Training My Horse, Valley

Snow Day!!

2010-02-06T01:12:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures I took of Valley and Mississippi when it snowed (it was actually ice...) a few days ago:

-Sarah

Very very long delayed post...

2010-01-14T18:46:00.000-06:00

Oh emm gee, i can't believe how long it's been since I posted on here. I'm SOO SORRY!! You know how I am. When a lot happens and i don't post, I put it off-- for like months!!
Remember back in August when I said my family and I might be getting another horse from a friend? Well... we did!! He is a beautiful five year old chestnut quater horse gelding. His previous owner named him Prancer, and we didn't like that name so we changed it to (my idea by the way :D) Alan Bourdillon Traherne, aka Mississippi. Haha, you're probably freaking out right about now. But it's from a John Wayne movie. Just incase you are wondering how to pronounce it, it is pronounced: Alan (Al-in) Bourdillon (Bir-dill-uhn) Traherne (Truh-hern). But we call him Mississippi for short :)

Mississippi is trained to be ridden, but he wasnt rode very much, so he still needs a lot of work. About the first 4 or 5 days we had him, I rode him and Valley every single day! It was SO much fun!! Valley did so good! I trotted on her some (I think I rode bareback with her each time, but I can't remember), and same with Mississippi, but I got him to canter a few times :) But it took him a lot of time and persuasion to get him up to that speed lol. I rode him with a saddle though, because he has a bony back :P

Mississippi really does need a lot of work though. See, with Valley, I've worked with her a lot on desenitizing her to me touching her all over, and moving a lot around her, and making noise and stuff. But Mississippi hasn't had that training, so I have to be careful around him; he's almost kicked me a few times.

Remember when I said for the first few days he was here, I rode both of them? Well, I skipped one day for some reason, and I don't know if I've ridden them since... I feel terrible!!! I just can't get the motavation to get out there and work with them. But I will really try to get out there in the next few days. I wish I had today, because it's a whole lot warmer today than it has been!

One of the reasons we got Mississippi, was to keep Valley from swimming out of the lake and going to visit the neighbors horses, and it worked at first! Then... she got out! So my dad finally finished putting up the fence around the lake, but one part he put the fence out into the lake, so in the summer they can get in the water to cool down. But, she STILL got out!! The only way we can figure, is that she swam under the fence... So until my dad has time to fix that (who knows when that will be...), Mississippi and Valley are over in the back pasture which I hate, and they hate too, but what am I supposed to do?

To finish of this post, here are some pictures of Mississippi and Valley :) Enjoy!!!

Valley and Mississippi grazing

Mississippi and my kitty Maddie. I LOVE this picture!!

"Hmmm what's this??"

Lol! This picture is SO funny! She was bucking, but it looks hilarious

Me on Mississippi the day we got him

Same as above

The first day

Valley and Maddie (I love this one too :)

I can't promise that I'll post soon, because I don't know when I'll work with either horse, but when I do, I will post!!! Which will hopefully be soon... :D Oh, comments are very motivating, so if you want me to get out there and do something with the horses so I can post, be sure to comment!!

-Sarah

As promised..

2009-08-20T16:19:00.007-05:00

As promised in the last post, here is what i did the other day with valley. i think it was monday or tuesday.. anyways, i grabbed valley's halter and lead rope and told my brother adam, "come on". he was like "what?" and I said "your gonna ride valley." usually he says no, but he actually said ok this time! my helmet didn't fit him, so he used his dirt bike helmet instead :P so we go out to the pasture (i brought a couple big carrots) and call valley, who whinney's and trots over.

we gave her the carrots, put the halter, reins, and a lead rope (adam hold onto the reins, i lead with lead rope) on her, and took some pictures:

Adam with his dirtbike helmet on :P

then i told adam how to signal her to turn and go and then i lead valley with adam on her back, around the pasture. She bucked FOUR times!! they weren't huge bucks, you can thank God for that, but still... then adam got off, and i got on and didn't ride much at all, but here are a couple more pictures:

I'll post more tomorrow when we get that new horse :)

Peace out y'all.

Sarah

New Horse???

2009-08-18T23:43:00.002-05:00

It's late, so this i just a quick post to tell you i might be getting a new horse! my brothers friend has been trying to sell his horse for a while, but couldn't, so now he's trying to get rid of him for free, and he texted luke asking if we wanted it. here is all the information a know about him:

he's mostly quarter horse with 1/8th arabian, he's a boy (most likely a gelding, but luke didn't ask), he's five years old, and broke.

that's all i know.
and guess what? luke's friend is bringing him over saturday and we going to try him out for a little while to make sure him and valley will get along, and that we want him.

i can't wait! i've been waiting to get another horse for a long time!! and now i most likely am!!

the other day i got adam to ride valley, and i'll post about that later, i don't got time right now. i also took some pictures and i'll post those when i post about that.
don't worry, i'll def remember to take a lot of pictures saturday for y'all!!

-Sarah

Pictures of Valley!

2009-08-13T20:28:00.005-05:00

Well guess what? I found my camera! And I've been taking a bunch of pictures, including ones of Valley. And I will post some later in this post.

For approximately a week now, I've had Valley in the upper pasture because I put up a rope that goes from the last pole in the lake that has wire on it, across to a tree, so she can't get across to the part of the fence that doesn't have wire on it. I need to take a picture of that because sounds confusing... Anyways, and so far she's stayed in, enjoying eating all the grass and running around the big space.

Yesterday, while I was out taking pictures of the dogs and my kitten playing, my dad (who was out walking around the yard like he always does) and he asked if i wanted to go see Valley (I think she was close to the gate then, ya know, easy access. So I go inside, grab a couple big carrots, and run down to the gate (camera in hand). Dad's in the pasture petting Valley who is right by the fence.

hmm.. she looks weird in that pic. Anyways, then we gave her the carrots, and Adam came down and gave her one then left, lol.

Adam feeding Valley a carrot. he took forever to give it to her. poor Valley just stretched and stretched her neck before he gave it to her :P

My dad feeding Valley a carrot

Adam torturing Valley again (people, not literal torture)

And then i took a few more pics:

Then I ran up to the house, got Valley's halter and reins and ran back down to the pasture. I put the halter on her and lead her to where dad had wandered off into the pasture. It took a few tries because she kept moving, but I got up on Valley (bareback, and I'd been too lazy to get my helmet although I should have. You'll find out in a sec, be patient, gosh). Dad took the lead rope/reins and started lead Valley, while I sat on her back holding onto her mane.

I signaled with my legs when dad turned, stopped, or went forwards. Valley always walks way too close to the person leading her, and pushing up against them. I've learned somewhat to push her away, but she still does it.. And she was doing it to dad real bad, so he kept turning her in circles and my leg got tired from pressing her side. She finally got tired of walking around the pasture, and going in a circle every time she walked way ahead of dad (which was very often) and/or pressing up against him, and she sorta behaved.

Jesse was in the pasture, and Valley really dislikes her, and the flies were bothering her, so a few times Valley acted up. Meaning, she reared! Twice! First time ever while I was on her. It wasn't like a huge rear, and a little more than a half-rear... but luckily I was holding onto her mane otherwise I probably would have fallen off. Surprisingly, it didn't scare me much.

Well anyway, after walkin around a while, I fed Valley in the barn and then went back to the house.

Yup.

K, bye.

-Sarah

2009-06-08T14:50:00.001-05:00

Hey sorry I haven't posted in a while. I just haven't been doing anything really with Valley, so I haven't had anything to post about. I'm just posting to say this so you guys won't think I just abandoned ya'll or have forgotten. I just haven't had anything to post about..

Sorry again! I'll try to get something to post about soon :)

-Sarah

Neck reining

2009-05-21T13:48:00.005-05:00

Sometime last week, I was reading Black Beauty and in chapter 2 (training) says (talking about when his master put the bit in his mouth) "I didn't like it at all, but I knew my mother and the other horses wore one. So, with my master's pats and kind words, as well as the oats, I got used to wearing my bit and bridle."

That gave me an idea. I hadn't been working Valley - mostly cause I didn't have a plan to work with her - and I wasn't getting anywhere in her training. But Those sentences right there that Anna Sewell wrote gave me an idea. I was sort of going to start over with Valley's training. I was first going to put a bridle on Valley and get her used to that before moving on to the saddle.

So a few days ago (I can't remember exactly when. It might have been Sunday or Friday I don't remember) I started her "new training". I did as usual, and got her out of the back pasture (dad still hasn't finished the fence *rolls eyes*) and took her up to the barn to eat. After she ate, I walked her around the front pasture to graze.

Next, I took her up to the house. I tied her up to the trailer (not horse trailer, just a regular trailer. I'll get a pic for ya :) and went to the shed to get Valley's bridle. I took off Valley's halter and slipped on the bridle which Valley didn't fight. From the moment I put on the bridle to the moment I took her down to where my "invisible round pen" is (where I used to take her and Chloe down to graze, by the lake), she was chewing on her bit.

I had Valley stand there for a few minutes to get used to the bit, and then I flexed her on both sides a few times. Then I got up on her back and flexed her on both sides a lot. She tried to move around at first but of course I ain't gonna take that! So I kept flexing her until she stood still. It didn't take too long.

I backed her up a few times and she's really good at that - especially on the ground. When I'm on the ground, I barely have to pull back on the rope, cause she knows what "back" means. :) I love my horse.

While I sat there on her back, I decided that I should work on her turning. But then I thought that since I am training her to ride western, then I should teach her to neck rein :) Now I have no idea about how to do that, so I just made it up lol. So hopefully I'm doing it right.. Anyways, I took the reins in my right hand, and pulled them to the right. Valley was pretty confused at first, but I was kicking/putting pressure on her side, so she figured out what I wanted her to do and she turned to the right.

She did okay for her first time.. but it's gotten a little better with each day I do it with her. But yesterday, when I kept trying to get her to turn, she would flex instead (mostly on the left side) and try to (sometimes succeeding) bite my legs! It hurt! And I couldn't get her to turn her head around and it was annoying. I finally got her to behave, and I got her to walk around my invisible round pen :):) So fun!!

Anyways, here are a few oldish (about a week lol i think the first time I did the bridle thing) of my dirty pony-sized 3 yr old HORSE :P I would have put some more updated pictures of a few days ago, but I can't find my camera so i can't upload them on the computer.. anyways, here are the pictures:

She's filthy!!!

she gets bored pretty easily ha ha

Peace out,
Sarah

Valley's back

2009-04-23T17:10:00.009-05:00

Hey!

So we finally got Valley back, yesterday! My dad and I went over to the people's house, and when we walked up the driveway, the woman's three year old little boy was sitting on a four wheeler bouncing up and down. He was soo cute! He had curly blond hair, and the bluest eyes I have ever seen. And when he saw the horse's, he said, "Hworswes! Hworswes! Cwome!" Translated: 'Horses! Horses! Come!".

When Valley saw us, she kind of walked away, but dad gave her an apple slice, and I quickly slipped on the halter and lead rope. The little boy started crying when we took Valley away. I was like, "Aww!!" I guess he didn't realize that Valley was my horse. The walk home was tough. Valley was pushing against me, walking really fast. Once she even half reared. Normally I would have pulled her around in circles, but we were right by a fairly busy road (luckily not many cars went by, but still) and so I couldn't.

She acted a lot better once I got behind the house, and in the pasture. The male Canada Goose (I can't decide on a name. The girl is Jessa, and I want a name for him that means protect. So far I got Jai [victorious] and Conrad [brave, bold ruler]. What do you think?) almost attacked her and it kind of freaked Valley out :P

When I put Valley back in the lower pasture, she galloped around, kicking up her heels occasionally, and neighed some. Here is a video of her:

And here's a few pictures I took yesterday while she was running around. I think she looks a LOT like an Arabian in these pictures:

Walkin up to my dad

Looking at my dad

She looks so proud in this picture! Lol, more like a statue. A proud Valley statue :) When she dies, I'm going to get a statue that looks just like this picture, and put it in front of my house :P

Peace out home dogs! (from FRED)

-Sarah

P.S. I found out that actually the chestnut horse is the gelding and the bay is the mare!! I was totally confused.. but Valley seemed to really like the mare. Oh well, lol.

A big update

2009-04-21T17:10:00.008-05:00

Howdy pawtnuhs!

SO sorry for not posting in almost a month. Not sure what got into me... I have been busy this weekend (and I got grounded...) but that's hardly an excuse. I can NOT believe I haven't posted since Valley was lame. That seems AGES ago!!

Anyways, Valley's leg is (obviously) healed. My dad put up almost the rest of the fence (only a small part is fenceless), and we had been letting Valley out into the upper pasture all day, and letting her out at night.

Well, one day all of us (me, Adam, and mom) were somewhere (not sure where.), but my dad and brother Luke was home. It was almost dark, and Valley got out. She went to her usual spot of course. Dad said that Valley had never been so hard to catch before. I guess since she hadn't been over there in a while.

But he said about ten people came out or stopped their cars, offering help, lol! That must have been so embarrassing... I'm glad I wasn't there :P Dad even had food, and she wouldn't come. Finally, the guy that owns the property (and the horses), said that until we get the fence completely put up, we could keep Valley over there (i mean for the weekend)! So that is where she has been all weekend. She won't even come up to me... :(

It rained all weekend, so Dad didn't get to finish the fence, so Valley is still over there. Dad is going to call the people and ask if they want us to take her back, or if they don't mind if she stays a little longer.

