Never eat watermelon after 10:00 p.m. on a work night.....

.....sometimes there just isn't anything else to say.... :-)

Oh where to begin...we have been so busy (like most people this time of year). Saturday the plan was to ride a couple of the horses a couple of times. Late morning I get a call that we can pick up hay out of the field. Can't pass up the non-muddy weather to get hay - so away we went. Made 3 trips that took most of the day. The first trip we had a visitor. This little guy came out from under the windshield wiper while we were driving down the road. When we got home we took him off the truck and put him under the deck.



We picked up round bales! Here are my personal pro's and con's to round bales. Pro's: EASY EASY EASY! Con's: Missing that one on one time of taking out square bales every morning and night and visiting with each horse. But with so many horses, gotta go with EASY!
That night I started tearing down the pen and got the ground cleaned off as much as we could before the new mustang comes in on Friday. Sunday morning we got the pen put back up...just a little smaller. We still have two panels to put an extension on so they are 6 ft tall or more.
Last night we took the other panels and made a bigger pen behind the barn. Of course it rained - wait, it did not just rain, it poured, again yesterday starting mid morning and again today. When I was out of town I tried to promise I would not complain about the mud. I am not complaining yet, but it sure is getting close!

Here are a few pictures in random order...sort of.
Wyoming's adopter, Carol, is ready to have him home. I would like to get a good couple weeks put on him and I am hoping it dries out enough to do that. Her daughter also adopted a mustang and she got a call from her horses trainer to come ride him and make sure all is good. They would like to get both boys home close to the same time. This is all so exciting for me, and I will admit I am very nervous. I want this to be a great experience for everyone. I know Wyoming is very very green and will be for a few years, but I still am nervous. He will be the first horse I have trained for someone else. I will take him to his new home and we will work together and I will show Carol how I did things. We will see how it goes, see how the comfort zones are, and then go from there. One of my goals was to make sure that he is safe for Carol, and I believe he is safe for her and anybody else who hangs out with him. He is quite the teenager tho and has his little 'catch me if you can' fits, but once he realizes running from me makes him have to run more, he usually turns and looks at me with that "WHAT?" look on his face. Then I walk up to him and all is well in Wy land.
He is taking a trip to the vet tomorrow. He has a big knot under his jaw that started oozing, and it is touchy. The other night I did not ride him in the big open area (gut told me to wait) but I saddled him and we did quite a bit of ground work. He listened to me and we had a great time. When I let him loose he took off running with Tiger, so his energy level is where it normally is, and his appetite is normal. I am wondering if he scratched his jaw on the barbed wire (I know - barbed wire bad! One of the many goals is to get rid of it and get something barbless) and it got infected. So, a visit to the vet for that and update his shots and get a coggins. He will be all ready to go to his new home then.

I like all trainers and clinicians. If five of them are lined up saying something that means the same exact thing, I might understand it from two of them - so for me, the more trainers/clinicians the better. I have recently started watching a lot of Parelli on RFD, and I really like a lot of what they do. I started playing with their way of backing the horse up, and Wy did very good at it. The first few times when I shook my finger at him, he just looked at me 'waiting for me to tell him what to do'. He makes me smile because sometimes he has that little kid look on his face just waiting to do something good. Anyways, we worked on that, and here he is backing up....good boy Wy!



This was tonite's sky. This was after me telling myself I was not going to complain about the mud, and it was like God gave me this beautiful picture to take my mind off the promise. He is smart...did not want to hear me bellyache about it, so he gave me something else to think about. :-)



This is the smallest mushroom I have ever seen! You can tell by the size of my fingers that this thing is tiny! I thought it was cute! How did I find it? I saw this cute piece of wood that reminded me of drift wood. I picked it up and was brushing it off and there it was.



Rain showers off and on all evening, so I was wandering around with the horses. Here we have Rico (QH/Crop out paint baby), Ace (mustang rescue) and Joker (last years EMM yearling that my husband adopted).



