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....