More Mending

Back home yet again this weekend, to check on Gypsy's scratches, as well as get some stuff done I didn't get to last weekend. I am so proud of my pony, I must say. I was reading online about it and it said to be very careful when removing the scabs they get on their pasterns because a lot of horses will kick....well it hurts! And I recall horses while working for the summer at the vet's office....some of them got hurt, and they just paniced and lost all trust in people. My Gypsy?
Well yesterday evening I brought her out to my car, had some grooming stuff in my trunk. I just laid her lead rope in the trunk- no I did not tie her to my trunk- and I filled up a plastic pink bucket of betadine water to soak her feet. And she stood there like a statue to let me hold her feet in the water. And even more impressive...I started to pick off all the icky little scabbies off her pasterns..she was not tied up, it was just me and her. And she did not move. Didn't scoot away, didn't kick. The worst thing she would do is lift her foot out of the bucket and hold it there. She was a perfect angel patient. I am so proud of her.
And then I tacked her up and punched holes in my mom's front lawn. I lunged Gypsy around in some pretty loose side reins- since she has no muscle tone anymore. But she did so well, she tried to stretch to the bit :)

Pretty Pretty Ponies

Well I went to work the other day but it was rainy and icky, so I spent the day grooming and making some horses all beautiful. Then I took a rare non-rainy moment for each horse to get a good conformation-type photo, since I really don't have any like that of them. And here they will appear, of course. I was thinking of taking these photos and drawing the lines on them to study their conformations- you know, to measure the length of the hindquarters, to see if they're too uphill, downhill, the length of underline vs. topline.... I just haven't gotten to that yet. But these would be good pictures to practice that. Ha, I'm such a dork :)

Here is Cheyenne! She is in a fairly nice sporthorse pose I think, haha. She stretched her neck out and everything. I actually like her conformation quite a bit. She has a nice big butt.

This is Troy, who I really don't ride anymore. I worked him last year. I would be curious to tear his conformation apart because I always thought he was kind of rough to ride. Just glancing at him right now, it looks like his back feet are sort of upright and his legs are pretty straight. Possible answer.

Here is Baily, she is part Clydesdale. I don't ride her a whole lot, but when I did last week she was pretty fun. Glancing at her she looks like she has a very steep croup (is that a bad thing?) but mostly it looks to me like she has a small butt for how long her body is.
Last but not least is the Beary monster! The picture might be a little tweaked because I accidently changed dimensions of the box.... But I actually love how she is built. She's pretty dang thick through the neck, but she's thick everywhere. I think she has such a cute pony frame. Very stocky. Nice big butt. Straight legs. Kinda short neck but thats fine. But I'm biased :)

Hello Again Gypsy

I am back home for the weekend, and that means I got to see my Gypsy pony again! Yay! I was actually starting to miss her. So I got to love on her and ride and such. Clipped her bridlepath and made her presentable. Then I rode her in the front yard lawn because it was beautiful and sunny today, finally! It was great :) She behaved pretty well actually. We cantered for the first time since I sent her back home. She got a little crazy, but not too bad, especially since we were in the front yard. She was trying to be nice and round and collected, but towards the end of the ride she was getting really tired and had a hard time holding it. She was a good girl and tried for me. I did notice that she sweated a lot. Before, I couldn't make her sweat if my life depended on it when I rode, but oh boy did she sweat today. Ha, she is so out of shape. Then we walked down the road and she was great for that too. Yay for my pony.

The bad news...I have discovered she has gotten pastern dermatits, or scratches. AHH NO! In all the years I've had her, she has never gotten sick or hurt, or any problems at all. I figure its because she isn't getting groomed anymore so thats probably why. I feel so bad for my girl, but she is being such a trooper. Letting me soak her feet and pasterns and pick off the awful little scabbies. I can tell it hurts her at least a little- she flinches now and then. But she stands there as quiet as she can- not tied or held tight or anything. She lets me do what I do, and is a perfect patient. I actually felt pretty smart because on my own I decided to clip the hair, soak in betadine, and remove the scabs. Then I looked online about it, and BAM thats what the article said to do! Success for me! So we headed out to get some antiseptic, and we are finally going to try the crazy vetricin-craze. So we will see if the magical stuff actually works. My poor mare. Parents are going to try and spray it this week, and I will come back next weekend again to check on it. Hopefully we can get that stuff gone!

