December Trail Ride

Sun Dec 17, 2006

Well, all our snow's gone, back to green grass and blue skies! That was a nice, short winter!

Unfortunately it also means the frozen dirt has turned into MUD, and even though Quzqo is in a new pasture, he now stands fetlock-deep in liquid mud for HOURS, because that's where the hay is. Can't win...it'll be a miracle if he doesn't develop scratches & thrush on all his feet and whatever else!!! (though his scratches/greasy heel on the one hind heel bulb has finally cleared up, thanks to days and days of betadine rinses!). Of course he's got around 20 acres of GRASS he could stand on, but no, we must camp in the soupy mud and stuff our face deep into the round bale and not move except our lips and jaws, scarfing wonderful hay for hours on end, LOL!

There'll be a cold front moving in mid-week, so hopefully that'll freeze that mud up. Hard to believe a week ago Friday I was floundering around in thigh-high snowbanks out there, today I had to put on my rain boots to slog through 6" deep mud!

Happily, Coos has NO new injuries or wounds...he's in better shape with the new herd of geldings than he was with the old herd of boys & girls. No chomps, no scrapes, no broken tails! LOL...that's one thing about a bunch of geldings...standing around and eating IS their favorite thing to do!

Ended up going on a trail ride this afternoon with another boarder. Too beautiful a day to pass up an opportunity, especially on the 16th of December in Michigan!! She'd only taken her young TWH mare out on a trail ride ONCE before, she'd been too terrified to go any more. I gotta laugh...she's SO sure that horse is going to spook and flip over and kill her or act crazy...I have NEVER seen that mare do ANYthing...even out in the pasture when the other mares are running apeshit, little "Annie" will just be standing there, watching the chaos. Sort of a TWH-Quzqo, LOL.

Heh...she had her all tacked up, but was "worried" that Annie was "wound up" so she had to "work with her" before we went for our ride...this, as the horse is standing there, with a big, soft eye, just looking like "eh, whatever". So she brought her up to the indoor arena, with her Parelli-inspired carrot stick (fiberglass rod) with a shopping bag tied to the end, and she proceeded to desensitize the mare by slowly and quietly rubbing her with the plastic bag. The mare seemed to enjoy it... Quzqo's eyes were bulging and his attention was riveted on them..."What the HELL is that!!!" (I have introduced him to plastic bags, and he didn't seem to care one way or the other)

Well, after all that "working" with the mare, she deemed it was safe to mount up, LOL. (can we say "insecure rider"? Sure we can!).

We had a pleasant ride...Coos did more spooking than the mare. We went around some nice wooded trails with steep hills and curves and gunfire and stopped at a mutual friends' house to say hello to their TB & mule. The mare did PERFECT in my opinion...she kept ending up out in front, boldly leading Coos down the trails, despite my friend's reservations, ha!

Long story short, it was a nice ride, nobody died, and my friend had her confidence GREATLY enhanced by the mare behaving so well. Coos did all right too, even marching through the scary water puddles that he wouldn't go near yesterday (probably trying to impress the girl-horse behind him!)

The Emperor's New Pasture

Sun Dec 3, 2006

Yep, it was bad enough having to hike a friggin' quarter mile through deep, sodden, sucky sawdust, mud and horse shit to get to my horse...add on top of that a FOOT of friggin' SNOW, and in the immortal words of Popeye, "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!!"

So for today I left lots of notes for the morning feeder to turn Quzqo out into the "Bad Boyz" pasture...aka the Gelding Pasture (his usual pasture is a mix of boys and girls). Now that Touche' the Paint/Shire Cross with a penchant for destruction and havoc is moved to his own personal paddock with his two pony pals, I figured the Bad Boyz would be safe(r) for Himself, and since it's about 1/4 mile CLOSER to the barn and doesn't involve hiking through any stinking quagmire...

Anyway, got out to the barn around 2 this afternoon, expecting to see a little white carcass, mangled and bloodied and laying in the snow, but no, Quzqo was standing 'round the round bale, face stuffed into the hay, with his new pasturepals (all QHs, one Paint, and the Shire)(not the Shire Cross...this one's a purebred Shire). Nice little walk to get there...one of the QHs decided the peace had lasted long enough and flattened his ears and lunged at the nearest horse, which got them all riled up. Quzqo just stepped away from the round bale and walked over to me like "Hi, what's up?" LOL.

As I suspected, he was afraid of the water tank in the new pasture, so I had to lead the horse to the water, and while he snorted and blew and wouldn't go near it (never mind it was identical to the one he used to drink from in the old pasture), I splashed my hand in the water and wetted his nose (there's a tank heater, so it was quite pleasant, compared to the 23 degree air temperature!). Eventually his thirst got the better of him and he cautiously lowered his head, giving it a little flip to move the lead rope out of his way (cute!!), and got himself a good drink!

Here's hoping this works out! I know that batch of geldings is rather...um...rambunctious...but I haven't heard of any injuries since they moved Touche out of the mix. But then, duuh, the old pasture hasn't been exactly beer and skittles either...broken tail, skinned ear, chunks torn out...he has a patch of skin scraped off the inside of his hock from yesterday, so who knows what all goes on!

Didn't ride too much today because SOMEbody was being a dick! When he doesn't want to cooperate, he lets ya know it!

So, see how it goes. I didn't mind the 1/4 mile walk to get him but it's just ridiculous now, plus he's not drinking enough water during the day, since it's so nasty the horses don't want to maneuver through that crap either!!

Always summit (didn't get to yell at the kids today either, drat!)

Himself today with those impossibly cute little ears (and the snow!!):


I noticed tonight that most the boarded horses at the barn have blankets on...even if they don't need them (fat, FUZZY ponies? The Shire???). IMO, that can cause more problems than they might prevent. My friend with the Paint is dealing with the mare's tail hair falling out from some sort of greasy skin condition on her dock...probably because the dock is covered by her blanket 24/7 & some nasty fungus got in there!!

I kept Tezlu blanketed the last few winters of his life because the poor old fart didn't have any fat to him to keep warm. Coos throws a hissy if I blanket him, LOL (I think he's been blanketed maybe 3 times since I've owned him). It's a closed-front blanket, so it has to slide over his head...he doesn't like that. PLus it was Tezlu's, so it fits him like an army tent, ha!

Coos is SO clean now from the snow...his legs were GLOWING they were so silvery-white...his body fur just glittering silver in the lights of the arena...*sigh*. Why can't they have horse shows NOW, when the horse is CLEAN!

I Really REALLY Love My Horse!

Fri Nov 24, 2006

Got up to 59 degrees today, sunny, breezy, GORGEOUS day!!! Unbelievably
so, especially late November in Northern Michigan!!

Took Coos on another trail ride this afternoon, but not before washing his BLACK
tail...black from all the MUD its been dragging in. He can't raise it up like he
used to, so it just slogs along behind him when he wades through the cannon-deep
shit and muck coming in from the pasture. Since it was in the mid-50's, I didn't
mind washing his tail while he grazed. Took a couple of scrubbings but I finally
got the black to its usual yellowy-white, LOL. I figured it could dry while I
ride, and when we get back, THEN I'll condition it and put it up for the winter,
out of mud-range.

Unlike yesterday, he surprised me by making the right hand turn to leave the
barn property without a fuss! No spinning, no rearing, no halting and
backing....of course part of that might be because I constantly had the spurs in
his sides the whole time and kept him moving forward, LOL. (NO, I wasn't gouging
him viciously, just an alternating right-left-right-left leg pressure)

Again, we stuck to the roads, not going IN to any woodlands...heard a LOT of
gunfire, unlike yesterday. As I mentioned previously, there were guys in the
woods cutting down trees...OH my GOSH, that was SO SCARY! LOL...Poor Coos
stopped dead in his tracks and STARED at them...and every time the chainsaw
started he jumped...poor guy, I could feel his heart pounding away through the
leather of the saddle, it was pounding that hard!

But, my Brave, Brave Horse trusted me, and we were able to inch our way past the
Scary Lumbermen (well, they were about 100 feet off into the woods, but that was
close enough for him...and w/o any leaves on the trees, we could see them pretty
well). JUST as we make it past the scary lumber guys and their chainsaws...this
HUGE semi truck turns down our dirt road!! Thankfully he didn't have a trailer,
just the cab, but all the gears were rumbling and the exhaust was blatting...he
passed us, the horse didn't twitch an ear, he didn't care!! What a good boy!

We walked and trotted along the road, only a few cars passed us...he's SO good
along roads...more concerned about dark broken chunks of asphalt on the shoulder
than pick-up trucks whizzing past! Thankfully everybody slowed and moved into
the opposite lane...I had my hunter orange sweatshirt on, so I'm sure visibility
was a BIG factor in giving them warning, LOL!

We cut down another dirt road...lots and lots of scary redneck hovels down there
(travel trailers with shacks built onto them, abandoned houses, etc, just a
lovely neighborhood), and some guy was out in his yard talking on a cell
phone....Coos thought THAT was terrifying, but I got him past it (horses are SO
worried about humans that just stand there and don't do anything!)

Once past all the redneck hovels, we got to trottin'.....and trottin' gave way
to cantering...and cantering gave way to GALLOPING! YeeeHOOOOO! I can't remember
that hoss running' so fast (except the day of our accident 2 years ago). Just
total Happy To Be A Horse, he just ran and ran and ran and tucked his head (and
I kept hauling it back up because I didn't know if he aimed to start
bucking!!!)...SOMEthing scared him about halfway up the road and he spooked at a
gallop...that was interesting...I think that's when our bear bells came loose,
and I lost hold of one rein, but thankfully I had the reins crossed over his
neck so I was able to grab it up again, LOL!

He came down to a trot near the end of the road (where it turns into a 2-track
into the forest), and I trotted him around the turn-around and we headed right
back the way he came! THEN he really got happy, LOL...little shit got into a
canter again...but not quite a full gallop...more of a hand gallop! Again he
SPOOKED in mid-gallop, this time at a dumpster at the end of a driveway, but I
didn't drop anything that time, and we galloped until we came to the redneck
neighborhood again, then trotted back to the paved road. By that time he was
ready to WALK, LOL. Not often I can get that boy puffing and huffing, because
rarely can I get him to DO anything!

