Catch up August 17, 2010

This summer has been full of house and horse work.  I have taken a little different approach to my horse training.  I am focusing most of my attention on Rosie for now.  She is the one who needs the most consistent work, I guess you could say she needs the extra time repeating things over and over.  She is a nervous sort of horse that tends to worry, so the repetitiveness works for her.  I’m taken this approach for about 3 months now and have noticed a huge difference in her.  Of course repetitiveness and consistency is good for all training but I believe that some horses need it more than others. 

Rosie is learning the importance of keeping a slack line between her and I, or a float in the rope which would be the lead rope.  Hopefully, this concept is carried through to the reins when we start riding.  Our little jobs we do together of an evening are coming along very smoothly.  She has learned to anticipate what my moves are and what/where I expect her to be doing so we aren’t bumping and clashing with each other.  Even my trimmer has noticed a difference in her 🙂  

One thing I love about my horses is the difference in personalities.  In the time I’ve spent with Rosie, I have maybe really worked with Lil’ Miss a hand full of times and even though she doesn’t know all my little cues and nuances, she is more level headed and calm about things by nature.  She officially got saddled last weekend for the first time,  I say officially because I actually cinched it up and took her for a walk in it.  The saddle is a little western Simco I bought from a friend, Simrat, who happens to be the same person Paisano came from.  I also bought another saddle from her, a Wintec AP 2000 that works for Paisano and actually fits Rosie quite well too 😉  Here is Miss lookin’ good in her saddle 🙂 

Miss in her Simco

The yard and house are coming along.  The yard has especially had a marked improvement.  We were able to get all the sprinklers working and the grass is slowly turning green again.  We have also got rid of sooo much junk and miscellaneous stuff that it actually is looking like a yard instead of a junk yard, ha ha ha. 

Cody’s parent came to visit us last weekend.  We went to 2 movies and had a really nice relaxing fun weekend.  They are going on a fishing trip to Alaska and I can’t wait to get some fresh fish back (hopefully they are successful 🙂 🙂 🙂 )  

Cody and I are getting ready for our honeymoon coming up soon, yay!  We are headed to the TDR and then on to the coast of Oregon.  We are taking camping gear and plan on kind of winging it.  I’m soooo excited, we are both ready for a nice relaxing vacation 😉

New Truck November 6, 2009

I have a new truck!  Well it’s not brand new, it’s a ’72 Ford F100.  It was left on the property and we were able to obtain an abandoned title for it.  All it costs me was $6.00!  That’s right all I had to pay was $6.00 for a title fee and it was mine.  Now I have a truck to use as my ranch truck.  Hauling hay, horses and everything in between.  It fired right up after we charged up the battery.  It’s going to need some new tires and and oil change but other than that she’s ready to go….

My new truck

New Wheels

Surprise! October 28, 2009

Lil’ Miss is here!

My dad called me at about 6:00 tonight telling me that he was on his way with a horse.  He said “I got that little terd in the trailer and we took off”.  HA, I knew she would come around.  He and the neighbor devised a chute type affair and she went in no problem.  Maybe she just figured that we weren’t going to give up so she decided to humor us…  It was too dark to take pictures but I will get some in the morning.

Rosie was soooo excited, she was running and bucking around Miss.  She kept circling her and whinnying at her, it was pretty funny.  They are still a little excited when I came in but I know they will settle in just fine.  Yay!  Both my girls are home!

Half way there October 26, 2009

Well we are at 50%. Rosie is now at her new home in Willard.  Lil’ Miss is still in Kaysville.  We spent all weekend trying to get both of them to the new place but were able to only get Rosie 😦  We didn’t have any problems loading Rosie.  We could load an un-load her all day if we wanted to.  Lil’ Miss will go into the trailer with the exception of her back feet.  She will get all the way in a then stops with her legs touching the back of the trailer and will go so far as to stand on her tip-toes but won’t pick them up into the trailer.  We tried all sorts of things but just couldn’t get her in.  We tried treats, hay, leading and pulling, pushing and picking up her feet one at a time…. Just when it seemed like we were there, she would panic and back out.  Rosie would walk in and out the whole time.  At one point Rosie even grabbed onto the lead rope with her mouth and started to pull with us.  It was quite the sight, I wish I could have taken a picture.  Finally we just decided to take Rosie and my dad will work with Miss this week.  Hopefully I will come home one night from work and see both of them in the pasture.

