Horse Sales & Right Lead

Now that school has started I lost all my barn help! I’m back to caring for all 9 horses all by my lonesome. There is a good point to this now I can really see what’s been going on. I will be honest I slack off horribly this summer. Forba needs some work, she is fat and out of shape. She has a few months before she is bred again so I am going to try and get her in the best shape I can. I really feel bad for he I have not given her the attention that he craves. She does better when she is worked on a regular basis. Then there is Mc who I thought was sold. I called the lady today and she can’t (money situation). That sucks. I turned down 3 people two of which have found there new horse partner already. Since I stopped working her when I thought she was sold she is fat and lazy. I lunged both mares today and did Kitt. He looks better and he seems to be feeling a lot better.

Today as I lunged Forbs around the pen I started to think about our program. She is the only mare I can breed to Wynter. I would like to get another one. With that being said I have a full barn and no money. I have our foals listed even our Chance man who I would love to keep. On top of that I keep falling in love with Kitt daily. The sellers market is a bad one and buyers is a great one. I can not tell you how many mares I have seen that I want. Some mares who would normally go for 8k or 15k being sold for 3k or 4k. Ugg! Wynter needs more mares! Unless I am able to sell one foal I will not be breeding anyone this year. If I can sell two I will try and breed our silver mare if I can sell three and Mc I will buy a new mare. Now the crunch line on this is it all needs to happen before Feb. I want to breed our mares late February. They will start going under lights if I have sold any one or not. I have also contemplated listed our Toccata mare for sale. This would break my heart. She is truly a phenomenal mare, totally bombproof anyone can ride she has done everything under the sun and has had one great filly. The only things that make me want to consider selling her is that she is only a 71 and I cannot breed her to Wynter. Life sucks sometimes. If I had the money I could just say keep her, but I don’t. I already have one useless horse, our Arlo. Hell will freeze over before I part with that guy.

I have three horses that I would quite literally sell my soul for Marquisse Wynter and Arlo. The rest I could sell, that doesn’t mean I want to though. So I have tossed this idea around a few times and I have never decided or acted on selling her. In all reality I know that she should move on just from a business stand point. Then again she is such a great horse, I keep telling myself that what ever mare I would purchase to replace her would be ride able and a little fancier she could also be crossed with Wynter. The choices. The decisions. The dilemmas.

I took the camera to the barn today to take photos and wouldn’t you know it I forgot it there! I wasn’t able to take that many shots anyway. I need to con my mom or Liz to take photos while I ride or something. I hate having a photo less entry, it looks dull. By the by today Wyn had a rats nest in his mane. How can a horse get one in just one night? I thought that they took days to get bad! Nope not for Wynter. He has long thick curly mane and he thinks it should be sexier with knots. I do have photos of it when I can get my camera I will add them.

He keeps laying in his pee spot on his left side. Its driving me crazy. His is a very very tidy stallion. He has a certain spot where he pees and he poops along the walls, his stall is always super easy to clean. I need to get a blanket fixed or buy a new stable blanket for him. I don’t have one for him he has a sheet (somewhere) and a winter blanket. He doesn’t have his own stable blanket and its getting about time to wear one. Not just because of his new sleeping habits but the weather is getting a little colder. Every single sheet I have is ripped all but the one on Arlo, he takes care of his blankeis. All the blanket that fit Wynter are heavy ones for winter, as I said I have no clue where his sheet skipped off to. Bottom line I need something that will fit him and transition from a sheet to mid weight blanket. Thus he needs a light weight stable blanket. Ohh goody something I can order when I get rowels! Ha ha ha. I’m an honorary customer of Scheinders. They send me coupons all the time!

Getting him ready he was relaxed and content. A horse got loose while he was in the get ready room and he could have cared less. He was just really quite today. He is always quiet but today was different some how. I lunged him around at the trot I didn’t even ask for the canter. He is almost to the point where I can guess when he needs to get lunged or not. As well as I’m almost to the point to try riding him fresh. Fresh… I don’t know if he even knows that word ha ha ha. Again we stood next to the mounting block this time he tried to take one step but whoa stopped him.

We bent around, he is getting really soft bending almost trying to anticipate the bends. He is still blocky not moving forward when bending. He is getting better though. Out off all the horses I have ridden he breaks at the base of the neck really well. He has no brace there, not yet anyway ;P

It was a short ride today we went to trot work and did posting trot around the pen doing figure eights. He felt like a freight train. He was like forward! We walked a bit and then did out long walls. He is getting straighter! He isn’t taking as much as he was to keep straight. Although a few times he all out fell to the rail basically saying screw you and your rein. He got in trouble for those moments.

It was the canter work that was hard. Since we spent a lot of time learning the pieces of his body he got confused on how to canter. He would bend in and the out taking off on the wrong lead. He was basically doing what I told him to do, if you think about it. He just needs to learn when my left is in the center it mean go, if it is behind that means his behind. He understand the girth one that is shoulder. He just gets the other two mixed up. So we had to work of this means canter not move ribcage. He got a few good spurs as he wouldn’t give to pressure. At one point he tossed his whole rib cage into my leg. He did this a few times repeatedly on his right side. I introduced him to ‘we get to back and move the hip that didn’t move when I asked you’. He wasn’t so sure about that idea. The first two times he would try and move his shoulder then he got it ohh the hip the hip. His left was really good a little fast but then again my new motto is FORWARD.

Wynter and I had a good session at the right canter. He was forward and tried to revert back to diving in this time he was trying to blast through it. We were cruising around our circle! He would try and brace on my right rein but I would let him and he would fall out with the left shoulder. Ohh I didn’t mention that I didn’t have my crop. I forgot to grab it today and just said screw it. This was the only time I wished I had it. He needed a good tap on the outside shoulder. With that said we were able to work through it and he gave me a few good stride, being centered and responsive to the inside rein.

I could have asked him to do a few more transitions at the canter and even a little more trot work but he was sweaty and in all he was really soft and responsive. After we walked around a little and went over the blue mat. The trainer as a neat blue mat that they use in gymnastics for a mock water jump and it make a fun noise when horses step on it. Wynter has been over it a few time sand today he just meandered over it.

Today when I said whoa he halted quickly. I instantly hopped off. Over all he was good except for the right canter and his leads today. Tomorrow the farrier is coming out and I will have to ride him in the morning if I want to ride him at all. He will then get tomorrow off as I never ride them the day after they get there feet done.

I need to think of something I can post for Friday.