Mind Over Matter

Over the course of building a business, I have been through many phases of what time means to me, and what busy means to me. When first starting out and transitioning over from a full time job and some small time trimming, I had no time whatsoever, but I only had one horse. Eventually I had two horses, then three, then two again, and then one again, and back to two, and so on. I went from a full time job and small time trimming to a part time job and part time trimming, which inevitably opened up a large portion of free time. When I was not actively working on business building, I had tons of down time to ride and play and do whatever I wanted. I was broke then, but I did all right, and I knew I should enjoy all the time I had, because one day I would have the money instead of the time. The business grew over time, and my free time started to dwindle. I started to have to redefine what "available time and energy for pleasure horse pursuits" started to be. It used to be I would need a full day off to get some real horseytime in. Working days tired me out, and I didn't ride or work horses on those days for the most part. Then my time REALLY started to dwindle, and I realized that if I was going to have horseytime at all, I was going to have to just get over my tiredness at the end of the day and just do it. That was extremely hard for me at first, but I really put my mind to it, and now I get it done. It's not uncommon for me to go out and do 15+ horses, and then ride or lunge a few when I get home. My biggest limitations are daylight and drive time - if I have to drive all over the Metroplex, to get my quota of horses done, it takes significantly longer than if I get them all done in just one or two stops. Every day is different, which is one of the great appeals of my job. I get to see different people every day, take different routes, and have fresh things to work on and see. But I do have to spend some time planning ahead, so that I know for sure when I have time to work whoever needs to be worked. 

The babies take hardly any time at all, although they always take mental energy. The Zoodle Himself is doing extremely well, and continues to be incredibly friendly and kind. He loves people, loves scratches, and will always come over for a snuggle. I've ponied him twice off Pmare, and he continues to get even better at it - he tends to resist for a moment when we start something, then his second answer is generally always "yes" and he proceeds without issue. 

Get a pedicure lady

Dylan is the one who gets the most work, 4 days of riding a week if I can squash it in. This would not be ideal or workable if he was an event horse or a horse who needed a higher level of fitness, but for the time being it's completely achievable in my schedule. It requires me trailering out to ride, which is a rather timely affair. I also have the trouble of not being sure when I will have access to the arena lights at WD, as I tried to use them the other night and they didn't go on. Not good! I need those, and will really need them as the winter approaches. 

I think as I continue to get into more detailed things with Dylan, I'll start fleshing that out better in blogposts. I used to write so much in detail about the rides I would have with Gogo, and have done so much less of that now that I have a bunch of babies who are doing extremely rudimentary and simple things. There is only so much description you can go into when you say, "Groomed the baby. Picked her feet! She was good." But riding an upper level horse when there is SO much in the way of complicated and subtle communication going on... that deserves more fleshing out. 

I bit the bullet this week and rejoined all of the major organizations that I will need for showing - USEF, USDF, and IALHA. The 2017 season in our area starts in the fall, and we go through basically the entire year with shows on the calendar, although the majority of these are jammed up into the spring months when our weather is the best. It's a bit of a circus, trying to get all the paperwork together for this - these organizations all require notarized copies of our lease, which meant K had to go print them off, mail them to me, then I have to go get them notarized, and then send them in with fees paid. Dylan is thankfully lifetime registered with all organizations, so that's taken care of. As for working equitation, I'm a member of WE United and WEIAUSA, and intend to show, but probably my biggest goal is trying to get my silver medal with the USDF. I'll clinic this fall and possibly do some WE schooling shows - and next year, if all goes well, I have my eyes on much bigger prizes, like Pin Oak, Haras, and maybe even the Andalusian World Cup in Las Vegas, as well as the possibility of IALHA Nationals. There is a LOT between now and then, but the possibility of these looming in the imminent foreground is tremendous motivation to get my butt up and go ride, whenever I have the spare time.

Half pass left

Ugh he's so perfect I just love him so much

This doesn't mean I can't take a little down time to have some fun through. On Monday, I did something very different - I rode Dylan bareback and bridleless. I left a halter and lead rope on him, just to be safe in case we coudn't stop, but mostly I rode him in his neckrope. He steers beautifully, although stopping was not quite so easy. How many stallions do you know that somebody can just jump on them bareback and bridless and just go for a spin? He's a special dude, that's for sure. 

Ummm excuse me you're not paying enough attention to me

On the same day that I rode Dylan bareback, I also worked both Sriracha and Lendri. Lendri has basically been off for two months in the summer heat, and has had one lunge this past weekend. I long lined her on Monday, and then this happened...

She's hitched!

