After Every Ride

Voodoo has a ritual.

First he finds the perfect spot.

Down he goes.

And he rolls.

Gotta get the other side.

Scritch it in good.

Back to the first side & stand up.

"OMG Mom you were taking pictures of that?!"

Makes me wonder why I bother to brush him after riding lol

Wordless Wednesday ~ A Bit of Bling

The Best Laid Plans...

Remember my plan to ride Smudge while there were people around my place for that clinic?  Yeeeah, didn't happen.  I was on the run all morning getting stuff ready for lunch (I was providing a bbq lunch)  Well after lunch the wind came up and it started to rain.  The kind of weather that can put some extra silliness into a horse.  So I decided to go the smart route and let him wait a bit longer.  Instead I decided I would ride him one day this week while Pie was around.
I also altered my game plan a bit, I decided I'd add in what BEC mentioned.  I'd catch Smudge, brush & saddle him and then tie him up and let him soak while I worked other horses, cleaned the barn, etc.  He needs it, the boy is impatient and paws.
Monday it was rainy so Pete & I went green-housing to get plants for the yard.  Today was nice, and being dry & sandy it was drying up enough to ride so I caught up Smudge.  Oh man, this is where I have to make a "bad horse mommy" confession...  You know how sometimes you don't see what's right in front of you?  Yeah that was my problem.  I check the horses daily, but I hadn't taken a real hard look at Smudge in awhile.  I mean I noticed he was fat but WOW I didn't notice quite how fat he is.  When I joke that he looks like he could be Percheron its not that much of a stretch at all.  After I brushed him I weight taped him, I'll let you look at the pics and you can guess what the magic number was lol   Then I saddled him and tied him up outside. 
Applejack got brought in, brushed, weight taped (he's down 115 lbs or so!) :) saddled him up and went for a ride.  The good news about Smudge being so fat is he makes Appy look trim:

Sorry, this was the best pic I could get of Applejack today, he did NOT feel like posing lol

(yes the sky was that blue today) :)

Smudge... "guess my weight"  

Oh and this should help y'all guess, that saddle is NOT a kid's saddle.  Its a 15" Billy Cook barrel saddle.  I am a very bad horse mommy :( 

(and yes I know the back cinch looks terrible, its getting adjusted!)

After riding Applejack for awhile I decided to see if I could pony Smudge from Appy.  This is another alteration I've made to Smudge's plan.  With how fat & out of shape he is I've decided to move him to dry lot and put him on the diet plan.  Also, it just didn't seem fair to start riding him when he's that fat so I will lunge him (if he lunges, we'll try that out in the round pen) and pony him.
The arena was a bit muddy in places but not slick or too deep so I grabbed Smudge and ponied him, which took a bit of figuring out lol  We went for 20 minutes, walk/trot and one lap of a lope (just to see if we could)  After Appy was still just as fresh, in fact he kept wanting to break into a lope and was getting in his "I feel good!" prance steps here & there, he's such a goof!  Appy was rode for a total of 45-60 minutes tonight, Smudge was ponied for 20.  Appy worked at a walk/trot/lope, Smudge walk/trot (except for that one lap at a lope) and Smudge was WAY sweatier than Applejack.  Poor guy!

Trust me, that may not look like much but he was sweaty! 
One good thing came of today, after having to 'discuss' things with Smudge I'm feeling much more comfortable in my new saddle.  I wasn't sure about my seat in it, it felt a bit loose and like I'd slip out of it.  No worries now lol  I do think that next time I'll use a rope halter, so hopefully we'll have less to 'discuss' when I say come along.

And lastly, this was a picture I was thinking of for last week's Sunday Stills.  Anyone know what song I have in mind for this pic?

Sunday Stills ~ Music Groups or Songs in Pics

This week's Sunday Stills challenge was a bit different:
This will be a fun and challenging challenge to say the least and will not only take photo skills but a knowledge of music. So find a song or music group and then take a picture of something that represents them, sounds easy but it may take a bit of creativity. 

If you need a clue you can click the link for each picture to take you to a youtube link :)
My first one is a music group

This feel of this song would have been nice on this chilly day:

This takes me back to my late teens/early twenties, love the band (they're Canadian!) and this song:

A popular TV show covered this song and it was as good as the original IMO

Feel free to put your guesses in the comments, or just let me know how many you had right :)

I had a lot of fun, and ideas, for this challenge!  Thanks for suggesting it Ed, I wouldn't mind returning to this one sometime :D

Embarrassing Confession

Here it is... I have to ride Smudge, and I'm a bit scared.
Yes, scared.  Of Smudge for heaven's sake.

See all my horses had the winter off.  First the footing was way too icy and then when we did get enough snow cover to make riding safe my back was acting up.
I swung a leg over Voodoo this spring without a worry.  I knew he'd be a bit hot but I also know what to expect from him.
A couple weeks ago Applejack's new saddle came in and I was finally able to ride him for the first time since, oooh, the end of August :D
I had messaged a friend that if I hadn't checked in with her by a certain time she was to come over and see if I needed an ambulance* ;) 
Appy was happily confused to be getting saddled up and a bit eager to go but he cooperated nicely and stuck to the walk/jog I wanted.  Although he did let me know that if I was even considering asking him to run he would gladly comply lol

Smudge needs his first ride of the season now.  And like I said, I'm scared.  Not ohmigosh I'm gonna die!! scared, more nervous & unsure scared.
Because that is The Thing, being unsure about what he'll do.  I know my little black horse and my fat appy.  Smudgers, not so much.  I know he's safe for beginners, when he's had someone on to take the fresh out or he's being used at least semi regularly.  And I was told that the rancher that had him before would turn him out for winter and in the spring just get on without a hitch, but I don't know that... we haven't even had him a year yet.
I have a game plan though.  Tomorrow my arena is being rented for a clinic (Molly Powell), there will be lots of people here so I will saddle up Smudge and go for a nice, calm ride. And if for some reason he doesn't follow the game plan there will be lots of people around to offer first aid and, worst come to worst, call 911*.  And I will wear a helmet!

