Asking too much too fast

I saw Memphis last night and did ride. I'm a little perturbed that he refuses to rack in the arena and wants to only skip to various ways of pacing. I'm not happy. BUT right now I'm working on reining with him not so much what gait he is in.

I can also proudly say that I am over my fear on him. When I first started riding him again in August I was terrified to go over a walk with him. Last night he had some serious SPEED going and I paid no attention to it. The only thing I want to get done is reining work. I want him to get out of direct reining. This is a two-fold approach for me because A.) I'm lazy and B.) it makes trail riding more enjoyable for me.

It's boring mundane work. Ask with the leg first, then ask with the rein on the neck, then ask with direct reining.

I'll dumb all this down a little. Leg aids with a horse are many many things. They tell a horse to go forward, tell a horse to move over, tell a horse to change a gait, or a whole list of things that I don't even know about. (can we say dressage anyone?) Right now Memphis only knows that legs mean go. A small tap on his side with my heel will make him move forward. Another tap and he speeds up. A good tap can really make him bolt.

Your calf is the next step up from your foot telling the horse to do something. This in my line of riding tells the horse to move over. (later it will help with switching gaits, but for now its move over) I use my legs to help "push" Memphis the direction I want him to go. So if I want him to go right, I'm going to push with my calf on his left side.

Later in this I am going to finesse this and use it for a tool called sidepassing which means that he will move laterally over for me (that's the best word I can come up with) but for the moment it just means go right or left.

Neck reining is much like the leg aids but much more refined. It's just lay the reins on one or the other side of a horse's neck to tell them to go whichever direction. So if I want him to go right then I lay the left reins on his left side of his neck.

Direct reining is just that. I want him to go right then I pull on the right rein. I directly tell him what I want him to do. This is cumbersome on trails as what I'm wanting is a relaxed ride, not to constantly be in a two handed riding position to ride.

So this is all I'm doing right now. Him and I got a walk down to a science. Now we are moving to reining. This could take a few weeks before it's perfect and we move onto the next lesson which will be more complicated leg aids. Then we are going to move back down to gaiting.

I started out wanting to work on gaiting first but that started to fall apart when I realized I was wanting more complicated things than Memphis knew how to do. So I've had to back track on what I wanted and start more with the basics.

Wow this is longer than I wanted.

Short update

I realize that I haven't posted on here a whole lot lately. That has a lot to do with just life always getting in my way. Silly life trying to make my adult life busy!

I'm in a precious balance right now of time management and absolute chaos. Sometimes I just want to say eff it all and sit down and do nothing. The problem with that though is that nothing gets done if I do that. So, I have to somehow find the motivation to keep moving forward. Which, I will admit, right now is beyond hard. Hell, last week we had two days of eating dinner while standing looking at each other.

I know I'm just bitching a little but it's all I can do. This weekend is already chock full of things to do. I hate that. Oh well.. enough bitching...

Lucille is growing like a weed and she is quite the happy baby. I can't believe she is almost 8 months old! That's 4 more months of buying formula and then she's onto pure solid food. That is absolutely insane to me. She's crawling around now so now I have to keep my floors extra clean (add that to my list of things I must do at least 4-5 times a week) and I gotta make sure her two retarded brothers don't step on her.

Memphis is doing just fine. Rode on Sunday for the first time in October. Was nice. He has such a big motor but I did notice some tail swishing at his wanna be refusals. I rode in split reins this time around so I could back up my commands if needed. I only needed to show him once.

My seat is still not where I want it to be, but that will come back with time. I feel bad for Memphis as I know he has to be like "mom what are you doing up there!". I'm back to where I was at the end of my lesson days, but my seat isn't as secure as it was right before I got pregnant and I was riding a few times a week. Oh well, haven't fallen off *yet*. (I know I just somehow doomed myself in the eyes of the horse gods who are laughing at me right now)

Brought my saddle with me again today. Plan on getting the poles set up in the arena and doing some more leg work and neck reining in. He is starting to put it all together. It's slow moving but he is learning. That's all I can ask of him. It's boring mundane work... push with leg, neck rein, then direct rein. I'd like to just neck rein or just my legs to guide him and get away from direct reining.

My big dumb idiot that is actually quite smart!

Long time no post

I've been under the weather lately so no posts from me. Oh well. Haven't seen Memphis in about 2 weeks. How sad is that??!!

Anywho, I'm still getting the message out somewhere. :D Even if my early methods were a little .. erm.. interesting... people seem to still be reading this blog. Hot dog I might be onto something. ha!

I had a mom tell me tonight that she was analyzing her daughter riding a horse. She was going over everything that I preach on as far as stirrups, helmet, horse, and safety.

Guess I'm getting somewhere!

That's all I have for today.

Lot's of riding as of late

I know I know, I usually post up after every ride, but I've actually put in quite of bit of time in the saddle lately. This has immensely helped my confidence in the saddle and on top of that has been helping Memphis and I both figure each other out.

I went on a long trail ride today again and I was able to be relaxed enough to let him open up on the trails. This is a huge change from early this summer when I started riding again. As long as he listens to me when I ask for something, I'm really a happy camper. There was some refusals, which I wish I would have had my split reins instead of the roper reins, but in general he is a willing horse. I can also tell a difference in him with me. He will actually stop on a trail and wait with me whereas before he would continue to do what he wanted and it was always a struggle between the two of us.

In all, I'm going to be sore. But I am very pleased with today. He is such a good good horse.

Horsey reflections

I started looking back through my older posts of Dodge and even some of my early postings of Memphis. I LOVE reflecting on things like this because as I read back I realized how little I did know and how far I've come now. Some of the way's I did things I realize were probably not the greatest, but I know if I had never done them then I would not be who I am now. I also know that I'm still learning and I currently have a solid foundation so far of how I would continue to move forward.

