It's been a few weeks....lots of updates!!

Ok, so since there is so much to tell. I'll categorize everything...I do love to categorize :D It will be color-coded too! How exciting!

Dixie

Things with Dixie have been going very well! I just read up on my last post to this blog and I'll start by updating everybody (if there are a lot of you...I seriously doubt that :) ) with what was going on then.

After my dentist appointment, I went and just hung out with her. I wanted to show her that we won't always work everytime I bring her in. I braided her mane that day, did a little groundwork (not even enough to count as work) and then went outside to sit with her in the field while she grazed. That was my plan anyways, she refused to eat any of the grass and preceded to bug me about giving her treats. I gave in. I couldn't help it, she's too cute. It was a good day, I'm glad I did it.

I did ended up doing the passenger lessons on our next ride. It went ok. I was a little nervous about giving up all of the reins and she was pretty confused about what we were doing. I'll try it again at some point, I really think it will help us.

I have, since my last post, started my lessons with Dixie. I am so happy I did too! I love having somebody there who can see what I'm doing and help me to improve. I have done about three lessons and Dixie has already improved her backing up, spirals, and we have just started side-passing. We side-passed ten feet on our last lesson!! I was so happy. Of course it was towards the gate but it's definite start!

That's about it for me and Dixie. I have been thinking a lot about buying her lately and my only concern is her and college financially...I worry a lot about that. After getting some advice and talks from the forum and talking with my mother, I have settled a bit about this. If and when I do buy her, it will be next year so for now I'm just enjoying riding her and not worrying a whole lot about it. It is of course still in the back of my head.

We also have a trail ride next wednesday that we'll be going on. I'll actually try to get pictures this time!!


My Walkabout

Well, my walkabout has kind of collapsed or at least it feels that way.

I had planned on going to California for a month in November or December. It's a wild horse sanctuary and they have a work study program. They just e-mailed me today informing me that my dates are out of their season. I had talked to them earlier about my dates and they gave me no reason to doubt this so I'm quite fustrated. I sent them a very professional e-mail expressing my fustration with this so I feel a lot better right now.

I am now on the search for an internship.

So far, these are all the prospects for my walkabout starting in September and ending in December. I graduate at the end of December.

• Local Therapeutic Riding Stable - The lady that I've been talking to sounds wonderful and it seems to be a full-go for me volunteering. I should be able to start this in mid-September and keep with that for at least a 6-8 weeks until I find my second one. I would even love to continue volunteering afterwards.
• Trail Riding Place in Indiana - I went trail riding at this place for my 17th birthday. He basically offered me a paid internship. I, of course, could not get paid during my internship for my school but I am curious if I could bring Dixie with me and it could be a work for board type thing. That would be wonderful although I'm not even sure if I could bring her or if I could do this in the dates that I need to do it. I mean, how busy in November and December really for trail riding? Not too busy, I'm guessing.
• Numerous Ranches that I have not yet contacted - I have found quite a few of ranches located in the west. I need to contact them with my details and hope for the best. Most of the places are dude/guest ranches so they have rates and everything for the lodges and "experience". I am hoping that it could be like a job thing without the pay and more learning on my side as I have never been on a ranch with cows. I am very willing to learn though!

Sorry for the lack of updates recently...

Nothing has been going on much lately. I've only ridden Dixie a few times since the trail riding trip. I've said this before but I really need to bump up her training. I've been doing spirals, figure 8s, and serpetines regulary now and I'm sure that's helping. That's about all I've been doing though now, it's been so hot and humid, we just don't feel like doing much and I feel bad working her in that kind of humidity, she's got to miserable some days.

I've got a dentist appointment tomorrow(today, haven't slept yet) and then hopefully I'll be heading out to the barn and I'm going to try to start her passenger riding lessons tomorrow, hopefully that will go well. It will be good for me too cause I've gotten so used to almost always steering her. I hope it won't be busy because obviously I can't do anything like that if there's another horse, it usually isn't during the day. I'm also going to the tack store tomorrow to get some first aid items and a crop...I have a feeling I might need a crop for tomorrow if I don't use Sherri's bridle with the splint reins and I use mine with the roper reins.

That's all for right now, I better get to bed, I've got that dentist appointment early tomorrow!

She transformed into a trail horse!

Well, I went on my birthday trail ride today with about 6 or so other people and their horses. I brought Dixie along, this was our first off-property trail ride together. I came out Monday and Tuesday so I could get her on the back property trails before we went on our big trail ride. I worked her in the arena first and then we headed out, she did pretty good. She didn't always want to go in the same direction but she overall just fine and her trail walk was very fast! On Tuesday, I went into the gelding turnout pasture (the geldings were inside at the moment) with another girl from the stable. The gelding turnout has a lot of logs and trail obstacles to go over. I took Dixie over the bridge, huge logs, lots of logs in a row, etc. She did very well. I also trotted her around a bit and she did fine at that too. I was so proud of her!

