Still here.

I guess its time for some major updates!

First of all, Gus had his teeth floated and his sheath cleaned. He was also given a vaccine. Yay! It was a total hassle to get him to go the carport (the area we determined to have his teeth floated in) but after numerous fails, we got him in. I had to hold up his head, even though he had the special halter on, because he was sedated. Man, horse's heads are extremely heavy. His sheath cleaning was really overdue, I bet he feels a lot better now. After Karen left, Gus 'slept' for about 15 minutes, and then abruplty turned around and walked back to his paddock, and continued sleeping there. It was a bit odd. Anyways, his teeth weren't too bad, but bad enough to make him spill his grain. She said that we'll need to have it done again in six months to a year. She also reccodmended that we limit his hay intake, because he's chubby. On the other hand, she also said that he looks fabulous for 27. Yay!

As for the whole shelter thing, its not happening. Or it hasn't yet. I'm hoping my dad will start this weekend, its getting ridiculous, because we're supposed to get a huge storm/cold front coming in in a few days, and Gus needs access to a wind-free, mud-free spot. Gus was lame a week ago, due to all the mud. He keeps spraining his pastern, because of the mud and getting it caught. Have I mentioned how much I hate mud? He's okay now...but we really need to get that lean-to up. Now.

As for me and my riding, its getting a lot better. The private lessons have really been helping, my leg hardly moves anymore and I'm starting to become more balanced and have the proper posture. I look so much better! From what my trainer says, I've outgrown Henderson [skill-wise and height-wise!] and need to start riding another horse. I'm riding Maddie, a testy little welsh pony to teach me to become more assertive. After that, I'll be back in the jumper lesson. I'm really excited.

Plus, Christmas is getting closer! Ah, what to get for the trainer and barn buds? I'm thinking that I should make some horse treats for the buds, and get my trainer something nice. Like this. She definitely deserves it, putting up with me. =]

Something smelt fishy.

Sorry I haven't posted in such a long time. Everything has been crazy and hectic lately.

Anyways, we didn't end up getting that one horse, Magic. He was lame in his left hind leg, and as soon as we mentioned a vet check, they completely ignored us. Its like they know something is wrong, and are just waiting for some sucker to come and buy him without doing a vet check. This is a barn that travels to Arizona for a weekend show. They know tons of people. If he's such a great horse, he'd still be selling for 10k, not for 2500, and he would have been sold before he even hit dreamhorse. So we basically just forgot about him, because something with those owners/sellers just smelt really fishy.

However, there is this absolutely gorgeous 16hh bay QH 9 yro mare that's coming to my barn sometime this week. She does English, western, jumping, the whole shabang. She's available for lease only, and I might lease her. We'll see how it goes on Saturday. Hopefully she will be there by then. My mom's a wary of the whole lease thing though, because it might be really expensive. But, we'll just wait and see what the actual lease contract looks like. If you search YouTube for Miss Potential Grace, hers in the first video. Yes, she does that extremely ugly western pleasure canter that looks like they are lame, but she also has the natural, nice, English canter. The English doesn't start until after 6 minutes. Jumping is at the very end, and its just tiny stuff, but all I'm doing is tiny stuff.

I'm extremely proud to report that my riding is improving dramatically. I seriously recommend not using stirrups! And posting. My leg hardly moves at all anymore, I'm so excited. I'm also correcting my seat, because I've been leaning forward and throwing myself off-balance, not to mention my horse. I just feel like I'm progressing so much. It really shouldn't be that long until I'm with the jumping lesson again. I am so happy.

I'll post an update on Gus later.

Farrier

Well, Gus had his feet done! I was at school, so I can't really say any details except the vague ones my non-horsey mother could give me. Apparently, the farrier, (who from now on is known as Dave, and he's an amazing farrier, I've never had one better) sealed the crack in his one front hoof, so I'm excited about that. He recommended adding gelatin to his diet though, to soften up the hooves a bit (they're kind of brittle) and strengthen his bones. I'll definitely do that. Overall, Dave said that Gus's hooves are actually looking a lot better! I'm pretty excited. However, he also said that the only way to heal that one crack completely is to shoe him, but he doesn't recommend it because its winter, and I'm not riding him. But, it hasn't been bothering him at all, and since it just got sealed...we'll see.

I'm really starting to get excited about this potential horse. He sounds perfect for me, we sound perfect for each other. I've talked to the seller extensively, and I'm really looking forward to her sending the conformation pictures to me today or tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'm going to have my mom call my trainer, Kris, and see if she would come with us when I go to try him out. I really want her expertise there. I value her opinion above anyone else's, and she knows me better than I do sometimes! The seller, who's name I guess I probably shouldn't disclose until after I buy the horse (and that's a possibility) sent me two cute head shots of Magic, and he's absolutely adorable. He has one of the kindest eyes I've ever seen. I have some feeling that this is the one, that this is the reason why everything else hasn't worked out. Maybe my adolescent hormones are kicking in though. I'll guess we'll see tomorrow, after I talk to my trainer and call the seller back! Wish me tons of luck!

