2017 Goals

It's that time of year again..... time for our....



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ 2017 Goals! ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dylan 2017 Goals:

1) Compete 3rd/4th level on Dylan (USDF)

2) Compete at Intermediate level in Working Equitation

3) Compete at the Haras Cup

4) MAYBE - IALHA Nationals

5) MAYBE - Andalusian World Cup

- I say maybe to the last two because they are SUPER SUPER expensive. My bigger goals are to get my scores towards my silver medal, and to compete at Haras Cup, which is something I REALLY want to accomplish. Nationals is here in Texas, so that's a pretty good bet, but it's also an entire week - it's hard to get away for that long. The AWC I REALLY want to do but it's in Las Vegas, which is not exactly close. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

O-Ren 2017 Goals:

1) Have a happy, healthy, bouncing baby!
2) Consider whether or not we are breeding her back for a second time
- This depends entirely on the quality of the foal. If we get something completely knockout and amazing I will consider breeding her back. Obviously if we get a dud we won't be doing that! We shall see what we end up with but I have high hopes for something of really nice quality. My dream is to get a matching team from this cross, but that's a long way off. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pax 2017 Goals:
1) Continue baby school - wearing a bridle, being ponied on the trails, etc.
2) Show in the FEH at Meadowcreek (and maybe some other small in-hand shows for fun?)
- Unfortunately this year, Meadowcreek is our only Area V FEH that I know of. The other ones on the calendar were either cancelled or didn't happen this year. I had hope that this would change - maybe it will? - but as of right now this is all I get. Unfortunately it's in March, and basically everything else is going on in March (a surgery for Future Hubs, O's foal) so hopefully nothing gets in the way of this!
3) Keep growing up and being a horse! 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P 2017 Goals:

1) Go on some trail rides! 
2) Continue being the resident baby-dragger
3) Enjoy retired life!
- We're done breeding P. I got my one and that's all, and that's fine. I have plenty else going on anyway! P has earned her place on the mostly retired list. She's sound for trails and she enjoys them, so that's mostly what we will be doing!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Lendri 2017 Goals:
1) Continue trying to make her a driving moole!
- This is up in the air, as it has been. I want her to succeed as a driving animal but I don't know that she will ever be one. She can still be so reactive and spooky sometimes, and I just don't know that she will ever truly get over that. She is a really wonderful pet, so if she doesn't ever become a sport moole I'm quite fine with that. We will see! I'm going to keep trying! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zoodle 2017 Goals:
1) Continue to solidify lunging
2) Teach long lining and long line all over the place!
3) Take him off property for lots of exposure and despooking!
4) Later in the year - learn about drag shafts and dragging small objects
- I'm excited about this little guy. He's going to continue to be a lot of work, but he's such a good natured little guy - if any zebroid can do it, it's him! He's the same age as Sriracha (2) so he's still a baby and has a long way to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sriracha 2017 Goals:
1) Continue regular handling as usual
2) Continue learning to lunge
3) Teach to long line
4) Maybe later in the year - learn about drag shafts and dragging small objects
- Sriracha is just two now, so she will turn 3 mid-2017 and is still quite young. I don't want to push her but later in the year I think she will be capable of handling these things. As long as she continues to show a talent for driving that is!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uma 2017 Goals:
1) Continue growing up and being a moole!
- Uma is Pax's age so she has a lot of growing up left to do before we decide if she's big enough to drive or not!
2) Continue regular handling - and later in the year, start introducing simple concepts of lunging and wearing harness

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Big Frank 2017 Goals:
1) Go on some trail rides!
2) Teach him to pony? 
- Depends on how he does with this.bank He's a weiner and all the babies are over him in the pecking order, which I didn't expect. He's also not terribly sound, so he'll be limited in what we do with him, but he is game for trails. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I think it's going to be a good one. My biggest focus this year is going to of course be Dylan, but I also want to prep and show Pax in the FEH (and maybe some schooling shows in hand?), and I want to make sure Zoodle gets the exposure he needs. I have a lot of hopes for show season, we're getting married this year (finally after being engaged for like four years), I hope to buy a new truck this year, and of course O's foal is coming. There are other things too which are just as exciting but less relevant to the blog. I'm not quite sure which direction our country is heading in at the moment, but I fully intend on making the best of it either way.