The woes of job searching

Ah...to be graduating soon. How very exciting, everyone longs for that day.
Except for me...Graduating means leaving this stupid town (not such a bad thing) and moving somewhere else, out in the real world of no school and real jobs. JOBS?! Well that creates a predicament. What job to have, where to have? So I have been emailing out resumes and cover letters to all the different Equine Vets in Oregon, hoping to find a Equine Vet Assistant job. Anywhere. I don't even care where. And I have had one place contact me back with interest, which raises my hopes a lot. Of course though, that is the one place where Casey does not want to move. Gah. So where else to go? I have emailed craigslist ads for horse jobs, and I feel like every day I am wandering more craigslist ads and equine job sites, hopelessly looking for a compromise for Casey and I. It feels rather sad and hopeless, I can't lie. It is hard for me to remain optimistic. But I really want to find a vet assistant job- I just loved every second of helping out at Ridgefield Equine when I volunteered there over the summer. So next on the list is seeing if there is a job available back there....which wasn't my first email sent out, strangely enough. I just want to get out of the rain, and that is smack dab in rain central. Oh, in a perfect world I could pick up that clinic and put it in Bend, or something like that. Sigh. I still have two-ish months until I have to really panic, but I am so good at worrying, so I just started now instead. I must cross my fingers and pray to God that a wonderful job in an awesome place pops its head up. Wish me luck!

BABIES

I am not so much allowed to make alot of talk about what goes on in the breeding class at school. But it can't hurt to announce the arrival of two of our babies!
This filly was born first. As of yet unnamed. She is super strong and active. Yay. A total cutie. And fabulous color.


This is the second born...arrived yesterday morning. A red dun colt. Adorable. Haven't gotten a chance to see him run around yet, though I expect that will happen today.

Visit to Boardman

Was gone for a few days. Me and the boy, Casey, went to visit his folks. It was his Dad's bday. First went up to Pendleton and stayed a night with his mama. She has a couple horses so we went and visited them. I rode a mare? named Kaysin. I was pretty impressed. Basic stuff, but seemed like a nice horse. Walk, trot, canter around the pasture. With two other loose horses out there. At one point, one of the other horses kicked Kaysin in the flank while I was riding. Luckily Kaysin didn't do a thing- oh what a good horse. I like her just for not freaking out and bucking me off for that. She had a pretty fun canter, oh sorry....lope. Western. Yes. The pic up there on the left...the horse following us is a little filly named April. The naughty pony that kicked Kaysin while we rode. Slightly funny though....I could exercize all three horses by just riding one...they followed us everywhere.

Anyways, next we went to Boardman where Casey's dad and stepmom live. They have a ranch of about a bazillion horses. So we got to play with Casey's horse, Paint. Very creative name, I know. But he's a pretty good boy. But oh goodness was he fat! Hasn't been ridden in a year or more I think. But he was perfect as can be. Bareback, just hopped on and he walked and trotted around like nothing.

Casey riding and having a cute moment with his old buddy :)

Perhaps most exciting though, was that my best friend was there! I haven't seen her in months, so it was great. But she has a mare and its 3 or so year old colt there. Well she is finally starting to break in the colt. So I got to be the first guinea pig to get on him! Ha, I have no value on my life. But no, it was fun. I like being the first person on horses, maybe its like a pride thing? I have a short little video of his first steps with a rider, but I have to figure out how to get if off my phone. Its too big to text to my email like usual. Boo. Jett (the colt) was a perfect boy for his first mini ride. We walked around, turned, had a few steps of trot. He didn't hunch up or try to buck or pull anything silly. What a good boy.

Coffee Addict

Hehehehe. I went to work and rode Cheyenne a few days ago. She was good, if not lazy. I can't blame her though, because I hadn't ridden her in ages. But I had an iced coffee there with me, and when I was done riding I let her sniff it. And she decided to eat the straw. Caught a picture, and it looks like she is drinking my coffee, hahaha. I love it.

Going to try and go to work more this term, only two classes a day and done pretty early every day, so I have no excuse not to go. Except for this week. Boss is outta town and asked us to just come next week. Pretty legit excuse right there.

Will also work with BeauD again soon. Met with his papa the other day, and we wanna work as soon as theres some nice weather again so we can try a trail ride. Although right now I'm thinking-just to preserve my life a little- I'd rather have at least one ride at the fairgrounds in an enclosed arena before I do that. Seeing as BeauD hasn't been ridden in...a month or two now? Poor boy. But we will get him rode soon.