More pictures from the Hoof Care Class....

The thing about practicing our trimming is when you look up to stretch your neck, you see that almost everyone else is in the same position you were in!

Our last evening a few of us went to downtown St. Charles - very old part of town with cobblestone streets. We found a small alley and took a self portrait on the steps. Front to back we have me, Janet, Julie, Vic on the left and Kathy in the back. We had a great time!



Vic doing some measuring...



Trish is working on the bottom of a hoof...



Natalie checking out her work...



Nancy is working on a hoof...



Kathy is working on the bottom of her hoof...



Julie is checking out her work from the bottom of the hoof...



Natalie is asking John about something on the hoof while Vic watches and listens. There was a lot of that - someone would ask a great question and whoever was close would zoom in for the answer.



Chris checking out the bottom of the hoof...



Chris and Vic are working at their table...



Chris and Julie working on day 2...



Carrie and her hoof on day 1...



Beth doing some measuring...



April is sanding the hoof wall...



April, Ann (instructor) and Janet discuss the notched hoof. The purpose of notching the hoof was to show how much sole really was there and to let us know that we were not going to hurt anything by going too deep. It was very interesting!



We trim to the model, and the wild horse is our model. We realize that wild horses eat differently and travel differently than our domestic horses. Since our domestic horses live differently, it is up to us to try and make their lives as natural as possible, and following this way of trimming is one of those ways.

I have been reading a lot about barefoot for quite a while, and there is a lot of good information and bad information out there, not to mention information that makes you say "WHAT?" This is one that has made the most sense to me so far, and sticking to the trim guidelines will really help our horses. I need to get organized and keep a journal of what I am doing with each one I trim.

There is a round rasp to rasp the sole with. At first I was a little nervous because you hear about leaving the sole alone. Come to find out, compacted sole can look just like live sole, and it also works the same as a shoe as in it is very hard so the hoof mechanism cannot work properly and blood can't circulate thru that hoof. Made sense after I thought about it. The round rasp cleans up the bottom of the foot, and also stimulates growth.

Sanding the outside of the hoof wall is supposed to do the same thing. I don't sand the coronary band, just up to it, and that sanding will help stimulate hoof growth. I will be thinking of little tid-bits as time goes on. I am going to read thru my notes too...there was a lot of information and I don't want to forget anything.

What a fun group I got to share this with!

Until later...Karen and Tripp whose pigeon toed-ness does not scare me any more! :-)

Liberated Hoof! Yee Haw!

I did one of the neatest things this past week - I attended a 6 day Natural Hoof Care clinic for horseowners that was put on by Liberated Horsemanship. Their site is: http://www.liberatedhorsemanship.com/

They tried to keep it very simple but full of great information. The first few days were about stress in a horses life, and the damage it can cause (just like people!), and it depends on the horse as to how traumatic that stress might be. We covered feed, booting, anatomy of the hoof, we watched video of wild horse country and pulled out examples of different things from that, then came the last 2 1/2 days! The 1/2 day consisted of unloading a big box of cadaver hooves, then wrapping the ends of them in garbage bags leaving only the hoof sticking out. Well, it started out that way...some sort of slid down the bag a little bit. Then the last 2 days consisted of trimming those suckers! Now let me tell ya, if any of you have tried to trim a real hoof, it is nothing compared to theses pieces of petrified horse hooves we had! They were tough!

In case anybody is wondering, the hooves for Liberated Horsemanship/Gateway Clinics were purchased from a Rendering Plant and were picked up by one of the instructors from Arkansas and delivered to a freezer in Warrenton. I asked about obtaining hooves from the slaughter houses and they said you could not even get those places to talk to you because they were always worried about animal rights/PETA type people causing problems, so no, they did not get their collection from the slaughter houses.

I met a gal on one of the barefoot groups, and she decided to sign up for the class. She asked if I wanted to share a room to cut down on expenses, so I had a room mate for a week. Janet lives North of Kansas City and has a mule named Hap. She also has a Welsh Cob named Flyer. It really was a good week, and we could talk about what was going on in class. There were 12 students in class and you know how usually there is one you just want to feed to the lions? There was not one person like that - this was a fantastic class and there were experience levels that covered all ends of the spectrum. Some had been trimming for quite a while and had already dealt with pathologicial stuff, there were ones like myself who have been muddling thru but not confident, and there were still others who had never trimmed a hoof before. Lots of questions were asked and answered...it really was a neat class!
Let me think...we had Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Minnesota, Pennsyvania, Indiana, Massachusettes, Vermont and last but not least, British Columbia. That was our only guy believe it or not!

Here is Janet and I on our testing day.



This is day 2 and what is left of the hooves. The piles of 3 across the top are all hooves for our 3 hoof challenge. We had to trim hooves without any help at all from instructors or class mates, then present them to John Graves, our trimming instructor who also graded us and marked them up where we needed to work on things.



The first day of practice trimming, even the hoof was not safe from a self portrait! OH! My camera had bit the dust, so I had to go get another one. I ended up getting a small one because it will pack easier on trail rides...I got an Olympus Stylus 9000 and these are my first batch of pictures with it. Will write my review on the camera another time.