Okay, enough of Valley. I have some more news. Your probably wondering "Enough of Valley? but this is a blog ABOUT Valley!!" well yes, that is true. But this is kind of more of a horse blog. Not just Valley :D Despite the title.. but I have some AWESOME news!!!!!! So I'll quit babbling and tell you:

Okay, so this guy we've known for a long time who owns a sort of stable (I'll say his name is Dan) called us saying he knew this guy who has lost his house and his land, and he needs to get rid of his 3 horses. For free. Dad said we can go look at them, and if we like 'em and their good, then we can take one MAYBE even two!!!!!

So this is ALL we know so far about them:

There is an 8 yr old, but he/she has some kind of medical problem (not sure what it is), and has to take a pill every day, and so we can't get him/her probably cuz it's prob too expensive or whatever.
There is a 15 yr old (the one I'm most interested in) mustang that hasn't been ridden in a while
And a 20 yr old strawberry roan

That is all I know about them. But I wrote down some questions I want to ask when we go see them, and I printed off some information of what to do when I go to look at them. I mean, the only time I've ever bought a horse was Valley, and I took my friend Jessica with me (she's pretty experienced), and she did all the checking her over and stuff. But this time, I'm not bringing an experienced friend, and I need to know what to do anyways. I can't wait!

I hope SOOO badly it works out! Last night the only thing I dreamed about was the horses, lol! I dreamed we got all of them, and the mustang died giving birth to a little foal, and the other two horses were chestnut. Yup. That's mostly it :P For some reason, I can only picture the mustang being a really dark bay. I wonder what he/she is like... OO! I can't wait!!

I was thinking that if we get the mustang, and we like the strawberry roan, then maybe we can get both, and if we can't keep both, then we could find a home for the roan, since the man needs to get rid of them now. I feel so bad for him!! :(

Well, I guess that's all... I think I'll go post on my regular blog now, so you all won't kill me.

-Sarah

p.s. here is a good updated picture of Valley:

P.P.S. just so you know what Strawberry roan looks like, here is a picture I found on the internet:

Update (finally)

2009-03-25T00:26:00.006-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posting. It's not because I haven't had anything to post (because I do), it's mostly because I keep forgetting. So here I am! Guess I better get started now:

Valley's Escapade's
So Valley's Escapade's have not ceased (You may have noticed I am using unusual big words. well, their unusual for me... don't let it fool you. I'm not as much of a genius as I sound). I've been keeping her in the back pasture, but twice, when I had her on the leadrope tied to something, it came untied and she got away both times...

Well, one time, when of course she went over to her horsery friends, they happened to be on the side of their pasture that was next to a fairly busy rode. Luckily, there were a bunch of trees and bushes there, so me and Adam could trap Valley, and she was so easy to catch! Oh, and we found out why Valley likes the horses so much... She has a crush on the dark bay one!! She's in heat, and has fallen in love with him :P But the strange thing is... he's a gelding!! For those of you non-horsey people: that means a fixed male horse. Here is some pictures of the gelding, and Valley:

The gelding and the chestnut horse... :P

Valley where she went next to the busy road. i know u can't see the road.. but it's there! over there to the left behind those trees

See!? Their totally in love! But it's tough love.. right after this picture they threw their heads back and squealed. Not sure which horse upset the other though... I think it was Vale's fault :P

Hurt foot
For the past.. week, or a little less, Valley has had a hurt foot :( She was limpin a bunch, and her left front forelock was really swollen. So I put her up in the barn stall, and soaked her foot in warm water mixed with epsom salt (to make the pain and swelling go down) several times. At first, it got worse :( So we called the vet (not our usual, cuz our usual is really busy [breeding season] and ain't doin no calls right now]) and she said to keep soaking it, then call her back again in a couple of days.

I've been giving her water, food, and a ton of hay (which is fun to do :D). The past couple days, she's really improving!! She's not limping that much now. YAY!! But the bad news is, she's loosing weight, cuz she can't graze cuz she's in the barn. So tomorrow I am going to take her out on the lead rope to let her graze for a long while. Hopefully soon she'll be back to her normal, healthy, rambunkshus (sp?), crazy, wild, stubborn, funny, beautiful, graceful, food-loving horse again!!

And lastly... A couple pictures of Valley that I took the other day (while she was still limping pretty badly)

-Sarah

P.S. I am going to give the two horses in the pasture a name so I don't have to call them "gelding" and "chestnut". So... I'll call the gelding..... Cupid (cuz ya know Valley's name is VALENTINE, and their in love :P), and the chestnut... well.. since I don't know what gender he/she is.. then I'll give him/her a unisex name :) But what? uh.. You know what? I think I'll just go along and keep calling him/her Chestnut :)

Until next time, peeps!

Peace out homedogs! V <-- my peace sign

Lives come and go

2009-02-24T17:21:00.004-06:00

I knew that Chloe was old, and was going to... go to horsey heaven soon. The day before yesterday, she was laying down on the ground and wouldn't get up. I figured that would be the day she would... pass. Until that time came, I got two rubber bowls (Chloe and Valley's feed bowls) and filled them with water (from the lake which isn't really clean...) for her.

Yesterday, I went out to the pasture to feed the horses, and Chloe was still alive and still laying on the ground. She was doing a lot worse. She was laying flat out, and would every 2 minutes or so lift up her head to let blood drain out :( I stayed out there for a few minutes, then went back to the house. This time I returned with Adam. He would help her left up her head everytime she had trouble, and then help her lay her head back down because if he didn't, she would slam her head hard on the ground.

I went back to the house to get some of our school books, clean water for Chloe, and lays chips for Adam. Then Adam went to the house and got us some lawn chairs. After a while, I went back to the house to call mom (Adam and I were home alone) to see if she would call the vet to come put Chloe down cuz I'm a wimp and wouldn't do it. Then Adam came back in and said that Chloe.... died. :( So we didn't have to call the vet. Today, we had a neighbor come by that had a backo (I KNOW that is not spelt right, LOL) come by and dig a hole and put Chloe in it.

-Sarah

My First Police Escort!!!

2009-02-19T17:56:00.004-06:00

Yep, you heard that right. My first police escort! Now your probably wondering why I am putting that on my Valley blog.

The Reason: Cuz it has to do with Valley!

So ya know how Valley has been gettin out, right? Well, I went out to put the horses in the back pasture (I've been doing that at night, cuz Valley only gets out right as it gets dark not during the day), and of course Valley was not in the pasture. So I went back to the house, got the halter and lead rope (I brought a little horse feed too), and mom and I got it the van to drive over to Valley's usual spot.

Right as we were pulling out of the driveway, we saw a police car about to pull into the driveway. We both stopped and rolled down our windows. Mom said, "Are you coming to tell us our horse is out?" and he asked if we had a white horse. We said yes, and that she was probably in her usual spot (which she was). So the police man said "I'll follow , you over there." So we drove across the street to a neighborhood. When we drove onto the other street, there was another police man! We all three drove the like 10 seconds to where Valley usually is. I got out of the van and started over there with the bucket with food and halter and lead rope. Both police men had their 'spotlights' (just a flashlight I think) shining for me, so it was easy to see :)

I rattled the bucket with food, and of course Valley came trotting over. She ate the food while I put the halter and lead rope on her. Now that I think about it, it probably wasn't a very good idea to give her food, cause then she might start getting out so she can get food...

Anywho, so I started walking her back over to the road. The police men said that they'd follow us home. So I started walking Valley back home, with two police men right behind me, WITH their lights on (no siren though; think GOD!) AND their spotlights. Mom followed behind them FYI. So we crossed the fairly busy street (i looked both ways :D) then walked over to our house. The police men didn't go up the driveway, but stayed at the bottom shining their spotlights for us.

I took Valley to the back pasture to lock her up. Chloe didn't follow (which was unusual cause I had food), so I just decided to lock only Valley down at the back pasture. That worked pretty well.

Well, there ya have it! My first police escort :D sorta... :P

-Sarah

P.S. I have a little more to post about, but I ain't gonna post it right now. I'll let you have a chance to read this first :)

Slideshow

2008-12-24T01:02:00.006-06:00

As you see above this post, I put a slideshow of pictures of Valley, Chloe, and a few of the lake and pasture. The pictures are out of order than I labeled them, so the text might not make sense on some parts... But please enjoy, and I'm SOO sorry for lack of posting! I started a post a few days ago, but haven't finished cause I couldn't/can't get a video to upload (it was taking too long. I'm not a patient person :D). You can also see it here: http://www.slide.com/r/Gdk9Kvb06D-E4xYH7eGrs6wJET5Yl7S4?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Please enjoy, and once again, sorry!!

-Sarah

Bloggy award!

2008-11-16T10:07:00.002-06:00

Mellimaus thank you soo much for this 'Million Dollar Friend Award'! This is the 2nd award you've given me :) I got to go to church now, so TTYL, and thank you Mellimaus!

-Sarah

Smart Valley!

2008-11-11T19:16:00.002-06:00

I was sitting at the computer (can't remember what I was doing) today, when dad called and said, "Is Sarah feeding the horses". Of course I wasn't. So he said, "Well then, Valley's out."
I was like, "WHAT!?!? But dad already put a fence up so she wouldn't get out!! GUR!" So I went outside (in my PJ's. I slept in LATE), got some food, and put it in Valley's usual eating spot. I got her halter and leadrope, and tied her up. Then I went and got Chloe, and just fed both of them as normal.
Valley was wet all the way up to the top of her neck. She swam in the lake again.

About an hour or two ago, dad came in, and said Valley was out again! So I went out and caught her and put her back in the pasture, and dad put up some more fence. *sigh* She is one smart horse!

-Sarah

The Trouble a Horse Can Get Into

2008-11-07T18:10:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, I got a forwarded horsey e-mail, and I just had to share it with you! You never know how much your horse can get in trouble ;)

"The young filly needed to be freed from the tree after curiosity got the better of it and it wedged its head between separate sections of the tree. The horse, called Gracie, was unable to free itself and could have been in danger were it not for a passer-by who was able to come to the rescue after he heard the horse whinnying. Jason Harschbarger, a neighbor in the town of Pullman, West Virginia, USA, arrived at the scene which resembled the image of Winnie the Pooh getting stuck in the honey tree. Mr. Harschbarger collected his tools and was able to carefully set the horse free by using a chainsaw to slowly cut the wood around its neck. However, before he did so, he was able to take a few photographs.

Fortunately for Gracie, she was able to escape her ordeal with only a few minor injuries and, according to Mr. Harschbarger, is on the road to recovery. Following his rescue operation, Mr. Harschbarger told a local television station: 'She has a few cuts on her face and ear. Last I heard her jaw was a little dislocated but I think it is healing up and she can eat on her own again.' It remains unclear why Gracie put her head into the gap.

Pictures!

2008-10-10T10:38:00.006-05:00

Hey! I got trigger happy sometime last week or the week before (can't remember), and I've been meaning to post some, so here they are:

Valley yawning

I caught Ranger eating Valley's food :P

Amy was really excited to see me. LOL!

Ranger yawning in his doggie house

Valley yawning again. She looks really funny here.

I love this picture. She looks so cute!

I like this picture. Her tails not swishing she's staning straight, ears perked up. :)

Dark and dappled behind :P

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!! I just wish it wasn't so blurry

I think this is a good pic of Chloe. Did you realize that almost every picture I have of Chloe, she is grazing? Lol

I like the sun and shadows on the ground. I like it. It's really coolio.

Isn't this so pretty!!!!!! The blue sky makes it all teh better :)

I like Valley's dark muzzle in this picture. And in all pictures... lol

I like how the sun is shinging on Valley in this one

What Disipline do you ride?

2008-09-14T17:26:00.008-05:00

English
4 (57%)

Western
5 (71%)

Hunter-jumper
3 (42%)

Barrels
5 (71%)

Gaming
1 (14%)

Eventing
0 (0%)

Saddleseat
0 (0%)

Dressage
2 (28%)

Other
4 (57%)

I voted Western and Barrels. And whatdya know? They got the most votes!!

FYI, I did two posts below this one that I JUST posted, so PLEASE scroll down and read them, and leave comments. Thanx!

More Lunging with saddle

2008-09-14T16:01:00.003-05:00

Howdy again.

Before I say anything else, FYI there is a post I just posted about yesterday below this post. So PLEASE read that BEFORE you read this post if you haven't yet. And please leave a comment on one of these posts. :) Thanx!!

When I got home from church today, I ate lunch, then I went out to feed the horses. I was going to work with Valley again, so I got all my stuff together and went outside. I fed them horses of mine, and while Valley was eating, I put a saddle pad on her, and attempted to put the western saddle on her, but it wasn't working for some reason, can't remember, so I put the English Saddle on her. I took her down to where she normally grazes, flexed her, and started lunging her to the left.

I made Valley start with a walk just so she could get used to the saddle. Then I made her trot. She did pretty well the more I did. Then I stopped her, flexed her on her right side, then sent her off to the right. That is her, and my worst side to do ANYTHING with her.

