Recipe's Pt 2

Since I accidentally deleted the first go around... which took me like 30 minutes of my time to post.... here it is the second go around.

Chocolate Truffle Cake

This is a six layer cake that does take time to do. It does take some sort of know how around the kitchen to get it right. Definitely not a beginner's cake. Since it is soooo involved, I am just going to link the recipe here.

Cheese Ball

This is extremely easy and really really good. Be carefull, I've had friends gorge themself on this...

1 pkg cream cheese
1/4 cup minced onion
1 tabls worsh sauce
Good dash of wine
Pepper
Handfull of cheddar cheese

Mix everything together and shape into a ball. Roll in nuts or whatever if desired.


Hot Crab Dip

1 pkg cream cheese
6 oz of lump crab
1 tabls worsh sauce
1-2 tabl prepared horseradish (not the creamy)
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup minced onion

Mix everything together and bake for 20-30 minutes at 400F till bubbly.

Pork Wonton Soup

Tonight I was craving a pot sticker but wanted soup. So that prompted me to make a batch of pork won-tons. Now, for the record I have never made pot sticker's let alone a won-ton. So heavy internet searching was my best friend. What I came up with (even though my camera sucks at pictures) was a light broth with a delicious won-ton.

Pork Won-ton's

1 package won-ton wrappers
1lb pork
1/2 head of cabbage
2 tbls oyster sauce
1 tbls fish sauce
2-3 tbls soy sauce
1-2 tbls sesame oil
2 garlic cloves
1 tbls chopped ginger

I make my pork mix in the food processor because its easiest. You could chop all by hand and buy ground pork. Shred the cabbage in the food processor with the shredding blade. Dump into a large bowl. Add all the other ingredients to the processor with the grinding blade. Grind all till it is well mixed and somewhat pasty looking. Add to the cabbage and mix with hands. At this point I popped a small bit in the microwave to check the taste. I adjusted a few things, namely where the oyster sauce came in. Do not add any more fish sauce than the recipe calls for. You want a subtle background of it, that's all.

Place a small bit on each wrapper and fold the wrapper over. Use water to seal the edges. Don't let them touch when you pile them onto something, otherwise they'll stick. Boil a large pot of water and drop them in. When they poof and float their done.

Soup

1 carton of chicken broth
1 small peice of ginger chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
Mushrooms ( I used oyster)
Crushed red pepper
1 tbls soy sauce
1teas sesame oil

Basically put everything in the pot and put to simmer for about 15-25 minutes.

Ladle the soup into the bowls and top with won-tons. Perfection!


Note: that won-ton recipe makes ALOT of these suckers. Rest assured though, they can be prepared up till the boiling and frozen, ready for eating when you are. I saved my extras for tomorrow with my friends. YUM

Thanksgiving!

Woot! It's Thanksgiving finally! We're driving home tonight (well my home) and going to stay with my sister tonight. Driving back Thanksgiving night. Going to be a busy busy next two days. The rest of this post is for my personal reference only. Since nobody else reads this blog I can do whatever I want!

Supplements I started taking/retaking:
(as of 11/24)

- Vitex - supposed to help with my insane PMS
- Multivitamin - with iron since I have an issue with that
- Fiber pills - to help with well...
- Probiotics - works in conjunction with above
- Milk Thistle - for the old liver

The thistle, fiber, vitamin, and vitex are taken at night. The morning is vitex and probiotics.


Lets see how long I keep it up after a month. Excellent. Short short post I know.

Bridges Burning!

So upon marriage I have now started to see a sobering reality. While, without kids, my husband and I can drop everything and go out together. We cannot just drop everything and go out separately. He's like a parent there, wanting to know where I'm going, when I'll be back, if I'll be safe, and who I am going out with. Now granted, I will do the same thing to him, it's no different which one of use tries to escape the other one.

We are free to live our lives together but not separately. So in order to go out with any girlfriends, I always feel like I have to ask to go out. Check that out non married people. It's not that I am forced to stay home, but I do have to take into consideration my husbands feelings. Crazy.

So because of all of this, I sometimes feel like I burn up bridges. It's not intentional at all, but I think it is why married people end up having kids. They have shunned their single friends not with force, but with the reality that hanging out with just one spouse is incredibly hard. The married couple needs something else to fill the void they used to have full of single carefree friends.

Marriage has so many perks but sometimes is so incredibly lonely.

Short Days

I think I have hit that point where I really just don't like my job. I also have hit the point where I refuse to be one of those people that continue to work somewhere they hate. You know the type, the ones that constantly bitch about this or that. I am not one of those people. Every ounce of my being is going to be put forth the effort of moving to the farm, getting another horse, and finishing school. Not in any particular order either.

Short post, but I just needed to say it.

Christmas? I think so!

It is coming people! The Christmas season is among us! You know what that means.................................

.......
.......
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It's my favorite season of the year!!!!!!! There are holiday parties, eggnog, christmas trees, christmas lights, dancing, singing, and love. I'm already past excited about it! I am going to do a small non-formal x-mas party this year. Maybe 4-5 friends but something amazing. AMAZING. Stuff I've always wanted to make, but hadn't gotten that far yet. I may even buy a new kitchen table! CRAZY TALK.

Excitement!

Good Karma?

I've been in an extremely good mood lately. Yesterday was a trip because I was just *happy* the entire day. Today is much the same. I've got lots of stuff planned over the next few weeks too, the holidays are really in full swing!

This weekend I work at my second job and am taking Joe's grandmother out to dinner on Saturday night. Something nice for her. Sunday we have church stuff to do all morning and not sure what after that and then our financial peace class.

Next weekend we're going to the lake with Joe's brother. This should be A LOT of fun. His brother has never done the lake cold before so we are going to rock his world! I am trying to think of dinner on Saturday night. Something stick to your ribs. I'm thinking beef or chicken. Like roast a whole chicken or do beef short ribs. We will need it after a full day of plinkering around outside. I may try to make bread down there, but I am not sure if that will work because of the temps. I'm still deciding on that one.

I've also been doing really good with eating and exercise. My alcohol consumption is cut by 3/4's! I've now got some rules down for myself for what I can and can't drink. That is probably the best option I have right now. I have also been trying to get Joe to go with me to the gym, but he is being a stubborn bastard. I'll work it in.

Tea! Glorious tea! It's gotten cool enough that that is all we've been drinking at night lately. I think I have spent 25 bucks in teas and we have gone through a fourth of it. We drink 1-3 cups a night. I love the cold weather.

Buck has also taken almost an unhealthy obsession with me lately. I don't know if he has always had it, or if I'm just now noticing it. He follows me EVERYWHERE. If I'm sitting on the floor he wants to be right next to me if not in my lap. If I'm in a room, he has to be there. Joe said the other night when I was gone Buck was pacing the house for me. Poor guy, I think I should start ignoring him more. Shadow doesn't act like that.

Oh! I've also filled out a couple volunteer applications! I turned in one for the metro parks system and one for Girl Scouts. I am currently looking for a horse rescue as well to work with. I'm thinking maybe this leads to good karma? Doing good stuff for my community? I want to work with MAS too, but they didn't have anything online about their volunteer program like they used to.

That's all I've got right now. I'm going to attempt to find something to wear to work, although I know it will be a struggle. Always is.

French Onion Soup and other muesings

This entry will be about soup. Walk away now, brave reader, if you cannot handle an entire blog about soup.

Last night I made one of my absolute favorite soups, french onion. (Joe said I should rename it to Rachel's Onion to avoid the French) I am so in love with this soup because it has so much going for it. Sweet carmalized onions, rich broth, crusty croutons, and lots of broiled cheese on top. Oh, its like love in my mouth. I cannot get enough of it. Last night I accidentally forgot the recipe and had to wing it. Which was good because it turned out effing amazing. So here it is in all its glory, the recipe for greatness.

French Onion Soup

5 large onions (I used yellow)
4-5 tabl butter
1/4 cup vermouth
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups stock (I used chicken, traditional is beef)
2-3 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
Sprinkle of thyme
1 good crusty bread loaf
Tons of shredded swiss cheese (what can I say, it's my recipe)

Slice onions in half, removing the two ends in the process. Remove the skins and cut into quarters. Slice thin. Add butter to a large saucepan and melt over a med heat. Toss in all the onions, cover, walk away. In about ten minutes, come back and stir. Cover and walk away. Repeat this till the bottom of the saucepan starts getting browned goodness and the onions begin to turn a light brown. Scrape up as much of the browned bits off the bottom of the pan as you can and cover and walk away for 5 minutes. Keep this up till all the onions are carmalized a deep caramal color.