Nice relaxing walk/trot back to the barn...he was less worried about the loggers
heading home, but kept an eye on them all the same. Poor boy actually worked up
a sweat...not hard to do with 59 degrees and a full winter fur coat!

Well, he got to enjoy more grass and I braided up/wrapped his tail (nice bright
red vet wrap for hunting season). Tomorrow's supposed to be just as lovely, but
I don't know if I'll take him out or wait 'til Sunday. We shall see.

I'm just not used to such an amazingly GOOD horse!! Well, other than him trying
to bite me every time I untie him to put him in his stall, LOL...other than
that, he's an amazingly good horse!!

I Love My Horse! (Yeah, yeah, more of this)

Sun Nov 19, 2006

I love my horse!

It's almost like something "clicked" and now Quzqo has discovered "hey, it's FUN
to canter like a civilized horse"! I don't know what/why/how, but just this week
or so, he's become quite the canter-er. Indoors in the arena, it's gotten so now
all I have to do is lay a rein across his neck and he'll pick up the correct
lead and just float across the dirt SO balanced and sweet and SLOW...not a lope,
but a nice, civilized canter!

I am muy chuffed I must say!! Almost got him into a spin today, he was turning
on his haunches SO nicely! He backs like a dream, side-passes pretty okay
considering...

We made it 2-1/2 times around the arena at a NICE canter today! Not
crazy-wild-run-for-your-life hand gallop, and I barely had to keep up any leg
pressure, he was moving all on his own! I'm lovin' it!!
==============

Well, my whining and complaining has paid off...I had whined to Bob
about the crappy hike out to the pasture to get the horse, because all
the used bedding/sawdust/manure they dumped out there to build it up has
turned into a sodden sucking quagmire. NO, he hasn't fixed the quagmire.
No, he hasn't moved the fences like he said he would (so one would walk
in grass, not the soggy trench). No, instead he just makes sure the
teenagers bring Quzqo in BEFORE I get there, BWAHAHA!!!

Hey, I'll go along with that!
================

Rode Himself tonight, and he was ANGEL HORSE! It's scary!! We were
canterin' fools, both directions, SO nicely...just lay that rein across
his neck and off he goes on the correct lead! My friend with the Paint
is jealous as hell, BWAHAHAHAA! Good!!!

Bob got in this beautiful Shire that one of the teens has been
riding...it's a rather small/short Shire, but a beautiful dark bay
sabino! And can he move, whew!! The girl likes to bomb around like a
maniac, cantering all over the place. Tonight she let one of the other
girls ride him, and that girl (the latter teen) is quite the
horsewoman... she got that Shire into the most BEAUTIFUL rounded English
trot...and a BEAUTIFUL collected canter....whew! But then the original
teen got back on and continued bombing around like Conan the Barbarian,
*sigh*. Quzqo and I just got the hell out of the way, thank yew! He does
not like those Crusader horses that are 4-5 hands taller than he is.

I'm still not used to such horsey goodness though...I suppose if I
hadn't had Tezlu for so long, I wouldn't appreciate how nice Quzqo is,
LOL! Although I do miss the occasional headlong roadster trot through
the woods, barely missing the trees, *sigh*.

Wacky Barn Hijinx Ensue

Fri Nov 3, 2006

Pulled up to the barn after work, and saw horses running all over the
place in Quzqo's pasture! I didn't see him, but his QH "twin", Colby,
was frantically galloping around...Haflingers and Paints all over the
place, and three humans running around with them! What the hell???

Then in the midst of the chaos was...Touche'...the Shire/Paint Cross,
and his Mini-Me, Plus Vite, the pony...galloping all through the
mob...and a little black Corgi on their heels, LOL!

Touche is gorgeous when he gallops, but I don't think anybody else
thought so. I couldn't imagine WHAT was going on, because Touche and
Plus Vite are in the next door pasture (The "Bad Boyz"
pasture)...supposedly.

I was greatly relieved to find Quzqo in his stall, safe and sound (and
he was very displeased that his dinner was NOT in there waiting for him). I
brushed him and fussed over him, and dinked around for about half an
hour, before Bob came in the barn, leading Touche. Bob was NOT pleased,
LOL! Apparently Touche' (and Plus Vite) had smashed through the wire and
broke down the fence, and got into the other pasture, and were basically
terrorizing all the horses contained therein! The young girl that helps
bring in the horses told me that when they went out there, Quzqo came
running right up to her, like "PLEASE! GET ME OUTTA HERE!!" so she was
able to bring him right in, LOL

Coos HATES/FEARS/LOATHES Touche'...if Touche' is near the fence if I'm
bringing him in, Coos gets all upset! I can imagine his horror to find
that big nasty thing in HIS pasture!! (Touche' is easily 18hh...Coos is
14hh)

Thankfully nobody (horse or human) got hurt. Bob's comment was "That
horse is a JERK", ha!

Beautiful Autumn Scenery

Sun Oct 15, 2006

Not limited to the adorable fleabitten ears in the foreground!

The colors were much more fantabulous last weekend, but I didn't have my digital camera with me (took my REAL camera last weekend). The snow and wind and rain did a number on the leaves, but there were enough on this stretch of the trail to warrant a snapshot.

Notice the SNOW left on the ground, GRRR. And Quzqo was wearing his Big Boy Bridle today...the curb! He's doing very well and is learning what neck reining is about...I rarely had to use it, and certainly not to slow him down, lol!

Was SO beautiful this afternoon, and SO quiet, and smelled SO wonderful!! Blue sky, low-50's, horse behaving mostly...minimal gunfire (small game/bird season). Yep...some things money can't buy!

Little Mr. Toughie

Wed Sep 6, 2006

Was walking out to the field to catch Coos tonight, and he was walking up to meet me (that is SO convenient!)...but this big ole' TWH mare was in his way, and made a move towards him. Quzqo just squealed LOUD and swung around and started KICKING at her with both of his little back hoofies! She jumped back and looked at him like he was insane, and he just kept kicking and bucking and squealing until she let him by...never seen a horse walk backwards and kick at the same time, quite interesting! He got by, she moved a muscle, he swung around back towards her, ears pricked, but she stood still, and he was able to amble the rest of the way to meet me!

That mare's around 16hh, so it was just damned CUTE, his little feets a'flyin' and his neck arched...reminded me of the HA Striking Arabian almost, LOL!

Little Toughie!

Another Cool Pic

Mon Sep 4, 2006

I swear, the boy can NOT take a bad picture!!!!! For 15 years I tried to get great beautiful pix of Tezlu with little success! This one, all you have to do is point and shoot and instant Beautiful Horse Photo!!!

Looks like a Spanish horse, doesn't he? Even the nasty weedy Canadian Thistles look prettily purple!

Instantly after I took this, he walked right over to me for his expected peppermint, ha! We took BillyBob the Corgi for a trail ride "around the block" (i.e. outside the fences along the perimeter of the property) and watched a pair of Sand Hill Cranes dink around in the mares' pasture. Well, I watched...the horse stuffed his face with grass, and Billy relaxed in Quzqo's shadow, ha!

Back at the barn I got to holler and scold Bob's two granddaughters for turning on the water spigot and leaving it running, pouring water all over the aisle floor! They thought it was fun to do, and were getting drinks using old water bottles that the Pony Club kids had been using in a horseback game! (yes, the tots were drinking from dirty nasty dusty plastic bottles that'd been accumulating God Knows what cooties for the past weeks in the arena, GAAAH).

That'll be good payback for the 5 yr old beating me in the English Pleasure Step-up class Saturday, ha!!

A Cool Photo

Mon Sep 4, 2006

Was snapping pix of Himself yesterday evening, and he JUST started dropping his head JUST as a gust of wind came along, and this is the result!

Kinda neat, in an artsy fartsy sort of way.

I Quit! (yeah, right)

Sun Sep 3, 2006

No more horse shows for me. I've had it. People whine about how only the deep-pocket showers win? Well, surprise, the same thing happens in the real world! Unless you've got a 5-figure horse with an equal amount of training and tack, and you're tall and beautiful to boot, forget it!

Doesn't matter if your horse performs perfectly, or if you do the pattern correctly, if you don't have the above things, forget it.

Yeah, yesterday at the horse show at the barn was a pure misery. Which is why I'm here now, online at home, instead of over there again for the 2nd day. No sense throwing good money after bad. Let somebody else be Last Place Loser, it ain't gonna be me. Especially since most those ladies showing "Novice" have NO fricking business in that division (and they know it and have admitted as much!)

Quzqo and I at least performed the showmanship pattern correctly...maybe a little crooked and not exactly crisp, but TWO people forgot a major part of the pattern (backing up after judge's inspection), and they BEAT US! Not even booby prize for someone who at least does all the pattern.

Well, went downhill from there. I didn't bother with Equitation, which is pretty much a beauty contest on horseback...sure, it's easy to sit pretty and straight on a perfectly-trained horse with push-buttons on the saddle. Not so easy with a green broke hotblooded beast with a mind of his own. So at least I saved $8 there. But in the Step-Up Huntseat, we did damned good I thought! I was thrilled to friggin' DEATH that the horse cantered both directions without quitting!! Yeah, okay, so he was a little faster than the other stock horses...well duuuh, he's an Arabian! He was doing a wonderful Arabian-type canter, I was thrilled!!! Nope, didn't even place. 7th out of 7.

In the novice Huntseat (19/o) which is walk-trot, he did GREAT! Even had his head tucked nice and rounded and was as near perfection as he can get! 6th out of 6.

Trail was an absolute horror and the camel-back-breaking straw. I shouldn't even have signed up for it after seeing the pattern. Anything that involved pulling a raincoat out of a mailbox (yeah, you do THAT every day on a trail!) and walking
through a water obstacle...I should have known better. Let's just say the only thing he (and I) did right was walking over the bridge. Everything else was totally FUBAR because SOMEbody decided he'd had enough and was doing everything he could to be as uncooperative as possible!

