# MAK's Adventures



## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

*A Step UP*

So here's my first entry. Today I went out to work after I sang in a duet for district music. I got there and watched the boys while he worked w/ a Welsh Quarter Pony.... the boys rode him, but I didn't. Then I got to do EVERYTHING with a dun gelding....

I got to catch him, groom him, saddle him, lunge him, and ride him, and unsaddle him all by myself. I know it doesn't sound like too much, but I never get to do anything but ride them after he's already worked with them, so this is a HUGE step up. Even though the gelding is 14 and has perfect manners and not even my trainer knows why he's there, lol.

But it gets better. He asked me "You feel like riding that stud today" I figured that meant I'd just ride the horse in the 9'x9' pen for awhile after he did.... but nope, the next thing I heard was "ok his halter is right outside his stall on a hay bale"

I couldn't believe I was doing this.... I was doing all the work on the 3 y/o stud who hadn't been there over a month!! I could have done everything, but it turned out that right after I got done warming him up it was time for supper so he finished the horse after supper. 

Also I got a bit surprised because when I went to check his cinch he reared up on me. He got scared of two 6 year old kids walking around over 100 feet away. I got surprised because i've never had a horse rear up on me before, and I've never handled a 3 y/o stallion by myself before. Even a stallion for that matter.

The sad part about today is that I did something to my knee. I don't know what, but I think I might have over flexed it or something. Hopefully I'll find out soon!


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

*So many choices!!*

Today I worked all day. I spent almost an hour grooming the mud coated dun. Then I worked him and everything while his owner was watching.

I've been having to figure out what horse I'm going to use for 4H. My trainer has 3 I can use, but all of them are untrained. He kept telling me how he wished I had a finished horse like that dun. She was telling me how she thought the mule was cute and I told her that he'd be my 4H project. Then she told me I could use her horse. I'm excited, but I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I was also told that I could use more of the horses that are at her place if I want to. Now I have a lot of options!

After the dun left I got the QH stud and worked with him. Then the owners who picked up their horses (the dun and the welsh quarter pony) came back with another horse. So I didn't have to finish the stud, but the trainer did.

Then i was sooo excited because he got out the mule and worked with him. For those of you who don't know I love the mule and am thinking about buying him. He's only had 3 weeks of training and has been in the pasture doing nothing for a long time. He did ok and I even got to ride him even if it wasn't too much. Now I get to work with him everyday!


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

*More Progress*

Today I didn't do a whole lot. I got the scores for my written test for 4-H. I should have only missed one question but they couldn't read my messy handwritting and thought my F was an I..... oh well......

Then I rode the QH stud a bit, nothing too exciting. After that we worked more with the mule. He did great!! He was soo calm and is learning really really fast!

Now I have a whole lot of homework to do so I'll keep ya'll posted!


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

*Another day*

Short, sweet, and to the point. That's all I can say about today. I worked with the stud, and I was the only one who did anything with him which surprises me. I'm starting to like him more because he's learning to respect me now and is even bonding to me and will follow me all over the pen.

Then we worked with the mule even though it wasn't for long. I got to do a lot more with him today, but I didn't get on him because he's having problems with the bit so we let him of easy today.

Something a little less horse related is that my friend is mad at me. She's mad because I love horses and I talk about them a lot. She told me that she loves flowers and volleyball but she doesn't talk about them all the time. My only thought is that she misunderstood me then, because I have a PASSION for horses. I spend everyday working with horses and spend almost all of my money on stuff for horses and my future career is going to be with horses. If she loved volleyball and flowers she would do more than just play during the season and admire the flowers that are planted places........ sorry, had to rant..... this all got started when she said that i'd probably do it with a horse if I could.... that made me snap, because she's been mean to me for a long time


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

sooo, it's been over three months since my last post in here.

Here's an update. The barn got hit by a tornado June 2 and all the horses had to go home. I haven't really been as into horses since then. I helped clean up for a long time, but we got behind on the mule. We finally just gave up on getting him trained.

Now I'm riding Duke who is a 12 y/o QH and is about 16 some hh. I've been riding him for about 3 weeks and we have a show on Sunday. It'll be his first show in 10 years. And my first show in 8, also my VERY first Western show.

I really need to teach myself how to ride bareback if I want to show in the Bareback Pleasure class on sunday. I've ridden Duke 3 times w/ a bareback pad, but I've needed my "oh snap!" handle a lot :lol: The last experience wasn't great because he ran my knee into a fence purposely and I think he cracked it. Because that was over a week ago and it STILL hurts. All my truely bareback experiences (3) have been horrible and involve nearly falling off or falling off.

