Not dead, I promise

Wow, it has been well over a month since my last post. Woops.. I have just been so stressed and busy lately, not to mention the lack of internet at my house, makes updating the blog not at the fore-front of my mind.

Lets see... still going to the barn on wednesdays. There is a few new horses there, not sure if I ever mentioned them. Three boarded horses, only one of which I ever touch. The other two are permanently out in their pasture with shelter. The evil not-nice-name palomino mare gets brought in and out so she can eat some grain. She is not pleasant, there is no liking of her. Another new horse is Matilda, a huge black warmblood mare. She was given to the lady, and was "three-legged lame". Um...no. She is fine, looks totally sound to me in every way. Lunged walk, trot, canter. So I don't know what will be happening with her. But she sure is pretty. So that makes a total of the horses there....Listo, Leo, Lilly, Leopold (haha), Charlotte and Grace, Dusty, Fortuna, Joe, Palomino mare and her two buddies, and Matilda. 13 horses. But only 10 stalls to clean. Not too shabby. Heres a picture of Matilda...

Other things happening. There have been major problems in wonderland. Casey (the boyfriend) and I have been having a very rocky rough time. I am temporarily staying at my mom's house so we can have some seperate apart time. I am hoping things get better. I know a lot of things are my own fault, what with my struggle to control my own moods and emotions. I am considering seeing someone to help me with that. If I can figure out how to be okay and happy by myself, I won't look to other people, specifically Casey, to make me happy. It is nobody elses job to make me happy, and it is unfair to ask it. So yeah, thats as far into that I'll get here.

Being home so much is giving me the chance to work Gypsy more. Key word- chance. Not that I am really doing it. I rode her this morning and she was a royal pain in the you-know-where. Can't really blame her- she is ridden so infrequently with no consistancy at all. But my temper forgets this sometimes with her.

Heres a super cute christmas picture of Allie, our dog. Isn't that adorable? Looks like it should be on a card.

This grey horse is boarding at the barn I work at on Wednesdays. He is the tubby little Lippizan that I think Ive mentioned at some point. His name is Leopold. Here is was galloping like a loony when he was in the pasture by himself. I love this picture though, it looks a lot cooler if you could crop it so he was bigger. It looks awesome on my phone. Coulnd't find photo editing stuff on this little laptop though.

And here is another horse thats boarding there. I have no clue of this horses name. But I know he was nosy and right on me the entire time I was in his pasture. He followed my every tiny step like a puppy. Cute, but annoying when Im trying to catch a different horse pastured with him that is super hard to catch. I need to figure out this guys name. And probably the other two horses in his pasture. Haha, I call the hard to catch palomino mare...old lady. Who is naughty and needs better manners.

I promise Im alive!

The lack of internet is really hindering this blog, isnt it? My posts are few and far in-between, sorry! I am still around and doing my thing, nothing too outrageous or special.

But the other day I wanted some pony time, but Gypsy is already losing weight due to the cold and the winter, so I didn't want to ride her. So I hopped on paint and rode him english for the first time in his life. He was actually a real good boy, we trotted around and he behaved just fine. The canter attempt was pure awful but thats okay, when is the last time painto has cantered? Who even knows? But as far as the Gypsy weight issue, I gave in and bought her some senior grain and some rice bran. Hoping that will help pack on some pounds. The grain makes her happy :) Ive been riding her western, like Im sure ive mentioned at some point in these posts. She was behaving great in the western getup, but I wondered if it had taught her some good lessons for the english side. And voila, it did! I rode her english and she put her head down and I let her have contact on a nice long-ish rein, and we trotted around the arena great! Yay!

Then a day or two ago I met up with my friend Jessica and we went on a little trail ride on a christmas tree farm. I rode Lacey, here is a picture of her. She is a Morgan mare. She was pretty good, except for the trotting and short gallop where she forgot that reins meant to slow down, or at least pay attention. But it was fun anyways, It has been so very long since I had a fun gallop!

Pictures that belonged in the last post

Here are pictures about things I talked about in thee last post. haha.

Here is me riding Gypsy with a hay string. She looks really skinny in this picture, which is unsettling...This is the only pic that was taken that she looked skinny in, none of the others looked that way. But of course this is the best looking photo of me riding her. I look so big and tall on her, ha.

