Lets Just Be Who We Really Are

A couple weeks ago my sister had a friend over for a photo shoot. The girl had made a costume and wanted pictures with her costume and a horse. And...I have a horse. :) So my sister got to practice her photography and I got to hang out and watch them take pictures. Then when it was time I got Chester ready and worked with them as they took pictures with him. Afterwards, my sister snapped a few pictures of Chester and I just being ourselves. I think we got some really fun ones.

Chester being his sweet gentle self.

I'm giving him a treat. He's so fuzzy!

(Nummm, I love peppermint treats!)

He was sooo good!

This is one of the best. I love it!

Then he thought (as he does every once in awhile, silly boy) that one of the chains on the hackamore bridle was supposed to go inside his mouth, like a bit. It doesn't, of course. There are two chains that go under his chin. 

                                           Uhhh...do you have any more treats?

 Uhh, Malory I think this chain is supposed to go in my mouth. No, Chester, I have told you before that does not go in your mouth. Smarty pants...

Me loves my pony! 

There is nothing new and exciting on the horse front here. It rained really hard here for about two  weeks straight so the ground is super soft and my round pen is a lake. Chester's exercise consists of walks in the front yard and hand grazing on the hill. I did get on him before the rain came and trotted around in the front yard a little bit. I do love that about Chester. That I can let him "sit" for a little while and still get on him and he's fine. He can get excited to be out and have energy to use, but he's not totally crazy. 

Our farrier moved to another State, so we are getting a new one. He's scheduled to come out on the 24th. I'm not nervous about Chester, (I know he will do great) I am excited to see how it goes and wondering how it will all be though.

 The Lord provided our first (and only so far) farrier at the perfect time. Before we had a horse, he and his family visited our church and we had them over for lunch. Come to find out he was a farrier. We mentioned that we had goats that needed their hooves trimmed and that we weren't the best at it. He was like, "I do goats too!" So we all marched out to the goats and he showed us how he did it while trimming up one of our goats that had hooves that grew about an inch a day. He actually flips the goats and then "sits" on them to trim their hooves. (His wife assured me that doing it that way doesn't hurt the goat. That was nice to hear.) :) 

He gave us his business card and we kept him in mind. Well, four to five months later we got Chester and we called him up and he has been our farrier ever since. One visit shy of three years. He was a great farrier and will be missed. 

In the meantime, Chester and I have high expectations for this new farrier. ;) We like quality work and a good friendly attitude.  

 

 It has been super cold lately so Chester is a HUGE fuzz ball. Like a fuzzy teddy bear. Haha, I will have to take a picture of him with all his fur sticking straight up. 

I hope you all have a great week! Blessings to all!

                          This is me enjoying the cold weather and a hot drink. ;)

Silly Fun

I love this picture right now! It's clear, it's unique, he's not in a "perfect" stance, I put a filter on it, and it just looks so good! I LOVE it! =)

This one is just a fun goofy picture. I got the idea from Kalin. (Thanks Kalin!) ;) I think it's fun to have some random photo shoots with your horse. Whether nice pictures, goofy pictures, fun pictures or even everyday pictures. =) They help keep those memories and fun adventures alive! You all should know by know that I LOVE pictures! I take tons of them! I can't just take one! =)

Here's the first try at it and it didn't turn out as good. I think it's kinda fun that he has his tongue out though. =)

Do you guys have any fun ways or pictures you take with your horse?

Oh, and by the way, I changed my instagram account to @wind_sparrow. Do you guys like that? For the life of me, I could decided on a name! I didn't know whether I should go goofy, serious or something that has to do with my name. Too many choices! :) I'm sticking with wind sparrow for now though.

Sunday Pictures!

The farrier came this morning; SO glad that it's done for another two months! You know what's weird though, is that when you have something scheduled for two months away, those two months fly by!
It's crazy how that happens. It seems like he comes more often then six times a year. Which, he could if we did seven weeks instead of eight weeks, here or there. But anyways! =)

Chester did great! He hadn't had breakfast so he could have been a little more patient. But he did really good. I haven't before, but today I decided to stick some peppermint treats in my pocket to give him while he had his hooves done because he hadn't had breakfast. He really enjoyed them and gobbled them up! At one point, since I wasn't giving him any more, he started giving me kisses and wouldn't stop. He was trying hard to get more treats and he knew that normally if he came me a kiss he would get a treat. =) He was so cute!

