# My handsome boy and I.



## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

*Getting ready for work:*
We wanted to make sure Amir was ready to be worked before I started working with him. 

First, the farrier came out. Amir's hooves had not been trimmed in a very long time, so we were relieved to get his feet done.

Next was the dentist. Come to find out, the BO and I were right about his teeth needing filed. The dentist estimated that his teeth had not been done in 5 years! 

After the dentist came out, we had the vet out. At this point Amir had started to gain some weight, but not a lot. The vet strongly suspected that Amir had ulcers. The BO couldn't afford to scope him, so we went ahead and treated him for ulcers, and the difference was amazing! His coat looked great, and he was a healthy weight.

Through all of this, I could see the potential that this had. He still did not totally trust people, but he tried so hard to be good when the farrier, dentist, and vet were working on him. 
I also got a sense that he had a lot of heart since he was being used for jumping lessons with a bit in his mouth even though his teeth hadn't been done in 5 years.

This is him after all of his visits and about half way through his ulcer treatment (late summer, early fall 2013). Oh, I forgot to mention that he used to be a halter horse, hence the uneven mane. Sorry for the bad quality pic. I was late to the game getting a good camera phone, lol.


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

*Work begins:*
The first day I worked with Amir, I just wanted to lunge him and do some groundwork with him to see what he knew and how sensitive he was.

I groomed him first. He stood ok; not good, but not bad either. He was just very nervous and tense. He loved being groomed though! 

After he stood quietly for a few minutes, and seemed more relaxed, I started lunging him. I didn't have a whip, a handy stick, or anything like that, but after I sent him out, he just galloped in circles around me. I corrected him, and he calmed down started trotting. Then, I asked him to stop, which he reluctantly did, and sent him back out. He started licking his lips and walked calmly. After that I decided to call it a day and end on a positive note.

The next day I lunged him again and he did pretty well! He was spooky, but didn't break his gaits. After lunging, I did some groundwork with him and didn't know much of anything. The first thing we worked on was leading well and stopping when I stop. He picked up on them fairly quickly!

After these couple days of working with him I could tell that he did have a lot heart. He truly tried his best with everything I was asking him to do. But, I could tell that gaining his trust was going to take a bit longer than we thought.

It did take longer than we thought it would, but after a couple weeks of groundwork and desentizing, I was on his back! He was a little spooky, but nothing terrible, and he felt amazing!

We decided to try him in a regular snaffle, but he hated it. So, we tried a couple of other bits, and he didn't like any of them. So, we realized that even though his teeth were now fine, being ridden in a bit when his teeth hadn't been done in years, he probably just didn't like bits.
So, we put a Little S Hackamore on him and the difference was amazing! He listen well, stopped better, and just seemed a lot happier.


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

*Could this be the horse for me?:*

Fast forward the summer 2014, the BO hasn't sold Amir, but he was doing great! She felt like he wouldn't be the right horse for her because he needed to worked consistently (which she didn't have time to do) and he is spirited, but none of us really wanted to see him go. Not even her husband really wanted to sell him even though he was stressed over money, lol.

One day, the BO told me that they were going to have to sell Amir, but if I interested in him, so would give him to me in exchange for my training services.
I couldn't believe it! I was very happy, but I knew that if this truly was going to be the horse for me, he would need to pass some tests he had not been challenged with before. For example, I love to go on trail rides and participate in speed shows for fun. I needed to find out if Amir could these things. 

So, the BO and I decided to take him down to our local saddle club the is outdoors, and has barrels set up.
We quickly found out that loading was something I would have to work on with him. When she still owned him, O had told us that Amir was in a accident when he was in a trailer and the trailer flipped. We can't be positive this is true because O told us a lot of things that were not true, but it could be the one thing she said that was true. :icon_rolleyes:

After we got him loaded, and got to the saddle club, he was alert, but not spooky, and listened well. And he did incredible the whole time we were there! He LOVED being ridden outside and did great trotting through the barrel pattern. I knew he was the horse for me! 

This is a pic from that day! The angle is really bad, but I still love it! 









And for a comparison of the pic I posted in 2 posts up, this is him 1 year after I started working with him (late summer, early fall 2014).


