Update :)

Life is crazy. I haven't blogged since late 2009. I would say I am somewhat disappointed in myself but I should give myself some credit. I started community college in January 2010 when my son was 6 months old. I somehow managed to juggle being a mom, a wife, and *sort of* kept up with my horse hobby. In August 2011 I finally found a job and then finished all of my classes in November while working 32 hours a week. It was a little rough at times but I managed to maintain a 4.0 gpa and should be receiving all 3 of my certificates this summer.

As life has slowed down a tiny bit, I have been trying to make more time for my horse. Sometimes I am successful and get out to the barn to ride 4 times a week. Most often though I make it to the barn twice a week and ride one or two of those times depending on how full my schedule is. Luckily, Summer has a pretty cushy existence at her current barn. She has about an acre and a half or so pasture attached to a 12x24 stall. A small creek runs through her pasture with some big beautiful oak trees towards the back. It's so nice I kind of wish I could move in with her. She almost lives the life of a semi-retired horse and I can tell she loves every minute of it.

Our working relationship has been getting better, and I really feel like we "get" each other. I have been trying to do a lot of new things with her and we are still trying to figure out what our one thing is. She has definitely let me know Western Pleasure is not something she enjoys and that she much prefers something that keeps her brain active and is constantly challenging her. She loves cow work, and trail riding is definitely something we love to do. Briefly we explored getting into mounted shooting and I found that she had no problem with a gun being shot off of her but that the hobby itself would be much too expensive than we could afford at this point. In the last few months we have discovered reining. While she may not ever be perfect at it, it does seem to keep her mind constantly working. Back in February we attended our first clinic ever with Shane Steffen for beginning reining and cow work. We actually did really well and left feeling like it was something we could both do. So in the weeks since, I have been working on her stop, back, haunch turns, and forehand turns. I have even managed to get a halfway decent spin out of her. Tonight is our first lesson with Shane since the clinic and I am super excited to show off what we have been working on and see how we can improve from here.

Hopefully, I can start blogging more. I would love to be able to write about how I am feeling about where we are going and what some of my goals are. Maybe I will even get some feedback on occasion......


Summer enjoying some brief sunshine in February



Liniment and Polo Wraps

My birthday is this week. Friday actually. I had planned a trail ride for Saturday with some friends and have been really really really looking forward to it. Really. My husband even offered to watch Xavier all day so I could have a nice relaxing time. This last Friday evening I received a call from Susan. She had gone out to ride Summer, pulled her out of the field and noticed something was off. She checked her over and saw that Summer's right front shoe was missing. She had a slight limp and was swollen just above her coronet band to just below her fetlock. The back of her pastern had some small cuts on it as well. I was worried but stuck at home with the baby so instructed her to cold hose her leg for 10 to 15 minutes, spray some Schreiner's Herbal Solution on the cuts and put liniment on the swollen area.
I went out the next morning (Saturday) and pulled Summer out of the pasture. She only had a slight limp and the swelling didn't look bad at all. I did the same thing that Susan had the night before but left out the liniment. She was in a good mood and enjoyed the attention, except for the Schreiner's because it stings a bit and she hates spray bottles of any kind. I put her back out to pasture and sent Susan a text updating her on the situation and asked her to repeat the process again that night. Before I left I even walked the fenceline of her pasture thinking that maybe she got caught up in some wire or something but couldn't find anything to confirm my suspicion.
Susan made it out yesterday (Sunday) morning to check her over again and sent me a text saying she seemed to be worse and the swelling had increased. Her limp was more pronounced so we decided stall rest for the time being would be best. I went out last night and managed to catch our barn owner Kristy and ask her advice. She suggested we do what we had been but thought too much stall rest might make her stock up and not help the injury circulate. She let me borrow some polo wraps and I wrapped her legs for the night. Not well since I'd never done it before but it was better than nothing. Poor Summer had a really hard time walking and seemed like every step was agonizing. I felt so bad for her. Gave her some hay and tucked her in for the night. This morning I made it back out and when I walked into the barn Summer's head popped up in her stall and she whinnied excitedly at me. Its been a long time since she's done that so it made me feel better about the situation. Leading her out of the stall was a little slow but I was pleased to see the wraps had stayed on. They looked like crap but at least hadn't fallen off and been trampled in the shavings. I unwrapped her legs and felt the injured one for heat. It didn't feel any hotter than the day before but the heat went farther up her leg than previously. She was still limping but it didn't seem to be as agonizing as last night although she was a little more hesitant to take that first step.
Here are a few pics of her legs first thing this morning. The scratches aren't too bad but they do seem to be slightly painful.




Its not really noticable in this picture but the inside of her right leg is definitely more swollen than her left.
Kristy suggested scraping the scabs off of her scratches so I spent a good 20 or 30 minutes doing this. I clipped the hair around her wounds and then cold hosed her for a while longer. She was SUCH a good girl. It definitely hurt but she was very patient the whole time. I did find a small thorn in her frog while I was doing this that I pulled out as well. Hopefully that was part of the issue and is now relieved.

You can see quite a bit of swelling in the pic on the inside of her pastern as well as the bulb of her heel.

Not thrilled at all with having her legs wrapped but at least Kristy showed me the correct way to do it. Looks MUCH better this time!

At this point I'm still trying to get ahold of my farrier and either have him replace the shoe or pull the one on her left so that she can at least stand evenly. I've left 3 messages since Friday and haven't heard back. She was just shod a few weeks ago in anticipation of my trail ride and he guarantees shoes for 6 weeks. This is driving me crazy. He's always really good about calling me back.

So basically my birthday plans may be on hold. It sucks but I feel even worse that she's hurt. Is it my fault for putting shoes on her? Would she have gotten hurt with or without them? I can't help but feel guilty but at he same time I know its kind of a freak accident. She'll probably be fine in a week or two and maybe the weather will still be nice. I'm sure it'll work out.....

UPDATE: My farrier called back and will be out tomorrow at 1ish to fix Summer's shoe! He is so awesome. Cross your fingers that it'll help her feel better.

Worried

Summer is currently on a full care lease until October 1st. I'm really excited to be able to have more time with her starting then but at the same time a little scared about our financial situation. My biggest fear is having to sell her, or not being able to cover all the minimum care she requires over the next few months. I was laid off from my full time job back in April, which was a small blessing since Xavier came so early, but at the same time a burden since we lost a couple hundred dollars a month of income. We are also coming into winter which is not a good time for my hubby's work and they've already warned him that it could be a tough season. Last year he spent almost 2 months getting laid off every other week. It was fine when it was just the two of us but now we have this little baby that requires diapers and formula and plenty of other things as he gets bigger. I know Susan will still want to partial lease Summer which will help quite a bit and I'm hoping I can find a part time job to bring in a little extra income. If not maybe I will try to see if I can work out at the barn and trade for board to help lighten the financial load. Summer is due to have her teeth floated before the end of the year too so I'm going to try and put a little bit away here and there to try and pay for it. Hopefully things will work out and Summer can stay right where she's at.