And here is a picture I took of the horses at work after I put everybody in the pasture together. From the left it is Grace, Charlotte, Fortuna, Lily, and Leo. Ha

Updates

Well lets see whats been going on. I've been riding Gypsy some, and listen to this weirdo miracle. I was bored one day and put a new bit on a western headstall. This is a seven shank curb bit with a fairly high port and little rings below the port. Strange bit, but hey, interesting. So I put my western saddle on Gypsy and threw this bit on her. At first she was WHAA?! And didn't quite get it. But then, this weirdo crazy lightbulb turned on and she just got it. Just really got it. She put her head down like a western pleasure horse and trotted around real nice and slow. So I rode her like this again and the same thing happened. I got on bareback and for a third time she did this. YAY! Maybe she has decided she likes this a lot more than english after all? I sure don't mind! And I am even riding all western-correctly..... one handed only and with a nice loose rein, even if she starts getting silly and putting her head up. WOW nice. Yay pony. And then a day or so ago I hopped on without halter or bridle or saddle, just a hay string around her neck. We walked and trotted circles and all around. She was only slightly naughty! Yay! What a good pony.

And I've still been going to the barn once a week. Did I mention the new Lippizan horse that boards there? I orginally kind of thought it was a prego mare at first glance, oh...but its a fat gelding. And soon, I hear, three more horses are coming to get boarded. Her arena just got its sand footing brought in and one big pasture is done. So everybody got to be turned out together! Grace and Charlotte loved it. Throw Lily out with mama and baby? All goes well. Good. Leo too? No problems. Maybe put out Fortuna? OHH! Grace was so mad at her, and they all galloped around like a bunch of loonies. I was real worried, but they settled down and grazed in their little groups. Haha, it was pretty funny. Joe is still not trusted around Charlotte, I feel this is probably a good idea. :P

Lets see, what else? I dunno...OH! I got my diploma in the mail finally! YAY! Its pretty snazzy....

Listo man

Was at work today, the barn work that is. Took this picture of Listo and couldn't help but share. He was so darn cute. And such a good boy. There is lots happening over there... now building the fences for the pastures and that should be done by this weekend. So turning ponies out will be a heck of a lot easier. And speaking of the ponies, there is another one now. Along with Dusty, now there is a grey Lippizan gelding. Am I spelling Lippizan right? Not really sure. Although it was funny....as I pulled into the drive, I just saw a amazingly fat horse. I automatically thought....oh, another mare here to foal out? I talked to the owner to get instructions for the day and commented on the new mare. HA. She laughed so hard... OOHH....gelding, yes. I guess I didn't look too close. But besides really fat, he's pretty cute. Can't remember his name at this second.... And now it is bothering me that I can't. I feel like it will all night. :P

Life is still inching by...

Well...life is still going. Nothing exciting or wonderful. Just busy and tired all the time. Working a lot. Becoming more and more unsatisfied with my job....It just isn't what I went to school for, and it is massively dissapointing when I compare it with what I wanted to do. But what options do I have? There is no need for slightly kind of trained but not certified equine vet techs. I feel this career frustration leeking into everything else, and I feel grouchy and short tempered with everything. But there are still my ponies that give some escape.

Like this beautiful paint girl. She belongs to the owner of the barn I work at once a week. Her name is Dusty... Paint with just enough Arabian in her to make her all sorts of pretty. I got to ride her, and oh she was fun! She has won tons of awards in western pleasure as well as hunt seat I guess. I got on, asked for a trot...and she gave me this teeniest little jog that was just oh so cute. Totally loose rein, and just slow as can be, totally content with it. WOW. So much different than Gypsy, it was fun to experience it on a well trained horse.

And of course my customary pictures of Listo and baby Charlotte. I had just turned out Listo in the big round pen, after taking out the mares. He thought he could smell the mares. Apparently they smell pretty good. Ha... Charlotte is getting so so big! I couldn't believe how big she looked! And she is getting so very grey. I didn't know they started greying out so fast, but she's already losing all her baby fur and getting a roany-type grey in her hair now. Sorry for the sideways picture..