Didn't even stick around to hear the results...there were 7 entrants, we know who was going to be #7.

Took the horse out for a real trail ride because I didn't want him to get the idea that all he has to do is be bad and he gets to go to his stall. Unfortunately for HIM I was pissed as well, and he got his speckled little ass RODE, mostly up hill and at a canter! We came back to the barn eventually along the road...and I couldn't help but think THIS is a true test of a GOOD real-life trail horse...cars whizzing past us...even a pick-up hauling a boat...he didn't flinch or even twitch. LOL, I bet I got the stares, since I was obviously still dressed in full formal Huntseat attire with a number on my back, ha!

So, ended up turning him loose, he dropped and rolled and ground all the dirt he could into his previously-pristine show-sheened coat, and lollydawdled his way out to the field. I went home and wallowed in self-pity and despair, where I'm still pretty stuck today.

I'll head out to the barn later this morning, and just go for a trail ride to a nice inland lake I like. Screw the horse show, bunch of shallow circle-jerking morons anyway. Let somebody else be the Last Place horse today.

FWIW, yesterday was double-judged, so those loser placings were under TWO judges. What's the point?

As a bittersweet postscript, Quzqo was the only Arabian at the show, and as a result, was the only Pleasure Type halter entrant, so, gee, he won Pleasure Type Grand Champion under both judges. BFD. But at least he's got two huge-assed
rosettes hanging on his stall door.

I was looking over our show results from the past 2 years, and interestingly, we did "better" last year before any riding lessons. BUT...last year there were also two or three other ladies in my classes, all of which WERE actual novices. This year there's FOUR women who def. are NOT Novices (and the other two are amateurs like me). IMO, those 4 (yes, even my friend with the Paint) have NO business being in that division, and they show in the Open classes at non-association shows! GRRRRRR!

So, like I said...maybe next year, if those 4 aren't still playing in the kiddie pool, we might give it another go.

It just stings, knowing we got beaten by Bob's 5 yr old granddaughter in the Open Step-Up, GRRRGH! That kid doesn't "ride", she's just cargo! That horse can do a class w/o any rider, he's so push-button. I've seen him actually respond to the voice commands of the ring announcer, without the kid doing anything but looking around with a huge shit-eating grin on her face. Let's stick her on Quzqo and see how well she does!!

Funny, you can see in the results when I got a judge who either appreciated or understood the Arabian way of moving in a show ring (i.e. we placed...even taking 2nd in one instance) vs the ones who don't. Hell, while waiting in the line-up Saturday, I heard both judges discussing how my friend's Paint mare looked like the Paint one of them owned...no doubt judges who own a breed are going to be slanted towards that breed or breeds of that type. If only there were some way to get judges' biographies before a show to know if it's even worth it!!


I'm no longer buying the "It's a $4 opinion" nor am I buying "it's for FUN!". You work and sweat and strain for MONTHS, and do what you felt was damned fine, and still get kicked in the face for it, I say screw it. I've shed more tears this summer AT horse shows by repeatedly being shot down...it gets old REAL fast.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not by nature a competitive person. You NEED that to win. You also apparently need perfect posture and a robotic stock breed horse. I watched a bit of the adult Huntseat classes this afternoon, and man, there's NO way. Perfect women astride perfect horses riding perfectly. HA!

Instead, I took Quzqo on a trail ride by myself the next day. Other than a ridiculous over-reaction to a man on a house roof with a nailgun, he was absolute perfection. Even when this vanload of kids stopped and wanted to pet the horsie, he stood still by the vehicle as the kids sprawled over Dad's lap to touch the horse's soft nose. The little girl said "This is my dream come true!!!"

Some stuff you can't win in a show ring, but it's worth more than a ribbon.

Another Frustrating Show

Thu Aug 24, 2006

*sigh*

I give up. If I want to do any horse shows, I need a different horse.

Yeah, another embarassment at the benefit "fun" show last night. Short of shoving firecrackers up his arse, Quzqo ain't NO show horse and he proved it. When your horse stands YAWNING in the line-up...not good. He was THE most un-motivated beast I've ever seen!

When you can get your "Arabian" into a sweet, slow, shuffling JOG TROT during the WARM-UP...not a good sign for any kind of spunk later on!

Well, he did fine at the trot (had to squeeze him up into something ground-covering for gosh sakes!), really ass-dragging at the walk, and for the canter...well...let's just say he took his leads...every single time I had to cue him for the gait! Which was an average of FIVE TIMES each direction because the little slug kept STOPPING or slowing down to a trot!

Needless to say, we didn't even get booby prize...and were beaten by a couple of Paints that ALSO broke gait from the canter, LOL...but they only did it a few times...I guess our dozen was the deciding factor.

Yeah, yeah, my friend with the Paint took 1st (GRRRR), and went on to place well in the Western classes.

Guess I'll focus the next week or so on cantering, and trying to get it through SOMEbody's little horsey brain that it's okay to canter for more than 10 seconds at a time, and when cantering, you don't HAVE to go full-speed!

Only consolation is, I bet those fancy show Arabians that were sweeping all the other classes (5-figure Class A horses from Wayne Newton's ranch) probably wouldn't step over a dead raccoon on a roadside by gosh!

I'm used to Crazy though! This Lazy thing is a whole 'nuther ball of wax!

Well, I guess slogging along is better than almost running over the judge, eh?

I forgot to mention that the MORONS who run the fairgrounds left the lawn sprinklers on too long, so pretty much the entire rail area of the arena was SOAKED muddy puddles, so some of the nonsense that went on was horses avoiding the swampy areas. I'm sure that contributed to Quzqo's silliness (he doesn't like sloggy swampy bits...but he LOVES actual puddles, go figger)

Ah well, look at all the money I'll save by NOT further pursueing any horse showing really...don't need to waste money on Western junk & fees.

Who Wants Horse Belly Reference Pix

Mon Aug 14, 2006

Lookit Quzqo's cool tummy!! I forgot I took this pic early this summer, LOL...I just put the camera on the floor and snapped it. How neat he's got the dark brown hairs right along the "midline"...and so many whorls and whirlies!!! Tezlu had a nice, smooth tummy, but Coos has all sorts of things happening!!

Good reference for hair patterns, veining, armpit & poo stains for model horse painters! Otherwise, admire his impressive girth, lol!

Oops I Did It Again

Mon Aug 14, 2006

Yep, got brave tonight after work, and jumped up on the horse bareback in the pasture to ride him back to the barn, Hoorah!!!

Trouble was, THIS time I had to lead him about 50 yards AWAY from the barn to get to that big pile of clay-dirt I used for a mounting block, and he was NOT enthused about that...he defintely wanted to go TO the barn, and not AWAY, and even though he balked a few times, got him by the clay pile

Then there was the issue of standing still. Last time he stood stock-still like A-#1 Best Horse in the World. Not today! Today he was Mr. Wiggle-Worm "Whatchoo doin', crazy monkey?" swing-the-butt-away horse! Round and round we went, me trying to stay up on the hill, trying to get him in close enough so I could hop on, having him stand still for two seconds without swinging his rear away...after moving about 3/4 of the way around the hill, he FINALLY got in a good position, he stood still, and without a second thought, I JUMPED up and was laying across his back...when he started moving off! AGH!

All I could think of was the BIG rocks below me, I'm out in the open in a 30 acre pasture, side-ways on my belly with the horse heading for the barn (all downhill!). While he's do-bopping towards the barn, I managed to clamber on board and ended up back by his croup practically, LOL! He got upset and hollowed his back & his head went up, I tried to pull him in a circle to the left...and the end of the lead rope I'd tied to his halter (to make "reins") pulled loose, and I only had one "rein"!

So now I'm on top of a hill in a 30 acre pasture, bareback (no helmet) on an agitated Arabian with only one rein and rocks below me (and I had my new digital camera in my back pocket, so I knew if I fell off, that camera was destroyed!)...basically now turning the horse in tight circles to the right, because that's the only side I had the rope connected to!!

By this time Quzqo had had enough of this nonsense and just started walking towards the barn, I had to keep turning him in tight circles, trying to NOT fall off, and trying to scooch up behind his withers where I belonged! Finally got him standing still, and was able to reach forward enough to grab his left cheekpiece (thank God he's a short/small horse, if he was some 18hh Warmblood, no way could I have reached it...not that I'd have been able to get on him in the first place!), and hauled his face around enough that I was able to re-tie the end of the lead to the ring on his halter!

Thus situated, we began our trek downhill...he wanted to go through the herd of horses in front, I wanted to go AROUND them...didn't know if anyone would attack him (and me!), didn't want to risk it...but he wanted to go THROUGH them...we
compromised and we sort of went halfway, which unfortunately also meant going down the steepest part of the hill! SOMEbody hasn't had his feet trimmed since June (he gets them done tomorrow), but thankfully any tripping he did was minor and I stayed on all right!

Then as we got closer to the barn, the flies showed up! They were all over him, and he was kicking at them, shuddering, shaking, turning and trying to bite...all very wiggly for someone riding bareback! We ended up with me doing the fly-shooing with my legs and one free hand, LOL...hey, he didn't mind, fine with me!

Made it back safe and sound...I think I might tote a 5 gallon bucket out there, keep that as a mounting block for future adventures!

Good Ole' Quzqo

Sat Aug 12, 2006

Took Himself for a nice quiet, walking trail ride tonight (walking only, because after a bout of food poisoning yesterday, the last thing my tummy needed was a lot of jouncing around!). We came home via the road leading to the barn (paved two-lane). He was perfectly calm and mellow with the cars going by (just a few, it was almost 8 pm after all). Suddenly a pick-up hauling a trailer with FOUR jet-skis went BLASTING past us w/o moving into the other lane at all (i.e. mere FEET from my foot!) I about jumped out of the saddle, but Coos just kept walking on (probably because he could see the barn from there, lol!) Good boy!!

LOL...Bob's busy moving the fences around, and had a temporary gate on one of the front pastures full of his sales horses. Well, the Belgians pushed the gate down, and the pair and about 4 other horses and ponies ESCAPED and were up in the ROAD!! This happened just as Coos and I were leaving, so we sort-of helped round them back up...Bob was sitting at the picnic table by his house w/their company/guests of the evening, and I got to ride up hollering that his horses were loose, LOL! Hey, a Belgian in the middle of the road is not a good thing!!

