January 7 2016

I haven't posted much lately, I have another ulcer on my stump again caused by the new prosthetic leg and pressure spots in it, and of course stress and having diabetes does not help with the healing. Home nurse care is coming in again and on oral antibiotics and hope it heals up quickly since we caught it early and it's being treated right away.

Also adding to the stress the owner of the property has put the place up for sale, so just a matter of time before I…

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…

Monday July 1 2013

I was just going to pick his feet and groom him but when I was finished I decided to take him out on the regular lunge line and flat halter. Al put the treats in his bucket before I was done grooming and Cooper was trying to back into his stall. We did some circles, walk, trot, canter transitions while another boarder lunged also. He did great tonight, listening to my voice cues and keeping a loose line on the lunge, even at a canter this time. The other boarder…

Saturday June 1 2013

I didn't get out all week to see Cooper, between stomach issues and being too darn tired after work. We were supposed to go Friday night but my spouse fell asleep and we didn't it out.

Cooper was very happy to see us, squeezing up against the corner of the stall door trying to get to us. 

I tacked him up with the bridle and bit and did some ground work for about 30 minutes. We did some half circles to the back of the indoor arena and once there we…

Sunday May 5 2013

I hadn't played or worked with Cooper for a few weeks as I had not been feeling well. We got to the barn around 6 p.m. and the barn manager and her husband were doing feed and we had to wait until 7:30 when they brought the horses in. They said it was too dangerous for us to go out and get him as there were 3 new geldings out in the paddock and they didn't know yet how they would behave.

Once we got him in I took him right out into the outdoor arena without…

Tuesday, April 2 2013

We went up tonight to meet with the farrier and try on the new Myler bit. When the farrier was done with Cooper he thought he was done and since we were right in front of his stall he started to back into it without me asking. I brought him back out and then walked him in so he wouldn't think he could do what he wanted. The farrier was going to do another horse in front of Cooper's stall so I took him out and moved down the aisle to try on the new bit. I attached…

Friday March 1 2013

It was great to see Cooper tonight, I hadn't seen him since last Saturday. He lost his new halter again that I just put on him on Saturday night, the barn manager said he lost it the next day after I put it on him. I am not buying anymore breakaway halters, it's costing too much and they won't take his halter off because they worry about any of them getting out and not being able to catch them with no halter on. Just in the past week not too far from us, horses had…

Friday February 1 2013. While grooming Cooper he was getting antsy and nipping at everyone who went by including me and Al and pinning his ears. I decided to put his bridle on and do some giving to the bit work. At first he was going like crazy and would not slow down to a walk so I took him off and let him free run as no one else was in the arena. He ran around a lot for a few minutes then started to listen to me. He kept a circle around me and changed directions when I asked him to. One…

Jan 1 2013

We worked on the ground again to begin using the 12' rope attached to the bit for about 20 minutes, changing sides often. I didn't do any giving to the bit tonight.

144th ride, we walked to the back of the arena following another horse again. Cooper did good, he tensed up a little but continued on with no spooking.

We did some more sit trot, jogging tonight. We didn't do any circles but worked on Lyons 3 Step Stop exercise and rollbacks again. He started to stop…

Saturday Dec 1/12 

I didn't get out to see Cooper again all last week, Al did go out on his own though. When I came in to the barn Cooper was pushing his nose in the corner of the door to get out. As I groomed him he had this soft look in his eyes and was turning his head and mouthing me, not biting, just rubbing me with his lips. I wasn't feeling up to riding so I decided to take him into the arena and free lunge him as no one else was around. He was relaxed and not doing any crazy…

Thursday November 1 2012 We got to the barn late just to groom and wash the mud off of Coopers feet. He had a few burrs again and was tender on his left stifle. Guess he might have slipped in the mud maybe while trying to run away from flying feet. He is a little instigator and always getting hurt trying to work his way up in the herd. He is number 3 right now and goes after the 2 leaders, who are both big boys, one of them over 17 hands.

After cleaning and drying his legs & muddy…

Monday October 1 2012

I tacked Cooper all up and first did some ground work with the 12' lead and rope halter, falling leaf, c-pattern to the back of the arena and then to the front. We did some responsibility circles at a trot and he maintained them for the most time, a few times I had to cluck and just raise the stick and he continued on. The we did some Clinton Anderson changing eyes stage 1. I put the bridle on and did a little giving to the bit and clock work. I had to stay in…

September 2 2012. I haven't been feeling well for several days now but went out to see Cooper, pick his feet and say hi to him. He had a new kick on his left hip. You could tell it was a kick as the hoof mark was there. There was an egg size bump with a little heat to it.

I took him to the wash stall for some more cold hosing again. He wasn't very comfortable with the water trickling down his leg and massaging at the same time. I didn't make it out last night again.…

Wednesday Aug 1 2012

I've been going up after work every night to cold hose Cooper. Last night I didn't say anything to him and just walked past his stall, I thought I was being quiet but his head popped up from eating and he came over to the door and squeezed his face against the screen. Guess he could hear my bones creaking LOL

The hematoma is not getting any bigger now, looks like it has gone down a bit. I put poultice on it Tuesday and Wednesday after drying him and then…

Sunday July 1 2012 106th Ride. 

We played for a few minutes indoors while waiting for another boarder. Then we walked out to the outdoor arena without any snorts, nice and calm. We walked around the edge of the arena doing squeeze game, falling leaf and circles. We stopped in one corner so the managers little 1 year old some could pet Cooper from over the fence. Cooper stood quietly and looked like…

June 2 2012 

I hadn't seen Cooper since Tuesday. We got to the barn late on Saturday so I didn't tack him up. We went into the indoor arena with the rope halter and 12' rope and did ground work. We first did some changing eyes stage 1 for about 10 minutes then some sideways along the arena wall and c-pattern. I took him into the feed room and let him go in and out of the back arena door. Then I put the 22' rope on and did some lope, trot, walk transitions. Finished of with the…

Tuesday, May 1 2012 

There were 2 others riding in the arena so space was tight but we all managed to work together. One girl had a jump set up and Cooper & I would watch when she jumped. It was funny, Cooper was really watching her jump too. We did about 20 minutes on the ground, some changing eyes stage 1 and some circling. He wanted to be in close to me tonight. I had him do some transitions from walk to trot to walk, more walking. We did falling leaf to the back of the arena…

We got to the barn late as the car broke down. We just got my daughters car out of the garage and drove her to work to test it and it conked out on the highway on the way to the barn after dropping her off. It started again in a few minutes so we ended up taking it back to the garage and got my vehicle to go to the barn. 

I quickly used the shedder to get any mud off & picked feet. We then went in the indoor arena for about 1/2 hour. We went to the back arena door and he handled…

Thursday March 8 

I made it out to see Cooper last night, I hadn't seen him since Feb 24 as I got sick on the 25th and still trying to get over it.

It was so good to see him. When he heard me he had his nose and face glued to the crack in the door, and I mean glued, it was like he was trying to squeeze out. I went into his stall to change his halter and he was rubbing his head all up and down me and leaning on me. I didn't let him do it for long, didn't want him to get to…

Friday Feb 3 we had a great ground session. I turned him loose in the arena when no one was in there. This was the second time doing that and he is starting to go in the scary back corners by himself. He even followed me back there with no lead on.

We then worked a little with the 12' rope and rope halter, doing some circles, change of directions, squeeze game, sideways, figure 8's. I worked with him a lot in January and forgot to post some of it, and it is starting to pay off…