# Alahna's Journey



## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..since I have a new horse, I have to have another journal since I won't take the time to write it on paper, haha.

Her statistics so far:
Registered as Buea Oak
March 8, 2006 foal (model lol)
Around 16hh (haven't measured yet)
Currently underweight
Raced from 2008-2010 with 25 starts and 5 wins
Bought for $525, asking price $600
Hopeful resale around $10k as all-around 4h and trail horse.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Okay..So, now that I have time, let's go about typing up our day.

03.05.2013
Today was AMAZING. Alahna was posted up at the far side of her paddock (still in quarantine) and didn't look like she was going to come over..lol. I whistled a few times before she finally decided she was going to be a great little mare and come to me at the gate.
I walked her up to the barn and got all my tack out and ready while she was tied (actually standing still for once). I brought the saddle pad over and she cowkicked (hasn't the past few times..so not sure what was up today) and so we untied and threw the pad up and down until she got bored. Then we saddled up and waited for Copper and Raina, had a cigarette outside, paid board and set out on our way for a trail. 
Oh my lord..perfect trail horse already. She doesn't like mud or puddles, but we had no leaps (thank goodness. I'm not suppose to be riding yet xD) and towards the end of the trail she did coil up before she stepped over.
About 20 minutes into our ride we decided to canter up two of the hills. The first hill was a LOT steeper than I thought it'd be and I don't know what exactly happened..but she didn't even canter up it, she broke into a trot before her feet even hit the hill and I think her knees buckled at the top..I thought we were going down..So, we'll just have to be careful on super steep hills. Kinda looked like the / symbol, just really short and not a long hill.
Eventually we cantered on some easier hills and she was amazing..I have NEVER been on a horse so smooth in my life. I caught a jagger thorn to the forehead at some point, but hell..who cares when you have a super smooth horse, especially up hill!!

So..we came to the top of the last up hill and discovered an old abandoned barn and shed with lovely tin roofing that blew and clanked in the wind...All I thought was "oh sh!t.." and went to grab for my horn..and then I realized she wasn't spooky at all, even though Raina was. I detoured around the spazzing Raina toward the abandoned buildings and continued on the trail running parallel to it with Raina now following behind since she was a scaredy cat.

We got to experience a quad as well..About 10 minutes prior I thought I heard a quad start up and run..didn't think anything of it when he came flying up a hill and sliding as he tried to stop before he got any closer to us. Copper tried to wave I think, but he turned around and tore off back down the hill. Raina almost crapped herself and Alahna just stood still watching the quad like she grew up around them..lol.

At some point along one of our downhill parts Alahna picked up a nice tree branch to drag down with her between her legs and stuck in her tail, lol. Great thing? She just continued on like nothing was wrong, meanwhile I'm hoping she doesn't tear off kicking and bucking downhill, lol.

We got back with two very out of shape and exhausted horses about 45 minutes or so after our departure.

After we untacked and checked everyone over I brought the clippers out..I had a feeling Alahna wasn't going to remember them from the track and fly around the arena with the whole support beam the tie is on..so I held while Copper roached her mane evenly (my scissor hackjob wasn't good enough xD).

She also LOVES the salt rock I got her for her little paddock while she's in there..she never stopped licking it from the time I hung it up, to when we left, to when we came back for my keys, and when we left from picking up my keys. Soo..hopefully it'll still be there in a few days when I go back out XD
Pictures will be in next post because I do NOT want my phone to decide to paste over this whole novel, lol.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

I don't know if I'm going to be able to sell her..lol.

Out on our trail, hanging back behind Copperhead and Raina:










On Raina's break since she was huffing and puffing, lol.








And








After we got back:








And









Pictures are all from yesterday, March 5, 2013.
Going up on the 8th for sure since it's her birthday 
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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

10k for an all around 4-H horse! Wanna sell a few of our retrained steady eddie OTTBs up there in Pennsylvania for me? xD We're having a hard time rehoming even our gorgeous HUS prospect with tons of miles on her!


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## LoveMyDrummerBoy (Nov 5, 2009)

Endiku said:


> 10k for an all around 4-H horse! Wanna sell a few of our retrained steady eddie OTTBs up there in Pennsylvania for me? xD We're having a hard time rehoming even our gorgeous HUS prospect with tons of miles on her!


10k seems like a lot. I am spending that now for a finished dressage horse with a massive amount of showing experience. Granted he's priced low because he's really hard to ride, but still. 

I am selling my completely broke dressage QH now for 4k, and I have put a massive amount of work into him. He is really tolerant of nearly everything and when I put him up for 5k or ever 4.5k, I got very, very little response. 

To not be so negative, I do think your horse is beautiful, and seems as though she has much potential in any direction you want to go.


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

See..I think as long as I advertise her correctly that she'll be able to fetch somewhere near 10k.

Where I am, the 4h parents will pay top dollar for a horse that their kid can show in 4h and rated/rodeos.

From what I'm seeing in her and what I think she can turn out to be, I'm looking at a competative 4h horse (hunter/jumper and/or games), lesson horse, and have the umph to go to rodeos/rated shows..not to mention a bombproof trail horse that will lead/mingle/follow. I'm hoping she takes to the cows, but that'll just be extra.

I'm looking to get her as a finished hunter/jumper or gamer, and still haverher competative at the one she ends up less suited to.

A little black/white paint gelding ended up starting a bidding war at fair the past 3 years..One or two offered 14k for him. He's a jumping and games horse ridden by a 14yr old that also trail rides. He's definitely not perfect and he has more of an attitude than Alahna from what I've seen.

I think I plan on offering to pay for show fees and ask Donald (the Paint geldings rider) if he wants to show her for me a little after I do some myself. English anyways..he can have hard hands in games and doesn't use his legs. D:
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

03/09/2013

So, went out to the barn yesterday, hoping for a solo trail to see how Alahna would do alone since she was perfect with Raina. Never happened, and I'm glad I got on in the arena first.

Alahna is lame at the trot (perfectly fine at the walk and haven't cantered in the arena yet).

She's usually fine going into a trot, but she didn't want to trot..not only that, she wouldn't stay in it either, which she usually does (since I've had her anyway).

I asked a lady at the barn if she'd watch her trot since she seemed so unbalanced to the point of her being off..Well, she's lame on her front left, where the bump on her knee is. :/

I will say right now, I know it isn't her knee. Heat was same up her legs, no tender points, etc. So, I automatically went to her hooves, because that's what I actually know a decent bit about. Her feet look great..but I took the hoof pick and tapped all around her*sole. She flinched everytime I tapped her lateral sole/white line on her front left. Went around to her right and got nothing.

So, I'm hoping to the dear horsey gods that she just has an abcess xD
I soaked her foot in epsom salts for a good 20-25 minutes. Very proud of her though, she was a bit iffy about the wash room but ended up walking right in. And she turned herself around on her own after two times of making her do it.

I'll add pictures in next post since I have to drive home now..lol
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Oh, another good thing..She's finally starting to learn how to stand tied without weaving, pacing, pawing, and/or swinging her butt around. 




































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## Copperhead (Jun 27, 2012)

I waved at the quad rider so he'd see us and not come blasting around the corner :lol:

You and I have different ideas on what "almost crapped herself" is...Raina was uncertain and alert but she stood. I call that a win 

Same with "spazzing"...I guess it might have looked that way, but I didn't consider her to be spazzing, especially with how she used to act when she was scared lol


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Lol We do have very different views between our two horses. You should have seen her eyes though..bug eyed xD

I usually use spazzing/having a fit loosely..It just depends on what is normal for the horse, lol. In your case, she was an angel for the quad since you know how she's freaked before. I don't have expectations for mine yet..so mine was a huge win just for the mere fact that I thought she'd have a coronary xD
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

03/11/2013

So today (yesterday) I went up to the barn to lunge Alahna and see if she was still lame..Still lame, slightly off though, not dead lame like last visit.

She walked right over to me as soon as I opened the gate and shoved her nose in the halter. I even left my chain in the truck, she never needed it, not once.

She stood great for her foot to be soaked..tried stepping out of it twice in 20 minutes but set it back down when I*told her off and rubbed down her leg, lol.

She's also a real lady when taking treats..haha. She's careful not to get any fingers and all. She was nosing around my pocket to try and get the treats the whole time I was soaking her foot, lol. It was too funny and cute to correct, and she didn't push any limits (shoving me with her nose, nipping, etc). At one point she opened her mouth up, stuck her teeth on my arm, opened her mouth back up and licked my arm, lol. Obviously after the first time she laid teeth on me she learned that they aren't welcome, haha.


Soo..pictures 














































She also kept trying to stick her face through the fence and back into the halter while I was trying to shut her gate and leave, lol. It was just too cute. And as soon as I looked back down at her she power walked over to the fence and nickered, haha. Unoredictable off lead and hates people my *** xD
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Okay..So, lets get back to this journal of mine, lol.

I didn't update for our last two rides..but here's a link to our team penning day:
http://www.horseforum.com/cutting-team-penning/tb-qh-world-161393/#post2014665

Anywho..Today I whistled and she turned away, I whistled again and Copperhead's Raina kept trying to get my treats and stick her head in my halter, lol, but Alahna turned back around and walked two steps toward me and waited for me to get to her. We walked down to the barn and Scout (a boarder's dog) was bolting around the arena and Alahna was NOT having it. She tried kicking her multiple times and jumped forward a couple times. By the time we did three circles just walking with the dog running around she finally stopped actually kicking, but still pinned her ears and lifted her leg up to kick. I left it at that and tied her up and brushed her good.

I had the two curries and a medium brush and got a good clump of shedding fur off her. I finally got to her back end and was able to curry it gently. We're still having some issues on her kicking when she's touched farther than half way down her body, so it was progress. We're taking it slow because I can't afford to get kicked right now (just got back to work and all). I'm bummed I can't pick her back feet or brush her legs off, but she'll live until I can get down there safely.

She started all over with the tacking up process..sadly enough. Her attitude was fixed by the time I got the two pads on (saddle is too wide just a tad, so I've been adding another pad underneath and it fits well enough. Not perfect, but no pressure points). She never actually kicked, but she did threaten to more than once.

The other boarder that was there with the Arabians were heading out for a trail with her husband and they asked if I was coming. How could I ever turn down a nice trail ride? lol So, of course, I hopped on and tagged along with (was planning on just doing walk/trot work and maybe some cantering in the arena). We ended up beint out for a good hour an a half to two hours. By the time we got to our river destination she didn't even pin her ears at Scout anymore and went out front, in the middle, and brought up the rear perfectly fine.

I was hesitant to take her down into the river, but they went down so I took her down. She wasn't fond of the slope down (real steep) but after she stared down the water for a few seconds she stepped a foot in. And then the beating of the water came around, lol. She loved it, absolutely loved it. She didn't wanna go when we were leaving and all she did was paw at the water with her ears perked up and nose barely in the water, haha. So, we'll definitely be going swimming this summer, haha.

On our way back the neighbour's big mastiff looking dog was out with about 5 screaming little kids. She was PERFECT. She made a little spread the front legs and stare kinda spook when the dogs came out from behind a tree, but she quickely collected herself and continued on her way back to the barn.

Soo..we got back to the barn and I got her all untacked and had a smoke while the wash rack was occupied, because she was SOAKED with sweat and lather.

