Lilly

[bookfreak]

I am adopting a new horse!!!!!!!!! She's a Dale Pony, and is adorable! I can't wait to get her!

[bookfreak]

Promise (the Dale Pony) was whipped when she didn't jump high enough!!! That's really sad, but she has a good home now! *sighs in contentment*

[bookfreak]

I went to Kiki's barn where I was boarding Promise and checked on her. It looked like she was doing great! She wasn't scared of me or anything! I was really happy, and groomed and pampered her TONS!!!! I fed her and went to see Flashy, who will be a mother soon!!! She is getting pretty fat, but definetely not enough for twins. I fed her and gave her a sugar cube and groomed her. She's such a sweetheart! I then walked over to Knight, my beautiful stallion. I groomed him and turned him out, then went over to Mango's barn.

I went over to Diablo's stall, clipped his halter on and brought him outside. I groomed him outdoors just to get him curious, then put him in the pasture. He galloped around a few seconds, and I laughed at how silly he looked. He sneezed and almost tripped, but saved himself at the last moment. He's such a sweetie!

[bookfreak]

Promise is doing wonderful! I longed her today, but not any jumps, we're going to have to work up to that. I mostly walked her, but trotted a little. I'm quitting my lessons on Flashy soon because of the foal, but will start up soon after she has it! Knight's doing great, and is steadily progressing up to high jumps. It's great fun! Annie is feeling a little neglected, so I'm doing a camp with Carole with her. It's going to be great! Diablo's doing well also, although he seems to have hurt his leg slightly when he was galloping around and tripped. I have it wrapped and am keeping him indoors for a while.

[bookfreak]

Promise is WONDERFUL!!!!!!! I cantered her today on the longe line, but just a little bit. She has gorgeous gaits! I groomed and fed her, then turned her out. Knight has gotten up to 4 and a half foot fences!!!!! I am really excited. I've been doing little 3 foot fences here just to keep him up-to-date. He's going to be a GREAT show jumper. ;D Flashy's still in lessons, but MIGHT quit for a while, like I said. We are having great fun, though! I am now doing small crossrails and 1ft fences on her (with her side-saddle!!!!!!!). It's really fun, lots more than I ever could have expected. Diablo's leg wasn't really hurt, and now I'm training him on longe line. He's doing good so far, although I've only tried a walk. Annie and I are still warming up at the camp!

[bookfreak]

I rode Knight around and we did some 4-5 ft jumps to get ready for the show coming up! I worked him in 2-3 ft jumps for cross-country, and then just did some ground work for awhile. Integrity's Promise and Silver Dawn are for sale, as I don't have enough time to ride them all. I did some vaulting on Annie and some ground work. I rode Made You Look, and we had GREAT FUN!!! We did trot poles and cantered around.I worked quite a bit with Diablo and Flashy's foal. They are best friends! I'll never be able to sell them apart from each other. Acutally, I'll never be able to sell them at all!

[bookfreak]

Flashy's foal (Celtic Dance) is doing great! He looks just like his father, but has his mother temperament. oooohhhhhhhhhhhhh... Him and Diablo are best buds! Even though Diablo's starting to mature, he still gallops around with Jig. Flashy is slightly scornful of it all, but lets them do it.

[bookfreak]

I sigh, get up out of bed and stare at Jack. He's been waiting for me for quite awhile. I smile at him and scratch his ears. I whistle for Tipper and feed them, get dressed and head down to the barn. I get feed all the horses, making sure to do Summer first so she's done faster and go back to the house to eat for myself. I cook a few pancakes and chow down. After finishing, I go back down to the barn adn go to the arena. I set up a series of jumps, from a tiny pile of poles to a 3 foot vertical. I go to the barn and see that the horses are done eating. I put them all in the pasture, except for Summer, who I put in the crossties. This will be my first time riding her, so I'm a little nervous, but she is calm and I settle down too. After getting her tacked up, I lead her to the ring.

I bring my stirrups down and mount. After warming her up, I trot some small crossrails to get a feel for her. I don't want to canter her quite yet, so I trot some of larger jumps I had set up. After getting her to the 3 footer with no mistakes, I let her walk for a bit then move hier into a canter.