I have to admit, I was a bit worried about today.


Italic is what I thought would happen. Bold is what actually happened.

Not going/coming out of the trailer smoothly.
She loaded like a champ, didn't think anything of it.

Not slowing down when I wanted her to.
She listened to all of my cues on the trail, especially my voice. She listened extremely well to my voice. For example, when we would go down a hill and she would start to trot. I would tell her to walk, slow down, ease up, take it slow, etc. and she would listen.

A nutcase before we go on the trail because of her freshness.
She was completely calm when she got off the trailer. She didn't seem fresh at all, didn't want to go any faster than I wanted her to go, I only had to one-rein her to get on but that's always how it is. She has a problem with walking off, we're still working on it.

Rushiness on the trail.
She was not rushy at all. She had a nice consistent pace and if I clucked to her once or twice she would walk slightly faster.

Possible run-off with me.
We trotted as a group and she slowed right down when I asked her to and never even tried to go faster or gave me any reason to think she would run off. I often had her trotting up the hills and again, she never went any faster than of what I asked of her. Last time, I went to the same place but I rode Harvey, their lesson horse. He ran off with me while going up a hill. He is considered very bombproof.

Constantly one-reining her.
I barely ever one-reined her...actually, I don't think I ever did. I did slightly when she decided that maybe she shouldn't be going that way but she quickly straightened herself out and listened to me.

Becoming pissy and flipping her head around.
She only flipped her head a few times when I had some consistent contact but other than that, she really responded very well to the contact and even rounded slightly when I asked her to slow down. I haven't really worked on that with her so I was truely amazed.

Over-reacting to the water and doing something that could be dangerous or just being afraid of it and therefore causing problems whenever we would come up on mud or water.
Again, she handled this like a champ. She actually went hock-deep! We also had a lot of mud on the last mile or so and she went through it with some hesitation and needed a bit of encouragement but overall, she was great. Infact, she lead another horse through it that was having problems, two of them actually.


Riding up on other horse's butts.
She did this a bit but I could easily pull her back, I would just have to keep on doing it since her trail walk is a bit faster than most of the slow-pokes that were in our group. She also had no problem with Captain, a friend's horse, riding up her butt. He was most comfortable with his nose up her butt so we just rode like that the entire time. I think the two of them kind of bonded over the trailer ride.

Not being comfortable in a position in the herd.
She was comfortable in any position that we were in. Half of the time we were in the middle, she never had a problem with this. The other half of the time, we were leading since we were the faster ones. She did this very well, she even lead the whole group through all of the bad mud. I think she likes to lead but I'm grateful that she's content in any position. Harvey really loves to lead and he's gets so anxious if he's not and then he gets mad whenever a horse is on his butt, kind of made it not enjoyable at times.

Bucking.
Nope, no bucking whatsoever. She didn't want to at all either.

Possible herd-bound problems as well.
Again, nope, she would walk alone and away from the group. I had to go quite a ways back to help Erika and Captain and she was perfectly fine trotting away from the group that she was just neighing to earlier.


All in all, I am absolutely amazed by how she did today. I love that fact that I have this very trust-worthy and dependable trail horse now. It's like she transformed on the trailer ride over there. I really think we bonded on this ride as well. When we were all taking a break. I sat up on a hill with her right next to me. I ate my beef jerky and fed her carrots at the same time. She was so sweet, she just put her head gently in my lap, ate the carrots, made sure to not walk on top of me and then soon rested for a bit with her nose on my shoulder. She also paid close attention to me while we were sitting there. If I moved, she would look over and make sure everything was ok and then if I went back to my horn bag to get something, she would turn her nose around to see what I was doing. She was just so attentive and I felt like she was taking care of me and that if we were in a situation where I needed her help for our safetly, I am sure she would come through with flying colors.

I'm so proud of my girl.

This trip also closed more, if all, of my doubts about buying her/a horse in general right now.

There's Hope

I went out early this morning to try and beat the heat. My plan didn't work as just as I was ready to ride, it became humid and extremely hot.

I didn't really do much in the arena, just the normal warm-up and then some transitions between the trot and canter. She did well with that. I then went outside to the trails. She handled this amazingly well compared to the other time. She was bit rushy and didn't always want to go where I wanted her to go but overall she was ok. She is quite the muncher!

After I was done with my trail ride, I went to her pasture to ride in a bit and see how she does. All of her pasturemates were in another pasture because some of the land was being worked on for drainage issues. We rode half way through and she was still fine. I felt so bad because she kept on neighing for her friends but nobody answered, she looked as though she had been abandoned! I gave her bath when I brought her in and snuck fly spray on her, she behaved very well with that! I was so proud of her. Then, when she was finally ready to go back outside, I took her to the pasture where her friends were and she was so happy to see them! It was cute, she neighing with joy and they all came running to see her.