Here is good 'ol Tripp and myself!



Chase the llama...with is piece of hay. He lays down a lot and eats, and he even lays down by the water tank to take a drink. I was worried at first, but he seems happy so who am I to say what is weird or not...he still has not spit on me so he can do what he wants!



Sunday the sky got so neat! The picture just doesn't do it justice, but it gives you an idea. It was heavy, it was smooth, and the rain that came was one of the hardest we have ever had here! Water was gushing over both hillsides and into the barn! Sometimes it will come in the doorway, but not roll into the whole barn.



Batman has teeth - and here they are! I love baby horse teeth because they are so big and just plain ol' cute!



Batman was smelling a spot where someone had pooped. He kept digging at it, smelling it and making faces. Cracked me up!



Check out the bangs!



Batman has advanced to hanging out with the big boys and girls. Here he is at one of the round bales. Yep, he wants to be a mustang when he grows up. I told him he can be anything he wants! :-)



Batman got his hooves trimmed last weekend - Brian kept part of the trimmed off hoof for the scrap book. He really did good considering he is full of nothing but energy. On the last foot he finally had enough, then layed down. He just stayed there and I trimmed him up. They are easier to maneuver than the bigs, but those little hooves are tough to do! I am big and clumsy, and they are so tiny and dainty. He is standing much better tho. He also got a small lesson in leading. We did not have anything small enough so Brian made a rope halter out of a lead rope.



I am going to lay on ice now....
Last night when we were taking 4 panels apart, we thought that two of them were attached at the corner, and we were wrong. One was a 6 ft corral panel with a gate opening attached. I was leaning over by Brian's feet picking weeds and I heard the metal panels move but did not think anything about it, then it came down on my lower back. Knocked me down! Yes, it hurt, Yes, I can walk, and Yes, today it hurts a lot more than it did last night. Poor Brian was freaked and a little worried about me, and when I finally convinced him I was okay I told him it could have been a whole lot worse and he says "Yeah, it could have been me!" I looked up at him and laughed out loud! Then I told him that "Yeah, it could have been you and that would be a lot worse because then I would have to listen to him whine...." HA HA HA!!! We play like that a lot, and he really does whine when he hurts. I just grit my teeth and go on. You all know how it is! ;-) (hee hee!)

Hey Jessi, only two more days!!! Hey Betty, only two more days!!! Betty is a gal I work with who used to have horses when she was younger, and she loves reading about the escapades out here. I invited her to go along and check out the mustangs and she is taking off work and going with us! Yay! Jessi is the daughter of Angela, and both of them went with us last year. Poor Angela is going to be leaving for Wyoming on the 16th, so she is going to miss out on the mustang fun. :-( I am so glad they are letting Jessi come with us and yes, we will be checking in with Angela on a regular basis and maybe even tormenting her a little. :-) It will be a fun trip!

Okay, going to get that ice pack now...
Until later, Karen and Tripp

Beat the rain! Woo hoo!

We had crazy storms this morning, but it was dried out this evening. YES!
Tonite I decided to work with Wyoming. The other night I got so hot lugging that big heavy saddle around, I decided it is going to be a bareback night. I was flying solo, so no pictures of the ride. I tried hanging the camera on the fence and shooting video - don't know if that worked yet.
We worked a lot on flexing. This boy is really stiff! He finally gave me a little bit on the left side, and it was like a light bulb went off. He was flexing and giving very nicely on the left. The right was another story - he just would not give. I stood there braced prepared to take as long as I need, and I noticed the pressure pulling on me harder. I looked at him, and he was falling asleep! Literally! So then I started moving him around a little bit to wake him up. He never got to where I would say he gave to me. I did feel a couple of gives, but I am not convinced that is what they were. We did what we could with that, then I hopped on him bareback and rode him around the pen. We did a lot of direction changes, and even tho he is stiff on the right, he was doing okay, and maybe even better by the time we were done. It will just take some time. Other than his stiffness on the right, he did great. After we were done I massaged his head, and he about fell asleep again. I also used my Nurtural Bitless bridle on him tonite. I did not have it adjusted at the time of this picture - had to go shut the water hose off.