Deglaze with the vermouth then the wine. Add in the garlic chopped into tiny peices, the broth, thyme, and the bay leaf. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile slice your crusty bread into thin slices. Turn a broiler on Low and roast those suckers for about 2-3 minutes, flip, and roast the other side. You are looking for toasted perfection on both sides. Once out of the oven rub all over witha sliced piece of garlic.

Spoon the finished soup into bowls, top with a piece of bread or two, cover in swiss and place under the broiler on hi for about a minute. Watch, it may burn. Turn off burner, remove, and enjoy. (caution, it will be extremely hot!)



There, that is my love. I've been making lots of soup lately. Been eyeing another large batch of gumbo coming up. MMMM

Horses.

Yesterday I got the nerve to call my old trainer up. We had been relaying emails back and forth for quite some time and I just called because it was a gorgeous day and I wanted to see if she was heading out. Turns out she was and had two riders that day. I asked if I could straggle along to which she sounded gratefull for some help.

I think we worked really well together. It was like an unwritten system and we got it done. She handed me a horse and I groomed, then she grabbed another and she groomed. We saddled and put them back in their stalls and grabbed another two. Saddled and then got the truck and trailor ready. I led the horses to the trailor while she loaded them in.

Once at the barn while she got them unloaded I was putting them away. Once they were all in she checked the cinches on two horses and I checked the other two. She bridled two and I bridled two. Once the girls who were going to ride showed up I got the two horses that were to be used for them standing next to the mounting block while my trainer showed them how to get up and how to steer. We both adjusted stirrups.

Once I got up on my horse I fell quietly in behind the two girls while my trainer went to the front of them. It was like clockwork the entire time. I didn't say much other than to tell the girl infront of me to kick every now and again and to pull hard on the reins when the horse balked at moving.

My horse I had never rode before and we quickly had a temper tantrum the second we started walking away from the barn. He wanted to go back, I wanted to go forward. We sat for about five minutes with him doing that sideways fast step trying to go back up the hill, me kicking him hard in the right for forward movement, and him pulling his head left while I was pulling right. I think I terrified the girl in front of me. Her eyes were saucers watching me work.

Five minutes later my horse was like "fine" and went forward. We didn't have a single issue the rest of the ride. In fact, I really liked him. By the end of it he was starting to respond to the neck rein and leg I was giving him the entire ride. (my trainer doesn't ride him at all, she got really frustrated with him and wants to sell him)

After the ride I helped with tying horses, unbridling, getting horses hosed off, back ont he trailor, and then once they were home doing all the unsaddleing. It was all in all and awesome day. I really enjoyed it. It was almost theraputic to me. I think my trainer enjoyed having me there to help as well, she told me to come back whenever I wanted to just help out with anything. I need that right now. Not another horse, just to be around them.

Life and some me post...

I am in love with Gary Allen and his music. I've been listening to it alot lately and I can say that he is one of my favorites. I think it's amazing to walk back in time with my life. This is not what I thought would happen and god damn I had more stupid mistakes that could have honestly ended up in turmoil. For fun, since this is an open blog and I really don't give a shit, let's go over a couple. This could be a metric ass ton of fun.

Skipping School:

I was a pro at this. It didn't start till I was in middle school. I used to act like I was getting ready for school then just never leave. Fake sick if needed. I was a pro, or so I thought. I got caught once and brought back to school. Once. I'll never forget it. But I'll also never forget all the fun I had while not in school. Oh those were the days.

First Loves:

I had so many of these, I even made my friends a little jealous. Apparently I was cute or something because I didn't really have a period where I was worried about a boyfriend. I always went for the older guys, why I dunno. That's how I met my ex. That dumb mother fucker, but it is how I met him. He was older and could buy me ciggs.... go me. I know, I'm a fucking loser, but damn, I was 15. I remember one of my friends liking this one guy a lot and he ended up wanting me. I didn't want him, but ya know. It was a jab for me. I don't see myself as hot or anything and to have a guy want me over a friend? That's just plain odd.

Haha! I remember when my first "boyfriend" tried to kiss me. I broke up with him. HAHAHAHa that is a good memory. I also remember the first guy I slept with. I met him maybe 3 times. Looking back the only reason I slept with him was to impress my friends. Yeah, I'm a freaking winner. Thankfully, I didn't turn into a whore after that and can still count all my lovers on one hand. Unlike some of my friends..... and there are quite a few of them...

My first Tattoo:

I love my first tattoo and want another one. Joe is vehemently against it. Why, I will never know. But I will have another and it is going to be on my foot. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will start looking for artists. Though, lots of people ask "Why a Gecko?" I do not have an answer for them. It was what I wanted and it's what still makes me smile when I look at it. I do not regret it even almost 10 years later.

I want my next one to be about Dodge. I know, bittersweet. I need to find an artist to tell the story to and to be what I can't draw. I do not want a horse tattoo'd on me, I want something that has a lot of meaning and is powerful. I want this decision to be left on my mind forever. I miss Dodge every morning I wake up. I want to go nuzzle her so bad. I want to be frustrated again. I want to incorporate so much love and so much anger into one area of my body. It will be interesting.

I am in love!

This what I want:




Good looking, dapple grey, twh. He is a gelding. OOOO I would take him home right now if I were in the position to buy another horse! I hope he finds a good home.

Postwhore

Been kinda a post whore today. Everywhere. My thoughts are just flying through my brain at the moment. I must still be pumped up on this past weekend or something. Who knows. I'll get some coffee in a second for a full round about in-saneness.

And then like that, I have nothing to write about. I could go into everything that has been rushing around my head today, but I have no idea who reads this blog. As much as I want to post a lot of things, I know some people see me in this odd PC light. Maybe I should just say eff it and speak whatever is on my mind. I could just start typing some subjects that just popped up in there, but then I would feel somewhat dirty if like say my mom reads this. (she doesn't, I think)

Then again, what is the point of having a online blog when I don't even post about anything with any real meaning? This blog had turned into something for me at one time, my training journal. I could go back to when I first got Dodge and see what I tried then and if it worked. Then work from there. It became my spot to talk about my horse stuff without Joe's eyes glazing over. Now though, now where do I go?

Maybe I'll start running again. I mean I have the time now and at one point in my life I lived for training. 5 minute miles were very much so my thing. I never wanted to be a fast runner and never worked on it, it just sorta happened. I never could keep that pace though, I would always struggle down after mile 4. My best times was a hair under 2 hours for 13 miles. And that was with walk breaks as I am very afraid of breaking things.

I should start running again. I have nothing else at this point but running. My other hobby's are dead at the moment. Sigh. Yes. Tomm morning I will start the slow slow struggle again. It's how I lost 70lbs at one time, running. I just woke up one day and started doing it, with Shadow in fact. At one time she wasn't old as dirt and a great running partner. I never want to be that skinny again, but I would like to shed a few and get back to 7 min miles.

The sad part is I don't like running with Joe, as much as loves to run with me. Joe wears me out when he runs with me. He is always complaining, making noises like he's dying, and the man can't keep pace to save his life. I like to put my head up, start a pace, and stick it out. Some walking breaks here and there but for the most part keep it up for 30.

I'm excited! This is going to be fun!

Weekend fun!

I went shopping on Friday. Gasp people gasp. I never shop. Not only did I go shopping, I bought 2 dresses and 2 skirts. Now fall over dead because I am not kown to do this.

Went out to dinner with the inlaws and Joe's brother. I had my favorite meat on the planet, delicious lobster. I love you lobster, your cute little red body, white delicious meat, the antennae that Joe likes to poke me with........... did I mention I love lobster?

Saturday was Z-Day. Well, in reality it turned into off road breakage but it was still alot of fun. The fajitas I made turned out well, which is good because I was nervous. I'm still waiting on 2 people to pay me for all the food and nottery, but if they pay then I am not out any money for this event. (sans what me and Joe would have paid)

I also did totes this time around! I have all of our camping gear in totes. This has made everything so much easier. Pack it into totes instead of all individually and I can leave it all in totes. I am happy with my totes. Totes totes totes.

I'm pretty sure our group of friends is also the most awesome on the planet. There is good time to be had when they are around. I like watching newbs ride with Joe and get completely covered in mud. I want a Heep like our friend W. His is high enough off the ground to miss most of the mud, but has no doors to add to the element of suprise. I also love having a roll bar to hold onto.

I love Joe's little Sammi that could, I really do. But it's stupid low to the ground, you get covered in mud, and the tippage factor on that little Sammi is high. Although, Joe blew it up this weekend so I CANNOT WAIT to get it back to our house to tear into it! I want to see the motor! Hehe, I like tearing apart motors, not so much putting them back together. Just ripping things apart. Evil?

