Sad News

They took Molly into the vet for X-rays and it's much worse than the vet originally thought.  She crushed all the bones in her ankle.  There was nothing he could do to help her, she didn't have anything left in her ankle to actually heal so the decision was made to put her down.  She was really coming around too, when our landlords first purchased her you couldn't get near her and now she was approaching us and becoming easy and willing to catch.  Now I just hope that the rest of the horses will be safe on the icy parts.

RIP Molly

Praying for Molly

I'm so tired of having bad news about the horses, and even more tired of foot issues.  We went to a hockey game today, to watch  a relative of ours play and five minutes after being there my dad called.  One of our landlord's mares, Molly, had slipped on the ice and broken her ankle.  They had called the vet immediatly and when he first called me they were waiting for him.  Molly had slipped on the ice, broken her ankle and then, frightened, tried to run away on it.  Honestly, we weren't very hopeful and my dad figured he was calling the vet to come put her down.

In the end, after the vet looked her over, gave her some painkillers, it was decided that she would not be put down, at least not yet.  It is a fairly bad break, but in a good place to heal.  It's below the fetlock, in almost the exact same spot that Cas was injured.  He made Molly as comfortable as possible and put a cast on her leg.  Tomorrow, they're going to bring her into the vet clinic so X-rays can be taken and he can put on a better, long-term cast.  Based on his examination of her today, he thinks that there is a good chance she can recover.  I think the X-rays tomorrow is going to be the deciding factor. 

Molly isn't our horse, she is the landlord's, but we do all the care and training for their horses.  She came with another mare, pictured above with her (Molly is the mare on the right) named Maggie and they're rarely apart.  We're not really sure what breed she is or how old she is, all we know is she wasn't touched much before she came.  She was nicknamed the Nice mare since it took a while before she was named. 

For now, I'm just praying for her and waiting to hear news from my dad.  I hope she can make it through but I don't want her to be in a lot of pain either.

I Hate Being Unsure

Sorry for two ranting posts in a row...hopefully after this I'll stop being annoyed for awhile.  Socks was great today, we didn't get to ride outside but she was perfect.  She was a bit social, she kept trying to go over to all the other horses but other than that she was fine. 

The problems came with some of the people today and an incident last week.  Until last year, when they came down to the stable, the horses had always been at my dad's, our own place.  I'm still getting used to having other people around and I try very hard to not get in the way of anyone or annoy anyone.  I'm pretty paranoid about it to be honest, I feel awful having all three of the horses in the barn together and Artemis is usually tied up at the same stall as Socks and Jimmy because I'm afraid to annoy someone who wants to have their horse tied up where she was. 

I guess my question is, where do you draw the line?  When does possibly annoying other people become more important than what your horse is doing/learning?  To me, whatever you're doing with your horse should never physically affect anyone else, person or animal.  Such as your horse getting in another horse's space, for example.  Which unfortunately is an very bad problem at this stable. 

My first problem came from that.  Jimmy, is a puller.  Not everyone knows that since I don't feel the need to put a sign on his tail saying "Beware, may pull".  He has not pulled in months, but I'm not stupid enough to think that he won't ever do it again.  So we're careful with him.  And normally, it's not an issue.  But there was this one girl, it was the first time I've met her, who brought her horse in and brought him to the stall next to Jimmy.  That wasn't the problem, the problem was, she didn't tie him.  Which would not have been a problem had he been standing right up to the stall....but he was standing in the middle of the aisle.  It was difficult to bring my saddles out around.  It made me nervous since I also don't know the horse and didn't know what would spook him.  But moving past that, the problem really began when she tried to bridle him.  He didn't want to take the bit and had he been tied up, it wouldn't have been an issue.  But since he wasn't, he was moving all over the place and kept moving into Jimmy's space, just centimetres from walking right into him. 

What gets Jimmy to pull is physical discomfort, such as being bumped into.  The horse never actually did touch him, but he was very close at times.  I stood next to Jimmy and just watched, but I wanted to be beside him to keep him calm and distracted.  Is it reasonable of me to turn to her and ask her to be more careful with her horse so mine doesn't pull back?  We've worked very hard with Jimmy and his pulling back, and he's come so far.  It'd be terrible for something like that, so easily avoidable to set him off.  She might not have known Jimmy is a puller, but even if it were Socks or Artemis who had been beside the horse, I wouldn't have been comfortable with how close he was getting.

Today was because of Artemis.  She's still learning how to be calm in the barn, at all times, so we bring her in with us and I usually do a bit of work with her after we ride.  Today, there were three other people there so she couldn't come in the arena while we rode.  Instead, we put her into Zanza's stall.  We have M's permission to use the stall whenever Zanza isn't in it so that's the stall she always ends up going in.  Well today, she was in a bit of a mood.  She was calm at first but she had food in the stall with her.  Once she finished, she started calling and throwing a bit of a temper tantrum.  It was annoying, it was annoying even me but she wasn't hurting anything or anybody. 

This is where I am torn.  Should I have taken her and put her back in her field so she didn't annoy the other people, or should I have left her?  I was still going to work with her and she was not actually affecting the other horses, she was just being noisy.  And my main issue was, if I were to go put her out, all that's going to teach her is to throw a fit and she'll get put back out in the field and I do NOT want her to learn that. 