Here is Janet with her first practice hoof. We were quite proud! Especially since those hooves were harder than heck and our tools were just not working like they do on a live hoof.



Okay, we also got to practice pulling shoes, so Janet decides to pull a shoe on her practice hoof of day 2 before our testing started. To her utter astonishment, she pulled that hoof capsule right off! ACK! Let's just say that it freaked her out a little because her first thought was "What if I do this to a live horse?"
The rest of us were so excited! This was the first time I got to see the inside of a hoof, and it was absolutely beautiful! I am amazed at the mechanics of the hoof and how much movement it actually needs to work properly, not to mention how it continually tries to heal itself every time a little stressor is put on the body.



Here is the hoof capsule - perfect! She took it home. (I brought 2 legs with shoes home hoping for the same result this weekend)



Here is the inside of the hoof, and I am kicking myself because I thought I got a picture of the lamina in addition to the bottom of the foot. Argh! Oh well, the frog part was like firm rubber and the lamina was very fine textured, which is amazing because it is strong to hold things together the way it does. The coffin bone was covered in all of that stuff. (That is my other goal - to pull the hoof capsule then cure the other part so I can have a good coffin bone)



I kept forgetting to take pictures of my hooves before and after! Finally one of the girls mentioned it (she forgot too) so here is one of my test hooves before....



And a before shot from the bottom....



At first I thought I forgot to take pictures of the finished product...but I do have them, and here they are!






Here is my group of test hooves, and the middle one of the group is the one I thought I forgot to take pictures of after the trim, and it had one little circle with marker that ended up not being a bad mark because I had smoothed out a chunk that was in the hoof, I didn't dig it out and cut into the water line.
All in all I did pretty well. I have to watch the dark hooves and be sure to hold them up to a light background to make sure I don't have any uneven areas in the toe. Also need to do a little more spit shining (which I would have done if my tools would have been more user friendly) and make sure I smooth out the wear line a little more after doing the mustang roll. Now I just need to practice practice practice. Good thing we have too many horses! :-)



John Graves was our trimming instructor, and he is from Colorado. This is the logo on his jacket and vest. Neat, eh?



Here is John grading our hooves, and Ann Corso is standing behind him. She is also one of the instructors and she took 1/2 of the group to work on trimming. She was helping to grade and give results to the students in her group.



I did not get a picture of Bruce Nock! We met him at the Women and Horses Expo in Sedalia and Bruce had mentioned having a hoof care class. Brian really pushed for me to take the class, so I did. I learned so much, and I left that class confident that I can perform a very balanced trim as long as I follow the guidelines. The way they teach it is simple, broken down into steps, and we do all trims the same. That is not saying that they are all exactly alike, they are just the same as in we measure, measure, measure to find out the horses natural hoof angle and go from there.
Tiger and Wyoming are perfect examples. Tiger has a lower angle to his hooves, and Wy is more upright, but my trim will be the same, if that makes sense.

If anybody gets the opportunity to do something like this, I highly recommend it! And a huge thank you to my class mates! It was everyone's level of experience and their questions that took the class discussions in different directions. And another big thank you to the instructors! Every single one of them was great!
Richard from Arkansas (he special fits Swiss boots in case anybody is interested), John from Colorado, Ann from Kentucky, and Bruce from Missouri.

Until later...Karen and Tripp

Gelding day has arrived....

Today is the big day! But let us back up a day...I am out working with the boys, and as I am working on feet I peek up underneath Wy and he has his full package. I think I keep looking HOPING that they would just disappear! :-) Then I am working with Tiger's feet, and while I am leaning over I peek up under him and I see NOTHING! Nothing except skin that looks like it is pulled tight. Could it be true that he is already gelded? I tried to feel but he is quite ticklish. I had Brian try to feel, and he is a little more on the no-nonsense side of things and Tiger takes a half hearted kick at him to let him know - "Don't touch that!"

Vet shows up today and I tell him what I have not found so he gave him some Night Night medicine and the vet checks - sure enough! Nothing there! So he looks for a scar and found one - so, Tiger slipped thru the cracks! I double checked all of his paperwork and it still shows him as a stallion. That is the kind of accident that I love to hear about.

The trip is not wasted because Ace (the auction rescue mustang) has crossed over into stallion-hood. He has been in a separate pen from all the other group - don't need any surprise babies! (Well, except for Wy and Halo...will know next year)

Wyoming was not a very willing participant in the games. We took him under the canopy where he met up with Halo, and he was very aggitated. We brought Tiger back so his buddy was there and he settled down, but it took a while. Wy just did not trust the vet one bit - he knew Cliff and his assistant Jessi were up to something! After a lot of talking and waiting, Cliff finally got his shot to take and Wyoming starting getting droopy.

This is a very bad angle for a picture, but you get the idea.



Wyoming goes down while Tiger watches with glee that he did not have to do this. Okay, maybe 'glee' is a strong word. He is more curious as to why Wy is taking a nap.



Wy is sleeping...



The procedure went off without a hitch, and Wy did it all right...he took a while to wake up, then Brian took him back to his pen. I was so glad that Brian was here to help! Wy and Ace were a little bit more of a challenge, plus moving them back and forth.

