# Hawaii's Journal



## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

*August 13, 2008, Wednesday*
-tries to remember- Rode Miss T for a quick half hourish ride out on the front field. It was a good workout actually! I worked mainly in trot. The canter could have used more work, but I didn't have time to focus on that. About halfway through I noticed she was too heavy in my left hand, so we worked on correcting that.

*August 14, 2008, Thursday*
Lesson day! Loki decided to teach us in the rodeo arena and guess what? No tender feet for my girl!  She was going great on the cinder footing. We did spiraling circles, lengthing the trot, and leg yeilding into a canter. It was a good back to the basics lesson. Loki could see the improvement Sylvia made with Miss Take, which was very nice.  It was a good reminder on lengthing the trot, because we hadn't done that in a while. Oh and then I need to remember not to stiffen the back of my neck.
I ran out the horses to the pasture as usual. There was Griffin, Aslan, Gabby and Miss Take. But they decided to be stupid buttheads and went the completely wrong way, so that they were on the other side of the fence of the pasture. Of course the only one who would let me catch her was my girl. So I took her the right way into the pasture then went to get the others. Kawena came with and I also took some cobes in a bucket to get their attention. It worked, thankfully. -sigh- Horses sometimes... I mean they've never gone back there before. They KNOW the way to the pasture, they've only done it every day for almost a year. Gah. I'm glad it ended nicely.

*August 15, 2007, Friday*
Since Miss Take went so well in the rodeo arena yesterday, I rode her in there again. Only a few times did she feel ouchy, so I guess it's back to the grass again tomorrow. So first thing, I went to make sure she was okay with the barrels being set up, as someone left them in the barrel pattern. She was perfect, so we went to work. Did our new routine of shoulder-ins and leg yeilding. We did a bunch of trot to canter and vice versa transitions on both reins. I had a little trouble on both sides, but all I needed to do was adjust her shoulders a bit. We picked up the wrong lead a few times going to the right, but I tried not to stress about it and instead correct it without rushing. After that, we tried some spiraling circlesm which wasn't too good until the end. Then I threw in some lengthing trot and got some good ones. Did a little of trot to walk and vice versa transitions, then cooled off and called it a day. My little superstar was the bomb! And we even got foam today. 
The horses decided to throw in their little stunt they did yesterday when we let them out. I found out who the trouble maker is. griffin. xP The turdface. I have no idea why he wants to go back there, but gabby and Aslan followed him like zombies (no offense to them xD), while the "older" herd horses went the right way. And Miss Take stood in the middle not knowing who to follow. Silly. -shakes head- But Loki was able to chase them off in the right direction before they went too off track. Yay. So it wasn't as disasterous as yesterday. And now that I know who started it all, maybe we can control the problem.


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

Ha. I'm so bad at this. 

*August 29, 2008, Friday*
I GOT BUCKED OFF! Yeah, so got there, and Loki said that I could ride a different horse for my lesson. So we decided on Sherman/Tank on the lungeline so that we could work on my seat. He was acting up a little, like randomly deciding to trot straight instead of on the circle, but that was about it. We were maybe half way into the lesson and he does this little hop, which I guess unbalances me a bit, then lets out a full bown buk. So I go flying in the air and gravity takes control and I fall all 16 hands back to the cinder/dirt ground, miracleously(sp?) missing the poles and jumping standards. I had not reins since it was a lunge lesson and and feet effortlessly left both of my stirrups. I never realized how hard the ground is. o_0 xD So I just laid there to check if I could breathe (which I could, the breath didn't get knocked out of me) and evetually got up with Loki's help. I like landed on my backside/upper butt and skidded a little, so my right arm was scarped up. On went the icepacks, then Loki cleaned up my scrapes. Frank tossed his western gear on Sherman and worked his sorry little butt off. One fit of bucking and the "wild beast" was tamed.  The I (painfully) got back on to walk around and cool of Shermie. He's in no way an evil horse. We figured that he's just started going back into work and supposedly it's the 7th ride that green horses act up on.  So the kid was just sore and rebelious. I'm kinda glad it was me and not one of the little kids. Man... that would have been awful. Man, I love my helmet. It was my first fall in this helmet and nothing, not even a scratch when I banged my head to the ground. So yeah. It wasn't really scary, but I think I do have a little fear in me. However, I feel more challenged than scared. Like i want to ride Sherman again and do well on him. He really is a sweet horse and I know he isn't a killer or anything close to that.
That was my exciting day. Got bucked off for the first time. And hopefully it won't happen again because pain is no fun at all. 

*August 30, 2008, Saturday*
Loki said I should ride today, so that my hips could get moving/exercised. So I went for an hour long walk with Miss T. There was a rodeo today, so tons of trailers and horses. At the end of my ride, I saw three girls who used to ride with Loki, all rodeo kids. So we talked and walked around the racetrack then I took them to see Tessie. That was fun.  Took care of Miss T and all, then went to watch the rodeo. I took tons of pics. Overall, it was a great day! I love my pony. <3 

I shall now post some pics of her. They're from non recent to recent.

































^Our first horse show. =)
















^showing off her new halter.








^ in the pasture
















^prettay mane
















^Nom, grass!








^ droopy lip, lol


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## Pinto Pony (Jul 28, 2008)

Yeouch! Glad you are ok and back in the saddle.


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

Nothing can take me out of it! Except for that buck, that is. xP Thanks for reading this, Jaime. 

