Lessons (Never) Learned

You'd think by now I'd know that whenever I plan out my session with Gambler something will cause it to go awry. But that is a lesson I never seem to learn. Today I thought it all out. If the ground was frozen, I'd stick to picking up his feet and mounting prep. If the footing was okay, I'd play stick-to-me on line. However, when I got to the barn Kezi and Gambler were in the weirdest mood. Think playful and grumpy; spooky and chill. I guess they just didn't like the cold and the wind.

Watching me through the window.

Zoooooom!

Having an argument.

Anyway, I tried to lure them out of the arena into the pasture with a little handful of hay so that I could close off the arena (in case anyone is wondering, the arena is part of the pasture that can be sectioned off). Usually this works, but today instead of eating the hay, they just followed me around bucking, kicking, squealing, pinning their ears at each other, kicking each other. You name it, they were doing it. I would have just asked my Mom to hold them while I shut the fence, but she was running a quick errand. Instead I decided to bring them in and feed them. I could take Gambler into the arena if I still had light afterwards, or just pick out his feet in the cross-ties. 

I prepared their grain and opened the gate to let them into the barn. The way the barn is set up, the one gate opens straight into the pasture. Each horse knows where his (or her) stall is so all I have to do is open the door. Well today Kezi and Gambler ignored their grain, trotted all the way to one end of the barn, then spun around and trotted all the way back out. They would have come back in again, but I shut the gate and told them sternly, "You have to stop acting so ditsy first!"

So I stood there and waited. They seemed to lose interest in getting fed. They just stood stock still looking out to pasture. To give you an idea of how still they were (like horsie statutes) I got several pictures of Gambler's face in focus, even in the bad lighting. On most occasions it is very hard to get a good picture of Gambler's face because he never stops moving.

Check out those dapples. I'm excited to see if Gambler will grey out any more, or stay this color permanently.

Abruptly, Kezi and Gambler headed out into the pasture. Then they came back again. I got a really nice video of Gambler cantering back, but the camera spazzed out because of the cold and it was lost. 

When they got back I attempted to let them into the barn again. This time they just stood there and looked at me like I was crazy. "Why would you possibly want us to go into the barn we always go into at the time we always go into it and eat the grain we always eat?"

Then my mom got back. Of course, when she opened the gate they walked into their stalls like perfectly normal horses. I see how it is!

I asked my mom to hold Gambler while I picked out his hooves so that she could back him up when he misbehaved. I picked out three of the four today! I was very happy to see that his back feet weren't nasty, because I haven't picked them out for weeks and I was starting to worry about thrush. I had no reason to worry. Both back feet look fine and the one I picked out hardly had anything in it. Gambler will now let me pick out his front left foot without complaint and his back left and front right foot with complaint. That one foot, the back left, is his worst. He still does not like to have me pick it up and has a tendency to kick out. 

All in all, it wasn't a bad day, even though it didn't go according to plan. Gambler is improving and I am enjoying myself. Really, that's all that matters. 

25th Post!!

In the very first post I gave a summary of my history with horses and how I came to own my wonderful gelding. However, now that I have been writing for almost one month(!!!) and a couple people are reading it, I want to delve deeper into the horses that God brought into my life.

The first horse I physically sat on was a pony at one of those pony rides you see at the fair. I don't remember much about it, other than I was terrified. Fear is a theme that comes up a lot in my history of horses. I loved them, but the riding a horse was really scary. When I was nine, I took some really basic riding lessons at Promise Land Ranch.

This is an Arabian gelding named Mars. He was the first horse I really loved. For some reason I wasn't afraid of him like I was of the other horses. Sadly, he died in a freak accident the day this picture was taken.

A few years later Promised Land Ranch moved across the country, and I was temporarily horseless. That didn't keep me down for long. I sought out horses everywhere I went. For instance, Silver was a pony at a zoo in Illinois. I fell in love with her and had to see her every year. 

'08

'09

'10

And then there was Merrylegs. He was the cutest, grumpiest Arab-cross pony. I absolutely loved him. At this point I was riding with one of my close friends and she introduced me to Parelli Natural Horsemanship. Poor Merrylegs was my first attempt at using the methods they teach. 

This is a mare from the herd. I got to ride her a couple times, but she was pretty old .

This is Dan, part of the same herd of Arabs as Merrylegs. I love him and we have a bond, but I haven't gotten to really work with or ride him since I moved.

 In 2012 I started taking legitimate English riding lessons at Galloping Hills and joined Pony Club.

A lesson horse named Cali

A lesson horse named Montana.

A lesson horse named Domino

I spent the summer of 2013 working at Galloping hills and in July of 2014 I went to Pony Club Nationals in Lexington KY with a team for an eventing rally. I wrote a short blog about it that you can read here. In the fall of 2014 I decided to leave Pony Club for the time being, but continued working at Galloping Hills and taking lessons. 

Another lesson horse: Desi.

And Donnie: a gorgeous warmblood I rode for lessons.

In early spring of 2015 my boss offered to sell me Gambler; you know the rest.