First I couldn't get her to walk, then when I get her to trot, every time she got to the same spot every time in the circle, she'd slow down, or jump, or pull, or buck, or all at the same time. She kicked out basically every time she got to that spot. But I think it was because there was a tree almost in her way, so I moved over, and she didn't kick anymore, but still did the rest. I FINALLY got her to go one and a half circles fairly well.

When Valley finally did it fairly good, I let her stop and eat some grass. She was sweaty, and happy for a break. I had planned on lunging and turn Valley in different directions, but we had worked a while on lunging her to the right, I've decided to do it tomorrow instead.

I put my helmet on, and lowered the stirrups on the saddle. I put my foot in the stirrup, and put pressure to get on, and the saddle slipped to the side I was getting on. It was pretty loose. The girth wasn't very loose, but I couldn't tighten it anymore, and I couldn't get on without the saddle slipping, or someone to hold the saddle straight for me, but I didn't have anyone right then, so I decided to just take the saddle off and put her away.

I took Valley back up to the shed, and tied her up. Then I took the saddle and pad off, and put them away. I brushed Valley where the saddle had been, untied her, and took her to the water hose. I turned on the water, and started to spray her Valley off. She did pretty good, but moved around some, especially when the water was on her hind legs.

When I was done spraying Valley off, I turned off the water, and walked Valley in a few big circles to cool her down. I should have done that before I sprayed her off, but I didn't think about it. Anyhow, I put her back into the pasture, and she cantered off I think. Well, maybe she didn't. Honestly, I don't remember. I just had to say something. I couldn't leave the sentence saying 'Anyways, I put her back into the pasture'. See? That would have sounded bad.

Anywho, I'll type later!
Sarah

Lungeing with saddle

2008-09-14T15:47:00.000-05:00

Howdy ya'll!!

Guess what? YESTERDAY I SAT ON VALLEY WHEN SHE HAD THE ENGLISH SADDLE ON HER!!

Lemme start from the beggining:

So I was sitting inside, when I had the sudden urge to canter across the pasture on Valley. I thought to myself, the only way I can do that anytime soon, is to go work with Valley so I can get her trained. So, I grabbed my helmet, handy stick and string, and my Clinton Anderson leadrope and headed outside. I decided to go ahead and feed both horses since I was going to have Valley out anyway, and I didn't want Chloe standing inside the pasture doing nothing. So I grabbed Valley's other leadrope and halter, and headed towards the shed where I feed Chloe and Valley.

After I fed them, I left Valley tied up, but shortened her leadrope. I got a saddle pad and put it on her. Then got the English saddle, and put it on Valley. After I tightned the girth as much as I could, I untied her, and took her down where she usually grazes.

My dad was there watching, and I started to lunge here, and she was doing small bucks. They wern't exactly bucks but close to it. I wanted to get her 'bucking' on camera, so my dad went to get the video camera. It wasn't charged, so we had to wait till it charged some.

When the camera was done charging, my mom came down with it. She filmed, my dad watched, and I lunged. : ) Valley 'bucked' here and there. I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing. I wish I had a round pen, so I could put here in there and let her buck, instead of my attempting to lunge her while she was bucking.

After a bit, I stopped lungeing Valley, and called my dad over. He held Valley close by the leadrope, and I lowered the stirrups. And then I put my left foot in the stirrup, and I..

*drum roll please* thank you

..mounted!! That was the first time I'd ever been on Valley while she had been wearing saddle. My dad s..l..o..w..l..y.. led Valley a few steps. I felt like I was a little kid riding a pony for her first time. It kind of was actually. Valley's a horse, but pony sized, I had someone leading me SLOWLY, and it was my first time for being on Valley with a saddle! Lol. So kind of the same. Not really. Nah.

Anywhoo...

I then told dad to hand me the leadrope and step away from Valley and I. I took the leadrope and flexed Valley on both sides, then I practiced turns with her. She did great! It felt really weird for me to be sitting on her while she's walking with a saddle. Before when I've sat on her bareback, she would walk around to graze, but it felt different with the saddle. She did great on her turns, and I was HAPPY! I'm glad mom got that on film. :)

Turning

2008-09-09T19:21:00.003-05:00

After I fed the horses today, I took Valley down to graze, and hopped on her back. Valley was getting too close to a tree, so I pulled the leadrope out to the left to get her to turn, and used my left leg, to push/tap her left side to get her to turn, and she did! I was like so happy!!

I did it a couple, more times, then went inside to get my helmet incase she decided to buck, and I didn't want to take the chance of falling off and hitting my head on something.

I asked my mom if she could come watch me do it once, so she did. I did it once for her, then she went back inside.

I did the turning thing with Valley twice more (I think), once on each side, then when I tried the third time, and she got mad. She started bucking (not really hard or anything, just lightly). I figured she would before she actually did it, and I jumped off, and immedately made her back up a few feet. When I let her stop, she licked her lips (sign that she's thinking about what she did), then I got back on her, did the turn one more time (so she wouldn't think she gets me off her back by bucking), then put her back in the pasture.

Hopefully I'll be motivated to work with her tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the day after that, and the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that and the d-- ok. I think you got it. Oh, you don't? OK well then, and the day after that, and the day after that, and so on...

Do you feed your horse grain in the Summer?

2008-08-30T14:00:00.003-05:00

Of course
5 (55%)

yes, but not as much as any other time of the year
2 (22%)

I don't have a horse, but if I did she/he would be just grass or hay fed 2 (22%)

I don't have a horse, but if I did, I would, but not as much as any other time of the year
0 (0%)

no, just grass or hay fed
0 (0%)

I don't have a horse, but if I did, I would

0 (0%)

I chose 'yes, but not as much as any other time of the year'. Why? Because they don't live in a stall, but out in the pasture all day and all night, and in the Summer, there is lot's of grass, so they can eat more grass in the Summer than they can any other time. They don't need as much grain, so I feed them a little less. Soon though, I need to start giving them a little more, then a little more, so by the time all the grass and trees 'die' they will be back to their regular amount of food. :)

Pictures

2008-08-28T19:52:00.004-05:00

Hey!
A few nights ago, and yesterday, I took a whole bunch of pictures of the horses. So below is a slidshow I made of some of the pictures. It's like 4 minutes long though!! Sorry about that! Don't forget to pause my other slideshow at the top of my blog before you play this one. They both have music. ;)

Create a Free Slideshow

Do You Board Your Horse?

2008-08-01T20:48:00.002-05:00

Yes
1 (9%)

I used to
3 (27%)

No, but I need/want to
0 (0%)

Nope, she/he's at my house
3 (27%)

Does my friend/neighbor/relitives house count?
0 (0%)

I don't have a horse, but If I did I'd board him/her
0 (0%)

I don't have a horse, but if I did I wouldn't board him/her
4 (36%)

Updated pictures!!

2008-08-01T11:26:00.009-05:00

Well, if you read my other blog, you know that my camera got fixed! When I went to feed the horses yesterday, I got a little trigger happy... LOL. I took 69 pictures and several videos!! I did a slideshow, but I can't put it in the post, so I put it right under this post. FYI it starts automaticaly, and it plays music. :)

Runaway horses episode 2

2008-07-27T12:53:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I'm sitting in the living room, and someone comes knocking on the door saying, "Do you have two horses loose?". Mom's like, "I don't think so. Sarah? Did you forget to put the horses up?". I'm like, "OMG!! I forgot!" I jumped up to get halters and leadropes. We were just about to leave, and Bailey (dog I'm pet-sitting) hit herfoot on a mini trampoline that Adam and his friend brought in the house. She screamed and screamed. Mom and I thought she broke her foot, and we didn't know what to do. But then she calmed down, and was fun after a few minutes, so mom and I left (on foot). We walked on the loop we live on for a little bit, and we didn't see the horses, so mom went back to the house to get the van, but I kept walking.

I walked. And walked. I had walked kind of but not really far. About 1 1/2 - 2 miles. I thought I saw a deer in the woods, so I stopped. A couple of minutes later, I saw a doe walk across the road about a hundred feet away I guess. Anyways, I walked about one or two minutes farther, and then I saw mom in the van coming down the road towards me. So I got in, and Adam and his friend (James) were in there as well as mom.

I had a pet-sitting job of feeding some horses on that road, so we stopped by their house and I fed the horses real quick. We went back to the otherside of the loop, and we saw Zoe's brother Nivek running down the road towards us. He said Valley and Chloe were in their meadow (which is right next to our pasture) and they were going to let them back into our pasture through a gate (actually it's a fence made into a gate). So mom drove Adam, James, and I over to my grandparents house (cause the part of the pasture that is right next to Nivek's family's meadow is at my grandparent's house. see, our pasture's kind of big. Several acres). Me, Adam, and James got out of the van, and went into the pasture, and mom went home.

Nivek came down there to the meadow after a few mintues, and he got his dad to come over and open the gate/fence. Valley was eating all the delicious looking grass, and Chloe was enjoying the shade (not grazing). Nivek's and Zoe's dad said that we could just keep the horses in there, and when they want to, they can just go back into our pasture, and he'll close the gate/fence later.

Well, that was my adventure for the day!

Can Grown Lipizzaner's Be Black?

2008-07-19T17:34:00.005-05:00

Adult Black Lipizzaner

Nope! Only the babies are black, and they grow up to be white! 66%
BLAAAH! WRONG!

I don't think so.. 11%
Oops, you're wrong!

What kind of question is this? Why wouldn't they be?
0%
Wrong AGAIN!

Yes, but it's rare 22%
Correct!!

"Born dark, black-brown, brown or mouse-grey, Lipizzans turn white somewhere between the ages of 6 and 10. As mentioned above, only in rare cases does the horse stay the original dark color."
From: http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/lipizzan/index.htm

"Foals are usually dark or black-brown when born. They go through several different color changes before finally achieving their adult color between the ages of four and ten. Most often, the color is light-gray or white. However, there are also duns and bays. They are simply not as common and it is a rarity to have an adult Lipizzaner be totally black-brown or black."
From: http://ezinearticles.com/?Horses---The-Lipizzaners&id=170022

-Sarah

P.S. BTW I have two other posts I did today. Check them out below this post ;)

11 Steps to Bath Your Horse After a Ride (got info of web)

2008-07-19T17:15:00.008-05:00

1. Untack your horse and find a place to bathe him.
Said place must have a hose and a place to tie your horse. Then, tie him up.

2. Locate a sweat scraper, a sponge (optional), and a bottle of shampoo.
It doesn't have to be horse shampoo - in fact, Suave Naturals works great

3. Turn the hose on very low.
So you don't spook your horse with a sudden blast of water.

4. Let your horse get a good look at the hose
so he has an idea of what that thing is that's making him all wet.

5. Gently trickle water down the horse's sides, neck, and legs.

6. Lift up the horse's tail and wash down there (just to get it over with)

7. Squirt some shampoo on your hand and gently rub it onto the horses side and neck. Make sure you really rub it in.

Right or left - start with whichever side you want.

8. Rinse the horse very well, then scrape the excess water off with the sweat scraper.
Repeat this step until you no longer see any white soap suds when you use the sweat scraper.

9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 with the other side and the legs

10. Lead the horse around for a few minutes until he is dry

11. Put him back in his stall or paddock

Tips:
1. If your horse doesn't like water, put a blindfold over his eyes or try to let him drink from the slow flowing hose.
2. Give your horse a massage while you rub the shampoo in, it will really relax him.
3. Keep rinsing until you don't see the lathery mixture of shapoo and sweat.
4. You may want to use a curry comb to smooth out your horse's coat afterwards.

Warnings:
1. Don't let him get his legs wrapped in the hose!
2. Some horses are scared of, or don't like water. You may need a blindfold and/or extra handlers.
3. You shouldn't do this every time you ride - it will damage your horse's skin. Sometimes just a quick rinse is enough
4. Don't spray the horse's face with the water!

Things You'll Need:
1. Horse
2. You
3. Halter
4. Lead rope
5. Mild shampoo
6. Sponge (optional)
7. Blindfold (if needed)
8. Sweat scraper
9. Hose
10. Towel to dry his legs especially around tendons

Got information from:
http://www.wikihow.com/Give-Your-Horse-a-Quick-Bath

Bathing horses, and taking care of sores

2008-07-19T11:34:00.023-05:00

Chloe has had a sore about the size of a nickel on her muzzle for a while now. But I never really gave it a good look, until about a week ago. It's pretty bad! So my mom called the vet (not our normal one, cause my mom couldn't get a hold of him), and the vet said it's probably a Summer sore. I would have taken a picture of the sore, but my camera is getting fixed right now. I tried to find a picture of a summer sore on the Internet, but couldn't find one. Oh well. It might have grossed you out anyways.

So the vet said that I should put fly spray around the sore to keep flies out of it, and put my 'Corona Ointment' on it. The vet also said to give Chloe ivermectin de-worming medicine, then give it to her again four days later, and call her back. I'll probably have to give it to Chloe some more. And if the sore is a Summer sore, then it should heal.

Luckily we had that kind of de-worming medicene. I gaver her that (four days ago). I'll have to do it again today after I feed the horses. I also de-wormed Valley the same day I de-wormed Chloe FYI.

