Flash Back To June

On this rainy, wet, soggy, dark, cold October day I think it perfect to flash back to June. When the weather was nicer, warmer and much more enjoyable over all. This was all after he coliced...maybe a month. So I was still keeping an eye on him in that light. I was pretty busy in June finishing up my senior year of high school; then with my graduation. So our time spent together mainly consisted of him grazing while we just hung out. Sometimes that's all you need to do with your horse. Simple bonding time. Even though I wish I could ride him more, or had ridden him more when I had the opportunity, it's not all about riding. I haven't ridden my horse as much as other people do. But I have built a great relationship with him because I have spent time doing simple things; like hanging out while he grazes and talking to him while I brush him. Riding definitely improves your relationship for better or for worse. BUT, riding isn't everything. Sometimes it's in those quite moments that the horse shows you that he trusts you. Not just when you ask him to jump that 4' jump.

I had taken him out to graze and he didn't want to come back in. He's so sweet and gentle. 

Sweet boy wants to go back out. Then I decided to try to take a selfie together. I took about ten and I got one good one. Or more like one that I approved of. :P But Hey, horses have big heads. Haha!

It's not too bad...

I really like this picture, even though there is a huge lens flare. He looks great; so handsome. 

Then I graduated from high school. Big moment in my life. This was my outfit for my graduation party/ceremony.

Chester day dreaming. Or more like longing to go out to graze. I really like this picture too. You can even see his eye lashes. 

Then, I got this horrible super scary stuff (to Chester). Fly spray. Yep, one of Chester's worst fears. The flies were getting really bad and I didn't have any. So I looked around at different brands and finally decided on this one that I bought off amazon. I like it: it works well and lasts awhile. It smells like lemon. :P 

This is Chester being cute. We were out just walking around while Papa was doing something in his yard. Well, Chester grazed most of the time. 

Staying hydrated with fresh clean cool water. 

Doing whatever...probably finding a place to roll. 

There is most of our June...slow, but we had some good bonding time.

I hope you all had a nice week. Thank you so much for all the sweet comments I have gotten on the last two posts. It makes me feel special that you care enough to comment and take the time to read my blog. Thank you for that!

When Autumn Dawns And Summer Fades...

It's been a while since I have written anything for this blog. It's been months. A summer full of adventures, smiles, trials, tears, laughter, pictures, memories and much more. I thought often of my blog, all summer long. 

Ie. "Oh I would love to post about this on my blog. This would be a great picture for my blog!" 

But, I never sat down and took the time to share with you. I am sorry for that. That was never intended. I promise! A warmer breeze came and carried me away into blissful summer adventures.  

 I am starting to think of this blog as my journal. And that is what it truly is. A journal that I can look back on. One that you guys can read, be encouraged by or encourage me. (I have loved getting encouraging comments from my faithful followers.) :)

I made a video of my summer. It's a mixture of horse pictures, family pictures and what not. It will give you all a fly-over of my summer. I want to share the adventures I had this summer and the many pictures I took of Chester. I'm still trying to decided how I want to do that. Whether to post them all at once or post them slowly once a week. (What do you think?!?)

I am going to be redoing my layout- It's in much need of a makeover. As I'm sure you all agree. :)

Here's the video!

 (If you open it up on YouTube you can view it bigger.)

                                      

Mr. Fuzzy Ears

A little bit ago I went out with my phone and took some pictures of mr. fuzzy ears. It was a sunny day and I think the round pen was wet to I couldn't do anything with him. Right after I took these pictures, I let him out to graze right outside his yard. I had put up the white fence so then I would leave his main gate and another section open. Allowing him to go back in if he wanted to. Which, a few times he ran back in. =)   

                                                            Mr. fuzzy ears himself!

                                                                ~Day dreaming~
 (I love this picture!)

                                   "Did you get the picture, or should I look back again?"

                                                   A little blurry but a unique picture.

 He wants out so bad! He would undo the gate if he could! ;) Sometimes he stands there and knocks the gate trying to get it open.

