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~ 

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.)

                                      

Little Letters

Dear Followers: Thank you for being so awesome.


Dear Chester: Why do you have to be so stinkin cute?


Dear Saddle: Don't worry, your turn will come. Just keep on looking really cool.


Dear Round Pen: I want to use you so bad. But when you are full of puddles and silky mud it's really hard to.


Dear Blog: Sorry I haven't been faithful to you. You see, there isn't anything real exciting, horse wise, at the moment.


Dear Grass: You're back from a long winter's rest. As I watch you grow, feel free to fill my hills with lushess long arms for my pony to munch on.


Dear Wind: When I feel you on my face I can tell summer is on it's way. Please, do help it along it's way and get it here real soon.


Dear Birds: I've missed your songs you sing all summer long. I'm so glad you're back.


Dear Garden: I see you growing through the soft brown dirt and am so glad to once again nurture you as you grow.


Dear School Books: I am can see the light at the end of the tunnel and will once again be saying farewell; and this time it will be the last.


Dear Shiny Pony: I'm coming, I really am. I'm looking forward to the warm summer day's when I can ride you bareback with the sun on our faces and a breeze at our back.


Dear Winter Coat and Boots: Your turn is almost over.


Dear Lovely Cowboy Boots: You will soon be put to work. The work entails a horse, so don't worry, it won't be boring.


Dear Lawn Mower: We shall soon be close friends, once again.


Dear Iced Coffee and Iced Tea: Sorry Tea, I already had an iced coffee on a really warm day so I will have to figure out a time to have you.  


 Dear Sunshine: Please hurry!


Dear Rain: I love you, but do hurry up and leave. You have made our property so so wet. And I can't do anything when it's wet.


Dear Clear Night Sky: You. are. amazing. I could stare at you for ages.


Dear Moon: You are beautiful. 


Dear God: You are awesome and I love you. Lord, I need you, oh, I need you. Every hour I need you.

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! =)

Day Twenty-Five

Day Twenty-five- Your dream trailer

Here's my dream trailer....

           Ok, I know this is a crazy trailer! But hey, they said your dream trailer! =)

This is the same one as above, just white. Plus, it has more doors open.

Alright, going to, REALITY now....=)

I would love to own a trailer like this!

 This is a nice, safe, (more practical) trailer that I wouldn't mind owning. =) 

Day Twenty-Four

Day Twenty-four- Your best riding buddy.

Can my horse count? haha! I think they mean people though...I don't have a riding buddy. My friend and I, ever since I got Chester, have wanted to go on a trail ride. But we never have...I do hope to some day though! We share our riding experiences with each other and tell of our horse adventures we have with our steeds. And of course, I have asked her LOTS of horse questions over the past two years. Not so much anymore though. (She has had horses most of her life, so she has had lots of experience.)
She was the one that came with me to check out Chester and bring him home. I would consider her my best riding buddy. She has taught me a lot of what I know about horses.
But, my wonderful dad and youngest sister, I would consider my riding buddies too! My dad trailer-ed me and Chester for about three months, to ground work lessons and just to ride at the arena. My youngest sister came along and cheered us on! I think she would love to join us!

Those- my dad, Annie (youngest sister) and my horsey friend, are my best riding buddies!

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!

Don't We All Dream? And Winter Care For Horses.

Don't we all want to be like this with our horses? Or at least dream about it with the little girl that is within your heart?

I have been really busy the last few days and have slacked off of my blogging. I am hoping get back on track though and keep going with the thirty day challenge.
But, I have been keeping busy with Chester and made wonderful memories with him and been faced with challenges with him too. I am hoping to make some other blog posts rather then just the thirty day challenge.

I wanted to encourage you guys a little bit. If you guys are getting busy in life, challenges are coming up, things are changing, people are coming and going, your discouraged, excited or sad.....my encouragement?......(First look to the Lord for His peace and joy. Which He will freely give if you ask.)....But, also, go hug your horse. = ) Pause for a moment and count your blessings. Be thankful for the horsey friend that the Lord is allowing to be in your life right now. And for friends and family that are there for you. Christ is always there for you and is willing to carry your burdens. You just have to hand them over to Him.