And it would be terrible if I didn't even mention my own abandoned pony. I haven't been riding her a whole heck of a lot, but since I am sorta wanna-be retiring her, who cares too much. I hopped on bareback and ponied Paint off her yesterday, or the day before, or whenever it was. I was actually pleasantly suprised that they did pretty dang well. Although it was a little tricky since Gypsy walks so slow, and old Painto walks pretty fast. We made it work though.

Beach Day!

No, this post has nothing to do with ponies. But I am attempting to be slightly better about updating my blog....not always the easiest task when there is still no internet at home. But now I am in Seaside at my grandpa's beach house with all the family. Its a big 'christmas in July, in August' get-together. Pretty fun, good to see everybody. It would be fun to have a pony or two here, so we could ride around and gallop on the beach. Seaside is a really pretty beach. But the reason for that is horses aren't allowed...or cars. Longbeach is the pony and car beach, hence why it is ugly.
Don't think anything too exciting pony-wise has happened... The pasture at home is getting brown and toasty and non-existant. Bad day. So my boyfriend and I will have to make our very first hay purchase all on our own. Not really looking forward to that, but the ponies gotta eat!
Back to normal life tomorrow. Sad day. I could handle staying here for a week.

Lunging Listo

Well hello, I am trying to be slightly better about updating. So this is my attempt. Went to work at the barn this week and the owner asked me if I could lunge Listo for her. OH YES I CAN! I love that big beefy beautiful stallion, never expected my handling him would go any further than turning him out. So I got to enjoy drooling over his movement while he ran around on the lunge. He had perfect manners the whole time :) Isn't he just the prettiest mover ever?

In other news...well, actually, there is none. Nothing exciting...went to the fair last week and saw all the cows and icky llamas and chickens. I wanted to find the ducks, and was very sad that they werent there this year. The more I work at the feed store, the more I want to own a duck. I think that would be great....so cute. But it may get eaten by a coyote where I live, and theres always the whole 'I dont have a pond' type issue. A kiddie pool? Perhaps. I could tame my ducky as a baby so that its friendly and then it would follow you around.

Massive Picture Update

Hello, and long time no see everyone. Don't hurt me from lack of posting...still have no internet at the new house. Not sure if it is ever going to happen. Internet on my smartphone is fabulous, but unfortunately not awesome enough to update my blog off it. But nothing terribly interesting has been going on anyways. Just working a lot at the feed store, working one day a week at the barn, and exercising Gypsy now and then in-between. Gypsy has been a booger face lately....Thought a new bit was really helping for a few rides, then she decided to ignore it like all the rest. Might as well go back to the french link again I suppose. Pick the nicest, softest bit of the ones she ignores.

Here she is with my sister on her. I was going to ride and my sister said she wanted on...so she got to walk Gypsy around and warm her up for me. I find it funny my city-slicker sister wants to sit awkwardly on Gypsy.

Oh and btw, like the new eventing-type breastcollar? Been looking for one like it for ages, finally found one cheap at a tack sale. Win!

And heres a picture of her I took today. I decided to groom her all up nice and braid her mane so she looked all fancy and pretty. Just lunged her tons today, didn't feel like getting on and fighting with her. Made her really work up a sweat for once. I need to do that more often.

And this little baby belongs to Jessica's family. Had to document his cuteness. He is three weeks old in these pics. He is half swedish warmblood, a quarter belgian and a quarter....saddlebred, I believe. He is a cutey.

And here is Paint, Casey's horse showing off a new headstall I bought at a tack sale. I think it looks pretty dang good on him!

And last but not least, beautiful Listo stallion being all handsome.

Trudging along.

Nothing incredibly exciting. My boyfriend's horse came to live with Gypsy...His name is Paint, and he's a pretty good boy. The two of them are already rediculously herdbound. Fabulous. But whatever. Gypsy has been a snot to ride with Paint, but when I ride by myself in the yard she is fine. Started the job at the feed store, have put in my first week. Its going well....I like it. It will be some good money.


Video of Gypsy....I gave her a bath and cleaned her up with the clippers. She looked lovely, so I took a video of her when I let her loose in the pasture. She cantered off like I expected. Halfway through the video you can hear a yelp...that would be my dog getting almost stepped on.

