Baby it's cold outside

I moved South here to avoid some of the winter, it did NOT work! It was 7 degrees this morning, Yes 7. At least the sun is out today, it helps my mood anyway.

I went out to visit Frank last evening after work, it was a balmy 24 degrees. I realized what I hate about boarding him. His bucket was frozen solid. No water, danger, danger. How long I wondered had he been without water??? I went to banging and chipping to clean it out and then offered him fresh water. He gulped down half a bucket quickly, this told me he had been without probably since morning. Sigh.... I cannot afford him to be sick again. I turned him out briefly and cleaned his stall, he was enjoying rolling in the snow with his blanket on and had himself a little jog around the paddock. Then the real fun began. You see I haven't pulled his shoes yet and the snow pack in his feet was a challenge. I must remember the pam tonight.
It took me 15 minutes to remove the ice jam in there, Frank was not thrilled about me playing Klondike digger down there either.

I hunted down the barn owner and told her I was bringing out a heated bucket for Frank. The whole frozen water thing bothers me, especially with the latest colic episode. She was OK with it so tonight's job is to go out and bring the bucket and pam for the feet.

I leave you with my favorite view:












Oh how I long for these days again. Winter go away!


Happy trails......

Where does the time go?

Hi friends!

I have been away too long......

I am finally catching up your blogs and what has been happening in your worlds.

Mine has been ....well, chaotic. It always is, think I thrive on that.

The weather has turned cold and it is not my favorite time of year. Frank is not getting ridden near as much as I would like but alas I am only one person. One person working full time, raising two little hell yun boys and trying to fit a whole lot more in. Frank had a terrible bout of gas colic a few weeks ago and I don't mind telling you that it scared me BAD. It started with a call from my barn owner that Frank was down and she thought he was colicing. I told her I was grabbing some banamine and heading over. She called me in route and asked me how much longer I would be as he was throwing himself to the ground and thrashing. Not 10 minutes had passed and I was major concerned now. I drove like a mad woman and arrived to find Frank wet with sweat and panting. He was in obvious distress. He would only walk when threatened with a whip and then he would invert himself into a V and throw himself on the ground right at me. He managed to drag me down twice caught off guard. After 20 minutes the banamine did not seem to be helping and I called a vet.
His vitals were good, normal heart rate, pink in the gums and passing poo. However, it was clear he was in pain and I was taking no chances. The vet arrived in 15 minutes and we palpated him and he was clear, next the reflux test and his stomach showed normal. He had stopped sweating by now but was clearly still in pain. The vet gave me two options, shoot him up with more pain meds or take a trip to the clinic. I opted for the clinic. When the trailer was pulled around he let out a whinny and lots of gas, a good sign said the vet. Thank goodness I live and board Frank only 20 minutes from Haygard Equine Clinic. We left him loose in the trailer should he go down again, fortunately he did not. When we arrived at the clinic he seemed somewhat more alert and not throwing himself down anymore. The vet and assistants were very nice and let me be involved in all his tests. First they ultra sounded his intestines and spleen and found all to be good. Next they set up an IV drip for he was somewhat dehydrated. They decided to monitor him and let the pain med wear off before anymore testing. I stayed until 2 am and called it a night when he appeared OK. The vet called me at 7:30 am and told me he was stable and that they were going to oil him and see if he passed the oil. Luckily he did and was fine the rest of the day, I picked him up at 5:30 and took him home. The vet's told me that 4 more horses came in that day with same symptoms. There was a real big weather change that day and I really think they may have had something to do with it, he has never been ill before in the least. Happy to tell you he is all good and back to normal. I have a large vet bill for Christmas but it could have been so much worse if we had done surgery.

Which leads me to this question for you. Do you have colic insurance? A plan in case you get that lovely question, is surgery and option? Just curious.


Happy trails.......

Frank is home!

Been so busy telling you of my WEG adventures that it occurred to me that I forgot to tell you that I brought Frank home.

No problem in trainerville, I just wanted to ride him more than twice a month. See my trainer moved South to a more affordable barn for him and that meant a two hour trip one way for me to see Frank. I did it for a month and decided that it just wasn't going to work for me right now. I mean this is the prettiest time of year to ride and I was missing not seeing him. So, I went barn hunting for a new place for Frank. You would think that living in horse country it would have been an easy task,
not so. Most of the boarding facilities here are for hunter jumpers or dressage riders, mention that you rein and oh boy you might as well have said you were a terrorist! I think that these people thought all I did was spin and slide all day.
Sad for me to realize how little as horse people we know of each other's disciplines.