Been A While

Well, it's been a while since I last posted. I have been mainly posting things on the forum so I feel talked out by the time that I usually post on here.

Things have been going ok with Dixie. I'm having a lot of problems with her within the last two days though. She has been shouldering out pretty bad and then she threw a fit when I took her in the pasture the other day. I won't go into details as it would a be a very long post but it included her have two bucking episodes, a little hop type rear thing, and just being a brat in general. Then yesterday I almost fell off twice and she shouldered out really really bad. It's just a little bit upsetting right now but I'm sure we'll get it figured out. I made sure to leave every ride on a good note and with her acting right but still.

I posted a bulletin on myspace the other night that will give you insight on what else is currently going on:

Front Shoes and Trimming = $75 approx.

Teeth Floating = $100 approx.

West Nile and Rabies Vaccination = $30 approx.

New Fly Sheet and Mask = $80 approx.

Having a sweet mare come up to the gate when I call her name and then put her soft velvetly nose on my cheek after I've been gone for two weeks because of my wisdom teeth surgery and dry socket experience = Priceless



Also, it looks like I'll probably be going on a trail ride with Dixie next week. It's my birthday on Wednesday and Sherri said that we'll definitely have to go then, unless of course something comes up. I'm so excited!

TV Shows

I'm going to combine today's ride with my post for tomorrow's. I posted a thread on the horse forum and I feel all talked out about our ride and training. Never thought that would happen!

So, instead, I'm doing a little review post TV Shows and why I love them. I do have that list of TV shows that I like off to the side, why not explain why I like them??


TV Shows
America's Next Top Model - Honestly, I don't watch this show for the realitiness of it. I love seeing the end results of the photos and commercials. I have a certain appreciation for photos.

Bones - I love this show so much! I love the relationship between Bones and Booth, I think it's very dependable, always there for you friendship and I love that. The cases are also usually interesting and different, there has often been times where they go along with Bones's or Booth's past life experience which is always cool to see them connecting to the case like that. I also love the relationship between Angela and Hoggins, I think they're adorable. I really can't believe that season finale, can't wait for next season.

Chuck - I was hooked on this show from day one. I love how Chuck is just any other ordinary guy, he's goofy, nerdy, and usually awkward and he's a very lovable character. And you gotta love the herd dynamics of the Nerd Herd, I think all of them are absolutely hilarious.

Desperate Housewives - Yes I know that most people look down on this show but I have to tell you, it is well written. I love the friendship of the 5, sometimes 6, women. They will always be there for each other, if nothing else proved this, this year's season finale did. Bree and Lynette are my absolute favorites. I like Susan and all but I really wish the show wasn't centered so much around her.

Eli Stone - I love all of his visions and the singing, that really adds an awesome element to the show. It's not one of my favorites but I really like this show and will continue to watch it. I also really like Eli and Maggie together.

Friday Night Lights - I never thought that I would like this show. I hate football, always have but I love this show. The characters are all wonderful and Tim is just plain out hot so it's always nice to watch him. And as much as I can stand Landry, I love the relationship between him and Tyra. Although I hate the way that they got them together, I think that was stupid even if they did handle the outcome well.

Gilmore Girls - Being an only daughter to a single mom, it was just natural for me to love this show. The dialogue is amazing. I also love Luke and Jess, they were my favorite characters. Even over Rory and Lorelai. I really didn't like Rory as much in the later seasons, she was ten times better before she met Logan. He's alright and all but she and Jess were just so much better together.

I will finish this tomorrow or sometime soon! Promise!

Went Out Yesterday and Going Out Later Tonight

I have to go to work in an hour a half so this will be somewhat short compared to normal.

My dad took me out yesterday to ride Dixie. The ride went pretty well despite the heat and her not 100% cooperating, but when do they ever cooperate 100%? She's getting better and better each day though. It wasn't a very long ride and we didn't do a whole bunch, mostly because of the heat, but we got the basics down. She did have a slight bucking spirt but it wasn't that bad at all, she was just mad at my heel being put into her. She was shouldering out and I was trying to move over shoulder back over, she's done this before. She never wants to get you off, she just gets mad and pissy. Typical mare attitude, eh?

So tonight after I get off of work, I'll be going out there to either ride if the weather feels alright or do some much needed fly spray training. She is afraid of the fly spray hitting her skin, she's fine with the bottle itself and if it's spray around her. I think once it hits her skin it turns into a horse-eating fly spray bottle!! Oh no!! So I've got a spray bottle filled with water all ready to go, it's going to take a little bit for her to get used to it completely but at least we'll get there eventually. I also haven't done any groundwork with her whatsoever so if I go ahead and do some fly spray training, I'm going to go ahead and do the goundwork that I haven't as well.

Well, I've got to go, my dog is hanging over my screen. I wouldn't want to get doggie drool all over it!