But now I am giving up. The computer will not save the video from my email, and if it did, it hid it somewhere very unknown to me. I don't care enough to sit and search it out. I discovered the video is sideways anyways.

Slightly lousy mood. That would be the excuse for the pathetic post.

Life Goes On...

Well, nothing too terribly exciting has been happening. I continue to work at the barn some days a week, come by my parent's place to work with Gypsy every so often. But I did get hired at a feed store! A regular 40 hour a week job, a shock to my system! I haven't started yet though, that will be the 5th of July or so. So hopefully that will go well, I am excited but at the same time slightly disapointed that I am giving up my ideas of making a living working horses. A job like this is so much more realistic though, with hours and money I can rely on without worry.
But anyways, until then I am going about life as usual. And of course I took lots of pictures of day to day occurances that catch my eye.Haha I love this picture. This is at work, four of the 6 horses. The grey gelding is Joe, he is a huge 17.2 hand boy. Here he is flirting with Fortuna, the bay Andalusian from a previous posting. In the back is Lilly, the paint mare I have ridden a time or two. And the silly yearling in front is Leo, a colt out of Lilly by the Andalusian stud. I think he was halfway through getting down to roll...

Here is a picture of Charlotte from today when I went in their stall to clean. She just looked so darn cute. After I cleaned the stall and dumped new pellets in the stall she was curious about the empty plastic pellet bag. So I put it on the ground and she sniffed and licked it. So I picked it up and set it across her back. She just stood there. What a BRAVE baby! The scary noisy plastic bag that would probably scare my 20 year old mare. Ha.




Speaking of my mare, I gave her a bath the other day. She wasn't a fan, but was a good girl. She got all soaped up and beautiful, then I clipped her bridlepath and face and legs....She looked fabulous. Cue picture.

Have a few other pictures, and a video of Gypsy cantering off when I let her go after her bath...but my new phone is still giving me some issues. Need to call tech support and get this pic messaging figured out.

Ponies from work

This is Fortuna...She is a pure Andalusian from work. She is lovely. I want to take her neck and put it on every living thing....

New Baby!

Well I started at my new work at Three Creeks Farm. I love the horses there, and the stallion that I am very in love with is a total sweetheart, and a breeze to handle. This is him, when I put him in the round pen to walk around and stretch his legs. Ahh.. drool over his perfectness. Him and the other pure Andalusian that is there, her name is Fortuna, make me want a spanish-type horse. I love the neck. I have to say it, I love the big arched neck.
Anyways, perhaps more exciting is the baby! One of her mares, an off the track thoroughbred who is also oober sweet, was prego and due any day. I offered to take a night to foal watch for her, and voila, she foaled that night! Even after my breeding horse class, this was the very first baby I got to see born! Grace went into labor around 2:45 am, and the baby was delivered by about 3, if I recall. No complications, all went well. The filly had to have a little help standing- the rubber mats and straw were slippery, but she was up and nursing.

A bump in the road

Well we are all moved into Woodland house and we love it. Was a bit worried at first because the house seemed a little crummy, but now that we have all our stuff in it, it looks awesome. Had a bonfire in our fire pit last night. Good times. Started the job at Three Creeks farm...unless she doesn't call it that anymore. Not sure. Just working at her personal barn cleaning 6 stalls and turning in and out her horses. Not too bad.
Bad news? Because it always has to show up somehow? Well the other job that I was fairly sure was MINE, is not. The other girl didn't end up leaving, so now I'm stuck. I didn't get the vet clinic job yet, nor this other one. Now I only work two very short days a week. Bad. Very bad....How will I pay bills? Well that is an excellent question.

But enough depressing news. Now that I live one town up from my folks, I can visit and play with Gypsy all the time. I rode her the other day, and today I came down and worked her on the lunge line...well sort of. I can't find my lunge line, so I tied my two side reins and a lead rope together... Okay, just for the record....that works terribly. I need to find my lunge line. I experimented today with sliding side reins. I recently read about them in a lunge training book, and liked the idea. Instead of one rein from the bit to the surcingle like a regular side rein, you hook a line from low on the surcingle through the bit, then back to higher on the surcingle. This way she can lower her head and really stretch to the bit without losing all contact. I guess it encourages the horse to stretch down through their topline- something Gypsy could definately benefit from. So I tried it, and I like it quite a lot. I'll be using that again I think. I will slowly get Gypsy back into better shape.