I did find a barn thanks to the help of one of my co workers and it is only 11 miles from my house. It is a saddle bred barn and yes Frank does look out of place there. The owner however, is a delightful lady and adores Frank and the fact that we do reining. It is something she apparently did in college as a younger girl. The barn is mostly her rescued Saddlebreds that she uses to teach lessons on. Frank is definitely the only quarter horse and the only one ridden western. The students all love Frank and he is enjoying all the attention from the little folk. They turn him out for me in the afternoon and remark at what a gentleman he is.

This week my young ones were on fall break and Dad was kind enough to take them on the road with him to work. That meant a delicious week to myself! I went out and rode every night this week! I am proud to tell you that I have finally got the lead change down and am feeling very good about our progress together as a team. I have a friend coming down on Monday which I am off and we are going trail riding! I will try and get some pictures to share with you.

Happy trails......

Some pictures from WEG

Been trying to get back to blogging and I just can't fit it in most days.

Still in the middle of WEG here. I have enjoyed watching some of the venues. I caught some Dressage the other day and watched the cross country this weekend with spectacular horses and riders. But my biggest thrill so far has been watching the individual competition of Reining!

My work was nice enough to provide tickets to me for the individual finals last Thursday. I made the mad dash across the grounds to the indoor arena in record time!
I got to watch the entire competition and the house was packed! I had great seats
2nd row in fact! My fellow co worker from the IT department was there and had his camera, you guys can thank IAN for these wonderful pictures I am gonna share. Of course he did not snap to many as we were engrossed in watching the competition.
All four Americans qualified for the individual finals, they were later in the competition. The caliber of these horses was phenomenal I tell you, everyone was riding to win!

The first rider was Tim McQuay on a beautiful palamino and he took the lead with a 222 score. Here is a shot of him.
























We were ecstatic that USA had taken the lead but there were many runs yet to go.
next up was Craig Schmersal and he let it fly I tell you these guys held nothing back! Check out this slide!





















Next up was Tom McCutcheon another Texan for team USA. Right from his opening stop I could tell he was in it to win it. This horse was spot on folks. His stops were blazing and his fast circles were amazing, had me holding my breath. He rocked the house and finished with a 228! Here is his opening slide!


















We had one final rider to go and that was Shaun Flarida and his beautiful stallion.
Midway through his performance I could tell something happened. I saw Shaun reach out for his saddle horn to steady himself after the lead change. He finished his pattern but I could tell he was not asking the horse for much. We found out after his run that his stirrup leather had broke and he was riding with one stirrup. His score was a disappointing 207.5. He was favored to win and I really felt for him when this happened. I did not get any pictures of his run unfortunately.

So when the dust cleared and the scores were tallied, USA won gold and silver with Tom McCutcheon and Craig Schmersal! I stayed for the medal ceremonies and must tell you I was moved when they raised the flag and played our national anthem. A definite great day in my life!

I am going to try and watch some vaulting and combined driving this week and will of course keep you posted.

happy trails......

who is goin to WEG??

Anyone heading to the World Equestrian Games???

I am living it, have been for weeks now. Been meaning to do a snazzy post on it and all but alas......busy,busy,busy.

I work here in the horse park at the USEF. I have been watching the progress over the summer and slowly have been displaced out of my parking lot and now am hiking or taking a shuttle 2 miles to my car. I am affectionately calling it the Alltech weight loss program!

It really is a sight to behold. I could not have imagined all that has changed here at the park over the last few months. The opening ceremonies are tomorrow and so is reining. Unfortunately work calls and I am running a show office all weekend in Northern Indiana. I will be back Sunday night so should be able to catch some of the events next week. NO, I do not get free tickets or any other perks. I do get general admission with my work credentials but that is it.

Here are some sights from the park in case you can't make it.









this is how the tents started when they were constructing them.












Slowly things came together






























I promise I will be back next week with some more pictures of the athletes and horses and give you some updates from ground zero. If you are in town please look me up would love to meet fellow bloggers!


Happy trails....

show time again

Hi friends!

Sorry for the delay in posts again. Took myself a family cruise vacation. Met up with my husbands side of the family for a Caribbean cruise for 7 days. It was a good time but I was really missing Frank.