Ace is growing up. He is getting taller and is shedding off. He had a winter coat like a Shetland Pony! Wish I had the thought process to at least get him cleaned up for the camera! Oh well...he isn't going to care for a while!

Ace did real good! He was nervous, and when he got poked with the needle he jumped, but he stopped right away too.

Ace is getting sleepy.....



Cliff and Jessi get Ace layed down...



When he layed down after his other shot he started twitching and I was a little freaked out! I watched Cliff and Jessi for a reaction but they were fine, so that must have been normal. But let me tell ya, I could tell he never fully relaxed while he was under - that little dude fought it as much as he could. After the procedure was done, instead of laying there and letting it wear off, he came flying up and kinda rolled over on his head! Yes, I was freaked out then too! He was set on standing up - so we got him there. Cliff watched him for a while to make sure all was okay.

Right after I got Ace put back in his pen, I tried to talk to Wy and he was not cutting me any slack. He looked at me sideways, then looked the other direction.
Here he is still all droopy and holding a grudge...



I went back out to check on both of them, and there is not anything pretty about it after the fact. I am glad it is a windy day so the flies are not as bad as they could be. We will be moving Ace into the pen with Wy, and Tiger will go out in the larger lot area with the donks and Tandee. Wy likes to chase Ace, so I figure they will help exercise eachother.

Wy has forgiven me and rubbed my hand with his nose, and lots of questions are answered as to Tiger eating at the hay bale instead of chasing girls when they escaped! :-)

Now just need to keep them moving around this weekend and let them heal.

Until later....Karen and Tripp who is glad he doesn't remember what all this was about! Whew!

Eye of the Tiger...

So, do you have the song in your head yet?



When I was done with Wy, it was Tiger's turn. I already knew I would not bring the saddle out for him, so no change of plans there. We worked on the feed pan flying around, and when he got to the point of standing like Wy did when it was tossed at him, we moved on to the pad. He did look at the pad a little cross-eyed when I was swinging it around, but he did not react near as much as what I had expected. He is afraid of things falling off him - and sure enough, the wind was blowing like crazy and took that pad off him, but only once! After that I would flap it all the way over his back and dangle it there, then I started dropping it.

Tiger wears the pad on his neck, and he isn't sure he likes the look.



When we were done, a walk was in the stars for Tiger also. We have not been in the yard yet, so this was unchartered territory. He did quite well coming thru the small gate. On the way back in he jumped thru it, so we practiced that until he could walk thru calmly, and he even knocked over the board without a reaction.



Just like Wy, we spent 15 or 20 minutes out in the yard to eat grass. They are not used to it, so I limited their time out there.

YUMMY!!!!



The nose shot...



This is pretty darn close to what the view will be like from his back! I am already imagining it! :-D



Nice head shot...



I did let Tandee into the yard while Tiger was out. He did not respond to her being a girl when they escaped, so I thought it would be safe enough....it was. (Read next blog entry to find out why!)



It was a great day! I had taken off work and the weather was wonderful! Now just need to wait until Friday for the vet visit.

Until later....Karen and Tripp

Wyoming gets to work again....I AM BACK!

I have been gone for a week, and to the best of my knowledge I think I am home to stay for a while. Which means Tiger and Wy will be getting better work outs. Okay, it is also dry out for now, so that helps! :-) Brian and I have a couple of plans on making a more user friendly pen - we have these great pictures in our heads, just need to put them into action.

WYOMING: "She is sitting on the board in MY pen...she is up to something!"



I found that kicking the feed pan around really stresses them out, and throwing it up in the air and letting it smack the ground isn't so great either. It just is not as scary with feed in it! So that is what I did...kicked and threw, kicked some more and threw, then he finally wore it without so much as a glance.



I was going to get the saddle out and put that on him a while, but I was so sore that I decided to just flap the blanket around and work on some ground manners. We worked and worked and he finally would turn to face me, then walk towards me when I asked. We are still working on backing, but he did give me a couple of steps. This was all without me holding the lead rope. Yay! I just need to keep working on everything we have done while introducing new things.

Doesn't he look like a little Indian Pony?



After playing in the pen, I decided that I needed to trust him more - so we took a walk outside of the pen. He was a little ancey and full of himself, and my old mare Tandee came to visit and that did not help, but he still listened to me and would bring his head to me when I asked. I will admit, sometimes I had to ask firmly, but he still gave it to me. The reality is, if he really wanted to get away from me, he could have no matter what I had on him. I worked him in small circles on the lead rope and considering he did not have the security of the panels to help guide him, he did pretty good. I am proud of him!

We are now walking across the barn lot and headed to the yard. He was cute because he was sniffing everything new...even the manure/mud pile. He even walked up it like he did not have a care in the world.



Wyoming meets the dogs. I have two husky's and one husky/chow cross, and they are all talkers as you can see with the dog on the left. She was telling Wy a story. At first he watched them carefully, then ignored them.



I love the nose shots in the grass!



Poor Tandee just did not understand why she could not come into the yard too. I did not want to take a chance of hormones winning out over me!