Godzilla, run!

" I hate Godzilla too, he destroys cities!"

Haha, it just reminded me of The Hangover.

But anyways.

So yesterday I went over and played with Meg, the super giant horse that is owned by the same people as BeauD. I have been itching to try riding her ever since I first saw her, if not purely because she is a gihugemongous monster pony. And she is part Thoroughbred, so I guess she is pretty sensitive for all her size, and can get a little hot. Add that into her not being worked in a year-ish, and it was going to be an adventure. But she was actually really good! I rode western, thought that might be a tad more secure, lol. She was a tiny bit goofy on the lunge at first, but she figured life out. I was super careful and did all sorts of ground stuff before I finally scaled mount everest and got on her. But she was excellent! No weirdness at all. We only walked around a little in the round pen, but still. She was slow and calm and turned and stopped and flexed her head around. Yay! I feel like she would probably be a great dressage horse, if I could just get over the little fear of asking her to move forward. Just think in your head and say.....Okay, she is going to feel huge and fast, but she is under control and being good...she is just huge, so she will just feel like that. She has some nice movement it seems like. It would be cool to lunge her in a bigger area so she could really stretch her trot out. :)

Great Wonderful Success!!

AHHH!!! Yes, it has all officially come together wonderfully! Heres the scoop.

Today I was called and given confirmation that we can rent a duplex in woodland that we wanted. We got it! YESS!!! Its a cute little place back in the woods and has a wood fireplace and everything. So super excited for that. We will be moving out of our apartment and into the duplex on June 11th, a week from today!
I also have gotten me a job! Possibly three jobs actually! Hahaha, so much for totally stressing out! And I am so excited for all of them.
Firstly. May get a few days a week working as a veterinary assistant at Ridgefield Equine- yes, the job I was dreaming of ever since I volunteered there! This is the only job that isn't 100% set in stone yet, I am waiting on a call from them to make a final decision. I am crossing my fingers, that would be the coolest job ever. Period.
Secondly. I will work a few days a week at Three Creeks Farm, which actually relocated and is in the process of getting built. But she has her 6-7 horses there and needs help with day to day work. So feeding, cleaning stalls, turning out, and possibly riding. She owns an absolutely gorgeous and well mannered Andalusian stallion named ...Oh gosh, I can't remember his name at this second. I am listening to music and it is distracting listening to words while trying to remember something else. OH! Novelisto. That is his name. And he is like looking at gold. I felt so amazingly honored that I just got to hold his lead rope while he hand-grazed. So I am super stoked to be working there.
Thirdly. Even though thats not a word... I may choose to work some days a week at Blue Moon Equestrian Services. I would be grooming, tacking up, wrapping legs, and lunging horses for the trainer there- he rides 17 horses a day and needs help getting that time-intensive stuff out of the way. So that would be cool too. YAY!
Now I can't wait to just get the little bit of school left out of the way and get the heck outta here! I want to go work! :D

Another Baby

Well there were actually two more babies at the barn for class. One was a mare and foal that came and was assigned to my group. The mare is getting re-bred. The foal is already a month or two, maybe three. He is a big giant boy, very adorable. The mare is one good looking piece of horseflesh, and I think the baby will follow suit.

So this is Satin, the mare, and her colt. We are calling the baby "Teddy" because he is like a fluffy teddybear! They are both palomino.

There was another mare that foaled at our barn a few days ago, but they went home already. It was a little filly.

Tales of House-sitting

CHICKEN ATTACK! :O

Okay, I can't even tell you, I am so tired of chickens. They are NOISY, and smelly, and messy. And I swear, there were five billion of them. True story, five billion. I spent the long weekend...thursday to sunday, house sitting for the couple that own BeauD and co. Co meaning their 5 other horses. And I developed a dislike for chickens. Especially one that earned the name evil mama chicken. She had one little chick, and felt the need to protect it....very viciously. I would go to put feed in her cage and she would fan out her wings and attack, beak and all....Not nice, chicken.

