~Spring Up~

Spring is finally here! I am very happy the weather is getting nicer and warmer and the mud is drying up! Chester has loads of energy and is super happy to start working again. We both are super excited for this summer.

I got him a big salt block the other day. I have gotten him a mineral rock in the past which he loved, but I have been wanting to try one of these big blocks for a while. I got this one with Selenium in it. The guy at the co-op said we lack that in our area. Thankfully Chester loves it!  

{Fail of a nice picture.}

I have worked him three times this spring. This was the second time. The first time was a bit of a challenge as we are both rusty and he had so much energy. Though, his second time out he was much more calm. So we were able to snap a few photos.  

I will forever love his fuzzy perked ears. 

We did ground work. After a little bit I was able to take off his lead rope and do join up. I just LOVE join up!! It does wonders for the both of us! It's simple, easy, effective and so natural. Maybe I'll do a post just on join up sometime. 

Giving him a reward (rubbing him) for doing good.

{Shedding!}

Back up at the barn- he saw something and as always had to make sure it wasn't anything scary. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Then I took Chester out on a sunny day to work and play. I was able to get some fun pictures of him.

{Happy pony!}

He was about to throw his head and jump up a little. :)

He joined up. I love my pony. 

"Uhh, are they doing somethin' up by my barn? I think I should go check it out."

We had a grand time in the fresh spring air!

Sun Lit Evenings. . .

Yesterday evening I wandered outside and picked a bucket of fresh grass for Chester. He really wanted to graze and was a little bored. I eventually just let him out to graze up by his yard. (That's was where the white fence was.) 

But before I let Chester out, he munched on the grass I had picked. The sun was starting to sink behind the hill and was warm and beautiful. I sat there with my pony as he munched on the fresh grass. It was a sweet little moment I had with Chester. 

Afterwards I went to pick him another bucket and he started nickering and whinnying at me for more grass. That's when I decided to just let the pony out to graze on his own. :) (There's no way I could pick enough to fill that stomach!) ;) He enjoyed it immensely and grazed until his dinner time. And of course he was right on time for dinner- he ran up and stood in front of his feeder. Because he wasn't going to miss out on grain!

   

The sun was quite bright, but it felt so good.

~Shadows~

Sunlight and horses never get old. 

.....Swish.....

Winter Sum Up!

Hi long lost blog! (That has been in the back of my mind for months!) I haven't forgotten about you. Life just decided to pick up speed and roll in a little different direction. 

Chester, yes, that is what this blog is about. My adventures with my sweet horse. (He will be turning 23 next week!) It's been winter for the past few months so there hasn't been anything real exciting to blog about. Recently it occurred to me, that I used to blog about everything horse. Not just when something exciting happened. Since then a few weeks have slipped by and now it's spring! I have worked Chester three times now and the good old days of horse sweat and dirt smudged cheeks are coming back. (awwww, I love summer.) 

 So here I am to give you a quick update on the past few months. 

January 

.......................

We did a lot of chilling out...didn't do much at all. 

Standing and looking majestic. 

I took him out this particular day to stretch his legs and graze on the lead. Well, he did fine for the first 15 minutes. Then he flipped and wanted back to his barn as fast as possible. I wasn't ready to go back up and I wasn't about to let him get away with telling me what to do. I put him to work by sending him in circles and backing up. He tolerated that for a couple minutes then decided he would have none of that. He freaked out-ran around me like a crazy horse bucking, kicking and tossing his head, sliding here and there in the wet soggy ground and making huge hoof holes in the ground. For about 30 seconds all I did was make sure I didn't get kicked in the head or run over. I'll tell you, dealing with horses isn't easy. And even the sweetest horse in the world can spook, be rusty at ground manners, or just have have a bad day. Since I hadn't worked him in a few months he had tons of energy and I was rusty at knowing how to deal with the situation. Once I got him under control we headed back to the barn as safely as possible. 

You know how people say certain things take blood, sweat and tears? Well that day brought forth the tears. 

Thus in this picture, Chester may look majestic, but he is probably thinking about what just happened. 

           

We took some selfies...or tried. In the first one he was eating my coat. :P

He started losing fur on his face-from rubbing his head on his feeder and from my not keeping him clean enough. I put bag balm on it and some Eden salve. Both helped and he healed quickly. You can see the balm on his face in this picture. 

We had some nice grooming sessions. This day (Same day day as above picture) I tied him to a tree but he ended up just standing there on his own. I just wanted him to work on tying in case I ever need to tie him up. Then when I went to take pictures of him he followed me around and wanted to smell my phone so I clipped on the lead rope again. 

"Are there any treats in there?"

~ Chester ~

 A winter morning- where sunlight shines down on my fuzzy horse and his mud filled yard. 

 Looking in the other direction into the barn. He's enjoying some crunchy hay on a cold crisp morning.

"What are you doing?" 

"Taking a picture." 

"Okay I'll go back to eating my breakfast."

"Okay, sounds good."

  A quick carrot and a selfie between cleaning jobs. 

February

...............................

We sold our trailer. We weren't using it and it was going to need a couple touch ups in the future so we decided it would be best to sell it now. And now I will be able to go to collage in the fall. (Baking Art) Hopefully we will also be able to use some of the profit to get sand for our round pen. :) 

We're goofy and it's okay.