We walked along the back yard and he let me know that he was not comfortable when he could not see his buddies, so we did not venture very far. That is okay...baby steps. We stayed out there about 15 or 20 minutes, then I wondered how I was going to get him back across he barn lot with Tandee out there. OOPS! Sometimes I don't think things all the way thru. I ended up opening the little gate and Tandee came flying out, and before Wy knew what happened, I had him in. The small gate did not bother him either, and he even had to step over a 2X8 board attached to a 4X4 to keep the chickens from walking under the gate. He did great!

Okay, doesn't this llama look dead? Believe it or not he is just sleeping, and he was sleeping hard too!



But let's just say he was dead....this is what he would have looked like coming back!



Okay, that is all I know for now.

Until later....Karen and Tripp

BLT Salad...

My last day working in Kentucky took me to a little old building that was the neatest little restaurant! They had a BLT salad and it was wonderful. The biggest plate I had short of a turkey platter is this big blue plate...and I attempted to recreate the BLT salad. It isn't as big, and it isn't as purdy, but it sure is close!!!
(The bacon was cooked here at home!)



Until later....Karen and Tripp who also likes my BLT salad!

Wyoming is in LUV...

Take yourself back to Saturday, April 11th. I went out early to feed, and I look over to the mustang pen and it is - EMPTY! ACK! I opt not to panic because it won't do any good. Gotta find the BOYS!
The mustang pen is in the burro/llama area, then there is a fence to the yard on one side and the other side is the fence to the big bunch of horses with a few geldings and mares in heat! Yeah...

I found Tiger pretty quick - he was planted at a round bale in the burro area and he was not bothering my older mare (which is what I was worried about). I walked right up to him to say hello, and he looked at me like he has always been there. When the older mare walked away, he followed her and she squealed and kicked at him. Whew! No worries there! Tiger was just being curious, and he had never been out there by himself before.

Now, Wyoming! Where the heck was he? If he would have jumped the fence to the yard, I think he would have been eating grass. If he jumped the fence to the other side, he is mingling with MARES! ACK! I don't see him at the bales with the others, so I decide to put my old mare in the barn (just in case), get Tiger back in the pen, then look for Wy. I walk in and under the canopy is Halo and Wy, looking all cozy. They both looked at me with the expression of "What?" on their faces! I grabbed the halter and got Wyoming. Okay, the great thing about all of this is even tho there were major hormones going on, he still listened to me! Not as good as usual, but enough for me to walk him around the back side of the barn and into the gate, thru the donk pen and back to his pen! Yay! That boy was beside himself all day. Now, I have no idea if he sealed the deal or not, but judging by all the white hair on his chest and shoulders, I would say he gave it a heck of a shot! Which means he possibly experienced what I did not want him to know he was missing! Darn it!

I now lock their gate! Wy did not have any cuts or scrapes on him, and I could not find an area of the fence that had hair on it like it was pushed, etc. He must have gone over it - it is only about 4 1/2 to 5 ft tall. So if he was like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer after Clarisse told him he was cute...yep, he could have gone over it!

Here is a little video of Wy and Halo.



Halo is one of the first mustangs we adopted a few years ago. She foaled the night we brought her home. Her baby, Boomer, died in a freak accident at age 2 1/2. Halo is very much an Alpha mare, but she does not appear to bond with anybody. Well, except for Wy....Ha ha!

So that is the saga of Casanova! The vet is due here April 24th...that is not soon enough! :-)

Until later...Karen and Tripp

A little bit of leaning going on....

Such as, me leaning over Wy...



LOOK MOM! NO FEET! (He just stood there while I hung off him a few times)



Leaning over Tiger...



And more leaning over Tiger...



Saturday the mud was horrible, so I just did some brushing and we practiced leading. I took Tiger out of the pen and I threw pads and my quilted shirt at him. :-) He has this thing about things falling off of him, so I also put the pad on him, then pushed it off. We spent a lot of time with this, and he did good!

Today was a little more dry, but not as dry as I would like it. So I got the bucket out and stood on top of it to brush them. Did that on both sides of each guy, and then did some leaning over. Both of them were not too sure about it at first, but then relaxed. I was not ready to put my full weight on Tiger, but I did hop up on Wy. He just stood there - he was on alert, but still chose to stay. Both boys did great, and I had fun.

I asked Tiger if he was having fun, and he dropped his head and looked pitiful. The things I ask of them...and this is only the beginning! Hee hee!!!

More rain in the forecast tomorrow to soup it up again. Ho hum! We have not even been able to till the garden area yet. I have to be patient, right?

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Until later, Karen and Tripp

Who is the real Zeke?

Ahhhh, yes, we have a situation. Thomas the cat thought if he did not move, I would not notice that he was sitting on the stove by Zeke, the wood carving, since their colors are so close....
(Zeke is the sea bird and he has a little fish in his mouth)



Neat story about Zeke the wood carving.
A gentleman out in California where my sister used to live started carving driftwood after his wife died. He did not even know he could carve...he just did it! He is so talented! He carved a very large whale for my sister - it is the most awesome thing I have ever seen!
This guy does not take special orders. You can't just take him a piece of wood and tell him that you want a whale, or a shark, or a fish. BUT you can take him a piece of driftwood and he will carve you what HE see's in it. There were pieces where he carved several fish together, Mom Whales and a whale calf, sharks, dolphins...he shows up in Half Moon Bay on the weekends selling his goods and meeting people. He is such a nice man!

