Let the shows begin...

E and Monte completed their first show of the year today. No champion ribbons but they did get a handful of red and blues. E would have earned a couple of more blues except that she still chooses to ride Monte two handed in the Western classes. Overall, they did wonderfully and enjoyed most of the day (There was one spat of tears near the beginning - nerves can be a horrible thing!) This was a great show to start the season out with. Only a small number of competitors and a nice judge who really tried to give advice on how to improve.

Coming home was a bit more, well, exciting, than we had planned, though. We were helping out a friend who is currently trailer-less and when we stopped at their place to drop them off something happened to spook their horse as he was unloading. And he took a nutty. A major one.

He began to rear and buck and pull back and unfortunately his lead rope got stuck in the tie ring and his halter held....and his little rider was stuck in the trailer with him going nuts. VERY frightening, to say the least. After the first 10 (very long) seconds or so, I was able to get in the trailer, let her out, and have E hand me a second lead rope to replace the stuck one. Thankfully, no one was hurt. The horse has a scraped up head (from rearing several times and hitting his head on the roof of the trailer) and a scrape on his back leg as well.

E took over at this point. We didn't want the horse to finish the day with a scary trailer incident, so she lead him around to calm him and then tried get him to load. Which he wouldn't do, of course. She worked with him for 30 to 45 minutes, trying to get him to see the trailer as a place of calmness - he was allowed to rest whenever he stood quietly at the trailer at first, but if he pulled away she worked him in the area surrounding the trailer. Eventually she got him to put one foot in. We called it quits then - she was tired to the bone and he was lathered up as well.

I was very proud of her.

The owner of the horse asked me what I thought about the horse. He's a nice looking animal, and I do think he is probably just fine for most people, but they are now afraid of him (this not the first negative experience they've had with him). And he knows it. The horse walks all over them (literally) and is difficult for them to control. I hated telling her that I thought he might be too much animal for them, but this afternoon convinced me that they are not safe around him because they don't know how to assert their dominance over him. I don't think he is dangerous in general, just terribly disrespectful and in need of some ground manners. I really do hope they find a solution to their problem.

Oh, and by the way, Monte just stood still during this whole spectacle. Have I mentioned what a good little man he is? :)

Tomorrow is Pony Club. E has her first rating exam. Hope all goes well.

Cold Bums

We finished up the first "bath" of the year with a good tail and mane washing. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing a bit and the temps were in the 50s - not the best conditions for a comfortable experience. Monte was a trooper and stood (semi)quietly through the ordeal.

Another barn resident graciously loaned us a slinky for his head to help keep all that newly-washed hair clean. I was worried that Monte would freak out as we put it on but as we slid it over his head and covered up his eyes it became obvious that he has worn one of these contraptions in the past. He didn't flinch at all as we struggled to get the eye and ear holes in the right places. I know some 3 year old children who freak out more pulling on a shirt than he did! He's such a great little guy.


After all of this he will be semi-respectable for the first show of the year. Hope the judge doesn't look too closely at the base of his mane, though! :)

Poor Monte!

Monte probably felt extremely picked on yesterday. During his spring shots out at the barn the vets did a general condition check on all the horses and determined that our little man needed his teeth floated. So off to our vet we went and after a little sedation and much filing his teeth are all nice and even again. We were a little surprised that he even needed to have his teeth floated, let alone filed as much as the vet ended up having to do, because Arabs tend to have great teeth that need almost no attention - especially at Monte's age.

Being sedated, Monte was extremely relaxed and, well, let it all hang out. Seeing this our vet promptly says, "Oh, let me clean that all up for you too!" Not being one to turn down a free weenie-wash, I said sure. :) I also got a lesson on horse anatomy and how to take care of the "bean" that often forms in little boy parts. Poor Monte just had to stand there while we pulled and flushed and generally poked around.

The vet tech assisting during all of this also grabbed some clippers and cleaned up Monte's bridle path and forelock for us too. Gee, what great service!

But this was not the end to all that Monte had to suffer through yesterday! E has her first show of the season on Saturday. Usually we would bathe the horse the night before but the weather forecast isn't looking all that great and the only day that looks even remotely warm (low 60's) was Wednesday afternoon. So to top the whole afternoon off, we washed the main part of his body and his mane, and then threw his blanket on him to hopefully keep him from becoming brown again. It was breezy during this last bit and the poor guy was shivering terribly before we could (quickly) finish. I don't think E will win any showmanship classes based on the cleaning job we did!

