And a fantastic New Year!!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Things we've been up to...
So I got hung up on making the "perfect post" and therefore have posted, well, nothing!
Since we got that beautiful seafoam green trailer, we have gone to a Julie Goodnight clinic in the Berkshires of MA and embarked on a long rehab session for both V and I. Vashti has a torn/scarred muscle in her right hind (gluteal/quadriceps) and I have neck/back and nerve pain that is requiring therapy. It's been just over 6 weeks now that we have embarked on that rehab journey.
I have been to 3 doctors and physical therapy. Vashti has been visited by two vets, had x-rays, a cortisone shot and shockwave therapy. Vashti is looking quite well, she is doing good in her rehab.
I have had a set back in my own therapy, so my super-hubby has been helping with the horsie rehab. Thank Goodness for supportive people!!
Since we got that beautiful seafoam green trailer, we have gone to a Julie Goodnight clinic in the Berkshires of MA and embarked on a long rehab session for both V and I. Vashti has a torn/scarred muscle in her right hind (gluteal/quadriceps) and I have neck/back and nerve pain that is requiring therapy. It's been just over 6 weeks now that we have embarked on that rehab journey.
I have been to 3 doctors and physical therapy. Vashti has been visited by two vets, had x-rays, a cortisone shot and shockwave therapy. Vashti is looking quite well, she is doing good in her rehab.
I have had a set back in my own therapy, so my super-hubby has been helping with the horsie rehab. Thank Goodness for supportive people!!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
IT'S DONE
The finished product!
Ryan Butler of R&B Custom Auto body/Paint did a fantastic job.
He was skeptical about the Seafoam Green color, but in the end it looks super cool!
Ryan Butler of R&B Custom Auto body/Paint did a fantastic job.
He was skeptical about the Seafoam Green color, but in the end it looks super cool!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Things I will not eat by Vashti
These are things Mom has tried to feed me that are disgusting...
- Pear
- Beer
- Lettuce
- Granola bar that I begged Mom for and promised her I'd eat
- Celery
- Peas
- Watermelon
- Canned Ravioli - no matter how hard the girls at the barn try to get me to eat it.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Walk
It's so hot I have just been going to the barn to hose Vashti down and keep her cool. Yesterday we went for a walk together up to the cemetery once she was nice and wet. She was completely dry by the time we walked back down. I got this pic on my cell phone - I like how hazy the cemetery is... hazy, hot and spooky.
Trailer Update
We dropped off the trailer for some body work and paint last Sat. It's been just over a week and Ryan emailed me update pictures of our progress!!
Custom Rain Guards to stop the water from getting in and ruining the tack storage area and floor of the hay area.
Removal of the dent from a jackknife incident
Welding of the wheel wells (both wheel wells had areas that had rusted through)
Looking good so far! Can't wait for the finished product and to get it back so I can work the floors myself and get new mats.
Custom Rain Guards to stop the water from getting in and ruining the tack storage area and floor of the hay area.
Removal of the dent from a jackknife incident
Welding of the wheel wells (both wheel wells had areas that had rusted through)
Looking good so far! Can't wait for the finished product and to get it back so I can work the floors myself and get new mats.
HOT
It's hot once again. So hot we like to lay down these days...
It's too hot to stand up, but not hot enough that we don't pin at our ears at other horses who come too close to us... "Too close" being an ever changing boundary.
A little cutie pie! She even let me sit on her for a while after this.
It's too hot to stand up, but not hot enough that we don't pin at our ears at other horses who come too close to us... "Too close" being an ever changing boundary.
A little cutie pie! She even let me sit on her for a while after this.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Trail Riding
We did another trail ride yesterday. Vashti will go out on the trail alone as long as Bill is with us on a mountain bike as "lead horse". First stop - the cemetery on the aptly named Cemetery Road.
We ride on regular roads until we come to a dirt road which leads to a trail cut through. Crossing over that trail we come back out onto road which leads us to a State Forest.
We met a nice man who came out of his house to greet us. Vashti was pitching a fit and refusing to go forward past his yard. He came out and talked to her and told her she was beautiful - that's all it took! She loves being admired by people, just loves it. He asked permission to leave her some carrots by his mailbox for our return trip, which we granted. So on the way home V got a lovely little snack.