They got them all shooed back into the pasture and fixed the gate! LOL...good time of day for all that silliness to happen!!

I guess Coos got loose this week when they were turning him out in the morning...there were other horses blocking his way, so he bolted and ran AWAY from the other horses...as far as the nearest GRASS, so he was easy to catch, LOL! That's my boy!

"Runaway" horses rarely go far around there...usually as far as the nearest grass.

Pain in the Neck (reining)

Wed Aug 9, 2006

Well, last night was Quzqo's first Official Neck-Reining Lesson, and other than being a lazy, petulant, opportunistic, ring-soured BRAT, he may have done okay... considering.

I even went to the barn "late", to give Himself time to thoroughly relax and enjoy his dinner, which he did, because Bob brought him inside around 6 (the horse was standing by the gate, neighing, according to Bob, lol) (Emperor Quzqo is SO aptly named!! "Yo! Peasant! I command you to bring ME to my Imperial Stall and feed me MY dinner!") So by the time I got there after 7, he was on the final 1/2 flake of hay (he gets two fat flakes, plus a scoop of grain, + black oil sunflower seeds (hand-picked by vestal virgins of the highest virtue, of course). Had to physically PRY him away from the food, and literally DRAG him out of the stall, and he proceeded to dawdle and drag and slump along behind me, 100% NOT interested in ANYthing I had to offer him.

He was even less-interested in taking the snaffle bit, and proved he DID have energy by the display of head-flipping and wiggling, trying to avoid the bit, LOL! Drama Queen!

Well, we tried to warm up in the arena, and he was wretched about staying on the rail...there's three or four spots where he will suddenly VEER towards the center of the ring...totally without warning or subtlety, just BAM, head for the center! He got a leg in his side and a pop on the butt, but I also used the occasion to work on neck-reining, since I had to "direct-rein" his face back towards the rail, LOL. There's NO reason for this, just him "yanking my chain" . Nothing scary on the rail, nothing on the other side of the fence to spook him, he's just being Difficult. Or as the trainer lady called it..."messing with you".

He found out I can be Difficult as well, and tried the tack of letting him rest and linger in those spots on the rail, then taking him to the center of the ring and riding his ass off! Circles, cantering, backing, turns on the forehand, backing some more, circling even more, the returning to the rail to dawdle and woolgather. My luck he'll learn to STOP moving on the rail altogether, *sigh*

ANYhoo, re: the neck reining...after countless circles in both directions, using the direct reining/rein laid across the neck/leg aids, he was starting to turn with very little, if any direct-rein! But...only if we were turning in the DIRECTION OF THE OUT GATE! LOL! Little SHIT! If we were going the OTHER way, forget it, LOL!

So we went out the ring (I always make him back out though), and did some work in the field behind the arena...again, if we turned in the direction of the woods, it was like pulling teeth...if we turned in the direction of the BARN....he about did it on his own! *sigh*

Guess I'll limit neck-reining to the indoor ring, where there isn't quite the distractions (though he does tend to gravitate towards the end nearest to his STALL)...but hopefully he's "getting it"

Yep...that week and a half off really spoiled him!

Quzqo Becomes A Man!

Sun Aug 6, 2006

Today Quzqo became a Man! Or a Horse...LOL! Yes, today he was initiated into being ridden with his Big Horse Bit! A CURB! Sniff...no longer a little baby with a big fat eggbutt snaffle, now he's a Horse!

Been toying with the idea for quite a while, but reading how a snaffle just pinches the tongue vs the more finessed curb...I thought what the hell. Removed Tezlu's nice cowboy pelham off his old bridle that I had on the wall next to his portrait, gave it a good scrubbing (removing all the 3 yr old Tezlu DNA), and put it on Quzqo 's western bridle (formerly holding the fat eggbutt snaffle).

Crikey, he's 8 bloody years old, it's about time! lol!

He was cute when I first put it in...he was going "gaaaah" and mouthing it and flopping his tongue around (might have been the dish soap residue, I thought I rinsed it good though) and playing with it. Since it's a cowboy pelham, it's got two sets of rings...one up by the mouthpiece for a more direct snaffle-like pull, and another down the shank for a proper curb action. And I used the broken-in soft leather curb strap, rather loose. Tried a couple practice applications before mounting, and he tucked his head immediately, and didn't seem upset.

He was more upset by the fact the evening feeders were putting grain in the stalls, LOL! He didn't care WHAT his monkey was doing, he was more interested in DINNER!! Rode him a little, and he was a distracted dingbat, so we moved to the outdoor arena, where he became a petulent dingbat who only wanted to go back to the barn! Didn't have a lot of luck with the bridle on the "snaffle" setting, so I moved the reins down to the lower rings for proper curb action. That's when I discovered he really canNOT neck rein to save his soul, BWAHAHAA! Gotta work on that I guess.

BUT...even though he wasn't warmed up or properly tired out or really paying any kind of attention, I was able to get him into a SWEET slow Western jog trot for about 10 seconds! I was thrilled to DEATH! I've never gotten him to trot quite that slow (well, a couple of times this past winter!). Gee, there might be something to this curb caper after all! He also backed nicely after a brief head-tossing/tail-switching incident! Steering is a total cock-up though, we really need to work on that, LOL!

I'm seriously pondering taking him into the Novice WP Class at the barn show in September (on Sunday, w/the single judge, so I only piss away $4 in fees)...just for shits & grins. I wonder if my horn-less trail saddle would be legal, or do I need to borrow one. Hm.

(Hm, have to remember how to ride one-handed, dang!)

Quzqo, Trail King (or close to it!)

Sat Jul 22, 2006

What a fun day at the horse show at the barn today! It was the most relaxed and outright FUN I can remember, mostly because I didn't show ANY Halter or Showmanship, so I could sleep in, and while everyone was fussing and running around in their goofy Showmanship outfits (seriously, would you walk down the street wearing that stuff??), Quzqo got to enjoy his hay in his comfy stall, and I got to sit and watch the show. Once they started with Halter, I went back to the barn and tacked up, and spent about 45 minutes warming Himself up, lunging him, riding, & doing whatever. Was a relatively small turnout for halter (NO pleasure-type entries, because he was being lunged, ha!), so the judges (two...double-judged, double the fee!) zipped right through, and they broke for "lunch" at 10:30.

I only showed in Novice Equitation, Novice Huntseat, and Novice Trail...didn't bother with the cantering class, because I KNOW what Quzqo will do in that arena (it's his home arena, I know where all the spots are where he'll shy, veer, halt, stop, and be plain dumb)(not wasting $8 this close to Breyerfest!). We, or shall I more correctly say, *I* didn't suck totally in Equitation, because we actually placed 4th out of 5 under the lady judge, and 5 out of 5 under the man judge. I don't know WHY, I thought I was doing everything all right. The lady who took 2nd and 3rd told me in the line-up that she got her diagonals wrong...guess the judges didn't see, or more likely, to win, you have to be tall, thin, and ride a slow stock horse!! Three strikes, we're out!

Was about the same for Huntseat, Quzqo was in a "mood" today...not a bad mood, more of a...Arabian mood. Let's just say our performance was not consistent, but he backed beautifully...we placed 5th & 6th out of 6.

Had quite a time before trail, so took him out for a trail ride, up to a meadow where they've mowed it short and put up some ground poles and barrels. One of the obstacles for the trail pattern was a "jump", so I managed to trot him over the telephone pole laying on the ground and we did it perfectly...that was more for MY benefit than his. Confident and ready for trail!

It was a pretty simple pattern really...no backing, no side-passing, no water boxes! We had to trot into the arena, walk over two ground poles, then over the wooden bridge, then over two more ground poles, trot around a corner, trot INTO a box (4 ground poles), spin 360 degrees to the left, walk out of the box, trot and get over the jump (HA, it was like 6" tall!), slow to a walk and exit.

Somehow during the day the word got out that you were supposed to pivot to the RIGHT in the box, not to the left...but the printed pattern on the announcer's stand said to the LEFT. LOL...the three ladies who went before us all pivoted to the RIGHT... A wonderfully HUGE foul-up (made even more sweet because two of them are my friends who had been beating the pants off of us all summer long with their O-So-Perfect stock horses). Quzqo trotted SO nicely into the ring (I'm just thrilled I can do a sitting trot with him now!!), stopped by the poles, stepped over the first two, up onto the bridge, started stepping down into the next set of poles, got upset and JUMPED them, LOL! But we picked up the trot, round the corner and INTO the box! (the first three ladies slowed to a walk and walked into the box...the pattern clearly stated you had to trot into the box!). Coos has an advantage to being so small, he had NO problem doing a 360 degree pivot to the LEFT, and walking smartly out, pick up the trot, and he tried to veer a little to avoid the jump but my outside leg shoved him back on course and we just flowed over that jumps so sweet!! Slow to a walk, and exit!!

There were 9 entries (it was English and/or Western, so there were a lot of crossover entries). We got 4th and THIRD!!! WhooHOOOOOO!!! I know our placing would have been lower if my friend with the paint had pivoted to the left instead of the right, heh heh, her bad. She got 2-5ths. I will say the rest of the non-placing horses were pretty bad...rearranging the obstacles, heh heh. Practice practice!

That's our best EVER in Trail (course we've only placed like three times all year)! I'm so proud of my boy!!! His reward was that we were done by 2:30, and he got to be turned free and naked into his pasture, where he got a big drink, then rolled in the filth, grinding all that lovely dirt right into his show-sheened behind!

I did his mane up in a Continental Braid again, and got TONS of complements!! And this time I at least got to take a picture...slightly blurry, but you get the idea! He's sure got the mane for it, if nothing else!!

I Did It!

Thu Jul 20, 2006

One more thing to tick off my "do before I die" list!!