New Year's resolution: hug moar zoodle

2016 Year in Review

I had a really amazing 2015, and a slightly less awesome 2016. It wasn't bad per se, but it kind of has sucked ever since the election, culminating with the loss of one of my cats, Jasper. I've been really bummed out about that and decidedly feeling low. There has hardly been any sun in three weeks either, which isn't helping my mood at all. I'm grieving for losses like Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, and Richard Adams, who wrote my beloved favorite story Watership Down (Lendri is named after an animal in the book). But, I do hope that 2017 will be a really fantastic one like 2015 was. I have hope, anyway.

January:

January started out strong. A continuing theme throughout the year is always not having enough time for blogging. I started seeing a new physiotherapist for my calf, and kept working to try and get my body functional in the saddle again. I readied myself to say goodbye to Darby, and planned out my turnout for O's driving season. 

February:

We said goodbye to Darby at the beginning of the both. We also said goodbye to Zuul's nuts! B2 came over to practice navigating on the back of the Dartmoor, and I started lunging Lendri a little bit. I trailered Pax out for her first solo adventure and it went... sort of okay. I continued planning my turnout for O. Not too much else went on, besides riding and driving! 

March:

I decided I was finally going to be able to try working equitation! I had been interested in it for years but had never had a horse to do it on. I went to my first practice and had a great time, and so did Dylan. Deathstorm season began, and the mares came into heat, starting Dylan back to his old fencewalking habit with a vengeance. I reminisced about Gogo's many fails. O scraped up her leg, which led to me scratching from our first show, but we had Sunrise Ridge to prep for so we kept going! Naturally, AGAIN, she scraped up her leg right before that show as well. Because it's always something! While I was coldhosing and doctoring that cut, I did more working equitation practice with Dylan, and worked with the garrocha. Zuul was sold, and went to his new home. 

April:

Sunrise Ridge kicked off the month! We had a really crummy dressage test and not a great cones course either, and gossip and drama nearly caused me to scratch from the entire thing. I decided to put my big girl panties on, and we finished the marathon strong, ending up in 2nd place! I made tentative show schedules for the year, and called out a new chiropractor to see about addressing O's terrible dressage performance and get Dylan on the schedule as well. (Turned out, O's problem were simple and Dylan had even more of them than she did, but is better at hiding them!) We went to our next show, another Games Day, and as usual won everything. We wished Pax a happy first birthday, and I revealed plans to breed both O and P for 2017 foals. At the time, Pax was considered sold. That fell through, but P never took, so we still came out sum 0 there. P at almost 21 is now retired from breeding - I got my one, and that's all I'll get, and I'm good with that. April was a pretty good month.

May:

I found another special tiny moole to bring home, and due to being completely wild and feral, named her Sriracha. (I LOVE my Srirachy). I had lots going on, namely working on WE stuff with Dylan, breeding stuff with the mares, taming Sriacha down, working on long lining Lendri, working O who was now solidly in the middle of show season. I spent way too much money at the vet, and never did get P pregnant. I played a lot with my tiny mooles. O and I had a not great time at the Romp (which I don't plan on ever going to again, not after two crappy showings!), and I talked about trying to keep life organized (still haven't been successful there). I talked even MOAR about mooles. O, B2, and myself all headed to Pine Hill which was EPIC for so many reasons - read Part I, Part II, and Part III (and bonus Romp pictures). We finished 2nd, and turned right around and headed out the next weekend for the final show of the season in Oklahoma! 

June:

We finished 4th at our final HDT of the season! We should have finished 2nd but SOMEBODY (cough cough me) messed up the timing heading into marathon and started 30 seconds late. We were so fast on marathon that it gave us about 30 second of time penalties for going too FAST. Part I, and Part II here - Stephanie of Hand Gallop joined us for the marathon too! I pulled the plug on breeding P. It got REALLY HOT really fast, and I shared some pictures of the 2015 show season. I put O and Dylan out together, and it was magic from the beginning. I rode, a lot, and fought my body hard in order to make it better.