Jeez, we also need to get our carport finished up with the painting. And I need to start looking for clearance fire pits. We need one for the backyard for chilly days around it. :)

So I guess I'm going to dive into cooking now

Since Dodge is gone..... I guess what I have now is cooking. And I'm already thinking I'm pretty good just need to refine a bit. So on Saturday I'm doing a large dinner party for my family. 6 people will be in attendence.... I'm not nervous just a little apprehensive because it is going to be a large fancy thing.

Here is what I have so far as a menu.

Lobster Bisque

Vodka Marinated Beef
Fennel mashed potato's
Saute'd veggie of some sort

Fresh fruit and chocolate pastry cream tart

I have the beef on hand, everything for the tart but the fruit, and will have to get some lobsters (2) for the bisque. Tonight when everything finally cools off I will be getting my list of things together taht I'll need to go shopping for on Weds. I don't want the meal to be too heavy but I did it anyway by starting out with Bisque. ;) God I'm horrible sometimes.

Fun times ahead!

Day by Day

I'm starting to look at breeding farms. If I can figure out a good place I'd like to have a yearling and just work on groundwork for about 2-3 years until its old enough to ride. I dunno. I just dunno.

Anywho, so I quit drinking for 2 weeks starting on Weds of this week. After Dodge died I drank wwwwwaaaaayyyyy too much and ate like shit. So I went to Whole Foods and bought a body cleansing kit thing, quit the drinking and crazy eating, and am now on Day 3 of the program. I bought some fresh basil for homemade pesto tonight for dinner. MMMM I love pesto. Throw some chicken in there and bam instant dinner. YUM.

I have more to talk about but I'm so like eh, on actually typing. I may get some done this weekend.

I still want her back......

Well, it has been 4 days since she passed away. I didn't think I would, but she has been on my mind every single day since her passing. Every 5 minutes she crosses my mind. I want her back so bad. I loved the way she smelled, call me crazy, but I really did love nuzzling up to her neck and just sitting there breathing in her smell. Horses don't smell too bad when they've been out on pasture and she was perfect. Sigh.

I know I want another horse. I just can't right now. While if I was to kick and scream enough I could have one, I don't. I need time to get her out of my mind. I am telling myself to wait a year, research bloodlines, and make a educated purchase. I know on the next one I will be dropping a pretty penny and I'm ok with that. I know I want another Walker and I know I want it to be grey. I will not be buying for color alone though, I'll drive to Washington to get my next one if I have to. Remember, I said I am going to drop some money.

In other news, Sunday I am going to get her tack. I don't want to go into the tack room to do this, it will be so effing hard. All of her hair is all over it. I'm going to store it all in Joe's mom's basement for the time being. It stays cool and relatively dry down there. I mean I'll check on it as often as I can, but I think it will be fine.



Onto other subjects I guess. This blog will take a totally different turn now....

So hard.

Dodge passed away the morning of Sept 20th, 2009. She got colic and it ruptured. I am going to miss her more than anyone will ever know.

My lord I accomplished things!

Since I was home last night for the second time in a row since god knows how long, I was actually able to do things. I did some wash, folded clothes, OMG FINALLY MOPPED THE KITCHEN FLOOR. Sorry, you can tell I'm a little excited about that? I was also able to finally get the kitchen squeeky clean, instead of my halfass cleaning. It's amazing what happens when a.) your not completely drained and b.) you have some time.

Fish update! Alright so I know I've never talked about my fish, in fact 2 months ago I was sick of the tank. Since I couldn't get it sold I decided to get just 2 fish, a white oscar and a black one. The black one died :( I'm pretty sure one of the two africans left gave him a hard time. I'm currently looking for another large oscar to put in there with the white one. It's the only way they have a chance. I need to get rid of my African's too but am not sure where in world to put them. Hmmm I need to call and see if anyone will trade me.

I'm also very optimistic about tonight with Dodge. Walk, walk, walk. Then woah. Since she almost has walk down pat I feel I can start her woah. I'm also going to switch her to the curb bit and see how she likes it. I know I will feel better to not be yanking every five minutes on her mouth. (well not yanking, I just don't direct rein with as much ease as indirect) If anything I'll put her back in the Tom Thumb. I don't want to, but she was ridden in one for over 15 years..... it may be easier to give into it. I dunno.

My goals for Dodge? Just be able to do anything with her. I want a trusty horse to jump up on anytime and ride anywhere. Right now I'm lucky to have 5 focused minutes from her. Sigh. Nobody told me horse ownership was like this.

I also ordered her a new blanket yesterday since the first one is too big, hopefully this one will fit just right. I also ordered a riding crop, not for riding but for discipline. Honestly I never used one till the other day when she did her whole "I am not going to walk" thing. I like it for a quick easy discipline with her. I'm not beating her at all with it, just getting her focus back onto me.

I am also hoping my BO will be there tonight so I can ask her to help me with Dodge, or go on a short ride with me. I dunno.

When Frustration gets in the way

I will admit it. I let myself get frustrated with Dodge on Sunday. If I get frustrated, Dodge gets frustrated, and then we both are fighting each other. It is a no win situation and just stresses her out, gets the training going nowhere, and makes me feel like utter crap.

So I feel horrible about it and decided to leave her alone the next few days to reset myself and her. I know what I did wrong, I am trying to do too much too fast. Instead of focusing on one aspect of training I'm trying to do 20, which is just not going to happen. I started thinking about when I trained Buck, we worked on one command over and over until he got it, then moved to the next one. This is what I need to do to Dogde. I can't ask for a walk, stop, and trot all in one day, it's too much.

I will be out there tomm to work on walk again. Which she is getting quite well. She seems to remember "easy" and the walk is improving. She still trys to bolt the other way, but I think is understanding that it is unacceptable. Once walk is improved we'll move to the woah again. I was going to start with woah, but walk kinda just happened.

I talked to the old owner last night who said she has always been ridden in a Tom Thumb, never a regular snaffle. I would prefer a western bit just because its how I ride, so I may go ahead and throw the curb on her on Weds after our lunging work at walk to see how much she improves. The old owner said she never really had a stopping problem, so I think Dodge is running through the bit because she can. I'm thinking that woah wasn't one of her best instilled commands. I'm working on beating it into her skull (not literally here!) but in the meantime I want to be able to know that stopping can be acheived. She is such a freaking sweet sweet horse. Damn her sweetness damn her!

Dodge

Went to see her last night and we worked her. She sweated!!!!!! First off we lunged her with "walk". My lord she actually walked. Took damn near 20 minutes but she got that walk means walk. I lunged her and my friend lunged her as well. That's all we focused on was walk.

Then we rode. Low and behold she actually walked! Now my friend is a much better rider than I, I will probably try to sneak her out more often just to get pointers and what not from her. I rode and we walked as well! BREAKTHROUGH!

On Friday we will just work on walk again. I don't want to confuse Dodge by changing it up. I want a solid walk from her when I ask for it. We'll probably stick with boring walk for a bit. Next we'll work on the run walk, but that will be a couple weeks.

My BO also told me yesterday how sweet Dodge is becoming! Yay! It has been a long LONG road to get Dodge back to being handled. Two months ago I was almost ready to give up on her and now I'm looking forward to training with her. She is the best damn horse ever in my humble opinion.

That's all I got for the moment. I'll be back out on Fri for walk lesson two, so I'll let you know how that goes then!

Oh life

I am so excited to go to the lake this weekend. I mean really excited. I don't even care that there will be kids there or that there could be chaos. I'm just happy to get the hell out of Louisville for a weekend. I still need to pick up a few items for food but woot for leaving!

Tonight should be fun! Meeting up with few friends for beer and food at our favorite local bar. Nothing crazy, just hanging out.

Been "dieting" lately too, i.e., watching what the hell I put in my mouth. Amazing that I actually can eat healthy! What an insane idea!

I am also super happy that I paid all the bills for the month of Sept with the two paychecks that just went into the bank. Meaning all of our paychecks in Sept have no home. (well technically I will use the last paychecks in Sept to pay all of Oct bills) So we still have money to throw ont he student loan! And we're still ahead! Joe was so worried that we couldn't do the horse and pay off student loans but we're doing just that and we're fine. This doesn't even include the second job!

Which, thankfully I am going to quit. Don't need it at this time. If I need one again I'll get it, but thank god I will have weekends back! I'm so happy!

Let's see ... other junk....

Oh we got a new tent! Our old one lasted us 3 years and it technically still has life in it left but it lost a pole and the zipper is pretty much busted. So we went ahead and dropped some dimes and got a 4 season tent. It has aluminum poles! 1 million times better than the fiberglass ones!

