~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~