Here is Wy having a chat with Tiger about this newfangled contraption on his head.



Batman is here for moral support..."What are these, and will they help the big guy?"
Notice his beard! :-)



After Wy's massage I let him out. He and Tiger are relaxing. I really love Wy's tri-color. His legs are thick and strong too.



Batman wants to be a mustang when he grows up, and he just knows he will be wearing this soon. :-)



Batman and I had some one on one time tonite. I have been so busy, we have not got to play like we usually do. We played tonite tho, then when it was time for bed I sat in the barn with him and we talked.

A little kissy face time...have to watch those new teeth tho!



Batman was yawning, and I tried so hard to get the picture just right because it showed his front teeth! They are hilarous! This is as close as I could get...I won't give up tho...I will eventually get the mini-yawn.
By the way, Batman is 25 1/2 inches tall now!



Aaaahhhh, the llama. Here is Chase and I doing a self portrait.



Before I left town for work we were sitting outside watching everyone before we headed inside...Chase was by the donkeys and everybody looked like they were getting along just fine. Then all of a sudden we heard a funky sound that we had heard before but did not have a clue what it was - but this time we saw it....Chase spit at the donk! You all know the picture in the encyclopedia of the person sneezing? We all thought it was the grossest picture when we were kids - okay, it is still pretty gross....that is what his spitting action looked like! The scary part is he did not look mad, he looked just fine then Ptooey! Nailed a donk. Brian said he was doing it on a regular basis while I was gone. So now I know if he looks mad at me, no worries. If he looks happy, look out!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Until later....Karen and Tripp who loves fly spray!

Finally dry enough for riding in the pen...

Part of the pen has been dry, and the other party very soppy and wet. The other evening I thought I would hop on and venture around the barn lot area to see how the boys did, but when I walked out there I was slipping and sliding. That nice little dry crust on top was deceiving. So I practiced trailer loading instead. Both of them are great! They will both load without me getting in the trailer first, in fact last night Wyoming was already getting in the trailer and I did not even have the gate all the way open. That is good because he isn't too worried about it, but it is bad because I did not ask him. I think I will take his over achieving attitude right now. :-) Tiger waits, sniffs, then hops up.

Both of them were introduced to fly masks. Kind of strange how the flies swarm particular horses. Both of these guys qualify! Getting the masks on was not too eventful, they just were not sure about it at first. The velcro sound still makes them tense up, but no worries...they will get used to it.

"Don't we look cute?"



Here is what it looks like to ride Wy... (no camera man around lately)
Wy did pretty good, altho he is very tense and just won't bend at all. We will be working on our flexing - a lot! I need to learn how to do other things to teach him to bend his body. It was not hard to get him walking, and he walked thru the set sloppy stuff as well as the dry stuff. We also worked on "Whoa." That needs a lot of work too...baby steps. We are finally getting some dry days so I can actually get on them and do something.



Tiger made me work tonite! I know it is supposed to be the other way around, but he just did not want to go. He even stopped to paw and I thought maybe something was pinching him. I checked and could not find anything, so I got back up there and made popping sounds on the saddle with the end of the lead rope. It was work, but we finally got a few good rounds, and I even had him pick up the pace a bit. He did not like walking thru the sloppy stuff, and where the salt block had been moved made him snort. You know how it is....leave something in the same place forever, then move it and they freak out? Yep, that is how it was at first, but he kept sniffing at it. He would walk by it one direction without so much as a glance, but not the other direction. It was way more scary. :-) He flexes his body a lot more than Wy does, but man this dude made me work tonite! We finally got a couple very nice trips around the pen and we called it a night. It was hot!