The wash rack went a little worse than I expected..I'm going to assume just because the water was so cold since she was still hot. She kicked almost her whole right side (took the water off as soon as she put her foot down) and only kicked once or twice on her left. I didn't actually get to spray her whole hind end off because (again) I can't afford to get kicked right now, but I got the majority of the sweat off, swiped her off woth the scraper and threw her back out to her field, where she happily trotted off to the water tub and then up to the top of the hill, lol.

Soo..I'm extremely proud of her. She was a bit more lovey when we got back too. She usually puts a mare glare on and glares at me when I try to pet her face, haha.

Oh! And it started POURING while she was tied and she didn't even pay any bit of attention to it! It's quite loud in the indoor, and I can't be happier that she wasn't pacing or anything! She winnied once or twice, but nothing I have a problem with.

I'll put pictures and a video of her standing tied with the rain in the next post. 
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..Went up to the barn again today.
I ended up meeting Copperhead and we went for a good 2-2.5hr trail ride down to the river/giant creek with a purdy little field, lol.

So, Alahna had no intentions of making my hike to find her easy on me..had to walk all the way up to the hay to get her and then had to coax her through the mud in the tire tracks. She actually came almost straight through the little gate today, balked twice because of slipping in the mud but I just left her behind me and walked down a little more so she didn't think she was going to run me over. She wasn't too bad today either. She almost stood to be saddled without being tied. I ended up dropping the lead over the saddle pad rack and told her she was tied, lol. She still backed up when I got my saddle, but at least she wasn't turning away, haha. I noticed that the giant concho on the front of my breastcollar is gone..its probably floating down the river from wednesday when I went out..Must've come off as she was pawed and pawed at the water. I guess I'll have to message the lady I custom ordered it from and ask if she can make me another and send it out and for how much.

But anywho..I have a lame horse on gravel, ****. She's fine off it, but the gravel is definitely hard on her feet, so I've been trying to minimize the amount that we walk on, but the driveway is gravel..lol.

Our trail went great. She went down a hill and through the smaller creek just fine until we got to the top on the other side and Raina decided to throw a fit and almost shove us off back down the hill D: But, we got through the ordeal just fine, lol. She ended up pretty much sitting down on me down one of the hills. Since we've had rain the past 3 days it was muddier than I thought and I meant to keep her on the drier side but she darted to the left and before I could get her back over her whole hindend went underneath her and we sat down for a second before she continued on, haha. Didn't happen again, so I'm hoping it was a learning experience for her that my way is, indeed, the best way, lol.

We got to watch Raina almost flip herself over..We got to the field by the river and Copperhead had her stand so she could hop off and stretch out a little and Raina decided to move forward and got a smack on the butt..Where she then proceeded to run backwards and rear while Copper just held on, lol. After that she calmed down about as much as she can and we continued on our way back to the barn. On our way back Alahna almost went down again, except this time it was uphill. I let her decide to trot or canter up since she just doesn't have the muscle to walk up those yet and she decided that she was close enough to the top to walk again, and headed toward a big step up instead of the small slope, thought better of it and got confused with her feet and almost tipped over back down the hill sideways (let her have her head for the hill). Luckily all was good, she regained footing and made it to the flat. 

And then, we got back to the barn, lol. We got back and stood in the middle of the arena to let them catch their breath and watched the one girl ride her grey around and the husband I went with on wednesday for a trail threw a fit out of nowhere. I guess his wife's horse nipped at the girl and she shoved his face back into his stall and closed the door (had a door guard up). Apparently he threw a fit because that's his horse and heaven forbid she touches his horse when he's standing right there. I'd have done the same thing and I don't blame her. He didn't realize that the gelding nipping at people riding by was a danger issue..He felt like an a$$ after he talked to Copper and I about it because apparently he just didn't know that his wife's horse bit at others near his stall.

So, I then untacked Alahna and gave her a good brushing. She has a small saddle sore on her "lower" back towards her butt I believe from the second pad I use, so I'm gonna put some neosporin on that tomorrow and try a thicker pad instead of two. I think she'll fill out just fine to fit my saddle and pad combo, but she obviously needs to gain a bit more in both muscle and fat. She is gaining though! Her ribs are much less visible and her hips are finally covering up some. And she's shedding those nasty starvation hairs! 

I gave her a good brushing with the rubber curry and then the medium brush. I also trimmed up her beard a bit, because that's just not very lady-like, lol.

And we're making progress with her hind end and kicking! She's real touchy about her stomach area, but she only kicked twice today while I was currying it (gently) and got corrected. I'm to the point that I can actually brush her hind end now down to her hocks! I should just take a day to get down all the way and picking her back feet up. But, I just can't afford to get kicked and be off work again right now after my accident and all. I'm gonna just keep going little by little until I'm all healed up and then maybe I can afford to get kicked if that's what's going to happen, lol. I just don't think a little mud on her legs is going to be life threatening right now, so I don't feel it necessary I put myself in more danger than I should while I'm still hurting from my accident.

So anyhow..I know y'all want pictures now  I actually took my phone with on today's trail, lol.

























































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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

WE'VE MADE IT TO THE HIND END!!!










That's all for now..Ill post the rest later tonight or tomorrow.  I don't have time for the rest, but I couldn't wait to post that, lol.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Okay then!

Soo, today (technically yesterday) went great! I do think I came across a small problem with Alahna's body though. :/

We got all groomed up and saddled just fine with no issues. I used one of the community pads with extra padding built in and I think it made the saddle much closer to a perfect fit than a second pad until she hits her ideal weight.

She actually stood and didn't walk away at all while I stood on the mounting block, so none of the bothersome jumping back down off it and spazzing at her. She's still walking off after I swing my leg over, but we're working on it..just not all in one day because I'm not sure my body can handle up and down too much all at one time.

So, she was a bit on the lazy side today, didn't really want to trot unless all the others in the arena were trotting or cantering. I ended up borrowing Copperhead's dressage whip and "beat" her a little bit, haha. She trotted fine after that both directions, swished her tail at the whip when I hit her, but no bucking, lol.

I then went to work solely on leg aids and neck reining (rein and then leg). She turns just fine (slow, but she only learned it four days ago, lol) to the left, but it looks like she just doesn't register that the rein is on her neck to the right..I have a feeling that she may have damaged some nerves or such at some point because she was maneless down to the skin when I got her where the rein hits her neck. So, I'll have to decide on what I'll be doing for that..All I know about it is that if I rub that certain spot on her neck, she'll shake her head.

So anyhow..after we did lots of trot circles both directions, we stood and watched Copperhead free lunge Raina. She kept wanting to back up from the fence or go through it at first, especially when Raina came around past the gate, but we quickely got over that and stood for me to take some pictures. After watching them for a bit I changed it up and did trot serpentines (not true figure 8, but whatever, lol, the muck truck was in my way). She did great with just about no direct reining. Only legs and neck reining were used (aside from once or twice going to the right I bumped it a bit) and she did great! I was so proud of her. 

I ended up hopping off and untacking her and we went out for a cigarette and to hand graze the horses for a bit. While I was excited about finally actually being confident in brushing her hind end down to her hocks, Copperhead decided to burst my bubble and tell me I was being too cautious and I should really start picking her back feet out. Which, I completely agreed with. I just can't afford to get kicked and end up off work again. So, I ended up going back in and picking all four feet. She didn't offer to kick not once and even picked her back feet up for me when I tapped above her hock with my hand! Major breakthrough with us and I'm glad I felt stupid enough for being overly cautious to just do the **** thing, haha.

So, we set them back out to be free in the pasture and finished up. I then came home to a tryck flashing check gauges and no oil left. Lovely end to the day, eh? Lol I'm taking my morning shift off at work to get an oil change and a new air filter, thank goodness.

And tomorrow shall be a trail ride, lol. Topline here we come xD

Soo..pictures will be in another post to ensure I don't completely lose this one ;;
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

We're also obviously the epitomy of bad horsemanship..lol. I do know she spooks in place though if she does spook (only twice in the 5 weeks I've had her), so neither of us were too worried about her running us over. Bad us, but oh well. Made a nice picture, lol.

























































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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..yesterday was exciting, lol.
Copperhead and I went out to the barn and Alahna got to lead a trail for once, haha. Both Alahna and Raina did great, neither pitched fits aside from Alahna not wanting to move out from the barn (but we fixed that with the whip, lol). 

So, we cantered up the first hill and quickely dropped to a snorting trot when we reached the top where there were two trucks parked that weren't previously there. We got over that and I realized something..Alahna is dead to neck reining to the right. I thought she was being stupid the other day and wrote it off since she did just start learning it, but I've come to the conclusion that she has little to no feeling where she had her mane rubbed down to skin when I got her (supposedly from a RB feeder). If I throw the rein up above that spot and give a cue she'll bend her head and slightly move over..So, I'm going to have to see what I can come up with for that issue, maybe a heavier rein.

So, we went up and down hills no problem and led like a champ. She wanted to trot everytime Raina got closer to her butt, so we worked on staying at a walk and got a little better.

And then we came to the last hill up that leads to the old barns..This is where it became exciting, lol. Well, I figured we were good to canter and didn't realize that we had a quad jump with a ditch full of water after it. Both our horses jumped and I lost my phone slightly after when I pulled her up another 15yrds or so after our jump (I'm ready for cross country now, right? ****).

I've also decided that I HAVE to lose weight..I can't mount like I use to anymore, especially since I've had the luxury of a mounting block lately. I thought I was gonna pull my poor mare over! Not to mention she's a lot taller than the rest of the horses I've ridden. It sucks..but not only am I embarrassed when someone is around to watch me mount, I feel horrible for my horse! So..I'm gonna have to figure out a good way to lose weight, because I'd like to get off and stretch on those long trails, but I don't want to have to clamber on.

So, we got back to the barn and ended up going through the pastures because that's the gate we found (got lost again lol). Alahna did great walking through the loose horses even though the lead was nipping and chasing everyone away, haha.

So thus..I untacked her and tossed her back out, in which the dog promptly nipped at her heels and she took off with a little buck right in front of my face. ;; I know she knows better, but I can't blame her, I wish the dog would just get kicked and learn his **** lesson though. >.o

Anywho, pictures. 

















































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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo...I'm satisfied with yesterday's visit. I didn't ride much, but we got TONS of shedding hair out, lol.

She seemed to forget everything she knows somehow. I'm going to assume it's because she's in heat and it's just something we'll have to work on. Didn't remember how to back up (I only have to wiggle my finger usually and say back), forgot that I was on her a few times and tried to dive at the gate back to the pasture, and she didn't want to stand still at all. Wouldn't give her feet either, which I was ****ed about because she usually has it held up for me by the time I start at that leg before I actually ask.