Possible new horse?

First things first- the cows are gone. And when I say gone...I really do mean gone. Yes, that kind of gone. They had Gus far away from it, and he did fine. He's a bit lonely right now though. Okay, a lot lonely. My poor baby.

But, maybe not for long? I saw an ad in the paper yesterday, called it today, and then here's the link on dreamhorse! I talked to the lady for quite a long time, and he sounds great. She's going to email me with more pictures. I'm going to call her back tomorrow and see what time works best for her and us to go and try him out. I'm super excited! Now all I need to do is call my trainer. Wish me luck. :)

The Show!

So, the show was yesterday. I would have blogged afterwards, but I crashed and then I had to go to work. Anyways, on to the good stuff! I was only entered in English Equitation and English Pleasure, because I registered late and Henderson was being used in almost every other class. Did you know that by some show standards, or maybe its all of them, that your age is determined by how old you were on Dec. 31st of the previous year? So, I was in all the 13 and under classes. Weird. To get it out in the open, Henderson and I didn't place. At all. The first class, English EQ, was a pain in the butt because Henderson decided that (after we reversed) that he wanted to gallop, not canter! Can anyone say a repeat of last show? Oh, I guess you wouldn't know about that either, because I wasn't blogging then. Henderson was a spaz then too. Anyways, I had to haul off and circle him quite a few times. He's a need-for-speed Arab, that's for sure. The second class, English Pleasure, was a lot better. He behaved perfectly, while all the other horses were FREAKING OUT. Seriously, it was insane. I don't know why we didn't place...he was awesome. But, I don't mind. It was a fun show, after all. And I had a ton of fun, hanging out with friends and riding horses. It was a blast.

Erin, a friend on mine who I ride with, has a horse named Allie. Well, Allie completely spazzed out during the show. She bolted and bucked and reared all at the same time. It was pretty scary. Erin stayed on though, kept her cool, and didn't cry once during the show! Yay Erin! Riley and her horse, Flare, did really well too. Flare went into 'racehorse mode' after a while, but Riley is a fantastic rider, and they did great! Fiona and Shadow did great too, though I don't think Fiona is too happy about how they did. She seemed a little down. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Kris before I left, so I'm going to have to call her and give her a huge thank you! I'll bring her a mocha and a donut to the next lesson. =]

This isn't my only entry for the day, I've got more to tell you about once it happens!

Oh, and sorry, no pictures from the show. =[

The Body Condition Scoring System

I've always kept a binder with all my records for all my horses. I've done it since I was about 10 years old. Not that I ever had to put any records in it, I never had any besides the registration papers for one of my horses. Well, in the past couple years, I lost that binder. I found it yesterday! Boy, was it interesting to go back and see all the farrier dates, websites, and everything else I put into that binder from 2006. I even know the exact date from when Buck split his hoof open a while back. I looked at my empty folders for Elvis and Presley, the mini pony and mini donkey I owned, and my empty folders for Buck and Gus. I guess I'm the ex-owner for Buck too. (Yes, one of these days I'll do a complete post on him. And I guess you'll want a post of the Elvis and Presley days too.) Anyways, as I was looking through it, I decided to take everything out that wasn't about Gus or Buck, because I never had any records for Elvis and Presley anyways, and I no longer own them. I decided to keep Buck's folder though, because I want to record in great detail how he was sold. Just in case, you know? Of course I kept Gus's folder, because I still have him, and I'm assuming that in a month or so, I'm going to have vet records an inch thick.

Okay, I'm getting kind of off-track, but most of this is necessary for you to understand where I'm going with this whole post. I decided that every month, I am going to write up a new update on Gussers to put in his folder. Well, yesterday, before bravely going outside to see my horse (seriously, its a brave feat. Those cows we have will run you over. I'm not even kidding.) I typed up an update for Gus. Little did I know that I was dead wrong about Gus's body condition score.

Wait, now I have to backtrack a bit. The body condition scoring system is basically how you rate how healthy your horse is. A 1 being severely emaciated (basically almost dead) and a 10 being severely obese. A 5 would be the perfect place for your horse to be on the scale, with a healthy weight.

