Merry Christmas!

Well Christmas is only a few days away! I thought I should maybe give a bit of an update!

Winter is finally here :( I can't complain too much I guess. I was pretty lucky for November. There was only a couple days that I couldn't do anything. Now it's just yucky outside. I'm glad that I don't have too many horses in for training this month. It's given me a bit more time to work with my own horses. But now the weather's getting in the way so I still haven't rode them as much as I want.

Updates on My Horses:

Dixie: Dixie's still going pretty good. She doesn't like to stand to get on. She's fine until you swing your leg over and touch her right side. She gets quite nervous about her sides being touched when you sit on her but could care less if things hit her sides when you're on the ground. I think it might be from her previous training. I took her for a short ride in the field the other day. She was really good. She wasn't spooky or anything. Heading out she was perfect, coming home she wanted to rush and just go but I think with a few more rides she'll get more comfortable.

Bussy: I love this mare! She is such an awesome mare! I've finally started to get comfortable while I'm riding her. She's such a powerful mare and I wasn't quite sure if she was going to do anything on me. So far though she's been really good. I haven't rode her much outside of the arena yet. I rode her on the yard a bit and she was ok. She was looking at things and didn't really want to move forward but not spooky or stupid.

Fini: I have barely rode Fini in the last month and a half. I did take him for a ride in the field the other day. He was a bit of a brat. He just wanted to play, not work. We had a few 'airs above the ground' nothing major but when you're on a 17hand horse it's a little unnerving. I'm still hoping to show him next year but I'm going to have to get my butt in gear and get him ready. He has made some improvements. I can ride him past other horses without him getting distracted. Now he just has to be able to handle strange horses all around him... Could be interesting.

Tori: I've started riding Tori my 2yr old Palomino gelding again. He had most of the summer off because he had some major abcesses in his hoof that made him completely lame for a month and he still wasn't a 100% for a while. He is such an amazing boy. He's so fun to ride! He's strengthened up so much since the summer! I love his run walk. He's still inconsistant and easily distracted but he's going to be hard to beat in the ring once he's going good. If anyone's interested in him he's for sale.

Before it snowed Dad put up a little Cover-All Building. It's going to be the entrance building for our arena that we're building in the spring!!!!! I'm so excited! It's not finished yet but it's close. We're planning on doing alot of cleanup next year and building more fences, shelters etc. Hopefully we'll be starting to take in boarders in the summer!

I'm starting to fill up for training next year. I'm already booked up until the end of May and a couple horses for June already. If you're interested in training for 2009 let me know asap!

Merry Christmas Everyone

& Happy New Year!!!

Why Do I Torture Myself??

I have another winter project!

Winter seems to be the time when I really start working with my own horses.

Mel - 2005/2006

Hank - 2006/2007

Riley - 2007/2008

And now 2008/2009 three winter projects Haha at least it keeps me busy!!

I got Bussy in summer 2006. She was bred to The Joy of Money for a May 2007 foal. She ended up having Boo (Bustin' Out The Money) I didn't rebreed her in 2007 and she didn't catch this year. So instead of being a lazy fat ol' broodmare I've started working with her!

When I got her I was told that I shouldn't try riding her. Her previous owner had bought her as a broodmare but wanted to see what see was like under saddle. I guess she almost reared over backwards when they asked her to go forward.

She has never given me any problems in the couple of months that I've been working her. She's never offered to buck or rear. I've been taking it slow with her. I did some ground work and lunging and ground driving. She never had a problem with any of it. She just likes to go sometimes. She stays in gait though and OMG she is going to be a blast to ride when she's going good! She stands like a rock for me to get on and just stands there until I ask her to move. And when I do ask her to move she's quite content to just dog walk.

She still needs work. She doesn't turn great and she's not always sure about going forward, and she's inconsistent. That'll all come with time though. She's very willing and sweet about everything. I really love this mare!

No one was around to take pictures with me up so I had to settle for ones on the lunge line.

2 For 2!

Two days of having a blog and I've had something to write each day. This won't last too long...

Lately I've been trying to ride Fini. I haven't done anything with him since July or August last year... I've been better though in September and October especially this last week. I rode him 5 days a week! Haha it was a miracle. He's not going great yet. He's just used to pacing around his pen doing whatever. He's not in shape yet. But he will be! The plan is to show him next year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll do good this winter and be ready in spring. It's the first year that I'm actually allowed to show him! I'm excited!

Well I might as well start too....

I've decided to start blogging! I don't know why exactly... I don't know if I'll have time but I've decided to start!

First off I'll start with some good news!

In August I got a new mare. Her name is Performance In Dixie. She is sired by A Comand Performance and out of a Pride Of Midnight daughter. She's a half sister to '96 WGC He's Puttin' On The Ritz as well as I'm In Command. She was started as a two year old but then sold. Once she was sold she became a broodmare. She's had nine foals since 1996 mainly sired by The Skywatch.

Well since I've got her I've decided to restart her. She's such a sweetheart and very easy to work with. She has her little quirks. She doesn't like to be caught and she's quite sensitive about things flapping around her head. Other than that though she's been really good. She's starting to get in shape a tiny bit and has been getting a much better gait since I started riding her. She's starting to stretch out those muscles that she hasn't used in a while. She's still got a baby belly waddle though! Haha that will take a while to go away if it ever does!I'm not 100% sure what my plan for her is yet. It all depends on how she does this winter with her training. I would like to get at least one baby from her. I'm planning on breeding her to Fini (The Final Legacy) in the spring. And maybe for the summer she can be a lesson pony! I'm hoping to do the required courses so I can become an Equine Canada Level 1 Certified Coach in both English and Western and I'm also looking into Saddle Seat. So hopefully I'll be doing more lessons next year and if everything goes good this winter she might work out really nice!

There is a bit of bad news this week though :(

On Monday morning when I went out to feed I found BOGO dead. He was a palomino yearling gelding that I had got from Deb Jack. He's the one who's mother came up from Tennessee as a two year old and had a foal. We never knew who his sire was. I was quite heartbroken when I found him. I was very excited about starting him and seeing what he'd be like under saddle. He was so cute and he would have been the perfect size for some little kid. He'll be greatly missed.

We took him to the vet for an autopsy so we knew what had happened. He had a twisted gut :(

Well I'm off to do some updating on the website!!