After literally YEARS of wishing and dreaming, I finally, at long last, gathered up the nerve to jump on the horse bareback out in the pasture and ride him to the barn!! WhooHOOO! I've always wanted to be able to do this (well, as long as I've been at Bob's....wasn't any point at the Arabian show barn since their paddocks were so small)...didn't DARE with Tezlu, not that I could get up on his 15.2hh self!

But today, Quzqo was in the farthest reaches of the pasture (3/8 of a mile from the barn, I've measured), and due to recent earth moving endevours, there was a nice big pile of clay-dirt nearby! I somehow managed to convince the horse to stand still next to the dirt pile (he was VERY puzzled, LOL), I tied the end of the lead to his halter, making reins, and using the dirt for a mounting block, managed to clamber my way up on his back (it wasn't pretty, but bless his heart, he stood rock solid while crazy Sue wiggled her way on board, HA!)

He walked SO nice down the hills to the gate, I just grabbed a couple of handfulls of mane and let him pick his own way. But dayum, does he have a spine!! Yow! Not as bad as Tezlu's was (like sitting on a picket fence!), but a lot bonier than he was this winter when I rode him bareback inside!

That was SO fun...I was giggling like an idiot, HA! Fun to realize those dreams
on occasion!!

Hot Time At The Horse Show

Mon Jul 17, 2006

Model horse people have NOTHING over the crazy loons who show the real things!! If I seem a bit dotty today, it's because my brains have been broiled after spending two entire days in 98 degree temps at a dang horse show!!!

Thankfully, our local fairgrounds is loaded with huge, old trees, so shade was everywhere. But when it's 78 degrees at 6 a.m....not a good sign!! Luckily our usual spot was taken when we got there, so we ended up further from the show arena, but under a ton of huge shady trees, which became a bigger commodity than proximity to the arena!!

Quzqo's become an ole show veteran, I'm so proud of Him!!! He jumps in the trailer w/o a fuss now, he jumps OUT of the trailer, and happily, he now stands tied without fussing, wiggling, whinneying, pawing, and acting a loon! Course maybe it was also the heat that kept him subdued, LOL! I could actually leave him alone without worrying he was going to do something to himself!

Saturday's show had a single judge, a pleasant youngish lady with obvious impartiality and experience! I can't remember exactly how our Showmanship class went, not that it mattered, because we placed 6th out of 6, LOL! Why do I bother?

Quzqo did place 1st in Pleasure Type Geldings!! Yeah, he was the only entry, LOL...he didn't stand a chance in the showback for Champ, because a local Morgan breeder came by with about every horse they owned, from weanlings to a gorgeous palomino Stallion, and of course won the Champ and Reserve.

Coos behaved pretty darn well in the ridden classes (for Quzqo, anyway). For the life of me I can't remember offhand how we placed in Equitation, it was probably 6th out of 6 again. In the Step-Up English class (with cantering), we TOTALLY blew it, thanks to SOMEbody deciding he was channeling Tezlu, and when they asked for the canter, he TORE off and VEERED across the far end of the arena, LOL! (he was nervous about that corner, who knows WHY), and we lapped the rest of the class easily.

He did better going the other direction, but combining that, with the fact he decided to resist backing and threw his head up in the air instead...I think we got 5th out of 5.

Huntseat Pleasure (Novice 19/O) was our next class, and other than ONE tiny head-tossing at the trot, he did DAMN fine!! Even backed half-decent! And I figured we'd get last again, and about fell off the horse when they announced we had placed SECOND!!! Out of 6!! Holy SHIT! What a good horse!!! (remember, Pleasure they judge the HORSE, Equitation...the rider, heh heh..I'm giving up showing Equitation!)

The trail course was...interesting. Trot through two parallel poles, stop, back out from between poles, pivot on forehand, side-pass to the right over one of the poles, pivot, trot over ground poles placed in a zig-zag pattern, walk through water box, exit.

HA! Well, we trotted through the poles, he backed PERFECTLY (In fact, we've practiced this particular obstacle so much, the horse backed up ON HIS OWN w/o any cue from me!!!). He pivoted on the forehand perfectly, and we eventually side-passed the ground pole, half of the time OVER the pole (the other half was beside it, heh heh). As for trotting the ground poles...well, we made it over them, it wasn't pretty, but we got 'er done! The water box...he walked right up, put his nose down, tried to
drink the water, but the instant I asked him to move forward, he REARED and spun, LOL! Tried again from the other side... REARED and spun! LOL! One more try, spin city! So much for that!

Actually only about 1 in 10 horses made it through the water box...whenever someone made it, the crowd erupted in applause and cheers, hee!

What was interesting was that we'd gotten torrential downpours the afternoon before, the center-end of the arena was a LAKE...they could have just used THAT for the trail obstacle!

Like you're ever going to encounter a box of water out on the trail, right. Coos will walk through rivers and into lakes, but not a 4x4 box with 2" of water in it!

We actually placed 6th out of 8!! HooHah!! (yes, the other two were HORRID, spooking at the ground poles, re-arranging the side-passing pole with their hooves, not even going near the water box!)

The HEAT though! GAAH! The instant you were in sunlight, you could feel your skin shriveling! The judge did allow us to ride w/o coats...which I did! Glad I had a short sleeved hunt shirt! Everyone hunkered under the shade trees until the absolute last second, then soon as the class was over, everyone went right back under the shade trees! Poor judge, but she had a big-brimmed Western hat, a sleeveless blouse, and they kept her well-fortified with sports drinks and water! Some kind woman came around the on-deck area and passed out ice cream sandwiches to those of us waiting for our class! Oh, man, ice cream never was so good!!

Thankfully I was done riding for the day around 4:30, and got to retire to the shade with the horse, who, after being sponged off with cool water, enjoyed his hay and dozed. The show ran relatively late, we didn't get out until around 7:30!

Unfortunately, had to do it all again the next day, thankfully we got our same spot under the trees, and it was an overcast morning! But the humidity was BRUTAL! And unfortunately we had a pair of hard-nosed conservative judges for Sunday...Gad, what an unpleasant pair! I think Quzqo must have farted in their faces during Showmanship, because they seemed to think he was only good for dog food! We again got 6th in Showmanship out of 6 (though he did pretty good...I doubt he'll ever be
able to pivot on one foot like a stock horse). We didn't bother with Halter (hey, it's $8 w/a double-judged show...for another 1st place out of 1 entry ribbon?), so I had extra time to tack up and ride him! He was SO tired, it was great, he was like "Yes'm, whatever you want ma'am, your word is my command ma'am!" LOL...it was lovely!!

*I* thought we did damned good in Equitation! He was as steady and consistent as a metronome, kept his head down, I kept my hands steady, head up, back straight, used the corners of the arena...but no...5th under Judge "A", 6th under Judge "B".

Step-up we did better than the day before, namely Coos picked up his leads perfectly, he behaved and didn't veer or slow at the gates, and was actually FUN to ride!! But...I guess the fact that we passed everyone, and the judge had to step out of our way at one corner (well, I was passing someone on the rail, and he was standing in the corner instead of near the center!)... well...we placed 6th/6th...but out of 8!!

Hell, Arabians are SUPPOSED to be zippy, for gosh sakes!

Had great expectations for our Huntseat Pleasure class, because he was doing SO well...we had a great ride, he was so rounded, floating trot, perfect reverse of direction, he did gawk ONCE at some people walking by the arena, but I guess that turning the head and gawking did it...we placed 5th/6th out of 6. GRRRGH! It's frustrating, because he was worse the previous day and placed 2nd, behaves better the 2nd day and places worse...*sigh*. What ya gonna do. And If I hear "it's only a $4 opinion" one more time....

Trail was a hoot! This time we got to WALK over the zig-zag ground poles (I let Coos have his head, and looked at the horizon line while he stepped carefully through them [if you look down, it can mess up your horse...don't know why, it just does]). Then we had to walk over the wooden bridge, which he did perfectly (it helps that the bridge is the one from our barn, so he's walked over it countless times already, LOL!), THEN we had to pick up the trot and trot a half-circle over two ground poles...Well...we did it...again, it wasn't pretty, but he was trotting, we stayed between the cones (BARELY!!)...and the 2nd pole he JUMPED! LOL! My collar came loose and started falling off, so when we stopped at the mailbox, I quickly caught the collar before bending down and opening the mailbox (which also was from our barn, so Coos was familiar with it...never mind the last show at the fairgrounds last month, he was TERRIFIED of the same box!!).

I thought we bombed, but under Judge A, we placed 5th (out of 6), and Judge B, the obvious Arabian-hater, we placed 6th. *sigh*.

I'm just happy he did so well, especially considering how far he's come in the past year!!! One year ago, that horse would NOT back under saddle, he would NOT side-pass, even from the ground!

Everyone was pissed at the judges during the day, they were VERY unfriendly, curt, short, and not pleasant to deal with. They ticked off a LOT of the English showers by proclaiming that you could show w/o your coat, BUT, NO SLEEVELESS SHIRTS ALLOWED! A lot of the ladies only had sleeveless shirts, but they had to wear their black coats! Guess the judges didn't want to glimpse a bra strap or armpit, LOL!

It got up to 98 degrees yesterday as well! Didn't hear of anyone collapsing from the heat, although my friend's Paint almost lost her hind quarters during a class, she started faltering, so between classes she carefully hosed the horse down (avoiding hitting her tack w/the hose). IMO, no stupid ribbon is worth THAT, but she's a classic Type A personality (and it paid off, as she won the High Point award for our division at the end of the show!). (LOL...she also got an ice cream sandwich in the on-deck area, but was disconcerted that it was broken, and refused to eat it!!!!!!...er...okay...)

Thankfully Sunday's show got done around 4 p.m. (a lot fewer entrants, smaller classes, and the judges were loading the ring just as the previous classes' horses were exiting). I bet Coos was happy to finally get back to his home stall, and I bet he's spending today just getting himself as dirty and filthy as he can!!

There's another two-day show this weekend at the barn where I board, I'm still iffy as to whether I want to show on Saturday (kinda sick of it, and seems to be a waste of $$ at this point)...Sunday is out, cuz that's when I'm leaving for Breyerfest! Hm, If I don't show Saturday, that's $52 more I'll have for BF! To hell with the show, I'll go on a (free) trail ride, then spend the afternoon packing!!! Yeah, I like THAT idea!