*September 1, 2008, Monday*
Happy Labor Day USers!  Got to the barn a bit after 2:30pm and no one was there. I think I just missed Frank cuz all the ponies were eating dinner. So I was slightly nervous, but not too much because I adore being at the barn alone. With my ouchies it was awful walking up the hill to the pasture, but I made it!  So went to get Miss T who didn't want to come when I called. I need to learn how to whistle, me thinks. But she neighed to me!!! For the first time ever! I love her tons. <3 So brought her in, gave her some feed that I made up. I noticed some of the stalls weren't clean, so I filled the waters and cleaned the stalls. Then I sat in Miss T's stall and wrote while she ate. We finished at about the same time and I got her beautifully groomed. Tacked up and got the lunging stuff. And Tank was being mean to her when we were going out... I think it's because she was eyeing his food though. Oh that reminds me, the Blond tried to kick Miss Take when we were coming in from the pasture. x_x I think she missed, but I'm not 100% sure because I was on the other side. So I hope my girl is okay. I checked her side and stuff and there was no swelling or hoofmark.

Anyways, we lunged about five min each side in trot, then the same for canter, with more breaks in between. Her walk voice command is getting super. And her whoas on the right rein were super good!  Oh and she got the correct canter leads, too. Then I hopped on her (ouch) and walked her around the track to cool off. I've been getting on and off her on the right side lately because it's been easier and it hasn't fazed her at all. Approaching the barn, she kept staring at something like she wanted to spook, but I have no idea what she was looking at... I walked her back to the pasture while my dad drove up with my grandpa. I was seeing if she'd follow me and she kinda started walking away when I was doing the gate. She got distracted by the bathtub water trough, but was too scared to drink from it, silly girl. Then my dad wanted my grandpa to see her, so I walked to get her all the while hoping that she wouldn't run away from me. I didn't want to rush at her so I just said whoa and wonder of wonders, she stopped! She's good at that. xD So I took her over to my dad and granpa and they petted her and commented on her heart shaped spot.  I think we're really beginning to develop a real bond. It's so neat, I've never bonded with a horse like this before.

I'm healing pretty quickly. It usually still hurts to walk, especially on an incline and anything involving bending is painful. However, the pain is starting to decrease and I may attempt to do some posting trot tomorrow. Yay!


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

Wow, one week and no logging. -shakes head- I thought I'd introduce you to people now since their names will pop up often.
It'll be like this: Name - what I might refer to them as - extra info Yay?  Or just their name and extra info because yeah. Lost my train of thought... Onto the people I work with! <3

Loki - BO/trainer/instructor - the best
Frank - Loki's husband - also our trailering guy and a horse trainer
Sylvia - trainer/instructor - kinda on hiatus, but slowly starting to teach again
Mark - Sylvia's husband - rides occationally, good rider
Tiffany - Sylvia and Mark's baby daughter
Maureen - works at the barn like mwah
Pam - see above
Louise - see above, although she's like in 7th or 8th grade
Kawena - one of the most awesomenest 8 years olds ever, takes lessons and helps out
Debbie - owner of Pie and Pride

I think that's all for now... yes. Now onto the log! Charrrge! (this is gonna be a long post)

*August 2, 2008, Tuesday*
I trotted! And even sat the trot too, though I was hurting a bit the whole time. I dunno, I kinda don't feel the pain when I'm concentrating... Anyways, Miss T was the best! She was very light in my hands compared to how she's been lately (I think that's from the lunging with side reins) and we had an amazing ride. At the end of our ride we did flawless loops. 

*August 3, 2008, Wednesday*
I can't remember what I did for riding on this day... Either we trotted both ways around the racetrack doing leg yielding then worked on the grass or just rode on the grass and used trotting poles.  I want to get us back into jumping soonish. We need to build confidence.
Work as usual. 

*August 4, 2008, Thursday*
Had my lesson in the rodeo arena. Loki showed us how to do some good bending exercises in the walk. Then we trotted and talked about the upcoming shows. I'm going to "try" for the February show again. Loki said we could probably show 1st level, but we should stick with Training level for now. Loki had me cross my stirrups(put them up) and we did killer stirrupless work. We did lengthing stride which meant that I had to post. Man, that's hard when you have a huge trot. Plus, I don't think I've ever really done posting without stirrups before. It was a good workout. I learned how to change my legs when asking for a change of bend instead of relying on my hands. And we did some bending work on a circle, I'd bend to the inside, then switch to the outside and then back again while staying on the circle. It was a great lesson.

NEW PONIES! Three new horses are here for the week. They came around 4pm. All the way from Cali, they flew in. They are all beautiful and their owner, Jane is very nice.
Paddy, mare, 26








Ruby Two, mare, 16, QH/Morgan cross








True, gelding, Paint, youngest









*August 5, 2008, Friday*
Had an awful ride on Miss Take. Went out to ride with Pam, who was on Pie. We went into the rodeo arena. I just worked on what I learned in my lesson. Pam had Pie going so nicely!  She headed back and I decided to stay and work longer since we hadn't even cantered yet. We did a little cnatering and then ran into our problem. I would trot on a right rein circle, then switch my legs (new outside leg back, new inside leg forward) and ask for the left bend while still keeping the circle. I did this on both reins. But whenever we switched bends she would go off the circle in the other direction, even if I kept my outside leg pressed on her side. So we fought for a time then I just stopped because we were both getting too worked up. We did what i was trying to do in the trot at a halt. I'd switch my legs and bend her, then straighten, then bend the other way. Then we did it in the walk. Then we went back into trot and had the same fustrating experiance. I was getting mad at my body and at her, and she was getting fustrated and confused with me. So I asked for less, not so extreme, and we did a tiny bit better. I ended on that. I don't know why we couldn't do it right! It was the same exact thing we worked on in the lesson and it was awful and ugly. I don't think it was her. She was definitely trying to do what she thought I wanted, but it wasn't the right response. I don't like my body. I think I must have been doing something very wrong with my body that was sending her to wrong signals. I can't figure it out. Ugh! Riding is so hard sometimes! I just hate that my body doesn't do what I want it to. x_x I felt all guilty after my ride, but my horse still, somehow, loves me. Phew...