Until later...Karen and Tripp

Wyoming wears a different saddle...

The light weight training saddle I have been using was going to have another use. I was going to put it on Tiger, and Brian's saddle on Wyoming. I wanted to know how it fit. I knew I would not get Brian's saddle on Tiger this day... :-)

I brought all my stuff out, and like always, Wyoming has to nose around. I was pooper scooping before I got started, and he started taking stuff out of my box. The rasp is still laying on the ground...it was rolled up with the nippers in a cloth and he picked up the end of the cloth and both rolled out!

Then the chicken comes to investigate...



Just so you all know, I am not a believer in more pad to make the saddle fit better. The saddle either fits or it doesn't. The pad is thick so I always worry about the saddle being too tight at the withers, and just because it fits Tripp doesn't mean it will fit anybody else. Well, lucky me! Brian's saddle does fit Wy pretty good! The thing is, even tho we had the stirrup leathers shortened, it is still a tad too long for me. Once Wy is more comfortable with me throwing the saddle around, I will put mine up there to see how it fits. Brian's stirrups are too long for me - and they are as short as they will go.

I never did cinch the saddle up because I was missing a strap. No worries, it sat on him quite nicely. He even trotted with it on his back.

Here Wy is inspecting this thing that won't leave him alone.



Wy walked around quite a bit too...he moves out very relaxed.



I never did put the other saddle on Tiger. He was not happy, so I just rubbed him with it, and then flapped the pad around him. Some days will be a step forward, some will be a step back.

So we did the next best thing - took a mug shot of the handsome devil!



Wyoming's classic yawn!



Another evening well spent! The only thing that stressed Wy out was when I got the flag and stick out, and I could tap and rub on his body, but tapping on the saddle with the new noise concerned him. We did that a long time until he relaxed.

Both guys are doing pretty good! Oh yeah, I have cleaned out Tigers front hooves 3 times now, and even trimmed his bars. They were soooo long and rolled over! He was not ready for a full trim yet. My goal is to get the fronts done, and when they are gelded and sleeping, I will hurry in and do the rear as long as the vet says it is okay. They all react differently to the meds, so will have to wait until then to know how it will go.
I am rubbing Wy's legs all the way to the hoof - front and back. I have picked up the fronts but he doesn't like to stand still. He kept taking them away and stomping. I worked at it until I had a good second with no struggle, then I gave it back. We did that 3 times, I rubbed his legs again to let him know I was not going to take them from him every time, and called it quits. He does so good with everything, I forget that he was touched for the first time not long ago.

All in all, life is good at Kaboodle Farm!

Until later...Karen and Tripp who still wants to go for a trail ride but is bummed out because we had more rain which means more mud!

Yesterday....isn't that a song?

Or were these the day before??? I lose track of time...either way, it was the day my camera went ka-put. Guess that was two days ago.

I spent the evening playing with toys. I got out the noodles and we worked on not being afraid of the ball in flight. It is amazing how much time you can put into having horsey fun!

Wy missed out on a lot of the pictures because of my camera. But he did not miss out on all the fun!

HELLOOOOOOOOO.....



I worked with the flag on Tiger, and he pleasantly surprised me! Nervous, yes, but totally freaked out, no! Good Tiger!



Tiger also got abused with the noodles. Up, over, around, one at a time, two at a time, one on the back while one is rubbing down his rump, under the belly, down the legs....he has decided that noodles are annoying but not scary. They don't taste good either!



Let's throw the ball at Tiger! This is what amazed me the most! Anything flying around was just not acceptable to him. He is learning that scary things are okay. Baby steps...



I finally found his itchy spot!



WYOMING SAYS: "Yeah, like watching paint dry...."



I sat on the panels so they could see me from above. Tiger came to investigate. Wy did not care.



Wyoming caught in the act of nipping Tiger while I am trying to get Tiger to come visit me. Did Wyoming think that he would get Tiger in trouble because if he nips hard enough, Tiger will move away and that will not make me happy? We will never know....



It was a lot of fun! I was so glad for the decent weather. Yay!

Until later...Karen and Tripp who wants to go on a trail ride

Just stuff...

Saturday was a sunny dry day!

My husband Brian knows that it won't do any good to try and escape when it comes to self portrait time.

SMILE!!!



It has been a while since Millie and I had our portrait taken. :-)
Brian's daughter Madison took our picture...this is when my camera still worked part time.



It was a day of mini horse brushing and hoof trimming. We put Madison to work brushing, then she held them while I trimmed their hooves. All I could think of was if I trimmed mini's for a living, I would have a platform set up on a hydraulic jack so I can get them a little higher! :-)

Here is Madison and Ruby.



Madison and Robin. (Robin is Hood's Mom. Hood is the one with dwarfism we lost a while back)



Like I said, just stuff....it was a very nice day!

Until later...Karen and Tripp

And this is why I need a new camera...