The return trip - this is the back of her boarding barn.
All in all it was a successful ride. Here are the warriors recovering at the end of the trail.
We ride on regular roads until we come to a dirt road which leads to a trail cut through. Crossing over that trail we come back out onto road which leads us to a State Forest.
We met a nice man who came out of his house to greet us. Vashti was pitching a fit and refusing to go forward past his yard. He came out and talked to her and told her she was beautiful - that's all it took! She loves being admired by people, just loves it. He asked permission to leave her some carrots by his mailbox for our return trip, which we granted. So on the way home V got a lovely little snack.
The return trip - this is the back of her boarding barn.
All in all it was a successful ride. Here are the warriors recovering at the end of the trail.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
What we learned tonight (guest blogger Vashti)
Mom came to see me tonight - I was super tired because I got to eat grass allllll day in the pasture. We only get out to the pasture to eat about once a year or so... (Deb's note: it's actually a pasture rotation and she is out there once a week) So, anyway, I was really tired being out in the sun and eating and guarding the water trough. That's hard work guarding the water - you never know when another horse might sneak up there! And now Mom wants me to carry her all around - after my long day. Sheesh.
Oh wait, I'm supposed to tell you what I learned tonight. So, I'm hauling Mom around outside, working my tail off, when she decides we should leave the dirt ring and walk over to some grass. Grass is good for eating, but it's also good at hiding suspicious characters, like that squirrel of death... Now I'm carefully watching as we start over the grass - in fact, I even tried to take Mom right back to the dirt, but sometimes she can be so stubborn. Then, there it was! A crafty, pouncy, cat! I jumped straight up, but Mom told me it was alright. So I learned cats do not eat horses, even if they are no good, tricky little fur balls and I still have my suspicions if Mom is right about this "fact"
Oh wait, I'm supposed to tell you what I learned tonight. So, I'm hauling Mom around outside, working my tail off, when she decides we should leave the dirt ring and walk over to some grass. Grass is good for eating, but it's also good at hiding suspicious characters, like that squirrel of death... Now I'm carefully watching as we start over the grass - in fact, I even tried to take Mom right back to the dirt, but sometimes she can be so stubborn. Then, there it was! A crafty, pouncy, cat! I jumped straight up, but Mom told me it was alright. So I learned cats do not eat horses, even if they are no good, tricky little fur balls and I still have my suspicions if Mom is right about this "fact"
Sunday, June 6, 2010
It's been hot
I mean August hot - triple H's. Hazy, Hot and Humid. This is not weather that Vashti appreciates needless to say. For one, horses generally like it cooler, so she is not in the best of horsie moods. She is hot and she is not afraid to make her crankiness known. Also, because I am so mean, and insist she still carry me around several times a week, she gets sweaty pretty quickly - which leads us to Two: She is given showers. This is an indignity she still cannot stand - the dreaded being sprayed with a garden hose, so demeaning!
Of course the hose spraying leads to the inevitable rolling (see My Little Mud Pony below, noting that V is a completely Chestnut colored horse - not Bay, Black, or any other color that causes dark brown)
Of course the hose spraying leads to the inevitable rolling (see My Little Mud Pony below, noting that V is a completely Chestnut colored horse - not Bay, Black, or any other color that causes dark brown)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Trailer Training - Part III (the completion)
| Started out nice and easy, loading just the front feet into the correct side of the trailer. Now we needed to work on getting her to stay IN the trailer not back immediately out. She definitely has backing out down pat now! Started by asking her to load and then trying to have her stand, but it was not working. I had had to break it down into little steps. Ask to load all four feet, reward. Ask to stand inside 3 seconds after a load, reward. Started treating her to stay in longer and longer time spans. Then slowly added in wiggling the butt bar around, then to clipping the butt bar. Each time unloading and reloading again, working our way up. Then we got the rear door shut and practiced that a few times. And then, our first drive. A whopping 10 feet in the outdoor ring. She was shaking like a leaf when I let her out. We took a little break and then back in and drove up to the front of the barn. Unloaded in a new place - and then loaded up again. She was doing Great! Loaded her up and drove all the way around the block. No problems. So, I put her up for water, cleaned up the trailer from all the "stress poop", groomed her and reloaded one more time to the ultimate test. A drive HOME! :) We met Bill in the driveway as he came home from work. Here is her first trip to our house ever:  Bill and Vashti  A horse, a dog and their girl We let her wander around the yard and took tons of pictures.  Us in front of the garden Then I took her back for the night. A very brave horse |
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Trailer training - Part II
Day 2: She fully loaded right away. This time I was determined NOT to move that divider. It took over an hour to get her off. She would just shake at the step down, but she finally did it. We took a break and started over, and she popped on AGAIN. This time it only took about 5 min to get her off, although it involved more "pressure" than I would typically like. We worked on loading just her front feet for a little bit and ended on that.