Jane and her youngest daughter came out to see their horses. Her daughter rode Paddy (so cute!) and she took Rudy out for a walk with her. Which in turn made True go a bit nuts in his stall, so Frank put him in out of the outside stalls so he wouldn't kick the barn down. xD I watched Frank train Sherman again. I love watching him work with a horse. Frank started working with Sherman starting Tuesday and has done it every day since. I think it's just what Sherman needs. 

*August 6, 2008, Saturday*
I decided that after yesterday, what me and Miss Take needed was a back to the basics ride. We went into the rodeo arena to ride. Didn't do anything fancy at the walk, just tried to get her forward and on the bit. We trotted and did different sized circles and changed the rein a bunch. Went back to walk and did a little bit of leg yielding before moving up to trot and doing the same. For canter we used the whole arena, but did three small circles on each long side. She was a superstar! I remember when I first started riding her, we'd always fall back into a trot when we got off the circle. We've gotten so far since then. After the canterwork, I wasn't completely happy with our downward transition to trot, so we did a couple more transitions. We worked in trot after that and lengthed stride on the long sides of the arena and across the diagonal. Wow, she rocks at that now when she barely knew it before. She's come so far. We ended with attempting to neck rein in trot. It went very well! I had to aid her with my leg and overexagerate a bit, but we could do pretty good small and large circles. Yay, western pony!  Walked around to cool off then headed back in. It was a fabulous ride altogether.

I gave her a real bath with shampoo and cleaned my brushes and grooming tote while she grazed. Then I went out to hand graze her so she could finish drying off. Loki was having Frank fix the hill paddock fence so we can use it for next week, so I just put Miss T in her stall before I left. We had cuddle time, too. <3 

Next week Loki is going to be "gone" until Friday because she has to rest. She's having a minor sugery done on Monday. Frank, Sylvia, Pam, Maureen and I are taking care of the barn duties for her. I'm closing the barn on my work days annnnnd.... MAKING UP FEEDS! I can't wait. I've never really done it before, but I adore scooping feeds and such. I'm so happy! Plus, it's great to feel trusted considering that the people doing the same thing as me are in their thirties or older. So yeah, it's cool that Loki trusts me to be responsible. Then I can feel like I'm running the barn, fun! I'll have to figure out riding though since anyone younger than 18 can only ride when someone 18 or older is present.
Anyhow, she wants to put Griffin, Gabby and Miss Take in the hill paddock since they're the only horses that need to come in from pasture. That way it's easier for us to get them in and out. She's prolly going to try and stick the Blond and Tessa in there with them, too. Then the rest of the herd stays in thier pasture while Pie and Pride can be in the road pasture. 

The newbies (a.k.a. Paddy, Ruby, and True) are settling in nicely. They rarely neigh/scream. They're a little skittish when you go into their stall to clean or fill their water. However, I think they're making great progress compared to other horses.


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

*August 8, 2008*
My pony ish clean! -dances- But fuzzy. x_x Seriously. She almost has her winter coat. I was like weirded out, but Pam mentioned the shortening days and that must be it. But why my pony and not the others? xD I'm already missing her summer sheen. Mainly it's her neck, chest and some belly that's fuzzy.
Anyhow, I went and rode with Maureen in the rodeo arena. We mainly worked on shoulder ins. They were not too consistant in posting trot, but once I sat they really improved. Did some bending in walk and when I went back to trot she was in a GORGEOUS frame. It was heavenly. So then we worked on our canter, which was fab. She feels so schooled compared to the motorcycle/running/unbalanced canter we used to do. It's super! Worked a tiny bit on our downward transition on the right lead, then went back to trot and I gave away my reins. We did more western work. Our circles on the left rein sucks, she almost banged me into the wall a couple times. So I used more leg and seat and we fixed that.  But we almost had a western jog and headset going on. Whoohoo! lol. I can see her being a WP girl on some days, but not a gaming horse. I think she's do okayish on like barrels and poles, but it would mess with her head too much. She could be an alright cowboy horse, but not with me. xD

We went for a cool off walk around the racetrack with Maureen. She was riding Pride as usual. If he were her horse, they'd be perfect. But one can only dream... 

Showered off the girly and found out that she loved nectarines! Yay! Now she eats apples, carrots, grapes, strawberries, and nectarines. Is that even how you spell it?  She doesn't like sugar cubes, bananas, popcicles, granola bars, or chips. I want to try watermelon and pears next. Kay, so apparently Loki put Pie and Pride with the Blond and Contessa and they get along fine. So yeah. I think Blond like the socialization. And Contessa still barges through the fence (the electric one that's not on) to go out of the pasture or to visit with Aslan. She's naughty and it scares me a bit. I don't want her getting hurt...

I took out Miss T when Maureen took out Gabby and Griffy. Gabby tried to eskapeh out the gate. xP Bad mommy horse. -_- Then we tried to close the electric fence. Then Maureen got zapped. Then we closed it. xD I filled their water and took pics and my camera decided to die on me. But I got photos of Gabby in which she actually looks pregnant! The day was just so photogenic. I gotta try tomorrow with fresh batteries because Contessa's legs are black now!