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

There's much more to our story, but I'll have to stop here now. 
Thank you for reading!


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

Love your happy grin in that picture at the saddle club!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Thanks! It was a good day!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## NavigatorsMom (Jan 9, 2012)

He's a beautiful horse and I loved reading your story! Keep us updated on what all you accomplish together!


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

I love Amir, he is beautiful and sounds like a great horse.


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Thank you Navigator and gottatrot!
He is a great horse. I'm very thankful to have him in my life.

I'll be updating the journal this weekend, and it will include a post about our first real trail ride together! =)
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

*Our first real trail ride

*In November, about 3 months after Amir became officially mine, we went on our first real trail ride! The BO took her very experienced trail horse, and I had Amir. We went to local state park which has a trail that's about 3 miles long. I knew that Amir would do well, but I was expecting a little spooking at first- I'm happy to say that I was wrong about the spooking! He did great! 

Within minutes I knew he couldn't care less if the BO's mare was there or not. He just took everything in stride, which was a huge deal at this trail because not only was it his first time on a trail ride, but this trail has many different areas. One area goes near the road, another goes near the lake, and the other near a campsite. He didn't mind the cars, the lake, or the campers at the campsite! The only thing he was a bit wary of were the yellow and white lines on the road, but he quickly got over that.

About half way through the ride, I wanted to see if he truly didn't care about the BO's mare being with us, so I asked him to trot away from her, he did right away, and he didn't have a care in the world. After the BO and her horse were out of sight, I stopped him and we waited for them to catch up. He stood patiently, and then we continued on when they caught up.

After about 20 more minutes, we were done with other awesome ride, and got the horses loaded up. Amir loaded OK, it took about 15 minutes to get him loaded, but it wasn't awful. It's like he just needs to convince himself to get into the trailer because he would step halfway in very nicely, but then he would just freeze. I figured out the best way to load him on this trip, though. I would have him step in halfway, then ask him to back up, and get back on, and off again. When I could tell that he was more relaxed, I made a clucking noise to him and said, "Step up," and he did.

It was a very fun day!

Here's a pic from our first trail ride!


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

He IS really handsome. Love his feet!!! 
Sometimes you get mad at people who don't do what you think that they should be doing like Amir's last owner. But maybe she was the angel in disguise, she was the vehicle that brought him to you.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

I hope you have enlarged that picture and have it hanging on your wall. It is priceless!


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## Tihannah (Apr 7, 2015)

What an awesome story! He looks amazing and the two of you look so happy together! I will be keeping up with your journal. It made me smile the whole way! Congrats on finding each other! Definitely seems it was meant to be!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

LoriF said:


> He IS really handsome. Love his feet!!!
> Sometimes you get mad at people who don't do what you think that they should be doing like Amir's last owner. But maybe she was the angel in disguise, she was the vehicle that brought him to you.


He is handsome and he knows it too! 
I think you're right. She was an angel in disguise, and I'm very thankful for that.


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

knightrider said:


> I hope you have enlarged that picture and have it hanging on your wall. It is priceless!


Thank you! I do have enlarged and on my wall- it's one of my favorite pictures.


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Tihannah said:


> What an awesome story! He looks amazing and the two of you look so happy together! I will be keeping up with your journal. It made me smile the whole way! Congrats on finding each other! Definitely seems it was meant to be!


Thank you! I think it was meant to be too.


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

*An unexpected turn of events

*After the trail ride in November, everything was going great with Amir. He was becoming less spooky when ridden, I desensitized to him to tarps and other "scary" things, and everything just seemed to be going in our favor.

Then, on December 13 (I remember the date because it was 12/13/2014, lol) an unexpected turn of events occurred. I was riding Amir and he was doing great, but about halfway through the ride, he spooked at one of the barn cats running behind him. He bolted (he had not done this in a VERY long time), and before I could try to do a one-rein stop, he took a sharp turn to the left, and I came off the back of him. I landed with my right arm straight out, right on my elbow. I stayed calm, and went to stand up, but I realized that I couldn't move my right arm. By this time, Amir had calmed down and came over, and stood by me while I tried to move my arm. 

