# A Bald Faced Journal



## taryntaylor (Sep 26, 2016)

I have been thinking about starting a blog about my growth with Charlie but then I found this site and decided this was a better option for me! I haven't written stories, articles, etc. since I graduated high school, so this may sound rough in the beginning, and I do apologize! I also apologize for such a super long post! If you want, you can totally skip to the pictures. I won't blame you. ;-)

To start at the beginning, would mean starting 11 years ago when I rode my first horse. Therefore, lets skip that part and jump into the last year and a half. 

Spring 2015 I decided to look into leasing a horse. I wasn't quite ready to buy one but I defiantly wanted something more then just riding a lesson horse once or twice a week. So, I started leasing this handsome boy named Diamond. He was a 19 year old grade gelding, standing at 15.2 or so hands. He was a old lesson horse that was sold to an older lady who just wanted a horse to ride casually around the arena and call it a day. So I started to lease Diamond. 

I took lessons from the same lady who taught me how to ride western, I'm not sure if she thought I just didn't need them or felt that I wasn't worth her attention, but it was basically pointless. During the lessons she was on her phone the majority of the time, giving me pointers only when I asked, and calling it a day as soon as the hour was up. $35 dollars to be ignored. So I decided it wasn't worth it. I would just go ride Diamond for a hour or two, lope him around the arena and call it a day. I was beginning to lose interest in riding and was debating if I should stop leasing, heck stop riding altogether. I didn't have any friends who rode horses so I was pretty much on my own and it just wasn't fun anymore...

Come Spring of 2016, I was browsing facebook one day and someone liked a post from another stable in town that I didn't even know existed. So I decided to browse their facebook and I found out they opened in December. The folks bought this 15 acre spread, it had a huge indoor arena, a barn, a couple pastures, a run of outdoor stalls as well as indoor stalls. They offered lessons, boarding and at the time they wanted to exchange lessons or partial boarding for help around the place. I wasn't quite ready to throw in the towel of horses altogether, I am who would be? So I contacted them and the following week I went out and met them. I rode and ended up spending my entire day out there, helping clean stalls and just chatting. I fell in love with their setup and they have to be some of the nicest people I have ever met, no joke. 

Anyways, so I started taking lessons on their horses and then would go ride Diamond and practice everything I had learned from them on him. After about a month or so of working at the stable and taking lessons, I decided that I would stop leasing Diamond. Between my job, working at the stables I had less and less time to go across town to ride. Of course the lady was completely understandable and in fact, she actually moved Diamond and her mare out to the new stable! So I still get to see Diamond daily and I can ride him whenever I want although I haven't been able to due to being busy with my own horse! 

So I spent all my days off from my "real" job, out at the stables. I would clean stalls, watch Rick train horses, watch Cynthia ride horses, I would ride horses. So come June, I decided I was ready to buy a horse. Now I know what you're thinking "A couple months ago you were ready to throw in the towel, and now you want a horse?!" pretty much exactly what I was thinking in the back of my mind. But I decided to ignore it, and let Rick and Cynthia help me find my dream horse. 

A friend of Ricks, who is a trainer out in Texas had this 8 year old grade gelding for sale. He was a sorrel, with 3 socks and a bald face. At first I was a little hesitant because the video I saw was when he was 4 years old and he hadn't completely filled out. But the more I watched the video and then once I saw recent pictures (although he was a little underweight) I fell in love. He was seriously everything I never knew I wanted in a horse. One of the things that made a new friend of mine (she boards her BLM mustang at the stable) hesitant about liking him was the once thing I knew I absolutely already loved about him, his bald face. It never once crossed my mind that it was ugly or would be hard to keep from sunburning during the summer, I found it was unique and something I'd never really seen before. I've seen paints who have had the white face, but never a mostly solid sorrel with a white face. 

So, lets skip to the end of June. I contacted Greg (the trainer from Texas) and told him I would buy him and I sent him a check on June 28th. Greg and Charlie didn't get here until July 19th. Can I just tell you right now how incredibly long those 4 weeks felt like? I was finally getting my own horse after 11 years of riding other peoples horses. My dream was finally becoming true. 