I start again with the small pile of poles and practice my 2-pt to her canter. It's a normal canter, smooth and thankfully not as bouncy as Flashy's!!! We easily fly over the crossrails and get to the 3fter. She just flies over it, and I am really happy for today. I smile, thinking, She might become my new favorite horse! I shake my head. No horse could take Knight's place. I cool her off and decide to do some bareback on Luck, since I haven't ridden her in soooo long. After dismounting and grooming Summer, I turn her out and get Luck's halter. I get her from the pasture and groom her down, then get the bareback pad and an indian blanket. I get her tacked up and lead her to the ring. I mount and warm her up.

I trot some figure-eights and see her neck is a little stiff. I bring her back to a walk and do LOTS of circles. We begin trotting again and do some more figure-eights. She is much less stiff now and I'm glad. I move her into a canter, and we do some more stretches and flying lead changes. I cool her off and dismount. After grooming her, I put her back out and go eat lunch.

I get a ball and whistle for the dogs, they both are with me right away and I grin, knowing they'll love this. I get the fake bird for Tipper's training and go to the backyard. I throw the ball and Jack goes yipping after it. I throw Tipper's bird as far as I can and he races off too. Jack gets back and I give him a treat and throw the ball again. Tipper sneaks up on me from behind and jumps on me. I laugh and play with them for a little while longer. I put Tipper inside and work with Jack on his agility a bit. He does awesome! I hope we get to do a show soon. I let them both back out into the yard and go to the barn again. After longeing Knight, I let all the horses back in and feed them. I sigh and leave them to their munching. I go home and order a pizza. It's been a long day.

[bookfreak]

I wake up and feed everyone again, this time feeding Erin first. I haven't ridden her in awhile, so I decide to do her first. I get some Toaster Strudel's out of the freezer and pop them in the toaster. After finishing, I go down to the barn and put her tack on the saddle rack. I hook her to the cross ties and she is REALLY hyper. Figiting, side-stepping, and generally being a brat. I unhook her and bring her into the round pen.

Adopting an aggressive posture, I drive her to the outside at a canter. It takes quite awhile for her to calm down enough to start showing the signs that she's ready to join me in the middle. First her inside ear becomes fixed on me. I keep her going around, until she starts chewing and licking. With some horses they drop their head first, but in her case she sees that as the last thing to do. After a couple more times around, she drops her head and I turn around so my back is facing her and drop my shoulders. I stare at the ground and wait for her to come up to me. It takes her a minute to decide if she wants to, then she walks up to me and nudges my back. I walk around with her for awhile, making sure she follows me then lead her back to the barn.

I hook her up again and she's MUCH better this time. I groom her and tack her up.

Suddenly, a little head pokes around the corner. It's Thistle, my cat. I laugh and go pick her up. "Hey honey, I was wondering where you got to!" I put her in her room with a full bowl of food and a dish of water. I go back to Erin and lead her to the arena.

I put some trot poles out then go back to her, fix my stirrups and mount For once, she stays still. I tap her lightly and she goes into a walk. I do lots of circles and figure 8s so that we don't just waste our time walking around, then ask her to trot. It's sort of bouncy, but nice to post to. We do the trot poles a couple times before I ask her to canter.

She starts on the wrong lead, so I do a flying lead change, which she did super on, then so some circles and figure 8s again, getting her really stretched out. I get her to go a little faster and I get her to do a couple dressage moves too. Satisfied, I bring her to a walk and let her walk on a loose rein to cool off.

I dismount and lead her back to the crossties, where I untack her and give a little rinse off. I turn her out with the others and let out Thistle too. I go inside and get a hot dog for lunch. I finish eating and get Charlie, my new dog and play fetch with him a bit outside before going back down to the barn and get Flashy. I haven't ridden her in awhile either.

I hook her up and groom and tack her as quickly as I can. I want plenty of time to ride before i have to feed and bring everybody in again. I leave the trot poles and mount up. I don't walk her for very long before bringing her to a trot. She's conditioned, and will be fine.

We do the trot poles and I urge her to extend her gait, getting her trot even smoother than it already is. I sit trot on her nearly all the time. It's a joy to ride. I really, really, don't want to canter, but I do. It's just the bounciest canter on the face of the planet.

