All about my horses!

Monthly Archives: November 2011

Mounting Block Fun with Lucky Star

Lucky Star is  willing.

We practiced the mounting block game where the horse has to stand perfectly still besides the mounting block.  They like to stand with their nose pointed at you instead of their back being available.  It takes a little while for them to realize what your goal is.  When ever the horse comes to the mounting block in the correct manner, they get a lot of rubbing and petting.

Pine Dell Farm has  got a mounting block for a handicapped individual and then another riser on top of the mounting block.  I stood up so high in the air that my nose was wanting to bleed.  I would have to leap down to get on Lucky.  My feet were  probably right where his withers are.  In fact, I have to be careful about getting dizzy and falling off.  I bet Lucky has never seen such a tall person.

Lucky had to come around one of those orange barrels with the helium balloon sticking up.  He had to go between the orange balloon barrel and the blue barrels to get to come into the mounting block.  I was so high up that I was able to lift the lead rope over the balloon,.  It was a tight squeeze and the rope occasionally caught the balloon and made it move.

That took several tries.  He was able to get around the balloon barrel but it was tense after that for him to come and stand perfectly still.  He did it!

He’s such a good boy!

Sunset with Lucky Star

Sunset with Lucky Star by susanfxtrt

Here’s what I love about Lucky Star:

  1. His confidence
  2. His calmness – which relates to confidence
  3. His left brain – which is really #1 and #2
  4. His impulsion – on the low side.  I love a horse that would rather stop than bolt.  It’s easy to speed a horse up, but if they bolt out of the blue, that makes me a grumpy (terrified) horse woman.  Ok, maybe this is all connect to #1, #2, and #3 above.
  5. He is playful, but not too much.  His brain isn’t going 100 mph thinking about the entire world and how he can play with it.  His nose doesn’t beat my hand to an object.  I get to touch and object without there being a horse nose in the way.
  6. I’ve seen him go right brained and he freezes.  See #4.  I love a horse that doesn’t get scared and bolt.  Today during our lesson, a neighbor started up a Johnny Popper tractor. For some reason, that bothered him and he went right brained.  We played the squeeze game around a barrel to get over it.
  7. His fox trot – completely natural and he’s got a reach with those front legs.  He’s going to be smooth to ride and we will be looking fabulous.
  8. His canter – same lead with both front and hind legs.  Finding the canter on a gaited horse is a happy occasion.  Finding a smooth canter is fabulous
  9. He comes to me and follows me at liberty.  That means I can let him loose and he will follow me all over the arena.  I can have him round around the run pen and then I can tell him to come to me.  He does it.  Pretty cool for the short time I’ve had him
  10. His trust and willingness to try what I want him to do.  See #1 etc above.
  11. I love mares, but having a gelding is a whole lot of darn fun.  I get to be the dominant mare most of the time with Lucky Star.

We are playing the Parelli Seven Games at Pine Dell Farm.  If you see me there, ask me how he got his name!  I love telling his story!


Boring

Boring by susanfxtrt

I asked her, “What am I supposed to do with a helium balloon?  Bite it or ignore it?”

She told me it had been a prop in the despooking clinic last week.  “Despooking, I said?  You mean this is supposed to be scary?  Oh come on.  Let’s do something exciting!”

“Smile”, she sez!

The trailer ride was still exciting. Especially on the way home when I got my halter hooked on something and I couldn’t move. when my mom opened the door to the trailer, she knew right away I was caught.  She just ripped the halter off my head.  Then I stepped out and we walked together to the barn where I got some delicious food.

This training stuff is giving me something to do during the day.  I like that.


My First Letter

photo.JPG by susanfxtrt

Dear Tony and Jenny  Vaught

I’ve heard that you get to ride me and get me ready for my new Mom to ride.  Well, bring it on!

Mom told me today that one of the rules before anyone would ride me is:

“Someone has to bounce a ball off my back”

I’ve just got to tell you, “That was nothing!”  I liked the ball.  I liked following the ball. When I caught it, I tried to eat it.  My mom and I followed the ball for quite a while before I got to push it and try to eat it.  My new mom tried to trip me.  She put the ball under my belly. Did she think I would ge scared of the ball underneath my belly?  Ha!  What a concept!    I let one of my back legs knock it out from under me.  Next mom thought it was fun to pick the ball up and rub my back with it.  You should have seen her try to handle that big ball.  It made me chuckle inside.  I  ignored her while she was bouncing the ball off my back. There were more interesting things for me to look at, than to think about a ball bouncing off my back.

The thing that makes me nervous is traveling in the trailer.  It was six long miles to the stable.  I’m all by myself in the trailer. I don’t like that feeling of not being in charge of the world.  I worked up a bit of a sweat.  I did screaml to all the pasture horses living along our six mile route, but none of them tried to help me out of that trailer.

No worry, as soon as I got in that arena and walked around for a couple of minutes, I rolled and soaked up that sweat. It felt so good that I rolled again several minutes later.

