Babies
This ties into horses eventually. I promise. I heard the babies heartbeat last week! This made everything seem so real! Before I heard it, I knew I was pregnant but it didn't really hit home with me that I was. I guess because nothing in there is moving that I can feel, my body hadn't changed that much, and my morning sickness has been mild at best. So, it's easy to see, for me at lease, why I didn't feel that pregnant.
Then I hear this little fast heartbeat coming from my abdomen and its like everything is now changed. I'm taking care of this other tiny human right now. It's in there doing whatever it does right now and I'm the only person that can care for it. That, as corny as I'm about to sound, changes so much about what I have been doing up until this point. This month is tight with money and it will be for awhile. I'm trying to get as much in the bank as possible before the baby shows up.
Horses
Now, the baby ties into Memphis in a large way. I have elected not to ride while pregnant. I know a ton of people still do ride, but by my own personal choice, I have chosen not to. I trust Memphis a lot under saddle, but I have fallen off of him. He is not a short horse and falling off of him is a long fall that usually hurts. (That incident was funny- full out pace and he jumped a log and I went off the side)
Because of this Memphis is an eating machine that is just eating hay and money. Last week Memphis had kicked another horse resulting in a broken leg for the other horse. Yes, this other horse was put down. I decided then that I would sell him and did in fact put him up for sale. My reasoning was that right now I just can't handle the emotional aspect of something like this and I can't ride anyway so why not just sell.
Then walk in my barn owner and one of the 4-H moms at the barn. Barn owner told me basically not to sell. Her reasoning was that horses are horses and shit happens. She also said that Memphis is great in hand, great with groundwork, great under saddle, and he is good around the kids. The mom basically said the same thing and she informed me that she rode him about two weeks ago.
This is FINE by me. I had told her before that she can ride him and the little girl that rode him a bit back was her daughter. She then asked me if she could continue to ride him and take him on trail rides since he is easier on her back than her Quarter Horses. This again I gave her permission to do as Memphis needs to be ridden.
Now, for the time being this works and is in my favor. Memphis is currently up for full or partial lease. I like him being ridden while I try to find somebody to lease him since it will keep him in the right mind frame for a potential leasor.
Phew. This is long. I'll add more later but this is what is going on in my life.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Good Horses
Well, it broke the 90 degree heat wave we've been having yesterday and it was a pleasent mid 80's. This prompted me to decide that somebody, even if its not me, is going to ride Memphis. Yesterday just confirmed that I should have no fear of my big dumb horse. :)
I decided before anyone got on him that I would lunge first. I wanted to see if he was going to be a total jerk or if he would take to being worked again. So I only saddled him and then walked him out to the arena.
I usually don't hold a lunge whip when lunging unless the horse is requiring me to use it. (Here is a random thinking from the innards of Rachel's mind: By requiring to use it I don't mean beat the heck out of the horse, I think I've only touched a horse with it once or twice and that was back in Dodge's day.)So I dropped the whip to the ground and then started to lunge him. He was an angel and acted like he'd been lunging for years. Guess all my working with him in the winter has paid off. He went through his gaits for me and transitioned as I asked him to. Needless to say, I was impressed and so I cut the session a little short.
Next was the 13 year old that has been begging me to ride him for a long time. I was kinda nervous to hop right up on him since I hadn't ridden in two months and in that time Memphis had done nothing. The 13 year old does have her own horse that she barrel races and she has a nice seat and hands, so I figured what the hey, she still bounces if she falls. :D
She did wonderfully. There was some resistance from Memphis when she was a little too tight on the reins, but after I showed her my method for dealing with him when he gets a little spunky (and for her to drop the reins a little) they worked out really well together. She wouldn't stop talking about how smooth he is and how much fun he is to ride. (she has a QH) She rode him for almost an hour and had him worked out in a sweat. I know he'll be a little sore today but it will be fine since he has 2 weeks off of work since I'm going on vacation.
He does need a new curb strap, his broke last night, and I may look for a larger bit for him since his a bit snug but works. It's hard to find things to fit his big goofey head. He got lots of kisses, pets, and two flakes of hay when I left last night.
For a horse that hasn't been ridden in two months, he did it like he was ridden every day. I love him so much and his great attitude.
I decided before anyone got on him that I would lunge first. I wanted to see if he was going to be a total jerk or if he would take to being worked again. So I only saddled him and then walked him out to the arena.