She wasn't fully hitched in this picture. The breeching is not on yet. But she is hooked via the traces and pulled the weight of the cart by herself. I approached this way differently than I did with O, who I first dragged a tire with, then put her in drag shafts, and then hooked her to Janky The Training Cart. With Lendri, her intelligence and reactions made me approach this differently. I think I'll approach it differently for every one that I break to drive. I certainly didn't just stick it on her and go - not at all. There was a lot of careful introduction, of leading her and rolling the cart next to her, and behind her, of placing her between the shafts to feel them, of pulling the cart along behind her with her in the shafts but not hooked. She did so well that by the end of everything, I had her pulling the cart by herself with full weight in the breastcollar, although not with breeching as I think that needs more desensitization - she might speed up and get fast when she feels it for the first time. As you can tell by her expression, she was not terribly bothered by the entire ordeal. 

9 months ago, she was at the kill pen and so wild that I almost couldn't wrangle her onto my trailer. I can't believe how far she has come!!

Speaking of wild, Sriracha was not terribly good this week, but here she is lunging with harness and bridle: 

We need much work with acclimating her to the bridle. It took her two seconds to figure out how to flip her tongue over it, which then pinched her tongue and made it bleed. That's not exactly the best way to teach a mule that the bit is not a bad thing. This snaffle is an eggbutt with a double jointed copper alloy mouthpiece, so it's about the nicest thing I could put in there, but I may need to look for something else. 

Despite all that, she sure is fancy isn't she? 

Doing Good Deeds

Let it never be said that I am not a big-hearted person. If I am ever known for just one thing in this world, I hope it is that.

Those of you who have followed this blog for any length of time - including back to Gogo, years ago - will have seen a long and gradual change in me over the years. Once upon a time, I was exclusively a warmblood snob. I had no interest in rescue, and I believed that only a fancy, pedigreed warmblood could suit my needs. And perhaps at that time, that was true. (Actually still to this day, my mother thinks all of my animals are useless because they aren't 5-figure horses.) Over time, this gradually shifted to interest in taking in rescued animals that can also be useful to me. Or in some cases, like with Darby, not useful at all - although there is a definite limit to this. I'm not interested in taking every single pathetic horse home that I see, but sometimes there is a story that calls to me, and I feel that it is important step in and do something if I can.

I've been mulling over and over in my head whether or not I want to breed Pmare again. She is the last one of her line - or well, now Pax is, but still - so if I am interested in strengthening the chances of keeping that line alive, I should strongly consider rebreeding. I have been talking about breeding to Lasting Impression, who is Gogo's full brother, for a long time now, and I still haven't taken that idea off the table. Before I chose DDM for Pax's sire, I had also been strongly considering Dylan too, and now I have access to him as much as I want to use him. 

With all of that said, there is a huge caveat that has me solidly stalled out - I feel strongly that I am moving further and further away from riding competitively in any way. Dylan may very well be my last show horse that I actually ride. Beyond him, I see myself continuing on competitively driving. I LOVE driving and it completely fulfills me, as much as I love riding. With this all in mind... if I breed Pmare, what am I really breeding for? If I cross her out to Lasting Impression, that offspring would jump the moon and probably be a fairly decent mover. But that's not what I am wanting to pursue down the road. So, it's a bit of a tough choice. Those two bloodlines are beloved to me.

I also had a client this week ask if I knew of anyone who had a nice, easygoing companion horse who she could use as a buddy for her gelding when she moves to her new house. I offered her up Pmare to temporarily borrow, if she is interested - so she may go do that for awhile this winter as well. Unlike the last time when I leased P out, this is a client who I know will take extremely good care of her, and I will get to see her regularly, so it would be a good situation for everyone involved. I still don't know if Darby is going to survive the winter.... I'd say she has a 50-50 chance of it. If P goes off to be borrowed for a bit and Darby kicks the bucket... well there you are. 

The long and short of it all is that my herd is in a little bit of a state of flux. Pax may or may not be sold, Darby may or may not die, and P may or may not be borrowed for awhile. And Dylan will of course eventually go back home, but not for a good long while - not for years. 

My competitive interests are gradually shifting. The way I approach horse care is completely different now compared to where I started out years ago. And the actual equines I am interested in are changing over time too. I want flashy, big, freaky movers, oh yes... that much has not changed. I want unique things that catch the eye. Above all else, I want a good story - I want to be able to say I accomplished something, that I helped an animal in need to become something greater than he or she ever could have become. To me, a story like O's is really the ultimate achievement - to find a dirty, scruffy, unkept looking holy terror who goes through a long, difficult, and amazing transformation into something really special. That to me is what I ultimately want. And even horses like Darby fit this bill for me - an unwanted, emaciated cripple who I have helped to have a good happy ending to her life, where she is fat and sassy and loved. Her story has been especially gratifying for me, and I love her dearly even though she is a totally useless hayburner. Seeing her being happy, munching her hay and nickering for a cookie... that's really the best part of the whole thing.