The day after that (I think Tuesday) I gave both horses baths!! First time I've bathed Valley, and the 1st time 3 years I've given Chloe a bath. LOL. I gave Valley a bath first. She did good at first, but she got tired of the bath, and moved around some. I think she just didn't like being tied up for so long. But afterwards she was soo pretty! Her mane was SHINING. She was soo clean! Most of her (especially her neck) was sooo white and pretty! but her legs (especially one of them. Can't remember which one) are pretty dark! As soon as I get my camera fixed, I'll take a pic. Well, I guess I'll have to give her another bath when my camera gets fixed so you can see how pretty she is/was..

Oh, after I gave her a bath, I put some 'Mane n Tail' hoof moisturizer stuff on her front hooves -- all over them. It's also good for humans nails, but it feels weird, so I'm only using it on horses. I would have put them on her back feet too, but if I try to pick them up, she'll kick me. So I need some help on that one.

Also when I was trying to clean her hindquarters, she kept kicking at me. Once when I was really close to her back feet, she lifted her foot up as a kicking warning. I'm so glad she didn't actually kick at me, I would've gotten hit. But it made me jump when she picked up her hoof, so I was really careful after that.

Chloe.. was -- surprisingly -- a lot harder to give a bath than Valley was!! I tried tying her up, but she pulled back when I turned on the water hose. Luckily she didn't break the lead rope like she's done before; instead it just came untied. So I was trying to hold her and give her a bath, but she moved around too much, so I had to get my mom to help me. So my mom held her, and did the water hose, while I scrubbed soap into her. Afterwards her mane was soo pretty! I combed most of it, but she walked away before I could finish the last part. The rest of her didn't look much different though.. lol.

After I gave her a bath, I put some fly spray on a cotton ball, and put it around her sore (actually mom did all this part). Then mom put the ointment on a cotton ball, and put it all over Chloe's sore. Then mom fly sprayed her. I also fly sprayed Valley before I let her go (after her bath I mean).

Oh, get this. As soon as I put Valley in the pasture, she laid down to roll in the dust right inside the pasture! I was like, "Valley! I just gave you a bath!!" I started to go in the pasture, but she got up before I could. She had a little dirt on one side of her. *rolls eyes*

-Sarah

p.s. When I was giving Valley a bath, she stepped on my toe, and it bruised it! I couldn't see a bruise, but I sure could feel it!

Layout

2008-07-09T11:00:00.004-05:00

Ok. I know this blog is boring. SOOO I'm going to give it a new look with an awesome horse template!! But I can't decide out of three templates. What do you think?
Options:

White horse

Wild Beauty

Horses on snow

Vote which one you want on my poll, under this post. :)
Thanx!!
-Sarah

Wolf Blog

2008-07-04T22:48:00.002-05:00

OK. I know this has NOTHING to do with Valley, or horses, but just to let you people know if you haven't read on my life blog; that I made a Wolf Blog. I think it's coolio!!

So... check it out!!!

http://wildwolfworld.blogspot

Check it out, and tell me what you think!

-Sarah

Valley the actress

2008-07-03T21:52:00.003-05:00

Hey!
Just a quick post.

You've probably already read on my other blog that Valley was in Luke and Zack's movie! She is such a good actress!! Yesterday, Luke sat on her, and I was holding the lead rope. She had her ears pointing towards Luke (unsure way, not mad), and she moved around a bit.

Today, Zack got on and off her (roughly!!) a lot, and she did great! She was tied to a tree, and I was behind the tree (unseen by the camera) holding Valley's lead rope. She didn't move really, and she didn't seem to care a whole lot. Zack didn't stay on long, he just jumped up (real rough like), and sat there for a few seconds, then jump off.

It was funny (and coolio!) because, like, Zack would get on her, and she'd be unsure about it, and ready to jump if she needed to, but as soon as Zack got on, I got on, and she didn't care at ALL. She completely relaxed. It was funny!

-Sarah

P.S. I got to post about another thing that happened today, but I got to go to bed, so I'll post about that later.

Trailer Loading (again)

2008-06-30T14:12:00.003-05:00

Today, after I fed the Horses, I desensitized Valley to the lead rope. Then I took her over to the trailer, and walked inside. We stayed there for a bit, just getting her used to the trailer some more.

I took her away from the trailer, and sent her off to the left. She did so much better today! Even with Ranger running up behind her (he didn't get much of a chance to bark at her, cause I took the handy stick with the string on the end, and whacked the ground next to him, and he ran off. LOL).

She went around 2-3 times pretty well, then I let her stop and come to me. Then I sent her off in the same direction, and when she went for about one circle, I stepped in front of her head, slid my hand down the lead rope, and pulled it in the other direction. She did well on that side too, so after a few circles, I stopped her, and took her back to the trailer to rest.

She didn't make any attempt to get in, so I got a small handful of her food, and took it into the trailer like yesterday. She stretched as far as she could, but wouldn't make any attempt to get IN the trailer. But after a while she finally lifted a hoof, and set it on the trailer for about 1 second at the most (Lol). So I immediately gave her the food.

I was done working with her, so I took her halter and lead rope off, and she took of down to where Chloe was near the fence grazing. I put the handy stick and string, the halter, and the lead rope away, then went down to put the horses up. I put Chloe in first (guiding her by her mane), then, as soon as I put the lead rope around Valley's neck, she IMMEDIATELY bit me on my arm! I yelled (not too loud!!), "Valley NO!" She didn't have a halter on, but just a lead rope around her neck, and I wiggled it making her back up. By wiggling it, the clip hit my hand, and boy did that hurt twice as much as her bite did!!

-Sarah

Trailer Loading

2008-06-29T17:22:00.003-05:00

After we took Bully to the butcher, we brought the trailer back here (it's not our trailer, but Zoe's dad's trailer) so that I can get Valley used to trailers. So today, for the first time I started working with her on it. My dad helped me at first to refresh my mind, cause I couldn't remember how (I'm a door knob). He got her by the trailer to get used to it (she wasn't scared or anything, just so she'd know it won't hurt her), then he lunged her away from the trailer.

I took over in the middle of dad lungeing. I lunged her for a little bit longer, then brought her over to the trailer to rest. I walked to the back of the trailer, turned, and looked at her and gently pulling on the leadrope. After a few minutes, she lifted one leg and put it on the trailer for about 2-3 seconds, then put it back down. I was so happy! I ran over to her and petted her face. After a few more mintues, I took her away from the trailer and lunged her some more.

Valley does NOT like being lunged. When I try to turn her, this time she like ran even faster instead of turning, and she pulls back some, but she's not as bad as she used to be! She behaves MOSTLY now. After I lunged her, I took her back to the trailer to rest. She wouldn't come up as close as she had before.

So I got a handful of food, and went into the trailer, and held my arm out where it was JUST out of Valley's reach. It was so funny! She had her knees pressed up against the trailer basically on her toes stretching her neck out as far as it could go, and she played with my hand with her lip trying to get the food. Twice she lifted up one of her front feet, but put it back down. The second time she lifted her foot, I gave her the food and unclipped her leadrope so she could go eat grass. But then I remembered that I left the pasture gate open so she could go back in the pasture when she was done grazing. And I hadn't taken her halter off yet, and she went straight into the pasture and ran up to the barn. So I had to walk through the pasture to her.

Befor I got to her, she came running up to me. I un-tied her halter and she immeadietly ran off. LOL. She wanted that halter off, and she knew that I was going to take it off for her!!

Oh, I forgot to say, that before I did the lungeing and trailer stuff, I desensitized her to the handy stick and string. She did pretty well.
Just a little not there.

TTYL!

-Sarah

Poll

2008-06-24T22:31:00.005-05:00

Carolina Marsh Tacky

Akhal-Teke

The answer and results to my poll:

Which two of these breeds are rare?

(a). Arabian - 0 - 0%
(b). Marsh Tacky - 3 - 75%
(c). Paint - 0 - 0%
(d). Spotted Saddle Horse - 1 - 25%
(e). Akhal-teke - 2 - 50%
(f). Mule - 0 - 0%
(g). Donkey - 0 - 0%

The answer is......

*drum roll please*

The Marsh Tacky, and the Akhal-teke!! Wahoo! Good job everybody!! Oh, and the Spotted Saddle Horse is just a gaited Paint horse *wink*. And I MIGHT get one!!

-Sarah

Finally working/kicked/Bully

2008-06-24T21:40:00.002-05:00

Hey Guys!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, I just haven't been working with Valley, so I haven't had anything to post about. But today I finally worked with her!

I started with 'The Hula Hoop'. I take my handy stick and draw an imaginary circle around me, the radius of the handy stick when I stretch it out with my arm. If any part of her comes in the 'hula hoop', I gently tap that part of her with the handy stick in a rhythmic way (1,2,3,4), if she doesn't move, tap a little harder, counting 1,2,3,4, if she still doesn't move, tap even harder, ect.. until she moves, and gives me two eyes. She did pretty good with that, so I didn't do that for long.

Then I moved on to desensitizing to the lead rope. Valley did good on that, like she usually does. But once or twice she was running into me, so I pushed on her shoulder with my knee to get her to move, which she hates when I do that. She decided to do something about it. So, she kicked me. Her back left hoof hit me in the upper leg, and then hit my hip. But it didn't really hurt. I still got dirt on my leg where she kicked me. Lol.

Dad decided to take her from there. He lunged her, and backed her up for a bit, then gave her back to me. I walked her around in a few circles, and then lunged her for a few minutes, then finished desensitizing to the lead rope, and desensitized her to the handy stick and string.

I fed her (I fed Chloe before I started working with Valley), and let her and Chloe graze as usual. My dad and grandpa were in the pasture getting Bully (our bulls name) in our neighbors trailer, cause tomorrow he goes to the butcher. :( I'm attached to him, and I don't want him to go!! I'm the only one that thinks he's semi-nice. Everybody else thinks he's mean. :( He's only meanish when he wants food that someone has.

Anyways, well, I guess that's all, so... bye!

-Sarah

Bad dream..

2008-05-26T19:51:00.002-05:00

About a week ago I had a horrible dream............ that VALLEY DIED!! It was...

HORRIBLE!!!!!!!

Now I know what I'd feel like if Valley died. I felt as if my mom or dad died. I cried so much in that dream. It was so sad. I can't remember how she died. When I woke up, I rememberd what I dreamed, jumped outta bed and looked out the window to see if I could see her. But then I remembered it was a dream, and when I went to feed her and Chloe that day, I was so happy to see her. LOL.

Anybody else had a dream like that before?

-Sarah

Better Attitude

2008-05-13T21:51:00.002-05:00

Hey ya'll!! You'll never guess what this post is about!!
Answer: VALLEY!! DUH! Anywhoo....

Today when I was taken Valley down to graze after I fed her, she pushed against me like she usually does. So I did what I usually do, and I turned her in several circles while pushing her farther away from me. When I was doing that, (she almost always does this) she tried to bite me.
So...I lunged her. She HATES lunging. And, I don't like lunging her very much either with a regular leadrope, because their too short, and sometimes Valley kicks out at me (DANGEROUS!!!). But I kept my distance. She did almost perfect when I lunged her to the left. When she did a basically perfect circle or two, I turned her in the other direction, which she did not enjoy. She'd do pretty well until one spot, she'd slow down or pull back. So when she went around again, and came to that spot, I'd tell her to trot, which actually I think made her want to stop more. But finally I got her to go around in a good complete circle. So I signaled her to stop and come to me. Then I let her eat some more grass, and put her up.

-Sarah

♣Bad♣ attitude

2008-05-08T19:01:00.003-05:00

Howdy ya'll!
Yesterday, Valley had a little attitude. She kept pulling on the lead rope, pushing against me, and trying to walk ahead of me. I flexed her a whole bunch of times, and made her go in circles before I let her eat her food. Her food was the reward.
Then, after she finished eating, I was brushing Chloe, and Valley was impatient. She was pawing the ground and walking back and forth. When Chloe went to eat grass, I put both horses bowls away, shortened Valleys lead rope that wast tied to a pole, and sat down. I waited there until she stopped moving around, and stood still. At first she walked back and forth as much as she could, and pawed the ground. But finally she calmed down, and stood still.
So I untied her and took her down to graze. She pulled on the lead rope, and pushed into me, and tried to get ahead of me basically the whole way down. I had to make her do quite a few circles. Then when she was grazing she kicked out at either a fly, or to hit me. If she was trying to hit me....she succeeded! It didn't hurt THAT bad, but I was tired of her attitude, and she didn't deserve to graze, so I put her back in the pasture, and it was hard, cause she gave me an innocent face with her ears pircked up, and head over fence. But, I didn't bring her back out that day.

-Sarah

Runaway Horses!