Sorry, didn't take any pix, though I wanted to yesterday...I'd put Quzqo's mane in a Continental Braid (since I had time, not doing the halter class) and he blew away the competition in the Looking Good department...we caused quite a fuss, and
many people came and complemented him/me on how cool he looked! And he did...he's got enough mane to pull it off!!!

Another thing that sort of grated on me...Saturday we got big, fat, beautiful two-streamer rosettes. Sunday, where we had to pay twice the entry fee because it was double-judged..they gave out FLATS! FLATS! Like at a model horse show, for crap's sake!!! Word is, they're also giving flats at the show this weekend...yep, might just save my $$ for BF.

If I'm going to place last, I want a big fat rosette at least, *sigh*.

The Cadillac of Horse Shows

Mon Jul 10, 2006

Coos and I got to go to a horse show around 50 miles from here on Saturday down in Cadillac, Michigan. We trailered down with my friend with her Paint mare! I'm SO thrilled that Quzqo literally LEAPS into the horse trailer now, no more playing games, rearing, balking, swerving, and being a dick!

Was a pretty good show, very big for these parts. Sponsored by a Paint breeder, so there were TONS of gorgeous Paints in attendance!! We attended this show last year, and the temps got into the Mid-90's...thankfully it only got up to 81 this year! But still, wearing breeches, black boots and a dark coat ain't too comfy!!

We did Novice Showmanship, and I thought we did DAMNED good...good straight trotting, a crisp stop at the cone, he backed straight as a pin, trotted off, another smooth stop, the horse pivoted 270 degrees so quickly I had to rush to keep up with him, LOL!! Walk to the judge...and we missed her by about four feet, LOL! OOPS! Coos set up pretty nicely, not perfect, but oh well. We placed 6th out of 7!! The non-placing went to some old guy with a BIG Friesian stud who obviously was doing it for shits and grins, because he was in short sleeves, had a red nylon halter and a rope lead, didn't even attempt to pivot the horse (he just led him in a circle), and stood in one spot during the judge's inspection, instead of moving out of her way. We (My friends and I) were ready to protest IF that jerk placed over ME...we weren't great, but by God, we weren't as bad as that guy, LOL!

We also placed 6th in Pleasure Type Geldings...out of 6 entries, LOL! Well, crap, there were TWO Friesians in the class, plus two TWHs, a Morgan, and a little broke-tail Arabian, ha! Ah well, got two pretty green rosettes anyway! Didn't help that the instant one of the judges was walking right behind Coos, he decided to shift and stand cow-hocked! GRR!

Well, at least we didn't have to worry about the showback for the Championship, lol (won by one of the Friesians).

Didn't get too much of a chance to warm Himself up for the ridden classes...he was so laid-back and downright lazy, I didn't need to work him too much. He did pretty nicely in our Novice Equitation 19/over (which thankfully was just rail work, no pattern), and we were helped by the fact this one idiot woman on a TB (who is a thorn in our sides and we (the ladies from the barn) are sworn to beat her whenever possible, lol) just about crashed her horse into another lady, causing me to pull Coos up short and swerve! (she got lectured by the judge later, heh heh). It was only Walk/Trot, but we did so well, that we placed 3rd out of 8! Under both judges! Yaay Us!!

The people with the Friesians entered them in the Huntseat Equitation...holy SHIT...the idiot with the Stud could NOT control the thing...they were GALLOPING around the arena, with HUGE flying strides...those horses assumed every single Artist Resin Friesian Pose out there (even the "Mulan" galloping pose, LOL!). The other entrants were taking pains to AVOID them, even crossing the arena to get out of the way...the stud was careening wildly around, one lady cantered to the middle of the ring and did an emergency dismount and refused to continue because of those horses! I was surprised they weren't excused from the ring, frankly. Don't think either Friesian placed in the ribbons...I think the more well-behaved one (a mare) got an Honorable Mention.

Next was the Novice "Step-Up" class, with only 5 entries, and Coos did MISERABLE! ARRGH! I couldn't get him to canter for anything, and keep him cantering for more than maybe 15 seconds!!! He kept breaking gait in the one direction...when we changed direction, I got him into a nice, smooth canter, and we're cantering along the rail, and pass my farrier standing there, I hear him say in a low voice "check your lead"...shit! The horse was cantering so nicely on the wrong lead!! ARRGH! (he's so smooth, I couldn't tell!!). So I had to slow him, get him into the correct lead, but by that time the judge had called for a walk! So...5th out of 5!

Then we did Novce Huntseat Pleasure 19/O, thankfully Walk/Trot again, and Coos did VERY well...and when the judges had us stop on the rail, before they even said to, Coos started BACKING UP! LOL! All by himself, the little bugger!! Quite a change
from a year ago for sure!

I believe there were 8 entries and we placed 4th & 5th (Judge "A", the woman, seemed to like us better than Judge "B", the old fat guy)!

Then we had around 3+ HOURS to kill before they got to the trail classes! The horse and I retired to the trailer to relax. Watched a bit of the show...one woman had brought a beautiful HUGE Clydesdale gelding (roached/hogged mane, braided forelock, long, natural tail), and she had already shown him Showmanship (imagine someone getting a Clydesdale to pivot 270 degrees, LOL!) and Halter (she put him in "stock type geldings"...he was stocky, all right!), and believe It or not... WESTERN! Yes, she had him all decked out with a lovely show saddle, a HUGE cinch, a custom-made bridle, and damned if he didn't have the smoothest jog I've EVER seen!! His lope was so beautiful and slow and smooth...and they dwarfed all the Paints & QHs in the classes, LOL! I did manage to snap some pix...couldn't not do it!! I don't know how he placed in Equitation, but I know he got like 4th in Western Pleasure (relatively big class too, think there were around 11 entries). LOL, I bet the people w/the big-price tag stock horses were miffed to be beaten by a Clydesdale, LOL!!!

There were quite a few Arabians too...a couple I recognized from the last show I went to (where the judge totally ignored anything with a dished face and high tail carriage!). Was pleased to see that these judges were more impartial, and the horses placed pretty consistently. They had pretty little lopes and jogs to die for...some day... One mare was a shining platinum white with tiny fleabites and her mane and tail were as pure white as snow...beautiful!!! Maybe some day...

ANYway, they got to our Novice Trail (19/o) class around 5:30 in the afternoon...by that time both the horse and I just wanted to get it over with!! LOL, that poor boy...as we were leaving the trailer area, he just veered to the side and started walking right back to the trailer!! LOL! "Enough!" No such luck.

We went first, mostly to get it over with...as we were standing in the "In" gate, waiting for the nod from the judges, the dang horse kept oozing backwards! LOL! He just kept stepping backwards, backwards, oozing slowly...hoping to ooze back to the trailer or back to the barn, LOL! I had to keep pressing him back up to the gate, he kept sliding backwards, LOL! What a character! Finally we got a nod from the lady judge, and after a momentary protest, Quzqo picked up the trot I asked for, and we headed right for the row of poles laying on the ground. At the last second he VEERED to the left and managed to miss every single one!!! He knows about stepping over poles, we've practiced, but these were STRANGE poles, to be feared and avoided at all costs! ARRRGH!!!

We trotted through the cones, stopped, and I managed to back him through the serpentine of cones...it was a distance of around 40 feet, a helluva long distance to back a horse, and I was delighted that he did it!!!! This from a horse that 1 year ago would refuse to back one hoof-step!!!

We walked from the last cone to another pole on the ground, I cheated by having him step over the middle instead of starting at the far end, and darned if I wasn't able to get him to side-pass over the pole!!!! That was a FIRST! He's never side-passed over a pole...he's side-passed BESIDE a pole, after having stepped backwards, LOL! He just tucked his head, rounded up, and stepped smartly to the left!! I was happy with that much! Huzzah!!

There were 8 entries, and with the exception of the afore-mentioned idiot woman on the TB who didn't do ANYthing right (her horse spooked at the trot-over poles, the cones, and the side-passing log), everyone appeared to do near perfect, so I figured we didn't place (again!), and went back to the trailer. Eventually they did get around to announcing the placings, and I was truly gobsmacked when I heard my name announced as placing 4th AND 5th!!! WhooHOOO! Our very first trail class placings EVER!!!

We got home around 9, and my friend went back to the show on Sunday (welcome to it!). I'm glad I didn't go, I had a helluva migraine Sunday morning, and was sick from something I ate (probably those grapes I washed in the horse's bucket at the show!)...was so nice to RELAX and nap all day, LOL! My friend did quite well with her mare though, and they ended up winning High Point Novice 19/Over, with a custom-embroidered saddle cover! (yeah, she beat us in every class, but hey, her horse is younger with more training than mine)

Next show is this Saturday, at the local fairgrounds, so no long trailer ride at least! Saturday after that is the big two-day show at the barn...Trouble is, that Sunday I leave for BreyerFest!! Well, I can probably do Showmanship and Halter in the morning, LOL!

The Bad News Horse

Tue May 30, 2006

What a helluva year for my poor lil' guy. Gets his tail broken in February (it wa'rnt no "contusion", that thing was broke and now it's bent funny, dammit!), gets holes chewed in his chest, gets his ear nearly skinned a couple of weeks ago (though most the big chunky scabs and bits of skin and hair have fallen off and there's a fine white fuzz growing back)...this evening he now has TWO swollen eyes! Don't ask me why, don't ask me how, I have NO idea!!!

He looks like the Northlight Mule for God's sake!!

The eyeball itself is fine, nothing swollen or red or inflamed or protruding...just the "eyebrows" are puffy and huge!!! Nothing oozing or runny...it doesn't hurt for me touch them, so that rules out him getting kicked in the head...all I can figure is the hot/wet weather all weekend has brought out the mold in the pasture and he's allergic to it! He wasn't in that shape this morning when I stopped out on my way to work!!
Maybe he got stung by a bee!

*sigh*

Always some damned thing!!! See how he is in the morning after spending the night in his clean, dry, non-moldy, bee-free stall!

