Happy Birthday Max and updates

Okay, wow! It's been almost a year since my last post.  There has been a lot going on in life, but not much as far as the horses go.

Firstly, Max turns the big 2-0 today.  I guess he is officially an old man now. 

I haven't been doing much with Max or Maggie this year. They got to spend summer getting fat.  Given the winter so far, that's probably not too bad.  My life has been crazy and will continue that way for a while.  Max and Maggie are getting another treat dispenser (I'm pregnant) in about 6 weeks.  Little O loves to come out to the barn and help feed.  And he's crazy about riding with me, especially trotting.  I think the kid likes to bounce.  Hopefully the new one will too. 

Contest @ DIYHO

Olivia at DIY Horse Ownership is having a contest for Valentine's Day.  Be sure to check it out!

Visit her page here.

This is Max's treat face. He wants more treats.

I tried...

Last Sunday was generally lovely, aside from the wind. I had a notion in my head to see what Maggie would do under saddle out of the fenced in pasture.  The TL:DR version is that I have some ideas of what I need to do and how to do them.

We started out in the pasture and ended up in the front yard. She was being good, if a bit lookie.  Then we tried to cross the driveway and head back into the woods. This is when she decided to fight me, back up when I put leg on, and just generally not go forward. Eventually I got her going forward, hopped off and decided to hand walk her into the woods.  At this point my husband joined us.  I hopped back on to cross the creek since I didn't have proper footwear.  He hopped on her on the other side. She was very forward and fighting him a bit, but didn't really do anything bad again other than hollering. 

When we headed back, I hopped back on to cross the creek.  My husband ended up holding on to the lead rope attached to her halter bridle while I tried slow her down. She was very forward and pushing through the bit. I probably should have started to circle her where I could on the trail, but I was so afraid of her running through the bit and bolting. There was much hollering on her part, Max back at the barn, and eventually the neighbor's horse joined in too.

Finally standing still. Yes, my riding is this bad right now.

We went back into my little "arena" in the pasture and she started getting very impatient. She would not stand still, head tossing, pawing. I was getting frustrated. I circled her and made her move until she could stand still for a few seconds, then hopped off.

I realize that I haven't done much work with either of them lately (Maggie, really ever since getting her last June). I can't expect to let them lay about, hop on and have an awesome ride.  They both need more regular work.  My plan moving forward is do start doing groundwork and riding in the pasture when I'm able. Right now that can only happen on the weekends when the weather is half decent.  But maybe once DST hits, I can start doing more work with them in the evenings after the kid goes to bed.

I also question my bit choices. Both go in a double jointed eggbutt snaffle right now.  They were both lesson ponies several years ago, then pretty much sat around for a year or two before I picked them up.  I wonder if they are somewhat dead to a mild bit.  Or they don't like the double joints.  Maybe a mullen mouth with a port.  I just don't know.

I also desperately need to get back into riding shape. As can be seen in the picture, I am leaning forward.  And doing this a lot.  It's probably both defensive and because I lack core strength. My legs are another issue, but always have been in the past too.

WW (mostly): Inturrupted Naptime

Naptime

I couldn't resist a snuggle and a selfie with the yak. He didn't get up until I started heading towards the barn. 

I also have a new instagram account for the farm.  You can follow me @howlingowlfarm1.I'll be posting random stuff about our little "farm", not just horses.  But be assured, there will still be lots of these two.

Saturday Fun

If fun is spending two hours with three years worth of barn dust falling in your face. We don't have true electricity running to the barn yet.  Right now, we just run an extension cord down from the house.  During the summer, this usually isn't a problem since the barn has clear ridge panels (light) and the water doesn't freeze.However, in winter we need to keep two heated buckets running and have some sort of light to feed by.  Before Saturday, I had to rely on a single lamp at one end of the barn and a flashlight for the other end. Over the weekend, I found myself child free for a few hours and strung up a bunch of white Christmas lights all over the barn. It's festive and certainly helps, but didn't give me as much light as I was hoping for.  I can't wait to get real lights in there.

At least it's festive!  Both horses had their noses buried in their feed buckets.

After I strung up the lights and dusted myself off as much as possible I decided to take Maggie for a walk.  We have a new neighbor a little ways down that has a horse (yay!). She's been going around to other neighbors asking to ride across their property, including ours. I hadn't tested out Maggie in the creek yet and really wanted to get her feet wet.  Our spot to get into the creek is currently blocked by a tree that came down, so I wandered down to the new neighbors and used her area to get in. Maggie walked right in without issue. She even played a little in the water with her nose. We I decided to keep going on the other side and check out the neighbors trails. Maggie was trying so hard to be good.  Max was hollering back home for most of the time.  Maggie started hollering when Max finally stopped for a few minutes, but was mostly quiet for the walk.  She was on alert for most of the walk, but never balked or spooked. She was extremely interested in the big field nearby. My only complaint would be her trying to walk ahead of me. She never rushed, but was pushing a little. I resorted to swinging the lead rope in front of us and let her whack herself on the nose when she got too far ahead.  I need to get across the creek on our property and start bushwacking some more trails back there.  The far part is so full of thorns it's hard to walk through there.