Once I realized that even though my arm didn't really hurt, something was very wrong, I called the BO's husband and told him what happened. So, he came out to the barn and untacked Amir for me. Bless his heart- he knows about horse care, but not a clue about riding, and untacking a horse because the BO converted him to be a horsey person. But, the BO wasn't home, so he tried to follow my instructions best he could. 

After he got Amir untacked, I went to the ER. Now my arm was REALLY starting to hurt. Once I got there, the nurses helped me take off the layers of winter clothes I had on, and I saw my elbow was on top of my arm instead of on the side. It was dislocated.

The nurse gave me painkillers, and when they kicked in I was sent for x-rays to make sure I didn't have any broken bones. The doctor looked at the x-rays, and couldn't believe I didn't have any broken bones because he said it was a very bad dislocation. 

The BO gave to see me and brought me a book to read while I was waiting for them to put me to sleep to put my elbow back in place. After what seemed like forever, the doctor came to perform the procedure. About a half hour after they put my elbow back in place, I woke up. They gave me a sling and said I had to wear it for at least 2 weeks, then I they sent we home. 

On the way home, I wanted to swing by the barn to check on Amir because I realized in all the chaos, he didn't get cooled out. When I got there he was outside, and was fine. He came up to me and smelled my sling, and after a few minutes of petting him, I went home. Despite doctor's orders, I went back everyday I could to go see him for the next 2 weeks :lol:

I don't have a photo of my x-rays (mainly because I did not want to see them, lol), but here's a photo of Amir sometime before I got hurt.


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

*Getting back to riding

*After I was in a sling for 2 weeks, my doctor sent me to get x-rays again to make sure everything was healing right. The x-rays came back, and the doctor said they looked good, but she wanted to send me to physical therapy due to the severity of the injury.

After the 3 therapy sessions, the doctor and therapist agreed that I no longer needed my sling, and I could resume most normal activities (basically just no barn chores or riding).

I completed therapy at the end of March and I could resume all normal activities. My therapist highly recommended that I carry the horses' water buckets whenever I could to build up the strength back up in my right arm, and take it easy with riding.

My first ride back was a lot better than I expected! Amir was so good- despite having months with no riding. I got on, and we just walked around the arena for about a half hour. Even though that's all I felt ready to do, it was great!

Around May, I felt totally comfortable again, and the BO and I took our horses on a trail ride. Amir spooked once, but it wasn't a bad spook at all. It was just one of those when they spook in place. All in all, it was an awesome ride and a great day!

Here's a couple pics of that trail ride:








The BO took that one when I was tacking up










And enjoying a well deserved snack after the ride


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

I kinda forget about this journal! 

After that last trail ride I posted about, Amir and I had 2 other big outings. We went on another trail ride, that was by far the best one we've been on! It was Amir's first time riding on the beach at the lake, and he did awesome!

A couple months after that, I took him to his first speed expo. He was much better in the warm up than expected, and did pretty well with the patterns. We went 3 times, and the first 2 times weren't great because he was very suspicious of the large tractor they moved into the arena, but the last run was pretty good! 

I would LOVE to get at least one more show and trail ride in this year!

I, unfortunately, don't have any good pictures from the show, but I do have one from the trail ride .


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

*Ride today and exciting news!*

Amir and I had a pretty good ride today! I was able to get to the barn early for a ride to try and beat the heat. We've been hitting 90 everyday for almost a week! :icon_rolleyes: So, we worked on side passing, our trotting and cantering transitions (especially to the right- that's our bad way), and we worked with crossing the big scary tarp.

Well, it's not just a tarp. It is going to be practice for water crossings eventually, so there are 2x4s that make a square, and the water will fill that area. Amir doesn't have a problem with crossing tarps when it's only a tarp, but with the wood, it becomes very scary! He's getting much better with it, but we haven't tried it with water yet. I'm hoping to by early next week. 



And now for the exciting news! Well, I think it's exciting anyway. :lol:

I found out when Amir's birthday is! It is April 13, 2006. 

I've been playing email tag with his breeder a while now, and once I explained that I don't have his papers because of how his previous owner stopped paying for board, and that whole situation, she was happy to help me out. She said she was just confused when I first asked a few months ago because she thought I had his papers.