....and this was one of the good ones!
I was dreading this day! Most people like new stuff. I like my old stuff to keep on working - FOREVER! I will say that this little camera has worked great for me. We have shot well over 15,000 pictures out of it, lots of video, and it just recently started falling apart. It has been horseback riding, motorcycle riding, dragged thru caves in red clay, carried thru the woods, licked on by the critters, dropped many times...yep, it has been good!

A couple weeks ago the pictures did this across the top only - so it looked like everybody had been slimed.



The real bummer is I took the noodles out to play with the boys. All these pictures were of Wyoming and the noodles. The funniest picture, that I will try to do again in the future, would have been the one with the noodle balanced between his ears and down his neck. He lowered his head, and was very careful not to drop it. When I would walk around with the other noodle, his eyes only would follow, but that head was still. He was a good sport!

Guess I will start checking the Internet soon to find out what is out there. In the meantime we will be using Brian's camera.

Until later...Karen and Tripp

Tiger's Weekend...

There are not as many pictures of Tiger because he was my first lesson of the day, and Brian and his kid were out turkey hunting (Youth season). He got pictures later....

Tiger is still very reactive and will take a lot of time, but he tries so hard to trust and not be afraid. I already see a lot of progress in him. Such as, at the end of the day both stangs were in their pen relaxing, and I walked back in and threw the saddle on Wy and let him walk around with it a while (no halter/lead) then I grabbed the blue pad and headed over to Tiger and he was not so sure about it at first, but he eventually let me touch him with it, and it was not long before I was rubbing it all over him. I could not have done that a couple of weeks ago without him blowing up.

Here is Tiger looking all handsome...he just can't help it!



We have been working on lifting feet, and him letting me lift the foot more than once without the halter was big for him. I was a proud Mom.



CHASE THE LLAMA SAYS: "EW, LOOK AT HER HUGGING TIGER! SHE IS SUCH A GIRL!"



Do you remember those days as a kid, where you caught your horse in the middle of the pasture in a nice sunny day and you climbed on, then layed back on them while they grazed? You could feel the warmth of the sun on your face, and also on your back where the horses coat had been warmed earlier...this moment was pretty darn close to that! He was so warm and he just stood there...



I still want to see if my big saddle fits him, but he isn't ready yet, and I need to be patient. I will know when it is time to push him out of his comfort zone a little, and he will let me know it is okay.
He does amaze me with how quickly I can get his attention and how he will zone in on me. I put the halter on him and looped the lead rope over his back. He started moving around and the rope dropped...he took off when it hit his back legs. I thought he was taking off because I was kicking the balls around, but he did not slow down. He blasted around that pen and I realized it was the lead rope - so I stepped towards him (not in front) and called his name loud and said "WHOA". He turned to face me, came up to me but was rocking back and forth. He wanted to run so bad, but he wanted to please me too. Slowly I slid the lead rope off his back, I loved on him, walked him around, and I started flipping that thing all over the place. He needs to get used to it...and he will. In time. Just like people, they learn at different paces, and some of us have to learn how to teach in different ways.

Goodnight.....
Until later...Karen and Tripp

Wyoming's Weekend...

Saturday was an absofreakinlutely gorgeous day! The only thing I might have changed was the degree of the winds, but that just added to the training.

I just knew that Wy would be wearing a saddle this weekend - gut feeling! Like I have said, he is very curious and even tho he might be leary of new things at first, he does not over react. We did a lot on Saturday!

Here are the two boys at sunset...thought it was a nice picture of the two of them. They are brothers.



I was not going to make the same mistake I made with Tiger. The heavy saddle stayed in the barn where it belonged. :-)
I pulled out my fuzzy blue pad and the blue Wintec saddle - the thing only weighs 6 or 7 lbs...easy enough to carry around while making introductions.

The pad does not seem to phase him. I let him sniff around on it, then I rubbed it all over him while scratching good spots, and he was fine.



Wearing a pad on the head without freaking out is important....to me. :-) I want him to know he is going to be okay...I won't let anything bad happen to him. The first time he tossed his head a bit, but the 2nd time he took it like a mustang!



Here comes the Wintec saddle! We walked around with it on and he did not react or act like he needed to 'escape' the thing on his back. Good Wy!



WYOMING SAYS: "HMMMM, SMELLS LIKE HORSE."



WYOMING SAYS: "HMMMM, SMELLS LIKE OLD COW."



After putting the saddle on and taking it off a few times, I later grabbed it again and just flung it over him. No worries mate!



TIGER SAYS: "IF I DON'T LOOK, I WON'T BE NEXT."



We did trot around the pen a few times each direction with the saddle on, and it did not bother him. I also started working on lifting all 4 feet.
Here we have the front....



And here we have a rear...



I am not as agile as I used to be. I can jump up and down next to them, but getting up there just doesn't work like it did when I was younger. So when I was working with Tripp I had this board set up as an obstacle. I started jumping on it one day and it concerned him, so I had to jump more until he did not care. At the same time I realized that I could use it as a mounting tool! So once Wy stands still with me jumping and making crazy movements, I will use it to help me hop up there bareback. He did not mind me leaning over him.



We also played with the ball. It is a lot different playing with the ball yourself! When you play with the ball yourself, it doesn't land on your head and stay there! I rolled it up and down his back, along his neck and around his legs. He thought it was weird, but he let me do it.