Now, I just need the confidence to ride her back in the woods.

Changes

Just as an FYI for anyone who follows me, I will be changing my blog name and domain address to the following:  Horses of HOF - horsesofhof.blogspot.com

I'm not sure if the feed will update automatically once it's changed or not.  I may be creating a new blog with the old howlingowlfarm.blogspot.com domain.  Only time will tell. 

Here's a picture that is the complete opposite of the weather we had over the weekend :)

A Beautiful Browband

A while back, Stacey from Behind the Bit held a contest for one of her handmade browbands. I won!  She said she had made a mistake when making it. It honestly took me a while to spot the possible mistake, but I'm still not sure if it's the one she was talking about. Can you spot it? 

It's a gorgeous and well made browband. I was a little worried it would be too big for Max, but it fits nicely. I love the curved band she used. It will allow the beading to show when I braid up Max's excessive forelock. 

I apologize for Max's forelock. It was really windy and I kind of tucked it up under the bridle to keep it out of the way.  Pony only wanted grass.

Out with Max, In with Maggie....

Hopefully not a metaphor for the year. 

I ended the year with a ride on Max.  He was so good, especially considering the wind.   We even made it out into the pasture, but not to the far end along the road. My nerves can only handle so much.  Boy got fat though. I could barely get his girth on.  I ended up buying a girth extender from RW. 

On Max, in the pasture looking towards the road.  His ears say "barn's that way*

Then, on Monday I rode Maggie.  She was also exceptionally good and we rode all over the pasture, including by the road. Also including some trotting. We were all brave.

On Maggie. If you blow up the picture,  you can just see Max behind the IBC tote behind the barn.

Both horses were really good for me.  There was some slight arguments to head back towards the barn, but the conversation went more like:

Horse: "Hey, lets go this way" *pulls a bit towards the barn*
Me: "No" *slight nudge*
Horse: "Oh, okay" *grumpy ears*

Repeat. 

The horse left behind screamed their head off though.  But no hollering from the horse that I was riding.  So yay?

On Monday, I also took each of them separately for a walk through our woods.  I wanted desperately to take them through the creek, but I didn't think ahead and my footwear was not meant for cold water.  It was Maggie's first time back there.  They both did very well. Max was a little more pushy and on edge, but there was no run and bolt from either of them.  They were both a little more forward on the long stretch back to the barn. But again, no shenanigans. I'm sure the pit stops for grass helped sooth those poor starving souls.

Photo Dump

Just because I have no content and a few photos...

Ahh! Scary Christmas stuff!  Run away!

Really?  We just want breakfast!

Okay, fine, I'll play along.  Happy??

My barn cleaning buddy.

Best buds forever.

Then she came in and became PITA barn cleaning buddy who would not move.

WW: Makes Me Smile

I get the feeling a lot of us could use a pick-me-up today. So here are some pictures of the animals that make me smile, or laugh, or just shake my head and call the pony a shithead.

After I looked through all those pictures, I realize I never really introduced Maggie on here.  That will be coming up soon.

2pointober and winter

My start time was 5 seconds and my final time was 49 seconds which resulted in an 940% improvement according to the magical formula. Since I did this bareback, I think that's pretty damn good.

I'm also counting 2pointober as no stirrup November, since, ya-know...bareback and all. I actually do want to get back into something a little more secure and take the mare around the pasture. That is one of goals.

Winter is coming, and so are the yaks. (recycled pic, but we are getting there)

The other one is to ride at least once each weekend. With the changing weather, the impending loss of daylight in the evenings, and simply not having enough time, I won't be riding during the week. Somehow this decision makes me feel better.  I think 2pointober helped to set a precedent for riding on the weekends and I'd like to keep that going for as long as the weather holds. Even if I only get 15 minutes and ride bareback in the paddock.

Old picture, but he's been doing some of this again lately.

Of 2pointober, Shenanigans, and Prison Breaks

I rode!  Both ponies!  Saturday was gorgeous and as soon as the kid went down for his morning nap, I chucked the monitor at my husband and told him I was going riding.

First up was the mare.  It was windy, so we started in the paddock just walking.  Then some short trotting. She was doing well, so we moved to my sectioned off portion of the pasture near the paddock.  We did some more walking, tripped in some high grass, but kept going. I had her doing reasonable straight lines and got some times in for 2pointober.  My max time was 16 seconds, which is big improvement over my initial time of 5 seconds.  I attribute it to our ability to walk mostly straight. I should note that I'm still doing all this bareback.