July:

I played around with one-handed work for WE, and did not suck too badly at it. Pax's sale fell through right after I gave up on breeding P, and I contemplated if it was meant to be. Everything came temorarily crashing down when my idiot neighbors set fireworks off over my house, and both Pax and Dylan were hurt in the chaos. Since I had no one to ride for a bit, and O was officially off show duty and onto mommy duty, I had little else to do except pour my efforts into my mooles. I schemed up plans for the babies. Dylan got collected again, my neighbor's pig kept coming to our house, and I kept doctoring Dylan's leg, which healed very well. 

August: 

Zoodle arrived in the beginning of August after much planning! Even though I didn't keep Zuul, I still wanted to work with more hybrids, and picked a really special one to continue on with. Dylan went back to work mid-month, and did incredibly well. We also fitted his saddle, which was the final piece we were missing. I played with the babies, and continued to work to get it all done. (Sometimes, it doesn't work.) I made plans for Dylan's 2017.

September:

My mooles were already getting hairy in preparation for winter! I went over Dylan's tack. I added more sand to the mare pasture. I talked about what it's like working with zebra hybrids. The chiro came again, as she does every month now. I rode, and rode, and it was HOT. And showed pictures of baby Zoodle, which are all adorable.



October:

Dylan and I went to our first clinic together! It was awesome. I talked about Gogo, who has now been gone for 5 years and thus gone away from my life longer than she was in it. I talked too about Dylan, and what an amazing creature he is. I took my first lessons with a new trainer (which I love), took a second clinic with Tarrin, and signed up for my first show! (Spoiler alert: Dylan was great, I made dumb mistakes). It was a very productive month for Dylan and I, even though I did less with the others because I was doing so much with him!



November:

O was waddling by November. I went over goals with Pax, and had another lesson. The election happened, and I felt like a deflated balloon for weeks. Dylan and I went to our second show, along with regulars B2 and R as usual, and did great. I wrote less than I ever have in a month in November, which really dissapointed me.



December:

I started out blogging very strongly, which I am happy with. I had no intention of bringing ANY more animals home, but Big Frank ended up with us anyway! (NO. MORE). I started out talking about family trees, and haven't finished the second part yet. I had more lessons, both with Louisa and with Tarrin. The dentist came for her yearly visit! There was then a big pause in blogging for the holidays while I was away in both Austin and then Michigan, and a cold front came blowing in. It went from 80 degrees to 15 degrees, then back to 80 degrees and now again 30 degrees tonight. (I have NO idea what the hell is going on with our weather).

And... there will be more to come!






The end of the year is always full of chaos for me, with much holiday hectic travel and not a lot of riding or working the critters. But this is also a time for planning, for rest, and for looking forward to the future - and I have hopes that 2017 will be special. Or at least.... not terrible? I'm definitely ready for 2016 to be over with though. I know I'm not the only one there.

2014 Year In Review!

The Reeling's Year In Review!

WOW what a year! I really can not believe an entire year has passed us by once again. While I did originally expect us to be eventing successfully by now, I took the lemons I had to work with and made them into some pretty badass lemonade. Spiked with vodka. Because that's how we turn things around down here. 

While we are not eventing and we won't be, instead this year we...

Went foxhunting first flight

Ran barrels and placed in the 4D locally
 Chased/moved cows

Patterned on the poles

Did lots of dressage in the double bridle

Did two LD endurance rides, placing top ten in both and getting the high vet score at one

Roped a dummy (poorly, but we did it)

Had some fun and successful XC schoolings

Went swimming

Trail rode all over creation

Learned to drive AND won a whole lot of ribbons doing it

AND were not lame, sick, or injured once this year!

I'd say that's a pretty successful year, even if it wasn't remotely what I expected!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 2014:

O and I tackle our first endurance ride, and it goes crazily but well. We contemplate O's guts, talk about Metro, and have a fun and successful freejumping session (although O's form doesn't actually give me any hope for the future). Clipmasta strikes again, and I talk about how to be subtle with a bossy mare. We have an EPIC blogger XC schooling at Meadowcreek! I make some 2014/2015 goals, which of course have all been modified by now.