Hey guys, I had this idea. Winter is coming and we are all getting ready to care for our horses in colder weather and perhaps wet rainy weather, I was wondering if you all would want to share your winter "tricks"/techniques for taking care of your horse during the winter. You could send them to me, then I would make them all into a post and post it on my blog for everyone to glean info from.
Your advice/tricks/techniques don't have to be that long, (they could be one sentence) or they could be a couple paragraphs. Up to you! I would give you total credit and have a link to your blog along with your advice.
Let me know what you all think! If I get enough people that want to do it, I will do another post letting you all know what we're going to do.

Happy Trails Ya'll!

Day Ten

Day Ten- How does your family and friends feel about your riding? 

My dad is a huge encouragement to me; he always wanted a horse growing up (a brown one) and when we got Chester he filled both of our dreams of getting a horse. And my dad got a brown horse too! He drives me and Chester to the arena and helps take care of him in the bigger ways: pays for food, farrier, gets hay and what not.
For specifically riding though, I think we agree that I need riding lessons to know how to do things properly and control Chester.

My mom- she trusts me when riding and trusts me to be wise while riding. She thinks it would be nice if I had ridding lessons too, to have the experience and to learn more.

Sisters- My youngest sister is ready to join me anytime and thinks Chester and I are improving.
My other sisters are great with it all.

My brothers- My oldest brother likes to ride Chester every once in a while. I'll tack Chester up, he'll ride around, then hand me the horse and he's done! = ) I don't mind!
My other brother thinks it's great I'm riding and could care less himself.

Grandparents- both Grandma's and Grandpa's are proud and very happy for me.

Friends- my good friend (I'll call her my horsey friend) is always encouraging and I don't know what she thinks of my riding. The last time she saw me ride was awhile ago so she probably thought I looked like a drunk clown riding a horse. = )
She's really encouraging with anything horse related.

Other Friends- might, think I'm a good rider and cowgirl. Well, sad to say I am by FAR a good rider and.....

Really, all the things that a cowboy or cowgirl wears, is really practical and necessary things to have around a horse.

I think I wandered away a little from what the question was asking. But it would've been pretty short if I didn't. = )
 

Day Seven

Day Seven- Your best ribbon.

I haven't showed at all so I don't have any ribbons. = ) I want to get into gaming but have no clue what they do for that type of stuff in that type of competition.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found some beautiful Autumn horse pictures and I thought I would share them with ya'll.

                                                              Is that not gorgeous?

                                   This one, looks pretty close to how it is around here.

              You all have a great weekend! Enjoy your horses and stay safe! ~ Country Girl

Day Five And Six

Day Five- The last time you rode your horse and what you did

I know, I slacked on my Wednesday post. Here it is though! 

Saturday was the last time I really rode Chester. I took him to the arena and rode him all tacked up and bareback too for a little bit. (Love bareback!) 
I set up some poles and did some pole bending. Oh ya! = ) Chester is teaching be how to do gaming while my teacher is out. He taught me how to barrel race last summer. (Summer 2012) I am far from actually doing it properly. But he was like, "Malory, this is how you barrel race. Just hold on and I will show you!" I held on and HE SHOWED me! Loved it though! 
Back to my teacher, if any of you didn't know, (I can't remember if I told you all or not) she fell off a horse and got a super bad concussion. She has been out for about six weeks and she probably won't be back for a while. In the mean time, I am going to the arena each Saturday, the time my lessons would be, and working and enjoying my horse. I have already gained lots of confidence and learned tons. But, I need some help in knowing what and how to do things. I am praying that my teacher will heal and be back soon.  

Chester is really good at turning. He'd rather go in tight circles than big ones. Just one more thing to work on! I think it's the barrel mode in him. 

 Trotting!

 Turning...

Go!

The first time I did poles with him, once I was comfortable, I asked for a little more speed. He cantered a little bit, and oh, his body was so smooth around those poles; he just bent right around the poles. So fun! I can't wait to see how far we get in a year or two!

Day six- Your most accomplished horse 

That would be Chester! He's a easy keeper, gentle, ideal husband/kid safe horse and good beginners horse. He was a search and rescue horse for a year, passed 4H horse- knows how to side pass (at least used to,) barrel race, pole bend and probably any gaming.
This is all I know, so he could have done/know a lot more.

 I have a question for you all. (Sorta going back to day five.)

How high or low are you supposed to hold your hands while riding? (That is, while using both hands and a snaffle bit.)

I think I'm holding my hands a little to low, but I really don't know. Plus, you can't really tell in those pictures of day five.

Day Two

Day Two- A picture of your horse.