Um..

..Yea.. So. The post below was the last "nice" ride I've had on Nic. The last time I rode him he was really good for the first 10-15 minutes and then he started not really wanting to go forward, he would not trot, and when I tapped his butt he humped up and kicked out. I got off because I got scared, and then moved him around a lot on the ground, but I never got back on him. And I haven't been on him since.

Ugh..

Larry is going to take him for awhile and put some time in on him, which he needs with someone who isn't afraid and tell him how it is.

I have had some good play sessions with him however. He is getting a lot lighter and listening a lot more.

As far as Equestrian goes, I've been kicking butt on Steel. For points I'm sitting first in Keyhole, and have had some really good runs on other events. I'm doing reining at the 3rd meet for a joke, lol. It should be entertaining.

Yay

Short post tonight, I'm tired, and have had NO time lately post details about anything.. I'll make up this weekend...maybe...

Nic was AMAZING at Wednesdays gaming practice, he was sooo good. We cantered through poles for the first time (not the whole way, but most of it, lol), worked on keyhole, flags and barrels along with poles. And bi-rangle as well, and he was just AWESOME the WHOLE time.. such a good boy.

I am using Steel for the meets because Nic is just not ready, and I do not want to push him before he's ready, I would rather not want to undo damage, I'd rather just keep him whole.

Cleansing...

cleansing talks are always so nice...


1) I need to accept where I am with my horse


2) The only opinion that matters at the end of the day is mine and my horses.



...details later...


I <3 you Frannie!!!!

I suck at updating..

..well, I have a sort-of excuse, BUSY!!! Between the play and equestrian team practices I haven't had a chance to update. Nic has been doing better since the post below. He has been great at the gaming practices, with a little snotty-ness, but not bad, but at drill he started out ok on the ground, then got kinda bad, and Kendra hopped on him for me, he humped up a little when she got on, but then he was fine. She rode him for a little bit and he didn't do anything, so I hopped on and had a pretty good practice with him. He needed some reminding that he can't kill the other horses and the other horses are not going to kill him. I've been trying to teach him showmanship, and so far that going pretty well. He'll trot with me on both sides about 90% of the time, and is starting to understand how to square up. Haunch turns are still bleck, but hey, he's learning, and a lot of that has to do with his lack of knowledge about the porcupine game.

Psycho...

lol, I just got back in from a very wet session with nic
he was an absolute TERROR when we took him to practice saturday..I didn't want to ride him, and so we ended up having to move arenas, so we went home and got okie
... kicking out or bucking when he didn't want to do something, full of energy, just being a jerk
I was like....I'm NOT getting on...

so, our session today was ok.. it was good when we were up by the other horses, but as I made my way down the field he got worse and worse, doing more kicking out every time he didn't want to do something. so I ended up down by the section of fence that is wood, so I attempted some squeeze game, and some sends, and TONS of yo-yo, because it seems he kicks out more when he doesn't want to yo-yo.anyways... the other horses finally came down there, and so I got him to where he was paying semi attention to me, and let him go, and busted butt up the front of the field and started playing with JJ lol. then I made my way up there, and scratched him, and then let him come to me a couple times, and went and fed them.. so it ended on an alright note
mind you, he's in a stall for a month, and been out about 2 days of that
and being fed HOT HOT HOT feed, so I'm sure thats part of it
He needs to gain weight... lol... But he's not getting any alfalfa anymore

That is cut and pasted from an IM session, and I don't feel like editing it to make it sound nice, lol.

I just hope that this behavior is mostly resulting from no work, being fed hot feed and being confined to a stall. If not.. ugh, lots and lots of more work ahead for me, I just do NOT want this to develope into something that I can't handle, because if it does, I'm screwed, lol.

What I'm going to try to do is at least play with him for 15 minutes EVERY DAY, no matter the weather-unless its ridicously cold, pouring down rain or something like that. I think I might take Okie to drill practice on Tuesday, and just give Nic some more time.

Speaking of drill team, I got some good news..

Not only am I on the "core" team, but Kendra chose me for co-captain!

Changes...

After a chat with one of my best friends, Fran, I got to thinking about change. How change affects everyone, and how things change without us realizing it. One major thing I've noticed is how I notice changes so much more since starting parelli 3 years ago. Not only do I notice the changes in horses, but changes in people.

So here are some changes that are happening currently, or have ust recently changed:
-My dads company is being sold to another company who is shipping the equipment to Mexico, therefore my dad is out of the job soon. He has worked at this company for about 25 years.

-Nic is becoming more of a people horse. Since he has been locked in a stall for 2 weeks or less (crazy amounts of snow, 6+ft foot drifts), I have been doing little stuff in the stall with him. I've played with bridling, mouth handling, and porky and friendly. He's really making a change. He always has his ears up towards us and is just more into everything. Last night I played with bridling and worming practice. The bridling went even better than last time, and he got some of his favorite berry goods. Then I found an old, empty paste wormer tube that still smelled like wormer, so we went to work on that. He was actually not that bad, compared to when we brought him home and we were trying to get banamine down him. I got him where I got easily put the tube and his mouth and hold it there until he stopped licking so much. So today I am going to try and worm him for real, because he needs it.

Skinny Horse

*sigh of relief* I think that Nic is alright now. We discovered that he was coughing a bit, and now that that has stopped he has been eating WAY better and more alert and awake. We also got him alfalfa and he loves that, so now he's eating better. He did however lose a bunch of weight during this little phase of his, so now I'm trying to get weight back on him. I actually think that he has already put on a little weight within the past couple of days through the alfalfa and grain.

Today was the first day I played with him for awhile because of him being sickly, then weather, then there was Beauty and the Beast auditions (I'm assistant directing again), so finally got a chance to play with him today. I started with some friendly, then I did Day 1 of hill therapy. I actually didn't do the last five minute walking section because he was getting a little too into the circling thing. Every time I asked him to back up he thought it was time to circle, so I just said "No.. i think you'll just stand." and yo-yo'ed until he decided it was a better idea to stand, and within a couple seconds he was licking his lips. He seems to be a fairly fast thinker and not overly afraid of anything. I took the beach ball and let him smell it and then put it on his back, all while he was loose in his stall eating. Then I bounced it up and down, and it makes a lot of noise, but it didn't bother him a bit.