She doesn't get away with things because she's a cute little baby, she gets disciplined and if Socks and Jimmy aren't allowed to do it, she isn't either.  But, I have really come to realize how her mentality and maturity are not where Socks and Jimmy's are.  She's still a baby.  She throw temper tantrums and if I fuss over her and try to get her to stop, they get worse.  The thing that works the best is to ignore her and she stops.  It's like she goes, "well that's just a bunch of hard work for me and I didn't get any attention...what's the point of it?"  When she throws a little fit about being alone in the barn, I usually let her have her little temper tantrum and ignore her (so long as she isn't a danger to herself or anyone else) and she'll quit it.  And usually, the next time it happens, it's not near as bad. 

So she was in the stall, throwing a fit.  Mainly, she was calling a lot because the horse who had been tied across from her was taken outside.  It was annoying, she's so high-pitched, but it was just calling.  The boarder who had just returned from putting her horse out was around the lockers.  Artemis called out again and she turned around and yelled at her, "Calm down over there!"  And then she turned towards the arena and yelled "Whose horse is this?"  I didn't actually reply, because honestly, I couldn't believe she'd just yelled at my horse.  One of the other ladies we were riding with just turned to look at her and very calmly said "It's the baby."  The boarder who yelled didn't say anything else and left. 

Before I sound totally crazy, it's not that she yelled at Artemis that stopped me, it was her tone.  It was really, really...bitchy is the only way to say it.  What she said in it's self was not bad, it was how she said it.  I know, without hearing her I sound like a crazy, overprotective "Don't even look at my horse!" kind of person but I swear I'm not.  I don't mind people talking firmly to my horses, telling them to quit.  I don't mind people giving them pokes when they misbehave, but I do not appreciate people yelling at my horses, especially how she did.  I try my hardest not to yell at them because I find getting to that point doesn't do any good.  I've tried very hard to raise Artemis as calmly as possible.  Not to say she doesn't get in trouble, I am very firm with her, but when I discipline her I do in levels.  I start off calmly and slowly raise the intensity if she doesn't quit.  I don't start off with a high intensity because I want her to learn to quit before I have to get up there. 

Honestly, it was her tone that did it.  It was so angry and mean and I really felt it was uncalled for.  I really don't have a problem with people telling me to come calm my horse down, but yelling at my horse with that much negativity behind it (I'll admit it, I truly believe the energy you give off affects horses) is not going to make her calm down.  And it didn't.  She did shut up for a second when she was yelled at, but she started up again. 

See, now this where I'm really troubled.  Should I have brought Artemis out when she started being noisy?  I know my stable owners would have been of the opinion that I should have left her in the stall.  She needs to learn to be calm in the stable, both while tied and while in a stall.  Maybe there's a better way to do it, but none of us know how.  But then, while I would be making the other boarders happy, I'd be teaching my horse that if she throws a fit, she gets rewarded by going back out to the pasture, and that is not something I ever want her to learn.  See my problem?  In this case, what was more important, pleasing the other people there or finishing a lesson with my horse?  If Artemis had been in the aisle throwing a fit, I would have done a lot more about it, but in a stall she can make noise but can't do anything to the other horses or people.  I'm not really sure if I made the right choice or not. 

Sorry for rambling on about this forever, I'm just really unsure if I should have left her in the stall or if I should have taken her back out.  I really don't want to annoy other people, but I also don't want my horse to learn bad habits.  Sigh, I know I've been at the stable for a year but sometimes I really have no idea of what to do or what not to do.

Moving on, I did work with her once we were done riding.  I'm trying to get her to move past me, so when I eventually teach her to lunge she'll be able to do it.  I'm not sure whose worse at it, me or her.  She tries, she'll walk by me a few steps and then stop and turn and face me.  She was trying, she really was.  After that I sort of worked on teaching her how to ground-tie.  Socks used to ground tie (not so much anymore as I stopped making her a long time ago) and how I teach them is to have their lead on them, drop it on the ground and say "Stand."  I was actually really surprised with Artemis.  She usually tries to follow you but after a few times of leading her back and saying "Stand" again, she began to get it.  I was able to get around 15 feet away from her before she started walking towards me. 

I also had a lady at the stable tell me a lot of things about my horse that just...aren't my horse.  I'm kind of wondering if she got Socks mixed up with another horse because the horse she described was not Socks.  She did end the conversation by telling me Socks was stupid, I always appreciate getting told that.  We don't usually see the ladies who were at the stable today....and I can't say I'm upset about that.  The people we usually see are all so nice.  We all get along well and it's just fun when they're there.

Oh before I go, the ponies were supposed to have their feet done this weekend.  My farrier is my brother, whose a farrier student at Olds College.  Yeah, despite working with hot metal, sharp tools and live animals every day, he gets injured slamming his hand in a door at the bar and cannot work with anything right now.  He hurt his hand so badly they had to drill a hole into one of his finger nails to relieve the pressure in his hand.  I'm being a horrible unsympathetic sister and bugging him how his job isn't going to be the thing to kill him, his partying is.  The ponies are going to have to wait one more week to get their feet done, when his hand is hopefully better.

Crazy Horse For Sale!

So anybody looking to buy a bull-headed bay mare who has one speed, which is faster than the speed of light?  She eats like a garbage disposal, gets extremely jealous if you look at another horse while in her presence and is prone to being absolutely terrified by a bird flying in the sky a kilometre away.  If so, Socks is perfect for you!

Seriously, by the end of my ride today, I wanted to either A) sell my horse or B) kill her.  I still want to do the second option a bit.  I offered to trade my horse for T's Phoenix but she wasn't going for it.  I wonder why. 