I feel like every time I get going and get in sync with riding again something comes along an derails me.......

I have been riding quite a bit this past week and up until last evening making good progress. But.....isn't there always a but, Frank decided last nite that he would go into his backing up mode and not practice side passing with me. The fights are definitely getting less and less and farther apart but man is it frustrating.
Jed helped me through the rough spot and we got back on track again.

I am showing this weekend in Bowling Green, Ky at a ranch horse show, hopefully we can put together some of the things we have been working at and have a good time.

I will leave you with a picture from last show for now.

Frank the Tank : he's a lean mean reining machine!

Back from the weekend!

Busier than heck today but a quick post to let ya'll know I am a proud Mama once again.

Frank was a rockstar this weekend! We did Five classes and he placed in all of them!
Jed showed him for me as I was working the show office. We did have a bobble in our ranch reining class, he dove for the gate in his right circle. Not sure why, he has never done that before and it cost us plenty but he came back on Sunday full throttle. He got fourth out 12 in Trail class, 3rd out of 8 in ranch riding and then he smoked them all in reining by laying down some out of this world stops and a penalty free pattern. 1st out of 10 his first trip out in reining!!

I promise , promise, promise I did get pictures! My bestest girl Becca snapped about ten thousand for me and is sending me a disk asap. The header of the blog is right after he won his class and you can tell I am happy and boy was it HOT! 94 in the shade.

That's all for now. Be back soon!

Happy trails.......

Memory Lane......breyer horses

As most of you know, I work in the Kentucky Horse Park and get to see lots of events coming and going around here. This morning driving in I was taken back down memory lane to when I was a young girl.













As you can see from the picture above, this weekend is Breyerfest at the horse park.
It is an event where thousands of young people with their parents in tow walk around vendors and events all surrounding the Breyer horse. There are statues for sale as well as tack, accessories, barns etc all for the little creations. It truly is amazing how busy it is and the varied crowd that it draws. Today they are invading our building here at USEF to do crafts in our kitchen. That means yours truly will be dining in her office at my desk. It's OK, I remember when.......

Matter of fact I can remember when I was 6 or 7, long before I had my first horse I would save any money I earned or got for birthdays, chores etc and save up for the next Breyer horse I could get.

Here are a few that I still have, most did not survive all the moves and er well... my very active young men who like to put GI Joe's on them and play rather rough.





This one is running colt I think, one of the very first I ever got.






My all time favorite! You can see I always liked horses of color!!




Yes, more colored ones! I had a whole family don't know where the other one got to.






Every one's favorite! STORMY !



Hope this brought back some memories for you. Do you have a collection? Share some with me!


Off to the ranch horse show! Be back next week with pictures and details!

Happy trails.......

The Why?

Why?

It is such a simple little word, but used so often.

I use it alot. With my job, my kids and yes my horse. Monday I was supposed to have another lesson on Frank. Sigh.....I did not, it seems my little sugar problem is rearing it's ugly head again... WHY? So, not feeling my best thought better of it to get on and get dizzy or pass out on the big guy. Jed rode him. I would like to tell you it was all good, but alas we had some bumps.....WHY?

I swear it is like he lost all that he had learned......I attribute it to being like my kids, they must keep testing the boundaries. They know when they are doing something wrong, they know there will be consequences but they go ahead and do it anyway.....WHY? Perhaps it is the way of the world.

Tomorrow is another day and each day is just a small part of the journey.
So we will not ask why, we will just persevere and continue onward. Still taking him to the show this weekend and perhaps it will all come together again, we shall see.

happy trails......

A first for me

Warning: This post will probably make you laugh til you cry!

Things have been going well here for me, still busy as a one armed paper hanger but managing to get out and ride Frank three days a week at least. Let me start by saying Frank is doing GREAT!! I cannot believe how much progress he has made with Jed, the difference is amazing. The boy can stop ya'll! He consistently puts down a 20+ slide without even trying to hard.