Soo..she walked up to me in the field and ended up being attacked by Shaggy (herd leader) while I was haltering her. All she did was throw her head up and sidestep one step before I got after him for it. I gave her a treat and Raina a treat (since she asked nicely lol) and continued on my way to the barn. She didn't balk at the gate and we stood ground tied while I brushed her since everyone else already had their horses tied. She did pretty good. She tried nibbling my leg and got a swift elbow to the face (not sure exactly where I got her). I have a feeling she decided we were mutually grooming and accidently added teeth (because she'll rub her top lip back and forth sometimes, but never any teeth). After that she hung her head low and looked half dead o.o

She saddled up just fine and we ventured into the saddle and on our way to the outdoor she stopped. No reason at all that I could think of. I managed to get her going again and she slowed down almost to a stop. I added some leg, she didn't speed up and kept slowing down, so we added a teensy bit of spur (just a whisper on her fur) and she stopped dead and refused to move. I finally got her moving forward again and stopped her two steps in before she tried to slow down and hopped off to get the crop. I was hoping I could just use spurs as my back up plan when leg didn't work, but I guess I'll have to juggle a crop/whip now. I got back on and was constantly smacking her with the crop because she'd stop dead and seem to shut down until I brought her back to reality with the crop everytime my spurs jingled. So, I took my spurs off and tossed them on the barrel and we worked a lot better. I know it wasn't me bumping her with them, so I'll just chalk it up to the assumption that something happened to her with spurs (either the jerk that owned her or the amish he sent her to). She shouldn't really need spurs anyway, just a simpler solution than a whip, lol. Maybe we'll try again when she has even more weight put on.

But, we did some trot circles after walking around and working on leg/neck reining and some trot turns around the barrel and I unsaddled. I ended on a good note and that's all I could ask for yesterday. She was much less responsive than usual and I didn't want to deal with it. So, I brushed her again, cleaned up, and went for a cigarette and some pictures in the sun. After pictures, I took her back in and brushed her again, getting the same amount I got the first two times I brushed her!

All in all, I believe it was a successful, yet uneventful, day. I was content with it though, spent some more time with my horse and I even squated down to clean her back fetlocks and stuff (just the major, wasn't trying to be down there too long) this time!

Anywho, pictures! 

















































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## Klassic Superstar (Nov 30, 2009)

Lved going through this, just too see the photos and you can see how far you both have come together!!


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Thanks! I can't believe how far she's come in less than 2 months!

She's getting the clippers taken to her today when I go out..Not sure if I'm going to ride or not, we may just do some groundwork and lots of grooming, haha.

I've also decided I won't be selling her. I'll be leasing her out to my little cousin when they're both ready after she takes a few more lessons to get a good seat since I'm not allowed to give lessons at my barn.

I just can't part with this mare. She's too perfect and willing to please. I should sell since that's what I bought her for, but I'm not sure I could live with myself if she left me and someone did more harm to her, lol.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

So..we're still in heat. ;;

Anywho, yesterday we used the crop much more than I wanted to. Didn't want to go, forgot how to back up, forgot how to lead, and forgot how to move her *** over.

I brushed her down, beat her *** because she kicked at the dog while I was brushing her butt, and saddled on up. She's much better with saddling, didn't pin her ears and make them invisible when I brought the saddle out, lol. We worked on mounting without moving off and got down to just one step forward which seemed to helo her balance, so I left it. I won't complain about one step.

We walked around a bit and worked on taking the contact and then we attempted to trot..And that's where it went to h*ll. I gave her leg, I gave her more leg, I gave her even more leg, and then I tanned her *** with my crop until she picked up the trot. She was much more willing after that,*still needed a bit of persuasion, but by our last set of circles she picked it up within 3-5 steps of me asking for it.

Ill be back to finish..have to go in for a class for my new job ;;
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Okay..time to finish. Tried editting but I typed for too long, lol.

So..after we finished with our trotting we worked on ground work. LOTS of ground work. She hasn't been backing up and moving her butt like she did, so we took the crop and worked on it. I smacked the leg that should move when she didn't when I asked to back and we got back to going back with just me asking her to. Same with her hind end, I progressively smacked harder until she moved. She was moving as soon as the crop touched her by the end.

I unsaddled and repeated before I let her back out. I didn't realize it was already 9 by the time I tossed her out, haha.

Soo..pictures from yesterday:
























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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Today went..not as well as I thought it would, we ended great though, lol.

I woke up, got a shower, and took off for the barn, lol. I arrived to a horse that ran kicking in my direction from hay bale to hay bale for a good half hour almost as soon as she saw me. So, since she wanted to run, I took my lead and ran her off everytime I got close enough. She finally just stood at the bale and gave up..even stuck her nose in the halter.

So, brought her down and was asked my a little girl if I wanted to go for a trail ride, lol. I brushed Alahna's body off and saddled uo real quick.

Oh, and she's out of heat, finally! I know it was only about a week, but it felt like months, lol.

We went out on the trail and was fine..until we had to turn around down a wrong trail. The little girl's pony decided he/she was going to canter and Alahna thought she was going to as well. She would NOT stop trying to trot almost the whole rest of the way..So, we'll definitely be working on that quite a bit in the near future.

Anywho, we got back and I let Alahna just chill on the wall for a little while I uploaded some pictures and smoked a cigarette..And then a little while later I went up to sit under the tree while I hand grazed her. She*did great..until she stepped on her lead and almost flew backwards. She went to lift her head, her head didn't come up, and she threw her whole front end backwards and stood there like, "Yeah..I meant to almost fall on my ***, it's cool..", lol.

We then went back in and we lunged..She cannot balance on a lunge circle at the canter. I could tell she wasn't trying to take off and ignore me, she just couldn't canter on the circle and dragged me around the arena. I just held on and dug my heels in, lol.
I got a video of her trotting though. She finally slowed down to a nice trot, was tracking up, and had her head down a good 4" from where she usually has it. Not sure if I'll be able to post the video from my phone, but I have stills (not blurry!) from it.

Soo..after we finished lunging I ended up unsaddling and sending her back out to the pasture.

Pictures in next post because there's more than I want to post in one and then end up losing this whole post somehow, haha.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Today was GREAT! Aside from catching her...

So, I went to the dealership 5 minutes from my barn and got my issue found and took a trip out to the barn. I had to squeeze between a **** electric company truck posted at the end of the driveway (can they even do that!?) and found my horse and the rest of them all right down by the fence, lol. Copperhead's Raina walked right up to me looking for pets and a treat (she was polite though, lol)..mine took off at the slightest inclination of me walking towards her. -.- I finally got to her and rubbed her neck a little before I went to grab my lead rope and she took off and recieved a nice wallop from my lead/halter. I walked her down for another 15 minutes and finally had her stand and she actually put the halter on herself when I opened it up..FINALLY! lol

I took her down and sat on my tailgate while I hand grazed her a bit to associate her being caught with better grass, lol. I then tied her up to the hitching post and got to brushing her! Lol. She's STILL shedding like she just started..I don't know where all the fur is coming from! After we finished with that I let her chill for a bit and brought her into the barn. I decided I would lunge her a bit and work at the nice jog I got out of her last time.

She did great, I point and she goes, nothing like how she did when I first got her. She doesn't understand stopping though..so we'll have to keep working on instilling a very good Whoa, verbally. I could probably sit down in the middle of our circle and she would continue on the circle. So I've just been giving her a chance when I say whoa and cue..and then circling her in closer until she finally walks and I just step into her path and she stops.

I wasn't planning on riding her because her girth area is about bald from her shedding weird (vit-a should be here thursday/friday to start), but I figured since it wasn't scabbed or sore at all I'd saddle up and go for the trail I was invited on. 

The trail was great! Alahna didn't do not one thing wrong the whole trail. She didn't freak when Silver flew up behind her and hit her butt on his way by (that's a good horse). Anywho..reason for that, Silver bolter and K couldn't stop him. And when he did it again, I left her in the middle of the trail to block him and sure as I thought he would, he stopped.

And then, right as we were about to come out of the woods to the driveway, Silver lost his bit..****. I shouldn't laugh, but it was just so funny. Ariat's rider mentioned that his bit looked funny, like it was falling out of his mouth..sure enough, he ended up spitting the bit out, lol. We got it rigged up to finish the way back to the barn and everyone but me unsaddled and cleaned their stalls. I took Alahna out to the arena and worked on just walking around listening to just leg cues and neck reining to reinforce it. We also ended up working on ORSs..She decided she was going to trot and not go back down to a walk without me hauling on her face (for some odd reason, as she's very responsive to the bit)..So I just shut her down completely and quickly moved right back to what we were doing.

We ended that on a good note and we stood in the indoor for awhile before I hopped off snd unsaddled her. She did just fine and I threw her back out in the field after I hosed her legs down.

She's now backing with mainly just verbal cue, but occasionally with a "bump" method. Everytime I give her a little bump, feet start moving. Every step corresponds to a bump.

So anywho..pictures in next post, yet again...I need to stop taking so many? Lol.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

My baby girl was STUNNING today! She's deserved a day off tomorrow.
I showed up at the barn to my trail buddies leaving and was bummed, but then they told me they were going to eat since they were starving and they planned on coming back for another trail! 

So..I hiked up the pasture to find my mare walking away from me..again. I walked her for a good 15-20 minutes until she finally stood for a few scratches and a treat and slipped her halter on with another treat. With that we made our way back to the barn. She wasn't quite herself though...she's usually trying to bowl me over by getting so close (still working on it, that's apparently how she was trained to lead..), but she hung back and needed some persuasion at two points.

I got her down to the barn and had to give the girls that were there an excuse as to why I didn't want to free lunge my mare with them (who they all still call a he..lol.) and I got started on brushing. She's still shedding, especially on her butt, but the majority of winter fuzzies is out and I'm left with a summer coat that still has the starvation hairs here and there. She's still gaining weight and growing some summer coat into her vald patches..lol.

I finished brushing her and got her dose of vit-a in her before I saddled her up. She did great saddling and we ventured to the arena since the girls were done free lunging. I finally got my jog! It was a lot smoother than her normal trot and I could actually sit it (why my back is kind of sore now)!

And then we cantered..except it was definitely more of an in-hand gallop than a canter, lol. She stopped/slowed down when I asked though, so we'll just have to work on slowing it down a bit more. She actually dropped her head a bit and rounded up the slightest bit though, which surprised me. Last time I cantered her in an arena at team penning she had her head way up and was flying around even faster! She has the smoothest canter though, I've only ridden one other horse with a more comfortable canter.

And so we departed for our trail ride. 
K was on Silver, his OTTB gelding and C was on Jim (Jim Beam lol) her arabian gelding. K ran up the hill before us while C and I walked up it without either of our horses trying to catch up. We then proceeded to go up a hill that was a good..85 degree incline, lol. I waited to see how Silver got up it only to see K roll right off the back of his horse just as Jim was starting up the hill. I don't know what happened, but Jim went from a canter to backing up away from the rolling log that was K coming back down the hill, lol. We all laughed it off and continued on our trail (Alahna went up it just fine with bunny hops, lol). We ended up taking the new logging road down to the cemetary (not sure what kinda cemetary it is..I'm gonna have a looksy on my next trail; it's very small, maybe 15 graves?