I guess I'll start at the beginning.  After our deep-freeze, the weather's finally beginning to be nice again.  My mom and I rode outside last Sunday....which was fun but I'll admit, very slow.  I like to go fast and so does Socks, admittedly, she likes to go much faster than I do, and my mom and Jimmy are just not there yet.  We did a bit of trotting but it was mostly walking.  At the end of the ride my mom and Jimmy went back to the stable and Socks and I ran across the hayfield.  It's a HUGE field and we ran across a third of it.  We didn't go too too fast, as I was looking for wholes and Socks was half thinking about running and half wondering where Jimmy was, but it was fun.  It was the first time since she'd come down that we'd gotten to do that.

Well today my sister drove me out so it was just me.  I saddled Socks up in record time and we went for a ride down the road to the highway.  It started off well enough, although Socks was distracted by the fact that Jimmy was not coming with us.  She kept trying to trot and then turn back to the stable.  We argued about it and I won.  Then we had a nice lope in the ditch and she was beginning to listen better.  Then it all fell apart.

There was a flock of birds, flying in the distance, at least a kilometre away.  And it was the absolute scariest thing in the entire world.  Her ears went up, she stopped and stared, snorting.  And I should mention, they were flying away from us.  She kept trying to spin around and dash back home.  E and his daughter L drove by with the trailer to go pick up a horse from the vet and to them, Socks looked like she was being perfect.  In reality, I was trying to convince my horse that we were in fact, not racing the truck.  Then we got to the highway and that is the best field to run in.  I can stay far enough away from the vehicles, but there are no holes in the field.  So we loped through most of it and then when we turned around I let her run.  We had about half a second of fun gallop, and about thirty seconds of an argument that ended with the one-rein stop.  I could have killed her on the spot.  We've gone so long without her taking off.  The second I gave her some rein, she grabbed the bit and just took off, like a racehorse coming out of the starting gate. 

I still maintain being on a runaway horse is the absolute worst feeling in the world.  And sadly, it no longer freaks me out, it just makes me angry.  I stopped her, turned her around and made her lope away from home.  I'm pretty sure at that point she wanted to kill me but she does not, ever, get to take off on me, especially when we're going in the direction of home.  With the threat of going even further away in her mind, she was perfect for the first bit of the ride home. 

Then she kept trying to trot again the whole time.  When I'd make her walk, she throw her head up and then bring it down so her nose was practically dragging on the ground, trying to get the reins out of my hands so she could go faster.  And then I would yell at her that I wouldn't have any pressure on the reins if she would just walk like a normal horse.  I'm sure the neighbours got a good show. She frustrates me.  I have to pull back on the reins to make her walk, then I reward her for walking by loosening up on the reins...and then she starts trying to run again so the process repeats.

We loped again which once again ended with her trying to bolt but I was ready for it so she didn't get to break out of a lope.  Once we finally got back to the stable, in the last light of the day, I rode her into the hay field across from the stable and attempted to lope her in circles.  It...did not work out.  What it ended up being was Socks trying madly to dash across the field while I turned her and when I didn't let her run, she'd come to a dead-stop.  Eventually I was getting her to lope some consistent....shapes that very vaguely might resemble a circle if you used your imagination.  And then we turned to go home.  Well the next ten minutes involved her trying to trot home, me spinning her around and making her trot in the opposite direction every time she broke out of a walk.  It took a while but she finally got it.

This is my horse we're talking about, the one who has been there and done that.  She's been in the Rockies countless times.  She's gone swimming, crossed rivers, been in lakes.  Been stuck in muskeg up to her neck.  We've been chased by quads and dirt bikes, we've gone across rickety old bridges.  She's been through the drive-thru at Tim Hortons, twice, been ridden right through town.  We've chased mustangs, we even chased a cougar (that's a story I'll one day tell).  She's had to put up with everything I've put her through, just to see if I could, and she freaks at a flock of birds a kilometre away.  And no, they didn't even pop up suddenly...they were just flying.  She was an idiot and she knows better.  She's amazing in the forest and Rockies, where you never know what's around the corner, or above you in the trees but she's a mess on the prairies where it's so flat you can watch your dog run away for three days.

I know I'm overreacting, I'm just so frustrated with it.  I know what she's usually like and I know what she's been through, it's disappointing to have such a bad ride over such trivial things.  If she was young or new to being ridden outside of an arena, I'd be more understanding.  I'm not going to be angry over it for much longer, and it definitely won't be our last ride outside.  Apparently I need to do it more to show her that we can still behave outside and we have more speeds than just faster than the speed of light.  It's just so annoying to have such an experienced trail horse act like it was her first time outside

To end this on a slightly less negative note, she's at least still great about going over train tracks, no hesitation, and the vehicles on the highway didn't bother her a bit.  I didn't think they would, at  my dad's we ride down the highway all the time, but today, I just wasn't sure how she was going to be.  And she made her motorcycle noise, as my brother calls it, when I was bringing her food and that's my favourite noise to hear.
On a side-note, the vet is coming out next Monday or Tuesday to do their teeth (Socks and Jimmy).  I'm not worried about Socks but I am about Jimmy.  I hope it all goes well.

Hello -30

Winter has finally arrived here in Alberta, about two weeks late and it is not welcome.  We've had such nice weather, although it has been windy, and now it is over.  Each winter my sister and I have an arguement with my mom about what the true temperature is outside.  She claims it's the temperature before you count the windchill.  We say it's the windchill temperature.  Her logic, you can get out of the wind.  Our logic, it's Alberta, there is no getting out of the wind. 

We went to the ponies yesterday and immediatly regretted it the second we got out of the car.  All the horses were still in the barn, that's the first time they've stayed inside all day because of bad weather since we've been here.  We've had colder out, but it was because of the wind.  In the morning the wind was extremely bad and the drop in temperature was so dramatic. 