This was a few weeks ago so he is now a lot less fuzzy. He's shiny now! I will get a post up with more recent pictures real soon!

Oh Boy....I'm Sorry!

Wow, I'm so sorry I have been such a slacker on blog posting! I will admit....Instagram as gotten the attention instead.
We have been having some nice weather recently. (Where the sun is shining and the air is warmer.) Which means things are drying up. Like, the round pen!! Last week I worked him three times and rode him twice! (I am so excited for this summer!) Just after working him four times, (really only two main times, the other two were really "short workouts") Chester is loads better! He is much calmer now, not as hyper and is respecting me more. There was a little bit there where I was very nervous about taking him out of his yard. Because when I did he would get really energetic and there was a couple times he got so excited about being out and had so much energy that he started bucking and kicking. Not aggressively, just out of pure excitement and joy.
Don't get me wrong, he still has lots of energy, but isn't having those bucking "episodes". Which I am very happy about as those scared me. I tell you, he is in Great shape for an older guy! =)

I was so happy to get on him and ride around. It's been awhile since I had a ride like that. I have to say though, I have only ridden him one other time this winter. Besides practicing jumping up on him bareback. =) 
I was going to work and ride him the other day but was pleasantly reminded that a little rain around here goes far! We had gotten a little rain the night before so the round pen was just a little to wet to work in. He slid around while trying to trot on the lunge line. So since I already was doing good with him that week having had him out twice-worked and rode him- I figured it would be fine if we called it a day and I let him pop all the heads off the dandelions that have sprung up recently. :)

Breaking It In; Bit By Bit!

Well, I didn't exactly break the round pen in bit by bit. The first time I brought Chester in there, it wasn't anything special to him. (Which was Tuesday.) We weren't in there that long, maybe thirty minutes....why? Well, it's winter here and now (hopefully) spring is on it's way. But, for the past three to four months I haven't been doing much with Chester. So from going to the arena almost every weekend, and working him once a week, to not much at all.....my boy has (now had!!) A LOT OF energy. There was one week when I took him for about four walks. Other then that, I have only lunged him a couple times, and a few walks this whole winter.

I had noticed that when I would take him out that he was getting pushy (not respecting my space) and head strong. Plus, last fall he decided he was going to be barn sour. So, a horse with tons of energy + no respect + being barn sour = a "crazy" horse. Now, he was not truly crazy. He was just  "high strung" or something of the sort. I am pretty much a beginner with horses. I have had Chester for two and a half years. I don't really know when you would not be a "beginner" any more. But that doesn't really matter. Before I got Chester the Lord gave me a chance to take care of a friend's horse for ten days and get to know how it is to own a horse. That was a huge blessing and prepared me for my own horse. It was a great opportunity. I also got to take some riding lessons one summer when I was 7 and 8. I started when I was seven and turned eight in the mean time. (If that makes sense.) Those were my only horse experiences before I got Chester.
Chester is the horse that I have learned the most with. He was the one who started my ride through the horse world. =) With that said, when new things happen with Chester most likely it's my first time in that situation and first time dealing with it. He may be just acting like a horse or doing what horses do, and I'm like, "what's my horse doing!?" If that makes sense at all. =)

Ok, now I'll go back to using the round pen for the first time. I didn't know what to do with my horse. He was not respecting me and had loads of energy. After being out there for a little bit, I decided to be done (after ending on somewhat of a good note) and put him away until I knew what to do. Neither of us were too happy. He was the most energetic I have ever seen him. That is saying something since I have had him for two and a half years.