Celebrities!

Its been a loooooong time since I've posted. Not that anyone has really noticed since I only have a few readers, but I still feel a little guilty. Life has been a little busy in the last few months. Just 3 short weeks after my last post I went into labor and delivered our little boy via C-section 7 weeks early. He was born on 6/8/09 at 4:53 am weighing in at 5 lbs 4 oz. No real reason for his early arrival other than I have an odd, heart shaped uterus and he seemingly ran out of room. He is very healthy and now at nearly 13 weeks old weighs in at over 12 lbs. Motherhood is trying and tiresome but I love our little boy and wouldn't change it for anything. Although I do miss seeing my pony....

In the last few weeks I've been able to find a little time here and there to sneak away and have actually been able to visit Miss Summer. She's been happily spending this summer turned out to pasture and on a full care lease to the wonderful Susan. I was a little worried at first that if I wasn't working with her she would forget everything we've accomplished over those last few months. The first ride on her though since having the baby pretty much cleared those worries right up. She was still moving off my leg, neck reining right where I left her and even seemed to be a little softer in the mouth. A little on the lazy side but still pretty much the same horse. Susan has been doing a great job working with her. Two weeks ago we even ventured outside the arena and rode around the property. We did of course start schooling in the arena as a warm up and just to make sure her head was in the game. Just to make it interesting I opened the gate on the south end of the arena before hopping on. She found this VERY distracting, especially since she could see two other horses just beyond the pasture where this gate opens up into. I started off working her on the opposite end of the arena and got some good circles, stops and backing from her. Once I felt confident she was listening there we went to work in the entire arena and I did my best to ignore the open gate but to make sure I didn't let her slow down or pay too much attention to what was outside. Occasionaly on a pass she would drop her shoulder towards the gate and almost try to dive out. A few times of this and I decided to work her right next to the gate in small circles, first going one way at a trot until she relaxed and started paying attention to me and then reversing and going the other way. It didn't take long and eventually she was completely ignoring the open gate. As soon as she was bending into the circle and collecting up nicely I slowed her to a walk and we headed for the gate. We stepped outside on a loose rein and wandered around the small pasture. I asked her for a few stops and backs, got them quickly and willingly and then moved on to a few small circles. She was light and responsive and happy to be out in the sunshine, so was I. We ducked back into the barn aisleway and rode out into the gravel parking lot and across the little road to the big hay field. Still on a loose rein but a little faster than before, we explored the big field. Summer loved it and never once stopped to eat or tried to take off in her old famous speed walk. I loved just being able to meander around and not have a death grip on the reins, checking out each and every little cluster of trees and shadows. It was a great day.

Now on to present day.....We have several new boarders at the barn and I'm really excited to get to know them. One girl has a 2 year old QH filly (if I remember correctly) named Rip'In and she seems to get along with Summer really well. I met her the other day when I was out there with the farrier having Summer shod and she seemed very nice. The newest boarders are a little like having celebrities in the barn since I've been reading her blog for at least 6 months to a year. They do alot of eventing and dressage and I'm really excited to be able to ride with them. I was leaving Monday just when they were getting their horses out so I didn't get to talk to them much but tonight when I went out to the barn I was able to meet their horses, McKinna and Pandora. They just happened to be turned out with Summer and when I pulled her out of the pasture they tried following us up to the gate. Pandora, the larger of the two, got really brave and walked so close behind Summer she could have laid her head on her rump. Summer seemed a little irritated but didn't even try to kick her. I gently shooed Pandora and McKinna away so they wouldn't slip out of the gate. They were both very polite and stood quietly to the side while I opened the gate and brought Summer out with me. It was really nice to not be crowded and not once did either of them show any aggression.

Tonight Summer and I hit another milestone. I loped her for the first time since I got pregnant and after one lap on half the arena I asked her for a jog and she actually did it! Before, loping would get her so excited and hot that if I asked her for anything slower than a lope she would go straight into her high headed, bone jarring death trot. It was awful. But not this time! And I don't even think Susan has been able to lope her in some time, other than on the lunge line. I loped her both directions in small circles and each time she would come back to me just as calm as before I asked her to lope. I was beaming! The worst part about the ride was my butt slapping the saddle several times which I'm not sure if its due to me being out of shape or the fact I was riding in Susan's saddle. Her saddle, a Crates, has a slick seat and my cheapy one has a felt type seat that seems to keep my hiney in place a little better. Next time I ride I'm going to use my saddle and see if that makes a difference. Another good part of the ride was that I actually had a looser rein while loping. Seems like both Summer and I are coming along pretty well. Hopefully soon I can get out and ride more than once a week.

HALLELUJAH!!

Yea, thats right! Those two pictures above taken with my cell phone before 7 pm this evening are proof I did not have to chase my horse tonight! She was in the furthest corner of the pasture, which she did make me walk most of the way to her, but she still closed the gap between us ON HER OWN. I didn't even have any treats with me. I am so ecstatic. I almost peed my pants a little. Ok maybe not, but I'm pregnant, so that can happen over anything.





She did get her very last spring vaccine today which was actually very entertaining. We did the intra-nasal strangles which many horses do not appreciate. I did get to watch a performance from one particular horse tonight at my barn that definitely does not enjoy having her nose violated by a long, skinny tube that shoves fluid up towards her brain. Poor Sunny (aka Squealer or Squeaky Pants as I call her) is a previously abused, high spirited Pintabian. She trusts as little as possible and did not like the idea of being held by one person and approached by another weilding the nostril invading syringe. She put up a pretty good fight and managed to drag Kristy (Barn Owner) and Rebecca (Sunny's Owner) around half of the arena, head butting them a few times as well. Meanwhile, Summer was tied on the other side casually napping, unknowingly awaiting her turn. I don't think I ever saw her flick even an ear in their direction.





Once Sunny was finished and put away we untied Summer and led her towards the middle of the arena. We rubbed her nose for a few seconds to desensitize her and I slid my hand just above her nose to help keep her still and Rebecca moved in for the kill....er I mean injection. Summer struggled a bit and at the end it looked like the tube part had come off the syringe making the whole mission a fail. Rebecca and I both stepped back and noticed that all of the vaccine was gone from the syringe. At the same time Summer stretched her neck out and lifted her lips away from her teeth and made the most hilarious face I've ever seen. She then managed to sneeze all over poor Rebecca who was still standing in front of her. We were both laughing hysterically at this point. Poor Summer.