I struggle to stay on before I veer away from the trot poles in a very sharp turn and lose my balance. I tumble to the ground, laughing. Flashy stops and walks over to me. I get up, dust myself off and get back on. I get her into a canter again, this time careful not to make sharp turns. I do a LARGE circle, slowly getting smaller. After we get to a decent size, I start the other way and we do good that way to. I let her cool off before dismounting and leading her to the cross ties. I untack her and groom her, but don't give her a rinse-off because she's fine without it, but I do give her a treat. I put her in her stall and feed her. I go outside and get Diablo and Legacy. I put them in neighboring stalls and feed them, then I go get Summer and Gallant, who I plan to breed soon, but after Summer is settled down a bit more. They get along, and their combined personalities would make a great horse. I feed them and go back up to the house.

I get out three dog bowls and feed the dogs. I laugh as they scarf up their food then I change into my PJs and get a bowl of cereal for dinner. With bananas. Yum. I finish eating and wash my hands and face before brushing my teeth and getting Unspoken, the book I'm reading right now. I read for a few hours before turning off the light and falling asleep, the three dogs crowded around me.

[bookfreak]

I rub my eyes and look at the alarm clock. I yell loudly and get dressed in a hurry, not noticing my socks don't match. I run downstairs and pour the dogs some food and put the cats dish on the counter so the dogs wont get it, and fill it too. I grab my sweatshirt and run down to the barn. I feed all the horses and run back to the house, jamming down a piece of toast and running back down.

I hurried in and got Knight out of his stall. I groomed him fast and tacked up fast too. I led him into the arena and mounted up, careful not to graze his hindquarters with my foot. I walk him around the arena once just relaxed, then once with me at a two-point, and doing lots of circles to get him stretched out quick. I clucked my tongue, and without me even tapping his sides he sprang into a trot. I did a rising trot for one time around, then sitting for another, then two pointed for another time around.

I brought him back to a walk, then urged him to a canter and eyed the first jump that was set up in the arena. It was a 2 ft vertical, easy for us. We flew over it happily, ready for the next, a small crossrail. We flew over that one too, then I looked at the next jump. It was larger, but still easy for us. A 3 ft vertical, and he slightly tapped it, but it was my fault, not his. I had my reins to short, no release for him. I looked at the next jump and smiled widely. It was a 4 ft oxer. A nice level, not to easy and not to hard. He urged him on and was careful not to keep my reins short at the liftoff. We cleared it, and joyfully cantered off. It was the last jump in the course, and I slowed him to a trot. I know dropped my inside stirupp and kept posting. It was hard at first, but I quickly got it down and dropped my outside one too.

Although I had expected it to be harder, this was actually easier, because when you just drop one, I was unbalanced and having trouble.

After doing that for awhile, I picked up my stirrups and trotted him toward the smallest jump, a tiny crossrail. I dropped my reins and put out my arms. I loved doing jumps like that, but only small ones.

I cantered him to jumps for awhile, then cooled him off and led him out. I untacked and groomed him, then set him out with the others. I ran up to the house and scarfed down a PBJ and played with the dogs a bit before going back down to the barn.

I looked into the sturdy arena where Tash was. She was freaking out. Majorly. I unlatched the gate and walked in, eyes on the ground, shoulders hunched, looking as unthreatening as possible. I walked into the middle and stood still as she half-reared and galloped around. I patiently stood until she tired, and slowed down until she was trotting around, but still staying as far away from me as possible. I continued keeping my stance until she stopped moving and just stared at me. I still didn't move, staring at the ground. I heard a tentative step, then another. She had walked toward me! This was great! Not many mustangs would do this so quickly. I rewarded her by walking slowly out, still not looking at her.

I glanced at my watch and found that gladly there was still time to ride another horse. I thought for a moment and decided to ride Summer again, this time in cross country. I trusted her already, she was a great horse. I went out and led her inside, grooming and tacking her quickly. I mounted there in the stable, not smart, but I did. We walked out to the course, and I smiled. I loved this course, it was challenging and fun to do. I trotted her over to the beginning and moved her into a canter.

The first jump was just haybales, and we did that one with ease.

We did the rest of the course, some jumps higher and wider than others, then a cooled her down and brought her inside. After untacking and grooming, I put her in her stall and went to get the rest of the horses.

I fed them all then picked up Thistle and carried her to the house and fed her and the dogs too. I played with them for a bit, careful to pay equal attention to all of them.
{ugh, g2g again. this is gonna take forever to do!}

{again, to be continued}