With Dodge, I expected too much from her too fast. I took a horse that was neglected, skinny, and hadn't been ridden in a few years, and expected her to perform to how I thought she should right off the bat. Not taking into serious consideration of how slow I really needed to take things. Most of what I did was fine, but a lot of it was just newbie stuff. Like putting her in an O-ring and expecting her to have a woah HAHAHAHAHA

With Memphis, I have taken for granted his gentle nature and up until just this past month I finally was able to grit my teeth and get firm. Not only firm, but also take a few steps back and see I'm asking too much on a foundation that isn't built yet.

This is a learning process. I've been learning :)

I think Memphis is starting to get it

I arrived at the barn about 5:30 with a mission in my head. I slipped his halter off the stall hook and rummaged up a lead rope from one of the eye hooks attached to the wall. I looked at my halter in disgust as it is completely covered in dirt and muck, but eh, it still works. I slip it over my shoulder and then the lead rope gets coiled in my hand and I start the long walk to the back field where all the horses are.

Memphis could spot me 15 miles away (ok not that far away but close enough) and stood there completely motionless as I approached. Once I got within 10 feet of him he goes off at a full gallop trying to avoid this whole work thing. That's fine as I was prepared for that and turned my direction to match his and kept on walking towards him. He ran back and forth through the field with me never getting above a walk; I am not exactly new to this game of not wanting to be caught. So I stared at the trees, the ground, and the other horses around me as I walked him down. This didn't exactly take long and he gave up within 10 minutes.

I had a talk with him while I got everything ready. I told him quite loudly that I was tired of his crap and tonight was the night he was going to understand that. He started yelling towards his buddies in the field and I silently mumbled "that's fine". He saw the saddle and started pacing on the lead rope he was attached to but I had no time for his crap and quickly got the pad and then saddle on him. My attitude tonight was not one of sympathy that I usually have to some extent, but one of a job that needed to get done. Surprisingly, Memphis picked up on this pretty quickly. (ok, maybe not too surprising there)

I did not bridle him tonight at first, we needed to work on some lunging first. I got the lunge whip, lunge line, and took him out to the arena. From here we started standard lunging. All I asked for was a walk from him, I swear that was it. Every time I lunge though, he takes off in a rack right off the bat, so I let him do that if he wanted but he had to play my game then. This new game was called "ok" in my head and it goes something like this: the horse decides he wants to do something and I say OK and make him do it till he doesn't want to anymore and I make him continue no matter what. He quickly figured out it wasn't fun to keep up like he was and by God he walked on the lunge line like I asked him to!!!! This is a absolute FIRST.

Once he figured out I meant business I took him back to the barn and gave him a second before we started part two of my plans for him tonight. Part two was riding and so I bridled him and then walked him out to the arena again. Hopped up on him and decided to see if he would just walk out for me around the arena. HA! He thinks the gate means exit which also means barn and here is where I played the game "ok" again. I started letting him gait right next to the gate at a pretty good clip. The barrels were set up in the arena so I did huge figure eights around those all the while letting him act like a fool next to the gate.

Eventually he slowed down and started to walk and I pushed him forward into gaiting again. I told him when to walk and I chose what gait we went. We ended this when he went the speed I said when I asked.

Now, couple things that are totally different about what I've done so far. Number one was I stayed out of his mouth and let him move. I only guided him instead of being in his mouth the entire time and he was allowed to have rein the entire time to move with. Two was the fact I was unafraid of him tonight even with him moving at a super fast rack and a pace a few times. I was catching some serious air and my butt stayed glued to the saddle despite this. Three was my no bullshit attitude I wanted with him; he totally felt out that I wasn't taking his shit today and in accordance to that he did as I asked him to.

I am VERY please with this ride. I actually felt him and I formed a little bit of a closer bond than we had before.

I plan on riding again Saturday unless we go to the lake. So I'm a little excited. :)

Refusals, tantrums, and all out meltdowns

So last night I get to the barn and figure a short 30 minute ride of working on neck reining and leg aids again would do me good. What did I get when I got there? Oh, lets just take a look here:

1.) Acting like a damn fool for the fly spray. This is AFTER I've put way more time than needed into him with that stuff and on Saturday I sprayed him down with not even a flinch from him. Oh but last night he decides he is going to jump back and forth, try to rear back on the lead rope, and attempt to run me over. Fine. The barn owner held him while I sprayed and after 10 minutes he decides to stand still.

2.) Trying to avoid the saddle pad. This is the only part of saddling that he will flat out refuse. He knows that this part means he is about to work and he gets upset. So it's a tricky game of get the pad on. I had no time for his stupidity last night so I backed him sideways into a wall so he had nowhere to go and put the pad on him. He saddled just like normal.

3.) Once on him he pinned his ears and started swishing that tail. This more annoys me than anything as I know he only wanted to leave the arena and go back to the barn. This is a flat out just annoyance from him and you know what? I just don't care. I really don't.

4.) He would NOT stay in a flat walk and once you asked him to turn, he would immediately start to gait and turn towards the exit. Here is where I wish I had not used the bit I used on him. It was too much bit for this much of a fight with him but at that point I wasn't about to hop down and switch bridles. He was stuck with what was in his mouth.

5.) He also would start flat out refusing to move forward, again, he only wanted to turn around and run to the exit. It had nothing to do with pain, nothing to do with me, but it had all to do with it was evening. About the time food gets fed and everything winds down for the night.

6.) I eventually got a half assed flat walk that was heavy on corrections for a slow down from him. This is when I let him leave the arena and go back to the barn. Mainly because I had to leave to pick up my daughter from the sitters.

Sunday though, I'll have the time to put into him. Smaller bit, riding crop, and lots of patience. He is so screwed because I will work him down till he thinks he can't live anymore and he will do the gait I'm asking for which is only a flat walk. So I guess now, neck reining and leg aids are out. He gets to work on walking. Even if that means it will take me forever.

Trail riding

I gotten notice that my barn owner was going to ride on Saturday and she wanted to know if I wanted to go with her. She told me this on Friday... I scrambled to find childcare for Lucille so I could go. My regular weekday sitter agreed to watch her for me for a few hours on Saturday. Bless that woman's heart.

