# Haley can haz blog? :P



## Haley (Aug 18, 2009)

Blog/Journal, whatever.  I guess this will mostly be a day to day blog about the Sierraness? My Paint mare who takes up a lot of my time!

I'll start with intro's.

My name is Haley. I'm 18 and a senior in high school. I'm an only child and currently live with my mom. I have quite a few pets. 3 dogs, Elliot who is a miniature dachshund and Snowy and McGreggor (who we inherited from my grandmother eariler this year after she passed away), they're West Highland White Terriers. I have 3 cats as well. Skeeter who's a Lynx Point Siamese, Lacey who is a Japanese Bobtail and Tabitha who's just a short hair tabby cat. We have a pond in our back yard that has some koi as well. Photography is one of my passions, I've had several people comission me to take some professional pictures of their horses. I mostly prefer Equine Photography. I guess it's just what comes most naturally!

Then, there's my two horses.

Star - He's a 17 y/o AQHA gelding. Pretty much a pasture puff now, but he's a retired show horse that did HUS, WP, SMS, Halter, HMS and HSEQ. My mom is the one who takes care of him the most, I say he's her horse but she insists he's still mine! LOL. One of these days I need to get some new pictures of him! The most recent pictures I have are from this spring. I rarely take the camera out to the barn with me, normally only to shows.



















Sierra - 6 y/o APHA/PtHA mare and the horse that quite possibly means more to me than _anything_ else. Without this mare, I would be very lost. She's so incredibly sweet, and a total baby sitter. If I need to just lay on her back and cry, she lets me. She'll stand there without a fuss. What she really loves is being a show horse though. She knows her job and she does it well. It completely breaks my heart to know, come this time next year I'm probably going to have to find a new home for her, or at least lease her out. Unfortunately, growing up is not all it's cracked up to be.  But I know she'll go to a great home. The last 3 years I couldn't even count on my fingers and toes how many offers or "call me when you want to sell" I've had. She's a very special horse, people can tell that just by looking at her. A once in a lifetime horse. 

I do the all around events with her on the APHA circuit and Washington Open Show circuit. Next year we're going to cut out open and do PtHA instead. I'm so over open shows, I swear those people are more haughty than breed show people. :roll: Paint is FUN. And I've heard great things about Pinto, and no doubt we can do well if we do well with Paint.

She's a wee bit of a tank. Overcast days + covered arenas = impossible lighting to shoot well in.



























she thinks showmanship is too early in the morning and she should still be eating. :lol:









for a little horse she has a killer trot









She knows camera's very well. She knows she's supposed to look cute for them. Haha.









Sier and her "ohh must look cute!" face again.




































Sierra learning a pattern. Hehe.


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## Haley (Aug 18, 2009)

and NOW a real post!

Tonight I went out at about 6:30, my BO was out there (surprisingly since he's normally done and headed up to his house by 5), but I talked to him a bit and then he put up a heat lamp on her for me. It's going to be in the TEENS for a few days! Geesh. It's only October, this makes me scared to find out what winter is going to be like. :O We talked about possibly leaving her in all day (she has a stall with an attached, fairly large run. The door to the run can be shut so it's a completely enclosed stall, it's not like a gate or anything), which I may do later when she's in a stable blanket and hood, but for now she's in all waterproof clothes. Right now her door is open from about 7-5.

Sierra's under lights so she doesn't grow a coat (pampered show horse and all that - you know the bit. hahah.), which means she needs to be bundled up like an eskimo horse. Tonight when I left she had on:
-Lycra body sheet
-Lycra fleece lined slinky
-Blanket liner
-Heavyweight turnout
-Medium weight hood

So I took her out of her stall, brushed her a little, and wasn't quite sure what I was going to do. I thought about maybe free lunging her or putting her on the lunge line but decided to ride. She was over all good, but when I asked for a lead change from right to left she'd brace her neck and get stiff all over, though still do it. I'm thinking she needs a chiro visit since the last time she was worked on was August. I pretty much always know when she does something "bad" or gets stiff all of a sudden doing something I know she does just fine she's out somewhere, and it always is just that. A little adjustment and she's back to her old self.  So I need to give the chrio a call.

She's getting her feet done Tuesday.. I'm nervous. My farrier is in the national guard and he was called to duty in Kuwait so he's not able to do her. He left a couple weeks ago and won't be back until December. She wasn't quite ready to be done when he was out a few days before he left, so he gave us the number of a farrier who he recommended, he has a lot of credentials and Joe highly recommended him but Joe's been doing Sier's feet forever. I trust him to do her exactly how I want her done, he knows she needs the clips and the pads in back, he knows she needs a rolled toe in front. All of which I can tell the new guy, but Joe just knows Sier's feet so well. Oh well, I'm sure it will go just fine. I just really like my farrier! Haha.


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