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?