Soo, K cantered down a stretch while C and I walked and we took a break before the next hill (there was a tree we had to go around as well). We decided that we were all cantering up it. The line up was Silver, Jim, and Alahna bringing up the rear. Silver kicked it into full gear gallop while C and I stayed at a nice controlled gallop..and then we see Silver duck to the right and K soar in the air before he landed on his forehead on the ground. Silver stayed put and just dropped his head to graze while we slowed ours down and hopped off. We gathered Silver first and I held the horses while C checked out K to see if he was still alive. I didn't see him move not one bit and he didn't answer when we asked if he was okay. He finally ended up on his feet complaining about how the horse did this and that (not the horses fault, all his) and was wondering where the blood on his hand came from..He had a little scrape from his "well planned landing" on his forehead and a scratch or two on his arm. Then he blamed it on his stirrup length..I'm just glad I wasn't running to the nearest house to call for an ambulance. O.O;

Soo..we ventured back to the barn at a walk and finished up. Alahna was really ouchy on the driveway gravel..so we may have to find an alternate route for her since I don't plan on having her shod if gravel is the only problem(which it is).

All in all she did absolutely great and I'm giving her a well-deserved day off from work tomorrow, lol.
Farrier is coming out tuesday for her trim (I know they need done, I was hoping to be able to do them myself, but I'm not going to hurt my back trying. Not to mention, I take longer to trim than my farrier, amd she gets kicky when her feet are held up for an uneccessary amount of time. It will be done, but we're just not to the point of holding them up for ages since I just recently got them up at all without getting kicked at.

Pictures in next post since they're uploading 
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..today I had an absolutely amazing horse, and then a monster.. O.O;

So, I went out to the barn intending on just doing canter work in the arena and maybe a light trail afterwards. Well, as soon as I showed up I was asked if I could lead a trail for one of BO's "lessons" because the girl wanted to go on a trail but didn't want to go alone. I figured, why not? I'll take a trail, give Alahna an hour or two break between and then do our arena work..Well, the trail was awesome. We saw a very ****ed off snake (good god I almost pooped myself! It was one of the Copperhead/Black Snake crosses..). I was soo glad it slithered right back under it's rock as we stood maybe a foot away from it. Aside from the snake, our trail was uneventful. Cantered a few hills, played in the creek, and did a lot of walking. I lead and the girl that was on Sweets followed since I know the trails better than her (even though I barely know them lol). It took longer than the hour she had to ride, but I'm pretty sure BO didn't mind. So, we got back to the barn and I untacked Alahna and let her chill for a moment while I relaxed.

After we both relaxed for a little less than an hour I took her to the wash rack to hose her off and get her ready for our next session. The water was a little too cold for her at first and she kept trying to kick, but we fixed that (because even if it hurts a little or is uncomfortable, kicking at handler or what I'm holding is unacceptable). I changed the water around to make it semi-warm (past "room temp", but not boiling) and she didn't offer to kick anymore.

After that we chilled outside by my truck for a little while she dried off and we went back in to tack up. She didn't even pin her ears this time for the saddle or the pad! I figured all would be well, she was perfect. And then she kicked at the BO..BO thought I was crazy when I backed her up across the arena hollering like a mad woman, but she didn't realize the kick was aimed at her. She has a bug kick, and she has a cowkick..what she did was most definitely a cowkick at BO. Completely uneccessary and punishable to the fullest extent. I'll be damned if any horse I own/lease/ride/handle is going to kick at someone, especially for no reason.

So..we head out to the indoor. She REFUSED to stand for me to mount, everytime I moved from her head to mount she tried to walk off. So, we backed and backed some more until she finally stood. I got on just fine long enough to get my foot in the stirrup before she "took off" into a BEAUTIFUL, rounded canter and was working off her back end. So, I went with it, because all I ever get in place of a canter is an in-hand gallop that's all over the place. She just felt so balanced it caught me off guard and I went with it..for three strides. And then as she stopped for no reason I'm assuming she gave a little buck as well because my whole seat went forward into the horn (bruised and swollen crotch, yay. You boys don't understand the extent of how much it hurts us as well, lol). Not only did I kill my crotch..the tip forward from the unexpected stop was shoved all the way forward from what I believe was a buck. So, here I am heading towards her neck (that was way down), at that exact moment she threw her head up (with what I feel was intent) and got me in the face. If I hadn't have had my head turned inside the slightest bit, I have no doubt she'd have knocked me out cold if her neck would've hit my face straight on.

Once I gathered myself I pushes her into a hard working trot for a few strides and then we worked on ORSs when she tried to trot off after I asked her to walk multiple times. The kids in the arena thought I was crazy, I could see it on their faces. After about 10 minutes of that I finally got her to relax a little bit..So, I was debating on calling it a day. And then she refused to stand when I tried to open the gate. While I've never asked her to move with a gate as I open/close it, she moves up to the wall and such with no problem and stands while I grab my phone or something. I had no idea she was going to spazz like she did! I mean, it wasn't a full out spazz, but she seemed to think backing amd backing and more backing would get her out of it. The boarders in the barn asked me multiple times if I wanted them to just open the gate for me, but I told them no. This is something simple that shouldn't phase my horse, it's not difficult for her to stand beside it while I pick it up and push it open. So, we finally got the gate open and closed after 15 minutes or so and we calmly walked to the wall and moved parallel to it (just like I was asking at the gate...) with no issue to grab my cigarettes and chat with Copperhead outside.

At that point I really started to feel that hit from the horn, so I hopped off and let her graze for a couple minutes before I untacked her and threw her back out.

We do have a problem though..we have a small saddle sore on one of her right ribs (I'm assuming from the saddle). I don't think any parts of my saddle or pad sit there, so I'll just have to check next time I'm out (aside from tomorrow..tomorrow is JUST farrier and put my truck in the shop day, lol) what could possibly be rubbing there. If nothing, I'm going to cover it with*some stuff and continue riding. If it is the saddle, then we'll just be doing lungeline and in-hand stuff for the rest of the week.

She was also much easier to catch today. She stood and contemplated coming to me at first and got chased away from the hay in the middle of her thought. She turned away once before she stood for scratches and a few treats and stuck her nose in the halter.

Soo..pictures in next post, like always 
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Today was a good day.

I went out to the barn early so I could do some intense groundwork if she was feeling bratty before the farrier came out. She didn't need it. She walked up to me in the pasture and walked on lead perfectly. Stood just fine for a quick brushing and we went out to my truck to wait for the farrier. She didn't want to eat the grass since it was freshly cut, so she stood with her head in my lap while we relaxed.

And then she was great for the farrier! Until he tried to get her foot up without letting her pick it up and she kicked out a bit (I don't blame her). Aside from that she stood fine, even with the dogs running around her feet.

All in all I was very pleased with her today.  Pictures will be in next post 
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..Today was kinda disappointing. :/ I was sooo ready to work on canter, canter, canter..and some more canter! But the butt decided to be ever so slightly off and I deemed her lame.):

She was perfectly sound walk/canter. Her trot was just a little off though. She didn't look lame when I lunged her in a small circle, but she just felt off while I was on her..I figured it may just be because her feet are a little sore since they were just trimmed (and I have yet to have time to fix them, along with the fact that they're too short :| ), but I hopped off and untacked her.

So..I took the clippers to her! XD I didn't have anything else to do with her since she's about perfect on the ground (for now...until she comes into heat again, lol), so I decided I was going to attempt to clip again. She's pretty much done shedding aside from those nasty, horrid looking starvation hairs, so it was time for those to go too. So her belly/shoulder/leg/chest fuzz that isn't suppose to be there now blends in with her coat a little better, lol. She twitched a few times on her belly and shoulders..so there's a few spots with slightly less summer coat, but it's okay because they're not noticable like the last patch I ruined on her neck, lol.

I left her standing where I clipped while I went to put my tack away and she STOOD! She didn't even move a foot. She stood stock still watching the horses get turned out, but never moved. So, for now: Ground Tying=Check.

After that I hosed her off since it's warm out and we need to work on the kick warning she gives everytime I get water on her, lol. By the end of our hosing session she dropped it right back to the ground everytime I said down and growled..so I viewed it as progress and sat on my tailgate while she dried off a little.

So, while I was hoping to be out there until 3 or so..I put her away around 1.30 and went to go get some lunch for myself.

I'll post pictures in the next post 
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

I love these pictures! She looks great all shined up and clipped, and I love the roached mane. Poor gal sure isn't wanting to gain weight though, is she? I can relate...TB weight gain is an art! LOL


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Thanks! 
I'm gonna start her on some beet pulp shreds when I get a paycheck to hopefully add a little faster. Her ribs look soo much better in person, I swear the pictures make her drop like 50#, lol.

I can tell she's filling in on her neck and flank..just saving the ribs for last  lol
Hopefully the ribs will be less visible after a week or so on some beet pulp.

The funny thing is, as soon as I get her from the pasture, I can't see any ribs..and then when I brush her, ribs magically appear, lol.
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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

I'm about to start Kenzie on beet pulp too xD she's just a tad bit thinner than Alahna though. Hopefully it does both of them some good!

Its so strange because one day it will look like she's filling in a little, then the next she looks like death again. It bugs me so much!


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..yesterday wash't bad. We had a slight respect issue..which I believe is because of the farrier. :/

She did NOT want to pick up her feet for me! I tapped her with the hoof pick, I pushed her shoulder over, etc..She did not want it picked up. So, when I finally got it upnafter completely pushing her off balance, we did it over and over again until she picked it up when my hand ran down her leg. We moved to the other side (that isn't bruised and too short) and she picked it up with minimal persuasion. We did that a few times and were done. A little while later..another boarder showed up and while we were chatting she mentioned that she'd like to see since she doesn't know too short from ideal. Again, she didn't want to pick her foot up (the left again), but finally did so with a little less persuasion and I explained about the white line, flares, etc and where he took too much toe off and left the sole above the wall.

So..we hand grazed for a bit after all the brushing and feet was done. BO had the trailer out at a pony party and Alahna was just SO intrigued that there wasn't a trailer where it usually is, lol. She blew and snorted as we tip-toed to the spot and then she took a dive for the dead grass xD I couldn't help but laugh at her, haha.

So, I took her inside and decided we were going to lunge for a little bit and get listening a little quicker. It took her a littlw to understand that I could ask for a walk and she could slow down to it without stopping. And, she's finally stopping instead of just doing circles upon circles around me until she finally realizes I asked for a whoa when I stopped spinning with her, haha. I did lots of transitions between a jog and a working trot and switched directions a few times. She was sound all through it, so I'm going to see how she rides later today when I go out. Maybe a nice, easier trail.

So, I turned her back out and she politely walked about 10ft away from me before she took off toward the rest of the horses galloping towards her, haha.

So, pictures will be in the next post.

Endiku, I know what you mean about the odd death and filling in days xD Mine tends to change every hour somehow though, haha. I'm gonna hold off on the beet pulp until I get a substantial paycheck from my new job (since a$$hole cut my hours from almost 30 to 18 and I can't do anything about it because I didn't write it down...)
But, by the time I get that paycheck..she might not need it anymore, lol. She looked sooo much better yesterday! I could barely see her ribs unless she bent funny, lol.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

From yesterday:

















































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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soon as she's looking better she gets stuck in the fence.. :/
It's not terrible and could've been much worse, but obviously I have a horse that doesn't respect the fenceline..
Update later, gotta talk to BO and go get some meds for her..geez :/
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Okayyy, so..Moving Alahna to stall board with turnout.

I bought some Omelene 200 for her feed and a mineral block for her stall. I got some Furazone to put on the cuts (another boarder had some I was offered to use for today) and she's going to the back barn.
I'll be doing my own stall every other day (I guess the stall horses are turned out 24hrs and then stalled 24hrs?) And supplying my own feed to lower my board some (I had no intentions of adding another $130 to board. O.O)..so instead of $250 I'll be paying $200.