I'm also in awesome moods lately, it's like so much of our life is coming together. We agree on almost everything and are just happy.

White Zin

I have finally decided that this week is my week. Screw the rest of the world. I will get caught up on laundry, contain the giant plant out front, and relax. I, as mentioned before, am not even to go see Dodge. I kinda miss her right now to be honest, since I have been out there pretty much every other day since I got her. I will not break down. Haha!

I have a glass of white zin right now that I'm sipping on. I'm in bliss. I went food shopping tonight and stocked up on everything we need for the next month, well hopefully. I know I've probably forgotten something.

So if you don't see a new post that is why.

Progress, kinda

On Friday I had in my mind I was going to ride Dodge and so I did. I didn't have a goal in mind I just wanted to hop on and see what happened. I rode in the round pen for my sake and hers. Couple things I noticed:

1.) She does not have a good stop
2.) She thinks its go time the second you hop on
3.) She is a great mover and needs a strong rider.
4.) She is a very strong willed horse.

Things I need to work on with her:

1.) The stop
2.) standing still until I ask for movement


I was quite suprised with myself that I stayed on and rode as well as I did. Granted we only went in a circle, but she had some rough bouts and some lopes and smooth gaits in there. I wasn't asking for anything really, just seeing what happened.

I am going out in a week and we're going to work on stop. I think I can do this in a week with her. Basically, next week I'll go out and saddle, go into the round pen, and work on it. I am not going to be pulling on the bit, that is stupid. I plan on being out there for an hour or two each time. My goal for day one is get a stop in. That's it. I have a feeling it is going to take awhile. I plan on letting her do her thang in circles like she does. I will "quit" riding and see what happens. I'll keep her in a circle, but I won't be active in it. When she stops when I quit riding I'll praise her and let her have her head for grazing, peering over the fence, talking to her buddies, or just getting her mind off of moving for 10 minutes or so.

When I hit it out there again I'll work on producing the woah with the riding quit and then eventually the rein pull. I'll keep her in a circle, when she loses the circle she loses her attention on me I've noticed. That is not what I want.

After woah we'll work on walk, right now she needs to stop.

No riding last night

Trust me I really wanted to, but it was hot. Stupid hot. I was sweating standing still, so I know Dodge had to be hot.

Her hooves were done on Tuesday and look great! I am happy to report that the foot with no frog in March now has a large healthy looking frog! I felt bad making my BO hold Dodge for the farrier, but since I work in the daytime she offered to do it for me. She said Dodge was awesome and that she wished every horse was that easy. She said Dodge almost fell asleep throughout the procedure. Haha!

I want to do something nice for the BO. She really is being beyond helpful, to the point that I am not paying her to do some things. Like hold Dodge for the farrier, give me semi lessons when we ride, spend 30 minutes yesterday helping me find a blanket size for Dodge. I mean its all these little things that are above and beyond what I expected out of a boarding stable. I think I may get her a 50 dollar gift card to SSTack or Jeffers, the two places I know she shops the most. I don't want to get her a useless gift, so I think a gift card will suffice.

I like her a lot. I ask her a TON of questions and she always comes back with an answer for me and lets me get some insight on how she does things to make it easier. The walking Dodge out with me to show me how to correctly use a stud chain on Dodge? The sitting around just to watch me for days while I worked with Dodge and the herdiness to make sure that I wasn't making confusing cues? The helping me with my bit usage on Dodge, while we rode, to not confuse my mare with the direct rein versus my normal indirect rein.

I thought I would be moving Dodge to another stable in the fall, just use this place as a halfway point for her to gain some weight. Now I know that I won't move her till I move tot he farm and can house Dodge at my own house. So Dodge is going to be at this place for a while.

Training wise, Dodge has come so far in what seems like so little time! The best feeling ever was when instead of not paying a lick of attention to me a few weeks back when in the stall for feed, she now turns around and faces me with her ears pricked. She walks to me now and watches everything I'm doing. I even led her without the stud chain yesterday!

The only thing that has a slight concern on me is yesterday she was not in teh mood to be caught. She was really agitated, which isn't really like her. After catching she was a little sweaty, which was odd as none of the other horses were. Like dried sweat. I don't know. I'm going out there tonight, so I will look her over then. It could be nothing though, never know.

Oh well, I need to get a shower so I can go to work!

Long week thus far

I have so many pictures to post yet just haven't gotten that far. .....


Shadow has been at the vet since Monday. Poor old dog got kicked by a cow and we were just sure her leg was broken. Turns out not broken at all but the leg was just really swollen and painful. She is home now, the vet wanted to keep her on cage rest until today, which is good because I had a blood panel done on her to see if anything odd was going on in her since she is so old. Vet said that was clear too! So 330 bucks later, Shadow has a clean bill of health, little swelling left, perscription drugs for swelling, and a very happy husband that she is home.


Dodge is doing much better! Apparently she got trimmed yesterday, thank god. I was starting to hate looking at her feet. I rode her on Monday and she is getting much better. We actually made it the entire loop this time around the trail instead of halfway before she started freaking out. I like the feel of the English bit in her mouth. I am getting used to keeping such a tight rein on her, but she is responding to it. Not neck reining is really hard, I caught myself trying to do it twice and it just confuses her. Must stick to direct reining.

I ordered a used curb bit so hopefully by the time it gets here Dodge will either be greatly improved on the o-ring or in great need of the curb. Either or.

Dodges Progression shots

I'm pretty sure at this point, the pictures speak for themselves.....



Today:







Her move:







A couple months in:






When I first got her:




These pics are from March until this last week. She looks amazing and totally different. Love. Her. To. Death.

I will get pictures....

I hope to have lots of pics posted next Monday... I know a long time but there are alot of pics that I want to post! I need to organize them accordingly.

Dodge:

I am going to take alot of pictures of saddeling tomm. So that there is some sort of timeline of things. I'm also going to dig out her first pictures and give a timeline that way. She has gained SO much weight! It's been an amazing journey and she is the most awesome first horse. She really is, I'm learning so much from her!

On Monday I wanted to ride her and that was my full intention, I'd hadn't ridden since our last "first" ride. So I go to catch her out of the feild and I notice some blood on her hind end. I didn't think too much about it and put her in the stall to grain her and do a groom. Turns out she had a rip on her vagina. How in the hell?

I got the BO and asked her if she noticed the rip and she said she hadn't. Which makes sense because it was still bleeding so it was fresh. Me and her both kinda freak out, start washing the area off and make a frantic call into the vet. The vet said there really isn't much to do just watch the area, keep it as clean as you can and then wait for it to heal.

I went back out on Tuesday and it was healing just fine! I rinsed the area and put a healthy dose of Furazone on it and turned her out. Hopefully when I get out there tomm, it will be almost completely healed and I will go riding! Hopefully.... She seems to heal really quickly from things.

On Tuesday she also got her teeth done for the first time! She was sedated as we weren't sure what to expect from her, but it was a light sedation. She was awesome. Everything worked out really really well. Hopefully she'll get that last bit of weight she needs on her.

Last thing she now needs is a farrier. I'm waiting on another horse at the barn to get her feet done and I'll throw Dodge into the farrier mix. Her feet are long but still look "ok". If I can't get them done by next week I'll start calling farriers, it does make me nervous to have her hooves growing out. Her frogs though, look really healthy and she just has a teeny bit of thrush left.

That is the Dodge update!

It's been almost a week!

... since the last time I posted anything! And I have pictures! .... but not uploaded. FAIL.

Anywho, let me get the recipes up first!

Fried Green Tomatoes:

1 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
Green tomatoes
Spices
Oil for frying
Red pepper aoili

Mix the spices, corn meal, and flour together in a large flat pan. Whisk eggs and milk together in a bowl. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a deep wide saucepan. Dip sliced tomatoes in the flour mix, then egg mix, then back in flour mix and fry till golden. Drain on paper towels. (note: I kinda go heavy on salt with these as compared to my normal recipes) Plate and drizzled with the aoili.

Red Pepper Aoili:

1 large red bell pepper
1 egg yolk
Olive oil
Dash of cayenne, paprika, and salt
1-3 garlic cloves
2 wedges of lemon, juiced

Roast the bell pepper in two halves under the broiler until blackened. Place in a zip baggy and throw in the freezer for 10 minutes. Remove and peel the blackened skin off the peppers and pull out the seeds. Place the skinned pepper in a food processor. Add the egg, spices, lemon juice, and garlic and process until blended. With the processor running at low speed slowly drizzle in olive oil. Just a tiny bit at a time until the mixture thickens. Reserve in the fridge for topping for tomatoes.