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

I just realized I'm still typing August instead of September. Oops! I would edit all my posts, but this forum is odd and doesn't let your edit old posts... weird...

*September 9, 2008
Miss Take loves pears! She's such a healthy girl. xD Our ride went well.  We rode same place as yesterday, with Maureen again. Let's see... We did lotsa bending in walk, which really helps to prepare her for trot. Then we did serpentines in the trot with stretchy circles whenever her jaw tightened. My right knee has been feeling tight lately, so I did trot work without stirrups. Then put them a hole down and went into canter. I tried to do flying lead prep, which is something I want the both of us to learn eventually. So I basically do a figure eight, trot in the middle, switch bends, and pick up the canter, and repeat. She kept throwing up her head when I asked for the left lead canter, she would not go on the bit on the right lead, and our transitions were not as good as they could have been. So I decided to work more on the canter and not the whole figure eight thing. We did a smallish circle to help with the downward transition, which greatly helped. She stopped throwing up her head and she got a bit better on the right rein. Yay! I wanted to do more, but we had been out for a while, so I decided to call it a day. When we cooled off I got the idea to try a turn on the haunches. Wait... let me see what it's called... No, a turn on the forehand. She did fabulous! I think it's because that's what we do when we open and close gates. However, I think I need to adjust my leg aid a bit so that she doesn't get it confused with the leg yield.

I'm going to turn out the three newbies and run them around a bit tomorrow for their owner, Jane, because she can't come by. She's even going to pay me! I told her I could just do it for her, but she said that she'd pay me.  It won't be much, but you know how easily money is spent when you're a horse person. Just this morning I was trying to figure out the cost of buying some saddle stuff.

Took pics of Tessie, Blond, Pie and Pride today! I'll have to get around to posting pics soon.*


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

*September 10, 2008, Wednesday*
Now I know how it is to run your own barn! It's hard work, but totally worth it. 
I got there and Sylvia was finishing up with Griffin. I filled waters and turned out Pride and Pie. Groomed my girl and free lunged her. Took pics of her! Hopefully some came out good. She did good. We're a little rusty on free lunging, but it went well. I decided to hop on her tackless to see what she'd do (not the smartest idea, lol). I grabbed my helmet, then practiced my bareback mount from the ground. Ew. I need more practice. I've heard that it's possible for people as short of me (I'm just shy of 5'2") to get on a 16hh horse, so I have to be able to get on my 15hh horse without so much scrambling around... I know! I'll put springs on the bottom of my paddock boots! Anyways, we walked around, then tried trot. Haha, my steering was so bad! Now I really give those NH people and awesome trainers credit for riding around with nothing and just using their seat to steer. Lol, we must have looked awful, but it was fun, since I trust Miss Take so much that I knew nothing bad was going to happen.

Showered her off, then measured her girth size with both of the saddles I'm planning to buy. Before riding her I measured the dressage saddle pad, stirrup irons, stirrup leathers, and a dressage whip. I'm planning to buy those sooner or later. I was gonna estimate the lungeline length, but I got lazy, plus I don't know how to tie it up correctly. Sunscreened her, then put her back in her stall.

And work began! I turned out the Blond and Tessie and put TickTock in their stall. Turned out Griffin and Gabby then came back for Miss Take. Put the newbies in the small paddock and ran them around for about 10-15 minutes. They were already breathing hard by then so I stopped. Ruby really knows her lunging skills. True was full of beans. xD And I didn't chase Paddy around much since she moves a little like a stiff old lady. xD I figured some trot and a little canter was good enough for her. I think her name might actually be Patty. Dunno. -shrug- I left the newbies in there for like 20-30 minutes while I cleaned all the stalls and made up their dinner feeds. It was so cute. Ruby and Paddy did a lot of grooming each other, then Ruby and True gave each other butt scratches. True was trying to make friends with TickTock, too. Then I put them back in their stalls. I had an easy time of catching them since I had brought a carrot specially for them.  I come prepared! Lol.

Then I let the drafts out of their stalls and chased them into the small paddock and let them play around while I made up Thursday morning feeds. I wanted to run them around, but I didn't think I'd have the time to. From what I heard though, they ran around a bit. I loved making the feeds. It's so orderly! The only thing that sucked (only a little) was that I had to subsitute complete with hay cubes. Hopefully we'll get complete for tomorrow. Then I fed dinner to the drafts and TickTock. Filled waters again, cleaned Gabriel's stalls because he just HAD to poop again, then I was done! I had kinda been rushing which somewhat ruined my first feed making experiance. But I could have had the time to take pics of the newbies.  -sigh- I really wanted nice pics of them, but whatevs... So I just relaxed and watched the cats for 15 minutes. It was so relaxing... It made all the busy-ness, hard work, and rushiness worth it. <3 I want a barn.


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

*September 11, 2008, Thursday*
Sylvia was finished with Griffin when I came by and she was filling his and Gabby's waters. She also did the Blond's for me, which was awesome. She asked if I could get Easy for her, since she had to go since Mark needed the car and she had a lesson at 3:30pm. So I filled the rest of the waters then trekked out to the pasture and since no one came when I called (either I need to perfect my imitation of Loki's call, or I need to be louder) I had to walk all the way out to get her. Thankfully she catches easily. Then we walked back to the barn and she got to eat lunch. 

