Offering a good deal.

My ride on Gypsy was good today, or as good as a ride on Gypsy can be. Seriously though, she was a good girl, for the most part. She started off with her normal "I won't stand to let you get on" thing but after letting her walk in circles she realized that maybe standing still was the better deal. I just kept her walking until she was ready to stand still and then when she did I told her how good she was and that's all I wanted. Why work harder if you don't have to, right? I think she's starting to get that. Once I was mounted we walked for a few minutes and then did some trot work. It's kinda hot today so I kept the trotting to a minimum. She kept tossing her head at the trot and offering to buck so I kept turning her in smaller and smaller circles whenever she did that. It seemed to work. She realized that if she threatens to buck, I just make her work a little harder. Again, I'm just trying to offer her a better deal. If she trots nice, then no circles, if not, well, then, she has to work in little circles and work harder. This horse is all about easy. She's learning to take my offers at a better deal as long as it means she doesn't have to work as hard. I try to be fair. I even got a semi-decent canter out of her, when she wasn't offering to buck. Again, more circles and a better deal was offered and she settled right down. All in all, I'm happy with our ride today. As long as I offer her a better deal then what she thinks she's getting, she does alright.

One thing though, Gypsy is getting fatter. Too much green grass I think. So, I've cut down on her beet pulp and she's going to get worked everyday, whether she (or I) like it or not. I can't let her gain too much weight so we are in weight loss mode. I too could use to drop a few pounds so maybe this will be good for both of us. They get hay at night when I lock them in their paddock, which they stay in now that I have the fence fixed. No more midnight munchie wanderings for the marshmallow now.

Getting caught up in an already busy summer.

Gypsy has this bad habit of getting out of the paddock everyday. It's been getting annoying. Today, I'd had enough. I revamped the fence and it works again. Take that mare! Just to drive the point home, when she was standing near the fence with her fat white nose, I kinda pushed the fiber glass fence post into her face so the wire hit her nose. She got the point very quickly. She now respects the fence again. It may be mean, but damn it, after weeks of her getting out almost everyday it felt so good to watch her get zapped, even if it was by my doing.

Our rides have been going ok, except that Gypsy has this new thing of not wanting to stand still while being mounted. I've been working on it with her and teaching her that standing still is a good thing. She's kinda getting it, but not really. It's just going to take more time I think. Other then that, Gypsy is coming along nicely. She still has a lot to learn, but I feel like I'm getting somewhere with her now.

Doodles is doing amazing. She's been cantering on the correct leads and and really responding to my every cue. I love love love that mare.

Things have been busy here. There's always the animals to take care of and now I've got the gardens in full swing. We had our first garden greens in a salad today and it was wonderful. I can't wait for tomatoes and peppers!






It's just so nice being able to grow our own food and enjoy the land. I'm so thankful for the way the farm has turned out and to be able to live this lifestyle. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. I enjoy living the simple life.

I wish I could blog more, but truly I've been busy doing things around the farm and of course, work. I always say I'll write more next time but I never am able to. I also never know what to write as I'm writing it, if that makes any sense. I can think of tons of things to blog about when I'm not sitting in front of my computer but as soon as I see this screen, my mind goes blank. I have no idea why. At least I have pictures this time!

I'm so behind on everyones blogs. I try to read as many as I can but I just can't seem to stay on top of them all. My computer has been a bit of a pain in the butt lately so it's been hard to read them when I can't get the pages to load.

Anyways. That's all for now. At this point I won't even promise to make another post anytime soon since we all know how that goes.

A short 100th post

I'm going to make this short since I'm tired and should go to bed but I wanted to update everyone and get myself back into a weekly blog writing routine again. Things have been rather nice here. It's finally dried up after our 2 weeks of rain and the grass has come in nice and tall. I spent a few weeks getting the girls used to the grass slowly so we don't have any more laminitis problems. I fenced off part of the backyard so they can graze since it was too wet to get a lawn mower in there. I figure on more pasture can't hurt anything and on the plus side I won't have to mow it. The girls look great and I think the grass and the Omega Horseshine I started in their feed has made a huge difference. They are so shiny and soft. That Omega Horseshine is like gold to me now. I just wish it was a little less expensive.

I've been riding as much as I can which is turning into everyday. Some days I just ride Gypsy or Doodles other days I ride both. I've gotten back on Doodles and she's been a peach. She's been so good for me. Today Doodles even learned that she can canter with me on her back for more then 4 strides. We made it all the way around the arena and on the correct lead and everything. I'm so proud of my Doodles. She's turning out to be more fun to ride then Gypsy, who lately has not be that much fun to ride. Gypsy has been a pain in the ass. She bucks, she bolts, she stops dead, she won't go where I ask, she's stiff. She's getting better, but it's been a battle. She's just so lazy and stubborn sometimes. I hope that by the end of the summer she's headed in the right direction. I'm getting better at dealing with her temper tantrums and hanging on.

I'm happy to be riding as much as I have been though. I've even gotten back into reading some training books and I'm able to apply it to our daily rides. I feel more confident on my horses and I think that helps them too. I'm excited for the summer and once I get my truck and trailer fixed up (both need tires and the truck needs an alignment) I'll be heading to some clinics and maybe a fun show.

Ok, that's all for tonight, time for me to get to bed. Sorry for the short and lazy 100th post. I wanted to do something fun but I just haven't had them time.