I arrived at the barn at around 10:30 after stopping to get fly spray for the barn. ( I usually buy 1-3 bottles a year that are shared. I use the barn owners when I run out) Memphis and her new horse were still up in the stalls while everyone else was turned out. I took in a good long look of all the other horses out in the field just blissfully eating; they all looked so peaceful just eating and every now and again swishing off flies.

Memphis was still eating his hay; the barn owner had fed him alfalfa this morning since he was going to do some serious work today. He was surprisingly calm for being still stuck in a stall, but I gather part of that was due to the hay in front of him and the fact he has had sooo much good turn out lately. Pulled him out of the stall about the same time the barn owner showed up and pulled her horse out. She made small talk while we groomed out horses, here and there removing any hard spots of dirt that would possible rub while riding. She went on telling me how she groomed Memphis the other day for me and how beat up her horse was. Her horse was a brand new acquisition and he had quite a few battle scars in his short 5 years of life. He was also the lowest horse on the totem pole in the barn, so he was getting beat up still but wasn't too bad off. Just a few nicks here and there, but it was all small and superficial.

I switched the curb strap onto my one ear bridle with a larger bit on it and then removed the roper reins and replaced them with a set of leather six foot split reins. I love the smell of the leather in my hands and the reins are soft from all the coconut oil I've rubbed into them over the years. Split reins are my favorite to ride with on trails as I feel they give me the best of all worlds as far as reins go, but I can see why some people don't like them. Memphis stands and takes a deep breath as we watches me hang the reins and bridle on the stall door next to him. He knows what is about to happen.

I grab the saddle blanket and toss it on up. Fiddling with it for too long, unhappy with its placement. Eventually, I give up and decide that it is where it is going to be. I grab the saddle pad and as always when Memphis knows he is about to go on a long ride, he swings wide over to the stall wall stretching out his lead rope to the end. I walk around him with the pad and give him a smack on the butt while sternly telling him "OVER". He quickly sidepasses, why he can't ever do that under saddle, and I place the pad.

Picking up the saddle and making sure the latigo is not bunched up under the saddle, I gently place it on his back and check its placement. I fiddle with the pad and saddle while he chews on his lead rope. I attach his girth to the billet and then walk around to the other side and get him cinched up. Start to put his bridle on and woops, I put the curb strap on too tight. Takes me 5 minutes to get it all readjusted correctly. We are now ready to go! Find my pink bucket to mount with and up I go.

We decided not to trailer the horses anywhere but walk them to the trails. Its a 30 minute ride there on the roadways but its totally worth it. Memphis did a small spook at a loud truck and was really untrusting of some people cutting limbs but other than that it was an uneventful ride to the part.

Once on the trails Memphis did what he does best, be a AWESOME trail horse. The trail system is being reworked so we had to kinda wing it. We spent a total of 3 hours in the woods. I got some really good gaiting out of Memphis but I did hold him back somewhat. The new trails are CURVY with sheer dropoffs so I was a little nervous about really opening him up. He wanted to go go go but I didn't know the trails well enough to feel comfortable with that.

Near the end I was finally able to relax and drop the reins on the horn of the saddle. Memphis and I started to meld into one unit and he was listening to me without much guidance with the reins. That is what I was waiting for the entire time. I don't know if he was so tired that he just gave into me (probably it) or if we finally started to click, but I truly loved the last 2 hours of that ride.

When we got back to the barn I let him go out in the pasture with a sweaty back. He ran over to his friends, drank some water, and happily rolled in the dirt. I knew he'd roll, but I didn't care. He earned it. I really do love this horse.

Thanks Memphis.

The Barn

I arrived at the barn at around 5:45. Memphis had not eaten and was a little perturbed about the entire fiasco of his stable mates eating away and him being left in the stall. My barn owner left his ration of grain on top of his grooming tub for me to give him whenever I was finished. Nice lady she is remembered that I was coming out tonight and asked her not to feed him since I knew he was about to work.

I pulled his halter off his stall door and clicked open the latch. He waited for me right at the door. As always, I had to look at the halter to make sure that I had it facing the correct way and I was ready to put it on his head. I always think to myself that I should know by now how to put a halter on a horse, but I digress.

For the first time in a long time I never questioned what I was about to do. I snapped him to the lead rope attached to the outside of his stall and did a quick groom over him. I patted his neck and scratched his happy spot on his face. I contemplated pulling his halter off and bridling him that way, but thought better of it since he was already upset he was still not eating.

Sprayed him down with fly spray and then put his saddle pad on. He wasn't happy, but in the end I won. Then goes on the saddle and then attaching the girth to the off billet. Around to the other side. Adjust the pad, smooth down the hair underneath the pad, and then move the saddle up a little bit. As always, cinch up the girth with the latigo questioning my method of tie. I always second guess myself when I get ready to tie it off, why? I have no idea.

Then its the fingers under the girth to make sure it's tightened enough. Yep, two fingers can barely fit. Ok lets move onto the next things...

Find a bucket to help myself mount up on and then place it in the arena while unlatching the gate. Memphis watches me with a curious look from the barn doors. As he sighs, I untie the lead rope and start leading him to the arena. Couple sharp corrections for trying to outwalk me while leading later, we are standing at the front of the arena. I resnap the chain to keep him from thinking of leaving. I then guide him to the bucket and unsnap the lead rope tying it around the cantle of the saddle.

I hop onto my boy and just sit there. I stroke his mane and then scratching his favorite areas while trying to let him know it's ok.

Fast forward to 20 minutes in and I finally feel confident enough to ask him to go. There is a reason I bought this horse.. a huge reason..

I give him a slight nudge with my calf and a slight kiss while moving my hips a little forward in the saddle. He responds like a dream. I gather up the reins and put them up near his neck while sitting up straight and making sure my legs are in alignment with my body. I then enjoy the ride.