One Sunday I went out with my sister and took some pictures with Chester. We didn't really have a nice camera so a lot of them were blurry. Yet, we did get some good ones and thanks to Fotor I put some tints/filters on some of them and that really helped! =)
First I'll get the selfies out of the way! You gotta have those! (Actually, a little side note here, I didn't take selfies until I had a horse...hmm.) =)

                                                  "Can I please have a treat, mom!"

                                            Cheese! "Does that camera give treats?"

                                             See the mud? Uh-huh. Yep. Washington.

That's my boy! Tongue is always out! =) Right there he looks like he was licking and chewing. Sometimes though he just leaves it hanging out. (He's SO cute!)

                                                         " Hey there...I'm cute!"
                                                             

Annies Asteroid

I have been a slacker....I know. But when there are horse adventures to be told, I will tell.
I did have someone over the other day that wanted to brush up on their horse grooming and tacking skills. Chester did great! He did try to sneak off when I was busy talking to someone....but I saw him. ;)
I "weighed" him the other day with my weight tape, and he has gained about 100 pounds since the last time I "weighed" him which was maybe a year ago? I can't remember. =)
He actually doesn't like the weight tape. So after he ran around his yard not letting me get within twenty feet of him, I set down the weight tape and got his halter and he submitted to me. When he has his halter on he switches from a free roaming pony in his yard, to, a pony that's like, ok what are we going to do?
I do groom him free though....I don't always put on his halter when I'm doing stuff with him in his yard. Anyways, back to the weight tape. Once I had him standing there I put the weight tape around his heart girth area and lined it up and what not. I wasn't sure what numbers to look at so I read the directions out loud while holding the tape on him. He wasn't super comfortable but he was standing there quietly and being a good boy. As I was reading the directions a loud I came across, "make sure the horse is not holding it's breath." I looked at Chester and asked, "are you holding your breath?" He was looking straight ahead, not moving a muscle, eyes open a little wider then normal and wasn't blinking. I told him, "I think you're holding your breath".  He did great and I was able to finish and when I was done gave him some peppermint treats. (Actually, before I "weighed" him, I gave him a peppermint treat in the same hand that I was holding the scary white thing.) =)

I then went on to de-worm him. He did great for that too. I'm not an expert at giving him stuff orally. He was totally relaxed about oral stuff when I got him but has since taken to not liking it. I think it might be because I'm "newer" at it? It's not that hard to do though....so maybe not.

Alright, you are probably wondering what Annies Asteroid as to do with this post. Well, I wanted to share a game with you all! It's called Annies Asteroid. My dad made it! You can down load it for free off Itunes. It's made for a phone or Ipad, so if you don't have one I don't think you can get it. (If you don't have a phone I totally understand. I just got my first phone a few months ago, and I'm eighteen.) =) If any of you check it out or get it, let me know what you think! Go Here to see it.
 I think it's really fun and can get addicting once you get the hang of it. Please pass on the word! Enjoy!


                           

Wait, Whuuuuut?!?

This past week, inspired by some of my blogger friends, I emailed the past owner of Chester and asked if he had any pictures of Chester or knew of anyone that would. He emailed back and said he had some somewhere, that he would send my way. I also asked him if he knew Chester's birthday.. When we bought him he was sixteen and now he is "eighteen".
So, he told me his birthday was April 13th. I was like, oh that's coming up! My next thought was, what year was he born? They guy was already on it and had sent me his pedigree. I opened it up and started to figure it out as I have never really (maybe one other time) looked at a pedigree before.
His barn name was Shorty when we bought him but I renamed him, Chester. We didn't think Shorty was such a "loving" name....but, come to find out his "legal" name on his pedigree is Valiant Mr. Shorty! I thought that was a pretty neat name; better then just Shorty. =) His name is actually a mix of his mom and dad. His dad's name was Sold Short, and his mom's was Valiant Quest. I thought that was really cool! There was no picture of his dad, and it said that there was a picture of his Grandfather but the picture won't pop up. =( But, I do have a picture of his great-grandfather! I think there is a big resemblance! His face looks like Chester and even his back end is shaped like Chester's! =)
Here, have a look!

                                                       Chester's great-grandfather

Ok, I know Chester has his winter coat on here so he's not shiny like Top Deck. But I think their faces look alike.

                                   In this picture he has his summer coat on so he's shiny. =)

                                                 This is a picture of his great-grandma

Here are some more pictures of grandfathers....