The cuts are obviously rather painful since she's usually calm and stands for me to crawl around and look at her legs, but she was having none of it. We had to have a small come to jesus moment after she decided to kick at me while I was trying to get a picture.. :|

So, no more pasture board for her since either..the fence is falling down or she has zero respect for it.

She had some cuts awhile ago (that I also thought were barbwire) that I brushed off since they weren't too bad, but after two instances..she won't be back in that pasture so incident three can happen and risk her getting tangled up even worse and having to be put down.

I had intended on walking the fenceline to see where it was down but threw Alahna in the paddock and ran to TSC before they closed (thought they closed at 5) to get feed and some furazone.

Soo..mum's helping me with money so I can get her all fixed up. I know the cuts are just superficial, but I am worried about them getting infected since they're all over her legs.

I think the one on the front of her hock and the inside of her front leg are the worst two of the bunch, but I am curious as to where she did it at..so I will be walking the pasture tomorrow when I go up to see if I can find where it all went down at. :/
Pictures will be in next post, like always..lol. Majority of pictures are just the cuts..I only got one or two of her full body.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

ETA:

Also, she won't let me near the hock cut..She was still kicking after our CTJ session, so I'll be using a crop to apply the Furazone like I did today. Hopefully I can get closer tomorrow.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..yesterday went relatively well. She wasn't lame Sunday, but I figured a day off from the cuts and the time it took me to do what I wanted was okay, lol.

Yesterday I planned on riding though  I was going to do some arena work, but Copperhead and her sister showed up so I figured I'd ask if they were planning on going for a trail and if I could tag along (she needs to be 100% with others before I take her alone so I don't fry her brain lol). And, we ended up on a trail ride, lol.

I also think Alahna is in heat again..because she doesn't want to pick up her feet, she's ****in' everywhere, and leg cues make her go even slower  Which is what happened during her last cycle.

So anywho, trail was awesome..we went down to the river, explored an unknown trail and went back down to the river, and then ventured home to the barn, haha.

I started her on some Omelene 200 since I'll have the chance to grain her now that she's going in a stall that includes feed. She's gonna get 1/3 coffee can AM/PM for a week and we'll see how much to up it by, the bag says she should be at 7.25#/day.

But oooh!! The end of our trail was exciting. We started to trot a small incline and all of a sudden, I see Copperhead and Raina jump to the side and lunge past little Sabee and they both take off. I figured, what the hell, lets go. I put her up into a canter and pushed her into an IN-HAND (emphasis on the in-hand), and then all of a sudden I felt her lose the in-hand and went into racehorse mode..And before I could gain control again..everyone else stopped. D: So, Copperhead tries to put her hand out to slow her down as we blow past, and while it didn't stop her, it took her attention off blasting through the woods and I was able to get her stopped before we ran over poor Sabee, haha. And here I thought we were over the racehorse runs xD

Also..seeing as she'll neck rein on the trail, we're going to be switching out of the snaffle and into a curb for trails. Snaffle will still be used for arena work for awhile, but I think it's acceptable to stick her in a curb for trails so if she does take off again and it happens to be a bad spot, I'll have an easier time stopping her.

Anywho though, she did great aside from the take-off, lol.
For some reason I only took like 5 pictures the whole 5 hours I was there..not sure HOW that happened, but I'll definitely get more today 
Three pictures in next post, lol. She's in the paddock all alone until BO gets her stall done.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Poor, lonely mare, lol.

























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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..I think I found Alahna's perfect bit.
There's a swivel shank with 3 copper rings (double mouthpiece) that came in the tack lot I got, and I figured I'd try it out on her since she's mostly neck reining. She need a bump going right because I think she has nerve damage where my rein lays from where she was rubbed down from the hay feeder before I got her, but otherwise she neck reins!

So, I got her out of her paddock and she ended up out with the senior horses who have pasture with two stalls as a run in. BO gave the stall away and I was actually hoping I'd be able to get her down there, but didn't think BO would board down there with hers.

So, I tried some new bridles on her, and I just LOVE the light oil, one ear..So I put that new bit on it and left it a little lower in her mouth than I normally do (bridle is a smidge too big and needs another hole) and she held it up on her own and seemed to love it! And while it doesn't match my black saddle, it looks great on her!

So, we did a bit of trotting and walking on a loose rein with mainly leg cues and neck reining. She backed like a PRO! While it wasn't completely straight, she backed and backed and backed until I asked her to stop!  I'm just so excited about that the most, I can't get over it. She usually doesn't want to and throws her head up when I get in her mouth with the snaffle, but I only needed the couple bumps that I usually do and her head stayed down and she tucked it a bit, without me having to pull!

So..she hadn't left the stall by the time I had to leave the barn, but I'm sure she'll get out in the field with the other horses..I just hope I don't find a horse that's still in the stall when I go out tomorrow, haha.

So overall, she was perfect for me today aside from her feet..I think she's in heat again, but she has NEVER dropped to her knees while I had a foot..ever. I let her drop because I don't let go until I want to, but I couldn't find any reason for her to do such a thing. Her feet didn't seem too ouchy, she's sound, no heat in her legs, etc..So I'm not sure what was up with that..I'll probably just see what happens next time and go from there..I'm hoping it's just a one-time, off thing though.. :/
Anywho, pictures in her pretty new (old! Lol) bridle and meeting the new pasture buddies in the next post. 
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Baby girl did great for me today. 

I started on her feet to fix the hack job Mr. Farrier did... :/

I balanced out her right the best I could (she toes out a bit and he didn't leave me much to work with..he took off the whole white line on the toe o.o ).

Now the left is the one she's lame on...I could tell it was the foot and I just knew it was going to be a bad bruise..What I didn't realize is that it would be the WHOLE SOLE! I almost died when I got in there since he left too much foot all around on this side. Soon as I got off the exfoliating sole and got to the live stuff I dropped her foot..The picture doesn't show anything like what I saw, not to mention it was taken after I already dug a bunch out. Picture was taken after I was done aside from balancing the foot and smoothing out the sole some more. I took off a good 3mm of extra wall/sole and added the concavity to her sole that I know she naturally has as she's not flat footed at all.

I'm going to make sure to keep her off the gravel until I get another trim on her in 2 weeks to get that bruise out (I get her trimmed every 5, when she's due) and see how we go. She's always been ouchy on gravel, but never to this extent of falling forward and down, hard. So, if I can keep her sound with shoes I'll be getting her some hoof boots for our trails where she HAS to walk the gravel driveway to get to.

I just can't understand how he did a great job all around to a hack job on the fronts and a semi-decent job on the backs! I'll cry if I need to put shoes on her to keep her sound when I know she'd still be sound if I'D have trimmed her like I was suppose to instead of being too careful with my back and calling a farrier. ;;

BUT, I stuck the breakaway halter on her and tossed a flymask on before I put her back in the pasture. She gained the weight she lost back soo quick I'm surprised. So, she's still on 1/3 Folger's coffee can of Omelene 200 (show horse feed) AM/PM.

After I put her away I noticed another boarder lunging their noticably lame OTTB mare..I asked and she said they didn't know why she was lame so I offered to say it looked like her shoulder, but that I didn't like her shoe job (has a good half inch of extra foot and clips that stick out and catch her leg on the shoes). She agreed she was due for another farrier visit and we went out to smoke and hand graze her 17hh beast mare, haha. She then brought up the bridling question she had. Said she can't get her bridle on because the mare hust throws her head in every possible direction and won't take the bit.

I showed her how to work with her on bridling and bridled the mare about 5 times until she'd drop her head for me and then her owner tried about 10 times and managed to sneak it on. We discussed that the bit seemed to be a little too thick for her mouth and her headtossing undersaddle is most likely the nutcracker effect because I noticed she has a lower pallete. I suggest a french link, a roller, or the "moon and key" type D-ring snaffle. I don't think the full cheek was correct for rider/horse pair..especially with bridling, just too much metal to maneuver around with a horse that still whips it's head around when bridling.

Overall, I had a pleasant 5 and a half hours at the barn (when I planned to do her feet and leave lol) and I just love teaching people who appreciate help and want to learn. I was ecstatic when she asked me to show her how to bridle, it's one of my favourite things to work on xD

Soo..pictures will be around in the next post 
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Here's the hoof..which is the one I'd like to actually explain on for once xD
The bruise line across the toe is the worst part where she actually jerks a bit if I would tap with the hoof pick. This shows it after I had dug down as deep as I felt safe to avoid bleeding her. You can also see all the light pink covering almost her whole sole that is also bruising (not her foot like someone asked me about). 









And the rest..lol









































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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

She's looking much better! 

Today was a vacation day for me (told me I was off lol) so I spent a few hours at the barn  A trail would've been amazing, but with her foot, wasn't going to happen. :/

So, I went down to the field and she actually moved towards me again! Progress! Haha. She does NOT like the mud we have to walk through (she sinks, I don't) to get out so I got tons of mud and dirt balls flung at me while she tried to run through it, haha. But, we got through and made it up to the barn. Since I found my own brushes (community brushes at the barn disappeared) she got a nice good brushing to get some of the STILL shedding hair off her bum and made her all shiny  I need to go pick up a bottle of fly spray when I get paid though, because I feel like she's getting the brunt of them all since the other horses (that aren't sprayed) weren't being too bothered by them..

So anywho, I decided we were going to work on the dragging lead and not spazzing when she stepped on it..So, I dropped her lead in the arena and went out to have a cigarette. For awhile she didn't move (she assumed she was ground tied I guess, lol), and she hesitantly stepped one foot while I watched and continued when I didn't correct her for it. After about 2 minutes she had it under one of her back feet and had danced around a bit before it came loose. She stepped on it with her front feet a few times after that and didn't yank her head up (like she usually does, which is why I wanted her to figure it out), but picked one foot up and stomped it down in a different spot until the lead was free again, lol. After awhile after she went to eat something and I hollered she stood...and stood for a good 25-30 minutes without moving. It looked like she took my holler as a "stand still" and not to just not eat what she was about to, lol. She fell asleep for a bit and then I took some pictures and we went to doing something else. I'll have to figure out how to keep her moving safely with the lead dragging so she can figure it out solidly..but that's another day 

I picked her feet out, had a small fight with her left hind in which she kicked out with a few times and stopped after I stopped shushing and hollered, but overall was good. She picked each foot up as soon as I asked for it.

I then took her into the wash rack to find a dead robin floating in a bucket O.O And then the beast decided to try and drink from the bucket! D:
So, I moved that behind stuff and got to fixing the water (I decided I need to use the hot with the cold until I get her her chiro and massage) warm enough she wouldn't drop her back and we just hosed down (both of us soaked lol). She tried to play with the water as I did her front legs and seemed to love it when I sprayed the water down under her face between her jaws. The rest wasn't too bad either..she figured out how to actually drink from the hose (grabbed it and sucked it right up, haha) and she didn't actually kick at all! I've been taking it easy on the hosing and just taking the water away when she stopped kicking, so it's been working. We're now to the point where she picks her leg up and seems to be covering her teets with it..So I keep telling her "down" and taking the water away when she puts her leg down. She's getting better, but since it seems to hurt her back when I hose that with water that isn't warmish, I'm not going to beat her for it. With this I think release of the water will work better for her, because she's not really doing anything wrong just by holding her leg up (since she's stopped kicking). Next time she'll actually be getting a bath and not just getting hosed off.

