Well...

Oh, where to start... I would say I've been busy... But I haven't been. I've done nothing. Well, nothing productive in the worlds meaning of the word.

 

Well, work has been.. Non existent. I haven't been to work for almost a week, which is quite a long time for me, but with the snow and all... Whatareyagonnado?

 

Again, running has also been non existent. Somehow I screwed my knee up, over a week ago actually. So I've been sticking to some basic core work to try not to screw it up even further. Which really is too bad, I was just starting to get into a routine. Work out in the morning, run in the afternoon. I mean, Hannah's rehearsals at the High School were really working for me! She could spend her two hours practicing, and I would go run. But now.. I just sit in the truck a read.

 

Haven't been over to see Eleanor.. For over a month. Wow. I'm really failing here. I suppose I need to get back into the swing of things! I have though, been obsessing over my trip to Florida! I'm sooooo excited! I leave February 16th, and get back a week later on the 23rd. One whole week of hanging out with my brother and cousin. Waving to the beach as I drive by, riding horses, probably being forced into some embarrassing situations at my cousins Renaissance fair, and eating food unknown to humankind. Yep, I'm excited :)

 

So (in order) I'm pretty excited about:

• Jessica is coming over this weekend!
• Fllooorrriiddaaa :)
• My birthday! (19?! Gasp!)
• Equine Affaire in Ohio
• More that I'm not going to divulge...

But really, January has been a pretty stinky month. I think we should just skip to February. Like, now.

Eleanor and the love bug

 

This is the farm dog of the day! This is Josie, an Australian Shepherd who lives at Katrinas. :) She's a pretty active dog as you can imagine...

Katrina threw her back out last night, so I went over and fed for her, and worked with Eleanor for a bit. Katrina has this awesome little battery powered massage-er. It looks like a lady bug, well, a kinda funny looking one.. So I used it as a simulation of clippers! She did alright, as usual, but didn't like it on her legs. But I have time to work on that..

Today at work, I worked Laureen on the ground. She was sorta crazy.. Like, on a circle when she would go on towards the barn, she would just keep going, and going. So I had to do some sort of power stance so she wouldn't pull me over! She leaped in the air, and galloped and bucked, and acted stupid. So I probably had her going in the circle for a good 10-15 minutes when she finally slowed to a trot, then I side passed her down the fence, backed her across the pasture (basically flipping out). Then I had her go on a circle again, she actually walked! She looked like a sane, friendly, calm, pony! YAY! Mission Accomplished.

No one watches a parade when it's raining

Does anyone else think it's hard to think of a first sentence for a blog? I don't know, it seems like the hardest part to me.

^What is that?! Is that Barneys blue cousin Izzy?!

Nooo... It's Eleanor!!! Awww She was so calm when we were working with her. I started by playing a game with her, the touch your nose on like, everything game. :) So I'd walk around the pen driving her to random stuff I had put around and she'd touch her nose on it, then we'd move on to the next 'thing'. Then Katrina put the saddle on, around, under and everywhere near her and she did great! It was pretty funny, I saw her spook for the first time, well, not really spook.. All she did was stand there and snort at the saddle when it was on the fence. She didn't try to run or anything like that, so I was pretty thankful!

Also we finished cleaning up the tack room, it looks fantastic! I really love being over there, and at Jo's. I don't know, they seem to understand me more than most people. Maybe because they're horse people? I'm not sure, but I love em to death! Along with the horses of course ;)

Also I rode Oprah and Shelby bareback.. Obviously at different times! It was amazing! Such a learning experience every time I ride. I haven't ridden a stock horse since July, so I was a bit rusty, but wow, once I got it, it felt great!

This is Oprah's BUTT! lol sorry, that made me laugh :)

Oprah's name is Oprah cause she's big and black ... Just sayin'

Eleanor the smarty pony

Woohoo Eleanor is a brilliant little mare. I worked on (Yes, lists help me think things through..)

1. Friendly game
2. Porcupine (Backing, zone 2, zone 4)
3. Driving (zone 1, zone 2, zone 4)
4. Leading
5. Walking over a white feed sack thingy, and tying it to the end of the stick and waving it around.

She was totally okay with it! It was amazing... Tomorrow we're going to play with a saddle, some other random toys and probably some yo-yo game and some driving to stuff.

Jo was super nice today and gave me a parelli puzzles book. So I will now be completely entertained!

Well I suppose my goals for her by the end of next year is:

• At least level 2, if not into three on the ground.
• Take to a Parelli clinic (Level 3?)
• Level 1 riding?

That's all I can think of right now. All I know is that this is my chance to test my knowledge. And to have a semi SANE horse to do it on! I swear Big Boy is ADD, ADHD, and Bipolar all in one...

"I found the source of the mysterious ticking noise! It's a pipe bomb!"

