Genesis, Apache, Abby, & Quest Go Home

Quest actually went home Thursday evening.  I delivered the other three today and just got home a little while ago.  The dogs are less than pleased that they spent most the day in the house, but it doesn’t appear that they took it out on the cats – just the cat food.  The bags are torn into little shreds and have been used to decorate three rooms of the house.  I’m so thrilled.

Anyway, let me tell you about a girl and her horse.  I told you last year how Meghan and Manny were in love and had many happy days to look forward to together.  Then a month later I shared the sad news that Manny had died of a heart attack and Meghan was crushed.

Well, Meghan has a new love in her life now and the two make the cutest pair.

 

The two mares that currently live with Meghan are mother and daughter, and Cinnamon doesn’t think there’s any need to share her food or her mother with Genesis.  So there was a lot of running around and pinning of ears at poor little Genesis.

 

The running around certainly did provide me with a lot of photo opportunities.  Too bad my camera and I were having a bit of a tiff today and the pictures aren’t as clear as they could have been.

 

 

I have always wanted to get a picture of  horse trotting, with all four feet off the ground at once.  I will never be this lucky again.  Ever.

 

Meghan went out into the pasture to “save” her new best friend from the Arabian mares who were so obviously PMSing.

 

Genesis ran right up to her and became her shadow for the next 20 minutes.

 

They walked around the pasture together and got a drink out of the creek.

 

I’m pretty sure Meghan didn’t drink out of the creek, but you never know around here.  This is West Virginia after all.

 

 

 

 

Rest in peace, Manny.  Genesis will take good care of your human.

Romantic Quest

We put aside all of our pending projects to take Quest to the North Bend Trail today to see how he reacted to bridges, tunnels, underpasses, and anything else that we came across before the parade this weekend. Glenn had the camera today, so be prepared for lots of pictures of my back.

He took the lead over Willow right from the trailer with this ground-eating walk that quickly left Willow moseying along way behind. He went over the first bridge and thought maybe the two cars coming towards him were going to run him over, then seemed astonished that they went under him instead.

He had no problems with the rock formations on either side of him. No problems with the squirrels running around in the leaves next to the trail. I think I spooked a few times, but he never did. The first time we cantered I let him blow a bit and go as fast as he wanted until he slowed into a nice comfortable canter. When we stopped, we had to wait quite awhile for Willow to catch up. Slowpoke.




Then came the true test. The first tunnel is 377' long, but luckily the sun was still low enough in the sky that none of the tunnels were pitch black in the middle. I thought we'd have to wait for Willow to catch up and lead us in, but Quest surprised me by just walking right in without any hesitation. He either doesn't know how to hesitate or he just doesn't see the point. We walked right into the first tunnel and he was a little nervous when he heard his own footsteps echoing back to him, but never tried to take off, stop, or misbehave in any way. He walked into the next two tunnels the same way. On the way home, one of the tunnels was pitch black in the middle and I couldn't even see his ears right in front of me. He didn't care, he was headed back to the trailer and hay - no way was he slowing down!

I rode the whole way on a loose rein. When we came to the creek crossing he plowed right in and immediately started pawing at the water while Willow took a drink. It took some convincing to get him out of the creek because he was having so much fun.

Most of the North Bend Trail is flat, but the last little bit on the way to the lodge is a ridge trail through the woods that is fairly steep in places. I noticed his saddle had slid back when going up one steep incline and he started swishing his tail and acting annoyed. I was hoping to make it to a flat spot before dismounting and fixing the saddle, but he had given me fair warning and I wasn't acting fast enough for him... he swung his head around and bit me in the leg! I hopped off, fixed the saddle, then just walked him the rest of the way to the lodge since it was only a couple hundred yards away. After lunch, he was fine and there was no more swishing or biting. I just love a horse that gives fair warning before misbehaving! And I really don't blame him for being upset with me since the saddle had slipped so far back.

On the way back we actually found something that scares the beast. A kid on a bicycle was going to EAT Quest, he was just sure of it. But all he did was throw his head up, stiffen up, and quiver a little. I asked the kid to stop and then Quest was able to walk quietly past the horse-eating bicycle. We then came to the walking parents and Quest wanted to stop and chat, maybe see if they had any treats or knew where his itchy places were located.

I guess since Glenn saw how well Quest behaved today my "he's a wild untrainable beast, so it's not safe for you to ride him yet" mantra is down the drain. I'm going to have to let Glenn ride him eventually, whether I like it or not.

Vacation? Where???