I took her out to stand tied (looped, lol) to dry while I took her feed down to refill her bucket for this week (1 bag lasts 2 weeks  ) and then I took her over to hand graze for a bit. She did well, didn't try to drag me around this time, lol. She didn't seem to know what on earth the mini in the paddock next to the yard was though...or she hates it..or she misses the ones she use to be pastured with before I bought her.

But, I tossed her flymask back on (with no problems! Every other horse I've had to put one on hates it lol) and tossed her back down into her pasture.

Soo..I can't wait to start turning her new fat into total muscle! Soon as I can get her sound (I reallyyyy don't want shoes..so we're going to try boots on her fronts..cavallos or such first..) she's gonna be hitting the trails everytime I'm out. Rain, mud, hot, or not we're going to be out there going up and down all those hills, lol. And then we'll start a bit more arena work and putting her on circles, spins, maybe some slides, and patterns  I decided that I want her as a CTR horse mainly though..with just arena showing for fair in August (games, pleasure, hunter, etc).

So, pictures in next post 
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

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## tbcrazy (Sep 27, 2012)

Lookin way better!


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Thanks!


































Not to much of an update aside from pictures today..she basically got brushed and stood ground tied for two hours with a half hour hand grazing, lol.
The owner of the mini Alahna does NOT like (I know where the part of her ad about not liking ponies came from now xD ) was there with her granddaughter and wanted some help saddling and told me there was a goat in one of the stalls XD I was too interested and left Alahna ground tied in the arena while I went to see a goat in the stall with the beautiful dun mare I have to ask BO about, lol. The mini's owner was so amazed that Alahna hadn't moved since we were gone, haha.

Soo, just pictures for the day, pretty much.








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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well..today's pretty much just bad news, good news, and pictures, haha.
Alahna's been lame lately, as we all know, but she's sound walk/trot in the indoor arena sand, so I figured I'd hop on for a few minutes just to work on sidestepping, getting her to back faster, and to do a little more stopping with just seat. Well, we didn't get much of a sidestep..but I can't make her do it from the saddle until she fully gets to yielding as soon as I ask and not right before I take the whip on the ground..So we moved to backing and it fell apart, completely. I'm devastated. She backs amazing on the ground as soon as I ask and was fine last ride to back with me leaned forward on my pelvis and jigging the reins, and today she just flung her head around and didn't wanna back. I finally got it to a little less pulling on her mouth and pretty much called it a day. She is stopping with very little rein though. All I have to do is sit my butt down deep and lift my reins about half an inch, she stops; from the walk anyway, lol.

So..that was pretty much it for the day..uneventful, haha. There IS news though..I'm putting her up for sale (listing her $2k, willing to sell to a good home for around $1k). I don't think boots will work for her anymore, and I really don't want to pay to have a farrier I don't even like put shoes on her. I really like her, but I don't have money to keep a shod horse that needs grain and pricier board than just normal pasture. Soo, I'm hoping I'll get calls for her and that I can possibly pick up another OTTB gelding named Silver if he hasn't already found a home. If not, I plan to get a 2-3yr old to start and show and resell again next year. I guess BO is also suppose to get two more OTTBs off the track with a few months to let down in the next couple months, so I could always get one of those too. I'll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it though.
Sooo, pictures!  She is ALMOST at the right weight! Almost!

















































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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Sooo..She may have found herself a new home as a trail horse. 
There's an old lady looking for a solid trail horse as a pasture buddy and riding buddy for her gelding Dually who's currently boarded at our barn. She treats Dually like he's going to be the next king of Spain and gives him the best feed/supplements one can buy. She's not stupid, she's ridden for years and just wants another one she can use as a guest horse, which Alahna would be great for. So, I think I'm going to throw front shoes on her thursday when the farrier is out (don't like her, but she's the only one available within a month) so she can be sound for me to start atleast fixing the last of the backing issues that popped up. So, if this lady decides to not buy (said she'd give me a call next month when she finishes moving), I'll be putting her up for sale online and officially. Otherwise, today I pretty much just hand grazed her and showed her off to this lady, so she had a niiice, easy day, haha.
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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

She's going to be one sturdy gal when its all said and done! Do you know what, exactly, is making her lame though? I'm no expert ofcourse, but seems to me like unless she just has super thin soles or an actual horse deformity, putting normal shoes on isn't going to help. I could be wrong though! Its good that she might be getting a nice new home though  she looks like such a sweety.

I'm sure you know this, but most OTTBs tend to need something besides just pasture as feed. Not sure why, but TBs are typically hard keepers (though there are those few that aren't) and a OTTB that is coming down from the track and likely finishing growing is probably going to need at least _something_ extra to help them boost up their weight!


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Yeah, she actually seemed to be an easy keeper though, because she was gaining on just pasture and hay. I'm glad I have the chance to feed her now though to get it up there faster.

She's actually lame from a stone bruise covering her whole sole :| She has soles on the thinner side, so I'm 98% sure shoes will make her sound, lol.
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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

She might need some hoof boots and a supplement then, to help her grow better feet and protect them in the meantime. I'm having trouble with keeping Kenzie comfty for the same reason. Thin soles, recovering frogs that were thrushy for FOREVER, and high susceptibility to bruising. She's fine in the pasture and trail, but when I brought her out on the gravel she immediately started acting a bit sore and earned herself a little bruise on the front toe. Darned TBs and their crummy hooves! lol


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..my horse is not my horse! I know I haven't updated much, but I did want to make this a point.

She has lost it. She's usually very forward, but calm on trails, even if I run her up one hill and not the next. She flung her head around, pranced, threw little bucks, balked, bolted, etc. I have NEVER seen her like that! What should've taken a half hour took up almost an hour out on the trail.

But..I was just beyond livid and if I'd have had a gun on me out in the woods..I'd have shot her. She switched within a week from a kids horse to a maniac, and I can't see something that quick be because of feed/weight. I don't see that as normal.

This is what I ended up with after deciding I'd cool her off with a trail...








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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..she is NEVER getting Alfalfa again. I couldn't think of anything that would cause her to change so quickely (I also thought they were on the same hay); that is, until I was there and I saw the hay in her stall that she was happily munching away on. I asked the BO my suspicion and it was confirmed..so I asked that she make sure she not get any because I was ready to shoot her the other day, lol.

But, I took her on a nice trail ride monday evening (after almost going into heat stroke at work D: ) and she did amazing!
She wanted to turn back a few times but we just kept on trucking (switched back to the snaffle) and eventually she was fine and walked straight, lol. We came across the neighbours on their ATV and we talked for a bit..and then we came across the neighbours again and had to ask them to move up some on the trail where we could pass them (very large stones covered in moss with lots of possible leg catches), and then we got down to the creek!  It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I didn't want to push it since last time we were in the water she wouldn't move..at all. She'd stand in one spot and put her head down and paw (hitting her face!). So, I actually got her to move this time, tentatively, lol. I was proud enough though, so I took some pictures and jumped back out of the little opening in the trees.
She was a little forward on our way home, so I figured I'd take it as it was (shouldn't have training-wise..but I'll deal with it next time I guess lol) and we held an extended trot the majority of the way home...Until we started to hear the bullfrogs xD We were trotting along just fine and then BAM, she jumped into the bushes shaking, lol! I thought it was a person at first (trotting along not paying much attention to sounds lol), and then I realized it was the bullfrogs. I stood there for a bit before I just made her walk through the narrow (holy cow) crossing between the cliff and the filthy ponds with the evil monsters in it..We made it across and then a wood pile we see regularly sent her sideways almost into an old bus with a 90* turn towards the pile with lots of loud snorting, haha. So, we continued our trot home (walked the hills though) and as we got to the driveway, before she could even ask to run up it I asked for a gallop, and a gallop is what she did, haha. She actually stopped at the top this time as well.

So anywho, this time she's actually sweaty from almost 2 hours of work, haha.
























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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..I'm going to ditch arena riding until it dries up enough that she doesn't slip in the mud, since I'd like to do some rail work.

But, I did lunge her today. I got looked at like I was crazy when I lit a cigarette while I was lunging her, lol. I have her on vocal cues only, no body cues aside from stopping, which is easier on me. We still can't get a nice walk on the lunge, but our trot and canter is lovely! She tracks up amazingly well at the trot and she actually reaches under herself very well during the canter. I love it!!!

























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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

Her weight is looking great!


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Thanks, Endiku!

Anywho..not an update on her so much as her living arrangements..lol.

She'll be back at the barn I learned to ride in before the month is over (hopefully).
All I have to do is see if I'm required a 30 day notice, get hay from my aunt (and maybe need to find another farmer with hay as well), and get a trailer arranged. I'll either borrow, rent, or hire someone to trailer as I plan to grab my hitch this weekend.

But..She just doesn't respect the fence with no electricity, and I can't have that. My old (soon to be new) BO has all electric fencing set to cattle strength, so hopefully she'll stay in and not try to play with it.
I'll still have an indoor, albeit very small. A grass outdoor and a round pen. I'll also have all my lovely old trails back (as soon as I get them all cut back lol).
And the best part?? I'll be able to ride on the road again! 
I'll also get to keep tabs on Lucky, my old lease mare who's not doing so well...

But, as soon as I get the finances, transportation, and hay figured out, we'll be good to go. And I'll be able to go out and see her everyday too because the farm is only about 5-10 minutes from my house! *squeals*

Ooooh, I forgot the reaaal best part! I have a whole 12ft wall of tack space!!! So my bridles, halters, chains, etc won't be hanging on my saddle horn, and I'll have a rack for my saddle pads, lol.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Even better update..lol.

Picking hay up today and moving it to my new barn, moving all my tack (out of my garage, truck, and soon to be old barn ****), and trailering on monday!
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, apparently I'm all of a sudden not allowed on the property past 9pm..Which was never said to me and isn't in my contract.
The only time I have a trailer available to leave is 10pm. Honestly, I understand that no one wants a trailer rattling up their driveway at 10.30, but I offered to leave both trucks and trailer on the road and walk up to get my horse and things. And then I got the BO's husband telling that I'm not to be there after 9, end of discussion.
Which, is utter bull, IMHO. I will get my horse when I can get my horse, I tried my best to be courteous to the fact that she lives on the property..apparently that isn't worth anything.

If it isn't in my contract, I'll be damned if I can't go get my horse to leave. I've been at the barn riding and cleaning my stall at 10.30, I don't see why it's all of a sudden an issue.

I should not have to be this stressed. I found a friend that would trailer for free since I don't have the extra money to pay someone to haul, there's a reason for that.
I've been so stressed lately, I haven't gotten any good sleep in weeks, and now this on top of it. Ugh!
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..I got Alahna to our new barn and she gets along GREAT with my old lease horse Dude that was the first horse I successfully restarted. 

Yesterday I tacked her up and we left the barn around 5 to go meet a friend that lives a couple miles down the road to go ride his trails. She did absolutely AMAZING on the road alone and didn't slide too much with her shoes. We ended up losing a shoe somewhere along the trail (probably struggling around a tree she wouldn't jump over), but the trails were AMAZING! Talk about some difficult trails, definitely going to do more of those when she gets all the way up to weight and these trails will definitely get her up to par for endurance rides. We had to have ridden atleast 10 miles last night. 