Well, when I wrote up Gus's update, I put him at a 4.5 on the body condition scoring scale, saying that I would like to see him gain a bit more weight. However, after going to really look him over, I would say that he's more like a 6. My horse is chubby. He does not need to gain weight, he needs to lose some. Now, I'm not saying he needs to lose a lot, probably only around 20 pounds, but still. He's got a gut. What can I say, we were made for each other. So, I corrected my update and re-printed it. Here is what it said:

Gus Update- 10/30/31

Health: Overall, Gus’s body score is 5.5 or 6. I’d like to see him lose a bit more weight. We desperately need to have the vet out to float his teeth and clean his sheath. In June of this year, I found a suspicious lump on his stifle area. We had the vet out, and we were going to have her back out in a month or so to do a biopsy on it. Well, now it is the end of October and nothing has been done. We have to have a biopsy done soon to determine whether it is cancerous or not. I’m also worried about Gus’s cough, which he has had for about a year, but it is now getting worse. These are all things that we will have the vet check as soon as my parents make the appointment. I’m also going to talk to the vet about vaccinations, because after all, Gus is 27 and I think that he needs them. Gus’s hooves are kind of brittle right now. We have a farrier appointment for the 3rd of November, and I’ll ask him about that then. I’m also going to start doing carrot stretches with Gus, so he limbers up a bit. He’s a little stiff right now, what with the cold weather and him being 27.

Shelter: We really need to take off the top of the barn before winter comes. Otherwise, I can just see a repeat of last year when the wind knocked it down and the horses were in danger. We are going to build a shelter for Gus this winter, since the barn is really no shelter at all. The shelter will be like a lean-to, only we will be able to completely close him in if the weather gets harsh enough. It will be roomy enough for him to walk around a little bit, and have room for a water trough inside.

Extras: I decided not to blanket him this year. Apparently this winter isn’t supposed to be as bad as last year, and Gus just tears them off anyway. Plus, he grows a pretty good winter coat. I’ll just have to be extra careful about keeping him clean, dry, and warm. Right now he is with 3 cows, but not for long. Soon he will be by himself, and I’m a bit worried about how that will affect him. He’ll have to learn to have me as his only companion.

That's the end of it. So, I'll tell you about what happened when I went out to see my baby. First, I take back what I said about him being flighty. He walked right up to me, didn't bat an eye, and let me touch him all over. He didn't want me to leave. Before I went out there, I was worried about what was going to happen with him on the 3rd, when he had his farrier's appointment and I was at school (I was thinking that if I couldn't catch him, the person he trusts most, how in the world was my mom going to be able to catch him?) but now I realize that it will be fine. I'll put a halter on him this weekend so my mom doesn't have to figure out how to do that, and it'll be easy as pie. However, I don't think that will stop me from stressing out during the school day, looking over at the lock anxiously, tapping my fingers and fidgeting when it gets to be 9:30. (The time of the appointment.)

Tomorrow's the horse show! I'm kind of nervous. Luckily, I finally found my helmet. By making a phone call. Apparently, I left it at my sister's house. So, I'll be up early tomorrow, getting ready for a horse show. I have to be at the barn by 8 in the morning. Fun stuff. Fortunately, its a fun show, so we don't have to dress up (only dress warm!) and our horses don't have to be bathed. Yay for fun shows that still offer real classes!

Ugh.

Okay, so this entry is basically for what happened on Monday, the 27th.

So, I go to my Monday night horseback riding lesson, which is at 5:00. I'm riding O'Rion, and doing really good. Except, then we're cantering, and he's being a total butt head, trying to go to the middle, trotting really fast, and refusing to canter. Absolute butt. Anyways, the barn owner, Barb, was like, "Get that girl off my horse right now! I'm so tired of re-schooling him, and now I see what the problem is. She needs to go back to Dreamer (a beginner pony) and get this crap resolved." I started crying SO hard. There I was, trying my best, and Barb was telling me that I was ruining her horse. And she called me 'that girl.' I PAY 30 FREAKING DOLLARS AN HOUR AND BOARDED MY HORSE THERE FOR FOUR FREAKING MONTHS. MY FREAKING NAME IS KATIE GOSHDANGIT! Luckily, my trainer, Kris, immediately told Barb off, chewing her out. Well, she didn't do it in front of us, but she went over and talked to Barb. When she came back, I was still bawling, because I really didn't mean to 'ruin' O'Rion. He's just a pain in the butt sometimes. Anyways, Kris told me that 'she kicked Barb's butt for that' and that I wasn't ruining O'Rion, and how she doesn't know how Barb could say that. Barb never apologized to me though...I hate her. She is a bitch. She's always screaming at her lesson kids, and shes SO mean. All the time. This is just the first time that she actually made me cry that hard. Whoa, I'm crying just thinking about it. Unfortunately, my Monday night lessons are ending for a few weeks because Fiona, who's parents give me a ride, isn't going for a little while. She's taking a little break, (mainly because her parents forced her.)

Oh, and things are great with Kris now...my mom called Kris, about that problem I already told you about, and Kris understood. It was a large misunderstanding on both sides. I'm going to start private lessons, so I can advance to the jumping class faster. I'm hoping I should be there within a month or two at the latest.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that Saturday we're having a fun show at the barn. I have to be there by 8 in the morning, so no late-night Halloween partying for me. I'm riding Henderson in English Equitation and English Pleasure, w/t/c. It should be fun as long as Henderson doesn't freak out again like he did at the last show. What a dork. But I love him. =).