I have been readjusting my riding form to reining. I say that because I was taught and rode very, well.... as Jed puts it "proper" you know the shoulder,hip, heel all in a straight row. Let me tell ya this does NOT work when reining. It is shall we say a much more relaxed look, feet forward and a bit of slouching thru the stop. I picture that I look like a vulture on a branch. It is taking me some real work to learn to relax and throw my feet forward but I am making progress...or I thought I was. Hence today's tale:

Last evening a very pleasant evening with temps that were tolerable compared to what we have been having I went for a lesson. It started much the same as usual: We jog some circles we work on softness, we lope some circles and work on softness, we move our shoulders in and out and we do some turnarounds. Then comes Fencing........
I HATE FENCING! There, I said it...... For those of you unfamiliar with fencing it involves loping then increasing speed down the middle of the arena from one end to the other. The goal is to sit deep at the end without picking up on the horse to teach him to stop at the wall. Most horses get this fairly quick and usually do not smack into the wall many times. Anyway, I was fencing which by the way did I mention I hate? Frank tends to drift one direction or the other while loping down the middle. Last nights goal was to use only my legs to steer him back on course instead of my reins (the thought being that if I were showing it won't show as bad).
Well...... I am not really sure what happened next, I may have accidentally hooked Frank with a spur or nudged a little to strong when he faded right but.... he whirled to the left at full speed and I was NOT sitting deep. What happened next you ask? Well.... I flew forward and left and got hooked on my 4 inch cutting saddle horn. (mistake #1: riding a cutting saddle while reining) I thought it was my xtra long tee shirt caught, but when I looked down to my amazement it was my jeans! Yep, the horn punched a hole right thru my thigh of my jeans and I was hooked on the horn. Jed left the building laughing and I was laughing so hard I was crying, some from the pain and mostly the absurdity of it all. I had to jump up to unhook myself from the horn which was no easy task whilst laughing so hard. I kept on riding but no more fencing for me! I loped off and did a beautiful stop down three quarters of the arena with no problem, just don't make me fence. I have several new nicknames at the barn now which I am not sharing with you. But heck, it is all in a day right?? I now sport a pretty bruise on my thigh and a great story to share with you all...

Taking Frank to a show next weekend in Indiana and looking forward to it. Stay tuned for more entertainment from my riding adventures....

Happy trails........

Happy Days!

Hi Friends,

Stopping in to say hello and let you know what I am up to. I am happy to tell you that Frank is growing back his hair and we are on the downside of the rotten fungus attack. I must do a shameless plug here. Vetricyn works! Jed and I have been scrubbing with Iodine shampoo and spraying with vetrciyn and the results are amazing.
His legs are good now just the back and flanks to go. Had my vet out to survey him and he said we are doing well and to just worm him and carry on our program.

I have been riding twice a week and WOW! he is doing so well. Me .....well I need some serious work. I find that I am suffering from a total lack of confidence these days and I am hoping that with more riding I can find my groove again. Frank is so patient with me and really tries to do the right things despite me getting in his way. I did not take him to world show but I did go down for a few days and watch the competition and was wishing I did take him. Oh well, we are aiming to take him to a show in Indiana for July. I will not be able to show him as I am working the office but Jed will do it for me. I am still trying for pictures so be patient with me.


Happy trails

Hello from Kentucky

Hi all, again a prolonged absence and I apologize!!

Been working full time and doing show secretary stuff for seven weekends straight.....whew! Happy to tell you that all that extra cash is being well spent!

Frank is at a new trainer now!! He has been there two weeks and is doing well... so awesome it is beyond words!! The best part is that the trainer and barn are just twenty minutes from my house! Here is where we ARE. I have known this trainer Jed for about six years now and really, really like him. I had made plans to send my former horse Harley to him when he got hired on to Shaun Flarida's place in Ohio.

I get to see Frank several times a week and am going to start my lessons on him next week! I went to see him Friday night and could not believe the progress he has made so quickly. His stops are incredible!

I guess you can tell I am rather excited about our new adventure and can't wait to get showing again. I had planned on taking him to the ARHA world show next week but it seems Frank has contracted a rain rot/ fungus thing probably from the previous place I was keeping him. He has lost lots of hair around his fetlocks and I am sure the humidity here and the fact that he must wear boots when ridden are not helping. I think I have it on the run now, been scrubbing him with Iodine shampoo and treating with a tea tree oil. He has lots of new hairs popping back in but I cannot possibly take him anywhere looking like he does.

I will try to get some new pictures to post for you of him working and maybe some of our hairless fetlocks! Ha.

Happy trails......

Checking in

Hi Kids,

Just a quick note today to let you know yes, I am still among the living.