All in all it was a good night. I rode Summer for about 45 minutes. We worked some more on having her move off my leg, neck reining, and backing. She's starting to get much better at the first 2 but the 3rd is an ongoing issue. She is still a bit hardmouthed and doesn't give to the bit as well as she should so her backing is pretty resistent. Instead of freeing up her shoulders and tucking her head when asked to back she will lean into the bit and slowly drag backwards. Tonight I saved the backing for last so that when she backed twice while giving to the bit and freeing up her shoulders I could jump off and loosen her cinch as her reward. Summer always seems to remember training sessions beter if I'm quick to reward her with a job well done. It helps us end on a high note as well. She definitely made me work tonight too. Her body control wasn't very good so I spent alot of time holding her together with my legs tonight so I'm a bit sore since I haven't actually ridden like this in a few weeks to a month. I realized though that I've been getting lazy lately when I ride and its my fault for not using my legs as much that she's having a hard time keeping it together. It'll also help my impending labor a little easier if I work with my legs more and get the muscles in better shape so that will be my new personal goal when I ride.

Off to bed now, need to feed in the morning for Kristy since they are off to a QH show this weekend. Hopefully all of you ( I think I have 3 or 4 readers now!) have a great weekend. I'm getting a new mattress and bed frame and paint for the baby's room!

Pet/Owner Look-A-Like Contest?

My horse is starting to look like me. Round. Its kind of amusing. I went out to the barn yesterday and with all of the green grass and constant turn out she is beginning to look quite, um, pregnant. Or maybe she's just gaining weight to make me feel better. Either way, her weight gain has me motivated to actually ride her tomorrow. I'm going to see if I can get her to break a sweat. Just a tiny one though. She is not going to be very happy with me. Oh well, I need the exercise too. I've been spending entirely too much time at home.
Lately when I have gone out to the pasture to bring her in she has been so stubborn I've had to chase her around a bit until she'll actually stops and stands still. This has not amused me but I'm sure Summer finds it pretty stinkin funny. Nothin like getting chased around a huge pasture by an overweight pregnant lady waving her arms and swinging a lead rope at you to keep life interesting. Its been taking less and less time when she realizes that if she just lets me catch her then I don't continuously drive her away from her "herd" until she stands still. Usually after a few rounds in the pasture she'll stop, turn slightly to face me, and stand there licking and chewing with this smug little look in her eye. I'll huff and puff up to her, trying to catch my breath after my min-marathon, and halter her while she acts like "OMG, you just got here? I never saw you there!" Yea, funny horse that one is. She definitely has my sense of humor though. I would do the exact same thing if I were her. In the last week I've finally realized that chasing her is not a good idea so I've started to cheat. Yes, I'm using treats. I know, bribery isn't the best thing and can sometimes make them lippy and grabby but I really don't want to go into early labor from going out to catch my stinking horse. When I got out to clean her stall I put her in the indoor arena. I push the wheelbarrow through there to dump it and will keep a handful of treats in my pocket. When I have to go through, if she approaches me on her own, I'll give her a treat or two to sweeten the deal. So far she has not become aggressive from this but I am keeping a very watchful eye on her. I do not tolerate bad manners and will stop the treats immediately if she starts to act that way. Its definitely made her more friendly and when I went out to the pasture yesterday to put her fly mask on she came up to me almost immediately. Yay, progress! I'm going to start cutting back on the treats and only give them every once in a while to keep from creating any bad behavior in her though, just in case. Summer enjoys her rubs and scratches so I incorporated those yesterday in the field and she followed me all the way back to the gate. This will be the majority of her "reward" for approaching me rather than the just the treats. Hopefully things will continue to improve and my barn lady won't have to look out her window and see a huge pregnant woman chasing a horse around her pasture. If she does though, I hope she gets it on video for America's Funniest Home Videos. Or at least YouTube.

Barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen....

Yep, thats what happens when you're unemployed. Of course, the pregnant part happened back when I had a job, but my last day of work was April 30th so now the title of this post fits me. Sort of....I've been in the kitchen some, but as little as possible. I was working as a receptionist at a temp agency which wasn't too bad. I didn't particularly like my coworkers, but who likes everybody all the time? Our customers and employees were great though and I loved working for/with them. Unfortunately, my company was bought out completely by our sister company and they decided to merge. Lucky for me and one other coworker our sister company was already fully staffed so we got screwed out of jobs. I am currently almost 29 weeks pregnant, neat huh? I've been looking for work but who really wants to hire someone that will be taking maternity leave in 2 to 3 months? The upside is I do get unemployment which means I'll have a paid maternity leave. Bad news is we are losing about $200 a month and I'll be home enough that I'll be forced to clean the house! Not acceptable, but seriously what other choice do I have? I will get a chance to spend more time with our son though rather than rushing right back to work, which is great.

So anyways, I took a ton of pictures on friday with my cell phone and I know you are all dying to see them so here you go.....

The new baby at the barn. She is sooooo cute!

Look at that face! I may steal her.....

Summer got wormed, she was SO not thrilled with it.

Giving me the evil eye after worming her

Back in her stall trying to sniff out more treats. Look at her crazy eyes...lol

Going for the windswept look.....she wants to be a supermodel

Mad that I didn't have anymore treats so she tried to throw her grain bucket at me

Sid sunning himself in the backyard

Took the dogs down to the park near our house

Sid following Thor trying to figure out what she's staring at

Thor loves to chase the grass (yea she's a crackhead)

Silly puppies

"Mom, look how cute I am!"

Going home

A horse Owner's Worst Fear

I will be posting a bit later about my ride last night with the local Sheriff's Posse but today I checked my email (one that I don't use often) and found an email from one of my best friend's Delacy dated 2 days ago. It made me cry. As a horse owner I felt I needed to share. Just as a little background on Delacy, she works for the Oregon Department of Transportation and is currently on the night shift. We've been friends for nearly 10 years and have been through a lot together. I wrote a post a while ago about her mare Lulu. All of the text below this was written by her. My heart goes out to everyone involved with this terrible accident.