Well, I emailed my horsey friend (aka: my friend who had helped me tons with Chester and even went with me to buy him) and asked her if she could come over and help us both. The wonderful person she is, she actually came over the next morning, on Wednesday, bright and early at 8:15! She worked with Chester for a couple hours and gave us both a reminder on ground work. It was such a blessing and a good needed reminder on how to handle certain situations. Chester was different and calmer just after those two hours. Thank you, horsey friend! =)

I told someone the other day; "the horse ocean is deep and wide. You have to take swimming lessons to learn how to swim and then keep practicing what you've learned to stay afloat. And then, it takes years to become a strong swimmer."
Just think of that all in horse sense. =)

After we had worked him, I brought him breakfast and decided to leave him in the round pen for the rest of the day. To work on his "barn sourness". That kinda sounds weird...oh well! (Sorry about my grammar, Grandma.) =)
Anyway, he stayed out there till about four thirty, to his dismay. He did fine, though, and then I put him out there all Thursday and half of Friday. He's doing better every day! He is very safe out there and I am constantly watching him. I will keep putting him out there for about another week. I feed him his breakfast out there, but so far he hasn't eaten a whole lot of it. Silly boy!

Today I went out and worked him and even hopped on and walked him around. He did really good! I think I am going to set some goals for myself. I probably do a post on them. =)

Chester has done a good job at breaking it in- hasn't he? Well, more like he was running around because he didn't want to be down there- therefore it is 90% mud and dirt now. Not that I wanted it mud; it would have been nice to keep it grass. He's a horse in Washington though, what do you expect?
Isn't he purtty!! =) (Even though he's dirty...) He has a long back. A couple people have told me that. I think it's the Thoroughbred in him.

A quick question for ya'll. What are your opinions on, sweat scrapers? (I know, I know, sorry about the weird sort of question.)
In the past few days he has been quite sweaty, since he has been working and not happy about being in the round pen. Do you guys use sweat scrapers? I know they are pretty cheap, but are they worth your money?

I hope you and your ponies have had a nice week. The weather was nice starting on Tuesday and has been gorgeous! It's not supposed to last and I know it won't since it's only February. (March tomorrow) But it makes me excited for summer. Therefore, I will make goals for this summer and take advantage of the nice weather when I can!  

Have a great weekend!
Warm summer thoughts from Malory and her pony, Chester.

Tuesday's Special!

I got this super cute idea! Every Tuesday I will "tack" up on my blog random pictures. And I won't necessarily say anything. Like, Wordless Wednesday. But a little different....because I don't want to do Wordless Wednesday. =)
Here are the name ideas that I have; Tack Board Tuesday, Tack Up Tuesday, Tacked Up Tuesday
TB Tuesday or Tack Board Ts. What do you all think? What one do you guys like best? Any ideas?

Here is a tack board picture!
Note: I am still figuring out how the pictures are going to be "tacked" up. I might try a few different ways before I decided on the, one way, I will do it each time.

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~

Hair Cuts All-around!

 Chester is sorta known for his long thick tail. He does have a nice thick, black tail....I will admit. =) He prefers it tangled and dirty, with leaves or ceder branches decorating it. I have to admit though, brushing his tail is not my favorite thing to do! I don't do it that often. =/ I have conditioner I put in it every once in awhile; it helps de-tangle it. Which is really nice. And then for the next couple days after I use it, he smells really good like hair conditioner. Haha, it's kind of odd to walk past your horse and smell a clean soap like smell. =)
Well, it had gotten quite long. So long he would step on it coming out of the trailer. =/ That's when I realized I needed to cut it. It was dragging in the mud and was such a stringy mess! 
I have trimmed it a couple times. Like, an inch and a half one time and then maybe two inches another time; not much. But I have never cut any of his main, tail or anything else before.

After putting it off- as I wanted to bring the camera out there and take pictures- I finally just did it!
Oh my! Does it look great! It looks so nice and neat! I basically cut it straight across. For a while I had in mind that when I cut it, I wanted it to look natural. I changed my mind though and decided I wanted to look nice and neat; I cut straight across! =) And it looks nice and neat!

Note: I put some conditioner in his tail before I cut it- that's why it looks wet. =) Because it is! =)

                                                                      Before...

                                                                      Before....

                                                                       After!

                                        After! (I think he's taking a step forward there.) =)

                                                   After; I think it looks so good!