Now let me show you some pictures. Beware this first post is going to have a lot of pictures! I apologize.. well actually not really. If you truly have read everything above, you defiantly need to see some pictures!

First off, meet Diamond. 









So the next couple pictures are of the week Charlie got to his new home.
(I had to screenshot them from instagram, hence why they are small ;-

























The next couple are recent, I am going to try and explain what I was doing/trying to do in each one! 

Saturdays are group lesson days, we worked on counter bending. 









Working on one rein riding. This was a screenshot from a video that was taken. 









After a evening of riding. 









Me and Charlie got our pictures done. These two were my favorites.

















And then the most recent, last week I decided to see how he reacted to the tarp. Needless to say, he didn't even flinch. 







​
And that is the end for now! I will defiantly update within the topic when I have news. And of course pictures! If you guys want to post pictures of your horses, I would love that!


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

Here's a picture of my bald face girl friend, Miss Lacy....she's a Spotted Saddle Horse and bread out of pure TWH blood.....


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## taryntaylor (Sep 26, 2016)

@gunslinger she is beautiful!


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## GMA100 (Apr 8, 2016)

Charlie is too cute! His face is very unique!


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## taryntaylor (Sep 26, 2016)

@gma100 I agree and around where I live I've never seen a bald faced horse or at least rarely do I see one. At first when I saw him I was hesitant just because I wasn't sure if I wanted the hassle of making sure he didn't get sunburned and such, but then I figured he came from Texas to Idaho and it's hotter down there so he would be fine and I could handle it. Other then Charlie figuring out how to get his fly mask off, everything has been a-ok! 

UPDATE! 

I'm on my phone because I don't have access to a laptop right now. Anyways, on Friday me and a friend, Kelsey, (she boards her blm mustang at the barn. Charlie and Tonto Along with two other geldings all share a pasture) went out to the pasture to just chill with our boys for a little bit. Charlie was at the end just eating so I went and sat under a tree with him and Kelsey joined me. After talking for a bit, I watched as Charlie walked over to what we call their rolling hole. It's mostly a big circle of dirt where grass doesn't grow and the horses love hiking around. Anyways, I watched waiting for him to role, and instead of rolling he payed there. Now, I've had Charlie for about 2 and a half months and I've seen him roll once and I've never seen him lay down. So me and Kelsey walked over there, and I slowly walked to him. He let me walk up to his head and sit next to him, he then moved his head and settled it him my lap. So I say there for a good 10 minutes and let him doze, can I just say that it's an amazing feeling?! I've always hoped that I'd get a picture of my sitting with Charlie when he was laying down, but that was like a far off dream.. this is by far one of my favorite moments and pictures! ??









Currently me and Charlie have been working on pivots, leg pressure and side passing. He's doing really well with side passing, moving off of leg pressure and moving his back legs for the pivots however when it comes to moving his front legs for a pivot, it's a scramble. He does pretty well with moving the front legs on a pivot when I do it on the ground but once I do it in the saddle I feel like I don't know what I'm trying to do. I think I may ask my trainer to get on Charlie today and show me and make sure I'm doing it right. 

So on Saturday after our group lesson I decided to give Charlie one last bath before it gets cold (which today is supposed to be 49 ?), mostly so I could wash and condition his mane/tail with my regrowth conditioner one last time, well after he dried inside the barn I returned him to the pasture for a couple hours. Later that evening when I went out to grab him because he was getting reshoed, I found him standing in the irrigation ditch, mud up to his ankles. I couldn't believe it! When I'm leading him through the pasture, he jumps over puddles and here I find him, 5 minutes before my ferrier gets there, covered in mud. ?









And I think I thats it! Would anyone be interested in a barn tour of sorts? I'll take pictures and then post about them?


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## marakonek (Oct 29, 2016)

She's really amazing and beautiful! I wonder to get horse like your Charlie !!!


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

*This journal has been closed due to prolonged lack of participation by the author. Journals that have no active participation by the author for a period of time greater than 18 months will be considered abandoned and will be closed until the author asks for them to be reopened.*


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