But, I'm happy that now I know! She also said she's going to try to find some pictures of Amir for me from when he was a foal!  She said she's not sure if she still has any because her laptop recently broke that had older pictures on it. If she does find some, I'll be sure to post them on here!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Amir and I had a pretty much perfect ride today! Since it wasn't crazy hot today, we rode outside for the first time in a while and crossed a puddle that hadn't dried up from the rain we got a few days ago. He was reluctant to cross it at first, but after approaching and retreating a couple times, he walked through with no problem!

After we rode outside for about an hour, we came back in the arena and worked on our trotting and cantering and worked with what we be our water crossing practice. He did so awesome with everything! Trotting and cantering was great, and he didn't even bat an eye at the tarp and 2x4 square.  I'm really hoping that my schedule will work out that we'll be able to try it with water actually filling in the square on Monday.


This pic is from a month ago, but it's one I keep meaning to share. He's such a goober!









(He's really not built this odd, lol. The floor isn't level so it makes him look kind of weird.)


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

*Interesting, but good, ride today!*









We were riding outside today, and were about 30 minutes into the ride when this happened! The screw on the cheek piece that keeps the hack in place came loose leaving us with this, lol. But, he was awesome when it happened! He really didn't even seem to care. He didn't speed up, spook, nothing! Such a good boy .

So, once I saw what happened we went back in the barn so I could make sure the screw was tight enough that it wouldn't happen again. I think it happened because a couple days ago, I took the hack off the headstall to clean it, so I must not have tightened the screw enough when I put the hack back on. 

Once that was fixed, we went back outside and rode for another 30 minutes, and he was perfect! I couldn't have asked for him to be any better than he was today .


Almost forgot to give an update on our water crossing tarp. He is now totally comfortable going over it with no water in it, but he is a little hesitant when there's water in it, but he will go over with some encouragement. We'll either work on it tomorrow or Monday. We'll have it down pat soon I hope. 
I found a good picture online of the water crossing to show you guys what I'm talking about.


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

I really need to start posting here more often! You all know how busy life gets, but I want to make a point to write on here at least once a week so someday I can look back on this time.

Since the last time I posted, we completed our work with the water crossing exercise. He did well with it! We were going to go to a show last month, but it got cancelled due to weather. Amir was on a bit of a break for the last 2 weeks. He's fine, but I just felt he needed a little time off.

The rest of this month is going to be even more horse oriented than usual. I have a new farrier coming out the 21st (finally found a new one...I hope she's better than my last farrier), I have to find Amir a new chiro because he previous one is no longer serving my area, and I touring the Kalmbach mill later this week to check out their operation. Busy, busy, busy! 

In other news, the BO made a wash rack last weekend! I love it!


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## WhimsicalMe (Aug 21, 2016)

Loved reading about you and Amir, love how you acquired him.


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Thank you, WhimsicalMe!

I love it too. It makes me even more grateful to be his owner!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

*Week of accomplishments*

On Tuesday, I decided I wanted to start working on "bridge" crossing with Amir because it's something that we've never done, and I thought it'd be a fun new challenge. He went over it with no problem! The "bridge" I used this time was 2 wooden boxes put side by side, but the BO has one that is bigger that I want to try soon =).

The next day, we just a pretty normal ride and focused on position, speed changes, etc. We also worked on side passing, and he is getting much better at it! He pretty much has it down crossing his left over right, but still needs some working crossing right over left. We'll have it down pat soon!

On Thursday, I ponied another horse off of Amir, and despite it being Amir's first time ponying, he did awesome! 

I wasn't planning on trying to pony his pasture buddy, Drifter, but when I took Amir out of the pasture to ride, Drifter started running around and calling to him. So, I asked his owner if I could pony him because it was pretty hot out, and we didn't want Drifter to keep running around. Amir doesn't care at all if Drifter acts like that, but Drifter's almost 30, so we didn't want him to keep running around in the heat.

After riding around the indoor few awhile, we went outside and rode around out there for a little while. Both horses did really well! I think they really enjoyed it! =)

For today's ride, I decided to just let him have a lazy day, so we just walked and trotted around the indoor for a little while.


We had a great week with lots of accomplishments! 