"Last night was the worst night at work I've had yet. We got a call at 4:30am about a 12-16(accident) on Hwy 58 mile post 2.5, I took the call and dispatch said it was Semi verse horses and that the horse was dead. My heart sank and I jumped in the truck lights going. When I got there I saw the horse in the middle of the road and checked to make sure she had passed. When I walked up there the sheriff pointed his flash light in the ditch to see another one standing in the ditch. I walked down to her and I recognized her. Her and her buddy are the two black horses that are on the north side of the hwy, I always see them when I go to my barn.
The Sheriff said he was trying to find the owners and I pointed to the pasture where they came from so he headed to find them. Meanwhile I call Jeff Pelton(seeing as he lives right across the street from the accident). I walked down to the mare and noticed her back leg was bleeding, As i got closer I saw what every horse lover fears, Her hoof was gone and her front fetlock flexor tendon was cut. I knew she had to be put down.
I stood there with her from that point on.
Jeff got there and he looked at her and looked at me and you know that was when you know you have the best vet in the world cause you could see the sadness in his eyes. Here we are standing here with a mare we'd never meet and our hearts were breaking. Jeff gave her a tranq and just then the sheriff showed up with the owner. He ran up and had his halter, thinking he was going to just grab her and go home. He said thank you and went to halter her. Jeff and I looked at each other and I said, "Sir, she's going to have to be put down and I pointed to her foot." He looked at us and said," If you have to'" with a question in his voice. Jeff said' " there's really no way to fix this, not to mention what other damages there were that we hadn't seen yet."
The Owner said, " ok, it has to be done." He stepped back and I held the mare's head while Jeff gave her the drugs. She went down really fast and as she took her last few breaths I held my hand over her eye and the owner, Jeff, the fire marshal, and I all cried.
In all my years of horses I've never had to see one put down. It was the saddest thing I've had to do. You know I think I could handle a fatal person crash better than that mare.
My heart goes out to him and his family. And a note to all horse owners, please make sure your fences are secure and your gates have locks that the horses can't get open!"

PICTURES

I haven't posted any pics of Summer lately so tonight when Mo and I went out to the barn to do chores I snapped some shots of the Princess in the round pen. She was pretty boring and pretty much just wanted to walk around and smell the ground where the other horses had pooped and peed. Occasionally something would smell really good and she would lift her head and and curl her top lip back, I think this is called a flehmen reaction or something. All of these pics were taken just before sunset and I was playing with the flash a bit, so sorry for the graininess and background in some of them.
Today was her day with Susan. I watched Susan lunging her today and noticed that Susan had much better body language than she has recently and that Summer was being respectful and attentive. Not once did I feel the need to step in and help. Summer kept flicking her ears back and forth at Susan listening for her next command and for the most part was keeping her attention focused on her. Previous lunging sessions consisted of Summer doing her best impression of a tree for Susan and poor Susan looking extremely flustered. At one point I even walked through the arena to find Summer standing in the middle ground tied while Susan moved some poles out of their way. She was completely still and didn't even look like she was thinking about moving. I was very proud of both of them and it was nice to see they are beginning to come to an agreement.
Sundays are my day to feed at the barn and clean stalls for my wonderful barn lady. There is absolutely no sarcasm in that, I have the greatest barn owner ever. My horse is always cared for as if she were there own and never goes without anything. They even take the time to give each horse at the barn some hands on attention and love which is something most places don't ever think about being necessary. I don't think I will ever move her unless my husband and I buy our own property and she'll be in my own backyard. Anyone in the Eugene/Springfield/Pleasant Hill area looking for a barn should check out Way To Go Ranch, they don't have openings often but they are well worth the wait. Anyways, Mo comes out on Sundays to help me clean stalls since I really shouldn't be lifting anything over 25 lbs. I fill the wheel barrows and he pushes them up the mountain of poop and dumps them for me. Its definitely nice to have the help. I love that he doesn't mind coming out to help and he's really getting some good hands on experience with the horses. He also fills water buckets and helps distribute hay and grain when needed. Good stuff to know for when we have our own property and more than one horse.
Once we get our work done we come home and make dinner, sometimes together, and then spend some time relaxing and watching our favorite tv programs. Sounds boring but I love Sundays. This Sunday though I even made it out to help my little sister look at a car she might buy, teach her to drive a manual, and walk the dogs when I got home. Oh, and I even cleaned up the house a little bit. I love days where I've actually accomplished something.

Babies and Horses

Yea I know, not a good mix. I haven't posted in a long time though and I figured for those that read this it might be about time for an update. Straight to the point....Mo and I are expecting our first baby in July! Our own cute little bundle of joy! I'm almost 12 weeks along and have known since before Thanksgiving but I am still just floored at the thought of it. I've always wanted to be a mom, but I really am not prepared for this. I think the hardest part is realizing that my lifelong dream of being a horse owner is going to be majorly affected by this. We plan on doing as much as we can to keep Summer, but I am so afraid I may have to sell her. I'm still riding, but being much more careful than before. What am I saying, I was ridiculously careful before, but now its not just my life a fall from horseback could affect. I've spoken to my doctor and since I was riding 5 to 6 days a week before she said I need to be careful and not doing anything too over the top but that I could continue to ride. Since I've been extremely tired the last few months I haven't been out there as much as I'd like. So I decided to find someone to half lease Summer. Her name is Susan and she is a middle aged re-rider. I don't believe she ever owned horses before, but much like myself she had spent as much time as possible around them in her younger days. To get her started I gave her a few "beginner" lessons with Summer and got her comfortable before turning them loose together. Susan is a super nice lady and she is being careful to continue doing everything with Summer just as I would, which I love. She also is taking lessons every Tuesday from my trainer, so I know she'll be riding Summer the way she was trained. Its still hard though, I consider Summer another one of my "fur babies" so the first day when Susan signed the lease agreement and she had her first day alone I spent forever hanging around talking because I was so nervous leaving them. I finally did and I'm sure she was glad to have me out of there. One of my biggest fears is that Summer will like Susan better than me, as silly as that seems. My other worry is that Summer will take full advantage of Susan and her inexperience, much like she did me in the beginning. I keep reminding myself that she's getting some good direction from my trainer and the other wonderful boarders but it doesn't always make things easier.
For now my plan is to continue to ride until I can no longer get in the saddle or fit in it, whichever one happens first. Hopfully I can continue to ride for several more months. If not though at least I have a back up plan and I know Summer isn't wasting away. And the nice thing is that being on a half lease helps pay part of her board, Susan is paying $100 a month to ride 3 days a week. I take care of everything else but Summer is a pretty easy keeper. The lease is up for renewal in June, at which time I'll give Susan the option of a full lease and we'll take care of vet bills for 3 to 4 months. It all depends on whether or not Susan can afford to pay for her feed and board plus worming and farrier bills.

