If This Blog Were a Horse

[Photo of my daughter Sierra and her five-year old horse Raffiki at the state horse show yesterday]

If this blog were a horse, it'd be very sick by now.

Thankfully this blog which I have been neglecting of late is not a horse, just a repository of my horsey thoughts. Cancel the vet call!

***
This horse show season ended for our family yesterday. My oldest daughter, Sierra, who is 13, competed in the State 4-H Two-Handed show. (which is a funny name for a horse show. Shouldn't it be Two-Hoofed? But of course it is referring to the riders' hands. It's a 4-H competition for riders with horses 3-5 years of age.)

Can I just say, at the risk of sounding like a stage-mother fool, that my daughter is amazing?

This is why:

-She's trained this horse herself (granted, with lots of generous mentors) since she was ten. Three years ago, this horse didn't know its leads. Now he excels in trail and Western Pleasure.

-She placed first in her division in the written test (and got $100 for her efforts). And sixth overall in her division among 30 riders.

-She wasn't feeling very good all day and had a bad head cold. Despite this, she still carried on. She gives everything her best - whether it be piano, art, writing, horses - and is successful at whatever she does.

-Most importantly, she is a very spiritual person, diligent in her prayers and scripture study. Which manifests itself in how grounded she seems to be as successes and challenges come her way.

***
I can't help but reflect on my own life compared to where she is at in hers.

At her age, I loved art, music and literature. I had good parents who gave me opportunities, but we didn't have the money and it wasn't a priority for me to take art or piano lessons. Let alone own horses.

So I am thrilled to the core that my children have these opportunities early in their lives.

Sierra is a great example to me of someone who got handed a bountiful plate by Heavenly Father along with some personal challenges, and who has made the most of it!

***
I will have to admit, as much as this has been a fun ride this year...I am relieved that horse show season is over. Now for some R&R!

Last Wash

Last wash day for the season today. I am letting the kids sleep in a little before their big day tomorrow, the last regular horse show.

This has been a wonderful season.

Taia has come a long way. My oldest has done a great job with her. She used to toss her head and go prancy-crazy. Now she looks like the good horse her former owners touted her as.

My son's old horse is slowing down some, but still putting in good miles.

My youngest has had quite the turnaround story. Her mare had been a beast this past winter, but now, she is doing so well. I watched them yesterday, go in and out of the indoor arena, and I thought to myself, I am so glad that we have horses we can trust to take care of our kids.

Coz that is what it is all about, having horses you can count on to carry your precious treasures.

Practice Show

All three kids had their first 4-H practice show last Friday. Rain threatened, but didn't follow through, so it was actually quite a pleasant temperature.

We brought down our new horse, Taia, who is 15, even though our oldest didn't use her. She was quite antsy. For an "older" horse she still has so much energy. But I guess that is no surprise since she has some thoroughbred in her. I hope she settles down soon.

Taia, our new horse

For her first show, our youngest did mighty fine. Although Wixie gave her some trouble atwestern riding, she got through all of the judged events far better than the older two did at that age.

It was hard to have Wixie and Quincy together in the arena. Wixie tends to catch up with him and stick to him like a burr. So my son didn't do as well in Western pleasure. We will have to practice having our youngest pass him in the arena. But he and Quincy looked good, as usual, doing patterns. And, he actually stood still at halter, which was a shocker. He got a red instead of a blue because the judge said the horse was dirty (They weren't required to wash the horses, but when the judge put a hand on his back, dust flew.).


My son and Quincy, at halter

Our oldest did well on Raffiki. He is a 5 year old gelding, whom she has been working with the last three years. He got all his leads correctly, he lowered his head during western pleasure, he also backed beautifully. I think this may be the first time our oldest got a blue ribbon for western pleasure, and it was well-deserved. She practices at least once a week on him with the mentorship of an older girl from her 4-H club.

A wonderful practice show altogether. And when we were hauling the horses home, I thought again how grateful I was to be able to help the kids with this experience.

Horses and their riders

Last updated 6/30/11


Wixie, a flea-bitten gray quarter horse mare. Our first horse. She is in her early 20's. Still spry, sometimes stubborn, can be very sweet. Snuffles when happy. She is the first horse we all learned on, so she has a special place in my heart.

Our youngest - Sabrina (who was 9 in this photo)


Quincy, a chestnut Morgan cross (our best guess) gelding. Reliable, bomb-proof. Wish we could find more horses like him. 20-something like Wixie. For an old horse loves to go fast. Our son loved to do speed events on him. Now our 11 year old rides him.