I groomed Miss T and went for a bareback ride with only a halter. I didn't even bother to tie up the rope as reins since I figured we could work on our neck reining. Anyways, it turned out to be more than just a stroll.  We just went around the racetrack. Her trot was way fast and bouncy. Ouch. Finally she calmed down and even started to lower her head. We worked on her slowing and from trot to walk off of my seat. She wasn't paying attention at all and/or I must have sucked because at first I got no response at all. I got fustrated, then calmed down and tried again with reinforcement by adding pressure from the rope. It clicked and we improved. Then we cantered! It was fun.  Went back to walk with voice commands. Tried the right rein and she would not pick up the correct lead. Tried again and again until we got it, then cooled off. I brought her to a patch of grass but she didn't want to eat, so I sat backwards on her and walked for a bit to see how it felt, but I couldn't steer so I turned around again and we went back in.

I wasn't sure if Griffin had been ponied before, but I ponied him off of Miss Take and took them out to the pasture. Both were great! Miss Take is my superawesome ponying horse. xD I had to put them in the regular pasture since now they're not letting us use the hill paddock. I left Gabby in so she could eat and turned out Blond, Tessa, Pie, and Pride. Kawena came by thinking that she still had her lesson so I put her to work. I guess Loki forgot to tell them... Cleaned stalls, put Roxy into her outside stalls, then finally took out Gabby. Looks like Pride has made friends with Griffin across the fence! I heard tons of griffin neighing, then lots of squeals when I was cleaning, so I guess they introduced themselves. I felt bad when Griffin headed off with Gabby and all Pride could do was watch. He'd fit in great with the herd. Though Blond has taken a slight liking to him, so that's nice.

Made dinners and fed. Filled waters again. Made up feeds for tomorrow morning, again subsituting complete with cubes. Cleaned up the feed room a little by fixing up the hay and folding the mountain of empty feed bags. Wrote a note to Loki on the barn. Filled Ruby's water. Cleaned two stalls (Gabe pooped again right after I cleaned his stalls -_-) and took out a little of Gabe's peehole which was extremely smelly. Emptied the wheelbarrow and got picked up! I'll have to remember not to go to sleep late tonight.

I told Loki in the note not to bring in Miss T tomorrow. I have a dentist appointment and can only come to work around 2-3pm, so I know I won't really have time to ride. Plus, my butt got rubbed from riding bareback. o_0 This is the second time this has happened and it hurts. I think it's from her spine and maybe I should start riding with a saddle pad... -sigh- I wish she was more like a couch. 

The saddle fixer lady didn't come and has to reschedule. So yeah... Awww. Loki was really dissapointed. I hope she'll come soon. I'm really looking forward to the parade this Sat. as well as the livestock auction. It'll be a day filled with horses!


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

*September 12, 2008, Friday*
I got to the barn a little past 3pm and had my mom drop me off at the bathrooms so I could change into my horsey attire.  They were setting up for the auction and I saw that some of the cows were already there.
Talked to Loki. She said her leg was just tired and a bit sore. She was resting it when I came. We decided to finally turn out Pride and Pie with the rest of the herd. I took them out and they were superstars! I'm so proud of them!  Koale(who happens to be in season) imeadiately stuck herself to Pride's side and Pie went off to explore. One little squeal when Pride met Aslan and that was it! DoDa got a bit worried when she was them mingling, but she seemed to calm down quickly. Just two more guys for her to boss around.  Miss Take came up the the gate when she saw them coming and I could tell she was wondering if it was her turn to come in. Since she wasn't going away, I popped in to say hi and scratched her old fly sore, whcih she loved. She's the bestest in the world! I love my mare. 

Let's see... finished cleaning stalls, cleaned out Roxy and Sherman's waters, mucked the paddock, filled a couple waters, said bye to the newbies.  Frank trailered them to their home. Violet, Jane's youngest, might start taking lessons here though. She's a very bright girl and I like her. But yeah, I was sad to see them go, but happy that I wouldn't have to clean their stalls anymore. xD You always see good and bad horse owners and these were some of the best I've seen, which was awesome. They really love and want the best for their ponies. Kay, back to work... Poured dinner cubes, took out Gabby and Griffin once the trailer left, took out Blond and Tessa, fed dinner cubes, and finished cleaning stalls and filling waters. All done!

Loki wants to wean Contessa in a month and start keeping her in a stall since the sun is drying out her coat. Looks like she's going to be a bay and not a buckskin. Oh well, we still love her! And she also wants to soonly turn out Blond and Tessa with the herd because we need to prepare for the next baby! Gabby's! I think she's gonna have a colt. We'll see. She's due October 4th. Yay for Gabby! We just need to keep her eating 24/7.

I just got off the phone with Aunty Kathy. She's the one who asked me if I'd like to ride one of her horses. Well, the horse is actually Aunty Zimm's(another lady from church who's close with her) horse. They don't ride much anymore, basically because they don't have time, but they always go out to groom the horses. His name is Ala Bear, he's the sweetest and has the personality of Eyeore(sp?), 16hh, 17 years old, western pleasure gelding. He's barefoot (she files their hooves herself between farrier visits) and sound, even though he has a chunk of muscle missing from his left foreleg from an accident with a hot wire when he was 2. Anyways, I'm going out to ride him next Saturday! I'm so totally excited and I'm hoping them can teach me how to tack up western stuff and ride westerny. Lol, I'll definitely have Aunty Kathy give me tips when I'm riding and she said she'll hop on his first to see how he feels. However, she said he's the kind of horse you can safely ride even after sitting in pasture so long. She used to ride a lot, reining anf cutting, so that's pretty impressive to me. I hope it all goes well! Cheers!