Here is Misty. She is a rescue and is afraid of men. We have had her about 3 years now, and she is still afraid of them. When we brought her home, it took her several months to learn how to be a dog and just lay around under the shade tree, or play with the other dogs. She gets along great with my husky/chow cross, Snoop. She can't stand the black/white husky, Nakita. Nakita is one of those yippy type dogs who circles and torments and picks and pokes.....I don't blame Misty for disliking her. Nakita barks a lot for nothing, and I threaten to send her to China...you know what they do to dogs in China!



Tonite before I came inside I was checking to make sure the babies were okay. This little guinea was sleeping on top of the water container.



Last night I trimmed the hooves of my older mare, who is only 27...I thought she was 29. I found her papers while looking for the fly sprayer thingy's that I never found. Anyways, got her done and dang I did a good job! Her feet look great! I also got all four of Wyoming's hooves done, and let me tell you, I was sooooo proud of him! The majority of the time he just stood there with his head hanging low. He started moving a bit on the last rear foot so I hurried up. I double checked them today and saw a sharp edge I don't like, so I will touch him up tomorrow. That is the first time that all four have been done, and without anybody holding him. After trimming his hooves I took him out to trailer load and he was prancing...I am convinced it is because his feet felt so good. :-D

Gotta go find food now....
Until later...Karen and Tripp

Oh yeah, only 8 days until we pick up our EMM horse! Can't count today because it is already here, and can't count the 17th because it is the actual day we meet him/her. I am excited! I already had one good cry about letting him go to another home, but I keep reminding myself that one of my goals is to help mustangs find good homes before something worse happens to them. Wish I did not have to work full time...would spend more time gentling them and networking for adopters. Oh well, one at a time...right?

I was gone for 3 weeks...now I am back!

I was out of town three weeks for work. Right before I left we found a few chicks that had hatched in the hen house. They were in the upper box, and the hen had moved to another box. This little yellow chick looked like your typical Easter commercial chick.



This is what three weeks did to that little chick! This thing is almost twice as big as everyone else! Quite a while back we had a couple Jersey Giants, and I don't wonder if we have a crossed Jersey in the group, and this little chick has picked up the traits. It also has feathers on it's legs, so it has some Faverolle in it. I wish the picture turned out better...it is a stocky little thing!



Like I said, I was out of town for 3 weeks. My first destination was Dodge City, KS. They had a lot of big hail, etc. On my way there and back I was in awe of the windmill farms! I was driving along, and this is what I saw...



I spent 1 week there, and thought I was coming home. Then I was told to stop at our Kansas City, MO office (actually Lees Summit) and help out there because their territory got hit by one storm after another...so I spent 2 weeks there. That was the hardest time I have ever spent away from home. We live a little over 2 hrs away, and I was close enough to tell people I lived "just down the road a ways" but not close enough to come home. Brian did come visit me twice. We met at a 1/2 way point for dinner one night, and the last weekend he spent one night, then headed home to take care of critters when I headed to work. The visits were soooooo nice!

When I got back I was so happy! I knew rain was in the forecast, which meant mud, but I did not care!

Friday afternoon it had not started raining yet, so I decided to see how Tiger and Wy would do with the trailer...
Tiger was my first victim because he was the first to come say hello to me. :-) We walked around the trailer a couple times, I opened the gate, he sniffed it, we walked around a little more, I hopped in there, he sniffed again, and no joke, within 2 minutes he was up and in there. Even the banging around of his hooves in the tin can did not get him excited. We practiced that several times - I was so proud of him!

Here is Tiger looking out at the others.



Tiger hops down.



While I was gone, Tiger's adopter, who is also Brian's brother, came to visit. I am so glad that Brian got a few pictures! It had been raining so was a little muddy as you can see, but Justin took Tiger for a short walk, and they got to know each other. They are talking about his new home....



It was Wyoming's turn to visit the trailer. I was worried because the last time we hauled him was for the Humansville, MO adoption, and we had to get him in the trailer in the dark, and he spent the night in there. I felt horrible, but the weather was so bad, we had to take advantage of the yard being half frozen enough for us to get out there before it warmed up and rained again, and we really wanted to get him some exposure to find him an adopter.