Okay onto more baby things......I haven't had any morning sickness but like I said I've been pretty tired. Although the last week or two I've noticed it seems to be wearin off a bit and I'm getting more bursts of energy that are lasting longer. Hopefully everything goes as easily the entire pregnancy as it has this first few months. Only time will tell. I do have a condition concerning my uterus that puts me at a higher risk for preterm labor but my doctor said we'll be monitoring the baby's growth carefully and doing lots of ultrasounds as we go. My uterus is heartshaped and has a muscle that cuts off one side, although it could just be partial instead of complete. It may mean the baby might have just enough room to develop but won't be able to turn for labor and will be a breach. It could also mean that the baby will run out of room early in the pregnancy forcing my body to try and go into labor. My doctor didn't seem too worried so we're just playing the wait and see game.
We are really hoping for a boy. I think we'll be happy either way but boys just seem easier and I'm not much of a girly girl. My family and Mo's family are really excited which is helping to get me more excited as we go. This baby will be the first great-grand child on Mo's dad's side of the family which is pretty exciting. We'll be having 2 baby showers, one here in our area and one up in Washington for Mo's family. How spoiled is this kid gonna be? Ooooh and I LOVE baby shower cakes. Yum. Costco cakes with buttercream frosting....sorry I'm pregnant, I love sweets! I also can't wait to decorate the baby's room, I want to have the theme be Eeyore. Unusual I know, but Eeyore never gets enough recognition and I think he's adorable. Keep your eyes peeled for great Eeyore stuff, I want it all! I also want lots of camo stuff too, I think babies are cute in camo. And cute little baby cowboy boots and Carhartts. This kid is going to be an adorable, chubby little cowboy. Night everyone, I'll try and keep you up to date more often.

Where has the time gone....

First off I'd like to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
Mo and I are up in Walla Walla, Washington visiting his family and so far we've had a great time. We left Wednesday from Springfield at 4 pm and due to the horrendous holiday traffic didn't even make it to Salem until 6 pm. Normally that drive is about an hour. It was terrible. We decided at that point that we needed a break from the holiday traffic so we stopped in Salem and found the Sonic for dinner. We managed to get back on the road about at about 7 and for the rest of the trip traffic was a breeze. Between Troutdale and the Dalles though we hit wind gusts around 45 to 50 miles an hour and I came really close to wetting my pants. It was scary, Mo's poor little Mazda was getting its butt kicked on the freeway. I almost made him pull over, but he called me a sissy and we kept on driving. Once we passed through the Dalles everything was fine and I was even able to sleep some in the car. We made it into Walla Walla at about midnight, hugged the parents and went straight to bed.
This year the Torrescano family had plans to fit everyone in one house in the Tri-Cities area, which is about an hour from Walla Walla. Grandpa T has been sick as of late and we all wanted to be together to spend time with him and Grandma T. Everyone in the family was signed up to bring something and our task was "munchies" which my wonderful mother-in-law took care of for the most part. She only asked that we buy some chips and a few kinds of olives which made it super easy for us. I also recently obtained an amazing recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies so I decided I would add those to our little list too. Most of Thanksgiving morning was spent baking a double batch of those cookies which was well worth it.
The plan was for everyone to meet in Tri-Cities at Aunt Josie's house and then we would drive to her church to take a family picture. We got everything packed up and loaded in dad's (my father-in-law) truck and we all four headed off to Josie's. Not once did I think about the fact that I hadn't eaten all day except for cookies and cookie batter. When we arrived at Josie's, I experinced one of my most favorite parts of spending time with the Torrescano family. The hugs. Before I even stepped through the door I was greeted by cousins and aunts and uncles and each one gave me a wonderful bear hug. By the time I made it through the door and up the small flight of stairs and into the living room I easily had hugged 15 to 20 family members. Each one had something nice to say and almost made me feel like we were the guests of honor. After the hugs and greetings we waited for mom and dad to change into their picture clothes and back into the truck we piled. Even Mo's brother Nic changed into some nicer clothes for the pictures.
Josie's church was spectacular to say the least. It had a huge gorgeous fountain in the courtyard and when you walked into the worship hall the "stage" area had huge plate glass windows with man made rock water falls behind them. It wasn't anything like the modest curches I was used to being in.
We spent about an hour or so taking pictures which I will post once we get them on the computer. We all had a great time between everyone tripping over the same step and trying to figure out the delay settings on the cameras. Eventually though we all started to realize how hungry we were. It was finally time to head back and prepare the feast!



I'll continue this post a little later, right now I'm hungry and dad and Mo just took off for golfing. I think mom and I are going to hang out for a bit and maybe go over to help make tamales for dinner. Its a big Torrescano tradition.

Apple Crisp topped with cookies 'n cream....

Yea, I went there.....its delicious, thanks Bridgette!

Its been ages since I wrote a real post, and believe it or not a few weeks ago I actually was going to get caught up on everything I had plans to write about. Then again, thats when I thought I was unemployed and would have waaaaayyyyy too much free time. Turns out being unemployed lasted a whole two hours into a normal work week. I got to sleep in at least.

To fill all of you in, not sure how many that exactly is or even if you care (haha), but up until almost 6 months ago I was working at an injection molded plastics plant. Yup, super exciting stuff. Actually, it wasn't that bad. We made the hard plastic handles you sometimes see at Costco on the 2 or 3 packs of ketchup, or about a million other things that require them. Here, check out a couple pictures....

I made those. We had huge 2 to 6 ton machines/presses that melted the plastic beads in a barrel and then shot them into these molds and they went out on conveyor belts and were sometimes run through machines that put barcode labels on them. Not that complicated really. MY job there was as a material handler. I operated a forklift, wrapped huge pallets full of boxed handles, and kept track of colors and jobs that we were running at any given time. It was a pretty stressful job. I liked what I did, but had a hard time dealing with the fact that everyone else around me was mother f-ing lazy. I was constantly cleaning up after people, finishing things they should have done and fixed their mistakes. The shift supervisor was a jerk and I just never felt like he was there to back me up. I worked my ass off for that place and when I asked for a raise they told me I had to wait 3 MORE MONTHS for my yearly review to get it. So I started looking for another job. They could just get f-ed for all I cared.

Here are a couple pics of what we did when we got bored....yes thats about the size of the pallets I had to wrap and store in the warehouse.....

Well my friend Rochelle knew how frustrated I was with my current situation. Since I was actively searching for a new job, she proofread my resume before I sent it out anywhere. I'm not gonna lie, its pretty good. Being the WONDERFUL friend that she is, she asked if I was okay with her slipping it to her general manager to see if he'd be interested in me. She worked at a local big corporation scrap metal yard and a girl in the sales office would be going on maternity leave soon. It was right up my alley, considering I had worked in parts sales at some local quad dealerships in the past. To make a long story short, they LOVED my resume. I mean, who wouldn't? They had me in for an under the radar interview and evidently I impressed the pants off the GM and after a few weeks they gave me a call and had me in for a 2nd interview. I met the steel sales manager, who is now one of my all time favorite people in the world, and he seemed to like me too. Within a week or two they offered me the job, with the understanding that it was just temporary. Prego girl would have her baby and eventually come back. But who cares! I was getting out of that hell hole and going somewhere I wasn't going to beat the crap out of my body anymore. And there was hope that I might end up getting a permanent job with the company by the time prego came back. I gambled on it, and gave up 3 years of steady employment, vacation pay, and quarterly bonuses on the chance I might not have a job in 4 to 6 months. Pretty much the dumbest thing you've ever heard of right? I think so too. But I did it anyways.