2008-04-29T19:55:00.005-05:00

Hey ya'll!
I'm so naughty! OK, so I was letting the Horses graze as usual after they ate. (Valley had just a halter on, and Chloe nothing) Well, I was reading on the hammock, and the Horses started to graze on the other side of the house. I kinda forgot about them, and when I found a stopping place in my book, I got up, grabbed Valley's lead rope and went around the house to catch the Horses. Mom had just got home from taking Adam to a friends house, and I realized the Horses WEREN'T in the front yard. One of our neighbors drove up in our drive way, and said they were on the other road (I can't put the name on here, otherwise you'd know where I lived!)! So, we walked on the side of a rode, and saw them in a persons yard. When they saw us, they took off running farther into the persons yard.
So, we walked over there, and mom went around one side of the pond, and I went around the other side. Mom grabbed Valley's halter (she had to hold Amy one of our dogs too), and I ran over, gave mom the lead rope to put around Chloe's neck, and I took hold of Valley's halter, and started to walk to the road.
The people who live there, came out to see them. They said Chloe was the shaggiest horse they'd ever seen (cause she's got cushings disease), and they thought Valley was so cute. Especially one of the dudes. He REALLY liked Valley. He even asked if I was going to sell her! Of course I said no, lol. He thought Valley was really pretty/cute. The first thing he said was, "[Man] she's a purty one (I guess
that's what he said, I can't remember). Is she that one's *points to Chloe* foal?".
Anywhoo...well, we walked them along side of the road to get home. I was leading Valley by her halter for the first time on the road, and mom was leading Chloe with a rope around Chloe's neck, and holding Amy. Then we put them away, and that was our adventure for the day!!

-Sarah

Horse Toy

2008-04-20T13:13:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I bought Valley a horse toy! I took it to the pasture, and showed it to her. She sniffed it, and kept on grazing (as far as I can remember). Every time I'd softly roll it to her to see if she'd play with it, she'd freak out, and gallop around the pasture! Bully pushed it around some with his nose, but then ignored it. When I rolled it to him, he got scared too. I got Valley to bite the handle of it some, she even held it up in her mouth for a few seconds! When I go feed them today, I'll see if she'll play with it some more.

Here's the Horse toy

TTYL

-Sarah

2008-04-20T13:08:00.001-05:00

This ain't s'posed ta sound mean or anythin', but I would like for everyone who reads this blog to please comment, cause I wanna know who everyone is. And I really don't want anymore people (besides the ones that already look at this blog) to comment on this blog (and neither does my mom) or I'm going to have to make it a private blog.
This is just for my safety and comfort

Thanx,
Sarah

Valley running into fences AGAIN/Domino gaining trust

2008-04-15T23:23:00.006-05:00

OK, I have a LOT of stuff to write about, cause I had written almost a whole LOOONG post, but then the electricity went out, and the blogger thing didn't save it, and I lost ALL of it!! So, let me start over:

About 1 or 2 weeks ago, when I had just put Valley back in the pasture, I decided to take Chloe around the house to eat some better grass. At first I wasn't sure how Valley would feel with Chloe not in sight and out of the pasture. But when I looked at her, she was walking away from the gate, so I thought she would be fine. So I took Chloe around to the other side of the house.
Then I saw Valley galloping around the pasture, and I was afraid she would run into the fence like she had once or twice before. So I went over there, and she was starting to sweat, and was breathing really heavily. So I grabbed her halter and leadrope (which wasn't too far away) so I could walk her around to cool her off. When I was petting her, she rubbed her muzzle on me. I looked on my arm, and there was blood! I was like, "Not AGAIN!". So I took her out, and tied her to a tree, while I ran inside the house and grabbed some ointment, and her worm medicene which I was behind on giving her.
I swear, I will never put ointment on a horses muzzle again. At least not Valley's. I bet it took over an HOUR to put it on her nose. She had one tiny scratch on her muzzle, and one on her chest. Same places as last time she ran into the fence. I got a little bit of the stuff on her muzzle, but she kept messing it up, and the more I tried to put it on, the more she resisted. I was getting frustrated, so I just said I was finished putting the stuff on, but now I needed to give her worm medicene, but of course she wasn't going to take it, cause it tasted nasty, and it had to be near her mouth, which she was tired of being touched.
I walked over to the porch, and sat down, calming myself down. Then, I slowly got her used to having the worm medicene around her. After quite a few tries, I FINALLY got it down her.
Somewhere in the middle of that, I took Valley to the back of the house, and walked her around some. It was kinda a hot day, so if I remember correctly, I think I hosed some of her down. I can't remember though... Anywhoo.... So after I did all that, I let her graze some, then put her back into the pasture. I thought for sure she would canter away, getting all hot and sweaty again, but to my surprise, she just slooowly walked away.

OK, now about another thing:

When I went to feed Mr. Lynn's Horses a week or two ago, I went into Domino's stall with a curry comb to comb him. Lately he hasn't been as shy as he used to be, which makes me happy. Luckily, he was wearing his halter, so I got his leadrope, and clipped it to his halter, so it would be easier to curry comb him without him turning his rear to me, or him walking away. So after I curry combed him, and petted him, I walked over to his stall door, and let myself out. To my amazment, and happiness, he quickly followed me to the door of his stall!! I petted him some more, and he didn't move away or anything!! And a few days ago, when Luke came with me, Luke stuck his hand through the bars on the top part of the stall to pet Domino, and usually Domino would freak out, and back up, but instead he let Luke pet hiim on the nose!! He's gaining trust! I'm happy! I'm REALLY wanting to work with Domino. It sounds so fun! I REALLY REALLY wanna!

Well, ttyl!

-Sarah the happy Horse girl!

SORRY!

2008-03-25T18:41:00.002-05:00

Hey Guys,

OK, the glittery thing that is at my title, I'M SORRY THAT IT'S THERE! I tried to remove the image, so I could change it, but it's not working. And it's VERY frustrating. I don't know WHY it's now working, it just isn't. I'll keep trying.
This is just to let you know, I didn't mean for that to look so bad!

-Sarah

Saddlin' Up With The Western Saddle!!

2008-03-18T21:45:00.006-05:00

Howdy!

Me so happy!! Yesterday, when I was letting Valley graze as usual, I went back up to the shed to get the English saddle to put on Valley. But then I decided to try the Western saddle instead, cause she's only had the English saddle on before (and only twice too). So I grabbed a blanket, and picked up the (heavy) Western saddle and headed down to where Valley and Chloe were grazing.

I laid the blanket on Valley's back, and then put the saddle on her back. As far as I can remember, she didn't react to it at all. So I straightened the saddle and girth. I pulled the girth underneath her and started to tighten it some. But she kept moving looking for better grass, which made it difficult to put on the girth. But eventually I finally got the girth on, and tightened to almost where I would have it if I was going to ride her. I would have tightened it even more, but the girth was too big for her. She's so small! I guess I might have to buy her a girth that will fit her. I don't know.

I led her around with the saddle on her. I meant to lunge her some, but I guess i forgot. Can't remember. I took some pictures which appear below:

Valley grazing with Western Saddle on.

Valley lookin' at me (and Chloe grazing in background between Valley's ears, lol)

Valley grazing by lake with Western Saddle on.

Different angle of Valley grazin' with Western Saddle on.

Adam holding Valley. She looks so pretty with the Western Saddle on! :)

Bully and Valley grazing together.

Will post A.S.A.P. With more pictures! ;)

-Sarah

Thrusday, March 13th 2008

2008-03-13T20:14:00.002-05:00

Hey!

Well, I'm kind of frustrated with myself at the moment. I had started a post about "riding" Valley, and I just attmepted to finish it, but I forgot everything I did! *tear* Anyways. I guess I'll just write about today!

When I went to catch Valley and Chloe to eat, it was kinda late, so they were on the other side of the pasture. Valley walked right up to me, and I petted her. Chloe, didn't. She just stood there. So I just stood there with my hand out. Finally, she reached her nose out, and toched my hand. So I stepped over to her, petted her, and put her halter and leadrope on. After I put Valley's halter and leadrope on, I mounted Chloe (she started walking before I was all the way on >.<) and rode towards the house. She started cantering, and that was fun. Luckily I brought my helmet. Well, I think I did.... Yeah, I did. Lol. I can't remember anything these days! I'm getting old! I'm like.... 13! OK. Sorry. Back to what I was saying...
Chloe kinda needs to work on 'stopping'. Well, it might be only cause she wasn't wearing a bridle, just a halter and lead rope, but I don't' know. I finally got her to slow down before we hit tree branches, lol. Well, since Chloe had cantered across the pasture, I dismounted, and walked her in some circles. Valley followed almost the whole time.

On the way up to the shed, I worked on Valley's stopping. Cause when I "rode" her the other day, she didn't get what 'whoa' and 'pulling gently on the lead rope' meant. She does pretty good on stopping when I'm not sitting on her.

While Valley was eating, I groomed her as usual. As I've said before (I think I did anyways), I haven't been picking Valley's hind feet out yet. She is so good at having her front hooves picked up, and picked out. Well, today, I took Chloe's lead rope, and wrapped it around (only once of course) her right hind legs. I pulled a little bit on the rope, and clicked my tongue. Valley picked up her hoof, and sort of kind of kicked a LITTLE bit. But she quickly stopped, and held her foot still for a few seconds. I let her foot down (I wasn't holding it with my hands in case she kicked me, but with the rope) for a few seconds. Then I did the same thing again, and she did better. After I did her front left leg, I did the same thing I did to her right hind leg, to her left hind leg. She didn't do as good as the she did with the other hind leg, but she still did OK.

Then, I took her down to eat grass as normal. I sat on her as usual (with helmet on). She walked around a little bit with me on her, looking for better grass. She did great, since I wasn't directing her. Lol. I tried to get her to turn, so she wouldn't eat some grass I didn't know if was O.K. for her to eat or not. But she just kinda flexed instead. So I jumped off, and put her away. Before I put her away, I did sorta kind (I'm not sure how to do it, but I just did the best I knew how from reading the horse series 'Heartland'. Heartland is an AWESOME series!!!) T-touch. Which is sort of like a massage, that helps horses to relax. I gotta go to the library and check that book out about it. Anyways, she enjoyed it -- I think. Then I put her away. She tried to turn around and go back out, but I stopped her.

This afternoon, I caught Valley, took her to the shed, tied her up, and started to brush her. She was REALLY muddy, and her belly was wet. I brushed her with four different brushes (for the body), and a face brush. I picked out her front hooves, and combed her mane out which looked beautiful afterwards. She was kind of acting bad while being tied up, so I untied her to brush her. One of these days, I got to get her used to being tied up! Bad me!

Then I took her down to graze some, and I sat on her (with the helmet). After a few minutes, I took her over to the trampolines to get used to them (she's kind of scared of them). She didn't freak out or anything, so after she sniffed it, I put her away. She didn't canter or gallop away as usual. I guess cause I didn't do any 'work work' with her.

Well, it's past my bed time, so I'll post A.S.A.P!

Love,
Sarah

Yesterday

2008-03-06T23:39:00.002-06:00

Howdy!
OK, I can't remember if it was yesterday, or the day before this happened. :D Oh well. Anyways, yesterday, as usual, I was sittin on Valley while she grazed after she ate. I called Adam to come down for a second. I got him to lead me almost all the way to the gate, while I sat on Valley. Valley kept trying to stop to graze, and I had to keep reminding Adam that he wasn't supposed to let her graze, cause he kept forgetting *rolls eyes*. Anyways, it's muddy near the gate, so Adam didn't lead me all the way to the gate. When he gave me the leadrope back, (I was still sitting on Valley) I squezzed my legs, and attempted to get Valley to walk the rest of the way to the gate. She had no idea what I wanted. Instead, she turned in almost a full circle. I tried to get her to finish the circle. She did, but it took a little bit. So I just hopped off, and put her back.

-Sarah

Lunging - not so well

2008-03-01T15:42:00.007-06:00

Howdy!
Today, it was warm, so I grabbed my Clinton Anderson leadrope, Valley's Parreli halter, and headed towards the pasture. It didn't take too long to catch Valley. When I did, I lead her to the middle of the pasture, and I flexed her a few times, then I got on her when she stood still. I only stayed on for a minute or two. Then I hopped off, and decided to lunge her. Aaand... it didn't go so well. She kept jumping up, pulling back, and once, kicked at me really hard. It was sort of a buck, but she aimed her kick at my head, but luckily she was a few feet away, so it was only about 2 feet away from me. I would have continued, so Valley didn't think she was getting away with being bad, but I didn't have any gloves, and I was getting rope burns. So I took her up the the house, and I got my gloves.

I started to lunge Valley again. How did it go? HORRIBLE!! She was even worse than she was in the pasture. She kicked out at me several times, she pulled back everytime she was trotting near where the gate to the pasture is. Every time I made her change directions, she'd 'rear' up to turn, with her ears back. Then she started to go TOWARDS me, with her ears back, trotting, and NOT happy. So I grabbed her halter, and made her back up, and back up, and back up, and back up. She's not so good at backing up, but I let her stop. Then I took her up to the house, by the trampolines. I probably made a mistake by stopping her from lunging when she was being bad. But I made her back up, so maybe that helped some. But anyways... I held the leadrope, and go on the trampoline and started jumping. At first, Valley was a little nervous, but the she licked her lips (I think, I can't remember correctly), and rested her back hoof. So I stopped jumping, hopped off, and petted her. After that, I took her on a walk around to the drive way, and by the fence which is by the rode. I walked her along the fence, until we got almost to the gate that leads into the pasture. Then I took her through the woods, and back down by the lake.

I sat on Valley for a minute or so, then hopped off, left Valley grazing, and ran up to the shed. I grabbed a hoofpick, dandy brush (I think that's the right name...), and a mane and tail comb, and ran back down to Valley. First, I picked out Valley's fore feet, then brushed her over, and combed out half her mane (she was grazing, and I didn't want to lean over a whole bunch to comb it out).