My mom showed me helium ballons tied to barrels. She got me to step up on a round thing. She told me that elephants have fun with these things in circuses.  “huh?”

Then we went thru a gate with all these things hanging down in my way.  I smelled them as I went thru them.  Mom called them noodles, but they were not anything that I would ever eat!

We went into this big round enclosure.  I thought it was pretty cool because there were horses there in stalls.  I tried to dominate them, but they were just too nice to take up my challenge.

Them my mom did weird stuff. She let me loose and tried to “own my hindquarters”.  Of course I ignored her and walked off.  Here’s the surprise stuff. She made me run.  I had to fox trot and then I had to canter.  She smiled.  I saw her. But she had this ridiculous idea that I should keep going.  My idea of a run in a circle is to stop.  Why waste all that effort.  Finally she looked at my hindquarters and I decided that maybe she did own my hindquarters, so I came into the center and faced her belly.

She was quite pleased with me.  I could tell because she rubbed me and made me feel good.

I was shocked when she wanted me to go back out on that ridiculous circle and run the other way. We argued a bit.  I didn’t want to go that way and I certainly did not want to run.  Finally, I let her win and fox trotted and then cantered.

She told someone that she loved my canter.  Well, who wouldn’t!?  She told the same person to look at my big front end when I was fox trotting.  I am pretty proud of my muscular development!  I can push any horse around with that big front end!

There was a pole in the round pen that I had to step over when I was running around.  Just to please her, I ignored the pole and trotted and cantered over it like it didn’t exist.

She tried to own my hindquarters again.  I get it!  I get to stop.  I came into the middle with her and followed her over to the wall where she had left my halter.

She told me that I was the “BEST” and we were going back home.  I decided to believe her and got right in the trailer.  It made me sweat again and I did yell at all the pasture horses on the way home.  Again, no one tried to save me.  She really did take me home and treated me like a prince.

I think she is going to be OK and fit in with me.  I had a good time today except for the trailer rides. Bring it on!

Lucy Star


It’s All There in the Name!

Country Frank was a great stallion in the Missouri Fox Trotter breed.  He was World Grand Champion and beloved by everyone.  He left us too soon.  Our boy was the last stud colt born out of Country Frank.  He has  got a lot of fabulous and beloved blood running thru his short stocky body!

Can you imagine the excitement of expecting a Country Frank foal? That’s what Teresa was feeling one night when the foaling camera caught the mother acting like birth was coming soon.

Teresa stepped out of her house and immediately noticed the big bright star shining in the sky. She thought it must be the same star that hovered over the stable long ago in Bethlehem.  It was  huge and bright and shining.  If fact, it was shining right over the corner of the foaling barn.

The foaling process had started but the process was labored.  When it was all over, Teresa’s mare had delivered twins. She delivered a living foal and a foal that had died sometime during it’s development  The death of the twin meant that all the needed blood and nutrition was shunted to the living foal and sadly, that was “lucky”.  Usually twin foals are delivered dead or die soon upon arrival.

New born foals are skin stretched over long bones.  Lucky Star was just like any other newborn foal.  But, he developed pneumonia soon after his amazing delivery on the ground.  A new born foal with pneumonia?  Teresa was determined he should live and was treating him day and night.  Teresa states, “I would tell you that Lucky is alive today because of the grace of God-he survived against all odds.  I was merely God’s chosen instrument of healing that would set him on the path to his special purpose in this life.”

He survived and grew up in the best of places.  Being sick, Teresa spent a lot of time with him, even more than she usually does a new born foal.  Our boy got a lot of desensitizing in his first desperate days of hanging on to his life.

After Teresa and the foal decided he would live, Teresa named him.

Can you guess it?

Country Frank’s Lucky Star

Lucky Star begins another part of his journey to finished saddle horse..smooth gaiting…calm and confident….athletic with the body to do anything his rider asks being super trail horse or ranch horse!

Lucky to live; Born under the Star of Bethlehem and he does have a star right in the middle of his forehead.

Lucky Star is the kind of horse that people are searching for:  Short, stocky, good mind, confident and gaited.  YAA HOO!  What fun 2012 is going to be for Lucky Star and I!

Here’s how Teresa ends this story, “The Star of Bethlehem was directly over the corner of the barn where the foaling star was.  There was no mistaking that this was a special occurrence-a very special birth just like the one of long ago.  I know that Lucky is destined to something very special in this world.  Time will tell us what that is and YOU are now part of that process!”

Now there’s a big gulp on my part!  I have a big responsibility to bring Country Frank’s Lucky Star along his path of destiny!

Country Frank’s Lucky Star Picture!

photo.JPG by susanfxtrt
photo.JPG, a photo by susanfxtrt on Flickr.

Meet Lucky Star! He’s my Lucky Star day to have him as my 2012 project! He’s fantastically naturally gaited, confident and left brained. He’s light. He has been started with no problem at all. He’s been unemployed as a pasture horse until 11/20/11 when he came home to live in my pasture. I plan to develop him and ride him at the Missouri World Celebration in Ava, Mo in September 2012. Then he just might be for sale. He is owned by Teresa and Junior Osborn.