HOLY HELL... THIS is why I bought this horse. THIS is what I wanted out of a Walker. THIS is what I forgot about since I gave birth.

He was collected. I was still. We both kinda melted together.

I let him go about 3 bouts around the arena and then I let him flat walk.

I can't wait for Lucy to try this...

Memphis update!

I'm happy to say that Memphis is 100% feeling himself again! That was two weeks of absolute hell for me with him being sick and me not going to see him.

I went out Monday night because I had to meet my new farrier and have her give him a trim. She is a barefoot trimmer and a very nice lady at that. He hadn't been trimmed in 12 weeks. 12 WEEKS!!! What a horrible horse mom I am! But he is looking all spiffy now and I'm very thankful that that is done and off my mind.

Next up I need to worm him he is about 4 weeks overdue on that one. I was gonna do it right before he got sick but I couldn't do both worming and then try to pump him full of medicines while he was sick. I'll get him done on Sunday.

Other than that, he has been a very very good boy. The farrier was a little more trusting of positions with him than I would ever be and I did comment on that. She just replied that with some horses she is probably a little more trusting than she should be but she didn't really fear Memphis at all. Which makes sense because I don't either. He is just a big dumb horse that is awesome :D

Other than that, if all goes well, I will ride on Sunday if it's not 100 degrees outside. My limit on riding is 90F. So this heat wave thing has got to end.

Alfredo, trimmed down a little for us dieters..

Last nights dinner was homemade alfredo. Now before you go "OH HOLY SHIT THERE IS NOTHING DIET FRIENDLY ABOUT THAT" Oh yes there is. Oh yes there is.

Here is my version of alfredo that is pretty much nothing like the normal recipe.

1/2 box of penne pasta cooked and drained
1/2 stick of butter (1/4 cup)
Mix of veggies (I used bell peppers and sun dried tomato's)
3 chicken breasts sliced and cooked
2-3 tabl flour (you can use cornstarch, I am just out)
2-3 cups shredded parm cheese
2-4 cups of 2% milk
1 tabl garlic powder

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and then add in the veggies. Stir around till veggies are cooked. Add in the chicken breasts and then the flour. Stir around the heat for a few minutes to cook out flour taste. Add in the milk and stir over med heat until it starts to thicken up. Add in the cheese and continue stirring then add in the penne and garlic powder.

This serves A LOT if you stick to portion sizes. ~400 calories per 1.5 cup. Make some redneck garlic toast and you are right at 500-600 calories for the dinner.

Upswing?

Memphis is still coughing. Vet apparently dropped off something else for him yesterday. Some type of iodine powder to give him to help dry him out. I have no clue anymore lol my barn owner has been taking care of all of it and I've been trying to stay away from the barn until this whole thing blows over. That little mother part of me doesn't want to chance Lucy getting anything, even though the chance is remote.

Monday he sees his new farrier. I've only been putting this poor woman off for 3 weeks due to Memphis being sick.... She specializes in barefoot horses and keeping them sound, so I'm hoping this will work out well for him as I really really want to keep him barefoot since I don't really use him all that much. I've literally rode about 4 times since I gave birth...

I'm down 4.4lbs!!! I'm FINALLY under the 200lb mark!!!! My short term goal is to be at 180lbs. The long term goal is 145lb. I need to get my butt back to the gym, I was doing really really well with that buuuuttttt I've been slacking for 3 weeks...

I also keep trying to put money back into savings... BUUUTTTT Memphis got sick, new tires on my car, new brakes on my car, did our stock up on food, and life crap have gotten in the way this month. I *think* I shoudl still be able to put a little bit into savings this month with the goal next month to not let Murphy come out to play; he isn't allowed in my life anymore. NOT ALLOWED.

That's all I've got for today

Updates and life garbage

Memphis:

He is doing much better. Fever broke late last week. He is still coughing some but when I saw him Saturday he at least looked a little happier. He even snuggled with me, how freaking flipping sweet is that? Now before the nonhorsey people go "How do you snuggle with a 1k lb animal?" He sticks his head in your chest, holds it there, and lets you just stroke his face. It's totally sweet and totally melts a horsey person's heart. I'm so happy that I did not sell him. I'm so beyond happy.

Life:

Well, we were looking for land earlier this month because I figured that we would have our savings up and running by the end of this month. HA! (<--- notice the sarcasm laughter here! ) I stocked up at Costco yesterday for the month ($$$$) and now we have to get tires on the Escort ($$$$$). I'm driving a Cadillac right now ($$$$) and calculated that the money I am putting in this thing for gas could buy me the tires by the end of the month. Escort = 32-35 mpg ..... Cadillac = 18-20 mpg... That's a huge jump for a crony like me!

So land is put off for a moment. Probably until Jan of next year. Which I'm really ok with although a small part of me says that I should buy before elections this year... but we'll see. Got property taxes coming up at the end of November that I need to start saving for NOW. I can't wait to move out of this expensive ass city. MOVE MOVE MOVE

I also don't see myself getting a horse trailer for a long time. Sigh. The kiddo has kinda screwed up the money thing for us.... She's cute though.

Alrighty

Memphis has Strep which has festered into a lung infection as well. So he is on some crazy antibiotic for the lung infection and then the strep just has to run its course. Nothing I can do there. Sigh. Poor buddy.

Sick Horse :(

So Memphis is sick. Apparently one of my barn owners horses brought something home the last time she was at a show. I'm scared to even go to the barn because I don't want to touch him. :( I hate this. Really really hate this. She is waiting on blood work and then we will move forward with treatment. :( I hope nothing bad comes out of this. I hope he rebounds and I hope that I'm fretting over nothing. The unknown is so... well unknown.

Cole Slaw and Guiness Cake

So it's too hot to ride, too dry to set off fireworks, and well being outside sounds really really horrible. So I'm stuck in the house with a kiddo and 3 nutbag dogs. So I guess that means I'll find the time to clean and cook. Sounds about right.

