Update

The whole family is having fun with Chassey! She is patient and very very sweet :)

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The executive decision...

Well, after all that gushing I did about how well Rascal and Patience were getting along, I should've known that things just could not possibly turn around that fast. Christmas break was a "probationary" period for Rascal. She has thus far proven to be fairly moody, only deciding to be what I call a good fit for Patience when Rascal was in the mood to be a good fit. Other than that, she was just plain confusing to my daughter - I did not have problems making her mind, but Patience is fairly timid (not to mention green around horses) and was having a difficult time. On the second to last day of break, Patience was working Rascal in the round pen and I was watching, leaning on the fence. Rascal had a bit of a moment and when Patience corrected her, Rascal turned her butt in and tried to kick my daughter. Not just kicked AT her, she BACKED up and tried to KICK my daughter. Well, screw that and screw that horse. She is gone. Not without some seriously dramatic moments between mother and daughter. I told Patience right then and there that I was sorry, it was all my fault for picking out Rascal in the first place - but that she was leaving. Wow, I got a violent reaction of tears and when that didn't work, a flat-out stomping fit complete with tears. After that didn't work for her I got the silent treatment, for about two days. At the end of the silent treatment, I told Patience that she would not be without a horse, I would find her a suitable horse - you know, the kind that I should have gotten her in the first place. That seemed to placate her and she started talking to me again. On Friday January 14th, the Arab Crazy Family made a switch. Rascal got delivered back to her previous owner, and Chassy got to become a part of our family.

Meet Chassy: A 22 year old gray quarter horse mare who thus far has proven to be the epitome of a perfect horse for our family. Both the boys ride her, Patience rides her, and last week I took the most wonderful ride reminiscent of my younger years. What a blessing, I can not say enough wonderful things about our sweet new addition! Thank goodness my "mommy" instincts kicked in and thank goodness I backed up my gut feeling.

Somebody's watching me...

The kids are out of school on Christmas break! This is exciting to me, because working horses is much more invigorating with Patience (able to do her own horse) and the boys (wreaking havoc) all running around, making noise, and shaking up the horse's dull lives a bit :) Today was rather interesting, I've separated Chester and Rascal into different paddocks because of some "fit" issues - mostly related to being friend sour and they seem to be doing sooo much better this way. Plus Chester was eating Rascal's tail and I can't very well take her to any show's with a half-eaten tail!
At any rate, us girls were feeding, grooming, mucking, etc while the boys took turns "working" each other in the round pen. (It's sooo cute, one of them stands in the middle with a whip and "drives" the other one around the pen-I need to get pics) After a while I kicked the boys out of the round pen and exercised Chester. When we got done, Patience asked if I was going to exercise Rascal and I told her yes, just let me get my stuff put up. Low and behold, I came out of the shed and Patience had Rascal bookin it around the round pen! Free lunge at that! My jaw absolutely hit the ground - I mean, we've worked on this before but Patience just wasn't catching on to the body language and they just didn't "click" so I've just been doing it. After I picked up my jaw I walked over and watched, just giving a few pointers. If I hadn't seen their communication with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it, they were totally in the zone and completely concentrated on each other!
Later on, in the car I asked Patience where she learned all that. She simply said she'd been watching me do it and so now she knows how...

FIRE!

Uh oh! One of the many things I try not to think about is grass fire. Hubby got a call yesterday and I answered (he was cleaning fish). A friend called to inform us that there were some huge grass fires and one just happened to have surrounded my beautiful Arabs. Shit. I tried not to panic. Hubby noticed my non-panic as I frantically searched for my keys and cursed our house ghost (they are never where I left them) and we all hopped in the truck and hauled A** to the horses to discover that indeed there was a fire all around the horses. To the north, south, east, and west, only missing the paddocks by feet. Fire trucks were everywhere, I was worried about the horses, and about all the livestock, houses, hay, etc. Needless to say, Chester and Rascal were NOT happy with all the fire and sirens and commotion, but they both kept their heads. I think if I'd had to move them pronto it would not have been difficult. I never did find my keys - not till this morning did I find them in a basket by the TV. Shakin my head, I would never have put them there?!

After some thought, I disagree...

About a month and a half ago the farrier was out to do the horses. Since he's really about the only other horsey person I see we usually talk horse. The conversation got going really well while he was doing Rascal's feet and he voiced some opinions that I've been mulling over. We were discussing getting horses under saddle. His opinion is that training a horse to carry a rider is the "hard" part and all the ground work is the "easy" part and that bascially anyone can teach a horse ground work. After some careful thought I have to say that I disagree. Obviously not anyone can teach a horse how to move on the ground, how to respect your space, and how to exhibit proper manners. Maybe it is easy, and maybe my opinion is based on the fact that so many people just do not teach/make their horses behave properly on the ground. I think the riding foundation is built off the ground foundation and if there's a crack anywhere you have to go right back to square one-which is on the ground.
LOL! Now onto more important things. The horses are doing very well, it's getting cold, the days are shorter and Christmas is right around the corner!

That went well....

Finally got sick and tired of the horses having mohawks! I took a trip to Atwoods (my favorite store) and bought some clippers. First I bought the Wahl brand that had battery powered clippers along with the little hand one (for whiskers and such) but took that back because the small one only lasted about four whiskers. I exchanged for some Andes brand and boy howdy do they work great! I actually cut the horses whiskers and bridle paths, then went home cleaned the clippers and gave both the boys a fade! I have to say, I was nervous about getting the "cheap" clippers (if you count fifty bucks as cheap) - everyone I talk to says don't waste your money. Actually, I could not be happier with my purchase at this point and I think if kept clean and sharpened these will work for what I want to do!
On another note, Rascal. Enough said right? Saturday was family horsey day and while Patience re-braided Rascal's mane I started to ride Chester in the round pen. After about ten minutes or so I looked over and Patience was standing there with her chin on the gate with a wistful look in her eye. You can evaluate the wisdom of my next parenting decision; I told Patience to come here, put her helmet on her head and told her to get on Chester - and she did. I kept a lunge line on him and all they did was walk in circles but the smile on her face said it all. So, at this point I am stumped. Current financial's prohibit another horse and we really love Rascal - plus her progress is astounding. Making her work is the option for now. So, today I got on Rascal. No, I didn't actually ride her, but I plopped a bucket next to her and laid on her back. Then I saddled, lunged, and put weight in both stirrups. Considering her previous reactions, today went well. Exceptionally well.

Well I'll be darned...

Oklahoma had an earthquake today! A five point-something on the richter scale about nine thirty this morning. Guess what? I was mucking around (LOL)... seriously though, I was cleaning up some horsey poo while Chester and Rascal enjoyed a light snack when all of the sudden they both just kinda flipped out. They just started running and neighing and kicking, even Sami ran around- I bet they didn't stop for about ten minutes! I just thought it was cool and they were all enjoying the weather. Anyway, the morning continued on normally. I groomed, threw out some hay, and went home to shower and nap before work. When I got up this afternoon it was all over the news and I thought - that's what their deal was this morning! There was an earthquake, the animals knew it, and I never felt a thing. I'll be darned!