We had our first playtime today.  He’s wonderful to play with.  I got all the burrs out of his tail today. That was major.

He’s starting to recognize me as the dominant horse and is thinking about being my friend.

He got upset when Velvet and Goldie disappeared from sight. Then the neihbor horses started calling. So, Lucky Star’s energy went up a little and his attention was sadly diverted from me.  We played for a while to get the attention back to me.  I walked him out a little way in the corral and turned him loose when he could turn his head towards me and relax.  I turned him loose and walked away.  He followed me.

That’s huge!

Country Frank’s Lucky Star

There’s a certain person in my world who has populated my life with horses and dogs.  Yep.  I go to Teresa Osborn’s home and I come home with a horse. She hasn’t done that too me in a while and I thought I was done with that.

But, it’s a different story this time.  Teresa has loaned me a wondrous horse to develop, ride and show.  He has been started and Teresa has done some ground work with him.  He’s been a pasture horse for a while.  Now he’s in my horse pasture and is my wonderful new project.  Lucky is five or six years old.  He’ll be for sale after the Celebration. Are you looking for a nicely gaited short fox trotter gelding that has been there and done that? Wait till the 2nd week of September 2012 and Teresa will quote a price.

He’s wonderfully naturally gaited, short, stocky and a gifted athlete.  In other words, he’s got it all just sitting around waiting to amaze everyone.  And I get to do it.

What an incredible opportunity for the both of us.

I was so amazed to bring him home tonight, I didn’t even think about taking his picture.  I wasn’t even going to take him home with me…but arrange to get him next March when the warm weather is thinking about returning.

I was at Teresa’s.  Hope told me I should be taking him home now.  I remembered how fun it is to play the Parelli 7 Games with a new horse and the delight it is to bond with a new horse.  I asked to take him home and Teresa let me. She even walked him into the trailer ..he might have loaded three times in his life and he walked in the trailer with Teresa.  When I got home, he walked out of the trailer with me..calm.

Lucky has an amazing back story.  He’s the last son of World Grand Champion Country Frank whom the entire fox trotter nation thinks is an amazing horse.  Country Frank died way too early his life and left us with only a few offspring.  I have one of them for myself for the next year!

Never did I think this would happen!

I took two horses to a clinic today. Sage left to go make a baby with Pride’s Traveling John John.  Incidentally, the Vaught’s and I purchased JJ from Teresa.  See the connection!  Teresa owned JJ when Sage produced Nova.  Diva, the World Grand Champion Ranch horse came from Teresa’s place to my place.  I have Goldie, Powder’s mom.  I bought Goldie so I could have Powder.  See what Teresa does to me! Anyway, I came home with two horses.

I wasn’t going to tell my husband.  I was just going to tell my husband that Sage had changed color when he asked me what that strange horse was doing in my pasture.

When I got home, spouse was weak.  He’s in the middle of a diabetes episode where he feels wretched.  I chose to tell him now and it worked.  No screaming.  No yelling.  Plus, the number of horse that I own has stayed the same. Before today, I own 5 1/2 horses. Today, I still own 51/2 horses!

I’ll tell you Lucky’s back story tomorrow and post of picture of him.  I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture!

Cooking with Master Chef Journey One

My idea is to visit the big WalMart store on my way home from work.  Turns out, it’s not a good idea.  It’s the busiest store in country right before dinner. Everyone from Raytown is there.

Have you ever been to a huge WalMart and looked at their food.  It’s amazing.  This store is way way different than the itty bitty Harrisonville WalMart.This store could feed two divisions of army guys without running out of anything. There are more food in the fridge and freezer than I can comprehend…plus pizza.

So I grazed looking for frozen fish and a couple of apples.

I found two interesting frozen boxes that contained Salmon and Tilapia. They are seasoned with stuff I can eat.  The box said, “Serve in Minutes”.  Perfect I thought!

I took my two boxes and two apples to the shortest checkout line in the store.  I probably waited 30 minutes for a huge snafu that involved two separate visits from the “head checkout problem solver” for the same people.  I could have been born, grew wrinkles and died in that line.

I didn’t make it home in time to watch my favorite TV program.

I turned on the oven for Pizza for spouse and fed the horses.  I got back and started to cook my fish in my new $17 George Foreman Grill.  Yee Haw, Master Cheftess.

Wait the box said, “thaw the fish out for 20-30 minutes in cold water.”  I guess the unfreezing doesn’t count in the “eat in minutes” advertising on the box.   Good GAD

I decided to grill the heck out of a serving of salmon with that great GRILL.  I got the frozen aparagus out of the fridge, cut the top off the plastic and then read the part about steam them in the bag.

Great, my steaming and grilling is seriously flawed.

I did cook the frozen pizza in the oven with great skill.

Eventually my George Forman grill came thru. The fish fillet was truly overcooked enough so I was certain I wouldn’t die and I just heated the aspargus in the bag, minus the steaming.

Both were great.

Life as Master Chef is rewarding!

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