Soo, today I was pretty much feeling sorry for myself this morning and opted not to go ride Duke. I slept until almost 1 pm instead. Then I went to the Chiro, so I'm feeling much better now  He told me I should be a chiropractor  

Anyway, then I did nothing until it was like 4:30. Then I went out and worked with Duke on Halter and Showmanship stuff. He did a lot better with the show lead. After that I worked on getting him desensitized to the raincoat. Mr. Trainer told me to put him in the alley (very small area) so that he pretty much couldn't move and HAD to get used to it, but Mr. Trainer wasn't there, so I did it in the little pen so he would be less claustrophobic. 

Duke honestly could care less. I rubbed it on him for a little bit, but Duke was falling asleep so i just threw it on his back and made him walk with it on there. He didn't even care. Then i started flapping it around and pretty much spazzing out with it and throwing it on his back and back off, and all he did was put his ears toward the noise and look at me like "what are you doing, you crazy person, what is the point of this?"

Then I rode him a bit with just the halter and lead rope. I trotted for a second, but then noticed a weird noise and figured he got a rock in his shoe when I was leading him around before, so I stopped that. Ugh, trainer has NO hoof pics!!! I have to remember to bring mine tomorrow.

Then I went and cleaned up the fairgrounds for the fair. I pretty much just watched and then ate pizza, lol.


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

so today was NOT a good day.

My parents switch on Friday mornings, so I was going to wait for my mom to get here before I went out to see Duke because I knew that I was going to get yelled at for not going out there because I was deathly ill  Okay, I many have exaggerated a tad bit. 

But she couldn't go over until after she had an "appointment" which actual meant that an appraiser was coming to look at our house and then at our apartment building. So that gave me a huge sign that my parents are back out of "divorce limbo" and are actually going to follow through with the thing. They filed for divorce back in the winter (summer in ausieland) of "06 and then went into doing nothing when they were supposed to be getting back together, for almost two years now.

So every week my parents switch houses and I stay in the same place. It gets really confusing sometimes when I have to know who to ask for permission to do stuff.

Anyway.... Then I got to go see Duke, but I'm still not my self so I did work on halter and showmanship and then a lesson on ground tying. I guess my trainer told my mom that we shouldn't take the rule book for the show too literally :roll: I figured it wouldn't be joking... so idk. Then I piddled around on him bareback.

But I did get a bit upset with him. He was talking to his friends about how Duke was my 4-H horse and how he belonged to someone else and I was just borrowing him. Here's a quote "It works out great because then she doesn't need a horse of her own. She's leaving in two years so it's really pointless for her to get a horse."

OOOOHHHH, that made me MAD :evil: :evil: :evil: 

So, I guess that rules out the possibility of me keeping a horse at his barn..... oh well...

Then I wanted to go ride Duke tonight. I got all my stuff loaded in my car, but then it WOULDN'T START!!! :roll: Just my luck.... So I had to walk and go get my Tahoe from our apartment building. By the time I got all of that done it was too late to go to the barn. And Mr. Trainer put the cattle out, and I REALLY didn't feel like dealing w/ 2 long horn bulls, a long horn steer, a pigmy cow bull, and a calf, AND a oooh so scary goat!

So I moved all of my tack into my Tahoe (aka my Mobile Tack Room  ) and polished up my old crappy boots so I can actually use them in the show Sunday.

It seems like I'm just not meant to do stuff with horses.


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## JackieB (Jul 20, 2008)

mlkarel2010 said:


> It seems like I'm just not meant to do stuff with horses.


Awww, don't get discouraged. I read through your posts and you've had a lot of success with horses. 

All best wishes and thanks for sharing with us.


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

JackieB said:


> mlkarel2010 said:
> 
> 
> > It seems like I'm just not meant to do stuff with horses.
> ...


Thanks. It just seems like everything keeps getting worse. And I thought it couldn't get any worse when the barn got destroyed in the tornado :roll:


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## Rachluvshorses4eva (Apr 11, 2007)

Well keep going, don't give up!


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

Well, today isn't over, but the horsey stuff (the stuff you guys care about) pretty much is. I rode Duke today and he did really good especially considering that he had like 3 days off from riding.

Then I decided to try and pull stuff with him like I would have to in trail. He was fine going forward. I drug that around for a long time and walked and even trotted, but when I tried to pull it going backwards he freaked out. So I started from square one and rubbed in on him and the rope. and then i backed him on the ground while pulling the thing and everything. He could care less by the time I was done, but when I was up on him and tried he freaked out again. So i did work where he just stood there and I rubbed the rope on him and flicked it over his head and pulled the tires by myself. I just kept doing that until he didn't care and then I pulled it again and he didn't care.

Then I put him away and Mr. Trainer was nice enough to give him a ride to the other barn. I tried to pay him for gas money, but he wouldn't take it :roll: Any way, if I choose to that was the last binding string that broke and I don't HAVE to stick around him anymore.

Now I have to work on my car, that oh so conveniently broke down yesterday and get my stuff all polished up for the show. Oh yeah, and pack for my stay in town for the fair. AND clean my Grandparent's apartment. So, sorry all if I don't get on for awhile. After fair I'm going on vacation!


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