This is my bubby Tommy, and his daughter/my niece Olivia! I think I see a resemblance...

Again, I got to ride Loreen! That was interesting... We went up this CRAZY steep hill, and at the top there was a huge clearing.. I mean a good 15 acres of rolling hills. Amazingly beautiful. I am going to have to take a camera next time. But maaan, it was amazing! And She kept tripping. Like at one point, she tripped so bad she was on her knees. Jo said it was a "Seat tester" that if you can ride through that, you have a good seat. So I guess I'm good to go!

I worked with Eleanor today! We worked on the first three Parelli games. Well, the only new one we introduced was the driving game. And I think she got the basic gist of it. But I'm not entirely sure.. She just sort of looked at me like I beat her. So IDK.

For you horsey people who possibly read this.. Check this out. It is called "Horsenality" Basically finding out what Horsenality your horse has to help you in training. For instance, Big boy is a Left Brain Extrovert. And knowing that, tells me that he is playfull, gets bored easily, he's a fast learner, very smart, and is quite exuberant! So I have to do training sessions basically to entertain him, while teaching him something. So check it out! Horsenality Chart (pdf file). For more info, go to the Parelli website!

No such luck

Oh. My. Gosh. Eleanor is soooo smart! We worked on basically everything (Picking up feet, swinging rope all over the place, lowering head, leading, giving into pressure.). And she was amazing! And so calm! When stuff ever does spook her, she doesn't do much of anything. I hope she stays like that. That'd be amazing!

So Monday, I got to ride one of Jo's Icelandics. It was really cool! Very different. And she only ride's english, so I'll get plenty of practice!

Wow, for some reason I'm really not in the writing mood. Hmm... Well, that might have something to do with the fact that I'm watching Heroe's while on the internet :) I guess I will say that tonight is the first night of horse sitting Jo's ponies! I'm gonna try to remember to take the camera. Oh well, TTYL!

Pink

 

So yesterday... This awesomely, fantabulistic, amazingly cool, PINK newspaper was by our mailbox :) I mean, no, i'm not pink obsessed or anything. But this ROCKS! 

 

This ^^^ is sad :( I accidentally left it in my truck, in the sun, while I was in the library. In case it is un recognizable.. It's a kit-kat . Well, it was.

So this morning I went to Katrinas and worked with little miss thaanng. (Eleanor). We got her leading around the pen. Then we took her away from her little love herd, into the round pen. There we started to teach her to ground drive! We started with me leading her like normal, with katrina behind her wiggling the whip so she would get used to sounds and such. Then gradually I moved back to her shoulder, then to her hip, until we were baiscally lunging her at a walk, from her hip! Now, for a horse that has hardly been handled.. This was a huge deal!

Next we worked on.. standing on one side, swinging the rope over her neck and have it so it would loop around her hocks, then step back so she would have to swing around and face me. 

Then Katrina worked with her feet. Eleanor has issues balancing on three feet. So when you go to pick one up. She just puts all her 500 pounds into that one foot.

Well, that was quite a bit!

Also, we worked with Georgia some more. I got to ground drive her again, which was much easier now that I kinda have some sort of idea what I should be doing! Then after some other stuff, Katrina threw me up on her bareback and she led me around. Then Gave me the two lead ropes so I could steer, and she walked beside us. Basically we went from ground driving to riding. Which worked really well.. Surprisingly!

Well, now that I filled this post with nothing a normal person would be interested in.. I'm off! TTFN!

"If you were normal, there wouldn't be a day named after you." -Veggie Tales

Went over to Katrina's this morning and helped feed. Then helped work with Georiga. Georiga is the sorrel horse she rescued a couple of months ago. See the post Here. She did great. We ground drove her, and she has an amazing jog. She's going to make a great lesson horse. Also her coat is amazing! All her nasty scabby patches are gone. I'll take a picture of her next time I'm over there.

After that, I worked with Eleanor. She did okay.. I was working on leading. This was kinda tough, she was just testing me. You know, the whole "But I can't leave mooommm!" well, she really didn't give a rip about mom. She just wanted to be a snot. So after about 15 minutes of me trying to get her to walk forward, Katrina came over and just held a whip about 15 feet behind her, basically re-enforcing my cues. So I am online looking up some training exercises, just so I can go down the list and pick something I think she is ready for. But maaan, I have a loooong way to go. So I'll try to keep this updated about how she's doing! 

I'm going to try to take Big Boy to the park this week, but I'm going to have to get the trailer up and running in the meantime. But, I should probably get off of here and get something done! So will post later.

One good looking little horse... and she's mine! :)

 

This is "Izzy" (At least for now). She's a 1 1/2 year old Quarter Horse.  Her mom is this major Halter horse champ. So this will be fun! 

Did I mention she was free? ;)