I'm not going to go into tons of details about this cake other than its amazing. Here is the recipe http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086/

Only thing I changed is a I used plain yogurt instead of sour cream. It will work with the yogurt. Here is what mine ended up looking like:

I also made a batch of coleslaw. This recipe comes from a friends friend.

8 cups cabbage
1/3 cup sugar
3/4's cup mayo
1/2 lemon juiced
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup condensed milk

Just shred the cabbage, mix all the other ingredients and toss. Let it sit for a little bit to meld flavors and you are in business.

BTW, there is NOTHING like coleslaw on a good pulled pork sammich...

Lifes Meusings

I just finished a glass or two of wine. (ok two) Sit down and record my calories for the day (I'm right on the dot with the budget) and I'm now listening to a few of my favorite songs.

Decaff coffee is sitting next to me filled with a sugar free syrup, milk, and a tiny squeeze of whipped cream. Perfect end to a not so stressful day. Perfect.

What I need now, though, is to go play with Memphis... but the days are SO hot lately. Too hot for me to go sweat it out in a barn. So really, all I can do is sit from the safety of my computer and thinking about seeing Memphis. Poor horse probably has no clue what is going on. Awesome horse.

I'm also listening to the chicks behind me in the brooder just chirping away. Cute little buggers are starting to sprout out their first little feathers. They grow so fast. They'll be outside in about 3 more weeks. Then off to kill the older hens before winter. Life is funny like that, the older hens don't realize their demise. They just process day to day. No animal wants to die. Not a one. Yet, I continue to eat meat, process my chickens, and the like knowing I wouldn't want the same fate. BUT, if I had to accept it as a fact that one day I would be slaughtered, I would want to go like my chickens. Fast and painless.

Lucille is doing so well. I'm so please with everything she does. I'm so amazed by what she learns. She has me wrapped around her little finger. Yet I still feel compelled to not let her know it. I don't let her think that I will come to her at the drop of the hat, yet when I do come, I am beyond a comfort. I am her mother after all, but I want to set up boundaries early early on. It's a tricky game to mold a tiny person now for the future. I can only hope that I do a good job. A nerdy kid wouldn't be that bad.And her father is such a great person, although he can be slightly crass (ok really crass), he will be a great role model for what a man should be.

Life right now is all about what I make it. I need to work harder, though. I have a tendancy to slide when I am allowed. Need to work harder on my diet, job, and life. Although I am happy in both. (just not the diet)

Cornbread!

As Joe says every time I make cornbread "ain't nothin wrong with that!"

I use a coffee cup to measure.... I know slightly unorthodox... but the ratios would be the same if you used a regular measuring cup.

Note that using a standard size coffee cup makes enough to fill a 13x9 cake pan.

1 coffee cup of yellow cornmeal
2 coffee cups of all purpose flour
3/4 coffee cup of sugar
2 tabl baking powder
1/2 teas salt
4 eggs
1.5 coffee cup of milk
1/4 cup of butter

Pretty basic here, mix all dry ingredients, melt the butter, and then add all the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix well and cook on 420F for about 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

This cornbread is exactly as I like it. Sweet, moist, and with the grittiness of the corn. I LOVE this. Took me 6 tries to get here, but it was worth it.

Give it a shot!

Chickens overrun neighborhood!!!

Ok, as many of you know that read this blog every now and again or whenever I make a post, you know that I love chickens. I love my chickens. LOVE MY CHICKENS.

So when I saw this:


http://www.wave3.com/story/18766069/troubleshooter-investigates-fowl-problem-chickens-overruning-neighborhood

I was and am pretty upset by it.

See I live in the city limits of Louisville. I have my chickens free ranging in my backyard. I don't ever want to be without chickens. I really do love these stupid stupid birds. So, that being said, I'm going to make you an informative chicken in the city limits related post! The last thing that I wish to happen is to get rid of my chickens.

Keeping Chickens in the City

You stop at a feed store and see a tub full of cute little baby chickens! Your child asks if you can get a couple or (if you're a sucker like me) you fall in love with that tiny fluffy chirpy body. You buy 8 of these suckers and get home and realize that you have no idea what to do with them in the city!

First off, these little balls of fluff need to live either in your house for 4-5 weeks or in a garage that is free of drafts. Secondly, they will need to stay WARM. This is generally done by means of a heat lamp attached to whatever container you keep them in. (I keep mine in a 50 gallon container) You are these guys only source of heat, KEEP THEM WARM. Next up you will need to put shavings down (I use pelletalized horse pellet shavings) and then cover them with newspaper since these little guys aren't the brightest cookies in the jar.
Other than food and water these little chicks don't need much else. Well, maybe a tank cleanout every few days.

After a few weeks it's time to move them outside and here's where it gets tricky tricky. I don't mean to toot my own horn here, but I've had chickens for 3 years and my neighbors LOVE them and me still to this day. Let me break down how I handle the aspects of my girls:

Chickens themselves:

They are checked for parasites regularly and their wings are kept clipped so they can't fly. NO FLYING BIRDS. They WILL and DO clear fences if they can fly. I prefer to keep my animals contained to my yard. Every now and again chickens can and do get out, but its never been a daily, weekly, or even monthly thing. It's rare.

Chickens will also come home 99% of the time. So if you find some got out somehow and you can't find them, settle down first. Wait till dusk and start hunting your yard. Clip their wings when you find them and figure out and fix how they got out. You also have to clip wings 2-3 times a year to keep them like this.

The Coop:

If you confine your chickens to a run and coop, do your neighbors a favor and KEEP IT CLEAN. Here, I'll say it again, KEEP IT CLEAN. This will mean weekly clean outs of the coop (unless you do a deep litter method - which I won't cover) and daily checks to make sure that its not getting gross. Lyme here (garden lime, don't get hyro Lyme) is your ultimate best friend. It absorbs moisture, cuts down the smell, and keeps the coop all fresh. Just a small sprinkle before you lay shavings down is all you need.