Session 3: Had some time off due to rain. Started with loading the front feet 10 times, then moved to me standing at the side of trailer and sending her into the trailer. I was counting the tries. We did 76 loads of just the front feet and then she loaded herself. She backed right out, shaking and trembling and got a lot of positive reinforcement and treats.
It took until we got up to 202 for her to fully load again, and again, she came right back out. We were taking breaks, especially if she got a little frustrated. Then at 290 she went in with all four feet. By 300 she had loaded completely four more times. We took another break and when we went back she just started loading fully without any issues. I would send her in from the side of the trailer and she would go in nicely as you please. We had 48 full loads in total and she got used to standing inside a bit before backing out.
A tribute to patience and consistency - she did a great job.
Session 3: Had some time off due to rain. Started with loading the front feet 10 times, then moved to me standing at the side of trailer and sending her into the trailer. I was counting the tries. We did 76 loads of just the front feet and then she loaded herself. She backed right out, shaking and trembling and got a lot of positive reinforcement and treats.
It took until we got up to 202 for her to fully load again, and again, she came right back out. We were taking breaks, especially if she got a little frustrated. Then at 290 she went in with all four feet. By 300 she had loaded completely four more times. We took another break and when we went back she just started loading fully without any issues. I would send her in from the side of the trailer and she would go in nicely as you please. We had 48 full loads in total and she got used to standing inside a bit before backing out.
A tribute to patience and consistency - she did a great job.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Trailer Training - Part I
Step 1! Horse meets trailer...
Day one of training to load into our new (to us) step up trailer. We worked for two solid hours (mini breaks of course) to work on loading one front foot. She would get right up to the trailer, but no step up. Finally, I stepped into the left side of the trailer and asked her to step up into the right side and BINGO! She immediately loaded her front two feet and looked at me like "This was all you wanted all this time??"
Both front feet in: "Hey that grass looks wayyyy more interesting than this box"
We continued to practice loading the front feet and then backing out, after about 25 times, she popped completely in. I broke out into a sweat.... because I KNEW she wasn't coming out. And boy was I right! I couldn't get her to back out at all. Finally (like an idiot), I moved the divider as I felt she was getting panicky. Luckily I knew enough to dive out one way and she FLEW out the other like the trailer had suddenly materialized large fangs and claws. She went bucking all the way up to the barn where she contently munched grass waiting all innocent for me to collect her.
We immediately went back to the trailer and practiced loading those front feet. We did 20 more times and called it a day on a good note.
"Jailed"
Day one of training to load into our new (to us) step up trailer. We worked for two solid hours (mini breaks of course) to work on loading one front foot. She would get right up to the trailer, but no step up. Finally, I stepped into the left side of the trailer and asked her to step up into the right side and BINGO! She immediately loaded her front two feet and looked at me like "This was all you wanted all this time??"
Both front feet in: "Hey that grass looks wayyyy more interesting than this box"We continued to practice loading the front feet and then backing out, after about 25 times, she popped completely in. I broke out into a sweat.... because I KNEW she wasn't coming out. And boy was I right! I couldn't get her to back out at all. Finally (like an idiot), I moved the divider as I felt she was getting panicky. Luckily I knew enough to dive out one way and she FLEW out the other like the trailer had suddenly materialized large fangs and claws. She went bucking all the way up to the barn where she contently munched grass waiting all innocent for me to collect her.
We immediately went back to the trailer and practiced loading those front feet. We did 20 more times and called it a day on a good note.
"Jailed"
Monday, May 17, 2010
We got a trailer!
This is a 1964 Kingston 2 horse trailer. Yes, 1964! It is in great shape. Needs a little paint though.
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