February 2014:
 

We ride, a lot. We have some bad dressage, it is frigid out, and I am seriously grouchy. We survive our second LD, finishing in 8th with the High Vet Score. I linimented O before we stood for BC, which I didn't know wasn't allowed, and I got serious online flack for it (and emailed the organized to ask them to withdraw my placing.) I threaten to quit blogging, again, due to a number of hyperaggressive endurance folks bashing me, accusing me of cheating, accusing me of racing, and accusing me of not caring about my horse. That very effectively ends our short-lived endurance career.

March 2014:

I do another 360 and swing back around from wanting to do endurance to wanting to do eventing, again. I decide we should try a little bit of everything. After all, a horse that can do anything should do EVERYTHING! We do some rope desensitization, and rope a dummy. We pattern on the barrels. After a cluster of events, old Pmare comes home, looking like crap. We run barrels, and win some money! We foxhunt as guests with Brazos Valley, and add first flight foxhunter to her list. Our dressage still sucks, as it always does, and I contemplate if we are going to be eventers, again, as I do every month. I have no answers there.

April 2014:

 

We try out the EasyShoe, and she tears them off pretty immediately. I have a love-hate relationship with wine. (Still do.) We spin our tires, contemplate more contemplations again, and I blame myself for pretty much all of it. I tentatively think about endurance again, have saddle woes, and pay my pay-it-forward saddle on forward to a client to use. I realize my spirit animal is a spineless cactus. I talk about missing eventing, and about dressage some more, and how I am trying to make it more fun for everyone.

May 2014:

 

I talk about Quincy. P is looking much better after two months of good food, and goes to the vet for her teeth (which they royally messed up), and to be bred, which I didn't talk about until a later date. O and I get into it, a lot. We trail ride, and trail ride some more. P is confirmed pregnant (after only one breeding!), and I am super excited! I break my snaffle-only rule, and try some giant scary bits on O with a lot of success. I also talk about the kinds of horses I'd like to own one day, for fun!

June 2014:

O is fit, hot, and stubborn as ever. P gets hormonal surges, and flirts studdishly with O. I try a double bridle on O, with quite a lot of success in the brakes department (but not a lot in the reach out to the bridle department). My embryo is adorable, I'm still as addicted to dressage as I ever was, O has bodywork, and I talk about my coming lil munchkin. O learns how to swim! The month ends with me not having ANY motivation to ride whatsoever - our dressage is the same as it has always been, a miserable battle.

July 2014:

My interest in riding is still gone, but I decide mid-month to teach her to long-line and maybe even break her to drive, if we get that far. Long-lining goes AMAZINGLY well - she picks it up like a champ. She's a genius at it. I take it a step further, and teach her to double lunge. My old greyhound gets diagnosed with kidney failure, and O wears a harness for the first time (and is fine although confused about the crupper and blinders, understandably.) We long line in harness. We drag a tire. We drag PVC training shafts. We long line down the road. I ask myself where did this quiet and sensible horse come from, and what did she do with my psychotic mare! We make more progress in our driving training in two weeks than we did all year in our dressage work.

August 2014:

We are loving this newfound thing we're trying. I hook O to Janky the Training Cart for the first time, and she is perfect. She is walking and trotting easily right off the bad, and quietly - in a snaffle. It's hot, but you can't keep us noobs down. I start to think about upgrading already, and we pick up a package deal of cart, harness, harness pads, whip, bits, and books, all for a really good price. We say goodbye to my wonderful old lady greyhound. We learn more about driving, get her going in the blinders, start some fitness work, and marvel at just how far we've come in only a month.

September 2014:

I talk about how O is 100% dead clear on if she likes something, and if she doesn't like something. O still likes to counterbend, the driving folks talk us into coming to their little playday, and we do obstacle work to prep for it. I talk about the joyfully mundane, and show prep. She has come so far in such a short time, I can't believe it. We attend the show, and come home with a boatload of ribbons, including horse division Champion!! O is absolutely perfect at the show (aside from some excited bouncing at the beginning), despite never having seen other driving horses OR minis before!