I didn't want to end Valley's training with just brushing, so I decided to lunge her around for a few circles. When I did, she didn't do excellent, but she still did better than before. I was happy to end her 'training session' on a good note, so I put her back in the pasture. She stood there for a few seconds, then cantered around to the back of the barn. Then she galloped to the other side of the pasture, where Chloe was.
Well, that's all, so ttyl!

Love,
Sarah

VALLEY IS ACTUALLY 2 YEARS OLD!

2008-02-14T15:50:00.003-06:00

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! VALLEY IS TWO YEARS OLD!!!! TWO!!!!! So, she didn't have a b-day party like I wanted. I just stuck a carrot smothered in honey in Chloe and Valley's feed. And she got a little work out. She was kind of in a bad mood, so I lunged her. She did good!

Well, actually, that's all.

Love,
Sarah

Not much

2008-02-11T18:38:00.001-06:00

Well, I was trying to put a slideshow of pictures on here, and a few videos (not on the post, but on the blog itself) but I couldn't figure it out :( So, I'll just put the pix and video's on a post for now, so here are some:

Bully's muzzle

Valleys muzzle, lol

Valley and Chloe

Valley yawning

Last picture I ever took :D

Chloe

Valley chewing on a rope...

Valley yawning. It looks like shes laughing, lol

Valley biting Bully

Valley

Love,
Sarah

Friday, Febuary 8th

2008-02-08T16:49:00.000-06:00

Just as always, after Valley finished eating her food, I took her down by the lake to eat grass. Well, the other day, mom bought Chloe some more horse feed. So I got the empty bag, and took it to where Valley was eating grass, and with my right hand (I was on her left side, and my left hand was holding the leadrope) I started to rotate the bag (which made a LOT of noise :D). Valley kind of just put her head up, and was a little scared of it. She started to walk in circles, but when I made her look at me, she would mostly stop walking. After like a minute at the most, she stopped, and put her head down looking for grass (but she didn't find anything besides leaves and moss, because when she saw me bringing the feed bag [she didn't know it was empty:D] her direction she walked up to me, and I wasn't standing in a spot with grass...), so I stopped twirilng the feed bag, and petted her. Then I rubbed the bag all over Valley's back, and like before, it made a LOT of noise. But she hardly noticed it. At first she was a little uneasy about it, then she realized it wasn't going to hurt her, so she relaxed and looked for grass again. I was so happy how well she was doing, and so I rubbed the bag up and down her neck. She did better than she did with it on her back! So I moved on to her front legs. She did even BETTER! I was like, "WOW!" I thought for sure that she would freak, but she just stood there, and after a few seconds, she put her head down looking for grass (I think, I can't remember. I think she looked for grass every time, but not sure. Can't remember). So I moved on to her back
legs. She didn't do any different then when I rubbed the feed bag up and down and all around her front legs. So, as you could imagine, I was a happy girl. So, happily, I moved to her other side (it didn't really take long to do either side), and did the exact same thing as I did on the other side, and she was fine with it.
Before I put her away, I layed across her back both ways, and sat on her regular, with the leadrope like reins. I flexed her twice, hopped off, and put her back.
I was gonna tell you about an Equine Educational Seminar that I went to last night, but Luke needs the computer, and I got to go get ready for a thing at church, which I will write about later on my other blog.
TTYL

Love,
Sarah

Tuesday, Febuary 5th

2008-02-05T22:08:00.000-06:00

Howdy,
Not much to write about today, just something small.
As you can tell, I've been adding things to my blogs. For example, all those quotes. It may seem like a lot, and I'm sorry for that (and you can find my apology for that at the bottom of this blog). But if you would like to look at those quotes/poems and more (and other kinds of quotes/poems about something different than Horses) of them, the website I got them from was; http://www.quotegarden.com/horses.html (that's the horse quotes/poems. go to; www.quotegarden.com for different subjects of poems/quotes).
Anyways, now I'll write the little bit about Valley today.
Well, after Valley had finished eating, I took her down to eat grass, Chloe came down - I didn't tie her up, I haven't been lately. Right before I put Valley away, several electric trucks or whatever their called, pulled up next to the fence by the pasture and the road. Some men got out of the trucks, and started walking along the fenceline. I finally realized they were cutting the parts of the trees that were grown up around the telephone/electric wire things.
I put Valley back in the pasture, and she immeadieatly (sp? My spell check isn't working) walked (fastly) up to the fence where the men were working. Then the E men (electrical men :D) began to chainsaw the trees. Valley then turned around, and trotted back to the gate waiting for Chloe. so I rode Chloe over to the gate, hopped off, and released her back into the pasture.
Chloe and Valley grazed for a bit. Once, - I can't remember when - Valley went back up to the fence to figure out what the E men were doing. She looked like she were saying, "What in the world are you doing here!?" Lol. Then she went back to grazing with Chloe.
Strangly, Bully didn't come up to this side of the pasture. I was going to go look for him at the Meadow after feeding the horses, but I didn't want to since the E men were there, but I don't know why..... I should have :P.
Well, that's all I can think of for now, so I guess I'll update later. Oh, if you want to hear about something else not about animals that happened this afternoon, then check out My Life Blog: equinek9luvr.blogspot.com

Thanx,
Sarah

P.S. Ok, so that didn't turn out as short as I thought it would be, but whatever.... Check back here soon!

once again... Monday, Febuary 4th

2008-02-04T19:13:00.000-06:00

Like I said, I worked with Valley after I finished that last post. It wasn't for very long.
Valley was at the other side of the pasture (I call it the Meadow). So after I tied Ranger up, I went over there to catch Valley. I just sorta walked around, and she followed me, so after a few minutes, I put my Parelli halter and Clinton Anderson leadrope on her, and took her back to the otherside of the pasture, and to the gate. Chloe and Valley thought they were going to get fed again.
I took Valley out of a different gate, that was next to a rode (but of course a fence imbetween!). I stopped walking Valley, so she could get used to the sound of the cars going by. She was a little scared of them, but didn't go bizerk (sp?).
After a few minutes of that, I took her around the yard, and up to the side yard where the trampolines are. She didn't do so well there. She freaked out when I took her to one of the trampolines. I jumped up on it, and started to barely jump, Valley slowly came to it, and after a minute or so, she got mostly used to it.
Then I took her down to eat grass again, where I did the laying on her back again. I was going to desensitize her to the lead rope, but my head started hurting, and I didn't really fell like it anyways... so, well that's all.
TTYL

Love,
Sarah

Monday, Febuary 4th

2008-02-04T15:17:00.000-06:00

Heylo!
I'm probably the happiest girl on earth, (or well, not as much now, but I was earlier..) ya see, two days ago (Saturday), mom fed the horses with me. No, that's not the reason why I'm so happy, LOL.
But after Chloe and Valley finished eating, we took them by the lake, so they could eat grass. Well, I've been putting my hands on Valley's back, and jumping, so she'd get used to having pressure on her back. Well, Saturday, I was going to try to lay across her back. But it was kinda hard gettin up (I don't know why..), so, I threw the leadrope over Valley's back, and ran inside. I ran upstairs, and got my green half a foot (I really don't know how tall it is actually..) tall stool, and ran back out.
I put the stool next to Valley, and stepped up on it (after I had grabbed the lead rope of course).I jumped up a little, and lied across her back. Me was happy! Valley didn't notice. I found out it's easier to have control of her while I'm lieing on her back, if the leadrope is on the opposite side that I'm on. But whatever...
I did that several times, then me and mom put the horses away.
Yesterday, I did the same thing, but I honestly can't remember anything else. Oh yeah, each time I've lied across her (sideways incase your wondering..),I've flexed her. It's a little more difficult (sry, the spell check isn't workin, and I don't know if I spelt that right or not) than doing it on the ground, of course, you probably figured.
Today, after Valley finished eating, I took her down to eat grass, as I usually do. And as the past two days, I lied across her. She don't seem to mind. At first I figured it's probably because she's eating grass, but I did it several times picking her head up with the leadrope for a few seconds, and she would just try to put her head back down to eat.
Oh yeah, today and yesterday, I also lied NOT sideways on her, but flat out (knees together of course, so if she bucked [which she didn't] and I fell off, then I would land on my feet)! I slipped off several times today when I did that. I was smart enough to wear a helmet, although, I didn't get hurt, just a little muddy from Valley.
Then, I sat up, and sat side ways on her! And she just kep on eating! I flexed her, and she was looking at my boots like, "How did these get here?" then she just went back to eating her grass, and I hopped off.
It's so cool/exciting! I need Jessi to come over and help me with her. Well, I'm about to go work with Valley now, so I'll post when I get back!

Love,
Sarah

Lately...

2008-01-31T18:19:00.000-06:00

AHHH I've been meaning to update, but I haven't! :(
Anyways....
Sunday, me and mom went to a place, to see none other than........
*DRUM ROLL*

THE FAMOUS LIPPIZANER STALLIONS!

:D me so happy! We got FRONT ROW SEATS! I mean we were like 2 or 3 feet from the arena! They also had 2 Andalusian's that performed. I'll get some pix on here a.s.a.p. :)
But when they started doing the REALLY cool stuff, my camera battery went dead *cry* *tear* *sniffle*. But I got a little bit of it. They did this one thing, - that they used in wars years and years ago - where the horse starts like uh...... not bucking, well, sorta bucking, just not kicking the feet high up, but then the horse kicks out one foot. IT WAS SOOOOOOO COOL!
One thing they did was (while they were riding) was, they changed leads, every two strides. Like the horse would start out with his right foot leading, go two strides, then switch leads to his left foot ect.... It looked like he was skipping! It was so cool!
They did flying leadchanges at the walk, trot, and canter.
Hmm.. I wanna tell you about the Lippazaner breed, but I have to get off, and I don't feel like typing it right now, so, I'll tell ya'll about the breed later.
See Ya!

Love,
Sarah

A few days ago.

2008-01-19T12:21:00.000-06:00

As my title says, I can't remember when.........but this was a few days ago:

So, after Chloe and Valley were done eating, I tied Valley back up, and took Chloe back to the pasture. I untied Valley, and took her down by the lake, to eat some grass. I wanted to keep her out for a while, then work with her.

So I got out my newest Horse Illustrated magazine. It had 8 different grooming things for in the winter. I did one to Valley. I got really hot water, and put a hand towel in it. Then got a dry hand towel. I went out, and started to rub Valley down with it. I wasn't thinking real straight. It was a little windy outside, and cold. Although the water was hot, it didn't take but a second for the wind to make it cold :(.

So after I did that, I was going to work with her so the water would dry. I was going to desenitize Valley with the lead rope. But I decided to start with a little bit of lounging(I had gone up to the house to get my Clinton Anderson leadrope). But when she started to canter in circles. . . ... . . she slipped! She fell on her side :(( When she got up, she held her left rear leg up! I was so mad at myself! But she started walkin around, and she seemed to be fine a few minutes later. I decided not to try THAT again!

I ran inside (I tied Vales [Valley's other nickname] up of course first) and got Chloe's blanket. I laughed a whole bunch after I put it on. It was about 3 times to big for her, and only the front to buckles would buckle. The other two..... were WAAAY too big. LOL.

Anyways..... She looked REALLY funny. Especially since, before, I wanted to see what her forelock would look like if I made the bottome a straight line instead of a point...........:D Yeah, that wasn't such a good idea!

Well, I g2g, so,TTYL!

Love,
Sarah

Today Was Cool!

2007-12-25T13:21:00.000-06:00

OK, this blog is ending up being a HORSE blog, not just training Valley blog. Anyways:

Today Tyler came, picked me up, and took me to her house to ride their champion Racking Horse Chief! Mr. Lynn had already been working with Chief for about an hour before I came. Chief had an English saddle and bridle on, which I'm not used to since I'm a western rider! Well, I have ridden in an English saddle before, because we have one, and I've ridden Chloe and SugarBabe in it. Anyways....
Mr. Lynn went down to the barn and brought a lounge line back up. He said he didn't want me to ride Chief without a lounge line right now cause he said Chief is crazy (Tyler said that too).
So, he attached the lounge line to Chief's bridle, and I mounted Chief. Mr. Lynn shortened the stirrups as short as they could go (which if I was riding Western, would have been good, but since I was riding English, they needed to be somewhat shorter).
He lead Chief (and me, lol) to the pasture, and started walking us around. Then he started to lunge us. First he had me walk Chief. Chief is very sensitive to the reins. If I just barely put any pressure on the reins, he will stop dead. And when I want him to walk, I just say, "Walk." I can't kick him, cause he don't like that (all of this Mr. Lynn told me before I started to ride). That was kind of hard for me. Mr. Lynn just wanted me to walk Chief, but Chief, Chief wanted to rack. So I had to make him walk. I said the word 'walk' like a million times. OK, not that much...
After a while, Chief started to walk more than trying to rack. Then, Mr. Lynn told me too 'cluck' to Chief to make him rack! So I clucked, and immediately he started to rack! It was so cool! I've never done that before. It was a cool experience! After a few minutes, we stopped. Mr. Lynn told Chief, "Get out! Get out!" and pushed Chief's shoulder. He also was telling me to say it, but I didn't know what it meant! I dismounted, and Mr. Lynn told me that doing that, makes Chief 'stretch out', so it was easier for me to dismount. He also told Chief to do it when he put the stirrups up. So after we all petted Chief for a minute or two, Mr. Lynn took him back to the barn to wipe him down. I didn't get to ride very long, 'cause Chief's front two shoes were about to fall off.
Then Tyler took me back home. From the time she picked me up, to the time she brought me back, it was only about 26 minutes! Well, that's all for now, so ttul!

