I Love My Husband!

Look what he comes home with!

Exactly what I needed!

The trailer-pulling beast...trust me, this has more under the hood than a Hemi.

KIDS! Sorry it took so long to get your pics on here, but mommas computer illiterate.

Ms Sami, my stable dog in training and princess of the house.



Yeah! It's not every woman's husband who comes home with a horse trailer! He changed my mind about waiting when he pulled in the driveway. It's not new, but it's ours and the floor is good. Tires are good as well and there is some rust, but it was super cheap so a little work is do-able. I would post better pics of my man, but he doesn't really like his picture taken.

Chester did ok with the am work-out and the cool weather made it great for me and the kids. By the time we got home, I was ready for bed and they ended up taking a little nap too. Chester did do something that I thought was amazing. Little Sami followed me with the weight-builder bucket (she loves the horse treats and weight builder too I discovered today) and she was there and Chester was there, and well why not. Sami rode Chester today. What a super gentleman, he does whatever I ask and he never moved - except he did a little hollow-back thing when she dug in her claws a little. Chester is sooo in for it now! To the lake, my brothers land, rides through town, over to show grandma...by the time I'm riding he'll be an old pro! I am so freakin excited!

I'm not ashamed to show my ass.

Perfect example that people CAN live without crossties with proper desensitization.

Just very handsome.

Another handsome pic with daddy in the background and Gracies butt.

Okay grandma, more pics of Patience and Prize. Dian's got the lunge line!

She loved the ride!


Okay, I'm not a horse whisperer but...I am proud to say I can desensitize a horse : )

I think D can vouch for me. I also ordered "Showing Your Sport Horse In-Hand" from the USDF website and it helps me a ton, I highly recommend it. Patience has even watched it with me twice and we both went to work Chester Sunday morning at 5:30. Yes mother, Patience got in the round pen with Chester-I'll wait for your call. (By the way, that's one off the list Chester! "Grooming from little kids" I posted as a milestone for you and it's done!) Big plans for this week, I would like to perfect in hand with at least Chester and Soli and maybe Tez. Also, some major bathing to be done if I can stay motivated. I switched Chester's weight builder to the AM because the damn humidity is back and I'm ok saying it bothers me.

Busy day today.

Clippers?

I've been clipped! So handsome.

History in the making!

What a day! D busted out the clippers after I got my Wynchester fix and he did great. Bridle path, whiskers gone, face clip, and back of legs. He stood very still even while I rubbed the clippers all over his ears (no clipping there yet)! Every two year old got bridle paths today, loose in the pen-another day in the life of those crazy Arabian two year olds. (totally sarcastic)

Patience rode Prize! As you can see in the pic she progressed from D leading with a leadrope to Patience riding around by herself in under an hour. She got really brave and asked Prize for a trot and did well. D says she has "soft hands" whatever that means. When I learned to ride I got thrown on Buck (sans saddle-we could not afford one) and took off over about a thousand acres all the while falling and learning how to stay on-a must when you're too short to get back on yourself in the middle of a pasture. I'm really excited, Patience seems to love horses and I think has a natural talent, she looks great in the saddle : ) The boys even got to ride and I've got pics of them as well, post later! I got so distracted today we lost track of time and before I knew it-bam, time to go home and eat then shower and go to work!

Withdrawls

Exhaustion + Hot weather = Wynchester withdrawl. Enough said.
It's pretty bad when you hit snooze at 2pm : )
Dian went and bought Patience a helmet today so she can start riding Prize and getting ready for her walk/trot class. She's very stubborn, that D, I will have to leave the money in her truck hidden somewhere-for the boots as well, which are headed to the saddle shop tomorrow to get sized just right. A pattern and some material for her shirt, pants are my treat, and grandma stepped in for the hunt coat. WHEW! Just about got her all put together. I ordered a sport horse in hand-how to from the usdf website and really am excited about it. Also need to get Chesters leather halter ordered and send in for the show by the end of August. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....This show's gonna be really fun. I also read about youth nationals in Albuquerque, it's during my vacation and my entire family will be in Red River (about three hours north) at the same time. I would like to go and take the kids, but would like in one hand and...you know the rest. All the same, vacation!!! Ten days of no work and some well needed sleep plus plenty of horsey time- Enough said!

Yeah Chester!

So, remove all the crap and just ask for walk, trot, whoa. Then you get a nice reverse and no problems in the round pen. A lunge line works magic as well. I think he finally figured out what I was asking for and things clicked fast. In hand is progressing nicely and I can make it around a couple times before my out of shape ass collapses. Me and the kids went and got a hard plastic pool from K-Mart so they can stay cool while mom messes with the horse and I think they enjoyed themselves. Patience is going to start practice this weekend on Prize for a walk-trot class at the show and it will be sooo cute!

Time off,

Chester and I had a good fourth...apart. I celebrated Saturday with hubby and kids and apparently Chester didn't care much about the fireworks. I was a little worried, but I heard he did fine and totally ignored it all which is good. This week we'll get back into the grind and work more on dancing. I read somewhere today that amateurs shouldn't train young horses they should hire a trainer because any other way is just plain dumb. Well, dumb it is, the trainer budget got left with the trailer budget and I'm pretty sure Chester's a patient man. (Plus have I mentioned how smart he is).
Oh, and I almost forgot about Chester's liniment. Thursday after our workout, I gave him a good cool rinse and put the liniment all over his legs-sans gloves, because it was a quickie in the middle of the pen. Big no no for Sally. My skin is allergic to liniment. MUST WEAR GLOVES because exactly where liniment had been my skin looked like one big welt. Luckily some soap and hydrocortisone cream was the remedy.

I don't know how to dance...

So, no kicking today! Wonderful feeling not to be kicked at, always a pleasure. Chester and I did get frustrated with each other today. Working on reverse (turning into me to change direction). There are just some things that the endless books and videos can not do and you just have to grow some and figure it out. On the plus side, he did do it very well a few times that we connected mentally-where I asked and he did-and that's reassuring. Also, Dian got put on call and did some showing/instructing from the sidelines. It would help immensely if I wasn't 80% deaf, but some things you can't change!
I did watch some world dressage competition earlier and thought it was beautiful. Umm Chester, how about endurance, playdays, dressage, shows, trail rides, 4-h shows, and grooming from little kids? It's ok, we'll work on it!

Try a different approach?

I get these e-mails from Charlies horse training resources and today is if you're not getting the result you want then try a different approach. Hmmmm....So, again today, I got Chester out of the pen for some more scary adventures and he really did great. His two year old crew got a little rowdy and he spun around a few times to figure out the commotion, but he calmed down very nicely. He trusts me and I him. However, again in the roundpen he kicked at me. Same as this weekend. When lunging left (his not so favorite direction) in the same spot of the roundpen he stops and when I encourage him on he turns butt to me and kicks and trys to reverse direction. A good crack of the whip and he stopped, but I'd rather prevent it from happening altogether. So, I think Charlie has the right idea today, I'll rack my brain (and Dian's and google and some books) and try something different tomorrow.