A Brief Update

I love horses, but honestly, the past month has been awful.  I won't go on about it but seriously, breaking your arm sucks.  I miss being able to do all the things I used to.  I especially miss being able to do things with my horses.  A lot has happen, lots of personal issues and not so many horse things.  I have another surgery this Wednesday on my elbow.  Right now there is a piece of bone in my elbow that prevents me from straightning or bending my elbow completely, and a screw has moved out of place so they need to go in and repair it.  I'm kind of freaking out about it, I've been doing well with physio, I've even typed this with both hands although its not easy and takes a long time.  This surgery will put me back where I was after the first one though, unable to use my right hand.  I'm just praying they don't have to do anymore surgeries after this. 

When I can actually type easily I'll tell more about the fall.  It was an awful day.  In other horse news, Artemis no longer looks like a baby.  I don't have any pictures of her but she looks like a real, proper yearling now, without any fuzz.  My brother's girlfriend came out today and she rode both Socks and Jimmy.  She even jumped Socks, I have pictures and videos but I'm not up to uploading them so I'll show them another time.  Socks did great considering we've mostly only jumped out on the trail.  She jumped pretty high too, the highest she's ever jumped.  She knocked down the poles twice and had two refusals but she honestly did great considering its the highest she's ever jumped and the first time she's jumped in over a year, plus it's been basically a month and a little bit since she was ridden last.  I love my horse, she'll do anything you ask of her.

I figured I'd get an update in while I can, especially since typing is very good excericse for my hand.  But because of my surgery I'll be out of the blogging world for a while again.  I hope everyone else is having a better summer than I am!

Rain Rain Go Away



It has been raining nonstop for going on two weeks now.  It is really affecting what we can do with the horses.  Artemis loves to come into the barn away from the rain, but she gets really cranky when you take her out.  Their pens are just mud for as far as you can see.  Jimmy and Eli think that standing at the very end of their muddy pen (which is ten times worse than Socks and Artemis') and watching their owners attempt to get to them without being sucked into the ground is the best thing ever.  On the few minutes we get where it's not pouring, Jimmy has been going his desensitization training and Socks is starting to be ridden again.  First though, I want to give an update on the horses up at my dads. 

There is Fonda and his son and Artemis' halfbrother, Hades.  Hades is just a little bigger than Artemis, and he's much darker than his sister.  He's more friendly, but he doesn't lead or pick up his feet.  He's had more people just hang out with him while Artemis has had more trianing.  We did lead him for the first time, and he did pretty well.  Lifting his feet was another story, he is not a fan of that.  My dad's favourite horse of the month is Fonda, so Fonda has been ridden a lot.  His respect issues are slowly getting better, but he's still not my favourite horse.  We had to bathe Pawnee and take out his stitches.  The stitches holding his skin together ripped out, but none of us were surprised.  The vet didn't think she would be able to stitch that closed in the first place.  However, the stitches holding his muscle together held and I had to take those out.  I never want to do it again.  Pawnee was amazing for it, but it was pretty gross.  I never want to be a vet.

On Friday night my dad and I went for a ride, I was on Thor and my dad was on Fonda.  It was raining all around except for where we lived.  We went over to the neighbour's fields.  Just as we turned around to go home it started to rain on us.  We were riding in the trees right beside a meadow when suddenly we couldn't see anything.  Lightning had streaked right above us and everything went white.  The light wasn't gone before the thunder boomed and terrified me and the horses.  Thor tried to run but quickly realized he didn't have anywhere to run to.  It was terrifying and that was as close as I ever want to be.

Saturday as a really late birthday present, my dad bought me a new saddle!  It actually fits Socks, which is not an easy task, so there was no way we were going to pass it up.  It's much lighter than the other saddle I was using, I can actually lift it.  That night I tried it out on Sev.  The ride was fine until three dogs at a campsite came barking and snarling at us.  Fonda and Sev spooked badly but did eventually calm down. 

Here is a picture of Cas, Maggie and Molly, our landlord's two mares.  Molly, the mare on the right, is pregnant and is huge.  Maggie sadly had a stillborn foal.  We had to try to do Maggie's feet.  Our landlord's bought the two mares from a man who didn't believe in doing horse's feet, so not only where her feet horrible but she's not good with them, at all.  We can't find a farrier willing to do them.  It was...an adventure, let's just say that.