Making that gihugic (giganticly huge) leap into the unknown might have been one of the best decisions I've ever made. Other than marrying my husband, that is. I had a great time working in that scrap yard. I met some wonderful people and learned alot of things that I can use in the future. I also realized that in my last job, I'd been a stark raving bitch. I was over worked, over stressed, and I was taking it out on other people. Its amazing my poor husband put up with me. Then again, we work opposite shifts so we never saw each other. This new job, which basically consisted of me sitting on my ass, turned me back into the person I once knew. If my work didn't get done, the only person it affected was me. I could leave something on my desk at the end of the day and know that the next morning it would be exactly as I had left it and if anything had been screwed up, the only one I had to blame was me! It was great, and I learned to enjoy going to work again. (Yea, weird concept)

Evantually though my little story book romance with my job had to come to an end. I applied twice for internal positions at this place and twice I was turned down. There wasn't any specific reason, it just didn't seem to be in the cards for me. Then the news came. I had 5 weeks to find another job. Prego (well not so prego anymore) would be back Oct 10th from maternity leave.

I started trying to sell myself again. Unsuccessfully I might add. And the panic started to set in. Not sure if anything would come of it or not, I called the temp agency that I was working through for the scrap yard and told them my assignment would be finished soon. The woman that answered seemed extremely excited about the fact I was so proactive about finding a position and said they would work hard to find me a job. I emailed her my resume and crossed my fingers. After about a week or 2 I emailed her again to touch bases. Turns out she was the Operations Manager for the ENTIRE company and the manager for the Springfield branch wanted to interview me. Holy sh*t! I think I almost peed myself when I read the email. Basically, to sum it all up. We met, they loved me, and I got laid off a week early at the scrap yard. The following Monday, without having made an offer, the manager at the staffing company called me at 8:30 am (yep I was still sleeping. Isn't that what the unemployed do?) and asked me to come in. I've been there ever since and absolutely love it. My coworkers are great and my manager cracks me up. I'm the front desk receptionist at this point, aka The Director of First Impressions. Funny sh*t huh? But I'm good at it and I anticipate better things in my future.

Okay I'm working on a follow up on my fear post, so hopefully in the next few days. I'll try to be a better blogger, I promise! Thanks for the kick in the butt Angel, I needed it! Oh, and I apologize for the cursing. I tried to edit but you know.....

CRAZY!

Okay so life has been a little busy since I blogged last and I just haven't found the time to finish my last story. I promise, this weekend I will finish it and move on to even more. Things are going well though and Summer has been with a trainer for almost 3 weeks now and I have seen her improve by leaps and bounds. Cross your fingers and/or pray for me that this is what we needed. I wasn't ready to give up on her yet. Oh yea, and the "happy pills" I've been on lately seem to be helping and slowly I can feel them taking the "edge" off of my anxiety. So hopefully we can finally learn how to be a team!

What are you afraid of?

Personally, I'm afraid of everything. It may not necessarily be fear, but its anxiety over impending doom. Yea I know, I sound like a loon but I can't help it.
As a kid I lived in constant anxiety over angering my father and getting introuble, or the fear that my parents would fight yet again. At that time it wasn't a "condition" but a fact of life, we were constantly walking on eggshells with our mentally abusive alcoholic father. So now, as an adult, could this anxiety be growing from the seed planted so many years ago? After my father left, I don't remember feeling anxious or worried about things until a few years ago. For the most part I was fearless and indestructable as teenagers and young adults can be. I drank a lot, drove drunk, partied, and rode quads like I'd never die. These days I really truely only get anxious when I feel out of control of a situation, like being a passenger in a car or riding my horse. Sometimes I can control my anxiety and other times its paralyzing. I not only get anxious over things, but I'll actually play out little horrifying scenes in my head. For instance, the car careening around the corner and slamming into a tree when all we're doing is cornering just a little too fast. These scenarios play out all the time, and its uncontrollable. I imagine my horse climbing a hill, losing her footing and both of us stumbling to our death. Or jumping a log and I fly out of the saddle to split open the other side of my head. How do I stop this? Should I medicate myself to slow my heart rate, stop the shaking in my legs and the horrible visions in my head? Something needs to be done. It just isn't a trust issue anymore, its downright scary and I can't live this way.
Saturday and Sunday were not my best days. I feel bad for Summer. She's a great horse But I'm a nutcase and she feeds off of it. Saturday morning my friend Kirsten and her friend Katie came out to my barn and we loaded the horses up and headed for Florence. I have always wanted to ride horses at the beach so I was really excited. Summer loaded just fine and the drive to the coast went well. We got to Baker Beach Road and unloaded all three horses and let them munch on some hay before we tacked up for our ride. I was a little nervous but not my usual anxiousness so I tried to settle in and ignore it for a bit. Once we were saddled up, I found a rock to stand on and swung into the saddle. Immediately my heart started pounding, my legs became water and all over I was just uneasy. It was like a wave hit me. Summer felt it too. Her whole body tensed up underneath me and another wave slammed into my body. We went forward anyways.
Out on the trail, Summer's head flung up, her ears perked forward and her eyes bugged out. The wind was howling around us and everything looked like it might possibly like to eat her for dinner. I think we were both pretty close to turning tail and running back to the trailer for safety. We followed Katie and Kirsten down the trail and Summer insisted on trying to trot everywhere in the sand. I tried to stop her and back her up to get her attention but she'd grab the bit and run right through it. She was NOT about to get left behind and gave me a great big hell no on the whoa request. Kirsten and Katie could see what a hard time I was having so we stopped and Kirsten jumped on her for a few minutes. She circled her and backed her and tried to get her attention but her head was somewhere else apparently. Kati jumped on and took her down the trail to wear her out. Kirsten and I waited, and waited, oh and waited some more. Did I forget to mention that I've been riding Summer practically 6 days a week so she isn't that easy to tire out now? Especially when she's amped up like she was. As we sat there Kirsten suggested I get on her great big black and white paint gelding Dakota and see if I felt comfortable enough on him. I was trying to get out of it but finally walked him over to a tree stump and got in the saddle. His nickname is Stretch, and boy did he earn that. He was extremely comfortable though and I rode him around in a few circles and relaxed. Kirsten swung up onto Jazz, Katie's chocolate palomino mare, and we set off to find Katie and Summer.

Why I'll never breed my horse again....

If you have a weak stomach, please don't read this post. I wrote this a few months ago and its a true story. This morning I was reading a different blog about the death of some one's horse and how its pasture mate had grieved and I was reminded of this terrible day. Please feel free to comment and for those of you that were there that day, if I left something out or remembered incorrectly, please feel free to correct me.