Been riding here and there can't seem to get into a schedule around here, there is always something happening. I did take Frank on a few trail rides with friends and we did well, he has gotten a bit nervous on the downhill transitions particularly if he is following a horse. I am wracking it up to being nervous that the horse will leave him because when he leads he is quiet as a mouse on the downhills. Hmmmmm....more stuff to work on.

I also did a competitive trail ride with Frank on April 17th. It was fun! There were 54 riders total and it was a lovely day. The object of the competitive trail ride is to ride 6-10 miles of marked trails with 6 obstacles worked in along the way. You receive a rider score and a horse score. The score is 1-10 with 6-8 being average. Frank did OK, the bridge obstacle threw him. It was kinda tricky in his defense, you had to go up a hill then down onto the bridge which had rails and this totally freaked him out. The next obstacle was working a gate which he scored a 10 on. The third obstacle was an embankment and stream crossing, he bobbled a bit on the down hill and scored an 8. The fourth was a log crossing and he scored a 10. The fifth obstacle turned out to be our downfall. It was a simply creek crossing or so it seemed. Frank was negotiating the somewhat steep downhill approach when the entire bank gave way. This sent Frank straight to the ground, it was like his legs folded up under him. He saved me by putting his face down on the ground so we did not flip. He was very cool under pressure he stayed down and did not panic. I was worried he was injured and proceeded to step off to the right (only solid ground I could see) but Frank slowly placed his front legs out in front of him and calmly stood up and proceeded to cross the creek. We scored a 1 on that, but I was happy he was uninjured and handled it so well. The last obstacle was a step up of about two feet and then walk through a forked tree. He scored a 10 on that as well. We finished the ride but out of the placings with the bridge bobble and the creek disaster but I would definitely do it again. I found out later that three horses fell at that crossing and I did make mention of this to the ride coordinator later.

I had hoped to put him on cows last weekend at a friend's house but mother nature had other plans....rain and tornadoes. We were spared the tornadoes but got tons of rain and that is what they are calling for this weekend as well.

Happy trails.....

Re Uniting

That is the stage of the relationship of Frank and I are having. It seems this long winter off for me has changed our relationship. It could also be that I have lost my edge. Let's face it I am no spring chicken anymore and the thought of me getting hurt is not one I relish to think of. I know I am out of shape, riding and in general. I am working on it again.......

I am cautious more so than usual when I am first getting up on Frank. There really isn't a reason but still I notice it.

Yesterday after work I went to visit the Frank. He greeted me at the gate and was talking to me the whole time I walked out to him. He seems to love being outside in the fresh air and sunshine despite the pesty flies. The weather has been unseasonably warm (mid eighties!) and the hair I thought Frank did not have is flying. I gave him a good currying and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, I was covered in white hair. I brought my new puppy Chloe out to the farm and gave her a chance to see horses and other dogs, she was a riot. She actually climbed Frank's leg while I had him tied. Thank goodness he has a good mind, he just looked down at her clawing at his leg and gave her a little sniff.

I tacked Frank up in the new saddle (still breaking it in) and we worked on some ground tying and him standing still while I mount. Things were a little tense at first, he was doing his normal screaming for the mares and jigging about. I worked on remaining calm and giving him a job to do. Amazingly he did settle much sooner than the previous ride and we got good schooling done. I am still having issues getting him to cross over when turning to the right but last evening I had a thought pop into my head. I am going to try ground work to start working on that issue, perhaps if we can master it on the ground it will carry over to when I mount up.

I am so enjoying having him home and am looking forward to the day when we mesh as one again and get that total trust back. I am riding again this evening and yes I got some pictures to share as soon as I get them uploaded.

Happy Trails......

What's New

What's new around here? Well as promised I am back to tell you all what the Frank and I will be up to next. I still plan to show ranch horse shows but I am terribly missing my first love, trail riding. Hence my screen name. I must say I can't believe how much I am enjoying having Frank home, did not realize how much I missed spending quality time with him.

I had Friday off and after a quick visit to the ENT with my littlest to check on the ears again I spent the rest of the day with Frank. I rode him in the paddock and he was er... well.. mischievous at best. Seems he has already attached himself to those mares and he isn't even pastured with them. After much screaming and a few Lipizzaner type moves on his part he decided to settle and go to work. I think the 80 degree weather may have had something to do with it. We worked on circles and me getting comfortable riding him again. I rode my new saddle and decided although I like it, Cutter is still my first choice. After schooling I did some work with Frank on opening the gate both directions, he is not as good on a right hand pull so we did it until he relaxed and got it right. After our ride I treated him to a bubble bath and he seemed to enjoy it. He is loving being outside and free to run about as he pleases.