I know, I know. I said I'd be doing most of my posting this week over on the training blog. But the only horse I've had a chance to ride yet has been Quest. I rode him for about 10 whole minutes on Sunday and he was a dream. Next time I ride him, it will be with the dressage saddle. He's got such huge motion, especially at the canter, that I felt like a fish out of water in that synthetic western! I couldn't get my legs right and my seat was equally useless. Now if the rain that they are calling for for the rest of the week holds off, I'll get on him again before the weekend and really see what he's got. Maggie was here at the time taking pics with her camera phone, but she hasn't had a chance to send them yet. So you'll just have to make do with this one that I took today.




Saturday was spent with Anne picking up blankets and other tack from a woman who just happens to be very interested in the 4yo TB filly coming from Mountaineer. Lucky me.



I picked up Lady's Mandolin, aka Mandy, Saturday afternoon. A little girl is coming to try her out this afternoon. This is the 20yo QH mare that has been there, done that. She's a real sweetheart that I haven't had a chance to get on yet, but I'll get on before I let the little girl on. Mandy, Meghan, and Steel have become the three musketeers. They have developed their own little clique where Meghan is in charge. She is so totally happy with finally having someone to boss around! Jewel can't stand Steel, so she has buddied up with Indy and Radar.









This is Steel, the 10yo (not 8 as I thought) gelding. I picked him up early Sunday morning before the volunteers started rolling in shortly after 10. A friend of Anastasia's is coming over today to try him on for size. She just told Anastasia yesterday that she was looking for a horse and asked her where she got her two TBs from. The next thing I know I'm on the phone with B and she's telling me how excited she is to come out and see Steel. Okie dokie then.








Mandy and Steel. Adorable, ya?

This is for those of you going through Maverick withdrawal. Here he is in all his fabulous fuzzy fatness.

Random Lunch 10/30/08

We've had about 10 nights of frost so far. The garden is dead.

Or is it?

Glenn's collards growing happily without protection. This weekend I'll take the same stuff I made the tomato cages out of and make a hoop frame using clear plastic for extra protection.




Glenn's spinach. Picking up on the theme here? I am ready to be done with the gardening and canning for the year, but because my man wants more canned greens this winter I'm still at it. He owes me big time for this.





Thor's life is so very hard. I'm really not sure how he copes with living here.

Quest may not like Maverick at feeding time, but I think it's safe to say the two are getting along just fine.

The Power of Massage

Is it really Thursday already? Can someone please tell me where the rest of the week went and why I missed it?

This past Saturday Anne came out to learn equine massage and be with her favorite girl, Sadie. Now that Sadie has been turned out with the herd she does not, and I repeat, DOES NOT want to be away from them. Anne and I both think this is a result of never being turned out with a herd before. Usually, your fancy shmancy show horses and race horses aren't turned out with other horses because that would increase the opportunities for injuries during turnout. This would also explain why Sadie was clueless about herd hierarchy at first and had trouble adjusting to the herd. Her trouble didn't last long! Her attitude has gotten her in with the top cliques of the herd. She and Semi have been seen together on numerous occasions and she and Classy usually eat from the same pile of hay. But even though she hangs with the bitchy cheerleaders she still has time to chat up the nerds of the herd, like Willow and Radar.

But back to my point. Sadie did not want to be in the barn with us. I had brought Tabby in as well so that I could do Tabby and Anne could repeat my moves on Sadie. Tabby was all over the idea! Sadie's idea was to dance on our toes until we let her back out with the herd that was slowly disappearing around the back of the barn. After a few minutes of Anne not getting anywhere with Sadie we switched horses. Sadie was still difficult with me, but I did manage to get in a pretty good body massage on her. The poor girl was incredibly sore on her neck, back, withers, and hips. I couldn't even use the amount of pressure that I usually use on my horses because she was so reactive.

The good news is that a couple of days after the massage Sadie started moving better than ever! On Tuesday she came cantering up to the barn when she saw me and it wasn't her typical bunny hop in the backend this time. Yesterday she trotted up the hill and I saw no sign of her dropping her hip in pain. When she walked, both hind feet tracked up to the front footprints the same. Go Sadie! There's hope yet for this mare. I'm on-call for work again this weekend, but I'll find time to massage her again even if I have to bring her down to the house within phone distance to do it. I can hear my conversation with a client now... "can you hold for a minute? My horse just got loose."

Quest is next up on the massage list. I also need to teach Anastasia how to massage so she can do her two TBs who I'm sure could use it. But Quest... well, he and I need to have a serious conversation one of these days. When Quest got here he was extremely food aggressive. Meaning he'd pin his ears back and try to bite or kick anyone that got near his food. When I talked to the trainer she said that he was a real monster at feeding time at her barn too. He's gotten a lot better in the past couple of weeks and I can walk up to him while he's eating now without fear of being eaten myself. He still pins back his ears, but if I ignore him and keep coming like nothing is wrong he will relax and perk his ears up once I've patted him on the neck. He still does that impatient TB thing where he picks up one front foot and holds it in the air while he's eating. Junior used to do that when he was younger, but he eventually grew out of it.