Monte wasn't too happy by the end. But he did stand patiently during all of our ministrations.

A new horse?

In the last week or two people have come up to me repeatedly to tell me about horses they know about that I might be interested in. And while I am beginning to look for the next big guy to add to our "herd" I also have to admit to a rising feeling of anxiety about the whole process. This is a decision that honestly makes me want to run and hide!

I remember the feeling of release I had when we finally found Monte. I don't enjoy "shopping" for horses at all; I'm constantly worried that I'll either pick a bad one or skip over a diamond-in-the-rough bargain. When we settled on Monte, I was able to stop all the internal voices that kept me second guessing myself.

Unfortunately, as E begins to learn to jump I can see that Monte will not be the perfect horse for her for very much longer. While he excels in the Western arena, English is not proving to be a place of strength for him. Most of that has to be connected to E's phenomenal growth spurt these past few months - my 13 year old is now almost 5'11"! It's hard to balance when you're hanging out over your pony's head. :)

And here we are again, back to looking for a second mount. Secretly I'm hoping that someone I know will come along with the perfect horse for us and say, "Hey, I just need a good family to take care of my guy for a while. Would you do me the favor of leasing him?" I know, I should just keep dreaming!

And I'm not even sure what kind of horse I should be looking for. With Monte, the criteria was a horse who would help E find her confidence while in the saddle. And he's done that beautifully. But now I'm not sure what to do. Do we look for an animal that can jump/event/excel at dressage for E? Or should I focus on a steady-eddy type to go down the trail with me? Perhaps I should be looking for two horses - and sell Monte?

This is too hard to think about. I think I'll go have a cup of tea instead.

Jumping, Part II

Rainy day out at the barn today. But that didn't stop the Pony Clubbers.

Monte is finally starting to get what he's supposed to be doing with all those poles. He still tried to go around the trot poles and jump standards but we created barriers (both human and inanimate) to keep him on track. He actually stopped trotting over the low cross-rails and even jumped up to 18". At the end of the lesson E's words were, "That was terrifying. And totally awesome!"

I think she is hooked.

Jumping ponies

Monte had his first real jumping lesson today...Oh, and E did too.

He wasn't convinced that going over trot poles was really all that necessary. Eventually the instructor had to put wings on the trot-poles to keep him from side-passing off the course. Silly pony.


They never did jump over the poles, but he did finally figure out that they weren't going to eat him.

PC Quiz Rally

E competed in a Pony Club Quiz Rally this past weekend up in the Spokane area. This was her first quiz rally...well, actually, it was her first rally of any type.

We drove up to Spokane on Friday afternoon. I let the GPS on my iPhone pick the route - perhaps not the best move. It took us through all kinds of country roads (rather than the more usual highway/freeway route) and I wondered more than once if we would actually make it to our destination. We were able to take one side trip because of this, however. Palouse Falls is a beautiful site of an ancient flood area that now has just the one falls. Very grand scenery, indeed.

Palouse Falls - I'm guessing that it's about a 150' drop.

We tried to eat dinner at The Milk Bottle in Spokane but discovered that it closes at 4:00 - we arrived at 4:45. Maybe next time....

The Milk Bottle - supposedly some of the best diner food in Spokane....

PC Quiz Rallies are a fun team event in which the members test their horse knowledge against each other. E's team was made up of 2 other girls from her local club and a "pick-up" team member from the Cle Ellum area. The theme of the day was the "wearing o'the green" and their team name was the Limerick Lasses. They had lots of fun - and looked sufficiently ridiculous - and were declared the best-dressed team for the day. They also happened to take second place in their division. Not bad for a first time out.

The Limerick Lasses, with their chaperone-extraordinaire!

Heading out to the Barn Phase....

This next pic is totally unrelated to horses, but I just love the free-spirit that is my youngest daughter. She is such an individual in so many ways....including her choice of clothing!


And finally, here's the last pic I took of Curly - just a couple of days before we had him put down. I'm still sad. In fact, I am surprised by the depth of the grief I have been experiencing. I was really unprepared for these feelings.....