Starting him on fresh grass once again. 

I love this picture. You can see a small part of our little farm. 

One day we hung out on the hill out back. The only dry/firm ground on our property at the time. It was a really nice and warm (54) Saturday. 

One of the things I noticed right away when I first saw Chester, was how big his eyes were. I still love his big soft eyes. 

Hopefully I will be able to have some more exciting posts coming up! So stay tuned! 

~Happy trails~ 

Three Blessed Years

Wednesday, (12/10/14) marked three years I have had Chester. I can't believe it. Those three years zoomed by like a blink of an eye. I have made many memories since I brought my very first horse home and I have learned tons. I have cried with Chester, laughed with him, been mad and frustrated with him and over joyed at what he did or we accomplished. But over these passed three years I have thanked the Lord many times for allowing me to have a horse and providing this "perfect" pony for me.
I am sure I have said in past posts that he was exactly what we had been praying and patiently waiting for. God couldn't have provided a more perfect horse. (Of course, He's God, what do I expect?) I am still thanking the Lord for giving me Chester. Every few months I go into shock that I own a horse. It's crazy. Completely amazing. And that's what our God is. Completely amazing and He can make your impossible (or what seems impossible) dreams, come true. He made my dream come true, with Chester.

So last year I did two flash backs, of the first two years with Chester. This time I am going to share some highlights of this past year.

January;

February;

We got our first round pen.

Getting exercise in the winter by taking walks out to the field. My dirty pony. :)

                                             We started taking selfies...


                                                       Marsh...I mean March; ;)
                                 The rain was still here but we did what we could. 

We took some nice pictures...

                                                            And goofy ones, too. :)

 As we started to use our round pen we started dealing with him being barn sour. Besides him having tons have energy from not doing to much for a few months. 

                                                        That tongue though! :)

                                                                       April;

He started longing for fresh spring grass...

... and I slowly started him on grass.

We worked on taking more selfies- this one was after we did some ground work. It was a good horse day. Like every day in life you have ones that are "better" then others. Chester was great that day.

May;

The sun started showing it's face so we had the opportunity to do ground work.

                                 It got warmer and we were able to start riding again.

Noo, we aren't done taking pictures yet Chester. :)

 Then Chester had Colic- go read A Deeper Love for the story.

Keeping the Colic away by making sure he gets more fresh grass. And...another horse selfie.

                                                      Chester being his sweet self.

June;

     I graduated from high school and was really busy with that so we didn't do a whole lot.

After I took him out to graze.

He decided to show me how to take a selfie since he thought I wasn't doing a good job.

He didn't do to bad!

I wanted to take some conformation pictures but our driveway is on a hill. So it didn't quite work.

"Oh my goodness! I think there is something down there!"

Shiny!!

 I rode him around a little bit in the front yard and he did fabulous! I let him graze and I took some pictures. (Same day as "conformation pictures.) 

                                           He's like, "Awww, I have to stop eating?" 

                                                                   Curious pony...

In these pictures I wasn't even holding him...Aaaaaaa, he did so good! :)

I think I have a gorgeous horse..hee, hee. 

Long tail and shiny coat! 

I one a horse giveaway. I got: horse treats, split reins, a tail bag, rhythm beads and twinkle toes. :) It was really fun winning.

July:

  Had a small casual photo shoot.

                                                           This is my favorite. :)

August; 

I finally tried out the twinkle toes. I put it on his hooves, then we took some pictures. It's a little hard to see it, but you still can.

Haha, his tongue!

Twinkle toes! I think he looks great with blue hooves. :) I needed to go to a horse show! 

He's a cute one! 

Twinkle toes is like clear fingernail polish with sparkles. 

Oh, and side note: don't wear a nice hat when you are putting "Twinkle Toes" on your horse. Because he may bump your hat with his knee and get Twinkle Toes on it, and it doesn't really come off. 

Then I took him out to ride and he was a sassy pony. 

My steed...

We had a fairly hot summer so we had many days where we cooled off with the hose. He liked to get hosed down while he grazed. (Spoiled pony.)

This is one of my favorite summer pictures.

      My sisters got to ride him. He did great giving them rides. He was sweet and gentle.

                                                           This is Emmali...

Ashly...

                                          Annie...        Look at Chester listening to her. He's so good!

He even started following me around and when he was going to pass by me he stopped. :)

September;

We figured out that he does like apples...but they have to be right off the tree, not store bought. Makes you wonder what they put on the apples that makes a horse not want to eat them.

Then I had my birthday. We finally got to go on a trail ride! My first trail ride ever and  mine and Chester's first trail ride together. He did great, but was pretty excited. It went well though. 

                                                                  I love this one. :)

October;

The horse is on the wrong side of the fence! ;)

November;

                                                                December; 

           We actually got some snow! I was able to get some cute pictures of Chester.

What are you doing? You have any carrots?

Are you sure?

Look what Papa just brought you. Carrot!!

Eating snow off the fence...

He decided to slurp the water through the ice, instead of drinking the nice clean water that I carried up for him from the house. Of course! ;)

I spy...a pony.

That about sums up  the year 2014 for me and Chester. I hope you enjoyed the million pictures for our third year anniversary.