forehand and yielding to pressure. He is pretty happy to just hang out with you but definitely lacks confidence in a new environment. The first time on our walk he was a little spooky and wanting to run me over if he was scared. I laid down the law that it is ok to be uncertain about something, but plowing over me isn't in his job description.  By the third walk he was very respectable and stopped and snorted at something and allowing me to reassure him rather than run me over. 

I played a lot with him last year and while he was pretty reliable with picking up his feet, this time he was pretty sure he could get around on three legs. He is also pretty sensitive about the lead rope so I did desensitizing with it. 

Next step is teaching him to tie so I can clean him up and he doesn't have to look like a muddy yak anymore!

Elevator Music

I feel like my blog is so boring and on such a standstill. So just try and get through the boring elevator music for just a few weeks more, I promise fun is on the horizon!

Here is a little life update:

Riesling: Riesling is cleared to go back into work 100%. I threw him on the lunge for my vet and homeboy was rocking and rolling. Normally I have to chase him so this was really exciting to see how good he was feeling!

Baby Z: He was a turd yesterday for getting caught for his fall vaccines. I can't wait to put more baby training on him when I get this dumb boot off. He is huge and in another awkward stage. Much baby fat. I showed my vet his right fetlock deviation and he seemed 100% unconcerned for his future. Yay pony!

Rosewood Farms: We officially have a ranch truck! Her name is Donna. I'll show pictures within the next few days. The ranch is getting even more cleaned up and we are about 95% done with the facelift. Again, pictures are coming I just always wear yoga pants without pockets for my phone forget. Sammie will also be getting a baby sister! I should be going to pick up the little munchin this weekend. YAY PUPPERS. 

Its Official

I have been spelling my own horses name wrong this entire time. I should have known better because most horses in the Alla'Czar line have the "cz" (the c is silent). Like this mare:

Czoey

But Baby Z's passport is here! It would be super cool if I could learn German or French but luckily there is also a section in English. I'm so new to all of this, reading and figuring out how to use this will definitely be a challenge. 

For example: please tell me this is some kind of mistake? Much confused I am. Please tell me all you know about these foreign booklets!