I rushed home after work this afternoon to get to the barn early only to discover that my husband had taken the truck somewhere.....ARRGGGGHHH! E and and I did a quick drive around campus to see if he was just running a short errand close by, but had no luck in locating him (or the truck!). So we picked up L. and her mom in the van and headed out to the barn hoping that coach A. would be able to haul for us this afternoon.
And she would have been happy to haul for us....except that her husband was using her truck!
We ended up spending the afternoon cleaning stalls, brushing horses and just hanging out with all the people at the barn. It was a busy afternoon out there - two other families showed up to take care of their animals as well. I had forgotten how much I enjoy the comaraderie of all the other boarders. I can't think of anything much better than spending time outdoors in the sun, enjoying our horses.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Winter fun...
While doing our barn chores the other day I released Curly out into the arena - and he promptly ran out the gate (that I didn't know was open!) at the far end! The forced inactivity has made him a bit frisky, so it took a few minutes for E and I to catch him. I think he enjoyed watching us run around after him; as coach A. says, he really does like to play.
I took a few pictures of him in the snow, but the experience was like trying to take a picture of a toddler. He kept sticking his nose in the camera lens, trying to figure out what I was doing! So many of my pictures had horse slobber smeared across them. :-)
E braided his mane and tail a couple of weeks ago to help keep the knots down and to prevent Zane from taking any more bites out of it. We have discovered that about 1/3 of Curly's tail has been chewed off....I was not happy!
And finally, E has been sculpting little "snow birds" all over the place. It's kinda cute to see them sitting in the trees, along the sidewalk, ....
I took a few pictures of him in the snow, but the experience was like trying to take a picture of a toddler. He kept sticking his nose in the camera lens, trying to figure out what I was doing! So many of my pictures had horse slobber smeared across them. :-)
E braided his mane and tail a couple of weeks ago to help keep the knots down and to prevent Zane from taking any more bites out of it. We have discovered that about 1/3 of Curly's tail has been chewed off....I was not happy!
And finally, E has been sculpting little "snow birds" all over the place. It's kinda cute to see them sitting in the trees, along the sidewalk, ....
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Lake Curly....
Canceled today's lesson - E has too much homework. But we did go out for a short chore-run. The ground is sopping wet. We have named Curly's run "Lake Curly":
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Lessons learned...
Both L and E had a lesson with coach A on Friday. For L, this was her first. She was quite excited and even skipped out on basketball practice to get to the barn early.
This was the first time we had even visited the barn in many days - and the horse runs showed lots of evidence of our lack of cleaning! Four people and 30 minutes was not enough to get the stalls even half-way mucked. E and I returned on Saturday and mucked for another hour.
But back to Friday....although the roads are finally ice-free, A's barnyard and driveway are not. So when we loaded up, E. opened the gate for us and I crossed my fingers as we moved across to the road. I didn't even stop to pick up E at the gate - she had to run out to the road to meet us. But we made it.
The horses have had no activity for 2 weeks. I must admit that I was being a bit reckless in letting the girls ride without lunging the animals first and unfortunately, the girls experienced the consequences of that. BOTH horses decided that the fluffy dirt in the fairground arena was just irresistible and rolled - while they had riders on their backs! L. did fantastic (remember, this is her first lesson!) and just jumped off Q's back as he got to the ground. She was a little rattled - who wouldn't be? - but she got back on. A true cowgirl, I'd say!
E. was really struggling to control Curly. He was trying to buck her and then tried to roll. She, too, did great and was able to jump off as he reached the ground. E was more than a little rattled by the rough ride, so A. had her lunge Curly in the arena. After 10 minutes of going in circles, he was happy and ready to give E a great ride. But she was still too nervous to attempt it, so she finished her lesson there and put him back in the trailer. Too bad she wouldn't get in the saddle again - I think he would have given her a wonderful ride. He was the picture of happy submission, with his head down and his ears following her attentively. Curly was beautiful to look at.
The horses will be worked on the lunge line prior to any future riding. Spring fever has set in and they are all a little squirrelly.
On another note - I had a dream the other night that we had to sell Curly. We decided that he wasn't the horse for us - too dangerous or something. I told A. about this dream and she immediately reminded me of how far he's come - and how much E. has improved as well. Last summer she would never have been able to keep her seat during the lesson they'd just had (does that give you any indication of how terrible he was behaving?!!). It was nice to hear that he's going to be okay and that we haven't made a bad choice in buying him. 'Cause I must admit that although I love the guy, I was beginning to have little nagging doubts about his suitability. Wouldn't you if you had just watched your horse try to roll with your baby on his back?
This was the first time we had even visited the barn in many days - and the horse runs showed lots of evidence of our lack of cleaning! Four people and 30 minutes was not enough to get the stalls even half-way mucked. E and I returned on Saturday and mucked for another hour.
But back to Friday....although the roads are finally ice-free, A's barnyard and driveway are not. So when we loaded up, E. opened the gate for us and I crossed my fingers as we moved across to the road. I didn't even stop to pick up E at the gate - she had to run out to the road to meet us. But we made it.
The horses have had no activity for 2 weeks. I must admit that I was being a bit reckless in letting the girls ride without lunging the animals first and unfortunately, the girls experienced the consequences of that. BOTH horses decided that the fluffy dirt in the fairground arena was just irresistible and rolled - while they had riders on their backs! L. did fantastic (remember, this is her first lesson!) and just jumped off Q's back as he got to the ground. She was a little rattled - who wouldn't be? - but she got back on. A true cowgirl, I'd say!
E. was really struggling to control Curly. He was trying to buck her and then tried to roll. She, too, did great and was able to jump off as he reached the ground. E was more than a little rattled by the rough ride, so A. had her lunge Curly in the arena. After 10 minutes of going in circles, he was happy and ready to give E a great ride. But she was still too nervous to attempt it, so she finished her lesson there and put him back in the trailer. Too bad she wouldn't get in the saddle again - I think he would have given her a wonderful ride. He was the picture of happy submission, with his head down and his ears following her attentively. Curly was beautiful to look at.
The horses will be worked on the lunge line prior to any future riding. Spring fever has set in and they are all a little squirrelly.
On another note - I had a dream the other night that we had to sell Curly. We decided that he wasn't the horse for us - too dangerous or something. I told A. about this dream and she immediately reminded me of how far he's come - and how much E. has improved as well. Last summer she would never have been able to keep her seat during the lesson they'd just had (does that give you any indication of how terrible he was behaving?!!). It was nice to hear that he's going to be okay and that we haven't made a bad choice in buying him. 'Cause I must admit that although I love the guy, I was beginning to have little nagging doubts about his suitability. Wouldn't you if you had just watched your horse try to roll with your baby on his back?
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