We went out for Artemis first and as soon as we got out in the pasture, all the pasture horses came running.  Artemis didn't even stop for us, she went straight to the gate and waited there.  We checked their water and there was a thick later of ice and no water underneath.  Don't you love winter? 

We did ride, but not for very wrong and only at a walk.  Socks and Jimmy were both hyper and we figured a bit of excercise would be good for them, as long as they didn't sweat up.  Artemis was feeling good too, she kept running around, bucking. 

When the stable owners got there we let them know about the pasture horse's waterer.  He went out to attempt to unfreeze the pipes and we all felt bad for him.  And then my jacket broke, it was lovely timing.  -30 with the wind chill and my only winter jacket decideds that's the day my zipper needs to break off.  It made for a very cold time putting the ponies back out. 

If it's any colder than yesterday, the ponies won't be coming in the barn.  It doesn't seem that nice to bring them out of the freezing cold, bring them in the heat and then throw them back outside.

As there is lots of snow and ice out, the horses' hooves keep getting packed full of ice.  Honestly, it's not something I think very much about, it happens all the time.  The horses at my dad's always have ice packed in their feet.  We clean them out but after being out in the field for five minutes, it's packed back in there.  It doesn't bother them, they run around, play and graze just fine.  It's just something that happens in winter that we need to deal with.

However, several boarders at the stable were freaking out about it yesterday.  They didn't want to bring the horses inside so they didn't slip on the cement so they went outside to try to take the balls of ice off.  It didn't work.  I usually let them thaw for a while and brush Socks until they're soft enough for me to use the hoof pick on. 

It was just, interesting, to see how upset other people were about something I've always considered to be normal and unavoidable.  I don't leave the balls of ice on their feet, even at my dad's I usually bring a hoof pick and hack away on them but it's nothing to worry about.  It happens every winter and it's just something we deal with. 

I honestly do find it very interesting to see what I get upset over with the horses, and what the boarders get upset over.  A lot of the times it's not the same things.

Stables

Last year, from September to November, I went on one of the hardest searches I have ever been on.  I was looking for a boarding stable.  I seriously was not prepared for how difficult of a search that was.  I figured there would be tons of stables near where I live (which there are) and I'd have a choice of several.  I was so very wrong.  There were certainly many stables near me...but none of them were Western or even full of both English and Western.

I don't think I've ever said this, but the reason I got to bring my horses' down is because I was supposed to be getting help from a barrel racing trainer.  True story (I swear it is) my brother and I went to Stampede and a few of the barrel racers were signing autographs.  My brother, who has been extremely supportive of me getting into barrel racing, asks everybody in the horse business how you get into barrel racing.  He always gets the same answer, "Start in gymkhanas."  So when we went up to get autographs from the barrel racers, he asked them.  Well, they gave us a bit of a different answer, a much more helpful one.  One of the barrel racers gave me (technically my brother as she wrote it down on the poster autographed to him) her phone number.  Trust me, I'm still not over it, we were expecting a simple. "start in gymkhanas,"  not her phone number.  So I called her later on and she gave me the number of a good friend of hers, a barrel racing trainer.

From there, the barrel trainer tried to get me set up at the ranch she trained at, so I could bring Socks down.  I went out and checked out the place (it has the BIGGEST indoor arena I have ever seen in my life... It was huge!) and it was all set for me to bring Socks, and then Jimmy, down.  And then everything fell apart.  The woman in charge of the ranch stopped returning my calls.  The barrel trainer ended up going to the States for the winter and invited me to call her in the spring, once she was back.  I decided to practice for the winter and call her and get her help in the spring.

But now I had to find a different place to board.  So I began looking.  I cannot tell you how many jumper and hunter barns there are around me.  It is insane.  They're all really nice barns, but the whole english aspect kind of clashes with my western thing going on.  If it was a barn that had both disciplines, that was fine with me.  But when all the pictures on the website are of dressage horses and people jumping...I just feel like a barrel racer is going to be out of place.

My other requirment, was a heated indoor arena.  That eliminated pretty much all of the duel discipline stables I had managed to find.  I also, of course, wanted a place that would take good care of my horses.  I wanted pasture or paddock board, paddocks of a good size.  I must have looked at over fifty stables but none of them worked.  Some of them sounded pretty good but then there'd be pictures andI really wouldn't like what the facilities looked like.  I'd rather not have paddocks fenced in with barbed wire. 

Then, very late one night, I was rereading the list of stables offered on google for the thousandth time.  To my surprise, there was a new addition.  I went to the website and I literally started jumping up and down with happiness.  The website gets right to the point, the pictures showed nice facilites, there was actually a western saddle on the horse in the pictures, testimonys by english riders (which showed me both disciplines were very welcome).  I sent an email and got a reply back immediatly.  I then called and made plans to go out and visit the stable.  I dragged my mom and brother with me. 

It was dark when we got there and T was bringing in the horses.  Several boarders were unsaddling, most said hi, one was not at all friendly (and has been even worse since then).  T stopped and talked to us for awhile.  She answered all of my questions, showed us around the barn and arena.  Her son loved Alex the second he saw him.  She then, after answering all of my questions and asking me questions about my horses (something the first place never did) she let us walk around the place on her own.  This was important to me, I had given them short notice on me coming and then they didn't insist on coming with me while I checked it out, showing they had nothing to hide. 

I was very pleased with what I saw.  The paddocks were a decent size, not overcrowded and all the horses were happy and friendly.  A few weeks later, Socks and Jimmy arrived. 