Rosemary Cornish Game Hens:

Preheat the oven to 400F. Rinse the hens in cool water and pat to dry. Chop up a large amount of fresh rosemary and garlic. Place 1/2 stick (1/2 per 4 hens) of room temp butter in a bowl and add in the rosemary garlic mix, stirring well. Rub this mix all over the hens and make sure to get some under the skin. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until a meat therm comes back at 160F in the thick thigh area. Remove from the oven and let rest for ten minutes.

Roasted Onion and Fennel Mashed Potatoes

1 med onion, chopped
1 fennel bulb, core removed and chopped
2-3 tabls butter
1/2 cup milk
Salt
Pepper
1-2 cloves garlic
4-5 potatoes


In a large saucepan heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add fennel and onion to the saucepan and walk away. Chop the potatoes and add to a large pot of boiling water along with he garlic. Cook until tender, drain. Watch the fennel mix until it starts to brown and caramelize. Begin turning with a pair of tongs every few minutes to ensure even browning. Once the onions and fennel are soft, remove from the heat and add to a large food processor. Add the potatoes and remaining ingredients to the processor and process until smooth. Adjust milk until it reaches desired consistency.

To plate:

Take each hen and cut in half. Place potatoes in middle of plate and put each half side by side on top of the mashed potatoes. Garnish and serve!



The pastry cream I don't remember 100% so I will have to look that one up later. It's the only dish I didn't get a picture of though....

We Rode!!!!

The BO showed up last night and asked if I wanted to try to ride with her for a few minutes to see how Dodge is coming along. I said sure!

The BO rode Kash and he is so good and calm on the trail. Dodge did amazingly well! I'm not going to say she was perfect, she was not, but a lot better than I could have expected her to be. Her ears were pointed forward the entire time, which I like them to be in a more relaxed position, she at least wasn't in a pinned back upset frame.

She stood still for the saddling and still for me to hop up on her. The saddle pad moved back again, I'm not sure what I'm going to do there. It is brand new pad so I will use it a few more times to decide, then chuck it if it doesn't stay where I want it to. Anywho, so I hop up on her and she starts playing games almost immediately..... she ran me into the barn. While I'm trying to get my bearings on her she is running off. Oh Dodge.

The BO helped me back her and turn her around. Dodge had two options here, to run back to the barn or run out forward, she was trying to do both. Kash comes up behind us and I cluck Dodge forward. She went forward with some ease, trying to turn around a few times on me. As long as I kept her forward movement going she was fine, just needed a few corrections. She kept trying to break into a canter and I had to keep her at a trot, but the whole ride went well I thought.

Near the end her buddies were screaming in the pasture and it made Dodge instantly dumb. I had to jump down and walk her back. I would have rode it, but I didn't have my helmet on me and my brain is slightly important to me, so I would much rather walk than actively fight her.

I'm hoping to do this a couple times a week to get Dodge used to being ridden and get her used to going out on the trails. She isn't exactly attached to Kash, so it does make it a little harder with her to keep her under control. I would say she is NOT a beginners horse at all. If somebody would have given me her when I first started lessons I would have left the barn crying. I am questioning putting Joe on her, but she could settle down and be calm with time. I would say she is more of an intermediate or beyond that at the moment. Only because she needs firm consistent training.

I noticed a few things about the new bit, I think the bit is fine. She isn't trying to pull through it, does well on a direct rein, and will stop with enough force applied. (I don't like to do that but at the moment she needs it. More groundwork with woah is needed) I want to switch to indirect reining but right now its more important to me to know that she is going to move out without flipping out, than it is to focus on reining methods.

All in all, im very optimistic about riding her next week. Probably won't be able to get out there till Sunday or Monday due to work and blah blah blah, but I can't wait!

So much going on!

Dodge:

I haven't worked with her since Saturday. Sunday I spent the day with the hubby lounging around being totally lazy with him. Really cleaning the house, but laziness and lots of 10 minute breaks ensued. Anywho, Monday I went out and it rained and rained and rained. The only positive thing about it was she is paying attention to me now and walking up to me. Where as before she really didn't give a shit what I was doing as long as I left her alone.

I am going back out today, since her attitude improved so much last week I think I am going to saddle, lunge, and then maybe take a short ride. Her woah is much better and so is her walk. As long as I can keep her under control and give her precise commands I think we might be ok. The BO mentioned she wants to ride so we may go out together.

Dodge's feet need to be done again. Their starting to chip a little. I am assuming this is just normal wear and tear on hooves when they run around all the time. Her hooves are aslo going to take a year to grow out into the new ones. The old ones are kinda soft from the conditions she was in and have a TON of fever lines on them. The new growth feels good on her though, so I am hoping that is positive!

My BIL is also picking up her vaccine for Rhino on Friday for me. Bless his little soul. I was going to order it online, but after shipping, it was the same amount to just have him pick it up. Then I can ensure that it stays cold.

Next week Dodge also gets her first dental! I am hoping after this is done that she puts on even more weight because she can now eat properly. I need to pick up another bag of grain... remind myself...

Saturday:

I am soooooooo excited! I am going to go to work Sat morning, then I get off at 3:30pm. I am making dinner for Joe's brother and his friend! Check this menu out:

First course:

Fried Green Tomato's with red pepper aoli

Second course:

Pan seared Fennell scented duck with garlic mashed potato's and a pinot noir sauce

Dessert:

puff pastry with strawberries and pastry cream

How effing yum does all that sound? As usual, for these dinners, I will post the full thing here. Just for reference, this whole dinner will start technically tomm night. I am also making a loaf of my ever famous homemade bread. That will start on Friday night.

Anywho, here is the layout for this meal in steps:

Tonight:

Buy the duck breasts, fennel, pinot noir, puff pastry, strawberries, fennel seeds, heavy whipping cream, eggs, and whatever else that I need for this meal. I have flour, yeast, potato's, garlic, green maters, and ext already at home.

Thursday:

Prepare the puff pastry, wrap between paper towels and keep in microwave until Sat. Prepare pastry cream and set in fridge until Sat. Make the red pepper aoli.

Friday:

Prepare the duck and place in marinade. Start the bread and put biga in fridge for a long slow rise for developed flavor.

Saturday:

Is a put together. First course will need to be done first, obviously. Pick the tomato's and then fry. Drizzle with the aoli and bam!

The deserts will be put together first, before the first course, those will have detailed instructions but will go in desert bowls.

The bread follows since that is the second longest thing to be completed. I will probably have Joe take it out of the fridge about 2pm to give it two hours to come to room temp, so when I get home I can start that.

Thent he taters go on the stove and the duck begins to be prepared. After this its all easy, since I will have the deserts done, the bread is simple, and the maters will have already been made.

Fancy establishment here I come!

PS: there will be pictures!

Yesterday another near perfect lesson!

Had another great time with Dodge yesterday! I am going to leave her alone for today and I'll be out tomm to go over some things again. Her ground work is coming along great! It's amazing what one week of consistent work will do. She is no longer bumping into me, she is listening to me, she doesn't try to figure out how to run off, and she isn't sweating when I take her out of the pasture anymore! Woot!

She is also standing still while tied. We still have a little more to go, but she isn't dancing around or looking to get away! I even tied her and walked away to get something out of the tack room and she was still calmly standing when I got back.

I may try to lunge her tomm. May. We'll see how that goes. I will probably take her up to the roundpen with the lunge line and let her go. The lunge line will help me keep control of her if she decides to run into fences, but her demeanor the last few days has clued me in otherwise.

I'm also pretty certain I can loose the stud chain in another week. I do feel bad about one thing with the chain, it cut her chin. :( Yesterday when we were leading a dog ran next to her and made her jump then try to rear. It caused the chain to dig in a little into her cheek. I'll route the chain over her nose until that heals. Hopefully I won't need the chain after next week.

I also put the bridle on her yesterday. She was being so calm that I decided to test the waters a little. The bridle fits perfectly! The bit fits just as well! She chomped on the bit for a second and then calmed right down. Standing like an angel for me. She may be almost ready to ride. Need to saddle her a few times beforehand. I just want to make sure she is not going to act like a fool and I want to show her that every time she is saddled that she doesn't have to work. (in the start anywho)

I might be able to do the first ride with the BO. Which would be perfect because her horses are pretty calm. It would help Dodge mellow out. Then I'll need to break her of trail buddies, but I have to start somewhere. Haha.

Forward!

Dodge did SO much better yesterday! The barn owner suggested on Monday that I need to start the training in the field as opposed to once I get out. Dodge got the chain the second I haltered her and I was there to do business at that point, not be her friend. I then practiced walking her out of the barn then back in the barn, out of the barn, back in the barn. Ever so slowly increasing the distance and direction I was going with her. If we stopped and she stood for me, then I would take her back into the barn.