The Run:

Turn your run frequently and lyme it as well. This keeps smell down and keeps the chickens turning it up.

Feed:

Keep feed put away. TONS of critters love chicken feed. I keep mine in big Tupperware containers. Along with the corn and scratch.

Roosters:

Don't keep these. Just don't. They get aggressive, are loud, and really really obnoxious. I've always gotten rid of mine the second I figure out which are which in the brooder.

Other than that, my neighbors love my chickens, take my eggs, and are generally concerned about the well being of my little creatures I keep in the backyard.  I've had no complaints and had many people tell me they like to just sit and watch them be stupid in the backyard.

Keeping chickens correctly isn't hard and it pisses me off to have some jack cause a problems for us owners that actually take the time and effort to care for our flock.

Tomorrow I ride! And other random junk..

I haven't ridden in 3 weeks. That may be a sin in some countries, I'm not 100% sure. Part of it is Lucille, it has been interesting to try to figure out what to do with her while I visit him and it has honestly taken me 6 weeks after I've gone back to work to finally get settled into a routine. Is that sad or what?

But! I need to get on him and get this thing moving if I ever plan on having a great future with him at all. So my goals tomm are two things with him:

1) work on neck reining and legs some more

2) Let him open up a little under saddle

For #1, I've just been starting my rides out all the same. I flat walk 2-3 circles around the arena to get him back into the moving phase and get me more relaxed. (ok its all me) I have set up poles in a pole bending pattern and we go through them over and over again. I say left, apply the right rein to his neck and push with my right leg. I say right, apply the left rein to his neck and push with my left leg. He was just starting to make the connection without me having to correct with direct reining, but I have a feeling that I've let it go too long. Oh well. My inner legs could use a workout.

For #2, I know he just wants to gait under saddle and I've been holding him back making him stay in a flat walk only. I'm gonna let him go and see what happens. Slightly crazy, but I think it would be nice to see what he does if I let him go a little. Not like drop the reins and cowgirl it up, but see which gait he chooses if I allow him the freedom to choose. I have a feeling it will be a rack, but we'll see.

In other news, I'm dieting like a madwoman. Not fun.

Nothing new here

Lately nothing new has really been going on. Got some cleaning done, doing tons of laundry, *thinking* about cleaning my tack, and that's about it. Been focusing more on weight loss lately than anything else and now's the time I need to get back up on my horse. The bad part is I'm timid on him again. I noticed it last time I rode. Sigh. All that is is uneasyness of not knowing what he will do and my ability to react to it. It'll get better the more I ride him. I've at least got it up to 20 minutes of riding rather than the 10 I was doing. I'd like to ride tomm but it looks like its going to rain :(

Short post I know.

Let the season of gardening begin!

Danger of frost has finally left my little (well not that little) city of Louisville and since my veggie plants came in on Weds of last week, I needed to go ahead and work the ground some. Joe had already tilled about a month ago and the ground is still super soft and workable. He does a much better job tilling than I do, simply because he has more patience than I do.

So anywho, I set out 9 pepper plants, 18 tomato plants, a row of zucchini, another row of that, and a row of pumpkins. I have carrot seeds too but I'm currently trying to figure out where to put them. I plan on canning all the tomatoes into salsas, sauce, and crushed tomatoes.

We also finally got a decent fence built around the garden to keep the dogs and chickens out. I spent the money this year and got metal stakes insead of the crappy plastic ones I had last year that never held the fence up. I'm proud of the work put into it :) Ok, slight correction, that Joe put into it. He put up the fence for me while I cleaned out the chicken coop and tended to Lucy.

I still need to weed my front yard, remulch the rosebeds, get a new border to put around the rose bed, trim the roses, pull out the ugly bushes in front of our windows, and then trim down the plant that is taking over the corner of the house. That will most likely be next weekends project.

Other than that, not much else in my household. Have a few recipe posts to make and tonight I need to clean out the chick brooder and build something for them to go outside in.

Never ends.

Overcoming the evils of spray bottles!

This is more of a training type related post but it's a post all the same.

So, did you know that spray bottles are monsters?! Seriously, the very bottle itself at any point in time can just go off! There is a cold wet feeling that comes right when that bottle shows up and it always seems to start on the legs! Who knows what the real intentions are of these bottles but if I am a horse, NO WAY THAT THING IS GOING TO KILL ME!!!!!!

I think that is what goes through Memphis' mind when he sees the bottle. I can usually see him tensing up right when I start walking towards him with it. But, at the end of the day I am going to win. (My 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Adams, would fail me based on the fact that I started that sentence with "but")

So every time we work through this issue it's much the same. This is so similar to working him through bath time that its the same principal. I have found that the safest place for me when working through an issue with my horse is right at his shoulder about 2-3 feet away from him. I do not stand in front of him, nor do I allow a large area of space between us. My reasoning for this is I do not want to be trampled if he decides to bolt forward and I don't want to give him the freedom of unpressured motion. (that leads to more of a free will to act even dumber I have found)

Now, I do not want forward movement out of him. His natural instinct is to bolt the hell away from the monster at hand and that is forward movement. (sometimes he bolts backwards but that's more in response to my pressure on him in the wrong spot) I want to restrict his ability to bolt forward for this exercise in getting over evil horse eating bottles.

I keep myself in a large area to give us both room to move around with no fears of hitting anything since I don't want to add any more monsters to the list while trying to train him to give to this bottle. I also need to allow myself enough patience to work him through this, so I usually give myself a second to decompose before I start. This is for my sanity and helps put myself in the mindset of getting a job done as opposed to trying to spray him with flyspray.

Ok, so I have a big dumb horse, I have fly spray in one hand, one short lead rope attached to his halter, and we are standing in the middle of a large open barn area. Let the fun begin!!!!