Yes I feel a bit embarrassed being nervous to swing a leg over 'the company horse'.

*I wore a helmet for Appy's first ride in 8ish months.  Also I didn't think I'd need WL to call an ambulance or that someone will need to call 911 for the Smudge ride, its just my weird humour.  Kinda if I say it I will unjinx it from happening, if that makes any sense.

Friday Funny ~ The Pig & the Chicken

A pig and a chicken were walking by a church where a gala charity event was taking place. 

Getting caught up in the spirit, the pig suggested to the chicken that they each make a contribution.

"Great idea!" the chicken cried.  "Let's offer them ham and eggs!"

"Not so fast," said the pig testily.  "For you, that's a contribution.  For me, it's a total commitment."

Wordless Wednesday ~ Rockstar pony :)

Sunday Stills ~ The Colour Pink

This week's Sunday Stills challenge:
So I guess last weeks challenge was a bit tough, so for this weeks challenge we are doing a colour challenge that you don’t see alot so it will be a good challenge..

Just a sidenote, I would have participated last week, however I realized it was Sunday, oh pretty much when I realized Monday was Monday not Sunday lol. 
Anyway, I'm not much of a "pink person" but here's one  pink thing I own that I love:

How to exercise your fat ass

Of course it would be better if your cute, little donkey wasn't fat...

(pic from last year, he's even fatter now)

IF you do find yourself in this predicament here are the steps to follow:

1) Put the chubby donkey in a pen or dry lot with a horse. 

2) Feed the donkey & his horse with slow feeder hay nets, you can reduce the portions of hay but maintain a "grazing" type of feeding. 

3) Once the donkey has formed an attachment to "his" horse you can start to exercise your ass... simply remove the horse from the pen for periods of time.  Better yet, remove his horse from the donkey's sight. (example, take the horse into the barn to groom)

Donkey will pace, run and buck in the pen.

For advanced donkeys you could also take the donkey into an arena and ride the horse, as you trot and lope circles the donkey will alternate between standing around and madly chasing "his" horse.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Its here!!

Friday Funny ~ Pig Misunderstanding

Howard County Police officers still write their reports by hand, and the data is entered later by a computer tech into their database. One theft report stated that a farmer had lost 2,025 pigs. 

Thinking that to be an error, the tech called the farmer directly.


"Is it true Mr. Smith that you lost 2,025 pigs?" she asked.


"Yeth." lisped the farmer.


Being a Howard County girl herself, the tech entered: "Subject lost 2 sows and 25 pigs."

You know it's dry

...when it can rain over 4" in a couple days and the arena takes 1 day to be dry enough to work.

But the good news is it DID rain and things are looking nice & green now. 
AND now that the arena is worked I plan on working barrels some and starting to enter jackpots!

Friday Funny ~ The Derby Horse

A jogger running down a country road is startled as a horse yells at him, "Hey!  Come over here buddy!"

The jogger is stunned but runs over to the fence where the horse is standing and asks, "Were you talking to me?"

The horse replies, "Sure was.  Man, I've got a problem.  I won the Kentucky Derby a few years ago and this stupid farmer bought me.  Now all I do is pull a plow, and I'm sick of it.  Why don't you run up  to the house and offer him $5,000 to buy me.  I'll make you some money 'cause I can still run."

The jogger thinks to himself, "Boy, a talking horse!"  Dollar signs start appearing in his head.  So he runs to the house and finds the old farmer sitting on the porch.  The jogger yells to the farmer, "Hey, old man, I'll give you $5,000 for that broken-down old nag you've got in the field."

The farmer replies, "Son, this has happened before.   You can't believe anything that horse says.  He's never even been to Kentucky."

**hoping for a good, clean Derby tomorrow with no injuries**

Odin's Owie Update

I am so happy with how Odin's leg is healing!  He had a slight infection for a few days but that cleared up fine.  I really need to thank my friend SD for doing the bandage changes, he really has a way with young horses.  All this handling is doing Odin a lot of good as well.  He's learning that just because he's feeling pi$$y it doesn't mean he gets a pass on behaving, he still needs to do as he's told.  I'm really hoping that saying about stubborn horses being good horses is true lol
I took photos today to compare with the photos taken February 2nd at his first bandage change.  Just a reminder, pics may be considered graphic to some.

(We found him with the cut the evening of January 30th, 

vet was out January 31st)

Wordless Wednesday ~ Ain't that the truth!

A Home for Every Horse

What a fantastic idea!  
The Equine Network and the Unwanted Horse Coalition have partnered to create and power a match up site called A Home for Every Horse.  Horse rescues can list their horses at Equine.com at no cost and there's also a Facebook page.
This project is sponsored by Tractor Supply Co. and Purina. 
Feel free to share this information with the horse people in your life!