October 2014:

For the past three months, we have surpassed every monthly goal set. This is totally opposite from the beginning of the year, when we never seemed to meet a single goal, and didn't even make them sometimes. I write about Gogo, and how much she changed my life. Chilly weather arrives, I show off how we have built up some impulsion, and the girls see a new dentist, who does amazing things with both of them. I get ruffled feathers over another blogger outright cheating and admitting it proudly, and I write about it.

November 2014:

It's dark, and we have no lights, but we make do. We take an amazing vacation to Orlando, and get back just in time to have just a few days to prep for our second driving playday. We attend, O is absolutely stellar, and we come home once again with a mess of ribbons and horse division Champion, again! I decide it is high time to upgrade our equipment again, we work in the chambon, and we find an awesome cart locally that I can actually afford! Clipmasta returns for the year with a new design. We get rolling in the new cart and it is awesome.

December 2014:

We are SO into our new navy stuff, which looks amazing with O's bright copper red. I jokingly talk about the differences between O and P. We have a minor setback mid-month when we have a bitting fiasco, and I talk about how, once again, O is 110% clear on what she wants and doesn't want. Basically EVERYTHING except her Happy Mouth mullen mouth eggbutt snaffle is awful in her opinion - even a Happy Mouth mullen mouth (the exact same mouthpiece) 3-ring elevator set on the snaffle is NOT ok with her, for whatever reason! We head to Florida for Christmas, I talk about a hypothetical Christmas list, and have a goofy Christmas drive back in her snaffle. We don't get a whole lot done this month, but we're ready for the new year and eagerly anticipate the coming show season!


What a year! It really was nothing like I expected, but it became so much more than I ever dreamed it could be. We'll be back shortly with some 2015 goals!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Horse That Does Everything - In Pictures!

I know the year is only 2/3rds of the way through, but it's been a pretty great one so far. From January to early Sept, here's a quick snapshot of all the things this Bad B has done so far this year:

Driving, dressage, swimming, XC schooling, endurance, foxhunting, barrels, and random trail rides (pictured is us riding through Stockyards Station. Yes, the actual famous one! She is looking at Fort Worth's crazy herd of longhorns in the picture.) Not pictured is us moving cattle (not the longhorns!) and me roping (badly) off of her, just because I don't have any photos of that! 

Basically my horse is the best. Stubborn and opinionated and crooked legged, but the best.

2013 Year In Review

The Reeling's Year In Review!

What a crazy year we've had. Aside from the awesome non-horsey things that happened (business success, getting engaged, seeing some of my favorite bands, catching up with old friends and making new ones), here are some of the horsey highlights of the last year!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 2013:

Immy, P and I all move to S's place after having a horrible time at our previous boarding barn. I struggle with the weather and with Immy's ongoing ulcer problems - if the air moves the wrong way it sends her spiraling into gastric distress. Immy gets her second ride, and her third ride brings trotting and a bigger space! She is still extremely twitchy, weird, and frightened of most everything that remotely comes near her, her bridle especially (the most headshy horse I've ever met). I get a crazy idea, and contemplate the future. 

February 2013:

My crazy idea goes HORRIBLY wrong and Immy pile-drives me into the ground (and 12 months later, I STILL have a haematoma on my butt). We do a lot of AquaTreading, Immy's brain goes on the fritz from too much handling (even just catching and touching her every day was very hard for her), and the dentist finds a lot of awful things in her mouth. We all are very tired of winter. I go back to lots and lots of groundwork with Immy and try to get her head back on straight.

March 2013:

Immy gets weirder under saddle and on the ground, and we accomplish 0 of our goals. I PowerPac Immy and more or less shut her gastric system down, and make her hard to catch. We get it back together and I get an over-the-head blanket on her, figure out sidereins, and go on a TRAIL RIDE! I find a small, dirty junker mare on Craigslist that I decide to take a chance on as a turnaround. Her ad title literally read "Warmblood mare, comes complete with issues"... of course I had to go look. I was told she was jumping around 4' last year (which was a bit of an exaggeration), but that an idiot trail rider went bombing around on her for a few months and basically ticked her off to the point where she just quit going forward altogether. When I went to go try her, I couldn't even make her go faster than a walk - I put my leg on and she quit on me altogether, stopping dead and pinning her ears. I talked the owner down to $500, brought her home on the last day of the month, and renamed her O-Ren.