My best friend Delacy and my other friend Lacy board at the same barn I do. We’ve all been friends for a long time and are pretty much sisters at this point so we’d do anything for each other. Delacy has a 17 year old dark bay Thoroughbred mare named Lulu that is stalled right next to my mare Summer. Lulu was due to foal on April 17th and she had been bred to a Paint stallion that belonged to a client of Delacy’s. Gorgeous black and white by the name of Gallant’s Secret Wepn....I think. Anyways, Lulu has had 3 foals previously and never had a problem. She prefers people are around her when she foals and won’t foal alone. I think her 3rd foal was even a draft cross and there were no issues. She was super big through most of this pregnancy but she seemed fine and had even originally conceived twins but the vet had aborted one of the fetuses just to be safe. She was ultrasounded afterwards to make sure the fetus was aborted and the vet said she would be fine. Delacy wasn’t concerned about her being overdue because Lulu has carried her 1st 3 foals for a full 12 months rather than the usual 11. Well Delacy’s dad fell ill in California and was in a coma that required life support so Delacy had to leave early Thursday morning to be down there just in case he had to be taken off. Before she left she told us that if Lulu foaled we were NOT to contact her for any reason and she would just prefer to find the baby in her stall on Sunday when she returned. We kept an eye on her Thursday night and you could tell she was getting close. She was very swollen and waxed up but not doing her usual stall pacing like Delacy had described. Neither Lacy or I stayed the night out there then but knew we needed to keep a close eye on her just in case. On Friday night we noticed that her teats were leaking milk like faucets and decided to hang out as long as possible and see if she had any other early labor signs. The inside of her vulva was bright red but she wasn’t leaking any fluid so when it rolled around to 1:30 am I decided to go home and see my husband for a few hours and Lacy stayed to keep watch on her. At about 5:40 am saturday morning I got a call from Lacy that Lulu’s water had broken and I needed to get out there ASAP. When I reached the barn part of the sack was out and one tiny little white hoof was peeking out. Lulu was VERY restless. She was up and down and pacing her stall. It took a few minutes to notice but suddenly we realized that the one little white hoof didn’t look right. At first Lacy thought it was a hind foot, but upon closer inspection I saw a second hoof pushing out at the very top of her vulva. We immediately called the vet who lived at least 30 minutes away from our barn. He said he’s be right out. As we nervously waited for him we tried to keep Lulu calm and stop her pushing but that was almost impossible to do. She KNEW something wasn’t right. Whenever she’d lay down she’d roll over on her back in an effort to get the baby turned in the right position. The vet reached us in 15 minutes. We stood her up and he reached inside to see how the foal was positioned and confirmed our fears, it was in fact upside down. He attempted to turn the foal but was unable to. He gave Lulu a slight tranquilizer to calm her and we got her to lay back down. This is only the second foaling I’d ever watched so I really had no idea what to expect so I didn’t notice alot of things right off the bat so bear with me.....He went and got some lube and a pump and a bucket of water and pumped as much of the lube into her as possible. He then attempted to turn the foal again. by this time you could see both hooves up to the fetlocks and the sac was still intact. He broke the sac and started pulling on the foals legs with her contractions. Slowly he got the foal up to his knees and we could see a little black and white nose. This is about when everything seemed to go even more terribly wrong. Lulu wouldn’t stay in one place and we kept having to rotate her body around to give the vet more room to move. He kept cursing and suddenly jumped up and ran to his truck, coming back with some chains. He looped them around both legs of the foal and began pulling as hard as he could. Eventually he asked one of us to help him and we were able to get the foal out as far as its withers. It had been a full hour at this point and it was obvious the foal was not alive. We were all crying by now. The vet jumped up again and came back with what looked like a large jack that he tried bracing against Lulu’s butt with to pull the baby out but couldn’t get enough room and wasn’t able to keep it stable. We decided to get her up and out of the stall to see if he could do it outside the barn. Lulu stood and walked out the barn with this beautiful little foal dangling lifelessly behind her. When we got her outside the vet attempted again to use the chains and pull the foal out but it was still stuck. Lulu’s mouth was bleeding, she had bitten her tongue at some point during the ordeal. The vet asked us to bring her back into the barn. He said he could do one more thing to save Lulu but we weren’t going to like it. I asked him what that was. He said he’d have to take the baby out in pieces. He heavily sedated her and set to work. I stayed outside the stall and didn’t watch but occasionally I’d hear some horrific sucking noises and my friend Lacy would walk out with blood all over her hands. They had taken a long wire and cut the baby in half at the shoulders. At one point the vet asked for a hay hook, and only God knows why he needed that. When they couldn’t get the 2nd half out they removed all of the organs and the vet practically broke his hand trying to free the hips from Lulu’s pelvic bone. Suddenly Lacy went flying by me dragging the hindquarters behind her. The vet emerged from the stall covered in blood. He had saved Lulu. She had torn a little and retained some of the placenta but she’d be ok. After a while she awoke and we slowly walked her outside so we could clean her stall. She whinnied and called for the baby that could never answer. My mare and her foal were out in the arena and she almost went crazy when she heard the filly whinny. After talking it over we decided we’d take her to where her baby lay and let her sniff and mourn. She was pretty calm about it and sniffed and licked and nudged it. We all cried as we watched her attempt to wake the baby but eventually she realized it was impossible and began eating grass. We took her back to her clean stall after rinsing her down and she stood sadly in the middle, but she no longer called for her baby. My husband spent 5 hours digging a proper grave in a back pasture and we buried the colt that day. I balled when he laid him in the grave and arranged him so that he was "whole" again. We buried him and returned to the barn. They had measured the carcass before we buried it and the colt was 10 hh at the but. Without his leg being properly stretched out. He was huge. I still see those images in my head and I’m not sure they’ll ever go away. I am just so thankful Delacy didn’t have to see her mare go through that and will hopefully never think of that colt as anything but the beautiful whole baby we described to her. She knows everything that happened and made us tell her before she got home. She handled it well and if its possible we’re all even closer now than we were before. She’s also never breeding Lulu again.I’m sorry this was so long but I hope before you think about breeding your mare because you’d like to have a baby out of her, or you think it would calm her down, please think about how much of a risk you are taking. And what a horrific event it could be. I was so lucky my mare had an easy birth. She was one of the lucky ones. But I’ll never take the gamble again. I love her too much and it just isn’t worth it.

Why can't everything be easy?