Besides the chickens it wasn't too bad. Feed dogs, feed horses, ect. And I also got to work some horses if I wanted, and of course I wanted! So first off I rode Azar, the old little chestnut Arabian. I have ridden her before, but this was first time alone. Second time riding her at all. I groomed her, saddled her, walked her around, then hopped on. And she was so good! We walked out in between fields on a little path, then back. And no jigging, no prancing coming home. Totally perfect little mare. Yay! Does that tack look familiar? I am rather proud that I can completely outfit a horse to ride out of the trunk of my car. Hehe. All fit her pretty well too!

Well the next day I decided to play with Silvi...or is it Silve? I don't really know, neither of them look right to me. I will pick Silve. She is a two year old....warmblood thing? Not sure. She is actually pretty- I like how she is built. She is gonna be very nice once she is done filling out and growing up. But she doesn't have much training at all, so I decided to work on ground stuff with her. And at first, my goodness was she a butthead! Pushy, wasn't yeilding to pressure. I round penned her a little, then we worked on leading and moving forward when I asked, promptly stopping, backing up, and yeilding her hindquarters away when I asked. She got a lot better once she knew I was the boss! Couldn't tell if she had learned it before and was just testing me, could be the case. But anyways, I groomed her up and she looked great. She is a really light bay with a huge blaze- almost encroaching on bald face territory- the white covers both eyes and she has two blue eyes. She is going to be a real looker. I would love to keep working with her- getting her in lines and teaching her what a bit is about, and introducing her to saddle and such. Too bad I'm leaving so soon, but I could put a start on, and thats something, isn't it?

I actually only groomed BeauD, but never rode him. I wasn't sure how much I trusted him, to ride him when I was there alone. I had a brief moment of insanity when I thought I'd try and ride Meg (godzilla huge horse) but then came to my senses. She is ....17.2 hands I think she said? And actually a little bit hot from her Thoroughbred blood, and hasn't been ridden in a really long time. Oh if I thought BeauD would get me in trouble, I'm not sure why I considered Meg for even a second. I'd like to ride her, but lets do that in an enclosed arena with others around, shall we? At least for my first ride on her please.. Ha.

Horse and Tack Expo

So this weekend was the Horse and Tack Expo in Eugene, and of course I couldn't resist! Saw lots of super awesome things and horses. Also bought me a nice hunt cap for shows for....wait for it.... 10 BUCKS! And it is in perfect shape, beautiful and nice :) What a steal. Also got a nice hunt show shirt for 5 bucks, with the collar and all. Ah.... I love cheap stuff..

Saw some horses that made me drool all over myself. Including Jeljer, a Friesian stud who is oober beautiful. Only got to see him in his stall though, so excuse the terrible photo.

Also saw an Andalusian stud named...um...

Well the name escapes me for the moment. He was black, and so very extremely handsome. I have a video of him being ridden. I actually have a lot of videos of the expo, but currently they refuse to be small enough to text. So until I find a way around that, everyone gets to wait.

Also have a video of a lady doing a reining pattern bareback and bridle-less. The horse was great! Sliding stops, rollbacks, spins, and the works. At one point...hehehe.... The horse was running down towards my end to do a sliding stop, but stopped way too late and almost ran into the panels of the arena right in front of my nose! And I got a video of it....hahaha.

Also a video of 'horse soccer'. The funniest and most fun-looking thing I've ever seen. Horses actually being ridden around chasing a giant blow-up soccer ball trying to make goals.

All in all, the expo was really fun :) And sooner or later I will be able to share the fun videos... Just don't hold your breath!

Baby Happenings

Went to the barn today, and lo and behold, another foal has arrived. This one is the mare my group is assigned to. Had a little bay filly. Can't do a lot with her at this point- mare is very agressive. Thats all I will say..

So to soothe my not-able-to-pet-baby woes, I went and visited Smokie and her filly (the first foal that was born). Smokie is such a sweetheart, she loves to get pet and have attention. The filly has been super shy, but today she was curious and wanted to investigate me. She let me pet her a little bit (a first!) She is totally adorable, but still name-less at this point.