April 2013:

My entire life gets thrown for a loop when my lawnmower shoots a rogue rock out at me and cracks me in the ankle. I am off on crutches for quite a long time, and end up leaving a dead-end job because of it. Immy goes out to new arenas and does wonderfully, and I find out that O's issues are entirely more complicated than I had originally thought. She goes in every single direction except forward at a normal rate, and goes every speed possible except the one you want her to go. P gets her butt handed to her a few times and gets reminded that she is 17, damnit, not 2! I compare how the mares all looked when I got them, and how they all looked then. I talk about bratty miss P, and skittery miss Immy. We have a pretty good month... it is starting to get HOT outside.

May 2013:

Immy catapults me again, HARD, and unexpectedly. At this point, I am starting to seriously question whether or not she will ever be safe under saddle... she is still very frightened (despite a year and a half of working with her) and completely unpredictable. O gets a lot of wet saddle pads, and I talk about how weird and quirky redheads are. I outfit her in some headgear (neck stretcher/martingale) in order to try and keep her somewhat under control (it partly works). We get hit with some extremely scary tornadoes and a bunch of people die, but thankfully we're all fine - one touched down in our pasture though!! I do some sleuthing and find out more about O's history. I find out there is no possible way to tire O out, ever, at all. We ride for hours and hours and hours. 

June 2013:

I decide that Immy needs a month off to just be herself. I find a little Shitner on the side of the road and everyone chips in to save him (and we do!) I talk about how when I got O, she wouldn't go forward, and now she is WAY too forward! I ride the crap out of O. I finally get tired of O's messy nightmare mane, and hog it. We start to jump little things, and we go out for our first XC school (and she is AWESOME). I throw everything and the kitchen sink at her, including cows, barrel races, endless trail rides, and more. She becomes an increasingly cool cucumber in new situations, although she is still hot as hellfire. 

July 2013:

I make a very tough decision and decide to let Immy be retired as a companion-only horse - her issues make her too unpredictable and dangerous to ever really be trustworthy under saddle. I am SO thankful we all rescued her and rehomed her, even if she didn't end up being a show horse like I had wanted - it was the right thing to do. Somewhat unexpectedly, P finds herself leased out as well, and O becomes the only child for awhile, and I spend a lot of time discussing that. I make plans, I lay down some law, I show off our lunging improvements and I score a membership to WD. O gets some cranio work (doesn't do anything), and we have a horrible jump school (although we know why). We lose Kidd Kraddick and my heart breaks. 

August 2013:

It's hot. We have no brakes but we do more jumping and XC schooling. O completely loses her marbles when she comes into heat, and I consider options for helping that. No, really. I GET ENGAGED! And then of course I have to catch-up with posts! She is starting to be pretty awesome, if I do say so myself, even though she is REALLY difficult and REALLY challenging! 

September 2013:

(O the week I brought her home, and O in Sept)

We do more XC schooling and ride in a pelham - and find we have some brakes after all! I talk about 9/11, like I always do, and about how my carefully crafted show schedule has more or less gone up in flames due to the shows themselves being cancelled. We do a lot of flatwork on the trails. We go to our first dressage show and win everything! O makes a tiny friend. I sign up for her first ever schooling event, and then realize that we kind of can't canter. That is kind of a problem!

October 2013:

We go to our first ever schooling HT at the Elementary level and do awesome, despite the canterwork being horrible and the dressage score being terrible. She jumped around like gangbusters and I was very proud of her! I talk about emotions, and about missing Gogo, who has now been gone for two years. I find a very small little black mare and decide to take her on as a resell too (although resells apparently don't seem to work out for me since O isn't going anywhere!). I get her home, start putting her back to work, and talk about how sensible QHs are versus warmbloods. I contemplate whether or not O really has any jumping ability, and think long and hard about what I *really* want to be doing with O (to this day, I am still not completely sure). I also look back on various ways I tortured dressed up my old ponies on Halloween!