Love,
Sarah

Yesteryday

2007-12-24T17:53:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, the Nutt family came over. I pet-sit for them a lot. They came over so their daughter Tyler came over so that she could give me a free riding lesson on Chloe! She tought me stuff about barrel racing. We used trees for barrels.
Tyler told me that she would find some horse show for me to ride in :). Me is happy!
She called today, and tomorrow I am going to her house to ride Cheif -- their champion horse! I'm excited. Well, I can't think of anything else, so ttul!

Love,
Sarah

Wednesday, December 19th 2007

2007-12-20T21:06:00.000-06:00

Yesterday (Wednesday) I went out in the morning to feed the horses (and the bull), as usual. And I brushed Valley (also as usual).
I started to hoof pick one of her hooves, but it got my hand really gross and dirt (cause down by the gate and barn is a mud hole 'cause they hang out there 'cause that's where all the food is). So when she finished eating, I untied her and took her over to the water hose (don't worry, it was 50 something degrees, and not really that cold out).
I turned the water hose on, and started to spray all the mud off her hooves. I was surprised that Valley (a.k.a. Vales) hardly noticed the water! After I sprayed her hooves off, I hoof picked them. I can't remember if I did just the front legs or the back too. I think just the front. I tied her up, and put Chloe back in the pasture after she finished eating. Then I untied Valley and walked her down to the lake.
Since I had washed part of Vales legs when I rinsed her hoofs off, I decided to walk her around until her legs were almost dry. So I started in a big circle and walked her around. . .and around. . .and around. At one certain tree, I would stop and count '1 Mississippi 2 Mississippi etc. . .' I'd go up to 10 seconds. But if she lowered her head to eat grass, I'd pull her head back up, and start back at 1, counting until she could stay there for 10 seconds without lowering her head.
I did this for a while, and one time around she tested me. I wasn't looking at her, and she tried to bite me on the arm (she kind of did!). I said, 'HEY!', and turned around and immediately started to back her up. I backed her up a couple of feet, and stopped. I disengaged her hindquarters until she looked at me and licked her lips. After she licked her lips, I took her around in the circle 2 more times -- and she behaved fine!
When I put her back into the pasture, she immediately went over to the bucket that I had put food in for the bull. I went over there to get it. After I picked it up, I let Vales stick her head in to see that there was nothing in it. But that didn't stop her. She didn't realize that the bucket was empty. She followed me to the gate -- ears back. When she got close to me, I kicked at her (don't worry! I didn't really kick her, I was just pretending. I was pretending to be another horse). I was pretending to be another horse who wanted the bucket to him/herself.
Well, that's about all, so TTUL!

Love,
Sarah

Hey

2007-12-14T10:39:00.000-06:00

Hey you guys,
I'm really bad, so I haven't been working with Valley, since like, I don't remember:(. But Luckily I see her and Chloe everyday, cause now I'm feeding them everyday. I think I told ya'll before that we are feeding the horses up at the shed again.
So I get to spend time with Valley (and Chloe!). I brush Valley everyday. Here's the routine:
1. Take my Rubber Curry Comb and do circular motions to get the dirt and extra hair out.
2. Take my Dandy Brush (brush with stiff bristles) and brush her all over except the head and legs (and of course not the mane & tail).
3. Take my. . .uh. . .I forgot the name of it. But the brush with SOFT bristles and do the same thing as what I did with the Dandy Brush, but I go over the legs
4. Then I hoof pick her front feet out.
I will do her back feet when she's ready, but I don't think she is yet.

Yesterday, (I was stupid and didn't feed them until it was almost dark) I was trying to brush one of Valley's back legs, and she kicked at me. So I immediately untied her, took her away from her food, and flexed her (I didn't know what else to do! Jessica, you need to help me with that!). Everytime she tried to walk, I flexed her. I also made her back up some. After a minute or two, I took her back to her food.

Well, that's about all! Oh wait! Um, Mr. Lynn is a guy I've been pet-sitting for (Have I told you about him? I can't remember, and I'm to lazy to check). He has 2 horses. Bob, and Cheif. Cheif has won quite a few awards in --- I can't remember! But anyway, his daughter Riley, is going to give me a horse riding lesson! At MY house, on Chloe! The reason it will be on Chloe, because they aren't sure how Cheif would do. Or whatever. Ok: It will be safer most likely, if I ride Chloe. But I'm embarresed to show them Chloe! And our tack!

Love,
Sarah

Yesterday

2007-12-04T18:14:00.000-06:00

OK, so this ISN'T about training valley, but it IS about horses! So, can u bear with me? Anyways:
Yesterday while I was doing Biology, one of our neighbors called us telling us there was a white baby horse in his yard! So I ran outside and saw that the gate was closed, but I got a halter and lead rope, and me and mom drove down to Mr. Jerry's house.
When we drove up, we saw the foal eating grass. I immediately knew that that wasn't Valley. Well, almost immediately. We got out, and told Mr. Jerry that the COLT (Valley is a filly!) wasn't ours. I tried to pet the colt, but he jumped away. Mr. Jerry said he had been trying to rope him, so he wouldn't run away.
We (me and mom) knew the people that lived next door, because they own Old West (the stable that is about 15 minutes away), and they sometimes have horses at their house. So mom tried to call them on her cell phone, but the cell wouldn't work. So, with Mr. Jerry's permission of course, she went into Mr. Jerry's house to use his phone.
While she was inside, I slowly went up to the Colt, put my lead rope around his neck, and put the halter on (which of course was way to big for the small faced Colt).
Mom came back outside and said that Mrs. Debbie (the person that lives next door) was out of town. But she said that she was keeping the Colt at her house for the owners.
So, I walked the Colt over to Mrs. Debbie and Mr. Danny's house, and put him in one of the stalls (that is what Mrs. Debbie told us to do). He went strait to the water bucket and drank some water. When we were pulling out of the driveway, the owner's mom (her daughter has been working with the Colt is what she said, so I guess it is the daughter's foal) came to check the fence to see where the Colt had gotten out.

Well, that was my day yesterday interruption from school! Email/comment me about some interesting things that has happened to you lately. Or awhile ago. Whatever! And if you say I can, I will post them on my other blog!

Love,
Sarah

About Friday

2007-11-19T19:33:00.000-06:00

Thursday and Friday we were at my g-parents house in Arkansas. My grandma said that Saturday was going to be an auction for wild Mustangs and Burros. Friday they had all of the Mustangs and Burros at the Equine Center in Arkansas, so grandma took me to see them! There was a whole bunch. Some of then were fighting over hay. One scared all the horses away from the hay he was eating, and so he got all that hay to himself. Well, I have to go see my Aunt Ginger next door.

Love,
Sarah

Sunday November 11th 2007

2007-11-11T12:41:00.000-06:00

I didn't go to church today 'cause I'm kinda sick. So I stayed home, and while I was IMing my friend, mom was coming back from church, and saw that the pasture gate was open! And Valley was out! So she called me, and I went out side. Chloe and Valley wer at the shed, and they had eaten almost ALL of Valley's food! It was ALOT! I was so mad! I still am. Some. And the bull was down by the lake grazing. Chloe was easy to put back in the pasture, Valley was a little harder, and for the Bull, Luke just got some food, and led him in.\
So, that was my day, what was yours?

Love,
Sarah

Tuesday, October 30th

2007-10-30T19:10:00.000-05:00

I didn't do anything today except hoofpick Valley's feet. Ranger was kind of making her act up a tad, but I finally got it done. She was kind of bad on her back feet. Her feet were pretty much already clean, but there was still some dirt in the hooves of course. Well, there's not really anything else to say, so TTUL!

Love,
Sarah

Monday, October 29th

2007-10-30T18:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday (Monday) instead of desensitizing and other stuff like that, I wanted to see what Valley would do if i put a saddle on her. So I got a saddle pad and put it on her while she was eating grass. I rubbed it on her back and neck, and she was fine.
So I got my old English Saddle (definitely not in its best condition) and put it on her back. I think she was curious on what I was putting on her back, but not for long. She just went back to eating her grass.
After walking her around with it on her back, I decided to get the girth and see what she would do if I put it on. So I went back to the shed, and got it. I put it on her very loose. She was fine. So I kept tightning it. One knotch at a time. Until it was almost as tight as if I was going to ride her. And she did fine! - but only cause she was eating grass. When I tried to tighten it when she was tied up, she didn't like it. But she was fine when she was eating. So when I ride her for the first time, I will get on while she's eating grass! LOL.

Love,
Sarah

October 28th 2007

2007-10-28T19:16:00.001-05:00

When I FINALLY caught Valley, I brought her up to the house, and groomed her. I also picked her hooves out, the first time I've done it to her! She did good!
But when I stared desensitizing her to the handy stick she did good. Until we got to the frontfeet-*shudder*- she did BAD!!!!!!! I have trouble getting it around her feet, and she just ran around. Valley just hated it! So did I.
Finally I just did something different. I disengaged her hindquarters up to 10. Translate: I disengaged her till she did 1 correct step, then I stopped and rubbed her. Then I disengaged her till she did 2 correct step, then 3, then 4 ect....
After that, I took her to the pasture and let her go. Hopefully I'll do better next time!

Love,
Sarah

Today!

2007-10-23T23:07:00.000-05:00

OK. I don't feel like typing this post as much as I did the last one, but I'll do it anyway.
It was sprinkling outside, and it was 52 degrees outside! Luckily I remembered to wear long pants, and a warm jacket. My lead rope and halter were still wet from yesterday. I went out there, and after I caught her, I remembered not to start immediately. Ha ha! So I started out as usual, petting her, blowing in her nose, and of course flexing.
After a few minutes of loving on her, I desensitized Valley to the Handy Stick and String. She did pretty good, except for the front legs, she is always bad at them, I don't like doing them either. Valley started to jump back and rear up (just once or twice, and not HUGE rears). She finally calmed down after she realized that I wasn't doing anything different when she did that. I just kept swinging the string around her front legs (or at least tried to, the string kept getting stuck when we walked through some tall grass), and sometimes I was singing the Miley Cyrus song 'I Miss You'.

When I finally finished with the handy stick and string, I did a little bit of disengaging the hindquarters. Then I moved on to the last exercise of the day, the most dreaded exercise of the day; desensitizing to the lead rope! Sorry, that was kind of dramatic wasn't it, well not really. It made that exercise sound like one of the worst things in the world. But it's not, I've had worse, like getting hit in the head with a real metal army helmet that came dropping from my cousin John's hands who was about 15-20 ft in a tree!!!! THAT was terrible. Anyway, back to what this post is SUPPOSED to be about.

She did pretty well on the lead rope exercise. I actually I can't really remember that part! Even though it was today! LOL. Anyways. It was almost dark when I finally finished and let her go.

Then I went in the barn to feed the horses and the bull. The bull went in the stall and I closed the door, and tied it with my rope that was in my back pack (NOT my lead rope, just an ordinary rope). I fed Chloe a scoop as usual and I gave the bull one scoop, and Valley I gave about half a scoop of her food. After Valley had finished eating her food, she went to Chloe's, and the bull had finished his, and started getting anxious for more food. So I gave him a little more, and valley a little more so she wouldn't eat all of Chloe's food. So I took Valley out of the barn to feed her. The bull didn't take very long to finish his food, and I wasn't there to give him food, so he got mad. REAL mad. He started banging against the old wooden gate to the stall, and some how got his head through. He tried to pull his head back, but it was stuck, so he started pushing up against the gait. He started pushing HARD. So hard that he broke to out of three hinges off the gate (I think). There WAS a board connected to the gate that was nailed into a post that is helping keep the barn roof up. When the bull had pushed the gate, the nails came out of the post. So the bull ran out and started eating Chloe's food. Poor Chloe, every time we feed her, Valley and the bull end up getting most of it! We are definetly going to have to figure out some other way to feed them. I wish we had the money to tear down that old cow barn, and build a much better horse barn! Hopefully we can do that next year. If dad's business starts selling a lot of stuff really soon. Which we are all really praying will happen.

Well, this is a long post, so I better sign off here. C ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!

Love,

Sarah

P.S. I forgot my rope at the barn. It's still tied to the gate!

And when I came home, I took my lead rope, halter, and string to my moms bathroom to blow dry them off. They are still pretty wet. Especially the lead rope. After I layed them out to dry, I took a shower, and bathed Amy (our dog. Everybody that reads this knows that - I think- except for Stephanie. Well, she hasn't read it yet, because I just sent her an email with my blog addresses on it about 1 or 2 hourse ago) while I was taking a shower.

This has taken like, an hour to write this post!

Yesterday. . .