But on our way back after leaving my friend and his pony..well, that's when the problems started, except it wasn't anything because she was alone I don't think.

We made our way along the shoulder of the road and were doing alright, even though she was a little anxious. And then, apparently Semis are MUCH different than normal cars and trucks. We stopped on the shoulder just so we weren't still moving around and she decided she was going to fly backwards out in front of it..I thought we were done for. So I'm going to need to borrow a dump or such to work with that..

She also decided to take off down the road while we were trotting around a bend (didn't want to go too slow and risk getting hit because the shoulder is nonexistent) and my phone just so happen to fly off and I could NOT get her stopped for almost a half mile. A nice guy picked my phone up and flew down the road behind me trying to give it to me. So, atleast it survived.

Anywho, we made it back to the barn and I'm alive 
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..I found something out today about Alahna and people..
I've been wondering what her issue is about someone coming up to her in her stall, but couldn't find any type of explanation..
Well, BO's boyfriend is here for the week and had me realize (it didn't even click until he actually explained and didn't just show me) that it's only females she pins her ears at and occasionally bares teeth..She perked her ears up for him and as soon as I took a step toward her they were pinned flat against her head again. So I think tomorrow I'll be going to the barn and sitting/standing outside her stall for a few hours to see if that'll change anything.

I've never done anything but take her out and put her back in a stall, but obviously there's something about her being in a stall and a female walking up. Come to think of it, at the last barn she'd perk her ears up at Charles and then pin them at me, even when I was bringing food.

It's only when she's stalled though. Not when she's tied, standing, turned out, etc.

So..just a little update on something I realized today. :/
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..Alahna is doing MUCH better at this barn!
Switched her feed yesterday (mixing for a few days) to SafeChoice pellets with an extra fat percentage and a buck cheaper a bag 
Decided on our plan to get her completely restarted. The rest of August is just going to be more and more groundwork and lunging (to build muscle, all trotting with a bit of canter here and there). Come September we'll be starting our 30 days undersaddle from scratch, as if I've never rode her before and she's not broke. The first half will be all walk/trot emphasising leg/seat and moving each part of her body with a cue, which will also have even more groundwork, lol. I'm gonna get her back into either the BOs sidepull or the snaffle I was riding her in and have feather light rein cues instead of having to pull every once in awhile.
Next half will start the canter and continue working on the trot and we'll be walk/trot to learn the gaming patterns.

When 30 days is over we'll start loping the pattern and getting the pattern solid. We'll also hit some trails and work with road riding again (she almost killed us both by flying backwards in front of a semi..so none of that until she's completely finished now :/ ). Over the winter we'll be working with trot rollbacks and going to the winter barrel shows where we'll exhibition and maybe enter a class or two depending on how she's coming along. Here we'll also ensure safe and appropriate gate etiquette and warm-up ring chaos.

Soo, next year, she should be ready to actually compete in the spring/summer shows. 

And because every post here about a horse is absolutely useless without at least one picture, here's a picture of our lunging session today while her pasturemate called for her and other boarders were running their horses around.










She's looking so much better and her trot just gets better and better everytime I actually lunge her with a goal to reach (instead of just for exercise). 
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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

Looking good! Woah what a journey lol


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Thanks, it's been stressful! I think it'll slow down with the stress now..She's gaining weight at the right speed and her ground manners are just impeccable! I don't think I've seen anyone around here able to move their horse without touching like I can move her. I point, she goes. I wiggle my finger and she either comes or backs, depending on which verbal cue I use. She lunges with just voice (I avoid lunging her with body because occasionally I want to smoke a cigarette or talk on the phone. Today was a little off though, she was a little feisty going into the canter and was very much so against it (I'll bet money it's because she's in heat right now) and had no problem letting me know, haha.

Other than the little issue getting her to canter, she did awesome. She even stretched out long and low with her trot a few times, all on her own!

So, a few pictures of todays lunging, including the nice buck she gave me, haha.

























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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Today was a nice easy day.
Did a bit of groundwork, worked on ground tying a bit more (she's about 85% with it), and did a little massaging on her shoulders.
Her shoulders went from quivering at a touch to not quivering, so I'm taking it as a win. I think she's going to need consistent chiro and massage work done to stay comfortable in heavy work, just how she's built.

Anywho, pictures! Her weight looks so much better! 

Apparently they're at the top..lol.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

And I thought we got over the kicking problem... :/
Apparently it resurfaces with food, imagine that!

She was standing tied great while I BS'd so I figured I'd give her a handful and just work on the little "don't swing your head over until I offer the grain" issue..
Lo and Behold, I asked her to move her butt over (which she does beautifully without me having to touch her at all) and she wouldn't move it, so I poked her and BAM, she cowkicked..again. I had my hands full with grain so she got a big kick to the gut and I ignored her for a bit (she did move her butt when I kicked her, lol).
After such I untied her and did some more yielding, backing, and how to ask for treats (grain in this case). She did just fine, so I'm actually not positive as to WHERE the kick came from..
So tomorrow when I go out I'll definitely be getting some grain in a scoop and moving her around lots.

And yeah..some of you don't agree with me kicking her, I'm sure. I've always used this woth kickers, since I first started riding. I did it with dogs too when they nipped or bit at me, I "bit them back" with my hand.
The main success story I had with this technique was with Tunie, an OTTB mare that was in the run-in my friend and I took care of in exchange to ride/reduced board. She kicked at me once and she got a hard kick right back to her (she caught my jeans, thankfully not my shin that she came close to) and she never once even pinned her ears at me again, even when she was moved to another barn on the property. I was the only one she wasn't food aggressive towards after that incident.

And, a picture after our groundwork session where she then stood ground tied while I BS' d some more and took pictures 









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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, Alahna's back undersaddle!
She does TERRIBLE in a bit though, for whatever reason. I'm gonna check her teeth again tonight (they should be fine), but she throws her head and gapes her mouth with very little pressure. I've went back to the hack until I can figure out what's going on because I'd like to get her back into a snaffle so we can start working on balancing her canter (almost good on trot, walk is perfect aside from a quicker stop).

But all in all, she's doing great, and I'm hoping to take her for a trail sometime soon and start working on traffic again.

















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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well..Took her to her first show today. 
Hopped right on the trailer and trailered beautifully! The other two were antsy and pawing but she stood waiting in there like an angel.
When we got there, she was..well, a wench xD She almost shoved a little girl on her horse over when she swung her butt out during warm up, so I decided to wait for a bit and then use the other arena. While she was at the trailer she peed and when we went down to the other arena, she was much better, lol.

I took her in exhibition barrels twice and trotted the pattern, she did awesome, she is SUCH a quick learner!
Her next class was stake bend. I figured she would try to fly through so we trotted up and she felt like she wanted to canter so bad on the way back that I let her go and she actually stayed slow enough that she could weave without me having to hold her back! She came 6/8 with the last two being DQ'd..but regardless, first ribbon at her first show? Hell yeah! LOL
Then the issues started... >.> I was standing around talking to people and she would doze off, which, perfectly normal and I didn't think anything of it. Next thing I know she woke herself up when she lost her balance and almost went down. Walked her around for a bit and went to stand by a friend that leases another horse at the barn. I kept waking her up (I was watching the runs) but the minute I left her alone and watched a specific run I was interested in, she dropped her whole front end and faceplanted on the ground ;; She got back up and thought she was going to go back to sleep! So that was the end of me watching. I was scared to tie her to the trailer again for fear she'd fall down go boom while she was tied ;;
And then, her next class was down and back. Nice and simple, little coordination needed so I decided we were going to full out run and hope we placed xD I was expecting a buck when I smacked her with the whip to get her going from the gate, but nope! She just dug in and took off and I was still in control of it, not a bolt! She slowed down immensly around the barrel (took it wide so she wouldn't slow down), but I went to her bad side for some reason and that was our problem. Soon as she came out of that barrel though? I didn't even need the whip, she knew she was allowed to fly back and she kicked it right into gear before I even had to push her! And the BEST part, she walked right back out of that arena with her head down and calm!!! Wasn't antsy the least bit.

All in all, while she had some spazz attacks because of other high energy (spazz) horses, she did great for her first show!

And while I sadly don't have any pictures of me on her (will get them next show though!), I did get pictures of her looking good 

























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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

What are her iron levels like? I'd be concerned about the dozing and losing balance.
Well done on the ribbons though.


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## MsLady (Apr 18, 2013)

Glad you had a good day!
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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

Wow wow wow, her weight is looking SOOO much better! What did you change?

Sorry to hear about the kicking problem, but I don't think you were wrong at all to kick her back. An eye for an eye, right? The dosing and falling off balance is super strange though....is she getting enough REM sleep?


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

I have no idea what her iron or sleep levels are..I'm gonna see if it happens again and if so I'll have the vet out to figure out why.
I honestly think she might have been getting dehydrated. She usually wants to drink everytime she sees a bucket (she'll nose em all till she finds one with water lol) and I offered it to her every half hour or so, but she only drank about a bucket total all day, whereas she usually drinks almost three at home. So I might have to add some gatorade or something next show too.

Also, I believe the kick was a random thing, she hasn't offered to kick again since, so I'm content with that for the moment.

I only changed barns xD She gets fed three times a day now instead of just twice and has free choice hay instead of 10lbs/day and is out in the pasture with good grass more than in a stall.
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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

That would make sense. Dehydration can make horses act really strange. Poor gal!

And that's so great about the boarding change! I can't believe how much better she looks. What a difference a little more forage and broken up feedings can do, eh?


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

For sure! I think she may have been messed with in her stall at the last barn too, she was lunging when anyone came near her stall at this barn, she's finally back to normal in a stall though. Plus, I get to see her almost everyday since my new barn is only 5 minutes away
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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

I love the photo of her in the trailer. She's a doll <3


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well..I've definitely been working too much to do much of anything with her, if I even make it out! But, Keith helped me bale hay today ($262.50 for 75 bales of second cut) and I brought her in to feed and brush her a bit 
She looks like a COMPLETELY different horse! With me not seeing her all week, she's still gaining weight, just slower now. She's soo close to completely filled in, her hips aren't boney anymore and you can only see her ribs every now and then!