Not to say my transition to having horses at a stable instead of on our own place wasn't with difficulties, but it's turned out to be better than I could ever have hoped for.  When Socks began losing weight, E began throwing double the food at her.  And then, when we got the surprise news that Socks was pregnant, two weeks before Miss Artemis made her appearance, they were great about it.  E was more excited than we were.  He was checking on her pretty much every hour.  T would kick him out of bed at night to go check on her.  He called me as soon as they found Artemis.  They've been full of very helpful advice.  Though in return, I believe we've been a great source of entertainment for them, like when we couldn't find the gate, or when Miss Artemis tried to make a mad dash to her mother, ducking under the fence. 

I realize how much I've lucked out with my stable.  I just wanted a place with an indoor arena, where both western and english riders were accepted, and a place where my ponies would be well taken care of.  I got so much more than that.  My stable owners are the best, we can and do, talk to them for hours.  They've helped with Jimmy and Artemis so much.  Socks is looking the best she ever has.  I seriously never want to leave this stable, ever.  I have no fears whatsoever that my horses are not being well taken care of.   I know that no matter what the problem is, I can go to my stable owners for help.

How about you guys?  What do you want in a boarding stable?  Even the people who keep their horses at home, you can answer too.  If you had to move your horse to a stable, what would be on your must-have list?

Choices

Yesterday I thought I had the next two years of my life planned out pretty well.  Today, I'm not so sure about that.  Long story short, there was a problem with my student loan and because of that, I've decided to take the semester off and work.  I don't want my student loan to get too high so I'd be putting away the money and hopefully be able to go back to school next year without a student loan. 

This has also opened up other oppertunities for me.  I go to a very, very small University.  It is tiny and it was perfect for me right out of high school.  But I don't enjoy it anymore for a lot of reasons.  I think  I'm ready, and would enjoy, being at a bigger University now.  So one of my options, and the one I would prefer, is to go to the University here where I live.  I think I'm going to see if I can make an appointment with a counselor to see if I could transfer over.  Hopefully I can.

If that doesn't work, another option I have is the University of Saskatchewan.  My grandparents live very close to campus or I could live in residence.  I have two major concerns about this option, A) living that far away from home absolutly terrifies me.  And B) I finally got my horse near me and I don't want to leave her. 

For the first one, I can reason that I won't be completely alone as my grandparents will be there.  I'd miss home like crazy, and all of Alberta too as it's a place I never want to move away from, but it'd only be for two years.  And I'd be coming home for the summers. 

For the second one, which is probably the more major one, I honestly don't think I could leave my horses.  If there's one thing my mom resents about the horses it's that all of my major decisions revolve around them.  But I can't expect her to take care of three horses on her own, and there is no way I am sending Socks and Artemis up to my dad's.  I said this to my mom.  And, to my surprise, she agreed.

Her solution?  Bring them with me.  I thought I heard her wrong.  Seriously, she wants me to bring my horses to University with me?  People rarely do that!  But we talked about it some.  She realizes that I will not leave my horses.  I have owned Socks for going on 9 years and spent 8 of them two-three hours away from her.  I hated every second of it.  I hate having someone else be her primary caregiver, having someone else having to make decisions for her because I'm too far away.  I hate not being able to see her and if I went to U of S, I'd be six hours away from her.  I won't leave Artemis just as she's in the middle of her training.  I don't want her to be sitting out in pasture for the next two years doing nothing.

I figured I'd only be able to bring one of them.  It would be Socks, I can say that now and it would be horrible to leave Artemis behind, but I know I would bring Socks.  I love all my horses, but it's Socks...she's always going to be my number one.  My mom disagreed, she thinks if I'm going to bring one, I should bring both.  I'd have to have a job, of course, but I'd have one anyway.  I would have help paying the board, I do already and that wouldn't change.  I already found a boarding stable I like (I can't help it!  I had to look!) but my grandparents also know a lot of people with farms.  It would depend on if they knew someone willing to keep the horses there. 

I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but the fact that I could probably bring my two girls with me makes U of S an option.  Yesterday I didn't have any decisions to make, now I have too many.

On an off note, I've already made one decision.  I am a Pyschology student and my goal is once I'm finished, I want to get into Equine-Assisted Therapy.  Ideally, I'd like to have my own place one day to open as a Therapy Centre.  I am very far away from that, but that doesn't mean I can't start helping now.  I've found two programs looking for volunteers and one of them looks very promising.  I'm going to send the application in and hopefully they get back to me.  I think it would be great and I could see if I really, truly do want to work in Equine-Assisted Therapy. 

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit intimidated by all the choices opening up in front of me.  I like both Universities for different reasons and I both want to stay here in Alberta, which I truly do love, or move away from home and gain that experience.  Just overnight, all the plans I had for the next two years are out the door and I have so many new plans to make.

Temper Tantrum

I finally managed to film one of Artemis' temper tantrums.  As you can see...she ignores me when I tell her to stop.  Usually I actually step in and try to get her to stand still so they don't usually last this long.  She was upset because she was the only horse in the barn and my mom had left to go bring Jimmy in.

I Become a Bowling Pin

I am very, very sore right now.  I feel like I've been run over by a truck...I'll get to that though.  It was Sunday, so we headed out to the stable.  First stop was the pasture to get Artemis.  I brought my camera, as I'm sure you've already noticed.  I'm figuring out how to use the Panorama shot on it.  I love it but it's really funky to use.  Si came with us and Charlie came up to greet us.  He and Si started playing, and by playing he chased her and she absolutly loved it.

As you can see, they had fun.  And then Artemis and Ebony wanted to join in on the fun. 

This picture makes me think of Fonda.  I think she looks a lot like him in it.  Miss Artemis was in a good mood today.  She was very happy to come with us, although Charlie wanted to eat her halter as I put it on her.  Then he thought he'd help encourage her along by biting her.