Weaning is not going so well. Yesterday at work I called Kristy, my barn owner, to tell her the trainer I was going to check out last night had canceled on me. During our conversation she told me how poor little Kaia knocked down the top railing of the vinyl fence around her pasture yesterday morning in an attempt to reach Summer who was being led by at the time. They put her in Summer's stall for the rest of the day. When we originally seperated them Monday night I left Kaia in with her buddy Yogi to make the transition easier. I told Kristy that my only worry about that situation was that Kaia might try to nurse off of her. Sure enough, Kristy found her Tuesday trying to nurse off Yogi, and Yogi let her! So they were seperated and Kaia was left by herself. Then she decides she can climb fences. Luckily it was the vinyl so she didn't get hurt but still I'm a little worried about her.
On the lighter side my nephews are visiting so Tuesday night we went out to see Summer and Kaia and all three boys rode Summer. I couldn't believe it! Ethan, the 7 year old, is just really starting to get into horses and he has a natural seat and absolutely loves to be around them. He can be pretty fearless at times so I try to keep my eye on him. Austin, the 9 year old, likes them but the few times he has sat on Summer was pretty scared and would jump and look frightened at her slightest movement. I've always had to lead her around for him while he white knuckles the saddle horn. Ethan on the other hand loves to ride Summer by himself and I let him steer but I clip my lunge line on a halter under her bridle just in case. He is pretty small for his age and wouldn't have enough muscle to stop her if she decided to be a brat. Little Kellen is 2 and loves the horses but we've tried several times before to have him sit on Summer or different horses but he always cries and gets upset so this time I let him decide whether he wanted to ride. He wanted to be the first! We put his helmet on and lifted him up into the saddle and his tiny little hands gripped onto the horn and this great big grin spread across his face. Not once did he hesitate or look scared. Summer and I walked him all over the arena and he loved it. Next was Ethan's turn. He wanted to get in the saddle all by himself so bad but Summer is pretty tall compared to the pony he rode before so we boosted him up and off he went. Summer was so good for him. Its funny how some horses just KNOW when there is a kid in the saddle. Her head drops and she gets this sleepy look on her face and everything about her just relaxes. She'll walk all over for him and stop and turn and not once does she even think about breaking into a trot like she does for me. Ethan wanted to go faster so we tied up her reins so they wouldn't drag and I lunged her around me at a walk, trot, then a canter for just a few strides so he could see what it was like. His tiny little butt was bouncing all over in the saddle but he hung on and even Summer didn't mind. She looked so collected and smooth in her trot I almost didn't recognize her. Who is this horse? She even did well for Austin and he hasn't taken any lessons. He suprised me big time by wanting to ride by himself, he even looked confident and relaxed up there asking her to move around the arena.
Its funny how we can saddle her up, put a kid on her, and her head drops and she acts like an old dead broke pony but I can get on her 10 minutes later and her head pops up and its GO TIME. Put little Kellen in my lap and her head goes back down. She loves kids. I just wished she loved me that much all the time. I've got another trainer coming out Friday night and I'm going to watch her work some of Kristy's horses and then take a lesson from her and see if I like her. So hopefully she'll be able to help us some.

Starting Over

I have had Summer for over a year and this is only the 3rd time I've seen her in heat. Crazy huh? When I got her she was already confirmed in foal, due this April. She was green. Hardmouthed. And I was told all I needed to do was put miles on her and we'd be fine. WRONG. I am a big chicken when it comes to riding and I was just as green as my horse. Not a good combo. Add in the fact she had a nasty wolf tooth that caused her excruciating pain and made her sometimes violently toss her head and over all pregnant bitchiness. We were quite the pair. Don't get me wrong. Summer is a wonderful horse and I wouldn't trade her for anything. We have a connection that is undescribable, but we didn't before. I was ignorant and impatient and can have a terrible temper. I wouldn't say I know everything now but I've come along way and Summer and I get closer and closer to being a team every day. The 4 or 5 months of her pregnancy that I couldn't ride her helped build a bond I never thought possible. It was also the hardest 4 or 5 months of owning a horse I think I'll ever have. I've wanted my own horse my entire life and for that chunk of time when she wasn't rideable was extremely depressing. I was pissed I had bought some stupid pregnant bitchy horse and now after waiting so long couldn't ride. It just wasn't fair. Somedays I was really mad and other days I just spoiled her and tried to deal with it. Once that foal hit the ground I was ecstatic. Almost time to ride! Summer was a great mom and her filly couldn't have been born more perfect unless she'd been a Paint instead of solid.Summer was a great mom and you could tell she loved it. Kaia was alot of fun to imprint and work with but she is now 4 months old and I am ready to have my horse back. I found Kaia a wonderful home with a great couple that lives on the coast and they come see her almost every weekend. They can't wait to take her home. As much as I love her I can't wait for her to leave. SureI'll miss her but taking care of two horses is stressfull and I really like to focus just on Summer. She deserves it.

So tonight is a new beginning for us. I weaned Kaia.This is the beginning of getting to know her without being pregnant and no baby to worry about. A chance to find out if she's a major wench when she's in heat or if it was just her being too overloaded from all the feed and supplements and alfalfa pellets. I am really excited to get to know her.

The last 2 weeks I had been seperating her and Kaia a little here and there when I rode Summer. Some of the stalls at my barn look into the arena so Kaia went in a stall where she could still see mom but couldn't nurse. Summer did really well. She turned her head every time we would pass Kaia in her stall but she never balked and never seemed upset during any of our sessions. Afterwards I would let Kaia out and she would get to nurse as long as she wanted. After doing this for several nights I decided yesterday that when I brought Summer in to ride her I would leave Kaia out with her buddy Yogi (cute QH mare) and lunge Summer in the indoor arena. They couldn't see each other and both seemed to do fairly well. Kaia hollered and whinnied the whole time I was tacking up Summer while Summer just stood there and listened. She listened to me really well in the arena and only called out to her daughter a few times. I worked her for about 25 minutes and when she settled down completely I finished our session and released Kaia from the pasture. They both received baths yesterday and afterwards I let them play in the arena for a while. Here are some of my last and favorite pictures of them together.

Tonight went much easier than I expected. I brought Summer in, tacked her up and took her into the arena without her so much as turning an ear to her hollering baby. She lunged really well and even seemed more relaxed than normal. I tightened her girth, slipped on her bridle and she stood quietly in the middle of the arena for me to climb in the saddle. Her ears were perked forward in the direction of the "suffering" foal but she stayed quiet and still until I asked her to move forward. We walked calmly on the rail and she did turn hr head several times but didn't even act up when we watched the stallion being led into his stall. Its like she acknowledged it was time. I think she's ready for me to conecentrate on her and only her. Is that possible?

We finished our ride with her only calling out to Kaia once and she only squatted one time, for a mare. But in her defense the stallion had just ben in that field so maybe she still smelled him. Then again maybe she thought the mare was cute. When I left the barn tonight Summer was happily munching hay in her stall and Kaia was eating her dinner with her new friend Yogi in the pasture. Not one of them looked stressed one bit.