Back in December, I decided to cut my hair, too! I have had long hair most of my life. Like, really long hair. In the past few (3-4) years I have started to try different styles. Trust me, my styles are; layers this way, then maybe longer layers that way. Not like black or purple hair. =) Taking it slow, and not doing things too drastic. This is the shortest hair cut I have gotten. It is definitely different for me. =) It has it's pros and cons though. Like you can't make that many different kinds of buns with it. But yet it is loads easier to curl! I like it- it's fun to have something different!

                                                       Before.... (That is straightened)

                                                   After! (And that is curled.)

How often do you guys trim, cut or pull your horses manes or tails? How do you do it? I'd love to hear all about it!! Do tell! =)

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! 

I'm going....Don't stop!

Today was the third day in a row, I have taken Chester out. I am absolutely, totally, completely proud of myself! I mean, this is the most I have taken him out for a while. We have been having so much fun; practicing tricks, grazing and taking walks. It wasn't quite easy at first because he had so much energy, but sense he has been exercising, he is getting calmer. Which it's very nice to walk a farm pony instead of a race horse. =) haha! Thankfully it hasn't been raining, so I will try my best to keep going until it returns. It's bound to; it's only January. I seem to get a little depressed in March when everything is sopping wet and we're both sick of winter weather. But once I hand my horse life over to the Lord, He always blesses me in a special way and Spring starts showing signs that it's going to pack up and head out.

Here are some pictures from a couple of the times I took him out.

Side note;
I got my first phone in December, so now I can take quick photos. But, that also means not so good quality pictures. I am getting a new phone though, so they will be a little better.
Sorry if they're blurry or the color is off. =/

Monday; my dirty beast. Actually he's not that bad.

                                                 Munch, munch- I gave him a carrot.
I rarely tie him to the hitching post. Rarely. Like, I could count how many times. At the most ten times?
(I usually just have him stand there while I brush him or what-not. He's pretty good about it. He falls asleep when I brush him. =) Oh, and I keep him in his yard when I do that.) =)

He did a really good though. He didn't pull on the rope to get the grass the whole time. He only tried a couple times but I told him no and he just stood there, like a good boy!

  Isn't he cute?

 What's your guys rating on my hitching post?? I made it myself! I actually need to fix it because one of the posts is lose.

At one point, he got a black berry bush stuck on his head. He was just standing there and when he lifted up his head it was right above it. Most of you probably don't have blackberry bushes....be thankful! haha! Anyways! He freaked out but I grabbed his halter and told him to calm down and he stayed still for me to lift it off his head. Silly horse. I can wrap a scarf around his head but when a blackberry bush lays over his head he gets all scared. Well, now that I think about it, he could have thought it was barbed wire.
He has some scares on his back legs from getting cut by barbed wire when he was little.

A little story real quick.....
One time I went to feed him and he was standing in his yard so I went up to him and said hi. Afterwards though, instead of following me up, he stood there,weirdly turning his head to his sides. Like he was in pain or something. I was thinking he might not be well. But as I stood there at the top of the hill trying to figure it out, he slowly moved one of his back legs forward. All of a sudden, he took off up the hill. And as he ran a blackberry bush flew up, a little into the air. I then realized that he had gotten a blackberry bush caught on his tail and (later I found out, because of a spot of blood) on his leg.

                                                       "Can I please have that carrot?"
                                            I was holding a carrot up by my phone. =)

                 "I think there's something over there."       Oh really? Well we'll go see in a little bit.

Hope you guys are having a nice week and you are enjoying your horses! And your wonderful family's, too! =)

Day Twenty-Seven

Day Twenty-Seven-You know you're an equestrian when....(list five things)

When you can't watch a horse movie without analyzing the horse, watching the horses reactions to certain things, watching really closely the person working with the horse and seeing how they do things.

You cluck to other animals and treat them like a horse.

You look at peoples barns as you drive by.

You can spot every horse trailer that passes you on the road. (I don't think one can pass our car without me seeing it.) =)

When you can smell hay and tell if it's good. Stale, sweet, rotten, ect.

You spot a green open field and think how wonderful it would be to ride in it, and how many horses it could feed.

When you own over four different types of boots. (Cowboy boots, mud boots, work boots, snow boots and dress cowgirl boots.)