Rosie in the fall leaves

Checking it out

 

Green grass, yum!

 

 

 

I spent the evening with Rosie while she settled into her new home.  She was a little nervous and kept calling for Miss.  There is a really nice QH mare across the street and Rosie spent some time prancing up and down the fence line checking her out.  We spent the rest of the evening exploring the property and she found some nice tender grass to much on.  By the end of the night she was fairly calm, I finally had to go inside because my hand were freezing cold.  If the weather had been warmer, I probably would have slept outside with her.  I can’t wait to go home tonight and walk out to the back yard and have my girl with me.

Little update October 18, 2009

Here is a small update….  Cody and I have finally moved into our house!!!!  We still have work to do but it is nice and cozy.  The girls are moving up this coming week and we’ll get them settled in before the snow flies.  We have had some really nice weather here in good old UT, this weekend was soooo nice.  My friend Tonilynn came down to see the ponies with me while they got their hooves trimmed.  She wants to start coming to see them once a week to help me do some training.  Hopefully we can get her up on Paisano when he gets here.  I wish we could have been ready for him sooner while the weather is staying nice.  That’s all I could think about today, riding Pai up in the hills while the trees are still full of color…  We’ll still have some good riding in before the snow gets too deep and I can always ride around my pasture. 

My posts won’t be as frequent (as you might have seen) while we continue to get settled in.  I have my Save-the-Dates for the wedding and now we just have to send them out.  Things for the wedding are going good.  I have a site booked, Log Haven Restaurant.  It is absolutely beautiful and fits me and Cody perfectly.  Anyway here are some pictures of Tonilynn and Miss from yesterday.

 

Look forward to a before and after picture album of the house and Paisano’s arrival….

Stan-the-Man August 20, 2009

This week is going to be short and sweet.  I am most thankful for a man named Stan.  He has made my life so much easier the last two weeks.  My mother hired him to do some odds and ends around the Willard house to help us get it ready to move in.  He has been instrumental in getting the dog fence finished, painted the stairway, doing all the touch-up paint in the Master Bedroom/Bathroom, fixing the tile floor in the downstairs bathroom, getting cracked window panes fixed, installing a dog door, and much more little things.  He does each job as though it was his own house so the workmanship is very good.  More photos coming soon 😉

I was over-joyed this week to see pictures of the new crop of babies at the Cayuse Ranch.  I’m sure they will bring new life and new happiness to the people and places they will go.  I’ll never forget the moment I laid eyes on Rosie….

Baby Rosie

And as always, I’m thankful for the new day and the new opportunities it brings.

Things are happening August 9, 2009

I thought while I was sitting here waiting for True Blood to come on I would write a little.  I just booked a flight for Eugene OR.  I’m going to go see Paisano (Spanish Mustang) and his owner Simrat as well as the Big Dogs at Tired Dog Ranch.  I was offered to take him on a free lease from Simrat.  We are going to see if he and I will jive together before I truck him all the way to Utah.  I really hope we can work something out.  Paisano is an incredible horse and this would an amazing opportunity to learn so much.  It would be good for my girls to have a lead man and to see another horse being ridden around.  I have been daydreaming about all the many possible adventures we could all have together.  I plan on having Cody and I moved in by the end of Labor Day weekend.  Life sure hasn’t been boring for me that’s for sure.  I have been taking every opportunity to learn and do new things and while it makes my life kind of busy I will have these memories and experiences for the rest of my life. 

Anyway, here are some photos of the backyard I took this weekend.  I won’t take us too long to get the horse fence finished.

New picket fence. It's starting to look good

I have a lot more pics posted on flickr….

House Update August 7, 2009

Well we almost have it livable!  The fence for the dogs will be complete with in the week with the horse fence to follow soon after.  The inside still needs work but so far the master bedroom and bath are complete with the exception of some touch up paint and shower door.  The stairway and dining room need paint and light fixtures.  The living room needs touch up paint and a T.V. stand.  The kitchen will be functional but won’t have the cabinetry totally complete yet.  So like I said, it will be livable but maybe not completely comfortable yet.  I’ll be posting a bunch of “before” and “so far” pics on my flickr photostream very soon.