Saturday I had the first trail ride of the season planned with girlfriends. Despite threatening Sky's we headed out to the reservoir for some good times. We were disappointed to find that it was closed due to a youth turkey hunt. Time to punt...
Which we did. We went to a place up the road and headed out into the woods. There wasn't as many trails and we had to do some loops covering the same trails but we had a great time anyway. The wind was howling and blowing stuff around but Frank was good as gold. I was happy that he still seemed confident and relaxed outside after being stalled up over the winter for six months. I was particularly happy because.....

The next thing Frank and I are headed out to do is competitive trail riding. Have you heard of it? It is new to me but I am heading out for my first one on the 17th of this month. Basically it is trail riding 6-10 miles with 6 natural obstacles judged by 6 different judges. The name of the organization is ACTHA or American competitive trail horse association.Go here and check it out. What I like best is the fact that they give a portion of the proceeds to help feed horses. I will let ya know how I like it and of course how Frank does.


Happy trails.......

Changes.....again

Seems I have left you all hanging again.... wondering where and what I am up to. Too much as usual. The Spring weather did not last it has been rainy and cold and I am fed up with it. Today it is near sixty and sunny at last! The forecast is for nice weather the rest of the week, 70's now we are talking!!

Lots of stuff to report to you.

I went to a show on the 20th of this month, I did not show I was the show secretary. Must earn extra cash to pay trainer. Trainer did show Frank. I was not pleased to find Frank sick and having discharge from his eye and coughing at the show. I was not informed of this prior to the show and made myself clear that it was unacceptable and I should have been notified. The haul to the show was five hours not to mention exposing other horses to the sickness. Frank won his rail class, placed 5th out of 18 in trail with marked improvements and attempted a cattle class. I say attempted because he was DQ'd when he lost his cow to the herd. That was OK, he had never been in a herd of thirty and he was quiet and did a deep cut. Just got beat to the left, he is no speedy Gonzalez here. Overall I was happy with Frank, not so with trainer. I was informed that he let two people ride my horse the previous evening. There was a previous discussion that only HE would ride my horse.
Needless to say the result of the weekend was not a happy ending.

Some good did come out of the weekend. My family was expanded with the addition of this little darling!





This is Chloe! Our newest little Jack Russell girl.

She is a handful and making me re think the whole puppy thing! Been a long time since I have had one. Not to mention working full time and trying to crate train her is another full time job.

My ride home was filled with thought and worry and more thought. But... I knew what had to happen. I decided to bring Frank home. I just cannot handle lack of respect and that is how I felt. I explicitly explained my feelings of other people riding my horse and I feel like it was blatantly ignored. So..... this past Saturday I went down and retrieved my dear boy. I must say I have missed him so. Although I do not have an indoor or proper ring to school him in I will survive and move onward. Where there is a will there is a way. I am excited to tell you about a new organization that I have joined and what Frank and I will be doing next. I will fill you in next time. Must get back to work now.


Happy trails.......

That frisky feeling

Spring has peeked out here, HOORAY!!

I did go down South to see Frankie this weekend. I did take my new saddle with me.'
I did ride the Frank both Saturday and Sunday. It was......a mixed bag as far as rides go.

Saturday afternoon I saddled Frank with the new Reinsman saddle and it seems to fit him very well. I was warned to lunge him some because he had not been ridden since Thursday. Seems there was a pipe bursting problem in the barn that demanded immediate attention on Friday. So I did get out the lunge line and proceed to lunge my fellow. WOW! I was not prepared for what I got. He bucked, and bucked and bucked like I never have seen. My first thought was something is wrong with the saddle fit. Wrong.... he just felt amazingly frisky and happy with the warm weather.
When I say warm I mean 60, something we have not seen the likes of since early November. Scott came out and was smiling ear to ear telling me I told ya so. I asked him what he was feeding my beast to make him so eager to work. Ya see Frank is er well....Lazy. Not saying it to be mean it is just a fact, spurs are the necessity when riding him. Scott rode him a bit and he was of course the gentleman. We went over what he has learned since I was last there, it has been almost a month, then I rode him. We had a great ride, I worked on some new things and I liked the saddle more than I thought I would. See I have a love affair with "cutter" my other saddle. It is darn near perfect. It is a handmade saddle and is just the bomb as far as I am concerned, 17" flat seat and leather like butter. The Reinsman is a 16" and the cantle is much higher than what I am used to, the seat is rough out and man I stuck like glue. The only thing that bothered me was that the stirrups were stiff and not turned, something I know will come with riding but brother when you got crud for knees like me it hurts!