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

*September 13, 2008, Saturday*
Went and saw the parade in the morning. Gorgeous horses! I saw Ulanui!  Looks great, still a bit of a fattie though. xD That's Ula for ya. Heh, I miss her.

Got to the barn after twelve and thought I was late for the auction. But it was only just starting when I came.  I watched the bulls, then spotted Loki and went to sit by her, Pam and Kawena. Saw the cows, then teh horses! Two 21 year old brood mares didn't sell. one was in foal and the other was open. Thankfully here they don't go to slaughter, they just go back out in the pasture.  A couple green broke horses. I wanted this cute bay mare. She was so pretty. Then some cowhorses. Those ones sold for a bit over 4,000 although I think every horse was over $2,000. Only nine horses. Next time I'll take notes and make it to the previews to take pics.

Went and got my mare, groomed her with Kawena, and went out to lunge her. And randomly met her former owner for the first time, Lynn. I've been formerly calling her badhorseownerlady. She's definitely not evil. Just... interesting. I mean, you can tell she loves her horses, but I'm not sure how honest she is. And then she tried to sell me a stallion. o_0 Riiiight. Anyways, I got her number. Mainly because she said she has a baby pic of Miss Take. That would be so CUTE! And it's confirmed. Her name was Commanche. -tries not to laugh- Lynn kinda hinted that she wants me to call her that again. Lol. It's a dude name, IMO.

Anyways, the lunging was great. She usually started out a little nervous, but she calmed down quickly and started accepting the bit. Did like the best canters we've ever done. Not rushed and nicely collected. Whoot! It was a short session, and she was already sweating, since it was a hot day. Showered her and turned her out then went home. I made sure to sunscreen her little nose for tomorrow.


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## Pinto Pony (Jul 28, 2008)

Comanche is definitely a male name!!! But that is kinda cool that she had the same name as my dressage boy!!!


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

Yeah, I didn't even realize that until I was looking around here and saw one of your posts! xD But Com's name fits him perfectly.

*September 15, 2008, Monday*
New work schedule! Same hours, but I work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And I changed my lesson day to Friday. I actually liked working on Moday. It was an amazingly light work day and I got to treasure hunt in the tack room. Seriously, every time I clean, I find cool stuff. My fav is a nice leather halter. It's a bit small, so if it doesn't fit Miss Take, I'm thinking Loki can use it for Tessa when she's a yearling. Oh and it's covered in mold.  I got the major bits off with a cloth and I'm going to try and clean it tomorrow.
The one lesson didn't show up so I put in a short ride on Miss Take. I think we were out for about half an hour. Usually I don't like short rides, but this one went well. She was way heavy in the hand, so we did a bunch of walk/trot transitions and that lightened her up. She was going beautifully! Did some awesome cantering on a large circle. I can't believe that her canter had changed so much! it's so... professional now. I think she was a little ouchy on the footing though, so maybe it was good that it was a short ride. I'll see if we can ride on the grass next time. The only thing is that we're killing the grass by riding on it and the other grass is lumpy. xP Rain, plz?

Pie and Pride went back in with the herd today. Yay for them! And we're trying Gabby with the Blond and Tessa again. Fingers crossed! Hm... that's about it. I just need to remember to ask Loki if I can buy one of the saddles now. Then somehow get all the "trappings" for it. eBay!


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

*September 16, 2008, Tuesday*
Went for a warm up walk around the hill paddock. No spooking at the many bags on the fenceline!  And she walked up every hill, without trying to cheat by running up...not that she does that anyways. I love that I can gallop her madly up a hill then turn around and walk up on a loose rein. But no galloping today.  
Since the cinder footing in the rodeo arena seemed to be bothering her again, I worked on the grass in front of the barn. It's dusty and lumpy. Ew. But she was good on it, except for a little stumbling if I went over a dirt patch or dip. Oh I wish for flat greeness! Then I could set up some nice lil' jumps... -daydreams-

Hehe, so she was heavy in the hand again, especially in the left rein. I think it's kinda me, too. I had to keep moving my left hand out of my lap. Grr... But we did some lovely should-ins that helped to even her out. Did a canter both ways on our large rectangle. It like I was flying.  I love her canter! Worked a little bit on trotting in a frame on a longer rein then worked on our neck reining. Her circles to the left need lots of work. Then we cooled off by walking through the scary shed, which now had stalking picnic tables inside.  She balked like twice then went through. We went around the bleachers, through the bathroom area then back to the barn. Our gate skills are getting a little rusty. 
Rinsed her off then took her out with Pie. Poor Gabby really wants to go with the herd. I had to chase her off and felt bad when I threw a rock at her belly.  Thankfully I was able to get both horses through with no escapes. 

Loki cleaned up the leather halter I found, plus it got rained on. So that took care of the mold.  She said it almost fits Tessie! So yay, she gets a nice leather halter. I didn't know how to ask her about the saddles... -sigh- I'm going to do it soon though!


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

*September 18, 2008, Wednesday*
Lots of lessons! Now that summer is over, we're settling back into a regular work schedule. It was actually kind of nice. I like grooming the horses and tacking them up as long as it's not a mad rush.  Had some mix ups though. Loki forgot that one private lesson was actually a group lesson. Thankfully she remembered before I turned out all the horses. And then one girl showed up for a lesson when she didn't really have one.

I didn't have the time to ride, but I filed Miss Take's front feet. I think I'm getting the hang of it! I'm just worried that her toes are too long in the front. Some days it seems like it and some days they seem normal...