Sunday was more of a laid back day for both boys. I want to be able to walk into the pen without them thinking I am going to make them work every single time. I also want to be able to walk up to them without any reservations - no flinching, etc. So every time I walked by, I would go in the pen, walk up and pet on them a while, then leave. I also don't like bothering horses when they eat. I don't want to be bothered, so I show them the same respect. At the same time I want them to know that IF I want to pet them while they are eating, it is okay. So I have been doing that too. Not long...just long enough.

This afternoon I rode Tripp for a while. First I took him for a walk, then we headed to the round pen. We had a great little work out! Then I headed to the area with the donks, llama and the mustang pens. There were a couple of things I wanted to accomplish here. I wanted to see how he would handle the llama. He and the llama sniffed eachother a while, and I think the llama has a crush on Tripp. Tripp did not seem too concerned about Chase at all. Then I hopped on and rode around a bit, and even when I was going around the mustang pen one direction, and Chase came RUNNING at us from the other direction, Tripp didn't stop until I asked him. Of course this is a lot different than riding down the road and seeing a field full of llamas....someday we will get to experience that. :-)
The other thing I wanted to accomplish was riding around the mustang pen and having Tiger and Wy see me up above them. Tiger could care less and was not going to give us the time of day. Nosey Wy just could not stand still. He followed us around and kept sticking his nose out trying to make friends.

As far as I am concerned....Mission Accomplished! It started raining late morning and it was cold and windy. I made a couple trips out to visit and be a nuisance of myself, but nothing like yesterday.

Until later....Karen and Tripp

Another nice day to play with horses...

Sun was out, low 50's, and NO RAIN! Woo hoo!!!

WYOMING SAYS: HELLOOOOOOOO MOM CAROL! I KNOW YOU ARE OUT THERE WAITING FOR MEEEEE! I AM BEING A GOOD BOY! :-)



Oh oh, what is this thing? It can't be good....



WYOMING SAYS: TIGER, WATCH THIS! HEE HEE HEE!



UP IT GOES.....



AND OVER! YES YES YES!!!



Okay, so maybe I should not have knocked the wheel barrow over. This will teach us! Now we have to work a little bit.

I have another bag on a longer whip, so I was rubbing Wy with that, and Tiger thought he was interested...



No huge reactions or blow ups out of Tiger...just cautious. I rubbed his front legs and back to the withers. I did get behind the withers a couple of times but he tensed up and was ready to walk so I backed off and went back to his front. Good move because he stayed still.



I got to thinking tonite was as good as any to try and get the rope halter on Wy. He tossed that head a couple of times but not with conviction. He started tossing his head with the nylon halter on, and I think that the ring under his chin was pinching his chin and jaw hair. Don't know for sure, but that was all I could figure out when I would watch him. Either that or he just doesn't like the pressure.
We will see if that head toss thing mellows out. It did seem better, but I will watch him closely just in case.



I swung the lead rope over his back and rump, around all 4 legs, his neck and head, and he was just fine with it. Funny how stuff like that really bothers some horses and not others. They are just like people...variety of personalities, likes and dislikes.



It was a fun night!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Until later...Karen and Tripp

Video of Wyoming...illusion of reins and jump rope...

Wyoming got the pleasure of wearing the rope halter this evening, and we 'looped' the lead rope like reins, and I swung the rope around his head like a jump rope. I left the normal sounds in it this time...no music. Well, the critter sounds are music to my ears, but probably quite noisy to the neighbors ears.



Good boy Wy!!!!

Until later...Karen and Tripp

Video of Tiger and Wyoming leading without a halter and lead rope...

Here is a short video showing what they are doing right now. Tiger has been at it longer, and Wyoming has only been at it a little over a week, so I am thinking they are doing pretty good!

Enjoy!!!



Until later...Karen and Tripp

Every little bit counts...even in the rain...

We are getting rain this evening, but not the big crazy rains we have had lately. Whew! I can't always spend a long time with the horses so I try to make every little bit count. Sometimes it is just going in to visit and rub on them to remind them that humans can get to itchy places that they just can't reach. :-) I also want them to realize that every single day is not going to be work...well, they don't think it is work. It really is, but what they don't know won't hurt them. I did not stay out long, but I felt real good about the horsey time I had with Tiger and Wyoming tonite!


Here is Misty holding down a round bale that is in the back yard. (we have all kinds of crazy stuff in our back yard!)
Misty is a Husky dog that we adopted from a no kill facility. We got her when she was almost a year old. She had been at a kennel as a breeder, and when the people who fostered her found her, she had mouse feces embedded into her skin, and they had to shave her. She must have been mistreated by men, because she still has issues with them. It look her a long time to learn to be a dog, and a long time to trust me. We have had Misty about 3 yrs now and she is a happy dog...still doesn't care for men, but that is okay. She loves me! :-D
Snoop is usually up there with her, but this time he chooses to stay on the ground. He is a Chow Husky cross that looks like a Dingo.