We brought the three horses in, saddled up and let Artemis and Si run around the arena while we rode.  The ride was pretty uneventful, Socks did not buck.  Artemis is lazy and hangs out in the middle of the arena, only running if she can chase Si.  As we were riding it started getting busy there, with C bringing Eli in and L with Willow.  Charlie's owner was also there although she did not bring her horses inside.  We unsaddled after the ride and then went to go put Artemis away.  I led her out the door and then Artemis decided to try bowling, with her as the bowling ball and me as the pins. 

My best guess is that the dogs coming out the door behind her freaked her out.  That's the only thing I can think of, but she took off like a rocket, and unfortunantly, I was in the way.  She ran into my right side/back and knocked me over.  Then she decided to try running down the driveway.  I didn't let go of the rope and I tried to stand as she basically dragged me.  I did manage to dig my feet into the ground, but in front of the door we have a bunch of deep, soft gravel....things....I don't know what the proper name is...to keep it dry and while it does indeed do that, you have no grip in it.  So she dragged me with my feet sinking into the soft gravel several feet until she finally realized that she was not about to die, and then stood still and looked down at me, as if to say "What the heck are you doing down there?  How are we going to get anywhere with you lying down?"  I love her, but I wanted to kill her. 

So I limped over to her gate with her, and as my mom was undoing the gate, Miss Artemis decided she's Superman and could use her super-horse strength to demolish the gate.  Unfortunantly, we were in the way but she could handle the sacrifice.  She tried to push us against the gate and keep us there, to get it open.  Well the little princess got a impromptu lesson on manners and she realized that she is neither superman nor is she cut out for bowling.  She learned that we wait for the gate and we do not, ever, touch her handlers.  Or she will be in trouble. 

By the time we got back to the barn, I'm pretty sure a muscle in my leg was seizing up.  I could barely walk.  I kind of hobbled awkwardly and surprisingly, nobody gave me a funny look.  You have to love horses, you can leave walking normally and then come back after five minutes hardly able to walk and everyone just smiles and shakes their heads at you and your horse. 

As we were leaving I stopped to take some pictures of the pretty sky and moon.

There are two things I keep forgetting to put in here.  First, the other day, someone commented about Artemis being a yearling, since it was past January 1st.  I know that for Thoroughbreds (and maybe Standerdbreds?) they officially turn a year older on January 1st.  Is that true for other breeds?  I mean she's technically a grade horse, a Quarter Horse/Canadian Horse cross.  I hadn't heard about it being so.  Either way, I'll consider Artemis a year older on April 25th.

Second, several people have mentioned this to us over the past few months and lately we've been considering.  We've been told that we should enter Artemis in a few halter classes.  I'm not sure if either of us would be good at it, but the experience would be great, as I'd like to one day show Artemis (in barrel racing hopefully).  Any show experience we get before that is just as asset.  The problem is...I have no idea where to start.  I've tried to looking it up a bit, but I can't find anything for the new year.  I guess it's too soon.  I have no clue where shows are though, or even really what a horse needs to do for halter.  I'm going to have to do a bit more research before we decide.



So...Much...Crying...

Guess what I saw tonight!  Now that I have finally stopped crying, I just need to say...this was the saddest movie I have ever seen...I've never cried that much, or that hard, in a movie before...and I cry so easily in movies.  I was sitting there the whole time, struggling to keep it together and failing miserably. 


SPOILERS!  Past this point I will be commenting on a few things about the movie, I'm not going into detail or anything, but if you haven't seen the movie yet, know that you are going to cry a lot and you need to go see it now.  And stop reading this now.  And seriously, be prepared to cry.  A lot.  Just make sure after you see it you're able to go hug your horse because trust me, that's all you're going to want to do afterwards.

There were other people in the theatre crying too, and I think anyone can appreciate the horrors the horse went through, and the people who bonded with him, but I do believe you have to own horses to really get the full effect of everything.  I know for me, there were two things that made this movie even harder to watch.

First, Joey is a bay.  Socks is a bay.  I know, not that weird considering bay is such a common colour, but it made it so much easier to imagine that it was Socks, not Joey, in the war.

Second, the friendship between Joey and Topthorn, made me think of Socks and Jimmy.  Every time the two horses in the movie touched noses...it made me think of how Jimmy and Socks do that each time they come in the barn together.

I hate barbed wire.  Enough said about that I think.

The whole time all I could think about was if that was my horses going through that.  My horses will never have to fight in a war, but it was all too easy to imagine if it were them in it.  All I know is that when I get to the stable on Sunday, I am hugging all three of them and promising them for the thousandth time that they have a home with me until they die.

Crazy Horses

Young Bachelor herd of wild Horses who thought Socks was the prettiest thing they had ever seen.

Okay so I did not take any pictures today.  It was so windy when we left the house so I left my camera in the barn.  Well turns out...it was not at all windy out in the field.  Oh well.  We brought Artemis in first, then my mom caught Jimmy and then L (barn owner's daughter) and I went out to catch Socks.  I love my crazy pony.

We walked out and every horse on the property was going insane.  They were all running around, bucking and neighing.  We walked down to Socks and all we could see was a gray and bay blur galloping madly up and down in their paddocks.  Oceania was being her usual, over-excited self and Socks wanted to kill her.  I'm sure if she could have gotten to her she would have beaten the other horse.  When Oceania turned suddenly and began galloping up towards the gate, Socks spun on a dime and bolted back up.  She bucked so hard I swear her back legs nearly went above her head.  I don't know how she didn't go over.  Streak was trotting in circles, doing her best to stay out of my crazy horse's way.  I stood outside the gate, waiting until Socks calmed down.  When she finally did, I went in.  Well, Oceania decided to start running and Socks turned and bolted at the fence, ears against her head, snapping her teeth.  Oceania stopped dead and Socks, happy that her job was completed, turned and trotted over to me, ready to go inside.  What can I say, she can't stand overly-excited horses.