Great, great-grandfather

Great, great, great-grandfather

And I think we'll stop there. =)

Well, I did find this guy down the line and thought he was a nice looking one. He's a big guy! =)

Back to the pedigree....after I found out his pedigree name, I saw the date he was born. 1992. Yep, my horse is four years older then I thought he was. I thought he was 18 turning 19 sometime this year. Well noooo, he's 21 turning 22 in a few weeks! The main reason I was in "shock" was I lost four years I thought I was (possibly) going to have with my horse.
The thing is, if we knew that Chester was 19 years old when we bought him, we wouldn't have bought him. And I wouldn't have the wonderful horse I have now. I would have never met Chester. I would have never met and own the best horse in the world! God knew that he was older all along and yet He had him picked out for me and provided the right horse, nineteen year old Chester, for me. So even if I'm in "shock" finding out my horse is now definitely "an older horse", as my brother put it, "he is still the perfect horse for you." I agree!

Guess What?? I'M SO EXCITED!!

I am so excited to tell you guys this! I got a round pen! What does that mean? That means; I have a confined area for the first time ever to work Chester in on our property, I can work him more often, we will both be safer, I can work with him in more ways now, and my wild pony can use up his energy!!!

                                                                        Here it is!

                                                                          It's 40 ft.

                                       It's used but really nice!! I'm so happy and excited!
Every time I think about the stuff I can do with him in the round pen, I get excited! I can now work with him loose and don't have to have him on a lead or lunge line.

                           When the sun starts a shining, this round pen's gonna get a lot of love! =)

 Here is a picture so you can see how it is relative to the other parts of the our yard. That's the garden fenced in over there. 

                             Here, I'm taking the picture from up on the hill that our house is on.

 Now, I'm down by it looking back up there. I was standing on the hill to the right of the house. You can see a little bit of Chester's fence and barn up there.

                                                                Lovely round pen!!
    (Oh, that's our play house over there to the right.)

 When we got home, Chester came over to his fence and watched us unload the round pen from the trailer. Then he stayed out there when we set it up. He's one smart horse!
We are planning on putting sand in it. But we're taking it one step at a time! =)

One. Simple. Word....Shedding.

Are you kidding me!? Shedding is not a simple word. The word shedding means- four to five months of horse hair floating in the air, getting it in your mouth and ALL over your clothes.
On one hand shedding isn't that bad, yet on the other hand it is such a bother!
The end results though are gorgeous! A sleek shiny horse! Who doesn't love to see their horse shimmering in the summer sun after a long cold, fuzzy, wet winter? Well I sure do! =)
Chester has started shedding and has been for a few weeks now. It's not too bad yet, but I know the worst is to come! =)


Most of my fellow bloggers are experiencing pretty cold winter weather. I BELIEVE you now! (Not that I didn't before, but you get what I'm saying.) I feel for you! Not just feel, I now know how you feel! We have had some cold spells. Where it will be cold for at the most two weeks and then warm up again. But we had one week, that the really cold weather hit us hard. Someone must have packaged it up and sent it our way. =)
Not only was it cold day and night, but we had any icy wind on top of that.
Since we live in a small valley, the wind funnels up through it to our house. When you step out our back door, you get and icy wind in your face. Not too fun....


Well, a little bit about today; this morning I did every horse chore inmaginable. I fed Chester, swept and scooped his mats, scooped manure from the yard, cleaned around the manure wagon and dumped the wagon, then I decided that I needed to clean the spot were I keep the bale of hay in the barn. I only keep one bale up in the horse barn and all the rest down in the big barn. I stand it up in a corner of the horse barn and then the stall stays pretty clean. (Which is nice because I keep my tack in there too.) So I moved a couple boards that are up there and cleaned all the hay and everything all up, brought another bale up and then I gave Chester I good brush down, (which I haven't done in a while. He thoroughly enjoyed that. He even stopping eating his breakfast and just stood there like, awwwww.....that feels good!) Then I cleaned his hooves, dumped his manure wagon again because I filled it up with the hay that I cleaned out of the stall. Then I gave him a peppermint treat and went to fill his water buckets with fresh water.
I headed inside just has the rain started coming done harder and the wind picked up.
It was a good Saturday morning!
    ~How was yours, friends? 


                                                                    ~Chester And Mal~

The Glory That Never Fades

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
 

Psalm 19:1-2

A Glory that never fades. Is that just awesome or what!? I was thinking about that the other day; that the glory of our Lord God, and Creator never fades. His glory is from generation to generation and from everlasting to everlasting. His glory is so supreme and glorious compared to the "glory" of sinful man.