I usually don't hold a lunge whip when lunging unless the horse is requiring me to use it. (Here is a random thinking from the innards of Rachel's mind: By requiring to use it I don't mean beat the heck out of the horse, I think I've only touched a horse with it once or twice and that was back in Dodge's day.)So I dropped the whip to the ground and then started to lunge him. He was an angel and acted like he'd been lunging for years. Guess all my working with him in the winter has paid off. He went through his gaits for me and transitioned as I asked him to. Needless to say, I was impressed and so I cut the session a little short.
Next was the 13 year old that has been begging me to ride him for a long time. I was kinda nervous to hop right up on him since I hadn't ridden in two months and in that time Memphis had done nothing. The 13 year old does have her own horse that she barrel races and she has a nice seat and hands, so I figured what the hey, she still bounces if she falls. :D
She did wonderfully. There was some resistance from Memphis when she was a little too tight on the reins, but after I showed her my method for dealing with him when he gets a little spunky (and for her to drop the reins a little) they worked out really well together. She wouldn't stop talking about how smooth he is and how much fun he is to ride. (she has a QH) She rode him for almost an hour and had him worked out in a sweat. I know he'll be a little sore today but it will be fine since he has 2 weeks off of work since I'm going on vacation.
He does need a new curb strap, his broke last night, and I may look for a larger bit for him since his a bit snug but works. It's hard to find things to fit his big goofey head. He got lots of kisses, pets, and two flakes of hay when I left last night.
For a horse that hasn't been ridden in two months, he did it like he was ridden every day. I love him so much and his great attitude.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The turns this blog is now gonna take
Ok, well, now I guess I'm gonna talk about babies and horses. How I'm going to juggle these two things I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure I can figure it out.
Memphis needs the farrier.... bad. I picked his hooves the other day for the first time in a while. I usually just pick them up and do a quick look over each one and if they need picking they get picked, if not then I don't. Holy cow his feet grow fast in the 8 weeks since his last trim! I figured he would be wearing em down just a little since he has been outside so much but it seems to be making it worse. They're chipped, have some chunks coming out, and are misshapen. The farrier comes tomm, so hopefully Memphis will behave this time around. I will also breathe a sigh of relief that they don't look like a hot mess anymore.
In other news... it is still mid 90's here in KY. I'm not riding in that. I did take my saddle with me on Sunday with full intentions to ride my horse. The 20 minutes it took me to groom Memphis I was covered in sweat. Decided that riding probably isn't a good idea since I was also really upset to my stomach on top of being hot. Next week it's supposed to be mid 80's. It's fair game next week!
I want to go back over with him giving to pressure and continue to work on leg aids. Since I'm doing legs at a walk, I'm pretty sure I can ride like this until he gets it. It was *starting* to click with him when I was riding him before so I'm hoping he didn't forget much between next week and when I last rode him.
Saw the doctor yesterday and no heartbeat yet. I am just going into 10 weeks, soooooo it's a little too early to pick it up on the monitor. That's cool, it'll come at my next one I would suspect.
Memphis needs the farrier.... bad. I picked his hooves the other day for the first time in a while. I usually just pick them up and do a quick look over each one and if they need picking they get picked, if not then I don't. Holy cow his feet grow fast in the 8 weeks since his last trim! I figured he would be wearing em down just a little since he has been outside so much but it seems to be making it worse. They're chipped, have some chunks coming out, and are misshapen. The farrier comes tomm, so hopefully Memphis will behave this time around. I will also breathe a sigh of relief that they don't look like a hot mess anymore.
In other news... it is still mid 90's here in KY. I'm not riding in that. I did take my saddle with me on Sunday with full intentions to ride my horse. The 20 minutes it took me to groom Memphis I was covered in sweat. Decided that riding probably isn't a good idea since I was also really upset to my stomach on top of being hot. Next week it's supposed to be mid 80's. It's fair game next week!
I want to go back over with him giving to pressure and continue to work on leg aids. Since I'm doing legs at a walk, I'm pretty sure I can ride like this until he gets it. It was *starting* to click with him when I was riding him before so I'm hoping he didn't forget much between next week and when I last rode him.
Saw the doctor yesterday and no heartbeat yet. I am just going into 10 weeks, soooooo it's a little too early to pick it up on the monitor. That's cool, it'll come at my next one I would suspect.
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