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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Anywho..lots of updates, probably won't be getting too many pictures for a bit though, or atleast until the weekend.
She's down to one scoop of grain with one scoop of Cool Calories daily, and out to pasture with no hay since the grass is still pretty good in the pasture she's in.
So, like I said, I didn't see her all last week and she's now extremely buddy sour/herdbound. I don't think it'll take long to fix since what happened last night (explain later), but it's obvious that I need to see her more than once a week, even if it's just 10 minutes of brushing and some groundwork. Which, honestly, I'd love to be out there for an hour or two everyday, but I'm currently stuck on a job leaving at 5am and not getting back until 7-9pm; and by that time, I still need to eat, shower, and run a few errands. My time is all taken up and I hate it because I want time for my baby girl, she's like a big, furry child! LOL

But anywho, I've devised a plan for her, which I'll be out daily for (hopefully, no more than one day off at a time though). Our daily work will be all in sight of the turned out horses in her pasture, along with another herd of three that she can hear.
1. Grooming while ground tied.
2. Groundwork
-yielding haunches and shoulders
-backing
-leading
-sidepassing
-flexing neck in both directions
3. Lunging
-2 minutes walk clockwise for warmup
-6 minutes trot clockwise
-2 minutes walk clockwise
-turn on haunches to change direction into 6 minutes trot counter-clockwise
-2 minutes walk counter-clockwise to cool down
4. Groundwork without halter
-return halter to hanging position at stall
-return to run-in/indoor arena and close gate to stalls
-open pasture gate out of arena
-walk to middle of arena and continue actual groundwork including what was listed above
-walk to gate leading out of arena and send out to turnout
5. Go home. lol

We did all that yesterday and she did AMAZING! She only tried moving three times while grooming and then stood quietly, peaking back and giving my butt hugs occasionally, lol. I had to regain her attention twice during the halterless groundwork, but I can't complain, we haven't worked without a halter since before I moved her to my current barn. BUT, she didn't take off when I took her halter off, nor when I opened the gate to the pasture, which was my main concern.

So later today Keith is suppose to come put with me to the barn after work..which is nice, I'm glad I found a guy that's already in the farm/country life and actually WANTS to go out with me and knows what and why I'm doing things. Plus, who can say no to giving a guy a chance when he offered to help with hay, didn't know how MUCH hay, AND did most of the work? With a cute butt to boot!!! LOL

So, hopefully my half hour of grooming didn't go to waste when I get there today, haha.

But anywho, her schedule for the week will consist of what I explained previously with undersaddle work done on saturday/sunday when I have a larger area to work in (since I'm not riding in the dark and actually trying to train her haha).

AND, I mayy be getting either a yearling or a bottle calf come spring. 
But anywho, can you tell I'm excited?? Haha
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well..haven't had much time lately, but I think I'm going to start a lesson program with Alahna relatively soon. Beginner lessons now and I can get more into advanced lessons as I have time to train her more.

I took my friend, Roxy, out to ride and they both did AMAZING. I swear Alahna just knew Roxy had no idea what she was doing and had nothing against her for it.

We brought her in from the field and I had Roxy brush her and love on her a bit before I tacked her up and got on myself first. She had her usual attitude, but slightly less since she was in heat (yes, she did come into heat this late in the year, oddly). I walked/trotted her and did a bit of quick lunging before I got Rox on. She stood to be mounted (oddly at that lol) and then we worked on getting her to move and turn. At first it was a little shaky since this is Rox's first time riding without being led around. I grabbed the whip to stand in the middle of the arena while I coached Rox. She forgave Rox when she pulled a bit on her mouth when she felt she didn't have enough control (couldn't get my stirrups up any higher, so I left them hang), she stopped when Rox went to one side or the other, etc etc. We had slight problems with turning, but that will come with a better seat and hand control, along with stirrups to help a bit with leg aids.

All in all, she did great. She wouldn't go forward if Rox had any sort of contact, she stopped on a dime when Rox sat back and actually meant to gather the reins and said whoa. I honestly don't even have words to explain how great I felt and how proud of Alahna I was. It was absolutely beautiful. Her ears were perked the whole time (never pinned them) and she seemed to really enjoy herself. Maybe she'll have to be a beginner lesson horse and my personal game horse. Those are the two things she really seems to enjoy. 

But I know we're all looking for updated pictures of her.

































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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

She gave another lesson! 
She did GREAT for the boy, and I didn't even give him the saddle, I figured he'll be riding bareback when Drew takes over his lessons (Drew doesn't do saddles..if you can't ride bareback, you don't ride), so why not just start bareback. 

The thing I didn't tell him though until afterwards is that no one has ever been on her bareback...ever, LOL. I knew she'd be fine as long as I lead her around, so I lead him until she relaxed and stopped tensing up and pinning her ears everytime he shifted his weight. And then I tied my lead rope to her halter and turned them loose in the small indoor. She did amazing. She turned, went, and stopped as he asked. He needed to actually make her twice at first because she drifted to the gate, but he handled it just fine and she decided she was going to just listen and not complain, haha.

And bad me made him take his shirt off before I told him how to get off xD We all thought it was hilarious. He even trotted a bit too, and he seemed to stay real balanced and just moved with her.

Soo..pictures! lol

























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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, I've been slacking on this..but nothing too interesting has been missed aside from the fact that she tried to attack me while lunging, out of nowhere. She was trotting circles, ears perked/on me, and the next second I see her coming in at me ears pinned and teeth bared..I stomped towards her, hollered, and took my lead rope to her *** and we continued like nothing happened, didn't do it again. So I'm baffled about that.

But back to last night's visit.
Went out and decided I was going to ride since it was still light out and everything. Well, I almost smacked off the ground and slid down the hill on my backside..so I tossed that idea out the window real quick, haha. I brought her in from the field, gave her back and sides a quick brush, and decided I was gonna ride bareback inside where it was about 10* warmer. 

Since I still hadn't found a bit that she actually likes I was looking through my bridles to see what bits I haven't tried yet. I found my Jr. Cow on a rope bridle I made awhile ago (for a MUCH larger head than hers xD) that's adjustable to a point. I figured I'd size that bridle to her face and then make her a custom one when I got home (I think we're gonna go to black/neon green instead of black/red). She wasn't all that happy about me putting the bridle on and the bit hanging all wonky in her mouth, but she stood well enough for it. The browband turned into a one-ear..But she did great. Barely had to touch my reins, and when I did her head looked like we were in a pleasure class. Nose was just slightly in front of the vertical, poll level with her withers, etc. It was beautiful.
We also worked on her standing for me to mount bareback and being comfortable with it. I could just hop on, but I don't want her to dislike bareback just because of the mounting process. I think she's scared about me plopping down with no saddle to give her some protection. So I stood on the block and rubbed her back, got down, got back up, etc for about 15 minutes before I actually got on. She still walked off once I was up there, but that's okay, we'll work on that another time.
Overall she did awesome. I'm not comfortable dropping my reins and laying on her like I would/have on other horses, but I'm sure we'll get there by the end of winter.

Anywho, pictures! 
















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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well..I'm slacking on this, lol. But, this past week did a lot for her. She's much more supple and figured out how to sit her butt down and bring her shoulder up to cross her front legs over during a turn. Last time we worked on turns, she refused to cross her front legs for a faster one and she had to slow down immensely to turn, not to mention how wide the turns were.

Since she didn't like the snaffle last time I put it on her, I have her in the tear-drop shanked double jointed bit that I love. That or the 3-piece reiner I have, depending on if I'm actually tacking her up or throwing the rope bridle on and hopping on bareback.

She's also doing great with standing still to mount. Still wants to walk off every now and then, but we work on it each time.

This month we'll keep working on moving off leg, picking her front end up and sitting down some more, better stops, giving to the bit, and neck reining. I'm sure that'll include figure eights, rollbacks (walk/trot), and maybe some riding out in the fields. 
Come February we'll be moving barns and I'll have a brand new indoor arena to play with, along with a ton more trails, hopefully some riding up to my friend's house and tying to various odd objects, and letting me demonstrate training techniques on her while I help a friend break a filly.

I'm definitely excited to move barns with her and have a full size arena to work in, complete with great lighting and a stereo system! I'm sure once we get there I'll be having a ton more pictures and maybe even some videos 










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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Soo..I started doing some tricks with Alahna.
This is her "showin' me", lol. Basically picking her leg up and doing a carrot stretch. Apparently she's more comfortable touching her nose to her chest with her leg out of the way..and it's adorable, so there it is, lol. All I do is tell her to "show me" and tap her leg, lol. She's still figuring out touching her chest on her right, but we'll finish that next time 

Otherwise..we're on the ground until either she fixes her own back or I get the chiro out.

































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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

I don't know what on earth happened to my horse.. o.o
She's headshy, running through gates that haven't been opened, not caring about personal space (until you correct her once..then she flies around the arena pulling away), paces while she's tied (never did anything but stand with a leg cocked) all of a sudden. Good GOD.
I swear, someone must've took my **** horse! No..I'm gonna assume it's because she's been stuck in a stall for the past three days since I'm sure someone will break a leg outside or slide through an electricn, high tensile fence.

But anywho..BO called me two nights ago telling me Alahna ran through the arena/walkway gate while she was standing at in with it cracked talking to someone. Well, she sliced her shoulder open on the corner, but it was fine to leave overnight and then decide on what I was going to put on it.

Well, not as bad as I figured it'd be..It's a bit sore, but I'm going to put Aloe on it twice a day and hope it heals completely within two weeks because I'm riding her to my new barn on the 31st..



























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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

^ Oh my goodness o.o 

In her defense, "bed rest" is enough to make anyone batty x.x

When are you set to move? ^^


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

I hear that..they all got turned out today, so hopefully she's better, haha.

We're moving on the 31st of this month..gonna probably take the day off and ride her over since I can't justify paying someone to trailer her 3-4 miles on back roads, haha.
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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, I moved Alahna on Wednesday and really couldn't complain about her. She had to stop and stare at the first car we came across and then she was just fine with all the others, even a 350 hauling a 40' trailer and a farm tractor with a round bale on the front of it! She did spook once at seemingly nothing while I was waving to said farmers on the opposite side of the road, in which she cleared a lane and a half of road in a sideways leap xD The farmer and his hay guy laughed as they waved back, she didn't give any sort of warning, haha. I then accidently stuck her front end in a ditch on the side of the road with a snowdrift all the way up to her chest. Which, she turned her head and gave me a look of "really?" And stood and waited until I asked her to back out of it, haha. I couldn't be more proud of that, honestly. I scared myself more than it did her!

She got rather antsy after we made the next bend and we pranced for awhile. We made another bend and went down a large hill and I let her run up the hill on the other side. We ran almost a quarter mile on that road..some cantering, some after she bolted while we had a beautiful canter. BUT, during that bolt, I found my seat. Ever since my accident I've had a hard time staying IN the saddle..Well, my *** didn't move not an inch! I'm really happy about that, now I'm just hoping I can keep it on a circle, lol.

Regardless of that, we made it there in one piece and she's seemed to settle in nicely. She refused to drink all wednesday, but she did drink throughout the night after I left. It's almost like she's been there forever when I'm walking her around. She's really looking at all the other horses and wants to go meet them..but the three she's met so far she doesn't seem to like, lol. I'm hoping she gets along with a retired eventing gelding, Dar, since he's currently pastured alone and it's the closest/smallest pasture, haha. Plus, it has a run-in where the others don't. 

Anywho, I'll start updating our training again since I'll be there almost daily 

















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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

SHE LOPED CIRCLES!!!
That's all for now..lol. She's a bolter at the canter, and she loped today and I didn't even have to touch her face, only neck reined to keep her on the circle. Granted, it wasn't the best circle, but it wasn't even half of the arena. Not to mention the crow hops and bucks going into it (soo wish I would've gotten the one on camera, it was HUGE and I stuck to the saddle just fine!)

I'm getting a video of some of it sent to me, so I'll be uploading it to youtube and plaster it everywhere, haha.

I'm really excited..I had THE worst day today that I've had in awhile, I was about ready to quit my job and give up..and she made my day. Granted, it was almost 7pm by that time, but it's all good now. I'm not ready to give up on anything.
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