She was CALM. There are still some kinks to be worked out, it's not over yet, but I have such a better feeling about tonight that I can hardly describe it in words.

Relief? That sounds about right. Once we were in the barn we practiced "back" alot. I also stole an idea from Mugwump and started giving her pressure. I would ask for "right" and put my thumb on her side. 1,2,3 training method and after about the third time of hard pressing into her side she would just start passing to the right upon my thumb being there. This action had a two-fold reaction from Dodge. 1.) She started moving to the right 2.) She stayed out of my space the entire time

That's right people, she didn't try to run me over!!!!

She also started to anticipate the chain. I think I've gotten good at popping her with it and releasing. The barn owner made the comment to follow her head and give her short quick pops. I think I have got it with a few kinks left in it. When we were walking away Dodge would start to move faster and when she got so far ahead she would throw her head up and slow down. I hadn't even popped her yet but she was understanding what the action would be for her moving so far ahead.

I call this progress. Today's lesson is going to be a repeat of yesterday's lesson. My sweet sweet Dodge is coming back to me! I think. I could go out today and have Mrs. Nutface on my hands again.

If she is doing this well by Saturday next week I may start trying to tie her again. I want to be able to get her up to the far gate today and out to the far hay barn storage today. Then tomm push her to the owners house and then past the far gate. Then on Saturday start trying to get her tied to the hitching post again. I probably won't introduce a saddle for a while from now, but I want to be able to groom her again.

She is so freaking smart, thats what I love about her! She has a response to everything I do and picks up on every freaking thing.

Day 2

Yesterday we had flooding across Kentuckiana. If you pay attention to news, Louisville actually made the national headlines! I'm fine, my house is fine, and nothing got water damaged that I own. The rest of Louisville, really just downtown, got spanked by the rain.

Needless to say I didn't get anything with Dodge done. The barn owner said her driveway looks like a swamp right now. That's cool. I'm going out today to get todays lesson in with Dodge. It will be the exact same as before. Just walking away, having her stand still, and then walking her back. It's ugly but it will work. I also am going to throw a few figure eights in there and work on back. She got back suprisingly well on Monday. I was working her with the herd, but she got it very easily.

I've also been going back to her after I put her back up with the herd. I go back out with the halter and lead rope but don't put it on her. I just pet her and stand next to her then walk away. My point here is to let her know that I am not always going to take her out of the pasture. I don't want her running from me all the time.

So here's to another fun filled night of working on my nervous horse!

Some progress

I worked with her two ways today. Once with the herd and once without. I have figured out her comfort zone, its about 10ft from the herd. So we worked that.

The barn owner came out and helped me put the stud chain on correctly and use it correctly. That was a relief. I have an issue with holding the chain tight instead of releasing immediately, therefore I am negating the true value of it. We worked in a small tiny 10 ft area away from the horses. We got her to stand quietly but she did want to trot a few times instead of walk. She has Woah down and so now I am going to start asking for the walk. We also practiced "back" a few times. She is smart, just in tune with the herd.

I know this all sounds really pretty and blah blah blah. It was honestly really ugly. She is somewhat hard to handle and requires firmness. My BO said I am too relaxed in working with Dodge, if I want Dodge to pay attention I need to be more into a working position if that makes any sense. My total inexperience in this line of work is making this somewhat difficult for me. But I know I can work through this and I know it will be worth it in the end. I just know it. The first ride with her where I can get everything perfect will be awesome and just put a giant smile on my face.

I am thinking this could be months worth of work ahead of me. The BO made the comment that we should probably teach Dodge like a 2 year old horse and start from teh begining with her. I think this may be the best idea. Dodge is learning, she really is. I need to be a little quicker with my let go of the chain though, I will make a concious effort of this tomm when I go out. I won't go out if its raining though or if it just rained. It's too dangerous. Dodge hops around too much and if she falls both of us could get hurt.

I also didn't like the stud chain in the begining but I do see its purpose now. Dodge is downright dangerous. I wouldn't want my own mother to see Dodge right now, I'd be afraid her inexperience would get her seriously hurt. (not saying I'm all that great)

My 1000lb peice of work.

Discouraged...

Yesterday I wanted to work on leading with Dodge being away from the herd. Like I did a few days ago in the round pen. My plans were to take her up to the pen area and lunge her for a few minutes, work on the walk, and then let her just be her in the pen before calmly walking her down to the pasture.

Nothing worked out.

I got her out of the pasture and tied her to the hitching post that sits right next to the pasture. I went to put her fly mask away and she had already untied herself from the post and was beelining it back to the barn. I caught her and retied. I should have thought everything through then. Sigh.

I made her lead rope into a stud chain again and walked her up the the pen. She made me do circles on the way up about 5 times. Meaning she wasn't listening to the stud chain or me, so we did a small circle to reset ourselves.

And then I've never been so let down and feel so horrible in my entire life. I let her off the lead rope in the round pen and she started running into the fences. She was frantically trying to get back to her buddies and it didn't matter what I did, she would take off into a fence. I was mortified and embarressed. Here is this gorgeous horse acting like a fool and her stupid owner completely dumbfounded to her new behavior.

I clipped her lead rope back on her and started to walk her around trying to get her focus on just walking. Instead she was ramming into me, not watching where she put her feet, and screaming for her friends. I eventually got so fed up I tied her to a gate and walked away for a second to cool down. What we were doing was not working. Her mind was on her friends and nothing else. Even being tied to the gate she was nervously pacing it and sweating horribly.

I would say we were out there for maybe 20 minutes and she was dripping with sweat. I wasn't even working her into that type of sweat. She was so nervous and focused on getting out of the pen that she brought herself into a panic.

I did not have a lunge line with me but did have the lunge whip and her lead rope. That was just going to have to do. I untied her and started trying to walk with her again. Once again she started acting like a complete idiot. I let out all the slack and made her work. I had her trot, canter, walk, ext. Just a few circles, maybe 2-3. I would say "woah" and when she stopped I would give her a pat and we would restart walking again.

Near the end of this she would stop dead in her tracks on the woah and was leading very nicely. Still not as nice as I wanted but it was a dramatic improvement. I decided that enough was enough as she was starting to act like there was a brain in her head and started to walk her back down to the barn.

Then she got dumb again. Sigh. I can deal with a few little pulls on the lead rope from her but when she starts trying to trot in front of me I can't deal with that. So, I know I looked like a fool infront of the other boarders, but I just worked her again. I let out the slack and made her do some transitions. I would ask for the woah and then give her a pat and continue on like nothing happened. I think that went on about three times and she walked once again like a brain was in her head.

Then she got dumb again once I put her int he wash pen to rinse the sweat off of her. She was pacing the fence line and being generally very rude. At one point she pushed me into the fence. I WAS PISSED. I gave her a good wallop on the side but it didn't even phase her. I think I'm going to get a small whip and use it on her when personal space is invaded. I mean she was dangerous to the point where I feel helpless.

I am just at a loss that my sweet sweet horse has gotten this out of hand. I spoke to the barn owner today and told her I am going to be out there every day this week. I HAVE to get Dodge over this behavior. I am not going to ride her till she acts like she has a effing brain. I've been reading up on a few boards and the whatnottery about this behavior.

I think I have made the problem slightly worse because I take her too far out of her comfort zone from her other horses. Thus compounding my problems into something explosive before I even get started. My game plan is her issues start when she leaves the pasture. I mean right when she leaves it. 1 ft from leaving it. It's like she can't function once she is away from her buddies.

I am going to work her here. Right in front of the barn. Some figure eights, working on bending to the right (which she will NOT do right now), and some back and forth. When she finally relaxes to the point where she will stand still, then I will take her out anther foot and repeat. I will work her with her buddies if I have to.

Sigh.

Real Life Post

This entry will not be about my pets.

GASP!

This post will be about life in general.

RUN!

No really, hopefully it will be enlighting to see exactly what is going on in the real world life of me outside of my crazy animal friends.

Money:

Joe and I have had many money discussions and we alwasy end up with the same ideas. No debt. Not even our house. I have currently, since we got married, paid off: cc's - 7500 and student loans- 7000. We still have 17k in student loans to go. Our house is currently at a state of 105k. Here is our plan of action: kill the student loans within 10- 12 months. I know, do the math, this means that we need to be putting onto this student loan between 1300-1700k a month. We figured out we make about 50-60k a year and we can deal with living on 30k if it means we won't have debt. This not hanging over us like impending doom is awesome.