I think he liked practicing crossing the "bridge!" I didn't even ask him to do this, lol!! 
Excuse him being dirty in the pic, he rolled right before :icon_rolleyes:


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Boy, things have been busy!

The new farrier just trimmed Amir's hooves for the second time a couple weeks back, and I can already see a big difference with his hooves! I'm so glad I was able to finally find a farrier that gives a balanced trim, and truly cares about the horses she is working on. 

Everything went very well at the Tribute feed plant back in September. I was very impressed with their facility, and I feel very comfortable with continuing to use their feeds.


Amir has been doing really well! Since the last time I posted on here, he's learned how to pony, drag things while I'm on him, and we're perfecting side passing- we're not consistent going to the left yet. And, we had our first sunset ride last week! I usually get a ride in before the sun starts going down, but I got to the barn late that day, so we rode outside since it was so nice out. Amir balked a bit when he first saw his shadow, but after that, it was smooth sailing! It was such a great ride!


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## Uze (Feb 23, 2013)

Just read through your journal, I loved it!! My gosh Amir is a handsome boy, you are very lucky to have him! And I'm sure he feels lucky to have you too  It's amazing to see how good he looks now under your love and care. He's really come a long way, you should be proud!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Thank you so much for the kind words, @Uze! It really means a lot to me.

I am incredibly proud of him!


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Amir is sooo handsome and sweet.  & a good farrier is always a plus. Makes things so much easier.
Love your journal! He's so cute!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Thank you, @PoptartShop!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Well, I, unfortunately, don't have a great update- Amir was working really well (as usual ), but came up lame on Monday. I was concerned because he didn't even go lame go couple years ago when he had a hoof abscess! He's a very tough guy.

But, he didn't have any heat anywhere on him, and didn't care where I put pressure on him, so I figured I'd give him a couple days off and then see if he's still lame before doing anything else. So, he got those couple days off, and I kept checking for any heat/pain, but he didn't have any until yesterday when I found that his left front hoof was pretty hot.

I called the farrier and told her his symptoms, and she said that it sounds like an abscess, but she's going to come out tonight or tomorrow morning just to make sure it isn't anything more serious since he didn't go lame the last time he had an abscess.

Fingers crossed it's nothing more than an abscess!


On a brighter note, I finally got a nice camera a few months back, and I'm going to share some of my photos I've taken of Amir hopefully later today when I have time to upload them onto my computer


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

*Photos*

Here's a few photos I've taken of Amir since getting my camera.










He and his buddy:


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

The farrier came out this afternoon, and concluded that Amir does have an abscess. She dug around and tried to find it, but she didn't have any luck, so she poulticed and wrapped it and said that she'll come back out once it blows out to make sure everything is okay. 

So glad we figured out was wrong!


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

I hope Amir feels better.  Glad you did finally figure out what was going on, hopefully he feels better.
Such a cute photo of them!


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

Amir is so, incredibly handsome.
/swoon!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

PoptartShop said:


> I hope Amir feels better.  Glad you did finally figure out what was going on, hopefully he feels better.
> Such a cute photo of them!


I hope so too. Fingers crossed the abscess blows soon.

Thank you! I'm still figuring out all the ins and outs of the camera, but I love having it soon I can take nice photos .


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Zexious said:


> Amir is so, incredibly handsome.
> /swoon!


Thank you! He definitely knows that he is, lol!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Amir's abscess blew and he's feeling a lot better! He's back to struttin' his stuff :grin:


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Aww that's great to hear!  He's looking good!!! Total hottie! LOL


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Lol! Thank you!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Amir has been doing great since he had the abscess! We've had a lot of great rides, and he has been quite the clown lately! 

The funniest incident happened earlier in the week. The BO wanted to the horses to stay in for the day because the turnouts were getting flooded from all the rain we've been getting. So, she asked me to put her gelding in the indoor with Amir after I rode so he could stretch his legs. I put them in the indoor, latched the gate that connects the indoor the stable area, double checked it, and went to the bathroom. Lo and behold, when I came out of the bathroom, there's the BO's gelding and Amir in the aisle of the stable area, and Amir was holding one of the other boarder's riding calendars in his mouth! After I got the calendar out of Amir's mouth, I put them both back in the indoor and as soon as I latched the gate, Amir started messing with the clip and got it open again! True to his Arabian form, he's always keeping me on my toes :grin:. 