We as His children, need to bring Him glory in whatever we do. In speech, action or deed. 

Psalm 69:30

I will praise God's name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving

Psalm 86:12

I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.

I took some pictures of my valley and wanted to share them with you all. They remind me of the glory of our Great and Glorious God. 

He has created all things in wisdom and power. I mean- just look at that beautiful valley! Do you think that happened by chance? No, He created it to bring Him glory.

"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

Luke 19:40

Is that not so true? May we beloved friends, always strive to bring glory to our Lord God.

               There is a road on the far side of the valley, that goes up a hill and then to town.

Here's the hill I stand on to look out over my valley. 

This is from another part in the yard. I love this picture! 

And this is where Chester eats in the summer time. You can see a little post, down there, that I move around in the summer for his fence. =) I think the field looks a little bigger then it really is....

                             

       The heavens are telling of the glory of God;

And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Psalm 19:1-2

Have a blessed day dear friends! 

Two More Days!!

So, there are only two more days for anyone who wants to add to my, Winter Tips and Techniques, post coming up this Friday!!
I only have two people so far.... I would LOVE it if anyone else would participate. I think it would be really cool if there were lots of peoples advice and tips. Please, consider it!! Two more days!!
Here is the link to the post, with all the info on it. Or click on the picture.

Hurray!

I've hit 4,000 page views! Hurray! I know that it may not be that many to some of you but that's a lot for me!
Thank you, to my 11 wonderful followers! For following me, supporting me, giving me advice and just being nice friends! I appreciate you more then you know!

Day Thirty

Day Thirty- Your future with horses

My future with horses belongs to the Lord. I do have things I want to accomplish. Such as; I would love to know how to game before I'm done with the horse world. Like, do it. ;) Have a great relationship with my horse. (I already do, but I still want to work on a closer one.) Make tons of memories. (Which I have done already.) Have lots of fun adventures. Like trail riding and what not!  
Just owning a horse has fulfilled my dream. It's been amazing and I have learned tons! I would really love to become a confident rider. To become a confident, accurate (doing things properly) rider in the near future, would be great!
Chester is so willing, gentle, knowledgeable and such a perfect first horse for me- he can fulfill most/all my dreams!  


This is day thirty, finally! Thanks ya'll for sticking with me as I made my way through this challenge. One of the reasons I did it, was so I had something to blog about; as I was running out of idea's and there wasn't much going on with Chester and all. 
It was fun- even though I wasn't super consistent with it. ;)

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

It's one of my favorite times of the year right now. It's the most wonderful time of the year! The time of year when we celebrate our Saviors birth!
One of the reasons I love this time of year, (besides celebrating Christs birth) is that everyone is happy, cheerful, nice and more polite then normal. People smile at you, say merry Christmas or happy holidays! It's so sad that people save there joyful spirits for this time of year. We should be celebrating Christmas every day and carry the joy of the season throughout the year!
I hope that anyone can see the joy of the Lord in me everyday and not only at Christmas time.

Another thing I love about this time of year, is the gift giving. I LOVE giving gifts. I love the smiles and laughter they bring. I have done lots of Christmas shopping this year and can't wait till all the secrets are out! =)
On Christmas day, I usually give Chester treats. Oats, carrots, extra grain and peppermint treats if I have any. Like I have said before, my horse is a picky eater. =( Other wise I would give him apples and other fun stuff.
I haven't gotten my horse any gifts though. In February there is a big used tack sale and I will hopefully be getting some tack there. So those can be his late Christmas gifts. =)
I have thought about getting him a hat or reindeer antlers but haven't spent the money on that yet....

What do you guys get your horses for Christmas? Do you do anything special with them?


                                        Isn't this the sweetest picture ever?!? I LOVE it!

                                               I thought this one was a fun one. =)

Can you imagine, if you were the one that came down on Christmas day to find this, under your tree?!
      

Day Twenty-Nine

Day Twenty-Nine- Favorite brands...boots, breeches, tops, helmets. ect.

I don't have any favorite brands. The cowgirl hat I have is a Stetson. So, I guess that's my favorite brand of hat. =) Boots....I got my boots at Beth's Western. It's a nice place! Haven't ever gotten breeches, tops or a helmet yet. I use a bike helmet right now. I know, totally out of fashion. But you do what you gotta do!
I love country outfitters boots! They are beautiful! I haven't owned any but they sure are pretty! 

One more day! =)