The trainer also told me that Quest was always very nervous under saddle, which is why I've given him so much time to just relax and be a horse before working with him. Sunday was the first day I tried lunging him and it did not go well! He was a nervous wreck and just wanted to gallop around the lunge line no matter how short I kept it. I kept having to let him out further since I couldn't slow him down and didn't want him going down in the mud. Eventually, I got a walk from him and it was all downhill from there! Once he figured out that galloping is not what I wanted from him he slowed down, dropped his head and walked around like he was on a hot walker. Good boy! Whoa came easy for him, but every time he stopped he'd turn in to me and look for approval. I usually want my horses to just stop and stand, still out on the circle, but for this one time I'd let him come in and get some lovin'. He's such a pocket pony when there's no food around! He just loves having his head held to your chest and being scratched and smooched. I didn't lunge him for long, but made sure we ended on a good note of just walking and whoaing.

With the weather changing so drastically there probably won't be much more working with the horses except for ground manners (picking up feet, haltering, grooming, massaging, etc). I'd still like to get Tabby broke to saddle before the end of the year, but I'm not sure who's been stealing all my free time.

Triple Delight

A couple of weeks ago a thoroughbred breeder in Florida gave me a call. He said he had found the website and wanted to know if we'd take his horse, Joma. Joma is seven and the trainer doesn't want to race him anymore because he came up sore after his last race. Rather than ship him off to the nearest auction, the trainer convinced the breeder to try to find a rescue home for the gelding. After talking to me for a few minutes he gave me the name of his trainer at Mountaineer race track where Joma was being raced. Mountaineer is only about 100 miles from here, not far from Pittsburgh.


If I was a TB race horse, I'd want this woman as my trainer! Unlike most race horse trainers, she allows the horses turn out time and doesn't keep them locked in stalls 24/7. She also keeps them at her own farm where they have their very own pool for exercise and therapy. She doesn't pump them full of steroids. And she doesn't race them when they aren't physically capable of racing. Through another trainer at Mountaineer I hear that "P" is one trainer that definitely takes care of her horses.

I'm thinking that this is one trainer that I wouldn't mind getting a TB from. I gave her a call and we talked for awhile about Joma. Then she brought up Imperial, which is her personal horse that she no longer races. Imperial had a joint infection awhile back, and although it's healed and he's sound, his one knee is still large and "ugly". Sure, bring them both.

The next week P calls back to make final arrangements for bringing down the horses and mentions a three year old black gelding that's also looking for a home. He's not built for racing, he's too over at the knee and came up sore after the last race. He's only raced five times. Can I take him too?


First let me say that I have wanted a black horse ever since I could say the word "horse". Isn't that what every little girl wants once she's read The Black Stallion or Black Beauty?

Three horses showed up at the end of my driveway today. Three BEAUTIFUL thoroughbred geldings. I put them in the back pasture with Maverick and Stride so they wouldn't have to fight the herd for social position and worry about being in a new place at the same time. I was worried at first that they would be aggressive and domineering TBs, with a side of totally wacko thrown in for good measure and that they'd beat up on poor old Stride. This is what I'm used to in a TB fresh off the track. What I ended up with was three very gentle geldings who spent the first few minutes trotting around the pasture, and the rest of the time playing bite-face with Maverick or grazing quietly next to Stride.


How about I just shut up now and introduce you to the new men in my life?

This was P's personal horse that had to be retired from racing because of the "ugly" knee. Judging by the way he was trotting around the pasture today, the knee doesn't bother him at all. Imperial Alydeed is seven years old.





Romantic Quest is the black three year old who's just not comformationally built to withstand the rigors of racing. He's gorgeous and has claimed Stride as his new best friend. Glenn has decided that Tabby is no longer the horse for him and I'm allowed to adopt her out now. Quest is now his new horse, whether I like it or not. Glenn is still at the "it's pretty so it must be a nice horse" stage of his equine education. I suppose we'll find out if the two will make a good pair once I get Quest under saddle for evaluation.




Joma is one of those hunks that you see on the beach who fills out a speedo in all the right places and is reading Atlas Shrugged while sun bathing. I fell in love with him instantly. He's built like a tank and has the greatest personality that makes me want to just cuddle up with him.





Apparently, Maverick feels the same way.









The two of them were inseparable and thoroughly enjoy playing bite-face. Let's just hope they don't wrestle, I think Joma would have a distinct weight advantage.






David and three Goliaths. But Maverick is just another man that doesn't think size matters.





By the way, I'm not the only one that fell in love with Joma. Once I've ridden him and deemed him sane he goes home to Anastasia to be her new trail horse. What a lucky guy!