Same bachelor herd, showing off for Socks and I

Just as we were bringing Artemis out so we could ride, T  (barn owner) came so we stopped to talk to her.  She told me that Streak is an 18-19 year old mare.  I honestly didn't think she was that old.  Oceania is three and is going to be trained to be a jumper.  They're actually thinking about putting Oceania in with Socks because they think Socks will calm her down and she desperately needs that but we'll see.  I told her I'm fine with it.  I don't worry about Socks being hurt by another horse and my horse may be dominant, but she isn't mean.  As soon as Oceania calmed down, she'd leave her alone.  She's already doing her best to calm the gray down. 

We finally put Artemis out and started our first ride in almost a month.  The arena was busy, M was on Zanza having a lesson, K was riding Tango and D was riding Eli.  Zanza is a Thoroughbred, and Tango and Eli are both Warmbloods.  In short, they are three pretty high-strung horses.  Tango kicked the wall as she was running and it scared all the horses except for Jimmy. 

Sadie and Jimmy, 2009

At one point,  Zanza was out of the arena, Eli and Tango were at the top of the arena, and my mom and I were sitting on our ponies at the bottom of the arena talking.  Jimmy was facing the end of the arena and Socks was facing the wall.  I had my reins crossed over Socks' neck, not holding onto them as that's a very bad habit of mine, and suddenly the little man door next to us slammed open in the wind.  Jimmy turned and bolted, although he only went a few steps before he realized he wasn't about to die, and Socks went straight up in the air and then stood, snorting loudly, staring at the monster door.  I made a mad scramble for my reins and somehow managed to grab them before her feet touched the ground again.  It scared all of us, although it was kind of funny afterwards.  M's trainer and K were impressed that Socks and Jimmy didn't spook more than they did.  In Jimmy's case, so was I.  His first reaction when frightened is to go up, and he didn't even try.  I'm not going to lie, in Socks' case, I think I would have been a bit disappointed if she had done anything more than jump, we've seen much scarier things than a door blowing open.

My very own lake monster, Si swimming across the Saskatchewan River, 2009

My biggest shock of the night (I'm still not over it) came later.  I was loping Socks around the arena and she was fighting me the whole way.  We turned the corner to the long side of the arena, and she suddenly went back on her hind end a bit, and just took off like she was coming out of a starting gate.  As we neared the corner, she let out a big buck.  I'm still surprised I managed to stay on.  I stopped her and just sat there, too shocked to do anything else.  I know a buck is not anything strange to most people...but this horse NEVER bucks.  Ever.  She is not a bucker.  I've only seen her buck one time before that, the very first time I ever got on her.  It was the first time anyone had ever gotten on her and she bucked me the second I touched her back.  Even the second and third times people got on her, she never bucked.  She just doesn't buck.  Ever.  EVER.  See, I told you I'm still not over it.  And afterwards she acted like nothing had happened.  I didn't know whether to laugh or be disappointed.  I'm hoping this was a one time thing, to show how happy she was to run again (like I said, it's been a while since our last ride) or perhaps left over excitement from being next to crazy excited Oceania.   I did realize I can't go that long without riding again, I need to stop being so lazy.

Stress-free Picture Taking

Merry Belated Christmas from Artemis!  She was not so pleased that I put my scarf on her.  My sister says she looks British with the scarf, and now all she needs is a top hat and a pipe.  Unfortunately we, for some strange reason, don't have any top hats and pipes at the stable so she went without. 

She doesn't think scarves are her thing and was pretty happy when I took it off of her.  We went out to the stable on Monday in the morning.  We went and caught Artemis.  We stopped to pet Charlie for a while and that made my darling little baby jealous.  Charlie decided to help me put the halter on Artemis, and bit her cheek to hold her into place.  Despite how well meaning he was, I did not appreciate it.  Artemis was perfect.  I usually bring a dressage whip for me because she's of the opinion that while she won't argue about leaving the herd, she is going to walk as slow as she can.  A few taps with the dressage whip usually helps.  I didn't need to use it at all.  She walked beside me, as quickly as I was walking, the whole way up.  It was quite the change from her brother.  I love Hades, but he does not get worked with enough.  I tried working with him but he does not get it.  He pushes into you and does not focus on you.  I pointed this out to my dad, but we'll see if anything changes.  Back to the point, leading her was so nice.  She doesn't walk over you, she doesn't even touch you with her nose when you lead her.  It wasn't something I really thought about before but I'm not taking that for granted anymore!  We brought the three of them in to brush them off and give them love.  We didn't ride, my mom has recently had a gall stone attack so she's not ready to ride yet, and I was just happy to de-stress and hang with them.  My last week was absolutely horrible and all I wanted was to be with horses without someone getting angry or trying to get me to do something I don't agree with.  I gave Socks a good long hug.  Being with them is the best de-stressor there is.

We took Jimmy out first and then led Artemis and Socks out.  Luckily their pens are all in a row, Jimmy, Socks and then the gate to the pasture.  We put Socks in and then came in with Artemis.  We usually let her get a drink before we take the halter off, or else she turns into a mad fool and getting the halter off is pretty much impossible.  We're taking baby steps with it.  There are three new horses at the barn, and one of them is in the paddock between Socks and the pasture.  She decided to come over and introduce herself to Artemis.  We didn't let them for too long, I didn't want either of them to be zapped by the electric fence, but I'm pretty sure that's the calmest the new horse was the whole time we were there.  We let Artemis go (she'll stand like a perfect little lady to take the halter off once she's had a drink) and like always, she took off like a rocket.  It's always nerve-wracking because she goes on the ice, and although she does slow down, I'm always afraid she'll fall. 