I start with his legs and spray the bottle, he immediatly trys to go forward on me. I counter his manuever and turn his head towards me. I don't say anything and I don't make a fuss, but this will make him try to turn his entire body away from me to straighten out his neck. I do not allow it. I walk with his body staying at his shoulder and I continue to spray his legs. Now we are doing a sort of dance in the barn. I do not allow him enough room to rear back, I do not allow him the ability to straighten his neck out and bolt, and I do not allow him the option to think about going crazy.

I'm steady and I'm firm.

I give him 5 minutes on each side. I don't want his neck to get sore from being bent one way the entire time; so after 5 mintues he gets a short break to catch his breath, let me get the room to stop spinning, and then I switch sides. Then we go again and again and again.

Took him 30 minutes before he just stopped and let me spray him. I took all pressure off of him. Allowed him to look forward, gave him slack on the lead rope, and took a deep breath while stepping off his shoulder and releasing the pressure I was putting on him.

He then got sprayed again like I would if I was going to do it before any ride. He gets no praises from me, his release from pressure was his reward. I make no fuss about it after I've sprayed him. I just tie him to the wall again, put the fly spray away, and then continue on with whatever I was going to do for the day with him.

I will repeat the above method each time he balks at being sprayed until he will allow me to spray him tied to the wall. This could take a bit, but I'm going to get it done.

Stupid horse eating monsters!!!

Gumbo - improved

So I'm not sure if I put up a gumbo recipe or not on here and I'm too lazy to go back and find if I did or not. But yesterday I was lazy, didn't want to leave the house, and tried to figure out what to make from what I had on hand. Shrimp and leftover brats in the fridge... gumbo it is!

There are few things to this recipe that are unconventional because I didn't want to leave the house. Dried onion vs real onion, brats vs the andoullie sausage, or chicken stock and a boullion cube instead of fish stock. But it was super duper good! The best I've ever made. So here it is for my future reference and if there are brave souls out there wanting to try it.

Gumbo:

1 head of celery chopped
1 cup of chopped sweet peppers (bell or other)
1 cup chopped onion OR 2-3 tabl dried onion
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tabl butter
1/2-1 cup of flour
1.5 tabl salt
2 tabl cayenne pepper (this was super spicy so go way down if you don't like really spicy food)
1 tabl garlic powder
1 tabl dried rosemary crushed in your hand
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups of water (can use all chicken stock)
1 veggie or chicken boullion cube
1 can of tomato sauce
1lb of shrimp
3 sausages (I used brats)

1.) Make the roux: Heat the oil and butter together in a large stockpot. Once both are pretty hot add in the flour. You want it to be a almost paste consistency. Yet you still need to be able to stir it around. This is trial and error that comes over time. Keep the heat on medium and stir stir stir. The mixture will eventually brown and I let it go till it gets to a dark caramel color. This is slow and steady work.

2.) Once the roux is made add in the celery, onion, and peppers. Stir the roux so it's all over them and keep stirring till the veggies are a little soft. Add in everything else but the shrimp and sausage. Let everything cook for an hour or so over medium heat stirring every now and again.

3.) The mixture should have thickend by now and then add in the shrimp and sausage. Give it another 30 minutes and you're done.

Serve over rice.

FINALLY a Memphis post!

I swear, EVERY time I have been see Memphis lately I've been saying "I'm gonna ride today!" Then I get out there and I have Lucille and she flips out about something and I am left tending to her. It's no big deal, I love her to pieces, so it makes no difference to me, but a small piece of me needs to be on my horse.

I am proud to say that I got on yesterday! Here is a rundown of yesterdays 2 hour stint with my big idiot:

Started with grooming first. He was perfectly fine, but I expected no less.

Then we went out to the arena and we did some lunging work, which again he was really really good at. I noticed horse flies buzzing all around him so I decided to fly spray him after saddling.

Ok, this is cool, he took to saddling like a pro. Good boy. So then I got the fly spray out and we are back to square one from last year. Except this time it took me 30 minutes of fighting as opposed to an hour like I did last year. Woot! He finally stood still at the end, unhappy, but still.

Hopped up on him and he was perfect! Didn't really want to gait, but that was OK as I was only going to spend 15 minutes on him really. Just wanted to feel him out. I plan on going back out there one day this week and again this weekend to ride again. He has completely forgotten leg aids, but that's perfectly fine. Some poles will fix that right up.

I love my giant donkey. Really really love him. He is going to be Lucille's horse and I think he will do just fine :)

Lucille Beth - a Birth Story

So she is here and I am beyond surprised by every single feeling that has popped up into me right after she was born. I have totally become "that" parent. I have found that I can't help these feelings no matter how much I resist. Even odder? I'm OK with them. So here I will do the "birth story" that you see on so many other websites and blogs. After this I'll post up about Memphis, that is long long overdue.


 Saturday March 10th:

I am PISSED this morning. Very very upset. I'm still pregnant. It's surreal, the doctor had been telling me for weeks that he thinks I'll go early, I'm dialated to 3cm, and her head has been resting in my crotch for weeks. I text my doula pissed off that I'm still pregnant. I won't lie, the thought crossed my mind being pissed at my doula that she had not done anything to get this baby out. In retrospect, I'm not even sure why I'm mad at her, she can't do anything. At this point I am 41w3d pregnant. Almost a full 2 weeks overdue!!!

I have turned down my doctor every week for 3 weeks about induction. I was determined to not be induced and let my body do this on its own, but I will admit that on this Saturday I wanted to call the doctor on Monday and tell him to induce. I was sick of being pregnant. My doula, bless her heart, pep talked me through the morning and so I went on with the day.

 Joe had had one of our friends over that night and they were playing video games when I decided to go to bed around 9pm. I woke up at 11am and I really had to go to the bathroom. I sat up and felt wet. And here we go. I went to the bathroom to check and once wiped, I saw light pink blood. Yep, this is probably labor starting. I went out to get Joe to let him know this is probably it. He calls my doula and she talks him through it. Ok, I want to labor for a bit to see if it is false labor or not.