Sunday brought another beautiful day weather wise and Scott was so nice as to work up the dirt in the outdoor pen! I saddled Frank and headed outdoors. The sun was shining and he seemed genuinely happy to be outside too! I was working on circles and lead changes and all was going good until.......yeah you know there was an until.
The yearlings were turned out in a pasture adjacent to the outdoor pen. They were so happy to be out and were running around snorting and bucking having a great time.
Frank decided he should join in.....
He totally tuned me out and went to screaming (really he does scream not whinny) and jumping all around. I tried getting him back to frame and work but he was really giving me the works. Scott decided that was not gonna happen and he had me get off and he had a conversation with Frank. Lots of work and then Frank saw the light. I guess it was to be expected since he hasn't been out much and the weather change but I gotta tell ya the whole thing left me wondering if he will ever get over the detachment issues.

Happy trails.....

Finally Friday!

Oh Joy! I have been waiting all week for this!

The weather is finally almost to the average temps here and the sun has been shining for the past two days! What a spirit lifter!

I am heading South tomorrow to see Frankie for the weekend! I can't believe it has been 3 weeks since I last saw him! I long to ride him outdoors and it looks like it will happen since it is supposed to be 60 degrees by Sunday!

I will be back with pictures and stories on Monday to fill you all in on the happenings.

Hope you all have great weekends!

Happy Trails......

annual checkup

This past week was Frankie's annual check up week. Mainly I wanted to have his teeth checked but went ahead with all his yearly maintenance. He turns five this month, the 27th to be exact, and he had some caps hanging around from baby teeth. I noticed last show that there was one sharp one up front and immediately scheduled the tooth fairy to come see him. Unfortunately, the weather kept delaying the appointments. Happy to say that he made it last week and fixed Frankie's pearly whites all up.

I also had the chiropractor out to check him over. We are still having issues to the right with Frank and I wanted to rule out anything skeletal. When I say issues I mean Frank cannot cross over correctly to the right for reining maneuvers. He kicks himself, steps behind his leg, tries to fall down etc....
The chiropractor found him in good shape overall with a small misalignment at the
3rd and 4th vertebra. I feel good that I had him looked at and I guess we will keep going with the thought that it is a mental block for him. Frustrating, as he lopes off beautifully on the right lead and shows no signs of soreness anywhere. My hope is that now we are working him on cattle that it will give him purpose to put his feet where they belong correctly.

We rounded out the week with our coggins test, yearly shots and health certificate for the next show later this month. Happy to have that out of the way although my wallet is suffering a bit.

Happy trails.......

Show number 2

Don't faint y'all!

I made it back to post another story on show number 2.

The show was held at MSTU in Murfreesboro, TN on February 6. It was hosted by the Volunteer Ranch Horse Association, fine folks they are! The weather did NOT cooperate at all. Since it was a five hour drive from the trainer's barn we decided to ride together (note to self, do not do this again!). It rained the entire way down and was right around the freezing mark. Sigh..... when will it end? We hauled three horses down, Frank, Spook (another Perlino) and Comet. We arrived around six in the evening and quickly got the horses unloaded and into their stalls. The barn was a span barn and it was quite windy and raw. Glad I had a big blanket and hood for Frankie to snuggle up in. We fed them dinner and headed to find some grub ourselves. We returned to the grounds and saddled the horses up for a tour of the arena. The arena was heated which gave me some concern since the barns were not.
The arena was a pipe arena which meant that the horses could see a lot more things then usual. Frank was not to keen on the huge garage type door at the far end where the cattle were housed. We had a good warm up and called it a night. Our first class on Saturday was a warm up ranch riding class, non judged and no points. Scott rode him in that class and felt like he was good to go with the exception of the one area discussed above. Scott told me to let him cut in at that point if need be and to not rattle him by insisting he go deep in that area. I mounted up and prepared myself mentally by humming my favorite tune "All star" by smash mouth. Corny I know but it is my show thing......"hey now get your a rock star get your game on go play"
etc...





