Paradise Returns

Mrs. Shoes replied to my email.  As I expected, MerryLegs was never a barn sour horse at his Canadian home.  She described how she gentled him by touching him all over with the whip and the rope.  This was excellent news.  Since I planned to do it, too, it would just be a review of something he already knew.  Evidently, everything I was experiencing was a new behavior, my theory was probably correct—and the good news—it isn’t very ingrained in his head. …

Trouble in Paradise

I have been having some trouble with MerryLegs.  It all started when he didn’t want to walk out to the loop.  I don’t know what caused him to feel that way, but I couldn’t get him budged without a struggle.  That was the beginning.  It began to spread.  Soon, he didn’t want to walk away from the barn, down the driveway, down the street and eventually, he didn’t want to go out the barn door.  At one point, he didn’t want to go in the barn, either.  Ellen…

It is almost summer, and down here in the sunny South the hot, muggy, and insect infested summer weather has arrived.  On Wednesday it was cool enough to wear my Fits Techtread summer weight breeches and my Ovation Cool Rider long sleeve shirt and I handled the heat fine, but on Friday it was a few degrees warmer and a lot more humid so I put my coolest clothes on, my Kerrits Flow Rise Performance tights and FITS Fanfaire long sleeve shirt, and I still sweated a…

Great Success!

Friday evening found me struggling with MerryLegs.  He didn’t want to go out of the barn, he didn’t want to walk  on the street, he didn’t want to walk back to the loop, he didn’t want to go around the first corner of the loop,  he didn’t want to go into the indoor arena…  He wore me out.  He would either plant his feet or go backwards. …

Oh, to be back in the saddle again felt rather wonderful. It's been Oh so long since I last rode him and I feel we did very good. 

Naturally before riding I was put to work, haha, but it was fun. There's nothing better than unloading hay and mucking a stall, I'm serious. Those two jobs and riding are my favorite things to do. My sister and niece are temporarily staying with us, so my niece, Nicole,…

What a change a little bit of equipment can make with a horse!  For the last 2 ½ months we have been riding Tercel with the blinkers, and riding Tercel has changed from a heart-stopping 30 minutes of stress to a sleep-inducing 30 minutes of more or less boredom.  Believe me, right now I prefer the boring rides!  Tercel was not ridden regularly during this time, and for three weeks he was not ridden at all, so this welcome boredom was not caused by working Tercel…

Improvements?

I decided to try taking MerryLegs down to the river in the evening all by myself.  No Ellen to give us moral support.  I had no problem getting him to the street.  As we were walking down the road, a couple cars went flying by.  It bothered him, and he jumped a little.  When I got to the head of the trail, he said he couldn’t enter the dark…

When we ride our horses we are asking a lot from them physically mentally and emotionally. 

Physically we want them to carry us, our weight and the saddle too. Their muscles and joints and bones must endure this heavy combo for however long we decide to ride them. It is the equivalent of us carrying a heavy backpack and physically working for long periods of time. At the end of the day our…

The Honeymoon is Over

I knew that MerryLegs and I would have our “moments” as we got to know each other, but I was surprised about what the first moment would be.  I took him out of the barn to go for a walk on the driveway—heading for the back of the property.  After just a few steps, he decided he wasn’t going.

He has had some other incidents of refusing, and I was able to get him started back up by shifting his weight.  That wasn’t working, this time.  I…

On Saturday morning, I decided it was time to take a hike down the hill to the river with MerryLegs.  He was very, very excited.  As he walked down the hill, he looked left, right, left, right.  There was so much to see!  Actually, all there was to see was a lot of trees, but MerryLegs thought it was exciting.

He did so well that when I got to the…

My apologies for not posting last week, my internet connection was giving me fits.  All fixed now.

Why did I decide to change Tercel from the Spirit bitless bridle to a bit?  The last two times I rode Tercel in the bitless bridle I repeatedly got the feeling that Tercel was not getting the whole message from my aids.  Once I fixed his bolting problem with the D’yon blinkers I finally could truly feel how Tercel was reacting to my aids.  He has a pretty decent…

Kevin and I were going to go for a ride.  I saddled up and went outside to wait for him.  Before he even got out, it started to drizzle, and he wimped out on me.  Cole and I left by ourselves.

As I’ve mentioned before, Cole hates rain as much as Kevin.  It was a light rain and a warm evening, so it didn’t bother me at all.  Each time I have ridden Cole in the…

Hello MerryLegs

MerryLegs showed up in Cleveland last Thursday after a long journey from Manitoba, Canada.  Not surprisingly, he was a little keyed up the first few days.  I planned to just give him time to settle in and for me to get to know him.  Friday evening, I took him for a walk to the round pen.  He had to pass the outdoor arena where 2…

He Arrives

We thought he would be here on Tuesday, but that was changed to Wednesday because a Canadian holiday messed up their schedule.  Then, they called me and said it have to be Thursday.  There was another horse that they were shipping whose papers to get across the border expired, and they had to be renewed.  So, when Thursday arrived, I was expecting a phone call saying it would be Friday.  Well, I got the phone call, but this time they said he would be there between…

And so, I wait.

MerryLegs is on his way, and the shipper is going to call me when he crosses the state line.  I have marshalled all the forces, and they are all waiting for the call.  This is one exciting event.

Yesterday, Kevin put a note on the bulletin board for everyone to say “hello” to MerryLegs.  Of course, there was no MerryLegs, but Kevin put an old toy horse in the stall, instead.  He tricked everyone—they loved it, but probably not as much as they…

I'ts been almost 7 months since I fell off of Cooper, October 24 2014, and stopped riding him. I even stopped doing groundwork and only went out to see him a few times a month.

My prosthetic leg was hurting all the time and I was spending so much time with a new puppy, oh and I've been having fear issues. I did get back in the saddle after the fall but that was it since then.

Also I have been wimping out since my husband started working a second job in the evenings and I just…

I have loved animals since I was little. When I was five,almost six,we lived in Texas. There I was able to go to my grandparents ranch where my older brother and I would feed grasshoppers and help with cows. One cow in particular,a black angus heifer known fondly as Cow 39, was my favorite and reason behind my love for cows. 39 would rub against me like a friendly Labrador and I'd rub and love her back. She was and is my favorite girl. We moved back…

Debbie finally got back and I got to ride Tercel again.  It had been six weeks since I got up on his back and I was curious/anxious/excited to see how the long break would affect our relationship, especially since I was planning on introducing him to my ear bonnet and fly whisk.  Tercel is super happy to have Debbie back.  Wednesday the weather was wonderful, spring mornings are simply marvelous here in North Carolina, it was cool enough so I could wear my more secure full…

For a while I always thought to get a Warmblood one crossed a hot-blooded horse with a cold-blooded horse. It made sense to me. Hot + Cold= Warm, so a hot-blooded…

And the Trainer Says…

I sent out the email to MerryLegs’ trainer.  I told her how I liked a horse that wasn’t lazy and unmotivated.  This was my biggest concern.  His owner made me think he wasn’t, but she didn’t actually ride him.  Mingo was a very quiet, sleepy horse, and he drove me crazy.  For many people, he would have been the perfect horse.  My older niece simply adored him.  They were the perfect pair from the very first ride, and I am so glad I had him so she could…