 Sunday March 11th:

Nope not false labor, I've got contractions! Joe was absolutely adorable and timed contractions with me. Once they got close together, which I'll admit had somewhat to do with my nervousness, I decided it was time to head to the hospital. This was around 4am. I was admitted at 4cm dialated around 5am from triage.

 I walked the HELL out of the halls, which was great as it took the mind off of my contractions. The doctor stripped my membranes at 7ish to try to help speed me along and off to walking more halls I go. Contractions I honestly cannot say were painful. They were intense feeling and did take my breath away a few times, but weren't horrible.

 Doctor came back at 11am and was unhappy since I had only dialated to 5cm. She wanted to break my waters. My doula, bless her heart, asked for another hour to see if I could move along on my own. We tried some random movements, walking, and squats from hell. (you try to squat almost 10 months pregnant!) But at 12pm the doctor came back, I wasn't dialating anymore, and I consented to my water being broken. That was odd as hell. I never felt her actually doing the act of breaking my waters, it was exactly as I had read and painless. It also did include a crochet hook type tool to do it with; which I thought was so neat. I did however, feel a warm, very warm, wet gush of fluid come right on out. This was eery as with contractions more fluid would come out. Freaking weird.

 At this point I wasn't allowed to leave my bed, so because of that I remember thinking: she needs to be out by 3pm since I don't want to lay in the bed much longer than that. My doula propped my bed up and had me turn around facing the wall on my knees in a upright position. This position made all shit hit the fan. I was and am not a fan of it. (:) ) Contractions got BAD, which I can only assume is because I hit transition and I hit it fast. I was doing OK with the contractions until I felt IMMENSE pressure. I told my doula that there was so much pressure that I didn't know what to do. The nurse came in to check the monitors and my doula mentioned this to her. Thank god the doula was there because about this time talking was beyond me for much more than a few words. Well, the nurse checked me and said I was 9cm!!!!

Once back on my back I wanted to push so freaking bad, but was told to wait. So I waited..... Doctor came in and said I was only 6cm, to which the nurse looked at her like she had 4 eyes and actually asked "Are we checking the same patient?" the doctor scoffed and walked off saying that we need to wait. HAHAHAHAAHHAHAAH The nurse went ahead and set the room up for the baby coming NOW and called the head nurse in to check me. Head nurse agreed I was 8-9cm but said my cervix was swelling. I was pushing with each contraction, not intentionally, but was pushing.

 Looking back, I agree I was not 10cm at all as I was in AGONY from the contractions. They were one on top of another. It was HORRIBLE. There was no relief from them. I remember withering on the bed trying to cry or vomit or thrash the pain away. The need to vomit was really bad and I took that stupid vomit bag from my husband I don't know how many times. Never did it though, but seriously felt the urge. The head nurse says I have two options: She can manually move my cervix off of Lucy's head on the next contraction or I can get an epi to stop my pushing with each contraction.

 I consented to both. (just wait) The epi doc took a while to get to the room, so on my next contraction the nurse went to manually move my cervix. HOLY FUCKING SHIT THERE IS NO DESCRIPTION OF THAT PAIN. NONE. ZIP. NADDA. I remember screaming at the nurse to get the fuck out of me. I wanted to kick her head off but maintained somehow my composure... This is where everything got awesome. The epi doc showed up and I didn't need her so we sent her off. At this point I had been in labor for 13 hours and have had NO pain medication.

 Pushing was amazing. I would push all day if it meant I didn't have to deal with transition ever again! There was a definite couple minute break through each contraction and when I did have a contraction, all my efforts were concentrated on pushing. This took all my attention off the pain.

 Soon the doctor was there and Lucille was ready for her attendance into this world. I totally felt the "ring of fire", which feels like a red hot poker shoved into you and swirled around. It's from stuff stretching and ripping... I didn't just feel it once but twice. The first time I told the doctor and nurses "IT BURNS" and they just smiled at me and told me "THATS GREAT!" Haha.

 I felt the fire sensation again and I was mid contraction and kept pushing through it and out she popped. I pushed her out in one contraction. I almost missed the feeling of her actually coming out as it happened so quickly. They laid her right onto my chest and I just remember thinking "ok it's 3pm, right when I needed her to be out and OMG shes slimy, should I kiss her? Yes I should kiss her!" And I totally kissed my kids head.

And there we are. I am beyond in love with her. She's perfect. She's my new hobby. She's my daughter.

 Meet Lucille Beth:

Updates!

Life:

Life is well, life. I'm now 34 weeks along, getting to the miserable stage, and trying not to kill my husband. It's just now getting uncomfortable to sleep at night and Lucy is having a kick fest in there today. (actually it could be kicks, head butts, punches, or whatever else makes her happy)

I feel like cleaning is too much and since my husband rarely cleans, it just pisses me off. Welcome to the fights! Yay! I'm trying to get rid of stuff in the house too, we have so much STUFF that I'm not sure what to do with it all. I'm being proactive and taking the stance that if I haven't touched it in over a year or so, out it goes. Making for long weekends.

I'll get it done. I have to.

Puppies:

These two are TARDS. I got them both neutered yesterday, so they are right around 5 months, if not a little over when I've done this. Neither were marking, yet. Nor were they wanting to roam anywhere. But, I wanted this done before they hit 6 months of age, so I'm happy with the timing here.

They are also VERY different personality wise. I need to get back to working with them on a regular basis, I've been slacking lately just due to being pregnant. Stupid pregnancy. Carl is the more outgoing "weeee" type of dog. He reminds me a lot of Buck in his personality. Angus is timid. He is afraid to get yelled at and afraid of just about everything. I'm not coddling him (well, I did yesterday, but that's a little different) and I'm letting him work through these things himself.

Memphis:

Memphis is fine. I checked on him Sunday and dropped off 3 months worth of board checks. Since I'm not sure what is going to happen since I'm so far along, I didn't want to have to think about board just in case.

I want to ride my horse though. Really really want to...