You love burying your face in the fur of a fuzzy horse. (And taking a deep breath!!) =)

You love the smell of horses and leather!

From A Dream To Reality

Chester, made my dream become reality.
Two years ago today, I met and brought home my horse Chester.
And the story begins....

Once we decided we were going to get a horse, we started the process of building a home for our new animal and I started my search for, my horse. Crazy! After years of looking at horse books (and finding the smallest ones there were in the books) = ) there I was, looking for a horse to buy. After a year and three months, we found Chester. If I remember right, I saw his add and thought he was not super pretty, kinda bony and was two hours away so we definitely couldn't get him. Well, maybe less then a week later, my dad saw his add and asked me what I thought. I said it looked like a nice horse, a little older then we wanted... but it was two hours away! Well, my dad emailed the owner and that started a chain of emails. The horse was available, but there were other people in line to look at him. We were first in line though so we had first grabs. = )

We started praying once we decided we were going to dive into this horse thing. Praying that the Lord would provide a horse if He wanted us to have one. I want to tell you guys, we prayed for a gelding, any color, (not white though) 14.2 hands, a good price, experienced, (I prayed it wouldn't be perfect so I could work on something with it. Ok, stop laughing!) = ) and anywhere from 10 to 15 years. Well, we were praying for a 15 year old gelding, 14.2 hands. What did the Lord provide? A 16 year old gelding, 14.3 hands. Is that amazing or what!?!

We had to drive over the mountain pass to go see him. So after praying, and deciding that this was probably the one, we scheduled a time to see him. We found Chester's add online Tuesday and bought and brought him home Saturday. We borrowed our neighbors horse trailer, and had a friend come with us. We set out at six a clock Saturday morning to go get my wild steed. You can probably image how I felt. Was this the one? I might be getting a horse today!! I was excited but not overly as I didn't want to get my hopes to high.
 Well, after over two hours of traveling, we reached the place and got out of the car into a thick fog. (It was really hard finding the place, it was so foggy.) "I think this is it!," said my dad.
 "Oh ya, here he comes," I said.
Then. Far off, through the thick fog, comes a man silently leading a horse. The horse walking respectfully at his leaders side, if not a little behind.
That memory will always be graven in my mind. The first moment, I saw my first horse.
Shorty was his name. Not too loving, uh? It was December, so he was all fuzzy. He had icicles on his mane, tail, eyelashes and even his nose hairs, but he didn't seem cold. He stood there patiently as we looked at him and I stood there smiling and stroking his fuzzy fur. My friend got to work right away and felt his bones/body and asked some important questions. The guy gave me the lead rope and I walked him down the field/yard. He was SO cute and he was very gently and respectful.
In the pictures online, it didn't show his face from straight on, so we thought he was bay with black legs. When we saw him, he had this ADORABLE star and blaze running down his face with another star on his nose. I think that was a total bonus and made me fall in love with him. = )

After me and my Dad had a little chat, we said we wanted him and my dad headed inside to do business. My friend and I walked Shorty, (Chester) over and tied him to the trailer. But, as they were taking a little bit inside, my friend asked me if I wanted to get on Chester. I said no....not sure why, I probably was nerves. She asked if she could and I said yes, so she hopped on bareback and trotted him across the yard. As she did she hollered over her shoulder, "He has a bouncy trot!" And, my horse adventure started! = )

We then loaded him up in the trailer- he loaded like a breeze! They guy gave me one of Chester's brushes and the rest of his grain. He also came with his halter and lead rope.
Then, we started for home, trailer full! And I, was a new horse owner with my very first horse.

I am so glad I got Chester and am so thankful for him! It took me about three months to name him. Have you guys ever gone online and looked up horse names? Don't. I found a site that had horse names from A-Z that had several pages per letter. That was a mistake. = /
His name changed from Shorty to Chester. =)

I love you Chester!

                                                                     Full trailer!!!

                                                                   From a dream....

                                                                    ....to reality!

My next post, I'm going to take a walk down memory lane, with LOTS of pictures!