November 2013:

O and I do an Intro endurance ride AND HAVE A BLAST. We both LOVED it! I clip my dirty horse and still manage to make it look decent, and we go to the chiro. O's old owner sends me encouraging pics to show me that yes, this mare CAN jump! I ride my little Tre a lot, and take O to a little schooling h/j show and win everything again. O bonks her knees coming out of the trailer and they are fat for WEEKS. I get iced into my house and write a lot of plans out. Tre goes on trail rides, and O gets back to work once her knees are back to being semi-normal. 

December 2013:

I have big plans for December, but O gets attacked by a dog and a huge ice storm ices me into my house AGAIN for several days, so that all goes kaput. We get fed up with the weather, so as soon as I can safely make it back to the barn, we go riding. We start conditioning more seriously for endurance. I ride both girls on the trails for hours and hours and hours, and I still can't wear O out! We gallop, a lot. Christmas comes and goes. I find myself shocked that the New Year is already here, and put her back to work on the lunge. The girl has GOT to learn to canter without rushing, dirtbiking, or running off!



We'll be back shortly with some 2014 goals!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012 Year In Review

Without further ado, here is Imogen's 2012 Year in Review! I can't believe I have been working with her for an entire year now! Added in are November and December from 2011 as well, when I first started to play with her!

November/December 2011:

I give the best synopsis of Imogen's history (then known simply as Bay Girl) that I can, and start to play with the then half-wild, uncatchable, terrified little mare in the last week of November. I am able to catch her (mostly), watch her freak out and need to be sedated for the farrier, and am able to crosstie and brush most of her body. I make plans for December, and am able to pick up all four feet without getting trampled or kicked. I manage to get a blanket on her, but have some trouble getting it off! I learned just how panicky she could be about having her face touched (and couldn't properly crosstie her or put a halter on her), but she became increasingly friendly and easy to catch, so we let her out into the mare field (she had been living in a small pen). And she was still catchable!

January 2012:
We make some goals for January, and tackled blanketing some more. I try and fail to get Bay Girl to take a cookie from me - she is convinced they are poison and wants nothing to do with them. I hatch a master plan on how to make deworming less of a nightmare, and am completely foiled by a clever little Mustang. By the end of the month, she takes a cookie from me after all!




February 2012:
I am told at the start of the month that Bay Girl will be leaving to go have her foal (due in March) at another facility and that she won't be back. I am absolutely heartbroken over this. I try to stay positive, focus on my incoming Pangea (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and have lots of fun when she arrives. Bay Girl leaves at the end of the month.... I say a miserable goodbye to her and fully expect to never see her again.

March 2012:
I get a text on my birthday that Bay Girl has had a colt! We share the same birthday, and all went well. Best birthday present ever! And I get even BETTER news at the end of the month - the two of them were COMING BACK to our facility!! I'd see my beautiful girl again after all!!




April 2012:
Mid-April, Bay Girl and her colt Elvis arrive back at our barn. Bay Girl is skinny but very slick and shiny in her new summer coat! I don't get to do much with her, given the fact that she now has a colt (who belongs to someone else) at foot, but I do manage to play with her a bit and get a flymask on her. Through a series of pulled strings, I managed to figure out the embryo transfer facility that Bay Girl belongs to, and make contact with them, FINALLY. They tell me all the mares are up for grabs for $1k, and I put it out on my blog to see if anyone would like to chip in for her. In just a few days, we have over $400, and the number grows every day!




May 2012:
I still can't do much with Bay Girl, given the Red Pest at her side (who is quickly turning into a large PITA), but deworming day comes and goes without fuss! She is now so catchable and friendly that I take a huge leap of faith and remove her catch halter - the first time it had been off in many, many, many months. I manage to convince her that other kinds of cookies aside from the ones she is used to are ok to eat, I muse on whether or not she is just a plain bay or actually a rabicano, and the donations reach $700!!




June 2012:
It's official, she is in fact a rabicano! There is a lot of speculation on whether or not her GIANT ENORMOUS BELLY has a secret baby in there... it is definitely a bit concerning! The Red Pest begins creep feeding, and I continue to play with Bay Girl whenever I can (hard with the colt hanging around causing trouble). To my complete amazement, donations reach $999 at the end of the month - WE DID IT! Now... WHEN would this become reality?
Looking back at the next picture and comparing it to now, I can't believe how much her body has changed!!