Then we attack the house. We have decided we'll probably take a vacation of sorts next year when the student loan is gone just for celebration purposes. (think Texas) Our house payment is about 600 a month. If we continue payments of 1300-1700k a month.... come on math majors... will tak us right around 6 years to pay off the house. Will we be in the same house that long? Probably not. If we live in it for 3 more years, pay half the mort off, and then use the equity in it to put a down payment on a new house..... the win is there.

Relationships:

What a funny topic to post about. Over the years I have realized what I like and what I don't like. What I want to share, what I don't want to share. I like cars with Joe, I just don't care about knowing the workings of it. I glaze over when Joe tries to give me a 20 minute conversation about how our friends Jeep is lifted like this. Or other related things.

Then I noticed I did it to him as well. I was talking to him about bits..... I saw his eyes glaze and he was gone. He cares about the basic mechanics of my hobby, not the interior workings. I'm the same way. Though we both make an effort to pay attention to each other and try to seem interested in each others hobby's. I want to kill him half the time for unrelated things but he has been making a geniune effort lately. More than I can say of anything he has done in the past.

Fights:

Awesome topic. We had a fight the other night that carried over into the next day. Yeah, one of those knock down dragout crazy fights where nothing really got resolved. We're good now, once we both calmed down and talked it through we figured out what the real reason for the fight was (mainly my stressed out state at the moment, thats a whole nother post) and then decided how to work from there.

I like talking to newlyweds or people in a fresh relationship, as they really haven't gotten the joy of having one of those fights. It's rare for me and Joe to fight like that, but it happens. It's ugly, hurtfull things can be said, and the like. Newb's in a relationship are all clouded up with blah blah blah happiness and say it could never happen to them. See if their still with the person after 10 years and then ask about if they've ever fought. There is no way they couldn't have. I also have a large inclining that a few of their fights were insane.

I've got so much more to type but really ahve to work. I need to make money to pay off debt. ;)

Herd Bound issues... sigh

Dodge has become totally herdy. I am quite appalled by this new twist in her behavior. I saw it coming and kinda let it slide just because she is in a new place and wanted her to get comfortable before I really started doing anything with her. In reality I think what I have done is moved myself down on the ranking scale with her and let her horse buddy's move up.

JOY.

Last night she damn near ran me over once she was done eating. I was not amused and still am not amused. She didn't pay attention to me at all and completely ignored me when I asked her to move over because she was too busy paying attention to the horses on teh other side of the corral.

WORK.

My plan of action involves work. I am going to take her up to the roundpen tonight if I go or Friday night when I'm out there because of the vet. I will have a lunge whip and grooming supplies. I am not in the training for treats idea, I hate that crap, I hardly ever buy treats for my dogs even. My idea is this: if she doesn't want to listen to me, give her a reason to start.

I am going to let her go in the roundpen and ask simply for her to stand still for hoof picking (something she is getting horrible out). If she wants to prance around and act like a fool at the edge of the fence, fine, but she will be running that fence. The lunge whip will come out and she will be shuffling those feet faster than she thought. I fully expect a few good bucks out of her and total tantrum.

I'll then let her rest and try to pick her feet again. If she decides that once again she just must be with her friends then she will get worked again. We will work this over and over again till she stands quietely for me picking her feet. As soon as I can get all four feet picked, I will walk her back to her buddies and let her go.

I need her to understand that when she is with me I am the one that she needs to be paying attention to. If I don't do this now I have a feeling that riding her is not going to be pretty. It's like I'm redoing everything I've done thus far with her. I'm happy that this new place has an area for me to work her in though, so I am not having to use a lunge line right now. It's easier sticking her ina small enclosed area to work with her than having to hold onto a lead of some sort.

I want to work with the new bit and headstall but I know right now that is not going to move forward at all till I get her mind back onto me being the herd leader. That's not going to happen till I become a little more aggressive with my approach. Not this ooooooo you're so cute Dodge.

I digress.

I'm freaking busy people!

My life has been a stressed out mess lately. I feel every time I stop I am thinking of the next thing I need to do. My nights after work have been endlessly filled with running around town doing this or that. Last night I got to stay home! Well, I had to get dog food, but I actually made dinner and sat on the couch watching movies. I haven't done that in so long. I relish the day I quit moving for a bit.

In other news, I am going to act like every typical female and start a diet. Seriously, my weight is getting out of control. I'm a fatty fatterton. I think its stress doing it to me, but my fat ass needs to get to the gym and outside running. I'm trying to do all home bound meals and trying to remain basically healthy, but I am a snacker. I lost 70lbs before, you would think I can loose 30lbs with no problems. Sigh, here I go again.

I took Buck with me to the store last night to get dog food. He is such a ham! He "sweet talks" the clerks. He'll walk around to them behind the register and then sit down next to them and give them his sad puppy dog eyes. They quickly fall in love and then give him massive amounts of treats. He tries it at the vets office, but they have no treats so he is always a little let down. My stupid stupid dog.

Swelling? What swelling?

Yesterday I show up to to the barn duties. I first went to feed the dogs and cats. There is supposed to be 3 cats and I could only find 2. I looked everywhere for the third one and the only thing I can assume is that she went out the doggie door, couldn't figure out how to get back in, and then was scared of all the commotion.



Dodge is toooooooooo cute! I wish I had gotten video. I had gotten out the old mans beet pulp mash and his grain and set it out on the ground. Then got the other horses tiny amount of grain and medicine mixed together and wanted the horses to come in to get them fed. (only the ones that actually eat grain) I had taken the bucket with the medicine and grain in it and was shaking it in the field. Dodge was the only one to come barreling towards me.



She waited patiently for me to scoop out her grain and pellets (trying to get rid of them). I had Joe handle her to which he did very well. Dodge was so excited to eat, she acted like she's been eating nothing for days. Silly horse. Joe commented that she looks like she is gaining weight! Her hips really are starting to fill out some. I'll get some pictures up tonight or Monday (since I'm working all weekend) of her confirmation now that she's been eating grass for two weeks.



Oh and the swollen leg thing, I didn't even have to wrap it! The swelling is almost completely gone. I was shocked, as it had stayed stagnant for days and then boom its gone. Not sure what happened there but I am so happy. I guess I need to call the vet and let her know whats going on so that she isn't worried either. The vet was planning to come out today to look at her leg since we were both kinda sure it wasn't going to go back down. She had suggested wrapping it until she could make it out, but I didn't have to!



Now if I could get the saddle thing figured out I am going to be good to go! I also wormed Dodge yesterday, well tried to. I did it without a halter on her and she spit most of it out. Oh Dodge. I need to get the Quest Plus and give that to her, as it will keep her good to go for a bit. (until her next worming)



Today is feeding them all againa nd then giving Dodge a groom. She rolled in the mud from the rain and is covered. I'd also like to get all the horse's hooves picked out since they all have mud in them. Maybe I can get Joe to help, he needs to learn anyway. I could have him do Dodge since she is my horse and the calmest of the bunch. Well actually there is calmer but there is liability with him touching the other horses if one kicks him in the head. Liability for me too, but I am willing to take that risk.



Oh and the internet is a glorious thing. I'm kinda happy that one saddle from Ebay didn't work out. I have learned more about saddles in the past week than I think I ever wanted to know. :)

I gave her a bath and took no pics...

I'm a horrible mother... Today I decided was the day to give Dodge a bath. If you can recall, I was going to do it on Monday last week after her move to make her all fresh and new. That didn't quite work out because Dodge was playing keep away last week and so it turned into a catching lesson more than a bath.

Today Dodge was perfect. I walked right up to her, put the halter on her, and walked her into the wash area. I gave her a scoop of grain for being so good and then a scoop of hay pellets. (which she doesn't need anymore, but I had a extra bag..) I waited for her to finish and then started to pick out her hooves. She still has a touch of thrush in two of her hooves but nothing like before. They are staying dry now, which is absolutely perfect. It is exactly what she needed on those things.

I then wet her down from feet to neck. No head, but we're working on that. She is a little head shy. I then shampoo'd her and another rinse. Then did her mane and tail.. the longest part of the whole thing. That is a shampoo and condition... I had never done that before so it took a bit but I got it done. Another rinse and she was good to go! I gave her about a half scoop of grain for that because she was such a good girl. Then unhaltered her and let her go.

The only thing that really bothers me is her left hind leg if your facing her is swollen. Both hinds were swollen for a few days but one of them has gone down completely. Now it's just that one leg. It doesn't feel hot, I can't find a wound other than an old one, and she is bearing weight on it. I watched her for a bit seeing if she favors it, but does not appear to. She treats it like normal. I may lunge her on Tuesday just a tad to see how her movement is. If she is limping it may be time to get Dr. Richardson out there. Although, she does walk just fine.