2007-10-23T21:03:00.000-05:00

Hello!
I would have written about yesterday, yesterday, but I didn't have a chance to get on the computer. I already forgot mostly what happen. Right now I am drawing a blank. OK, I remember now:

I didn't go out till like 5:30 or 6:00PM and it had been raining all day. It was almost dark when I went outside, and it was getting kind of cold. When I first caught her, I was bad and basically immediately started desensitizing to the lead rope- BAD MISTAKE!! (not the desensitizing part, the immediately starting part) I guess since it had been a really rainy day, it made me in a bad mood, plus desensitizing to the lead rope isn't my favorite ground work exercise. After a few minutes of me getting frustrated (bad me! *spank*) I finally stopped, and started rubbing Valley as I thought to myself, 'OK Sarah, the reason she isn't doing as good as usual and the reason I'm not do very good, is because I started working to soon. And because it is a rainy late afternoon.' Then I kept telling myself, "It's just a nice dewy morning, the sun is just coming up (it could look like that, because the sun was really just going down), and the water on the ground is just some dew and a little bit of rain from the night before." So after a few minutes of that, I got myself back into a good mood.
So I then acted like I had just caught her and like the other stuff had never happened. So I petted Valley, and blew in her nose, and flexed her some, until I knew Valley and I were happy again. So then I started desensitizing her to the lead rope. She still acted up some but that's because she dislikes like the lead rope desensitizing exercise about as much as I do. Ha ha!
After that I desensitized her to the handy stick and string, and by then it had gotten almost all the way dark, and it had gotten pretty cold! It was like mid 50's! And I was wearing short sleeves and shorts!
It started raining a medium rain. And I could have finished a few minutes sooner than I did, but Valley wouldn't show me a sign or her relaxing right then because she saw my dad walking towards me with a flashlight. If dad hadn't been walking there at that moment Valley would have looked more relaxed, but she had her head up a tad, and her ears pricked forward. I finished when dad made up to were I was, and I let her go, and headed back to the house to take a shower and get warmed up a bit! Well, I'll go ahead and write about today (Tuesday, I was just writing about Monday). It's taken me almost an hour to write this!

Love,
Sarah

Today!

2007-10-21T19:11:00.000-05:00

Hey!
I just got back from working with Valley. I am at my g-parents house typing this (the g-p's next door not the one in Arkansas that were were at yesterday) on their laptop. Oh, we got internet back now! YEAH! Anyways, today is the 21st so I wormed the horses. Valley did pretty good, but she did her usual silly face (When I get a picture of it, I will post it on here [:-]. <-That looks like Frankenstien!). Chloe was kinda hard to do, cause she is bigger, and there is so much to put in her mouth. Afterwards she had a green foamy mouth! OK now to Valley's work:
After I had wormed her (I did Chloe after I was done working with Valley) I flexed her (of course), and then I desinsitized her to the handy stick and string. My schedule said I was supposed to desinsitize her to the leadrope too, but I did that the other day, and she's pretty good at it, and I was going to after the other stuff if I had time (cause I didn't go out till almost 6!) and me and Valley weren't to tired. After I did the desinsitizing to the handy stick and string (which to up most of the time. My arm was KILLING me! OK not really killing me, but you know what I mean, right?) I worked with her on disengaging her hindquarters. She did real well! I'm not sure if I did, but she did good! Well, that's about it, so TTUL!

Love,
Sarah & Valley

Hello!

2007-10-20T17:54:00.000-05:00

Hey!
I know I haven't written anything here in a long time. I am at my g-parents house right now. We just got back from my second (or third, it's so confusing!) cousin's wedding.
I Made a schedule for Valley's training! She probably won't learn the stuff as quick as my schedule says, but at least I have something to work with! It would have taken forever for me to train her without a schedule, cause I wouldn't have known what I was supposed to be doing with her. Well, anyways, I started the schedule Thursday, and I don't think I will be able to do it today, cause It's already 5:00PM and we are still at g-ma & g-pa's house. It takes 2 hours to get home, so it will definitely be dark when we get home. So I probably won't get to work with Valley, even though I really need to [:(. (<- that isn't a mole. It is a period at the end of my sentence!)
Anyways, Thursday all that I did was desensitizing to the handy stick (and flexing of course, I do that every time I work with her!). I would have done more, but I had to go back to the house because mom had to go tutor Conner (a kid who goes to our church), and she doesn't want me out in the pasture when she's gone (it was getting dark anyways). Friday (yesterday) I just did desensitizing to the lead rope cause I didn't get to that Thursday. I did some stuff Wednesday, but I don't remember what I did. At least I think I did some Wednesday. Hmm. I will write back A.S.A.P.!

Love, Love,
&
Sarah Valley

Yesterday!

2007-09-23T13:24:00.000-05:00

Hello Guys and Gals!
OK, I think all of you are GALS, but anyways.
Yesterday Jessica came over to help me with Valley. We first watch part of a yearling DVD by Clinton Anderson. Then we headed down to the pasture. I fed Chloe (who was in only one on the barn side of the pasture!) Me and Jessica walked down to the meadow (the other side of the pasture) and Valley was grazing with Bully (our young bull). She came (sorta) to us, but she realized we were going to catch her so she ran to the barn. So we walked back up there, and caught her.
Jessica worked with her for awhile on lots of stuff. Like lunging, disengaging the hindquarters etc...
About half an hour before we had to leave, Jessica was showing me how to do some things. Then we took her home, and she was trying to show me a video, but after a few minutes I had to go, so she'll have to show me sometime when I go over there. Well, talk to y'all later!

Love,
Sarah

P.S. I wormed the horses Friday, and Valley did the same as last time, stuck her lip up in the air. Then when I was leaving the barn, she came out and starting sticking her lip up towards me! LOL. I got to get that on film sometime!

Not to terribly much-actually a lot!

2007-09-10T20:39:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted in like FOREVER. I have been bad and haven't been doing NEAR as much as I need to. I have finally finished my Clinton Anderson book, which I will read again, and again, and again, etc.......... . I was going to work with her today, but it rained like mad. I did a LITTLE yesterday. I would have probably done more, but my friend J.W. (her initials) came over for a long time, and it rained also. But I brought Valley and Chloe up, and we groomed both of them. We did their manes (they have the same color manes) and it looked Beautiful. But the only thing you could tell we did to Chloe was comb her mane, because she has cushing disease, so she has a long REALLY curly coat, and it was wet too, so it didn't do anything when Juliana (j.w.) groomed her. But Valley looked nice because she was dirty before and i brushed her, and combed out her mane.

DOG! I just remembered, I forgot to hoof pick them! They need it. Oh well, I will do it HOPEFULLY tomorrow, but I don't know if I will have time (i should unless i goof around in school which is really no excuse), and it might be raining. If it isn't raining i will groom her but if it's still really wet on the ground I won't be able to work with her.

Anyways, back to what I was saying; the way I worked with Valley was when I brought her up to groom her, she wouldn't stand still so I untied her, and made her go around in some circles and a few other things (i think, it may have just been lunging) then I tied her back up, and she stood still mostly the whole time. And when I went to put her up (i put Chloe up first while I left her behind tied up and she didn't like that to much), she was acting up, and so I had to lunge her a LOT before I would even get close to her. I had to keep her at a distance 'cause she looked like she was going to ram into anything that got in her way. I was getting a little worried because it had been raining, and Valley was loping in circles. She slipped once while she was loping in a circle, and after that she just jogged. I was glad she didn't get hurt. I got her in the pasture (I used my Clinton Anderson handy stick to keep her from getting to close while I was opening the gate) and she wasn't any better, actually, she was worse. I now promised myself (sorta) that I will not let Valley go until she is relaxed, and lets me walk up to her still relaxed, and lets me take off the halter without her pulling her head away (which rarely happens).
Anyways, when I took the halter off, she ran up to the barn with her tail held high. She ran back and forth several times. Once when she stopped, she looked at me, and SLOWLY put her tail down, then took off again. Well I'll post A.S.A.P. which will probably be tomorrow.

Love,
Sarah

Hey!

2007-08-05T21:10:00.000-05:00

Hi,
Sry I haven't posted in a while. Yesterday Adam had a paintball party (only two people could come, Holt and Kevin. LOL) and I was working with Valley. Dad was trying to let him put the fly spray on, it didn't go to well. I tried, but I didn't do much, I was just having fun. I TRIED to get her to go swimming with her, but it didn't work, I was REALLY wet though (cause I actually got IN the water to see if she would follow, but of course she didn't)! LOL.
I ending going swimming with the boys and dad. I wish I had my swim suit on when I was with Valley. LOL. I keep saying LOL a lot. LOL. There I go again, LOL. Sry.

I'm listnening to the song I Want A Hippo For Christmas. It's real funny, Ya'll should hear it if you haven't before.

I almost posted this blog without saying about when the farrier came! Silly me.
OK. This past Wednesday, the farrier ,Mike Ward, came to shoe Valley and Chloe. Chloe went first. She did pretty good. The bull (Bucket Head a.k.a. Bully) came over and started sniffing Mike's head when he was bending over doing Chloe's hoofs. LOL (there I go again). When it was VALLEY'S turn, it was a little different. I think this was probably her 2nd or 3rd time to ever be shoed, I'm not sure, but she kept acting up, so the farrier took over and starting working with her to get Valley's respect. He ended up doing the last hoof with Valley's leadrope over her back, with NOBODY holding her!
When we let the two horses go, I moved out of the way cause I expected Valley to go running and kick, but instead, she came to me! LOL (darn! sry, I shouldn't have said that. Please forgive me) then she went over to the gate the OPPISITE direciton of the barn! She didn't start running until Chloe went into a canter up to the barn! That's what I thought Valley would do, and Chloe would follow her at the same gait, or walk up to the barn. LOL. Well, It't time for me to go to bed, GOODNIGHT!!

Love,
Sarah

FINALLY pics of Valley!

2007-07-17T20:31:00.001-05:00

This is a Paint at Valley's old home.

Here is Valley Grazing at her OLD home.

This is the donkey at valley's old home.
This here is Valley's Mother Dear
Valley says, "Hi!"
The white one is Valley, and the one behind her is her mother.
Here is Valley and Chloe instantly bonding
Adam and I approach Valentine
Chloe's in the barn, Ranger is sniffing somehting, Adam is in the red shirt, Valley is the white horse, and I am in the blue shirt holding Valley's leadrope.
Me 'n Valley

Here's me holding Valentine. She doesn't look to happy

This is the same picture of the one above (the one with Chloe in the barn, and Ranger sniffing something) just closer up. This is what is on our desktop.

Valley is a little bigger now, and darker. Well, I got to go get in the shower, bye. I will post later.

Love,
Sarah

Hey!!

2007-07-16T15:14:00.000-05:00

FINALLY I have another post. LOL ok, i'll move on to the update.

My friend Jessica came over this past Thursday to help me with Valentine.

The first thing we did was put Jess's lunch inside, and then go out to Valley. She worked with Valley for about 1 and a half ta 2 hours! She used a Clinton Anderson (i think) halter, lead rope, and stick thingie (I still keep forgetting what it's called). She lunged Val with the halter some. Valley didn't seem to like it very much. LOL.
She also worked on picking Valley's feet up, (i'm scared to, because she kicks at me).
She did pretty well. She picked up on the flexing very quickly. We fly sprayed Valley and Chloe. Valley acted up some. Jessica did some other stuff with her, and when we finished with her, me and Jessica started to clean the barn some. Well, TTUL

Love,
Sarah

Howdy!

2007-06-28T18:53:00.000-05:00

I have another blog: http://mylifejif.blogspot.com/. But I decided to do this blog because. . . well, I'll get to that in a minute.

OK. 2 weeks ago yesterday, my mom got a call from a friend about their friend's grandpa had some horses that he needed to get rid of. So they are getting a Pony, a Mule, and a Mare and Foal. They told us that their friends had a yearling named Valentine that they needed to get rid of. So that afternoon, me, my mom (Toni), my twin brother Adam, and my friend Jessica, went to see Valentine (Valley for short). Valley's mom is a Quarter Horse, and they don't know who her dad is. But we are pretty sure his dad was an Arabian. Maybe a white Arabian. Jessica said that Valley is built ALL Arabian.
She is BEAUTIFUL. Oh yeah, the lady was going to sell the filly for $200, but she said she would sell it to me for a hundred! YEAH! I WON'T BE BANKRUPT AS SOON! LOl. Anyways, the next day me, Adam, dad, and Pappa (grandpa on my dad's side. They live right next door to us) went back to look at Valley. The next thing I know Valley's being loaded into the trailer to head to our house for a trial! Dad went ahead and payed for her (I still haven't paid him back yet), and the lady saying that if we decided we didn't want her, we could give Valley back, and get our money back. But I don't think that we will be getting rid of her. It's going to be fun, and challenging training her.
I will post pictures on here A.S.A.P. Well, for the weekend, our family our going to our grandparents house who live in AR. It's my mom's dad, and her step mom. We call them Grandma and Grandpa, and the g-p's that live next door to our house we call them Pappa and Mammaw, and my mom's mom, we call her Nonnie, and her husband by his name Landon. Ok, I'm probably giving to much information. My real name is. . .I'm not going to tell you, but my fake name is Zimri (zem-re) Aesragnah (as-rag-nah) Oespriepups (Oss-pre-pups)
But call me Zimri. IWPLAV! (I will post later about valley!) PL (post later)

Love,
Zimri