Today was a great ride for us both.  I came in about the same time and he had already been fed, so I pulled him out and tacked up.  We went to the round pen to warm up and let some of his energy out.  We trotted for about 10 minutes, a nice relaxed trot, and then picked up a canter both ways.  His canter was much slower and I even had to kiss to him to keep him moving!  He was very distracted by the horse and rider on the other side of the arena, but did not fuss over it.  I put on the reins…

Don't cry for the horses that life has set free. A million white horses forever to be. Don't cry for the horses now in God's hands. As they prance and they dance in a heavenly band. They're ours as a gift, but never to keep. As they close their…

The Conversation

First, I have to tell you about me and telephones.  I just can’t join this world where everyone seems to be attached to their smart telephone.  My main phone is my land line.  Believe it or not, my home has the old fashioned rotary phones that came with the house.  I am certain they are older than I am.  The voice quality is great, and my…

Today is the fine example of lack of consistency....   I got called at 0715 this morning, after getting off work at 2300, to come in at 1030 instead of 1500.  My drive is about an hour as it is.  So in 2 hours and 15 minutes, I need to feed my 3 horses, clean stalls, try to work with Mossy,  and get showered and ready for work!  Of course I forgot my saddle as I was rushing out the door to the barn, not like I had time for that anyway.  I did get him out for a little, we free lounged in just…

Started out the morning the same way and time.  Fed him some breakfast before pulling him out and tacking him up with a saddle and bridle.  We went to the round pen again to let him work out some energy and relax a little.  He finally came down to a slower controlled trot, yet still looking around at everything.  We cantered bother directions and when his canter became slightly slower I brought him to a trot like a reward for slowing down.  He seemed alright so I put on my helmet and…

We started retraining in preparation for Mossy’s upcoming bootcamp in May with Rachael Hill-Jordan while work is having an outage.  Fed at 7am and scooped stalls while he ate some of his breakfast.  He doesn’t seem to mind much that he doesn’t get his…

The Risks of Getting an New Horse

Choosing a new horse, whether you buy him or he is given to you, is a very risky endeavor. All the riskier when you are like us, and plan to get a horse for keeps. Ellen and I are just not the kind of people who can pass our animals on to an unknown future. It doesn’t take very long, and we are so attached to our animals that we can’t let them go down an uncertain path. So, when we choose, we choose carefully.

Who am I kidding. We were all…

8 y/o 16 hh Thoroughbred JC name Court Composer.  His last race was in June 2014, and I got him in July.  He has quite a bit of energy and quirkiness to him, but he means well.  We are boarding at the closest barn with an indoor, which is an all western barn.  The owners are amazing and loving, but they do not like Mossberg due to his unpredictability, and high energy.  The guy barn owner has tried to talk me into selling him numerous times, saying he is concerned the horse was injured in…

A Free Horse

Now, just because a horse is free, doesn’t mean taking him is a smart thing. I've done this free horse thing before. My first horse, a Morgan named Brandy, was given to me by my aunt. I had ridden him a number of times when I was a kid--mostly in the arena, and I thought I knew what I was getting into. My aunt sure knew what I was getting into, but she wanted to get rid of an expense.

He was way, way too much horse for someone of my little experience for trail…

Things on my mind          

This year has been a tough one for me, medically.   Don’t worry, yet, there may be nothing wrong with me.  No reason to panic until it is time to panic.  I just had a medical screening test that had positive results, and there have been complications with getting to the bottom of it.

I know that I shouldn’t get too worked up about it, and most of the time, I was doing fine—but I am still human.  My imagination sometimes gets the…

A New Adventure Begins I have been looking for a new horse since last spring when Cruiser flew off to greener pastures. I would have liked another Morab, since Cruiser and Cole turned out to be such wonderful horses, but that didn’t seem possible. The Great Recession seemed to have wiped out the Morab breeders. I found plenty of older Morabs from before the recession, but I didn’t want in older horse. My second choice was a Morgan. It was a close second. After experiencing Cole who is mostly…

I live in the always changing,never predictable,always-keeps-us-on-our-toes state of Michigan. Where all four seasons can and will be experienced in one hour, fifteen minutes per season. If you're from Michigan than you're one tough person who can withstand it all. If you're from Michigan and you ride a horse in the winter, than you're…

In order to be a jumper(as far as I care anyway) the rider and horse must both be confident, strong, experienced,aggressive and agile. Here some basic Jumping 411 FYI's: *most horses, unless injured,can jump

. . . . . . . . . *some horse enjoy jumping…

What defines an easy horse? What qualifications must a horse meet to be labeled as 'easy'? 

I consider the horse I used to ride as an easy horse. He is very laid back and easy going. He follows me like a puppy and does pretty much all I ask(usually). He never Spooks and bolts with me, bucked once and never again and I don't have to worry about him breaking away from me... ever. Lunging him…

All good times must come to an end so new ones can begin. We don't always want our good times to end because we enjoy them so much. When they do we feel depressed and torn,sometimes angry even. It appears to me my good times turned great are coming to an end but fear not, for new times are about to begin!

Six months ago I began riding lessons with fabulous horse named Cody and a patient, encouraging,…

So, a little while ago I decided to attempt rollerskating(against my will) at a cursed rollerskating ring, and I pulled a Shaggy(if you've ever seen Scooby Doo and watched episodes with Shaggy falling oh-so dramatically and amusingly,you know what I meant, stop laughing, it hurt), and I fractured my(tail) bone(I refuse to call it what it is, just Google it!) which resulted in a pained back. My doctor explained to me I would be sore for months and…

We have discussed the Azteca before, I wrote a blog post on them a while back, and now I am writing again on the Azteca as I just love both variations. The Mexican Azteca is not as physically attractive as the American Azteca, or at least that's my opinion. 

First, lets give an overview of the Mexican Azteca: the Mexican Azteca is an extension of the Spanish horse, although a vast majority of…

A Perfect Night

Like much of the country, we have been getting lousy weather.  What can we expect for winter in Cleveland?  Most days have been cold—very, very cold.  We have had plenty of nights on either side of zero—and that is…

Final January Update on Ground Work

Alas, I have gotten lazy.  In the last week or so, I haven’t done much ground work.  After I ride for a while in the arena, I am taking him right outside to ride in the snow—and skipping the ground work.  The weather is going to get very cold, again, so…