She doesn't race back to the herd like used to, she settled into an easy gallop and slowly made her way over to the herd.  All the other horses always lift their heads and look up and watch.  Oceania on the other hand, got super excited.  She started galloping madly up and down her field and Socks, who had been watching her baby run, got insanely angry about it.  My horse cannot stand when other horses are excited, she gets so angry and tries her hardest to put an end to it.  She started running beside Oceania, swinging her head over the fence, ears flat against her head, snapping at the younger mare.  When Oceania started to calm down, Socks slowed too but kept her ears flat against her head.  She was not at all impressed.  When Oceania finally calmed down completely, Socks just turned and walked away, her job finished.

We went back in the barn just as D got there so of course we had to stop and talk for a while.  While we were, S was riding Junior and Oceania's owners showed up.  I have to say, Oceania's excitement outside was nothing compared to what it was inside.  She was pawing, she kicked out a few times.  Hopefully it was just a new place so she was nervous and tense, but first impressions are that her two owners (young girls around my age I would say) are badly over-horsed.  When S brought Junior back in the aisle way, she didn't want him tied up near Oceania and I can't blame her.  I don't want my horses getting hurt, and that includes not having them tied up to an extremely excited and tense horse that could possibly kick them and hurt them.  Hopefully Oceania calms down with time.  She's only had four rides on her and it is a new place.  D was a little nervous about it, because her horse Spirit reacts to other horse's energy by acting the same as them.  Socks tries to calm them down, Spirit gets all excited as well.  Hopefully Oceania calms down soon.  Once Oceania's owners left, D brought Spirit in and I went outside to take some pictures.

The second stop was Socks' pen.  Her and Jimmy are in their own separate pens.  Jimmy doesn't really get along with other horses besides Socks and Artemis.  He tolerates them for the most part, but can be pretty tough on them.  He's easier to deal with if he's in a pen by himself too.  He likes being near other horses, he spends a lot of time having his head hung over the fence talking to Mach, Titan and Storm.  Socks is two pens down from him and for the longest time she was in alone too.  Well, when we got out there was a new horse in with Socks.  Last year that would have bothered me that the stable owners had not mentioned anything to me yet (granted I haven't seen them in a while) but this year, it doesn't bother me at all.  They know me and they know Socks really well.  Like I said earlier, Socks hates excited horses.  She is a dominant mare but she doesn't harass the other horse.  As long as the horse leaves her alone, she leaves them alone.  And her new paddock mate seems really nice.  She's not pushy but she's friendly.

Socks likes to think she pulls off the windswept hair look pretty well.  I have to agree.

Here is Socks' new paddock-mate.  I am 99.98% sure that her name is Streak.  I'm going off of the names on the feed bins, but since I know the names of the other two new horses, and neither of them are named Streak, I'm going to assume it's her.  If not, I'll be sure to change that later.  She's a pretty nice mare, she hangs back, doesn't get too close to Socks but doesn't mind saying hello.

I didn't get to spend too much time with Streak, although she loved my camera, because Socks is a jealous beast.  She allowed me a few minutes to pet Streak, then she made her baby noise (like the noise she'd make when Artemis would get too far from her) and the ears went back.  Streak walked away from me immediately.  My mom found it funny.  Socks was standing, facing Streak and I, and my mom is behind Socks, calling her, tapping on the fence, trying to get her attention, and Socks was completely focused on Streak and I.

On our way back to the car we had to walk past the indoor board horses.  Apparently it was their nap time, most of them were passed out on the ground.

This is Sue.  She used to be boarded at a really fancy jumper barn but her owner wanted a quieter place.  I'm not sure what she does with Sue now, but Sue used to jump at Spruce Meadows (not in the Masters or those big competitions but it's still pretty cool).  Sue is the first and only horse Artemis was free in the arena with besides Socks and Jimmy.  I have a soft spot in my heart for Sue since she didn't kill my baby.

This is Charlie.  She's fairly new at the barn and the tallest horse there.  She's at least 17hh, if not a bit more.  You always know that 17 hh is huge...but I don't think you can really appreciate how huge until you're standing next to one that tall.  It's funny to see her and Artemis standing next to each other.

This is Charleston, the second of the three Charlies.  He's 16 hh but he looks tiny since he's not as thick as all the jumpers.  He reminds me a lot of Fonda, he absolutely loves people.

As you can see, I took the opportunity to take a lot of pictures.  I haven't even posted half of the ones I took.  It was pretty warm, about +3, not counting the windchill which probably made it around -5.  I cannot believe how warm it is!  It's January and we're not freezing!  Knock on wood.  And, as you can see in the pictures...there is no snow...on the ground.  This can't possible be Alberta.  Tomorrow is supposed to be +10 so we're going back out to see the ponies and I'm bringing my camera again.  It was great to be able to take real pictures again, even if the sky was bleh and gray.  Taking pictures inside the barn sucks but it's usually too cold to take pictures outside.  I hope this weather continues and week keep getting Chinook after Chinook.  I'm not sure if I'll ride tomorrow, I'm having a hard time finding the motivation, but I'm definitely looking forward to hanging out with them some more.  And hopefully I'll find out for sure if Socks' paddock mate is named Streak, it drives me crazy not to know!