It took a little longer to get Wyoming in the trailer. He took about 4 minutes after walking around it a few times! He was all excited because nobody else was close, and he called to them, but he still listened. He followed me up and out several times, and we even loaded 3 times with me sending him in with me outside the trailer. I really hope he remembers that one! :-) I was very proud of him too! As we were playing around, he seemed like a totally different horse. I have learned so much from him. This guy is happier when he is busy, which means I need to stay on my toes! He reminds me of Tripp in some ways. Tripp was happier when he was learning new stuff, and when we finally got out on the trails he loved looking around at the new things in his life (or maybe some of the old if he remembers them). I can't wait to get Wy out on the trails to see what he is like.

He stood here for a long time. I think he liked being high enough to see what was going on in the other pen.



Leaving the trailer...no big deal.



Brian was very busy while I was gone and he got so much done. This is a project he has been wanting to do for quite a while. These are tomato ladders. You take out two screws at the end of the season and they fold down for storage. Brian found them in an article, and the guy has had his for 20 years! They are cheap to build too! The baby chick cage is close to them, and when you look out at night the glow of the light makes it appear to be a bunch of tipi's.



And of course we can't forget Batman! I took this before I left. He has grown and is totally full of himself. He was playing with the big boys Friday evening and they tolerated him. He is only a few weeks old, and knows he is a little stud. YIKES! He was nickering that studly nicker and tried to perform for Wyoming. Of course he could only reach Wy's hock...I was somewhat shocked! Other than that, he is doing great. I forgot to measure him to see how much he grew. He sure is more stocky. I really need to put together another video...



Oh yeah, on a final note, I am a trainer for the 2009 Eastern Stampeded Mustang Makeover in Murfreesboro, TN. We pick up our mustang on Friday, July 17th, which is right around the corner! Woooo hooooo!!!!!! Last year Angela and her daughter Jessi rode with us, along with Judy of the Judy and Bob team. This year Angela will be out of town with a friend for Frontier Days, so Jessi is going to ride with us. We have already started teasing her Mom...yep, the heckling has begun! Ha!

Whew, I feel better to get a little bit of blogging done. I did not realize how much I enjoyed doing this until I couldn't!

Hope everyone is doing well. Hug your critters!

Until later...Karen and Tripp, who is bleaching out from the sun and is very very brown!

My Assistant Mustang Trainer...

This weekend we had a surprise visitor! Brian's niece, Tacy, blessed us with her presence, and the girl LOVES horses! I have dubbed her my official Assistant Mustang Trainer Extraordinaire...

Saturday the weather was fantastic! I started working with Wyoming and Tacy wanted in on the action. She kept asking to come in the pen - no, you have to wait - is it time yet? No, you have to wait. Well, I remember when I was a little girl around horses and I totally understand why she had a hard time waiting! :-)
I got done what I needed to, then it was her turn. Tiger and Wy were both wonderful so I trusted them to take care of Tacy, and I trusted Tacy to take care of them.
(NOTE: Not growing up wearing a helmet, I still forget...so yes, I am aware than neither of us is wearing one, and it is something that I will work on! Brian didn't notice either until we talked about it tonite)

Wyoming is checking out the Assistant Trainer Extraordinaire....



Tacy takes Wy for a spin...



More spinning....



Tacy pets Wy and tells him what a good boy he is...



Peek-A-Boo!



Tacy loves on Wy and thanks him for letting her ride...



Tacy and Tiger meet...



Tacy takes Tiger for a spin...



After her ride, Tacy wanted to work on Tiger's leading...



Then she wanted to lead him with me riding, just like I did with her...



Tacy pauses and lets Tiger know how good he is doing...



Time to brush Tiger...



Tacy brushes Tandee while waiting for me to finish with Tiger...



Sunday it was more slick than muddy due to the rain, but we decided to visit the horses for a while anyhow.
Tiger and Wy check out Tacy...