Well, this morning the left eye is back to normal, but the right is still swollen. Might have been a nasty bitey fly bite. There's some tiny black flie that, when it bites me (usually around the eye or ear), the bite area swells HUGE...once my eye swelled shut...maybe it was the same fly, who knows.

He was sure full of P&V this morning, LOL...been working with him in the morning trying to remind him of good ground manners re: being unhaltered. He did pretty good today, and only galloped off like a loon once I opened the gate to the pasture...awaaaayyyy he went!

Rained over night, which means more bity bugs, hoorah!

(Aain't naught like the smell of an old horse barn w/tom cats on a humid morning, hooohah!)

Injury Update

Thu May 18, 2006

Hard to believe it's only been 1 week since the lady who'd been giving me lessons got tromped and stomped by that crazy mare last week, but 'tis true! Even harder to believe that when I went to the barn after work tonight, she was there, walking around, laughing, and looking damned fine!! The cast is off her arm (wasn't broken after all), she got her stitches out (and insisted on showing off her re-attached ear...looks good, considering)! Boy O Boy, that just made my day, for sure!!

Speaking of injured ears, it rained ALL day, so Cusco's ear is nice and clean, most the blood is washed out of his forelock, and the poor lad was shivering from head to toe when I brought him in from the pasture tonight! (42 degrees, 15 mph winds, steady rain). I had a bag of bran in my locker, so I made him a HOT bran mash to enjoy, and after about 10 minutes he stopped shivering...good deal!

Bob got a new shipment of horses in Tuesday night (a HUGE 18-wheeler horse transport pulled up w/14 horses from Minnesota!)...he's got two BEAUTIFUL Belgian mares out in the front pasture, one's tail is so long it's dragging on the ground, phew! Tonight one of the Teens was working with this awesome Bay with legs up to "there"...turns out he's an Arabian/Mustang mix! Beautiful head, classic Spanish profile, and could he move, whew! A trot to drop DEAD for!!! I briefly (only briefly) considered trading Quzqo in right then and there, LOL!

Twilight Show Fun

Thu May 18, 2006

Well, we survived the fun show at the fairgrounds last night! Damn, I was SUCH a nervous wreck...as you know, LOL! Course I didn't need to be, I ended up getting to the barn in less time than I figured with tons of time to spare!!

Things started going downhill when I got out to catch Quzqo...at first I thought he'd rolled in something, as his forelock was brown! No, make that reddish-brown...no...red...as in BLOOD! SHIT! Somebody had CHEWED and bit his right ear, peeling half the hair off and some of the skin, a bit was hanging loose, and two small chunks were missing off the outer edge!!! He'd apparently bled down into the forelock and poll, and the rain had diluted it & washed it off!! He let me put his halter on (carefully avoiding the ear) and I brought him in. Could forget about any touching of that ear, it was Off Limits!!

Tried at least to clean up his forelock, LOL...forget that, he wasn't letting anything near his head! I did manage to band his forelock at least. Luckily the damage was to the upper half of the ear, not the lower part that might touch a crownpiece or browband. Yeah, I'm a mean horse mom, I dragged him to the horse show anyway. Although I was depressed about it (and the damned rain didn't help, and the fact my friend's Paint mare likes to paw/kick at the trailer JUST as Quzqo's about to step into the trailer, scaring the shit out of him...he's getting harder and harder to load...I wonder WHY?

We got to the fairgrounds w/o incident (no flat tires, no getting lost), got signed up, and only as we had the horses unloaded (Coos is getting worse about that as well, *sigh*, not waiting, trying to rush out, he stepped on my boot, but missed the toes within), did the damned RAIN re-start in earnest. Not a mist or drizzle, but a RAIN! COLD rain! (let's see, this makes it over a full week of rain and cold....little sick of this!). Lucky I have a synthetic saddle, and the rain started rinsing the blood out of his forelock, so it turned his face pink, *sigh*

Was not much of a turnout for the show...a good gang from our barn braved the weather, and I saw the huge trailer from the Arabian barn where I used to board, and a few others I knew...seemed to be mostly the under-19 crowd showing (and their long-suffering parents, lol). The fairgrounds had totally rearranged things, erecting fences everywhere, so you could only take ONE route to get to the arena (between two tall buildings, lovely), and they also moved the gates, which was good, because Coos WAS familiar with that arena, but now he couldn't bolt for the gate, because it was GONE, LOL!

There were only 4 of us riding in the arena for warm-ups, probably because it was POURING RAIN...but hey, I had to do something, ain't no way I'd take him into a class w/o getting some of the kinks out. The rain and wind helped keep his head down though, LOL, and he was moving slowly because of the mud and puddles. I was sure he'd jump the puddles, but he went through them or around them.

Finally the ridden part of the show started (they have two showmanship classes first), and we did our Huntseat, 19/0ver. He did SO good!! No problem at the walk, he trotted pretty darn nice (not as supple and rounded as Saturday, but that's because we didn't have a proper warm-up to get the P&V out!), but my biggest surprise was the canter! He pooped out twice but I got him back into a canter with a couple of strides, and he did SO nice...slow, and rounded and balanced...to say I was delighted is an understatement, lol! Granted I was pushing him with my seat and propping up his inside shoulder with that rein, lol, but I didn't have to also hold him up with my legs (he did get a pop on the butt with my crop to stop him from pooping out on me)! That horse is WORK! He did much better the other direction (which is his "good" direction), and even backed up half decently!

LOL, due to the rain, my number pretty much melted off my back and landed in a mud puddle, and that happened to two others in the class, ha! Might be time to invest in a permanent, laminated number I think!

There were only 5 entries in the class (last time I did that show there were 9)(and we didn't place due to SOMEbody's wacky cantering and bolting for the gates, lol)...my friend with the Paint placed FIRST, and she about fell off her horse with surprise! The look on her face was priceless, BWAHAHAHA! She just started riding English this winter, after everyone telling her all summer she should show her mare English because her horse has the action for it! Another friend from the barn placed 2nd, even after her horse apparently bucked during the class (judge must have missed that...she was one of those "stare at one point of the arena" judges). And WE placed THIRD! Hoo_HAH!!! Hey, I'm delighted! Not only is that my best EVER placing at a Twilight Show (not counting novice)...even riding Tezlu...it's also Quzqo's first placing of any kind in an Open class!!! Okay, I've only taken him in 4 open classes in his life, but still! Way chuffed, me!

Luckily the rain stopped shortly after our class (it's so fun, posting in wet breeches!), which was good for the Western riders (all those fancy saddles wouldn't get wet). The show got done around 8:30, pretty early, but all the classes were quite small...considering the weather, that's no surprise!

A Gay Time in Gaylord

Tue May 16, 2006

Coos and I went to our first show of the year Saturday, the NWMHA Open Horse Show in Gaylord, MI, leaving the barn around 6:08 a.m. w/my friend, Sandy, and her paint mare, Sienna. Actually we had a convoy of trailers leaving the barn, but the owner's daughter took her own route, and we followed our farrier for about 15 miles before they turned off into a McDonald's for breakfast, LOL! Course my friend, "knew" the way to Gaylord, turned left when she should have turned right and we ended up getting a 30 mile tour of the back boonies of NW Michigan (not the most pleasant of locales, bleah!) before I insisted we stop and ask directions...yep, we were heading North instead of East, LOL! Yeah, I bet the horses just loved the additional half hour in the trailer (it's a 2+ hr drive w/o the scenic route!)

Weather was NASTY...upper-40's/low 50-s, a near constant drizzle-mist rain (glad I have a synthetic saddle), and wind gusting up to 20 mph! The arena was MUD (so bad they fenced off one end, which was miserable footing!). The show committee were a bunch of morons with ridiculous amounts of paperwork for entering (you had to fill out a complete sheet
(name, address, age, horse name, gender, age, Coggins number, then sign, then print ...for EVERY class!). Not a very well-organized show, the best part was the access to flush toilets and easy-to-get-to water faucets.

Quzqo was kind of "up" but not screwy...course only after I got him out in daylight did I see all the poop stains on him, LOL! Poor guy had to get sponged off with cold water in the afore-mentioned weather conditions...he never dried off in time for our halter class, LOL...luckily it had been raining, so he was sort of generally damp all over!

There were four entries in Pleasure Type Geldings...oh, gee, guess who entered! The apparent 2004 MAHA (Michigan Arabian Horse Association) HIGH POINT HALTER HORSE! (or so proclaimed the trophy cooler he was wearing before the class). A HUGE bay Arabian, whose handler spent a good amount of time before the class whipping him into a frenzy (she wasn't hitting him with the whip, just flipping it in his face and yanking on the chain and getting him all worked up. Quzqo, on the other hand, stood quietly watching the Stock Geldings being judged, lol! This swayback Morgan went in the ring before us, and I trotted Coos in a VERY nice floaty trot (but I didn't get him all freaky-deaky about it), then Mr. High Point came in in a HUGE Park Trot, head high, tail ramrod straight up! Beautiful beautiful beautiful!!! Yeah, I knew who'd win...but a big surprise was right after him came in a HUGE Friesian!! With a good two feet of tail dragging on the ground behind him! Where the hell did THAT come from!

Yeah, well, at least we beat the swayback Morgan, *sigh*. Yep, 3rd out of 4, for the little broke-tailed Arabian with wet spots on his flanks. But at least it took a High Point Champion to beat us, and a Rare Breed of horse! Yeah, yeah, that's it!



Had a ton of time before our ridden classes, since I was taking him into Green Horse and me into Green Rider Equitation (lol...walk-trot weenie classes). Got to ride him in the arena during the lunch break, and he did pretty good...all our work with lessons was paying off, re:the keeping rounded, head lowered, etc. Was a pretty damned cold wait for our class...why did I buy a short-sleeved hunt shirt ! BRRR! (I'll be glad come June and July I suppose). Finally our class, and Quzqo completely surprised me by REARING at the in-gate! You little shithead, LOL! No, he didn't WANT to go into the arena, and he was going to hold up the class by rearing and balking and trying to spin...oh, great first impression for the judge, horse! I kicked him into the arena (didn't have a whip with me) and we got on the rail. Once in the ring he settled down and other than being uneasy about a group of people sitting in the bed of a pick-up with a horse cooler across their laps, he did VERY well!! We had a few little disagreements about the headset, but nothing major ...he even backed up pretty well for me! LOL...in the line-up, the judge mentioned the "head issues"...yeah, well, tell me something I don't know, sweetheart!