Our son - Wesley (who was 11 in this photo)


Raffiki, a seven year old palomino paint whom our oldest "won" by writing a letter to the 4-H horse council. Our oldest trained him herself. She was bucked off and injured few weeks into it, but has gotten back on since and has done phenomenally well on him.

Our oldest - Sierra, horse crazy as they come, she got us all into horses (13 yrs old in this photo)


Taia (pronounced "Tie"), a 15 year old quarter horse mare with racehorse bloodlines. We initially bought her for our youngest, and was shown for one year. Now my husband's horse. Beautiful, sweet, with the energy of a young horse.


Lovey, 16 year old Arabian mare. Her owner died in a car accident and a mutual friend referred her to us to give her a new home. Petite and pretty. Descended from Russian bloodlines. Has been a wonderful "project" horse for Wesley. Jumps high and goes fast.

13 year old Wesley is riding her in this photo

Tears to Cheers

A horse reduced me to tears this week.

Over the past few weeks, our family has been trying out a friend's horse for our youngest to use in 4-H. Boo (the horse) is beautiful, with a sweet personality, but she is a hellion when it comes to being bridled.

Now I am not the kind of person to easily give up. And I was telling myself, I can do this, I can do this, even to the point of getting the bridle over one ear. We made do, my daughter got on for her riding lesson, and I was okay.

Until we had to take off the bridle. The horse wouldn't let me, just pulling her head back enough out of my reach. And that's when I lost it.

We've been through two horses in as many months, trying to get one for our youngest, and I was exhausted from the roller coaster ride, from having high hopes only to not have the horse work out. I cried as I told the silly horse that I wasn't going to hurt her, and couldn't she let me take off the bridle?

I told my husband I don't want a horse for our youngest just for the sake of having a horse. Unless it's a well-behaved horse.

Fortunately, after much discussion by phone with a seller and an evening of riding, we found a great horse for our youngest this past Friday. Her name is Taia (pronounced "tie"). I have high hopes.

Taia is a good reminder of how wonderful horses can be.

Hope

We took Annie back to Idaho last week. Thank goodness the owner was willing to give us back our money and didn't give us grief.

We are trying out another horse.

As we pulled in today at the stables, I laughed at the expression on our friend Julie's face. I got out of the truck and said, "Here's horse #590!"

That's how these past couple of months have felt like, searching searching searching.

I think we might have just found us a horse for my youngest. I am "cautiously optimistic" if there is such a phrase.

***
Her name is Boo and she is a beautiful horse to look at. She is my friend's horse that she is willing to let us "borrow" for 4-H. Boo is quiet, which is a really good fit for Sabrina. The only concern is she moves kind of funny, paddling at the trot, and bounding at the lope. But our friend Julie and our barn owner both say she would probably be a good fit for my youngest. And the lope might smooth out if she lowers her head.

I hope so. I would rather not have a horse for her at all than cope with a horse that is just so-so and dangerous for my child.

This week, my youngest will take a lesson on her and take her to 4-H practice.

Yikes!

Our 13 year old daughter rode Annie today and did not have a good experience. She lunged her at first and then when she thought Annie was listening, got on. I did remind her to be light on her mouth, but it seemed like without much provocation, Annie reared a couple of times, sidestepped, tossed her head, etc. So my daughter got off again, lunged her some more. Then she got on. Annie settled for a bit, but at a lope (which got faster and faster as she went), she bucked quite a bit when my daughter tried to slow her down. (My daughter stayed on fortunately)

This daughter is a quiet, experienced rider who has trained her own colt; I am glad she rode her first because our 9 year old probably would have panicked which would have made it worse.

We’re willing to give Annie other chances, but it’s not looking good so far. We emailed the seller (we have a three week trial period) with the above details so he is not shocked at our final verdict.

Sigh. Back to square one.

***
Lessons learned:

No matter how sweet and gentle a horse looks, do not fall in love until the main rider rides it.

The older the horse, in general, the better. Especially for your youngest child!

If you are looking for a 4-H horse, a horse with 4-H experience is ideal so you don't have to teach it new tricks.

Introducing Annie/Mandy

After searching for a fourth horse for several months now, we finally made our pick. This is Annie whom my youngest daughter will be riding for 4-H. My daughter wants to rename her to Mandy and already wants to use purple tack on her.



She is petite and very sweet. She comes from Burley, Idaho. Her seller delivered her to us with a three week trial period, which is really quite generous of him. On Monday or Tuesday, my youngest will ride her for the first time.

Risky But Worth It

As I was waiting for a school program, I got talking to a friend and the topic got around to the kids and how busy they were. When I mentioned that my kids ride horses, she said, her daughter has always wanted to learn to ride one.