Then I had a huge scare. Wehn i was doing Miss take's feet, I hear this scarrbling around in the gravel so I let go of her feet and turn around to see a dog grabbing Granny cat by her chest and shaking her around. Ugh, the thought still makes my heart beat fast. I try to poke him off with the file, that does work, so I drop that and give him a good boot. Nothing. So I just reached down and grabbed him on the scruff of his neck and pulled him off Granny cat. I didn't even see where she went. So I'm holding the dog and I look for his owner. Apparently she was watching her daughter's lesson at the rodeo arena, which is pretty far from the barn. I just throw the Jack Russel down and chase him out of barn. Then I look at my gloves and there's blood all aover and on my shirt sleeves and on my file. I clean up and am almost shaking, because I'm wondering what kind of shape Granny cat is. I mean she's so frail and small and old. I find her in the tack room, her eyes huge. But she's walking, and she hides in a corner. I put down a pad for her, and she lets me pet her, but I'm too scared to even look at her stomach area. Loki calls and asks why the dog has blood all over and I tell her that the dog got Granny cat. She asks if she's dead and I say no, but I had to pull him off of her. The owner comes of apologizing and offering to pay for any vet visits. She checks out Granny cat and feels her all over and Loki comes back and does the same. No blood or anything and Granny cat is starting to purr.

Omg, that was so scary. Loki kept thanking me for saving Granny cat's life. The blood was all from one little nick from the dog's ear, so I guess Granny cat must have somehow gotten him, which is strage because she looked so helpless when he was mauling her. I'm just so glad it was a small dog that I could pull off. She was still huddled in her corner when i left for the day, but I put fresh food by her so she wouldn't have to venture out just yet. I hope she's doing alright now.

That shook me up a bit. -shakes head- But yeah, that was my day at the barn.


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

Yay, page 2! I hadn't even noticed. Anyways, I want to get up pics of all the horses soonish. Yeah, we'll see.

*September 18, 2008, Thursday*
Granny cat wasn't at the table today like she usually is so I went to look for her. She moved like a foot. Loki said she fed her this morning and she gave her a little cup of water, too. We're figuring that she's pretty sore from yesterday.  Loki thought that she had internal injuries, but nothing is pointing to that, so that's good. I just feel so bad for her. Out of all the cats, why Granny cat? -sigh- I hope she gets 100% better, she's really the sweetest, even if I sometimes get annoyed at her begging. We already lost one cat, one more would be too much.

Back to good news. Loki's birthday was today!  I haven't finished her gift yet, but I'm planning to find one of my pics of Contessa, print it out, mat and frame it, and give it as her present. I know she'll love it, but I'm having a hard time choosing which pic to print. 
Speaking of the filly, today was her first day totally separated from mum. They still go out together at night though.  She was banging around in her stall and digging a hole to China. :? Not cool. However, not much whinnying for mom at all and Blond was totally unconcerned. 

I finished Miss Take's feet today. The right back was really unlevel, but I think I fixed it. She flares out a little in back, so I filed that down as much as I could. Arg, I want a foot stand. The back feet are easier for me, Loki thinks it's because the hooves are white so they're softer. -shrug- I only hate how sweaty I get when I do them. I'm not usually a very sweaty person. Tomorrow I'll see if Loki can take a look at them and point out any parts I missed.

When I finished, we went for a short ride. Rode on the front field. I figured since she just got her feet done i should keep her on softer ground. Did one canter each way from walk. She was wonderful! Then we did lengthing stride in trot. I wasn't completely satisfied, I could feel the extending, but I wasn't sure if she was just going faster or really really extending. =/ But her response is great now. We got a good one then I cooled her off and we went back in.

Rinsed Miss Take off and talked about the saddles and paid Loki half. I still need to get the rest of the money.  She's really excited because she found this perfect saddle for her and Gabriel. I think she's buying it tomorrow. And then she said I can keep the saddles in my locker. Yay! I half own them now.  I'm reassured that I'm getting a steal for them. Seriously, it's like buying a used Stubben for $200. Crazy! I want to figure out what "brand" made the dressage saddle. Pics in the future. Kay, then turned out Miss Take and caught a ride home with Maureen. I can't believe the saddles are almost mine. Just need to pay for half more, pay to get the billets replaced, buy saddles pads, leathers, stirrups, and a girth... Haha, the joys of horse ownership.


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

*September 19, 2008, Friday*

Had my lesson today! Went and worked on the front field since we were with Kaikea and Loki didn't want him riding in the same place that there's a baby on the grass. Erm, explaination! When Sylvia has Tiffany with her she rides on the grass in front of the barn and puts Tiff on a blanket on the ground with all her toys and stuff so she can watch her and ride Griffin. Yeah. The lesson was great! We did tons of bending in walk and some counter bending. Then we did the same in trot, but threw in lenghting stride. Loki said we got some "toe flicking" which I'm assuming meant that she was extending like a flashy dressage horse.  Omg, her extending is like I switch on a button and we power forwards. It's sweet. Miss Take was trying really hard for me today. I love her. After the lesson we worked on some cantering, since she was warmed up. In the right lead it's harder for her to get into a frame. Correct lead everytime though!  We need to work a little more on our "longer reins but still staying in a frame." I should work on that tomorrow. She was way sweaty after that (silly winter coat fluffiness) so I went for a walk around the track with Kaikea who was on TickTock.

Work was kinda rushed because my lesson was late. xP But it was okay. Quick recap! No one showed up for vaulting.  Tessie was being a brat and I got ****ed at her (although I think something else set me off. :x So I re-evaluated and calmed back down. It's only her second day of being away from her mom. Roxanne peed in her food bucket... again. (okay, maybe that's too much info. :shock: Frank helped feed dinner and Kaikea actually was being more helpful than he usually is. :lol: I think his annoyingness had decreased. 