This is a shot of the warm up pen...not a whole lot of room but heated and beat being in the rain. Yes I unbraided that lovely tail before showing.


There were nine horses in my class, which is a five year old and under class (horse age) :-)
I felt good, relaxed and was having a good go. Until......yes there is always and until in horse showing. I was loping on the right lead right down by the scary area when another rider came up from behind wayyyyy to close. This startled Frank and he kinda sucked up his butt and scooted forward quickly out of frame and I did not want to hit the person in front of me so I had to kinda do the two hand plow pull to get his attention. Luckily the offender blocked the judge's view of my two handed trick and I was not DQ'd. But.... they did catch the scoot part and it cost me the class as one judge related to me at a later date. I ended up third under both judges and was extremely happy with that.

Later that evening Scott showed Frank in trail again. He did much better with the gate this time and was having a good run until the ground poles portion. The problem was they were painted like candy canes! This really caught his eye and he decided to stop and look at them instead of jogging over them. Then when it was time to lope between them he wanted no part of that either. Guess we are having a painting party was Scott's advice upon leaving the class.







Here he is performing the log drag. The rope man hands you a coil with a log attached and you drag it in a circle.

He finished 5th under both judges out of 12 horses.
Sunday brought the conformation class and he did so well again.... 2nd and 3rd out of six horses. We opted to skip the cattle classes this time due to time constraints and the fact that the cattle were pretty fresh. Still practicing on that at home.

All in all he has done so well and I have put 50 point on him in two shows. The next one is March 20 in Martin,Tn but I am working the show office on that one. We are discussing whether Scott will haul him and show him for me.

The best part of this show? Well there was a raffle going on to raise money for the youth of the Volunteer Ranch Horse Association and the kids were selling tickets. You know I am a sucker for cute kids and of course I bought one ticket cause all I had in my pocket was $10. I ended up winning the drawing.....
Wanna know what I won???


drum roll please.........


Here it is!







Oh yes! A brand new Reinsman ranch cutting saddle!! Can you believe it? Me neither except that I look at each night to remind myself how lucky I am!



More snow today and I swear if it doesn't stop soon I will lose my mind! My oldest is now going to be in school until the 10th of June because of all the snow days.

Happy trails....

remember me??

Hi Friends!

Happy New Year! Happy Valentines Day and Presidents Day, and whatever else I missed.
I have missed telling you my tales and I have missed reading yours! I am hoping all is well in blogger land and in your lands. I am trying to catch up on my reading but thought I would drop in a little post of my own so you wouldn't think I rolled over into the grass and left ya.

Where to Start?

Well to begin with there has been way, way to much of this stuff the last couple of months!




It figures the year I move South to Kentucky they have a record amount of snow and cold days! Sigh....... this to shall pass.

I am happy to report that the family and I are all surviving the winter and desperately looking forward to Spring!

I suppose y'all want to know what Frankie is up to?
Well he is still down South at the trainer's barn and fit and pretty and doing oh so well.

Here is a shot of him with the trainer "Scott" from January.




I am oh so happy with the progress that he has made and I am truly happy that I took a chance on this diamond in the rough despite my concerns on his coloration. In fact it has not hurt us at all at the shows....









Oh yes! I said shows! You think I have been laying around here feeling sorry for myself all winter? No way baby, I have made two shows so far this year. Unfortunately there have been no photographers present to record this fact for evidence. But I have the ribbons to prove it!! Yep ribbons and points ....

Oh you want details???? Well, OK I guess I can share a few . It's the least I can do since I have abandoned you for so long.

January 23rd Frank makes his debut at his first show in Bowling Green, Ky.
Scott shows him in Trail and goes 7th out of 11. He had trouble with the gate and ticked a pole on the jog over but otherwise did well.









Isn't he so handsome!!


I showed him in conformation and he got a 5th out of 11 geldings. Then on Sunday I showed him in ranch riding (which is a rail class) and against my trainer on another horse and I placed.........1st out of 6! To say I was ecstatic is an understatement!!
What a great first show it was, I was so proud of the boy and officially got the showing bug again!

I took him to another show on February 6th but am keeping you in suspense til another day on that one.

Hopefully I will be back real soon to tell ya about it.

Happy trails.....