July 2012:
Elvis celebrates his 4-month birthday. I get a taste of how fragile our relationship is when I accidentally poke her in the eye with her flymask. (Thankfully this was shortlived.) The two of them temporarily get another mare and foal to hang out with, but only for a few weeks (and I laugh a lot at the size difference between Elvis and the other foal, who is only 2 weeks old - she can literally walk underneath him!) Other than that, I don't get to do much with her, much to my dismay. There literally isn't any way to work with her with the Red Pest around, other than to catch and groom her.

August 2012:

I continue to wonder whether or not she is pregnant - I don't think so, but her belly is definitely HUGE. I struggle to get ahold of the ET facility vet, but after much trying, I finally track the guy down and strike a verbal deal with him. Now all we need is for the foal to be weaned and for the lessee to return her to the ET facility! As luck would have it, weaning day arrived at the end of the month, and Bay Girl went back out into her old field with her old friends while the Red Pest stayed up in a front field with his babysitter. It was very low drama, although Bay Girl did not appreciate the way her new herdmates bullied her for a few days! I talk to the ET facility, and all they need is for the lessee to terminate the lease and to bring her back, and a check! The waiting game begins!

September 2012:

I figure out how to avoid the deworming issue. 9/11 come and goes, and I write about being an American. The lessee is completely AWOL, and Bay Girl is still at the main farm and not yet mine. I get tired of waiting, and decide to begin training her in earnest, starting with lunging loose in the roundpen. She is a quick study, and is doing walk-trot-whoa by the end of her first session, and walk-trot-canter-whoa by the end of her second. She even wears a saddle pad for the first time without fuss! She also gets a new name: Imogen!

October 2012:
Imogen has her first lunge lesson with an actual lunge line, and she nails it. She also wears a surcingle for the first time, and also nails it! (She also comes into flaming heat.... thankfully she is NOT pregnant!) The one-year anniversary of Gogo's death comes and goes, and I write about never being the same again. Imogen wears a bridle for the first time and does quite well, aside from an unsurprising amount of confused mouthiness! Putting the bridle on proves to be a problem, but wearing it is just fine. Despite the fact that Elvis was weaned two months prior, she is still at the main farm!

November 2012:
I FINALLY BUY IMOGEN! A few days later, I trailer her home, where she makes fast friends with Pangea. We lunge for the first time outside of a roundpen, and she does quite well! It takes a little while to transition her off of her sweet feed and oat diet to her new healthy diet (and who can blame her, why eat salad when you can eat candy?), but eventually she decides that it is tasty enough to snarf down with ease. She wears a saddle for the first time (!!!!), and we work on lunging in full tack, and wonder how to help her with her earshy problems. She also wears a big rope saddle, and doesn't care! I also teach her to pony off of Pangea, and she does wonderfully. We are well on our way to saddlebroke!

December 2012:
Imogen goes into the AquaTread for the first time, and does GREAT! She gets ponied out on the trail for the first time, and doesn't bat an eye at anything, not even when we have to walk over logs and go around the stock pond. We move facilities, and she absolutely loses her mind - she is anxious, hot, and very stressed right from the get-go. (But we do get some productive work in.) I let the barn owner roundpen her, and while it goes okay the first time, it is a complete disaster the second time. I abandon the idea, give her a week off, and have been at odds with the barn owner ever since. She loses weight very rapidly, and I cut back on her workload and up her feed. I attend an awesome large animal rescue class, and we ground drive for the first time - and she does great! Christmas comes and goes, and when I return we get back to lunging, ground driving.... and OUR FIRST RIDE. She does GREAT!!!





It is amazing to see where she has come from where she was. There is still a VERY long way to go, but the sky is the limit now. I believe in her, and I believe in us. We can do anything we set our minds to, so long as we have each other.

The past two days have been full of drama and bad things, but that is a story for tomorrow. For tonight, I choose to look back and remember... and look ahead and smile. 2013 goals coming soon!