When bathing I felt the entire leg, looking for something. Poking, prodding, and massaging the leg but nothing. A few days ago she acted like it hurt but today she really didn't care. Maybe it's healing? Whatever it is?

Oh and I'm having an issue with my ebay buy... I swore I would have this think by Thurs or Fri this week... oh no...... its not here. The seller won't answer my emails and I sent her almost 300 bucks! I have filed a complaint with PayPal and the seller has until next Sunday to respond. If she does not respond Paypal refunds my money. If the item was shipped but lets say the seller just sucks at communication I can cancel the request. Although, now I think I want a synthetic saddle. Big Horn, Abbeta, or Wintec (in that order) is what I'm thinking about. So if this saddle does show from the Ebay, then I may turn around and sell it to get a synthetic.

Who knows what I'm going to do...

Who is the bestest dog ever?

That's right, look at that ham! He even has it in his sleep!

Pictures everywhere!!!!!

Why am I wearing this? Is this a joke?


Really? A pirate? This is so unbecoming..




Meet my friends... Me, Abbey (chestnut) and Dixie (black)




I love Pasture!!!!!!!

See how delicious this is!

I love running around!

Do not approve

Rollin in the flymasks...

Ok, so like I promised, new pictures of Dodge! And there is alot of them!

A Dodge update!

So I went back out there on Sunday, a little later in the day. Dodge was in the herd. Looks like she had picked out her pecking order and is now in right with them. I am so relieved at that. I really am. I was afraid it would take her days to become friends with everybody.

In her moving into the herd, she got the shit kicked out of her. Put a big old gash on her hind leg. The barn owner went ahead and dressed it then wrapped it for me. How nice of her! She also washed her off and brushed the mats out of her hair! I was totally not expecting any of that!

Yesterday when I showed up the B.O. had said there was some issues with my horse. Which of course makes my heart just drop because I really do love this place. The B.O said she was being hard to catch and has bonded really strongly to another horse. The horse she has bonded to is moving in about 3 weeks and the B.O. is afraid that it's going to mess my horse up when she leaves. Dodge will get over it. Dodge is also playing games.

I was kinda pissed because the barn owner said she used the stud chain on her as a stud chain yesterday when Dodge was being hard to control. I do actually have a chained lead rope. The only reason I got it is because it was how the old owner controlled her and I wasn't sure about Dodge in the begining. I then found out Dodge doesn't require the chain so quit using it. Dodge is actually really afraid of it, among other things.

I let the BO know this info to which she didn't seem suprised. She said Dodge FREAKED when she was popped with the chain. I kindly asked her to not use the chain on her ever again and that I figured out a way to not use it and she probably could too. Dodge is an interesting horse. Hehe. I may get another lead rope and swap them so there is no stud chain at the barn. I don't really want Dodge to be scared of anything.

So I wanted to give her a bath yesterday but it actually turned into a catching session more than a bath session. When I walked out Dodge she ran from me. It turned into a cat and mouse game. I stayed super calm and just walked behind Dodge following her. Eventually she quit running from me, let me halter her, and then let me lead her. To which I just let her to a fence post, tied her, checked her hooves, walked her back to the herd, and then let her go. I wanted her to see that it's not bad being caught and I am not going to give up.

I sat on a log for about 5 minutes watching Dodge and then went to just go pet her. She ran and once again we're walking around. Eventually she calmed down and this time I only pet her and then I walked away from her. Rinse repeat. Eventually I rehaltered her and walked her down to the wash area. I put her in the wash pen and she was freaked out. I calmly ignored this and just brushed her. I then opened the gate, unhaltered her, and made her come out when I said she could.

Then we went over our touching game again. Where I wait a little bit and then walk back up to her just to pet her. The BO at this point had come back around and was amazed. She is not a stupid lady, she just has a different approach to horses than I do. That may be just because I've worked with Dodge alone for so long that I have a totally different approach to her than most other horse people have to their horses. Who knows. I don't want my horse to fear the BO and so we slowly worked the BO over to Dodge. While I was petting Dodge the BO came over and started petting her as well.

The whole evening went over very well. I'm going to go back out on Thursday for a repeat lesson. I'd go tonight but I think my husband would kill me. I am so happy I chose this place for Dodge. It's a much more natural horse setting than stalls and a little turn out. It's allowing Dodge to just be a horse with a herd of horse buddies.

Her hooves are also looking great! Their staying dry which is a big thing for me, it means that thrush will finally clear up. I would have picked them out yesterday but well, you read the post. Her wound from Sunday is doing well enough there is no bandage on it! Her rear legs are a little swollen but both have injuries to them from horse fights. They aren't warm though and the BO has been watching them closely. As long as Dodge isn't limping I'm happy.

Ok and onto funner stuff! I got her a new fly mask that should be in this week or early next week. The BO gave me a loaner to use until mine gets her. Mine is a PIRATE fly mask! I was going to post pictures today but have decided to wait until the pirate gets here. If she loses this mask she is getting cheapies from here on out. Though, for her first one, it has to be something funny!

I'm trying to decide the headstall issue. Do I want a bitless or do I want a bit? I' m totally on the fence about it. What I may do is go ahead and get her a snaffle bit on a cheapie nylon headstall. Then buy a nylon bitless and see which one she likes better and listens to the best. Then get the leather option in whichever works. This may be the smartest idea.

I'm also looking for pads. I want to spend some money here as I feel this is one of the most important peices of equipment. She is old and I want her to be comfortable if I'll be riding her old butt. Oh well, I seem to have typed a novel! Pics to come when the pirate comes in!

She is in a new home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got out there at 9am this morning to somewhat clean her up and get her ready for the move. I got one big mat out of her mane and will work more of them out tomm when I go. At 10am we headed to the trainers and we then went back down to the old home of Dodge's to move her. She loaded just fine, not a single head toss or anything.

Got her to the new stable without a problem. All the other horses ran up the fence to say hello. Dodge really didn't care and the second she was off the leadrope she took off to be by herself. I hope that she becomes friends with them and that all that time spent alone hasn't made her super anti-social.

Oh well I'll post more when I have more time!

First Ride with a Saddle!!!! And a mane clip

Yesterday I was going to saddle and ride her. It was destined to be a short one that turned into some lessons that she needed to be reminded of. First off there wasn't a way in hell I was going to hop on her without lunging her first. I mean that is asking for suicide. It really is. So lunging we go! Went fine until I asked her to change positions...... she then flipped out and bolted! I had two options, let my hands get ripped by the lunge line or let go. I let go. I should really start using gloves.

So I let her run off and then followed right behind her, picked up the lunge line, and made her work harder for that. Uh uh, you ain't getting one up on me to get what you want. I made her work the way she absolutely hates and made her do more canter work. It was a short session, maybe 5 minutes, I know it sounds soooo long when I type it out. I just wanted her to know that that shit doesn't fly with me. At all.

I then walked her out a little since she was breathing hard and tied her up for saddleing. I hate the tack she is using but I digress. I started to cinch her up and upon tightening she bit me!!! That bitch! I didn't even have to hit her, she immediatly recoiled when I yelled at her and shouted NO. It's like she was only doing it to see what she could get away with, knowing I was going to be super pissed or I would take it. Hell no I ain't gonna take that! The rest of saddeling went iwthout a hitch.

I then lunged her again with the full package on becuse I wanted to see if she was going to have saddle issues. I didn't want to hop on her and have her pissed because something was hurting her when I was already on. Everything went fine and to hop on I go! She was a dream! I am so happy I have her!

So Sunday is her move! I'm so flipping excited! Tomorrow morning I am going out to give her a full groom complete with a bath. I gave her a semi bridle clip yesterday and I will finish it tomm. I'm also going to work the mats out of her hair. I want her to be pretty for the move. I had to cut one mat out yesterday though. She is going to look stupid for a bit, but that mat was a dreadlock. It was not coming out. The rest of them I'm fairly certain that some shampoo, baby oil, and a comb will be able to free them.

So now I'm looking at saddles. I'm looking at something cheap for one year and then after that get something really nice, but start out I want it to be something I won't cry too hard over if it goes away. So this is what I'm thinking of buying

http://www.saddleonline.com/Western-Saddles-Pleasure/Trail-Saddles/c2_23/p4661/Comfortable-Western-Pleasure-Trail-Horse-Saddle-15-16-17-18/product_info.html

I would still need to get a bit, pad, and girth, but I am 100% certain I am going to order that set next week after I get paid. A few more items and I'll be set to ride! I really am not 100% interested in riding her till fall when the heat quits, so she may be "safe" until then.

And I'm also a bad horse mom.... I got no pics of her or me yesterday..... shame on me!