I can has tomorrow? It has the potential to be one of the best days of my life.. as I know it! 8) I like smileys! I think I owe a new profile thingy, too....

Kaikea - 8 years old I think, lives with his older brother and uncle who took them in, Loki and Frank help his uncle out a lot, newbie rider, hangs out at the barn sometimes, high-energy, often annoying
Keanu - Kaikea's 12 year old brother
Cyrus - Keanu and Kaikea's uncle, they're mom's brother, sometimes the boys are a bit much for him, but he always tries his best, made a complete turnaround in his life for them.
Lisa - vaulting instructor, has one daughter and one son
Tom and Cliff - main farriers around here, both do our horses, great guys


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## magik416 (Oct 8, 2007)

Just wanted to say I enjoy your log! Especially when you describe your rides - I ride dressage, too, and it's really cool to read your description!


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## o0hawaiigirl0o (Aug 8, 2008)

Thanks so much, Lisa! I wasn't sure if anyone was reading this, so any reply is always encouraging.  I know I can be longwinded at times. =P

*September 20, 2008, Saturday*
I rode with a bareback pad for the first time today. It was okay. I miss the feel of just the horse beneath me, but I was getting sores and scraped from Miss Take's spine whenever I rode bareback, so I finally gave in a tried something else. No sores today!  Went around the hill paddock first. The pad was the kind with a girth and I didn't tighten it enough, so it slipped back a couple inches. I hopped off, fixed and tightened it a hole then used a rock to hop back on. I've never used a random object like that before. Lots of new today, lol. 
Cantered a little on the racetarck, but I think we were on the wrong lead, but I didn't want to fix it. xP Shh! 
Worked on the front field for a little bit. I mainly wanted to see if the pad rubbed me in any way. The spine rubbed, but not much at all. Just did trot circles and canter circles. Worked on making the downward transitions smooth. 
Went to the grass in front of the barn and I hopped off and set up a small cross rail. It was probably.... a foot. Not more then a foot and a half. Then got back on with possibly one of the sloppiest mounting-up-from-the-ground that I've ever done. Ewie. And I think I pulled some of her mane out.  Trotted over the cross rail about five times on the right, trotted over it a little less on the left. Since the left is easier for her, we started with the cantering over the jump on that rein. Did it a couple times then changed the rein. Went over it in right lead canter three times and ended on that. It was hot and I wasn't sure how tired she was so between sets of jumps I'd walk her around a lap before resuming trot/canter. She was super awesome! She only rushed the jump a couple of times, no faltering or running out (though we did have "wings" on each end). Jumping is way easy for me bareback. With the saddle it's too technical. I can't wait to try more jumping! 

Finished taking care of the pony, went home to have lunch, then went out to Aunty Zim's and was late.  But they were okay with it, thankfully. Way to make a first impression. If you can't recall, Aunty Zim and Aunty Kathy were the two ladied from church who asked me if I wanted to ride one of their horses. Anyhow, Aunty Kathy showed me and my mom around the place. They have two mares there, a seven year old and a two year old named Kitty Cat. Gorgeous coloring. And gorgeous place. Huge house with a little barn. The stalls are sweet! They have little outside pens attached.  Then like five different paddocks/pastures.
My mom left and we (including Squirt, one of Aunty Zim's dogs) piled into the car to go up to where the other horses were. In the pasture they have Ala Bear (Aunty Zim's horse), Smoke (Aunty Kathy's horse) and Keala(not sure if this is right). She's the only mare and was actually pastured with Tara, the horse across from their pasture. But then Tara had a colt and he's not gelded yet.
Caught the horses, lightly groomed and saddled. Aunty Zim saddled Ala for me. Info! He's a dark dark bay QH gelding. 16hh and 16 years old. Missing a muscle from his left front as a result of an accident when he was a baby. Slightly lazy, fat, and total Eeyore personality. I like him. Smoke is a true black QH. Gelding and 17 years old. He has an injured right hind I think, so his canter is messed up because of that. And then the chestnut mare is 23 and retired. I think she has back problems.
Rode him around the pasture a little bit, then we went out to the polo field. Aunty Kathy rode Smoke and Aunty Zim lead the mare since she didn't want her leave her alone in the pasture. Ala is such a western pleasure horse. He can trot so slowly! It's awesome. He was a bit grumpy about the canter, but I did get it. I guess was was a little unconfident/unsure, so Aunty Zim got on him and cantered him around a little then told me to just give him a lot of leg in the canter and get him to use his hind end. The right is harder for him, like Miss T. I got back on him and we did better in the canter. Trotted more then we went back to the pasture. He's had good training in him. Gets into a frame easily. Moves off leg pressure and listens to your seat. 
Untacked, brushed and Aunty Zim fed them. We visited the colt! He's SO cute. Four months old, like Tessie, but smaller cuz he's a QH. But kyoot! He's going to be gelded soon and weaned, and after that he's going to be Ala's pasture buddy and the mare can have Tara back! She really misses Tara and was standing at the fence staring at her when we left.

It was a lot of fun riding and getting to know both Aunties and the horses. I hope to be able to ride again with them! We have yet to set up a date for the next ride, but they mentioned me riding the seven year old mare. She's more my size. xD Still, I quite like Ala. He's like the gentle giant. And I could see him doing english pleasure stuff with ease... little dressage... -hinthint-  I'm pooped. Oh but wait! Granny cat went outside for the first time(other than to use the bathroom) since she was attacked! I think that's a good sign.


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