My farrier informed me that next month there is going to be a short endurance race for those that have never competed in one before, and I'm crossing my fingers that Amir and I will be able to participate! I know he would love it, and it's always been a goal of mine to do endurance races with him. If we're able to go, hopefully this will be the first of many races for us!


Here's a photo from a tackless ride we did a couple weeks ago:


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

There really hasn't been a ton going on since I last updated. Amir and I have been doing as much riding as possible since we didn't ride as much as I would've liked to over the winter, and he's starting to get in shape again. 
Oh, I bought a SleekEz, and I LOVE that thing! I works so well. I'd definitely recommend it.

We've finally had a about a week without rain, so it was dry enough for us to have our first ride of the year outside! We had a really great ride, and Amir did great! It was pretty windy, and there was some standing water, but he just took everything in stride! He didn't even bat an eye when we got to the water.
We were both so happy to finally be able to get out of the indoor!

Yesterday was Amir's 11th birthday, and even though I've owned him for over 2 years, this was the first year I've known when his birthday was (I don't have his papers, but I found his breeder and she told me the date he was foaled), I figured I should spoil him a bit :grin:. 
So, he got lots of carrots and I bought him one of those 30 inch Jolly Mega balls. Right now, he just pushes it around a little bit, but I think he'll really have fun with it if I give him some more time with it. If not, I have a Pit Bull that will love it!


Hope that everyone is having a great Spring!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Here's the tackless photo that ended up not showing up in the post before the last one:


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

I finally caught up with this. Can't wait for more updates!


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Aww happy belated birthday to him!  He's so cute. Glad you've been riding more & he's getting into shape. Yay!!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

This past week has been pretty eventful for Amir.

Last Saturday, the chiro came out, on Monday the vet came out to do vaccinations, and today the dentist came out. In between it all, we've found time to have some very nice rides! He's been a champ through it all! 

The chiro, vet, and dentist have all known Amir for years, as the BO used all three of them for Amir after he came into her possession, and it always makes me so happy when they comment about how much his behavior and appearance have improved from when they first met him. 

I remember when I first started working with him, I had multiple people tell me that he would never be able to be ridden outside because he was so reactive. It kind of cracks me up now because he LOVES riding outside, and always does amazing! Yesterday, I needed a nice, relaxing ride, so all we did was walk around the property, and he was perfect. I'm so proud of how far he has come!

Sorry for the sappiness lol. I've had some personal stuff going on, so just feeling extra thankful for this boy lately .



I tried to get a photo of him that do his dapples justice, but they just aren't as prominent on camera as they are in person.


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## Remali (Jul 22, 2008)

Just want to say, Amir is GORGEOUS!


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

Remali said:


> Just want to say, Amir is GORGEOUS!


Thank you!


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Glad Amir is doing well, he's getting all the treatment!  So cute he is.


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## 3rdTimestheCharm (Jan 18, 2015)

I finally have time to sit down and update my journal!

Amir has doing great the last few months, and August 9 marked our 3 year "anniversary!" We've both taught each other so much in that time, and I feel so blessed to have this handsome boy in my life!

We've been able to enjoy many great rides both inside and outside the indoor arena, and he's really starting to get brave when we ride outside- even braver than me! Last week, I was riding him in and out of a tree line on the property to get him more comfortable with riding between tight spaces, and by the end of the ride, he was more than willing to try to go between 2 pines trees that are so close you can't see between them! I was very proud of him! 

The BO and I are planning on going out to a new trail before winter hits, so hopefully we'll be able to make that happen because Amir and I love going out on new trails .

Unfortunately, Amir is getting so unplanned time off at the moment, however. One of my dogs, Curry, tore his cruciate ligament a month ago and his currently recovering from surgery. So, Amir enjoying some extra time in the pasture while I tend to Curry. 



My sister was kind enough to take time out her busy schedule to come to the barn and take some action shots of Amir and I. This is my favorite (please excuse my hands- he was ignoring my leg).











Our ride on August 9 to celebrate the occasion


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