On Sunday my dad finally came to meet Artemis for the first time.  He was impressed with her, he thought she was adorable when she was racing Socks in the arena.  However, since then it's been raining steady so we've only been out once so far to brush them and work with Jimmy in the roundpen briefly.  I really hope it stops raining soon, I am dying to be able to ride outside.

Family

Today I'm sitting at home, wishing I was at the stable while I watch the comedy network.  I probably won't get out until Sunday, which really sucks.  I miss the three of them already, but I figured I'll take the time to introduce Artemis' family.  I own her mother and her sister, and we take care of her father and her grandmother.  Or grandame if you prefer that.

Her mother is my first horse and my pride and joy.  She has an interesting registered name but she never goes by it.  We call her Socks, I know, what a unique horse name right?  Never heard that one before!  Okay, so I do kind of hate her name.  I got her when I was 12 and when my dad suggested the name Socks, I was too happy to care what we called her.  It's too late to change it now though, and it doesn't make me love her any less.  She's a 15.1hh bay Quarter Horse mare with a crooked blaze and two hind socks.  She gets nice and red in the summer, but in the spring she gets really dark, especially from her withers to her head.  She has massive withers and looks really awkward from some angles.  She is probably the most competitive animal I have ever met.  She doesn't lose, it just doesn't happen.  She's insanely fast and loves to go.  Everything about her is fast.  She also likes to cuddle, but not if anyone is watching.  She's also a very noisy horse, she moans when she rolls, and stretches and basically does anything, and she snores, very loudly.  She is also a wonderful mother and the best horse I could ever ask for.

Apparently I don't have any really good pictures of just her.  This was the first time I'd put my english saddle on her, and she had a spot of mud on her nose that just wouldn't come off.

Socks' first daughter and Artemis' older sister is Cassidy more commonly known as Cas.  She is named after a lot of things, depending on who you talk to, the three big ones being the outlaw Butch Cassidy, the actress Katie Cassidy for her role as Ruby the demon in Supernatural, and the angel Castiel from Supernatural.  She takes after the demon part of her name.  She is a very intense horse and can go from completely calm to about to rip your head off in 1 second flat.  She is getting much better, really she is.  I work with her as much as I can.  She actually likes people, but she does have respect issues, especially when it comes to food.  It's frustrating not being able to work with her all the time but right now there's not much I can do about it.  She's kind of like a carbon copy of her mother, just more intense.  She is an Appaloosa who can't make up her mind.  Right now she is a year and nine months old.

Artemis' sire is a seal brown guy who is three quarters Canadian Horse named Henry Fonda, or Fonda.  His dame is half Canadian, and his father was pure Canadian.  He is a coming three-year-old gelding (now).  We don't own him but we've done pretty much everything with him since he was a foal.  He is extremely tall and slender, and kind of a goofball.  He thinks he's a dog, and while some people think that's cute but I don't.  He gets into your space and as well all know, that's dangerous.  The problem is not everyone is consistent with his training, some people correct him when he invades your space, others don't.  He is currently being trained under saddle and from what I've been told, he's doing very well with it. 

Fonda's dame is is a half-Canadian mare named June.  I really like June, but not everyone shares my feelings.  She was abused and hasn't been worked with much lately.  She is the best mother in the world and throws beautiful foals.  She's an extremely smart horse but no one is really doing anything with her.  She and Thor are going to be my summer projects.  She has been ridden before so she knows what that's all about, but she's extremely nervous about it and likes to do things her way. 



And finally there is Hades, Artemis' big brother.  He is two weeks older than her.  They both have a star and a snip, although her snip is bigger and his star is bigger.  He as a sock on one hind leg.  While Artemis is a bay, he looks like he'll be a seal brown like their father.  I haven't spent too much time with him yet, I've only seen him the wrong time so I can't say too much about him yet.



It's the combination of these guys that make up Artemis' horse family.  Of course she's only met her mother and her "Uncle" Jimmy, but once she's weaned she'll be going up to my dad's to stay for awhile.  I'm going to miss her like crazy and I don't like to think about that.  But I'm going to enjoy her while she's down here!