We placed SECOND out of 6! Hoorah!!! (all adults riders)

The very next class was the Green Rider Equitation, so we pretty much went out one gate and right back in...and yep, he REARED and balked and tried to spin, but I figured he'd pull that, and got heels in his sides for his trouble...he did better this time around, settling down, tucking his head, rounding up and just floating along, walking nice, a real nice back and calmer in the line up. This time the judge mentioned my main problem was that I had my hands too low and far apart! BWAHAHAHAH! That's what Deb, my lesson lady, TOLD ME TO DO! HAW! That's the best way to make Quzqo lower and tuck his head! Ah, who knows, if I had kept my hands in the proper huntseat position (up by the withers)...because I placed SECOND out of 4! WhooHOOO! That's my BEST Equitation placing EVER! (on Coos or Tezlu!) Guess those lessons paid off!

Bummer was they didn't give out rosettes, but big flats ribbons like you'd get at a a model show! C'mon for $4/class, I want a damned rosette!!! Never mind the $2.99/gallon gasoline and the 200+ mile round trip! Ah, well.

Our last class was Trail...no novice trail, but the REAL deal! The trail was set up in a field next door, and it was pretty weinie... walk to the mailbox, open, remove paper, put back in, close...trot over poles (which were actually VINYL RAIN GUTTERS!...we screwed that up because I was surprised to see RAIN GUTTERS and didn't want my horse stepping on 'em...he trotted one, jumped the rest and took off cantering,...which is good because next thing was to canter, turn to the left, stop and back up into the "box" (which was white chalk marks on the grass)...we overshot the stopping point by about 20 feet, so we just
came back, got into position, and he backed SO nice! At least we did that right! Then walk to a PVC pipe on the ground and side-pass...not a chance! I tried three times, I didn't even get a step to the side...oh well...next was to walk to the "bridge" and walk over...he did that perfectly, no worries at all! The judge said that at least we did the two most difficult obstacles (the mailbox and bridge)...guess a lot of horses had problems with that. I saw one kid's horse actually walk sideways off the bridge, LOL.

Was all for naught, because they never did announce the results of the trail classes, and when I went to ask at the show office, they said they couldn't figure out the judge's paperwork, so THERE WOULD BE NO RESULTS! No, no offer to refund the entry fee either! GRRRRRR! I hope they eventually post the results on the Association web site at least, I'd like to know how we did for gosh sakes!

So, we had a good bitchfest on the way home, as you can imagine. My friend also did the Trail (and other than her horse taking the wrong lead, she did very good). After about an hour she commented that her mare is acting up in the trailer...sure enough, the trailer was swaying back and forth and the truck sort of wobbling...this kept up for a bit, silly horses...I glanced at the gas gauge, which was nearly on "E", and asked if we were going to get gas? (duuuh!). Luckily we were on the outskirts of a town, and as she turned to go to the Shell station, there was a loud shuddering sound from underneath the truck...Uh oh...that didn't sound good! We pulled up to a pump and I checked the trailer tires, all looked well! Went on in to get a Pepsi, and when I came out...the left rear tire on the truck was flat as a pancake! Sandy was on the verge of getting VERY upset, and was on the phone to her husband, LOL! You could hear the air hissing out, and see the very shiny silver head of the nail stuck in it!

Damn, we were SO lucky!!!! (Imagine all the worst-case scenarios, eh?). Best place to discover a flat is at a gas station I say! Would have been luckier if it was earlier in the day because there was a tire store right down the street, but almost as good was that the Shell station had an ample supply of Fix-A-Flat! Yep, while she re-filled the tire with air from the pump, I bought a big can of the stuff,, we reinflated the tire w/the sealant...you could see it spitting out the nailhole, then stop spitting....once it was filled, we were on our way (per the instructions on the can)...We took it slow, and I kept an eye on the tire w/the side-view mirror...damned if it didn't inflate even more and after about 10 miles, looked as good as new!

LOL, her husband kept calling her on the cell phone about every 15 minutes for progress reports...he was upset and complaining that it was a brand new tire (well, it was a brand new nail!), and that "is it worth it?" this horse-showing business, etc. We figured she should ask if he got a flat tire on his way to the golf course, would it be "worth it" to keep playing golf??

Long story short, we made it the 50 miles or so back to the barn safe and sound!

Next show...TOMORROW NIGHT! Assuming she gets the wiring on the trailer fixed so we can drive at night, LOL!

Hmmmmmmm

Mon May 15, 2006

Went out to the barn tonight and found my horse in the wrong pasture, wearing a halter, with a 6 foot long lead rope hanging from it (and him stepping on it when he moved). Very very very VERY odd!

Wasn't anybody around that I could ask WTF is going on...was not happy to find my little sweetie angel (cough cough) in the "Bad Boyz" pasture with the crazy geldings, nor was I happy that he was wearing a halter, and I sure was NOT happy to see the long lead hanging from it (they can step on it and break their own necks for God's sake!!).

My only theory is that maybe they caught him and were in the process of bringing him in for the evening, when he spooked or started to act like a jerk, and bolted, and if they were also bringing in horses from Bad Boyz, he could have dashed through the wrong gate and gotten away. He's been known to run away from Bob, LOL!

Course *I* had no problem catching him (he just stood there and looked at me like "look at ME! I'm in the wrong pasture with a lead rope hanging from my face...see, I can step on it!"). He was a little shitwad while I was brushing him...kinda glad I wasn't planning to ride, I'd have me a good time if I did, LOL! Snake-necked nipping little turd!

A Near Miss

Fri May 12, 2006

Well, I guess not really, but it sounds good that way.

Last night a bunch of us were riding/working horses in the indoor arena (due to the cold/damp/windy weather outside), and Deb, the trainer (and my Cusco-training/riding instructor) was working with some young horses. She was in the process of mounting a young sorrel mare when I guess the mare shot straight upwards before Deb got her right foot in the stirrup, and just took off crow-hopping and sunfishing like a Bronc! That horse was airborne, all four feet up in the air, and poor Deb bouncing around like a rag doll! On the third buck Deb flew forward off the horse and apparently managed to roll, but the horse came down ON TOP OF HER with all four hooves! She started screaming as the horse launched skyward again and proceeded to buck on around the arena (That horse was easily 1-2 feet up in the air with each hop).

One of the moms called 9-11 even before I could (but she was closer to the phone on that side of the arena, I had to get off Quzqo and run to the other side), two of the other ladies ran to Deb who was sobbing and screaming (good sign, I guess), one of the teens caught the bronc, and my farrier hurried over to Deb (he didn't get too close I noticed...but got a lot closer than I did!).

Long story short, the local volunteer paramedics showed up after about 10 minutes, and the real ambulance about 5 minutes after them, and they got her stabilized and on a backboard and off to the hospital...they didn't use the siren, which is good (means they weren't in a hurry, which means her injuries weren't life-threatening)...I guess she was complaining of severe pain in her right hip, her chest (trouble breathing) and a huge flap of scalp and ear was torn loose from her head. God.

I'll admit, I about passed out twice, and probably annoyed God with all my prayers, but she was joking with the paramedics about wanting a face lift when they stitched her head back together, and a boob job as well...and she could move her arms, and never lost consciousness (I bet she wished she had). Her husband showed up (they live about 5 minutes from the barn) and went with her in the ambulance.

Kind of put a damper on the evening, I sure didn't feel like riding any more. I'm glad in a way, that a BUNCH of the teens witnessed the accident...if that could happen to an experienced horsewoman...maybe they'll start being more careful and maybe WEAR A DAMNED HELMET! Granted a helmet wouldn't have prevented the hip or chest injuries, but chances are it would have deflected the hoof that scalped her!

Really sad because she was going to the horse show with us this weekend to compete and "coach" her students from the rail...most the ladies from her classes are going (probably all going into "Green Rider Equitation", lol). Damn, though...such a horrific accident. I can relate to any hindsight she might be pondering today (assuming she's not flying on painkillers)... shoulda lunged the horse, shoulda done this, shoulda done that...

Makes ya think though.

The Quickest Way to Get a Horse Filthy

Tue May 9, 2006

Is to give him a bath the day before!

Quzqo got "spot-cleaned" last night since it was mid-70's...mainly the poop stains on his belly. I should have known better. He was SO tired yesterday (from being out in the field all night), it's apparent last night he ZONKED out on the floor of his stall...because this afternoon, he was ENCRUSTED in pee and poo stains! AAAUGH! His whole armpit area was RED with pee stains (horse pee turns red when it hits the air...don't ask me why, I have no idea)(that explains all the red-stained snow in the pasture in winter...oxydized horse pee). BOTH sides of his barrel/belly were crusty with poo bits...it was like he deliberately ground himself into every bit of poo he could find, just to spite me! He even had green dots and splots on his neck! He musta zonked out, LOL! And mercy, the smell!! Hoo-Hah!!!

All he earned himself was ANOTHER trip to the wash rack, luckily it was 70 or so, still warm enough to hose the horse, LOL...I got most of it scrubbed off (what an aroma!), but he's got these "brownish" tones on his barrel, that might be roaning, or poo, I can't quite tell, he's so blotchy normally! *sigh*

Gads, he was in a pissy mood, LOL...glad I wasn't going to try to ride him. That quiet, wonderful horse of last night was nowhere to be seen...instead I had a pawing, ear-flattening, take-shots-at-Sue-with-the-mouth EVILE EMPEROR KUZCO! (change his name to Palpatine, lol!) Threw his dirty ass in his stall & left him making love to his bucket of sweet feed, fine for him. I'll deal with him tomorrow when he's well-rested (oh boy)

My strategy will be to leave him out in the field Friday night so he's tired Saturday for the horse show, LOL...hey, it worked that one time last year!