A client and friend of mine (named G) does a lot of work networking horses that are going through our local kill pen, and she has been on me to pull something out of the kill pen. There are several of them that are fairly close to me - since we are so close to Mexico, there are thousands of horses who come through these pens on their way to the slaughterhouses across the border. I follow all of these local auction barns and kill pens through Facebook and my contacts, and have had a number of clients successfully pull horses and mules out of the pens. I told G that I would consider taking in something small and longeared - no full size equines as I don't currently have room for them, or the desire either. My Uma mule has gotten me absolutely head over heels hooked on mules, and I've been browsing around here and there for another, although not very seriously. I looked around for a bit in all of the pens, but never saw anything that really jumped out at me.

Until G sent me a picture of..... a zonkey. A zonkey in a kill pen. WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

She offered to pay his bail and then gift him to me. I of course agreed to this, because a) I've been hoping I could find something that could share a fence with Dylan and be his friend, and b) WHO DO YOU KNOW THAT HAS A HALF ZEBRA?

At the same time as this was all going on, this tiny little mule popped up in the kill pen, and I instantly fell for her. I hemmed and hawed about it - I didn't *really* need two little rescues, hell I didn't really even need one! - but a comment on her picture sealed my commitment. It read, What is there even to consider? If you have the room and ability to feed and care for her, what are you waiting for? It was a comment directed to the general public, but it went to my heart. I feel very fortunate that I am in a position to be able to help, and because I am, I went for it. How could I not? If you can ever help animals in need - be it adopting, fostering, volunteering, or donating - you always should. I may not have had interested in that years ago when I was exclusively a warmblood snob - but that isn't how I feel any more. Now, I don't think that there is anything more important to me than taking a pathetic throwaway life and doing my best to make it into something healthy, and happy, and really special.

Today, I picked them up, and they are now safely at home. But now, it is late, and that story will have to wait until tomorrow... it was quite a huge adventure today and it will take some telling.

Who needs to ride properly in the trailer when you are so little you can completely turn around and fit under the chest bar?

Welcome home, little tinies. You don't have to worry about being made into hamburger any more, not ever again.

Catching Up on Updates: Pax

Since I have SO MANY updates to go over, given the fact that I haven't really blogged for an entire month, I thought I'd give a breakdown on each horse for the past month, starting with Pax!

When I last left you, it had finally (sort of) stopped raining, and the sun was coming out. I had a very cute, floofy, red little baby horse who liked to play with Monster Dog and be a general nuisance. 

One day early mid-month, I noticed something funny about her goggles. She had sustained a few scrapes and the hair that grew back in was almost black, but I didn't think anything of it. Her muzzle started to shed, and then her goggles. Eyes and nose can definitely be darker areas but I did think the color was a bit.. odd. 

As her face continued to shed out, I realized - she's a liver chestnut! What are the odds. And she'll be a super dark one too!!

She continues to grow and grow. She is 10 weeks old today, and her butt is as tall as my boobs already. She's HUGE! 

She has been trimmed 3 times now, and has been increasingly good about it. She also ties, leads (mostly), picks up her feet, eats all her creep feed, gets groomed, flysprayed, and bathed. She was not a fan of baths to start (who is?), but now when the nozzle is turned her way, she plays with the water, which is seriously adorable. 

Wet Pax is also a pretty good representation of her adult color I think - dark liver with a blaze and three white legs, including that one super high stocking. 

She is a total BEEF.

I decided yesterday that I needed to get some video of her movement, since I've seen her do pretty much nothing but run. Turns out, she is a pretty cute little mover - not super flashy but definitely very cute. 

P will be the first to tell you that she's getting quite tired of her shenanigans though...!

Feisty Redheads!

Oh my. I think I have a wild one on my hands. At 1 day old, my little rodeo bronc already bucks, rears, strikes, kicks, and throws herself on the ground when she doesn't want to be handled! 

But, that's what babies do. And redheads, especially. And redheaded fillies especially especially! She will learn soon enough.

More up in her pasterns today, they'll be good and strong soon!

No touchey my face!

She had the walleyed Mare Glare down pat and she's only a day old!

Special naughty filly trick - don't like your butt scratched? Just sit down!

Not sure what had P's attention, but she had it in full!

I can't believe she didn't inherit the family jughead!

She did, however, inherit the giant family ears!

O wants to steal this baby! She must think that it's hers, it looks like it should be hers anyway!

Already in the puddles! We've been totally flooded for days!

Cut her head off, but she definitely has found her sea legs!

She is CUTE CUTE CUTE though, despite her extreme redheadedness. We're still brooding on a name, any suggestions? Has to start with a D and can't be something generic/stupid/cliched/boring!

She and P both got an A+ from the vet today. Baby's IgG was well over 800 - not surprising given how late P got her milk in and how quickly baby latched (and promptly started sucking the life out of momma!). P has a minor bit of tearing but it's pretty minimal, and not surprising give how giant this filly was. 

Now if it would only stop raining...! The first Games Day of the year is on Sunday. Given the fact that the horses have been heavily stalled as of late due to all the weather, and O hasn't been worked in about 2 weeks... ehhhh what could go wrong!