On high alert in the pasture. Don't know why.

Then I got real brave.  I hopped off to move the "gate" (a step in post), hopped back on and we wandered into the pasture.  She was very looky and alert, so we just did wide slow circles, serpentines and wobbly lines near the pasture. Then slowly worked our way out. We rode around half the pasture, but stayed away from the road. Something kept getting her attention in one corner we couldn't see. Since I was bareback and didn't want her to learn Max's spin and bolt tricks, I didn't take her that far.  At one point we were able to see Max locked in the barn and they hollered at each other, but Maggie really didn't try to get back to the barn like I expected her to. Good mare.

I finally got off and left her in the pasture.  Last time I put her in the barn and rode Max, she tried to break the door down. This time she just ate grass where she could see Max and me.  I just rode Max in the paddock for a bit. We did walking, trotting and stopping.  Nothing exciting to report other than he was very good.  I hopped off and thought I was done until I spying the extra crib mattress in the barn. I had gotten this thing used when I bought a crib at a garage sale. I refuse to buy anything like that used that can't go in the washer, so it sat in our garage for a while. I've been wanting to use it for desensitization/obstacles, but haven't gotten around to it, until Saturday.  I think the pictures tell the whole story.

The hard part is making him stand. He wants to keep following me.

On the teeter-totter bridge.

No halter, never been exposed to the thing before today...why the hell not?  Shortly after this the mattress fell off. He just wanted his cookie.

This morning, we had a bit of a shock.  It's dark outside when I leave for work.  I get up, let the dogs out, and go back inside.  All is quiet.  Go back outside to put things in my car for the day, still quiet. Finally, head out the door with the kid to leave, while my husband goes down to feed and what do we hear?  Thundering hooves coming right for me from the opposite direction of the barn.  Those shits had broken down the fence and were gorging themselves on grass.  We couldn't see them until they were nearer the barn, so I don't know how far they had wandered.  I hope they stuck to our yard and didn't venture into the neighbors garden or worse, the road.  I know it was the mare.  Max is too lazy to try to break anything down.  Thankfully Cinderella stayed in the paddock and there weren't any noticeable injuries, though I will have to have a closer look after work. I'm just thankful they didn't get hit and are so greedy for food.

Drunken 2ptober

I haven't ridden since August. Today I managed to get a half hour free and rode both the beasts. Apparently I'm very lazy but also love to torture myself. I didn't want to dig out the saddles or put much effort into riding so I just threw on a bridle and rode bareback.

It's also 2ptober so why not do my baseline too?

Today I started with Maggie. We wandered around the paddock like a couple of drunks. We need to work on walking a straight line.  Also got a baseline of a whopping 5 seconds.

Then I rode Max. He is so different from Maggie. He feels like a narrow TB compared to her. He has a smoother trot and can still walk reasonably straight.  After riding Maggie I couldn't go longer  than 5 seconds. The entire time I was riding, Maggie was hollering in her stall. I had to end my ride early when she started trying to break down the sliding door. Max didn't care at all about being separated.  Good boy!

Custom Artwork

A while back, Emilie over at becausepony was raising funds for something (I honestly can't remember what).   I purchased a pack of her blank greeting cards featuring the one and only Crumble. His looks remind me of Max, except Max's forelock isn't quite as crazy long. For every purchase, you got entered into a drawing to have a piece of custom artwork done.  And I won! 

She did a painting in oil pastels on a greenish type background.  It's gorgeous and I love it!

I sent her several pictures, but it was mostly based off of this one.

Showing off his new bridle way back when.

The Most Awesome Saddle Pad

Seriously.

I was in need of a saddle pad and was casually browsing custom ones online without the intention of buying.  This is what happens when you're exhausted and on leave with a newborn for several weeks.

Llamas!  And not just llamas, but blue llamas! My favorite color :)

So, I saw a very small image of what looked like a llama pattern. Had to click...no questions there. It took me to The Chestnut Mare's Etsy. And what to do I see?  Awesomeness.

All I want is grass!

 I paid more for this saddle pad than I probably should have, but it's so awesome and handmade. So I don't feel bad.  This saddle pad is very well made.  I wasn't sure of the coloring and asked The Chestnut Mare for her opinion. She sent me some photos with several binding colors up against the fabric to help me choose.  Great customer service!

New stirrup leathers...I was too lazy to adjust for such a short ride.

The pictures don't do it justice. I need to remember to not take pictures in direct sunlight.  I also didn't realize the flaps were so long on my endurance saddle and I should have gotten the dressage sized pad.

I had to do it! (No, you don't ride llamas but you can drive them)

As a side note, I have very much been MIA from blogging and reading blogs, especially over the last 3 weeks or so. Having a kid and essentially starting a business while working full time kind of limits the amount of time I have.