Just a casual shot with me and the guys...would not know they are stallions. Altho they were picking on Ace (who also has a Full House) and we moved him back to the other pen. Ace was the mustang rescued from an auction and he is still thin, so he doesn't need to be running around that much. Altho he is building nice muscle! :-)
Ace has his buddy Rico with him in the pen. They both will have appointments with the vet soon.



When I started working with Tripp for the Extreme Mustang Makeover, I really did not know where to start. I had a very rough plan, and that was it. One of the things I did was spend a lot of time with him, and he eventually started 'leading' without the halter and lead rope. He still gets sidetracked, but if I spent a lot of time with him, there is no telling how far along he would be. I like being able to get their attention halter free, and have them turn to look at me.

This is how I am starting Tiger and Wy. Here I am working with Wy to follow me, and considering he was touched only a little over a week ago, he did GREAT! He is still a baby and gets distracted easily, but I can get him right back. Not bad considering there is another horse in the pen.



I also started working on touching his legs. His hoof length is really bugging me. I would rather have his hooves trimmed before the vet comes out - but if I have to do a quick job on them while he is knocked out, I will. He let me pet down the front legs...he did move away, but not to escape. Just moving because he was not sure about it. This was also without the halter. Tiger is watching and saying "I can do that." :-)
Wy says "Yeah, but could you do it in just a little over a week?" :-)



I found Tiger's itchy spot - or I should say he finally gave in to it. Wy just has to check out what is going on.



It was a pretty good night considering it was raining! Yay!

Until later....Karen and Tripp

Famous Last Words.....Watch This!

First of all, I should know better. Don't show off no matter what, because something will make you look silly - like getting stuck, and your husband (or whoever is there laughing at you) will have to help you get un-stuck!

We had 1 1/2 days of dry weather and high winds, so things started drying out. Thought I would start scooping mud out of the main pen that the boys were in. I figured I would only get to do the outer perimeter then have to go back in a couple of days after the slick layer dried, then scoop further in. I was making great progress and I wanted to have most of it done before Brian got home.

I have never worked a tractor bucket before, so I was pretty proud of myself for getting so much of it done before Brian got home. When he gets home I just HAVE to show him how I go flying into the mud, scoop up a bunch, then back out and put it in the pile (that the neighbor is going to complain about - he will say we are killing his fish in his pond....another story!)

Brian thinks I look hot when I drive the tractor. :-) Here is me being very intent on where my bucket is going to be before I go zooming into the mud.....



And here is me after I got my big 'ol scoop - AND GOT STUCK! Check out that front tire. The water comes off the chicken house and there is a trench there - that I could not see because of the mud. The more I tried to get out, the bigger the trench. :-) He got me pulled out...



While I was driving around, the boys did not seem one bit worried about it. Wyoming is curious and he came right up to the fence to check us out.



The llama wanted a front shot...and he got it. Notice how the horses still don't care. I even drove around the pen and back and forth and they just watched me.



I have found some itchy spots on Wy, and he loves getting scratched!



Vegas has been named Tiger by his future adopter (got the paperwork today and will send it in with the diagram of the pens) Okay, I will tell, he is being adopted by Brian's brother Justin. I had no idea that Justin was interested in horses, then I found out he has been wanting one of his own for a long time. He is a HUGE Mizzou Tigers fan, so he has renamed Vegas - Tiger! So now I am trying to get in the habit of calling him Tiger. :-) Tiger is sometimes shy, but he gave me a sassy little side view that he knew looked good. I will be keeping Tiger here a while and put some saddle time on him.



I am so excited to be working with Tiger and Wyoming both because their personalities are so different. I am a newbie trainer so every little bit they show me is a big plus, and it will help the next mustangs that come along.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Oh yeah, I called to get an appointment for the boys to be gelded. This is a busy time of year! April 17th was the soonest they could come out, and that is my first day of my hoof care class, so it will be the next Friday, April 24th! Yeah...they will really love me then!

When we got the burros gelded, I had Brian here with them because I did not want them associating what they were going thru with me. Hee hee!!! I won't be so lucky this time.

Until later....Karen and Tripp

Wyoming Robbins and his family....

Hello everyone, sorry it has taken so long to get this up. The picture with Wy did not turn out, so we took the clearest family picture and insterted Wy into it the way we thought he might look. Since he is curious and just plain nosey, this is how we posed him. :-)



Here we have grand daughter, Shaina, Carol who is Wy's new Mom, myself, and Carol's other half, Jim.
Carol's daughter, Dawn, also adopted a mustang the same day. Trainer Chad Kelly will be training that horse - Dawn and her horse are both very lucky!
The Robbins have a great family and there is no doubt that Wy and his brother will be very happy and probably a little on the spoiled side. :-)
Dawn's daughter, Kristin, was at the adoption too. Kristin and Shaina both are beautiful girls! Oh to be young again...
I did not get to meet Breanna, another one of Dawn's daughters. Maybe in the future.
Carol and Jim also have two sons and a total of 9 grandchildren! Wow!

Carol and Jim, thank you again for seeing something special in Wy (I will keep calling him that until I get notice of a different name). I can't wait for the great weather to start up so we can start moving the training along. Not that I don't have a lot to do on the ground. It just gives the illusion of moving along quicker when the sun is shining. Hee hee!!!

Until later....Karen and Tripp