I told her she should look into it lessons for her daughter. She said, "I told my husband if we could afford it, we should get a horse, but he said it's too risky."

The cost, sure, I could relate to. It is an expensive hobby, owning horses.

As for risk. Sure, there's risk. Three years ago, my daughter, who was ten, got bucked off by her young horse and she had extensive nerve damage. And the other day, I was talking to a woman who was selling off their horses because she "did a Christopher Reeve" and broke her back and neck getting bucked off a horse.

But my daughter is fine today, and probably a stronger person for her experience. She got right back on the saddle when she could and has never looked back. She has learned how to stay on a horse. She has always worn a helmet and we stress safety on a horse all the time. Sometimes, riding a horse that decides to buck can be an adventure.

And what a rush of an adventure it has been.

Kids break bones from jumping off trampolines; heck, even just walking down a curb. To miss out on the joys of riding horses because of the possibility of injury is missing out on a great experience.

Thanks to horses, our family has become closer, we spend a lot more time outdoors, our kids have learned responsibility and have grown in confidence. I have grown as a person and as a mother as I have ridden horses and as I support my kids in 4-H.

I know not everyone has the opportunity to have horses, and I am grateful to have this. But best of all, I am grateful we can let our horse-crazy children live their dream now.

Loping

I actually took a break from writing the other morning and went riding with my husband. Cold, muddy winter morning; thank goodness for an indoor arena where we board. My husband wore his leather hat to tack up which makes me smile coz he looks like a sweet cowboy. (We ride helmets on the horses.)

I rode Quincy (see his photo in right sidebar) and my husband, bless his heart, rode Wixie, who he has been riding a lot lately because she has been acting up.

At first, I just walked Quincy, then I trotted. So far so good. Then it was time to push him a little more. I took a deep breath and kicked him into a lope. He kept trotting, until he finally slowed to a stop.

I really wanted him to go, and yet I didn't want him to. I don't like going fast on horses, on anything. I don't like roller coasters. I'm the merry-go-round type.

But today is a good day to lope because there are no other riders other than my husband. Okay, another try. I kicked him, and he still wouldn't respond. Finally, I dug in with my heels (my son rides him with spurs). Don't give up, my husband said. This time, Quincy raised his head, and then he loped.

It's a rush, to be on the back of a horse that is flying through the air. It is nothing like a merry-go-round ride, but I see why my husband and kids love it. When I stay on, feeling in control, it feels great.

I did it! I did it!

Looking for our first horse

[This is an installment in "How we got into horses". See the right sidebar for other posts.]

My husband and I had given our oldest daughter (who was then 9) a full year of borrowing a horse for 4-H and it seemed her ardor had not cooled.

So we began looking for our first horse in 2005. (Wow, has it really been four years ago?)

My husband scoured horse websites. I looked at postings at the local feed store. Most were too far away to see. Most also said, "Needs work". I made flyers and put out the word that we were looking for a "kids horse".

The first person that responded met us at a pasture at the west end of town. The horse, a small bay gelding, had already been tacked up. I didn't know much about riding then, but I couldn't very well let on. I told the owners I would ride the horse since my oldest daughter wasn't with me then.

Either the horse was really not reliable, or I was nervous (most likely this), but the horse kept moving away from me. There were other red flags about the horse, which eventually led to me saying no, thanks.

What's ironic is that later, I saw an ad for this horse on the community bulletin board; he was being touted a "kids' horse". But a friend of mine who trains horses said the owner hired her to train this very same horse so it wouldn't go ballistic every time they rode it.

***
We saw a few more horses. It was February, which is a good time to see horses in a glut of a market (people not wanting to feed horses through the winter), but also the worst time because horses haven't been ridden in a while. One had cool medicine hat markings, but wild-pushy.

Nothing promising.

***
I told a friend in our church we were looking for horses. A few weeks later, she told me that she had a friend who was selling her gray quarter horse mare named Wixie. My friend was all compliments about her friend and her horse, and I decided she was worth taking a look at.

Next post: Buying our first horse

On Mud and Mares

I love winter days like yesterday when it is so pleasant outside that I can be in a hoodie and sweat pants to turn out horses.

Oh, but the mud.



(photo by welliefreak on Flickr)

Squishy, yucky, mucky.
Splashy, icy, icky.

Thank goodness for mud boots.

***
My youngest took riding lessons yesterday on a sweet old gelding named Hershey.

Our mare Wixie, whom she usually rides, has been very unpredictable lately. High-strung, fearful, bucks, wants to run off on you. Is it that time of the month?

For our fourth horse, I told my husband we should only look at geldings. We women are too high-maintenance.