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.......