Tiger and Wy discuss Tacy...."Hmmmm, should we eat her now?"



Tacy meets Jester the donk...



After a hard day at work, it is time for the pool! Uncle Brian and Niece Tacy play in the pool after cleaning it out for the dogs.



It was a real neat weekend, and I got lots of video of Tacy too. We worked on her not TELLING and YELLING at the animals...we ASK them here. We also tell them how good they are doing, and we thank them when we are done because it is an honor for a horse to let us ride them. When her Dad picked her up today I thanked her for helping me train the mustangs and she said "I said thank you. I love horses."

What else is there to say? :-)

Until later...Karen and Tripp

Video of riding bareback, with Batman getting his two cents worth...

Here is a short video...



Until later...Karen and Tripp

It is not breaking the rules...it is changing goals...

Okay, here is the deal...you all know I am finally able to get on Wyoming, thanks to weather that is cooperating more, and today I wanted to get on him bareback. Tiger was not ready yet, blah blah blah. I am not graceful and what better way to get him used to movements all over him than for me to crawl up there? I do use the bucket as a step to hop on to guarantee me the success of actually getting up there!

He did great! We walked around while he got used to the feel of me up there, he stopped and gazed around at the others on the outside of his pen, and he even got tense a couple of times. Once when I laughed and the other when I coughed. I got to thinking it is because he is feeling me differently too! He can feel me better just like I can feel him better...neat!
Brian was moving hay bales around with the tractor and saw me up on him and ran over to take a couple of pictures. Thanks baby!

Here is Wyoming and I...



And here we are again...



This is where "it is not breaking the rules, it is changing goals" comes in to play...
After I was done playing with Wyoming, I let him out of the pen and was going to let everyone out into the yard to munch grass. When I came back out of the barn Tiger was standing in his pen next to the mounting bucket and just looked at me. Our eyes met, we communicated...he gave me the sign. I needed to hop on that bad boy! :-)

So I did!!!



He was relaxed enough to drop his head and scratch it on his foot...



And to let me swing my legs all over the place and lean over his neck...



It was fantastic! The last time I layed over him he started to walk and he got very concerned that I was still moving with him and he skaddled away from me while I slid off. He did not have a problem me laying over him again, he just wasn't sure about moving or seeing me on the other side too much.
This time he was 100% different! I layed across his back, got my leg up and over him in case he had issues, I slid off and hopped back on (thanks to the mounting bucket), I finally put my leg all the way over him and slid off the other side, hopped back on, and then JUST SAT THERE! Upright, while petting him. We stood there a long time before he started to walk...no problems at all! In fact, I was getting more movement out of him by the time I was done than I was with Wyoming.
WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!

Funny thing...Brian was still moving bales and we have both talked about it - I was not going to get on Tiger until he reacted less to scary stuff. Period! He was across the yard and had moved a few bales when he finally looked my direction. He looked - he looked again, then looked off to the side because he saw Wyoming and then you could see the recognition in Brian's eyes when he looked back and his eyes were like saucers! He just laughed and shook his head! He moved a couple more bales then came over to take pictures. He said once he realized what brown horse I was on, he should have known because of the big cheese eating grin I had on my face! Hee hee!

Batman is getting his top teeth and he is trying to show them off...if you look real close you can see them.



We have 4 panels set up in the yard on the grass for Batman and Robin. We have to carry Batman to the pen because he is a little too independent, and when he wanders the others chase him and he freaks out and takes off. I don't want him running into a fence or into something and hurting himself beyond repair. It really is a challenge to have a 'little' and so many 'bigs' that just want to run when he runs. :-)



No story here...I just thought it was neat to have such a great reflection...so I guess that really is a story, eh? ;-)



There is a big garden at the place I work, and it is a great place to hang out and eat lunch, or just go walking. Flowers are blooming all the time, so I took a few pictures. I was playing with the Macro (close up) settings again.







It was a fun day!

Until later...Karen and Tripp